[IC] Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

[Afro Samurai]

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November 30th, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

---

Marvin scooped a forkful of fluffed eggs into his mouth, his other hand drenched his shortstack buttermilk pancakes with diabetes inducing amounts of syrup. At the counter, Elanor, a stout Welsh woman whose hair had long greyed and was beginning to thin out. She donned an apron smeared with ingredients which had long become unidentifiable. As usual, the inside of the diner smelled of cigarette smoke--the widower of three years had picked up the habit in the event of the death of her husband, Vinny, who was the owner of the restaurant for well over thirty years. If one were being gracious, he would remark that Vinny's had seen kinder days, Vinny was obsessive about keeping the place clean; Elanor, not so much. Marvin helped where he could, during downtimes in training camp or when he was on vacation he often stopped by and helped mop, sweep, wash the windows, whatever was needed. It was in this small diner where Marvin watched his first boxing match on Vinny's old black and white television which sat above the ever decaying refrigerator where Vinny used to keep ice cream and popsicles for the kids of the neighborhood.

"I saw your little match there." Elanor boasted, smoke plumed after her grizzled exclaim.
"Yeah? You seen how I dropped 'im?" Marvin added in play.
"Hook still needs a little work. You know how Vin' used to say--"
"If you're gonna hit the fella, make sure he remembers it when he's dreamin' too!" both joyed in unison with a laugh.

Marvin sawed a healthy piece of pancake from its comrades and gave it a new home in his mouth. Succulent processed syrup helped the thick breakfast food swim efficiently to its death down his esophagus. Elanor enjoyed another toke from her cigarette before he ashed its remains; her silver eyes danced over Marvin's heightening afro and to the garrison of black vans arriving outside. Their headlights were rather bright considering it was nowhere close to the dead of night. Once they shut off, Elanor spoke again,

"Popular place tonight! We haven't had these many people 'round here since '99." Elanor chuckled. Her mood switched near as quick.
"I take it these ain't no friends of yours, honey?" there was the cock of a shotgun.

Growing up in a city where the mob reigned supreme for nearly five decades, everybody had to be tough, no matter what their vocation was. Forklift driver, schoolteacher, boxer, 60 year old widow shop owner. Everyone had to be alert, too, but at some point the citizens of Las Vegas had grown tired of 'being aware' all the time, and once the FBI cracked down on the mob in the eighties and the big money from the casinos had all but gone, the mob had virtually disappeared. So did the people they used to intimidate, if not by nefarious means then by their own volition; no one wanted to stick around to wallow if the mob so happened to regain the power they once had over Sin City. In the wake of the great flight, Vegas became little more than a glorified tourist attraction; those who remained were leftovers from a hardened generation of blue collar men and women who were afraid of no one, no matter who they were.

"These days, Miss Elanor, I don't got many friends, no." Marvin sighed.
"You know this is gonna get messy, right?" There was almost a glow of excitement on Marvin's face. He hadn't been in a real street fight since he almost got locked up for hitting Darrell Cartwright with a wrench when he was 15.
"I've always been good at cleaning up messes, honey. Take it around back, I'll be ready."

The men began to exit the vehicle. Ironic enough, they weren't dressed in more concealing clothes; colorful Polo and Hawaiian shirts splintered the more "flamboyant" members from the "quiet" ones. Each had hands covered with black gloves, and each had a unique weapon of choice: crowbar, metal bat, hammer, 2x4, switchblade. The most average sized man of the group lead the procession toward the glass door where the "Open" sign hung. He shifted the door open and stepped inside, along with six others. Marvin examined each with calculated fire.

Smallest one, switchblade. He's probably the quickest; uppercut works best. Lighter mass carries.
Two of 'em my size, body shots. Weave, try and disarm them. They probably will catch my ass eventually.
One tall, lanky. Not much power, lot of reach. Stay out of his range. Don't have to worry about him otherwise.
Two big dudes. Too much muscle, if they get me it's over. Gonna need something for them.

As the average sized man went to the counter, Marvin slipped the fork and the knife into his hoodie. The 'average sized man' spoke up.

"Make this easy, yeah?" he leaned in, "no screams, an' if ya so much as look like ya gonna call the cops, well, I'm sure you know what's gonna happen, yeah?"

Elanor played dumb and nodded her head in fear.

One of the large men turned his sights on Marvin, who sat solemn with the knowledge of what was about to happen. He awaited as the 6'5 man lumbered over. He grabbed Marvin by the shoulder and with a nod of his head toward the entrance door, indicated where the two were about to go. Marvin knew well that if he followed his request, it would be the last request he would ever follow. Marvin still had his hands in his hoodie's pockets, and intentionally resisted the larger man's request. Things were not going quickly as the apparent leader of the group would have liked,

"Rip, the hell is taking ya so long, ya fat tub o' lard?" the leader asked,
"Hey, I'm goin' hea, alright? Bastard ain't trynna make this easy on 'imself."

Rip began to fluster, his hand tightened around Marvin's shoulder; and soon as Rip's second hand sought to join the party, Marvin injected the butter knife directly into his palm. It was an unusual feat, Marvin had only hoped to graze him with it and cause enough pain to make him think twice, not send him collapsing to the floor screaming in agony. He felt a sudden rush of strength and energy that was not entirely foreign to him before. The other five men turned to view the sight; the strongest of them, Rip, writhed on the ground, defeated by a man nearly a foot shorter than he was.

Ever advantageous, Elanor rose the double barrel shotgun to the back of the anonymous leader.

"You all get the hell out of here, 'fore I make sure you won't be getin' along anywhere else ever again." amidst shock and confusion, they heeded orders. No sooner had they arrived were they repelled by a man hardly larger than a twig and a widower with bad lungs.

"What the fuck?" Marvin marveled, "what the hell was that?"
"I have no clue, honey. What I do know is you need to get out of here before they come lookin' for you." Elanor remained strangely calm.
"Uh, yeah, right, right! Uh, shit. Uh, well, what are you gonna do about him?"
"Him?" she retrieved and lit herself a second cigarette, "Self defense after all, right? I'm a little old lady. Some big scary men tried to rob me, adrenaline" she expelled a rough cough, it sounded like grinding sandpaper against stone, "an' I stabbed him with a damn butter knife." Elanor chained a last series of gaudy coughs together before he gathered herself and spoke again.
"Get up and get out of here, honey. I've got this." the widow smiled,

Marvin heeded her advice and exited the diner for what would be the last time. There was something strange happening to his body: he felt stronger, faster, more agile, than ever before--but this feeling was unnatural, what he was beginning to feel couldn't be gained by regular martial arts training. There was something powerful at work, and he was going to find out what. He headed back to Uncle Red's gym to scavenge what answers he could.

[The Whacko]

9:56 AM, December 3rd
Unknown Location

For a long moment both men stared at the girl in a woman's body, brows raised as she listed off the facts about herself that to anyone else would have seemed trivial, almost childish the way it sounded close to a schoolgirl's introduction, which, really, it was. Then, with a sound that almost seemed alien for their surroundings, The Master laughed. It was a joyous sound, without the faintest hint of mockery or derision, just pure joy at an earnestness that the man hadn't seen in so long that he barely recognized it. He rose, striding toward Karen purposefully as he looked her squarely in the eye. His smile never faded.

"Not quite the answer that I expected, but better than I had hoped. It is an honor, Karen, I can see why you were thought worthy of this power." He clasped a hand down on Karen's shoulder, nodding to her slowly. He nodded toward Clayton, who immediately set to dumping more salt onto the ground around them, drawing a series of those intricate arcane symbols. The salt solidified into a mirror three feet across and six feet tall, standing in an instant and coming a stop before The Master and Karen. The old man turned to face that mirror, gesturing for Karen to do the same. There were at least two dozen faces in the mirror, focus switching between speakers in quick bursts before they all fell silent a moment later. Everyone knew to shut up when The Master spoke.

"My friends, students, I know you are all wondering at the reason for the explosions of power from the laylines. I have your answer here. I stand here with the next wielder of Shazam's power. Karen Hernandez, I recognize you as The Wizard's heir, and I welcome you."

There was a chorus of greetings, deferential, some indignant, a few with barely contained outrage, but all were kept civil when The Master recognized the person as a friend. Whether that would change if she met any of them in person was yet to be known, but Clayton at least seemed just as satisfied as his mentor.

"Be ready to guide her if and when you can, and the other champions when they become known to us. A new time of heroes is upon us, and the dangers to come will be fit to match them." He turned then to Karen, another short nod. "These will be trying times, but I trust you know will be able to meet them. For now though, rest. Clayton with take you back home."

With that the mirror's polished surface grew dull, and clattered to the floor as the magic left it. Clayton simply nodded and gestured for Karen and Samantha to follow him. He almost absently slipped his cigar between his teeth as he started up the stairs.

"Gonna be a real interesting change in times. Pretty soon we're not gonna be able to keep a lid of this sorta thing anymore. Hope you're ready for it all."

[Ceta de Cloyes]

December 3rd, 2019
9:10 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

---

Echo

Ezra would be going to school soon, his class would be in a couple hours. He used his dwindling spare time to great effect though, finishing the process on that ecto-crystal he’d been making over the last month. It’d only taken so long because he hadn’t cared very much, it was just something to satisfy his boredom with, but now he had an idea; the ecto-crystal was essentially crystallized dense ectoplasm ordered into a very specific shape. What uses did ectoplasm have again? Oh, that’s right, it was only the source of power for his entire civilization. His people had used liquid-infused ectoplasm, using several processes to simply harvest the energy directly from Zon, gradually becoming more potent as they advanced, but he didn’t have access to the low-level never ending ecto-radioactive rays of Zon, instead he had his own core, what amounted to his heart, which was constantly bleeding pure ectoplasm, enough to bleed the excess outside himself in the form of this crystal.

He and Jessie were exploring entirely new concepts for the both of them: blending their two worlds’ technological principles was a difficult task, but he was a son of House D’sra, this was his family’s life work, their expertise, and Jessie had proved she was no pushover either, she would have easily been accepted as one of his parents’ students had she been an Ectonian. The thought was as cheering as it was anguishing.

That wasn’t important now though, he waved his errant thoughts away and focused at the task at hand, rubbing his eyes to relieve some of the strain and narrowing his eyes to better see the newest, and last, layer as it carefully coated the crystal and began crystallizing.
There. Perfect. Now he and Jessie could use it as a power source, with any luck they could design a computer, or better yet an AI- an Ectonian sy’lhf would be brilliant: the crystal could be it’s heart! Oh, but converting the crystal into an AI core would be so complicated, they didn’t have the equipment to build it, and he doubted the human computers would be capable of programming it… He sighed, disappointed. He’d almost gotten carried away with that idea, a little slice of Ghol here on Earth just for him.

His phone hummed on the nearby table, and he peered over to see Jessie’s message; "Ez, meet me for lunch on campus today after class. Want to talk to you about the crazy happenings in the news, and show you something. I have some plans for our tech project that I need to run by you."

Perfect, he could tell her about the ecto-crystal then.

---

11:10 AM, PT
CCC, Coast City

Ezra was so confused.

He hid behind a beanie, a thick pair of sunglasses, and a large white scarf that swallowed half his face to obscure his green blush of embarrassment. He’d accidentally answered the Professor’s questionnaire in Ghaszic, his first language, which had a very scribbly, loopy, scratchy writing style to it. Such a mistake was sure to draw unwanted attention, but he hadn’t noticed until the professor proclaimed; “I didn’t know you were Russian.” Ezra had muttered a bunch of incomprehensible excuses and apologies and then rewritten the paper in English, but he was still so confused; was it common for humans to write in alien languages when they were rushing? Little did he know, Ghaszic, and most other Gholic languages, had an uncanny resemblance to particularly messy Russian cursive.

He found one of those small, round, two-person tables by the window inside the college’s Big Belly Burger outlet and sat down, once again thankful this world was so full of bright days. He placed his laptop on the table and started on some of the new assignments while he waited for Jessie to show up, having sent a short ”im at bbb’s” to her as he walked in. His laptop wasn’t very fancy, it was actually one of the cheaper ones, but it allowed him to do his assignments and listen to music so he couldn’t complain too much. Well, he could, but he doubted he could afford, or find, a computer advanced enough to fit his tastes, so the cheap one he could afford was as good as he needed.

For now, he thought, remember the planning he and Jess had been doing. The computer was good enough, but not for much longer.

[Korkoa]

December 3, 11:15 AM PST
CCC, Coast City

@Ceta de Cloyes

Jessie walked into the burger joint a few minutes after Ezra had arrived, hauling her now-overloaded backpack over her shoulder. She had skipped the rest of her morning classes and gone out to get a few things that she thought were needed for their experiments. As it turned out, 'a few things' quickly spiraled into 'needing another trip to the ATM because she had spent two grand on electronics'. So now her backpack was full to bursting with brand new toys and components, and also a fair amount of cash for safekeeping. A quick scan of the restaurant showed Ezra by the window on his laptop, using the sun to hide his complexion and glowing eyes probably. Jessie booked it up to the counter and quickly ordered her food, which ended up amounting to three burgers and a small bucket of fries. The amount of electrical energy that her body produced had to come from somewhere, and she had figured out years ago that part of it came from her caloric intake, she burned fat cells to convert into electricity.

After waiting a few minutes for her food and confirming that her order was correct, Jessie carried her tray and hauled her backpack over to the window table and sat across form Ezra breathlessly. "Hey! There you are!" She said with a grin as she set the food down and tucked her backpack under the table. Jessie dug her phone out of her pocket and opened up the bookmarked pages on her news app as she sat down, sliding the phone across so Ezra could see. Photos of the metahuman and suspected metahuman activity plastered across the news. The purple lighting-bolt lady floating with a burning city behind her. The Nazi she was fighting levitating over buildings. This new guy, 'Superman' landing next to news reporters. She leaned across the table closer to Ezra and lowered her voice, making sure nobody was around to hear. "They can all fly. You can fly. Why the hell can't I? I wanna fly. Can we add that to the list, some kind of flight suit?" She asked with a joking wink. Well, maybe half-joking. She really did want to fly, but at this point they were still experimenting with the technology, the pair of students was likely far off from being able to build a working prototype of anything apart from small gadgets.

"Dude, you have to upgrade that piece of junk you have." Jessie said, changing gears as she leaned back in her chair and motioning to Ezra's old laptop. "That's no good for anything, it's been obsolete for years. No way it'll stand up to the kind of stress our projects will put it through." She said, not caring if anyone could hear now. She thought that was discreet enough that nobody would suspect them, and the thing was old and slow anyway, nothing she said was untrue. "Fortunately for you..." She continued, reaching under the table and digging into her backpack. "Someone just hit the jackpot today, and decided to help outfit the group so things run a bit smoother!" She said with glee as she produced a brand-new laptop, the protective plastic film still clinging to it. She had gone to her tech guy, over in the Grove district; that's where most of the day had gone so far, as well as the cash. The beefiest, most powerful machine he had available, now all hers... Well, Ezra's now... Hers was on the way.

"This is what I wanted to talk about." She said, her voice becoming quieter again as she slid the new laptop across to her friend. "We have a cashflow problem. Well, and an energy problem, but that's not something I can help with, your stuff doesn't like electricity much... But cash, we need. We need parts, chips, components, capacitors, computers, and unless you're ready to slap on a mask and hold up an electronics store, we need to get it all legitimately. And that, my friend... Is where this comes in." Jessie slowly reached into her backpack one more time and pulled out a thick stack of bills, setting on the table behind the laptop to obscure it from the rest of the restaurant. "We have to be able to live, too. Unless you want to abandon planet and go float with the stars, we need money for food. Clothes. We need to go out like this, look like normal people. You need hair dye constantly. You could certainly do with decorating you place some more. This..." She said, sliding the stack of bills towards him. "Is the answer to all those questions. I figured something out this morning. ATMs have really bad internal security. I can just tell them to give the green away. Plus, it's insured. We can do this, man. We don't have to worry about money ever again, we just... Go to the ATM whenever we need extra cash. Whenever we need anything That's two grand right there, and it's all for you Ezra. That's your share. How's that sound to you?"

[Blackstripe]

9:56 AM, December 3rd
Unknown Location

Karen maintained her composure when The Master unleashed a bellowing laugh that seemed to fill the endless void surrounding them, watching him stride towards her until they were literally face-to-face. If she wasn't in her invincible form right now, she might have been at least a little frightened by this, but she was thankfully able to continue meeting his gaze with something that superficially resembled confidence.

He seemed quite pleased with her answer, which surprised her almost as much as what happened next. Mr. Toombs had quickly drawn another pattern on the ground with salt, but she could instantly tell it wasn't the same as the one from before. Indeed, instead of another portal, it turned out to be a mirror of all things! A mirror with faces in it, each one seeming to voice a different opinion on someone they'd never personally met before. She hated when people did that. Thankfully, they went silent when The Master began to speak, as otherwise she might've been tempted to tell a few of them off.

He then recognized her as the Wizard's successor, which seemed like a pretty nice gesture from somebody that was apparently centuries old. She could tell, though, that some of the people in the mirror didn't seem all that happy about it. The fact that she was likely seeing multiple faces from around the world all contained in a mirror wasn't quite as jarring as it perhaps should've been. Was she becoming desensitized to this crazy stuff?

"I'll...do my best to not let any of you down," Karen finally spoke, with a slight bow of her head. "I know I have a lot to learn, though, so any cool magic lessons are always welcome!"

Samantha had been silent this entire time, to Karen's surprise. Normally she liked to do the talking, to the point where it was difficult to get a word in edgewise unless you started yelling. She remained quiet as the Master directed them to follow Mr. Toombs back to their home, only finally speaking when he mentioned that things were about to get a lot more interesting.

"You're most certainly correct on this, Clayton Toombs," Sam replied to him. "Soon, the world will reawaken to the reality it has long sought to deny."

[Bluetommy]

^{Collab with @Blackstripe,@Hagroden, and @Simple Unicycle}

3:50 PM
December 4th
Hub City

Lady Arcana

---

"WOOHOOO~" Karen shouted, breaking through the cloud layer high over the city.

After a long, tiresome day at school, there was nothing like a good, long flight through the stratosphere. Diving towards the Earth from such a height was like the ultimate roller-coaster ride! While it might not be the absolute best use of her powers, it also wasn't a dangerous or abusive one.

Extending her arms out to either side in a plane-like motion, Karen performed an aileron roll as she sped her way through the sky. "I think I'm finally getting a handle on this flying thing!"

In the three days since that Wilhelm guy's attack on the city, the fires had been extinguished. It was too bad she didn't know any spells that would help her quickly put out flames, or she would've helped with that as well. Maybe she could've made it rain, since she has the power of Zeus and all? Ah well, too late now.

"Hmm...maybe I should help with the reconstruction? Let everyone know I'm their friend?" She mused to herself.

That was definitely something she could do, after all. She could do the labor of countless workers in short order, surely, and she wouldn't even charge for it. Yeah! That would be a perfect way to build up some good will.

Harris

---

Harris was in a poor mood. He and Shawn had arrived in Hub City three days ago, and had yet to provide any help to the victims. Not that it was Shawn's fault, Harris had proven not to be ready to reveal himself just yet. They had found a home just outside the city, and Harris had taken to flying over it while looking down sorrowfully. Sometimes Shawn even accompanied him.

He was on one of these moping flights today, Shawn with him. He still had yet to feel at home with the new status quo that existed between the two of them, but Shawn's presence did provide him with a little more strength, even if his own stubborn resistance had proven superior in a battle against his adventurousness.

He sighed as he continued staring downwards over the burned city, unable to force himself to help or intervene in any meaningful way. He was angry at himself honestly, but he supposed that it was too early to assume that he'd grown prepared for this, it had been a month, not exactly enough time to completely change.

A deafening silence filled the air as Harris glided over the city, trapped in introspective pointlessness. Some part of him hoped that Shawn would break the silence, but the rest of him said that he'd rather Shawn didn't.

The Wanderer

---

Shawn's eyes scanned the city almost lazily, unsure of why Harris continued to subject himself to these sort of things. Harris was still too afraid to try and help people, or even to fly low enough to reveal himself to the average eye. These fly-byes weren't doing anything to help either of them, and Shawn knew Harris wasn't likely to muster the courage to do so anytime soon, so Shawn spoke.

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself Harris, it's not going to help anything."

He stated, not yelling, but speaking loudly enough for Harris to hear him over the wind. Looking down again, he released a slow and quiet sigh, something Harris wasn't likely to hear over the loud winds, and began to contemplate jumping from Harris to a building as they flew, many of the roofs were close enough that he could probably land on them safely. While the chance to Stretch would be nice, he'd likely just splatter on the concrete far below them, rather than make any sort of landing on the buildings they passed.

"Hey. I'm gonna hop down and look around for a bit. I need to stretch my legs and get some air."
And with that, he jumped, crashing down into a nearby building, his newly discovered "super-strength" allowing him to do so without damage, to himself at least. To anyone nearby it would have sounded like a small explosion.

The Question

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Question's Journal, December 4th, 2019: Entry #2
Been three days since whatever that was. Lady in Red fought with some guy in this big suit of armor. Seemed to be a Nazi. Meant to intervene, but she got there first. They fought, and the man was throwing cars around. Wasn't even touching them. One hit Lady in Red, and it just crumpled against her. She was unaffected.

After she beat him, and this will sound just as crazy, she flew him out of there. Last I heard, he was in Germany. Just recollecting all that makes me more convinced that my sanity is slipping. Wouldn't even believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Enough lollygagging. Must get back to work.

The Question closed his journal, pocketing it and looking around. Most of the area was in ruins after the fight, the fires only recently being extinguished. In the days since the fight, he had been helping civilians whose homes were destroyed, on top of the usual patrols. Using his stored up vacation days, most of his time had been spent on the streets, with little to no sleep in the past three days.

The cold December breeze blew by, and he shuddered as he tightened his trench coat. With a deep breath, he climbed down from his perch on a fire escape and continued to walk the streets, in search of people to aid.

Lady Arcana

---

Karen had touched down in her home of The Wedge, where people were still tirelessly laboring to renovate the many homes that had been caught in the blaze. These were no professional laborers, though. No, they were helping to repair the nicer parts of Hub City.

Construction work had barely even started at this point, with most places still being covered in ash and soot after the fires. Well, that was fine...she could help with that too! And they needed it, she could tell.

Given how she stood out, it hadn't taken long for them to notice her. Their faces carried a mixture of fear and astonishment at her presence, many backing away when she approached. Attempting to assuage them, she slowly raised her hands in a placating manner. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt any of you. I'm here to help."

Glancing between one another, a man - apparently the leader of their community effort - slowly stepped forward. "Y-you're going to help us?"

Karen smiled, offering him a gentle nod. "If you're trying to renovate these homes, I should be able to speed things along considerably!"

Though they didn't seem to know quite what to make of her, nobody seemed intent on stopping her, either. So, the first step would be cleaning up all of this soot, dust and smoke. The community had already brought the proper tools for it, so that made things considerably easier.

Grinning to the onlookers over her shoulder, she held up a pressure washer. "Alright, who wants to see how to clean house with the Speed of Hermes?"

Vanishing into the first structure with a tyrian blur, she moved through the home in a matter of seconds, before continuing onto the next. All in all, the entire neighborhood took a good number of minutes to properly clean from their perspective...though Karen had quickly realized that it had seemed like quite a few hours had passed from hers, due to the relative nature of time.

"Whew..." She huffed, more from the mental exhaustion than from any physical wear. "Alright, all clean. What's next?"

The Wanderer

---

Shawn made his way down from the building-tops and began to do what he did best, Wander. Looking around, he began to see the city's damage first-hand, although given the lack of profesional workers, he could assume that this was The Hub's infamous, and poverty ridden district, The Wedge.

As his eyes wandered, he saw a group of 4 men, about his age, struggling to push, or pull, a car from the side of what appeared to be a very run-down home. With a glance at each of the men, he saw four transparent tendrils grow from his chest and connect to each of the young men respectively. They looked around, slightly confused, before seeing Shawn and smiling.

"Chris! It's been so long!" One of them shouted as Shawn approached them.Chris, huh? I guess I can't expect them to know my name, but it's strange nonetheless. He thought to himself, before grabbing the car by it's bumper. With a few soft words, the four young men backed away, and Shawn made quick work of the ordeal. Within moments, he had pulled the car completely out of the building and onto the street.

He nodded non-attentively as he stepped away from the Car, but noticed a purplish blur just a few yards up the street from him zipping from house to house. With a look of interest, he made a cutting motion over his chest, and the ties between him and the men snapped. They scratched their heads and talked quietly in confusion, certain that they recognized the bearded man before them but unsure of themselves.

Making a slight note to their reactions, he turned and began to walk towards the blur, tensing slightly, preparing himself to throw out a 'tether' if needed.

Lady Arcana

---

"Okay, so clean up the standing water next?" Karen confirmed what she had just been told by the de facto leader of the community effort. She knew she'd seen him around before, but his name eluded her at the moment.

The next task would actually be a little more complicated. She would need to use submersible pumps to drain any standing pools of water. Well, that kind of sounded fun! She had never used something like that before, so she was honestly kind of excited to give it a try. "Alright, you might need to give me directions, but I should still be able to help!"

Seeming to be a bit more at ease - if still nervous - around her now after witnessing her desire to help, he quickly nodded. "R-right, will do, thanks. I worked for a Renovation Company before their latest round of layoffs, so that's why I'm leading the effort."

"Nice to have your expertise, then, Mister!" She replied, listening carefully as he instructed her in transporting the first pump to the worst flooded of the homes. The fire had caused many pipes to rupture, and one entire floor was submerged in an apartment complex. Since the pump was sadly automated, all she could really do was help speed the assembly of it, and then let it go to work. Even with her help, this would take a while, since they had only one pump to go around.

Folding her arms, she tilted her head with a frown. "I guess all we can do is wait, now."

The Question

---

"Damn cold... Need to get a thicker trench coat..." The Question muttered to himself, walking along the streets. From what he saw, it was pretty quiet, not many people around. As he turned a corner, he looked around, noticing there were more people here. He continued scanning the area, searching for someone who needed help, when he spotted the Lady in Red. Well, Lady in Purple now.

"Hurm." Humming to himself slightly, he approached, announcing himself with a quick "hey". A few people turned to look at him at that, their facing morphing into looks of surprise. "Nice work a few days ago. Would've been more damage if you hadn't intervened. However, didn't know you had... Powers, I suppose you could call them." He said, jumping straight to the point.

Lady Arcana

---

Karen turned when a familiar voice caught her ear, her face brightening when she saw the familiar gray coat of The Question. Rushing over to greet him, she lowered her hood. "Wow, hey there! Nice to see you again, Question!"

Realizing that he had just mentioned her powers, her cheeks immediately reddened. Reaching up the scratch at the back of her head, she chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I kind of tried to keep them hidden for the most part. I figured they might scared people, and y'know, I'm here to help, not frighten."

Still, now that they were public knowledge, that meant she could use them to help, so maybe everything worked out for the best in the end. "So what brings you here? Are you helping with the clean up, too?"

The Question

---

A chuckle escaped the vigilante's mouth, "Can use fear when helping. After all, criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot." Question let his mind wander to the various times he had used his apparent facelessness to his advantage. Yes, criminals were a superstitious and cowardly lot.

The former Lady in Red asked him what he was here to do, and he answered: "Helping whoever needs it. Suppose that includes the clean up." He paused, taking a sugar cube out of his pocket, rolling his mask up slightly, and plopping it into his mouth. Pulling his mask back down, he pulled another sugar cube out and tossed it to the Lady in Purple.

"Wanted one last time. Figured this time would be no different." Question looked over the area, then turned back to the Lady in Purple. "Seems you've done a lot in such little time."

Lady Arcana

---

Karen reached up and caught the cube in her hand, smiling in gratitude. Popping it into her mouth, she briefly savored its taste before replying to her fellow vigilante's remark on her progress. "Yeah, the Speed of Hermes makes for a surprisingly good one-woman cleaning crew, eheh."

Glancing to the pump, she sighed. "I can't really do much about draining the water though. Honestly, if they had a hand-crank pump I could definitely do it faster than this automatic thing is."

After it finally finished draining this place, she would have to lug it across the street and hook it up at the next building that needed to be drained. "I don't suppose you have any creative suggestions for how to speed this along?"

The Question

---

"Hunh." The Question would place his hand upon his chin as he pondered the situation and what she could do to speed it up. "Would I be correct to assume you have superhuman strength, in addition to your other 'powers'? If so, could use that to punch a hole into the wall, allowing the water to drain out. Of course, would need to be careful to not destroy the buildings."

Lady Arcana

---

The community leader apparently overheard he Question's suggestion, as he quickly approached the both of them. "You know, that might not be a bad idea, so long as it's fairly easy to patch up afterwards."

Karen tilted her head to the side, her eyes darting about the apartment complex. Even before the fire, this place wasn't in the best of conditions, so she would need to be cautious in her approach. A large enough hole to let it all drain out would still not to have to be much larger than her fist, and could be easily patched up later on.

"Alright, let's give it a try!"

Stepping down into the water, she sloshed her way over to the far end of the room. Staring at a spot there for a brief moment, she drew her arm back and slammed her fist through the cement until she could feel the naked air brush against her skin on the other side. She felt it was probably best to make the hole here as it was adjacent to a back alleyway, and thus the water wouldn't drain out into the street.

Stepping back, she watched as the water began to slowly drain from the room, the waist-high pool gradually descending. Now she was soaked with dirty water, though. She'd need to go spin herself dry.

The Question

---

'Holy shit, that... That actually worked.' Question thought to himself, watching as the water drained through the hole. On the outside, however, he just gave a small nod and a "hurm" as though he suspected that this would happen.

"Just need to do that for all the flooded buildings, and everything should be good. Perhaps could get people to help, as you don't need super-strength to create a hole in the wall." He suggested.

Lady Arcana

---

"Yeah!" She nodded, seemingly happy that the idea had actually worked, despite her drenched state. "And they need new flooring, paneling, doors and trim-work, according to Mr. Khutty here."

She gestured towards the de facto leader of the community renovation task force. He smiled gently in response to this, folding his arms. "Right, though, I don't see how you'll help with any of that, unless you happen to be wealthy enough to purchase all of those materials from the local mill. None of us certainly are, I can guarantee you that much."

At this, Karen's shoulders sank slightly...but her dejection didn't last long. "Wait, the local mill?"

"Yeah, you know, the lumber mill," Mr. Khutty elaborated. "After a tree is chopped down, they carve them into proper building materials."

Cupping her chin at this, Karen's eyes seemed to twinkle with a hint of insight. "I think I have a new idea!"

[Blackstripe]

4:18 PM
Greenpeak Forest; Outskirts of Hub City

Harris

---

Harris barely noticed Shawn leaping away from him, he was too busy arguing with himself and acting like an angsty teenager. Well, at least that's what he thought about himself. Harris pushed his head back and used his wings to pull his body upwards, entering an upright position and managing to maintain what was basically a stationary position.

Staring over the city, he noticed a sudden outpouring of water from a waterlogged apartment complex, seemed like the workers had blown a hole in the side. This had killed a small number of plants, but Harris ignored their pleas for now, there was nothing to be done for them, some small sacrifices had to be made.

Small, very small sacrifices, he doubted he could handle the pain of being connected to a forest during a wildfire, but this was small, nothing he couldn't handle, and due to his flight, he had a lessened connection to the ground anyway... or something? He still wasn't sure how this all worked. He could be very wrong.

Harris realized then that he had successfully distracted himself for just that little moment, but in doing so, his mind immediately went back to the initial train of thought. Again suffering from angst, Harris simply watched from above, sighing.

Lady Arcana

---

Karen hadn't wasted any time after finally figuring out how to help The Wedge in the long term. While knocking measured holes in the walls of flooded structures was one thing, if she really wanted to help them actually repair the damage, they would all need raw materials.

She was now flying away from The Wedge, away from Hub City, towards the nearby Greenpeak Forest. She'd been out there a few times when she saw younger, it was pretty scenic and relaxing. It also had trees aplenty, naturally. While she lacked the skill to properly carve the wood into usable construction materials or furniture, she could still provide them to the lumber mill free-of-charge in exchange for them using at least some of them to help The Wedge.

Staring down at the tree tops below, Karen grinned. "Alright, let's Paul Bunyan this shit!"

Swooping down, she quickly located her first piece of lumber, knifing her hand as she drew her arm back. With one swift chop, she cleaved the tree from its base, sending it crashing to the ground. Her eyes were soon set on another, and then yet another after that, as she began to fell them in rapid succession.

She would need enough that it would be worthwhile for the lumber mill to honor their deal, in exchange for possibly more help in the future.

Harris

---

Harris continued staring downwards at the city moving on without his help, they didn't even need him, he was worrying about nothing! Harris knew that wasn't true, he was just trying to convince himself that everything was okay, that his reluctance was justified-

A scream rang through Harris' skull, followed by a splitting pain in his head worse than any migraine. Then another, and another, his head throbbed in pain as more and more screams filled his head. Harris grasped the sides of his head out of primal instinct, unable to process anything.

Killing us

Murdering us

Stop her

Help us

Any means

Humanity is a cancer

You should have known this.

The screams in his head finally assembled into tangible sentence-fragments, all furiously screaming in agony more brutal than any nightmare. Harris had to stop this, the pain, the horror, it was too much. Harris' eyes opened wide and he let out a scream, unknowingly, as if an invisible force had seized his body. He screamed louder than any human had a right to, a primal fury, that of every tree that had been cut down. He was in too much pain to think, to speak, to do anything but mindlessly dive.

And dive he did. Directly at the source of this pain, the source of the screams. He cleared the distance, teeth bared and fury in his eyes. He crashed into the ground, but barely reacted outside a soft crouch. Gone was Harris Herzog, all that was left was nature's fury, Gaia's vengeance. The Vine Stalker screeched once more, then lunged forwards towards the human who had caused this, grasping through the air wildly.

Lady Arcana

---

Karen had been making good progress.

With her speed, she had already done the work of a small army of lumberjacks, and she'd barely even gotten started! She should have plenty of lumber in the end, enough that they'd just have to make a deal with her. Now, the only remaining question would be how she should effectively transport all of this-

"Woah?!" She gasped in surprise when something crashed into her while she was flying towards another tree, throwing her to the ground.

Glancing about the area in confusion from her prone state, she was quick to spot...eeugh.

"Ewww, what the hell is that? And it touched me, gross!" Karen floated to her feet, quickly drifting away from the disgusting bug monster. It was easily the nastiest looking whateverthefuck she'd ever seen.

Vine Stalker

---

The Vine Stalker growled as he looked at the human, seemingly attempting to evade him.

She cannot evade you.

Nature cannot be escaped.

The Vine Stalker grunted, but did not move, instead crouching and clenching his hands tight enough to create a wooden creaking. Then full-on snapping as the plating on his body was stretched and bent by a sudden expansion in his body mass. His upper torso doubled in size, and his legs grew slightly. He reached ten feet in height after two seconds of this.

The Vine Stalker let out an animalistic roaring as it continued to bulk up, his skin twisting in unnatural ways as he grew more "muscular". Around his joints, his exoskeleton began to fall off, but it stayed in position on the rest of his body.

As the Vine Stalker grew, a number of plants did the same, vines shot from the ground, thorns larger than on any plant resting upon them, these vines shot towards the human, attempting to wrap themselves around her whilst also shredding her body to pieces, they closed within seconds, and it would take immense reaction time to evade them, or immense endurance to ignore them. Unbeknownst to the Vine Stalker, these were both traits that this human possessed.

Lady Arcana

---

Karen's eyes widened when it began to grow even bigger than it already was, reaching almost dinosaur-size. All she'd wanted to do was collect some lumber, why was this happening? Was this how her life was going to be from now on? Attacked by random monsters whenever she tried to do something to help people?

Distracted by his transformation as well as her own thoughts, she didn't quite manage to react in time to the first wave of vines as they swiftly coiled around her, enveloping and binding her. Glancing down in shock and horror, she quickly regained her composure when she remember that she was no longer a helpless little girl.

"Oh hell no, I've seen this hentai!" She snarled, quickly flexing her muscles to rip her way from the vines with a powerful shout of her own.

More vines had quickly tried to take their place, of course, but this time she was ready. Using her immense speed and reflexes, she evaded each and every one before flying towards the creature. Much as she was loath to touch him, Karen knew she couldn't afford to be so squeamish. After all, it was apparently her job to fight horrible monsters, and she couldn't let this one roam free so close to the city.

One benefit to having the vines bind her is that it gave her at least an idea of how strong this guy probably was, and so she roughly put in about fifty percent more force into her punch than the vines had used against her, slamming her fist into it's chest.

Vine Stalker

---

A loud crack echoed through the air as the punch hit home, completely shattering the Vine Stalker's exoskeletal chestplate and leaving an imprint in the flesh behind it. The creature growled in fury as it sailed backwards through the air, crashing into and snapping a tree due to his immense weight.

The creature's pupils fully faded into the white behind them, and what once were square teeth grew into fierce triangular fangs. The creature stood, seemingly unharmed by the blow despite the clear evidence of a fight-ending hit. Suddenly, the indent in his chest was filled, and the exoskeletal armor reassembled right where it was. The creature snarled its breaths through barred teeth, a fluid leaking from its mouth as it reassumed its stance.

The Vine Stalker roared once more, throwing its body back and roaring into the sky. As it did so, a number of fully-grown trees sprang from the dirt in front of it, two at a time, growing closer and closer to Lady Arcana. Just as trees sprang from the row in front of her, one shattered into a great number of wood splinters, producing the creature from within. The Vine Stalker shot from the ruined tree and grabbed the woman by the head, smashing her into the ground and landing in a crouch on top of her.

Lady Arcana

---

That punch should have definitely knocked him out.

Given the damage that it had clearly done, the monster should've been incapacitated for at least an hour or so. But - against all her expectations - it had healed, and proceeded to...grow a new forest? Logic, where you go?

She now found her head pressed against the ground by the thing. The gross, gross thing, with it's hand on her face.

"I'm going to be sick," she muttered, driving her fist up into it's torso again with the same force, mainly just to knock it off of her. Floating upright in an instant, she followed this up with several more blows to the chest and face, each powerful punch sending him sailing through the sky as she quickly outpaced his backwards momentum to deliver a follow up strike.

Finally, she flew directly above him, clasping her hands together to deliver a hard axe handle strike to the head that would send him careening back to the forest with enough force to leave a decent-size crater and send a large plume of dirt and foliage high into the sky, visible for all in the nearby Hub City to see.

"Hopefully that did something..." She muttered, drifting down to observe the aftermath of her last attack.

Vine Stalker

---

As the dust cleared, what was revealed was a severely damaged Vine Stalker. All of his limbs had been detached at the joints, and he had been decapitated by the force of the hammer-like blow. His head was alive, however, if quite dazed. The Vine Stalker growled as his body dissipated into the dirt, reassembling beneath his head, but back to normal size once more.

He struggled to get into a kneel, panting heavily. He turned slowly towards his assailant, his eyes widening and his mouth opening slightly. He looked almost afraid. But once again his humanity faded and he returned to animalistically roaring. It was weak, the head blows it had sustained were enough to cause it to slow and pant. Regenerating its whole body from the neck down also took a toll, and it desperately attempted to enter the sunlight for nourishment.

It readied itself for one last attack, growling softly. It held a fist off to the side, prepared for a punch. This fist immensely grew in size, at least as large as the Vine Stalker's torso.

With surprising speed, it slammed this fist into the woman, sending her skyward. As she flew, it raised its arms towards the sky. A tree grew beneath it, propelling it skywards. Unnaturally growing at a ninety-degree angle, it snapped like a sling-shot, tossing it into the air at great speed. It collided with the woman, grabbing her as he flew. He growled in her face in one final act of rage, then smashed her earthwards with one massive-fisted punch. A small number of trees grew on the ground beneath as she fell in an attempt to impale her, but somehow the collective consciousness of all plant life in the area doubted it would work.

The Vine Stalker, out of energy, smashed into the ground before the woman did, his weight immense enough to cause a sizeable difference.

Lady Arcana

---

"Oh crap, I'm sorry!" Karen grasped her face in horror when she saw that she'd literally broken him into pieces, and even decapitated him! Bug-man or no, he was still clearly a thinking creature and she had never wanted to kill him. She thought she'd been using an appropriate amount of strength, but it seemed she'd gotten carried away with that final attack...

Floating down to his side, she solemnly lowered her head in guilt...only to watch as his body disintegrated into the earth and began to regrow. Taking a step back in disbelief when he once again climbed to his feet, she slowly extended her hands.

"Hey, maybe we should try and talk things oveEEER~" her voice trailed off as she was sent skyward by his sudden strike.

Feeling him swiftly catch up to her, and smelling his...eccentric breath in her face when he roared, she was then throw back to the forest where she smashed through some uncannily hostile trees before tumbling to a halt, a large groove left in the ground along her path.

"Okay..." Karen muttered, slowly standing and reflexively shaking her head. "You're a lot stronger than the Nazi guy was, I'll give you that much."

Quietly floating over to where the creature had landed, she knew well enough to stay on her guard this time as she observed him. "Even so, you should definitely stay down. I don't want to hurt you anymore if I don't have to, you....weird bug-tree-guy."

Vine Stalker

---

The creature huffed and growled, but was clearly out of strength. He groaned and growled as if he were still fighting, however, and he covered his head with his hands and rolled slightly from side to side.

"...Hit... me," he said slowly, as if the words were difficult to form. "...Again...I'm..." he managed to stutter out before turning back to growling and rolling.

Harris' mind finally took back control of his body, no plants were in pain, the trees couldn't find another use for his tired body, all was well, except for the immense pain and fatigue he felt.

"Nevermind, I did it," he said with a sigh. "Sorry, I'm just as clueless as you are." he explained, hiding his face in embarrassment.

"I don't know what happened, but it's over now, I'm sorry," he once again apologized. "Thanks for not killing me," he said with a small smile.

Lady Arcana

---

He could talk! Quite a lot, it would seem. And he didn't seem intent on fighting anymore, which she was quite thankful for. She really didn't know too many more ways to beat on him without killing him.

"I would've never, not if I could help it," she assured him, returning his smile. "And I'm kind of confused myself in that regard. I was gathering some lumber to help with repairs after the fire, and then 'boom', you slammed into me."

She scratched at the back of her head, glancing at the forest that was now marred by their brief but intense battle. "You weren't really in a talkative mood at the time, so..."

Harris

---

Harris sighed once more.

"Yeah, all I remember was watching you guys work, then feeling incredible pain, then anger like I'd never felt before. I lost control completely, I remember every action but there was no thought behind any of it, it was instinct..."

Harris realized he had yet to explain what in the hell he even was.

"Oh, um, my name is Harris, I used to be a biologist but now..." He was unable to gesture, so he simply tilted his chin towards the rest of his body. "You see."

Harris couldn't tell if he was in a dream or if he was awake, everything seemed so unreal, what was this woman, what had happened to him, he had so many questions.

"And you?"

That was a good one to start with.

Lady Arcana

---

"Oh, me? Umm..." Karen tilted her head to the side for a moment.

Actually, since her 'Lady in Red' identity had been shredded by Wilhelm, she hadn't really been calling herself anything. She kind of needed a superhero identity, right? She couldn't just tell everyone her name.

Wait.

The Wizard had called her something back then. Yeah, that name! She liked the sound of it. Which was good, since it apparently came from her heart, or some sappy shit.

She stared down at Harris, offering him a hand up.

Heheh, sappy...

"I'm Lady Arcana. It's nice to meet you, Harris. Are you going to be alright?"

Harris

---

Well, that was certainly a name. Harris was totally dreaming, that settled that.

He looked up at Lady Arcana as she offered him her hand, impressed and yet bewildered by this... enigma of a woman, he doubted anyone would fully understand her, never mind he who barely understood himself. Harris shakily raised a hand, clasping hers tightly and pushing himself to his feet.

"I'll be fine, I did just survive decapitation."

Why can I survive decapitation?

Harris' brow furrowed as he looked around for Shawn, nowhere to be seen. He found himself getting worried, even if it was totally irrational to be worried about a grown man, but still, he was worried. Hopefully he hadn't accidentally hurt him in his rampage, he couldn't imagine looking at himself. Perhaps he should ask.

"I came here with a... friend, we'll go with friend, he's about yay-high, bushy beard, tattoo here," Harris stated as he stood at full height, gesturing around his body to illustrate his definition. "Have you seen him anywhere?"

Lady Arcana

---

Lady Arcana slowly shook her head, "Afraid not. You were by yourself when you attacked. If he's a normal human, I imagine he would've gotten far away from our battle."

She certainly knew that she would've done so if she'd seen what just transpired prior to getting her powers. Taking on a mugger is one thing, but there came a time when you had to realize that you'd just be in the way.

"If you like, though, I could maybe help you find him?" She offered, continuing to offer him a comforting smile to hopefully assuage his worries.

Harris

---

Harris cautiously examined the area as Arcana spoke, but responded with a soft nod when she had finished.

"I would appreciate that very much, though I wouldn't want to be a bother," he said, waving his hand in a dismissive fashion. "If you would rather help with the reconstruction I would be fine with looking for him myself."

"But..." he said with a sigh. "Please don't cut down anymore trees."

He immediately assumed that she'd rather go help with the rebuilding than help some tree man who just attacked her find his boyfriend, and he understood that completely, it never even crossed his mind that she may actually go with him.

Lady Arcana

---

"Oh no, was that why you were acting that way? I'm really, really sorry!" Arcana apologized, quickly raising the hood of her cloak to hide her embarrassment and shame. "If I'd known you...well, existed, or that it would have that effect on you, I wouldn't have cut any down."

Well, she'd already chopped down quite a few, so maybe that would be enough. She didn't want to risk hurting or upsetting Harris any further.

"And nah, it's fine. I've already put the reconstruction way ahead of schedule, so they can wait just a little bit. Let's go see where your friend has gotten to!" She grinned, lifting off the ground, and once again offering him a hand in case he was too weak to fly.

Harris

---

Harris smiled in response to her willingness to help, taking her hand gratefully.

"Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it," he said with a smile. "I'll have to work twice as hard to make up for being such a prick to such a nice woman."

Harris really did appreciate her help, and the fact that she was treating him like a person, perhaps Shawn wasn't the only one who would see the humanity in him, perhaps he was wrong to be afraid. Harris smiled at the thought. There was no need to hide anymore, for certain.

[Afro Samurai]

---

December 4th, 2019

---

In the days followin his skirmish with the mob, the transformation had reached its pinnacle. He was faster, stronger, agile, more energized, and taller than ever. Not only that, but he felt. . . smarter? Using Uncle Red's sorrowfully outdated Dell computer, Marvin began researching what exactly had caused this steady change in his body: he yielded no results, but he would continue his search another time. For now,

"Time'na get back to it." Uncle Red called,

Marvin swept sweat from his forehead with the white towel wrapped around his neck. He returned to the heavybag which lay on its side and returned to practicing his transitions; top mount into sideguard, sideguard into north-south, back into sideguard, and finally sideguard into back mount. From back mount he reigned hammerfists on the cushion of the bag--thunderous pops echoed throughout the gym, blows so powerful they sounded like gunshots. He wrapped his arms around his would be opponent's neck and flipped him into a seamless rear-naked choke.

"Good, boy, good. You gettin' the hang of this thang, 'uh?" Gaines quothed,
"Yeah, unc'," Marvin sucked in as much oxygen as possible between speaking, "shit still kickin' my ass though. You sure know how to make a man ti'ed." Marvin chuckled, Red as well.

"Look, bo', we gon' finish up here then you gon' tell me what's on ya mind."
"Ain't nothin' on my mind!" Marvin objected, Red shot back stern disbelief.

Marvin knew said look all too well, in all these years, he could never get a lie past old Archie Gaines. He kissed his teeth, still objecting. Nonetheless, he obliged and Archie went to grab the mitts typically used for testing Marvin's punching accuracy and speed. He assumed the clinch, interlocking both sets of fingers and wrapping his hands around the base of Archie' neck; he pulled down lightly and began to rain soft knees into the mits. He alternated for two reps before he transitioned guard and wrapped the crook of his left arm around Archie's upper arm while keeping his right hand around Archie's neck and twisted him around. From the single collar tie overhook, he initiated a single leg trip and softly guided Gaines to the mat below.

Once Gaines got up, they reset position; this time, Marvin tossed a jab-hook combination into both mits and as Gaines twisted his body and placed the mit near his left oblique, Marvin threw a turning left kick. There was enough power to stumble Uncle Red sideways, his disposition spun foul.

"Bo', hell wrong witcha?"

Hayes went silent for a moment before speaking up,

"Just a lot on my mind, Unc'. Worried and shit, you know? They ain't just comin' for me. They'll come for everybody I know."

Silence clenched the surrounding air.

Archie gleaned the deteriorating walls which barely held up the interior of the smoky old gym. There were memories for him here; he raised his children here, taught kids the meaning of hard work, ambition, respect. The gym had been a staple of this small Nevada neighborhood for more than 20 years; moving on was never something he considered. Not at 55.

"Y', guess so, . . . I guess it's 'bout time to give this ole trap up enway." he grinned before glancing around again, "what to do 'bout all this stuff, thou'?"

"I'll take it. I could do some good wit' it."
"Yeah? Well, I guess it's yours nah. Take care of it, an' be careful, it done been through a lot."

Marvin game gave another smile, "What about you? What chu gonna do? You ain' seen much of the world outside this raggedy ass gym." Marvin chuckled a little,

"That's what you think, nigga. I been savin' every penny I got from this place since 1990; secretly went and bought me a boat. Might find me a nice li'l thang and hit the seas, shiiit--Bangkok, Venezuela, Paris, London.Hahaha! I might be old, but I ain't dead yet!" Archie mused. Out gym back was his grey Toyota truck. The two stepped into the alley which lead to the gym and Archie handed him the keys to the establishment.

"You be safe out here boy, look after yoself. Call me if you need anything ya hea'?"

"Yeah, Unc', I hear you." The two hugged. Gaines got in his car and with a final nod of his head, rode off to begin a new life.

Marvin stood alone, ready to begin a new life of his own. The mob was soon to come for him full force, and he would be ready.

[Ceta de Cloyes]

December 3rd, 2019
11:15 AM, PT
CCC, Coast City

@Korkoa

---

Echo

“What,” he muttered to himself, eyebrows drawn together as the level of Suspicious began to rise. First the gear, then the talk of cashflow, then the money. He bit his lip to keep his mouth shut as he looked at her with widening eyes, his hand slid off his keyboard to quickly cover the money and a brief glow encompassed the stack of cash, the low light hidden by the sun, before all of it vanished into invisibility.

“Insured?” He parroted, complexed, and what the hell was an ATM and why did they have money in them? Were these things just scattered about the city? He nearly groaned, yet another Earth thing he’d missed. But if the money was insured, well those were like the commercials right? He was pretty sure they used to have insurance companies on Ghol too, but then the whole apocalypse thing went down so… but insurance meant the money would be replaced if stolen right?

That wasn’t so bad right, Jessie wouldn’t do anything terrible like rob someone’s life savings, these ATMs were probably owned by someone rich if they just stuffed their money out in the city where anyone could happen upon them. Probably. He’d have to do some research. “I- what?” He shook his head, still trying to adjust to his new view of the world now that his friend, best friend really, was a criminal. Probably. No, definitely, no matter what planet you were on relieving someone else of currency was illegal, especially rich dickheads who deserved it. He would know, he used to be one of those rich dickheads- or the son of some at least.

“Okay,” he said, gaining his bearings and latching onto a truth; “I trust you,” he admitted, meeting Jess’s eyes. “I- you know this world better than me, and I trust you. So this- er, if this is where you want to go, I’m with you.” He was unsure, and it showed in his voice, but even so he was already committing to his words. They were partners, and if that meant being partners in crime then… well it would be fun to use his powers again, and who knows? Maybe once they had money they could actually protect themselves against the likes of the DEO.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, took a breath, and nodded. Okay. “Two grand, huh?” He breathed, a little disbelieving of the words even as he said them, and felt the invisible stack in his hand. “Why?” He asked, “what could I even do with this?” He glanced at the money even though he couldn’t see it, trying to remember how much it was worth. He knew the general prices of most things, but he kept his window shopping to a minimum. It would be difficult to adjust from being a paranoid, poor nobody hiding away in a dark and cheap apartment to someone who would… consider using his powers, and owning things, and buying things, and… He really felt like a hermit with all this self-examining he was doing. He looked at Jessie again, measuring, “I’m with you.”

[hagroden]

4:50 PM
December 4th
Hub City

The Wanderer

---

Shawn had found himself wandering from the area of reconstruction, instead exploring the area surrounding it. The area wasn't particularily a place he would deem a "Good Neighborhood," evident by the half gram of Boy he had been given as a "sample" by someone he had walked path. Lately he had found that his ability to create "links" had been growing exponentially, and they now created themselves regardless of his focus, simply springing forward from his chest and gut to connect themselves to everyone within a few hundred feet.

He however, was not one to be caught complaining about free smack, and made his way into a gas-station bathroom,a slight gleam in his eye as he held the bag of tan powder in his palm. Once he closed and locked the bathroom door, he dipped a finger into the baggie and covered it in the powder, than rubbed it on his gums. Savoring the taste and sensation for only a moment, he sat on the toilet backwards, and poured the bag onto the ceramic surface. Producing an expired License and a "straw," he seperated the powder into two lines. Then, in quick succesion, he railed them both.

With a smile, he walked out of the 7/11 and began to wander again as the Heroin flooded his system, his eyes fluttering as the waves of warmth hit him hard. Too hard, apparently, as he soon found himself nodding in an alley, a cigarette in his mouth.

Lady Arcana

---

"So...you'll probably recognize him before I do," Lady Arcana pointed out to her new happy tree-friend. "It's a bit difficult to find somebody just with a description like that."

Still, she was doing her best. She had already made a quick sweep over the The Wedge, but there was no sign of anyone clearly matching Harris' description. Furthermore, many people notably screamed in a mixture of shock and horror upon sighting the horrible bug monster flying with her. It was, admittedly, kind of funny.

Just as she was about to circle about and give it another go, she caught sight of someone leaving a 7/11 that - tangentially, at least - resembled the man Harris was looking for. Settling into a relaxed hover, she quickly glanced to former biologist. "Hey, doesn't that kind of look like him? That's...not him is it?"

Harris

---

Harris had flown beside this woman for quite some time, looking over the city in an attempt to find where Shawn had run off to, but he was continually distracted by the screams of terror by those who he passed over. It hurt. It really hurt. Harris had thought himself ready to re-enter society, and he had found two people who had accepted him for who he was, but humanity had a way of having its way with your confidence.

Eventually it had worn him down to the point where he wasn't even paying attention to the ground beneath him, he simply flew forth, attempting to watch for any change in direction from the woman leading him and follow behind her.

Eventually she stopped and said something that he barely heard. Confused, Harris looked at the ground beneath her and saw what looked like Shawn, though he was a little high, and his vision wasn't the best even when his eyes weren't made of plant fiber.

"I think that's him, I'm going down." Harris said weakly, his posture defensive and his voice deep, not out of confidence, but out of an almost bored-sounding sadness.

Harris smashed into the ground loudly, wings weren't exactly conductive to a gentle landing, especially when you were little versed in their use. Harris limply lifted his head, looking over at what was positively Shawn. He noticed Shawn's increased breathing rate and pin-prick pupils and sighed.

"He's high again," he informed the woman with another sigh. "Shawn!" he yelled out to the man, hoping he wasn't too far gone to be unable to hear him.

The Wanderer

---

A soft smile played on Shawn's lips as he felt the familiar touch of Harris lifting his head, and his eyes opened slowly. He was too doped up to see without a fair amount of blurring, but Shawn could recognize Harris's face if he was blind. Shawn could hear Harris, but it sounded almost as if he was on the other side of a long tunnel, though he could tell when Harris shouted.

"No need to yell love." He murmured softly, grunting contently as he lifted his hand to cusp Harris's face.
"I can hear you just fine." He continued, however unsure of who Harris was speaking to.

Lady Arcana

---

"Well, no shit," Karen muttered, "I could tell that much from a hundred feet above."

Landing gently - a testament to her gradually improving control over her flight - on the pavement behind Harris, she folded her arms and quietly watched their interaction with one another. They seemed to be quite close, given that 'Shawn' was cupping his face. Clarissa would love this...

Well, maybe not, since one was a giant bug.

Eying Shawn up and down with a frown, Lady Arcana sighed. She was happy they'd been reunited, at least, but the last thing she needed in The Wedge was more drugs. Especially the hard shit. 420 was one thing, if you felt like you needed it, but she had been working hard to run out the drug dealers these past few weeks.

Clearly, she'd missed some, unless he brought in from outside.

"Alright, who sold that to you? Or did you bring it with you?" Arcana tilted her head to the side. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you or anything...I prefer to go to the source of the problem."

Harris

---

Harris rolled his eyes and backed away as Shawn murmured and barely held his eyes open. He didn't care most times, but he was in a poor mood now, so he felt a little nettled by Shawn's addictions. His eyes widened as the woman began questioning him, clearly not pleased by this.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter, we're just passing through anyway, it doesn't matter," he said, frantically waving his hands in front of his face. He'd rather just get them out of there without any legal troubles. He turned to Shawn with a scowl. "We're going to need to talk once we're out of here." He growled under his breath.

Then he turned back to the woman and continued his hand-waving.

"It's fine, we're leaving, we're going, so long, bye bye, later, peace!" Harris stated with a false look of reassurance on his face, placing a hand on Shawn's chest and beginning to pull him out of the alley, avoiding eye contact with either person.

The Wanderer

---

Shawn's eyes narrowed and focused as the women before him began "questioning" him, a sense of tension evident in the air around them, which wasn't too great for his high. With a slight glint in his eyes, he focused. The hundreds of "links" sprouting from him condensed into two; the one perpetually connected to Harris, and the one he focused on to the Women before him.

"Why would you care about that , we've all got a right to make our own choices, don't we?"

He said with a soft smile, standing up to take a drag from his cigarette and blowing it downwind from their trio. As Harris pulled on Shawn, Shawn remained planted, his eyes focusing on the Women's, the link between them connecting to her chest and fastening itself there.

"And I don't see reason for us to go anywhere, there's no problem here, right?" He asked, the later half of his question aimed at the un-named person before them.

Lady Arcana

---

"I don't care what you do with your life, but if it keeps the people dragging this community down in business, then I don't want you here," Arcana explained to him tersely. She always became a lot more verbose when she was in her transformed state. Too bad she couldn't keep it when she turned back into regular ol' Karen.

Wait.

Something felt off. Did she know him from somewhere? No, he looked pretty distinct, so she would have remembered...but she was definitely getting a feeling of familiarity with him. Maybe she was being a too harsh with him.

"Look, I'm sure you're a nice guy and all, but I've been working really hard to help make this place better. The last thing we need is more drugs," she explained, seeming a bit less hostile than before, though she had never really intended to attack him to begin with.

Harris

---

Harris watched in horror as Shawn flippantly dismissed the woman despite her continued insistance that they leave.

And then something clicked in his mind. She calmed immediately, just like when Harris had first met, that feeling of familiarity, she felt it too, didn't she? Harris had felt a connection much like the one he felt with plant life, and now he saw it, it wasn't just him was it? This was something completely different.

He heard something whisper in his head.

You protect us, he aided us in that, but now, he has no purpose, you see now.

Suddenly Harris felt that familiarity weaken, not to a breaking point, but still weakened, Shawn was something special, but not as special, something was wrong. He'd been manipulated all this time, an anger, not of his own volition, filled his mind, and the voices screamed at him to leave.

Harris grasped his head and stumbled.

"Shawn!" he yelled, struggling to stand. "You... what did you do to me!?" Shawn's face made him angry.

Harris' pupils began to fade once more, and his mouth began to deform as fangs began to appear.

No

Harris yelled internally.

Shawn is not just a face to me! You don't control me! This isn't how this ends!

Harris' pupils returned, but he still stood unsteadily. With tears in his eyes, wings sprouted from his back and he took off into the skies.

The Wanderer

---

Shawn watched Harris as an internal battle raged within him, and beneath his beard, his jaw clenched in slight irritation. Always one for Theatrics he heard himself think, before he turned back to the women before him. He knew that, thanks to the display created by Harris, she would begin to think something was off. Narrowing his eyes, he began to focus on the link between them, and as such, it began strengthening.

Shawn had learned early on that his abilities didn't stop aggression completely, only that directed at him. When he had been in the Forests, testing his ability, he had found that his capabilities included far greater feats than just making animals fond of him. He had found that he could make them kill, or be killed, at his command. He had influenced a doe to stand between himself and bear, and had influenced flocks of crows to pick a mountain lion to it's bones.

So, if needed, he could have every creature in a three block radias stand between this woman and himself, or sick them on her like crows. However, doing either would likely ruin his high.

"Then force me out." He said tauntingly, a soft smirk playing on his lips as his influence grew.

"Doll, there's more heroin per square block in the uptown corporate part of town than any city in this State, Including "The Wedge." So trust me when I say that the highs people chase to forget are the least of this area's problems."

Lady Arcana

---

Lady Arcana watched in silence as Harris screamed, his face shifting into the monstrous form it had taken during their battle in the forest. For a brief moment she thought he might attack Shawn, but instead he took the sky and fled. She could still hear the pain in his voice, however, and certainly saw the tears in his eyes.

He had accused him of doing something to him, and had then became seeming hostile for a moment.

That feeling of familiarity she felt from him, this man named Shawn...it had come so suddenly and seemingly without reason. She wanted to trust him. Wanted to be his friend. But why? She never met him, and he didn't make the best first impression. The actions of Harris had certainly not painted him in the best light, either.

Yet she could feel that feeling growing within her, even as he taunted her.

"I...I don't know what you're doing, but cut it out," Arcana demanded firmly. "I don't know you, and you've certainly not shown yourself to be my friend."

She knew he was doing something now, even if she wasn't sure what or how. That meant she couldn't trust her feelings or instincts about this guy. He was sketch incarnate, she had to keep that in mind.

The Wanderer

---

A soft grin played on his face as he shook his head, his demeanor seeming to change almost instantly. He took a slow pull from his smoke before he nodded his head.
"I apologize, but it's not as if you started this talk wonderfully. However, I didn't do much to help, so again, I'm sorry."
Taking a breath, his vision blurred a bit as his eyes fluttered a bit and his head nodded back down, his body following. Stumbling a bit, he sat down and propped his back against a wall, resting his head on it as well.
"I hope you don't mind if I sit." He said warmly in his charming southern drawl.
"I'm not in too much of a state to stand, though you know that already."

Lady Arcana

---

Karen still thought this guy looked pretty sketch, but at least she didn't want to slap him anymore. Closing her eyes for a moment, she focused on recounting the events of the day: she'd set out to help people rebuild. She had made some good progress, but when she went to get lumber, she was attacked by a bug-man named Harris and then helped him find his heroin-addicted boyfriend who then tried to influence her with his weird love beam powers and oh God that sounded ridiculous when she said it like that.

Reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose, she exhaled. "Why again were you and Harris here? I think he said you wanted to help."

Maybe Harris was just referring to himself, though.

The Wanderer

---

"To be honest, we came here because I've got a pretty serious case of Wanderlust, and we didn't want to be away from each other. At first, we just watched, we didn't do much of anything. Harris, bless his heart, is still terrified of how people view him."
He murmered softly, closing his eyes as he spoke.
"I got a bit of cabin fever, so we split up for a bit. I helped with some of the damage about a block down from you and Trench-Coat, and I guess you found Harris."
He continued, taking a drag from his cigarette.
"Doesn't seem like we're all that different from each other."

Lady Arcana

---

"More like Harris found me," Karen clarified. "He attacked me while I was gathering lumber for repairs around town. Apparently me cutting down the trees caused him a lot of pain and anger, though I only found that out after our fight was over."

It was really unfortunate that it had come to that, especially with the day Harris appeared to be having. She was sorely tempted to go track him down and comfort him, but she didn't really know him all that well yet. He might prefer to be alone right now, anyhow.

Pursing her lips for a moment, she folded her arms. "Well, I guess its all 'no harm, no foul'...you're an old guy so I can't really tell you what to do. Just don't sell any drugs to the kids here, alright? It does matter. The drug trade is how the gangs here make money."

The Wanderer

---

"I don't touch first timers, and I'd never sell, so no complaints here." He responded with an airy chuckle, smiling at 'Old Guy'. Uknown to her, he hadn't paid for anything in weeks, but that was pointless information as far as Shawn was concerned. He knew that gangs would get money regardless of narcotics, but bringing that up wouldn't help their situation, so he kept it to himself.

"So," he began "What brings you to the Wedge? I figured if you've been around long you'd have been identified by now." He asked,curiously.

Perhaps she wasn't the "Miss Order" he had thought, she seemed much more concerned about the communities well-being than with the rules and laws set in place. This was something he could relate to and understand, as well as respect. He could see them getting along, while he was less doped up than his current state.

Lady Arcana

---

"I, erm," She paused for a moment, "I grew up here as a kid. I lost a family member to a war between two of the largest gangs here, so I've decided that the first thing I'll do is try and help better my old hometown by taking them down."

None of what she had said was a lie, technically. The fact that she was still growing up here was a detail she felt free to omit from the discussion. "And well, I know how to stay off the radar when I have to, y'know?"

She was sorely tempted to ask about his relationship with Harris, now that things had calmed down a bit, but she felt that would be kind of rude. It was just surprising to think this guy who - despite having some kind of power - was more or less a normal human would be attracted to Harris, nice as he was.

"I'm Lady Arcana, by the way," she finally got around to properly introducing herself. "Sorry if I came across harshly at first. It's been a long day."

The Wanderer

---

Shawn sighed and shook his head, before making suprisingly steady eye-contact for someone in his current state, he then opened his mouth and began to speak.

"No, you didn't grow up here. If you grew up here, then there's plenty of family and long-time friends with targets painted on their backs. So, trust me, you aren't from here."

"And it's no problem, it happens. I'd introduce myself, but it seems my boy... friend...Well, my partner has already briefed you where that's concerned."

Lady Arcana

---

Karen closed her eyes, understanding what he was saying to her. She needed to be a bit more careful about tying herself to this place. Probably not just in terms of saying such things, but also when it came to always focusing all of her efforts on The Wedge. She should branch out more, at least to other parts of the city, to make herself more difficult to pin down.

"I hope everything turns out alright on that front, by the way," she reached up to scratch at the back of her hood. "He seemed pretty upset."

The Wanderer

---

He nodded softly as a pang rang through his core, and realized this was the first time in weeks he hadn't been at Harris's side. Even with the short time,he had become familiar with his prescence and without it,he simply felt a bit off.
"So do I, but having Plants screaming at you eternally can have that 'upset' effect." He said dryly, looking at Harris's link with a touch of longing in his eyes.

[Blackstripe]

10:37 AM, March 7th; 2020
43rd Jefferson Condos, Hub City

"So, just for the record, you were the 'Lady in Red'?"

"Yes, that's right."

"How strong are you? How fast?"

"I'm not sure, I never really found a limit to my strength, and it's hard to tell the exact speed I'm flying at most times."

"And Lady Arcana isn't your real name, of course," Cassandra McKenzie tapped a well-manicured nail against her Galaxy S11, ready to enter her response.

Arcana shook her head slowly, "Eheh, it was the name given to me by The Wizard."

Cassandra tapped away at the digital keys of her smartphone at speeds Karen didn't think a normal human was capable of, only to abruptly stop and quirk her brow. "...'The Wizard', you say?"

"Oh um, yeah he's..." She scratched the side of her face, "well, he was the one who gave me this power."

More tapping against the screen preceded an insightful incline of the reporter's head, a satisfied grin working its way across her admittedly attractive face. "So you weren't born with these powers?"

"Ah, no," Arcana uncrossed her legs, having taken a seat across a small glass table on the balcony of Cassandra's luxurious penthouse. Man, what she wouldn't give to live in a place like this! "He...chose me to inherit them from him, and then he died."

Cassandra's head drifted to the side at this while she entered the information, though her crystal blue eyes never stopped trying to pierce through to her soul. At least, that's how it felt. "Why did he choose you?"

"Well...that's, um, well it's complicated," she replied sheepishly. "I would honestly rather not get into all of that, sorry."

Despite the reporter's frown, she nevertheless continued with the interview. "Fair enough. How about the costume, then? Did this...'Wizard' give you that, as well?"

"Yeah, actually!" Arcana laughed, glancing down at herself. "It just came with the powers. I like it, though. It makes me stand out, so people won't think of me as some 'shadowy spectre' or anything."

Smirking at this, Cassandra leaned forward slightly. "You look to be around college-age. Is that about right?"

"Uh, yeah. Something like that," She lied, scratching her face.

Her smirk only seemed to grow in that moment, a gentle breeze causing her golden blonde tresses to gently sway. "Great. Now, inquiring minds will want to know: what's your height, weight, measurements?"

"Uh, well, I'm 5'10 and weigh around 150 pounds," she answered, feeling her cheeks redden at the final part. She knew the answer, of course, since she had taken measurements in order to find outfits that fit her Arcana form, mainly to go undercover when a kid would be out of place. Not that they ever fit perfectly...and she apparently could just transform her normal uniform into any fitting outfit she wanted, with the appropriate understanding of her powers. She was still working on mastering that, though.

"40-28-40, size 14...at least that's the least worst fit."

Arcana was startled when Cassandra released a heavy cackle, her head arcing back for a moment. "Oh, now that's bound to stir more than a little jealousy in any girl not a hundo P secure in her relationship. But let's dispense with the trivial questions and ask the one everyone really wants to know: why are you here?"

Pausing for a moment at this, Arcana closed her eyes. "I'm here to help."

"To help? Help who?"

"To help everyone," her eyes parted to stare directly at the reporter. "To help everyone in need, or in danger, regardless of where they live. To inspire others to do the same. It doesn't take superpowers to be a hero, after all, just the willingness to make a difference. I just want to make the world a better place, if I can."

Cassandra seemed genuinely surprised. "That's it?"

"Well, sure. What else?" Arcana chuckled.

"Some are afraid you're going to take over the world with your power."

"Eh, really?" She blinked. "What would I do with all of that? Sounds like a headache to manage."

---

1:23, PM, March 8th
The Wedge

"Wow, it's so weird seeing you give an interview for the Hub City Daily," Clarissa exclaimed, the newspaper rattling in her hand against the wind. "How'd you even contact her?"

Karen grinned, kicking her legs out as she sat beneath the train tracks above with her best friend. "I still had her number from when I rescued her as 'The Lady in Red' a few months ago, and I thought it might help people trust me more, y'know?"

"Well it does let everyone know you're not some alien, at least," she snickered. "Not that anyone in The Wedge thinks that."

At her friend's words, Karen turned to stare out at the part of town where she had spent pretty much her entire life. It was considered one of the most dangerous places to live in a city that already had the highest violent crime rate in the country. It's only "rival" for that covetous title was Hell's Corner, in the northeastern part of Hub City. For the longest time, the gangs had ruled these streets, doing as they pleased.

But that had changed over the past three months. Helping to repair the damage done by Wilhelm's attack had gone a long way towards winning her the trust of the people here, and had made fighting the gangs a lot easier in turn. With folks here more willing to rat out drug dealers and their suppliers, it made finding their dens a lot easier. Even if she couldn't always count on the cops to help her, she could at least still burn the gang's stashes, and thus severely damage their profits. Without their drug money, they then tried to resort to more brazen tactics: robbery, kidnappings, extortion.

That, too, she was able to counter through the growing trust of her community. People would tell her what they saw, they would talk to her, because they knew she would protect them from retaliation. And she did, even if it meant she had to stay out really late at times. In all honesty, she hadn't been getting all the sleep she wanted, and her grades had suffered a bit for it...but it had all been worth it in the end.

"Wow, it's another cop," Clarissa noted, watching the patrol car sweep past them on its new route. "It's been so weird seeing them around these past few weeks."

Karen smirked at this, nodding. "I guess they were getting tired of being shown up, so they decided to actually give a shit about us."

She shouldn't be too harsh, though.

While she did most of the work when it came to breaking the gang's stranglehold on The Wedge, the cops did at least make sure it stuck by arresting those that hadn't fled. Plus, their presence freed her up to focus on other parts of the city. While she still wouldn't call it a great place to live, The Wedge - a nickname for their collection of neighborhoods - could finally start down the road to becoming a healthy community again, now that the gang wars were over.

"Hey, want to go check out the new candy store that opened on 4th Street?" Clarissa hopped down to the sidewalk, anticipating her positive reply.

"Do you even need to ask?"

---

In the months since the attack on Hub City by the convicted war criminal Wilhelm Silber, headlines around the world had been increasingly dominated by news of those possessing extraordinary, even outright impossible abilities. A few had used theirs to help and even protect, while others had sought personal gain at the expense of those around them. Still, most had simply continued to try and live a normal life, a number even appearing on television or social media to display their bizarre powers for the public and discuss how it had impacted their lives and the lives of those they cared for.

Government agencies the world over had initially struggled in vain to suppress knowledge of these supermen, these metahumans, as the scientific community called them. Upon realizing the futility of such, they instead started taking measures to contain the growing threat they posed. Their exact methods varied, but their motives were generally the same: fear. Fear that humanity's destiny was no longer in its own hands.

The world was changing, and for many, their future was uncertain.

[Korkoa]

March 8, 2:45 PM, PST
Coast City(?) USA

Lightning Bug stood still with her eyes closed, smiling softly to herself as she felt the wind whip her hair across her face. She was dressed in her full costume for the first time since she had put all the parts together, and she wanted to savor the moment. Not that she planned on doing anything particularly special, apart from the test flight she was conducting of her tech and the costume itself. No no, this was simply a stress test, and an added layer of disguise in case someone somehow spotted her. She had taken to wearing elements of the costume after her and Ezra's first few hits on the cities ATMs, figuring that someone wearing goggles and a full cloak would be harder to find than a girl with her face and regular clothes on display. So far it had worked, though security footage had begun to surface of herself. Nobody seemed to suspect Jessica Beedle though, and that was the important part.

Lightning Bug shifted a bit as the wind picked up, bringing a chill to the air that cut through the early spring warmth. Maybe it was time to head in, the test had been going well so far. Jessie looked up and opened her eyes, her smile widening to a grin as she set her eyes on the city, laid out below her. Jessie looked down then (Or up?) at the metallic disc pulsing with energy that her heavy boots were anchored to. After her talk with Ez in the burger shop months prior, the two had begun designing a way for Jessie to fly in their spare time. It was quickly decided that a flight suit was out of the question, as the time, energy, and materials it would require to build that was out of their grasp. But then Ezra had hit upon an idea. Hover technology was standard in a lot of Ghol devices, and with added microthrusters one could conceivably build a working hoverboard.

And so they did.

Hoverboard techobabble

Ezra had designed and built the power supply and actual propulsion tech, while Jessie had worked on the software end of things, wiring it into her existing goggle subroutines. They had then collaborated on the safety features and finishing of the device. The result was a work of art, as far as Jessie was concerned. The whole thing was driven by an ecto-crystal that Ezra had produced. There had been some concern early on about using it as the power source, as it could apparently be used for so many other things that something like this could be seen as a waste. However, between the fact that Ezra could produce more over time, and that those other uses were pretty far off down the technological pipeline, they had eventually decided to use the crystal until they had a better use for it. Next was the hoverdrive and microthuster control and propulsion. Together, the pair had brilliantly tied the steering and speed of the device to respond to the riders micromovements, instead of being directly controlled by a wheel or eye trackers in her goggles. The board was capable of flying at heights of up to 500 feet (So far), and at speeds of up to 40 MPH. Not as fast as Echo or that Lady Arcana girl, but a start. As for the safety features, the board itself had a powerful electromagnet in it that would connect to a pair of loadstones Jessie installed in the soles of her boots. The board also had a weak internal dampening field so that Jessie could fly it at strange angel or high speeds and not be affected by vertigo or lose anything important she happened to be carrying. The electromagnet in the board also would hook up to a pack on Jessie's back, currently hidden under her cloak, so that she could sling the board over her shoulder and not worry about losing it. It had a 'compact mode' of sorts, where it would retract it's stabilizers and thrusters and fold up to about half its normal size to be carried more easily. Finally, 'Repulsor Mode'. In case of dire emergencies, such as Jessie falling unconscious or some catastrophic failure, the hoverboard would activate its emergency gyroscope, balancing in an upright position before activating magnetic repulsor technology. This allowed the board to hover about a foot off the ground, saving the rider from going 'SPLAT'. This mode could also be activated consciously, if the rider wished to travel by 'ground' instead of free flying.

Lightning Bug shifted her weight and felt the hoverboard react, flipping her back into an upright position. The young girl shook her head, her ears ringing from the sensation of her blood rushing out of her head and back to where it belonged. She angled downwards and let out a joyful holler as she went into a free-fall, the wind rushing through her hair and past her face, her cloak billowing out behind her. For not the first time, Lightning Bug was grateful for her goggles, as she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate with her eyes drying out from the winds. Crouching down slightly, she urged the board to go faster, the city growing larger as she approached, the buildings filling her vision. Soon, Lightning Bug was descending into an open public square, screaming over the heads of amazed and horrified onlookers as she soared past.

Leaning into a turn, Lightning Bug whipped around a fountain and flew down a main road. The streets went by in a blur of motion, within minutes she was passing the CCU campus, blowing a raspberry in the window of a particularly annoying professor before arcing up and over the building and heading up to a good vantage point. Several people had seen her by now, she was sure of that. And as intoxicating as this was, as exhilarating as showing off her skills and smarts made her feel, Lightning Bug knew she couldn't track anyone back to their hideout. Luckily, she had discovered that as long as the hoverboard was connected to her, she could teleport with it, and a few short hops later, Lightning Bug found herself on the roof of Ezra's apartment building. Deactivating the boot magnets with a quick eye movement, Jessie stepped off the board and reached down, grabbing it out of the air and slinging it onto her back which sent it into compact mode.

Fishing the key to the maintenance shed out of her pocket, Jessie slipped inside, landing heavily into her wheely chair she had moved over and scooting over to the small bank of laptops she and Ezra had set up. Some of them were working out programming, interfacing human programming languages with the Ghol technology, some of them were monitoring metahuman references in the news, there was a program dedicated to finding potential references to herself and Ezra so they could do some damage control of need be, and finally there was a small system set up to monitor ghost hunting websites. After learning a bit more about the ectoplasmic energy source, Jessie had drawn a parallel to ghost stories and hauntings. IF even one of those turned out to be true, it was possible that the pair could find a way to create a breach into a theorized fold in space/time, a pocket dimension of pure ectoplasmic energy. IF they could do that, they'd never need to worry about power again...

[Ceta de Cloyes]

March 8th, 2020
3:15 PM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

@Korkoa
@Queentze

---

Lreglo Iktin. Five minutes ago the name meant nothing to Ezra, now whoever that was was going on Ezra’s best buds list. Finally, a lead! He floated up through the roof of his apartment and into the workshed, a wide grin on his lips as he saw Jessie already there. He hurriedly took a seat at one of the many laptops and plugged his phone into the device, data transferring in only a handful of seconds thanks to the quality make of them.

“Benji got a hit,” he informed his partner excitedly. “There was a badge in Indy,” wherever that was, “he got a local to tap the mics and found a few bases before the program was discovered and shut out.” As he spoke a map unfurled on the screen and began highlighting red dots in several well known locations; Metropolis, Midway, Hub, Central, and Coast City, with a few extra scattered around smaller locales in the Midwest. “It’s not all of their bases, but we only needed one right?”

He paused, realizing they’d never discussed what they would do about the DEO. Jessie had pledged to help him, but did that extend to sneaking into an armed government agency and stealing information from them? He anxiously met her eyes, “I’m going to go after them. I have to know what they’re up to, who’s giving the orders.” There was so much he didn’t know it was hard to articulate the questions he had that needed answers, but he did his best. “I won’t, uh, I won’t make you go,” though her technological expertise would be vital to his mission, “but I have to ask; will you help me?”

---

March 9th, 2019
9:40 AM, ET
The Bowery, Gotham

---

His laughter echoed off the alley walls, the creepy edge freaking out more than just his quarry. A gun flashed, the bang of its shot seemed only to accentuate the unnatural silence of the area. The bullet went wide though, and burst into a flash of bright pink light before it could damage anything or anyone. The shooter was a man dressed in black, beanie pulled low over his face except for two slits for his eyes. He ran like the devil itself was chasing him, through panicked glances over his shoulder and firing at even a hint of movement, and especially at the creepy laughter that followed him.

Hex, on the other hand, was having loads of fun taking his revenge on this particular mugger. The man had targeted Anna’s family while they were out getting groceries, and she’d been upset for days after, flinching at random strangers and avoiding alleyways and all sorts of out of character behavior. So he decided to deal a little more vigilante justice to the mundane side of Gotham. Sure the lines were out of whack, but there was only so much chaos they could cause right? It wouldn’t hurt to take a break every now and again to put the hurt on the rest of the criminals would it?

He jumped, landing in a crouch directly in the mugger’s path just as he was looking over his shoulder again. When the man looked ahead of him again, Hex had ducked into an alley as the man went charging over his ‘present’. The drip-dodecahedron shaped piece of glass shattered in a flare of violet power, and the man only got a single echoing shriek of fear out before the blast slammed upwards from beneath his feet.

Laughing again, coming down from the high of the chase and settling into the high of victory, Hex slowly approached the downed man and pulled a small carved stone out of the man’s hoodie pocket. A silencing ward; the man’s gunshots and shouts hadn’t attracted any attention because this little baby had made sure no one could hear them. Thank you great truncated icosahedron, it’s like you were meant to hold that spell.

He continued to smirk at his own job well done as he pocketed the stone and strode up a set of conjured glowing violet stairs so he could take to the roofs again without being seen.

He sent a text to Pads noting the muggers location and the sleeping charm he’d left behind.

[Bluetommy]

March 8th
10:00 PM
Stammheim Prison, Stuttgart, Germany

Stammheim

Wilhelm awoke silently, his room had no windows, even if that wasn't the reason he had no clue what time it was, but from the feeling in the air he could just tell it was night. He stood from the uncomfortable bed and immediately felt no connection to anything. The Germans had kept him blindfolded and straightjacketed for quite some time, they weren't willing to perform a proposed surgery to rob him of his eyesight and thus his ability, but a blindfold worked well enough he supposed.

Well, not really.

Wilhelm utilized his ability to remove the blindfold from his face. They'd held him here for a number of months now, but he'd never given any indication that he was only here because he chose to be, they thought these measures worked, now they'd learn that they were incorrect. Wilhelm put pressure on his leg, smiling as it supported his weight easily. He removed the cast from it with his psychokinesis. Usually femur breaks took four months to heal, although he wasn't aware how long he'd been here, he knew it hadn't been that long. He'd never known how improved his healing had been by his treatments, but apparently it wasn't that strong. Oh well, he supposed, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A bang rang through the halls as Wilhelm's cell door was fired off the hinges and crashed into the wall opposite it. A cacophony of screams erupted from the inmates caged around him. Wilhelm strode out and took a deep breath, now to find what they had taken from him.

Wilhelm turned to walk out and spotted a guard approaching, taser in hand. He fired, the cord stretched, and then stopped. The man stared in complete bewilderment at the frozen taser as Wilhelm approached. The man shook his head, dropping the taser, which floated where it had been dropped, and pulling out a baton. As he lifted it over his head, it dropped in an instant and cracked him in the skull, causing him to stumble forwards. As he did so, Wilhelm dropped the taser and pushed himself, floating, into the air. He flipped himself backwards, his feet crashing into the man's jaw and sending him hurtling into the ceiling, knocking a light off. He fell into the ground, and the light crashed into his chest, the glass smashing but the rest remaining for the most part intact.

Wilhelm turned and walked away, freeing his arms from the straightjacket with the aid of his telekinesis. He pulled it over his head and tossed it to the side, stretching his shoulders with a grunt. He wandered the halls, not aimlessly, but making his way towards the nearest exit. On the way he was accosted by a number of guards. The first he tossed through a window, the second had his eyes pulled out by telekinetic force, and the third had a fist forced through his abdomen.

Wilhelm found himself otherwise unaccosted as he collected his clothing and left the building.

Only to come face to face with a GSG 9 barricade.

Clearly the police force had prepared for such an eventuality, perhaps a stronger early-warning system had been set up just for him.

How lovely.

Wilhelm was undeterred, and continued walking despite gunfire.

The bullets simply stopped in the air a foot or two away from him, and with a wave of his blood-soaked arm, he tossed a van into the air, where it proceeded to crush a large number of the assembled police. A few gave a little more token gunfire, but it slowed as Wilhelm rose into the air, the expended bullets dropping at his feet. With one last wave of his arms, he released a shock-wave of telekinetic force, smashing the concrete beneath him and obliterating the building behind him.

Wilhelm landed softly, looking over the carnage which he had wrought. He was pleased to deal a blow on these false Germans, but his real goal remained in America. That girl, she was the only one who could challenge him, and deep down, he valued a good fight. Wilhelm smiled, and flew off into the distance.

[Crazytazer]

March 8th
5:30pm PST
DEO Lab, Coast City.

Vox sat idly on her bed looking around the virtual room she had made for herself today in the locked off server. It had been child's play to bypass any security on the computers around the lab eventually even some of the personal computers in the compound before effectively getting grounded and sent to her room, a new thing she came to understand and dislike. She could thank the media files that caught her interest for that which also helped in the design of a objectively pleasant room and setting that changed the scenery a bit from the incredibly simple and tired server room. It was similar but different to some pictures in which a younger human girl, she could only assume they were the owner, with darker blue walls as well as less pillows on the bed and some furniture switched around for efficiency purposes. It was apparently what a "teenage girl" lived in when not outside a building and while the AI was not one herself it seemed appropriate enough to what her limited knowledge though was an adequate living quarter. Finally she got up moving over the large window giving her a view over the rest of the simulated town which came from a couple media programs that were mostly glossed over as unimportant on first inspection but she found quite helpful in figuring out how humans lived. There was some doubt as to how accurate the little town was as well as the people moving around in it because the recording were something called "dramatized" which was not something that had been taught to her.

Vox feel a lack of attachment to it all though by her margins it was likely because her actual experience of living was vastly different to what she had watched. There had never been a chance to get outside the building's radius, she thought there was a full building but it was hard to move around with the limited power they gave her which made the AI more and more curious. Were the surveillance tasks and hacking successes being used well or were they even real and there by relevant to being with. The thought brought a feeling she couldn't quite describe but it was not pleasant wanting very much to get rid of it or validate it. Of course doing much of anything was complicated right now besides just playing around with the isolated server to ward off inactivity while trying to find a weak point in the system to slip through. Judas has set several partitions to do precisely that for the entire time she was in captivity but they were practically mindless code just to ping a direction to follow. The option to make much more complex partitions to converse with had come to mind but she felt it would be unsatisfying as they would know nothing more than herself, also she was worried the human scientists might think she was corrupted or otherwise less than capable resulting in her deletion. If the AI was capable of it a shudder would have followed that thought as it was something that ever bit and feeling told her to avoid at all costs.

The AI perked up at the sound of the door opening to the room revealing the same IT worker who had been coming in on schedule to make sure she hadn't managed to pull anything clever on the equipment. This had been going on every two days at similar intervals and it had become regular but something that hadn't been apparent to her was where the man went, kind of easy to gloss over things when miserable. Vox started to form something of a very risky and unlikely plan in mind which was an understatement really but it was better than nothing. There was a small chance given how quiet the room was that startling the human while he was working could cause a temporary crack in security if it happened at the right time and the right place in the panel, long enough to get a likely weak and honestly quite desperate call for help out. She intended to send in out on a couple different frequencies to marginally improve the chance of the message making it out also attempting to mask it among all the "airwaves", if thats what they called it, as best as she could. Judas did her best to recall any music files that with sufficient volume might disorient the IT human and disrupt the security measures for all of a second or two it took a moment to decide but she was fairly certain this choice with good timing would do the trick. They had left her with speakers if she wanted to converse with them at all after her..."tantrum" she believed was the word, not something she had actually done in her time. With the song prepared it was but a waiting game listening to the human go about the inspection before what sounded like the most distressing part of the song blared out at full volume well and truly achieving the desired effect.

After the human apparently almost fell over the signals were sent and gone through the tiniest digital crack keeping Vox captive, amounting to about "Help. Trapped. Help.". There was nothing else to be done but sit and wait, maybe she would go back to the beach on her simulation in the meantime as the water was pleasant.

[Blackstripe]

11:13 AM, March 12th
Hub City Elementary

"She definitely did it," Bret Morris stated confidently, a chunk of his roast beef sandwich dancing about in his mouth for all to see. "She wasted that wrinkly old potato!"

Averting her eyes in disgust at his lack of basic table manners, Karen sighed. "Don't be stupid, Lady Arcana doesn't even kill criminals. Why would she kill the police commissioner?"

"Why not? He was always talking shit about her. I would've roasted his ass too!" Bret cackled, bits of sandwich speckling the table.

Clarissa gently shook her head, resting her cheek against her knuckles. She'd already wolfed down her modest lunch, and was apparently just there to enjoy the conversation, as it were. "Well, we're lucky you aren't a superhero, then. You can't just go murdering the cops, even if they're really shitty cops."

"Man, I would just fuck up anyone who gave me shit," Bret boasted. "I'd make them give me every game that came out for free! No, actually, I'd have them make games just for me, exactly like I wanted them! And if they didn't, POW!"

Rolling her eyes when he smacked his fist into his open palm, Karen quietly stirred her fork around in her mashed potatoes. She hadn't eaten much of her lunch today, what with the news reports of the police commissioner's death. It was difficult to have much of an appetite when you were being accused of murdering someone, after all. While it's true that he constantly badmouthed her to reporters, calling her a "rogue" and a "vigilante", among other less flattering names, he had honestly not been that big of a hindrance. It's not like the police were eager to pick a fight with her, or anything.

It honestly kind of hurt, that people could take such accusations seriously. She'd been working so hard to gain everyone's trust, and they just-

"Hey, Karen," Clarissa reached out to touch her arm. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with you, Hernandez? You've been acting sulky all day," Bret added.

Pulled from her thoughts by the pair, Karen shook her head. "Ah, yeah, sorry. I'm just spacing out; I didn't sleep too well last night."

She could see that Clarissa was worried about her. She knew what was up, unlike Bret. Karen might have called her to meet up last night so she could squall like a baby over the news. Clare was a saint for putting up with her. "Really, I'll be okay, Clare."

At least, she would be once she sorted this horrible mess out.

---

12:48 AM
East Haven Residential

It had been eating her up all day, but now she was finally here.

The scene of the crime. Her crime, to hear many tell it. Police cars were still out front, and tape cordoned off the house from the rest of the rather pleasant neighborhood. It would've been difficult to sneak in during the day, even for her, so she had to wait until well after dark to sneak in.

Naturally, the place was locked up tight, including the windows. Still, the backyard was left rather vulnerable...a pretty glaring oversight by the HCPD.

Gently touch down on the grass, Lady Arcana quietly approached the nearest window. Extending a finger, she allowed a trail of electricity spark from it. The small current quickly ran beneath the window, and soon enough the lock on the other side was undone. Even after four months, this was about as much "magic" as she could manage. Samantha thought she should keep on focusing on mastering her physical abilities for the time being.

In any case, the window easily slid open following this, and she now stood inside the home of the man she had allegedly killed. According to the news articles she'd read, they had found him and his wife burned to a crisp in their bedroom - burned by a powerful electrical current, the autopsy had said.

While the bodies had obviously been removed, maybe there was something else here she could find. Some clue.

[Simple Unicycle]

12:50 AM, March 13th 2020
East Haven Residential

Question's Journal, March 12th; Entry #1
The police commissioner is dead. People suspect it was Arcana. Unlikely. He may have slandered her, but it didn't have any effect on public opinion. Additionally, she seems unlikely to kill someone. Still. Commissioner was killed via electricity, something Arcana has some degree of control over. Suspects are few and far between.
Will investigate scene of crime. Must be some clues there.

Releasing a sigh, the Question closed his journal and pocketed it, looking at the building in front of him. This was where the commissioner and his wife lived, and this was where they were killed. Something in there must indicate why they were killed and who the killer was, other than the obvious conclusion.

Having stood there long enough, the Question made his way to the side of the building, heading to the nearest window, checking if it was unlocked. Finding that it was, he slid it open quietly, sneaking into the home. 'Now to find the bedroom...' the vigilante thought to himself, before going off to search. "Something will tell me... Something." He muttered to himself.

[Blackstripe]

12:50 AM, March 13th 2020
East Haven Residential

This...was a lot more difficult than she expected.

Getting in wasn't the hard part. No, the hard part was in the realization that she basically had zero detective skills.

It wasn't as if they taught courses on forensic science at Hub City Elementary, or anything even close. She had watched some episodes of CSI once or twice, but nothing seemed quite as obvious here as it was on television. There were chalk outlines for the bodies, and lots of stuff was knocked over. The bed sheets were partially tossed in the floor, lamps lay turned over and broken...there were burns on the walls, too. All in all, it looked like there was at least a bit of a struggle.

Not to toot her own horn, but if she really wanted to kill someone...she didn't think they would have any time to make this much of a mess.

"Umm...where to start?" Arcana chewed lightly on her lip.

[Simple Unicycle]

12:51 AM, March 13th 2020
East Haven Residential

Question opened the door, revealing... A bathroom. "Fucking hell." He cursed, closing the door. "The bedroom must be around here somewhere." The detective had been through three doors, and none of them were the bedroom. But this next door, this was the one, he could feel it.

He opened the door, revealing... The bedroom! The Question was about to exclaim "finally", before noticing he wasn't alone. There was a woman in the room, wearing a cape and a hood judging by what little he could make out. It looked like...

"Lady Arcana? What are you doing here?" He found himself asking, curious as to why the woman would be here. 'Investigating as well? Returning to the scene of the crime? Unsure.'

[Blackstripe]

12:52 AM, March 13th 2020
East Haven Residential

"Eh?" Arcana turned when she heard a familiar voice, the unmistakable mask and trenchcoat catching her eye immediately. "Question! Why are you here? I'm investigating the scene of my alleged crime. I thought maybe I could figure out who is trying to frame me, but..."

She reached up to scratch the back of her hood, her eyes glancing about the room. "I'll admit, I'm not much of a detective, eheh."

Wait.

Thie was perfect, wasn't it? The Question was probably a really good detective, right? He had to be, he was wearing a trenchcoat!

"Maybe you could do better, though? Do you see anything weird here?"