Blizz

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Layla leaned against her bike, arms folded over herself despite the thick leather jacket she wore over her summer dress. It was a cool day, a reminder that autumn was a short season, and winter would hit the city soon. Void seemed a bit agitated, a bit determined, and a bit fed up, his jagged teeth clenched resolutely, a fire in his eyes.

Another meeting had been called by that imposter leader. Void felt the darkness inside him swirl at just the thought. Today he'd try to drive her out, or at least make the Coven question her leadership. But to increase his success, he needed a second voice of reason with him. A friendly ally. A friend of Alizee.

Jack.

That's why they waited in the parking lot of the Tranquil Haven Park. Void had his eye on the entrance, waiting for Jack to roll up so he could push his next plan forward.

Jack Hawthorne was many things, but predictable was not one of them. Void wouldn't be able to see his arrival, as he appeared far from the entrance, underneath a tree in the most isolated part of the park. The only sound signaling his arrival was the feint trudge of his boots as he walked up to the Void Heart and his new host.

"Void Heart."

Void gave the man a sideways glace before completly turning to face him. "Jack."

Layla stood up straight, a bit nervous. From what she remembered of Jack, he was a bit of a recluse. Disappeared after the Coven dissolved. But he wasn't a bad person. Being associated with entities didn't make a person bad.

She offered a small smile, put at ease upon seeing a familiar face. "Hi Jack."

As the group moved towards the gazebo, albeit at a slow pace, Void spoke with Jack.

"You remember what I told you over the phone, about Alizee?" Void said, an edge in his voice. If one was adept enough, they'd be able to tell Void was trying to hold back his pain.

"I... hell. You're a friend of Alizee. You were always supportive. So I'm asking you-"

He moved to hover in front of Jack, dead seriousness in his eyes.

"-I need you to be on my side when I knock Auri down. Got it?"

Jack's face was a barren wasteland. Neither the Void Heart nor Layla would be able to find the feintest trace of any expression whatsoever. Was he already at peace with his friend's death, or was he simply good at carrying the weight?

"It is good to see you again, Layla. As you for," he said, to the apparition, "It would be unwise to do such a thing. They want you gone. Auri, and the coven itself blames you for our friend's death, and that puts you in an especially precarious situation. You will not win by fighting fire with fire. Auri is not a leader. Though not for a lack of trying, she simply isn't equipped to see reason in the wake of all this. You're important in our attempt to save our lives, but they don't see that. They will try to seal you. That means you, Layla, are in danger as well."

Layla's eyes flew open, a hand pressed to her mouth in alarm. "Me too?"

"You are the Void Heart's host. You're adjoined, and that means you two are inseparable. For this reason, we must assume you are in just as much danger.

Jack clasped both of his hands in front of him, showing off a shadowing set of fingers in broad daylight. "They know your tricks. And I know theirs. I have a better idea, and it involves both of you trusting me with your lives," he said, dryly.

Void's eyes narrowed a bit. Layla noted his change in demeanor, and shrunk a bit behind him.

"Is... something wrong?" She thought.

Void was silent for a lot while longer, sizing up Jack thoroughly. Before he finally sighed, and held his jaw in a firm line. "Those bastards."

He sighed. "What did you have in mind, Jack?"

"It's simple. You and I take a trip to a place we're all too familiar with, the Void. Not just any place in it, no, we'll go to the region which I call home. A relatively benign area I named the Shadowzone, it will be safe for you, Layla. As long as we keep the doors and windows locked shut, your mind will not be harmed."

He paused, to let the idea of changing realities sink in.

"If we leave now, they will grow suspicious. So after the meeting, I will meet with you and Layla. I'll lead them to believe I'm looking for you, and that I have your trust-Which I hope I do. While they're busy, you two make any arrangements you need to be safe. We'll isolate Auri when she's most vulnerable. But until then, you are outnumbered. If you strike out at her, you'll have every last one of them unleashing the fullest extent of their magical abilities on you, in broad daylight."

Void narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Alizee was ganged up once before last night before... everything went to hell. I'd rather that didn't happen again, but... No promises. I can't hold my tongue when it comes to Auri."

His cragged jaws relaxed in a small sigh. "I just want justice for Alizee."

A pause as they neared the gazebo. Void glanced at Jack. "Alizee would appreciate this, you know."

”I’m sure she would. I hope she would. Alizee was a dear friend to me. And I will see to it that she can rest easily, wherever she is now.”

If only the Void Heart knew how true that would ring in time.

"Do not look for me. I'll find both of you when it's time." With that said, Jack turned and walked away. The plan was now in motion, and there was no going back.

---

Interactions: The Coven

Tranquil Haven Park

---

Always the mysterious one with a knack for dramatic entrances, no one could have seen Jack walking from the entrance of the park. He rarely walked the streets of any town he had made his way through, when he wasn't traversing the Void. Often, he would simply appear where he wanted to be, throwing off anyone who might be looking for him. Magic really was a wonderful alternative to most conventional forms of transportation, which required time and resources. Why fly overseas when you could simply open doors across the planet? Although, it certainly didn't turn out to be so convenient when people could notice him simply appearing out of thin air. Walking up to the meeting spot, Jack took a seat next to Sloane, who seemed to be doing somewhat better than last night. Today, he wore a dark blue greatcoat for the late October weather. It might've been an odd fashion choice, but it hid his channeler well. And it had hidden benefits for Jack's particular form of magic that he wanted to take advantage of, in the event that someone followed up on the chaos from yesterday.

Chaos which he chose not to dwell much on.

Jack was, unsurprisingly, more than a little jarred when Auri announced that Eksa, Simone and Finn were dead. There were many things about this that sat wrong with him. The least of which were the deaths themselves. It was heavy to know that they were dead after only recently reuniting, but Auri seemed... Lighthearted up until the moment she broke the news. Either Auri didn't really care about the loss of their lives, or she wasn't particularly good at expressing that she did. It was a small detail, but it stood out to him because Auri was showing the same demeanor she did when they met yesterday. Granted, they had all been slowly dying off, but something about this didn't sit right with him.

But Jack was the one who advocated for them minimizing paranoia yesterday, so he mentally filed that thought away.

"...Someone will answer for these deaths, one day." Simone was a good friend, once. She and Jack were two of the more scholarly coven members as kids, he remembered spending hours pouring over books with her and Britney. His response to the news was cold, as he clasped his hands together in vengeful contemplation.

"Do we have any valid, legitimate leads to find our murderer? Or do we know anyone who could point us in a meaningful direction? The three of them left, and went off on their own, didn't they? There has to be some common link between all of these, beyond only being confined to our old coven. When does Father Wolf strike, at night? When someone is alone and can't call for help? Both? If we can't determine their motive, we should at least look for a pattern, so we can avoid it."

Parahumans: Earth Drega

Evie might’ve been brash from the moment she walked in, but she didn’t ask questions just to hear herself talk. She genuinely wanted to know what her new teammates’ powers were. It helped to know how they’d be approaching their problems from here on. As far as Evie could tell, none of them were tinkers.

Tandem made clones and had a pocket dimension. Useful for a numbers advantage or stashing emergency supplies. Most of these jokers didn’t seem to have pockets on their gear. Meanwhile, Evie’s armor was essentially an upgrade to her vigilante costume the whole city recognized; Perks of being a pre-established cape included having your identity immune to being fucked with. Even now, she had a few minor medical supplies in her pockets out of habit. Maybe Tandem had more, or would start packing them around once shit hit the fan a few times.

The chick in the dress was a master. Great. Her power was a textbook image of one, no less. She could just mind control people with a single command, and do so even more if they trusted her. That wouldn’t be too big of an issue, seeing as Evie wasn’t inclined to trust any of these people until she saw their true colors, who they really were when their lives were on the line. And as rude as she was, Evie expected no less from them, since that was how their lives were lived now. They stepped into her shoes, and Evie believed in fair game at the very least.

So with that in mind, Evie took the earpiece offered. ”Loud and clear,” She said, with no amusement.

Decree and Tandem could at least speak their minds, but the next guy… Evie didn’t think he’d last a week. Munnin, the big ass bird-looking motherfucker, was a changer and not a case like Nightstalker. Wings, sound-muffling feathers, good strength and intense senses. Night vision and better hearing, which was probably why he jumped so much when Evie walked in. Evie didn’t understand that look her gave her. She didn’t have a PhD in Changerology, so whatever those giant puppybird eyes were trying to convey was lost on her.

The snarky little shit named Keystone didn’t waste any time. He pointed out flaws and weaknesses. Little did he know that the password digits he named had been changed 20 minutes before he walked through the door, as it does at random (thanks to his existence). He immediately started calling out weaknesses of his teammates, which Evie almost laughed at. The nerve on this kid made her feel like there was a bit of hope after all.

He definitely seemed to piss of the Ethos girl, who had some other mind-scrambling power. Some sort of impulse thing, maybe? She wasn’t very specific, despite the graphic details she used. Evie shrugged it off, having heard worse a time or two. Her attitude was funny, though. ”Yes ma’am,” Shattercrash made a mocking, sarcastic salute in Ethos’ direction, clearly unbothered by anything she just said about dropping the icebreakers. At least, until she made her point more clear. ”You wanna wind up dead in a ditch somewhere, because you didn’t know what your so-called teammates could do? Be my guest, princess. I’ve been doing this shit a hell of a lot longer than most of you, so pardon me for getting down business.”

Ethos may not have been here to play games, but neither was Shattercrash.

Hornet had an interesting power. Teleporting specifically to people, and then getting a power up to blitz them. It sounded like she was good for ambushes. But Richter’s power was just plain weird. He had something that looked like a striker power, which vaporized the coin in his hands. And he couldn’t shut it off, which was definitely a problem. Useful if they needed to get past something, but a problem regardless.

And the Wattson girl wasn’t offering shit, so that left Shattercrash to take a turn.

”Cool, not bad. My turn. The name’s Shattercrash, if anyone didn’t know. I do this-“ She reached up and pointed a finger at an empty wall. Nightstalker got visibly nervous and bounced out of the way as her hand began to glow with a violet-pink energy. She curled her middle finger and flicked it forward, causing a burst of the vibrant energy to fire off like a bullet, and hit flat against the wall. Keystone was correct, the wall material did one hell of a job in absorbing impacts, as they all felt in through their feet. No one was hurt, but it was still a somewhat unwise display.

”If that wall was a person, they’d be flat on the ground and too dizzy to stand.”

Her other hand balled into a fist, and lit up like a pink fireball. ”See this? Pure kinetic energy stored up by my power. Don’t ask me why it glows like this, it just does. I hit things, and I hit them hard. I could kick open a steel vault, launch high enough to swat a helicopter out of the sky, or punch someone from about 30 feet away.”

Someone’s phone started ringing. Grandmaster’s. He pulled it out, and put it to his head. ”Foster.”

There is indication of what is being said on the other end of the line, but he is presumably speaking to the director.

”I’m on my way.” He quickly slid the phone away, and Axiom shot him a look.

”I can take over.”

Grandmaster nodded, and walked past everyone. Anyone paying attention might have realized that he didn’t make any noise when he walked across the floor.

Once he was gone, Axiom got everyone’s attention. ”Okay. So, the PRT’s been training you guys for a while now. You know the protocols, the procedures and everything else. Tomorrow you’ll start patrols on a regular basis with us. Later today, you’ll receive a schedule that outlined who you meet with, and where you’re headed.”

”They should’ve already told you this, but you’re not going to be in active fights against villains too often. Usually, it’ll be us doing that. Or if you are deployed to a direct engagement, we’ll be there as backup.”

”Any questions?”

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Shirik expected the snow to fall within a few days, and so they had gone off to hunt again. One last hunt, and they’d be settled for the season. Velhass decided to stay at home today, and finish off preserving the food they had stocked up. It wasn’t much, but they had managed to build a storehouse in Shirik’s garden, with a smoking pit just outside. He felt they were already set for winter, but Shirik wanted to be sure, knowing the forest’s dwellers would be in hibernation before long. Better to have more than they could eat, than to have less. Velhass strung some sliced fish over the smoker, as the flames started to grow underneath. The sky had been growing gray all day, and he hoped he could get his task done before rain came.

He heard rustling noises in the grass, and quickly turned around. They were always alone, out here. Something was moving where he couldn’t see, and it put him on edge quicker than it should have. Velhass reached for a knife he kept at his waist and snuck around the fence. He walked up to a tall and stout tree, big enough for a Glen to behind in.

”Who’s there?” He demanded.

The rustling stopped, and something made a thud.

Silence.

”I can hear you. Come out. Now. Velhass bristled. He knew when someone was sneaking up on him with ill intent, having grown up in the worst parts of society. He was irrationally tense right now.

”I said-”

A small creature walked out in front of Velhass, no larger than his foot. Shirik called these things macrasins. It had a slender body, and a pair of circular ears, and jet black fur. Two large, prehensile pairs of claws helped them climb trees with a thick tail. Entirely harmless, other than their ability to nibble through traps.

Velhass exhaled, not realizing he had held his breath so long. ”How did you get here?” He asked the macrasin, sounding more amused than scared, now. ”Shouldn’t you be up in a tree, somewh-”

Snap.

His question was cut short, as he felt a white-hot pain in his side, suddenly. It almost knocked him off his feet, as he didn’t fully realize what happened before looking down. A crossbow bolt protruded from his stomach, tipped with a hooked, pyramid-shaped broadhead. Blood dripped from his shirt, down his leg, and that was the moment when Velhass realized someone had just shot him.

The pain made his legs give out, and forced a shaky cry of pain from his throat.

The macrasin ran behind him, and he heard metallic footsteps coming forth. Someone was behind him. Velhass rolled over, smearing his blood across his clothes, and saw a Glen adorned in the armor of an Inquisitor holding a crossbow. He has massive. Velhass reached for his knife without thinking about it, and flung it at his attacker like an axe. But he caught it between his fingers.

Every instinct in his body told him to move. To live another day. To run. And so that was what he did. Pain meant nothing to him in the instance where he hurled himself over the wooden fence, and ran for the storehouse.

Snap.

Another crossbow bolt struck him in the shoulder, causing him to tumble and fall onto the smoking rack he had set up. The pain he felt in his shoulder was washed away by everything behind his neck being burned. He screamed, until his lungs could not scream anymore, and rolled out of the fire like Shirik described themselves in their stories. The giant Glen was no longer alone, and he could see a vaguely S’toric looking Inquisitor posted up in the trees, pointing a now unloaded crossbow at him. Neither of them spared a word, or even looked particularly stressed.

Everything hurt, and everything was numb. There was no inbetween.

He wanted to scream, to speak or plead for his life. He wanted to cry out for Shirik’s help, but he could not. He wasn’t in the right mindset to even think right now, and he couldn’t read the thoughts of these invaders. They were black holes to him.

The edges of his vision were black, and something warm seemed to creep up behind him. He smelled smoke.

Velhass tried to move, but he fell back against the walls of the storehouse, and felt something burn him again. He slid down the wooden walls, as a third Inquisitor walked up to him, with a cloth hood draped around their mask. They lifted a crossbow and pointed it at Velhass. In futility, he shielded his face with a numb hand, as tears finally slid down his face.

He coughed up blood, and wheezed out the words ”Please… No.”

There was no emotion in the eyes of that mask. Only hollow judgment, as the Driisu wearing it said the last thing he ever heard.

”You had your chance.”

Snap.

---

Shirik may have been old, but they still remembered their training in the days before the Kolodon raids, along with the training of their ancestors. During their casting of this spell, they kept their situational awareness as active as possible, keeping an eye on every mimic beast that moved across the battlefield. Including the one that made a move towards them. Their upper body twisted to one side as their legs stayed still, with their left arm not moving. Their right arm slipped until the spear, and Shirik caught it barely two inches away from the pommel-end. In that same moment, they slammed their staff into the dirt, and shouted out an order.

"NOW!"

The sky rumbled overhead, and began to glow with an unnatural hue. Between the clouds far above, a cluster of blue balls of fire descended upon the battle. They fall like falling stars, large as a human head, with not but the sound of whistling wind to signal their arrival. Shirik didn't pay the projectiles, which someone might mistake for meteors, any mind. Rather, they hit the dirt, leaping back and hopefully out of the way of the mimic beast. They had faith in their spell, but they still wanted to get the hell out of the way when it started charging. If anyone had eyes strong enough to look at the vibrant blue objects falling from the sky, they might notice that there was exactly one for every mimic beast.

They streaked downwards, landing on each of the creatures with a loud crash. Much like their icy spear spell, the orbs of blue fire were devoid of all heat and friction. They were intended to freeze the beasts down to their very cores, as quickly as possible. As they made contact, there was a burst of intense, rich blue light that bathed their surroundings in an unnatural hue, for all of two seconds. Fog and mist formed rapidly, trailing in around the blast zones. If Silbermine had hoped that their journey to Mythadia would be discreet, or uneventful, then he would surely be disappointed. The sight was not unlike the Jotunheim crashing to the ground, not long ago.

Silbermine wanted to see Shirik's mettle, so Shirik brought the best. And now, all they could do was hope that the mimic beast charging directly at them happened to stop dead in its tracks before dying a frigid death.

X-Men: GenetiX

Ryder didn't bother with the vegetables. She just stared out a window as if she were looking for something. Even now, her mind was tapped into the cameras and everything these fools didn't think needed to be secured from psychic intrusion. There were dozens, or even a hundred or more people who stayed here at one time. Ryder could possibly dig deep enough to find names, and then flip through every single one to see if any stood out. But she didn't particularly care, and it wouldn't tell her much if she did. What stood out, however, was the ever-so-minor detail that the dorms didn't have cameras. They had privacy, something Ryder didn't have back at Umbra. There were at least 3 cameras in her "bedroom" that Ryder had been aware of, and likely a sweep of others she never found for one reason or another. She wouldn't rule out the possibility that Umbra had a few vibranium-plated ones in the ceiling, as a last resort if they needed to keep an eye on her after she destroyed the others.

Not that it won the old man any points. She still didn't trust this place.

She eyed the black tea that Xavier sat in front of her, but didn't drink it. Not yet, at least. She didn't keep her eyes on him as he made it, and was more than willingly to assume he put something in it with absolutely zero evidence. So silently, she just let it go for the time being. Granted, if they wanted to poison her, they had weeks to do so, but this was how Ryder's thought process worked. And right now, it was working double time.

She stared Xavier down while she contemplated something, unbothered by the fact that he was a psychic as well. After all, if she even thought he was trespassing on her mind, he'd be dead before he could blink. "...I'll leave whenever I feel like it, and you won't stop me." It was a statement, rather than a question. "So tell me why I shouldn't just jump into the sky and get back to what I was trying to do, the second I walk outside." She was trying to dissect Xavier's invitation to step outside. Of course, Ryder intended to regardless, seeing as she hadn't set foot in open air once beyond the time she broke out of Umbra. But at that point, Xavier had to give her a damn fine reason to stay. They witnessed what she'd do to free herself from a pursuit a few weeks ago, and if they tried to chase her, that ferocity would be turned on them.

"Unless you want to take your chances chasing me for a second time, it better be good." That could've been a threat, or just less-than-friendly advice. It was hard to say, coming from Ryder.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Leah Jordan

---

Location: The Dance
Gear: A hot ass dress
Skills: The insurmountable will to not lose her cool under any circumstances
Oh god oh fuck

---

---

”Heh… Nice.” Leah wasn’t sure where she’d hang up her fancy wizard crown… Maybe frame it on the wall with Sabine’s and April’s. She wasn’t used to winning fancy shit like this, so Leah’s “Fancy Shit from High School” collection was effectively nonexistent. Three years in a row, and this was the first big thing she did here that wasn’t a milestone for heroics. The first school dance she had ever been to, when she could’ve gone to the last two. The first Halloween party she had been to, when she never did Halloween before in her life. Leah felt… like a kid. It sounded dumb, and silly, but kids were dumb and silly. And that was okay to most people, but Leah would say she never had the chance to be either of those things growing up. And while that was technically true, she grew up at AA, and not just in the desert back home.

She was always too scared to step out of the walls that she built. Too afraid of being hurt again to enjoy life. Leah was trying to find the courage to climb over the walls a lot more lately, and her girlfriends helped. They helped so much, when it came to being just dumb and silly kids every now and then. They needed all the time they could spend, since they’d all have to fight one day. Hopefully, they’d both be prepared for her approach to the contest by then. Leah knew her team definitely wouldn’t be, by they wouldn’t matter at that point. Leah never wanted to fight in the contest, she just did it for the sake of others. If she allowed herself to entertain the idea enough, Leah could imagine that she’d rather spend the years others spend among the Avengers with April and Sabine.

Where else would she go? AA was where everything she ever made for herself was found. Without it…

When everyone started to pay attention to other things, Leah figured the night wouldn’t last much longer. And she had her eyes on that haunted house since they got here, out of curiosity. People had been coming out absolutely demoralized. And she could see Vicky standing around looking nervous for quite a while before hobbling across the floor for Madalyne’s help. Not a good sign if she was fraternizing with wizards.

”You two noticed that people seemed to be coming out of there absolutely wrecked? Not really the reaction I’s think of for a haunted house. Nimue’s running it, so… I think I’m gonna go see what’s in there, and kick the ass of whatever’s messing people up,” She said to her girls, with her usual confidence and badassery.

Leah planted a kiss on both of their foreheads, ”I’ll make sure it’s safe, if you two go in after me.” She was being playful, but honestly, what sort of sadistic shit was Nimue hiding in there? She walked off the edge of the stage landing on both feet, and immediately made her way inside.

It seemed normal, walking inside the haunted house up until the very moment where everything went wrong. There wasn't a defined point where things were normal and when things started looking weird, but Leah found herself in darkness. Haunted houses were supposed to be dark, that much was true, but she couldn't even see past her own hands. It was just bright enough to see herself and a concrete floor, and yet everything was unfalteringly black. Where was the entrance, again? Leah couldn't see it behind her, not even a distant glow indicating a point of reference for how far she had walked. Leah felt that she had walked into a straight line, despite this being a maze. It was unnatural, and Leah should have seen this coming, entering a place that was ran by an otherworldly entity. But she kept walking regardless. All was quiet, up until the moment Leah heard something rumble.

A low, groaning noise like a distant volcano. Like a crumbling mountain. It caught her attention, and so Leah stopped.

"You..." A voice like an ocean.

Leah spun around, quick as a whip, and saw that she was not alone. Somehow, she could see them in this weird void of a world. A figure, standing head and shoulders taller than her, with stony skin that was flecked with bits of brown and bronze. They had more muscle in one arm than Leah did in her entire body, and Teddy was the only one she had ever met that fit could compete with her strength. The stranger was has some sort of armor on, minimal and made of leather and bits of metal. At least, that was what it seemed like, something between a sleeveless vest and riot gear. Strange markings stood out across their skin, wrapping around their arms like geometric snakes. They wore fur-lined boots that went up to their ankles, and somehow completely silenced their movements. They looked like someone from another world entirely, and yet Leah could see a resemblance there. They had hair in a style similar to her own, untouched and long enough to touch the floor. Only their hair was... Jagged. Leah's hair fell down in thick curls, where the stranger's bristled outwards like thorns.

A scowl was etched across their face, marred with weathering from conflict Leah couldn't begin to understand. Two golden eyes looked through Leah like a pane of glass. They spoke, and the world spoke with them.

"You still don't know, do you?"

"What... Who the hell are you? I'm just lost. I'm trying to-"

The stranger shot forward, faster than Leah was prepared for. In the blink of an eye, they were in arm's reach, and Leah felt the wind forced out of her lungs as a fist was planted clean between her ribs. Leah was flung backwards, hurtling into the dirt that she didn't realize was there. White-hot exploded outwards across her chest, something felt like it had been cracked.

In a coughing fit, Leah forced herself upright, looking towards the stranger who was walking towards her. That rumbling noise was all around them, and it only got louder as the distance closed. Leah brought her hand down to the ground, hoping to find something she could use. It felt like concrete, but this was strange. Could she... Leah swung her hand upwards towards her attacker, and sure enough, a spike of concrete shot outwards at an angle, pointed right at them. It was wider than her forearm, and yet it did absolutely nothing. The stranger grabbed the spike with one hand, and punched it with the other. It grew cracks across every square inch of its surface, and crumbled to dust just as soon as it was unleashed.

The sound of flesh hitting stone rang out, and reverberated through the floor so intensely that Leah couldn't help but worry she'd fall again.

"You aren't this weak. You never were. Why you embrace this, then?"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, I'm just trying to find the exit and get out of this damn place."

"And run home, to people who don't trust you?"

Leah didn't have a fucking clue what this person was on about, so she darted forward and swung her meanest haymaker at their jaw. It landed, and the stranger's head was thrown to the side, but they were still standing. Leah got a frontal kick to the stomach for her troubles, and was once again flung backwards. Only this time the stranger didn't let her get up. When Leah tumbled to the floor once again, she heard a sound like a rockslide as her attacker charged. Leah flung herself left, and raised a platform of stone to springboard off of. She left the round just in time for the stranger to swat her out of the air. A hand found itself around her throat, while Leah dangled mid-air.

She could feel her throat closing, in a chokehold.

Through quick thinking, Leah sent her power into the floor and shot up a thin pillar aimed at the stranger's arm, to break the stranglehold. But it shattered when it made contact. The entire thing, down to the floor, burst into rubble. She must have pissed them off, because Leah got a punch to the face that left her reeling in a way she hadn't felt in a long, long time. Something broke, and a warm feeling oozed out across her face. And then, a second punch came, threatening to leave Leah unconscious from the sheet vertigo she felt. The need to breathe was all that kept her away, and that need was growing more difficult to fulfill by the second.

Leah was raised by a man more than twice her size. She was born into fights against people who outmatched her physically. It shouldn't have been this difficult to fight someone who fought like him. But this stranger was more dangerous. That pillar trick broke limbs in other situations, but it barely even phased her opponent now. Her lungs were starting to scream. The stranger's face seemed to contort with disdain. They said something, but Leah's thoughts were too blurred, her head too concussed, for her to hear it. Everything sounded like it was underwater. A sudden flash of sharp pain in her side reminded her of where she was. Her ribs had been broken for sure.

Leah swung her upper body upwards, and locked her knees around their forearm. It was an old trick she used on her old man, back when she was small enough to fit inside a suitcase, to dislocate joints. The size different between her and this maniac was enough that it could work in theory. Her left foot went flat against the stranger's shoulder, and her right foot hooked around their elbow. She twisted, and felt air enter her lungs again, as she fell to the ground. Her injured ribs wailed in protest, and everything started spinning again, but Leah scuttled backwards. The stranger growled as their forearm was now inoperable. Leah reached her feet and slipped into a classic boxing stance, swaying like a tall tree on a spring evening. Her head felt like it was being split open by a rusty axe. But she was not giving up without a fight.

The stranger, clearly not threatened by Leah's display of technique, laughed. They brought their dislocated arm up, and popped it back into place with a sickening slap. Leah, however, demonstrated why an opponent should never be underestimated. Despite two major injures, and a possible concussion, she blitzed the stranger, dropping her left foot, fancy 2-inch heel and all, straight into their abdomen. They were forced back, and managed to make them stumble back. Leah kept up the pressure, and swung an uppercut that caught them off guard.

Left jab to the throat, full-body elbow to the shoulder to compromise balance. They couldn't recover as quickly as their smaller opponent, and stumbled into a position where they had to put all their weight on their left foot. Leah knocked them off of it with a roundhouse kick, aimed high enough that her shoe went clean into one of the stranger's eyes.

They didn't go down without a fight, though. Leah stayed on them, driving a kick into their jaw as they tried to stand. They rolled over onto their face, and Leah swung the heaviest left hook she ever swung in her life, down at the back of their head. This, however, was a mistake.

Blood sprayed across her fingers, and the stranger's hair. An angry yelp of pain escaped Leah's throat as she realized the skin on her knuckles, hand and wrist had just been shredded. Blood dripped onto the floor, smearing across her dress. During that lapse in focus, the stranger drove an elbow into Leah's stomach. She felt weightless for a moment, and then crashed as she realized that she had left the ground.

She felt something spasm, like she was been electrocuted. Everything went numb for a moment. Her lungs weren't taking in air, she tried to breathe but nothing happened for precious seconds. Seconds, which felt like minutes in the heat of combat.

"Look at you. This is what waits for you, if you don't let them go." The stranger walked over to Leah, who was lying in a puddle of blood that slowly grew around her. The ground was slick, and Leah naively thought she cold win this.

Everything rumbled again.

"Everyone you've ever known comes and goes, but you stay. You understand that, don't you?" They planted a foot against Leah's broken ribs, and the weight threatened to suffocate her. Foolishly, Leah grabbed their ankle and tried to snap it, but they only knelt down until all she could see was their hate-filled eyes.

"Even now, you resist everything. You're so strong, and yet so, so weak. One day, you will be all that is left standing, and this is how you will feel."

Leah ignored their nonsense, and tried to slug them with her bloodied fist. But they grabbed it, and her hand released a crunching noise. And then another, and another still. Leah's voice strained against her broken chest and the weight placed upon her, and her hand fell limp.

As if it were a totally normal response to having one's hand crushed, Leah slammed her forehead against theirs. That got a reaction out of the stranger, in the form of them recoiling, and Leah's skin splitting open between her eyes and broken nose. But the stranger once again laughed.

"...You have so much fire inside you, and you cling to others to keep warm. But people come and go like candles in the wind-"

They swung a right hook at Leah's temple, softer than before. They were mocking her.

"And the wind does not move the mountain. Isn't that what you always tell yourself, Mayra?"

Her blood became ice in her veins. Seconds stretched on, and on, until her moment of panic became one of fury.

"Who... the hell are you?" She hissed.

The stranger only smiled. "You'll figure that out yourself, one day..." They raised a hand, and slowly curled it into a fist. The strange shapes covering their arms began to glow a warm, golden color.

"When you're ready."

And it all went black.

Leah's vision became clear again, on the outside of whatever ungodly labyrinth she had stepped into. Looking around with far too much adrenaline in her system, Leah's fist balled and she was immediately ready to continue fighting. It wasn't until she heard the corny music that she noticed that the stranger was gone. She was back at the dance, and it definitely wasn't a dream. Her dress, hand, and face were still smeared with blood, which seemed to be drying out. And of course, the bones in her left hand were fucked now. Leah could feel the pain in it all, but she endured pain enough to tolerate it. Leah looked around, and felt her urge to beat someone out of existence recede.

Enough time had passed since she tried to kill her father that she almost forgot what it was like to feel this small. This weak, and powerless against someone else.

"...Fuck."

Inferno - STRIKE THE MATCH! - Concluded

---

---

Jack Hawthorne

---

Location: The Twilight Pass
Skills:
Spells:
Outfit

---

---

Not good.

The watch was just spinning in circles. This was, in many different ways, a problem. There was a stabile rift into the world of humans right down there, and time wasn't working properly. This watch was enchanted by another wizard long ago, to always be set to the time zone of California. So what in the sweet hell was going on in California? Or anywhere else on the entire fucking planet? Standing up, and putting the watch away, Jack looked down at the necromantic horde. "Time and space are growing worse. We do not have long." There was a fine line between patience and haste, and they needed to walk it like a tightrope. If they rushed, they'd stumble and ruin what chances they had at fixing the cosmos. If they were too passive, it would crumble beyond repair before they were done.

Jack watched as the darkness moved around them, though it was not at his behest. Annika weaved a spell around them, and they were cloaked... And deafened. Interesting, but wasn't Runa blind? She needed sound to find her way, so quickly, Jack rested a hand on her shoulder. If they moved in any significant direction, he’d nudge her so she didn’t get completely lost. It was all he could think to do right now, aside from grant the rest of them an ability to see through the dark. He pressed two fingers to his forehead, and his eyes went black as night. He gently tapped them against Max’s shoulder, and then Prudence’s. They would both experience their vision adapting to the shadows. They’d see through them, and then the world around them seemed… Clearer. Not brighter, but the darkness that loomed in every direction seemed almost transparent. It was like looking through seawater- You saw everything inside, as well as the water itself.

Jack assumed that, as the caster, Annika could see through this herself. So he waved to get her attention in the absence of sound, and pointed at Runa who he was trying to guide. He made a gesture to his eyes, trying to indicate that she could not see. Hopefully, she could connect the dots there: Runa needed sound to navigate.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Leah Jordan

---

Location: Training Room B
Gear: A hot ass dress
Skills: The insurmountable will to not lose her cool under any circumstances
Oh god oh fuck

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---

She flinches when the crown was laid upon her hair- An instinctual response she learned from having hair that could saw through vibranium with a rough emotion, and human flesh with a light slap. But alas, the crown was intact, and Leah felt it warp and take a different shape when it rested there on her head. April's crown became all flowery and Sabine's got all gold and glitter. Probably something from this goofy ass tv show they loved much. This was nice, honestly. Being clapped for by the whole damn school, who now clearly could tell the three of them were dating if they didn't know by now... Or if Sabine somehow resisted the urge to chatter about it on her apps. Apps that Leah never touched for several reasons. Leah looked over at April, who was practically going supernova over there, and couldn't help but smile.

"Damn, these things are magic or something, I'm guessing? Cool..." What the hell was she supposed to do right now? Smile and wave like a politician? Kiss the girls? Hope to god that they didn't start taking pictures of the three of them and plastering them all over the internet? Well, they'd do that anyway. "I guess we're pretty cool, huh? So... Do we get to keep the magic shapeshifting crowns?"

Parahumans: Earth Drega

Unsurprisingly, Munnin was scared out of his skin. Or rather, his feathers. One of them flew out and threatened to hit Grandmaster straight between the eyes of his mask. But it was caught between two of Grandmaster's fingers, which did not move an inch once they had the projectile. Anyone who was paying attention to him might've wondered whether his hands even moved, or if he was simply that fast. Seconds passed before he reacted, turning Munnin's feather over between his fingers while Shattercrash sat down and seemed to take zero responsibility for her tone deaf entrance. He would've been disappointed, but this was exactly what he expected from her, as were the uneasy reactions to her presence.

"We'll work on that," He said, idly. Was he talking about Keystone drawing a weapon in response? Munnin's nerves? Evie's lack of respect or consideration? Knowing him, it could've been all of the above, or something else entirely.

Turning his attention back to Keystone, the boy didn't have to finish his sentence for the elder hero to connect the dots. Rather than stone-cold admonishment, Grandmaster took a step to reassure him. "Let's just say you aren't the only one who can perceive flaws, and leave the rest for a later date." That was all the knowledge Keystone needed to have right now. As a thinker of a more overt stripe, he couldn't be trusted with certain things at the moment. Grandmaster was a few steps ahead of him, even now.

His comments got... A laugh out of Shattercrash. He had a bit more bark than the rest of these losers, from her read. "At least someone in this clownhouse has a brain." Was that her approving of him doubting the PRT? Only time would tell at this rate, if anything could. Evie ignored the glares, the feather bomb, and even Grandmaster's lack of appreciation at her entrance.

"Power dampeners are a little hit-or-miss on if they work. They're hard to find, and harder to apply to one person in particular. I'll ask around, I know a tinker or two who can try and work something out. But I can't promise anything right now," Axiom said to Keystone. The same tinker who gave them all their anti-master gear was the first one she'd talk to for shutting off Keystone's power when he needed.

Nightstalker walked over to the backside of the couch where Richter had fallen asleep, and snapped his fingers. It was loud, like he had slapped his hands together, to try and wake the boy.

"You can sleep later, Richter." Despite this, Nightstalker looked amused by Richter's dozing off.

Axiom kept her eye on Tandem and her clones, bouncing around the room repeatedly, staring at everything before settling down. That kid worried her a lot, with the way her cluster turned out, and the fact that her identity was about as open as open secrets could get. Perhaps sensing that some of these kids were keeping quiet because they were uneasy about their new lives, she decided to take over for Grandmaster.

The tinker stepped up to the table, in front of everyone, and removed her helmet. A few of them had seen her without it already, her hair was put up in a very messy bun, and she had a face full of freckles. "I can tell some of you kids still aren't sure about this. I want you all to know something, though: That's okay. You don't have to be so sure about this, because we're gonna be here, right by your side until you're able to stand on your own. One day, you'll have to. When you all hit 18, you'll be Protectorate like us, and the city's gonna have hope because of you."

"But that day isn't gonna be for a long time, alright? For now, you kids only need to worry about getting to know things, how to do them, and not worry about actually doing them. Whatever happens, we'll be there to help and support you." She hoped her words were reassuring, and they were genuine. The Protectorate's capes were fully intent on doing whatever had to happen to give the Wards the best possible future. Even Hellstar was in their corner.

Shattercrash rolled her eyes quietly. She didn't buy the platitudes, and hoped that at least one or two of these "teammates" of hers didn't either. For now, she kept quiet to pay attention.

"You've all been trained for a reason. You'll do well to remember it."

"Trained to do what exactly? Feds never gave me anything I didn't already know how to do. What exactly are we all workin' with here?" Straight to business. Shattercrash was an ass, but she had her reputation for a reason. "What powers do we all have around here?"

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Interactions: The Queen's Subjects

DQ > St Portwell Downtown

---

Evelynn and Lila came at a bad time... The ability to see the future was not the ability to influence it, and change the outcomes to work out well. Under any other circumstances, he would've been happy to see others trickling in after the meeting. But Jack wasn't in the most social mood anymore. He expected better from Drake after all these years. They used to be better than this around each other, even if they constantly bitched back and forth; It was all in good fun. They felt like friends, but were they only friends when the world was at stake? They could all be dead at any moment, and now they couldn't help but spill blood. It didn't show on Jack's face, but the reunion was taking on toll on him now. This felt wrong, and the Void seemed more like home than St Portwell did, even back during the days when the Coven was all he had. Jack would have liked to tell himself that he wasn't the type to yearn, to long for a time that was never coming back. But he could not fool himself so easily.

It seemed that self preservation was the only thing that had a chance of bringing them back together. Not even the prospect of better days.

The shadow hands binding Drake disappeared, he could go now. "I wanted to think that we could be better than this, Drake. And I do, even now. For all that it's worth, I still think of you as a friend, and that is more important to me than holding a grudge against you. But you need to look inside yourself and ask if you can say the same of all of us. We've been reunited for less than a day, and this is the road we have all gone down," Continuing to not let up on Drake, Jack's voice seemed heavy. More than people typically associated with the otherwise unbothered, Void-walking madman. He was disappointed, and felt regret in his choice to return to Shimmer. Maybe all those memories would be a bit sweeter otherwise.

"I'm taking us there, now. You may feel dizzy for a moment, Sloane. Three... Two..."

Shadows condensed under Drake's car, and jarred the ugly thing with a loud thump. This caused the car to start blaring as if someone tried to break in, and at the same moment that everyone outside turned their heads to the noise, Jack and Sloane vanished from sight in the darkness.

"One."

To Sloane, it would've been like falling through a lightless pit, as the world around them both faded away to a place beyond their reach, only to fly back into perspective from the opposite direction. In a fraction of a second, they were no longer at the DQ. Rather, they were between two buildings, in an empty alleyway devoid of anyone who might've seen them. Jack was unable to feel is Sloane was still holding onto his hand, as the hand she was offered was just made of shadows, and had no nerves. Regardless, he kept his fingers closed for her sake. She was vulnerable at the moment, and it seemed to Jack that the physical contact (or technical lack thereof) was helping her work through it.

"The hospital is five minutes away from here on foot. I thought you'd like a few minutes to get your thoughts in order, before interacting with more people." Jack was many things. Arrogant, powerful, prone to decade long bouts of wanderlust; Uncaring was not one of them.

---

Interactions: All the fuckers

Veni Whatever the Fuck

---

She caught the damn shield with sand. Because of course she did. This Samson guy was denying the assumption that he was PRA, despite crashing out of the air while on fire, getting everyone's attention and talking through some sort of radio. Whatever, Stormy didn't particularly care if wanted to keep it a secret. It made sense, given what they did. Just as he was about to start battering Elodie with more shields, Stormy heard a voice. Elodie, Bianca, and everyone else in this fuckfest turned their attention to the rooftop. There stood a man flanked by paranormal animals. They were calling him "Judas," and saying Victor was dead too. Well, that was good at least. This was him, then. The "Father Wolf" they suspected, and the big dog of the Wolfpack. Immediately, he started attacking Eve with an abstraction that she countered. And then Eve started running. So did Sully, and Linqian... They were retreating. Alizee was dead, a child was shot in the skull, and the people who put a demigod to sleep were running.

Fine.

Stormy wanted to shatter all of the Wolfpack bastards like fragile glass for hurting his people. He wanted to get even with them, not out of personal anger, but because these people had hurt the friends he grew up fighting monsters together. He wanted to give Judas a piece of his mind for possibly being the Sycamore's killer. But he was a protector. Stormy couldn't protect people if there was no one standing around to protect. If they wanted to live to fight another day, then so be it. But he was still going to do his damnedest to keep them alive while they ran.

Ducking down behind his shield again, he turned to Bianca and Samson. "If you're going to attack them, then just do it. See those people out there? I'm going to use my shields to make sure they don't get shot in the back of the head by these degenerates. I'll keep these shields up as much as I can, but if you're leaving too, then go now. I can get you somewhere safe while your fellow "police officers" deal with this." Stormy said to Bianca specifically, as he raised his hands up, forming a ball of green energy. "And stick near me if you want, I'm guessing those dogs are apparitions. I've got the kryptonite for those, right here."

"That woman who they shot, she was better than the Wolfpack made her out to be. Do me a favor and don't let them get away after what they've done." His parting words to this Samson person.

He stood, and renewed his Phantombane aura. Green energy arced up and down his body again, as Stormy dismissed various shields around the parking lot, which weren't being used. Replacing them were forcefields that followed behind the members of Greenwood and Sycamore who deemed it necessary to run. These shields would deflect gunshots and likely stop them from being impaled by the rebar from Judas' magic. And the beasts tailing him would have a hard time attacking him or Bianca, if she happened to be leaving with him.

He hopped over his barricade and took off, following behind the fleeing party. Bianca's cover stayed, even if she didn't follow him. He wasn't about to leave her defenseless.

Inferno - STRIKE THE MATCH! - Concluded

---

---

Jack Hawthorne

---

Location: The Twilight Pass
Skills:
Spells:
Outfit

---

---

The plan was simple: Jack supports the others while they go scorched earth. That was made clear when Max suddenly incinerated 10 of them at the same moment that Annika stepped through. And then he... Oh dear. He was flirting with Jack suddenly, that seemed quite a bit different than his demeanor in Limbo. Jack turned and gave him a look that conveyed a mix of befuddlement and surprise. "Save that for after reality as we know it has been saved." He was also pretty sure that Max was about half his age, so that was a bit off-putting. Unless Max was into that sort of thing. Alas, they had something to do. Runa seemed to be preparing for a spell herself, and it was anyone's guess what Prudence and Annika were going to unleash. Klara wasn't suited for this.

"If we stay close to one another, we'll be alright," He assured the tiny, sword-brandishing Asgardian. "They won't let us annihilate them forever. Allow me..." Jack took a few steps forward, and raised his hands into the air. The sky seemed to sway and churn as he called on his magic, causing the ground at the feet of all the Green Eyed ones to turn blacker than it was before. As if there was something there, and now replaced with nothing. A thick wave of shadows rolled over their legs and ankles, spiraling up over dozens upon dozens of them in the shape of vines and thorns. Their limbs were clamped down on tightly, held in place to prevent them from escaping or taking action against the sorcerers. Jack didn't trust the Green Eyed Ones to simply sit still while a band of magicians vaporized them.

"They won't be able to move. Take your time, and use whatever you have at your disposal. I'll make it as easy as possible. I'm going above to get a better view of the battlefield." Jack pushed off of the ground, and floated upwards for about two or three seconds. And then... He suddenly fell back on the ground, right on his ass.

"...Or not. Just how long were we in Limbo..." He pulled his watch out and looked at the time. It was 3am in California's time when they left...