---

There was very little room for things to go wrong during Leah’s audition. Frankly, she didn’t give a shit how the Harry Potter looking motherfucker or the alcoholic cat felt about what she chose to do anymore. That was because now that it was behind her, her mind was focusing on unfinished business. April never messaged her back. It wasn’t like her to read a message and not send one back, and that worried Leah. Badly.

After leaving the gym, she walked all over the place from here, there and everywhere else to find April. Something inside her was telling her she was a massive fucking idiot for confessing something like that over text. What was she thinking? If she said that out loud, maybe she wouldn't have fumbled so much over her words- And why did she even fumble in the first place? They were words on a screen, not spoken in real time!

Fuck!

Oh dear, she thought, There she is.

"...April?"

April was in the courtyard, sitting underneath the supposedly haunted tree. She had a planner in front of her, and a pile of notebooks and textbooks next to her. She was trying not to run her mind over and over again through everything that had happened this year, instead attempting to calm her nerves and anxiety by rigorously writing out information from syllabi and staring at the textbooks for her courses. She wasn't making much progress though. She had already put all the numbers she remembered into the shitty Nokia phone that Ser Nemo had given her - she was so mortified that apparently someone had told a teacher about the incident. She didn't think it had been Danni or Dori, which meant that SOMEONE ELSE SAW HER. They probably had photos of her lying in toilet water.

Her head shot up though, hearing Leah call out her name. And within seconds, April felt like crying all over again. "H-hey, fam! How'd the audition go? Did you rock the hell out of it? I bet you did! Mine was okay, bit of a wardrobe malfunction at one point, but that happens to the best of us and all. I'm s-so excited for you and- and Sabine! That's s-so great that you're, well, you're thing a now right? T-th-that's awesome!!"

Leah simply gave her a blank stare. She looked stoic and unhindered as she always did, but it was practically written on April's face that she was hurt. If a word hadn't been said, it wouldn't have changed the conclusion Leah came to. Eventually, a twinge of guilt crept up that façade of hers, and she closed the distance, dropped to her knees and wrapped April in a hug.

"April- I- Fucking- Fuck. I didn't want to hurt you. You're terrible at hiding how you feel, and I'm terrible at explaining how I feel. I should've just told both of you in person, instead of leaving you behind and telling you while I wasn't actually around. I'm sorry. I don't- I don't know if we're a thing, but I don't want it to be a thing with just her."

She looked up at April, and the faint expression of guilt was fully written on her face now.

April would've protested that she was actually great at hiding her feelings, but Leah's news came over her like a tsunami. She couldn't remember anymore the exact phrasing of the text, thanks to the water destroying her poor phone and the head injury that had quickly followed. But Leah's revelation still shook her to her core. Leah... hadn't been telling April she had missed on her chance? Leah was feeling just as confused as April was in this situation? April had figured out her feelings for Sabine that summer, pining away after her bestie's bestie on social media. But right now, with Leah holding her in an embrace, confessing her feelings for April... April's heart was beating faster and faster, as her body felt so intensely alive.

She hadn't realized it before, but she wasn't just into Sabine - she was into Leah too.

April returned Leah's embrace, careful not to scratch herself on Leah's hair. Leah had warned her about that before. April had always been a hugger. "I'm sorry I didn't reply - my phone drowned in toilet water," April apologized, before realizing how profusely unattractive a statement that probably was, her face turning bright red. "I-I wanted to tell you that Sabine had held my hand yesterday, that's what I was gonna share... Because I have a crush on her. And I-I-I think I have a crush on you too. Is that okay?" April stammered out.

”That- That’s what I’ve-“

Great, now she’s stammering.

”…April- That’s what I was trying to say yesterday. I didn’t just choose her and give up on you. God, I’m not very good at this stuff.” Her arms dropped away from April’s sides, and fell down to one of April’s hands. ”I guess I just, I don’t know. I got around to expressing that to Sabine before I did for you. Hope you’re not mad at me for it.”

April shook her head. She was feeling so so incredibly nervous now. She didn't know what was supposed to happen next in this situation. Every movie or book she'd seen like this ended up where one couple in the love triangle got together, and someone was left out. But usually that triangle didn't have everyone be into everyone and... She found herself wishing she'd get up the courage to just kiss Leah right now. Or that Leah would get up the courage to kiss her. Or that she could read minds so she could know exactly what to do and what to say, that she'd know how to hold her hands and what angle to tilt her head at, that Sabine would magically appear and sort everything out, that someone would just tell her how things were going to work. Another part of her wished that none of this had ever happened - the part of her that was terribly afraid, afraid of what this change would mean for her and for others. Would Danni and Dori be mad at her? Would it change their relationship?

April bit her lip. "I-I'm not mad at you," she said. "I... I don't know what comes next here. Like... What are we supposed to do now? Did... did you tell Sabine how you feel about... about this too? Do you... do you want to date both of us... or... or is that all too soon and we're supposed to go out for ice cream or something first or the movies or the library after hours or.... What do we do now?"

”Well- Probably not what me and Sabine were up to yesterday. That was kind of spur-of-the-moment.” Her hands heated up at the mention of that. ”Maybe we should talk to Sabine about this. I mean- I’m in love with both of you. I don’t know how she feels about you, but knowing her she might like the idea. If you want- Both of you- We could go out for a movie. Maybe see how we all feel about it. Or we could all date. Is- Would that be too soon for you?”

She was, somehow, completely oblivious to what Leah had implied about what she had been up to with Sabine the previous day. April's face turned red though at the idea of talking to Sabine about this. If Sabine didn't like April - or even if Sabine liked April but didn't want to be with two people - or even if Sabine liked April and was fine with a throuple but didn't want to date April - it would all be ruined. And April would step aside and let Sabine and Leah be a power couple. They were even roommates. Oh my god, they were roommates!

"I-I-I yes! I mean no. I mean yes. But no. Like, that all sounds fine and isn't too soon, I don't think. I don't know. My brain feels kinda broken right now. Like we're breathing and functioning but are we? I-I-I've never even been on a date before or kissed a girl or anything but... I'd love to go on one with you! Or her. Or both of you. Or neither. I mean, whatever you two want or do not want. That works for me. That's perfect. I don't know how she feels about me either. I don't think she really knew anything about me, which is like totally weird right? Like Danni is my brother basically. But I know Dori doesn't vibe with her, so maybe Danni just lumped us both together and just never said anything? Or does she think that there's another April in our year? There's a February the year below, those months often get confused. Also, side note, I love my name but sometimes I wonder if it's cringe since I was BORN in April... My middle name is Cassandra. What's your middle name?" April spat out nervously.

”I don’t have one,” She said, watching April struggle. ”Me and Danni don’t really get along. I don’t have anything against him. He’s just way too much for me to handle. Dorian’s okay, but we don’t get around to talking much. But- Anyway- How about… We talk to Sabine and see what she thinks? And if she’s okay with it, we could all go on a date somewhere. Not sure where but I could fly us there on a rock faster than a car, and we could get across the country in hours. We could go just about anywhere.” Leah didn’t seem to realize she was still holding April’s hand.

April had to resist the urge to suggest that Leah talked to Sabine, while April hid inside a bush and watched with a pair of binoculars. The idea that she could get not just one, but maybe TWO girlfriends.... It was a lot for her to take in. And when April was flustered, she talked. She talked and she talked and she talked. "Yeah, sure, that sounds good to me! My parents will be pissed if I leave the city without telling them, so I'd probably need to let them know where we're going before my dad calls in like a nuclear strike and my mom shows up with Medusa's head or some crazy shit like that. They're both kinda intense. Protective y'know? But intense. It... it kinda runs in my family I guess. Even my mom's parents are like that and they're otherwise just normal people. I mean my granddad's French-Canadian, but other than that, he's just some guy. He's not... well, y'know... Y'know what my other grandfather's like.... But yeah, let's talk to Sabine! Or um maybe you talk and I can nod in agreement, because if you can't tell, I tend to talk waaaay too much when I'm nervous. Kinda like what I'm doing right now. Yay?"

"You're supposed to talk a lot in a relationship, April. That's what we're talking about, so you should be there. Otherwise it's one-sided. Or I guess two-sided, but you know what I mean. I got nervous trying to tell you how I felt. With Sabine... She made the first move and I just went with it. It matters how you feel too, okay? You can talk like crazy all you want as long as you're being honest with yourself and us." Her fingers brushes across the back of April's hand softly.

"I'm sure your parents will live. If they got a problem with it, they can fight me."

Leah's touch caused April to shiver involuntarily. Her eyes fell on Leah's hand, her face burning bright red, before she looked back up at Leah. "I'd love to see you fight my dad. No, like, really, I think it'd be a pretty cool fight! You're all earth and he's all fire. It'd be like that really old cartoon, Avatar, y'know?" April chattered. "But um, you do got me there. I guess you are supposed to talk a lot. I just know that sometimes I talk too much and I go off on tangents and I don't ever really know how to stop... But we can both talk to Sabine! And hopefully I don't start bringing up like how George Foreman named all of his sons George Jr like a weirdo. Hopefully. My brain kinda does that sometimes. It's like bounce bounce bounce! Or see, here I am, doing it again, when what I really should be saying is that... I don't think I'm the kind of person that makes the first move. Obviously. Which we can see playing out here. But um I will be honest. With you. And hopefully me. I think I'm honest with me. I guess I wouldn't really know if I wasn't? Sorry, sorry, more word vomit, ugh."

April hesitated for a moment, before brushing Leah's fingers with her own. The experimental touch sent another shiver down her spine. It felt good though. She wanted to do it again. She never wanted to stop doing it.

Leah couldn't stop herself from smiling. April's hands just felt so warm... "It's okay. I like listening to you talk."

If she wasn't sure about making the first move, then Leah was. Leah leaned in and put a kiss on April's forehead, with no regrets. Especially not after how far she went with Sabine yesterday.

April's body felt like it exploded at Leah's soft kiss. All of her senses screamed out at her just at once. She had always fantasized about her first romantic encounter with a girl - that she would be swept off her feet, that her partner would pull her into a deep and longing kiss. She could feel that potential hovering just out of reach. April tightened her grip on Leah's hand. She was trembling. But April wanted this oh so badly. She couldn't remember every wanting something else in her life even more. And so, she took the plunge. The returned Leah's kiss with one of her own - on Leah's lips.

Leah gently put an arm around April’s back, and leaned into the kiss. Sabine was a lot more forward, more eager and confident. April was more nervous, so Leah elected to be slower, and let April set the pace so they didn’t move too fast. She held April there, feeling more and more comfortable by the minute as they kissed. She has been wanting to do this for a very long time. Leah felt happy now.

When they finally broke the kiss, Leah was smiling. ”I was wondering when we’d do that.”

April's lips were tingling as the kiss was broken off. She couldn't believe it. It had finally happened - her first kiss. The first set of things on her bucket list for junior year could finally be crossed off. Maybe yesterday had just been a weird train wreck, and the rest of the year was going to be smooth sailing from here. "That was... wow. That was better than all the songs and stuff say. I'm guessing that wasn't your first kiss? You're, like, super good at it. Or at least I think you're good. I think I'd know if you were bad at it? But, um, if you want to do that again some time, I'm game. That was... wow."

”Hm, now you sound like Sabine. Don’t be scared, April. We can do that again. As long as you’re comfortable with it. As if to punctuate that statement, she kissed the back of April’s hand.

”If I wasn’t good at it, I think Sabine would’ve told me. She’s pretty good at it too. You might find out soon.”

April didn't know how to feel about Leah saying she sounded like Sabine, but she gasped dramatically nonetheless. If she hadn't felt so strongly about her calling to do something with the ocean and its protection, she thought she would've been pretty good in telenovelas or something along those lines. She was great at the big facial expressions. Her heart fluttered again though as Leah kissed her hand, and her body yearned for something more - something that April didn't feel ready yet for however. "That'd be nice - I bet her lips taste amazing," April said. She had thought about how Sabine's lips would taste a lot. Whereas Leah felt more rough and rugged, and, well rocky, Sabine was much more of a high femme. But all the same, April's mind went back to the Katy Perry lyric - maybe Sabine's lips tasted like cherry chapstick.

"Yours taste pretty amazing too, by the way - it's like making out on a sandy beach, in a good way. Like... Bath and Body Works, if they could bottle that sensation, they'd make a killing. Maybe enough to avoid going out of business."

"Guess it's a good thing they can't, since now you and 'Bine have it all to yourselves." Something felt different about the last two days. Leah felt this way about April for literal years and didn't consider it a possibility that April could feel anything for her, that anyone could. But yesterday moved so quick and this was the consequence of it all. Leah felt like she was okay with this. She wrapped an arm around April and brought her in for another kiss, falling flat on the ground in the process.

Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all...

---

---

Dorian could hardly sleep the night before. Between what had happened with Percy, what he’d seen in his audition, and the anxiety of what team he, April, and Danni would be placed in, the nerves had eaten away at him until his eyes began to burn from exhaustion and he’d finally passed out for the night. That night he didn’t dream, or if he had he couldn’t recall anything but darkness. The knock woke him up, a tightness in his chest growing as he bolted upright in his bed and looked towards the door before noticing the two slips of paper that slid beneath the frame of the door. He took in a deep breath as the vice grip that plagued his chest had dissolved into pure excitement. This was as close to Christmas as they got in AA. Dorian bounded for the door, screaming all the while as he snatched the pages from the floor, pressing them against his chest so he couldn’t immediately see the results until Danni had a chance to as well (fully forgetting they came inside sealed envelopes) ”Get up! C’est l’heure! C’est l’heure! Allons-y Danni!” He wanted to go and grab April so they could all check the results simultaneously, but the loud squeal coming from her room let him know that she could hardly wait to open hers. He tossed both of the envelopes atop the mini fridge, pulling out two bottles of water as he emptied them inside of their electric kettle and popped it on to get water boiling for some coffee. Sure the school had some coffee shops on campus, but they carried cheap stuff that took so long to get to the west coast that it may as well be stale. No, Danni and Dorian needed a fresh brew purchased straight from the country it originated in.

Danni groggily peeked a single eye open, vision still hazy as Dee's banshee wailing dragged him out of sleep. He briefly considered throwing a pillow at the offending sound but just the thought of moving his arm left his muscles protesting and he promptly decided against it. It had been a long day with an exhibition he hadn't been anywhere near confident about and add in the nervous energy of desperation, sleep had been an elusive bitch. And now, for some reason, Dee was wailing at the ass crack of dawn. Danni just let out a looooooong groan before burying his face back into his pillow. Nope, too fucking early.

"Coffee." Danni demanded from his pillow, words muffled. Dee was saying something, but all he cared about was his snuggly cocoon of blankets and a popping hot, bitter cup of fragrant bean juice. Higher brain functions would have to wait 'til then.

Dorian couldn't believe what he was seeing from Danni. How could he not be excited for this?! He took the empty water bottle and tossed it straight at Danni. "It's bein' made already. Now get up!" There was a familiar clicking sound as the lever on the kettle flicked back up to signal that the water was ready and hot. Dorian meanwhile ground some beans of a Brazilian Dark Roast, pouring the batch into their French press before pouring in the hot water atop and letting it sit. "April's already squealin' next door! We must've got in toget'er but I wanna seeeeeee." They'd always tried for one of the judges teams, but not once had managed to score into it. But this year they all decided to not only make it on a judges team together, but they were going to win the Contest of Champions.

Danni grumbled as the water bottle hit him, and flopped over with a dramatic whine. It felt like it was 6am still and with no knock yet, it must have been. "Whatcha goin' on about? They haven't knocked. Can't we sleep 'til they knock?" Danni whined, though he sat up at the smell of coffee brewing. He struggled his way out of his cocoon and shoved himself up. He rubbed his eyes with a yawn, stretching at the end. He blinked, eyes protesting the flood of light, when he saw them: the envelopes sitting innocently on top of the mini-fridge. He gasped, lingering vestiges of sleepiness gone in an instant.

Danni tripped over himself as he stumbled off his bed and scrambled to the envelopes, picking his up with sparkles in his eyes. "T'EYCAMEIN?! WHYDIDN'TYOUWAKEMEUPFASTER?!?!!" Danni screeched excitedly, bounding over with both and waving Dee's eagerly in his face. OPENOPENOPENOPENOPEN!!!

Dorian snatched his envelope out of Dannis hand and held it so that his name was facing him. He looked up at D with sparkles in his eyes, the coffee could wait (it'd have to it took a few minutes to brew). "On t'e count of t'ree. One, deux, t'ree!" he tore the flap open at the same time as Danni had, pulling out the paper as his eyes quickly scanned the letter in his hand. Excitement welled inside of him with every word he read. Not only was he on one of the judges teams, it was Ser Nemos! He wasn't too crazy about Sabine, though he'd rather fight with her than against her, Zelda hadn't exactly given him anymore confidence especially after the way she'd just left her sister in a pool of water, he screamed as he saw Danni's name, and then froze at Percy's.

Dorian hadn't seen him since their kiss, one he wasn't even sure Percy would know or remember. He didn't even know why it happened, but it was a secret he'd kept to himself for now. Either way relations were strained with him, and he wasn't sure how well this team would work out, but he needed to have faith in Nemo. It was a judges team, a dream of Dorians, and that meant they believed this group had what it took to rival the Young Avengers.

Danni continue to scream as he tore into his envelope, quickly tossing it somewhere in the room as the team listing took his attention. Not-a-Fish's name was there at the top, which meant he got on a judges team! They thought he had what it takes to be a fucking Champion! He'd known it the whole time and now they finally recognized it! He took a few quick breaths to calm himself down, afraid he'd break out in flames if he didn't. Once he felt like he'd gotten it under control, he read the team listing.

Beanie was there at the top of the list, and he shrieked with excitement. Bad bitches were gonna kick ass in this Contest and then the world! Zelda Flynn… He frowned for a second before he remembered. Zelda, the little sister of April, duh! Flaming bees and all that jazz! Oooh, so fun! Maybe they could swap stories about Princess to bond!

He nearly vibrated out of his skin and slapped his best friend's arm. "We're on t'e same team! Dream team! Beanie, you, me?! I knew it! We knew it! You, me, Princess…" Danni's good mood went on a hard pause as instead of April Flynn, aka Princess aka Greatest Girly aka one third of the Dream Team, Percy Novikov stared back at him. Who the fuck was this dick ruining their Contest team? He felt like he should know this guy but his identity didn't matter. What mattered is he was ruining their perfect junior year and their chances at winning the Contest! "T'ey made a typo! 'ow unprofessional is t'at! Obviously, t'is is supposed ta be April Flynn instead of t'is Diana knock off. Or maybe Zelda was t'e mistake, but eit'er way we need ta go correct t'em! We were supposed ta 'ave Princess!" Danni declared, stomping his foot as he glared at the page.

Dorian brightened back up as Danni went off. "You're right. I'm sure t'ey meant to give us April instead of Zelda. Wrong Flynn clearly. We can bring it up to Poisson-Pas before anyone 'as to get embarrassed by it. I mean we bot' know 'ow unreliable magic can be." He chimed in, echoing Danni's sentiment. The coffee was just about done now as Dorian got up to gather their trailer thermos' so they could take their morning coffee on the go, placing the two cups near the French Press before slowly letting the strainer down to help express the oils. "Come on teammate let's get ready before we go and burst t'ier magical mis'ap bubble."

---

He walked arm in arm with Dee, confidence oozing off of him. He looked damn fine in the red accented uniform and they were about to get Princess on their team. Poisson-Pas would apologize, flip the Flynns, and everything would be right in the world! And if it didn't happen, he'd just let the dreams of friendship and happiness for this year crumble while he ugly cried in the training room. Maybe some uncontrollable flames sprouting here and there, no biggie really.

"Oye, Poisson-Pas!" Danni called out the second he entered the training room, blowing a wink and a kiss at Beanie. "T'e letter ad a mistake but we caught it, so you're welcome!"

Dorian saw Percy from across the room, his cheeks tinged pink as he looked away from Diana's brother and towards Sabine, giving her a meek wave as Danni addressed their coach. "Danni be nice, chances are Nimue made t'e mistake. Eit'er way we know you meant to chose April and not Zelda. Clearly a magical mis'ap 'appens all t'e time." He said just before sliding the lid on his Tervis, sending the sent of fresh Brazilian coffee wafting into the training room before he took a sip.

---

---

---

Reading the letter that they both got, Leah identified her team. Neither Sabine nor April were on hers. That was… Unlucky. How did someone have two girlfriends and not be put on a team with either of them? Oh well. Absence made the hearts grow fonder. Let’s see… That Zarina chick, the blondie with the nerd shit, the blondie with the who she never got along with due to that ego… Who the fuck is Arcade? She didn’t recognize whoever he was, but she’d probably meet him soon. The letter said to meet at the Frames. In that ugly-ass uniform. Fantastic.

Not giving a shit whether or not Sabine made her forget she was still in the room, Leah tore through her closet and pulled out pants, a shirt, and whatever the coat-thing was. Blazer? Overcoat? Fuck if she knew. Leah was sure as hell not wearing a skirt with the amount of scars, faded abrasions and burns she had on her legs from the good old days. She changed into the uniform quickly enough, grateful that someone somewhere remembered that it had to be made of something especially resistive lest it be shredded when she put it over her head. She grabbed her usual things and headed out the door.

Leah wasn't very familiar with... Any of these people. She just barely met one of them two days ago, didn't know anything about Zarina and didn't like Diana at all. Now they were all on one team that was meant to overthrow the Baby Avengers one day but likely wouldn't. Not that Leah really cared about that sort of thing. She was just here to... Well, she was definitely here. She made her way up the steps to the second floor and found herself to be the third one there. Diana and Vicky. People she didn't know enough to really talk to.

It said a lot when the cat with a drinking problem was supposed to be Miss Teacher for this year. Not when it was put that way, but it said a little more when Leah, Vicky and Diana were here and she wasn't. Oh well, she thought, as she pulled up a chair and checked her phone... Might as well text the girls.



"Where the hell is she? She sleep in or something?" "She" being the weird GMO cat.

If there was one thing Mary Sue was absolutely sure of today, it was that she would be dressed impeccably. School uniforms were so her thing, it was a set of defined clothes that had to be worn in a certain way. Essentially, she say it as a way to never be wrong about her dress, and never have to think about it at the same time. Truly, it was a perfectionist's dream. All other things though? She was deeply uncertain of after the massive fuck up that was her audition. She was left with the idea that she had no idea about the true nature of her abilities, and that made life at a school where she was meant to hone them terrifying.

Purple as a good color on her, and given the season, she was wearing the skirt, plain white top and tie. Hurrying into the training room, Mary Sue could see that she was the last of her team to arrive, something that left her face a bit red. "Hopefully, I'm not late." She said hurriedly, as she joined the amassing group of students. She didn't know how much other people may have heard of how her audition has gone, but, maybe, maybe, that didn't matter anymore? They were all here, of course, so they could be, possibly, all about equal. That was at least a comforting truth to soak herself in. She gave a brief wave to April, wondering if she recognized her at all, their parents used to work together, right?

---

---

---

@Blizz@Nallore@BlueSky44@Forsythe: "SHE'S RIGHT HERE!" Usagi shouted, as she did a triple flip through the air. Her point of origin was the ceiling rafters of the Framework, and she landed on Leah's shoulders. If the cat was cut from Leah's skin, she didn't show it. She flipped again, this time landing on Diana's head and surveyed the room. Usagi looked at Vicky for a second, before chuckling slightly to herself. She didn't look at Arcade for long. He was hanging back by himself somewhat, seemingly a little shy and nervous. He looked like just a generic white boy, the kind that AA was lousy with. He had entered not too long after Leah had.

"Lesson one, ladies and gent - being on time isn't good enough! To surprise your enemy and best him, you should arrive hours in advance! Camp out! Disguise yourself in the terrain! TEAR HIS SPINE OUT AND DEVOUR HIS ENTRAILS!" Usagi laughed again, evidently really into her own dark sense of humor. She hopped off of Diana and landed on top of one of the tanks. "Hmm, we're one short. Or perhaps she's hiding, waiting to.... STRIKE! No? Must just be late then."

"Anyways, time for introductions. I am your coach, Usagi. I've served with the Avengers, so you can say I'm a big fucking deal. And now I'm teaching your twerps. My favorite color is blood. Okay, now the rest of you lot can do that same ice breaker - who you are, why people care about you, and your favorite color. Go."

Usagi's claws came out of her left paw. Why was she being threatening? Who could say...

"Um," Ed said, "My name is Ed - or, uh, Arcade. People care about me because... I'm good with computers? And my favorite color is red."

---

---

If April's emotional state was a mirror, it had been filled with cracks yesterday (and early that morning), ones that she had hastily fixed together with tape. As Gallio-Lensherr approached though, asking about her coffee and mentioning her mother and introducing herself, April felt another crack form in the mirror. She was going to cut her soul to shreds on all of that glass. She wished she had been wearing sunglasses - it would've been easier to mask the internal turmoil. Thankfully, though, Mads kicked off the conversation, explaining they had grabbed the coffee from the cafeteria. "Yeah, there's a real cute little student run coffee stand in there, the Power Snack - it's not a perfect coffee but, like, for stuff on campus I think it's probably the best. Not counting Dori and Danni's stash. You should check it out sometimes. They've got really good stuff from all over the world - I wouldn't be surprised if some of it turned out to be illegal, it tastes like crack."

She tried not to freak too much out at the idea that Andy's mom had gotten her coffee - there was only one person with the surname Gallio April had ever heard about... but surely it was a common name. And Magneto was a slut, but he wouldn't have slept with SELENE! There was no way! Right? RIGHT? RIGHT?!?!?!

April's heart was beating furiously. "And my name's April! Or Cascade, if you wanna know codenames. Because of water. I'm kinda a water type of Pokemon. Fits with the name April too, y'know, April showers and all. So you're... you're Magneto's kid, then?" April asked. Maybe Lensherr was ALSO a common name. Maybe she was completely wrong. Maybe she wasn't related to this person.

But at superhero school... that seemed unlikely.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a girl come into the room and wave at her. April had a bad habit of just waving back whenever someone else waved, even if she had no idea who they were. So she waved back. Was that Mary Sue? Or was it... what was the name of the other person due to be on their team? Arendale? It had to be Mary Sue, right? Unless the person hadn't been waving at her and was instead waving at someone right behind her, in which case she had just completely embarrassed herself.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. April took it out and flipped it up, reading the incoming text from Leah. Her mirror cracked a little more. But there wasn't time to press each button on the stupid Nokia a million times to reply, especially since -

"Is this everyone, then?" a strangely watery voice said. Where seconds ago there had been nothing, there was now a tall, elegant woman. She was made entirely out of water, the light reflecting off of her skin lovingly. Her clothing looked like it was made out of rocks or moss, or even just little plants that you might find on a lakeshore. This of course was Lady Nimue. And she was VERY attractive. April's face burned bright red.

"Hmm. A pity. Miss Terrane appears to be absent," Nimue said with a sigh. "Very well. We have no time to pause. I am Lady Nimue. I will shape you into the heroes you are meant to be. We will begin with learning the sword."

She waved her hands and a rack of swords appeared on the other side of the room. "The first lesson - retrieve your sword."

As well as a gigantic monster - it had the head and neck of a serpent, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a stag. The beast hissed at the assembled students, its fangs dripping with venom.

"And take care to not die facing the Questing Beast," Lady Nimue added. "We are already short a member."

---

---

Percy's eyes narrowed, overhearing what Danni and Dorian were saying to Ser Nemo. He was glad that Zelda wasn't here yet. It would've broken her heart to hear that her team was unwanted. Before he could stop himself though, he found himself butting in on the conversation. "You're right. A mistake was made. Having you two on this team," Percy interjected. "Just because you aren't on a team with all of your friends doesn't mean someone isn't good enough. Or do you only give a shit about your small circle of interest?"

He had liked Danni's cooking - the bit that Dorian had brought over as a peace offering. But now, they were picking on someone Percy considered to be a friend. Well, more of an acquaintance, but certainly someone whose feelings he didn't want to see hurt. He had considered that maybe he had misjudged Dorian, Danni, and the other assholes. But he saw clearly now that he hadn't. He had been right the first time. He should have stuck to his guns.

Why the hell did Agatha think he was madly in love with him? He wished Agatha had been one of the judges on the panel, so that way he could - wait a minute... Was Agatha behind this? Had she gone to her former colleagues and told them who to put where based on the tarot readings? Was the audition process all bullshit? The universe kept throwing Dorian Gray at him, to an extent that he was finding hard to believe.

But he could believe a petty, nasty old talentless witch would do it.

Did Ser Nemo look almost amused...?

"Now, boys, I chose each member of this team for a reason," Ser Nemo answered gently, like a kindly old grandfather. It made Percy sick. "Everything I do is part of a greater picture that you cannot yet see. This is the team that will win the Contest of Champions. I guarantee it."

"It does appear, however, that Ms. Flynn the Younger is late. We can proceed with today's mini challenge. It is important to be able to take the size of your opponent, to determine their weaknesses and strengths. I would like you all to make your deductions on me - Mr. Novikov, as you attempted to kill me, you will go last."

"...Fine." It'd be hardest going last. Everyone else would've already taken the low lying fruit, so to speak. Percy would have to remember how Nemo had moved during his attempted murder the previous day. There was something odd about the old man - he was far faster than anyone his age should've been. And while he looked fine, he was no Captain America. Percy didn't think he'd be able to run very much.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Such a spicy freshie. Someone didn't 'ave t'eir coffee t'is mornin'." Danni laughed at Percy's outrage, sauntering over to throw an arm around his shoulders. He waved off Percy's accusations with a boop of his nose. "Never said Zelds ain't good 'nough; if Dee wasn't terrified of bees, I'd 'ave been pretty chill wit' t'e fire bees t'e other day. Super fuckin' cool 'onestly. I mean, respect for t'e flames and all t'at. But t'e t'ree of us winnin' toget'er 'as been a dream for years and I ain't lettin' a little 'iccup get in t'e way of t'at!" Danni reasoned.

Of course, it took a bit to register what their coach told him. April wasn't on their team? Instead, they would be on opposite sides of the field, every blow against the other another crack in the dream and victory cost not just tears, sweat, and.blood but friendship and bonds built with this dream.in mind. Danni couldn't even begin to consider it, pulling out his phone with a shaking hand as his vision blurred with unscheduled tears, no new unread messages begging for attention. April hadn't even respond to his text.

Did she even care? Did she like her new team that much? She got Leah, a new team, and she just decided that was good enough for her, fuck Danni and Dee?

Absolutely the fuck not.

Percy forgotten, Danni stalked towards Nemo. He could feel fire boiling under his skin and he managed to keep it under control, only a little smoke curling off of him for a moment, as he jammed his pointer finger into Nemo's chest. "Oh, so you can see t'e big picture? I saw you already out of t'e way of my fire when I messed up and blew up t'e judges table. You a fucking psychic or somet'in' too? You able ta peer t'rough time or do you just Madam Razz this shit? Well, you go back ta your crystal ball or go pop back two days or whenever t'e 'ell it was, and change your damn mind 'cause you sure as 'ell didn't see 'ow puttin' us at each ot'er's t'roats would fuck t'in's up." Danni seethed through angry tears.

---

---

Victoria greeted Diana in response as she joined her, sharing the general pleasantries but otherwise leaving well enough alone. As the rest seemed to come in, she absentmindedly noted that she seemed to be the only one who opted for the full length pants. The object of her curiosity arrived a bit later, and to her displeasure, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about the guy. A quiet one like she was up until now, forsooth. At least the rest of the team she knew something about, and started thinking of how their skills might synergize, whether in or out of a fight. It wasn't easy, ad quite a few of them could do a lot of things. They even had two fliers! It made for a nice redundancy, but she was curious to see whether it would also lead to a delay in deciding who would act how, which would be a no-brainer if they were all specialized. She figured out when suited though, she would probably be called to tank damage. I swear, if I end up being the only meat shield, I am billing the repairs to the rest of them. she groaned internally.

Then her mind did the equivalent of a gramophone skipping over a record scratch. Hol'up... Where is the roommate? she asked herself, starting to look around as if Zari was just hiding from her view. Come to think of it, I did not notice her anywhere in the morning. Should I call her? But why should I be responsible for her timekeeping! She knows we have class. Right? I mean I did put the letter on the table, rather than leaving it in her way if she came to the dorm, but still, surely she would have checked the schedule? Come on, she's an adult! Oh my god, is this my fault?! Ohhhhh, she's going to flip on me like yesterday, I bet! FML, where's my phone! she groaned inwardly, patting her pockets.

Vicky was about to call Zari up when a fuzzball launched from above and attacked them, jumping between Leah and Diana before settling her eyes on her. Giving the teacher her best 'Try it!' face, she sent power to the Powerglove, her eyes tracking the infernal creature. But the teacher seemed to think better of it in the end, which Victoria was glad for - She didn't dare guess if blasting her out of the sky was the correct move. The teacher then proceeded to yell something that sounded suspiciously like a shitty corporate interview rejection line about when one should arrive. She was with Agatha, the villains did not exactly sent a meeting invite with a timetable and agenda.

What followed was the weirdest introduction she has seen at the school to date. "Victoria van Dyne; I don't care; Cyan. Blood for the blood god!" she fired off her own right after Ed 'Arcade' Something. Sweet fortune, I don't like 40k, but if this teacher is going to be so over the top as that universe is, then she has earned Khorne's blessings. She fought the urge to cringe. Still she kept her eyes on the... Cat? Rabbit? In case she was to be a tackle victim after all.

---

---

---

Dorian had no idea where this sudden bout of anger was coming from from Percy. He thought he’d smoothed things out fairly well the past two days, but it was clear that he hadn’t. He felt a knot in his chest, wondering if Percy was lashing out because of the kiss. Dorian hadn’t done anything to warrant it, nor had he brought it up since then. It wasn’t till he’d mentioned their wonderful trio that he realized it wasn’t fully about that incident, clearly he had some sort of connection towards Zelda like he had Zari and now he was taking it out on them because he felt his small friend group being threatened. Thankfully Danni corrected him, neither of them thought Zelda wasn’t worthy of being on a team with them, it was more so that April not being there killed all their dreams they had of winning the contest together. Sure they had their senior year but…this was the first year they all made it on the judges team, it was special to them. Dorian was crestfallen as he heard the news that April in fact wasn’t chosen for their team, a cruel twist in fate just as they’d finally made it to a high stakes team. He turned to say something to Danni, noticing the smoke curling off of him as he began to approach Nemo. He had no idea what he was talking about, being psychic or seeing through time, maybe Danni had done some digging beforehand that Dorian hadn’t, but all he knew was his friend was hurt and enraged.

If this was some Madam Razz type shit, then that meant that no matter what they did this was destined to happen. That thought tightened the knot in Dorian's chest as he slowly put down his coffee on the ground, sliding the lid closed so that it’d stay hot for him when he returned. ”No one said she wasn’t good enough Pers, only t’at we t’ought we were meant to be winnin’ wit’ our friend like we always dreamed of. But if t’is is ‘ow it’s meant to play out we can’t fight fate. You know t’at Danni…our parents ‘ave tried. So, let’s find t’is old mans weaknesses…toget’er. Neva said we couldn’t work toget’er after all, aye ‘ot Shot?” Dorian placed a hand on Danni’s shoulders, the steam curling around his fingers for a moment before he let go and unsheathed his sword. ”Feel free to join in Bean, but Pers…you stay out of it.”

He swung his sword at Nemo, using his anger to fuel his swings as he attempted to land a hit. Dorian didn't exactly wish to hurt Nemo, but the best way to obtain a person's weakness is to see them in action. Everyone had tells, sides they favored, openings the leave wide without knowing, weak leg positions, any number of things to help identify how it is that they will fight and how best to take them down. He kept his eyes peeled to see any of these signs, but as his sword passed through the space he could've sworn had Nemo in it, he hit empty air. Nemo was just out of range a few feet back as Dorian blinked his eyes wondering if he'd just black out. It was as if the world had glitched. As if Dorian's ping was too high and caused a massive lag spike in reality.

Frustration boiled inside of him as he tried to figure out what had just happened. Percy mentioned Teddy had fallen ill, maybe it had caught on to him? Dorian knew Nemo could see into the Astral Plane, and his soul was too dense or mystically protected to get a full possession on him. But he had to try something. Dorian swung to Nemo's left, feigning the attack as he slipped into the Astral Realm and slid behind the glitchy old man before phasing back in and smacking him with the flat end of the sword on his back shoulder. "Can't trust t'at psychic sight all t'e time Poisson-Pas. You're too reliant on it."

---

---

---

---

"Thank you, Mads. I'd love to." Andy smiled. Maybe she had been a little mean mentally with Mads the day of the Carnival. She had wanted to chat freely, but Mads was friendly enough. There was no reason they couldn't hang out. She would also love to get a cup of coffee, even if it was subpar. She would have to keep in mind to ask Danni and Dorian about their coffee. Maybe it could be a peace offering of friendship if she got some good coffee to share with them.

April seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable with Andy. Andy had missed the shifting facial expressions since she had been looking at Mads, but the question of if she was Magneto's kid clarified for Andy why April seemed uncomfortable. A lot of people didn't trust Magneto. She understood that. Heck before Genosha she had been in a fight with him too. He wasn't 'safe'. However, her time on Genosha had taught Andy a lot.

She gave a small nod. "Yes, well, sort of. He adopted me on Genosha. I don't know my biological father. I think my mom killed him." She knew that didn't explain everything. Not in the slightest. But Andy really wasn't comfortable explaining it all. She had been seventeen...seventeen years ago. So while that answered the question...it also avoided it.

"I didn't think anyone would recognize his name like that. When I told him I was going to go to school here he said I should take his name and mom got upset that I didn't have hers so I combined them." She had wanted to use Drummond's name, not Phillips since that was her foster care name and she hated it. Drummond's had been two years of happiness. The first time she had felt herself. However, they had never legally adopted her. Legally her name would have been Phillips, but that was tied to someone who disappeared and probably was presumed dead seventeen years ago.

It was a mess. Honestly, though, how could she tell either Magneto or Selene no? The paperwork for the school had been done with the combined names so as far as the law was concerned she was their kid, with only her middle name reflecting the family of her heart.

At that point, before the conversation could get any further the teacher appeared. Andy perked up a bit at them getting to learn the sword. She really did want to learn, there just hadn't been time. This was perfect.

There was something that looked like a very messed up Chimera between them and the swords. She considered her abilities and what she knew of her group. April had said she could control water, and she knew that Mads had magic. Andy didn't know the extent of those powers, but it might be useful. She had no idea what their fourth member could do (or fifth, but she wasn't here so that didn't matter). Andy wished they had had more time to chat about their powers before being thrown into action. She also didn't want to just run across the room and hope for the best. They should plan.

Andy chewed on her lip and tapped her foot thinking before saying "April, help me distract the thing while Mads and uh...Mary Sue," Andy guessed considering Lady Nimue had said Terrane wasn't there. "The two of you go get the swords. Run as fast as you can, but wait until April and I have its attention." Andy felt that with her quickness on her feet, she'd be good at getting the thing distracted. She wasn't easy to hit. And with April and her water control ability, she'd probably be able to harry it enough. "April, can you throw water balls at it?"

Andy just didn't know what the other two could do. Hopefully, they could run. She moved toward the creature. Andy ran up to it trying to hit it with some lightning. She wasn't going for any punches or anything like that, but just trying to get the creature's attention. The first bit of lighting was pitiful. The creature didn't even glance at Andy. So she went bigger.

This time the creature noticed. And even though Andy was used to dodging she was not totally prepared and the creature charged at her. She didn't actually remember hitting the wall. Her mouth tasted of blood, that was the first thing she thought. The second was she was glad she had left her mom in the room so she didn't have her watching and judging her at the moment. Hopefully, it was enough of a distraction.

Andy opened her eyes and blearily saw the others and that Lady Nimue hadn't moved an inch. Interesting.

---

---

It had been over half an hour since April had left to go and see her sister. Danni and Dorian knew better than to try and intervene, but even they didn’t think it would take this long. Worry had begun to well up inside them wondering where their princess had gone. So the pair did the only logical thing they could think of…scour the grounds until they found a hint of their best friend somewhere. It didn’t take long until they saw the familiar scene of water rushing out of the girls restroom that had now begun to flood the hallway. When the pair called out to her and heard no response, they both decided to rush in and see for themselves what was going on. What they found was their best friend face down in a pool of toilet water that reflected back the fluorescent lights from the ceiling. Above her was a patch of chipped paint with a spattering of dust swirling around April and leading towards the drain in the center of the restroom. The story was clear, AA’s plumbing system was once again thoroughly fucked. They picked up April, and after a trip to the nurses office, Danni and Dorian had managed to take her back towards their dorm to keep an eye on her.

The dorm room was split in half, Danni’s section towards the left side while Dorian's was off to the right. The porcelain shards of Nemo’s cup still gathered in a pile behind the door right next to the door stop. In between the two’s sections sat almost all their appliances. The vintage blue mini fridge sat dead center, a chrome display suspended above it with a wide array of coffee and espresso beans in sealed wooden containers to help keep the freshness of every bean. To the right sat half of their coffee preparation methods, the left holding the other half, each side hosting a hot plate the pair had managed to sneak in to ensure they could make their own meals when they wanted to inside their dorms. LED lights ran across the right half of the room leading towards Dorian's gaming desk that was angled against the corner of the wall, two large white speakers hanging off the wall with a hidden receiver tucked behind a poster that cut the corner. His VR equipment was displayed on a stand in between his PC and bed for easy access regardless of where he wanted to game.

Dorian had grabbed one of his plushies off his bed as he sat on the floor, criss cross, staring at the unconscious body of April. His green eyes lay unblinking as he stared at her now neon colored face, making sure she was still breathing while simultaneously waiting for any sign that she might just wake up soon. His arms gripped the plush figure tightly as his knees bounced up and down in anxious anticipation. The only distraction being the scent of food wafting through the air as Danni cooked over on his side of the room. It was a comforting smell, one that helped to calm Dorian down a bit in these trying times, but he couldn’t help but feel as if he was holding his breath. He didn’t turn to look at Danni, keeping his gaze affixed to April while he spoke. ”Shouldn’t she ‘ave woken up by now? Your cooking smells so good it could wake t’e dead! Appa said so…so why ‘asn’t she gotten up yet?” he whined with his lower lip pouted out.

Danni, meanwhile, had pulled out his pots, pans, and the electric stove he smuggled in under the teacher's noses. Don't get him wrong, the school food wasn't atrocious but Danni liked cooking and like hell he was letting his best friend have generic slop on his birthday. However, he'd learned from his first two years - Danni grabbed a Tupperware container, some double-sided tape, and, stretching out on his tiptoes, used his bed as a ladder to reach the smoke detector and fit the Tupperware firmly around it. Princess had enough water related issues today - now there was no chance more could happen!

Hopefully, he didn't actually catch anything on fire or they'd be fucked!

He popped down off the bed and soon had sausage browning and the pot heating. It wasn't perfect; he was forced to prep everything before hand and put them in little containers but it was better than frozen shit he would have had to buy same day. He perked up as Dee addressed him, looking down at April, and put his spatula down to come over and poke at Princess' cheek. "I dunno. T'ey said she just needed t'e rest, right? Idk what 'appened but she musta been pretty upset. Maybe she's depresso nappin'. You 'ad a breakdown, I 'ad a breakdown, guess it was Princess's turn." Danni shrugged. It had been a rough day all around. If anyone deserved the sleep, it was Princess. He wrinkled his nose however at the undercurrent of public bathroom. "T'ough, maybe t'e toilet water smell ain't 'elpin'? Wanna take 'er key and grab some clean clothes for 'er while I make dinner?"

April’s eyes began to flutter ever so slightly, before she lurched forward and started to cough. Her throat felt gross, but she had no idea why. There was something wet and damp clinging to her, and her head was pounding. Her eyes fluttered open again, her contacts doing their jobs as things slowly slid into focus. It might have been a new year, but April recognized the set-up - she was in Danni and Dori’s room.

”Uh… Did you two kidnap me? Why am I wet? And why does my throat taste so so so bad? Like it feels like I swallowed armpit juice…” April asked. Her sense of smell then hit her all of the sudden. ”Oh that smells so good… Oh shit, I didn’t miss it, did I? It’s still your birthday, right? Oh my gods, if I missed your birthday, I am so so so so sorry. I was…. I was going after Zelda! And then… Wait, my phone! Where’s my phone?” April’s eyes were wide. Things were a little foggy - she had no idea really what had happened - but she hadn’t seen her phone. And as a teenager, the phone was basically a symbolization of her life force.

Dorian hadn't turned to look at Danni as he spoke, though he began to fidget where he sat, scooting slightly closer. He wanted to rest his head on the mattress but thought better of it as his sheets slowly soaked with toilet water from April's wet clothing. He frowned, both at the smell and the suggestion that he should leave April alone to gather clothes when she needed them most. "I can't just leave 'er… t'en again…a change if clo'hes would be nice for 'er." He began to scoot backwards, about to sit up when he noticed April's eyes fluttering.

"Awe 'er eyes are flutterin' you t'ink she's dreamin' about chasin' girls?" Dorian joked just before April had woken up. Her voice cut through the sounds of sizzling andouille sausage over the hot plate, bringing a smile towards his face. Dorians arms went wide as he was about to hug her, stopping just briefly as he got closer and the wall of bathroom stench hit him once more before he backed a bit away. "On second t'ought maybe you should change and shower before any 'ugs. We found you laying in toilet water…girls bat'rooms out of comish for a moment while t'ey fix it all up." Dorian offered as he answered a bulk of her questions. The latter two being left on the wayside for a moment as he let some silence cling in the air.

"Birt'days still well on its way no worries bout t'at chère. As for your phone…well…" He pointed towards a ziplock bag that sat at the foot of the bed. There was no phone in sight, only white rice filling the bag to the brim. "Don't t'ink it's gonna make it but we tried!" He said offering her up his patented don't worry smile.

"Aye! The Princess awakens!" Danni cheered loudly. "We did, in fact try, and t'at means we're t'e best! But t'at means you're gunna 'afta spill t'e beans, babes. Beanie noticed somet'in' was up earlier and t'en we found ya like t'at, face down in a sewer slick. Why don't ya get changed real quick and we can chit-chat 'fore dinner. Can't be comfy in t'ose clot'es but," Danni brandished his spatula at her pointedly. "Ya try to disappear on us and we're gunna 'afta 'unt you down, ya hear?"

Her heart sank to her stomach, seeing the sad remnants of her poor phone. Simultaneously though, her cheeks burned with embarrassment at the idea that she had been found IN THE TOILETS! Gods, if anyone but Danni or Dori had found her… That would’ve been it. She would’ve written notes to her loved ones and died. There would have been no chance for social recovery from that. Her life would’ve been over had that happened - no shot at a girlfriend or prom or student council president or Contest of Champions or any of it.

”No one else saw me down there, right? Right? You both pinky swear?” April asked, her eyes wide and intense. Luckily for her at the moment, her brain was focusing on NOT spilling the beans. Those memories, as much as they were trying to surface, April was doing her best to shove down. Her gut told her they were nothing good. ”I’ll be - I’ll be right back, just going to change real real quick, and if anyone asks the bathroom was NOT me!” She knew they’d keep her secret, but she had to stress it just to be sure.

April hesitated, before darting out of the room. Dorian and Danni would be able to hear the jingling of her keys as she unlocked her own nearby dorm room, followed by the quick slam of the door.

Dorian laughed, brushing off any threat that anyone else may have seen April in the bathroom with a literal potty mouth. Truth was they only found her after the incident and even more so half an hour after she'd left. He didn't know how long she'd been there or how long she'd been out, so anyone could've waltzed in and seen her and just promptly left. Then again, chances were that everyone was out in the Carnival, so there were less eyes to have seen here in that state. "No one saw you but Danni and yours truly. So your secrets safe wit' me" He wanted to add some form of toilette related nickname like Potty Mouth, Sewer Queen, or Porcelain Princess, but he didn't want to upset her more.

As soon as April left, Dorian deflated, looking worriedly towards Danni. "She's fine right? She'd tell us if she wasn't…right?"

Danni gave Dee a pointed look, looked through the wall in the general direction of the Toilet Armageddon, and then back at Dee. "Dee, really? People t'at are fine don't do t'at. Beanie pegged somet'in' about 'er earlier today, was all askin' about 'ow she was and shit, and Beanie is a bona-fide empath ya know? Like, not t'e mind fuckery part, t'e whole readin' people part like a non-mind reader does. So yeah, somet'in's wrong but we're gunna be a safe, 'appy spot for 'er to vent so we can remind 'er 'ow much we love 'er and care for 'er and fuck everyone outside t'e group at t'e end of t'e day!" Danni explained as he flipped the sausages. He turned around, hands on his hip, and brandished his spatula at Dee.

"And you are goin' to stop bein' t'e worriest of warts. Relax birt'day boy. It's your birt'day!" Danni tossed confetti he had in his pocket at Dee. "Be 'appy! Turn dem frowns upside downs!"

To her credit, April returned relatively quickly. She had changed into a pair of flip flops, blue denim shorts, and a heather grey S.H.I.E.L.D. tank top. It wasn’t a glamorous look, but it was comfortable. Her hair was tucked up and underneath a baseball cap for the moment, as she didn’t want to waste more of Dorian’s birthday… and she wasn’t sure if the showers would even be working right now after what she had done to the plumbing.

”Aww, did I miss the confetti?” April asked, pouting slightly as she saw some of the confetti on the ground around Dorian. She was doing her best to try to re-focus her attention on the moment. To that end, she hadn’t come back empty handed. She had a bag in her hand, with tissue paper sticking out of it. It was a cute pastel purple, and April had a huge smile on her face as she held the bag out to Dorian. ”Open it open it open it!! Or it’ll explode. I mean it won’t explode. But maybe it will. You never know.”

Dorian didn't want to face the facts, but Danni was right. If there's one thing French people did well it was judge others and Sabine read April like a book. He tried his best to stop worrying about it all, about to force a smile when suddenly he was pelted by confetti. Unable to help but laugh, he brushed a bit off his nose as he gathered a handful in each hand and tossed some towards Danni. "Fine fine. C'est bien."

April came back with greater speed than he'd thought possible for a girl who just downed a gallon of toilette water. But she seemed just as cheery as ever, holding a bag and new outfit fit for a sleep over. "Pour moi? You shouldn't 'ave!" He took the package, about to peek in before he began to pretend as if it was shaking on its own accord. "Uh April…I t'ink it's gonna-" Dorian tossed the other handful of confetti towards April, making sure to get as much of it on her as he could while laughing. "Guess it was about to explode." He said before sticking his tongue out at her as he began to open the present.

Danni cackled as Dee covered April in confetti. “Da birt’day boy needed some more color in his outfit. Couldn’t resist!” Danni laughed, and then pouted. “You’re givin’ presents already? I t’ought we were doin’ it after food ‘cause I can’t give ‘im mine while I got stuff on t’e stove! I’ll get distracted!” Danni whined half heartedly, transferring ingredients into the pot, along with the roux, and started stirring. “Gimme t’e play-by play. I gotta skim and stir or I might as well set t’e whole t’in’ on fire.”FF]

April giggled, picking bits of confetti off of her. ”Well I had to give it now or it would explode!” April insisted. She hid the slight bit of guilt that had washed over her. She had completely forgotten they were going to wait until after the food. Hopefully Danni wasn’t too pissed at her. Inside the bag, Dorian would find two tickets to his favorite K-Pop group’s concert in LA that spring - as well as a crocheted little purple ghost. ”Do you like it?” April asked hopefully.

Dorian grinned from ear to ear as he saw what was inside. "Like it? I love it!" He dive bombed April with a big hug, tackling them both to the ground as he squeezed her. He let go and immediately placed the tickets on his desk where they couldn't be harmed before snagging the crocheted ghost and running towards Danni with it as if it was a flying airplane. "Lookit t'is cute little guy!!!"

Danni looked over his shoulder as the pair tumbled to the ground, smiling at the sight of his two best friends in the whole wide world tumbling over each other like puppies, even if he did have a twinge of jealousy that they were doing it without him. He gets it - a birthday is an exciting thing but like, it could be even more exciting with more Danni but he supposed he deserved it after setting someone on fire. It was fine, everything was fine, they weren't leaving him out, he was just cooking. He couldn't be involved 'cause it wasn't safe. Yeah, that makes sense…

Still, he turned and cooed at Dee's present. "Aw, it's so cute! A little hauntling for our little hauntling!" He teased, making grabby hands at it. "Did ya make it, Princess?"

April had screamed as Dorian tackled her down to the ground. Her skin smarted slightly from the sunburn Danni gave her earlier that day, but she didn’t mind it. She was just so happy to see her friends happy. And honestly, she was feeling loads better than she had when she first woke up. Her mood could be like that sometimes - horrified, moody, and depressed at one moment, and then bursting with positive energy at the next. She never thought too hard about it - she just sort of assumed that everyone’s feelings worked that way.

”Yeah! My mom’s been showing me how to crochet - I started learning this summer when we went up to visit my grandparents some,” April explained. She hadn’t gotten good enough to make gifts until after Danni’s birthday in July, but she was already thinking on what she could make for his birthday next year. Her current idea was to try and crochet the fire emoji - but she wasn’t very good at figuring out how to make a pattern. Her mom actually had been the one to outline the pattern for her of Danni’s little ghost. ”And don’t worry, I’m already thinking on one to make for you for next summer - either coming in a package in the mail or if my dad finaaaaally realizes that you’re all gay and I’m a lesbian, I can come visit in person? Maaybe?” April said, crossing her fingers. ”Do you need any help with the cooking, by the way?”

Dorian narrowed his eyes at Danni as he uttered that cursed name again. Sticking his tongue out at him before pulling the plushy back and holding it close. " 'is names Inky. Not Little 'auntling." Dorian protested as he named the crocheted ghost after his favorite Pac-Man ghost. He took a peek inside the pot that Danni was cooking in, taking in a deep smell as he melted at the scent. "Anytime I ever tried to 'elp 'im 'e just smacked my 'and with a wooden spoon! Oh and if your fat'er says no we can just kidnap you. Doubt 'e can make it to Europe within t'e same day like we can."

"No, Princess. My food is an art- oye!" Danni protested as Dee stuck his face over the pot. To make his point, Danni bapped his cheek with the closest utensil at hand. "And I'll do it again! As I was sayin', my cookin' is an art and t'ere is a met'od so while I adore you more t'an my entire closet wort' of clot'es, no one can touch t'is until it's ready. But we need to start t'inking of ways to make it clear we love each ot'er but we don't wanna roll in t'e 'ay and all t'at." Danni wrinkled his nose at the thought. Why would anyone want to roll in hay? It always sounded so messy.

"And impromptu trip would be 'ella fun but look, I'm not 'avin' a repeat of a few summers ago. You remember, Maxie took us on a trip to t'e 'imalayas to go glamping because let's be real, none of us are interested in bugs, and we didn't 'ave cell reception and Maxie forgot to tell anyone?" Danni shivered at the memory. He loved his Pops and he was pretty easy to get upsetti, but there came a point where it was just, cold fury and that's when you knew you fucked up. It was all fine after - turned into a few more days of vacation and fun (even if Maxie and Papa cheated at games), but it made Danni very nervous not to leave a note for parents. "Maybe we can vibe wit' your dad, play some games, do a photo shoot, a mani-pedi maybe? We'll be all good after that!" Speaking of which… Danni messed with his table, cleaned a few things up, and snapped a few pictures before posting it to his socials.

April’s eyes sparkled at the idea of going camping with Danni and Dori. Sure, she wasn’t a glamper - she loved being outside, bugs and all. She’d been going camping most summers with her family since she could remember. And that was amazing. But the idea of going camping with her two favorite people on the planet? That would be incredible. She could even get used to the idea of glamping. Maybe when they were of legal age, they could do a spa inspired glamping trip, and sip cocktails while in fluffy white robes.

”Okay, we def have to go camping, all three of us. I think my dad would be into playing games, maaaaybe not the photo shoot, and I don’t think anything besides a bar of Dove Soap has touched his feet in his life… so I doubt he’d do a pedi. But maybe a mani? Maybe after we get a few beers in him… Oh, if you let him grill for you, that’d also work. He’s so stupid obsessed with this grill my mom got him for his birthday a few years back, it’s adorable.”

Dorian flinched as his cheek was met with a cooking utensil. Rubbing the spot where it touched him as he slowly backed away from the pot, recalling the time that Danni was talking about. It was one of the few times they had actually thought a Daddy's Home incident had occurred until they realized just what had happened. "Yeah…maybe kidnappin' t'e child of a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent isn't t'e best idea." he said, talking more so the the crocheted ghost than the pair before him. He thought for a moment before a light bulb clicked inside his mind.

"Wait! What if we vibed wit' 'im by campin'? Your dad could brin' 'is grill and we can all camp like t'ree big 'appy families! T'at way 'e gets to know all of us while still bein' able to see you as we 'ang!"

Danni popped the lid on the pot and turned the heat down a smidge. "Okay! We let t'at vibe for a 'ot minute and it'll be ready ta eat! But t'at's such a good idea! T'en, 'e can supervise while we chill and I can work my charms, get him ta like us, and t'e rest is 'istory!" Danni slung an arm over April's shoulders. "T'o, when we're 18, your old man can't stop us from chillin' so at least worst comes ta worst, we 'ave a 'ard limit ta 'is shenanigans!" He rested his head against April's for a moment, basking in the contact after being left out of the cuddle pile.

"Now it's my turn for presents! Lemme just…" Danni dug through the stuff he had yet to unpack, grumbling as he made his way through everything. Everytime he had to go through his shit, he always promised to organize better and then… well, it was always future Danni's problem. He finally found the package and dragged it out, holding it up triumphantly. Wrapped in vibrant pinks, yellows, and oranges, he full on chucked the heavy package at Dorian. "T'ink fast!" Danni cackled as a package the size of a small briefcase went hurtling at his face.

Even though the present was being thrown at Dorian and not her, April couldn’t help but scream from the sudden projectile. For a split second, she was worried that maybe it was fragile. But then again, Danni would know. And April didn’t think that Danni would chuck a fragile statue at Dorian. ”Ooo, you should shake it and guess what’s in there!” April suggested. If the present was good for throwing, then it’d be good for shaking as well. She had no idea what Danni had gotten Dorian - if he had told her, she had already forgotten. There was a reason she had a full size planner in her backpack - things tended to go in one ear and out the other.

Dorian yelped as he instinctively tossed Inky towards April so it would be safe from harm as the large gift came barreling towards him. He'd managed to catch it with both hands as the gift hit him square in the chest knocking some wind out of him. "'ory 'osts of 'oggoth t'is t'in weighs a ton! What's in t'is t'in?" He couldn't possibly think of what could be inside of it that weighed so much. Most tech Dori dealt with didn't even weigh this much, and yet it felt as though Danni threw a dumbbell at him. He shook the gift gently, recalling an old adage of "if it's heavy that means it's expensive" and decided he didn't want to risk breaking it in front of Danni.

He sat down on the floor, carefully unwrapping the present before him. When it was all said and done he was faced with a box, opening it to find an old reel-to-reel tube tape recorder. The thing practically screamed Cryptid and made Dorian immediately feel as if he was in some old monster movie about to record his findings of the latest sighting. He noticed there was a tape already placed inside. He quickly went to work, looping the ribbon through the slots and towards the other reel before playing with the knobs until he finally hit play.



"Oh. My. Gods. What?!"

Dorian paused the tape, placing it down on the floor next to him before tackling Danni and April both, squeezing them so hard it made his arms hurt. "You two ate t'e best friends anyone could ask for!!!"

Danni braced himself for the tackle, laughing as he squeezed back. "See? We got you presents, we're makin' you food, and t'en we're all gonna be on t'e same team for t'e Contest of Champions because we're obviously t'e perfect trio!" Danni sighed happily. "T'is'll be t'e best year yet!"

Fortunately, April caught Inky before he hit the ground - she was fairly confident in her crocheting skills, but moderately worried that if Inky got tossed around too much, he might start to fall apart. She had some spare yarn in her room though for any repairs that might need to be made. And Inky didn’t have too many components - he was mostly a single piece, just with little arms sewed on and safety eyes placed inside.

Now April - potentially like a person with an Addams family sounding username in her mid 20’s - did not catch the reference. ”Woah, that’s so cool! This place is from London? D’you think they work with Captain Britain? Or butt heads with MI13? Ooo, what about S.T.R.I.KE.? Apparently Psylocke used to be a member, they’re a bunch of cool swanky British spies with psychic powers! So… Dorian, you would totally qualify! And me and Danni, we could be your epic and cool bodyguards,” April babbled, only before quickly being tackled by Dorian, along with Danni.

She was pretty used to these cuddle piles, but she held Inky out of the pile with her hand, just in case he might get crushed. She squeezed back with her free arm. ”If we don’t end up on the same team, then what’s the point? I would NEVER compete against my besties - not to be cliche but, like, you two are the only brothers I’m ever gonna have. Not even brothers-in-law. My future wife is gonna be an only child named Antoinette, and she’ll be a funky geologist with a sword and magic powers.”

Dorian laid there thinking about what she'd said. He also missed the pop culture reference (it was over a decade old after all) and gods know Danni probably had too. As far as Dorian was concerned, these were actual archival tapes of what was more than likely a flat-scan encountering the "paranormal" back before the world was introduced to the idea of Mutants and Sorcery. Though the idea of a human intelligence agency attempting to figure out the secret world of mutants while the mutants agency attempted to cover it all up seemed both interesting and hilarious. But by the tone of the first few seconds, Dorian could tell this would be a gripping dark audio story.

" 'ow could we not end up toget'er? We're t'e perfect team! T'e Terrific Trio! T'e Titular Triumvirate! Just wait, in two days time we'll be t'e next best t'ing since t'e Young Avengers hit t'e scene."

---

The night was winding down, April and Danni were in a pile on the bed, sleeping as the black and white film played in the background. All in all it was a terrific birthday, one he wouldn't trade for the world. Dorian grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, looking towards the pair as he cleaned up a bit. He could hear sounds coming from Teddy's room, surprised they were still awake. A single serving of Danni’s famous gumbo was left, warm on the stove inside the pot. As much as Dorian would've loved to save it for tomorrow, his favorite part about New Orleans food was that it was meant to be shared.

He made a bowl, grabbed a spoon, and went out the door of his dorm as quietly as he could so as not to wake April and Danni. Making his way over towards Teddy's dorm and knocking on it, secretly hoping Percy would be alone. His knock was gentle enough not to wake anyone around or disturb the other rooms, but loud enough so that whoever was inside could hear. Dorian stood there, hands on the bowl, waiting nervously for the door to be opened.

The air briefly shimmered in front of him, before Percy Novikov appeared. He was wearing a nicely fitted set of plaid pajamas, shades of purple bleeding into shades of red. There were dark circles under his eyes, and a book in his hands - Circe by Madeleine Miller. ”If this is about the noise, Gray, he’s sick - and as much as I’ve contemplated smothering him with a pillow to end everyone’s suffering, he’s not the one I’m planning to murder.” His eyes then darted to the food in Dorian’s hands. It smelled amazing. Was Dorian here to… make Percy watch him eat? Or maybe Gray was friends with Teddy - maybe this food was some sort of traditional cure for whatever disease was currently taking the bear out.

"Oh…" was all Dorian could muster at first. He didn't know Teddy was sick, now part of him wished he'd had another bowl to offer but he wasn't sure how well gumbo and whatever Teddy had would mix. Dorian eyed the book, then the pajamas, before finally meeting Percy's gaze. "I…was actually 'ere about t'at. I mean murder. I mean-" He let out a harsh sigh as he wondered why he couldn't get his words together in front of him. "I wanted to offer t'is bowl of gumbo as an apology for earlier." he said, ramming the words together as quickly as possible so his mind didn't have a chance to fuck them up.

Percy’s eyes widened with surprise, before realizing he and Gray were talking about different things. Dorian didn’t know what his plan was for the auditions. No one knew. ”I’m not going to murder you,” Percy scoffed. He shifted his weight slightly. Part of him wished he wasn’t in pajamas right now. He didn’t like having Dorian’s wandering eyes on him. Agatha’s stupid prophecy was echoing in his mind as well. He was madly in love with him? Percy could barely stand being in the same hallway as him right now, he…

”Did you make that?”

"Oh…no. It was part of my birt'day gift today. It's my favorite meal." Dorian watched as Percy shifted his weight, wondering now if this was all a bad idea. Was he making Percy nervous? Did he think he was going to prank him or possess him again? It was hard to say and Percy was a hard read.

”Oh. Well, happy birthday, then,” Percy said. He didn’t say it with warmth or joy, the way a friend would - but there also wasn’t venom in his voice. He said it the way he would to a stranger, and that was probably the best Dorian Gray could expect from him right now.

Dorian cracked a half smile, just a ghostly tinge creeping at the corner of his lips. "T'anks. T'e beginning was far from 'appy. But…it got better. Anyways, if we're goin' to be neighbors…I'd rat'er not be at each ot'ers t'roats ya know? So…sorry for yellin' at you earlier I was just…in a bad spot." He handed the bowl towards Percy, holding the spoon in place with his thumb so it wouldn't fall in.

Percy’s thumb brushed Dorian’s, as he accepted the bowl. ”Fine. If you possess me again, then we won’t be fine,” Percy promised. ”Goodnight, Gray. Good luck tomorrow on your audition.” He then turned around and unlocked his door, and went inside, closing it behind him.

”Yeah…night Percy…” Dorian said silently to himself as he watched the door to Percy’s dorm. He gave a small sigh as he began to wonder what he was doing, before heading back into his room for the night.

---

---

---

---

Diana turned her attention to see Leah and another kid that she didn't recongize coming over to them. "Good morning you two." Diana said, trying to be friendly, Leah for whatever reason didn't like her which she didn't know why really. But she wanted to be friendly seeing as they were going to be working with each other for sometime now. Then she heard Usagi's voice as the weird cat person who was one of the judges during her audition and would now be their coach. Usagi jump down from the rafters above them and landed on top of Leah's shoulders, and then felt the cat's paws landing on her head. Which was a little bit annoying as Usagi suddenly started to talk very loudly and talking about the entrails of their enemies and what not. She was surprised that Zarina hadn't appeared yet, which wasn't like her she had grown up with Zari to.

Usagi then spoke up telling them all to introduce themselves, she looked at the new guy who went by the name of Ed he had chosen the name Arcade which was kind of fitting since he liked computers. Then Victoria introduced herself next and looked at her for a moment, she didn't give her much to go on why people liked her, aside from that her favorite color was cyan. Diana shrugged and raised her hand slightly to introduce herself next. "Hi i'm Diana Novikova, codename Artemis after the Greek goddess herself, and people like me because I am great with a bow." Diana said, she thought of herself as one of the best archers in the entire school and did have a rivalry with Kate for the best archer in the school. "Oh also my favorite color is green." Diana said as she looked towards the others.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne smiled towards the other girl as she came into the room and waved at her. "Good morning i'm Madalyne it's nice to meet you." She said introducing herself to Mary-Sue, she didn't know the girl at all but she seemed friendly enough. Her eyes wondered between April and Andy as the two of them talked. All she knew about Magneto was from the news and that April was also related to him, but April wasn't anything like how Magneto was at all. Andy was adopted by him and she seemed friendly enough as well to, Madalyne didn't know anything about her biofather, and her other father figure she had only really remembered from what her mother had said. He seemed to be really nice, but when she was three years old he had disappeared it was just her and her half-sister Nora now. Madalyne's mother eventually did remarry meeting an older guy. "Cool then we can head there after this." Madalyne said smiling at Andy,

Madalyne's attention was quickly turned when she heard a woman's voice she wasn't there before but now she was standing in front of them, Lady Nimue was really attractive for a teacher as she stared at their coach for a moment but didn't say anything. Their other teammate didn't appear yet which was really annoying and everything. Lady Nimue then summoned a sword rack before them a few feet away, along with a creature she had never seen before. It looked like one of Dr. Frankenstein's monsters, their coach telling them all to retrieve a sword from the rack while not getting killed by the creature.

Andy quickly stepped up to the plate coming up with a plan, she didn't mind if she wanted to step up and take up the leader position if she came up with a plan. "Sounds good to me." Madalyne said as Andy opened up on the Questing Beast and launched some lightening at it which didn't seem to do much to it. Madalyne than ran forward towards the sword rack, she closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on her magic to conjure up three illusions of herself running at the sword rack. When she opened them she managed to summon them, however they started to flicker in and out of existence which wasn't good. She concentrated again to try and make the spell longer, but that wasn't successful.

She decided to try another tactic and decided to attack the beast directly, summoning up a fireball to her hand and sent it forward, managing to hit the beast and knocked it backwards. She hoped that she was able to get to the rack when she was close she was about to reach for one of the swords. But the beast quickly lashed out at her and used it's massive paws and slammed into her, knocking her back into the wall, and knocking into Andy in the process. Madalyne groaned slightly as she slowly started to stand up and helped Andy back up to her feet. "Are you okay there Andy?" Madalyne asked Andy looking at her.

Zari had been wanting to try and find a moment that she could potentially talk to Percy and let him know all about her adventure and time travel stuff. She ended up making sure that Victoria wasn't in their dorm room though, before she went out to find Percy and drag him back there to try and tell him the full story about it. "Peeeeeeeercy, there is so much to tell you about my adventure it was insaaaaaane!" she said happily towards him.

Percy's day had felt incredibly long, but shockingly, no one had come to expel him quite yet for attacking the judges. The end of his audition had all been somewhat of a blur. In some sort of a fever dream, he had imagined a tall, handsome savior coming to his rescue, carrying him off to his room. Percy had stolen a brief kiss. But it had been just that - a dream. He had woken up in bed, wearing his favorite pair of pajamas, and cuddling his stuffed bear Benoit. He felt like absolute shit. But after a quick five cups of coffee, he had started to feel better. He had been on his way to the dining hall to get some food before it closed (at around 10 PM or so) when he had run into Zari in the hallway.

And then somehow, instead of going to get food to fill his grumbling stomach, he had been dragged back to her dorm room and was currently sitting on her desk chair. "Alright, alright, I'm listening. Sing to me, muse," Percy said, shaking his head slightly. He was curious. He was just also hungry.

"I time traveled! I went back to the year 2021 and wandered around and had an insane adventure on Genosha when that was a thing!" she said happily with a smile, "And that's where I met Andy and all of that fun stuff."

Percy raised an eyebrow. Zari time traveled to the early 2020's - to a year when she had barely been born - and that's where she met the Y2K punk girl? Andy's clothing wasn't even temporally accurate for the time period she was supposedly from. Unless Andy was also a time traveler? But she didn't strike him as the type. Zari though was definitely the sort to want to hop, skip, and jump through the time stream. Percy had always wanted to attempt it himself - he knew that he had the power for it - but his mothers had more or less forbidden it. "You went to Genosha? Did you go on Volcano Day?" Percy asked. "That'd be insane, even by your standards."

"...I mean kind of? I actually ended up in Washington DC for a little while cause I got lost on my way to Genosha... Then I got turned into a popsicle for a few months and thawed out and was then on Genosha. So yeah I was there during all of that insanity. It was craaaaazy."

"So... To recap, you went back about seventeen years, met a girl from the year 2000, and ended up stealing some of Captain America's backstory. Then, you relocated to the first mutant nation and were there the day... Selene, right? Selene destroyed the island. And you then... left with Andy again?" Percy recapped. He felt like a lot of information was missing. He didn't not believe her - Zari came from another dimension, and Percy knew that time travel was real. He just was finding her story hard to follow. "I'm sorry, why did you get frozen?"

"Oh, right, might want to explain that a bit," she said, giggling a bit, "Well, so I ended up in Washington DC when M-Pox and all was a major sort of thing in the area. So this guy who I called Stabby McStabberson had decided to build some bomb with that Terrigen Mist sort of thing, and so the group I ended up with decided to go obviously try to stop the guy from blowing it up. Well we ended up a bit too late as the guy hit the trigger to blow things up. All of us being really close probably were going to end up dead, but this one lady Sapphire had ice powers and she used them to cryogenically freeze us, and freeze everything else in the area sort of preventing the whole thing. Which is how I ended up as a popsicle. Also Andy actually is from 2021, not the year 2000."

"... Stabby McStabberson... Honestly, not the worst villain name I've heard," Percy mused. He supposed at least this part of the story made sense. Although it wasn't clear to him why Zari had decided to go to that date and location in the first place? It was a bit of an odd random choice. It wouldn't have been Percy's first choice for a time travel adventure. Of course, his first choice was ancient Rome. "Why does she dress like she's from the year 2000 then? Also - why did you pick Washington D.C. in 2021?"

"What? I didn't know what his actual name was! And I don't know, why insult her clothes! Plus I wasn't actually aiming for that specific year and place. I was aiming for Genosha since I got a prophecy from the Norns saying I had to go to Genosha, otherwise somehow something bad would happen and I wouldn't end up existing, which I very much like being able to exist thank you."

Percy's interest peaked. As someone who was somewhat obsessed with Greek myths, Percy LOVED an oracle. His favorite super villain was Destiny aka Irene Adler for a reason. He adored a spooky old woman in a cave huffing fumes and telling people about the future. There was nothing cooler than that. And now, hearing that Zari had received a prophecy from the Norse equivalent of a Greek oracle, Percy couldn't help but be cross that she hadn't found a way to bring him along. He would have jumped at the chance to talk to the Norns. Even if they didn't look like the Queen Mother of Genovia, it'd be fine - it'd be the most thrilling thing that had happened in his life. "Alright, I must say I am offended you met with some seers and didn't think to invite me. You will have to make this up to me later. But you can start right now by explaining this prophecy." His stomach growled again. He really did need to get some food. Or maybe more coffee.

"...Are you hungry? Sounds like you are, I have some snacks around here somewhere, orrrrr we could see about maybe going to go get some food and I'll explain. Up to you really about that."

"I was going to grab some dinner when you found me. But that's no excuse - prophecy details, now - please." Percy looked at Zari impatiently. He had been dealing with his hunger for a fair bit now. And right now, he was more hungry for knowledge than anything else. It was frustrating sometimes trying to get information out of Zari. She didn't make it easy.

"Alright if you're sure. I have some snacks or whatever lying around here somewhere if you want them," she commented with a shrug, before she walked over and pulled out her notebook from her bag, flipping through it a bit. "Here it is... Granddaughter of the faded light and dead spring flowers, To save thyself thou shall run through sand to where time begins again,Thou must beware Rome's priestess, dark and dour. Alone to perish in Genosha's glen, To Waves or Staff the world must fall, Legacy of the Wanderer, you must save us all. And that's it. It mentions going to Genosha and all, that was easy to figure out... Unfortunately my time travel was a bit haywire so I got to the time era a few months early by accident..."

"Fine, fine, I'll take some snacks," he relented, waving his hand slightly. He peered over Zari's shoulder at her notebook. He barely registered the language the words were written in - just that it wasn't English. His mind pierced together the meaning quickly enough though, providing a translation in seconds. "Huh, interesting. An apocalyptic prophecy and you didn't come get me to help. You know I love an apocalypse." Percy was complaining, partially sarcastically, but a bit of it was genuine. Just like he had always obsessed over mythology, he also loved apocalypse movies. A mythology related apocalypse adventure, like what Zari had done? Including time travel? It sounded amazing.

And she didn't even think to invite him!

She stepped away for a moment and started digging around in a bag that she had, eventually finding some candy of sorts and tossing it over to him, "There's also some chips or something too around here somewhere... But if you want to, I can show you the quest or prophecy thing that Agatha gave me? I had asked her about what my next adventure was going to be, and she gave me a new one during my reading, which is interesting to say the least."

His mood instantly soured. He hadn't been happy with the reading Agatha had given him. She had insisted that he had been madly in love. His mind flickered briefly to the young Tony Stark from his dreams. The real Tony Stark was nearing his 70's by now, if he hadn't already reached them - and Percy was not into older men. He was young, but he had already figured out that much about himself. He knew his type precisely. And so far, no one in his life met the description. Agatha must've been one of those fake oracles who was full of horseshit. "Honestly, I'm not surprised she's leaving - I bet she was about to get fired." There was no way he was in love with Dorian Gray. "Her cat's asshole could predict the future better than she can, the crazy old hag."

"Well what she told me was kind of in the sort of similar vein to how the Norns were, so I tend to listen... You can think it dumb that I do... But I know that even if someone isn't the greatest with seeing the future for whatever reason, I am one of the ones who knows that sort of thing can be kind of important no matter what..." she said, looking down at the ground now.

"She told me that I'm in love - with - with the most disgusting person I've ever met!" Percy fumed. "The Norns are real. But Agatha Harkness? She's a fraud. I bet she won't last a year at Strange Academy before they kick her out. Then maybe she'll have to go crawling to the Future Foundation for a job - her and Richards deserve each other though, fuck them."

"I mean people can get fortunes and all wrong, that's not impossible things aren't exactly always set in stone... Also fine, if you are going to be like that I won't tell you what she told me to help me figure out what it meant then."

He frowned. "Fine," Percy said, getting up. "You don't have to tell me. You can parse through her nonsense on your own for all I care." He was hurt though. He moved to the door. "I should go. It's almost curfew. I don't need detention for this."

"Sooooorry Percy!" she said instantly, feeling a bit bad now and she instantly went up to hug him, "Maybe she got the whole love thing wrong, relationships and such aren't predictable ever, so that wouldn't surprise me... But sounds like you really don't like the guy she's suggesting so maybe she is wrong about things... But I also like to believe that even the worst fortune tellers can be right every once in a while, hence why I choose to pay attention to what's said. Because it's better to listen and pay attention so you aren't surprised later if it turns out to be right," she added, stepping back again and now flipping in her notebook to the stuff from Agatha. "She said after showing the card Judgement reversed The universe is calling to you, and you do not answer. Perhaps you wish to run and hide from this grave duty, to ignore this call, but you will not be able to escape it for long. Then there is the next of the three cards she read from, the Five of Wands, saying I see chaos and infighting, a pointless and futile struggle. Brother will slay brother. Violence will breed more and more violence. And it will all amount to nothing, in the end. Blood will be spilled as carelessly as a child knocks over a glass of milk. Finally the third card the Magician reversed, to which she said By manipulation or trickery, someone will gain power over you. A Faustian pact will be formed. And you, my dear Valkyrie, will never be the same again. All of which makes not a whole lot of sense to me. If you want to help me figure it out, we can maybe see about talking about it later during maybe the daylight hours or something... Since you are here to help me figure out the meaning of everything this time around."

Percy wasn't exactly a person who enjoyed physical contact. He found it usually irritating and aggravating. There were certain exceptions to the rule of course - his family and Zari. He was still angry. He was pissed off really. But his anger was really directed at Agatha. He begrudgingly returned the hug, knowing that he would never hear the end of it if he didn't. Percy listened to the prophecy, a bit impressed that Zari managed to recall Agatha's ruling exactly. He didn't like this prophecy. He didn't like that someone was going to end up controlling Zari. "That one also needs to be thrown out," Percy grumbled. "I don't know if it's actually possible for anyone to gain power over you. I feel like you'd chatter at them until they ran away."

"Well that's why I want you to help me figure it out silly. Because no matter the fortune or something the future isn't necessarily set in stone, which means that things can change. The last one at least specifically was giving me a roadmap to follow give or take, which meant it really needed to sort of be set in stone. This one more seems like it might be a warning. So we can talk more about it later okay? Anyway you might want to get back to your dorm before curfew, talk to you tomorrow."

---

---

Zelda wasn't too sure about how the whole auditions thing went, personally she thought it had gone kind of bad overall really. She wasn't exactly too thrilled with the full idea of doing some weird superhero competition, but she had ended up convinced to do it for one reason or another. The next morning she wasn't too keen on getting up and going off to see about what team she had ended up on or something like that. However eventually she had gotten up, though it was after Diana had left the room.

She walked over and picked up the envelope, opening it and seeing what team she was on. Well it shouldn't be too bad, she was with Percy at least who had seemed nice enough, though she wasn't too sure about being on the same team as April's best friends. They were kind of weird to say the least, but it wasn't really the end of the world or anything like that really. Once she was ready to go in her school uniform, though she wasn't sure about the whole skirt thing but she actually liked the color, she headed out of her dorm room towards the training room that she was meeting up with her team at.

It didn't take her too long, but eventually she reached the room. Right when she was starting to open the door, it opened just a hair, not enough to really be seen by others, but enough for her to hear the words that were emanating from the room. Namely she heard what Danni and Dorian had said about there being a mistake about her being on the team instead of April. Those words started resonating through her head and she backed away now, trying to clear her thoughts a bit with regards to it.

Though it took her a little bit with her standing outside of the room, she did eventually walk in, though she wasn't really paying attention to anything or what was said inbetween everything. Looking around at those in the room a bit confused as to what was going on. "...Sorry for being late... What exactly are we doing?"

---

---

Zari hadn't exactly slept much that night for a number of reasons. The main reason was that she was excited to hear what team she had landed on and all. So she kind of overslept a little bit the next morning because of it. So she was scrambling a bit once she got up and was zipping around at top speed. Mr. Eyeball was just sort of zipping around the room after her trying to get her to slow down and think about what it was that she was doing. Of course it wasn't until the robot pointed out that she hadn't even opened the envelope yet that made her stop in her tracks.

She walked over to where the envelope was (seeing where Victoria had set it) and opened it up to see where she was supposed to go. And she was running late to get there, so without so much as a second thought, she grabbed her sword, made sure her uniform was on straight, having opted for the pants outfit for it, since trying to fight much of anything in a skirt was near impossible, and her bag and she raced out of the room heading straight for the Framework area (with Mr. Eyeball following along).

When she opened the door to the room, she wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it seemed liked something strange was going in with regards to the interactions with the coach they had. Zari glanced around the room at the others who were there, and it was obvious that she was the last one there, "Sooooooooorrrrrrrrry for being late, I overslept on accident," she said as she found a spot to set her bag down and walked over, "I'm Zari! And this is Mr. Eyeball," she added as she nodded towards the floating eyeball next to her, though she knew several of the people in the room, it was more to say it to those who don't know to make things a bit quicker.

---

---

---

As Dorian, Danni, and Zelda all made their way to the training room at varying intervals, Sabine got a message. She checked and it was a group chat between her, April, and Leah. She sent off a quick reply.



She put her phone away in time for Nemo to call them to attention. Zelda was on their team and she was there to stay. April and Leah would be on different teams than her and they would all be competing against each other. That made things a bit more....hot? Tense maybe, but still. She wouldn't hold back, of course, as she wouldn't expect them to hold back either. Leah she knew was a powerhouse. April, unsure.

Nemo had chosen them and she was still thrilled to be with Danni. She gave him a warm smile when he came in, only for it to sour as Dorian came in too. Well, Dorian was okay. She sort of connected with him at the carnival. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. Nemo had called them to action, to discover his weaknesses. She got the sense Nemo expected this to be more of a challenge, but she could literally read minds.

Dorian and Danni attempted to go first, telling Percy to back off. Sabine couldn't help but chuckle as the twerpy freshman had a little pout. To their credit, they did a good job. Very much got to some of the root, but there was always more buried deep. At least Dorian had invited her to join.

She strolled up in front of Nemo once Dorian and Danni had shared their set. "Cute boys, but it's my turn."

She stared at Nemo before closing her eyes, allowing her power to take form and sending it into Nemo's subconscious. Depending on the strength, this was either an easy task or hard. She expected Nemo's to be a vault, but she had gotten through. Either she was well above the others in terms of power use or Nemo had made it easy for her. She agreed with the former.

Once in his mind, most was laid bare. She saw Nemo, presumably at a young age (roughly 9 years old) coming out to his family and friends. Not a weakness in her mind, but good that he wasn't closeted. That could be a weakness for some and she was not about to be the person to out a faculty member for bonus points.

She saw Nemo attend a superhero academy very much like the one they were in currently. It was here she saw the school all but wiped out by some apocalyptic event. The only survivors were Nemo and his boyfriend. However, due to the guilt of such an event (in her opinion) Nemo's boyfriend committed suicide. Nemo was alone until he was picked up by some organization dedicated to protecting the timestream. Nemo had taken up a position with them as an assassin due to his ability to travel through time. He decided to retire in the year 2023 and became a teacher.

Amongst this traumatic event, she gleaned some other facts about him. Once she was sure she had enough to wow him, she came back out of his mind.

She debated if she wanted to unleash it all, but Nemo did ask them to exploit his weaknesses.

"You are a traumatized, old, gay man who lost a loved one during an apocalyptic event leaving you alone in the future until you were recruited by some time travel organization where you worked for them until you retired and became a teacher. Don't know why, but here you are. You hold on to that trauma. Among other things, your ability to time travel is only good for limited bursts. Small jumps are fine but longer jumps are unsure. You also have an injury in your left knee which is why you prefer your right side. Lastly, you have some weird fear that you will be injected with heroin that I can't place in any of your history. Either way, you fear it. Weakness."

She gave a small curtsy. "So how'd I do?"

---

---

---

The fucking cat landed in her hair. And didn’t get hurt. That was good at least, since they’d probably have to square off at some point. The first thing she did was pogo off of everyone’s hair and taught about slaughter, blood and entrails. Something about Usagi rubbed Leah the wrong way, in the same way Danni did. She just didn’t stop running her damn mouth at Mach-4 and as loud as she could. Why couldn’t the High Evolutionary have made her less obnoxious? Jeez. Stealing a quick glance back at her phone, Leah slipped it away and joined the land of the living again.

At least Vic didn’t seem that amused either.

”Leah. Codename Jotunn. Favorite color is orange, and people give a shit about me because I run the entire battlefield with my mind. And because I punch like a mule.” Usagi had to be aware of these things already. Leah’s history of being a tactician was something that explained itself given the multiple superhero classes she took around that very subject, as well as the nature of her powers, her past fuckery in the Framework simulations and the fact that Usagi picked her personally.

Thinking about it, there wasn’t much difficulty in seeing the synergy this team seemed to have. Arcade was the tech guy, and his abilities, mutant or otherwise, fit pretty decently with just about anything that had wires, like Vicky’s suit. They’d be in good company. Zarina was a fucking valkyrie which meant they had decent frontlining. Diana’s teleporting and ranged skills would easily fill gaps in Zarina’s up close fighting tactics. She could hit targets from places none of them could. And Leah’s own powers could give her vantage points and sight lines if her teleporting failed.

Maybe this was secretly why Usagi put them together.

Mary Sue took a step back in shock at the summoning of the Questing Beast. Facing something so dangerous so suddenly was absolutely terrifying, and her careful nature quickly took over, almost as a self defence mechanism. Her first thought was to see if she obfuscate the vision of the beast, but that surely would offer issues if her try out was any indication of how her powers worked. She quickly broke the situation down in her head into the constituent pieces: Herself and her teammates, Nimue and her beast, and the objective, the swords. Step one of victory was knowing your enemy, and Lady Nimue was actually somebody she knew a good deal about.

The Otherworld from which she hailed was a place where logic and reason flowed from an almost narrative frame, rather than from grounded first principles. Perhaps, Mary Sue thought, she could leverage this to her advantage. Tales from ages past were full of clever people tricking others through linguistic sleight of hand: No man of woman born could kill Macbeth and all. With that in mind, Mary Sue had an idea. Drawing up that power that lived inside of her, she conjured three swords in front of her team mates. How viable they'd be, she didn't know, but she had a plan now.

"Those should be solid? I think" She called out, hope in her voice, "Lady Nimue never said we had to get out swords from the rack, just that we needed to get swords." She explained, dashing towards the goal, "Now we just need one mo-" She started, before the beast caught up with her and knocked her back. She grunted, surprised and annoyed she caught the beasts ire. "One more." She finished, bracing herself for more attacks, "Then we win."

---

---

---

@Blizz@Nallore@BlueSky44@Forsythe: "Excellent introductions!! You all get 2/5 points on that assignment. You only get full marks if you're perfect and I'm the only thing here close to perfection, so tough luck," Usagi said, before laughing obnoxiously at her own poor joke. "We're going to start off in the Framework today, as I only want the best for my kids. All those other losers training without this thing? They don't stand a CHANCE in the contest. I'll let you all in on a little secret - those Young Avengers twerps? They're here every night. That's why they win. It isn't talent. It's F-A-V-O-R-I-T-I-S-M!"

Usagi did another triple flip into the air, before landing again on a chair. "Change into these glorified scuba suits, then hop in the tank. Once you're inside the Framework, I'm going to see how you all do under pressure... as you all FIGHT IN A BATTLE ROYALE!!"

A bead a sweat rolled down Arcade's face. "Do I have to?" he asked. He loved the Framework as an idea, but going inside of it and fighting people? He always hated that part. He just wanted to use it to play retro video games and feel like he was living his Spy Kids 3 fantasy.

"YES! Now get dressed, all of you!" Usagi snapped. There were bins off to the side containing various sizes of the Framework scuba suits. There were also five changing rooms for privacy, all individual stalls.

---

---

April's jaw dropped when Andy revealed Magneto had adopted her and she wasn't sure how to feel. She was more shocked. Her own father, one of Magneto's biological children, had been given up for adoption. April knew it was for the best and she was pretty sure Lensherr hadn't even known about her dad at the time, but still. She couldn't help but feel somewhat offended on her father's behalf. It was a mixed bag of feelings - similar to when she had found out about her dad's half-sister, who her grandmother had actually wanted to keep...

Her phone buzzed again. This time, it was a text from Sabine. April's heart pounded and the discomfort Andy had unintentionally brought up was in the rearview mirror. Lady Nimue was already here, and had set them with their task - they had to retrieve their swords or die at the hands of this mythological beast. April wished she had the skills to type out a quick reply, and she reached into her pocket, hoping that she could reply something coherent to the chat. She was visualizing the keyboard, doing her very best, and she sent...


Hoping that the message she sent was a series of frowny faces, April almost missed Andy calling out the shots. "Uhh, on it! You can count on me!" There wasn't much water in the room. April cursed internally. Her eyes flickered over to Lady Nimue. Would she mind....? No, no she couldn't do that. She'd have to make her own water. And then, full of regret and mourning, April realized what she had to do.

"I'm so sorry, little one," April whispered to her iced caramel machiatto. Andy and Mads were both getting their asses kicked by the questing beast, landing in an unfun cuddle pile against the wall. April winced. Mary Sue had summoned up magical girl swords in front of them all - the one in front of April was blue, her favorite color. "Protected by Neptune, the Outer Planet of the Seas, Guardian of the Deep Sea. I am Sailor Neptune!"

April grabbed the sword. It was solid in her hands. And she dropped her iced coffee. The cup spilled its contents on the floor, and April channeled her energy through the sword. She aimed it at the spilled coffee and the water rose up from the ground, floating in front of her. She couldn't make more water out of it, but it was enough to work with. The questing beast was TERRIFYING but it still had to see.

So April went for the eyes!

She threw the water forward, transforming it into ice shards of ice. The ice missiles missed the questing beast's eyes, and April concentrated, turning the ice back into water and pulling it back towards herself. She tried again, and this time, her aim was true - two little shards of iced coffee speared themselves into the questing beast's eyes and it hissed in pain.

"OMG I GOT IT I GOT IT! TAKE THAT YOU FUCKING SNAKE!" April cheered.

But the beast wasn't done yet. While it had the head of a snake, snakes were still able to hear - muffled, but sounds were still audible. And the questing beast, hearing the excited screams of a teenage girl, charged right towards April, hissing all the way. Now might be a perfect time for someone to go for a sword.

---

---

Ser Nemo didn't look to be the slightest bit surprised by Danni's outburst. If anything, Percy thought that Nemo seemed... almost wistful? Or melancholic? Maybe their coach was an absolute psychopath. No one else would seem to be totally at ease, even happy maybe, when people (admittedly an asshole) was yelling at them. The more Percy stared at Nemo, the more his head started to ache and pound. Somehow, he was convinced that Nemo knew that too. That somehow, their coach was purposefully messing with all of them, starting off with this Drag Race Mini Challenge they were forced to do.

"I am afraid that She-Ra was a bit before my time," Ser Nemo apologized to Danni. "But from what I understand of Madam Razz, I would quite like to meet her."

Percy was pissed though that Dorian told him to stay out of it. Percy didn't want to be a part of it. But he hated that Dorian Gray was telling him no, as if Percy wasn't good enough to be a part of his shitty group... Urgh, Percy felt like he was going to boil over. The room felt so incredibly hot and stuffy. He almost wished that his hallucinatory savior, the young Tony Stark, would pop off, blast everyone else to pieces, and then take Percy on an exclusive tour of the British Museum. "For the record, didn't want to be part of it," Percy muttered. It felt like a lie when he said it.

He was mildly impressed (and annoyed) by Dorian's sword fight with Nemo. Watching it as a bystander, he couldn't help but feel the frustration from his own attempts to kill Nemo. And he watched with narrowed eyes as Dorian finally got in an opening on the old man, just to... whiff it. Just like Percy had the previous day.

"Well done, Mr. Gray," Ser Nemo praised. "Your form could use some work, some more definition. Ensure you do not practice only with non-lethal blows. Extend your arcs on occasion, or else you will find yourself holding back in a real fight. Oh, and Ms. Flynn! Please, come, join us. We are doing an exercise in identifying an opponent's strengths and weaknesses."

Then Sabine read Ser Nemo for filth.

There was something eerie about Ser Nemo's life story, something that made Percy feel like hyperventilating. He pulled his gaze away from the old man and instead looked at Zelda. He couldn't get a good read on her emotions. Hopefully she had just gotten lost. But she also seemed like the quiet shy loner emo type of sorts. He hadn't seen her super often growing up, just at reunions for their parents, but enough that he considered her a friend of sorts.

Ser Nemo didn't burst into tears though or run away sputtering or scream at Sabine until she was red. Instead, he clapped. "Oh, bravo, Ms. Bassard!" he said, wiping a stray tear away from his eyes. It looked more like a tear of pride than anything else. "You are quite right, on all accounts. I must also offer my thanks for your choice to redact certain details which I have no doubt that you gleaned. It is one thing to be strong, but another to have compassion."

"Okay, my turn," Percy interjected. He felt like was about to vomit. It was like the longer he was in this room, the sicker he felt. He figured Zelda wouldn't mind going after him. She had just gotten here after all and was probably paralyzed with fear at the idea of speaking in public. "If I were fighting you, I wouldn't attack you. You're slippery and fast. But your students are not," Percy said. The air shimmered around him and he reappeared behind Danni. He held his fingers in the shape of a gun and pressed them into Danni's back. "If this were a real gun, you'd have to jump faster than I could pull the trigger. I take you by surprise by taking them all out."

"... Always violence with you, isn't it?" Ser Nemo said somewhat sadly. He looked at Percy like he was a particularly nasty toad who had just attempted to swallow a butterfly. "Be careful of the path that will bring you to... Now, Ms. Flynn, I believe it is your turn. Please, deduce my strengths and my weaknesses."

---

---

---

---

Andy had been hurt. She had tasted blood in her mouth. That wasn't new. But she was annoyed. Annoyed that the thing had gotten a hit on her and tossed her so far like she was nothing. Then Mads had hit her. Her vision sparked with blackness. Everything else that was happening in training room A fell away.

Warmth filled her from her fingertips. It was tantalizing. She soaked it up. A part of her recognized the sensation. A part of her wanted to stop, but that part was very quiet.

The hand that held her own was what had the warmth. It tasted delicious. Something was different. Andy had had a lot of souls pass through her while on Genosha. All of them had been mutants of some kind. Mads, however, tasted a little different. Spicy probably wasn't the right word for it. But fuck it was delicious.

She pulled, and she drank. She couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop.

---

---

Alas, the last of them arrived. Try as she might, Victoria could not figure out whether Zari was even in the room in the morning - maybe buried under her blanket? - with how busy she was admiring her new piece of kit. She mentally kicked herself, noting that she was not going to win any favors like that. Maybe she should make breakfast? Are you trying to poison her, dummy? Remember the last time you wandered into the kitchen? she berated herself. However, the roommate did not seem to give her any grief for it, and Vicky decided to roll with it.

The infernal spawn then talked again, only convincing Victoria further that the worst joke here was the teacher. The news that the game was rigged was not entirely news, what with the Young Avengers remaining a team across multiple years, but hearing the details, she had to admit, stung. Not because it was happening in the first place, but because she didn't hear it from Cas. Come to think of it, recently the two of them seemed to be growing a bit more distant, hardly ever seeing each other despite literally living under the same roof. Which sucked, and Vicky suspected a little bit that her handlers may have had a hand in that to force her to interact with other people some more. But in the superhero scope of things, it did not matter. Victoria could not care less about the Contest of Champions, rigged or not. She was here to learn how to be good at the job of protecting the people, not to with the contest or become an Avenger.

As soon as she heard the assignment, she was on her way to the dressing room. She picked up her size and was down to her bra before the door even closed behind her. Few seconds later she was back out, deciding she vastly preferred her actual armor even for the Framework linkup, but she was not about to waste quarter hour of everyone's time to go suit up. Stopping by Usagi's table, she wanted something clarified: "Do you want me to go with armor or without? Judging by what you said so far, I'd say you'd like to see if I can nuke a town, but just in case I'm wrong..."


"That can be arranged." Vicky gave Usagi a predatory grin. She would have preferred to have some training time with her new toy, although for now she set her tank into the 'suited' preset. Thinking on it a little more, maybe it would be best to train a bit before ahving four others descend on her in a fight. "Any briefing on what's the sim, or do we get a surprise?"


Naturally. Nodding, Victoria walked over to the tanks, plugged in the links and engaged the sim. As it loaded, she wondered whether there would be any countdown before start, or if they were to start slaughtering each other as soon as the simulation loaded. Something she could also have asked while she was at it, but in the end, it did not matter too much to her. If she found herself in the open area, she would fly up immediately to get a lay of the land, and if there was a roof in the way, she would look for cover to get behind, just in case. And maybe get ready to put an outward repulsor field around me, just in case someone thought I'd make an easy target.

She quickly reviewed her files on everyone again, as her previous deliberations about team synergies weren't exactly useful right now. Arcade was an unknown, but unless he started hacking the Framework, he looked like a bit of a pushover for now. Leah could control potentially affect cover and the very ground under their feet, so hovering might be a better tactic than walking, even if it would waste power. Diana could zoom around the field, the worst thing was going to be landing hits on her. She would have to catch her unawares, probably from long range. Zari... would depend on the terrain. She had a feeling there would only be one winner though, and not any of them. "Usagi will have blood. Mine or theirs." she grumbled as the world finally loaded around her.

---

---

---

---

Diana turned her attention to hear a familiar voice and smiled as she saw Zarina and quickly went over to hug her, she had heard from Percy that she was here but Diana didn't get a chance to meet up with her the day before at the carnival. "Zari! How have you been?" Diana asked her as she looked over at Mr. Eyeball, though she honestly could never understand a word that the robot had said it was nice to see him as well to. "Nice to see you again Mr. Eyeball." Diana said when their mentor spoke up again turning to face Usagi as she did a few flips and landed on a nearby chair. She had used the Framework in the past for a few different classes and was used to it, she knew that the Young Avenger's did tend to use the Framework a lot more than other students had.

"Anyway we should meet up later with Percy if you want to hangout or something." Diana suggested to Zari, it had been awhile since it was the three of them had hung out together. Diana made her way towards the bin of suits that were used for the Framework, finding the one that would fit her perfectly. They always did remind her a little bit like the Netrunning suits that were used in the Cyberpunk 2077 game she played once years ago. She really wasn't sure why Ed seemed to be really scared of using the Framework which she thought was a little bit weird as Usagi told him to get changed.

She made her way towards one of the training stalls and quickly got changed as soon as she closed the door, drapping her school uniform over the stall door. Diana made her way out and then over towards one of the tanks that were in the room Victoria had already gotten herself in. "See y'all on the inside." Diana said as she jumped in as she was hooked up to everything.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne turned to watch as Mary-Sue started to summon some swords for the three of them to use, she reached forward to grab her own sword she didn't really care for the magical girl style but as long as it let her stab or slice things like the Questing Beast she didn't care. Madalyne winced slightly when Mary-Sue got smacked by the beast as well to sending her flying. She was impressed when April used her water powers turning her drink into ice, and sent the icicles flying into the snake creature's eyes on the second try blinding the beast. Madalyne was about to run forward to try and defend her friend, but she felt Andy grabbing onto her hand and pulled herself up, but she started to feel something off.

Madalyne started to feel pretty weak as Andy used her vampiric powers on her. "Hey Andy let go, you are hurting me." Madalyne said to Andy as she tried to yank her arm free from Andy's grip, her vision started to get blurry as Andy drained more from her. She started to groan loudly as she felt something was very off with her now, as her head started to hurt along with her upper and lower back. Horns started to sprout out of her forehead, her eyes turning a shade of yellow with cat like pupils now, and a pair of wings sprouted out of her back and a spaded tail.

She tried to yank her arm free from Andy's grip from her as something dark overcame Madalyne as she took the sword that Mary-Sue had gifted them all Madalyne tightened the grip of her sword and ran it straight through Andy's stomach, giving the sword a little twist for a little extra pain. "I said let go of me!" Madalyne said coldly at Andy as she felt the grip on her wrist lessen and she pulled her wrist free Madalyne then slowly pulled the magic girl sword free as she rested it at her side letting Andy's blood drip down from the blade looking down at Andy.

---

---

She was still a bit confused as to what was even going on at the moment, especially since it seemed like people were attacking one another? Or at least attacking the coach or something like that, and this was apparently something that they were doing for what exactly? Well it didn't overly matter as Percy decided to take his turn figuring out... Something... She still wasn't entirely sure what the group was supposed to be figuring out about Nemo at this point. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to her, but she was fine just staying back and sort of watching everything.

That is, until Nemo turned towards her and asked her to accomplish what they were doing. His explanation didn't exactly help in the matter of explaining what was supposed to be going on at the moment. Zelda was just sort of thinking of a few things that might be what he was wanting or potentially expecting at this point. "Um... Well... Aside from your age since sometimes age and all doesn't matter on things like that... You seem to find ways to blend in kind of, since no offense but the accent you have doesn't sound entirely natural, so guessing you aren't actually British or something like that... Another thing that is a strength for you is that you don't seem to overly care what others say about you or to you, which sometimes can be a strength since you aren't worried about public opinion. You do also seem to care a lot about the students in general, which can be considered a strength or a weakness depending on your perspective of the situation..."

---

---

Now she wasn't entirely sure what was going on still but she actually kind of liked Usagi, she definitely was entertaining to say the least. Zari looked at the Framework and everything that they were going to do. A Battle Royale? Now that sounded like it would be a whole lot of fun. She was a bit sad since she probably wouldn't be able to have Mr. Eyeball in the Framework with her, or Mr. Jaws for that matter. It definitely would be interesting considering Vicki though, namely with regards to her suit, but also a few, well, other things that she felt she shouldn't mention considering the fact that it was her thing and everything. So to play more fair if anything she'd only mess with the suit, hopefully anyway, during the whole Royale thing.

"Hi there Diana!" she said happily, "We can see about doing that later then if that works for you!" she added. The main things she'd need to have in the Framework for a fight was her sword and armor. Zari was a bit sad at the thought of not being able to maybe have her robots in the thing with her, or Mr. Sparkles for that matter, but she supposed that didn't overly matter. It meant that she was needing to rely more on her actual skills then the robots she made or the flying horse. Walking over, she quickly went about getting changed into the weird scuba outfit, before she went to see about getting hooked up for the Framework. While doing so she was trying to not ask a million questions concerning how the Framework worked exactly.