@BlackSam3091

Anders had been making very little progress on the whole leaving thing. Part of him suspected that adrenaline was the only reason he had managed to handle that punch....now he felt like a train ran him over. He stopped when he heard the other guy approach. Anders leaned heavily on the wall and looked at him, barely registering the words coming from the guy's mouth.

"Other then feeling like I got run over by a train I'm just peachy" he managed to take the hand in a firm enough handshake that he wasn't horribly embarrassed by it.

He managed to keep eye contact while the guy spoke and managed a nod. "Sure....but first....hospital" he felt himself sliding down the wall as his vision got fuzzy.

Maya was more of an energy drink kind of girl, but when you slept as badly as she did, it was catch as catch can. She sat with the largest iced mocha the cafe would sell her, phone on the table in front of her, reading the news.
This breaking story was exactly why she had come here. A cadre of heroes showed up out of the blue to save the day. Super heroes, with supernatural powers. Mutants were one thing, but Maya was no mutant. She had something otherworldly in her now, and if she was going to get on with her life, she needed to learn to deal with it.

She brushed her hair back from her tired eyes as a group of young people walked in. They were about her age, and at first she paid them very little mind. But one of them asked a question of another that snapped her attention to them.

"So, Lucy, you said you are an Inhuman? Is that like a mutant?”

The other girl explained how it was similar, but not quite the same. Maya didn't catch all of it, but latched onto one particular detail.

They all have powers?

She looked over the group, then back at pictures from the news site she was reading. They weren't dressed the same, but the genders, the body types were right. One of them had been engulfed in flame, even. And yet now they all seemed relaxed, like she had no trouble keeping the fire inside.

Maya got up and strode to the table they had taken over in the corner.
“Y’all the super type?” She murmured, putting her right hand down on the table. The knuckle bones were suddenly visible as the skin on her hand melted away in a brief flare of purple flame. “I need help.” She drew her hand back to her chest, the flesh knitting back together as the flames dissipated.

Brandon and Amy chatted up Lucy and Jacob while enjoying their food. They talked about where they obtained their powers, their lives in New York and where to meet next.

"We can meet up at the library next time. It's nice to meet some other people our age with powers!' Amy said to the group.

"That fight made me hungry, I'm going to go get seconds." Brandon got up from his seat and went to order a second plate of food.

"Brandon eats too much, he's gonna be a lil fatty when he's older!" Amy said to the group. Brandon walked up to counter and saw two people, they seemed to be familiar. One of them was viewing a video on his phone, and Brandon sworn he heard him talking about the beach battle. Brandon, thinking he saw them before, approached the girl.

"Hey wait, don't you go to my school?" Brandon bluntly asked the girl. Before he could get an answer, Brandon looked back to his table. She asked if they were the "super type", and Brandon swore he saw a purple flame light up on the girl.

"Yeah, what if we are?" Amy asked the girl.

Jacob and Lucy had sat with the new heroes, Brandon and Amy, at a nearby cafe. Darkhawk was in civies in no time, Amy was already in normal clothes, while Jacob and Lucy looked like extreme sports enthusiasts. On their way in Lucy told Jacob....

"You can order for me. Anything you think would be good." She said with a look.

He proceeded to order the two of them cappuccinos with extra cream and liquid sugar. Having grabbed a bag he'd stashed on the beach, he took some cash out of it to pay for their order and sat for a moment with their new friends. The more exuberant Amy asked...

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

Lucy went on to tell the group her origins, while Jacob took the time to go change clothes in the bathroom. Having brought the bag with him with a couple pieces of clothing tucked in it and a pair of shoes, he remembered fighting the monster coming out of the street and having to go back to his Uncle Ben's in dirty clothes. He changed into red gym shorts and a Rolling Stones t-shirt, and pulled his hair back with a rubberband. For some reason the kid always had at least six to eight of them between his two wrists. He packed an extra shirt for Lucy. On his way out with a spray of cologne he approached the group as the Inhuman girl finished telling the group about herself.

"I'm the Thing's nephew. You know... rock skinned guy from the F-4 back in the day? I think I'm a mutant but I think exposure to my uncle over time caused whatever power I had to continue to grow. Now I can make stone suits and stuff, but I generally stick to rocky hands and hammers and throwing rocks with my power." he said then he mentioned kinda under his breath to the group, "Lucy, I... um... brought you a shirt too. It's one of Uncle Ben's he 'collected' after his transformation since he couldn't wear them. Haven't looked up this band yet... Led Zeppelin? The 'Stones were pretty cool." He said handing Lucy the shirt pointing to the shirt’s graphics.

He stepped back to the counter and grabbed their drinks and after sitting Lucy's down in front of her, Brandon got up to get more food.
"We can meet up at the library next time. It's nice to meet some other people our age with powers!' Amy said.

“Or I could introduce you guy’s to my Uncle Ben and we could meet at his pad. It’s pretty cutting edge but everything is built for his big frame. I’ve fallen into the toilet twice!” Jacob commented as Brandon started convo with some other kids at the counter.

@Demon Shinobi @Grec @Divine Darkness

~KL~

Heavy rock music filled the lab and could be heard by the guards outside his door and more importantly by his mentor the Riri. The CEO former hero made her way into his lab letting the sounds of drums and guitar rifts spread to more than just his lab. His systems sent a alert when she entered the large room. "Julius? Julius!" She screamed the young inventors name a remote in her hand. With a click of a button the music died down. She had wanted to question him about the recent attack on Stark Industries, instead what she found was almost as worst. Fast food burger wrappers cluttered at his feet, he was emerged in some new blueprints he had developed, one was for a new set of armor with a bizzare color pattern, blue and purple and something else. Project Raptor, was all it said. How long has he been here? "Riri hello. I didn't hear your come in." "I'm surprised you could hear anything. When was the last time you left the building? No this room?" Julius was silent and pretended to be working this response did not help him. "Herald how long had Julius been here?" "The young master has not left his laboratory since Shield agents have been guarding the building." The AI answered accurately"Okay I think it's time you got some fresh air." She said pulling him from his work bench, as much as of a brilliant inventor as he was he was still young, he put too much of himself into his work than his life and as his legal guardian here she had to show him the error of his ways. "Julius you have been here for 3 years but I have never seen you leave your lab. It's both admirable and abnormal for you to spend so much time with metal instead of mingling. Why don't you take some time to see th sights. For me?"
------------
Julius was silent then sighed he knew he had lost. She we always lenient with him but it was rare for her to make a personal request. Without a word he nodded and headed to the bathroom to shower. He had to be honest the hot water felt amazing. Like it was just washing all his stress away. When he had come of the bathroom Riri had already prepared his clothes for him. A plain grey t shirt with a sleeveless green hoodie with and black jeans. "Now go enjoy yourself. Who knows you may find something more interesting than your little side projects." "Yes ma'am" was all Julius could get in as escorted out the building. Well either way he was getting real tired of Five Guys

Everything happened rather quickly. Such was the way of this society Lucy supposed. In the time it took them to speak, Jacob had gone to change. Brandon had been eaten and was on his way for seconds. Amy had questioned Lucy on her origins and as Jacob returned to speak of his own, she took the shirt he'd offered. It wasn't huge like one would expect, but it wasn't exactly tiny either. Still, it fit all the same. "I suppose it would be something to look into." She replied in regards to the 'band' jacob had spoken of. She remembered that her father often talked about such things from this society.

Soon enough though, they had already begun to decide on a place to meet. "The library?" She thought for a moment. "I suppose that's doable. I'll be starting school at um..." Lucy had to pause for a moment to try and remember where she would be beginning. "I believe the abbreviation was ESU?" She moreso questioned the information as opposed to giving it. "I'd need an address or something along those lines." She said before giving a small laugh. "After all, while it would be easy to travel to Jacobs whenever I needed to go somewhere, it'd be easier to learn my own way." She said with a smile.

She'd finished her drink in a few quick sips. Clearly surprising to those who didn't have an immunity to heat, but the fact remained it was gone in a matter of seconds. With the new shirt over her clothes she was fairly certain that she could relax. That was until a girl approached them. She thought nothing important as she had been discussing her abilities fairly openly, even if they had kept their voices down to contain the conversation. Still, with Brandon away the new girl came and she questioned who they were. Lucy was more than ready to feign ignorance until she saw the small transformation the girl was fighting to contain. "Not here." She said quickly. She had not problem being recognized as a hero, but Brandon and Amy were another story entirely. She didn't know if they were keeping their other roles a secret.

"We'll meet outside." She added quietly. If this transformation was unsafe, it was best to try and at least move out of the cafe filled with people. "You two don't need to join us." She spoke to Jacob and Amy. She was partly hoping somebody would come with her, in case things got messy, though she didn't expect the girl to try and harm her consciously. "But given what we just saw, continuing to speak to this girl around the people here might be dangerous." her words sounded cold, but the alternative would have been to forego helping Maya altogether. And she wouldn't do that. "Jacob, if you in particular need to leave, I understand. Let my father know I won't be back for a bit though." She added just in case.

Ivory strummed the pick through her puffs, her afro had gotten unmanageable, and the puffs themselves seemed to stick out a whole two feet. A slight exaggeration. Or was it? Nonetheless, today was a weekend and she didn't have to worry about any rules tonight. She could stay out past the streetlights! Oh, all the things she could do! Ride a skateboard, go finger painting, sky-diving, paint balling! She had never gotten the chance to explore New York on her own before, she could never fray too far, never explore enough. But tonight was the night!

She flung a bright red coat on beneath the black tanktop and fitted with blue jeans and red/white chucks. A beanie topped off her preferred street look, and it was black. Once yellow sun began to dim blue sky with red-orange flush. All across the skies night neared and the city streets grew colder. 'Normal' patrons had cleared the street and given the cold concrete to characters whose faces grew gradually more suspicious and conniving, whose garb was dark. The freaks were--in the adage of the old song--about to come out. Maybe this was the wrong night for a field trip.

She hugged the red leather coat close to her shoulders, the frigid vapor of her breath streamlined from tuckered lips. Leather, nay, fake leather was a bad fashion choice (for any occasion) especially for bitter New York wind. She was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole 'going out on the town' ordeal, and her will to continue waned with each gust. Then she saw a cafe. No, she saw warmth. There were several young people inside, and one standing outside the door with another one who also looked to be around her age. One was wearing a smooth winter jacket meld with mixes of brown and creme and capped with soft complementary buttons that ran down the front. Ivory was kind of jealous of her fashion sense, and she stood dumbfounded and stooped by admiration. Maybe she could pick up some fashion tips of her own and ditch this dusty hand-me-down her aunt used to wear in 1993 when leather jackets were vogue.

"Nice coat!" she spouted, an ear-to-ear grin chalked along fluffy cheeks.

@Demon Shinobi

---

---

From her purse Aimi retrieved her debit card to pay for their order as a young man approached her and Daniel at the counter. "Hey wait, don't you go to my school?" he asked. Aimi quirked a brow at him as she studied him. She had to admit there was some familiarity to his face so it was possible that they did indeed go to school together yet at this very moment she wasn't for sure. He was a fairly handsome boy with short black hair similar in the style to Daniel's but thinner it seemed. His eyes were a deep brown not unlike Aimi's and his complexion hinted at a possible mixed heritage.

In the end Aimi didn't recognize the boy, and Daniel was inattentive to the conversation as he trying to gather their order while still attempting to watch online footage on his phone to weigh in. So in reply to his question Aimi simply shrugged in reply at the stranger. But, by the time she had replied to him the boy seemed to be distracted by the goings on of his friends further back in the café.

So Aimi gathered her order up and lead Daniel to a small table next to a window. 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."

---

Aimi's plan had worked. While he was eating Daniel didn't say one word and he seemed less upset about having missed the big battle on the beach. Sadly, the silenced only lasted but a minute as that's all it took for the boy to wolf down his slice of pie. "The Bugle has a job opening in its mail room, " Daniel said with a gleam in his eye before taking a brief sip of his mocha. "Could be my foot in the door leading to bigger and grander things!"

~ Why? ~ Aimi signed. ~ So you can become a professional superhero chaser? ~

"Well until someone gives me an armored power suit or I'm bitten by a genetically altered beaver being a hero chaser is the next best thing," Daniel smiled.

@Grec

When Lucy insinuated that Maya was a danger to others, she felt the hellfire raise to the surface, but pushed it down and let tears sting the corner of her eyes instead. She nodded. Yes, she was dangerous. That was what worried her. It wasn't only her, and it was only a matter of time before there was more than simple property damage.

“Thank you,” she said, as they made their way out of the shop, luckily without attracting the attention of the employees. “For at least talking to me.”

When they got outside, Maya looked at the girl. “Are you the one who was on fire?” She let her hand transform again, holding it close and shielding it from public view. This time, the skin around her face gave off a flickering purple glow as well, as if there was fire just beneath the surface. With an obvious effort, she pushed it back down again.

“How do you keep it inside?”

Earlier...

---

Dante walked quietly through the back alleys and the dark places of the city. She avoided major roads and eventually she ended up in the dank alley behind the apartment complex she had been looking for. She steathily jumped up onto a dumpster, grabbed the fire escape ladder and began to climb up as quickly as she could. It had been a while since she had been here. It was A few weeks before she had been shot that she had been here at least, and a week since then as well. But Dante was fairly certain she knew what she was going to find.

As she got to the desired floor Dante quietly lifted the window she remembered had the broken latch and silently As she could, slipped inside the appartment. As soon as her feet touvhed the floor, a small white cat began to rub up against her legs. Dante bent down and rubbed behind the the white cat's wars. It began to pur, but walked away.
"Ah, as coy as ever, huh virgil?"
She found that the rest of the interior looked exactly as she remembered, clothes everywhere, a few dishes in the sink, but the trash had gone out.
Huh, he never cleans unless.... oh, God.
Just as she had the thought Damian burst through the door of his apartment with a blonde, twenty-something on him with the ferocity of a pouncing lion. Dante let out a light cough and they both jumped.
Damian looked as if he was looking at a ghost, his medium length black hair was brushed back, giving her a perfect view of his shocked expression. The blonde looked downright posses. She got off him and spoke in an annoyingly high pitched voice.
"I thought you said you lived alone, you didn't say you had a kid sister."
Dante had to hold back a laugh. How this woman came to think that she, a five foot eleven, obvuously muscular woman with short, almost shaved hair and a face that quite clearly betrayed the fact that she was a lifelong boxer, was anyone's kid sister was hilarious. She ignored the blonde and turned to Damian, who still looked like someone had just come back from the dead... Well, I guess from his perspective, someone did.
"Damian, I know you're kinda shocked 'cus-a my beauty an' all" She motioned to her aforementioned boxers face as she said this. "But, for god's sake, please pick your jaw up off the floor, I need to talk with you."

Damian slowly got up and walked over to her, thoroughly ignoring the blonde woman who was now just sitting angrily on the couch. "Dante-" Dante held up a finger, making him stop. She motioned with her hand for them to move away from the broad, and when they were on the other side of the room she spoke.
"Damian, where's my stuff? I paid you very good money to keep it here, yet I don't see it."
Damian managed to get out a squeak, before coughing into his hand and talking normally.
"Dante, you were dead, I-...I didn't think it would matter, I-"
Dante held up her hand and he stopped. Her low calm tone betrayed to him how mad she was.
"Damian... where... is.. my...stuff..."
Damian's face turned away from her and he spoke softly.
"I sold it all..."
Dante put her fingers to the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Well... there goes any chance she had of fighting back against the guy who tried to kill her. Damian kept speaking, though. "Listen, I don't know why you're all worked up about it, it was all just scrap metal junk."
Dante wanted to scream at him that it was not just scrap metal junk it was all tge highest grade, purest, or strongest metals and materials that she could save up and buy, throughout her entire life now it was all gone. Virgil slowly brushed against her legs and pured.
not... ALL of it, I guess.
Dante turned from Damian while he was still talking and walked out the front door, the cat just seemed to know to follow her. She called angrily over her shoulder.
"I'm taking Virgil! Have a WONDERFUL night."

---

---

Now...

---

Dante enters a cafe that shes never been to and takes off her hood, revealing her short, black hair, and scarred, beat-up face. Once she gets to the counter she orders a regular coffee and just a paper cup filled with milk. The woman just looks at her oddly, then Virgil who had just followed he inside meows by her feet.
"Um, ma'am, animals aren't allowed-" she catches Dante's glare.
"A-anywhere but at the seat by the window." The woman continued seamlessly into her corrected statement, and Dante smiles at her. She tanks the woman, pays in cash and once she gets her drink she heads over to the table mentioned. As she sits and drinks her coffee she see's a group of kids about her age talking about led zeplin, or something. man, it must be great to be normal.

Julius ordered his coffee and when his name called he proceeded to pay as quickly as possible without anyone seeing him. Truth be told a main reason why he never really left his lab was because Riri had already announced who he is to the world. They didn't know he was Iron man but they him Von Doom grandson of Doctor Doom, and it doesn't happen a lot but there is some hate passed onto him. He never knew when it was going to happen but he just liked to avoid it, and with the recent attack on stark industries he would like to avoid it even more. The cafe was slightly crowded, it was to be expected it was the afternoon. He never could get use to how crowded anywhere in New York could get. He pulled back his hood, taking a sip of his coffee he unintentionally sat by the window his chair behind a dark haired young woman and her pet "Who is S?" he mumbled underneath his breath

---

---

Aimi took a bite of her pie and then another to finish it off. It had been a very delicious slice of apple pie, and should she get back to this part of the city Aimi would have to stop here again. As she went to to pick of her cup of tea to take a sip Aimi was suddenly shocked to see the fork she had been using was still in her hand. Actually it appeared to be sticking to her hand! The girl stared wide eyed at the inside of her hand. She didn't understand. There had been nothing sticky upon the handle. Aimi wiggled her fingers to no avail. She waved her hand above the table and still the fork remained glued to her hand.

"You goin' to get that?" Daniel asked, startling Aimi. The fork's sudden drop on to the empty plate in front of her startled her even more causing her to jump in her seat. With a quirked brow Daniel looked at his friend. "You OK?"

Aimi glanced down at the fork relieved that it was no longer stuck to her hand, then nodded in reply to Daniel. Then, came the muffled beep.

"Isn't that your phone?" Daniel asked.

Aimi reached into her purse to retrieve her phone. Sure enough she had received two messages, both from her father. The two teenagers had been busted thanks to the GPS that allowed Doctor Abe to keep track of his daughter's whereabouts. ~Got to go.~

Daniel sighed in understanding. "Welp, this was a bust of a day." With that the two friends gathered their belongings and prepared to leave the café.

@MThePathSeeker
Dante sat in the cafe cage and drank her coffe, silently watching Virgil drink from the little paper cup. While Virgil was distracted Dante reached over and gently took off the cat's collar. The name tag, which was engraved with the cat's name and Damian's a dress was the only material to survive from her stockpile. It was a small piece of a the strongest military grade Titanium she could buy, and it was about the size of a quarter. She had worked hard for a whole year to afford this.
She clutched the small collar right in her hand. This is where my revenge starts. Dante then out the collar back onto the cat. If you want to keep something safe, there's no safer place than a cat.
As she was putting the collar back on Virgil guy, about her age came and sat next to her. Dante didn't really pay him much mind, but the. He said something she couldn't quite hear. She looked over at him and he was sitting by himself. Had he been talking to her? She turned in her seat to face him.
"Uh, 'scuse me, but are you talking to me?"

He continued mumbling a bit more loudly his possible solutions. From those files they were mutants but something was wrong with them. They were to be 'upgraded'. What does that mean? Cybernetic enhancements? No that would interfere with the implants on their necks. What do they mean by upgrades? How would you continue to upgrade an already upgraded being?" Julius was deep in thought he had not heard the young woman speak to him at first. When she had finished her sentence the sound of her voice brought him out deep trance. He turned to find a dark haired young lady along with her pet a cat. From the inscription on the tag the cat was named Virgil. "Ah I'm sorry. Was I disturbing you? I was trying to figure out a siloution to a recent...situation." He tired putting it mildly trying to shift the subject then he noticed her cats name tag. The shine of the metal and weight of it as it hanged on its neck"The metal name tag on your pet...is that titanium by any chance?"

@Araby264

@MThePathSeeker
Dante raised her eyebrows and couldn't help but look impressed. This guy had just ID'd a piece of metal the size of a quarter without touching it and from several feet away. Virgil fished her milk and meowed at Dante, probably demanding more. Dante simply gave the cat a look. If cat's could roll their eyes, Dante swore Virgil did. The car then proceeded to lay down in its chair.
Dante turned back to the boy and spoke in an am impressed voice.
"Yes it is Titanium, not much though. And don't worry about it, you weren't bothering me, I just thought you were talking to me since, well.." she motions to the empty seat besides the boy."since you friend seems to be invisible."
Dante have a slight smile, the kind that didn't make the kids cry to much. (It was hard what with her permanently busted up face.)

@Araby264

He chuckled at the joke leaving a small trace of a smile to match hers. "I figured it might be. I guess you could I...know my metals." he watched as the cat seem to fall asleep. He let out two fingers slowly to see if he could get her attention. In he corner of his eye he studied the girls features, a scar above her left eye a few bruises, though her eyes are what caught her attention. It wasn't the color but more like the intent in them. "Your cat has quite lovely fur? Is it a boy or a girl?"

@MThePathSeeker
Virgil opened one eye and slowly, lazily really, hopped down out of the chair and painstakingly made it's way over to the boy the white cat seemed to sniff his fingers for a moment, then lick them. It immediately backed off, seemingly having gotten a taste of something it didn't like, but soon enough Virgil was rubbing up against his legs and purring.
While this was going on Dante was talking and answering his questions.
"Are you some kinda metalworker? Oh, and im sure she'd say Thanks if she could. I'm fairly certain she works hard on keeping her fur nice and shiny. Oh, and it's a girl. Her name is Virgil, and my name-"
She holds out her caloused, rough hand.
"is Dante"

He took her hand and shook it. Her hand while having its share of calluses was similar to his own. His hands showed signes of burns cuts and rough on the connecting joints of his fingers. It was apart of his job. "It's a pleasure Ms.Dante I'm Julius." he turned his chair the other way that way he was facing th young woman. "And sort of. Metal working is a talent I picked up at a young age. It was due to my grandfather and my teacher inviting me to America that helped me make it bloom into what is I do today. Which so happens to be a variety mix of all forms of engineeringy."
He pulled out a necklace from his hoodie. The metal thread was titanium similar to the one Virgil's name plate was made from. and attached to it was a piece of metal. One side of it a symbol of a wolf was engraved into the metal. The symbol of his family and the other side a single sentence in Latverian. "Though I will admit I do like to have fun with few side projects now and then."

@Araby264

@MThePathSeeker
As Dante let go of his hand she couldn't help but notice the bruns and roughness, though with what he told her, it made sense why his hand would be that way.
"Nice to meet you Julius. I'll promise not to stab you in the back." As he pulled out the necklace she couldn't help but admire the kickass wolf on it. It also has some sort of writing on it, but she honestly couldn't tell what it was, probably the native writing of where he was from.
"That's pretty damn cool."
Dante looks under you and at Virgil.
"Hey Virgil, should I get some kinda puma done on your collar?"
The cat proceeds to hiss at Dante, probably because she hasn't gotten the onery cat more milk. Dante sighs in exasperation.
"Fine, fine. Have it your way ya prissy socialite. So.."
She turns back to you.
"Your answer was, while real cool, sparse on details. Now, trust me, I understand sometimes people don't want to talk about things, 'specially to strangers. But, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from, and what are these mysterious side projects?"

"Ah you must be curious on the writing." He placed the necklace on the table and gave a faint smile of the memory behind it. "Balance is good and all but sometimes it's better to know things. It was something my mother would always say to me and my sister as children." For a split second a small frown formed at the corners of his mouth but he quickly hid it as to not confuse his hopefully new companion.

"When I was young I couldn't really understand what she meant. But I feel like she was telling me to pick up whatever I can and make it my own. As to answer your questions. I am Latverian." He was aware of the risk he was taking revealing his place of birth. The world only one Latverian and that same Latverian tried time and time again to control it at the expense of many lives, but he was not ashamed of his country nor of his family. "As for my projects. A mans alure all depends on the secrets he keeps. As least that's what my teacher says." He says smiling a finger to his lips.

@Araby264