KaijuBaragon

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom wasn't really sure what exactly he was expecting. He was definitely expecting a fight back from this woman and the guards, but he didn't expect it to be anything that he couldn't handle. He had spent the last 4 years fighting various superpowered villains of a range of different strengths, and so far he had made it to this position alive and even without any real major injuries, just a few fractures and sprains here and there, and a broken finger or two. So, his makeshift projectile simply being shrugged off like that and thrown into the opposite wall like it was nothing caught him off guard, especially considering what came next.

He'd definitely encountered powerful villains before, but as he felt the room become heavy, and as it seemed like his powers were sucked out of his body, he quickly realised that he had probably never encountered a power like this before. And he was on his own, trapped underground with said power. That definitely wasn't good. He had used this technique to stop enemies before, making the gravity around them so heavy that they couldn't move, so it was completely disturbing when he realised that this woman was doing the exact same thing to him, as the gravity became so heavy that he was forced down to his knees.

He looked around. The guards weren't being spared or anything, they were getting just as much of a bad time as he was. This made Tom feel even more nervous. Not only was he getting completely overpowered here, but this woman clearly had no qualms about doing the same thing to people who were her allies. He looked up at her as she spoke. He hadn't been abandoned! Grace was just going to get help from Powers and the rest. But she had no idea of the seriousness of the situation right now. She could be taking her time. Maybe she had stopped to get a drink from the bar or something, thinking that Tom was probably fine down here. No, she wouldn't do that. Or would she?

Whatever Grace was doing, it didn't take Tom long to realise that he basically had two options here. Yield, or likely get killed. He didn't particularly like either of those options, but one was definitely preferable to the other. He could yield now, and then he'd have to sit around and wait for the backup to arrive. That wasn't the worst thing in the world to do. He looked up again. "Fine, fine, you win! I yield, dammit!"

@Hitman

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom once again stood impressed as Grace displayed her cool powers once again to dispatch with the guards after Tom's lame excuse. Yeah, it was super lame, but it was a spur of the moment thing. Tom realised, as Grace kicked the guard with her foot, that he hadn't actually used his powers properly in like, a couple of days. So, in his head, he called dibs on taking out the next set of guards that they came across, if they came across any at all. He was itching to use them again, he'd kept his feet on the ground far too long for his liking. He chuckled at Grace's question, shrugging as the pair stepped over. "Hey, I managed without you... Somehow." Then, the couple began to move deeper into the facility to see what lay ahead.

What lay ahead was seemingly a very long, very sleek and very modern looking hallway which extended a long way away into the lair. Whoever built this place was evidently rich as hell, none of this looked even remotely cheap. But who knows, Tom wasn't exactly an expert in the logistics of building an evil lair. It wasn't too long before the couple reached the end of the corridor, which turned out to be a room locked away behind a heavy looking metal door. He didn't even have to say anything, Grace immediately springing into action again and creating a simple portal into the room. However, what they found on the inside was anything but simple for Tom to process. It was some kind of creepy looking prison, one cell being occupied by a hero that Tom recognised as Thundering Whisper. But he was totally out of it, not responding to Grace's tap on the glass at all.

Tom shook his head, frowning. "I have no idea... But this is some serious shit Grace, this definitely isn't good." He said, looking around as they reached the computer. He nodded at Grace before she kissed him on the cheek. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea... Just don't be too long, okay?" He watched her step through the portal and sighed. Now he was in this creepy secret lair alone for the time being, waiting for the cells to open up. But before Tom could even think about what he could do to pass the time, the room was suddenly filled with guards in an instant. Tom cursed loudly, before he saw who stepped into the room after the guards.

It was the girl from before on the beach! Tom just knew that there was something suspicious about her, and he had been proven right. If Grace was here with him, he probably would have gave her a little "I told you so", but that would have to wait until Grace returned with reinforcements. Tom glanced around at the guards again. He felt like if he put his hands up and submitted, he was either going to get immediately shot or shot then placed in a cell. So, his best bet was to hold them off until Grace returned with Powers and everyone. I mean, this girl was probably just some scout for whatever this was, right? She couldn't be that powerful.

Tom started to go put his hand up, then suddenly floated a little bit into the air, sending a nearby chair into his hands which he then sent flying out towards Andromeda, before he quickly floated in a different direction to avoid the expected gunfire.

@Hitman

It wasn't long before the Black Baroness was called away by one of the crime lords for a chat, and at that point, the crowd around her, without any kind of focal point, dispersed back to smaller groups engaged in idle chatter. At this point, Caustic wasn't entirely sure what to do. He had no interest in talking to any of these people, nor did he drink, so he couldn't just stand around at the bar guzzling alcohol until the ship docked back in port. So, he supposed there was only one thing left to do, and that was descend into the lower depths of the ship and see if he could find any interest. So far, this excursion had been a massive waste of time. The criminals had been their bumbling selves, the only new event was the replacement of an old respectable villain with some likely incompetent child.

So, Caustic moved past the crowd and out of the main area of the ship, down a hallway off to the side. As he passed by a door, he was pretty sure he heard what sounded like something hitting the floor, but he paused for a moment before moving on. This ship was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside, and Caustic found himself turning and entering a seemingly vast array of hallways each with multiple rooms branching off. Whenever he stopped to look inside a room, all he found was an empty space or some generic equipment. Perhaps it was a perfect analogy for these criminal enterprises - all this wealth and prestige but nothing of substance, nothing except shallow desires for profit.

It took him a little bit of time to get into the actual bowels of the ship. Sleek corridors were now replaced by shabbier ones with more metal. He saw a small sign that pointed to the boiler room, so he decided to head that way. However, as he passed the door to the boiler room, he stopped suddenly, as he could hear at least a few voices coming from within. He stopped, cocking his head as he looked at the door. Something was certainly happening within. Why else would so many people be in a maintenance room like this? But it was decidedly unwise to interrupt this right now.

So, Caustic took one last look at the door before walking back the way he came and round the corner, stopping when he got around, prepared to wait as long as it took for more people to enter or for the people inside to leave.

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Charlie took one last look at the people who were remaining behind in the hotel before strolling downstairs and joining the rest before they could set off. Isolde was seemingly restless, already having walked along ahead of the group. It was a fairly warm night, and the lack of light pollution in a small isolated town like this left a nice clear night sky, which Charlie took a few moments to admire before the group set off walking away from the hotel to explore the rest of the town. The rest of the town didn't really look much better than the hotel, Charlie thought, as they walked down the street. There were plenty of other houses and buildings that were seemingly boarded up and abandoned, and only a few dingy looking diners and shops open anyway at this hour. This place was probably really pretty once - it was sad, but it made sense vampires would.

It wasn't look before Charlie, in his usual talkative self, was in the midst of a long speech to the group of general. "You know, the economic situation in small towns in America like this one is rather grim... I suppose it's a combination of rapid urbanisation and the decline of industries like farming and mining, but that's a question for sociologists, I suppose." He went on, only vaguely wondering about whether anyone was actually listening into what he was saying. "But that means it's a perfect place for vampires, isn't it, really? Little to no people visit here, it's like a free buffet of corpses for them! It's rather horrible to think about, actually."

But Charlie was finally cut off when he noticed Isolde, who had been walking up ahead in front of the group, suddenly dash across the street up ahead to something that he couldn't quite see properly. He squinted as he walked with the others, wondering what was going on. They were getting pretty close to reaching a bar, which actually seemed to be pretty active, a low level of noise coming off from it. And then, a loud flash and a cracking sound boomed out from where Isolde had ran to. He dashed over himself to see what was going on, coming across a fairly grisly sight. Two charred-looking bodies (presumably vampires) were lying on the ground, next to a man with two gushing holes in his neck. And, next to all of this, another vampire, blood dripping down their chin from their fanged teeth, was standing, looking shocked.

Charlie thought quickly, lifting his hands and remembering a spell he had done a few times, which sent a large beam of UV light towards the vampire. Either it would kill it, make it run away, or just incapacitate it long enough for Isolde or any of the other members of the coven to catch up and finish it off. But Charlie didn't think there would just be three vampires in the whole town. This attack was brazenly in the public. They were probably in for a long few days here.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom shrugged back. "Yeah, I guess so. I dunno, it still just feels a little bit weird to me, they could have at least gone to Florida or something." Tom paused. "Actually, no, nobody would ever want to go to Florida, so I suppose you're right." He let the concerns about the mysterious Greek couple leave his mind as Grace displayed an in-depth knowledge of the resort's security protocols. He rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Of course you read over all the security protocols before coming here, you're such a nerd." He teased, before watching as she did her thing and opened up a portal back to their hotel room, going into it herself. Tom hurried in herself, knowing Grace well enough at this point to pick up on her signals.

And he was right - pretty much as soon as he stepped into the hotel room Grace wrapped her arms around him and pounced on him. Tom immediaely reciprocated, wrapping his arms around Grace too and grinning into the kiss, looking into her lovely purple eyes when she pulled back, as he ran his fingers lovingly through her equally as lovely and equally as purple hair. He enjoyed Grace's Korean terms of endearment, and he looked at her as she started talking, waiting happily for the declaration of affection that was about to come, and then...

The scene was very rudely interrupted by a loud, shrieking drill noise coming from below which made the entire hut shake. Tom jumped as Grace pulled back. "What the fuck was that?" He exclaimed, looking around then down at the floor, then looking at Grace as she expressed her annoyance. Tom was more confused than anything - what the hell caused that noise, and why the hell was it coming from underground. He scratched his chin in thought. "What maintenance could they be doing under here, isn't this whole hut just built on top of like, sand? That doesn't add up, why are they building stuff in the sand? Maybe it was some kind of earthquake..."

And then the sound happened again, and quickly made it clear that this sound was manmade in origin and not an earthquake. It definitely sounded like a drill. He looked at Grace as she started ranting, clearly very annoyed at the fact that their fun was interrupted. It annoyed Tom too, and Grace's ranting ended up getting him more worked up over it, even though he thought that Grace was pretty adorable when she was mad at something. He raised an eyebrow. "Go underground? How are we gonna get underground? I know you have portal powers, but don't you have to know the place before you can portal there?" He question, before his concern was answered with Grace's cool display of her ability. "Oooh... That was cool." He said.

Tom shook his head. "Of course not. How can we be expected to have fun with that stupid noise?" He watched Grace hop in before walking over himself, dipping his feet in a little before jumping in and landing next to her, looking around, brow furrowed in confusion. "Why the hell does a tropical resort have this underground?" He walked over to the window with Grace, looking down. I have no idea what this is Grace... Is this some kind of secret lair?" He said with a gasp. "Sure looks like one, look at those guards. We should probably get out of here and go get the others...

But Tom's plan was ruined by the sound of the chatting guards on the other side of the door, then completely ruined by the door opening and the guards spotting them and raising their weapons. Tom glanced at Grace, before looking back to the guards with his hands raised slightly. "Uh, yes we can... We, uh, work here!"

Caustic had been a busy man over the last few months. While the killing of Rainbow Dancer had been a satisfying statement of intent to Castleburg, another thing that it meant was Division X was on his tail even more than usual. He was usually always a few steps ahead of them, but he had experienced a few close calls that were far too close for comfort. And then there was the general masses. At one point, he had taken a cab, but the cab driver had recognised his voice, and Caustic had just managed to kill him and get out before the man could contact the authorities. The collapse of the Wings of Law had left Caustic with much less ideas on how to put his plans into action. The Wings were stupid, incompetent heroes, but they were public figureheads and could be taken out without much stress on his part for maximum public impact. The rest of HERO, while still a group of fools who needed elimination, was definitely much less smug and incompetent.

So, considering his commitment to secrecy and covert movement over the last few months, Caustic found himself extremely surprised when, while skulking around in the backalleys of Castleburg one night, he ran into a man who recognised him. Caustic was about to quickly kill him, but the man identified himself as a member of the Brookside Bruisers. Caustic elected to listen to what the man had to say, and if he got bored, just kill the man as he was originally going to and move on. It was quickly obvious that the man had the intention of getting Caustic to join as some kind of enforcer for the gang. When Caustic just crossed his arms and remained silent, the man quickly mentioned about a meeting of criminal gangs on a boat in a few days time, telling him to think it over, before quickly handing him a ticket before running off down the alley.

Caustic thought about it over the next few days. On one hand, he hated the criminal gangs almost as much as he hated the heroes. They could direct their criminal influence into taking down hero institutions, but all they did was spend their time grinding out profits and selling off weaponry and technology to non-powered people. Such a waste. But on the other hand, he couldn't deny that the infrastructure of criminal networks could prove useful. Or, at the very least, he could use this boat meeting nonsense as a chance to sow some discord among the criminal groups. Chaos was good, it sapped the resources of HERO and left them a lot more vulnerable.

So that was how Caustic now found himself walking up the ramp to the luxurious river liner, handing his ticket to the barely intelligible man who was running admissions to the boat. He was donned in a sleek looking black face-mask which covered the bottom half of his face, planning to take it off once he got onto the ship. And he did just that when he got to the bar, standing there although he didn't actually drink. He looked around at the people who were here, not recognising any of them. Evidently there weren't any other high-profile villains here, it was mostly just criminal gangs. Pretty disappointing.

Caustic wasn't one for mingling, so he simply walked among the crowds on the boat, seeing if he could spot anyone he recognised from the news or from ICOSA files he had looked at in the past. And then, suddenly, there was the sound of a glass being tapped on. Caustic, like everyone else on the boat, glanced over to see what was about to happen. The Black Baron... Now this was a name that Caustic recognised. Even before his stint at Coldwater, the Black Baron was a pretty well known figure among the less than savoury characters of Castleburg for his hero-slaying prowess. But this man who walked out was nothing like that legendary figure. He was old, frail, like a gust of wind could blow him over. Caustic did not join in on the clapping, simply listening to what the old villain had to say. Uniting the criminal enterprises of Castleburg? An ambitious idea, but probably one that would never work. Too focused on profits, they would eventually betray each other as usual. But the next part made Caustic raise an eyebrow. A successor?

Caustic vaguely recognised the girl who stepped forward. From his perusing through ICOSA files, he was pretty sure this girl was somehow related to Zero, although he didn't know what her name or powers were. The Zero organisation was a constant source of intrigue for the underworld of Castleburg, but Caustic didn't think much of them. Why wouldn't the leader reveal himself, if he was allegedly so powerful? It was cowardice if anything. As all the criminals crowded towards the girl, Caustic stepped back, glancing outside the window as the boat began to pull off into the harbour. As he looked back to the room, he took note of a guy also standing away from the ground, franctically texting on his phone and downing his alcohol. He was fairly sure he recognised this guy, with his red hair, from ICOSA files too, but he couldn't remember where. Probably a high ranking individual individual in one of the gangs.

Caustic left his position by the window, brushing past the unknown redhead, before walking over to join the crowd of criminals to try and get a better look at this Black Baroness.

@Hitman

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom nodded, smiling. "Good choices Gracie, good choices. That American remake of Parasite was such a cash grab, I can't believe they thought it was a good idea - and making a sequel too! So lazy..." Tom complained. He was right about what he said earlier. It did feel sometimes that they never got the chance to just relax and talk as much as they wanted to. Castleburg was just such a big and busy city, it always feels rushed no matter what you're up to. And there's also so much crime that it's hard to find the time to take an extended period of time off. But Tom's thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of the masseuse, so he just put his thoughts towards his anticipation for the relaxing experience ahead.

And a relaxing experience it was. Tom sighed contently after, walking with Grace out of the hut. "Damn, it really was, wasn't it?" The steam and heat of the massage room had made his hair fall down out of its style, so he brushed some out of his face just in time to smile down at Grace. "See, I told you. I know you're a supergenius physicist, but you need to listen to me more." He teased her, chuckling. But their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the couple walking down the road. Tom very quietly went "Woah!" as the two figures appeared down the path.

They certainly did look like movie stars, and Tom spent a few moments racking his brain to figure out if he recognised either of these two from any movies he had seen recently. But that idea was quickly removed when the woman immediately started gushing over meeting Tom and Grace. Tom figured that a super famous movie star wouldn't react like that after recognising them. He let Grace do the talking as she asked who exactly these two people were - they were soon revealed to be heroes from the Greek hero agency. "Oooh, Athena..." He said, nodding, just to totally indicate that he was listening.

Tom smiled as the girl complimented how good they looked together as a couple. "Well, it really wasn't that much of a shock if you knew him, but... Yeah." He then stayed quiet as the two girls had a short chat - while he was listening, a question came up in his mind. He thought it was probably stupid, but he'd voice it to Grace after this interaction is over. He nodded at the suggestion of meeting up again later. "Tennis would totally be fun, I haven't played that in ages." He noted, before waving back as the pair walked off in the other direction.

He looked down at Grace. "Firstly, she's right, that does look really good on you. And yeah, we should totally take them up on their offer." He paused. "But I mean... Don't you think it's weird that Greek heroes have come all the way to the U.S Virgin Islands for a vacation? There's plenty of pretty vacation spots in Greece, or even Europe, but they came all the way here? I dunno, it just seems weird... Probably nothing." He shrugged. "Anyway, what do you wanna do now?"

@Hitman

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Charlie rubbed his eyes and yawned as he saw the other car pulling up in the parking lot, getting out of the car to greet it and retrieve his bag from the boot. Charlie realised about 30 minutes into the drive that he had never driven anywhere for anywhere near as long as he had just done before - the most time he had spent driving was probably about an hour and a half. So he was even more grateful to have 3 other friendly people in the car with him to provide conversation - it kept him alert and awake. If they hadn't had been there, who knows, he could have lost focus or fallen asleep at the wheel, which would obviously have been a total disaster without a doubt. But they were here now, in this admittedly run down looking parking lot.

Charlie knew that the facilities they were going to be making use of while were wasn't exactly going to be a five star hotel, but even so, this place looked almost abandoned. Nevertheless, Charlie was still his usual optimistic self - it was probably nicer on the inside, right? So, after everyone retrieved their bags and the two cars re-mingled, they all headed inside to find that it was, at best, marginally better on the inside and out. At least there wasn't any graffiti on the inside. It seemed the task fell to him to check everyone in, so Charlie went up to the reception to do just that. It was a simple process, but the receptionist looked positively shocked that they were all here. Whether that was because no tourists ever visited Gary, or for more sinister reasons, Charlie didn't know.

Rowan had taken the initiative and said they should all come to her room after briefly settling into their own seperate rooms, so Charlie quickly went up to his to do some light unpacking. He took a bed, unpacking his book and briefly flicking through it before tossing it back on the bed. There was no doubt he was feeling apprehensive about what lay ahead of him. They were in a town they had never been to before, hunting dangerous creatures that wanted to kill and eat them, and with no help from the Coven aside from a few weapons. But surely they wouldn't have sent them on this mission if they didn't think it was possible. That would just be incredibly irresponsible, right? And the Coven was made of responsible adults, surely...

Charlie's apprehensions continued as he headed down to Rowan's room, joining the rest of the group as they assembled there for whatever reason - presumably to try and get some kind of plan going. And Rowan quickly revealing that's exactly what they were here to do. She wanted them to prepare themselves here for the night, set some protective spells around the place (what would the receptionist think about that? A flaw in the plan perhaps) then cast a spell in the morning that would change their appearances. That certainly peaked Charlie's interest. Looking different for a while could be fun - what would it be like not to be ginger for a little bit?

But Jean-Luc seemingly had other ideas, and said he was going to tour then town, but not before being highly rude and dismissive about Rowan's ritual. That was followed by Maggie, Kate and Isolde also announcing they would go. Charlie thought for a moment. "Well, first of all, Jean-Luc was absolutely uncalled for, I don't think it sounds like a 'hopscotch ritual' at all, I think it sounds rather interesting, but that's enough on that matter." He looked at those who had already announced they were going. "I suppose I'd like to go, and I will, but I think that perhaps we should all go, if they already know we're here then there's safety in numbers." He noted. "We can get back before it gets dark and perform the protective rituals then."

@Jumbus @Melissa @sassy1085 @Blizz

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom laughed good naturedly at Grace as she whined about him taking the planner, quietly tossing it away behind his back as far as he could - which, considering it was a big room, was pretty far. "We're not here to maximise efficiency or whatever. The most productive use of our time is just doing what we want to when we're together." He noted, trying to soothe her with that surprisingly profound (he thought it was profound, at least) point. He continued smiling at her when she very evidently calmed down. "Because being spontaneous is what life is all about, Gracie. This isn't the big wide universe with stars and equations and entropy, it's a resort, we should just do whatever we want, that's how we'll have the most fun! And fun is what makes life... well, fun." He looked towards the door. "Damn right it should, with how expensive this place looks I bet this hot stone massage will be awesome..."

And so the pair left their luxurious beach hut and began to head over to where the hot stone massage was going to be taking place. On the way, they briefly stopped to look at Powers' impressive looking hut. He saw Grace looking down at the director's luggage, and that's when he too noticed the suspiciously gun-looking shape inside one of the bags. But to be honest - Tom didn't think much of it. Powers was probably the most paranoid and overly intense mad alive, he probably took an assault rifle with him when he went to the bathroom, let alone on a vacation in a United States unincorporated territory (Tom had to keep reminding himself that the US Virgin Islands wasn't an actual country). So while Tom had to wonder about how Powers got the weapon here, he didn't really find himself too worried about it. And the thought left his mind completely when Grace took his hand and lead him to the massage hut.

Just like every other building in this resort, the massage house was super swanky. It looked like something out of an Ancient Roman resort, with the big marble columns and the statues of the dolphins on the inside. He continued to admire the interior of the room while Grace confirmed with their appointment with the receptionist. When that was done, the couple headed down the hallway and to the door that was marked as Ocean. While not as extravagant at the entrance hall, it looked more or less like Tom would expect it to - nautical, and with the stuff that you need for a massage. "It is totally perfect." He agreed, looking down at Grace with a smile and giving her a smooch on the forehead after she kissed his chin.

Tom didn't have to do much to get ready - he was already wearing a pair of appropriate swim trunks, so all he had to do was unbutton his shirt, looking down to do so. When he looked up, he was almost blinded by Grace's uncharacteristically bright pink bikini. Tom couldn't help but admire his girlfriend for a moment before sitting down opposite Grace on the other massage bed, looking at Grace. "Yeah. We don't... Hero work takes up a lot more time than I think." He shook his head, before responding in quick fire answers. "Favourite movie - The Batman with Robert Pattinson. Favourite food - chilli dog. Favourite ice cream flavour - mint choc chip. Favourite animal - falcon. Okay, now your turn!" He said, smiling.

@Hitman

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom hadn't actually been on a vacation in a really long time (unless visiting his Dad in LA counted as a vacation, which Tom didn't) - there was no way it had been less than a couple of years since he had last gone on one. So when Powers had announced that some people were being selected to go on an all-expenses-paid tropical vacation to the Caribbean, Tom crossed his fingers that he would be one of the lucky few selected. And if he did get selected, he also was hoping that Grace got selected to go along with him. He knew that their relationship had started way later than it probably should have, but Tom didn't care, because it seemed to be going perfectly so far, despite Grace's apparent need to itinerise and schedule their dates, which Tom would have preferred to be totally spontaneous. But he knew Grace was just like that.

He stepped off the plane after her, taking a note of the pleasant heat which seemingly filled the air, way different to the city temperatures of Castleburg. He was wearing some shorts (uncharacteristically for him, but he was on vacation) and a button-up Hawaiian shirt, which was luckily a different colour to the one Powers was wearing. He glanced down at Grace, thinking her holiday attire was absolutely adorable, which he had told her at least a few times already on the plane. It wasn't long before the group was greeted by the resort coordinator, and he rolled his eyes at Powers acting so characteristically formal despite the fact they were all here to enjoy a nice vacation - of course, he made sure Powers didn't see him doing this.

There was no denying that the resort was absolutely beautiful. It was maybe the furthest setting from Castleburg that could possibly exist, no tall buildings, no cars, no vague and probably unhealthy smog that sometimes appeared in the city that was either the result of cars or some mild smog-based villain. Just sand, palm trees and tropical birds. And the pretty looking huts that they would be staying in, wrapped around the pristine coast with the turquoise water. If there was a place on earth that was picture perfect, it was likely this. They headed inside the reception area and Tom looked around at all the old timey maritime stuff on display, which was cool, before Naomi handed out everyone's room keys inside little envelopes.

Grace, of course, went to get it first, and Tom walked up to her to find out where the pair would be staying. "The Mahi Mahi hut? Isn't that a kind of tu-" He stopped when he saw the little carved tuna on the end of the key. "Yeah." He walked along side Grace as they headed towards their hut. It felt a little weird being called "hon"... He hadn't had an actual girlfriend in a fairly long time. But as much as it felt weird, it also felt pretty sweet. It was a nice feeling to have.

Soon they reached their hut and stepped inside. Tom whistled as he looked around, clearly impressed. Damn, this is swanky, it must have cost a fortune to book this place!" He noted, walking back over to Grace as she pulled the fancy brochure from her bag and started flicking through it. He listened as she rattled off all of the different types of massages that were available, unable to suppress a smile as she immediately went about attempting to build an itinerary for their vacation. When she asked his opinion, she answered. "That all sounds great... Especially the snuggling... But you don't need to try and schedule everything in smooth timeslots, Gracie, we're on vacation, you can just chill and enjoy yourself." He quickly snatched the calendar off the table to prevent her writing any more. "The hot stone massage sounds pretty cool, let's do that."

@Hitman

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold Blake like this for long. Blake was not holding back and was using his powers to the absolute maximum strength he could muster, whereas Tom did not want to hurt his best friend, so he was trying to be as cautious as possible and simply stop Blake from burning him and the ship with Grace inside to a crisp, instead of crushing. But this unfortunately seemed to mean that Tom was decidedly outmatched in this show of strength. He could see Blake building up for another fireball, and he quickly let Blake go and tried to dodge away as he felt the heat of the fireball drawing clear. Suddenly, there was a great crash as the fireball blasted a hole into the floor, which Tom went falling into.

He stopped himself before he hit the ground, feeling a sharp pain in his foot and looking down to realise that his shoe was on fire. He quickly kicked it off and sent the flaming shoe flying off across the room. It seemed as if Blake had knocked him into some kind of workshop. He carefully floated to the ground, but he didn't have time to examine the room which was quickly being enveloped by flames, as Blake soon jumped down into the hole and fired off another string of attacks at Tom. He quickly leapt of the ground and did some impressive pirouettes in the air, avoiding the first few attacks.

However, one of the blasts caught Tom on the back of the leg, and he yelped, causing him to lose his balance in the air, which lead to another one grazing his shoulder. Both spots now singed painfully, but a quick glance showed that they weren't massive wounds. Blake then seemed to slow down a bit, and Tom just managed to dodge a final attack before Blake muttered that he was sleepy and promptly toppled onto his back and fell asleep. "Oh... Okay then." Tom said, before the realisation of his situation hit him that he was in a rapidly burning room.

He could hear a voice calling to him from above, immediately realising that it was Grace, who sounded very concerned. The sound of her voice filled him with new motivation, so he quickly scooped up Blake (which wasn't easy, Blake was fairly heavy and Tom had to make use of his powers) and carried him up through the hole. "Grace!" Tom yelled, spotted the purple haired girl quickly among the flames. He swiftly floated forward and took Grace's hand, carrying all three of them towards and into the plane. "Grace, do you have enough energy to portal us downstairs or something?" He asked.

@Hitman

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Tom was decidedly disappointed that his tactic of using the goo to try and take down Blake didn't work as planned, his friend instead just dodging the safety gel which hit the Wings of Law goon who was sitting behind the whole scuffle. Tom cursed, quickly scrambling off the wall as it looked like Blake was about to send another fireball. But then, he looked like he was having an internal struggle - Tom was pretty sure he vaguely heard the words "friend" coming out of the brainwashed hero's mouth. Tom quickly used this opportunity to grab Grace from her sleeping position, float her quickly over to the ship, place her inside and cover her in fire-proof safety gel. She would be grossed out when she woke up, but at least she'd be safe.

But Tom now had another fire blast to concern with - this one was much bigger than the last, almost filling up the room. He quickly hopped up onto the ceiling, pressing himself tightly to it to avoid being singed by the flames. Tom had never seen Blake ever use his powers this aggressively before. Maybe the Wings had done something to him that made his powers stronger - or maybe Blake had always just been holding back on his strength in the years that Tom had known him. Blake's rampage stopped for a moment, allowing Tom to get off the ceiling. But a good portion of the room was still on fire. Damn, he could really use Will, or the water squad right about now.

Tom didn't have time to think about the location of Will or the water squad, because Blake was quickly sending a concentrated blast of fire directly at Tom. He quickly dodged the blast by flying to the left, missing the blast by what must have been not much more than just a few inches. He needed to figure out a plan, and fast, or Blake was just gonna keep sending fireblasts at him and eventually there would be one that Tom wouldn't be able to dodge, and then it would all be over. Tom frantically looked around the room. Most of the stuff here was on fire, so Blake would just be able to destroy it.

As another blast of fire came his way, Tom quickly dove back into the plane, next to Grace who was soundly sleeping within the safety of her safety gel cocoon. Tom glanced up at the seats of the plane - which were vaguely human shaped - and then suddenly got an idea. The crash had loosened them up, so Tom pulled one out, then took off his jacket and wrapped it around the seat. It was a shame, he really liked this jacket, but he had to do what he had to do. He hoped in heat of the moment, he could cause a distraction. After glancing at Grace one more time, wishing she was awake to think of something less crude. He send the decoy Tom flying out of the plane first, then flew out himself in another direction.

Blake seemed to take the bait, firing a blast of flames at the "decoy". This gave Tom some crucial moments, and the second he saw the flames go towards the plane seat, he flew closer to Blake and flipped gravity around his friend sideways, presumably causing him to fall onto the wall, briefly taking him out of the fight. "BLAKE, stop it! You gotta stop this, break free from the brainwashing!" Tom yelled.

@Hitman