@BlackSam3091
Anders noded and opened his mouth to get the bird guy to help out faen. However this was interrupted by the roar of the giant. "What are you a giant bug?" he watched the bird man strike the thing and get knocked senseless resulting in him backing up from the large thing. He sighed before rolling his shoulders. "Well....I must say you are massive" A fist swung his direction and he dodged. Bouncing on his heels he looked around assessing what he could do. The hell hound was still out for the count and the bird man thing did not seem like it was going to get up at any point so where did that leave him. Perhaps dodging until the other guy was good to help out.

Another fist another dodge. An irritated roar was let out by the thing and he shrugged. "Thats the thing about being smaller...much quicker" Punch dodge and so it was repeated until anders found another brick. He held it and dodged another punch until he could throw it. The brick glowed magenta as it went trough the air and hit the thing in the chest. It exploded and anders fully expected the giant to have a hole in its chest. It did not rather, it seemed more pissed off with a blackened area there.

Anders blinked before a punch met him in the chest. He felt the went go out of him and his vision blurred for a moment. He coughed up some blood before standing and wiping his face. "Well damn." He stood and waited for the next punch. He dodged and inhaled sharply. He heard Faen behind him and dodged another punch. "So I seem to be out of moves at the moment." His way of asking for help...being a man with a rather large ego asking for that help was difficult.

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Darkhawk jumped from the pier and flew into the battle. He aerial push-kicked one of the Atlanteans and used his super agility to backflip off the ground and do an overhead punch on another Atlantean. A third Atlantean came from behind to punch Brandon, but Amy used her powers to control the Atlanteans punch, stopping it from hitting Darkhawk. Darkhawk's hand blade came out, and Brandon could feel a surge of power coming into his hand. He unleashed it and Darkforce Energy ran down the blade, pulsating off of it like purple lightning. Brandon slashed at the Atlantean with the blade, knocking him out.

More Atlanteans rose out of the sea and surrounded Darkhawk. Amy began blasting the Atlanteans with her witch powers and they took the blows easily. Brandon blocked their weapon blows with his enhanced arm blade, but soon the energy from Brandon's blade had dissipated and was not as useful against their weapons. They overwhelmed Brandon and started to surround him.

"Brandon!" Amy cried out to her friend and ran down to him. She got in front of Brandon and was prepared to take a blow for him, but Brandon used Darkhawk's energy shield to protect the two of them. The Atlanteans began smashing at the energy shield which was being projected by Brandon, and Amy used her own powers to create a shield to bolster their defenses. Dozens of Atlanteans where smashing at the barricade they were projecting and it didn't look like the shield was going to hold up. Was this the end to the two students?

The all new Thing and the adopted daughter of Johnny Storm were on their way to the fight on foot. Jacob REALLY needed to work on his cardio. Of course it won't help already being half exhausted before entering into a fight. His uncle Ben might lose some money on this day for the bet with Johnny Storm. The two young heroes could see the onslaught from a distance, people running and screaming, the Ferris wheel had been turned over, SOMETHING pissed these blue skinned Atlantians off. It seemed as if there were a pair of would-be heroes trapped behind an energy shield of some kind. The long run was over and as the blue skinned enemies made eye contact with the newest two people to approach in costume, nearly a dozen ran at them. It seemed as if Lucy had planned on running at them but Jacob put his arm up to hold her back.

"I got the first wave..." he said with a smile before raising his hand dramatically and causing a small earthquake between the edge of the ocean and the beach knocking several Atlantians sown and exposing the rock and stone underneath the surface.

"Time to go hero!" Jacob yelled as rocks and stone began enveloping his hands and forming a club of sorts as well, "You wanna go help Blackbird or whatever that guy's name is over there? Throwing big rocks should keep you guys covered enough but if not..." he says turning his head and looking over his shoulder.

A large pillar of stone and earth with sand pouring off of it rose from out of the ground and gave the two trapped heroes a little more protection on the one side. Jacob's arms moved back and forth as he lifted stone out of the ground and ocean with his power to use as projectiles and then he saw it. A young man who's blue skin wasn't as blue as the others, riding what looked like a giant sea monster towards the battle. When he got closer he could see the trident like weapon in the guy's hand and that his eyes weren't solid white like the other Atlantians. News choppers were in the distance, and the media and authorities held a line keeping the civilians and reporters back about ablock away from the front of Coney Island and the Boardwalk.

@Demon Shinobi @Grec

~KL~

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Brandon saw the two new figures approaching them. One of them made a giant stone pillar on one side.

"Now's our chance, Amy!" Brandon lowered the barrier and pressed on the amulet. Darkforce shadows surrounded them and cloaked the two rookie heroes as Amy lowered her barrier. They sneaked out of the crowd of Atlanteans and ran to support the two new heroes. Darkhawk uncloaked next to them, then Amy and Brandon began fighting the Atlanteans. Darkhawk assaulted the Atlanteans close to their new backup with rapid punches while Scarlet Witch started zapping some Blues. They got into formation with the new heroes on the scene.

"So who are you two, some Wonder-Kids that can help us?" Amy said.

"Shh...Amy, play nice." Brandon said.

As she arrived with Jacob Lucy prepared to attack the wave approaching them. But he stopped her, opting to handle the first wave. That left the two who'd essentially been surrounded. She began to produce a steady stream of fire to ward off the enemy, adding to the distraction caused by her new muscle bound friend. This would create ample opportunity for the two to reposition themselves, which they did. They were altogether now, but more they could only hold off the Atlanteans for so long. And what's more, their apparent leader was approaching, riding a noble beast of the see, trident in hand. This didn't seem like a winning battle in the slightest. At least not from her perspective. But what could the...

She was pulled from her thoughts by Amy. "Wonder..." She growled. She didn't know much about this society, but she was sure she didn't quite like the tone of the girl's question. Still, she'd answer as a member of the royal family should. "I am Lucida Amaquelin Storm of the Inhuman royal family." She introduced herself. She didn't have much field experience as a hero, but when it came to the teachings of the inhumans she could fancy a wager of how to handle this. "I assume you two can handle yourself. Right?" She asked with a small smirk. "If so, please watch this guys back." She grinned pointing out the new Thing.

She wasn't planning to wait for an answer. A small group of the blue adversaries charged her and lunged. What would her father do in this situation? "Heh..." She wasn't worried. "Flame on!" She shouted, bursting into flames sending the Atlanteans flying back. "I've got bigger fish to fry." Without another word she shot off into the sky. If she was correct the best plan of action would be to take out the head of the group. She could go over the invading force. No problem. "I can do this." She whispered to herself as she flew toward the man riding the sea beast.

"Why are you doing this?" She questioned him, raising her voice as much as possible to try and get his attention. She wasn't so naive as to think she could talk this out without any confrontation. But she at least wanted an answer as to why she had been in the outside world for less than a day and somebody was already trying to take it.

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"So I seem to be out of moves at the moment." Faen couldn’t help but smirk. This was a man who hated to ask for help, so much so that it sounded like it was almost physically painful for him to even utter that ham-handed request. Maybe it didn’t hurt as much as the Behemoth’s fists, but hurt nonetheless. That said. Faen was of half a mind to make him beg, say please at the very least, for that ‘need help’ comment if nothing else.

Then again, that was hardly very heroic of him. Well, not very Thor-ish or Captain America-like of him. From the research he’d done into the former Avengers members, he had developed the distinct impression that Tony Stark was a dick of legendary proportions, and more than likely would have made a man who had mildly annoyed him once beg for help when stuck in a life or death situation. But did he really want to be the Iron Man of tomorrow? Stark was hardly the most emulation worthy of the heroes of yesteryear. Hel, some would say he was only one step away from being a super-villain himself. Maybe asking yourself the question, ‘would Tony Stark do it?’ wasn’t the best qualifier of what constituted a great idea.

With an audible sigh the half-breed took a step forwards. Being a hero was starting to seem so utterly unrewarding. Can’t even let annoying blonde twats get splattered by inter-dimensional brutes. Where’s the fun?

With a furrowing of his brow, realising that what he was about to do was incredibly. Mind-numbingly, truly note-worthily stupid, Faen shouted; “Hey! Ugly!” The Behemoth ceased its assault on the blonde human to swing towards the Prince of Lies, its small piggy eyes round-open in surprise, the dark orbs quickly narrowing in suspicion.

“Blondie over there isn’t worth your time.” The brute grunted in what might just have been agreement. “You need a real foe, someone with substance.” By now the Behemoth had begun moving towards Faen, each slow footfall landing with the weight of mountains, shaking the alley around them. “Me, I’ve got substance to spare. Half Jotun, don’t you know. Son of Loki. Prince of Lies. That’s a pedigree a man can be proud of. ” He doubted his foe was even listening to his chattering anymore, the musclebound monsters pace increasing with every step, it’s lips hitched back over its mouth, revealing a shark like smile, no doubt at the thought for getting even with the man who had imprisoned it so recently. “Pedigree like that, it opens all kinds of doors. Let’s a man do things like this.”

The Behemoth was mere steps away when Faen took a back step, both to give himself room and give him space to brace himself. The ring and middle fingers on his right hand curled, while the pinkie, index and thumb remained straight, pointing out and forwards. He rotated the hand clockwise, and began the incantation he had glimpsed in one of the Sorcerer Supremes tome’s, that last time he had managed to sneak into the Sanctum Sanctorum.

“BY THE CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK!”

He thrust his free left hand out towards the now thoroughly confused looking Behemoth, curling all his fingers into a claw-like cage. Use the right hand to unlock the might of Cyttorak the Destroyer, the tome had read, and the left to cage the intended victim. Pulsating, iridescent crimson ribbons of energy leapt from Faen’s hand – their essence so bright and puissant on the mystical plane that they were actually difficult to look at in the mortal world – and shot towards the gigantic brute, snaking around him until he looked like a Christmas present all tied up with a pretty red bow. The monster tried to work his way free, but struggle as he might, he just couldn’t work any slack into his binds. Seemed his power was no match for Cyttorak’s.

_“Damn.” Faen sighed, eyes open wide in amazement. _{“That actually worked!”} He took another few moments to admire his own handiwork, before reluctantly tearing his eyes away to face the man he had ‘rescued’. For a moment Faen looked at him in an expectant silence, but those magic words he was waiting to hear weren’t forthcoming. Seemed the man needed a gentle reminder about common decency and manners.

“You know, after a man saves your life it’s customary to say ‘thank you’.”

“Why are you doing this?” the fiery woman asked the Atlantian Prince from the sky.

Prince Namor II was every bit the douchebag his father was and hated the surface world for polluting his father’s mind. Making him believe he needed to be a ‘hero’ to these people. The nerve. After decades the original mutant Prince took a blue skinned Atlantian as his wife and had two children, Namor II and the current Queen… Sauora. Namor II acted foolishly and without the council of his sister the Queen. He didn’t bother dealing with the girl in the sky, rather pulling the harness on his sea beast to make it snarl and shoot water out of its nose and mouth at the girl. As she fell from the sky into the ocean below Jacob had finally had it with these water breathers. Now fighting alongside the new Darkhawk and some girl with powers, he gave them fair warning.

“Watch your feet, the grounds about to quake!” he yelled in the throes of battle with his fists of stone wielding a large stone club.

The ground did indeed quake and more stone and earth lifted from seemingly out of nowhere. Many of the blue skinned Atlantians were taken down and retreated towards the water. Jacob used the rocky debris to begin forming his stone suit. The second it finished he leaped into the air towards the sea monster and the man on it’s back. One crack to the monster’s jaw had it retreating and the new Prince dived at the hero. Soon after the Prince met what would’ve been the jaw of Jacob if not for his Full Power Thing suit of stone.. Still, the Prince knocked the kid into the water and he skipped like a flat stone towards the beachfront. Unless the Thing made little Earth quake islands he wasn’t fighting this dude in the ocean. Thankfully the Prince’s pride took over and he swam as hard and as fast as he could to the surface. Half a mile in under a minute wasn’t bad for him, but for the heroes…?

“Either of you two got any ideas? Fishstick’s coming in fast!” the Thing asked dissipating his stone armor for a few moments on the beachfront as the two heroes continued taking down any remaining Atlantian soldiers still too dumb to retreat.

@Grec @Demon Shinobi

~KL~

They laid hidden in the shadows. 5 figures dressed head to toe in dark metallic blue suits. Shatternaught a 7 foot tall brutish male with a hulk like physique. Lady Chain who's ability was to make metallic tendrils from her body. Conduit whose body glowed and radiated through his metal suit containing the vast possibly infinite energy his body produced. Blade-Child the wild card of the group had her knives in her hand. They glowed a purplish hue ready to cut wanting to cut whoever tried to stop her. And finally their leader who's name was given to him by their master. Their leaders name was Equal. It was them who were chosen to enact the will of their master. Their orders take the D-Ark and capture its creator. There was a slight delay in their orders as the inventor had never shown his face at the unveiling. Their master did not approve of failure, but he did approve of using whatever means necessary to get their objective done. "Shatternaught, Blade-Child the second part of our objective has yet to show himself. Give him a reason too." Grinning from ear to ear the massive brute grunted approval of his orders and took his stance. His fist glowed bright orange and as it collided with the wall of the building the light faded then...BOOOOMMM!!! Smoke and debri cluttered one side of the room and before anyone could scream several energy slashes added as Blade-Child jumped over her companion laughing as the rich investors ran and hid screaming. Equal calmly walked through the chaos, surely this would bring out the fabled genius from hiding otherwise he would have to destroy this entire building to get him and he would most will.

Julius had felt the explosion from his lab. He looked toward the monitors and saw the events at the unveiling. Whoever these people were they weren't random thugs. They were trained, and this attack was planned if the wanted him he shouldn't keep them waiting. Julius took off his wielding mask and stepped toward his armor pad. The machine scanned his body then began the process of assembling and placing his armor. First the hands and feet, then forearms and shins, thighs and shoulders, chest and waist then finally neck and head. These people invaded his home, attacked people that didn't even know him, and more than likely wanted him and his technology for their own gain. They wanted Julius Vom Doom but unfortunately they would have would have to settle with Iron-Man.

Riri had already guided most of the guests to safety. The security force were being taken out like flies, barely buying them any time to get everyone else to safety. Before she could act however a tendril had wrapped itself around her neck personally from Lady Chain, as the tendril squeezed tighter and tighter it suddenly let go and Lady Chain was soon blasted into a nearby pillar. Julius crouched down to help him mentor to her feet."Excuse me but Stark protocols dictate that anyone not wearing a scannable photo card must not be allowed into the building. I'm afraid you all will have to leave." Shatternaught grunted and charged at the armored hero only for Julius to place his hands on his chest and blast two bright repulsor beams like Chain and send the Goliath to the other side of the hall. "Now then..." he said opening his wrist his Omniweapom sliding out vibrating and glowing a bright green. "Who else wants a time out?"

As she sunk into the water, cursing her idiotic charge while Jacob continued the fight Lucinda couldn't help, but grow angrier. How could she be so stupid as to charge head first and allow the monster to smother her flames so easily. Still, as she felt the water around her vibrate she could fancy a guess as to why. "Jacob." She grumbled to herself, bubbles forming from the breath that escapes her lips when she spoke.

But what could she do. The young Inhuman royal growled as fish passed by her. She thought for a moment about utilizing her powers to cool the water around her. But she still had trouble using them. More than that, she wasn't sure she could activate it on a controlled scale. And worst of all. She thought about how embarrassing this was. She had put on this act of bravado. She had acted as though she would handle things and immediately crashed and burned, so to speak.

If all of that wasn't enough... She remembered the face of the Atlantean prince. Smug, arrogant bastard. This will not stand. She thought as her eyes began to glow before she was set ablaze again. She shot out of the water. Any left over water attempting to hang onto her after her emergence would immediately evaporate.

Lucinda was angry. She didn't care what anybody thought or if there was a plan. She charge for the young man who'd been riding the beast, flames stronger and wilder than before, aiming to slam her fist into his chest. Momentum and speed were all on her side. Even if he were to evade she could immediately turn and reposition herself for a follow-up attack in the form of a powerful fire ball.

"I suggest you shield yourselves." She announced to her compatriots in case the Atlantean did manage to avoid not one, but two attacks. If the stories from her father were anything to go by, this would not be easy. And more importantly, they would sure as hell get worse before they got better.

@BlackSam3091
Anders dodged out of the way and slumped against a wall. The exhaustion from keeping that up kicking in along with the pain from the punch he received. He worked on breathing while he watched Faen fight the giant...thing. He had to admit he was impressed....but admitting that out loud would never happen. Anders made his way to where a pile of bricks were just in case one of the other two snapped out of it and decided to attack an already weakened anders.

Anders looked up when his rescuer spoke to him, clutching his torso. "Could say the same to you" A glance at the bird thing and then the canine before he looked back at faen. Saying thanks was not quite as painful as asking for help...but that didn't mean he wanted to. "But.......thanks" He started to walk out of the alley very slowly before he paused. "The name is Anders by the way" With that he walked more out of the alley trying very hard to hide the fact that his torso was probably bruised to hell.

Darkhawk and Scarlet Witch began blasting at Namor with Darkforce and Magic energy beams. The attack was sufficient enough to stall him. Still, Darkhawk, Scarlet Witch and the Thing, now back in full armor once again, had to prepare themselves for Namor's next assault. Much to the Atlantian Prince's shock and their own, that's when the Inhuman Torch rose from the water in a fiery rage. B-lining to the Atlantian in probably record speed she hit him with everything she had. Jacob threw up a stone slab to shield the heroes on the beach from the fire, and after Lucy blasted Namor into the beach the fire encased him in glass when the sand was superheated. When the heroes stepped from behind the stone slab they were all a bit in shock at the crazyness of the situation. A few moments later the authorities showed up as well as agents of SHIELD, and the knocked out Atlantians and the glass encased Namor Jr. were taken into custody.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen." Jacob said bluntly looking as the Atlantian Prince was removed from the scene in oddly shaped glass.

Honestly, Lucida couldn't believe that had worked. Perhaps the Atlantian prince wasn't as up to the task of an invasion of the surface as he'd thought. Although, it was likely that she 'd merely managed to catch him off guard. Still, it was nice to hear a little praise.

"I don't have my cell phone to get anybody's number, but we should do this again guys." Jacob said having dissipated his stone armor minutes earlier. "I heard Darkhawk call you.. Amy? That's not gonna be your code-name is it?" he asked the girl with the longer hair as the news reporters and expanded media outlets began flooding the scene.

"Yeah, names Amy, but the headmaster at that mutant school said I had the same powers as someone named "Scarlet Witch". So I guess you can just call me Scarlet." Amy said to Jacob.

"You guy's better take off unless you want the press..." Jacob said more towards 'Hawk, thinking he'd fly the girl out of there.

Darkhawk took a look at his wings and saw they were damaged. He wasn't going to be flying anyone anywhere.

"You think you've got enough in you to fly back to Uncle Ben's? I could carry you but I'm not sure you won't get sick leaping six blocks at a time..." he then asked Lucy.

"There's a cafe just down the street from here, why don't we go there to recuperate?" Darkhawk asked the other young heroes.

Up to this point Lucy had been relatively quiet, catching her breath. She had used way more power than she had initially planned. Getting angry as she had learned time and time again was never a good plan. "I think a cafe would be lovely." She finally spoke up. "And since I won Uncle Benny and my father's bet you can treat me to something. Right Thing?"

"I actually have a few bucks on me for once. You ever had coffee, Lucy?" Jacob replied with a smile.

~KL~ / @Demon Shinobi / @Grec

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The rest of the conversation between Alex and Mystique went more like a business transaction. After that they took him back to where they grabbed him in a similar way they had taken him to the place they had just been at. Without saying another word they split off like nothing had happened.

Alex walked the rest of the way home reading over the dossier to make sure he didn't miss a single tidbit of information. He wasn't sure, but something about this guy seemed familiar. Alex couldn't tell what it was, yet he felt like he knew him or at least knew about him. Looking at the file though he knew he'd probably need Alonso's help to gather more info. He closed the file sticking it in his bag then started running for home.

He ran straight to the building that the reclusive leader had made his base. Walking inside Alex could feel the heat emanating from all the different machines inside the room. "Alonso! Where you at?" Alex waited a moment before a small drone flew up towards his face. The voice of the resident technopath and 'savior' of this group of mutants came out of the machine. "Kinda in alert mode. Need you to head ta Stark Industries. I sent Fredrick there to get me a piece of tech I need for a project, but it seems that an unforeseen situation not caused by him is occurring. See what's going on and do whatever you thinks best."

Alex sighed then produced the dossier saying, "Fine. You can repay the favor by looking into this guy for me. Get any info you can. He's my next target." The light on the drone blinked indicating a yes. Alex set the dossier done then bolted out the room. Of all the people that escaped Alonso was the only one that Alex hated. He and Alonso were the only ones that really knew how they escaped.

It didn't take very long to get to the large tower that was the home base of Stark Industries. Alex pulled the hood over his head and then ran towards the spot he could smell that seemed ashy. "Geez, not very subtle. This hole is ridiculous." Alex poked his head inside and inspected the scene. He saw six combatants but saw that one was the new Iron Man he had to listen to Alonso fanboy about.

Before stepping inside Alex smelled for Fredrick's scent then rushed to his side when he found it. The boy, who was wearing a costume that made him look like a ridiculously fat entrepreneur, jumped at the sight of his friend. "Thank goodness your here. Look, I need you to keep all of them distracted while I grab the tech we need." Alex gave a sideways glance to his newly rotund friend saying, "Seriously. I'm pretty sure their distracted enough."

"I know, but if one side beats the other then chances of me getting noticed are higher. I need you to run some kind of interference."

Alex groaned but nodded his head. He then stood up and walked to the center of the room just after the big guy got blasted across it. "Time outs are a little boring dontcha think? A coma would be much nicer. Whaddya say, tin man, need a little help?"

Brandon, Amy and their new associates entered the café. They took a seat in the corner and a waitress came up to their table.

"We have customers? There was a big brawl just down the street! I heard four young heroes were fighting invaders from the sea! You didn't happen to see them come by, did you?" The waitress said.

"Oh no, we're just some students. We would tuck our tails in and run for it if we ever saw something like that!"

Brandon took a look at Amy, who was ordering her coffee. Who would have known that this girl he's known since middle school was harboring powers as well? Amy was smart, pretty and had powers just like him. He started daydreaming for a bit as he stared at her...

"You love her, don't you?" A creepy whisper came into Brandon's head. Brandon began panicking to himself for a little bit, he just heard a voice in his head! He looked at his amulet and wondered if it could have been coming from it.

"Hey sir, what would you like?" The waitress asked Brandon. Brandon snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, a French Press and a turkey sandwich, please."

"So, Lucy, you said you are an Inhuman? Is that like a mutant? And where did you come from, Jacob? Amy asked Lucy and Jacob.

@Demon Shinobi@The Kid Lantern

Riri must have been lax with the invetations, if he had known so many unexpected guests were attending then perhaps he would have actually showed up. He had Herald call in Doom dots for assistance in the fight but after scanning the room he realized the would be more useful helping civilians trapped in this little deadly dance. Riri had went to help anyone trapped and he assigned 6 doom bots and accompany and assist her in the evacuation.
Now with that process taken care of Julius had decided to get a better look at this stranger. Judging by his apparel and how clean his clothes were he wasn't a guess for the unvieling. How he got in is pretty much obvious, that giant brute made a hole the size of a bus in the side of the building. He wore a hood over his face so he couldn't use any facial recognition at the moment but that didn't matter. Why would a stranger walk straight into a fire fight like this?
As Julius contemplated in his thoughts Conduit flew above the stranger ready to blast the interruption away along with Julius. He switched the Omniweapons glaive function to a staff and threw it like a javelin piercing the attackers armor, the staff sent out a small discharge enough to send him to the ground. As Julius pulled the staff out he looked toward Alex. "I don't know who you are, and like any person I have questions, but for now those will have to wait..." His sentence was interrupted by Vore his battle assistant AI "Julius I have detected 5 unknown signals coming from he intruders. It is unknown where the signal originates. Time is mandatory to scan and locate the signal."
Julius sighed of course time was needed. It couldn't be that easy could it. Beat the bad guys be the hero and fly off as a man of mystery. He turned and spoke the Alex
"I will admit I'm outnumbered here so your help is just what I need." He said switching his staff into its claymore function "Our guests seem to be getting orders from an unknown location .My AI needs some time to scan and track the signal. So would it be to much to for a little assistance in dealing with these uninvited guests?"

@alexfangtalon

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Friday, 1:37pm.
Church of Our Lady Peace, NYC.


A quote from a mediocre film yet there is truth to it all the same.

My father, Dr Takeshi Abe, is seated beside me. He is a handsome Japanese man with short black hair and graying stumble over his lip and upon his chin. He sits with his head bowed, his left hand holding on to my hand with a firm, and occasionally trembling grip. He is staring unblinking straight ahead, and it is difficult to tell if he is actually listening to the man speaking before us or if he is in his own world. His parents sit to his right. They quietly sit with their heads bowed in respect. To my left my other grandparents are seated, Papa and Nana Madison. Nana is holding my left hand as Papa hands her a handkerchief to wipe her tears and running nose. And, that seventeen year old girl sitting there in the center with tears flowing down her cheeks, short dark hair half curling toward her long slender neck, unable to lift her brown eyes to look anyone in the face.... that's me.

My name is Aimi Abe. Despite my very Japanese name I was born here in the United States as my parents were before me. When I was a child I became very sick. My father who is a very accomplished neurologist and his colleagues were at a lost as to what was causing my body to slowly deteriorate. That is until a young medical student by the name of Gerald Drew introduced himself. It just so happened he knew of an experimental treatment that could possibly save my life. And, it did. It took some time, but after a while I was a completely healthy and extremely active girl. Though I am still very much hearing impaired it is a small price to pay to have an otherwise normal kind of life.

Lately however something has changed. I'm different now. At first it was chalked up to conditioning after being a part of the school's basketball team for the last few years. But, now I don't know. I run so fast now. My jumping ability is crazy. I mean, not only did I dunk a ball during the last game, I nearly jumped over the net! I was in for the whole game and never got winded. And, two nights ago, I broke my bathroom sink. I was so upset that I hit the sink with both fists and the porcelain broke in half!

My mother, Tamara Madison Abe, was a beautiful Caucasian woman. A natural brunette with creamy white that was oh so soft, and full pink lips that gave the most loving kisses. She graduated from the American University School of Communication with a journalism degree. When I was about three years old, my family moved to New York. As my father's career as a neurologist took off, my mother began her journalist career reporting for the local television news. Later, she would write for the New York Times, and just last year she wrote a very successful book. Now, five steps from where my family and I sit is the midnight blue steel casket in which lies my mother.

And, it's all my fault.

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Present Day.
Minutes After the Atlantean Attack.

As soon as Daniel Lee learned of the Atlantean attack he had to go the the battle site. Like his mother, Danika Hart, he was quite the snoop. And just like his father, Ganke, he was huge on superheroes. And, the boy just knew that superheroes would show up to save the day. He was right. (Un)Fortunately for Daniel, he had missed the entire fight. Of course, since she was unable to talk him out of going Aimi had to come with him to keep the boy out of trouble.

"That's gotta be Darkhawk!" he told Aimi, his wide eyes glued to the online footage of the battle. Aimi quickly opened the door to the cafe so her none observant friend would not smack into it. "Not sure who these other guys are. Footage is too blurry and shaky. That could be the Thing, but... I dunno."

Except for the small group at the counter, the cafe they had entered was basically a ghost town. To Aimi it made obvious sense being so close to the battlefield. NYPD had already set barricades blocking off the damaged parts of the city. Another disappointment as far as Daniel was concerned. Grabbing him by the sleeve, Aimi carefully guided her buddy to the line at the counter, and stopped him before he ran into one of the customers ahead of them. She hoped a good slice of apple pie would make the boy feel better... and shut him up for a few minutes.

"Coffee?" She tried to think for a moment. She knew Johnny had mentioned it a few times throughout the course of her life. Still, she couldn't think of a time she'd actually had it herself. "Is it anything like Hot Chocolate?" She asked as they began to make their way to the cafe.

Led by Darkhawk and the Scarlet which it wasn't long until they reached their destination. They were all more or less in civilian attire, none of the people around them aware of their recent heroics. "It's kind of exciting isn't it?" She asked in a hushed voice before the waitress came over, beginning to ask for their orders. She'd had all manner of cuisine during her time in Attilan, but here... She was worried. What if she ordered something she didn't like? Would they have to throw it away? It'd be a waste.

She glanced at Jacob for a moment. "You can order for me. Anything you think would be good." She would say leaving that to him before the waitress would leave and Amy would ask her what an Inhuman was.

"I'm a little surprised Amy." She began simply. "It's a new feeling for somebody from your society not to have a set opinion of my people." She explained a bit about what she meant. "At least that is how it seems when I try to follow some of the news broadcasts of your people." She smiled, pausing for a moment. "Inhumans are, so to speak, a race all our own. We come from the same genetic ancestors, but because the of experimentation done by the Kree, our specific people branch out separate from the rest of the world. Somewhat different from the origin of mutants I would assume." Lucy tilted her head a bit. "Typically we all have the potential for power, but our abilities are generally latent unless we undergo Terrigenesis. But that's far too complicated to get into." She couldn't help but laugh a bit. Besides, it wasn't like she was an expect in her cultures history or the in workings of her society. She still had much to learn.

---

Alex looked at the man he'd be fighting alongside and said, "Sure, I love helping people out." Next Alex turned to the opponents that were still standing and asked, "So, which of you wants the crap beat outta ya first?" Almost instantly Blade Child rushed towards Alex sending energy slashes in his direction.

Quickly Alex bolted around the attack producing his kendo stick swinging for the back of the girl. She went tumbling forward but quickly got back to her feet. Alex stood in a defensive position facing his opponent when he heard the pounding footsteps of Shatternaught running in his direction. Alex moved to jump over the behemoth but a tendril from Lady Chain grabbed his ankle pulling him back to the ground.

Julius kept his eye on as Alex fought and moved. He was no amateur for sure. He received training and thankfully it was enough to match their attackers. Blade Child had begun attacking him after her little tumble with Alex and surprisingly enough or more annoying was how agile she was. Her agility, along with her ability to emit energy to cut her foes made a dangerous combination. Julius noticed that Shatternaught's attention was not on him and soon realized that Alex had been pinned down by Lady Chain. He swung his claymore to give him some distance between him and Blade-Child and let loose a repulsor blast at Chain in an attempt to make her lose her grip "Careful! The Big one and make explosions with his fists!"

The blast Chain gave Alex his freedom of movement back. He quickly rolled to the side as Shatternaught punched the ground right where Alex had just been. Before the dust settled Alex ran behind Chain grabbing one of her tendrils threw her at Conduit causing both to tumble to the ground. Next Alex started running circles around the big one hitting him in pressure points. With the guys size it wouldn't do as much, but it had to be pissing him off. "Come on, big guy. Are you as slow in the head as you are physically?" He then ran towards where Conduit and Chain were smacking them both in the head, and waited for the brute to start charging him.

Julius swung his claymore and landed a blow against Blade Child but much to his surprise her armor was still intact. Julius scanned her using Herald and had detected a psionic energy signature covering her entire body. "You must be joking? A force field too? What? were you guys made in a lab or something?" That comment seemed to touch a sore spot because she began hacking and slashing away at him. He grabbed her by her wrists and charged full throttle into the air. When he was high enough he let go full momentum sending her into a pile of debris.

Equal had not moved from his spot the whole fight, he felt like he didn't need too. But this unforeseen ally of Julius was not part of the plan, his master's plan. He grunted in disgust as he ran towards Alex jumping over Shatternaught. "My master does not want you. i'll give you a choice. Leave or die."

Alex laughed heartily, "Speaking of dying do one of you five wanna go say hi to death for me. Your threats mean nothing to me." Alex then ran towards the closest wall and did his best to run up it. "Let's see how this works on the big guy." Alex then kicked off the wall sending himself spinning in the direction of Shatternaught in an effort to kick him in the back of the head.

Equal moved quick, quicker than Julius or Alex could see. In the mere seconds that it took Alex to jump up the wall the assailant matched it, if not maybe a second earlier. He caught Alex's attack while the hooded vigilante was in mid air and counted him by spinning him knocking him off balance. "Mind if I cut in?" Julius said flying through the air grabbing Equal only for him to be landed a blow strong enough for him to be knocked out of the air as well. He landed next to Alex, and Equal landed next to Shatternaught, to make matters worse his team was starting to recover slowly getting up one by one. "This...maybe a cause for concern.." "Julius scans for the five unknown signals are complete. Would you like them disabled?" "Yes now now!!" Vore did what her creator commanded, using his armors energy shielding and concentrating it to a certain frequency the AI used his armor to send out a single point EMP spreading across the event hall. Painful discharges of energy came from the necks of Shatternaught, Madam Chain, Conduit, Blade Child and even Equal. When the discharges ceased they fell to the ground except Equal though, he was left staggering.

Alex groaned, not from pain but from aggravation that he was caught so off guard. He stood up looking at the four on the floor and the last one standing. "Lab rats or unwilling employees?" Alex said in an inquisitive manner looking at Julius. Before the man could say anything Alex started walking towards the five. When he got to them he swung his weapon for the underside of Equal's jaw.

Equal was to taken back by the sudden large voltage shock to his nervous system to block. The weapon hit him bluntly with heavy force distorting him even more. He felt his brain rattle and fell to his knees unable to move, his vision blurring.

Julius was impressed by Alex for bringing Equal to his knees. He walked beside Shatternaught and checked his body to find the source of the discharge. After feeling around his neck he felt an unusual scar about 6 centimeters in length and 3 in width. He had decided to drag the others closer and checked their bodies as well to find the same scar. He scanned their bodies and found the source. They were chipped. Using his holographic imaging he displayed 5 images of the group and one of the chip. "I recognize this tech. It's a receiver. It was attached between the layers of their muscle and nervous system to prevent any serious damage." He pulled the diagram of the receiver to him expanding it and having his armor pick up any information it can for him. "It seems the purpose of it was to send data directly to the brain having it send signals to muscles in order to increase reflexes and perception. Hmm? What's this?" A hidden file could be accessed on the diagram he brought it up.

"Project Nephele. Logistics file 'Strong Guy': Subject Shatternaught. DNA stable. Mentally to be announced. Subject has shown to be aggressive almost animalistic. Though intelligence is lacking the subjects kinetic buildup is shown to be quite effective. Genetic material of Guido Carosella supplied by S is well appreciated. Subject will however be upgraded upon return?" He pulled up 4 more files from the remaining group, Maverick, Bishop, Darwin, Red, all of them named after deceased heroes, all with with one thing in common. "These people are clones. And incomplete by this S."

"Huh, wonder who this S is? Do you think you can follow the signal to the transmitter?" Alex looked at the images Julius had pulled up looking over them. Something felt off though the longer he looked. He knew most of the people that these clones were based off of and this made him wonder who could possibly have the ability to get this kind of stuff. Whoever they were if they figured out the system for cloning then it could be bad nearing levels of Skrull. Hopefully these people could be stopped before they got the cloning thing down. "Oh, just realized I'm being rude. Call me Raptor." Alex then extended his hand in greeting.

Julius took the young man's hand and shook it firmly. "I am Iron-man, or Tin man as you called me earlier. Thank you. If you had not come when you did it would be a lot worse." He looked up towards the camera above him and had Herald send a signal to call available doom bots to clear up the mess. Foot steps could be heard coming into the event hall. With his luck SHIELD would try to question him again. He took Raptor's hand once again leaving a small triangular device attached to a blank appointment card. "This is not much but I do owe you for helping me. If you're ever in trouble, call me on that. I'll come right away."

---

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---

---

Faen watched the other man stagger out of the alley, gamely trying to hide the fact that his insides had gotten churned up something rotten during the fracas. He was failing miserably, of course – you’d need to be the Hulk to just walk off a punch from the now bound Behemoth – but the mere fact that he was trying to act tough instead of just, you know, dying, said to Faen that this Anders was a lot harder than his pretty boy façade would give him credit for.

Come to think of it, the blonde had showed off some pretty snappy moves back there. Those grenade things he had been hucking looked like they’d packed a Hel of a punch, and Faen wasn’t sure what he’d done to the bird-skeleton-thing, but that cryptologists nightmare was still down for the count.

Guy like that, might come in handy, especially in regard to the oncoming invasion of a certain super-god turned villainous conqueror. As a meatshield, if nothing else.

His mind made up, Faen followed Anders out of the alley, leaving the badguys bundled up where they where for now. This wasn’t going to take long, and it wasn’t like they were going anywhere. The Prince of Lies caught up with the injured blonde quickly. Not hard, considering Ander’s current top speed was ‘hobble’.

“Hey, Blondie, wait up!” Faen called, jogging slightly to catch level with Anders. “I didn’t introduce myself. Prince Faen Lokison, heir to the throne of Asgard, how do you do?” He thrust his hand at the other man with a smirk.

“I must say, we made a good team back there. Not great, but good. Real potential though. Real, visible potential. Me and you, we could go places. With just a bit of work, why we could be the biggest super duo to hit this side of Manhattan. Cloak and Dagger who, amirite? Be a shame to throw all that potential away, yeah? So, in the interests of our future fame and fortunes, I have got a devil of a proposal for you!”

“Interested?”

Julius sighed as he finally made it back to his lab. That little hunch about Shield showing up was dead on, and the questions they asked him even more. And to make matters worse now they placed guards all over the building! He won't be able to go to the bathroom let alone build anything without them 'protecting him'. In the end he knew what it was about, they were keeping an eye on him, they knew he was he made no point of hiding it to shield. They let him come and go and do what he pleases, so why the guardian angel routine now? Herald walked with a tray in his robotic hand.
"Sir your synapse signal are showing, a low calorie intact. Might I suggest a light snack?" Julius eyed the tray, sandwiches roast beef with mozzarella cheese on a toasted Italian roll, the drink was something he had grown to adore during his time in America, a coke-cola. Julius took the drink and took a long sip, the burn from the carbonation soothed and delighted him, next he took a bite out of the sandwich.

"I must admit Herald him showing up like that was rather unexpected." "Even more so that you let the person accompanying him leave." The AI displayed a video of a slight overweight man possibly a few years older than him attempting to steal from one of stark industries laboratories. None of the tech was made by him so he had not really given that much thought about it, but frankly anything made by this company can be considered dangerous so he would have to keep and ear out in the future. He took another bite out of his sandwich an idea popped into his head, something new. He began writing down the blue prints, and took another bite of his sandwich.

---

---

Meanwhile, In Another Part of the City...



Dr Gerald Drew sat at the in his small office just outside his designated lab on the fourth floor of Alchemax. For the last two hours he had sat there watching the videos on his laptop over and over again and again. Occasionally his left hand would run through his thick dark hair and every so often he would take a sip of tea from his mug, but Gerald's cool blue eyes never left the screen. The young doctor was so engrossed by the video he was watching that he hadn't noticed the very silent Japanese woman standing just inside his door.

*Knock**Knock*
"Doctor Drew..." she called out softly. In truth she had knocked once before yet she had done so so timidly that the sound of her knuckles rapping against the door was barely audible.

The knocking at his office door had startled him causing Gerald to jump slightly in his big black rolling chair. Dr Drew closed his laptop and gave her a polite a smile. "Yes? May I help Miss...?"

"Kita," she replied, taking a moment to guide her small framed glasses from the tip of her little nose up to the bridge. "Doctor Karen Kita." A Japanese woman of thirty years old, Dr Kita was of slender build not unlike that of a supermodel yet minus the the height. Though she did have a somewhat prominent nose upon her face the feature only accentuated her exotic beauty. Her flats made hardly a sound upon the carpet of Gerald's office as she approached his desk with a package in hand. "My apologies for disturbing you, but I received this package by mistake today. It was obviously addressed to you, but I unfortunately opened it before checking the name on the outside. Again I apology."

"Oh! Well thank you very much, Doctor Kita," Gerald said appreciatively as he stood to take the small box from her. "But, surely you didn't have to come all the way to my office just to return this. With a simple phone I could have easily sent one of my assistants to come get it."

"It was no trouble, really," she said, again adjusting her glasses. "In truth, I was hoping that if your box was delivered to me then maybe--"

"Your package found it's way to me," Gerald finished her thought. "Um, well, let's take a look." The young doctor made his way around his desk and, allowing Dr Kita to exit first, made his way into his laboratory towards the table closest to the door where often Gerald's mail from inside and outside of the building was dropped off. "I am sorry," he said as his quickly looked over the cluttered pile. "I've been so busy with my work that I really haven't left the office I don't how long... Ah! Doctor K. Kita," grinning as he picked up the still sealed box and handed it to it's rightful owner. "This must be yours."

"Thank you, very much," she replied, smiling once more. Her brown seemed to sparkle and gleam as she looked down at the box she held within her delicate hands.

"I hope this delay hasn't spoiled whatever may be inside," Gerald said, curious to know what the package held, yet too polite to ask.

"No... I am sure everything is quite alright. Thank you again, Dr Drew," Dr Kita said, giving a slight nod of her before she quickly left the laboratory.

"Please,.." he had started to say, but alas, the woman had left too quickly, "...call me, Gerald." His blue eyes lingered after her for a moment as her pleasant perfume remained in the air. But, only for a moment.

With the distraction now gone Gerald made his way back to his office and back to his desk. The doctor opened his laptop once again and hastily typed in his password so he could once again study the video that he had been watching so intently before the Dr Kita had interrupted him. The video had no sound, but the picture was a clear as day. He observed the same few seconds of footage over and over again, stopping and rewinding, stopping and rewinding. Gerald watched almost unblinkingly as the two fists of a young Asian woman hit the sink within her bathroom... which caused the porcelain to break in half.

---

Back at the Café...

"May I help you?"

Aimi looked to her friend, Daniel, to answer what appeared to be the manager of the café. Unfortunately, Daniel was still engrossed with the multiple videos being uploaded to various social media sights about the Atlantis attack that had taken place not all that long ago and not all that far away from the where they were now. To get her friend's attention Aimi did what she often did in times like this... and whacked him firmly upon the back of the head, which amused the cafe manager just a bit.

"Ooww! What the heck?!" Aimi pointed at the middle-aged woman behind the counter. "Oh, uh, sorry. Let's see, let's see..." Daniel's eyes quickly scanned over the menu and behind the counter trying to figure out what he wanted. Aimi pointed again, this time at a near by glass container that set upon the counter in which set three fresh looking pies. "Ooo! Two slices of -apple?" looking at Aimi for approval, " -yes, two slices of apple pie."

"And, what would you like to drink?"

"Um.... how about a mint mocha, and, what? Tea?" Aimi nodded in reply. "A tea," Daniel said, completing the order.

From her purse Aimi retrieved her debit card to pay for their order, and it wasn't long before the two teenagers were seated next to a window inside the café. Of course, as soon as they sat down Daniel took out his phone once more as he seemed to be more hungry for superhero footage than he was for pie. Annoyed, Aimi placed her left hand over his phone which caused the boy to look up in protest. ~ Eat.~, she signed sternly.

"OK, OK."