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: Dis grl]

Val slammed into the ground, and her whole body suddenly exploded with energy as she released the last barriers on her power. Her hair went sheer white, and she rolled over on her back, sending a long wave of energy up after the redheaded woman as she floated to her feet, sending off her energy in blasts as it rolled to the surface of her skin.

(ATTN: The kids)

"Now think, am I being cripitic or are you just not as smart as you like to think you are?" The red head didn't even bother looking back at him. "And you humans enjoy sugercoating things. I'm sorry Akiva's a bit more serpentine than your fluffy, pocket sized translations of him. But every bit of the mythos you know is true...he can't be killed, bursts into flames- all the important parts they left in."

The king, on the other hand, summoned his staff to his hand, and all of his energy seemed to swell. "I'm not here for you, joker. I'm here for your pawn- her head is what my queen wants, not your snark." His voice was cool, icy, though you could tell it was trying hard to sound 'human'.

"I'm afraid our little pawn isn't up for auction or trade, my lord." The red head gave a taunting bow.

"Hm," The mans lips twitched upwards. "I see. I suppose I will just have to take her, then." He had raised his staff only a fraction of an inch before Akiva slammed, spinning into him like a demented roller coaster. He let out a cry, and began to push the beast back, his magic radiating like shining silver.

"Sister!" The red head cried, now finally looking back towards Tyre. "Now if you might kindly do something of assistance?"

-

The red head had just raised her eyebrows at Livia's transformation as her brother called for her.
"It seems we will have to fish this later, lady-bird." She cooed, Livia's blasts absorbing into the air around her. She sent her own blast back towards Livia with a blink, her magic, unlike Livia's, was dark and oppressive, coating everything around it like lava. She flicked her wrist towards Livia and from the walls grew vines; thick, black, dead vines. They wrapped themselves around her, their thorns digging into her skin, and it seemed like she had summoned a plant-like beast to do her bidding. She leaped onto the back of her chimera, and it launched them both out the window.
-

Before he could crash into Lyra, Astrid grabbed the boy by the ankle- and spun him through the air, flinging him into the pool. She settled in the air beside Lyra.

"This isn't even your fight-" Astrid said firmly. Looking helplessly around at the destroyed yard. This was her fault- well, not entirely. But one can hardly go venturing into a forest with a torch and blamelessly walk away from a wildfire.

[ATTN: Open]

The black energy smothered her gold, and Val slammed back into the wall as vines grew from the woodwork and embraced her. Val yelled a curse, shedding charges of energy over and over from her skin like a living bomb, but it did nothing, and the vines only grew tighter, digging deeper and deeper down into Livia's skin.

Val, it's not working, Livia finally said, silent the whole battle.

"That monster is getting away, Arens," Val snarled out loud, and cringed as the vines wrapped back around her even tighter.

Fighting this isn't helping, Val, Livia said. Val ignored her, letting off another discharge of energy and letting out a pained groan. Val you're killing me, Livia finally said weakly, and Val blinked, stunned.

The energy coating her vanished in an instant, Val's consciousness fading from Livia's eyes. Livia blinked, closing her eyes as the pain - previously muffled by Val's own consciousness - hit hard. Her whole body burned and ached, and the vines around her were still digging in. They felt clammy, cold, almost dead, and it made her shudder.

She grimaced; maybe it'd be easier to get out the less aggressive way. She kept her eyes shut, trying to breathe in slowly, trying to ignore the pain and calm down.

The vines relaxed around her, pulling away, and Livia opened her eyes as she felt the vines loosen enough to duck under and out from them. It was almost as much as she could do. She fell back against the wall as she felt her legs buckle, trying to stay on her feet.

I never wanted this. But when one housed the spirit of some great unknown force there were responsibilities that came with it, including fighting horrible monsters that attacked your -

Astrid. Where was she? Livia grimaced as she started to shuffle along the wall, looking for a view outside to find her friend.

[Attn: Open]

"That is most incorrect," Lyra responds, flatly. She then makes a sweeping gesture toward the action with one hand. "Here there is good. There, there is evil. My purpose is to fight evil. Where good and evil are a concern, it is always my fight. But I cannot do that if I do not know the nature of the evil before me. So I must ask again...do we have a plan of attack...besides attack?"


"Another mystical overlord," a graveling, distorted voice says as a humanoid demonic figure with jet black 'flesh' and a long, purple hooded cloak phases up from the ground and overseeing the area of incident. "Of all the realms for them to torment, they certainly do enjoy this one." Despite the joking nature of his remark, his tone is crude...humorless. This is Wraith Knight the Cursed. A guilty man seeking repentance, bound to a demon turned dark protector.