Junior Armada

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Silver City; a towering symbol of human determination and a testament to the human imagination. The city is protected day and night by the most powerful knights the world has ever seen. They are the Hero Armada. Dozens of heroes united under one roof with a common goal. They protect the innocent, not matter the cost. They are led by the beauty of the battlefield, Warrior Woman, the man who can't be stopped, Mr. Amazo, and the strongest man alive, Omniman. Together from the top floor of Hero Tower they watch over the city and the world, monitoring to make certain all is well. And when something isn't such, they mobilize. But today all would fail to be well from under their own roof as a Latin American young woman in a red and blue tight outfit and brown coat walks into the building through the front door.

Ricochet. Tis true what they say. Hath no fury like a woman scorned. When this woman took up the mantle of the last to bear her title she did so half out of spite. She'd been instrumental in the cretin's defeat. Now she inherited his power and many of the burdens that came with his membership. The Hero Armada was watching her. She had been a valuable member so far but she was being difficult as of late. Soon this would be a problem.

Madam Control looks up from her desk as Ricochet marches through the room to the elevator. When the doors close, she picks up the phone. "She's on her way up and she doesn't look like she's here to sit around the campfire and sing kumbaya."

"All right," Warrior Woman says in response. "Thank you for the heads up."


Some time later the conversation between Ricochet and her superiors enters a heated argumentative stage as the rising heroine slams her hands down, forcefully, on chair's round table and sneers. "You've got to be kidding me! Can't spare the people? Zephyr and Ladybug haven't had a mission in weeks! Lion Heart is pounding on local street thugs and you have me on patrol duty! You're honestly going to sit there and tell me that we can't spare a couple of people for a small strike team?"

"Adrienne, listen," Warrior Woman says.

"In this building it's Ricochet. Mask or no mask,"Adrienne says before a brief pause then doubling back. "Ma'am," she says respectfully.

"Ricochet, Ladybug and Zephyr are both Level 7 Metahumans and have access to a number of missions that we can't give you details on," Owl says.

Ricochet turns to her respected darker superior and stands upright with a sigh. "So because I'm barely a level 4 meta..."

"It's not that. The Deadwave invasion last year...and then what happened with Richard," Omniman begins, "It's an overwhelming burden and we have to make sure we're dividing our resources well. This team is an excellent idea. If we had the people to spare, I'd be more than willing to sign off on it. Be we have the remainder of our heroes on the moon base right now."

"If we had a couple more heads in this building, we'd hand 'em over to ya for your team in a heartbeat, kid, but we don't," Mr. Amazo adds.

Ricochet thinks to herself for a moment then looks away through the window. She could see a few heroes flying about outside. It wasn't an uncommon sight around here. Each of them was on a mission though. She wasn't new to that. She'd had this conversation with the Armada's leaders before. Back then they worried about her mental condition. They were entirely honest and she knew in her heart that they were right then. But now?


Following that conversation, she leaves Hero Tower and decides to go for a freerun along the skyline. She enjoyed it really. Richard was an idiot to turn on the Armada the way he did. He had it made. Everyone loved him and he was in a position to actually receive compensation for his heroic deeds. Whether he liked working with them or not, he chose the losing battle. Of course that wasn't why she became the new Ricochet. She didn't get anything out of the relationship with the Armada like he did. No, she did it for the single purpose of spiting him...and she was entirely okay with that at first. But now? Now she stayed not to make him look bad, but because...it just felt right. She lands on a low rooftop in the city and looks around for a bit. Nothing happening here. She could rest for a bit.

(ATTN: Livia, Lyra, Tyre)
Astrid smirked at both his surprise and his comment. "Thank you- and what makes you think I haven't?" She crossed her arms, reclining to a sitting position in midair. "But you're not at my party- if you were, you could stare at this alllll night."
Tyre grinned from behind his visor--though she couldn't see it. "Sorry, princess," he said, "but if I wanted to stare at works of art, I'd go to a museum. "Besides," he said, "not in a partying mood. But please don't let me stop you from enjoying yours."

"I think I'm a little bit more fun than the Mona Lisa." Astrid replied, smirk still on her face. "And you're not the one preventing me from having a good time, I assure you."
"Oh, no diggity," Twista replied. "And good. Hate to deprive them of the best thang there."

Astrid shrugged. Turning to head back down towards the party, but realized the girl who just set someones eyebrows on fire wouldn't really be belle of the ball. She sighed, wondering if ditching was an option. "Oh- and whatever happened to that date? I'm not that scary, am I?" She smirked slightly, looking back at him.

"ASTRID-" She blinked, turning and looking downward to see Alex waving his arms, looking as though he was about to take flight and join the two of them. She looked back to her flying companion, shrugged, and proceeded to deccend to the window in which the waving boy awaited her like a plane shot from the sky. She flew, into the window, feet first, and slammed her heels directly into the boys abdomen and crotch. He slammed onto his back, sliding a few feet before tumbling feet first across the room. Astrid gracefully jumped off of him before he rammed against the wall with a rather graceless 'thunk'. The boy writhed in agony on the ground, his glasses having skittered off across the room, having flown off with the initial impact of the black haired flying object.

"Well that wasn't a very good show of reflexes Mr. 'Five star gymnast'." Astrid said cheekily. To which Alex could do little more than groan and whimper in response. She rolled her eyes, a slightly guilty smile on her face. "Oh come on, I'm used to making men groan but not in pain....Usually." She went over to him, about to offer him her hand, before Finnick charged into the room with a dramatic flair that almost sent him tripping over the 'wounded' boy.

"Alex where's- Oh there you are, Astrid!" He looked at her and jerked back, looking down at the squirming figure. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Bleeding internally-" Alex gasped, taking Astrid's hand and pulling himself to his feet. Astrid offered him his glasses, which she had discreetly whisked away from the dusty corner of the room. Which Alex, still doubled over, shakily grasped.

"Anyway," Finnick, unsurprised by the scene, continued. " You two need to get downstairs, stat."

"Why?" Astrid blinked. No one had paid her much attention beforehand.

"Because I had promised our host a lovely raven haired beauty and no guest should be deprived of your charms." Finnick batted his eyelashes, which was his signature tipoff of a well coordinated lie.

"Charms- is that what they're calling it nowadays?" Alex muttered, replacing the glasses on his face, as Finnick ushered them from the room.
---

Chris, on the other hand, had been shouldered with the responsibility of looking after Astrid's two young associates, and making sure they didn't get into any * or 'too much' as Finnick put it* trouble. The dance floor lay only a few feet away, and Chris seemed to have no intention to join it. His gaze awkwardly shifted between the two young ladies, finally settling down to look at his drink. He was tongue tied, and possessed two left feet which had once landed him in a punch bowl.
"S-so- Party, huh?" He wanted to kick himself. "Uh-" He tried to recover. "S-o what do you two wanna do?"

[Attn: Party]

Lyra grasped her own cup of punch with both hands, staring out over the masses of people, moving about on the dance floor. The motion was as erratic as the music seemed to her. But also fascinating, in it's own way. Dancing was much...different where she was from. More precise. More uniform. Then again, so was everything. Then came the question, from Astrid's friend, of what the girls would like to do. Before she can respond, she gets a disturbing feeling. There was a distinct pressure in her head. It was something she felt when in the presence of powerful darkness. But while this went on, she was temporarily locked in a daze. Her face froze, if only for a moment.

Then, she snaps back to reality and looks to Chris before gazing over the crowd once more. It was then that she saw it. A man in a green suit stands there at the edge of the people, facing the girls. His mask had no facial features, only a question mark symbol. His hands rested upon a cane touched to the ground in front of them. Despite having no face, as far as Lyra could tell, she could sense the devious smirk he wore beneath the mask. "Quite the shindig, isn't it?" He asks.

Lyra wonders how no one else seemed to even notice him. Yet soon someone walks by in front of him and he is gone as quickly as he'd arrived. She looks around for a moment, confused by what she'd just seen. Yet the feeling didn't go away.

She returns her attention to Chris. "Ah, I would be content to...'people watch', I think."

(ATTN: Livia, Lyra)
"O-oh. That's cool." Chris casts his gaze downward, his fingers awkwardly fiddling with his lip ring. Something began to buzz erratically in his pocket, and he pulled out his phone, almost dropping it in the process. He squinted to read the message before shoving his phone back into his jacket. He looked shyly and the two young women, clearing his throat. As he spoke, he met neither in the eye.
"I-uh- I've gotta go. But you should probably make it to the stage...Soon-ish....If you want. Uh- bye." He tripped off into the crowd, without giving either girl a chance to respond.
-
(ATTN: Livia, Lyra, Open)

"Finn seriously what to you want-" Astrid glared slightly at him. Yet, her cutting gaze had to effect.
"Want something? What makes you think I want something?" He replied with the same grin as before.
"Because the only reason you ever pull out that smile is if you either got laid or want something and I know for a fact your girlfriend just threw you out."
"Ooh, you cut me, Astrid! Right through the heart! But still, you are incorrect."
"And yet you keep grinning." She rolled her eyes even as her and Alex were pulled through the crowd. Toward...the stage?

Oh hell no.

"Finn...." She growled, fighting his grip.

"Tch-tch-tch..." He tightened his grasp, dragging her closer. She could now clearly see her guitar leaning against the far right amp.

"Finn- I don't care what you say I am not playing anything, especially not with you guy-"

"Astrid- I know that no matter how you protest-" He pulled her onto the stage, and Alex, traitor that he was- did nothing more than look at her, give a shrug, and place himself behind the drums. "You can never turn down an offer to play." Her eyes swept the stage for support. She met the gaze of Chris- oh great, he was in on it, too. He had his bass strung across his person, and could only guiltily meet her gaze for a millisecond before looking back down. Finnick fit the guitar strap around her shoulders, forcing it into her hands.

Before she could protest he was gone, to the other side of the stage, pulling his own guitar into his arms.

Astrid could tell they had known this was happening, because the crowd had hushed and gathered around the stage, expectant faces looking up.

She felt a knock twist in her stomach, like a snake, coiling around her insides, ready to leap out and attack.

Wait- What song were they even playing-
Oh god what if she didn't know-

Only when Finnick began to strum his guitar did she know.

It was fittingly titled 'Alone Together'. A fitting song for so late at night, but the only thing she really cared about was the fact she already knew it.

"I don't know where you're going but do you got room for one more troubled soul-"

Astrid braced herself as Alex slowly began to time them off, casually flicking his foot against the kick pedal to the beat. He had never really had stage fright...her on the other hand...

"I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said, I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we're starting at the end-"

Her grip tightened on her guitar, and she started off.

"Say yeah"

"Yeah!" Enthusiastically cheered Alex, Chris and- well just about all of the audience. It was then she became extremely aware of the mic in front of her mouth. Did they expect verbal participation...?

"Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs-

Say yeah-"

"Yeah!" She cheered along this time, though the 'cheeriness' of it was debatable. Yet, she could feel her muscles loosen, and she was becoming aware of the smile on her face. There was something intoxicating about being on stage.

"Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

You cut me off I lost my track
It's not my fault, I'm a maniac
It's not funny, anymore, no it's not

My heart is like a stallion
They love it more when it's broken
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna?

I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we could go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet"

She jerked out of her trance as Chris bumped into her, she looked at him, her smile still dumbly plastered onto her face. He smiled at her, shifting his body weight into her again. This time, however, she pushed him back, sending him staggering clear across the stage.

'Maybe this isn't so bad after all.' She thought, relaxing into the music.

She was wrong, in that assumption.

"Cause I don't know where you'e going
But do you got room for one more, troubled soul
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said, I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin,
And we're starting at the end.

Say yeah"

"Yeah!" She cheered happily.

"Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs

Say yeah"

"Yeah!"

"Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young-"

Astrid scanned the crowd for Livia or Lyra. Were they watching?

"My heart is like a stallion
They love it more when it's broken
Do you wanna feel beautiful-"

That's when she saw him. A stark white figure, with blanched hair, bleached skin, in a white suit. Yet his eyes, they were stark white, no iris, no emotion, just white. Her heart stopped, and the horror set in. She felt her knees weaken, and her immediate instinct was to run. Run far away. Run fast and never look back.

"Do you wanna?" Her guitar made an awful noise as she staggered, and the world blurred around her, and all she could focus on was that man- that boy in white. She soon felt warmth, Chris, behind her, trying to help her back upright. The lyrics and the music had left her head-

She could only make out fragments.

"Invite me in-"

The figures face moved, like a sculpture come to life.

"So we could go back and play pretend-"

And the most terrifying thing it could have done-

"I'm up next-"

It smiled. And proceeded to make it's way towards her.

Without any regard for who might see, or who might notice.

She forced her hand up, and all the windows on the house, every door, every glass, every body of water- burst, exploded, shattered.

And all that was left was chaos.

[ATTN: PARTY ROCK!]

Livia stayed out of the middle of the party - mostly in an attempt to keep Val calm. The chaos made her antsy, and her eyes occasionally flashed gold as she struggled to hold her back from bursting out and engaging the dozen or so boys who kept giving her odd looks.

The chaos died to a murmur though as someone took the stage - Astrid, of all people, along with her friends from before. Livia crossed her arms and listened as they began to play, trying to relax...

Arens!

Livia flinched at the force with which Val spoke. A magic signature just appeared, Val said quickly. Someone not unlike the druidess - there!

Livia's head turned to stare at a man across the room, everything about him a bleached, dead white. She started shoving through the crowd towards him at Val's insistence, struggling to get past the people who muttered curses at her as she shoved them aside.

She was close - within a few meters, barely there - when the glass, the mirrors, the doors, everything exploded with a thundering crash. Livia ducked for cover as everyone screamed, and when she straightened her eyes glowed gold.

The man in white had disappeared and Astrid stood stunned on the stage, her hand held up. "Astrid!" she called, starting to push harder past the chaos to try and make it to her.

[Attn: All]

No sooner had the one suited man left Lyra's train of thought than the second one entered it.  But was this the darkness she originally sensed?  Or was it possible that she was picking up on them both?  Maybe this one wasn't at all a cause and the other was still somewhere in the area.  All doubt left her, however, the moment she witnessed Astrid's reaction.  In a split second, everything went to rot.  Lyra began shoving her way through the crowd.

When the sonic outburst quiets the crowd, Lyra looks up and sees Twista.  Taking advantage of the calm, she makes her way closer to the stage where Astrid was.  Upon reaching the front, she senses it again.  "I must say.  Your friend certainly knows how to crash a party," the voice of the antagonizing colorfully dressed man says.  Lyra  pauses and looks around, only to find him in the reflection of the glasses on the nose of a boy in front of her.  He mockingly waves to her as she snatches the spectacles from the boy's face.

"Wha-HEY!"

"You may want to prioritize, goldilocks," the mystery man says.  "The man in white is probably of higher necessity than myself."

Lyra tosses the glasses back to the boy she'd taken them from and looks back to the man in white, only to discover that he's gone.

(ATTN: Tyre, Livia, Lyra)
Astrid barely manages to grasp the panic, she sees Livia, rushing towards her. She sees her mouth move, but she can hear no sound. She sees Lyra, looking for whatever threat had sparked the chaos. She sees Tyre trying to calm the panic. Three extraordinary people here.

Yet she still had to run. Yet they were still going to die. They were going to die if she didn't run.

"Ehe- well-" Finnick crossed his arms, looking up at whatever robocop superhero this was. "Um- as you can see there was some sort of...er...explosion. I have no idea why! Er- you should probably do superhero-y things to find out..uh..."

He was just about as stunned and caught off guard as everyone else.

"I think our guitarist saw whatever...you know...blew up the whole house. And the yard...and the pool...." He cringed as he looked at the dilapidated status of the once glorious yard.

She turned and tried to spring off the back of the stage, only for someone to grab her.

"Astrid! Astrid!" He shouted as she kicked and writhed, trying to free herself from his grip. Alex.

"Let me go!" She begged. "Let me go!" This time, it was a demand. He spun her around, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Stop acting crazy." He said slowly, looking her directly in the eyes. He suddenly looked above her, eyes wide with horror. She didn't have a chance to turn to see before he tackled her to the ground.

"Down!" He shouted, to which almost everyone obeyed once they saw what was coming.

Huge, flaming wings streaked above everyone's head. It was...not quite a lizard...not quite a bird. But it looked like a monstrocity. Huge, pods filled with amber liquid covered its body, its skin covered in flames, any detail beyond that was invisible in the panic.

"Holy shit!" Someone shouted in the stunned silence, upon seeing the being perched atop the bird's head.

He was tall, garbed in a flowing black cloak that disguised his unnaturally tall figure. He was ten feet tall, at least, and boasted flaming, vibrant red hair. His eyes were sewn shut, and his mouth stretched almost entirely across his face. Atop his head sat a crown that seemed to melt into his skin, it was adorned with...eyes...eyes bouncing, bobbing, every which way- taking in the entire environment.

He appeared to be looking for something, in the crowd, he leaned down, scanning the audience- his gaze eventually fell upon Astrid. With a chesher cat grin, he pressed his index finger to his lips- before the boy from earlier crashed into him in a flurry of white.

The red head shouted something gleefully, but the language in which he spoke was full of guttural noises and scrapes- not something spoken anywhere across the world. Barely even a language. He blasted the boy back, pulling out...a staff, that looked like a twisted spire.

"Holy shit As-" Alex looked down to discover her gone, he didn't have to wait to figure out where she had gone.

The Seance blasted through the yard, just as the red head looked as though he was going to pierce the boys heard with his spear- she blasted him. Sending both him and his beast rolling.

She shouted something back at him, in the same arcane tongue, outstretching her arms as if to break the fight up. The red head had barely manage to reset himself as the boys own staff, made of pure, glistening ivory- tore through her chest.

He held no regard for her, he seemed to see her as a roadblock between him and the read headed man. He flicked her off his staff, and into the pool nearby.

A second blast, and the two turned. Another red head, almost identical to the other had appeared, and was now standing on the roof. The house rattled, and gave a roar- it seemed her own beat was now inside of it.

A three way fight seemed to be in place.

When the first redheaded creature and its monster crashed into the house, it was a struggle to keep Val under control.

Your desire for secrecy is a massive pain in the -

Val would you kindly shut up? Livia snapped back as she backed away from the party, looking around at the people.

They will not notice me taking over, they are too busy trying not to die, Val said, irritated as she watched Seance appear and take the fight outside.

It's gonna be okay, we have plenty of time -

Another crash, and a deafening roar as another redhead landed on the roof and its monster crashed into the house. Livia cringed, hearing the chaos and screams from inside. Alright fine, over there!

Livia took off running, away from the party, and she suddenly leaped into the air, her hair glowing golden as she took off flying and crashed into the house through the window. Something shattered deeper inside, and she pursued the sound until she found the monster itself.

"Here, demon!" she yelled, floating in front of the monster's face. "Face a more worthy opponent!" And without regard for the flames bursting from its skin she slammed a kick hard under its jaw before darting back.

[Attn: Open]

Lyra had been taken off guard by the sudden appearance of a new challenger. But as surely as her pantheon did exist, she was fully prepared to throw herself into any fray. And yet presently she showed more concern for the people in the area, scrambling to get away. The scene was too hectic to leave this to one person. Astrid and Livia could manage with the combat for the moment. Lyra takes full advantage of the chaos and drifts off through the crowd and into a nearby restroom. Once inside, she stands in the mirror and realizes that she isn't in costume. "Oh...right," she says to herself.

Then she recalls something that Ricochet had given her. She checks the corsage on her wrist and pulls out a small clip, pressing the button. This was an I.D Clip; illegal technology that superheroes who wore no masks often wore to conceal their identities using a subliminal mental suggestion. With that done, Lyra looks back up at herself in the mirror and ties her hair back into her famously large ponytail before bursting back through the door with enough force to throw it from its hinges.

Once out and back into the chaos, she hovers up over the crowd. "Please, try to remain calm! Make your way towards the nearest exit!" Frankly, she saw no point in telling these people to remain calm. They would do no such thing. There was danger nearby. But Ricochet had taught her that this was how to handle crowd control. In any event, Lyra nodded about in the air over the evacuating crowd, helping along the occasionally straddler while the action went on elsewhere.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit-" Finnick hissed, hiding behind the stage with an equally terrified Chris. "Dammit I'm too talented and good looking for this shit! How many superheroes came to this damn party!?" He looked over at Chris. "Chris- Oh great, Chris did a mental blue screen of death this is lovely Al-" He looked on his other side, but the boy in question was missing. "Alex!?"

-
Astrid kicked and thrashed violently under water. She had never learned how to swim, she had never wanted to, water terrified her- and now she was going to die the lamest superhero death of them all.

Drowning.

She tried to open a portal to get onto land, but every one flickered out without even growing to the side of her thumb. Shit, that's right- Oh this is great. The longer she was underwater, the more panicked she became, the water began to rush into her mask, and the area above her was tinted red with her own blood.

Her vision slowly began to slip away, and she glided down to the bottom of the pool.
-

Instead, he was rushing to the pool, diving in head first. He squinted his eyes underwater, seeing a dark figure floating to the bottom. He swam after it, grabbing Seance under her arms and swimming to the surface. He frantically dragged her onto land, pulling her mask of her face slightly so that the water rushed out of it. He only had to wait a second or two for a reaction, because she began to cough and heave.

"It's okay, I've got you, I've got you-" He patted her on the back as she coughed.

A surge of flame caught his eye and he pushed the both of them back. The giant, flying creature, flaming and monstrous, crash landed into the pool after a particularly violent blast from the boy in white.

"I've got you! I've got you!" He chanted, his arms wrapped tightly around her, pulling them both back as it raised itself from the pool. It's head turned to look at both of them, and quirked to the side, like a birds.

A giant, fiery, horrific, bird.

That looked more like a lizard.

Seance stretched her hand out to it, prompting a horrified face from Alex. "Akiva!" She called happily. The bird craned it's long neck down to be level with them, and chirped at her. It's giant, black, catlike eyes settled on the stab wound she had received earlier. It exhaled, and a dark, amber mist surrounded them both.

Alex coughed, trying to wave it away from his face. "It smells like...sulfur! And rotten eggs!"

Astrid only smiled at the creature, and it rested its head gingerly in her lap- and, despite the fact that it was literally on fire, she began to pet it.

Prompting yet another horrified look from Alex.

"But it-it's on fire!"

"Would you like to pet it?" She replied simply, which took him aback.

"Uh- yeah? Yes?" To this she muttered something softly in the creatures ear, to which it raised it's head, and stared at Alex. Just stared. Two feathered, scaly prongs rose slowly from its head into two, pointy horns. Alex's horrified look deepened-
until it gingerly set its head down in his lap, like a dog. He slowly stroked it finding it not scalding hot, but warm- and strangely soft. Astrid muttered something in its ear, and the horns once again perked up, and it swung its head around took quickly to the sky.
-

"My, my-" The female red head muttered. " A friend of the ladybird's it be, we shall see who is stronger, you or me?
I see you are not like rest, but it will come to show you are not the best
And I, too, also know, that your strength is not yours to own, but that does not matter here- Fuck the rythmes now give me a show~!" The she demon shrieked as her beast, a chimera like monster, with the misshapen, beastly head and upper body of a lion, lower haunches of a lizard, wings of a bat, and a tail of several, snapping snake heads, fell upon Livia, charging at her. Fire spewed from its eyes and mouth, and its claws extended like knives from its flesh.

-

The red headed man and the boy and white were tearing up the now empty yard, the crowd had vacated like a stampede, the only true 'average' people left were the band, who were currently cowering behind the stage.

[Attn: Boys Will Be Boys]

Lyra oversaw the evacuation of the civilians in the area. Once the last of them were gone, she clenches a fist and looks over her shoulder in the direction of the red head and man in white. She focuses in on the both of them and suddenly rips across the yard like a cannonball. As the two of them near a clash, she rams into the boy in white before righting herself in the air and landing lightly on her feet before the redhead, watching as the resulting impact of that tackle derails the white one, if only for a moment. "I do not condone endangering innocent people. But what I condone even less is when someone harms those I have come to know as friends," she says, narrowing her eyes toward the end.

She removes her necklace; a simple string with a simple chain link attached, and holds it in one hand. Swinging her arm in a whip-like motion, a long chain suddenly extends from the link in her hand. She then proceeds to spin it and watch for the man in white's next move.

[ATTN: Chimera]

Val darted up into the air away from the beast. Just take over! Livia said, as they flew back dodging the beasts attacks.

I am glad you asked.

Her hands glowed and she threw out a bolt of energy at the beast as it lunged again, flying back up into the air.

(ATTN: Ballroom blitz)
The male with red hair raised his eyes in amusement as the girl with golden hair cannonballed into the boy dressed in white. Yet his smile was only widened by her statement.

"Friend...?" Two of his many eyes focused down on Seance, mismatched and unwavering. "In-ter-est-ing~" He purred. Straightening up.

"I will leave you to him, but I assure you I won't wander if he gets out of hand, Goldilocks. There is a matter to attend to with the boy harassing Akiva." Before giving either the chance to respond, he is gone and across the yard with little more than a faint black trace in his wake.

The boy in white remains expressionless, his dead eyes set on Lyra. He raises his staff, which unlike the red heads, was almost identical to Astrids. He raises it, and flicks it like a racket, sending several small bolts of white, pulsing energy roaring towards Lyra.

-

The enormous creature reared its head with a roar as the car melted against its skin. Its dark, flickering eyes settling onto Twista. The tendrils on its tail began to lash furiously through the air violently, scorching anything it touched. It dwarfed everything around it, and could easily have swallowed the car whole, and as it roared the black, tooth-lined cavern of its throat became disturbingly visible.

But it was not the bird that attacked Twista in retaliation, but rather, the red head. It was almost like a body check- the red head sent his staff slamming into the boy, and shoving him back through the air, before it returned to the hand of its master.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it?" He asked, cocking his head, a smile still traced along his face. "We're on the same side, I believe, aren't we, 'Twista'? Or at least we're not against you. There was no need for you to attack Akiva, he's a very sensitive thing, you see? Terribly rude of you, throwing a car at him. Hurt his poor wittle feelings."

The bird, meanwhile, had turned its attention away from the young hero and was currently prowling the yard, peeking through windows, and investigating under tables.

-

The beast bit into the energy flung at it, crushing it in its jaws. It looked up as Val flew away, and roared again.

"Oho- it will take much more than that to satiate his appetite!" The female red head giggled, reclining on a dresser nearby.

[Attn: Smooth Criminal]


Lyra turns her arm and rams up the speed of her chain spin in front of her, using it to deflect what she can. One manages to get through and strike her, forcing her to slide back on her heels before rising up into the air, once more spinning the chain at her side. She begins to whip the chain around offensively, trying to force him into a corner.

[ATTN: I don't have a sassy title]

Val grimaced, darting up away from the creature again and glaring over at the redheaded lady. She suddenly changed direction, darting for the woman reclining on the dresser.

She wound up, gathering energy in her hands before blasting it at her and following up behind it, ready to grab hold of the woman after the blast and unleash a beating.

(ATTN: This Escalated Quickly)

The boy in white raises the bottom of his staff to deflect it, and as soon as it hits he grabs it with his hand. The noise it makes against his flesh makes it seem like the chain was grinding against rock. He wraps it around his hand and his staff, pulling her toward him, his magic feeding into her chain like ice fire.

-

The red head laughed gleefully and clapped his hands. "Good job! Then again, I should expect nothing less from someone who keeps quite...interesting company. Two of his multiple eyes bobbed back down towards Seance, now being helped to her feet by Alex. "And that-" He pointed to the fleeing crowd. "Was not my fault. Your little Astrid did that all on her own, I merely came to help once I sensed her distress." There was something of a lie in his voice. "I did not come with the intention to harm anyone, and I did not cause any harm to any of these lively little partygoers." That part was honest, at least.

Akiva, on the other hand, seemed mesmerized by something in the nearby shrubbery. It lowered its beak, and when it swung its head up, in it was a man. Rather oddly dressed for a party. He seemed older, perhaps the parent of the boy holding the party. He screamed and shouted, kicking and fighting to free himself from Akiva's beak. The bird flicked him into the air, and opened its maw, and the man was now falling down into the creatures mouth.

-

As the blast consumed the woman it seemed to part like the red sea. Though not as graceful. It was though it was ripped apart at the seams, and dissolved into blackness. She pushed herself through it, and greeted Livia with a grin.

"Hello, there~" She chirped, before blasting Livia with a punch that rivaled the force of a keg of dynamite.

[Attn: <_< No It Didn't We've Been On This Scene For Months]

Lyra held her end of the chain tight. She maintained her place in the air by allowing the chain to extend as it was pulled. The smoke of the chain's burning effect rose whenever he grabbed the chain again to pull on it but it seemed not to faze him. "I believe that this is the game that the people of this land refer to as 'Tug of War'. Then so be it. I will play. But I will do so by my own terms!" Lyra raises herself higher into the air and stops allowing the chain to extend. Then she pulls on her end. But she doesn't merely pull. She yanks as she continues upward before swinging herself around and bringing the chain with her, whipping the man in the milky white suit at the end into the side of the nearest building.

She retracts the chain back to its standard length and coils it around her fist. Following that, she turns her attention to the others to assure that they will not need any assistance. While her head is turned, she senses another surge of evil and turns again to find the same mysterious man from before, now present on a billboard that Lyra was certain he wasn't on previously. He moves from that static pose on the billboard and waves to her. "Well, aren't you the best dressed little superhero of the bunch."

"What do you want, trickster?"

"Your attention, of course. Head's up," the man says.

[ATTN: Lady in Red]

Val ate the punch, flying back several meters before she swung her hands around and let off a blast behind her, changing her momentum to bring herself to a stop and fly back towards the woman. She swung her fists, jabbing out two blasts of energy in front and changing direction quickly, flipping over her blasts and landing in the air behind the redhead, reaching to grab her by the hair and throw her into the wall.

(ATTN: Party City)

As Astrid was being helped off the scene by Alex, who was still horror stricken and would surely ask her one hundred and one questions later about why a flying bird lizard was suddenly her lap dog- she watched as the boy in white streaked across the sky.

Before Alex could even comment, she was gone, flying off after him. She caught him from behind, wrapping her arms around his torso. She skidded back through the air, and placed the disoriented boy upright. Upon closer examination, he wasn't as much of a mannequin as he seemed. He had sharp eyebrows, and long eyelashes, bleached white like the rest of him. His features were clear cut and strong, yet at the same time they looked delicate, like someone who could have been considered the 'pretty boy' in high school;
and as he turned to run Astrid through, he also had a line of pale freckles across his cheeks.

"Stop it!" She snarled, her worry gone, as she grabbed the end of his staff as it was inches from her heart. Her black colored magic swathing the sharp end of his staff, oozing out onto it.

The boy remained expressionless, and jerked the staff away robotically as he blasted himself off against her. She was send spinning back through the air, but quickly righted herself, watching him as he shot for Livia.

"Oh come on-" She rocketed after him, and out of the corner of her eye, saw the man coming out of Akiva's mouth. It took one look at his face to throw her into complete panic.

"Oh shit-"

-

In a split second the red head, who possessed an ungodly amount of physical strength for someone of his build, had grabbed Twista and pulled him low to the ground as the figure, previously engulfed by Akiva's maws, let out a horizontal blast that engulfed the yard, scorching into the side of the house, and setting off every car alarm for fifty miles. Windows shattered, doors were blown off the hinges, it was like a snow-coated shockwave.

"One-" The rook hissed at the young hero, anger now creeping into his once whimsical voice. "Akiva is a phoenix, and two I hope you realize that you've just screwed over the whole neighborhood and made our job increasingly difficult." He released the boy, readying his staff as newcomer floated, soldier straight in the air. Hands clasped behind his back and his staff floating, regally and obediently by his side. The bird had since crouched into an attack ready position by its masters side.

"Oho! Looks like the king finally removed his fat ass from his throne! How fun!" The red head laughed dangerously, his magic swelling.

-

By all logic the female red head would have been annihilated by that attack, if she had actually been there. In the blink of an eye she was gone, and over Livia's head her heel waited to crash down into her skull and send her face first into the floor to lick the varnish off the finely polished floors.

[Attn: Hocus Pocus]

Lyra shields herself, curling up in the air to better withstand the full force of that shockwave. She emerges from that with bumps and bruises aplenty but she'd live. She sits there, looking at this so-called 'king'. She didn't have good associations with that word. But all she could do was keep her distance. He'd done this to every car over a few miles. He was powerful and she was only just growing accustomed to her own powers, regardless of how proficient she may have seemed.


As the radial blast rattles the city, Misty sits in Hero Tower, looking over everything when the power suddenly shudders. As it comes back up, she turns and a red light on the dash is blinking. "Okay," she says, holding down a blue button. "Magic Wing, whataya got?"

"Some form of magical disturbance uptown," Warrior Woman says through the speakers. "Alakazam is off in patching up dimensional tears after that incident with The Lords of Order. If he stops-"

"Yeah, I know. World collapses in on itself, yadda yadda. Who's available for dispatch?" Misty asks.

A figure steps through the door. "Tell, Madam Control that I will assist," he says.

"Was that...Wraith Knight? Well...let's hope Demon Man can help out."

Ricochet appears on screen. "Some of my team is there already. The rest of us are having...different problems. But I can send in some reinforcements."

"Please and thank you," Misty says.


Ricochet nods and cuts out before suddenly looking up and seeing him there, standing next to her and leaning against his cane. "So, who are you going to send? The loud one and the medic, perhaps? Or the walking disaster zone and the giant? Little soldier boy and yourself?"

Ricochet stands there, unable to talk. She looks back over the monitor screen in the simulation room where the rest of the team was. They still appeared to be having a problem trying to contain the very man that was standing before her. "H-How did you-?"

"Don't you think you should be helping your team? I'm hardly all that threatening. These magic people, on the other hand...well, you can't be too sure."

Ricochet stares at him before slowly pressing a button on the dash. "Atlas, Spartan, get uptown. There's a situation. Lyra, Livia, and Astrid need help."

Atlas shrinks down to average size and races out through the door with Spartan. "Why are we leaving the team in the middle of a fight? Those three are our biggest bruisers. They can take care of themselves."

"Well, this...guy hasn't exactly tried to hurt anyone yet...just annoy us."

The man watches Atlas and Spartan leave from the monitor next to Ricochet having gotten a bag of popcorn from somewhere. He proceeds to offer her some as he looks on. "So logical. So...Predictable. And oh so very boring. Not for long, though."

Ricochet turns to try and grab him but he isn't there anymore. When she looks around, he's gone. Checking the screen, the team is still struggling to catch him. Thus, she turns and rushes through the door, only to slam into him as he stands in the doorway, planted and solid as a brick wall. "Your teaching license has been revoked, my dear," he says.


Lyra lands near the others, spinning her chain at her side. "Is there any plan of attack that any would suggest? I do not think that simply charging into war would be preferable."