---

---

If she had to be in the A.R.C. session, at least she'd get to hit something. Soaring into the air, Mari made her way across the snowy field alongside S'tann and the others before flying straight into the blizzard.

"Fuckin' Freddie!" Mari cursed aloud as the cold enveloped her completely. Projecting a burst of starbolts, a ring of steam emitted from her body as the snow around her temporarily evaporated. As S'tann gave the order for Mars to hit the door, Mari let loose a concentrated blast of starbolts, metal and concrete alike would both weaken after prolonged exposure to heat. Especially after the freezing temperatures of Freddie's blizzard. In some ways he had actually helped them more than hindered them. Well at least that would have been the case if Mari could actually see where she was aiming as the glowing green barrage hit erratically along the surface of the door as Mari struggled to hold herself steady in the blistering winds.

---

---

Kieran made some logical adjustments to his plan and Aiden had to respect that but something was still bothering him about this particular simulation. John Stewart was known for complex simulations, there was story to them. The group hadn't been assigned arbitrary team names, there was a meaning behind them and with a name like the Suicide Squad, Aiden couldn't help but think he had missed something.

"_{What do we know about the Suicide Squad.}" He muttered to non one in particular as the rest of the team went to work. The Suicide Squad was used by Amanda Waller as a sort of moral-less covert black ops team. He had learned that much from several of his history classes which focused on the various team organizations of their world. But what was notable about them? Aiden couldn't remember for the life of him any particular exploits. Walking around the main room, Aiden nearly walked into a class canister as he suddenly looked up before jumping back. Shock and fear filled his eyes momentarily as his eyes briefly glowed red. Inside the canister was a face staring back at him as it floated above a spinal column separated from the rest of the body.

"This was a testing facility..." Aiden paused as he began to process the information. "That means we were the test subjects. Which could only mean..." He reached behind his head, feeling the simulated scar tissue as the key piece of information came back to him about the Suicide Squad. "We have bombs in our necks." He almost cursed before communicating with the rest of the team. "Kieran, we're going about this all wrong. We're still pretending to be heroes." He paused as his mind raced to figure out the best way to proceed. "We need to draw back our bomb squad, arm the explosives to explode if..." The building suddenly shook as S'tann's attack made contact. "Scratch that, Julian the bombs are located under the building's central supports. Detonate the ones at the front of the facility, lets see if we can't take out some of theirs with that." Aiden crossed his arms before calling the team. "Everyone return to where we came in, bring the hostages, we're turning this place into a death trap for the opposing team. They won't expect us to be unpredictable but we need to take a page out of the Joker's hand book."

Walking over to Julian, Aiden leaned over the control console. "Can you broadcast a message to those ASS-holes, I'd like to tell them that for every foot they make it into the building, we're taking a finger from the hostages."

Of course S'tann yelled at them for voicing their discomfort with the extreme cold, no surprise there for Mars. He was ready to get into that fortress, but it looked like their enemy had a weather manipulator and that would make things more difficult. No matter Mars was ready for the challenge. Since he had little to no knowledge of Martian abilities aside from the few times he's seen S'tann fly, he wasn't expecting him to shapeshift into a large black dragon. Even though Mars didn't admit it he was slightly hesitant to get on the enormous creature, but he did as he was told since S'tann was a team leader. After climbing aboard Mars had to hold on very tightly to avoid accident slipping off as the dragon took off into the air.

Once they were close to the entrance of the research base S'tann explained to them his plan of bursting into the place and Mars smiled when the Martian named him the one to break through the gates.

"No sweat boss, it'll be a piece of cake" he said to S'tann with a thumbs up. As they came closer and he prepared to hit the door the weather worsened and they bombarded by a large vortex which blew against them. This was going to make hitting harder so that meant Mars would need to use more of the Alpha Force to keep his speed going in the face of such powerful wind. When S'tann ordered him to jump and break down the door, Mars instantly leaped off of the dragon. He treated it like a snap in football and when the Quarter Back snapped the ball then every moved instantly. Mars' body was now surrounded in bright red energy from the Alpha Zone and using the power he charged through the high winds at the door with superhuman speed.

"Knock Knock!" he shouted and pulled back his arm with his right fist clenched. He tensed up his muscles as his right arm glowed brightly from building up energy in that specific part of his body for one massive hit to the base's door. In perfect movement Mars punched the door, hitting the metal and concrete with an insane amount of concussive force and thanks to some blast from Mari the materiel was now weaker against the impact of his hit. The force of the blow made the door shatter into countless pieces and most of what was left of the door crumbled away. This was sure to instantly get the attention of their opponents and Mars liked a good flashy entrance.

"Mars is in the house!"



Jason was taken a bit bit surprise when Nora made a flash of flames appear close to his head and he jumped away in shock. When he realized who it was that caused him Jason gave her an angry glare. It looked like someone wasn't taking this villain thing seriously. As usual the hero community was full of morally ridged people and it's no wonder villains got away with so much death and destruction.

"I am getting in character of how to act like a villain, it is important that we understand our enemies and how they think if we hope to prevent more unnecessary death and pain" he said angrily at the girl and gripped his spear tightly. He then heard Aiden order them to all come back to the entrance and bring the hostages with them in plans to make the place a potential death trap. He then explained about his plans to threaten torture against the hostages if their opponents didn't back down. That's also when he heard the door burst apart from a powerful hit and Jason knew that it was now time for action.

"Let's go kick some hero ass Squad" he said and prepared himself for the attack.

Everything seemed really calm for the moment. That was if you were still on the inside. There was mostly still planning and relaxing going on. Kieran had made his way over to the sample crates while everyone else was moving into their positions. He picked up one and walked over to Julian to look at the holographic map of the compound. It was best for him to know where he needed to go with these things especially with Freddie doing his thing. After getting a good look at the map he nodded to Julian and sped off before he called for Kyle.

He figured that it would be best to do this job as quickly as possible so that he could help out the others and not waste time and energy. He'd need the latter for the members of ASS that would surely be coming his way. It didn't take him long to reach the northwest exit of the compound, but that's when he stopped his tracks. He heard the then unknown roar resonating through the center. He knew for sure that Mailsi wasn't the cause. Hers was more of a shrieking scream than a roar. He didn't want to wait there any longer to find out what caused that.

Kieran continued his run towards the helicopter and dropped off the crate. "That was... incredibly easy." Aiden spoke through the commlinks right after that. He was right. They were still more or less acting like heroes. The first attack on the research facility had been launched. He could feel the shaking all the way near the helicopter. He even made sure to hold onto it so that it wouldn't fall over. Fortunately it was in the center and wasn't near the edge. He didn't want to risk the battle causing the Helicopter to crash and burn around them. So the plan now was to detonate the explosives at the front of the facility. That'd give the heroes an explosive awakening.

When Aiden told everyone to head back to where they came in from he replied through his comm, "I'm on my way." Although they were supposed villains the thought of taking a page out of the Joker's handbook of villainy wasn't a comforting one.

Rita

Rita had waited for the others to move out before she took action. They all sprung into the fray in their own way, but the most spectacular of them all was the Martian, whom turned himself into a mighty dragon, the thing of myths and legends. Looking at the dragon, amazed for but a moment, she remembered it was the Martian boy, and her feeling of awe quickly dispersed, leaving only her mission – her urge for a fight. Rita kneeled and put her hand against the ground, before leaping into the sky, making the ground but a small dot under her as she leaped several hundred meters into the sky. Landing on the wall of a mountain with such force as to cause a avalanche that could be seen from the facility. Her hand grabbed into the ice, feeling the cold against her skin – she couldn't get frostbitten, but it wasn't a great feeling, regardless. How the fuck does this thing work?” Rita throught, before shooting off from the ice ridge, hurling herself towards the roof of the lab, only visible to her because of the . She could have gone for Freddie, as she imagined he'd be positioned somewhere high. She knew the tactical advantage of taking out the metrokinetic – but she wasn't interested. She was in this session to prove to herself, and everyone else that you don't have to have an S on your shield to be the strongest.

She landed on the wall of the facility, feeling her body crash against it, her hands digging into the wall thanks to her incredible strength. She quickly scaled the wall, burying her hands everytime she did, leaving a clear trail behind her. As she reached the top of the building, she lunged, throwing herself into the air, at least ten meter, she saw the helicopter on the loading bay, on the far side of the whole damn place. She landed on the roof with a heavy thud, turning around, she saw Frederick standing behind her on the roof. She stood up from her landing on one knee, and gave him the finger. She smirked, signaling to him that he should probably not be here any longer. After she had greeted the boy, she shot off towards the helicopter, seeing a dark blur going to the vehicle, and then back inside.

It was too dark to be the speedster – it had to be the kryptonian, she figured. She crashed onto the roof, walking over to the helicopter, she grabbed a hold of the rotor at the back, and with a grunt lifted the helicopter off of the roof, spinning around, throwing it into the sky as far as she could, out into the blizzard. After, she looked around, and made decided that the best entrance would be through the roof. Leaping onto the roof again.

Tapping her ear. “I took care of the samples. On the roof now, I'll crash down on their fuckin' heads.” Rita mentioned, heading towards the locked door, tearing the lock off and lifting the door of it's hinghes, tossing it behind her with ease. Cracking her knuckles, she looked around, hoping to find the Kryptonian inside.

***

Julian

Kyle said that Julian wouldn't need to hack anything, Kyle could just shortcircuit the servers, and Julian nodded. “Yeah, that's why you're perfect for this. You'll take out the servers, and we can join the battle afterwards. I wanna see how your suppressed powers work in action, so I can run diagnostics to come up with a less.. Medieval solution.” Julian nodded, Aiden spoke before the Duo left the rooms, telling his plan to Julian, whom smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I thought about that, too. I wondered why this scenario features the Suicide Squad, over say, Injustice League, or the Secret Society, heck, even Royal Flush Gang would make more sense.” He responded to Aiden. Activating the PR Systems both inside and outside the compound. “HEROES, IT IS I, LUTHOR, YOUR OVERLORD.” Julian nodded at Kyle with a almost childish-grin, he was doing his best impression of his 'father''s voice.

“YOU BEST LEAVE THE FACILITY AND SURRENDER AT ONCE, MY MINIONS WILL NOT PULL ANY PUNCHES. YOU ENTER, WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO HURT THE HOSTAGES.” While he spoke, he hacked into the wireless receiver for the explosives and rigged them to explode, bringing the entrance down on the A.S.S squad's heads, if they would heed his warning.

After he did that, he looked over at Aiden, again. “You know, the SS initiative was Waller's off the books operation starting out. They did a lot of missions off the books. They were sponsored by rogue agencies within the government, but also.. other benefactors.” Julian said, pulling up files of old Squad access codes from the Lexcorp database. “I figured that Stewart wouldn't use an old password, but I'm sure he didn't change the encryption key.” Tapping at the keys on his holographic keyboard, emitting from his arm, he was uploading the decryption key. “Upload complete” the glove let out in a monotone voice. “You, me and Kyle, Roth, can no longer get our necks blown.” Julian said. “Others I couldn't access from here, and we're running out of time with the servers. Martian's already attacking, and I'm sure others are quick to follow.”

Julian nodded at Kyle, picking up the steel briefcase and heading towards the stairs that lead to the server room. It was electrically locked. Julian glanced at his friend. “You wanna lend me a hand?” Julian asked with a grin, once the doors were opened, Julian held his arm out in front of Kyle, stopping before the entrance of the room. “Checking for traps.” he mentioned.

His arm let out a noise as the doors in the front were blown to smiterines. A grin appeared on his face, when he pressed a button on his arm, and a loud explosion could be heard coming from the entrance. “Here's hoping they're smarter than they look.” Julian said, a little surprised with just how easy it was for him to play the part of a villain.

The room was clear for booby traps, heading towards the computers, he began tapping on the keyboard, extending a usb-cord from his arm into the computer allowed him direct access to the firewall, and he began cracking it. Once he was through the first terminal, he cursed. “Turns out Stewart did plan ahead. This entire room is protected from electromagnetic attacks. Your powers won't work on this.” Julian informed, still tearing through firewall after firewall, it wasn't difficult for him to get through the security – they all used the same encryption, problem was that he had to manually do it one at a time, and there were over 20 servers in the room.

Before he could even begin his warding, Casey was interrupted by another member of the Suicide Squad’s hostage team. Honestly Casey couldn’t say he recognised the guy who had spoken to him, although his Hawaiian complexion and his funky looking staff made him assume that the guy was some kind of Aquaman rip-off. Needless to say, Casey wasn’t initially impressed. What could this guy do? Talk to fish? Throw a spear? Pathetic. To make matters worse, the goon was just casually walking around with his soda.

“Nah, it’ll just be anything not in this room.” Casey casually replied as he began to rub his hands together, preparing to cast the enchantment.

He cast his spell, quickly and efficiently, muttering the ancient fey incantation under his breath as he waved his things out in front of him. For a second, a faint hum resonated around the room, originating for his fingertips. Then, silence. Well other than the buffoons that Casey reluctantly had to refer to as his teammates.

That was when his love for the Hawaiian surfer began, who proceeded to turn towards the hostages and inform the “shitheads” what he’d do if any of them made a sound. The comment amused Casey, who had assumed that everyone in the school was aiming to be the world’s next big hero. By the sound of it, this guy had other plans, which Casey highly admired. Obviously he’d have to sort out his whole look. Maybe get something more threatening that a highly decorated tree branch.

Surfer Dude’s comments were soon cut off by Nora. Oh, Casey certainly knew exactly who Nora was. The girl was essentially a supernatural tracking system. The girl could know exactly where he was at any given time, and if Casey’s assumptions were correct, the girl was devil spawn. It was fairly obvious, especially with the hellfire she was always spewing. It honestly scared him sometimes. Especially since she could be a really killjoy sometimes, which often resulted in her ceasing Casey’s shenanigans if the girl didn’t deem them to be “heroic”. Like now it would seem, as Nora began to criticize the Hawaiian’s threatening language towards the hostages, informing him to behave more seriously. Jeez, who put the stick up her ass?

Casey began to smirk as the surfer began to argue with the walking GPS, only for his smile to fade once his communicator burst into life to the sound of Aiden’s voice. Casey nodded understandably as he spoke, forgetting for a second that Aiden wasn’t actually with them. Nevertheless, Casey had to agree that the plan was a solid one! Turning this place into one huge death-trap was genius. The faerie was honestly disappointed that he hadn’t thought of it himself. This was just what Anarky would have done.

What more, Julien had turned on the intercom. Casey giggled and clapped his hands in glee as the son of Luthor bellowed through the mic, his voice ringing with the same terror and villainy as his old man had done frequently before. It was honestly just perfect! Maybe being a supervillain was the right choice after all?
Before Casey could even think about moving the prisoners back to where they had entered like Aiden had instructed, a short bang could be heard from down the corridor, signalling that the A.S.S. Squad had arrived. What followed was a shout from everyone’s least favourite knucklehead, Mars. Casey cursed loudly. As much as the guy was a moron, he was still powerful. Certainly more powerful than everyone in the room. However that didn’t seem to stop Mr. Hawaii, who seemed to be up to face his death. Before Casey had a chance to inform him of how stupid it would be for him to charge the humanised ape with his spear, it would seem that Mars had triggered Julien’s booby trap.

The sound of the explosions echoed throughout the research base. The front of the research centre lurched in slightly as the pillars on the lower levels collapsed, causing dust and debris to go everywhere. Even Casey felt the blast from where he was stood in the centre of the building, stumbling forward slightly.

“Was…was certainly not expecting that!” He exclaimed loudly, taking in a deep breath. Once he had briefly recovered, the fairy boy pranced over to the door, peering down the corridor. Rubble and debris lay everywhere. Unfortunately the blast hadn’t entirely sealed off the corridor, with small gaps just large enough for a couple of people to clamber through remaining clear. Either way, they had some time on their hands before any of them were getting through. Enough time perhaps, to move the hostages.

On that thought, Casey turned to his fellow team members. “You heard Aiden, we need to get these slabs of meat back to where we came in!” He shouted, attempting put on a commanding tone of voice for his teammates.

At once he moved forward, grabbing the arms of two of the hostages and pulling them up off of the floor where they had been perched. They moved pretty much effortlessly, despite the sounds of panic and terror they seemed to emit. Pushing them forward, Casey helped the others round up the group of hostages, shepherding them towards the door.

“Nora, you and me with take up the rear.” Casey instructed, giving her a crafty. “I’ll try and leave a trail of pixie dust behind us, but if that doesn’t do shit, blast them. Especially S’tann!”

Mailsi knew the instant the plan went down the tube. It wasn't when Rita hit the roof, chucked the helicopter and couldn't find Kieran. It wasn't when Mars hit the doors and they exploded. It wasn't even when Julian pulled his Lex Luthor impression and warded them off. Though Mailsi had hoped they would make it there soon enough that they weren't that prepared. It wasn't when Federick changed his fog into a blizzard. No, it had been when S'tann turned into a dragon.

Sure, it would get them there faster. They had all clung on like burrs. But as they flew she considered the group they were against. And the people who composed their own group. Their plan was hit them hard and fast. They had quite a few individuals on their team that were perfect for the plan. But when it started falling apart they'd need flexible thinking. And they'd need it fast.

As they entered the blizzard and Julian announced his intention to blow the front entrance, Mailsi mentally groaned, but had been prepared for the first in the series of things that are going to go wrong. Mars hadn't even hesitated and ended up in the middle of the explosion, not that he could have known the front was rigged to explode. As she dropped from S'tann she considered radioing Mars to see if he was okay, but instead concentrated on her travelling ability. She had no desire to hit the ground full force.

By the time Mailsi made it to the roof Rita was gone inside the fortress. Mailsi took a moment to catch her breath. The cold no longer affected her that badly since she turned into her Silver Banshee form. Magic was wonderful sometimes. Mailsi chuckled as she laid a supporting hand on the nearest wall. Too bad chucking the helicopter into the snow didn't count as a goal. Mailsi took the moment to speak over the comms. Julian probably already had them compromised, but she didn't care if Kieran knew she was coming.

Hey S'tann. Kieran's on the move. You got his location? Unlike Rita, Mailsi had no inclination to wonder about and hope to come across someone. Not in a place that looked like her Uncle's castle. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine she was there. Could feel the evil of the place through the soles of her shoes. Or that just might be the cold.


Kyle blinked as Julian agreed with him. Agreed that it was better if Kyle ruined the systems. Kyle didn't even care that Julian basically saw it as a science experiment. He couldn't help but mentally preen a little bit. Even after his friend got distracted by Aiden. Kyle was still too busy to pay attention to Aiden. Though when Julian's voice boomed over the speaker system he snapped back to the situation at hand. Just in time to return the impish look Julian was giving him.

Kyle and Julian set off. He even paid attention to the impromptu lecture about the Suicide Squad. He was suitably impressed with Julian's techno-wizardry. Of course, even using a cell phone was beyond his comprehension. Part of that was his own fault. He never cared to learn, more out of a childish petulance. Still, it was nice to learn they wouldn't have to live through a simulation of their heads exploding. He shivered at the thought and tried to cover it up by using the cold as an excuse.

Then they were at a door. Kyle pulled off his gloves and pressed his bare hands to the lock. He then pulled the door open with ease. He tried to step through but was stopped by Julian.

"Checking for traps.”

Kyle blinked then stepped back. "Good idea." Though there didn't appear to be any since Julian just swanned into the room like he owned it. He ran a bare hand over a computer Julian wasn't using. He heard the older teen say the place was protected from Kyle. Kyle watched Julian hack until he got bored, then he went back to poking at the computers that still worked under his touch. Apparently today was a day for marvels. For a long moment he had forgotten about the earlier incidents with Blondie and with Julian.

Kyle sighed as another computer rebuffed him from doing anything but poking at buttons and getting an access denied screen. He turned back to Julian. "I'm feeling kind of useless here. Sure there isn't anything I can do? Maybe if we get to the inside of the stuff and pull wires?" He had only a vague idea what he was talking about. But standing around was getting so boring.

Everything went to hell in a hand basket rather quickly. Freddie caused his fog bank to dissipate, leaving the Squadron exposed as S'tann unloaded Jack and explained the extent of the plan to the rest of the team. Probably a poor choice of hiding places, but hindsight is 20/20. Luckily, it seemed that the rest of the Suicide Squad was preoccupied; which left All-Star enough time to take off. But they weren't off the hook just yet. The wind began to pick up; its speed increasing as snow was flung about by the growing vortex. The Martian Boy's flight pattern was thrown off almost immediately by Freddie's storm. "Hold on!" S'tann warned. The dragon's massive body was tossed about by the violent, freezing air currents, threatening to tear the passengers off before they reached their objective. Legacy strained with all of his might to fight the power of the blizzard. It took everything he had to keep from going into a corkscrew and crashing into the side of the laboratory; leaving little room for fine motor control. S'tann loosed another roar, shoving his wings down with all of his might. The dragon's flight path was momentarily corrected, leaving Mars just barely enough time to take out the door. Mari saw S'tann's struggle and thankfully intervened, firing off starbolts into the door to weaken the metal and concrete construct.

To the meathead's credit, he can do one thing right: hit things. Really fucking hard.

The massive steel door shattered under the force of the superhuman's punch. S'tann ceased his struggle against the force of nature outside, tumbling inside the castle with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop. The shapeshifting alien crashed into the stone floor and cracked it with the force of his fall. S'tann absorbed as much of the impact as he could and kept his passengers relatively safe. The beast's gigantic body shrunk rapidly. Scales, skin and bone cracked and melted as the Martian returned to his normal state. His body ejected all of the extra energy he'd absorbed, shooting it off into the air in the form of background microwave radiation. S'tann bent over, his hands firmly planted on his knees as he struggled to take in the necessary oxygen required to stay conscious. Shapeshifting burned a hell of a lot of calories in a very short span of time; without his enhanced alien physiology, S'tann would have gone in to shock from the pain and exhaustion. But S'tann S'tonn was no mere human.

Legacy glanced around at the rest of the team. They were all in different states of readiness; some were more prepared for this than others. He mentally weighed his options, wondering what adjustments should be made to the plan. He'd seen Rita and Mailsi take off for the roof; obviously going after the Kryptonian. Mars and Mari looked pumped and ready to brawl. Amethyst appeared as flustered as ever; not a change from her normal demeanor. Fenris, Richard, Sugar and Raphael were-

Luthor's voice blared over the intercom, halting the Martian's line of thought. His generic villain monologue brought a smirk to S'tann's face. Julian had a way with satire that Martian Boy couldn't deny. "If he thinks-" S'tann started, but found himself interrupted once more. But this time by explosives and a collapsing roof.

Move, S'tann. Move!

Legacy's body shifted and transformed at a rate faster than what he'd consider safe. He formed what appeared to be a giant green tarp, flying over top the most human members of All-Star Squadron. The ones he thought would be injured by the falling debris. S'tann wrapped his body around Fenris, Raphael, Richard, Amethyst, and Mars. He would have grabbed Sugar too, but her ghost (or whatever the hell it is) seemed to have that under control. Chunks of stone and enormous pillars slammed into the Martian's exposed form. The Martian waited until the torrent of sound and pain ceased before letting himself breathe. He took on a more malleable form, pushing against the pile of rock that threatened to crush him. S'tann cleared as much of the debris as he could before returning to normal form and falling to his knees. His pain was beyond simulated now; he knew there were a few bruises in his rib cage now. But there wasn't time to rest. He needed to keep moving; keep his team moving.

"Mari?" S'tann called, shoving himself to his feet. "You still breathing?" His ear buzzed and Silver Banshee's voice echoed through his bleeding brain. "Yeah. Yeah. He's..." Legacy took a deep breathe, scanning for Kieran's psychic location. A short migraine later, S'tann responded. "He's moving towards the center of the facility at super speeds. But you and Rita might be able to intercept him if you hurry. Sending you a telepathic picture of his location; I'll try to update it whenever I can." S'tann turned towards the rest of the team, helping them dig out Sugar and Mari as best he could. To be honest, the Martian didn't know how much he had left. He was battered and exhausted; in no condition to fight a 100% Keiran, that much was certain. But he needed to keep moving. Just...keep moving. "Sugar. Take your team and get to the hard drives. Maybe there's still time to complete those side objectives. The rest of us will make a go for the hostages; you too, Richard. I don't think you'll be able to catch up with the girls and Kent. We'll need the help anyway." S'tann mentioned, placing a tender hand on his visibly bruised side.

It was a silent message, but a clear one. Martian Boy wasn't doing too hot.

"I am getting in character of how to act like a villain," Jason said angrily. Nora rolled her eyes and folded her arms in front of her. "It is important that we understand our enemies and how they think if we hope to prevent more unnecessary death and pain." She might have admitted that last statement actually made sense... if she didn't already believe the boy was a total tool. Honestly how was anyone suppose to see the boy as a threat when he's got a spear in one hand and a soda in the other?

Aiden's voice came over the communicator. Nora couldn't argue that he seemed to be a natural leader. But, just when she was feeling more at ease, just when she had begun to compose herself-- "...we need to take a page out of the Joker's hand book." Obviously, the young man had never met the Joker or he would never had said that. Nora hadn't personally met the Clown Prince either, but being a Gothamite she was no stranger to the villain's psychosis. How could he even think of saying such a thing?! The Joker was a monster plain and simple. A monster to be feared, not emulated.

Before Nora could give the young man a piece of her mind, the son of Lex Luthor happily followed Aiden's orders. The curly ginger used the facility's intercom system to warn off the All-Stars and to threaten the hostages. The explosion that followed not a moment later made Nora realize, as she fought to maintain her balance during the shaking of the floor, that Julian made good on that threat. She sincerely hoped no one was seriously injured.

Casey, the little green imp, seemed quite gleeful to take up the role of a super villain. No longer assigned to protect the hostages, the little goblin did as he was ordered by young Mister Roth. “You heard Aiden," Casey shouted, "we need to get these slabs of meat back to where we came in!” The green-haired gremlin put some base in his voice to sound commanding, but it just made sound like Jason. Like a tool. “Nora, you and me with take up the rear," Casey said with a wicked smile. She in turn quirked her brown. “I’ll try and leave a trail of pixie dust behind us, but if that doesn’t do shit, blast them. Especially S’tann!”

Nora placed her hands upon the curve of her hips. She tried to place herself inside Aiden's head attempting to figure out his new plan. The girl was neither a strategist nor a mind reader so she could not figure out what the upper classman had up his sleeve. As she mulled it over Nora came to the conclusion that so far the team hadn't been doing a good job. Now that she took a moment to think about Nora believed more effort should have been placed on making sure the helicopter took off safely. She really didn't agree with placing the hostages all in one place either. Maybe spreading them throughout the facility would have been a better option. But, Nora was not the leader or rather a co-leader of the Squad nor did she want to be in charge. Neither was there time to make a suggestion Nora thought. The All-Stars were on their way.

Looking at Casey while activating her communicator Nora addressed her team. "Maybe I should stay behind. Just in case the All-Stars come through this way. Maybe along with Casey's pixie dust I can help give you enough time to set up... whatever it is you're wanting to do. And, maybe I'll get a shot at Martian Boy too. If not then at least you'll still have Andrew."

---

---

As the door exploded, Mari was blown from the sky. Debris and rubble rained from the sky, swatting Mari out of the air like an insect as she found herself falling inside the structure through what used to be the main floor. Her eyes glowed green as Mari fired star bolts out of her hands, breaking up the large pieces of the former roof falling towards her. Hitting the ground with a solid THUD, Mari felt the wind leave her chest as pieces of debris began to bury her.

_"Mari?" S'tann's voice seemed so far away as Mari's eyes fluttered in and out of consciousness. "You still breathing?"

With a heavy grunt, Mari pushed through the rubble coming back up to stand on her own two feet before moaning in pain. "I didn't know you cared S'tann." She replied with a smirk. "I'm in the fuckin' belly of the facility, not quite sure how I ended up fuckin' down here though. I imagine I could go on from here though?" Mari said as she raised a hand and illuminated the space around her. Broken class canisters nearly seven feet tall lined either side of the room. As the dust settled, the smell of the room began to infiltrate her nostrils, the odours of formaldehyde and other medical fluids overwhelming her senses.

Limping along, Mari looked around her. Blood was splattered on the walls sending a shiver down Mari's spine as her stomach turned.

"What did they fuckin' use this place for?" She muttered as she continued to walk along the hallways.

---

---

"Someone is in the basement." Aiden stated as he stared at Julian's console. "Several others made it past the explosion, Julian do you have any other tricks here?" He asked looking towards the command console. Suddenly an alarm went off as the helicopter was destroyed prompting Aiden to furrow his brow with extreme frustration. "Who got the helicopter? That was our bonus marks." Smashing his fist down on the console, Aiden looked around as his eyes glowed red briefly before he forced back the beams of heat. Dragging on of the simulated hostages away from the others, Aiden stretched the man's arm out and placed it on the console. Activating a facility wide broadcast, Aiden and his hostage appeared on the screens as he looked towards the camera.

"This is your last warning. Back off now or the lives of these men and women are on your heads." With his final words, Aiden turned his head away from the camera as a brilliant vermillion beam ejected from his eyes, the man screaming in horrified pain as the command center was filled with the smell of burning flesh. Falling to the ground, the hostage whimpered like a kicked dog as he held his cauterized stump against his chest.

"Get out now." Aiden snarled before shutting off the broadcast.

Everything was fun and games. Heating up Rick’s shoes, tagging along as they underwent their task, watching as S’tann flew in as a freaking epic dragon, his group in tow; Andy did it all in good spirits. But then came the broadcast, and everything went red.

Aiden and his hostage appeared on the screens as he looked towards the camera.

"This is your last warning. Back off now or the lives of these men and women are on your heads." With his final words, Aiden turned his head away from the camera as a brilliant vermillion beam ejected from his eyes, the man screaming in horrified pain as the command centre was filled with the smell of burning flesh. Falling to the ground, the hostage whimpered like a kicked dog as he held his cauterized stump against his chest.

"Get out now." Aiden snarled before shutting off the broadcast.

Andy couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This was his teammate, attending the same school that he was – a school for heroes – willingly torturing an innocent to get a point across. All logic and reason left Andy’s mind as he felt himself heat up, an orange glow illuminating the veins beneath his skin, a low growl escaping his throat. “Is he out of his MIND?!” he roared. What the hell was Aiden thinking? That was an innocent. An innocent.

Andy felt the heat coursing through him, scorching, and angry; eyes widening, he realised that not only had he increased his body temperature in his outrage, but that he’d also unconsciously summoned flames into his hands. Taking a deep breath, Andy forced himself to calm down. The mission came first.

He would give a piece of his mind later.

Mailsi rolled her shoulders as Kieran's location came to her via telepathy. She hated telepaths, but she couldn't really complain. She had asked for it after all. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to teleport. She was just about to activate her powers when a broadcast came over the facility. Mailsi still held herself on the edge of teleporting but waited to watch the message.

It was grisly. It had been too long since she had watched someone get maimed. Still, she knew it was fake and that took out a lot of horror for the situation. Though the utter realism of the session still turned her stomach. It was a good show and the message was simple. Mailsi ignored the little barely audible voice in the back of her head. It whispered to her that thy should press in. That now was their chance. They had the other team on the defensive. They were only showboating because Mailsi's team had the upper hand. If Mailsi kept on the pressure they'd win, what were a few holographic hostages? It wasn't like this was real.

Mailsi triggered her comms, not waiting for S'tann or to even discuss this with him. Their fast was too slow. It was time to fall back.

"We're retreating. Meet up with us outside the base. If you need directions, bug S'tann." Mailsi took a deep breath and changed again. She might call her ability teleportation, but it wasn't. It was travelling along sound waves at the speed of sound. Despite looking like a duck and quacking like a duck, it wasn't a duck.

Within milliseconds of teleporting Mailsi appeared at the front of the base. The damage here was worse than she had realized. And she was more than a little surprised to see S'tann looking like death warmed over.

"Everyone okay?" Mailsi eyed S'tann's side, but spared everyone else a glance. Mailsi suppressed the shiver as the cold hit her harder after her little teleportation stunt. I am a pillar. I am immovable. Mailsi mentally chanted. I will hold us together.

"Who's buried?"

---

ELIGIUS PLAUTIUS Star City; Corrigan School for

---

There were voices, and bright lights. A crackling sound. It was hot, probably too hot, but the boy was otherwise unaffected. His vision was blurred, and he couldn't make out the shape that was moving in front of him; the one making the noise. He was soon lifted into the air, and soon the world around him became darker, the only light being the crackling heat that sustained from before. He could feel a great force pushing him in one direction, and the air resisting from the other. The battle of strength was won by the force pushing, however, and the boy felt the temperature rise and rise, before suddenly plumetting back to the heat that had first surpised him in the first place. As he grew more and more, he soon learned that it was fire, and he had just entered the Earth's atmosphere. He'd come from his home planet, Dominus Temporis, and was now plummetting straight to Earth. His knowledge increased as he grew, until he finally stopped, learning his name - Eligius Plautius, known to be Sam, and destined to be Prophis. Now if he could just process--

There was a thump as a large fireball made a crater in the center of the grounds of the Corrigan School for Advanced Learning and Development. A tall, human-looking being lay unconscious in the middle of it, unscathed and slightly glowing a pale gold, as the last hair on his head grew. Unbeknownst to him, his arrival would make quite the headline on campus...



Despite him being unconscious, Sam was still able to make out the faint noise of voices, however they sounded distant.

"I told you we should have stopped that thing when we saw it, dad. Now the entire school is going to think we had something to do with this."

"Logan, get out of there - the ring isn't able to scan it. We don't know what we're dealing with."

"Riiiiiiiiight, he looks really dangerous, doesn't he?"

As he felt something impact with his cheek, Eligius' eyes snapped open, glowing the same golden hue that was coming off his body. The figure in front of him spoke again.

"Come on man, wake your ass up."

On instinct, he grabbed the person's arm, breathing fast.

"W-where am I?"

He looked around frantically, at all the shapes he could barely make out. His vision was blurred, and he was confused. There were so many questions, but he could barely speak to get them out. All he could do was stare at everything around him, and try to take it all in. The taller figure spoke to the gathering of figures around the area.

"Everyone stay back, we're handling this."

Sam was all too confused with everything that was going on, but nonetheless listened to the person as they answered his question, before kindly helping him up. According to them, he was at a place called Corrigan, for people with superpowers. He noticed other people getting closer to the scene, and finally managed to make out the appearance of the person in front of him as his vision became clear. They were male, and looked roughly 18 years of age, with slighly blueish skin and a green suit, matched with a green domino mask that displayed his deep, purple eyes. An older looking man, in a slightly altered white version of the getup, jumped down into the crater, creating what seemed like a white forcefield around the three. He was less friendly, however, as he glared into the Domini's eyes and demanded to know his name. However, the younger man immediately protested.

"Dad he probably doesn't really feel like talking right now."

The older man seemed to be unhappy with this phrase, as the two exchanged looks, before the older man completely disregarded the statement, and repeated his question.

"I repeat, who are you?"

Eligius decided to answer, upon fear of the worst.

"Eligius Plautius." He hesitated, before adding, "S-Sam."

"Alright Sam, let's get you out of here. Dad, let the shield down - even if he was a threat I doubt he could do much in this condition." The younger man replied. The father grunted and the white energy field disappeared. "My name's Logan, this is my dad." The younger man said, before helping Sam to his feet.

"You really aren't good at the whole secret identity thing, are you, son?" The man in the white getup crossed his arms and stared at the other two as Logan then helped Eligius out of the large crater that the Domini had supposedly created. The crowd of people was huge by now, but had dissipated in areas as Sam noticed people running off to others that were caught in the mishap. And now he had time to take in the surroundings, Sam noticed multiple large buildings behind them, making up a large square, or triangle, of sorts. There were students running around, shouting about something called a power outage. He suspected that it would be dotted with many more students, had they not all flocked to the scene within mere minutes.

"I'm so sorry about the people caught up in my, uh, unexpected landing. And if I caused this "power outage" people are shouting about."

As far as punishments went, Eligius feared the worst.

Kieran smiled when he heard Julian over the intercom. The guy was really getting into the whole villain aspect of the session. Even if it was a bit over the type. His acting needed some improvements and Kieran definitely wasn't a minion. Then the explosions came. He could even hear them from where he was. That wasn't a big feat for him considering how acute his sense of hearing was. He continued to run, this time regularly, through the facility. That explosion should have changed the game for the villains right there. If not he was sure they had something up their sleeves that they were ready to pull out.

Kieran however stopped in his tracks when he heard Aiden in the com link. Someone had already gotten the helicopter? "Dammit. I can't leave anything alone for five seconds." He hadn't expected them to get there that soon or even use routes other than bombarding the front entrance. Maybe the heroes did have a tactical mindset. He had planned to immediately run to stop whoever got the helicopter, but he was interrupted by Aiden's broadcast. There wasn't a viewable screen near him, but he didn't need to see it to know what Aiden was doing. The words, the sounds, and Kieran's imagination was just enough. He understood that they had to act like villains, but it was possible that Aiden was taking it a little too far even if these hostages weren't real. That scream... it felt real. That would hopefully be enough to get the heroes out of the facility. They wouldn't go against what a hero would do and actually risk lives? Even if they were only simulated ones, right?

He sighed and shook his head before speeding back the way he came. Just in case he was wrong he had to make sure that he wasn't risking someone coming in and taking advantage of an opening. Kieran reminded himself to thank Rao for his abilities when he was able to see Rita coming up. Due to his enhanced vision it was more than easy to spot her out. This moment was something he was more than looking forward to. Besides S'tann she was one of the people that he wanted to fight the most and here he was provided with the ultimate opportunity. "Let's welcome her with a speed blitz." He thought to himself before speeding himself up and sticking out his left arm to start his attack with an arm to her neck.

In the computer room, with Kyle and Aiden, the hacking was tracking on slowly. "Brute forcing this isn't working as well as I'd like. Aiden, I'm all out of tricks. We'll need to fight the so called heroes." Julian told Aiden, walking over to the computers again. "Kyle, be ready to fry these computers when I tell you. I'll take down the EMP shielding." He promised.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a password to find." Julian said, bopping the holographic keyboards on his arm. The blue display turned red, and a almost decade old tune started playing from out of one of the gadgets he carried in his belt. Was a miniature speaking capable of processing 225 Decibel truly necessary? Yes. Yes it was. He needed to access the Lexcorp files. There was no way this was a testing facility that didn't have ties to CADMUS and the Lexcorp. A heavy sigh came when his mind reached the thoughts of his father. It was only hours since he had been in Metropolis, laying him to rest, and yet, it felt like forever. Using every trick he ever knew, within two minutes he found the password, and rumbling from outside of the room -fighting, certainly let him know it was just in time.

With a loud sigh, as the song came to an end Julian pushed the final button. "All right. I copied the files into Proctor Stewarts own email account. He's gonna be a little upset about those 6 Terabytes of Data I just dumped. Especially since they were all useless information. We're the villains, right?" Julian said, with a slight smirk. "All right, Kyle. Shields are down, fry it. I'll get rearmed." Julian said, opening up the steel briefcase he had placed at his feet previously.

Pressing the biometric lock on his shoulder, the light arm came off, as he pulled up the much bigger, heavier arm. The Electromagnetic technology made the arm find it's own place on his shoulder, all he had to do was hold it there, it clicked into place and after taking a few seconds to calibrate to his nervous system, the arm was fully combat ready. Putting the other arm back in the briefcase, Julian nodded for the two to head for the exit.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.



She had been quiet, she swore she did her best. Like sneaking in after a night at the clubs during her freshman year. But, apparently, that hadn't been enough, when she heard the superspeeding steps coming towards her. It wasn't the Allen kid, he didn't have the balls. And Hawklady would be flying. No, it had to be the Kryptoninan. Rita's lips curled into a smile, a smile that quickly faded once the blue streak clotheslined her in the face, sending her flying through the other wall. Skidding several times, Rita came to a halt when her index finger could grasp the ground. Tearing up the steel flooring as she slowed down. "That's all you got, Superbrat?!" Rita shouted, mocking the Kryptonian. "Come on, methheads on Venom hit harder than that!"

He was faster - sure, but did he actually know how to fight?

---

---

The sound of Marilyn Manson's cover of 'This Is Hallowe'en' woke Mariand'r Grayson from her bed with a start. Sitting up in her bed, she groaned as the pain from her bruised ribs over took her body before she steadied herself. Despite the A.R.C. session being completely computer generated, that didn't stop the pain from being any less real.

The session itself had ended when a power outage had been triggered across the campus. Apparently an alien had fallen from the sky causing quite a commotion across the campus. It was probably for the best, it seemed that more than half of the 'All Star Squadron' had lost confidence when the 'Suicide Squad' detonated the first bomb. Add to that Aiden's sudden psychotic break and no one seemed to want to challenge him. With the simulation suspended until Stewart could reschedule their group in, Mari found herself with time to heal up and rest. Well at least until later today, Mari wouldn't openly admit it but she was actually looking forward to losing herself in the generic beats and overly manufactured music of the dance that evening. She had even planned out a costume for that evening, now all she had to do was pretend to allow Freddie to convince her to come with him.

Of course since it was Friday, Mari still had classes to attend. With a graon of both pain and general annoyance at having to get up, Mari climbed out of bed before pulling a pair of shorts on to grant her some modesty. Quickly showering, she threw on an outfit and rushed out of the dorm dodging the black and orange balloons before bursting through the doors and into the air. Landing softly outside of the mess hall, Mari made her way inside, grabbing a waffle and loading it up with whipped cream and fresh fruit before grabbing a table. Hopefully Freddie would be along shortly.

Looking around the mess hall, people had already changed into their costumes. It was kind of funny to see people in costumes even though as members of the superhero world and Batman's granddaughter at that, Mari should have been used to the site of people dressed in such a way as to hide their identity. Shoving a fork full of waffle into her mouth, Mari couldn't help but notice how flavourful and delicious food was when it didn't turn her hung over stomach. In fact, Mari hadn't had a drink since the night before the A.R.C. session, she hoped to change that before the dance tonight. Pulling out her phone, Mari quickly wrote a text and sent it to Freddie.


Hopefully that would get his attention, she thought to herself as she dragged a finger through the whipped cream on her waffled before cleaning it off in her mouth. Feeling in a slightly talkative mood, Mari looked around the mess hall to see if there was someone else around she tolerated that she could correspond with while waiting for Freddie. Noticing a familiar face, she raised her hand in a wave to get their attention.

Corrigan Rec Center
October 31st, 2025
9:55 AM

The sound of flesh impacting against metal reverberated across the Recreational Center's fitness section. S'tann had sneaked (read: phased) inside yesterday after his classes, his mind stuck on the A.R.C Session and his failure as a leader. He'd spent the last thirteen or so hours pushing his body to the absolute limit. There is success to be found in adversity, after all. The Martian's fist collided with the metahuman punching bag, knocking the thirty ton hunk of metal backwards with the force of his hits. Sweat dripped from his jade jaw line, staining his Martian robes in salt water. S'tann had under performed. He could have done so much more for the team. Even with half of them hesitating, refusing to go on even before the power outage, S'tann could have doubled down and taken out the Suicide Squad. Well. He could at the very least have tried. S'tonn took a step back, unleashing a butterfly kick on the defenseless device. The machine swung up, slammed into the ceiling and cracked the concrete with its momentum and force. The punching bag came falling back down and swung in the opposite direction, and smashed the distracted Legacy right in the nose.

"Fuck!"

Martian Boy placed a palm against his face, silently cursing in every language he knew. A chuckle escaped from the mouth of an unseen bystander. Jason Todd appeared from around the corner and leaned against the wall. He had the stupidest 'you're an idiot' grin on his face. "What?" S'tann practically spat before he stood up to his full height and let go of his nose. "Don't you have anything better to do?" Jason shrugged. "Nothing this entertaining." The guy was as irritating an asshole as he was a terrifying vigilante. "Screw you." S'tann muttered. He turned back to the punching bag, striking it once more. This time he was aware enough to move out of the way. "That anyway to talk to your teacher?" Todd asked. "I'm sorry. I meant 'Screw you, sir.' Any better?" The coach scowled. He obviously wasn't used to being talked back to. Especially not from students. "Why you little piece of-" Red Hood started. He stopped himself, taking in a deep breathe. Chancellor Gordon, or whatever the hell she was calling herself these days, wasn't at all impressed with the former Robin's colorful vocabulary. One of the compromises of his employment involved Mr. Todd attempting to censor himself.

Or so the gossip went.

"Just get out of my gym. You're supposed to be at breakfast and I haven't opened the doors to students yet. When the hell'd you get in here?"

S'tann stopped beating on the punching bag and glanced over at Jason Todd. "What time is it?"

The coach checked his watch. "Almost ten."

"Well, I got here at nine o' clock-"

"-That's it-"

"-Last night."

"Oh."

"Mhm."

"Just get out." Jason sighed. He was visibly tired. Mornings were rough on everyone, it seemed. Although Jason's night owl activities he was so accustomed to most likely didn't help the matter. S'tann grabbed the punching bag, halting its momentum. He turned towards the exit and started to make it way toward the door, but he decided to stop once he stood next to Todd. "Don't open the broom closet, by the way. I got a little...carried away." Legacy smirked and continued on his way. "The broom closet...?" Red Hood muttered, making his way to the back of the fitness center toward a door on the far wall. S'tann S'tonn phased through the door and made his way towards his dorm. There was a faint sound of damaged gym equipment spilling over the floor, and a much less faint "FUCKING ALIENS." from the beloved coach.

---
S'tonn/Luthor Dormitory
October 31, 2025
10:15 AM

There was nothing more rejuvenating than a warm shower and a moment with the "Call of the Rogues" album by the Pied Pipers. They were a new indie group that wrote about the various big baddies of the world. This particular album was their first one, about the gang of super criminals who fought the Flashes. It was their best work, in S'tann's opinion. They were quite a versatile little band. S'tann stepped out of the shower, turning off the water to the shower, S'tann shape shifted into his human form and stepped into the hall. As he walked, his clothes formed around him to his usual attire. His body was attuned to the molecular make up of this particular outfit, and as such required much less concentration and energy to create and maintain. He briefly wondered if Julian had noticed S'tann's absence last night. Or if Luthor had gone into the dorms at all. S'tann stepped through the wall and into the light of day, feeling the cool air against his face. Earth was so very cold. He'd never get used to that. Mars was always warm; the Vega system was warmer than this shit.

S'tann sighed; a bad idea, considering the sharp pain now running through his side. Legacy placed a tender hand against his ribs. Stewart's explosives had been far more powerful than the Martian would have liked. If he hadn't shielded the rest of the team...well, there'd be a lot of broken bones. S'tann made his way towards the mess hall, dodging through various clicks on his way to feed the grumbling monster in his stomach. He'd need to grab a coffee, too, if he wanted to stay awake in his first hour class. No doubt S'tann would be kept awake tonight too, what with it being Halloween and all. Ugh. Halloween. The Martian despised it. What was the point? He could look identical to anything in the known galaxy. And he could get candy whenever he desired. The only decent function of the day was to allow S'tann to fuck with people. Even then, that was something he could do any day. The only mildly different event would be the dance being held later that night. Dancing was a waste of time too. A bunch of oddly dressed fools drunkenly stumbling to the most bland, annoying, mainstream music the "DJ" could find.

Basically, earth sucks. But S'tann already knew that.

S'tann waltzed through the glass walls of the cafeteria and grabbed himself a plate full of bacon, eggs and pancakes. And a coffee cup the size of the Eiffel Tower. The Martian shuffled through the throngs of people, looking for somewhere he could sit. There were plenty of tables with seats open; however, he didn't know three fourths of the people sitting at them. Despite what he may say, S'tann still required social interaction to stay sane. So the Martian floated through the mess hall, looking around for a place to go. He noticed Mari waving to someone that most certainly couldn't be him and decided that was as good a place as any to start. He took a seat on the opposite side of the table to her, shuffling to the edge of the bench. "Having a bearable morning, I assume? You haven't killed yourself, so that's a plus." He said before stuffing his face full of deliciousness. Once he'd finished a pancake, he set his silverware down and looked up at Grayson. "You think our rescheduled match'll just take up from where we left off? Or perhaps the teams will stay the same, but the mission will be restarted. Either way, we should talk strategy with the rest of the team. Find out where we went wrong and compensate for next time, ya know?" He paused before adding. "Unless you're fine with staying a loser, that is."

---

31st October, 2025

---

Andy was thankful that the ARC session ended when it had. The subsequent panic of some alien crashing onto campus was enough to distract him from confronting Aiden about what he’d done. After he felt that he was sufficiently filled in on what had happened by the eager-to-gossip student body, Andy had given deep thought as to what had transpired, and came to the conclusion that, given the circumstances, Aiden had only done what was expected of him, however sociopathic it was. So, with little hesitation, Andy pushed it out of his mind, glad to be done with a moral battle that would otherwise force him to take things seriously.

He was giddy with excitement as he woke up to the wonderful morning of Halloween. It was never much of a thing to celebrate with his family in Australia, and so he resolved to make up for it at Corrigan; this year’s costume was going to put everyone else's to shame. He was going to win ‘Best Halloween Costume’ in the yearbook for sure.

Donning his all-leather outfit, he pulled a skull mask over his head, adjusting its position so the eyeholes would align. With all of the tangible parts of his costume in place, he flared fire around his head, making sure to keep it at room temperature. Sure, it defied logic, but from his experience, in a world where you couldn’t turn right without running into a superhero, pretty much everything did. He also liked to think that logic knew better than to mess with his powers, because they were his and his alone to tell what to do.

Grabbing a chain he’d nicked from the bike racks outside the dorms, he exited his room, making his way to the holy goodness that was breakfast.

With a pile of waffles stacked high on his tray, he began to browse the mess hall for any costumes that matched his. Satisfied that there weren’t, he spotted Mari waving him over, probably recognising him from the fire blazing around his head. That, and he’d made sure to repeatedly tell her and Freddy that he was going as Ghost Rider on the days leading up to Halloween.

Grinning beneath his skull mask, he began to stride towards the half-Tamaranean, only to stop himself once he saw who else was approaching her: S’tann. His grin widening from ear to ear, he continued on his way to the table. Man, I knew that it was gonna be a good day, but this is too much.

For a brief moment he considered sitting opposite S’tann, next to Mari, but after giving it the briefest of thoughts, he decided against it. He wanted to sit next to his favourite Martian, and he was sure that the feeling was reciprocated.

So, standing behind S’tann, he waited for the guy to finish talking, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes at the topic of conversation. Of course he was still going on about the ARC session. Of course. Allowing the insult he not-so-subtly threw at Mari to fly over his head, Andy set his food tray down next to S’tann’s, exclaiming, “Stan, my man!” as he sat a mere foot away from him. “Glad to see you joined the cool kids,” he continued, pausing to place a hand on the alien’s shoulder. “I’ve missed you, buddy.”

Beneath his mask, his grin only continued to widen. Today was going to be one for the history books. He felt it.

---

Freddie had spent a lot of time with his thoughts since the ARC session had been so abruptly ended. It seemed like he'd done nothing but wait in the aftermath: he'd waited for the campus to be declared safe, and for them to be able to return to their dormitories. He'd waited for Mari to show up for their arranged meal, and it had soon become apparent that she'd forgotten all about it amidst all the chaos. He'd waited for Kieran to finally fall asleep, so that he might earn himself some more privacy to browse the internet. And now, he was waiting in a bland corridor; sat in a less-than-comfortable chair in anticipation of a meeting with his supervisor, large headphones covering his ears and playing his favourite vintage tunes.

"They'll strip you of your heritage," warned the late Alice Glass, repeating the phrase over and over amongst electronic patterns that he imagined must have sounded even more mindblowing when they were first released a decade ago than they did now. This was all that wretched Miss Brown's fault, he was positively certain of it. She, and her frankly abhorrent attack on the English language, had elicited a righteous response from the Brit, and now he was being made to pay. He begrudged the whole thing; his face an eternal scowl as he slumped in the chair, a tastefully battered and oversized leather jacket draping his frame.

But it was better than the alternative, he decided to himself. He'd rather put himself through the Hellish disciplinary system than allow Shakespeare's legacy to be so openly mocked - on foreign soil, no less, where the language was already being tarnished and tainted by linguistic laziness. No, he couldn't allow that. I'm essentially a Martyr. he thought to himself, as the song ended and an even older one began. Kate Bush, King of the Mountain.

But of course, if Stephanie Brown thought that she'd seen the back of Freddie that day he stormed out of her poor excuse for a class, she was sorely mistaken. If she wished to continue with her blasphemy despite the obvious offence it had caused, then more fool her... After all, Freddie had spent a lot of time with his thoughts. "The wind, it blows! The wind, it blows!" shrieked his headphones, as a simulated hurricane whirled through his ears as the song reached climax. "There's a storm rising!

"Mister Blackwell!" came the muffled and impatient voice of the receptionist, who now loomed over him as he pulled his headphones away and looked at her indifferently. "You'll damage your ears with the volume that loud. Miss Zatara will see you now."

With but his signature scowl as a response, Freddie allowed himself to be silently led through the network of corridors that formed that staff offices, until they reached a door labelled ZATANNA ZATARA - DEAN OF ENGLISH ARTS. He shot the receptionist the most deliberately insincere of smiles he could muster, and gingerly allowed himself into the room without knocking. It was a strange room office, a stark contrast to the blandness of the corridors he'd been escorted through; full of what Freddie assumed were magical artefacts and arcane curiosities, though he knew very little of that world. For a moment, he almost didn't notice Zatanna sat at her desk; completely lost amongst all the eccentricities that fascinated him so.

Zatanna cleared her throat. "Hello, Frederick." she said, grabbing the Brit's attention. "I'd like to say I'm pleased to see you, but I wish it were on better terms than this." she admitted, though her tone and smile remained warm as she gestured to the large, leather seat. "Please, sit down. We have lots to talk about."

"So," she said, browsing through her documents after Freddie had taken a seat. "Miss Brown feels you've been behaving disruptively again. And John Stewart says his department is generally frustrated by your lack of enthusiasm in physical education; though he does note you seem in your element in the ARC sessions." she paused, placing the tablet on the table. "Would you like to tell me about that?"

Freddie was quiet for but a second before answering; Zatanna made him feel welcome and understood, and so he was rather polite. "I just feel like she knows exactly how to make me angry." he said, quite plainly. "And I get the feeling she enjoys it a lot more than is appropriate."

Zatanna furrowed her brow. "I'm not sure that Miss Brown's choice for the production was meant as an attack on you," she said matter-of-factly. "Why do you say that?"

Freddie shrugged. "She told me it was Macbeth." he paused, uncertain as to whether he wished to divulge further... Zatanna's warmth pressed him on. "I'd been rehearsing for weeks. Literally weeks." he confessed. "And then she had the audacity to serve out some vandalised imitation of Shakespeare as though it was all some big joke... It's not a joke, it's not funny to me." he said, beginning to get angry all over again just thinking about Miss Brown and her bile.

"It's understandable that you got angry, Freddie," she soothed. "But if we all acted instinctively on our emotions... The world would be a mess!" she laughed. "What I'm saying is, spur-of-the-moment reactions will get you nowhere, Freddie. You need time to think and process things before you're able to respond appropriately." Freddie was barely able to contain the smirk that fought to be freed as he thought of the irony; instead, he simply nodded in agreement.

"You're completely right." he said, mustering all his charm. "I've had plenty of time to think now, and have been able to come up with a billion more appropriate responses." he smiled, and Zatanna reciprocated.

"That's the spirit, Freddie. It's just a shame you can't see these things in the heat of the moment." she said. "It's important for anyone to control their emotions, but especially so for you: your powers are intrinsically linked to your feelings." she said.

"Don't I know it..." Freddie scoffed.

"My point is," Zatanna began, cutting to the chase. "Your tardiness isn't the only thing that's bothering the Physical Education faculty: they've had to cancel a number of sporting events due to flooded pitches or fogs that refused to budge..." she said, smiling wryly across the desk. "We never had such erratic weather before a certain student flew over from Britain!" she laughed, winking playfully. She seemed to have a soft spot for him; like he was some misunderstood troubled soul, that needed guidance.

"I can't say I feel too guilty about that." he said, unashamedly. "Even if I could control my powers properly, I'd still probably make a good effort to rain on their parade, so to speak." he said, earning a suddenly stern look from his supervisor. "Sorry." he said, quickly seeing his error of judgement.

"Well, despite your... Reservations, you ought to start getting comfortable over in the physical education department, since you'll be spending a lot of time there." she said. Freddie suddenly became very alert.

"And wh-what do you mean by that?" he asked, his voice shaky with apprehension. He swallowed loudly in anticipation of her response. Gulp.

"John and I have decided that you need special attention; if you can blow off that extra steam you have, it might be easier for you to control your powers." she explained, choosing not to react to the look of resentment that consumed Freddie's face. "Despite what your peers may think, you actually boast a lot of potential." she said sincerely. "And I should hate to see that wasted. You're also going to be having regular meetings here with me, so we can talk about any of the problems you've faced during the week."

Things had taken a rather dissatisfactory turn.



Freddie cursed beneath his breath as he read the message, his fingers hitting the screen manically as he typed a whirlwind response.



So engulfed within the digital sphere of his phone, Freddie had been paying no attention to where he was going as he stormed out of the building, colliding violently as he crashed straight into some unsuspecting target and sending himself toppling to the ground; his headphones slipping from around his neck and gambolling merrily along the concrete. He felt the sting of grit on his forehead, and instinctively prodded at the skin to find his fingertips speckled with blood. Perfect, he cursed to himself. He had the Hallowe'en dance tonight, and now he was scuffed up. Just fucking perfect.

"My apologies," he said, groaning as he noticed that he'd also managed to crack the screen of his phone and looking up to see who he'd bumped into. "I really ought to look where I'm going. I hope you're not hurt." he said, sat on the concrete as he rubbed his graze palms on his trousers.

Hi-Voltage

So far in Tommy Springsteen's vigilante career he'd butt heads with thugs, muggers, murderers, superpowered gangsters, ex-military motorcycle gangs, a supernatural entity of wrath, and the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper. You'd think after all that a man would be pretty much fearless, but no, here he was, palms all sweaty, butterflies going at it in his chest, wondering if it wasn't too late to change his mind.

All because he was going back to school.

That said,The Corrigan School for Advanced Learning and Development would probably give the fears to just about anyone. Tommy had never in his life seen a place like it. The sheer scope of the campus was almost mind blowing, and he'd amused himself since arriving in the wee hours of the morning just by wandering the grounds and admiring the architecture. The money on show was so starkly obvious that he was actually beginning to feel underdressed. I could'a least patched the holes in ma jeans. He half expected someone to point a finger at him, start screaming 'PAUPER ON THE LOOSE' and send for security to escort him from the premises.

Though that was really doing Corrigan's an injustice. No one had done him a bad turn since he'd arrived, and while he really hadn't met anyone outside of Barbara Gordon, the Chancellor, he didn't think underexposure to the locals was the reason he hadn't been lynched yet.

The Chancellor had greeted him sometime after he'd arrived on the grounds. Kept him waiting for near on an hour, actually. Not that I could complain much, I didn't answer their letter of invitation for almost six months. Better late than never though, eh? When he had finally been showed into Gordon's office she had seemed irate and distracted, and for one stomach lurching moment Tommy had feared she was gonna declare that they'd changed their minds, and that he wasn't getting in. She was quick to put him straight though. Apparently something had crashed into the campus a short time before he'd arrived, and dealing with the fallout was giving her an astronomical headache. What exactly something was, she never said, but Tommy got the impression that it wasn't a problem that was gonna go away overnight.

Gordon then went on to explain that Corrigan's wasn't usually in the habit of taking in new students so late in the year, but after reviewing his 'extra-curricular' activities back home, they'd decided to make an exception. There'd be a lotta catching up to do on his part, but she was confidant he'd manage it. Tommy didn't quite share the sentiment, remembering how much he struggled to apply himself back in regular school, but he'd signed up for this, and damn if he wasn't gonna give it his best shot.

The rest of the meeting was just dotting T's and crossing I's. He was taken to an empty dorm room and told him to dump his stuff. Apparently they were gonna see about finding him some bunkmates in the future, but for now he was going to be on his own. Flying solo suits me down tae the ground anyway.. After that he'd been left to his own devices, told to try and get some shut eye. Only problem with that being was that Tommy typically didn't sleep anyway, not since he'd gotten his 'gifts', so they where laughing if they thought he was tripping down the road towards the land of nod on his first in arguably the most unique place he'd ever been in his life.

So he'd amused himself by ambling the grounds, his only company, and the only company he needed, being the muted silence, the cold air, and the bright stars. It had been as near as tranquil as anything had been for him for a long, long time. All up until thon bastard sun had to go and rise, chasing the stars an' waking up the people. Now the world was rousing, the peacefulness of the night nothing more than a fading dream, smoke blowing before the wind.

S'pose that means I better get to getting to. Though he wasn't quite sure where he was anymore. He began to look around for a sign, a landmark, anything to give him an idea of where he was.The sign on the building nearest to him read LAW AND LIBERAL ARTS WINGS, but that didn't help him at all seeing as he didn't even know where that was, so he was back to square one. A normal person might have stopped a passerbye and asked for help at that stage, but Tommy wouldn't even consider it. So engrossed in doing things his way, independant of anyone else, he didn't see the slender boy on his phone come barging out the doors of the Arts Wing, inadvertently fixing on a crash course with Tommy's back. The two collided, and while the unsuspecting Tommy stumbled a step, the other boy hit the dirt face first.

Great, first day here and I've already brained some bam. Shortest student career ever. Luckily the boy didn't seem to hurt, though his forehead was grazed. He even had the good graces to apologize, though Tommy reckoned he was just as to blame for the colloision.

"Nae danger mate, I'm sturdier than I look." The lanky Scot grinned, a touch self-consciously, as he leaned over and waved his index finger in front of the boys face.

"Can ye just follow ma finger with yer eyes then tell me your name?" A touch overly dramatic, perhaps but Tommy knew by experience that head wounds could be funny. What seemed like nothing more than a graze at the time might end up killing a man if not properly treated. No way he was getting that on his record.

---

ELIGIUS PLAUTIUS Star City; Corrigan School for

---

"Their gnashing teeth and criminal tongues, conspire against the odds...
But they haven’t seen the best of us yet..."

The quiet lyrics of This Is Gospel gently floated out of the black boxes in Sam's... dorm? Dorm. He didn't know how they worked, but they were apparently called speakers. Cleverly named, he thought. The young alien was sat down on possibly the most comfortable thing in the universe, with his eyes closed and head moving to the tune.

"IF YOU LOVE ME LET ME GO!" The speakers screamed, vibrating through the walls.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Sam screamed, sending a burst of regeneration energy at the speaker. It left a big hole in the box, and also a big hole in the door. He stared out of said hole, his eyes meeting a big, black scorch mark in the door opposite, and lots of students looking in. "S-sorry..." He murmured, trying to open what was left of his door. However, he couldn't find a single button or lever anywhere. He did spot a silver-like object attached to it, however. He pulled it towards him - nothing. He pulled it upwards - nothing. He pushed it downwards - it moved, but nothing else. So he ended up channeling a tad more energy, and blasting off the edges of the door, picking it up and placing it against a wall. The boy walked out, gaining a lot of snickers as he walked past people. What was so funny? He couldn't quite place it. A couple of them raised their hands towards him, which he simply responded with, "Oh, no, I'm not a member of the High Council. I do apologise. Stellae docebit vos." To that, they walked away with strange looks on their faces. He just didn't understand.

Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, he made his way outside, with more bursts of laughters from the students in the yard, as well as the reminder of the fireball that hit. Shuddering, he enveloped himself in the comfort of the garments he'd received from the school the previous night. They were quite standard and plain, but he enjoyed them greatly. Apparently they were called... pyjamas. Must be what they called them on Earth. Apparently he couldn't 'sleep' in the garments he wore, despite the fact he'd never done such a thing before. Another thing he assumed was custom there.

His musing was interrupted by bumping into a pane of glass, and presumably a door made out of the same thing. Grumbling, he fumled around for a button, or lever. Again, there was not a single thing in sight. He groaned, tapping his head against the glass. A crowd soon gathered around him, not as big as when the fireball landed, but still a handful of people. They pointed and laughed, some people prodding him in the process. They eventually got bored and he caught the door after somebody else entered. Walking in, he noticed all manner of creatures inside. And one of them was coming straight at him! His eyes started to glow as he began to panic, eventually causing his entire face to glow gold (apparently they did that now), until he was pulled aside by someone, or something. Whatever it was, Sam was struggling to see it over panicking.

"W-what is going on? What are all these creatures?" He stammered, looking around wildly as the student tried to calm him down. "Caeli miserere mei..." He muttered.