Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the Co-GM [ will take control and HIS word will then be law.

____________________

Dick Grayson [22] and Zatanna Zatara [21] waited in the mansion in downtown Midway for the sponsored heroes to arrive. As the group arrived one by one introductions were made. To make the whole thing work there had to be a certain amount of trust. The identities of Nightwing and Zatanna were made known to the kids to establish trust, however the identities of the Justice League were kept under lock and key. By day the younger kids in the team will attend the local high school [Kubert High School] and live out of the Wayne Foundation Educational Housing. After hours they'll begin training to one day become Leaguers in the sub basement HQ below the mansion. To assist with the ruse, four other exchange students were brought in to live in the mansion...

Greta Hayes [16] was a quiet blonde girl from Virginia. Grant Emerson [18] was quiet but more on edge, he was recruited into the exchange program from Marietta, Georgia. Harrison Wells [19] was a bright young mind found in Central City who was attending a local Midway college short term. Johnathan Diggle [17] was found in Star City after a winning football season his junior year of high school. None of these students knew anything about the Young Justice program or the sub level basements and HQ.

There's a switch in the study/library of the mansion revealing an elevator to the lower levels and headquarters. Zatanna keeps lookout as Grayson escorts the kids down the short passage way to the large freight style elevator. There was STILL room even with the whole team there. Once the coast was clear Zatanna shut the secret passage and made her way to the elevator. On the first level there was a computer lab, able to connect to League files. Identities of other heroes aside from those in the program were not given and restricted to heroes in the system with higher access. At the current date in time, everyone was Level 1 clearance.

Next to the computer lab was the rest of the crime lab and weapons/powers range. The gym and monitor room was located on the next level down, and on the third level was one of the most cutting edge training rooms on Earth. The 'War Room' was a colosseum sized holographic environment chamber with holo-droids also able to take the form of any enemy imaginable and replicate powers to a degree. There was a viewing area as well as a control room built into it's base as well. Though the controls, once programmed, will be voice activated...

"That's probably another week or so off..." Nightwing commented about the voice activation of the War Room.

"Give me tools, a charger for my phone to listen to my music, and a couple of energy drinks..." Wayde began saying confidently, "..and I'll have the voice activation ready to go in two hours. My facemask has been recording audio in my bag ever since I got here..."

"Crap..." Nightwing said as Zatanna sighed with a grin, "I was in such a hurry to get you guys down here I didn't even show you where you'll be sleeping. C'mon, I'll show you guys another passage way that'll get you guys back into the mansion without getting seen..."

Nightwing lead the team to a door near the gun range that had stairs leading upwards to a unisex shower/locker room. There were curtains, individual stalls, and enough steam to prevent anyone from seeing the young heroes come and go.

The tour concluded with Zatanna showing the girls their quarters with Nightwing showing the boys theirs. The girls were introduced to Greta who was working on an English paper. The boys were introduced to Grant, Harrison, and Johnathan. After everyone else had been taken to their rooms, Wayde finally asked Grayson...

"I already graduated college, can I just move in downstairs?" he asked.

"I actually thought about hiring you on as maintenance. You'd get good pay to keep the networks running smoothly and separately, fixing anything broken in the mansion, and..." Nightwing continued before Wayde cut him off.

"Heck yeah. I'd do it for free but I could always use the cash..." Wayde stated.

"Mr. Irons insisted on us giving you a corner in the computer lab to work on armor and such, we've already got a bit of stuff waiting for you down there." Grayson continued. "We'll get to it tomorrow though. Get your room up here set up and once the kids are off to school in the morning we'll get you to work downstairs..." he said extending his hand for a shake and getting one.

~KL~

---

---

America was a strange place for a Frenchman. The hustle and bustle of Midway City took Julien by surprise, he had hardly seen anyone who wasn't in a rush during his short time there. His entire situation was strange to be honest. Sure he'd gotten alright at this hero business, even cocky, but never in his life would he have dreamed of working with a hero on the level of Nightwing, much less being sponsored by him for a new superhero team.

He sat slouched outside a small café, phone in hand as he mindlessly browsed social media, truth be told his nerves were getting to him, he'd never show it though, never in his life. He looked down at his watch, it was about time to make a move, he picked up his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder before walking towards the address given to him before his flight to America.

Half an hour or so later and he had arrived. The mansion was impressive to say the least, a grin grew on Julien's face, out of disbelief that he would actually be living there for any period of time mroe than anything. With a deep breath he opened the door and entered before merging with the forming group and listened as Nightwing and Zatanna explained the situation.

With regard to the exchange students, Julien couldn't help but wonder what would actually happen if any of them discovered what was actually going on under the mansion. The thought of a mind eraser gadget like the ones from the Men in Black films came to mind, but then again they were probably vetted and tested to make sure they would stay loyal if such an event were to occur.

His thoughts drifted towards gadgetry itself, he wondered how much funding he could possibly get to work on his own arsenal. He had a few ideas in the works, namely something that would protect him from more than just a pistol. A bullet blocking cape would be cool for sure, but he was no tailor, lacing his own clothes with the bullet-proof material was difficult enough.

After being shown his room, Julien got to work personalizing it. 'Got to work' was probably a bit generous in all honesty though, he hadn't brought a huge amount from home, getting what he had through the airport was difficult enough. He placed a record player on his bedside cabinet and stuck a solitary Radiohead poster on the wall.

Julien exited his room. Hoping to socialise with anyone else exploring the hallways.

Arthur didn’t talk at all during the tour, only giving slight nods and an occasional mumble in acknowledgement of what he was being shown. Truth be told he wasn’t extremely jazzed about the idea of living with all of these wannabe heroes. It wasn’t a personal thing and he didn’t think he was any better than them but Arthur knew from experience that he had a very low tolerance for people. All that said Arthur also realized that this was the chance of a lifetime. This was his chance to move from being a low-level street magician to a full fledge Arcane superhero and for that reason Arthur accepted Zatanna’s offer to join the Young Justice team.

’These children are our new compatriots? None of these welps look like they could raise a finger against even a runt of a hellhound.’ said the all to familiar voice of L’Iego within the confines of Arthur’s mind. The demon had just started to speak about a day ago and while at first it was more than a little startling, Arthur quickly got over it as he had begun to become numb to the transmundane. He hadn’t brought up the issue to Zatanna or anyone else for that matter in fear that it might affect his chances of getting his shot at super heroics.

’Yeah yeah. Listen, if we wanna do some real good then this is the perfect stepping stone. We could potentially get into the Justice League if we prove our worth here.’ Arthur thought in response to the demon.

’I think you may misunderstand our situation. I have no desire to help you do any, quote unquote, ‘good’ in the world. We are bound to one another and at the moment my only desire is survival which at the moment is also tied to yours.’ L’Iego replied with a great amount of distaste in his thoughts as he was once more forced to remember that he was trapped sharing a form with a lowly human who would draw upon his own demonic magical reserves for his petty spells.

’Well I guess it doesn’t matter what you think then.’ Arthur thought as a small smirk formed on his face.

As the tour finished up, Arthur gave a wave in Zatanna’s direction as she split from the others and began walking the girls to their own rooms. She was the only one Arthur really cared to speak with at the time as he owed his whole life from a year ago onwards to her and he wasn’t about to forget that anytime soon. Soon Arthur was shown to his own room which he quickly dropped off his suitcase of clothes in and quickly departed, not even bothering to unpack. He had an entire school year to get settled but at the moment he needed a bit of air so he begun to make his way towards the front of the building where he moped sat parked, waiting for him to return. Before getting to far down the hallway Arthur noticed the Frenchman coming out of his room. Arthur avoided eye-contact as much as he could and hoped he wouldn’t try to strike up a conversation.

Karsin followed along with the rest of the sponsored heroes, he was dressed in a pair of expensive black joggers and a grey hoodie which had the sleeves cut off. Karsin was mostly quiet during the tour, as he was speaking to his Scarab a majority of the time, though he offered a few quips and comments concerning the facility and equipment, but little else. On the inside, Karsin was quite excited, and honored to a part of this program. Karsin kept a quiet eye on his fellow sponsored heroes, though no one really had the opportunity for introductions as they followed Nightwing and Zatanna through the facility.

"I am creating and archiving a 3-D model map of this facility, as well as pinpointing any potential escape routes and structural weaknesses, for future reference. Would you like me to compile a list of possible ways to exploit these weaknesses, meat-sack?"

"Ugh, why meat-sack?! You haven't called me meat-sack in forever! And there goes my dream of a perfect day, ch And, no. I don't think that will be necessary, as I'm pretty sure I will not be needing to destroy, or harm this facility in any way shape or form anytime soon. Or, ever? I don't think that would be beneficial to either of our respective well-beings."

Karsin began to get nervous at the idea of the league holding him responsible for bringing down the HQ, especially when the Scarab decided to compile the list anyways. The emotions displayed across Karsin's face while he spoke to his Scarab were likely comedic to some, and pretty weird to the rest. The Scarab continued on to mumble something that vaguely sounded like "Maybe because I wanted to", but Karsin couldn't be sure. It's pretty difficult to understand someone when they mumble, especially if that individual can't actually mumble because they aren't actually speaking out of a mouth and.. Ugh, bottom line is telepathic communication was weird, and Karsin still wasn't completely used to it.

"You know what, you still haven't chosen a name yet! What if I called you names, would you like that? Huh.. metal-sack?" "I am not even made of metal. "Ugh, it doesn't work anyways, you dolt! It doesn't make any sense! Nevermind! The tour is almost over."

Karsin silenced the bickering with his Scarab as he realized the tour was about to end, as Nightwing and Zatanna split the boys and girls into groups to show them their rooms.

"Scarab, could you scan some of these guys and possibly figure out a little about them, primarily anything relating to their abilities, before they all depart to their rooms?" He asked as the first sponsored hero took off to his room.

"Of course, though I will only have time to scan two." The Scarab announced before briefly pausing to scan two of the remaining heroes as more began to separate from the group. "Wow, Karsin. I think you're really going to want to hear this."

"Well, obviously I'm going to want to hear it. I am the one who asked you to scan them."

"The first I scanned seems to be a metahuman, exact powers unknown but my reading seems to be indicating some sort of energy manipulation, though the exact nature is not clear. Further investigations into countermeasures must be made. Threat level: Unknown. Estimated threat level: 3.5. That is all the relevant data I am able to gather at this point in time. I can give you more information, but nothing directly relating to his abilities."

"That's alright, and what about the other one?" He asked, gesturing to a muscular brown haired boy.

"Well, he seems to be something special. My readings are showing that that boy is a Kryptonian, and shows signs of most, if not all regular Kryptonian abilities. However there is something peculiar, my scans display that his biological and chronological age do not match, however, I am unable to gather any more information regarding the fact, how strange. Threat level: Unknown. Estimated threat level: 5.5."

"I don't think you need to be investigating into countermeasures or determining these people's threat levels, they are supposed to be our new teammates, remember?"- "Well there is certainly no harm in being prepared, these people could be potentially dangerous, and if the situation ever arises, would you not feel better if you were prepared? Karsin sighed, he found it hard to argue with that, especially considering the display of potential power that has been shown to him. Karsin continued onto his room, dropping off his things before pulling up his 3-D map of the facility and heading out into the halls in hopes of making his way to the training facility.

"You know, I do think you should choose a name for yourself, though." Karsin thought to the Scarab as he walked through the halls.

"Nine hundred and ninety six. Nine hundred and ninety seven. Nine hundred and ninety eight. Nine hundred and ninety nine! One thousand!!!" Rev Em shouted as he completed his thousandth push up. He was busy training in wilderness and liked being around nature where he could keep his mind calm as he practiced his martial arts. After he finished the push ups Rev began to go through kicking and punching motions then proceeding to performing multiple flips.

After he finished his training Rev headed quickly in the direction of Midway City where he would meet this new team that he had joined thanks to the help of his mentor Black Lightning. Thanks to his superhuman speed and incredible jumping abilities, Rev was able to make it to the city within minutes and soon came to the mansion. Before he went inside he quickly changed back into his regular civilian clothes and then proceeded into the building.

He joined the tour group as the hero named Nightwing showed them the place that they would be staying in. He was impressed by the secret facilities below the mansion where they would be training and Rev wondered if he would use the training room instead of the wilderness from now on. Either way he would work as hard as possible to become a great hero. After the tour was done Rev excitedly spoke to Nightwing with his eyes burning with pure fiery passion at the idea of being a member of this team.

"I just want to say that is an incredible honor to be here as a member of this team! I will never take this opportunity for granted and I will train as hard as possible to succeed!" he said with his voice dripping with pure enthusiasm. He was certain that he was the most excited to be here out of all of his teammates to be here and he was going to show it as much as he could.

After the tour was done, Rev went to his room and started to unpack his things so that he could get settled in. When he finished he would go to the gym to train some more. "

"I am going to be ready for any challenge that comes my way!" he said as he closed his eyes and imagined himself kicking tons of villain butt as a hero.

Davitus concluded that while quaint, Midway City couldn't even compare to the smallest New Genesian settlement. New Genesian cities were clean, peaceful, pleasant, aromatic, and harmonious with nature. The citizenry created works of art, composed poetry, and engaged in spirited debate on matters of philosophy. Midway City however, was crowded, noisy, unsanitary, and smelled. Davitus' superhuman sense of hearing picked up dozens of inane conversations, idiotic proclamations, and offensive declarations that the humans were so fond of spewing into the air. Not to mention the damnable honking of those so-called "cars" that the humans seemed to love. His sense of smell picked up the reeking leftovers of their decadent, wasteful, and sedentary lifestyle; namely the sludge working its way to the sea under the humans' unaware feet and the toxic smog that their cars polluted the air with. The scene was nowhere near as dismal as his own birthplace, that was true. But at least on Apokolips, people didn't engage in useless discussions of the latest fashion trends or celebrity gossip. And with the humans' almost complete disregard for their planet and constant war-mongering, they were in very real danger of turning their planet into a wasteland and doing Darkseid's work for him anyway. Truly, Davitus had trouble seeing what the New Genesians found so valuable in them. But what's done is done and Davitus was resolved to living among them for the time being.

He centered himself and blocked out the inanity of the city and focused on his destination, the mansion where he would be staying with the mortal children. Davitus was dressed in all black; hooded jacket, pants, boots, sunglasses, even a black scarf wrapped around his neck. He drew some stares, but his unusual ensemble drew less attention that his true appearance would have. The humans were notorious for reacting poorly to things they didn't understand, Davitus didn't wish to test how poorly they would react to his corpse-like skin and his golden eyes. Perhaps later he could explain away his appearance as a disease, but it simply wasn't worth it to attract any attention now. Davitus entered the mansion, knowing he was among somewhat understanding company now, he unwrapped the scarf and pulled down the hood but kept the sunglasses on as they made their introductions. Grayson and Zatara seemed like reasonable sorts and Scott had a high opinion of them, Davitus had hope that they would prove tolerable. He had less hope for the rest of the team.

Karlie in particular seemed like a typical example of mortal vapidness and Sun-Fist, powerful as he may be, seemed like a fool. An earnest and benign fool, but a fool nonetheless. Davitus supposed humans did not have a monopoly on foolishness. Wayde struck him as much the
same. Arthur and Karsin both acted very strangely and Davitus guessed it had to do with their abilities. He wasn't entirely sure what their powers were but he had a feeling they were not normal humans. Though he supposed none of them were. Except the Frenchman, who Davitus hadn't formed any impressions on yet. Davitus soon realized he wasn't being entirely fair to the team and resolved to at least try to keep an open mind. Scott insisted he try to make friends.

During the tour Davitus spoke up, "What is the purpose of attending this school? I doubt this institution has anything to offer me intellectually. It seems like time better spent on fighting our enemies." The prospect of school was very unappealing to Davitus in particular. He had never had fond memories of "school" on Apokolips and he doubted human schooling was anything like New Genesis. He did not know if he could abide the concentrated stupidity and foolishness that a learning institution for mortal children surely possessed. After quietly waving to the other male students who would be sharing quarters with the male team-members, Davitus began setting up his living space. He had few possessions. Simply a flute that Highfather had given him, some earthly clothes Scott had bought for him, and a tome of histories from the repository of knowledge in Supertown. Davitus supposed he would discover what earthly books were like, perhaps they had one or two works of quality. Of course there was his equipment but it would not be stored in the room with the unsuspecting mortals so nearby. But Davitus never went anywhere without at least three knives on his person, and the civilians would not see those. Unless they proved to be traitors or informers of course.

Assured of his security and not particularly inclined to socialize at the moment, Davitus sat on the bed, closed his eyes and crossed his legs as he began playing the flute, a calming melody that he had learned from Beautiful Dreamer. His mind began to drift off to the world he called home. The sound reminded him of the chirping of the birds, the scent of the flowers, and the babbling of the brooks. Despite his reverie, his ears were still on alert, and he would notice immediately if anyone approached.

_{Washinton, D.C.}

The banks alarms were blaring in the background, wailing long and loud into the early-morning air. The honking of traffic, the babbling of pedestrians, the rattle and shake of a street that had underground trains running beneath the tarmac, the shouts and calls of those late for work as they blamed others for their mistakes. Even grunts, groans and roars of a police blockade paled to an insignificant mumble when compared to that alarms damnable wailing.

_{”I swear, by the love of Hera for her daughters, if someone doesn’t silence that infernal alarm soon I’m going to - .”}

“euurrgh.”

Nike, daughter of Herakles and Princess-warrior of the Amazons, was cut off by the semi-concious mumbling of the two-bit bank robber that she had caught – and physically subdued – fleeing the scene of his latest crime. She was bodily carrying him, slung over her shoulder like the useless sack of offal that he was, back to the bank that he and his cohorts had raided. She didn’t appreciate her morning being ruined by this pest’s shenanigans, and nor did she enjoy his ravings cutting her off mid-sentence.

“Silence, dog-breath!” She snarled, hopping slightly so that the man’s flabby stomach was bounced painfully upon her shoulder pauldron. His tired, pained groan was like music to her ears, and elicited a savage grin from the young warrior woman.

Up ahead, in front of the bank, she could see that her sister, Diana, better known here as Wonder Woman, had handily vanquished the other three ‘bank robbers’, and had since used the Lasso of Truth to bind the whelps together, and place them outside the scene of depredations where all and sundry could view them, and mock them for their folly. Or perhaps it was so the guardians of this city, its police, could more easily apprehend them.

Diana was in talks with a tall man in a blue uniform, though smiled and waved her over. Nike dumped her conquest with his fellows, being rewarded with another pathetic groan, before moving to join her sister.

“Nice work Wonder Girl.” Congratulated the man in uniform, Nike recognising him as one of these police officers, thinking that he may be a captain, though struggling to remember his name. “Didn’t think the getaway driver would get away from you … Though, I gotta ask, where’s the getaway car?”

“About a mile back that way.” Nike turned and pointed the way she came. “That fool crashed his little automated chariot into my midriff, so I flipped it onto his roof. He wasn’t wearing his ‘seat belt’. I think he came to regret that choice.” The police officer swore under his breath, and Diana gave her a stern look which was no doubt supposed to serve as admonishment, before the captain moved off to arrange a squad to pull the getaway car wreck out of the street, where it was no doubt now blocking morning traffic. He left the two sisters on their own, where they stood in silence for a few moments. Nike didn’t want to be the first to break it. She knew what would happen when she did, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Well?” Said Diana, in her gentlest tone. Seems she remembered what today was today. Damn it.

“Well, what?” Responded Nike, sounding every inch the petulant teenager.

“Nike. Don’t ‘well what’ me. You know what. Today is the day. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, you’re going to be late. You should be in Midway already. Nightwing and Zatanna had a tour or your new home all planned out, I’d hate for you to miss it.”

_{“I wouldn’t mind missing it.”} Nike muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing Diana. Just saying, if I am already late, surely there’s no point going now. I should just leave it today, and head over tomorrow morning, bright and early. Get the whole experience fresh! That makes more sense, yes?” It was Nike’s last, feeble gambit at putting off the undesired enrolment in the sidekick super team, one she doubted was going to work, but a woman must try. Diana’s throaty chuckle dashed her hopes surely and completely.

“Nice try Nike, but you’re not that late. If that was the case I could always fly you over.”

“No!” barked Nike, quickly putting that notion to the dirt. She was an Amazonian warrior, her pride wasn’t made for the indignity of being flown by her sister, hauled like a frightened rabbit by a glorious hawk. No, if she was ever going to fly it was either going to be by her own power, or by one of the Pegasi, the flying steeds of her people. Diana, who knew just how much Nike hated to be carried, smirked. She had won the argument – again – and was inordinately proud of herself for it. If she wasn’t her sister, Nike could really learn to hate Wonder Woman.

“Well then. I suppose I should be going. Don’t want to miss out on all the fun.” Nike practically spat the last word, though if Diana picked up on it, she chose to ignore it.

“Ah, my little sisters first day of school. I’m sad to miss it. If I didn’t have my meeting with the UN, I’d come with you.” Diana’s had smothered a loose forelock of Nike’s hair, an unconscious movement of sisterly love. “It won’t be so bad. You’ll see.” The two embraced for a long moment.

“If you need me …” Nike muttered into her sisters hair, her cheeks flushed as she fought to stop the tears running free. This would be the first time she’d ever been separated from her people, alone amongst the members of Man’s world, an Amazon alone. She hadn’t thought it would be so hard.

“I know, sister. I’ll miss you.” Nike was somewhat surprised to hear that Diana’s voice had cracked with emotion. As they pulled a part she seen that her sisters brilliant blue eyes were red-rimmed with tears, though her face was smiling. Diana run a soft finger down the side of her face. “Now go, before my resolve crumbles.”

One last tight hug, and the two parted. A waved goodbye, and Nike leapt high, fifty feet into the air, aiming in the general direction of Diana’s apartment, there where she would pick up her things.

And from there, Midway City.

---

---

_{Midway City}

Nike kicked open the doors of the Midway mansion, her bag of clothes and personal belongings in one arm, her shield and bow gripped in the other, still garbed in her Amazonian armour. She hadn’t gotten the memo that civilians were to be living with them – well, hadn’t bothered to read any memos that came her way – and so hadn’t measured her entrance, or appearance, accordingly.

Seems she was late, as no one was present to meet her. Maybe she had missed the tour. That would be annoying. She didn’t even know where she was too sleep, or where anyone else was. She sighed in annoyance, before taking a deep breath.

“Anyone home!” She hollered. “Nike of the Amazons has arrived!”

Hub City, 2 years ago:

The alleyway was dark and messy, like all of it's kind in this filthy city. The garbage bins were filled to the brim with trash from the apartments above, the garbage overflowing onto the street. The sour odor of month old food mixed with rain and alcohol invaded the nostril of the three individuals who had been placed here by fate, it would seem. Two of them, men, mid 20's, stood on the deep end of the alleyway, one of them had just finished relieving himself, while the other had been smoking.

On the other end, near the entrance, stood one figure, a little shorter than them. A black leather jacket and a blue hoodie pulled over his face. His hand was trembling, as he spoke up.
”I know what you two did. You thought you got away with it. You deserve what's coming to you..” He told them, his voice shaky as he spoke, his foundation was based on the two gentlemen being serial rapists who had avoided the long arm of the law by intimidating – and killing a key witness in their trial. A knife was produced from his sleeve, the blade was pushed out thanks to the spring mechanics in the knife with a satisfying click.

”Hey, bro. I think we got a hero over here.” The smoking one said to his older brother, whom just turned around, smiling at the young man ahead of them.

”And he's got a big ol' knife. Ooh. So scared, aren't we.” The older brother taunted. ”Get lost, kid.” They told him, as the man in the hood shook his head. ”No way.”

”All right, if it's a fight you want..” The younger brother said, as the older one pulled out his piece.
”You brought a knife to a gun fight.” And the older brother shot the revolver three times. The arm that was not holding the knife turned into a quick blur, leaving only streaks of black behind, the motion almost invisible in the dark night. The momentum of his movement had pulled his hood back, revealing his face, masked by a cheap domino mask from a costume store.

”You brought a gun to a speedster fight.” He smirked as his outstretched hand opened, the three bullets falling to the ground.

”What the fuc-” His sentence was not even finished before he had the switchblade deep into his thigh, piercing the bone and he cried out in pain, his brother had no chance to respond, 25 rapid bodyshots shattered his ribcage like glass, and the final uppercut sent him into the heap of trash where he belonged, knocked out cold. The older brother, still screaming tried to limp away.

”You can run. I'll catch you.” Appearing in front of him, his arms folded in front of his chest, the criminal folding over backwards.

”W-Who are you!” He shouted, as the darkly clad vigilante walked over to him, slowly, puting his hand onto the knife still in his leg, twisting the blade to make the man cry out in pain.

”Call me Accelerate.” The police was arriving, sirens could be heard.
”Confess to your crimes. You'll be a lot safer from me in prison than on the streets.” He continued to slowly twist the knife, until the criminal nodded his head, too much pain to say anything.

As soon as the police arrived into the alley, the vigilante was gone.

---

Midway City:

Rufus had deliberately skipped out of the introduction to the mansion, there was no point for him to participate, he had already gotten all the information he needed about the mansion beforehand, he had reconed every inch of the place a hundred times already, he had organized his room with his training equipment, the Mach 3 treadmill, the one thing he had recieved from The Flash that was worth anything was in the corner of the room, in the middle was a hook in the roof, for which he'd hang his punching bag. His room was adorned with a Fight Club poster, a Guns N Roses banner, and a couple of anarchist punk band's merchandise. On his bed laid compiled dossiers on his teammates, compiled from every scrap of information he could collect from the internet and the various databases he could hack into – which was just about all of them. It wasn't difficult when you could compile millions of lines of code in no time.

All of this moving had burned through his callories. He changed his clothes from his tank top and sweat pants to a pair of ripped up jeans and his ”Death Murder” band T-shirt, running his hand through his face. Putting on his shoes, a quick zip, he made his way to the kitchen. Seeing the stocked up energy bars in the fridge, a label on the container said ”Rufus”. The protein bar were under the guise that Rufus had a rare food allergy, while in reality, they were just too many callories to be safe for anyone else's consumption.

He grabbed one, and a bottle of water and went over to the sofa, in the dark corner of the room, next to the bookshelf, picking up one of the news papers leaning his back against the side cushion, chewing on his bar peacefully.

That is, till the door was kicked open, the door swinging open a couple of meters in front of his face, and in stormed the Amazon, the one there was rather little information about, the Kryptonian, as well. He chuckled.

”Nice entrance, princess.” he said with a smirk. Julien and Karlie made their way, the former was on paper not that unlike himself – trained by Nightwing. That made him, what? The Grandsidekick of Batman? Sure, let's go with that.

Karlie, on the other hand, was exactly the kind of 'hero' Rufus despised. All cheerful and preppy. It was all a game to her, no real concerns to be had, and she sure liked to flaunt the fact that she didn't care.

”Oh, it's Queen Bee and Boyband.” he greeted them, upon rolling his eyes at Karlie.

”I think I'm gonna be hashtag sick.”

I miss the doom and gloom of Hub city.

"Lead on? Any true gentilhomme knows that it's always the ladies that go first" A jovial tone spreading through his sentence as he mock bowed, holding his arms out in the direction of the elevator before following closely behind. He couldn't clearly make out the loud shouting coming from above, but he could vaguely make out something about Nike? Maybe free shoes? He was more of an Adidas man himself, but one doesn't pass up on a free pair of shoes if offered.

The sight of the amazonian was a shock to say the least. Julien had met a few strong women in his time, but full armour and a shield was going a bit far. He took this as a slightly somber message that there were no free shoes to be had. He moved over with Karlie before introducing himself.
"Bonjour, if I'm completely honest I think you'd have a better shot at giving the tour. I can't say I was following much of it, this place is close to a labyrinth.

Julien watched as Rufus rose from his chair, reminding Julien a little bit of Nosferatu, before laughing slightly at his pokes at their character.
"Queen Bee and Boyband" He repeated with glee. "Not a bad name for a Britpop group if I do say so myself." He added.

Arthur mentally winced as he got closer to Julien as he thought the frenchman would want to strike up a conversation but luckily he became engaged in a conversation with the 'hashtag' girl, Karlie. Arthur walked past the duo in the hallway as he took the elevator up before they boarded.

'I swear to the infernal lord As'athagon if I have to listen to that wretched child say hashtag one more time I will-"

'You'll do nothing. Your only out when I want you to be and if you so much as glance at her the wrong way I'm taking back control. Like it or not we're going to be around these people a whole lot.' Arthur thought in retort to the demon.

'I am just suggesting that one good shot from your eldritch blast and-

'I swear if you don't stop talking about this I'll go over there and but into her conversation.' Arthur threatened as he continued to walk towards the doors out of the mansion. As he began to get closer to the exit the doors suddenly swung open with some amazon of a woman standing in the doorway wearing some sort of armour.

'An Amazon. Fine warriors they are. Why couldn't I have been bound to one of them! At least they have semblance of fun that doesn't involve aimlessly riding around on some METAL STEED THAT CANT GO MORE THAN A HUNDRED LEAGUES WITHOUT BEING FILLED WITH SOME INFERNAL, USELESS LIQUID' L'Iego mentally screamed in frustration at his current situation.

'How did you get that from the way she looks?' Arthur said, assuming L'Iego hadn't been literal in his use of the word 'Amazon'.

'I'll share my knowledge with you if you let me free for the rest of the day' L'Iego bluffed as he hoped for some freedom.

'Not a chance hot stuff.'

"Might wanna change into something that doesn't show off so much skin." Arthur said as a passing comment while he squeezed past the armour clad woman and out the door towards his beautiful, baby blue moped that he had been lucky enough to keep in decent condition even though it was his main means of transportation in fights.

Rev was lifting weights in the training as he imagined himself in the midst of combat with dozens of foes and sending them off to prison defeated. Never did a day go by that Rev didn't let his mind run wild with the dream of being out there kicking ass and taking names. His transition to try and embrace earth culture was coming along very well as he felt that he could be himself and less controlled compared to Kryptonian society.

"Four hundred and ninety six. Four hundred and ninety seven. Four hundred and ninety eight. Four hundred and ninety nine. Five hundred!" he exclaimed as he set the weights down on the floor next to him. These weights were way too heavy for a normal human to even imagine lifting, but Rev was using them with ease and he still felt like he could train for hours without rest.

Just then his super hearing picked up the sudden introduction of Nike and he caught the word Amazon with his ears. His eyes shined with excitement and he smiled. He had heard about the Amazons from both Superman and Black Lightning. They were strong like Kryptonians, but in a more magical kind of way.

he shouted excitedly and quickly hurried back up to the normal part of the mansion. He came to the entrance of the mansion and saw the armored woman standing in the doorway. Rev was in awe of the Amazon and he could tell that she was a fighter much like himself.

"Hi! My name is Rev, what's yours?" he said very enthusiastically.

"Well all I'm saying is "Xoeg-nhi" sounds pretty weird, and I don't want to have to explain how to properly pronounce something like that to someone ever. Can't you come up with some cool alien name or something?"

Karsin thought to his Scarab, as they continued to discuss potential names for it.

"Considering that the idea came from me, and the name is actually a very common one among various alien cultures, I already have, and you rejected it."

Stated the Scarab, taking a slightly offended tone as their suggestion for their own name was shot down. Ultimately, the decision was down to the Scarab itself. Though Karsin did remind the Scarab that this was a big decision, and should be thought about before choosing.

"No, I said a cool alien name, and I don't know about you but when I think of cool alien names, Xoeg-nhi isn't exactly the first thing that comes to my mind."

Karsin continued to bicker with his scarab as he walked through the halls, on his way to the study, and to his real destination, the training facility. As Karsin made his way throughout the various hallways and rooms that compiled the monstrous mansion in which he and his new fellow teammates would be staying for the foreseeable future, he eventually happened upon what sounded to be multiple voices up ahead. As he neared where the voices were, he hushed his Scarab, before peering into the room for a moment. Karsin immediately smiled as he saw what had amassed to be a decent group of five, two females and three males, along with the metahuman he scanned earlier walking out the door and into the shining light of the sun. Among the group, he saw the Kryptonian that the Scarab had scanned earlier, Karsin recognized two of the others from the tour, though didn't really know anything else about them. The other two though, Karsin had not previously seen, and he was quite curious about. Karsin looked at the male first, before turning his gaze to the female. Karsin recognized the Amazonian stylizing of the woman's armor and armaments, and furrowed his brow slightly.

"Wow, first a Kryptonian and now also an Amazon? Red Tornado really wasn't playing around when she said this was the big leagues." Karsin thought, more to himself than to the scarab. "Scarab, could you please scan these few real quick? From this point on automatically scan anyone who we encounter, and log the info in the archive, as well as create profiles for any new or existing metahumans, or any other super-powered beings we may encounter. I'd also like to compose full profile's for each member of the team." After thinking about what his Scarab had said during their earlier conversation, Karsin had decided that it may be smart to gather and record and information he could on his teammates for a variety of reasons that may come into use in the future.

"Give me a moment. The Scarab said flatly, as it began to scan the individuals while simultaneously scouring the web for any information they may be able to log.






"How strange. After comparing the scans of Accelerate, to the metahuman we scanned earlier, I can conclude that this metahuman does not seem to actually be an energy manipulator, and is in fact not even a metahuman at all. Further investigation should be done into the matter. Also, if you would like to access any further information I have gathered, it can be found in the full profiles."

"That is quite strange, we shall look into the matter further later, but for now, I think I'd like to meet my teammates."

Karsin thought to his Scarab before he stepped out of his momentary hiding spot, satisfied with his results, and excited to actually meet some of his teammates. approaching the group with a smirk on his face, arms outstretched in a welcoming manner."Hey guys, my name is Karsin! He said, addressing the group and introducing himself with a half-shout as he approached. Did we have in mind any adventures? Said Karsin, the smirk growing on his face as he eyed each member of the small group individually, lingering slightly on Wonder Girl, and pausing momentarily on Sting. At this point, Karsin had wormed his way to the inside of the small group, and announced, "Because I could definitely use some good first-day troublemaking, I mean adventuring, to spruce up this so far rather uneventful day." Karsin said as he began to cross his arms, his smirk growing into a small grin.

_{The House}

”Nice entrance, princess.”

A dry, sardonic voice came from the darkened corner of the room, where a quick look revealed a black-haired boy slouched on a sofa, eating a candy bar. Nike couldn’t be sure, but she suspected the man may have been being sarcastic. Sarcasm wasn’t an alien concept to her, she had used it herself a few times – the Greeks had invented it, after all – but it’s use was far less prevalent on Themyscira, where people where far more open with one another, and less prone to back-biting and snideness, and so she struggled to identify it in American culture, where it seemed to be second nature to everyone. She eventually decided to accept the comment at face value, if for no other reason than to honour her sister’s wishes that she make friends here.

“Thank you.” She stated unironically, though struggled to force any true cheeriness into her smile. The man hadn’t introduced himself, and she was hesitant to ask him his name. Thankfully she was saved the task of having to make awkward small talk with the man-with-no-name by the entrance of another woman – thank the Gods – accompanied by a blonde man she named as Julien. At least, Nike thought to herself, that’s one person’s name I know now. Does nobody in man’s world introduce themselves?

Name withheld or not, the other girls offer was enticing. She had worked up quite the appetite travelling here all the way from Washington, though Nike wasn’t sure what hastag was supposed to mean. Was it a kind of spoken punctuation that she was unfamiliar with? She would have asked for clarification, but the nameless woman and dark-haired watcher in the shadows chose that moment to have a war of words. Nike grunted in annoyance as they traded barbs. This time she could identify the sarcasm. The people here were such children, she decided. If they truly had a problem with one another then they should settle it in the Court of Swords, like warriors.

She decided to leave the two to their bickering, and venture further into the domicile on her own, when a tall, skinny boy moved in her direction, making a disparaging comment about her attire instead of begging her pardon for so rudely pushing his way past her.

Diana had found that if it would have been a task of Herculean proportions if she was to try and teach her sister everything about living in the America in the short time they had together. Too much to tell, too little time. She’d gotten the basics out of the way of course, the things Nike needed to know so as to avoid attracting too much attention to herself in this modern world, things like commercialism, the republican party, and the taboo upon public displays of affection, and societies fixation upon celebrity. After that they had focused on those issues Diana was passionate about. One issue in particular, and one that she felt was incredibly damaging to individuals in a supposedly enlightened age of humanity, was body shaming.

Now that had been a foreign concept to the young Amazonian. Criticizing one’s own appearance, or even worse, somebody else’s, was even more bizarre than the concept of ‘money’. If one wished their body to be fitter, or leaner, then they could just exercise or eat well, but all Amazonian’s were taught to love themselves for who they were. And yet here, where the people masqueraded as civilised, they humiliated one another for the crime of having physical imperfections, a crime that no one save the Gods were innocent of. Nike had concluded that her sister was correct, that this issue was worth being passionate about, as its power was insidious, seemingly such a small, insubstantial thing that caused so much damage. Young girls having harmful surgeries to change their faces or bodies, painful and damaging fad diets, destroying good people’s confidence, potentially even leading to cases of suicide.

So, to come to this place, this hall of heroes, and have one of those supposed sentinels of good attempt to ‘body shame’ her? Well, this she would not stand for.

Her bag of belongs got dropped in a pile at her feet, but before they had even hit the ground her hand shot out, gripping the boy by the shoulder in a titan-like grip, and hauling him back. With a wrench she twisted him around to face her. Mere inches separated them, their noses near touching, though no onlooker would mistake this for a romantic interlude, such was the controlled fury painted across Nike’s countenance.

“Listen here worm.” she snarled, teeth grit like an angry dog. “I am Nike, daughter of Herakles, Princess of the Amazons, Champion of the Olympians, and I shall not be talked down to by the likes of you!” She stabbed a finger into his chest, the power behind that small movement enough to stagger a full grown man. “If I ever hear you try and make another feel anything other than pride in their body, then I shall personally ruin yours, to such a state that the sight of your broken form will haunt the nightmares of all those with the misfortune to look upon you.”

“Moreover, in the future, when you have something to say to someone, you look them in the eye when you say it. You might have no respect for yourself, but you will show respect for those around you.” She held his eye contact for a moment, daring him to defy her, to challenge her, to give her an excuse to do … well, to do something violent. No excuse was forthcoming, however. Mores the pity.

“Do not make me repeat this message, for next time I will be disinclined to waste my words upon the likes of you again, and be more tempted to allow my sword to do the talking.” She released her grip upon the big-mouthed fool, sending him stumbling back through the door that he had been trying to escape through after his initial, poorly thought out comment.

Nike grabbed her bag and entered the building proper, frowning slightly as the other woman joined her in berating the abusive male, though also insulted him for his looks. Hypocrisy like that was rife in Man’s World, but it was concerning to see that it had also infected her sisters who had been raised there. She had hoped that they would know better.

“Do not lower yourself to his level -” She admonished, but before she could continue she was interrupted by another male, thought this one was polite enough to offer his name, and had the sense to treat her as a person, rather than an object. Nike was momentarily interested by the easy fluidity of his movements as he moved. A warrior, she decided, her interest piqued.

“Well met, friend Rev. I am Nike, of the Amazons.” She bowed her head to him slightly, though the smaller girl intervened one more, wrapping her arms around Nike, and dragging her away. Again she repeated the hashtag statement, leaving the princess as confused as ever.

“I don’t know. You might be right. I wouldn’t know. ’Hashtag’ boys are still somewhat of an anomaly for me. And I have no idea what this hashtag is. I am hungry though.” She offered the smaller girl a bemused smile, and allowed herself to be dragged in the direction of the kitchen. “Join us for luncheon, Rev?” She called over her shoulder.

They were stopped on the way by yet another male – they sure were prolific here, were where all the female heroes? – who seemed to be enquiring about what activities the group was up to. His interests left something to be desired though.

“Diana and I deal harshly with most troublemakers. Just this morning I gave one a violent concussion after he crashed a car into me.” Nike responded absently, still more concerned with finding somewhere to get something to eat than dealing with a would-be ne'er-do-well. He couldn’t be all that serious, she told herself, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. “We currently search for vittles’. Perhaps you should join us, and hope that sates your desire for misadventure. I’d hate to be forced to concuss a new team mate on my first day.” … No matter how many of them seemed to be going out of their way to stress her nerves.

As Arthur's mighty steed came into sight he suddenly felt a hand reach around and yank him back into the doorway. Arthur was no superman and naturally this scared him somewhat as it was done with such force that his initial attempt to breakaway from this unseen force was met with failure. He was soon turned around to look the armoured woman from before directly in the eye as she lectured him about body shaming her and others.

As the Amazon finished with her speech and shoved him on his way, Arthur did not turn around to look at his wonderful moped but instead stayed looking at the painfully assertive woman. He began to walk backwards towards his moped as he zipped up his jacket and called out to the woman.

"Hey Nike!" Arthur called, hoping for the woman to turn around. If she did turn around to face Arthur hey would take her advice and make eye contact with her, holding it to the best of his ability.

"All I meant was it's cold out!" Arthur said as he would finally break eye contact and continue on his way towards his moped. This defiantly wasn't his best introduction and the rest of the group probably wasn't a fan of him either now but Arthur planned on not interacting with them if he could help it. As he got to his Moped, Arthur put on his helmet and sped off to hopefully find some peace of mind after that ordeal.

"You see. That's what a real warrior is. Assertive and wont stand to have their will or ideals dashed. Willing to break bone and sear flesh in order to accomplish their goals. Not make some feeble attempt to claify a point. L'Iego belittled though Arthur just ignored it as he began to feel the meditative effects of riding take effect on him.

Sun Fist was taken back a bit when he saw the Amazon act aggressively to Arthur and this rubbed him the wrong way. Kryptonians did not understand Earthlings obsession with the ridiculous war between the two genders, but he was against forcing one to agree through threats of violence.

"Nike. In America people have the right to express themselves and voice their opinions and feelings regardless of their nature. I would rather know what someone is feeling and what their beliefs are then to have them be afraid to speak. Using power to force people to believe what you believe is fascist and only creates more problems. Superman taught me that we can't let our powers be used to oppress people and silence people's voices" he said to her in a calm voice.

Rev was an individualist and egalitarian who firmly believed in free speech. For him collectivism was an easy way to excuse ignorance and he always tried to fight it.

"As for getting food. I am not hungry, Kryptonians don't actually need to eat thanks to just feeding on solar energy, but thanks anyway" he said replying to her offer with the smile back on his face.

When the Amazon and the other girl left to go get food Rev then turned to look at Arthur as he took off on his vehicle. Rev took off after him with his super speed and caught up to his teammates.

"Are you alright Arthur?" he asked with a loud voice as he ran beside Arthur. Rev didn't know what his teammate's powers were, but he guessed that it wasn't superhuman strength like a Kryptonian or Amazon and that made him concerned about his teammate.