[IC] Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

[BogeyDope]

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Carmen, Hakeem and Ji had split up with the others under a time-sensitive objective to find Ben, before bad things happen with him. With him being a ‘pup’ as a werewolf, it would be quite easy for him to cause trouble, and possibly in an even much worse scenario, he could end up hurting or killing innocent people. Carmen and Hakeem didn’t like the idea of that, and neither did they like the idea of their contracts being torn up due to failure of protecting him. Right now, as they drove their innocuous Jeep Cherokee up in the direction of Albany (as that’s where the surveillance footage last caught his direction), they continued their search for Ben, in hopes of stopping him before he gets himself and/or others killed.

Ji, sitting in the seat next to the one she sat in before, sniffed at it to make sure she had the scent enlodged into her memory. Sniffing out the window, she detected his scent meaning the surveillance tape wasn't wrong. The scent was drifting off to the left a little bit. Noticing some dirt and grass picked up in a odd way, she kept her eyes trained on it.

As Carmen drove, she looked to the rearview mirror to check on Ji. “Do we continue this way, or is the scent too weak right now?” Carmen asked, having had the windows to the rear doors rolled down for Ji’s convenience.

”The surveillance wasn't wrong and the scent is here. But it seems to be drifting to the right. If you look out the window you can see a small trail in the grass and dirt. His claws picked that up when he made the cut corner. We need to go left” She pointed to the marks.

Carmen nodded. “Okay, you got it.” She said, making a left onto another rural road, hopefully following up on the tracks. “I’d be a little surprised if he’s still alright. If we come up with nothing though, we’ll head back to his estate, debrief and wait for his return. Probably get a search party going or something.” Carmen digressed, following the trail as the roads see fit.

”Well, there is a chance he won't come back. We have to keep looking for him. The more time we waste, the more danger he is in. He doesn't have a pack like me and my sister did when we first turned.” Huffing at the female, she turned her attention to the tracks. ”It looks like they keep going straight for now. Isn't this the back way to the a warehouse or something?” She looked at Carmen and Hakeem.

Carmen nodded. “Well alright, don’t say we ain’t trying. I want Cracker Jack alive too, but things aren’t…” She sniffed a little. “Is something… burning?” It would take a little before Hakeem would smell the smoke too, but Hakeem was well aware of Carmen’s enhanced senses. Carmen looked up past the treeline and above into the sky, seeing smoke nearly blend into the night sky. What revealed it was a faint glow beneath it, a fire. “Oh shit…” She immediately drove towards the source of the smoke, driving through a back driveway through the woods.

Hakeem looked a little apprehensive. “I seriously hope that this is an incredibly unrelated incident… an unrelated fire…” Hakeem gulped. “If Ben was involved, lord have fucking mercy…”

The jeep continued to bounce around as it drove through the unmaintained road that led through the woods and towards the warehouse. The large warehouse, an old one, appeared to have been engulfed in flames. It appeared to be a one with mainly metallic siding with wooden supports, and while the flames were mainly at the rear part, there was clearly evidence of a fight there. There were a few busted vehicles near the back, as well as some bullet holes in the walls of the warehouse. There were dents in the metal siding, and several marks. However, while there were signs of an intense fight, there appeared to be no signs of a werewolf attack. Both Carmen and Hakeem prayed that Ben was not involved in any of this.

Ji, have enhanced senses as well, could smell the smoke and grew nervous. Fire was one of her weaknesses. If there was fire, her earth element was useless. Ji got out of the car when it stopped and ran as far as she could. Her nose felt like it was burning from the smoke smell.

Covering her mouth, she gave several harsh coughed that left her lung aching and her chest so winded up and tight, it made it hard for her to get oxygen into her lung. She could only hope that the other two can do something; praying mentally that Ben was not inside.

Carmen and Hakeem immediately got out of the vehicle as well, once Ji jumped out. “Ji! Ji!” Hakeem called out after Ji after she ran towards the trees, away from the burning building. He then turned to Carmen, who was looking at the ablaze warehouse. “Maybe she has fire-phobia or something.”

“Wolves don’t like fire…” Carmen said softly, reaching for her Nagant rifle inside of the Jeep before taking it out and bringing it to shoulder. “Ready weapons, we don’t know what we could find here.”

Hakeem nodded. “Copy.” He said softly, pulling out his 1911 pistol, walking right beside Carmen as they approached the burning building.

The warehouse’s large front door suddenly seemed to tremble before them, and the rusty metal groaned as if a great force was trying to push it wide open. A moment later, with both only a few feet away, a loud burst of air finally made it yield, and they both found themselves facing a flurry of embers and snowflakes gliding on the strange wind. Beyond the threshold, they saw nothing but swirling black smoke and the orange glow of still raging flames within.

From within the smoke, two bodies, bound together by a chain, suddenly came flying, and landed before Carmen and Hakeem with moans of pain. One of them, a woman, wore a black combat suit, while the other was dressed in a colorful vigilante costume, mask and all. Both seemed to be struggling to maintain consciousness, their muffled sounds growing weaker behind their cloth gags.

Seconds later, many feet above, a big and mostly broken window suffered the same fate as the front door, and from the wall of smoke, embers and snow came a dark, seemingly winged silhouette, which landed with practiced grace right beside the two bodies. The wings turned out to be a long cloak of dark feathered, and on their head the person wore a pair of headphones which seemed to be playing music into their ears at full volume.

Beneath his goggled mask, the cloaked and probably male figure glanced at Carmen and Hakeem, and for a moment said nothing. Beneath the cloak, it looked like his body was swaying with the melody, and he combed his long brown hair with a gloved, clawed hand while he looked back that the ruined warehouse and the two people on the ground.

When he turned once again to the two armed people, he finally spoke, his expression was nonchalant, with a hint of an arched eyebrow.

“Can I help you?” He greeted them, and all of a sudden the air around them all became still. The smoke, embers and snow settled. The music came to an end, and he removed his headphones slowly. “I know this looks bad, but I swear I’m just an innocent tourist. So put your guns down.”

He smiled, and the roaring wind returned, encircling them with a short wall of swirling dust and leaves.

“Please. I’m having a rough night.”

Both Carmen and Hakeem, while they witnessed the showmanship of the air elemental, watched as two chained people were thrown out from the warehouse, and a winged figure burst out of the warehouse window. Even as the man introduced himself with gusty winds surrounding him, Carmen and Hakeem kept their guns trained on him, having no idea whether or not he’s a friend or a foe. But with him flying up into the air and landing onto the ground with grace, both of them came to the conclusion that he was another metahuman doing some work in this sector. After the snow, embers and smoke (quite an unusual combination) settled, they watched as he stood there. Both of them were incredibly confused.

Carmen slowly lowered her bolt-action rifle as the wall of swirling dust and leaves surrounded her and Hakeem. Hakeem kept his pistol trained on the man in front of them, but Carmen spoke softly to her partner. “Stand down.” She said, to which Hakeem obeyed, lowering his gun, but still in a combat-ready stance. Both of them had no idea who this man was, and what kind of metahuman they were dealing with… and they intend to find out. Carmen looked back to the man in front of them. “Who are you, and who are you affiliated with?” She asked, her tone not hostile, but not friendly either. Her questions were straight, and her tone demanded straight answers. “Furthermore, what are you doing here?”

Biting her lip, she watched as this odd male landed in front of her two companions. Who the hell was he? She began to grumble about fires and that they needed to continue their missions. She dismissed the guys to the back of her mind and went on to try and continue, without the help of Carmen and Hakeem. She got onto her hands and knees to try and find a scent trail, only to have a burning sensation enter her nostrils. Yelping, she jumped up onto her feet and covered her nose, annoyance filling her system.

Well then, this is just fucking great. Not only was her worse weakest was nearby, but now her sense of smell was fucked up. Growling, she figured she could try and snuff out the fire so she can go back to tracking down Ben. Sneaking around towards the side of the warehouse, she began to chant something under her breath. Dirt rose from the tree line and hit the fire. Hissing sounds filled her ears as the dirt snuffed out the fire little bit.

“Well, Foxy Tulipana is my drag queen name, but I figure you’d be better off calling me Condor.” The cloaked young man answered, hands on his hips as he smiled softly at Carmen. His voice had a thick accent to it. “And I’m not ‘affiliated’ with anyone. I’m just a hippie hitchhiker, I swear. Please ignore the cloak and mask and the freaky stuff the air is doing.”

Behind them, the costumed vigilante moaned behind his gag, and Condor turned to him. “Stop whining. I didn’t break anything this time either. You have some pretty good bones in you, and I told you I was going to get you to a hospital if you behaved.”

Looking back to Carmen, he stopped smiling and opened his arms in defeat. “Seriously, I’m not affiliated with any group, criminal or otherwise. I’m all on my own, just destroying government property in the name of juvenile idealism.”

Both Carmen and Hakeem watched as he introduced himself in the most casual way. As Condor spoke, Carmen tried to place where the hell his accent was from. It was clearly a Latin American one, but not one she’s ever heard of before. She listened to him, nodding softly as both she and Hakeem tried their best to ignore the cloak, mask and the freaky air stuff. Carmen looked to him as he explained himself, revealing himself to be a freelancer without any affiliations or ranks. And a ‘juvenile idealistic anarchist’ type too.

“I see, well-” *BOOM!!!* Somewhere inside the warehouse, a crate full of explosives blew up, causing the ground to shake beneath them. Both Carmen and Hakeem immediately raised their guns at the source of the explosion, pointing them at the blazing warehouse behind him before slowly lowering their weapons.

The blast of the explosion cause Ji to be thrown back a bit. Making an oomph sound as she landed on her back, she hissed and looked at her hands. Cursing, she saw that her hands had small burns on them. Great now she really couldn't help until her hands healed. So much for using her power to help.

“And the property in question was an Israeli arms shipment for one Cesaro Zepeta. You know: Latino, middle aged, marginally handsome guy in a uniform who’s on the news now and then.”

He nodded towards the other bound person, the woman.

“That one is one of his… umm… fangirls. She is half to blame for that hot mess behind me.” He said, looking a bit sheepish as he offered his hand to Carmen. “And you are…?”

Both Carmen and Hakeem exchanged looks before looking back to the warehouse. “An Israeli weapons shipment for… Zepeta?” Hakeem looked to Carmen, a little confused. “We’re gonna have to do a little more research on this guy once we get back, I’m pretty sure that what the hell we ran into is much bigger than Ben…” Hakeem said softly.

Carmen looked to Hakeem. “See if you can secure some intact crates, I wanna see what kind of shit we’re dealing with, and what shit we can loot.” She nodded to Hakeem before he walked off towards the warehouse. She turned to Condor. “I’m Carmen, and my partner’s name is Hakeem. We’re ex-SDF militia, now working with Hendrix Tactical Services.” She said, shaking his hand with a friendly smile.

Condor was quiet for a moment, looking at her as if in deep thought. “So… you’re not here to stop me? I don’t have to worry about being forcibly disappeared?”

Carmen smiled, shaking her head. “Nope, we’re just looking for someone else.” She gave him an inquisitive look. “Hm, reconocen que el acento. Es usted de cualquier parte de Latinoamérica?” She asked, her accent a little Mexican-American.

“Ah, sí. Argentina.” Answered Condor. “Como dije: sólo soy un turista. Vine acá para romper los juguetes de Zepeta, y de vez en cuando jugar al héroe.”

“Un placer conocerte.” Carmen replied with a soft smirk. “Soy de San Diego, los padres mexicanos. Me encuentro con Hakeem en Siria y lo trajo de vuelta aquí en los estados.”

Meanwhile, Hakeem was standing at a safe distance from the burning warehouse, looking inside of it from the large doors. Holstering his pistol, he stood in a combat stance, and his irises glowed a bright green with a sound of a low bassy *BOOOOOOMMMMM*. Almost immediately, he threw his right arm back, and an intact crate slid from the flaming building and out near the others. He did the same exact thing, but with his other arm, revealing himself not only to be a metahuman just like Condor, but one with telekinetic powers as well.

“Huh…” Condor said as he saw Hakeem display his powers. “¿Sabes, Carmen, tuve un amigo de chico que estaba convencido que yo también tenía telekinesis. Honestamente, prefiero no tenerla. Ese poder atrae cosas raras.”

“Hehe, we salvó la vida con sus poderes muchas veces antes. No soy el tipo de persona que alejarse de eso.” Carmen replied.

Vehemently repeating the F word under her breath, she got up onto her feet. Now she was just plain pissed off. Like a dog, she had hairs standing up on the back of her neck and any hairs that were burned stood up at attention. Now she had no access to her earth magic.

”Stupid explosions, stupid fire.” She muttered. She decided she had enough with this and went back to the jeep only to see the same guy and Hakeem standing between that and the burning building. She gasped when she saw Hakeem pull the crates out of the burning building from a distance, with his mind. Someone had powers as well?!

Hakeem’s eyes stopped glowing, fading back to their normal light brown. He then heard Ji behind him, to which he turned to her. “You alright?” He asked, a little concerned as Carmen continued to converse with Condor. “Is it the fire?” He asked, a frown a little visible on his face.

“No. no I'm not alright. The more we are sitting here, the more Ben is in danger. I try fucking helping and I get burned, now I can't access my damn power until my hands are healed.” It was safe to say Ji was annoyed or even pissed off. Since she was not apart of this thing, it was natural she wouldn't understand why this happened. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Hakeem.

”I'm going to try and track him down myself by foot. You can stay and talk to...whoever this is. But I'm not wasting anymore time than we already have.” Turning away, she began to walk away.

“Uh… who is the girl? And why does she smell like a dog?” Said Condor, pointing at her with his thumb as he produced a cellphone from within his cloak and looked at the screen. “Oh, text message… and it’s just spam. Booo! Hiss!”

Hakeem listened to Ji and sighed. “I understand that but right now we kind of ran into a little ditch… maybe this guy could help us find him… I mean he was fucking flying just a few seconds ago! We could be of great help to us if we can just-”

“Flying is often useful, yes.” Condor interjected, looking up from his phone with a proud smile, before he tilted his head to the side. His smile became lopsided. “But it kinda sounds like you want me to do your chores, and you didn’t even say please. That’s just… rude. Even the drug dealers down the street say please.”

He looked to Condor before looking back to Ji as she walked off. “Wait, you can’t go alone.” He objected, attempting to stop her. “You can’t leave. No offence, but it’s dangerous, especially for someone like you. I know Ben needs our help but I’d rather not have another wolf put herself in danger and possibly get killed when we could’ve easily stuck together.” He said a little awkwardly. “And I can’t exactly leave Carmen behind either, she could probably need my help.” He explained. “C’mon, let’s just get you in the truck and blast the AC to let you breath for a moment. Does that sound okay?” He offered, gesturing to the Jeep Cherokee.

“Wait…” Condor said, looking at Hakeem with a puzzled look beneath his goggles. “Wolf? You mean… werewolf? As in… somebody turned into a wolf and is rampaging through the city?”

He paused for a moment, pensive. When he spoke up again, he sounded enthusiastic.

“That sounds awesome. I’m in. I want to see a werewolf. Werewolves are cute. And... I have some experience in dealing with feral shapeshifters. Had a boyfriend once. Turned into this big cat. Tried to eat me three times. The first time was scary.”

Carmen looked to Condor. “Yeah, I was just about to ask you, have you seen a werewolf?”

“I wish.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, the guy we’re looking for is one who just turned into a werewolf for his first time, and… if we aren’t careful, he could end up getting himself hurt or killed, or getting other people hurt or killed. We’re already on a contract to be his protection detail, and this guy’s only a kid, so I don’t want either to go to waste.” She said. “So, if you are free, we would like your help in searching for him. If you don’t mind of course.” She asked casually.

“Please?” Hakeem added, smirking a little as part of the callback.

Condor stared in silence at both, turned his head in the direction of the warehouse, then back to them. His face was expressionless, and the wind turned into a soft breeze. Behind him, the bound and wounded hostages groaned. He gave them a gentle kick.

“Okay, I’m game.” He shrugged, putting his headphones back on. “I’m free for the rest of the night, and chasing down a teenage werewolf sounds like a nice change of pace.”

He tied his hair back, humming, and walked past Hakeem and Carmen.

“Honestly, I’ll be happy to help.” He suddenly said, glancing back at them with a smile.

Ji sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose, these two were asking a complete stranger to help them. Ji, bring already in a bad mood from work, was not in the mood to dealing with this...bird who thinks he could help them. She turned around and stared Hakeem down.

”Fine...I will stay, but I do let you know I been a werewolf since I was 12 years old and know how to handle myself, as much as I appreciate the thought of someone else caring for me.” Walking to the jeep, she went to open the door and hissed. She had temporarily forgot about her damn burns.

Hakeem looked to Ji as she spoke to him, and frowned a little at her angry remarks. At that, he remained silent and headed towards the SUV, before Carmen stopped him.

“Hang on just a second.” She looked back to Condor. “You can follow our Jeep overhead and keep an eye on us, as well as our surroundings in the meantime.”

“Sure, if I see a big stray puppy, I’ll give you a shout.”

Gesturing to Hakeem, she opened up the hatch to the back of the Cherokee before lifting one of the crates into the back. “Here… this could help you keep in touch with us.” She said, throwing a walkie-talkie to Condor. “Our frequency’s 132.32. It’s usually encrypted but I’ll make an exception for now.”

Condor’s smile widened as he deftly caught the device with his taloned hand, his thumb pushing on its buttons playfully as he held it. “Okey-dokey.”

She then helped Hakeem lift the second crate into the back of the truck, before looking to Hakeem. “We got room for 1 more. We’ll investigate all three of them once we get back to the barn.” She said.

Hakeem nodded to her, before stepping towards the warehouse. Using his powers of telekinetic burst, he retrieved another intact crate from the burning warehouse, making sure it was not burning before grabbing it and lifting it into the truck. “These things are heavy as fuck, they definitely must be weapons.”

“If they are, we’ll be saving shit tons of money on armory costs. Let’s hope that they are good ones.” Carmen said with a soft smirk, closing up the back of the SUV before both of them went to the front and got in. “Alrighty, let’s head out and head out quick… wanna make sure we don’t lose Ben here.”

Before she was finished talking, the feathered young man had already taken flight, his figure disappearing into the dark night with a gust of wind.

- - - Later - - -

The journey was long, and it was exhausting. After traveling along rural roads, following Ben’s trail to the best of their ability, they ended up at the Hudson Valley Drive-In Theatre, which has been vacated at that point, and where the trail has run cold. After lots of searching for clues, there doesn’t seem to have been much evidence for anything. There weren’t even cameras on the property, which made it even more difficult for the search for clues. After sticking around for about an hour, Carmen and Hakeem concluded that he might have either been abducted or picked up by the Agency, to which Carmen texted to Angelo that they would be heading back to Ben’s mansion and figure out what to do there, as the trail ran cold and that they are approaching bingo fuel. After a little bit of arguing, they all saddled up to head back to Ben’s mansion.

Her hands were now throbbing at this point. Never expecting them to run into a damn burning warehouse, she didn't bring any burn cream. Lucky the athlete's tape had plenty on the role so she could use that as hand wraps until she got home.

’This is the most exhausting night I have ever had since last year.’ She leaned against the door looking out the window.

All the while, high above them, Condor had hummed as he looked at the ground beneath him, his goggles’ thermal imagery showing him all manner of things, but no werewolves. He did his best to suppress his disappointment, losing himself in happy, optimistic thoughts, like the burning warehouse and the fact that werewolves were in fact a thing. He followed the Jeep in almost complete quiet, keeping radio silence and basking in the feeling of cool night air and the sights before him.

After another hour, the group had arrived at Ben’s estate, Carmen parking the jeep right where it was before, when Ji met them. Climbing out from the Cherokee, Carmen shut the door behind her and opened up the rear hatches. Hakeem, in the meantime, opened up the side door for Ji, allowing her to step out.

“The door’s locked for now, but we’ll unlock it shortly.” Hakeem said to Ji. “Give us just a moment.”

Nodding, she got her back out of the Jeep. After using her elbow to get the door closed, she went up to the open door and entered the house. Since it was considered rude to look around when the owners were not there . She just went into the living room to sit down huffing.

”God damn hands feel like they are on fire” This is what she hated about fire, it made it take longer for her body to heal.

For the sake of good manners, Condor landed softly beside Carmen and Hakeem, rather than crash through the estate’s windows. With a long, semi-pleased sigh, he pulled off his cloak and let it hang from his forearm, leaving him in just his body armor and mask.

“Nice house. Very ugly garden. Architect was probably a pretentious dick.” He remarked, looking awfully nonchalant as he gave his surroundings a glance. “Had I known we were chasing after a bourgeois werewolf, I would have dressed nicer. Throw in a scarf, wear my best cloak…”

Carmen looks to the others before looking to Hakeem. “As much as I’d like to carry these fuckers inside, we’re gonna have to cover them up after we find out just what the hell are in these things.” Carmen said to whoever was listening, before lifting one out from the back of the truck and onto the ground nearby with Hakeem’s help. “Jesus… I hate lifting these things…”

Hakeem panted. “Yeah… me too…” He rested against the Jeep before pulling out a knife. “Alrighty… let’s take a good look at our generous gifts…” He said before attempting to cut the crate open.

“Pleasedontbeanukepleasedontbeanukepleasedontbeanuke….” Carmen muttered under her breath as Hakeem cut open the top of the crate. And with that, they both lifted the lid up, revealing just what they had hoped for. “Holy shit…” Carmen’s eyes glowed.

The crate was filled with assembled Tavor X95 rifles, top of the line Israeli bullpup firearms. They were brand new, fresh from the factory, some of them black, some of them with an olive color scheme. All of them incredibly deadly.

Carmen and Hakeem looked at them with their eyes wide. “We hit the jackpot, there was no way we could’ve got those here in New York…” She muttered, feeling her hand along the stock. “Jesus, must’ve cost as much as a Corvette a crate!” She chuckled. “Man, and these were weapons headed for Colombia?” She asked Condor.

“Sí. Zepeta específicamente pidió armas israelíes.” Answered Condor, combing his hair and dusting the ash off his cloak and armor. He looked up at them. “I… interrogated a CIA agent after I heard about the smuggling operation. He said Zepeta essentially threatened them into giving him weapons for free, promising to use them against the FARC. And to think I liked Obama.”

Carmen looked to Condor before shaking her head. “Some crazy shit going on these days…” Carmen chuckled. “Wow…” She looked to Hakeem. “We’re gonna have to use these fuckers. Soon. Replace our AR-15s with these things. They’ll give us a serious edge. We can also conceal them too if we try hard enough.”

Hakeem nodded. “Yeah…” He sighed. “We could be running into something a whole lot bigger than ourselves though, but for now we’re gonna have to hide these things before anyone else sees them. They’ll land us in prison for life if we aren’t careful enough.”

Carmen nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” She said, before taking a rifle out of the crate and placing it nearby. “We’re gonna examine this one though. We’re gonna cover the rest under the tarp.” She said before closing the lid on the crate. “On three… ready? One… two… three!” They lifted up the heavy crate together and into the truck, before quickly placing the tarp over all of the evidence. “Wew! Jesus…” She looked to the others. “Alrighty, let’s head inside.” She said after she closed up the back of the Jeep. “I’ll have Victor retrieve them tomorrow, but for now, I think we all deserve a rest.”

Raising a eyebrow at the three, she decided she wasn't going to say a damn thing. She figured they were something illegal right there, but she just decided to pretend that she didn't see anything.

Condor smiled at Ji. “You’re smart. You’ll live longer.”

Turning to Carmen and Hakeem, his smile faded a bit. “I really don’t care if Zepeta’s weapons get stolen, and I totally get you being so happy about getting free stuff. I mean, I got a free walkie-talkie for meeting you, and I’m happy about that.”

Carmen chuckled a little. “Yeah, keep the damn thing for all we care. Just don’t expect us to be on the same frequency though, ours is encrypted and everything so yeah.”

There was a pause as he stared at the crates, and he was almost whispering when he spoke again.

“We just met, and so far I like the three of you, but...” His eyes were once more on the two of them, and for the first time there was something almost predatory about them, visible even from behind his goggles. “I’m here to help find someone who needs help. I’m here because I’m curious, and I have free time. Whoever orders you around, I don’t answer to them. And if you use those weapons in a way I really, really dislike, we’re going to have a bad time.”

Hakeem and Carmen, as they were walking towards the mansion, turned back and listened to what Condor said. Hakeem was a little put off by the sudden shift in tone Condor had, but Carmen was listening. “Well… we’re contractors, hombre.” Carmen clarified. “While I’m the head of the company, Hakeem and I are only contracted by fuckers I’m not at liberty to mention to be Ben’s protection detail, as he got turned into a werewolf like incredibly recently. Considering that Ben escaped and got himself fucking abducted, I think that contract now is null and void.” Carmen explained. “Hermano, nosotros luchó en Siria contra los terroristas durante mucho tiempo. Vimos monstruos, y conocemos la diferencia entre monstruos y soldados. Nosotros no somos ellos, ni vamos a llegar a ser.” She raised an eyebrow a little. “Understood?”

Condor stared, expressionless.

”Huh… okay.”

Hakeem looked to Carmen and back to Condor. “Look, I don’t speak Spanish but… I can assure you, we’re the good guys here. We just get paid to be the good guys this time, and these weapons are only our tools for our operations.” Hakeem explained.

“Yeah… I used to be a thug and all myself at one point but I never laid a hand or pointed a gun at anyone who wasn’t in the game. I’m simply not that kind of gal.” She shrugged. She thought for a moment before sighing. “It’s getting late, and Ben’s parents are gonna arrive sometime soon. We’re gonna pack up and head on out back to our HQ.” Carmen said, before handing a business card to Condor. “Call us if you need anything, okay?” She asked, giving him a friendly smile.

Sighing, Ji decided it was time for her to go. She had things she had to do, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Standing up to get the other’s attention, she pulled out a sticky note from her bag and wrote something on it.

”Look. I'm just going to go home, I'm wasting my time here and I have things I need to do. I'm leaving my number and name for Ben so he can contact me” Following the scent to his room, she placed the sticky note on the nightstand. She made her way back to the front door and waved good bye.

Changing into her wolf form, she vanishes into the darkness.

Carmen and Hakeem watched as Ji disappeared, before looking to Condor. “Hey, it was nice meeting you, hermano.” Carmen extended her hand for Condor to shake.

“Aww, thanks.” He said, shaking her hand enthusiastically. “I’ll keep an eye out for the puppy.”

The next moment, he was gone, his dark figure soaring high in the night sky, and a sudden strong wind blew loudly above Carmen and Hakeem.

Carmen and Hakeem watched as Condor soared away. “Hm… he was pretty cool.” Carmen said softly. “Too bad we might not see him again.”

Hakeem looked to Carmen. “Yeah…” He sighed. “C’mon, let’s go home. I think we deserve a rest after all of this.”

Carmen nodded. “Yeah.” She looked to Hakeem with a soft smile. “I got a present for you once we get back, I think you will enjoy it the most.”

Hakeem looked to her, a little surprised. “Really?”

Carmen grinned. “Yep. It’s gonna be on your bed soon, so we gotta hurry up and pack our shit!”

With that, Carmen and Hakeem picked up everything they had left behind in Ben’s estate, including but not limited to the cameras they had installed as well. After packing up their stuff, both of them got in their Innocuous Jeep Cherokee together, and drove south, never to be seen again for the longest time.

[Shard]

New York.

Slipping the rolled-up sword bag out of his hoodie's pocket, Milo slid it over his blade and tossed the sword over his shoulder. During the past few months, Milo had gotten some well needed practice in what he was designed for, appearing innocent. Outside that uncaring and indifferent machine of massacre which had been revealed to rest beneath his innocent appearance, he needed to be able to come off as harmless in more than visage. This came to pass more effectively now that the assassin had spent more time in social venues. Hiding in plain sight was supposed to be his virtue, but had taken a backseat throughout his endeavors as a street vigilante. Recalling his roots, Milo aimed to return to the skills he had once mastered.

With music blasting through the headset covering his ears, Milo traced the trash covered streets from one corner to the next, following the instructions detailing the location of his target. Gabriel 'Loco' Hernandez had acquired a name for himself recently. The streets knew him as Loco, or The LocoMotive, for reasons proven obvious by the fist he often used to get a point across. Super strength coursed through the man's veins and he had risen through the gangster ranks like a train, another reason for his nickname, or title, as it was. Ruthless, merciless and vicious were all traits one could associate with a gang banger but it was expected in this line of work. The otherwise unnatural strength he displayed had been further elevated by good old fashioned workout sessions and it was stated that he spent at least four hours a day lifting trash.

"Hey, hombre!" A voice rang out, speaking over the music Milo had gotten well acquainted with over the countless times he had listened to the same song. It was no secret. He was a fan of Madonna, and would one search through the brightly pink iPod in his pocket, every suspicion would be confirmed. Whether he enjoyed the color or sought to provoke wasn't quite certain, but given his overall indifferent personality, the latter was highly unlikely. "Whaddya' doin' here, faggot?" The gangster continued, motioning to the headphones following suit Milo's pink iPod.

"E-excuse me..." The assassin stammered, the fake visage of innocence coating him with a cloak of invisibility. "I...I'm looking for Mr. Loco, Sir..." He finished, avoiding eye contact as Milo spoke, rather focusing those large brown orbs on the ground.

"The fuck?" The gangster stood wearing a tight tank top which hugged his frame tightly enough to show off the muscles beneath and revealed various tattoos down his arms which indicated allegiance. This entire area was run by the Hispanics, Loco to be precise. "What would he want with a little bitch like you? You're not even Latino, maricon!"

"I...I have some information he'd like, Sir. I also have a gift for him..." Milo continued, his voice quiet and unsure, as it was supposed to come off. Reaching his sword out, still in the bag, he presented the blade for the gangster who could only gaze down at the boy with a raised eyebrow. Milo's apparent age was nothing new in these parts. People joined gangs before they reached a double digit. Scoffing at him, the gangster grabbed hold of Milo's shirt and pulled him along before pushing him forward.

"Walk." He finished, prepared to pull his gun at a moment's notice. Though he was skeptical, it was impossible to tell exactly who Loco was expecting and Milo seemed to be anything but a threat, naturally. Dragging him along deeper into the area, the gangster eventually brought them into an old apartment building which had long since housed the current leader of their gang. Trashy like the rest of the neighborhood, the furniture was old and decrepit without anyone to keep a clean front. There were no veils to hide the filth below, but some would appreciate such honesty.

Now standing face to face with this man, Loco, painted the picture clearly. He was a giant of a man, someone capable of ripping people apart. It would be a lie to claim that Milo didn't feel his heartbeat accelerating slightly in response to the image.

"And what's this?" Loco spoke, narrowing his eyes at the unusual scene. The man had made himself comfortable on a couch with several gang members surrounding him, each one armed and focusing on a locally hired stripper who had taken up residence in the living room. It was however more likely to assume her job a forced occupation within the gang’s property.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Loco." The gangster excused his presence, turning his attention to Milo. "Kid says he has something to tell you, and he wants to give you this." Grabbing the blade by its scabbard, the gangster wasn't quite fast enough to see Milo's hand slide down to the handle, releasing the sword from its confines. With a graceful spin, the boy planted a deep cut to the man's throat and charged forth, dashing towards his target. Using the moment of confusion, Milo placed both hands on his sword and rammed the blade down onto another gang member and then a third before guns were finally drawn and shots rang out. Leaping behind one of the old, red sofas, Milo took cover from the bullets and heard screams of pain and fear echoing throughout the room.

Seeing how the sofa was effortlessly lifted from place by Loco, Milo turned to his quick reflexes and slid between the man’s legs and jolted back to his feet. He wasn’t the target just yet. Another set of shots left the muzzle of a gun but missed their target as Milo threw himself to the floor in a fluid roll before executing an upwards slash across the remaining goon’s abdomen.

“The fuck are you!?” Loco screamed out, cracking his knuckles.

”Wait.” The boy spoke, reaching for his iPod to change the song, causing Loco to absolutely loose his cool. This kid had sliced up his closest men in seconds and now changed the song on his iPod which he had been listening to throughout the entire event. The lack of respect and extreme nonchalance Milo showed off didn’t go well with the man before him. “You little shit!” Loco bellowed, taking a quick step forward which nearly caused the floor to cave him.

Preparing his blade, Milo slipped his foot beneath the scabbard on the floor and kicked it up to his hand. ”Can’t imagine why someone wants you dead.” The boy grinned, his grip around the blade tightening as he met his opponent head on.

[Fallenreaper]

Predictions

Location: St. Thomas’ Cemetery, several blocks out of ChinaTown within Lost Haven
Time: Around Nightfall (just past sunset)

---

Rach walked across the manicured lawns within the cemetery. Her steps were quiet and respectful among the dead resting under the dirt, her eyes searching for Joseph Mathers’ grave. Part of her instinct always hated the dead because it made her question how many lives her bastard father had ended, her personal issues refused to find any answers and felt it was better left that way. A bright, peach rose was held in her gloved hand for an offering since she could never repay the debt he paid in his attempt to aid her rescue. According to the woman she bought it from, it meant gratitude and seemed fitting toward his sacrifice. Even if she hated the fact it costed him his life.

She was dressed in her Nemesis outfit, her dark color blending well in the growing shadows, before finally coming to rest at a headstone. It was a bit rustic in nature. Rach’s eyes traced along the few scattered chipping here and there over the edge, then the corners and sides holding knotting vine work that wove across the surface in a elegant design. She reached out to touch the front where the main attention attracting image laid: an imp’s head with a thorned crown encircling it stood. Surprisingly, she thought, nothing over grew or marred the menacing carving within the stone. Like the gardener took special care not to all time itself to marr the craftsman’s work.

Racheli sighed then crouched down, gently setting the rose upon the base of the tombstone. She felt bitter and hollow inside, knowing deep down he died because of her and she could never repay that debt. It was the price people usually paid when they got involved with her. Her feet brought her back upright just when a shiver slide down her spine.

Upon a far wall separating the cemetery from the outside world, the sacred circle that marked this place as hallowed ground, the same infernal symbol appeared, ashen scribed by crimson light. There it stood, the arcane door that called one back to an era of myth and magic, that lead to another world. From beyond the veil of reality he came, Puck, the meddlesome imp whose touch had been felt across Lost Haven for decades, especially as of late. He came like an omen of death, dressed all in black save his red tie, black antlers protruding from his head complementing his handsome, angular features. He glided across the ground, closing the distance between himself and Racheli, hands folded behind his back.

”Come to pay your respects?” he spoke in an eerie, seductive voice with an accent one couldn’t quite place.

Rach paused.

Her mask had been replaced after she rose from near the grave, her vision observing the being before her. Puck was almost human despite the fact he sported horns and more demonic qualities to him which caused her to pause in her step. Her stare lingered there for several moments. Either digesting the fact or debating on she react, something even she was having a hard time determining herself. Her instincts were rattling at his attire which seemed more suitable for a funeral rather than a mere visit to a grave. She narrowed her tighter, her body turned to face the thing and stared a moment longer. Racheli finally began to speak, her mentality tapping into her metal upon her body should the conversation go south. “I didn’t get a chance to stop him, so I might as well leave my gratitude. It felt right.”

”A lovely gesture, even more so were he actually buried here. The ashes, bones, and entrails of dead witches are a hot commodity in my world, and so rare these days. I thought it best not to tempt any of his enemies or rivals by having his corpse so obviously displayed.” Puck spoke with an even tone, making him seem indifferent, but in fact he was just as remorseful as Racheli. Joseph was one of the few humans Puck had chosen to love. He was Joseph’s mentor, guardian, and friend. He wouldn’t allow his name to be furthered smeared by the desecration of his grave.

“Considerate, aren’t you?” Rach asked, her tone tainted with slight sarcasm. She inhaled and tried to clear her emotions, thankful that her virus was mysteriously quiet for the moment. “I take it you knew him?”

Puck nodded. ”Joseph Mathers and I were well acquainted. He’s been under my care since 1698. He was a valued employee of mine . . . and a valued friend.” Puck’s voice didn’t waver, but his eyes, his red, serpentine eyes, betrayed his steady tone. They reflected his hurt, anger, and remorse.

Puck stood silent for a brief moment, looking at the grave longingly before returning his gaze to Racheli.

”Where are my manners? I am Robin Goodfellow, Puck to my friends.” he bowed as he introduced himself, a highly formal salutation, but one he preferred.

Rach didn’t say anything at first. Nothing she could come up or say would’ve benefitted the demon’s pain, a fact she knew all too well having lost her Aunt several months back. Her fist tightened with frustration at her helplessness and continued to bit her lip until he finally introduced himself, her expression showed her curiosity at his name then flickered away. “My friend gave me the nick Nemesis, but my real name doesn’t really matter much anymore.”

Puck chuckled. ”You Lost Haven folk and your aliases. But I can respect not wanting to give your name. It is an old practice, the use of aliases and nicknames. Keeps one protected from beings who could use your name against you or bind you with it. All words carry power, but names have a special magic about them.” Puck rambled on. Racheli was an interesting girl. Despite her role in Joseph’s death, he knew that she was troubled. If Joseph would go through all the trouble to save her, even if for selfish reasons, Puck would remain civil.

“I never put much thought into it honestly, but I do know one thing: It’s safer if I don’t tell anyone my name. For them and myself. So if you were a friend, why didn’t stop him?” Racheli knew the words would refresh bitter feelings, but the desire to understand gnawed at her. Maybe it was because she still held guilt over what happened and the worst part, she was too weak to stop it. She was ferociously independent and it reflected in most everything she did because at some point, everyone would always leave when they discovered how twisted she was inside. It was fact she knew deep inside would never stop happening.

Puck shifted slightly as he thought. ”I have asked myself the same question many times, but I know the answer. It is in my nature to meddle in the affairs of mortal; this has been my favorite pastime for over a thousand years. But it is also in my nature to watch, to see what mortals do with the gifts they are given. I never gave Joseph power, I merely exploited it. However, the two of us became close and I did help him in the past. He was obsessed with fame, always wanting his name to be remembered, always wanting to be known as a great and terrible witch. I did what I could for him, but I knew that it wasn’t meant to be. Even in the end, I foresaw failure. So why did I allow him to risk his life for a stranger you ask?”

Puck gave it a moment before responding. ”In truth . . . to see what would happen.”

Racheli found herself accepting this truth through for different reasons. Even if Puck tried his damn hardest to alter Joseph’s view, it wouldn’t have been enough and the man would’ve found some other way to get himself killed. Likely in a worse way, through she didn’t know the details about what happened in the Ironworks.

“Either way, it likely wouldn’t have made a difference I suppose. We… I mean, humans,” Rach corrected herself, realizing with a hint of depression in her voice she was no longer one,“can be a stupid breed after all. We...they don’t know when to quit but maybe that’s a strength as well. It’s hard to tell sometimes when you’re dealing with the aftermath.”

Puck gave a wicked grin. ”How right you are,” he said, turning his back to Racheli and walking slowly back to the mystic door. He called back to her as he walked.

”But in the end, we all succumb to our nature. Human or not, it is a fate we cannot escape. But therein lies a choice . . . will we accept the monster we are to become and live at peace with it, become empowered by it; or will we fight the corruption to the bitter end and become consumed by it?”

Puck reached the door to The Red Devil and turned back to Racheli, still sporting that famous grin.

”Which will you do, I wonder? It has been a pleasure . . . ‘Nemesis’.” The door to The Red Devil shut slowly behind him, fading into the wall until there was nothing but the coarse stone. The ethereal glow of Puck’s presence faded as well, bathing the cemetery in darkness once more save the light of the moon and distant street lamps.

[VATROU]

Barron could never get used to flying such a thing was abnormal for him, since all forms of transportation had all been destroyed for two hundred years in his old world. The Window was kept closed for the entirety of his flight sunlight being one of his least favorite weaknesses as he liked the sun, a good tan the warm Mojave heat, it was all just a nice memory at this point, becoming a Vampire had it’s perks though nothing beat what being human was like. Not that many considered Barron human even before his transformation still Barron was accessible, he had a face, a smile a tangible anger. Unlike the mysterious faceless Criminals who hid behind masks, Barron’s men saw a Person, a Good Boss, and a Terrifying Individual. Gathering his luggage he exited his private jet and moved through the terminal his stride carrying a purpose, Arcadian tarnished his reputation, he’d see to it he’d serve retribution.

New York was the City that never slept, still is. And last night’s events shook the Supernatural Underworld to it’s core. Witches, Monsters and Demons knew something bad happened, and while Barron didn’t know what went down it wasn’t something that interested him too much. He headed to the Agency knowing if they saw Arcadian he’d get more information from them somehow.

-- After a short Car ride and some mysterious turns into an unknown street --

The Receptionist staffed at the desk was aware of who Barron was, her smile widened as she did her best to keep him at bay til her bosses could get involved. Which led to a few hours of the runaround with Barron’s hopes of going through proper channels for what he needed dashed. He half expected it of course, the Agency was after all some sort of Civilian Police force with all the red tape it implied. As the higher ups stonewalled him Barron had other ideas and while his grip on New York was weak at best he did have a few ways of getting information and as much as the Agency prides itself on a good clean operation for what it does, not every employee was on the level. And all Barron had to do was place a phone call, and his Secretary would connect him to his nearest contact, ”I need someone in the Agency, someone helpful. Tell me we got that.”

The woman’s voice responded ”We do in Janitorial.. Sir.” Barron held the phone to his ear lingering over the fact his only asset was a Trashman. ”Wonderful, just wonderful, we’re going to expand here, sooner than planned. But first let’s see what info I can get. What’s the name?” “David. David Hiesman. He’s on duty today, thankfully.” The woman promptly responded as Barron quickly ended the call ”Damn that Shroud Syndicate, I’ll need to get New York under my control sooner than planned. All these side organizations and groups are a pain.” Barron walked through the open access hallways before accidentally as it were knocking over a flower vase; he bent down to pick it up and a woman walked over to stop him. “It’s alright Sir, I’ll get someone from Janitorial.”

Barron smiled and spoke. ”Oh, why thankyou, I feel like such a klutz today.” His smiled widened to a crooked grin as she left to place the call for whomever was stationed in cleaning. Barron stood by as the pudgy man pushed his cart of cleaning supplies his way, his name tag saying David in bold letters. As he went about his job Barron pushed him aside. ”Time to get to work David, Hiesman right?” Shushing him before he spoke. Just nod once for yes, twice no. Got that?” David took a moment and nodded once. ”You know who I am yes?” David gave a single nod. ”Good, here’s what you’re going to do for me, or you’re bosses learn about that side job. I need information on that Rogue Wolf, and you’re going to get it.” “But I..” Shushing David again Barron spoke. ”I just need the file, and all you have to do is plug this drive into a computer, and that’s done. Got that. Easy peasy. Get on that.” Barron said as he turned around and walked off.

-- twenty minutes later --

A call started to ring on Barron’s phone, and with a quick motion he answered. ”What we got?” “Everything they know. I don’t know how longer David will be an asset, if he plays dumb perhaps he’ll get off easy, transferring what you need Mr. Vanderbilt. ”Good, time to see what we got.” Flipping through the files, Barron noticed a lot of encryption blocking access to more sensitive items but what he wanted wasn’t as protected. As Barron ran a comb through his hair, he straightened his suit and started driving. ”Oh, this is beautiful. I wanted to talk to DA Daniel Reeves at some point, I think he and I have a lot in common.”

[Shard]

New York, Bounty's Rest

Seven PM

Placing an ornate ring on the counter of Bounty's Rest, the gaze which met Milo did so with a sense of awe. His bloodied and tattered clothes spoke of a vicious battle, and word was already spreading of 'some kid' putting Loco to the sword. It would however appear that Milo's precious weapon was gone, a casualty of war, as it were. Broken in the fight, Loco had shattered the blade but not before his heart was punctured by its eager thirst. "Damn, nigga." Doc spoke up, rubbing the beard protruding from his chin. "You scary as shit, you know that?" He chuckled, placing his thumb and index finger on the ring's shape, picking it up for a better view. "With the mess ya’ left behind, you hardly needed proof of the guy's death." Placing the ring in a safe below the counter, Doc produced a small metal case of currency, handing the fifteen thousand dollars’ worth of money to Milo. Someone high up on the food chain wanted Loco dead, badly. It wasn't hard to see how this was a power struggle. Loco was in someone's way, and they wanted him gone. This wasn't an assignment paid for by a grief struck widow, or someone who had been wronged by the man. Someone wanted him out of the equation and they paid accordingly. The riskier the job, the higher the pay. "For a nigga who doesn't need to eat or drink, those fifteen grand will last ya' a while. By the way, where you're sword at?"

"Gone." Milo returned quietly, as indifferent as ever while accepting the bounty of his task.

"And you look like shit." Doc added, a grin crossing his lips, the man's dark eyes trailing over the boy. "Most of that blood ain't yours, is it?" He was aware of Milo's supernatural healing factor, but the boy could bleed all the same.

"No." The answer rang out, a clear contrast to the personality Milo had displayed for the gangster he used to get to Loco. Without another word, the boy started up the stairs towards his room, peeling off the torn and bloodied clothes on a straight path to the bathroom. Without a care in the world, Milo released his grip around the fabric and let the clothes now painted red fall to the carpet, his shoes soon joining their side as naked feet brought him below a warm, comfortable stream of water.

Leaning against the wall, Milo released a soft yawn, the large amount of regeneration required against the beast of a man he had fought catching up with him. The boy felt fatigued, and understandably so. Though the loss of his sword was a critical error, he would be able to buy a new one with the money he had been given, however for the moment, fifteen thousand dollars would last him a while. Like Doc had stated, for someone who doesn't need to eat or drink, money tended to remain. In truth, this meant that Milo could relax for a while, maybe take a prolonged break where he could focus on blowing off some steam. Placing a foot outside the shower, Milo wrapped his fingers around a towel and dried his frame. There hadn't been much blood on his skin, but rather it was caught up by his clothes now ruined for future use. Stepping into the bedroom, Milo opened a closet and viewed the meagre selection of clothes contained within.

Slipping into a new pair of boxers, Milo slid into a set of black cargo pants and a slightly oversized black hoodie. Let it never be said that that the boy was colorful in clothes nor personality. Doc had stated that if he couldn't get rid of the fringe, at least he could dress differently. According to the motel owner, Milo didn't even attempt to discourage the emo vibe he gave off. Perhaps the man knew what he was talking about, given how Milo couldn't care less. Covering his feet in a pair of comfortable socks, Milo grabbed hold of a new set of shoes he had recently bought for just the occasion. One would however comment on the fact that they appeared to look the same as his old pair.

As was a reasonable course of action, Milo disposed of this old clothes, setting them alight in the bathroom before washing away the charred remains accordingly. He wasn’t about to put more work than necessary on Doc’s shoulders.

Placing his hands in his sweater's pockets, Milo skipped down the stairs with rapid grace and offered Doc a wave on his way to the door. "Leavin', kid?"

"Yeah." Milo replied, covering his ears with the brightly pink headphones he had used before and adjusted the cloth shoulder bag with its strap crossing his chest, slipping the money into its contents.

"Try not to get killed, eh?" The old man offered his farewells in a way he was well known for, winking teasingly at Milo who managed a soft smile for the first time in months. Needless to say, it caught the man off guard, though the boy was out the door before Doc could bring the shock into words. Rather, all he could do was chuckle softly once Milo's shape had vanished beyond the entrance.

Losing his sword, earning quite a lot of money and having nowhere in particular to be, Milo's schedule was free and fluid. There was no telling where he'd head from here, what his destination was. In truth, he had no clue himself. Perhaps simply walking and seeing where he'd ultimately end up was the only plan currently on his mind. Perhaps so, but it was a reasonable course of action. One thing was certain, however. Milo would make his way out of the villainous part of the city and perhaps find himself a pleasant spot to catch his breath. That was a good place to start.

[Dedonus]

Kelly Brown | Samantha Kadowsky | Zac Wilson

On the previous night when they ran into what seemed to have been a werewolf, Zac and Kelly dropped off Sammy at her apartment before they made their way back home. Once they were home, the two young metahumans worked together to carry the boy, who had turned into an anthropomorphic wolf only just a little while ago, into their apartment and set him down on their couch. On the next day, since the boy was still sleeping like a rock, Zac and Kelly decided to let him rest in peace. Therefore, Zac and Kelly then left to meet Sammy for some lunch while they waited for their guest to wake up.

“I don’t see why we had to take in that little furry.” Sammy complained, probably because of how the werewolf had chased her around and up a tree just last night. As the three young metahumans walked up to Zac and Kelly’s apartment’s front door, Sammy sipped on a milkshake that she had bought while the three of them were out for lunch.

“Yes, just leaving him at the drive-in or dropping him off at a hospital where his condition would probably become public knowledge are both way better options.” Zac sarcastically replied to his girlfriend’s best friend.

“Also, isn’t it kind of like kettle calling the pot black when you sling around the term furry?” Kelly also interjected into the conversation.

“Oh, we are so definitely not furries.” Sammy said in between sips from her drink. “I mean, we’re more zoomorphized rather than anthropomorphized. So we are like the opposite of a furry.”

“I’m sure there are people who would say otherwise.”

“Oh, come on.” Sammy said as they entered the apartment. “If I were to wear a toboggan and shove my tail down one of my pants legs, no one would be able to tell that I’m a cute as a button cat girl. It, on the other hand, looks like the child of Pasiphaë if she had lusted after a wolf instead of a bull.

“You’re being a little hard on him.”

“Am I?” Sammy asked her best friend, although this was less of a question and more of a way to express that she believes she was not being unfair.

After they took a few steps inside the apartment, the three of them noticed Ben was now awake. He seemed a little rattled, both because he woke up in some strangers’ house and because he was entirely naked besides for the blanket that saved some of his dignity. Kelly, since she was the nurse out of the three young metahumans, walked over to Ben and took a seat next to him on the couch.

“Are you feeling any better?” Kelly asked the young boy. She first placed the back of her hand against the boy’s forehead to see if he was running a temperature. When she found that, at least from what she could tell, he was not running a fever, Kelly then took Ben’s wrist and took his pulse. “Your pulse also seemed pretty normal.”

“It won’t be after I flay him.” Sammy joked after she had unsheathed her catlike claws on her fingers. However, any possible threat posed by her claws were betrayed by the fact that they had been painted with nail polished and received a manicure.

“Not helping, Sammy.” Kelly glared at her friend. After she chided Sammy, she turned her attention back to Ben. “Do you want to shower before we call your folks to come and get you?”

Meanwhile, Zac had been looking through some of his clothes when he found an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt. After taking these articles of clothing, Zac walked back to the living room where Ben had slept and toss them over to him.

“You can wear these until you get something else to wear.”

[Dedonus]

Aubrey Adkins

Pacific Point, California

late May (less than 1 Months Before IC Starts)

I felt that buzz in my head that was the signal of my so not copyright-infringed spider-sense. While it usually warns me about some kind of danger, right now it was alerting me to my morning alarm. It had all the benefits of a regular alarm clock, but without that annoying blaring sound. I mean, who even enjoys hearing your alarm clock in the morning? I have finally learned how not to wreck my clock with my spider strength while trying to turn the alarm off. That definitely saved me from wasting money on replacement clocks.

When I rolled over in order to shut off my annoying alarm, I discovered that, while I was asleep last night, I must have subconsciously wrapped my spiderlike legs around Will, drawing him into some sort of weird eight legged and two armed embrace. Since he had not woken up from the knockout gas that our deranged cabbie had tried to use on us last evening, I allowed him to sleep in my bed so that I could make sure he seemed to be doing fine. When he did wake up after I had basically carried him along with me when I rolled over, his initial reaction was what you would have expected. He started to panic because the last thing he remembered was getting into a cab and now something was wrapped around him.

“It’s just me, Will.” I tried to calm him down. “Sorry about becoming a weed during the night.”

Once I began to loosen my spider legs’ grip around him, Will started to rotate his body around so that he would be facing towards me. He then wrapped his arms around where my hips merged with my spiderlike lower body.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said as he gazed into my eyes, “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there is just something…”

“Weird?” I tried to finish his thought.

“What? You’re my girlfriend. You know that your drideresque appearance doesn’t bother me. I still believe that you look stunning, even if you have eight legs and a spider’s abdomen.”

“I don’t know whether I should be flattered or worried that you are not repulsed by the whole giant spider thing.

We continued to dawdle in bed, even though we knew that we did not have too much time until we had to get Will to the airport. What was even more cruel was that the little incident involving the cabbie last evening robbed us even more time that we could have spent with one another. Instead, I had to make sure that Will was at least breathing.

“So, what exactly happened last night. I can’t quite remember.”

I knew this awkward conversation would rear its head at some point or another. I didn’t know how else I could have broken the news, I decided to just be straight with him.

“Our cabbie was trying to kidnap us, but I handled the situation.”

“Thank goodness my girlfriend is secretly a superhero, or we probably would have been pretty screwed.”

“Well, that’s sure one way to look at it.” Well, at least he’s taking it as well as you could hope for.

Knowing that we were now on the clock, Will and I released each other from our mutual embrace and began to pull ourselves out of my bed.

“You have pants that fit your drideresque build?” Will mentioned after I threw off my bed’s covers, revealing what use to be a pair of yoga pants. “That’s pretty cool.”

“Athena made them for me. It felt wrong not wearing any, even though I’m more spider than human down there.”

After I spoke, I paused. These four words, that I was ‘more spider than human’ stuck in my mind. Unlike the other major, publically known heroes, like Icon and Lyger, who could just throw on some regular clothes to become almost unrecognizable, it is pretty difficult to walk around in public as a drider and not get noticed. Sure, I can and do use my power nullifier, but all it does it hide my true nature.

“Do you ever wonder whether you’re committing bestiality by dating me.”

“Where did that come from?” Will asked as he took at seat next to me on the edge of my bed. “I think there is a huge difference between dating you and screwing a goat or something. You’re still human, after all.”

However, when he saw that the concerned look that was plastered on my face had not disappeared, he decided he needed to continue.

“In arachnid anatomy, a spider’s body develops in such a way that only members of the same species can mate with one another. So, if we can’t, well…” Will stumbled over his own words. His face began to grow red because of embarrassment. “...you know, we wouldn’t have to worry about anything because it would be physically impossible. However, if it is possible, then it should be proof that you’re still human.”

“Despite the comparison between me and actual spiders, it’s sweet that you have such confidence in my humanity.”

“But I’m by no means suggesting that we test that hypothesis right now. That does not mean that I don’t want to, because I do, but…” Will paused a second before he continued, “Actually, I probably should take a shower now before I put my foot in my mouth more than I have already done.”

After he stood up from his seat on my bed, but before he took a couple steps, I used my spider forelegs to pull him back within arm’s length. I then planted a kiss on his cheek.

“See you in a few?” Will nodded before I released him and allowed im to get ready for his flight.
Once he had gotten into the shower, I too finally got out of bed. Since I had to get Will to the airport, I obviously could not just walk around in public while my powers were not nullified. Therefore, I swapped out my drider-shaped yoga pants for a regular pair. After I threw on a fresh t-shirt so that I would not look too much like I just rolled out of bed a few minutes ago, I then left my bedroom and took a seat on my couch while I waited for Will to finished his shower. When I flipped on the television, I saw the following “Breaking News” headline on the television.

The Pacific Ghost Taken in Custody After Metahuman Intervention

Oh God. Although I hoped that this wasn’t the incident that we were involved in, I just knew that it was, long before the news anchor on the screen confirmed it. Apparently, this nutjob had been moving up and down the West Coast, preying on innocent tourists, whose disappearance would have taken longer to be noticed. Either my employment by Viera has not made me as infamous as I thought or he was just taking a rather large risk going. But as Will said, we’re lucky that I have superpowers because otherwise we probably would be several feet under the earth by now.

[LeeRoy]

--

[Demonic Angel]

~Locations- Near the Reeves Mansion and New York Apartment (from the end of the search to about 3am)

Too much had happened in one single night. The search for Ben was finally at an end though the worry was still thickly laid in the air. Yeong shifted in her spot, eyes looking off in the distance near the mansion, with her arms crossed against her chest. No one seemed to have noticed the werewolf near the place though to be honest that was the way she liked it at least for the moment. A hand raised up and raked through her hair, while a figure walked inside the massive home, and added a mental list of what needed to be done before sleep could claim the girl.

The woman decided she had enough of this sight for one night. Perhaps Ji will leave the house number for the people inside or maybe leave their address for their new ward. Either way both of the sisters had a new pup to raise from scratch. No, a pain in the ass puppy who had disappeared like a wisp of smoke. The younger sibling quietly groaned just thinking about the hassle of training camp when the guy came back. In a way she hoped Ji remembered how they were raised but then again her sister didn't even remembered their first transformation, as if Yeong remembered every single detail. There was only certain things that the girl remembered. The two running away, wolves nipping at their heels, and the constant crashing feeling when the Alpha ordered something only to be ignored.

The woman shook her head in attempt to clear it. These thoughts weren't helping things and neither was walking in human form in city. She slowly began to shift back to her wolf form. The paws slowly stepped then scraped across the cement as the train of thoughts widened towards the conversation that her and Eric had earlier that day. Their parents didn't know that they were alive and if they did what would they say? How would the couple act or even see their oldest children? Were they truly monsters or were they the unnoticed heroes of their own story? Once the girl was near their home she turned back to human and snuck back inside the window, not daring to knock on the front door in case the oldest was sleeping, then walked towards her room.

Yeong gathered all of her clothes from the floor and placed them inside a clothes basket. The blankets on the futon in the right corner of the room was messy and unorganized making a unfamiliar twitch to remake the bed appear. Her figure crossed towards it, stripping the contents off, and then shook out the objects. The pillows were placed down first followed by the sheet and heavier blankets. Next thing that was taken care of was the peeled skin from early that night which was placed in its own garbage bag and thrown into the hallway. The girl went to the bathroom with another bag then proceed to clean up the skin inside there, as well as start making mop water and grabbed the broom and dust pan. Once the water was done she quickly grabbed the bags and dragged them outside and placed them into the apartment dumpster. The younger sister walked back inside, swept the whole house including her own room, then mopped everything. By the time her laundry was placed inside the washer and started the time was a little past 3 am.

[Luna]

Time-9:00 am

Sitting up, Ji yawned and turned her phone alarm off. To some, 9 am seemed early to some, but for Ji, it was a perfect hour. It gave her time to shower, and do what she needed to do. Looking at her hands, she noticed that her burns were almost gone, one more dressing of burn cream and real bandages would help finish the job.

She got out of bed and stretched, her back and many other bones cracking. A groan of pleasure escaped her throat as she gathered her shower supplies. She usually kept her things in her room so that way her sister didn't steal them.

”Hmm I better clean the bathroom first. Stupid transformations and their messy ways. muttering to herself, she went out of her room and looked at the mess.

Oh boy, it was like a goddamn hurricane hit the bathroom. Piles of dead skin littered the floor as well as fur. That made Ji snort. Shedding, that's just great, her damn other form is shedding.

’Welp, no use pouting about it. Something like that is always bound to happen I guess.’ She went to the small closet that was next to the front door and pulled out the broom and dust pan.

After spending about an hour cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom, she sat down on the couch with a sigh. That took a huge chunk out of her day and she had to shower, eat and begin her panting. There was no telling when Ben would call if he would call.

”Well, I will just keep my phone near me in case. Well no use sitting around, time to shower.” Getting up, she headed to the bathroom, after of course grabbing her phone and cleaning supplies.

She was out after thirty minutes, her hair damp enough that it would soak her tank top. The tank top had evidence of paint splatter that was very old. She decided to have a simple bowl of cereal as she was not in the mood to cook after last night events. Getting a quick bowl of Frosted Flakes, she went to her room to begin her painting waiting for the call from the newborn.

[GamerXZ]

@NeutralNexus

Location: Lost Haven, Water Tower

Time: Dusk, Just Before The Sun Sets

Another night had descended on Lost Haven and with it, another night of prowling around, taking down lawless gangs and whatever evildoers were prowling about. Evergreen sat on the edge of a water tower, lying on his back and doing some star-gazing with his partner in crime, “Nice night out, huh partner?”

“It’s alright, I suppose…” Gaia admitted while somehow managing to do a shrug despite her small size, “Would be better if there were fewer lights and a lot less smog.”

The plant man could only sigh and shake his head.There was just no pleasing the spirit some days. “Hey, on a unrelated note...you think she’ll be ok? Nemesis, I mean…”

Gaia sighed and sat up, “Do you want me to be upfront with you on what I think, or sugarcoat it?” Jaden looked over to her with a “What do YOU think?” look on his face, “Yeah, that’s what I figured…” She laid back, “In all honesty...I think we need to keep a close eye on her...like you, I think deep down she’s a good person...but on the surface, she’s a loose cannon packing an insane amount of power with no respect for authority at all…and her control over what she has is...finicky at the moment…”

She didn’t need to explain why. That earthquake from the other night was still fresh in their minds, as was the fact that it had been set off by Nemesis just punching the earth. “Her powers are very similar to those that Icarus wields...and they’re growing too, I can sense it…” Gaia closed her eyes,deep in thought.

“I can believe that…” Gaia looked over to her friend as he locked eyes with her, “I saw the kinds of things Icarus was capable of during that scuffle at the Ironworks...and I’m gonna be honest...it’s scary…especially now we know there’s more than one of those...biometal devices out there…they’re like a nightmarish hybrid of the Guyver Units and the Scarabs…”

Just where exactly did these devices come from? Who or what made them? For what purpose?...No, both of them had a pretty good idea what the answer to the last one was: War. It only made sense that something with that kind of wide-scale destructive potential would be intended for conflict….and where there was two, there was bound to be many more...and a lot of people who would do anything to get their hands on them.

“...We’ll do our part to keep her safe…” Jaden said with certainty, “Both from those who would do her harm...and from herself too…”

“...I hope so…” Gaia quietly muttered as they kept observing the night sky for a while, the echoes of background noise creating a calming white noise for the vigilante. The sounds of car horns in the distance with the shouting of a food cart operator providing a soothing tranquility for someone like Evergreen, a long-time resident of the busy city of Lost Haven.

However, that tranquility was about to be interrupted, a sound resembling thunder erupting near his water tower as the mercenary War-Pulse came to a halt in mid-air before the hero.

“Ah-hah! There you are!” The man proclaimed, pointing at Evergreen excitedly. “Tracking you has been this entire night’s work, you’d think it would be easier to track down a plant-man in a place that is mostly concrete and steel. Though, to be fair, you leave quite the trail of bloodied crooks behind you, all I had to do was follow the moaning and the smell of a Greenhouse.”

Floating closer, the merc landed softly on the opposite side of the water tower, his kinetic aura dying down as soon as he made contact with the ground, allowing him to stride towards the vigilante with a confident bounce to his step.

“I suppose introductions are in order at this point, but if you already know who I am I’m sorry to waste your time” War-Pulse said. “My name is War-Pulse, the best damned merc here in Lost Haven and as of a few months ago honorary superfriend and co-vigilante to help stop the whole ‘Pax Metahumana’ debacle, pleased to meet ya!”

The merc stretched his arm out for a handshake, moreso being a common courtesy than a sincere gesture with the arrogant speech he was crafting.

To say that Evergreen and his partner were surprised by this latest development would be quite the understatement. Jaden had thought that after being at this hero gig for almost a year would mean he’d be use to this kind of thing. However, apparently there were still ways the world could surprise him.

He sat up as Gaia floated back over to his shoulder, looking over at the mercenary warily as he touched down and walked forward. Instinctively, the plant man took a step back. He had heard the stories and seen the reports about this “War-Pulse”. He was considered to be what would happen if you took one of the world’s best mercenaries...and then gave him superpowers, namely the ability to absorb most forms of energy and use it to augment one’s self.

This was someone capable of destroying entire city blocks and wiping out small armies with minimal effort. Even if he wasn’t straight-up “evil” the stories about him suggested he had, and still did at times, accept work from some very shady groups...and that he wasn’t the most stable individual.

“..Partner, I know this will sound rude, but until we know why he’s here, I would not suggest taking his hand…” Gaia whispered to Jaden before morphing back into a green orb and vanishing into his chest.

“Right…” The plant man looked down at the offered hand with a neutral expression, though if one looked closely behind the mask they may’ve noticed a hint of a frown. “...I heard about that incident, yeah. Some wacko doctor set off a bunch of bombs that would forcibly turn humans into Metahumans in the hopes of preparing humanity against worser threats. You have my thanks for the role you played in helping stop it...still…”

“All in a day’s work, right?” The merc quipped, giving Evergreen the finger-gun gesture.

He looked up at War-Pulse, not really caring too much if he was surprised by his knowledge or not, “That doesn’t explain why you’re here...so I have to ask...why personally show yourself to me of all people?”

“Straight to the point, I like it!” The merc replied, gesturing to Evergreen as he began to, leisurely pace back and forth. “In all honesty though, can't a meta be friendly to another meta without ulterior motives getting in the way? I mean I could just be here trying to turn over a new leaf and--” He paused, holding back a snicker, “Sorry, I just realized I said ‘leaf' to the guy who controls leaves…”

“Pulse, stay on topic.” Warden’s voice hissed over his comms. “We are here on a mission, not for you to make friends.”

“Alright, alright. I can see you ain't buying that, so let me cut to the chase.” War-Pulse said, raising a hand to acknowledge the flat look of doubt plastered on Evergreen’s face. “You are one of the lucky few who knows a person I am looking for.”

There were times that Evergreen hated being right, and this was definitely one of those times. He figured that this was as good a time as any to try out his acting skills. He folded his arms and rolled his eyes at the sky, “Gosh, I’m sooo honoured…” Despite his sarcasm, he focused on the individual before him, “Before you say anything else, mind telling me why exactly you’re looking for this person?”

“Actually, before that...whom exactly are you working for and why do you think I know anything?” He knew he needed to play it cool. If he played his cards right, he could probably get War-Pulse to leave without any trouble. He had already made a vow to defend Racheli and her whereabouts to his dying breath, and he was not going to break that vow for anyone….especially for someone whom had a reputation as infamous as the person before him.

“Whoa there, Tiger Lily...I thought I was the one asking the questions here.” War-Pulse said his calm, friendly tone barely fractured by the slightest hint of annoyance that the questions were starting to turn towards him. He knew he was a lousy liar and Pulse did not even really know much of the truth in the first place, he had to go with what he knew, it was his only card to play. “What I've been told, there is a rather dangerous little metahuman wandering the streets that could grow to be something of a worldly threat. Now I don't know the name of who I'm working for, but what I can tell of the quake I just walked away from, I'm inclined to believe them.”

War-Pulse pointed at Evergreen as he continued, advancing slowly on Gaia’s chosen. “As for why I think you know something? Well, first off, I'd like to think I'm a good reader of people. You’re grilling me without even knowing who I'm asking for, which means you either got something you’re hiding in that Russet potato of a brain or you're oddly suspicious for a do-gooder.”

A cocky little smirk was barely made out underneath War-Pulse’s facemask, his eyes narrowing to a squint as he scrutinized the man, or what one could call a man. In truth it was more like staring down a rosebush. Warden had informed him that the hero used plants to fight crime, but he was not expecting the guy to be an actual plant.

Evergreen did his best not to wince. It was becoming increasingly clear that underneath this guy’s courteous exterior was someone dangerous, just like the stories had said. Still, Pulse wasn’t the only one good at reading people. The plant man stayed where he was despite the uneasy feeling being given off by the merc as he got closer, “...You know, I may not be aware of every harsh reality in this world...but I can tell that whomever you’re working for does NOT have said individual’s best interests at mind…”

He sighed while looking off to the side, “Why, for all I, or even you, know, these people could just be using you. They could be planning to take this individual and turn them into a weapon…” Evergreen spread his arms and shrugged, “I guess it’s not really that much of a concern for you considering this is likely just a job in your eyes...but if you go through with this, and people end up dying...that’s gonna be on you...I’m sure even mercenaries have standards, don’t they?”

“As for me being suspicious...well, after you been in the business as long as I have, you tend to build up a healthy amount of paranoia,” He leered over at the mercenary suspiciously, “So, forgive me if I don’t entirely buy your story.”

The merc hesitated, his brow furrowed as Evergreen gave his warning. “Right, so we’re all just going to ignore the earthquake generator you got in your city while it gets some time to gestate.” War-Pulse said. “Geez, I wreck a city block and the city goes haywire, and this bitch gets to wreck a street and nobody bats an eye? What’s she got that I don’t? It’s because she’s prettier than me, isn’t it?”

He laughed and waved Evergreen off, but his words became more heated by the minute. “I kid, but seriously, with that kind of knowledge, I could tell you the same damn thing. Merc or not, should a metahuman with this kind of attention be hidin’ out underneath Lost Haven without supervision? They’re hiring guys like me to rope her in and that’s not sending any warning lights for you?”

He circled Evergreen, feeling out how the hero followed a target as he shifted in footwork slightly, keeping his front facing Evergreen as he walked, “I’m trying very hard to be diplomatic about this, but as you can clearly see I’m a very shitty diplomat. Now you got a choice, string bean. I’m leaving this conversation with the information I need, how many bumps you’ll take along the way are up to you.”

To emphasize his point, he cracked his knuckles. As usual, they sparked up in kinetic prowess, the pops superficially enhanced by a pulsating hiss of raw power.

If Evergreen was intimidated by this fella, he definitely wasn’t showing it. Of course, after staring down a man made of gosh darn LAVA, there wasn’t really too much that could faze him. He pondered over what he was hearing, bobbing his head side to side, “...Fair enough, I suppose this IS a little hypocritical of me...but I stick by what I say…besides…”

He stared down at his hand and flexed it a few times, “There’s way too many inconsistencies in what you’ve told me so far. I already know the warning signs...but this individual...they’re still a person...they have rights like any other individual. This person makes mistakes, they’ll face the consequences...but until then, their rights will be respected...and protected…”

The plant man looked over at Pulse again, “Besides, considering you have a history of killing people for money...I don’t think you’re in a position to judge anyone…”

“I ain't judging anyone, kid,” War-Pulse retorted, beginning to stretch his neck out as he continued to circle, sizing Evergreen up with each step. “You’re totally right, I’m not in a place to judge others, which is why I’m not interested in playing debate club on the water tower right now.”

Evergreen’s tone of voice now got a little darker at this point, “Now...in all honesty, I’ve had a good night so far, and I don’t want anything to ruin it...so I’d like to avoid any pointless conflict. For that, I’m gonna give you a chance to back out…though judging by that look you’re giving me, you’ve already decided to beat the information out of me…”

It may’ve been a trick but for a moment, one could’ve seen his eyes, hidden behind the mask, glowing a little, “Get out of here...because if you push your luck...well, I’m not gonna be responsible for whatever happens to you…” It was obvious now that he too wasn’t exactly good at diplomacy...but he had already mentally prepared himself for this.

The plant man had a promise to keep, after all.

“Ohohohoh, you got a bit of fire in you, I like it!” War-Pulse roared, offering a bemused chuckle at the aggressive stance of Evergreen. “Damn good to hear that the metas of Lost Haven still got a pair of acorns despite the shit that’s been thrown your way.” He readied his stance a bit more, raising his hands in open palms before him. “But I unfortunately got a job to take care of, and if that means I have to pluck a few petals to get you to talk, then that’s what I got to do. No hard feelings, right?”

“No...you got your job to do, and I got mine. It’s as simple as that.” Evergreen remarked in acknowledgement. Neither he nor Gaia could sense any truly evil intent from him, which honestly made this whole situation a bit sad. However, it was obvious negotiations had failed, and there was only one way this could be settled. “...Catch me if you can.”

With that, he leaped off the edge of the water tower and plummeted towards the ground, seemingly ready to go splat...only for a pair of green wings made from vines and leaves to unfold from his back and allow him to soar off and as he did so, he threw one last glance back at Pulse as if daring the merc to follow him into the sky.

“...Well that’s new,” War-Pulse muttered, his brows raised and his hands on his hips as he watched Evergreen soar up into the sky. With a chuckle, the hum of building kinetic energy began to echo into the air around him, his legs began to sizzle and glow with the increasing build up as he walked over to the edge of the water tower.

“Alright, you want to play?” Pulse growled, the glint of adrenaline building up in his voice. “Game on, mother fu--”

The end of his statement was cut off as the burst from his legs rocketed him into the air, the water tower bending in on itself as the pulverizing force rocked it backwards to crash into the rooftop below it.

The chase was on.

[Fallenreaper]

FINDING ANSWERS

Location: Raptor Pack’s home, Albany NY
Time: Near Noon (Day after the Soulstone creation)

Ben jerked in reaction when Kelly walked over to him, his brown eyes narrowed in suspicion as wave of unfamiliar wariness washed over him. His figure flinched then held fast to his seat while felt his head with her hand back for fever. While slightly hotter than normal, it was still within normal range for a human and easily overlooked when it came to concern. He let her take his wrist to check his pulse. It too stayed a bit higher than normal but she seemed unworried or unsure about his physical well being, something she wasn’t alone in as well.

When Sam’s claws unsheathed, Ben’s throat let out a primal warning growl. It was low and deep, his lips pulled back to reveal his very human teeth. The tension left his figure when Kelly chided Sammy, her attention returned to the boy. Ben was about to answer when the older guy walked in and tossed a old part of shorts and tee-shirt into his lap, his eyes looked at them with slight uncertainty about their quality then mumbled quietly. “Thanks and yeah, I would like a shower to wash whatever is still here.”

Wobbly, he raised up to his feet as he pinned the clothes to his navel and managed to keep the blanket wrapped about him. He paused long enough to turn toward Kelly with a worried look. “Did… did I hurt anyone last night?”

“Oh, the streets were stained with the blood of your victims.” Sammy morbidly joked. Again, Kelly gave her friend a glare, signalling that she was not helping the situation.

“You did give a couple a pretty good scare. Besides Sammy’s pride, you didn’t hurt anyone.”

Ben paled at Sammy’s words causing him to shiver, his eyes snapped to Kelly’s reassurance that he merely frightened instead of maim. His knuckles had whitened from tightening his grip on the sofa arm as he tasted something sour at the back of his throat and finally swallowed it down. It was funny because his stomach, from what he could tell, was starving. Nodding his understanding, he shifted around then abruptly realized something. He didn’t know where the shower was within the apartment and he didn’t want to appear nosy.

“Where’s the shower?” His eyes looked for help through he hated the need for it.

“Just turn right and go past those closets over there and the bathroom is at the end of that short hallway.” Kelly pointed towards Ben’s right.

“I guess I’ll go grab another towel.” Zac muttered as he turned to the closets that Kelly had just mentioned.

“Just follow Zac. You can’t miss it.”

Ben nodded again then followed the one called Zac, the one that originally brought his clothes, as his hand still held up his blanket and keep his modesty. The clothes, transferred to his other, were hung at his side to make he didn’t forget them. The walk was fairly short as they made their way to the bathroom in silence. His mind was still wrapping about everything that had happened while only pieces came back to him.

When they arrived, Ben edged in then turned to take the towel from Zac. “Thanks, Zac? Name’s Benjamin. I’ll be out of your hair shortly after I’m done.”

[color=peru]“No problem. Once you’re out, we can finally call your folks, Ben.”[/peru] Zac told the teenager after he handed him the spare towel.

After Ben had shut the bathroom door behind him, Zac walked back into the living room where Kelly and Sam were. Once there, Zac sat down in a chair that was sitting next to their living room couch.

[color=peru]“Do you all think that Ben’s powers could have been caused by Doctor Diplodoc’s serum?” Zac asked.

“Well, it is plausible.” Kelly responded as she thought about her boyfriend’s question. “While New York was not affected by those domes that appeared a few months ago, if he has eaten any fish from the Atlantic since then, the accumulation of small doses from the fish could have caused his powers to appear.”

“Although this doesn’t quite rule it out, but if we think about everyone whom we have met that have been affected by that serum, most of you either look pretty human or look like humans with an animal’s head. Even if we were to compare that kid with that lion guy back in West Virginia, the lion guy had a whole lot more control over himself.”

“True. Ben was acting like more a dog while chasing you than an actual person.”

“I am SO getting him back for that one day.”

“Well, the only real way to find out is to ask the kid once he has finished showering. And that’s assuming that he even knows what’s going on with him.”

After about half an hour, Ben padded out into the living room with one hand on his pants. They were a little big but not enough they would pool at his feet as he paused at the door frame. His arm leaned upon the frame and studied the three college aged adults before speaking. “So, you said something about a phone I could use?”

“Oh, you can use my cell phone, if you like.” Kelly offered as she pulled her phone out from her back pocket. “Your parents might not recognize the caller ID, but it’s better than nothing.”

“I’m not worried about that, it’s not likely Daniel will care. He’s likely doing a photo shoot for some publicity and votes. I hope Angelo is around or I’ll have to walk my way there.” His fingers pressed into the touch screen as he recalled the number, the phone ringing. During his wait, he paced the floor with a twitchy energy while he looked back at the trio. “If you don’t mind, can I ask what exactly did you see last night?”

“Well,” Zac began, “You kind of wandered into a drive-in movie and scared a young couple really bad. Then you chased Sammy here up into a tree. Kelly had to knock you out before you could bite Sammy.”

“No hard feelings.” Kelly apologized.

“That explains a few things... “ Ben mumbled, then clicked off on the phone then gently placed it on the table. “It’s busy, I’ll try later. Figures with the way things have been going.”

His figure moved over to the sofa, his torso leaned over his legs and digested his situation. “I suppose you have some questions? But I also have a few of mine own. First off, how the hell did you knock me out?”

“Umm…” Kelly started to speak, “I hope you’re not afraid of needles.”

Ben gave her a questionable look. “No...not really.”

“Well…” Kelly paused before she deactivated her power nullifying band, causing her wasp-like appearance to reappear. In order to get the point across, she allowed the barb on her wasp abdomen to become unsheathed. “I might have stung you with this a couple times.”

Ben jerked upright from his seat. Sammy’s claws had been one thing, though truthfully he suspected he partly was seeing things thanks to his groggy head, but seeing a full wasp abdomen actually suddenly sprout from the girl’s tail bone left him lost for words. “And I thought my night was rough…”

“More like a rough year.” Kelly said as she cross both of her pair of arms. “So, when did your powers first appear?”

Ben absorbed the information then spoke.

“It happened after I got bitten the other night. Daniel and Lorrie dragged me to a charity event in the city, even introduced me to some funding friends for his campaign to go from DA to mayor in the future. I went out into the back alley where this huge, rabid wolf had arrived. It bite me, but thankfully didn’t get a chance to eat me when I finally passed out.” Ben paused enough to breathe then wrapped up his story quickly, “I woke up then was informed I was infected and now am a werewolf. Nothing I can do about it and the damn thing is still at large.”

“Wait, you’re an actual werewolf?” Sammy expressed her concern. “Does this mean you’re contagious or something?”

“Not that I’m aware. Then again, I don’t know anything about this. They didn’t seem to worry about me spreading it as much as… creating trouble. Technically, my first change wasn’t suppose to happen tonight but tomorrow. Something happened, it triggered something and all I remember is my skin itching and peeling off. It scared the shit out of me.” Benjamin said in a rough voice, his throat still sore from being dry. He doubted his replies had helped while he decided to address the issue. “I need some water or at least something in my stomach.”

“I can grab you a glass of water.” Kelly said as she walked over towards their apartment’s built-in kitchen. She grabbed a glass from a kitchen cabinet and filled it up with water from the kitchen sink. Then, Kelly walked back and handed the glass over to Ben.

Ben nodded, then leaned back into the sofa back and taking the glass. “Thanks.”

He drank it slowly and let the water sooth his throat, his pace fast as the liquid quickly vanished. Gently, he placed it back through his thirst was far from quenched. “Anything else you want to know before I go try to call my house again?”

“I think that’s all the questions that we have for right now.”

“Alright. Excuse me.” Ben pulled himself upright then reached for the phone where he edged toward the side the room and began to call again.

[Athinar]

"You know, Sherlock, it's a real shame that all of this wonderful technology, and all of these groundbreaking scientific discoveries are being used to tear down the city where they were developed."

"I agree, sir. The same might be said about S.T.R.I.K.E. I mean, they had the tech to create one such as myself, and what do they do? Cover up information and hide everything away."

Grinning, Angel looked up from the S.T.R.I.K.E. data tap to the nearest hidden security camera and held up a tiny microchip, the transmitter that linked it with a server. "Got the component. It should be fun to watch the technicians try and figure out what's wrong with their datamine." Closing the innocuous-looking breaker box which the data tap was hidden in, Angel pocketed the microchip, and walked down the alley to the street, whistling. "Alright, Sherlock, I think we're in the clear, you can cut the dummy feed as soon as I reach the street."

With a ping of acknowledgement, Sherlock cut the feed, and speaking into Angel's earpiece, gave a humanlike laugh. "You know, Angel, it feels good to be doing right by the city, instead of tearing up a neighborhood fighting Trent."

Angel nodded, smiling. "Yeah, messing with S.T.R.I.K.E. and keeping those Paranormal Illuminati wannabes from oppressing the people of Lost Haven is a worthy cause. I'm just glad that they haven't caught onto me. This life... is actually kinda peaceful, compared to the last couple months." Looking up at the few stars barely visible past the smog and light pollution of the city, Angel was content. This... this was what he had wanted, coming to the city. Not high-tension fights with the second most powerful Meta, or fast-paced jailbreaks, but protecting the city from both the criminal underclass and their so-called "protectors".

On a night like tonight, in a neighborhood like this, there would usually be one or two groups of thugs roaming the streets, but surprisingly, the atmosphere was fairly quiet. Almost like the city was anticipating somethin-

With a boom, something flew overhead, and quickly left Angel's vision. Whipping his head around, Angel turned to see what it was. Two Metahumans, chasing each other. Cursing internally, Angel linked up to the phone in his pocket, connecting with his new garage's systems. "Sherlock, I want you to track my location, and deliver the ATD to me as soon as possible. I'll follow the two Metas myself." Receiving a pingas a quick response, Equilibrium scanned the street for any vehicle that would allow him to keep up with the duo. It took less than a second, with the help of security cameras spread out throughout the neighborhood and the stoplight cameras. Parked on the side of the street, about a block down, was a Ferrari MkVG Turbo, one of the newer, faster cars that had just come out in the last few years. Taking control of the car, he drove it towards him, even as he ran towards the sports car, popping the door open with his power, he jumped inside, and closing the door, turned to follow the two Metahumans, speeding after them with a roar of the engine.

---------------------------

Angela was having a bad night. She was up until eleven listening to her cousin cry over the phone about someone named 'Kevin', had a headache, and just discovered that she was out of painkillers. Great. Tromping over to her fridge, she grabbed a bottle of water, and was about to drink from it, but hesitated as she heard something from the street below her apartment. Moving to the window, she got there just in time to watch in horror as her new Ferrari revved up and drove off, without anyone in the front seat.

Eyes wide, she turned around, and sprinted towards the door to her apartment, barely remembering to grab the keys as she left. Slamming the door behind her, she ran down the hallway, to the stairs, and took the steps two at a time, making it to the ground floor in possibly what could be a new speed record for anyone in the apartment building. Running through the entryway, barefoot, she made it to the street just as the car turned down another street, and drove out of sight.

In shock, Angela could do nothing but stare into the empty space where her car was, doing all she could not to scream at the top of her lungs. Someone had just stolen the car that she had saved up for YEARS to get. She didn't have insurance yet, because she had just got it. Standing there, Angela stared into space for what felt like an eternity, before her phone vibrated, jolting her back to reality. She had just received a message. Not really in the mood to text anyone, she planned on dismissing it entirely, before she read what it said.

Sorry for jacking your car, it was an emergency. Will pay you back later. -Equilibrium

[Shard]

"At least I don't have scales..."

Reeves Mansion

Padding through Ben’s room, Skyler made it his business to look at the various photos of a woman displayed within the four walls. Was this his mother? Skyler couldn’t recall seeing her in any other picture located anywhere within the mansion’s confines. A soft rumbling echoed through his belly and with a gentle sigh, he turned to the food brought in for Mushroom last night. Some salted meat and other canned items laid neatly stacked on the bedside table, and with few options, Skyler approached the food skeptically. “Well, you like this stuff, don’t you?” He spoke, turning to look at Mushroom who was in turn happily waving his fluffy tail from one side to the other while looking at his owner. A bark escaped the dog’s chops right before he pawed forward on the bed in an attempt to get the affection he so desired.

Raising a hand to place it on the dog’s form, Skyler absentmindedly ran his fingers through Mushroom’s fur as he was reading the labels on the cans. “I’ll just wait…” The boy accepted defeat, returning the cans to their original position. “You need breakfast, though.” He continued, wrapping his thin fingers around the can opener and began working on the metal. “Hey, Mushy’.” The boy spoke, turning to look at his companion after lowering himself to the bed. “This is Ben’s room. Heh, I’ve talked a lot about him, haven’t I? You must be sick of it.” Mushroom tilted his head slightly at the words, the dog’s large, brown eyes looking up at Skyler before the smell of food caught his attention. Moving closer to the can, Mushroom nearly shoved his snout onto the metal before being stopped by a giggling Skyler. “Mushroom, you’ll hurt yourself.” The boy chuckled, lifting his hands to get the sharp metal away from his dog.

Finally opening the container, Skyler poured its contents into a bowl which had been provided and saw how Mushroom immediately pawed himself to the floor to eat breakfast. The sight was somewhat melancholy, bringing back memories of what had transpired when Skyler found his beloved companion malnourished and neglected. Clenching his needle-sharp teeth, the boy ascended to his feet before once more exploring the room, an escape from his thoughts.

Placing his hands on a picture frame, he raised it carefully to get a better view. This woman was incredibly pretty, and there was an aura about her which was absent in every other picture Skyler had previously passed. They seemed somewhat stiff and lifeless whereas this woman appeared genuine and softhearted. Perhaps he was reading into it, but parental figures had become somewhat of an interest for Skyler. The people he grew up with couldn’t possibly be his biological parents, could they? Returning the picture to the bedside table, Skyler made his way towards the window and moved the curtains from place to gaze out across the backyard. It was quite lovely, something out of a storybook.

Did Ben spend his life here? It felt a bit creepy to look around the way Skyler was doing, as if he was a stalker, but being locked up in this room left little else to do.

If that wolf from before truly was Ben, the two of them had something in common, at least. They were both going through changes they had no control over, and they both struggled with the thought of hurting those around them. Skyler knew a thing or two about animals, and what the giant wolf he had met acted like, was a puppy. Ben was many things but playful wasn’t one of them. Given that simple truth, it was easy to draw the conclusion that something else changed, apart from his appearance, when he transformed. “The closest I’ve ever been to you, and it required our worlds to be turned upside down…” The Efreet sighed, turning to look at Mushroom. At least the dog appeared without worry, that was always something. “When he comes home, he’ll probably freak out about us being here, Mushroom…” Skyler continued, catching the canine’s attention at the mention of his name. A bark escaped the dog before he continued to eat.

“Have you ever had a crush on anyone before, ‘Shroomy?” Skyler asked halfway jokingly as he dropped down to bed, laying his head on the pillow. “It sucks…”

[Hellis]

It was a dream She was sure of it. What else could it be. She was in Colombia on a personal mission, she knew that much. But this clearly wasn't Colombia. The houses around her were clearly Asian, south east Asian at that. As was the climate. A little to late she realized it was Burma. And then came the whiny screech of a mortar shell.. She gasped, seeing how the eart erupted around her as the village was bombarded. She stood amidst the carnage, stunned at her own helplessness. There was fire everwhere. Burning houses, screaming children. Crying mothers.

But the fire was white, like white hot fosfor. Her eyes looked around for a face that was familiar. Instead she found that the burning village warped and changed into a street she knew all to well. It was back at Lost Haven. There was four men walking down the street. One of them held a bottle in his hand, a molotov coctail, she was sure of it. The four men stopped outside the house, one, bearing bruises and scars spoke. "Burn her shitty little dojo down." The other men all lit their home made firebombs and tossed them with force into the dojo. The fire that erupted was the same white and heatless fire as before. She found she could walk into the smoking, burning building, the fire didn't burn her, didn't hurt her. She could see Bak May crouched over something, her shrine.

"Get out!" Kaya yelled at her. Screaming on the top at her to move, to get out. But the short elderly woman seemed to only have eyes for the altar, clutching something. Before she could lean into look what it was, she awoke.

Her bed sheet were tangled and soaked in sweat, and she realized she was crying. and her knuckles hurt. Looking around Hernandez stood a meter or so away, rubbing his jaw.

"Quite the hook." He said.

"Shit. I am sorry Hernandez. Bad dream. What are you doing in my bedroom?"

"Yeah. Well. I could tell as much. You were doing the ghost fire thing from your eyes again. And I am here becouse there been a change in plans."

"I think I had a vision" She said as she got out of the bed, throwing on a shirt. Hernandez picked his nails with his old bowie knife, carefull not to look her way as she got dressed. "Wait. What change in plans?"

"You will have forgive my skepticism. My mama told me only witches can see the future." Hernandez chuckled as she moved past him to grab her gear.

"No worries Hernandez. I don't have to be a witch to see you will always be an asshole."
Both of them laughed at that.

"...Hernandez. I gotta go back home. Bak May is in danger. "

"Huh. Funny you say that. The plans I was talking about? We have been ordered to withdraw effective immediately."

"Wait. What? Why?"

"Seems goverment is beefing up the whole domestic defense deal. They want me nad the lads back for some new unit they are putting together to help counteract the rise of Meta-human driven domestic terror. Zepeta aint going anywhere but my work here is almost done. The US love their proxy wars, but we have gotten the VIPs out and we have secured a route whitch to provide the rebels with arms. Prolonged stay would enhance the chance of capture. And the last thing we want is Zepeta having concrete evidence of American boots inside his borders."

"So when do we go?"

"We leave in Twenty minutes."

[DearTrickster]

_{banner credit to Hellis}
---

Time: Early Morning - Final Day in New York City
Location: Ritz-Carlton Rooftop, New York City

Far above the city skyline with the sun rising slowly on the horizon, above the smog of the city, and the noise. Odette Favre stretched across her yoga matt. It had been a few days since she returned to New York free of further distractions.

The chill of the wind didn’t seem to phase the ballerina as she warmed up. Moving from the downward dog position to the tree position. Her mind seemed to be a peace, at the crack of dawn where she started everyday with slow measured breaths. The calm and quiet she valued most from her day, it was precious. Odette held the tree pose for a few minutes, remaining completely still, her spine was straight as a board and her shoulders square. Her callused toes were pressed against her calf, clear signs of previous injuries in her left big toe, it bent at an unnatural angle. While her muscles warmed up, the quiet in her mind invited the arcane stream involuntarily. White whisps of light lifting the blue hair off the nape of her neck.

Breathing in through her nose and exhaling through her mouth she slowly switched to her other foot, eyes closed.

The worries of the day were waiting for her the moment the hour was up. Curiosity of what Lekh would dig up on Racheli. How she would respond to his inevitable question in return for his work. If she let herself to think and concentrate on her magic coating his soul would give her his general location. That was if she allowed herself.

While she would need to reflect on plans to retrieve the location of Soloman’s Cube piece lying with Titania, the Queen of the Fey Courts in England. She couldn’t stand to visit England more than she needed to. Perhaps even spend time focusing on contingencies to protect herself against The Broker. Greed Incarnate simply could not be trusted, nor could the rest of the little cabal he was forming. Barron involved meant certain trouble for the likes of her association with The Shroud Syndicate. Barron was infamously on the prowl striking out against the Syndicate ambitiously.

The Shroud Syndicate… At home on her shelf next to her grimoires was a little red wooden trunk known better as Le Sourvenir Coffre. It was filled with a very special memory from the kingpin himself, The Cowl. It was now valued among her more prized possessions. A secret worth millions.

Even if those thoughts weren’t the first in line to pull her focus, her most recently acquired asset in the form of an intelligent golem named Mandate would surely make space in her mind. The curiosity was the last thing she’d ever imagine to stumble upon in Central Park a few days ago. Odette was glad she had discovered the mercury golem. Mandate was unlike anything she had ever seen before in golems, she innately resisted Odette’s cloaking spell directly. Not sure what else to do with her beyond making time to perform some stress tests when she returned home, Mandate was left in the capable hands of Mara the goblin in Paris. Without hearing from Mara since then, Odette safely assumed things were going alright. It was easy enough to gain Mandate’s trust, taking advantage of her child-like naivete.

Odette moved to a sitting chair pose, outstretching her arms in front of her. Breathing in through her nose and exhaling through her mouth.

Priorities for the day were simple however. Her eyes opened, her vision filled with dawn light warming her face and her body. Today was to celebrate the final day in New York at Lincoln Center then spend the rest of the afternoon filling her empty luggage bag with whatever she bought in the Garment District. Spoiling Kendra rotten, hopefully, if she allowed her to. Kendra never failed to note how Odette was able to afford so much on the same salary. A new jacket or some jewellery managed to distract her dear friend more often than not. Tomorrow she would board a plane, riding in First Class with Kendra (Odette arranged for the upgrade to look like an accident).

Today would be for playing the part of an ordinary woman.

She breathed in through her nose and exhaled through her mouth.

[VATROU]

”Avalon huh,” Eva sighed as her home came into sight and she grabbed the cold handle in the early morning hours. ”All these things, these Supernatural worlds, the World is crazy, and when I met Arthur for the first time i thought I was going mad. Shit. Why must my life be soo confusing.”

The inside of the house was quiet, as she peered inside prompted by an unusual suitcase at the coatrack. Eva headed further inside as a bleep from the Microwave went off. As a tall figure in a leather jacket loomed in front of her holding a piece of Lasagna as he turned Eva cursed under her breath. ”Joe. Wha, what are you doing here?”

“Family sent me to check on you, and frankly I was worried, that Pax event was quite the terrorist event, Ma and Pa were worried you’d turn into a mutant freak. Everything’s cool though, you’re still my Lil Sis, the Black Sheep.” Joseph said as he took a seat at the table, Eva came closer as if to speak to him. ”Didn’t think they cared enough to check on me, I thought everyone was too busy being pompous jerks, and don’t you have a Grand Prix race soon”

Joseph laid down the fork he was eating with, and Solemnly spoke. “Family’s writing you out of the will, and if you turned out to be some eight legged spider freak, well, that’d complicate things. I’m not supposed to be telling you this, but I thought you should know. You have time to fix this though, just come back, back to British High Society, wear the dresses, eat with the tiny spoons and forks. Go to the balls and the Family will reconsider.”

"So that’s what this is all about, Does Aunt Briley know about this? That you’re begging me to come back?” Joseph continued his solemn expression,”Yes, she left whether or not you’d come come back up to you, but we don’t have a lot of time, come your eighteenth you’ll no longer have a place back home.”

Eva slammed the edge of the table with her fist, "I have a place, it’s not covered in marble, or surrounded by gold, but it’s home, and Aunt Briley has been more of a mother than Mom ever has. Let them write me off, I have something they’ll never have, a Family.”

“I see.” Joseph said picking up his mostly empty dish, “I’ve always been jealous of you, you always had the guts to face Mom and Dad, a part of me wants you to come back, the other just wants to cheer you on. It’s an odd feeling,” Joseph placed a hand on Eva’s shoulder. “I hope you do right Sis. Whatever you chose.”

”I, don’t think I understand.” Joseph took a second. “I kinda wanted to see you come back, just to show to myself no one is unbreakable, even as the Oldest, I looked up to you, the Rebel, none of us liked the Rules, the restrictions. But we’re still scared, you. Yeah you never wanted any of it, so. Keep being you SIs. I’ll be in town for a few days, before I head off to my next race. Maybe I’ll see you again. Later Lil Rebel.”

"Joe.” Eva said as she was beset by her confused emotions. “The Lasagna was good Sis, you look pretty ragged, grab a bite.” Joseph said as he hoisted his suitcase over his shoulder like a pack and walked out towards a rental car he parked just off the sidewalk. Eva watched, completely unsure of what to do, as her stomach rumbled she decided once Joe left she’d eat and then pass out.

[Dedonus]

Aubrey Adkins

Pacific Point, California

late May (less than 1 Months Before IC Starts)

You know that things have taken a turn for the worse when going on what superheroes would call ‘patrols’ is the only thing left that has not changed in the past few months. When you have moved across the country to a new city and taken a job that you would never thought (or wanted) you have, unfortunately, dressing up in my scarlet and gray tights are the only way to make myself feel like I’m back in Columbus, Ohio. I’m sure Athena would be way too happy to explain the irony in this situation.

Don’t get me started on my job. While it is kind of nice that Viera is offering us some classes, tutorials, and workshops to help us improve as models, I’m pretty much playing catch-up since the other eleven models began working in January. Then this morning, the twelve of us were bused up to a private beach just north of Pacific Point for our June photoshoots. In each issue of Viera, besides the centerfold featuring one of the twelve models, there is also included a code for the company’s website to view these other photos. Since summer began this current month, it was decided that it would be a swimsuit photoshoot. Thank God we had the option to bring our own swimwear because otherwise, if I learned anything from my limited experience with the agency where my old college neighbor, Danielle worked, you would just wear whatever they had in stock.

I leaned against the edge of the roof where I had been sitting, peering down at the traffic on Main Street zipping to and fro. Sure, this is probably not the most effective or efficient method for finding evil doers, but there is just something soothing about looking down and watching over the people below. Also, the calm allows me to clear my head, not having to worry about anything else. Of course, after an hour or so, it does get a little boring, but that’s what my smartphone is for.

While I was messing with my cell phone, I heard some police sirens blaring from below. Glancing away from the screen that I held in my hand, I saw two Tri-PD squad cars speeding north-west on Main Street. When I turned my head in the direction that the police cars were heading, I was shocked by what I saw. In the distance, I could discern small, white specs floating down to the ground, sparkling in the city lights. That couldn’t be snow, could it? We’re in Southern California! It does not snow here, especially during the summer.

Obviously, some sort of metahuman probably was the cause of this unusual phenomena. If this metahuman happens to be a villain, I hope he knows that an unnatural weather like this is basically just asking for someone, either the police or some vigilante, to stop him. He might as well put up a bulletin board saying ‘here I am’. Well, since this is the reason why I’m outside where my scarlet and gray costume, I might as well take a look.

After leaping across a dozen or so roofs, since Pacific Point does not have quite the skyline as New York City, I knew I finally arrived at the right place when I felt the temperature around me drop significantly. I can’t even believe that I can see my own breath in May in Southern California! And it did not take me long to spot who probably was the culprit of this unusual weather. From below my perch on the roof, I saw a Hispanic man wearing a cloth poncho and sombrero.

“Alright, El Niño.” I heard a familiar voice speak from below. God, it was that armored hero who helped save me from that Scylla-like monster a few days ago when Will and I went to the beach. I was hoping I would not run into him again, but I guess that was a fruitless hope. “It is obvious that you love winter, but you’re several months early for that, even for Christmas in July.”

Then I heard a rooftop door slam shut from behind me. A man with a full, but not quite bushy, beard had rushed onto the rooftop. I was surprised to see that under his black leather jacket, the man wore a Greek-styled breastplate. Somehow, he did not notice that I was also on the roof. With a bow in his hand, the man pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back and notched it in his bow. Once he started to aim at the man, so-called El Niño, I sort of freaked out and instinctively shot some webbing at where the bow met the arrow. When he released the bowstring, he was surprised that his arrow did not fly forward but was instead stuck to his bow. Well, now I got his attention.

“Ah, I haven’t fought against multiple metas since I faced those kids in Albany.” The man said as he turned to face me. He then pressed the arrow point against the rooftop and sliced through the webs on the bow with a sword that he drew from his belt.

“Wait. You have met those guys, too? How do they get around so much?” I expressed my disbelief that this man has faced those metahumans from Albany.

However, he did not respond with words, but rather a volley from his bow. If I were not a metahuman, that arrow would have struck me right between my eyes. However, my enhanced reflexes allowed me to snatch the arrow out of the arrow before it could hit its mark. After this attack was not successful, the man then rushed up directly towards me, drawing his short sword from his belt as he ran. Although he swung his sword at me, my metahuman advantage over him again allowed me to effortlessly dodge his sword slashes. When I saw the opportunity, I reached out and grabbed hold of the sword hilt.

“Can we please put the pointy objects away and settle this like mature adults?” I said as I effortlessly held back his sword arm. However, since I was underestimating my opponent because he did not, as I assumed, have superhuman powers, I did not expect him to throw a left hook right at my face. I barely had enough time to catch his clinched fist with my other hand.

“Alright, if that’s how we’re doing this.” I exclaimed as I began to squeeze his sword hand with my spider-strength, causing him to drop the sword. One of my arachnid legs immediately kicked the sword away from us across the floor of the rooftop. I then used my forelegs to pull the man off his feet. After that, I immediately began to wrap the man up in webbing, in the same way that a spider would incase its prey in its own silk.

“Alright, Odysseus. I got things under wraps down here. No thanks to you, of course.” The iron-suit hero, who I think was called Talus, said as he hovered up to the rooftop where Odysseus and I were, holding El Niño in his hand, who was wrapped up in a cord-like rope. However, this armored hero was surprised to see that I had almost entirely encased Odysseus with a coat of webs.

“A little help here, kid.” Odysseus barked at his ally, a little annoyed at the sticky situation he was in.

“Um, guys.” Talus said as he pressed what must have been an commlink on the side of his head. “I think we might need some backup.”

“Hey, he attacked me first.” I tried to explain myself.

“Bullshit.” Odysseus harshly replied.

“Alright, I might have webbed up his bow, but that was only because it looked like he was to hit that guy with an arrow.” I pointed at El Niño. “Being judge, jury, and executioner is a little extreme.”

However, before we could continue this little conversation, something, without physically coming into contact with me, pulled my arms behind my back. No matter how much effort I exerted, for some strange reason, I could not break whatever was holding back arms back. Then, the same force pushed my eight spider-like legs together, causing me to fall to the rooftop’s floor. When I peered down at my legs, I saw a golden light in the form of a ring was wrapped around my arachnid legs.

“Would you please oblige us with a portal, Firefox?” I heard a third voice. Again, this voice sounded familiar to me, especially since I heard it in my head instead of my ears. I think that must have been that Falcon-headed mage guy. Son of Osiris, if I recall correctly.

I then saw a fourth person, this time a woman. For a superhero, she looked pretty normal: a red superhero bodysuit that also had yellow and orange accents and a red domino mask. The only thing that looked out of the ordinary, besides being a superheroine, was the two fox ears that crowned her head and the nine bushy fox tails that sprouted from her tailbone and almost were arranged in the same way as peacock’s train of plumage. The woman, who seemed to be no more than a year older than me, took a deep breath before she extended her arms in front of herself. Then she moved her arms apart, which created a purplish-red energy portal.

“Hey, why can’t we just forgive and forget and go our separate ways?” However, I noticed that I began to hover above the ground, no doubt because of the Son of Osiris’ powers.

“I guess that’s a no, then.”

[NeutralNexus]

“War-Pulse, don't let him lure you out of the city.”

The merc furrowed his brow to his broker’s advice as he flew through the air, hot on the heels of Evergreen.

“What? Why not?” War-Pulse said, “He’s a hero, he's probably just making sure nobody gets hurt, right?”

“Idiot, most of Maine’s coast outside of Lost Haven is protected forests. If he can manipulate plants, he will have a massive terrain advantage. You need to keep him within the city where he is surrounded by primarily steel and concrete.”

“Right,” War-Pulse acknowledged, letting another kinetic release carry him towards his target. “Let’s see how tough the bark really is.”

Evergreen flew as fast as his wings would carry him. He needed to lead the merc some place quiet if he wanted to minimize casualties. Up here in the sky was good but he hadn’t exactly had much practice fighting opponents while up this high so this was very much a double-edged sword.

“Partner, he’s gaining on us…” Gaia warned him, causing the plant man to glance back and see that, sure enough, Pulse was closing the distance between them. “If you’re gonna try and slow him down, think of something quick, but remember, he can absorb most forms of energy, meaning I’m not sure how well direct attacks are gonna work….

“Don’t worry, Gaia…” He thought back to her, “I got a plan…”

Without hesitating, he tore a bunch of the white rose petals that made up his “hair” out and with but a thought they mingled and grew into a very large bouquet of white roses. He nodded and chucked the bouquet behind him. Not exactly a very intimidating attack...at least until the bouquet exploded into a giant cloud of shredded white petals so small they looked more like a cloud of powder that spread out in all directions.

A makeshift smokescreen attack!

“Gah!” Pulse exclaimed, finding himself immersed in a cloud of flower petals before he had time to react. He tumbled slightly, his advance momentarily halted by the overwhelming scent of flowers. “It's like being trapped in a Bed, Bath, and Beyond!”

The cloud did not hold the mercenary long, however, as he sent a kinetic blast down toward the earth on reflex to propel him above the cloud. With a quick wipe of his eyes, he managed to get a lock on his target once more, making his way toward the city borders.

“Oh like he'll are you getting away that easily.” The merc growled, his body radiating with power as he attempts to build up more energy in his back.

Another defeating detonation spurred the mercenary forward, screaming through the air like a fighter jet as he managed to close the gap again, this time positioning himself a few hundred feet higher than his quarry. Crackling balls of kinetic energy began to form in his hands , his leg kicking back before hurling the projectiles like like baseballs towards Evergreen’s projected path, sizzling like shooting stars as they descended.

Though while the missiles were potent, they weren't what Pulse was counting on to stop him. Locking into his target, he launched himself in a downward dive, intending to use the two projectiles not as direct attacks, but instead corralling the hero into a position where the merc could divebomb tackle Evergreen out of the air.

Directly into the abandoned building below them.

The plant warrior had spotted the city borders off in the distance and knew it wouldn’t be long now till he was free to cut loose without worry of collateral damage...at least, that had been the original plan. Instead, he was forced to deal with a pair of kinetic energy blasts courtesy of his pursuer. Knowing he had no way to slow down without Pulse catching him, he morphed one of his arms into a large circular shield.

He grunted as he barreled through the attack, his shield cracking in several places as he did so. However, he realized too late that he had been misled as he turned to check on Pulse...only for the merc to come crashing into him like a football player. The warrior was sent spiraling out of the sky towards the building below.

He crashed into the building with such force that he ended up destroying a chunk of the outer wall and through several floors of the structure, kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris.

But Pulse wasn’t done, he managed to get his arms around the plant warrior’s waist as they slammed through multiple floors, stopping in what used to be a living room apartment several levels down from the entry point. Pulse landed on top of Evergreen, finding himself straddling the earthen warrior and momentarily pinning him to the ground. He followed up hard, trying to hold Evergreen down with a free hand and throwing a flurry of kinetically charged punches towards Evergreen’s shield, each blow cracking the bark a little more as he tried to land a successful shot on the hero’s face.

Evergreen could do little more than bare the brunt of the attacks as he was slammed through floor after floor. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for the fact all his bones and organs had long since been converted into plant matter he knew he would’ve been dead already. He had no time to breathe either as even after landing Pulse refused to relent.

His shield was holding for the moment, but he knew it wouldn’t last much longer. He glared up at the merc despite being held down...and then suddenly, before Pulse could get off another shot, Evergreen’s entire body broke apart into a swarm of locust-like creatures that swarmed all over the place briefly before reforming right above the merc. With a scowl on his face, he shifted the density of both his fists and brought them crashing down on top of Pulse.

Pulse didn’t even have time to react before he found himself holding nothing but bugs. Before he could piece together what had happened, he was sent further down the building, crashing through floor after floor, the sound of water pipes bursting as the mercenary was blasted through them before crashing into an old table on ground floor and cratering into the cement foundation.

“Hnnng….fun trick…” The mercenary sneering, hoisting rotted wood off of himself before getting to his feet. Not to be outdone, the merc grabbed a large lead pipe that had come down with him, sneering as he looked back up the holes. “Luckily I can double as an exterminator.”

But he didn’t pursue yet, instead waiting down below for Evergreen to inevitably pursue him, the pipe held like a baseball bat for when Evergreen dropped down the hole for a full baseball swing. With a lucky shot, perhaps he’d connect hard enough to end this conflict before it really began.

“He’s baiting you, you know that, right?” Gaia’s voice echoed as her champion looked down the hole to where Pulse was waiting.

“...I know…” Evergreen confirmed, “...But it’s not like we don’t have much of a choice but to take it. We run, he’ll follow...he won’t stop until he gets what he wants...so might as well take him down here and now…”

“...Alright then…” Gaia gave the impression of a nod in his mind, “Go get him partner...show this imbecile why you’re my champion…”

With a nod, Evergreen leaped into the hole, the water from the busted pipes raining on him and giving him a small boost to his strength and restoring some of his vitality. He descended faster and faster, and just as he reached the floor before the one Pulse was on...his body changed once again, his legs fusing into the tail of a serpent as his fists became like giant mallets. He descended on his target like a meteor and swung with all his might.

The pipe gave a furious whistle as the mercenary swung the weapon to connect with one of Evergreen’s fists. The resulting impact caused a shockwave between the two opposing forces, ripping up the wood flooring around them, the drywalls buckling at the collision of power. Unsurprisingly, the plant-based metahuman’s strength was more than enough to shatter the pipe, much to the dismay of the mercenary.

“Well...looks like somebody’s been eating their spinach-AUGH!” The Mercenary quipped before a hammer cracked across his face, momentarily staggering the merc before he was forced to duck another swing from Gaia’s mighty champion. Evergreen’s offense was indeed impressive, connecting with a powerful one-two combination with thundering impact that temporarily buckled the mercenary, following with a roundhouse tail slam that bashed the merc through several rooms, tumbling through drywall before burrowing into a pile of debris.

“Had enough?” Evergreen called out into the hole, a scowl plastered across his face.

“Unnngh...Hmmm….let me think about it…” Came Pulse’s pained response, a brief pause indicating he was considering the offer. However, Pulse’s decision came with a kinetic blast screaming back through the hole to connect with Evergreen’s stenum, sending him crashing through yet more drywall. The mercenary was already in pursuit Before the plant-warrior had time to recover, advancing on Evergreen with a vicious series of kinetically-charged jabs, a few impacting into Evergreen’s rips and chest before the plant-warrior retaliated with his arm morphing into a vine, wrapping around Pulse’s leg and whipping him into the floor and slamming him into the wall, dragging the mercenary through several windows and debris before tossing Pulse into a hanging beam and sending him bouncing into another abandoned room.

But the kinetic berserker was resourceful, this exchange only lasted as long as War-Pulse wanted to before seeing the opportunity to gain the advantage with a loose piece of rebar sticking out of the foundation. Snagging the rebar, the mercenary charged the plant-warrior, with Evergreen preparing to counter with his vine arm. Like a whip, the vine came hissing out to try and once more snag the merc, but the clever Pulse was one step ahead, using a kinetic burst from his legs to leap over the attack and Evergreen. Before Evergreen had time to turn around, a firm stab downward drove the rebar through Evergreen’s tail and into the ground below, pinning the plant warrior to the ground. Judging by the power of Evergreen, it would not be enough to hold Gaia’s champion for long, but that would be enough.

“Alright kid, you want to keep playing?” The merc quipped, whirling on his heel to face the temporarily trapped Evergreen. “Let's see how you handle some real weed killer!”

As he whirled around, it was clear that his fist was wreathed in kinetic energy, a wild glint was in his eyes as his arm pulsated with raw kinetic power. With a blood-curdling cry, War-Pulse threw all his weight behind a vicious haymaker, the fist rocketing at Evergreen with enough velocity to shake the building itself.

The result was deafening, the bottom level of the building bursting outward as the kinetic payload ripped through the outward layer of bricks, following with Evergreen’s body spiraling out of the building. The plant-warriors frame crashed through a truck parked in front of the building, imploding the metal as the body bounced off of its hull before bouncing and cratering into the street.

As Evergreen staggered to his feet, he could see the glowing, illuminated figure of War-Pulse coming out to meet him, slowly walking to the edge of his own destruction.

The merc sneered, gesturing to Evergreen as he spoke. “You ready to talk yet, Jolly Green Jackass?” He called out. “Or am I going have to keep chopping at the trunk?”

Evergreen regained his composure and snapped his neck back into place. Surprisingly, even after being slammed through a gosh darn building, the most he had was scratches and bruises...and what little damage he had was already starting to vanish as his body slowly regenerated. “I’ll give you this much...you definitely live up to your reputation…but..”

He showed no fear to the merc as he worked out the remaining kinks, “If you think that a little spanking is gonna get me to talk...you got another thing coming…and besides..” The eyeholes in his mask glowed once again as his voice warped briefly to something inhuman, “You don’t have the first clue what kind of power you’re up against...so let me give you a taste…”

He rose his arms as the wooden debris from the building flew towards him and attached to his body, giving him several extra pairs of arms, the hands becoming various weapons and the remaining wood forming into what looked to be a bunch of small and fragile constructs like serpents and wolves that surrounded the area.

“Prepare yourself, War-Pulse...cause from here on out...I’m gonna get serious!!!”

[Athinar]

Shit! They're going too fast for me to catch up! Angel was following the two Metahumans, driving down streets, tearing through back alleys, and even driving over the sidewalks in some places, but even the new, enhanced engine of the Ferrari at full speed couldn't keep up with the sonic boom-inducing speeds of the fighters. That was aggravating, not having the ATD, but Angel supposed that it was the price to pay for laying low these last three months.

The two were quickly reaching the city limits, and unless there was a change in course, they'd soon be in the forest. Maybe to reduce destruction? Might be that Icon was involved, then? He was the perfect hero, always able to prevent casualties, and easily able to reach Mach speeds. Running through the list of Metas capable of Mach speeds, Angel came to three different conclusions on who they could be. Icon, War-Pulse, or that Iron Knight guy, all were capable of Mach-speed flight, and who liked to fight away from civilians. Well, maybe not War-Pulse, he didn't really care where he fought, but the other two, definitely.

Straining to see the two combatants, Angel cursed when he lost sight of them, only to be pleasantly surprised by a distant boom and pillar of dust rising into the air. Getting closer, he heard the loud sounds of combat, drowning out the low purr of the engine. Braking, Angel parked the car about a block away from where the fight was, thinking it wouldn't do to get the car destroyed. I mean, he had just stolen some lady's car, why wreck it, add salt in the wound?

Stepping out of the driver's seat, and locking the car behind him, Angel ran down the darkened street, approaching the abandoned warehouse that was currently in the process of being demolished with some trepidation. Should he really enter a Meta fight without his suit? Reaching a door to the back of the warehouse, Angel stuck his arm through the broken window, and unlocked it from the inside, making sure he didn't cut himself on what little glass remained. Pulling his arm out, he forced the door open, which turned out to be jammed as well as locked. Lovely.

It took a couple tries, but he made it in, walking over the broken glass that covered the floor in front of the entryway. Making his way through the offices to the storage area, Angel opened the interior door, which was much more cooperative than the one outside, and walked into something strange.

Some sort of... plant... man was fighting War-Pulse. Trent had the upper hand, though, and tossed the plant guy through a wall, out into the loading docks. When he got up, the plant man spouted something suitably dramatic, and pulled the wooden debris towards him, forming little animals all around him, in addition to morphing his arms into a bunch of weapons.

Angel was mildly surprised, but only just. It would make sense for a plant-man to control other plants. Walking up behind War-Pulse, trying to keep his cool, Angel took a deep breath, and spoke, interrupting the fight. "You know, whoever you are, Leafy, I'd give War-Pulse whatever he wants. He's pretty damn tough, and I should know."

Stretching, Angel limbered up, in case he had to dodge anything. "In any case, what's this whole shitshow all about? I had to steal a woman's Ferrari to get here." Checking in on Sherlock and the ATD over his phone, Angel saw that he had approximately two minutes before the AI got here with his suit. "Anyways, hey buddy! I got about two minutes before my friend arrives with the hardware."

Looking back to Plantman, Angel finished stretching. "So, Leafy, name's Equilibrium. Yours?" Angel actually was finding himself more comfortable with these types of situations. The, 'not in my suit so squishy aaaaaaaaaaaaaah' ones in particular. He had already got a hang of getting involved with his suit, and at the beginning of his stint in Lost Haven, barely left the warehouse without it. Nowadays, he was working against in nothing more than his street clothes, even if he did get the 'flight' urge more often than not.

However, now was neither the time, nor the place for that, so he turned his attention to the two powerful metas before him.