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Leah Jordan

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She tried to keep the wall up. She tried. But they breached it like a missile. There wasn’t much more she could do in that case, but Leah was about to try and turn the ground to quicksand. She thought that maybe she could hold them off log enough to Diana and Victoria to get into some sort of firing formation, maybe hit them while they got stuck. But that didn’t happen, because Leah was suddenly HURLED back against the wall behind the golem, the cage and- What were those tiny lights? Her back hit the wall and knocked the air from her lungs. Leah didn’t have time to take in a full breath though, because another person was knocked straight into her. Abby, the one who turned out the lights. They tumbled into her like a bowling ball.

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The lights.

Vicky

Shit.

Was she being drained right now? Was Vicky an unknowable small moment away fork shutting off and being fucking killed? Abby didn’t know, and Leah couldn’t just stop the whole shebang and unVEIL her right then and there. The thought crossed her mind in a split second, but then what would happen? No, Leah had to act quick. If this fucking gender battery accidentally killed her friend, then she’d go down the path of Gold Morning and no one would be safe. So, Leah acted quick as a whip, jumping up and slamming a thunderous gut punch into Abby. With her metal armor and the fact that she was called Jotunn for a reason, Abby didn’t put up much resistance. Abby’s ribs just barely held up, barely.

”STAY. DOWN!!!” Leah roared at Abby, solely because her blood was pumping. Anyone directly next to her would feel the floor jolt slightly. She felt genuinely afraid that Vicky might just fall over dead and irrationally took this out verbally on the… Mutant? In front of her. Leah could’ve followed up with another haymaker for good measure. But they didn’t appear to be standing up again.

”SHIELDMAIDEN! STAY NEAR ME!” Leah wasn’t team leader, or even second-in-command. But right now she felt the need, the dire need to make sure she was near Vicky at all costs. This skirmish just became a potential death trap for her friend. She knew exactly what to do if Vicky began to feel weak or warned her. An ace that no one on the enemy team would expect by now, a Hail Mary. Whatever. This was serious now.

She turned her attention and adrenaline to Sveva and Rada.

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Diana watched as the two started to struggle which was slightly amusing to her as Rada was entangled in her little trap and Sveva was trying to get her teammate out of it. She knew that it didn't last long as Sveva managed to eye laser her friend out of it and the two of them along with Abby continued to beat down on the wall. Eventually Abby managed to break through once more, when she heard Jyoti yelling wind, and she was knocked off of her perch and onto the ground. Diana laid there slightly dazed for a moment when she started to get up again Sveva and Rada managed to get through the opening of the wall.

Diana quickly grabbed her bow again and grabbed one of her flashbang arrows and quickly fired it off a loud bang and a bright flash of light came out and managed to disorient the both of them. Next Diana took out two more ensnarement arrows, she fired off two of them hoping to get either one of them or both of them. She cursed when one of them missed, however the second one managed to get through and ensnared Sveva this time.

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With the fire now under control she was still angry at Megan however she wasn't blinded by it like she had been a few moments ago, her attention quickly turned towards Mary-Sue who was going up against Micheala and Theda. Theda had Mary-Sue in a lock that they learned in school, however the real threat was Michaela who managed to break through Mary-Sue's shield. Madalyne quickly started to chant a spell as she charged up her spell and sent out a powerful eldritch blast directly at Micheala who managed to somehow deflect it with ease.

When she was distracted however Madalyne quickly erected her own shield over their hostage as she quickly approached Theda, and Micheala. The others were all distracted with their own fights, she kept her hand out as she held the shield spell and stared at the two girls. "You aren't going to get it without going through the two of us first." Madalyne said, hoping that Mary-Sue could get out of the hold she was in now.

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The pace of the fight was starting to pick up as the hero team seemed to start to find the cracks in their defense - literally, in the case of Leah's wall. At least her own side was finding purchase in slowing them down. With all of the lumens impacting her eyes, Sveva must have been half blind by now. However, speaking of the wall, Victoria really did not like what came through. She did not need to be able to read lips to know exactly what Abby was saying. If by any chance the local technopath was listening to what was going on in her head, she would be hearing a thunderous 'I told you so!'

Before she could so much as think of how to take care of the issue though, Jyoti managed to summon a pocket hurricane after crashing down, and caused said power sucker to bowl into Ed, than herself, and finally Leah. Leah, who finally registered why she told them to frag Abby early on, and, praise her, beat the snot out of her before she decided Victoria made for a happy meal. Vicky has had one near death experience too many recently and was not keen on the idea of adding another one.

She hoped Abby would heed Leah's ultimatum, because she didn't know whether Leah would not cross a boundry. "I'm fine, monitoring power level. If she tries anything, my suit will wail like a siren." she called out, setting up the alarm function and hoping it was enough to put the earthbender's mind at ease. The others of the hero team were starting to make their move now, and Diana promptly disoriented them both and ensnared one. That didn't work too well last time though, so Vicky added on her own blasts to make sure, and managed to knock Sveva out cold. Both of her other shots missed though, but Vicky was getting numb to being a colossal disappointment.

I'll just have to roll with the punches. Maybe literally though? If long range isn't working, maybe it's time to let the hammer fall. she decided, and put Rada in her sights.

Stuck in a bubble, fire all around, Danni wasn't really certain what to do. He couldn't really leave the bubble and he didn't want to drop the fire in case someone broke through it but… what did he do now? They were just gonna wait out the timer or until the other team broke through and caused mayhem it seemed. Danni shrugged.

Seemed like a solid enough plan!

Well, now t'at we're all in 'ere, minus Dee whose probs waitin' ta wear someone like a skin puppet and Zelds-we gotta give 'er some props for da Golem after t'is- 'ow we gettin' out of dis? Everyone's kinda outta fire range right now so we're waitin', huh? I gotta say, not likin' the guy who is eatin' light. T'at seems like a bad time for us. You t'ink if he vomits, he'll just puke rainbows? Or maybe it comes out like a flash of light?" Danni wondered, envisioning it. "Do t'ey just open t'eir mouth and sparkles fly out? T'at'd be kinda cool, you know? Kinda wish I could pop out like you, Spicy. Wanna do somet'in' ta help Zelds. Beanie, can you change your bubble? Lock me and Spicy outside, while you stay in and poke 'oles in people's heads?"

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The force field was a good idea. If for no other reason than because it gave them time to think. They needed to get the stronger players out first. Dorian had similar ideas, it seemed. Arsene would be the strongest given his powers and he would be able to energize everyone else and undo any damage they did. Sabine nodded her understanding as Dorian got to work. Sabine prepared her powers and, waiting a few seconds to allow Dorian to get settled, unleashed herself in Arsene's head.

It was difficult terrain with Dorian being inside also (good to know in the future) but Sabine did what she could to help shift Arsene to view Dorian as an ally (inserting a memory where Dorian was introduced to Arsene and the two had some conversations together) before shifting out. She gave the thumbs up. Hopefully, once Dorian was out, Arsene would do what she expected.

Meanwhile, she locked on to Salah, the next strongest person. The first time was a blow. This time, she opted for something arguably easier. She unleashed herself again, entering Salah's mind. Once inside, Sabine shifted some things around. She implanted a few noticeable memories of Salah just not giving a shit. Whatever tenacity Salah had, it would be overridden by her desire to just want to go home and forget about this whole thing. The girl would give up and call it, leaving her teammates in a lurch. Sabine found it easier this time around. Perhaps whatever protections they had before were dropping?

Once she was back out, she lowered her force field to allow Danni and Percy to do what they needed to do. "Hopefully in a minute we will have turned the tide, but come back here if you need protection."

Mary Sue had a frustrated yell escape her lips as she was held down by a wrist lock, the exact kind she'd learned about. This was a mistake fully on her own; making the assumption that a powerless girl was a helpless one. She struggled futilely against the hold, stuck where she was. There was still an option for her, especially given that a shield has reappeared around the hostage. She was stuck in place, so she could use that to her advantage, and keep somebody stick with her. Rather than trying to be stronger than the person who got the jump on her, she'd keep the powerhouse stuck with her.

The air shimmer briefly, and a chain around Mary Sue's and Michaela's legs both appeared, hopefully giving her another construct to break, rather than being able to make progress towards her actual goal. She gave a short tug of her leg from her grappled position in an attempt to knock the girl on her feet, but was unsuccessful. It was at this point she processed what Michaela had said to her, calling her the spawn of some... Thanos? She didn't know what that meant, but she couldn't let her mind wonder too much. "Andy! Please! You need to turn your attention here." She was desperate for something, anything about their situation to change.

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Well the golem seemed to be doing alright, at least with how she saw things. Everyone seemed to be kind of doing their own sort of things, and no one seemed to notice where she was at the moment, which meant that she was succeeding in what she was doing. That being sticking to the shadows and being a ninja. Zelda had the golem take another swing at someone, this time aiming for Arsene and hitting him and knocking him backwards from the force. So that worked out in the end really.

However, there then was the little voice popping up in her head, which wasn't her own, that much she knew. However the voice was saying the exact same thing that her brain sometimes told her. It wasn't helping her mental state really, however she very much could tell whose voice it was as they were now linked a bit. Zelda tried to mess with her emotions, but was having an issue from this distance. Well don't you think it's rude to intrude in the mind of others? she mentally said to Emily.

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Things were going downhill a bit from the giant gust of wind that Jyoti had kicked up when she had fallen, and it had sent everyone sort of scattering and being knocked around. Including herself and Mr. Sparkles as they ended up getting knocked around and down. "It's okay Mr. Sparkles," she commented as he sounded distressed and she hopped off his back, holding her sword in her hand as she saw the two walking through the hole in the wall now, well this wasn't good.

Zari charged forward now as Diana managed to ensnare one of the two with her arrows, which made things fairly useful now for it. Racing over, she swung her sword using the blunt side to hit instead of to use it to slice through things, and attempted to knock them back. Her swing missed Rada, however on her sort of backswing, she managed to hit Svera, hitting her with it in the stomach, "Well was planning on trying to hit both of you in the head to knock you out, but oh well I guess?"

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Training Room A
Excelsior (villains) vs the Mighty Marvels (heroes)
Ser Nemo vs Jack of Harts
Judges - the Black Knight, Crystal of the Inhumans, Shang-Chi


Training Room B
Uncanny Avengers (villains) vs the Unity Squad (heroes)
Usagi vs Tigra
Judges - She-Hulk, Blade, Rogue


Training Room C
The Huntresses (villains) vs the New Defenders (heroes)
Lady Nimue vs Brunnhilde
Judges - Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow

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Momchil was still out for the count, as was Sveva. That left then Jyoti, Rada, and Abby. The heroes were finding themselves with their backs pressed to the walls a bit, and Rada decided it was time to take off the kid gloves. She had only demonstrated one of her powers so far. Well, one application of them really. And with her bestie unconscious and Momchil no help, it was time to show a far more serious one.

The Valkyrie had tried to attack her with her sword, and missed, but it meant she was the closest opponent. Rada also heard how Leah clearly unhinged about Vicky potentially being in danger, so Rada exploited that. "A sword-fight? Cool, let me get my sword," she said. She reached out with her hand and the next thing Vicky knew, she was being pulled across the room to Rada. Vicky would try to do her hand-to-hand, but her suit had been immobilized.

"Swing!" Rada shouted, before swinging her arms like she was trying to hit a baseball. Vicky then went colliding into Zari, Zari would manage to block with her sword however. Vicky would end up hitting the ground. The very ground that, thanks to Leah's manipulations, was ever so sticky. It wasn't quite quicksand just yet, more like slightly dried mud, but it was enough to slow down most people's movements.

Abby, meanwhile, was trying to siphon some power from anything they could. Despite Leah's warnings, they had every intention of sucking power away from Vicky's suit, but the pain from the nearly cracked ribs was distracting. They couldn't quite get a lock onto Vicky. Consequently then, no alarms were sounding off.

Jyoti had made it all the way to the end-zone now - the earth cage that surrounded the hostage. It helped when you could fly and command the weather, there was no need for her to touch the ground. As she arrived, she frowned, narrowing her eyes at the strange devices all over the cage. And then she locked eyes with Arcade. "Hey, you! What are these?"

"Uh... A bagel?" Arcade wheezed, still in a lot of pain from both Vicky and Leah and Abby slamming into him not too long ago.

Jyoti's eyes narrowed. Lightning struck the ground, just inches away from Arcade. "Try again."

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In the pool, April was finally getting the upper hand. Most of the locks and whatnot they were taught at the academy applied to people with a standard number and assortment of appendages, but there were a few that she found worked excellently on a selkie. She had twisted Enya's arms behind her back in such a way that any application of pressure caused extreme pain. And with her opponent temporarily immobilized, April kicked their way up to the surface, dragging Enya along.

The two broke up above the water, and April instinctively gasped for air. "Fudding hell," she cursed. Her nose was definitely broken. And it burned from the chlorine of the pool. She tried to get a glimpse of what was going on all around them, but she was having a hard time understanding it all. It looked like Gideon and Andy were teaming up and.... she didn't know how to describe what was going on with Mary Sue.

Not that she had much time to think about it, as Enya took advantage of her momentary distraction and broke free from April's bind.

Meanwhile, Megan was twitching slightly from the electric shock that Andy had given her - but by the gods, the freak seemed to enjoy it. "Harder, next time," Megan requested with a smirk. Gideon of course was more than happy to oblige, restarting the sword fight before Megan had even gotten back up to her feet. She didn't even seem to really recognize that Andy was still there, so obsessed with attacking her target.

Then, there was the group with the golem. Michaela had a firm hold of it, despite the eyepatch covering her eye or the chain around her leg connecting her to Mary Sue. Mads' shield spell formed like a bubble layer around the hostage. Michaela frowned, clenching her hands tighter on the shield. It was like the shield was suddenly hit with a huge influx of energy, but somehow, it was still holding. "This won't stop us from saving the day - we're heroes, you're villains, and villains always lose," Michaela declared.

Theda still had Mary Sue in a strong lock. If she had been able to speak, she would've just used her voice to force Mary Sue to drop the constructs. Instead, she went for something more violent. She had one hand holding onto Mary Sue, and with her free hand, she struck Mary Sue in the back of the head, aiming to knock the other girl unconscious. Mary Sue would see stars, it would hurt, but she wouldn't black out.

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Percy grinned slightly, hearing Dorian's familiar accent coming out of Arsène's mouth. He was standing next to Sabine, safely behind the force field, but not within the fire circle, where Danni and the hostage were. For Danni to adjust his position when Sabine took down the force field, he'd have to mess with the fire circle as well. And right before Percy could teleport out of the circle, he watched with wide eyes as some friendly fire happened - as Zelda's golem sent Arsène/Dorian flying backwards.

Percy's grin vanished. "I'm surrounded by morons," he hissed.

Sabine had made some mental edits, including one to Arsène, but as Dorian was still inhabiting Arsène's body, the effect has not yet taken hold. However, Sabine had dove into Salah's mind, and convinced them to essentially feel like giving up and quitting. They didn't want to be doing this anyways. Salah huffed, taking another look at the golem, before deciding it wasn't worth it and they started to walk away to the other side of the room.

"What the hell!" Paul shouted. "Em, stop them!"

"On it!" Emily said brightly. Sorry, do you mind holding for one sec? Emily whispered in Zelda's mind. They turned their attention towards Salah then, diving in and trying to figure out what was happening. She wasn't an amazing telepath, but she could do a few things, and she set to work trying to undo Sabine's mental tampering.

Xènia, of course, was still unconscious.

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Diana could feel the ground starting to turn into mud a little bit as she looked over at Leah, even though she could easily get out of it by teleporting herself out the others on the team probably not so much. It'll slow down the enemy team but it would also slow them all down as well to. Luckily Zari came into the fray and managed to take out Sveva with ease with her sword, however Rada used Vicky as a melee weapon against Vicky. She knew that Zari could probably handle Rada easily along with Vickey, and she was out of the way from Abby as well to which was good then.

Diana then heard some lightening as it came crashing down just near Ed was and looked up seeing Jyoti up above them demanding what Ed had set up around the rock cage that Leah had made. She thought about teleporting up and onto Jyoti's back just to jump her, but that would be pretty difficult. She also thought about using an explosive arrow but she didn't want to get her team disqualified in case she ended up hurting Jyoti and maiming her or something like that. She decided to use a grapple arrow instead and if that failed she could always use another ensnarment arrow to bring her down. She took one of her arrows out and then took aim trying to make it as perfect as possible as she let the arrow fly, she narrowly missed but managed to get it wrapped around the girl's foot and started to try and yank her out of the air.

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Madalyne turned to look at Mary-Sue she was really tempted to use one of her spells on Theda but she knew that she could also accidentally hit Mary-Sue in the process which was something that she didnt want to do. She noticed April breaking the surface of the water and smiled at her glad that her bestie was okay. "Andy or April hurry up and get over here and help Mary!" Madalyne said Gideon was still busy having her sword fight against Megan which was fine as long as Gideon could keep Megan distracted.

Neferkare was still trapped in the ice and was still trying to get out which was good, her attention turned directly towards Micheala as the girl spoke and rolled her eyes slightly. "We aren't the villains here we are here to win and get into the Contest of Champions proper!" Madalyne said they were just simply playing the roles that the school had assigned them. Madalyne knew that April really wanted to get onto the Contest of Champions and she wanted her team to succeed. She could feel her shield starting to fail and ran up to punch Micheala in the jaw.

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It was a good thing that Vicky called out her safety to Leah. She didn't have to spring for what Leah was affectionately calling Plan Z for the time being, and best of all, the enemy team seemed to miss the last part. Leah was preparing to move and work on crowd control when she saw Vicky suddenly flying forward into the reach of Rada, only to be flung far back and be wallbanged off of Zari. Some-fucking-how, Zari was still standing despite being his by Ultron's little sister. It must've been her divine bullshit shining through and being useful for once. Either way, they'd both live. She heard a bolt of lightning crack, and turned to see Ed and Jyoti bickering, just in time for Diana to fire an arrow up at Jyoti's leg. She was taken care of, Abby was still reeling, and that left one person in particular for Leah to deal with.

The one person on their team that Leah knew she didn't need to hold back against.

With those two out of the way, it meant that there was a clear shot between Leah and Rada. Honestly, it was perfect timing. The mud was beginning to make the terrain difficult, and it was her terrain. She brought the course events down this road, and supported her team as best she could. They had all fought to a breaking point now, with the heroes having two people out for the count and one struggling to breathe. Their spirit was faltering, Leah could see that with Rada's sudden change in tactics.

Perhaps it would be foolish, and perhaps Vicky would give her hell for it later, but she felt like she was in the best situation to take out Rada. Someone had to apply pressure. If they let the “heroes” find their footing, they could regroup and hit with cohesion. So, Leah charged. She blitzed the tin woman, struggling to keep her balance on the slowly worsening mud slick she created, and leapt into the air. Her feet went up into a drop kick. Her metal boots slammed straight into Rada’s shoulder, with a loud CLANG and Leah felt a jolt of pain shoot up her side. It wasn’t a pulled muscle, but she’d likely be feeling that for fucking days. It was like getting hit by a crowbar, and Leah hit the dirt, realizing that Rada just absorbed every last joule of energy she could work up. Worst of all, she saw her hair whip across Rada’s face as she fell. She was unphased by it.

Fuck.

Leah quickly slammed her hands together, in an attempt to cause a sinkhole to form under Rada’s feet. But the mud being soaked with water made her grasp on things difficult. For the same reason Leah knew she couldn’t apply her powers to lava, the mud didn’t split into a chasm under Rada’s feet. It did, however, turn to sand. Sand that would eventually become more mud. That was tolerable at the very least, since someone that heavy would probably sink quicker.

Hindsight was 20/20, and in hindsight, this was just a gamble. A gamble that Leah should have made sure she was prepared to lose, because she just lost it in arm’s reach of Rada. She couldn’t resort to blows with someone like this- Leah was a tank and Rada was an aircraft carrier. She had to stay back and think of a better strategy. Leah could outsmart an opponent, but not like this. But if she turned and ran, Rada would just pull her back.

She had Rada’s attention, so she needed to keep it.

”Let me guess… Vibranium?”

While she tried to “distract” Rada, Leah steadily tried to reach deeper into the ground than the rain had soaked. The bedrock was stone and concrete, not sand. If she could force some of it to spire up, it could make the terrain worse for Rada… And give Leah something else to work with that wasn’t the distant wall.

”My hair shreds most metals like foam, and you’re fine. That’s impressive.” She moved into a boxer stance, hoping it would provoke the girl’s confidence in a fist fight.

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It was an odd sensation, waiting out inside of somebody as your group's telepath rearranged some vital points of memory against the team. There was no telling when Sabine would be done or if she'd even do it, that is until he saw her thumbs up. Perfect! Now all he had to do was hop out and give Arsène a target and hopefully he'd do as he'd planned. His attention was snapped back by his adorable boyfriend. A grin spreading across his face as he no doubtedly realized what Dorian had been doing this whole fight. He went to wave at Percy when suddenly the world went sideways. Fortunately Dorian didn't feel much of anything when ahead was possessing somebody, after all it wasn't his body though they'd definitely feel the effects of damage once he'd left them. He landed flat on his ass, skidding a bit as he watched the distance growing between himself and the Golem Zelda had conjured. As the body slid across the floor, Dorian used that momentum to slip himself out of Arsène and enact the second phase of his plan.

"Arsène, buddy, I'm not doing so 'ot 'ere. Paul's supercharged and I could use a bit of t'at juice right now." Dorian said with a grimace of pain on his face and the best puppy dog eyes he could muster with pain. He could feel Arsènes inner battle, wavering to see if he should help him or not. They were close enough that they could whisper, having just left his body, and so Dorian tried once more, to appeal to his newfound friend to help him out. "C'mon chère, it's t'e Contest of Champions and I'm finally on a judges team after all t'ese years, 'elp me look good…my powers aren't all impressive…" He tried to plead, but all Arsène could do was offer up some confused words as he tried to sort through what was the right thing to do. They were on opposing teams after all, but they were also close friends. Would a close friend really let Dorian be humiliated this way before the judges?

[Hider=Hidden Roll]"If an enemy tries to knock him out of the fight, Dorian will attempt to Possess them first. Skill: Possession Combat"[/color]

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Andy personally didn't totally care about the contest. She did want to punch Megan more, but that anger had popped like a balloon at being called a villain. Yes, the contest had set them up as that. However, she wasn't a villain. She had helped save the world. She was every day protecting the world from one of its greatest threats...her mother. Andy knew she was one shitty day from becoming a villain. It would be a line she'd walk her whole life.

"You want a villain? I can give you villain." She said angrily and marched over to where the 'hostage' was. One of the girls was trying to grab the hostage but a shield was around it, and by appearances was probably from Mary Sue. The other hit Mary Sue so hard that Andy was surprised the girl was still standing. Andy was a bit tempted to throw a punch at Theda for that, but she could tell that Michaela needed to be dealt with.

Andy punches Michaela, but some strange energy field surrounds her blocking the attack. She frowns considering the situation.

"It'll take all of us throwing an attack at her to stop her." She told the team. But to get all of them to concentrate long enough on Michaela was going to be nearly impossible.

"Awww but Spicy, we're your morons! You gotta love us!" Danni laughed as the fire ring opened, shutting behind him once he'd saunted through. He beamed at Sabine. "T'anks for lettin' me out, Beanie! Have I mentioned you look stunning yet? Cause damn, you are gorgeous." Danni turned his attention away from his bestie and scanned the field, the receding back of the Gobbler. It felt bad to kick a person while they're down, so instead he'd provide some support to Zelds!

"Ya know, we should 'ave a bestie date sometime soon. I know you and Princess and… Leah are like, 'oneymoonin' and shit and t'ats totally cool! But like, idk just you and me sometime soon?" Danni threw out there. Maybe it was a little inappropriate to discuss these things at a time like this, but fuck it. He was feelin' good about this fight - they had this in the bag. Danni's tongue poked out as he focused, bringing a finger gun up to point at "Em". "I got some new music we can freestyle to, or there's a new fashion runway show we can judge horrendously or another bridezilla one-I just love the drama, ya know?- or we can try somet'in' new. Bang!" Fire shot out of his fingers and slammed into the target, her clothes bursting into flames.

He spun, his right hand coming out to point at the spear guy, fire already at his finger tips, but he yelped as foot caught in a loose shoelace, and a grout of fire went spiraling out instead. While thankfully no one was hurt (Thank god because honestly, Spicy would probably kill him), his pride was injured as he groaned on the floor of the training room. "Just let t'em kill me." Danni whined into the ground, ears burning from embarrassment.

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Sabine saw Dorian appear, though it seemed her tampering with Arsene did nothing. Or rather, it didn't do much. Perhaps another push would do the trick? But before she could go back in, Sabine noticed that someone was messing with Salah. The other girl, Emily, appeared to be the one on the team that was helping with mental defense. If Sabine had any hope of aiding her team and winning, the girl needed to be taken out.

Sabine attempted to enter Emily's mind, but felt resistance. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fist, Sabine burst forward, finally getting in. "Finally. Credit where it's due, you have good skills. But I'm better." Sabine rooted around for a core memory. She found one where Emily seemed to discover what her powers were. Sabine played around, struggling at first. Emily's mind was tough.

Eventually, Sabine worked her magic. Emily would forget what her powers were. Hopefully, that would give them some time to take the others out or run out the clock and win this thing. Sabine then tried to put up a lock on the memory, but she couldn't do it. Sabine would have to ask about what else she could do with her powers. Would Nemo have an idea?

Once out, Sabine looked over at Danni. "Thanks babe. Zelda did good work. She has a future in this." Danni, bless him, attempted to take out spear guy, but ended up falling on his face. Sabine cringed from second-hand embarrassment. "We're not out of this yet, mon ami. We just need to work together! I got you!"

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Zelda wasn't entirely sure what to think with the chaos that was all going on around her with the others. She had been sticking around to the outskirts, sort of just hiding in order to keep out of the way. Of course Emily was messing with her head or at least her own thoughts, hence she hadn't exactly been paying much attention to who she had the golem attack. So that had happened, and then other bits of chaos were going on, and Danni had lit one girl on fire and tried to attack the guy with the spear, well, might as well have the golem attack him now too.

With a flick of her hand, the golem swung it's fist, slamming into Paul with a loud thud, but with the amount of force used, the golem shattered and disappeared from view. But at least it had managed to do quite a bit of damage to those around it. Sneaking around behind everything and the chaos, she managed to sneak up very quietly so now she was by Sabine and Danni. "I can manage to conjure up something else probably if we need too," she said practically out of nowhere, having been fairly well hidden as she snuck around the battlefield.

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Zari was not too thrilled with nearly being knocked down by Vicki being thrown at her. "Well you do realize it is rude to throw someone at someone else right? Seriously?" she commented towards her with a shrug before she swung her sword at Rada. Though it wasn't easy to do a lot. Since Rada was made of metal, and Zari was trying not to severely hurt someone so she was using the side of her blade instead, that wasn't making anything any easier really. It made things a lot harder since her sword could cut through a lot, but she wasn't going to risk what could happen.

Every time she swung at her, her sword bounced off of Rada as she kept blocking with her arm. There was several instances of the sound of metal on metal, but her sword was durable and magic, so it didn't matter too much to her. "Sometimes it's hard being a bit nicer and actually holding back a little with how much damage I can do," she commented with a bit of a shrug, before she took one last swing and this time there wasn't the sound of metal on metal, and she felt something else when her sword hit. Looked like Rada's skin briefly had shifted back to normal, so she had managed to break through her defenses and hit her, knocking her a little, and her arm is probably going to be bruised later.

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Training Room A
Excelsior (villains) vs the Mighty Marvels (heroes)
Ser Nemo vs Jack of Harts
Judges - the Black Knight, Crystal of the Inhumans, Shang-Chi


Training Room B
Uncanny Avengers (villains) vs the Unity Squad (heroes)
Usagi vs Tigra
Judges - She-Hulk, Blade, Rogue


Training Room C
The Huntresses (villains) vs the New Defenders (heroes)
Lady Nimue vs Brunnhilde
Judges - Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow

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Jyoti struggled, trying to dislodge the rope that was tied around her foot. She was so close to victory, so close to retrieving the hostage. All she had to do was figure out how to disarm whatever nonsense Arcade had done. It took her a moment, wasting precious time, but she managed to get the grappling hook dislodged - her own shoe coming off as well in the process.

"Don't get any closer!" Arcade suddenly warned, as Jyoti touched down in front of him. "Or the hostage goes boom," he threatened.

Jyoti hesitated. Were they allowed to do that...?

Meanwhile, Rada's left arm felt heavily bruised and sore from where Zari had whacked it with the flat of her blade. She had shifted back into her metal form, but she was beginning to tire. They had been at this so long. She hadn't answered Leah's question about what metal she was made out of, as she didn't trust Leah. She didn't want to give her enemies any more information than they needed. She glanced over at Vicky though, seeing that the armored suit wearing girl was somewhat stunned. She waved her arm rapidly, locking onto Vicky with her powers and sending Vicky flying across the room again, this time aiming to hit both Zari and Leah if she could. But she went wide, her shot missing, as Vicky instead collided with the wall behind the judges' table.

Vicky's alarm would trigger though, as her suit's energy levels began to slowly deplete - Abby had finally gotten a lock on.

Leah would manage to make an earthen cage around Rada.

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April heard Mads' cry, and she instinctively swiveled in the water, to try to get a good look at what was happening. But before she could see what was going on, she happened to glance at the fight between Megan and Gideon. And her blood began to boil. The pain from her broken nose was an afterthought. Enya, the Selkie who had been fighting her for most of the time, was an afterthought. She was consumed by a sudden and intense need to beat the living shit out of Ser Megan Pendragon. There was nothing she wanted more in the world.

She managed to scramble up the ladder and out of the pool, without Enya following her. She then reached behind her, imagining that she was pulling and dragging the water, as she tried to get all of it to come out so she could drown Megan where she stood. But her hands were trembling and shaking, and the water fell back into the pool just as soon as it had risen. She tried again but it was the same effect to no avail. "Duck it, I can do dis widout any wader," April said, before running to tackle Megan to the ground.

Gideon was equally just as obsessed with Megan, and she hissed at April. "She's mine to fight!"

Meanwhile, Theda had a strong grip on Mary Sue, keeping her more or less under control. Andy had run over to join them, attempting to attack Michaela, the real tank of their team. If Theda hadn't still been gagged by Mary Sue's construct, it would have all been over with. Instead, it was two against three - or two against two really, given that Mary Sue was temporarily subdued.

She squeezed tighter and Mads' shield spell dropped, only for Michaela to then be punched in the jar by Mads a moment later. It connected, unlike Andy's attack. Michaela cursed, unused to having things slip on through her defenses. Her eyes blazed with fury, and she screamed, wind suddenly kicking up all around her as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and Michaela gave herself over to her strange eldritch power....

"You shouldn't have done that," Michaela said, a thousand voices speaking in unison.

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Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at the chaos happening in front of him - and how thoroughly it seemed to favor their own team. Salah had walked to the opposite end of the room and had clearly given up. Arsène was trapped in some sort of internal debate or something, looking at Dorian and back at his team, over and over again. Xènia was unconscious. Paul had just gotten punched hard in the stomach by Zelda's deceased golem. And something weird was going on with Emily.

In short, Percy was feeling pretty confident that they had won. He just didn't know if they had done well enough to qualify for the Contest. From what he understood, it didn't actually matter if your team won or lost in this match. If the judges didn't like you for some reason, then you were out. He didn't particularly care about the Contest, but it was important to Dorian - and even more so, Percy hated to lose.

Paul tried to pick himself up from the floor, but he collapsed to the ground instead. "Is he dead?" Percy asked, tilting his head. Paul didn't seem to be moving anymore.

"What... What are my powers?" Emily was whispering to herself, as she looked around in terror.

Sabine must have done something then. Percy was almost disappointed, as it seemed like just about everyone had been handled. The last one standing really was Arsène and he...

"I know I'm not going to win this - we're not going to win this - but I'm proud of you, man," Arsène said to Dorian. He then held his hands up in a sign of surrender. "You're going to go kick ass for us at the Contest, right? Promise, bestie?"

Percy's shoulders slumped slightly. It was over then. His adrenaline was dying down and he then straightened up his posture, putting on a look of disinterest. They had won, after all. The last effective person was no longer putting up a fight.

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F******* piece of s**** paranormal a*******! Victoria managed to think as she was tossed at Zari. With a massive clang she bounced right off, bewildered at how the hell did she get completely rerouted by a sword. I know it can transform into a flashlight pretty much ignoring the conservation of mass, but this is ridiculous! What is that thing made of, solidified defiance and hate? She did not have too much time to think aobut it any more as she smacked right into the muddy ground.

Alright. She has had enough. Kiddie gloves were coming off. Hit me with telekinesis? Fine, let's see how you like your own medi-

VEIL warning: Impact force exceeded human safety parameters. Idle period of 5.34 seconds is recommended to maintain cover.

I am soooo over this stuff! Vicky groaned internally, but followed the recommendation. To her own detriment, as she felt herself being yanked again. This time Rada missed and Vicky zoomed across the room before imprinting a Vicky-shaped dent into the wall behind the judges. She freed herself from the broken masonry and brushed some of the red brick dust off. ♫ I came in like a wrecking ball! ♫ Oof. This will take some repairing. she thought as she skirted around the judges.

Then that dreaded blare filled her audio receptors, as her diagnostics registered her power dropping. Her gaze snapped towards Abby, who was still severely beaten from Leah walloping her earlier. "You just can't leave well enough alone? You have to make me do it!" she projected her voice out loud, raising her arms up and slashing repulsor beams over her assailant. One missed, but the other finally succeeded in knocking the power leech out. As she watched Abby's lights go out, a good portion of her self respect died an agonizing death. Being such a failure over the last few weeks hurt. But this, this really took the cake. She asn't even learning what not to do from this.

This fucking contest. And everyone who had something to do with it! A bunch of Usagis, every single one of them! Abby would be just about bedridden for a week before her bruised chest and pounding head stop hurting. Victoria understood that hero work was tough. But how would a beating like this motivate anyone to actually do it? She has had enough. Snarling in anger, she powered up her chest projector and slashed another shot over Jyoti while she was struggling with Diana's bind, knocking her out cold as well.

Looking over the field, she did a quick count. Jyoti, Abby, Momchil and Sveva were out cold, and Leah managed to entrap Rada in another cage. Even if the Colosette managed to break out, she would be piled on by everyone else. She turned to the judges, anger not leaving her her voice: "Call the match already!" Or you're fucking next! "Don't you have any better hobbies than watching kids get beaten?!"

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Diana took a step back to try and avoid being hit as Victoria was flung around again, watching their team lead had gone flying and slammed into the wall just behind the judges table. "Ouch thats gotta hurt probably." Diana said as Zari and Leah went up against Rada, and Jyoti decided to finally land when Ed threatened to blow up their hostage. It was a good threat and would probably make Jyoti think twice before trying to get their hostage out. Leah managed to encase Rada in another stone prison this time, and two shots had gone off hitting both Abby and Jyoti knocking them out.

Wanting to make sure just in case Jyoti decided to get back up again Diana tried to teleport herself over to her and get to the other side of the room but she wasn't able to. She tried again and she would let out another loud groan as Diana tried once more and failed, Diana just walked over and managed to do it on the third try landing on the other side of the room. Diana looked at Victoria and rolled her eyes slightly, she was actually having fun. "You know it's probably not a good idea to yell at the judges." Diana called out to Vicky they were the ones that would greenlight them to go further into the Contest of Champions.

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Madalyne watched as Andy managed to come over and landed a good punch on Micheala just as her shield had failed and it shattered, but luckily they had Micheala's attention now. Mary-Sue was still being held down by Theda she was distracted with that at the moment which was probably good then. She saw that April was blinded by her anger and was attacking Megan once more along with Gideon she shook her head slightly as she felt a gust of wind went around her. Micheala's voice took on a much eerie sounding tone she wasn't sure what was with her but she had a feeling that it wasn't good at all.

She started to try and use one of her spells again only for her spell to fail, and she started to try again getting angry with herself that her spell didn't work the first time. She started to chant the same spell once again, but then she could feel her body changing once again, her skin started to turn red, her nails started to grow and sharpen into black talons. Then a pair of horns sprouted out from her forehead, the back of her shirt was ripped open as a pair of demon wings came out once again, and a tail sprouted out from her lower back. Just as her transformation finished she sent an eldritch blast directly at Micheala this time managing to hit her.

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Hoooly shit. That actually worked. Thank fuck, she was about to resort to battlefield flirting just to trip Rada up. Leah's momentary victory, however, was interrupted by the sound of Vicky going CLANG against the wall, the other wall, and then unsticking herself. Good lord, that suit knew how to take a beating. But that wasn't all too surprising, given the person inside it was built like a tank. Leah watched, idly, as Vicky turned around and gave Abby the beating of their lifetime, that shit looked more brutal than whatever Leah could imagine herself doing to the poor bastard. Lasers, or whatever the fuck a repulsor was actually made of, fluttering around the area here or there seemed like it would constitute maiming, but Abby didn't appear to be bleeding. Still, there could be some broken bones on top of whatever black and blue bruises Leah gave them. It was understandable, though, considering how fucking frustrating it must be to try and run this team. Diana just did her own thing, Ed was- holy shit were those fucking BOMBS?!

Okay... M.A.D. strategy. Fine. Vicky...

She was now shouting at the judges, and that didn't surprise Leah one bit. But it wasn't constructive to lose patience with the judges. So, Leah walked up beside her like a stone in a river, and inserted herself into what Vicky was trying to do. "Hey- Easy, Vick." She said, while hearing arrows whistle behind her. It was a 5 on 1 now. "Everyone here knows what risks they're taking by being here. But Shieldmaiden is right..." Her tone went from considerate to firm as Leah turned towards the judges, with her arms crossed. "Four out of five are out and the last one's trapped. They've lost, so call it. No need for them to suffer through anything else." They were already going to be feeling the sting of defeat for a long time, to say nothing of Rada's bruises, Abby possibly being bedridden for a while, and whatever the hell Diana just did to Jyoti... Leah looked over her shoulder to check-

...Yeah, she was gonna feel that tomorrow.

Mary Sue was not having a good day. She'd had her face beat in by this siren, she was on the cusp of losing her ticket into the Contest of Champions, and on top of all of that, this was happening in front of a panel of Avengers. In this, she channeled a rage that she didn't know she had, and broke herself out of Theda's grasp. It was at this point, she knew exactly what she had to do. She'd made the mistake of underestimating her opponent before, and that wasn't going to happen again. She forced the girls hands together, her vision almost blurry from the damage she'd taken. Theda was going to lose hand privileges now, and Mary Sue didn't even feel a little bad as the handcuffs materialized around the girl's arms.

Shakily separating herself from the now bound and gagged child, she cracked her back and tried to get an assessment of the situation. Her mind was swimming with anger still, but she just managed to push through it. What had to happen, was she needed to protect herself and her teammates. Michaela was clearly gearing up to attack them, and that meant that Mary Sue was the most likely target, having made herself a lynchpin in disabling one of the team members. She didn't know if her constructs dismissed if she lost consciousness, but she was operating on the assumption that they would. She had to stay up, before everything else.