Ask to Join The Paragons - Act II

[The Dark Fairy]

Kerco

Kerco looked at the man in amusement, he didn’t need Rose to tell him that the man was nervous about Kerco, maybe even feared him. Kerco glanced about the car, before turning his gaze back, small smile never leaving his face as he spoke “I’m no scrapper, just wandered out here to see where we might build the next few houses for the settlement over yonder.” He assured him. He glanced down at the mans tools, some seemingly left on the ground, maybe to be abandoned. “So, what is this purpose beyond my comprehension?”

Rose Nala

Rose Nala looked up at the other two, eyeing Might girl. She was going to be a handful of brashness very soon if someone didn’t help her. “The paragons are dissolved, while most are still alive, they either retired or do their work elsewhere in the rare case they aren’t.” She stared at Alan a few seconds more, feeling, something. She gave a. Soft smile before turning to more generally face the two, still having the assassin in her sight as well in case she finally stood up “Once we’ve taken care of this, would you two like to come back to my place to chat over some food and drink?”

 

[BurbleBurble]

Necrodytis

Stepping back into the night, bits of her armor trailing behind her, came Necrodytis. She was regaining her bearings after being tossed through two walls, but still a bit shaky about it. And upon stepping out there, she saw a few things.

Most frustratingly, Sparkblade's escape, in a flash of red lightning. For some reason, she couldn't muster it in her to be a seething with rage as she wanted to be. Must've been the injuries she had taken. So she slammed her gauntlet that wasn't currently falling apart against the broken wall she was stepping out of. "Son of a...bitch..." She muttered through clenched teeth. This was supposed to be an easy job! Why the hell had it all gone wrong?!

It was mostly her fault, she supposed. Necrodytis could've just run up and gutted Sparkblade before the man even had a chance to react. There was a character to uphold then, but now? Now this sucked. She didn't even feel like Necrodytis at this point.

And the reason for her loss? Presumably the gaudy looking girl with the flowing cape. Which was rich coming from Necrodytis, who was also rather gaudy, but seriously what was this one's deal? She...She...She looked a bit like Patriot...Not that Necrodytis ever got a good look at him in person.

Either way, the wannabe hero was distracted. Necrodytis was denied one kill, but she'd get some goddamn vengeance at the end of this.

Angrily stomping forward, she let her fists clench, blood dripping on the ground as she moved. But halfway to the newcomer, she felt something...change.

Her anger, even muted as it was, faded. Necrodytis suddenly wasn't sure why she was even walking towards the interloper, as her muscles began to twitch. Was she...shivering? With her adrenaline and rage gone, leaving the next powerful emotion as she stopped a few feet from the hero.

"Y-you..." Sputtered the mercenary, uncertainty clear in her voice. Necrodytis rose a finger to point at the girl, looking pathetic between her actions and battered appearance. No intimidating mask left her face exposed, her yellow eyes manic, her expression almost horrified on her pallid face. "Who are...you!?"

What the hell was wrong with her head?! Her anger and frustration had faded to nothing. All that was left was fear.

 

[comic]

Might Girl
Martin and Rose iterated that the Paragons were 'long gone' or 'dissolved'. Vanessa was quick to shake her head. "Just because a band breaks up doesn't mean people stop being inspired by their music." She asserted. "The Paragons aren't a team, it's an idea, I like to think. Like the Avengers, and the Justice League! They inspire me to do my best."
Martin seemed to ignore this piece, putting his shades back on despite it being relatively dark around them. The topic at hand seemed to put him off, which didn't go unnoticed by Rose, who responded with; “Once we’ve taken care of this, would you two like to come back to my place to chat over some food and drink?” Her gaze was upon where the assassin had been flung toward. Vanessa turned her gaze toward Necrodytis to find the woman stumbling toward them, a look of seething fury in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm kinda hungry actually." Vanessa spoke sideways to Rose.

"Y-you..." She sputtered out, and Vanessa narrowed her eyes in slight confusion, detecting the ill-concealed fear in the woman's voice. Villains weren't supposed to be like that, were they? It was supposed to be 'I'll get you next time Might Girl!' and then they run off to their secret evil lair of evilness. She raised a finger, pointing straight at Vanessa, who felt pretty uncertain herself, this type of confrontation completely new to her.
"Who are...you!?"
Oh shit! That's what this was! The awesome name reveal part where Vanessa gets to look cool af and this sparks a back-and-forth rivalry between hero and villain! Oh, this is a classic. Puffing out her chest a little, barely unable to contain the giddiness she felt, Might Girl rose a few feet higher into the air. "I am Might Girl!" Damn, that name sounded so stupid at first but it had a nice ring to it. Might as well make it permanent. It was better than just stealing the name 'Supergirl' from a comic book. "Daughter to Patriot! Protector of Earth! Potential Paragon Recruit!" Her voice boomed out importantly, amplified in the moment by her own powers. "And you, evil-doer!" She pointed back at Necrodytis. "Are a bad guy! I beat those up! So get outta here!"

 

[The Alright Attorney]

Might Girl seemed to ignore Alan and Rose's comments about the Paragons, comparing them to the fictional superhero teams of the past. She was clearly a comic book geek herself, remembering some of the references to Spider-Man and Batman earlier. He nearly found himself smiling, remembering all the comics he read growing up, and how they shaped the kind of hero he wanted to be when he became The Adapter. But that was long ago, and there was no time to think about them anymore. Superheroes became real and they weren't as spectacular they were on the page.

Alan's attention was drawn towards Rose as she spoke, offering them something to munch and drink. Normally he'd refuse, but it's been so long since he had some semblance of a normal meal, living off the scraps of what he could find. Maybe some good food with some kind hearted people was what he needed right now. He was about to respond when he heard the clattering of broken armour and shouting from where that assassin was launched.

"Shit..." Alan muttered under his breath, turning back towards the lumbering assassin and pulling out his Sonic blast gun, ready to fight. However, instead of being met with a challenger, he saw that the woman looked, terrified of Might Girl, pointing and screaming at the young hero. Might Girl herself wasted no time, floating up off the ground to finally introduce herself properly to the world. However, how he introduced herself was the thing Alan least expected to hear that day. "Daughter of Patriot!" His eyes grew wide, his heart began to race. Seemed like that sense of familiarity from before wasn't just a coincidence. "You have to be fucking kidding me." He muttered out.

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Rose Nala

Rose smiled as she heard Might Girl accept her request, going very nicely. Her frown returned however when she compared the Paragons to comic book teams, lightly shacking her head. As she heard the assassin moving, she turned back to Necrodytis, watching her basically crawl the last few feet to them, pointing and pointing at Might Girl, basically wheezing out an question. She sensed Vanessa go from confusion to childish glee as she floated up, chest out and head high. “I am Might Girl! Daughter to Patriot! Protector of Earth! Potential Paragon Recruit!” Rose almost lost her footing as she stumbled back a few steps, feeling a similar reaction from Alan. In her shook she let go of Necrodytis’s emotions, allowing her sense of fear deflate back to normal, luckily her anger was safely bottled.
Rose looked to Alan, a questioning look in her eyes as she whisper-shouted to him, doubting Might girl would care enough to notice, absorbed in her dreams of grandeur “Daughter of Patriot?” She felt the shook in him, but wanted to make sure it was the same insane shook.

 

[BurbleBurble]

Necrodytis

The wide eyes of Necrodytis widened more as 'Might Girl' elaborated on who she was. "P...Patriot...?" She almost whispered that out.

This was bad. Necrodytis was careful not to mess with those under the Paragons when they were still together. Patriot's daughter carried a terrifying ring to it, especially to the already losing Necrodytis. Because Patriot was Patriot, a god given flesh. A hero among heroes. World ending being ender.

"...Daughter...?" She squeaked out next. Patriot had a daughter? That would've- Should've been well known. What was going on here?! Necrodytis looked at Might Girl's other companions, a scruffy looking scavenger type and some fox lady that would've confused a less shocked Necrodytis. Both of them seemed a bit taken back by the comment too, and were not as immediately concerning as the enthusiastic hero.

However, Might Girl might've just gotten Necrodytis to turn tail with a show of strength or something. But now, Necrodytis was horrified. And Might Girl may not of remember a certain saying about cornered rats.

Necrodytis bit the inside of her mouth, hard. She had thought about all sorts of escape plans before. Mostly as Janice, not as Necrodytis. But circumstances being what they were, she'd settle. There was a metallic taste in her mouth as her saliva and blood mixed.

And she then spit it in the unwitting hero's face.

"Stay the hell away from me!!" Screamed the mercenary, still bleeding from the mouth. "Don't even fucking try it...!!!" Necrodytis briefly stumbled as she began fleeing, shaggy cape flowing behind her as she tripped over herself to escape.

The technique was intended to blind the enemy- Eyes being open orifices made it a decent entry point for her parasite. And likely fatal to any mortal. Necrodytis was hoping it'd briefly slow down the daughter of Patriot by temporarily blinding her, as she never had a chance to do it against the fabled hero proper to see how effective it was.

Necrodytis clearly had no thought of sticking around and fighting otherwise, already booking it across rubble and debris back to her hiding spot a few blocks away.

 

[comic]

Might Girl
She'd been expecting Necrodytis to flee, which was what Vanessa was counting on. She had no intention of pursuing, they'd probably meet again, but the assassin seemed to think otherwise, her face shifting from fear to pure terror at the mention of Vanessa's relation to Patriot. She knew spouting out that name would evoke a reaction, but seeing the reaction, Vanessa felt her heart drop slightly. She was aware of her father's... unique reputation, but she was hoping it would spark awe, not... this.
What happened next was like straight out of Jurassic Park when the Dilophosaurus spit gunk into that fat dude's face, because the assassin literally launched a sticky wad of her oral juices right into Vanessa's face, who was too surprised at such a gross development that she was too slow to dodge or the likes.

"Stay the hell away from me!!" The assassin screamed, the sounds of her turning tail and running reaching Might Girl's ears. "Don't even fucking try it...!!!"
Vanessa responded with; "Gah! GROSS! In my EYES!?" Rubbing at her eyes, which were stinging, Vanessa shook her head, trying to wipe away the gunk as she dropped from the air and grabbed onto her golden cape to wipe furiously at her eyes, which were watering over. After several moments of this, Vanessa looked up, her eyes red and puffy. Her vision was blurred as she looked in the direction Necrodytis had run off to. Now annoyed, Vanessa stamped her foot against the ground, cracking the rubble beneath her. "So gross..." She groaned, proceeding to rub at her eyes again. "Fox girl- uh... Rose, right? You don't happen to have eye drops back at your place right? Maybe some tums too? I might throw up..."

 

[Void_Nugget]

Malekai & Bex
The large man sat in his cell lobbing a ball against the wall in a rhythmic pattern of boredom until there was a giggle and a tap at the window of his cell, he turned his head slowly to see a woman leaning against the glass with a large grin on her face as she waved at him her long white ears twitching happily. "Hey Kai, guess who just got back from her latest errand" Bex said with a cheeky grin as Kai slowly stood up and walked over towards the glass before he said "It's been a while Bex, it was starting to get lonely again" he smiled slightly as he glanced down at the jolly woman "well you shouldn't get to lonely then cause I heard that because you managed to stabilise Hydra Puppy Mode...", "Not calling that", "Fine the smaller version of your Hydra form, god your boring, but anyway what I was getting at is I heard that your allowed out now and looks like your stuck with me partner" she said with an even wider grin before as almost on cue the cell door creaked open "Well let's go hit the town" Kai said with a deep hearty chuckle as he exited the cell only to be wrapped in a tight hug by a bubbly ball of rabbit energy "off we go" Bex added as she let the large man go. The two were then directed out after they were dressed and prepared to leave. They exited the facility and walked out heading for NYC.

Forsythe
Forsythe scratched his chin thoughtfully "then I guess we're heading to Londo..." he started to say before he was cut of by his phone buzzing, "hang on" he said as he picked it up and read the message aloud "it says there's an auction going down in about 5 hours at dock near where my most recent job was apparently there is some incredibly deadly weapon one of my clients wants me to steal for them, unlucky for them I guess as I'm going abroad now" he said with a shrug before placing the phone down "so when should we leave?" he said casually.

Charlie
On a boat that had just arrived on a dock in New York, deep in the bowels their was a large wooden box covered on every surface with religious symbols from all sorts of religions a man dressed in the garb of a hired gun walked up to the box and opened a little hatch before sliding in a tray of food "oi ya evil little shit, boss said you need to eat so you'd better this time" he grunted before he closed the hatch and walked away from the box. Within the confines of the box the form of a scared 8 year old girl sat huddled before slowly starting to eat the food provided to her. She was afraid and she was alone "Not quite alone though are you" said a deep gravely voice from inside her head "shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up" Charlie said as she clutched her head and rocked back and forth.

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Continuum Dwight

The woman stood from her desk as she sighed “I’m tired, it’s been a long day, and I really just want to be done, go see if anyone needs me.”

Rose Nala

Rose head turned back as she heard more noise from the assassin, screaming and spitting at Might Girl. Before Rose could do anything, she already saw the woman was running away. "Fox girl- uh... Rose, right? You don't happen to have eye drops back at your place right? Maybe some tums too? I might throw up..." Rose looked back up at Might Girl, taking a second to reply “I do, though it’s a bit of a walk, will you be alright?”

Lilian

She leaned on her hands, not really caring to comment on the weapon, that is something they could talk about later, but especially cause they weren’t going to do it “I mean, as soon as we find a way I suppose.”

 

[Psymallard]

Berchtwald
Der Wissenschaftler swung open the door to his car, tossing the shovel in the back. His standoffishness wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, but he would definitely be talking as long as Kerco talked back. "Settlement? Zat means you're trying to rebuild zee city, ja? Vell zat is... how do you say... a pipe dream." The scientist chuckled. "Vhy don't you people just take a hike instead of trying to fix zis scheissehole. It just doesn't make any sense, you people are a bunch of dummköpfe." Berchtwald shook his head as he stepped into the car, slamming the door shut behind him. Then, in an awkward silence that lasted for several moments, Hühnerbein rolled down the window with an old-
fashioned hand crank to continue talking to Kerco. "My purpose? Is to kidnap zee president of zee United States of America, Charles Varren! Zat's zee plan so far, I vill just ving it from zere. Maybe take over zee world if my magic 8-ball says so." He reached towards his key in the ignition as he gasped in air in preparation for an evil laugh, but an idea prevented either action. "Vait, vould you vant to be my henchman? I've never had a henchman before."
@The Dark Fairy

The Veggie Man
"A name? Yeah I have one, it's Luigi. Luigi Zossi. I own the golf course uptown," he lied. Although, the part about the golf course was true. A man had to make money somehow. It was just that he gave out false surnames to anyone he thought he'd never meet again. This chic was no one special that Luigi knew of, at least not yet. "What about you?" He didn't really care about her name, but he seemed somewhat sincere, this was a man that lied well because of how casually he did so, he might as well have believed the falsehood himself.
@Captain Cardboard

 

[The Alright Attorney]

Alan heard Rose speak to him, seemingly in just as much shock as he was, learning about Might Girl's father. Before he could respond back to her, Alan heard the assassin seemingly attack Might Girl, spitting out in a desperate attempt to escape. However that wasn't any regular spit, the sound it made when it hit the hero's face, and her reaction to try and clean it off meant it probably stung like hell.

Cursing out at the assassin, Alan quickly fired shots off at her from his sonic pistol. She was too quick, Alan missing his shots each time. "Damn it, she's gone." A long sigh escaped his lips and he looked back to see Might Girl's eyes clearly in rough condition, seemingly confirming his suspicions from earlier. "If it did that to you, I hate to see what it could do to anyone else. Let's get you to Rose's place. She'll lead the way and I can hold off anyone else that might come our way." Alan said, gripping his gun tight and keeping his shield at the ready.

 

[| Korutesu |]

Alpha

"Okay, I'll leave you to rest doc. I'll go and check if anyone else needs anything." Alpha said, as he left the room, checking in on some other scientists, and asking them if they had needed anything. He entered each and every one, taking about half an hour or so, which then after checking all the rooms, he left. Soon to be shut down due to the energy needed to be saved.

Belerick

He noticed that the female was leaving the backyard, probably off to do errands. Belerick didn't know. He still watched her, as he stored energy. She soon went upstairs to change clothes, and fix herself up, which Belerick hadn't seen. He stayed there, he would love to go on a walk, though it was still bright and early and if he were to do it, He would probably be found. So Belerick stayed there, as he saw her walk through the door, leaving the house.

Alice Yumiho

Alice soon got ready, as she left the house, soon to walk over to the construction site. She climbed up the array of ladders, soon getting up to the place where the building is being built. She moved the hollowblocks to be placed as walls of the building. Soon enough, she had a whole row done, with cement being placed on top for the next tow of hollowblocks to be placed. She had helped a good amount so far, and in return, she would get free housing and necessities, which she could definitely use.

Ghost Twins

Both Tanner and Marie soon heard the loud racket on the streets on NYC, before daybreak even happened. Tanner and Marie soon looked outside to see three figures. One in gold, A male, and a Fox Girl. It seemed to Tanner that they were just in a fight, Probably not between the three of them, but maybe one or two more people were in the area just before they saw. Marie went downstairs, she though she'd see better down there, though most of the things she saw was rubble, while Tanner was upstairs he could see what was going on outside. Tanner called for Marie to come upstairs to see what had been going on outside. Though they weren't able to see any more people there, though they noticed something fast had been running probably evading the three. then a few shots were fired, which hit the window that Tanner and Marie had been looking through, shattering it. They dodged the bullet that had been shot, though the glass that had shattered had hit Tanner's arm. His arm didn't bleed due to him being a ghost, though he could definitely feel that it hurt.

Him and Marie went downstairs to be a bit safer this time, sitting down on a couch to hopefully get the shard out. He went intangible for a few seconds, as the glass fell out of the arm, and soon Tanner went tangible again, which soon he laid down on a couch to rest.

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Rose Nala

Alan had shot after the fleeing assassin, which she disapproved of, though she choose not to comment on it as she spoke up. “Follow me, if you can’t see feel free to grab my shoulders.” The kitsune lead the way through the city, after a long period of walking, they would see building being constructed, people working in and around them. Rose lead them all the way across the modest settlement, coming across what would constitute as a small cabin. Entering the building, it contained a main room with two tables, one holding a map and several pins and props, the other presumably for eating, surrounded by chairs. A door stood on the left and the right. “Please, sit down. I’ll go get the medicine.” She said asked into the room on the right, moving into a chest at the foot of her bed and rooting around for the medication she needed.

Continuum Dwight

Continuum stretched out far, doing a set of exercises before taking her overly tired form and slowly moving to bed, intending to get an actual night of sleep.

Kerco

Kerco shrugged in the first pause “Worked for the last decade, keeps people in jobs, actually raising an economy, keep trying something and your likely to turn a profit of some kind.” He listened to the Russians plan to kidnap the president “Warren? Well, luck with that, I suppose, probably the first attempt from the rubble.” He stood up striate, walking further into the rubble before replying to the last question “No thank you, not really the henchman type.” He studied the back of the mans van “Looking for scrap? Settlement has quite a bit, turns out clearing the rubble turns up a bunch of it.” He noted, turning back to the man to see his reaction.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

By now, the duo inside the featureless grey suit had left the battle behind. They continued to move alongside the wall until they neared OTTO. After arriving, William observed the alien machine's rebuilding efforts. "Alright there's the alien drone thing, it looks like its creating matter out of nothing but its lightshow." "Indeed, that is highly advanced technology. It would be quite beneficial if we were able to do something on that level as well." Eve chimed in, the suit practically shaking in excitement as she spoke. "Yeah it would be a great ability to have but this is very advanced alien technology we're talking about, how long would it take you to analyze something of this level?" "No idea, but there's only one way to find out." Reaching its hand out, the suit began forming its nanobots into a ball shape with the properties of rubber.

With a swift toss, the suit launched the ball towards OTTO's direction. The ball would bounce off the ground and rebound towards the floating contraption and break into a swarm of nanobots right before reaching it. If the machine could feel, it would be like being running through a swarm of insects, a slight tickle but nothing beyond that. The nanobots would then begin crawling around the machine and commence analyzing the alien device while trying to stay out of sight.

 

[DevVoid]

Undead Baron
The Baron just remained walking, slumped over and dragging his left foot along, sometimes swapping over to dragging the right along, sometimes even just walking normally. The Baron slowly felt his power returning as the Voodoo Magic inside him gathered up again, eventually feeling that he had returned to normal. He did also notice that the man he saw earlier was following him, but the Baron did have a mission to do. With the energy re-gathered, the Baron suddenly threw his arms up in the air, his body glowing up in a red tone before sending out a wave of voodoo magic out in the general area around him, reanimating corpses of people and animals alike around him. The Baron simply informed the Undead horde on where to go and to not get caught through the language of the dead that he spoke, and as the horde went on its way, as did the Baron, going back to the same slow pace he had been walking since he got to this ruin of a city.

OTTO
The drone was in the process of scanning fallen debris when its sensors picked up something, updating its directive. " Lifeform detected. Activating Telescanner. " In the midst of changing into a purple colour, Otto rotated around to see a ball of unknown matter fly toward him. Detecting it as a threat, Otto intensified the upper pull of his gravity field module to move himself higher up very quickly, avoiding the incoming projectile. Then, his colour changed into a red tone and the holograph activated again, this time with an angered Silent Night displayed.

" We developed a drone specifically to help you humans re-build your planet and re-settle civilization and THIS is how you respond? With an attack? It seems I was wrong to help humans. OTTO, return to Quietus. We're done here. "

With that, the holograph faded and OTTO hovered up higher and higher, right past the clouds before momentarily stopping. A last holograph was displayed, now bigger and much louder to alert the surrounding area, Ryghedro speaking up again as Silent Night.

" Attention, humans remaining in New York City! We have attempted to establish that we mean no harm by sending a drone to help re-build your planet to its former glory! Unfortunately, our help has been answered by hostility and we see no further need to aid your efforts under such circumstances! Farewell! "

And with that, the last holograph faded and OTTO flew out of the atmosphere, using his gravitational field module to fly back to Quietus.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Seeing the drone suddenly fly off with the subsequent holographic message, Eve began feeling panic and dread set in. "No wait come back! I just wanted to get your tech!" She cried out while finally leaving the wall and trying to reach for OTTO as he flew out of sight. William reacted with a sigh. "Welp there it goes, must have mistook your attempt at analyzing its tech as an attack from the sound of it." Eve definitely acted rashly again, something she isn't short on doing. "Nothing we can do about it now, can we finally head back? I don't want anyone seeing us like this." However, Eve's mind fell on something else. "No I'm not going home without a bigger haul. I think the fighting back there is over now, let's go see if there's anything interesting to scavenge." Hearing this, William let out another tired sigh as his body was dragged along Eve's hunt for new materials.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Forsythe
As his phone buzzed several more times Forsythe sighed heavily "agh, what now" he said before frustratedly picking up his phone and reading through the messages in his head this time;
Client 305: Auction going down in 5 hours, be there and bring me the item that they are auctioning, steal it and bring it to the usual drop, be careful it's highly dangerous and will be heavily guarded
Forsythe: Sorry I'm on hiatus for a while
Client 305: Now that's not gonna work for me so either bring me the damn girl or so help me I will make you the most hunted man on the planet
Forsythe: Girl?!
Client 305: Never you mind just get her and bring her to me or you will regret it.
Forsythe: Fine I'll do it
Client 305: Very much appreciated Mr. Carter
Forsythe placed his phone down and sighed heavily "slight change of plan, looks like I've got an errand to run" he said before heading to a cupboard to grab a few things like ammo and his guns, a pair of 50 cal Dessert Eagles. "I guess your coming with me hows your fighting" he asked simply before putting his coat on and standing by the door waiting to hear Lilian's response.

Malekai & Rebecca
The odd looking pair wondered through NYC looking around as they walked "wow the world really did go to shit didn't it" Kai mused receiving a shrug from Bex, "world seems mostly the same still criminals and stuff, I guess there is just less heroes to save them nowadays" she stated as they walked. They eventually wound up outside a large building "hey Kai, lets go in here, we can rest for a bit and discuss where best to search for some good supplies" Bex said to her larger friend with Kai nodding in agreement. The two entered and found a relatively clear area to sit and rest with Kai pulling out a map while Bex handed him a bottle of water which he accepted. They sat and drank their water while idly pointing out different sections of the map and crossing out impassable roads and useless buildings.

Elias & Maisy
Elias decided to ignore zombie man and instead opted to follow the dead that he raised hoping to discover who or what or where he was sending them to. He messaged Maisy to meet him on the way and gave her directions. Maisy received the messages and left the building and the strange ice woman within in to go and meet with her brother as he continued to follow the horde.

 

[| Korutesu |]

Ghost Twins

Since Tanner was resting, Marie had been roaming around the auditorium since she had nothing else to do. She walked into the main lobby, to notice two people inside. She looked at them in awe, She'd never seen people go inside since the auditorium was so dilapidated that nobody had ever thought to go inside.

Marie floated away to tell Tanner that people were inside. He heard the news, and soon both of them floated back, and Marie had been right. Two people were there, a boy and a girl. They soon walked over to them.

"Interesting... It's nice to meet you!" Tanner said, while Marie also spoke up behind him. "Hi! What are both of you, doing here? It'sa bit interesting, since we've never seen you around here before, and we've been here for as long as a decade." Marie mentioned to both of then. Tanner agreed to her statement, and said what she said was true. "Hmm, Yes... Why are you even here in the first place?" Tanner asked both of them, as he and Marie were very curious why they were here.

@Void_Nugget

 

[Psymallard]

Berchtwald
The villain deflated a bit on the rejection of his henchman offer. Maybe he should call it an internship rather than a henchmanship, that'd probably sound much more appealing. "Vell vhy build a city vhen you can flee to anozer? It just doesn't make any sense! I bet you don't even have a police force if anyone vere to... I dunno... invade viz a robot army? I'll see you and your little town very soon! Mwahahahaha!" As Dr. Hühnerbein let out the evil laugh, he turned the ignition, and... sputter.
Well, this was awkward. He turned the key again, leading to the same result. Berchtwald stared at Kerco for a moment, before slowly exiting the car. "Let me fix zis very quick." He popped open the hood of the car and assessed the problem, probably something to do with the altered fuel system or the makeshift main engine, if he had to guess.

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Kerco

Kerco raised his brow as the man posed, a rather pointedly threatening questioning before attempting to run away in his car, though apparently his car had broken down. He signed as he walked over to the German, casually looking at the mess that was the car’s engine. “We have plenty of defense against robots.” He looked back at the man as he seemed to go over the cars engine, something old stirring in Kerco “Do you need any help? I don’t know you that well, but I have an inkling that you…” are crazy “… have something going for you.”

Lilian

The girl looked up at Foursythe, a conflicted look on her face, before smiling as she summoned her trusty metal bar “Oh, it has been awhile since I’ve done something like this.” She however de summoned her bar as she walked back up to the table, quickly taking all her food and stuff back into the necklace. “Yeah, I’m in, just need to get my stuff real quick.”

 

[comic]

Might Girl
So they made a short trek to Rose's place of residence. Despite her vision remaining annoyingly blurry, Vanessa could tell they weren't marching up on a burrow, which was a real shame, since Rose clearly wasn't going all-out with the fox aesthetic. She'd offered the heroine to grasp her shoulder as a guide. Vanessa had a lot of pride, so refused to do so for the most part, but did need to occasionally find her footing.
Gradually, she could tell her vision was returning, but whatever was in that gunk was working hard to try and make sure Might Girl would never see again. Thank God for healing factors, she guessed.

Once inside, Rose had Vanessa sit down as she went to grab the medicine. Without much argument, Nessa complied, tapping her foot rapidly against the ground in a sign of impatience- and anxiety. Now, she was fully aware that she was no Patriot. Not in power or in personality, but to get incapacitated like this by some creepy little assassin who was scared shitless (which was still somewhat upsetting the girl anyway)? If she'd just been a little faster, she could have avoided that, but... well, not every hero started off perfect. She had to remind herself that, something comic books had taught her, especially considering she grew up in a world where most people who had the power to at least try and make a difference had simply... given up.
Something she would never do.

Currently, though, Vanessa felt... frustrated and embarrassed. Sure, she needed more experience, but come on. She was the daughter of Patriot and she knew it, something like that shouldn't be able to slow her down! When the big threat came, and it would, what would she do if she froze up like that again? Rubbing the back of her neck, Vanessa frowned. "So... come here often?" She asked to either Martin or Rose, a means to make conversation in an effort to quell her own anxiety.

Not That Far Away But Happening At Roughly The Same Time...
A scream shattered serenity, echoing through the dilapidated buildings that surrounded them. A cold wind was gusting through the town forcibly, but not many were awake here. Hell, not many were alive. Within a rather cozy and warm warehouse that had been decked out to live in, lay pools of blood, men and women collapsed at the center of each. Some were missing limbs. Some were missing eyes. All were missing the light in their eyes.
Only two lived, one of them doing the screaming as he hung upside down, held up by chains as blood poured down his body from a gash in his stomach, dripping off the top of his head, his face redder than a tomato as he struggled and cried. The other was a cloaked figure, donning an emotionless mask, a heartless vessel as it procured a katana from under its cloak, and slashed cleanly. The man's chest soaked red as it too began to bleed.

"Tell me or don't, you'll die either way." The cloaked figure whispered through the mask, its voice distorted. "Where is the Golden Lion? I know he survived the Reaping." The Reaping, one of the many terms used to describe the end of the world when the Void Father touched down just as humanity thought the worst of it was over. Many lives had been claimed that day, and in this mysterious figure's opinion, only the wrong lives had been claimed that day. They aimed to rectify this mistake. "I-I swear!" The man cried, his voice nasally as blood filled his nose, his voice hoarse and breathless. "Please! Please d-don't kill me! No more! Please!"
"Tell me, did the villagers beg?" The figure asked, pressing the tip of their katana against the man's sternum. "For their lives? For their children? I know what you Agents of Takeshi are capable of. I've seen their corpses. I've heard the testimony. Why should you deserve mercy?"
"Please!" The man wailed. "I beg you, please! Please...!"
The figure shook its head. This was going nowhere. It turned, and began to stride away. "Get yourself down." They whispered as the shadows swallowed them, and the man began to scream for help as he wriggled, but he was bound too tightly. He would bleed out in minutes. A horrific way to go, but in the opinion of Hush... it was too merciful.

Letting out a sigh, Hush removed their mask as they exited the warehouse, tucking the disguise under their cloak and procuring a bottle, which they proceeded to swig from. The stench of alcohol was strong on their breath. As they stood within the cold of the early morning, Hush took a second swig before tucking the bottle away, and procuring another item; a small notebook. Hush flipped it open, running through multiple pages filled with crossed out names and/or locations, before nearing the end and finding lists that had yet to be crossed out. They used a worn-down pencil to mark the next item off the list before tucking it away, and going for the alcohol once again. With a third swig, Hush began to move, placing the mask back on their face, and trudging down the sloping hills to reach the shores of the beach this town had been built near. Waves sloshed firmly as water frothed, and the yacht rocked in the distance. A yacht that had once belonged to somebody dear to Hush, long gone, before the Reaping even. Resting on the shore was a jet ski to reach the yacht anchored out on the waves.
Iceland was cleared. The Golden Lion was running out of places to hide.

 

[The Alright Attorney]

Following Rose as she helped guide Might Girl to her home, Alan kept an eye out, looking around the city streets and into the alleyways. Luckily no one tried to cause the trio any trouble, and they managed to reach Rose's small cabin. It was a quaint little space. But to be fair, anything was better than the shacks Alan had been living in these past few years. He followed them inside and took a seat across from Might Girl as Rose left for medicine.

"So... come here often?" The young hero suddenly asked, drawing Alan's attention to her. He just sighed and took off his sunglasses. "Can't say I have. Mostly stuck to the outskirts. Don't talk to many." Alan answered, before letting an awkward silence fall over the room. Not sure what to say, Alan tried to think back to what she had said earlier. "So you like comic books?" He asked, trying to make some sort of conversation.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Forsythe & Charlie
Upon hearing Lilian agree he wasn't no time in heading out to the docks, it took a short drive in a 'burrowed' car to reach the docks. Once there Forsythe climbed out and looked around, he could see the boat but he was currently looking for guard "shit they said it was heavily guarded but damn this is a lot" after checking Lilian was ready to move he snuck past the first guards making onto the ship, once in the deck he checked the layout on his phone and pondered for a second. Before finding an entrance to the lower decks he made his way down through the boat taking out the odd guard or two who got in their way. On the lowest deck they discovered a door which Forsythe opened using one of the dead guards keycards and walked in, what he found only confused him more he knew he was looking for a weapon but the contact let slip that it was actually a girl and now stood before him was a medium sized wooden box covered in a impressive collection of religious symbols he cautiously made his way over before tearing off the metaphorical bandaid as he tore the front of the box clean off and was completely speechless at what he found inside "what?" was all his mind could think to say as he looked at the scared form of a little girl "The message said I was stealing a weapon, yeah he mentioned it was a girl but I thought maybe an android or at least a grown woman, but this" he started to ramble until he could hear footsteps marching down towards them "ah screw it, Lilian grab the girl we gotta go" he said before bracing himself and a metal table he flung it straight through the hull of the ship before diving out and making sure Lilian was following before swimming to the surface and climbing onto the dock. "Well this definitely got interesting" he muttered. (I give @The Dark Fairy permission to auto Charlie for this part)

Malekai & Rebecca
As they heard speaking the pair jumped up defensively and turned towards the voices "what the hell where did they come from" Kai said gruffily before Bex calmed down and proceed to motion to Kai that he should calm down also. She faced the pair "We are simply looking for supplies and thought this seemed like a good stopping point, we don't mean any harm or anything" she said cheerfully opting to leave out the whole we work for the presidents company for now. Kai seemingly having seemed the new faces as non dangerous sat back down and continued checking the map while Bex giggled "oh don't mind him he's just not too used to being outside and seeing new faces that's all" she said "anyway I'm Bex and this is Kai, who might you two be?"

 

[| Korutesu |]

Ghost Twins

"Oh! Sorry, We didn't mean to startle you. I'm Marie, and this is my brother, Tanner. It's nice to meet you!" Marie spoke up, She knew that there wasn't any supplies left here, maybe a few here and there but there was probably none left. "If you were looking for supplies, There's probably none here. This place was destroyed when the Void father attacked." Tanner mentioned to both of them, until Marie noticed something on them. IDs, Warren's company IDs. Both of them didn't like Warren, since the last full moon they were out, they were randomly attacked out of nowhere from one of the employees.

"Okay, Well... Let me talk with Tanner for just a sec, don't move." Marie told the two, and dragging Tanner with her to a different room.

"What do you want, Marie?"
"They had Warren Industries IDs."
"And?"
"They work for Warren! The last time we saw someone with those IDs, they attacked us for while we were out!"
"We can trust them though, Marie!"
"What do you mean? They just come here to look for supplies, how is that not suspiscious?!"
"Can't you understand?! They're one of the first people who've come HERE! It's been so long since i've seen someone else, Marie!"
"Won't you listen?! They might hurt us! We can't just trust them, five minutes after meeting them, Tanner!"
The argument could be heard throughout the auditorium, and could definitely be heard by Malekai and Bex. Soon enough, their argument ended, Tanner slamming the door behind him as he left the room. Marie exited the room not long after. "Look, I think you should leave. I'm sorry." Marie told the pair, as she knew it was dangerous if people were to barge in and try to attack them.

Tanner didn't know if what Marie was doing is right or wrong, as her judgement might be clouded because it was just one employee. He wasn't sure either if the argument he had with her was the right thing to do, maybe he could've just agreed with her. But his judgement was clouded because he's never seen people whom he's talked to before. Maybe both of them were right or wrong, but he was too tired to think about it. After getting hurt by shattered glass only thirty minutes ago, He wasn't feeling too good. Marie wasn't feeling too good either, she'd felt bad for asking Malekai and Bex to leave as they just arrived, but she knew it was for the best.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Shuzo Takeshi

Shuzo stirred awake, opening his eyes and finding himself.... not at home. Far from it, in fact: a cursory glance, revealing the swirl of space and stardust to be much closer than usual, told him that he wasn't even on Earth. The terrain upon which he stood could only be described as a desolate hellscape, much more so than New York City for the past ten years. Shadowy figures stood beside him, shrouded and indistinguishable, but Shuzo could see himself standing in the clothes he knew he had last worn. As if this nightmare couldn't get confusing enough, Shuzo was soon alerted to the bright electricity surging around him, not only with tenfold the intensity of his normal lightning, but also crackling with a deep, lustrous silver.

Suddenly, the skies split, a flash of astral light piercing the void and rolling thunder furiously shaking the earth. The shrouded figures next to Shuzo immediately knelt, and he soon found himself following suit without thinking.

He was here.

Shuzo's eyes widened through the lens of whoever his consciousness inhabited, as the swirling interstellar mass before him soon took form. The form of someone Shuzo had seen long ago. His voice shook every corner of space, his figure towering over anything and everything. In his mind, the former Paragon who experienced the wake of this being's wrath firsthand now took frantic breaths, gasping for air as he could only watch. And the Void Father spoke.

"ɎØɄ Ⱨ₳VɆ ₥Ɏ ฿ⱠɆ₴₴ł₦₲. ₱ⱤɆ₱₳ⱤɆ ₮ⱧɆ ₦ɆӾ₮ ₩ØⱤⱠĐ ₣ØⱤ ₥Ɇ ₳₦Đ ₮Ɇ₳Ɽ ĐØ₩₦ ₮ⱧɆłⱤ ĐɆ₣Ɇ₦₴Ɇ₴, ₮Ⱨ₳₮ ł ₥₳Ɏ ₵Ⱡ₳ł₥ ₥Ɏ ₲ⱤɆ₳₮ ₱ⱤłⱫɆ."

The indistinguishable figures next to Shuzo--whom he had now inferred to be Heralds--bowed before standing and disappearing in flashes of light. However, though Shuzo himself would have been glued to the ground as well, he was surprised to find that the lone Herald remained where he stood. Looking up at the colossal figure of the Void Father, Shuzo continued to stare in terrified silence as the world-consumer spoke once more.

"₣ØⱤ ɎØɄ, ₥Ɏ ₥Ø₴₮ ₮ⱤɄ₴₮ɆĐ ₴₱₳₩₦. JØł₦ ɎØɄⱤ ฿ⱤɆ₮ⱧⱤɆ₦, ₮₳₭Ɇ Ʉ₱ ₮ⱧɆłⱤ ₵Ⱨ₳Ɽ₲Ɇ. ɎɆ₮, ł Ɇ₦₮ⱤɄ₴₮ ₮Ø ɎØɄ ₳₦Ø₮ⱧɆⱤ ₮₳₴₭. ₣₳łⱠ ₦Ø₮ ł₦ Ʉ₱ⱧØⱠĐł₦₲ ł₮, ⱠɆ₴₮ ɎØɄ ₣₳ⱠⱠ ₴ⱧØⱤ₮ Ø₣ ɎØɄⱤ ₱ⱤØ₥ł₴ɆĐ ₴₳ⱠV₳₮łØ₦."

Immediately turning his gaze to the ground below, Raikos, the Herald of Silverbolt, responded, raising an open palm to the Void Father in submission.

"Father, you need only ask."

An intense rumble rang out, and the skies shook once more as the Void Father outstretched an arm, his hand thrust out as he decreed his commandment.

- - -

You have to be kidding. Not again.

Shuzo snapped awake in yet another cold sweat, slowly regaining consciousness as he found himself gasping and sputtering for air. The television broadcast had blended with the ambience of his room, and as he recovered his senses and sat upright, Shuzo heaved a muttered sigh of exasperation, laced with a fair share of colorful words to really drive the point home. As he gingerly rubbed his temple and pinched the bridge of his nose, the former Paragon took a few more deep breaths to calm himself down before pulling himself up and deciding to at least get some exercise in if he couldn't sleep.

Once he had concluded a brief regimen, Shuzo wiped his sweat with a towel and looked around his room, staring at the remnants of his past he had so often tried to sweep away. The nightmares weren't leaving anytime soon; if anything, they were getting even worse, considering how much his most recent one seemed more like a vision than just a bad dream. 10 years had passed since the clash with both Warren and the Void Father, and Shuzo's life had been a downward spiral from there. He had sought to push away everything that could potentially remind him of how it all went wrong, even the allies he had found in the process, but maybe..... if he couldn't find escape, then he could find closure instead.

As his gaze reached a book that focused on Japanese mythology, Shuzo gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, turning his head to the ceiling and muttering under his breath, "You better not regret this." With a sharp inhale, Shuzo then took to his couch and opened his laptop, typing away until he found what he was looking for. A few clicks here, some inputs into required fields there, and soon, the former Paragon stared at the screen in front of him, silently taking in the webpage's contents.

"Purchase confirmed: One-way ticket from: JFK International Airport to: Narita International Airport, November 17. Boarding time: 12:45 P.M. EST."

Well, no turning back now. With a decisive breath, Shuzo began packing his things, stuffing in clothes, books, his swords, whatever he felt he would need for the journey ahead. As he prepared, however, he also found himself trying desperately to ignore the deep, raspy voice in his head and the echoing words that seemed to only grow louder since he last woke up.

"₴ⱧØɄⱠĐ ₩Ɇ ɆVɆⱤ ₣₳łⱠ ₳₦Đ ฿Ɇ ĐɆ₣Ɇ₳₮ɆĐ, ɎØɄ ₴Ⱨ₳ⱠⱠ Ɇ₦₴ɄⱤɆ ₮ⱧɆ ₴ɄⱤVłV₳Ⱡ Ø₣ ₥Ɏ ⱠɆ₲₳₵Ɏ ₳₦Đ ₵₳ⱤⱤɎ ØɄ₮ ₮ⱧɆ ⱤɆ₥₦₳₦₮₴ Ø₣ ₥Ɏ ₩Ɽ₳₮Ⱨ."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
​

Keiji Takeshi | Tokyo, Japan - Roughly 4:00 PM

"Sir, we've received word that our agents in Iceland were attacked; should the aggressor be the same assassin that targeted our other functions, it would be wise to believe that they have been eliminated."

"Sir, if that is true, it will not be long before whoever this is narrows down and finally locates our main territory!"

"What should we do?"

"Not a single one of our agents around the globe have survived an attack from this vigilante; how will we respond when they come to us?"

"Who even are they, and where did they come from?"

As the high executives of the Golden Lion syndicate clamored amongst themselves at a round table, they intently looked to the figure sitting at the front for answers to their fearful inquiries. The man in question did nothing but twirl his cigarette, silently exhaling puffs of smoke with a suave grin on his face. His silence had done little to dispel the execs' fears, and they soon continued pressing on with questions and uncertainties, but as soon as the volume grew too loud to tolerate, he raised a hand, the gesture immediately silencing the worried top brass. His smile remained, and when he opened his mouth to speak, Keiji Takeshi's voice smoothly interjected the previous chatter.

"Men, calm yourselves. It matters not whoever they are, or how many times they attempt to disrupt our operations. Should they find us, they will come, and we will welcome them with death. Should they eliminate dozens, even hundreds of our agents around the planet, we will always be superior on our home field, so there is no reason for concern. We will continue to do as we always have, and soon, the Golden Lion will have its fangs sunk into the world."

Satisfied with his reassurance, Keiji's smile grew wider as he looked around at his advisors, let his words linger, and opened his mouth to speak once more.

"Now, shall we get back to.... more important business?"

 

[| Korutesu |]

Lunox and Belerick

She was inside the room, walking around and traversing it, looking for a place on earth to teleport to. And there Belerick was, In a place called Washington, DC. She entered the door to see a house, Lunox knew that he was there, and she knew she could finally reunite with him. She peeked through the backyard, to see a giant mound of dirt. She instantly knew it was Belerick because of the plant on the top, so she poked it. Belerick soon stood up again, and saw Lunox standing infront of him. "Belerick! You're okay! I've missed you!" Belerick nodded in agreement, which Lunox didn't understand why. "Belerick, are you going to talk?" He shook his head, which immediately alerted Lunox that something was wrong. "There's something wrong, it must've happened when you were transported to this world, I'll give you an artificial voice for now, which will wear off after a while." She summoned up a yellow orb, then gave it to Belerick.

"I- I can talk again?"
"Yeah Belerick, You can talk."
"Thank you, Lunox"
"I'm your friend, Belerick. I'll do everything i can to help you."
"We should get out of here, the girl who lives here doesn't like strangers, and it's definitely helpful for us to go somewhere else."
"Okay. I'll conjure a portal and get us out of this world."

Lunox created a portal, as both Belerick and Lunox left the house, though Lunox noticed that the portal was very different. "Belerick, I can't bring us back home." Belerick didn't understand what was going on. "What do you mean, Lunox?" Her power was weakened when she entered Earth, she didn't notice it at first, but now it was on at large. "I can't get us back, Belerick. My powers must've been drained when i entered this place, just like you lost your ability to speak." Soon both of them came to the realization that they'll have to stay there for much longer than they thought. She traversed the dark room, looking for a door, while Belerick followed her. Soon enough, they had reached a door, opening it, it led to New York.

"We're not in Washington anymore i don't think. This place feels like a wasteland... Unlike DC, which looked much better.." And Lunox's observations would be right, New York DID look like a wasteland, and it wasn't looking too good. Both of them exited through the door, disappearing once both of them left the room. They soon smelled rotting corpses, which was weird. They've seen someone raise the dead in their world, but never in this one. She flew on to the top of a building to see a horde of undead corpses, which was coming straight towards them. Lunox shouted over to Belerick that he should get somewhere high so that they don't get in the way of it. Soon Belerick climed up a building, with a little help from vines that would help him get up much faster. Lunox flew over to Belerick as they explored the streets of NYC.

 

[DevVoid]

Quincy, Massachusetts
A figure sat perched atop the corner of a rooftop, looking down at a night club. The figure took out a photograph of its victim, instructions written on the back of it. It only had to kill two visitors of the club - two rich brothers. Easy pickings. The figure moved off of the corner and toward the building's fire escape, climbing it down without sound.

As the figure reached the ground, it took out a strange knife from its sheath - a sacrificial dagger, similar to those talked about being used during sacrifices. The figure was none other than Wrath, previously a serial killer from Florida, now a world-wide assassin. Wrath grabbed his mask and pulled it over his face, equipping its straps and thus, putting on both the Oni mask and the hood of the hoodie it was attached to, completely disguising his head and face.

With the disguise on, Wrath's body became one with the shadows, becoming ethereal and gaining a shadow-like appearance. He quickly ran to the other side of the street, being nothing but a dark blur to the bodyguards. And, with a dash, he ran through the wall of the club, de-activating Shadow Boost again as he reached one of the bathrooms. Wrath headed out of the bathrooms, finding himself with an overview of the main area directly in front of him. It was pretty safe to say that finding his targets wasn't a very difficult task.

Activating his Dark Boost again, Wrath ran toward the brothers and performed a side-slash, using Mortis to horizontally cut through their heads, then ran ahead and through the building's wall again, finding himself in the same alley he entered the building from. Then, as his Dark Boost de-activated and Wrath put Mortis back in its sheath, screaming erupted from within the night club. Just as the screaming started, Mortis' blade began glowing in a purple tone, yet the glow was hidden by the dagger being sheathed. Mortis took the two souls of Wrath's new kills, absorbing them into its blade. Then, Wrath headed off again to another location to collect his reward. When he did end up collecting his reward, Wrath headed back to his parked car - a black, sleek vehicle with light-purple tinted windows and a dark-purple interior seating. It started up with a near silent purr, Wrath driving off toward Boston to head back to one of his many hideouts.

 

[BurbleBurble]

Janice Whittle

What a terrible night.

She was back in her current hideaway. A cozy apartment, nestled away between ravaged buildings. It wasn't much, but one couldn't be too picky. Especially by New York City standards, she was living the highlife. It even had running water.

As for her suit, the damage wasn't as bad as she thought. Most of the left arm had taken the brunt of her impact, the exterior steel plating have cracked, bits of the suit beneath peaking through. A spiderweb of other cracks weaved it's way across the shoulder and breastplate, but the rest remained mostly intact. Janice herself had been decently bruised, she'd be the first to admit she was no fighter without the armor- It wasn't often that she actually got injured, but there could be worse. She had put some bandages of her head to cover her scrapes, the few actual flesh wounds she had accrued in the fight.

Due to the way her powers worked, she often drained quite a bit of blood from herself regardless. She'd need a day or two to recover, get some more blood in her body. Maybe there was some sort of healing factor at play, since she usually felt much better in only a day or so. Or maybe Janice was desensitized to the constant drainage by now, so her body had adapted to operating on less blood than average.

Currently, the woman was dressed in a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, her natural grey skintone apparent, but with none of the extra bells and whistles she used to crank it up to more monstrous proportions. She paced over to a nearly empty minifridge, cracking open a can of beer, taking a swig of the slightly cool beverage. The inside of her mouth stung a bit from the alcohol, with her having bit her inner cheek in her escape.

Janice had been unsettled by something ever since the encounter. That sheer fear was one thing, completely uncharacteristic on her part. Even breaking character as she had, she should've been able to rationalize more in the situation, not lose her cool even in retreat. And more importantly, her anger. Rather, the absolute lack of it.

Janice couldn't even be annoyed with what had happened. Literally. There was a hollowness every time she attempted to feel any modicum of anger. All she could muster was confusion and fear. As she idly sipped the cheap beer, pacing back and forth in the small apartment, she was trying to reason, find something that could've caused this sudden change.

The self-proclaimed daughter of Patriot, Might Girl. Could she of sincerely spooked Necrodytis that bad? No. Janice remembered the visceral anger she had before, at the interruption and prompt escape of Sparkblade. Did she physically do something to get that sort of reaction out? Maybe, but the mercenary should've been able to reflect on it in frustration, not the emptiness she now faced. Leaving the idea of it being external powers.

She was well aware of Patriot's powerset, almost everyone was in on it in some way if they were a mercenary. Patriot was not to be taken lightly, at all, but emotion removal was not among them. She'd have to sincerely deviate from his powerset to retrieve emotional manipulation, but Janice didn't leave it out of the picture. Maybe Might Girl was lying all along, using her fear amplification to drive people away from the facade, but that seemed too complicated for what happened, and made little to any sense in the context of the conflict.

How about that scavenger looking type next to her? Hmm, no. He looked like half the other bums out in New York City. If he had powers, surely he'd of sought out a better life in the oasis as a mercenary. Next.

Sparkblade. No. Actually, when thinking about it for a moment, Sparkblade didn't seem like the type who'd randomly retreat either. Surely he would've "finished the job", as Necrodytis had been an easy target by that point. Did he get afflicted by this sudden fear as well?

...There was one more person. The fox lady. What was her deal?

...And more importantly, why was she vaguely familiar?

Janice pulled out her phone, quickly making her way to the internet. "Fox woman new york city", she searched up. Several results popped up, some less relevant than others. But there was one that caught Janice's attention.

"Meet the Fox who's helping rebuild New York City," it was titled.

Bingo. Fox lady was one Rose Nala, a leader for a group aptly titled 'Refuge'. Helping rebuild the ruined city one brick at a time, blah blah blah, she got the gist. It also noted her pacifistic nature, a penchant for stopping fights, and even a title of "Peaceable"...Yeah, this Rose character definitely read like someone who'd be able to mess with emotions.

The armor was a no go for now, not that she'd be able to get close without alerting the fox lady that Necrodytis had a bone to pick with her. Rather, Janice was going to have to track her down...She glanced to her makeup kit. Going in the day was going to suck, given the typical temperatures in New York City. But Janice needed her anger back.

What other choice was there?

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Lady in Black

"Oh, a golf course? Huh, I guess Miami is recovering better then I thought. Perhaps this isn't the end of the world, after all." The Lady in Black said with a smile. Luigi Zossi.... She extended a hand to the ex-hero, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. As she did so, the woman pressed a hidden button on her sunglasses, taking a subtle picture of Luigi.
"Helena Bertinelli. But my friends call me Selena. And we're friends now, aren't we?" Lady asked. A fake name, like the one this guy was probably using. Of course, Lady was being a bit more extravagant with the fake names she used. But why shouldn't she? She doubted this guy would care. Plus, in a few moments her phone might be able to figure out who this guy really was, now that she had a picture of him.
@Psymallard

 

[Psymallard]

Berchtwald
The German turned around and scoffed at Kerco's assurance that they were fortified against any robotic attacks, and went around the car to reach into the car for a tool. He took out a monkey wrench and circled back around right as he noticed Kerco had approached. Out of reaction, the scientist held up the wrench threateningly. He may be small, but getting hit by a wrench never exactly tickled. "I do NOT need any help from you, only henchmen are allowed to help zeir masters! Back! Back I tell you!" Berchtwald shook the wrench in warning, slowly advancing. This guy had overstayed his welcome, and Der Wissenschaftler was gonna make sure he knew that.
@The Dark Fairy

Luigi "Zossi"
"Nothing survives better than big business. Persists through stock market crashes, thrives on war, even a government shutting it down won't take down its international locations. This 'Herald Hiccup', as I like to call it, was nothing." He took her hand, totally oblivious of his photo being taken, and held her hand up, planting a kiss on her knuckle. "Pleasure to meet you, Selena." He was trying to be suave, but it could have come off creepily very easily considering how little he's known her.
@Captain Cardboard

 

[Void_Nugget]

Malekai & Rebecca
When the odd pair moved away from Bex and Kai, Bex managed to remain tuned in with her powerful hearing ability "sounds like we're gonna have to move" Bex muttered "huh why?" Kai said barely looking up from the map "because they spotted the IDs and they are apparently none to fond of Warren Industries, you head out and I'll join you in a sec" she stated calmly watching as Kai got up and headed outside. Bec turned as the pair return to ask them to leave "oh dont worry it's totally understandable we were just about to move to the next location" she lied before turning around with a wave and walking off calling out as she left "we aren't all that bad you know" hinting that she had heard their conversation as she pointed to her long white rabbit ears before exiting the auditorium "right Kai let's go" she said as the two friends set off to walking through the streets once more.

 

[The Dark Fairy]

Rose Nala

Rose finally found what she was looking for as she wakes up to the table, walking over Might girl with a fairly large box. “This might hurt a little…” She doubted that, but it might and she made sure to say that “… just sit still.” She pulled out a water sprayer, fiddled with the nozzle and a small pressure pump, using it to start and wash the black liquid from Might girls eye.

Lilian

Lilian stayed in her necklace for most of the mission, easier to stay hidden that way. When they got to the main room, she materialized, observing the box as it was torn open. Lilian looked down at the girl with a measure of sympathy, before grabbing Charlie’s hand, giving her a comforting look “Come on, we have to go now.”
The young girl blinked as she got lifted out of the box by a woman above her. She saw the gaze of the woman “W- who are you?”
Lilian smiled as she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, her vision blurring for a second as she thought she saw someone else…. “I’m Lilian, we are here to help you.”
Suddenly the man threw a table out the side of the ship, following to look out the hole as he jumped. Looking down at the black waves lapping on the side of the ship, she shivered.
Lilian shook her head as she quickly hand a thought, she reached out and collected the box and everything connected to it as far as she could tell while Charlie was looking outside. Running back to her side, she grabbed her hand “I’m going to swim you to shore, ok?” Charlie looked back into the ship for a long moment before nodding. Lilian scooped up the child, jumping into the sea as gently as she could, using one hand and her legs to pull the two up onto shore as Charlie clung on. Finding Foursythe, she clutched the girl in her arms, trying to keep her warm “I got her, we have to go.”

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

So, it's you...

Don't you know your heritage?

₳₦Ø₮ⱧɆⱤ ₮₳₴₭.

...the Silverbolt?

₮ⱧɆ ⱤɆ₥₦₳₦₮₴ Ø₣ ₥Ɏ ₩Ɽ₳₮Ⱨ.

It's you.

..₥Ɏ ₥Ø₴₮ ₮ⱤɄ₴₮ɆĐ ₴₱₳₩₦.

- - -

Shuzo snapped awake with a gasp, sharply roused from his slumber as the airplane touched down. An old lady sitting next to him had been startled by his sudden jerk, for which Shuzo quickly apologized, and after retrieving his luggage, the former Paragon stepped into the Narita International Airport.

November 18, 2043 ~ Tokyo, Japan, 5:45 P.M.

Japan, being a more developed nation similar to the United States, had also been hit hard by the Herald cataclysm, on the slow but sure path to recovery. Though, in clear contrast to the latter, its proximity to the Whitefrost confrontation in Siberia had yielded much colder temperatures throughout the year. As he stepped outside, Shuzo wore a black trench coat over a white shirt and black slacks, wincing slightly from the biting cold that immediately met him.

What am I doing here?

With a sigh, Shuzo looked around him, taking in the sights of his homeland that he'd never visited, and if not for the circumstances of his arrival, he might've admitted that some part of this was rather exciting. His parents had always boasted of Japan's beauty and the sights they always got to see in their youth. As a child, Shuzo had always wanted to visit, to witness the sights his parents had and fully understand how much they loved their home.....

That was 35 years ago.

Shuzo's parents were dead. Japan had been ravaged by the Heralds and the Void Father as well. The life he had envisioned might as well have occurred in an entirely different universe.

So, what was he doing here?

The world around Shuzo seemed to fade out as he walked to the edge of the sidewalk and hailed a taxi, a faint but shrill ringing stirring in his head. The voices from his memories and visions spoke in hushed whispers, repeating the same ominous messages he had heard, and as Shuzo spoke to the cab driver, naming his destination (his priority was finding lodging for his stay), his own voice seemed muffled. Suddenly, a vibration in his pocket snapped him out of his trance, and the noise cleared. A notification on his phone had alerted him to a text from an unknown number, and the contents of the message hadn't helped to quell his unease.

"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Takeshi. We've been expecting you. Please come to the address listed below for the answers you seek."

Was it Warren? Did the old man still care about him and his godforsaken 'lineage' that much? It didn't seem like him to be involved, but Shuzo could think of few others, if any, that could possibly think to request his presence, not to mention their supposed knowledge of his intentions in Japan. Maybe whoever this message was coming from wanted to kill him. Regardless of the mystery surrounding everything about this, Shuzo couldn't pass up the possibility that he could perhaps have his questions answered, the voices in his head quelled. With another sigh, the former Paragon pocketed his phone and spoke up, raising a hand in the rearview mirror and praying his Japanese wasn't too rusty.

"Excuse me sir, I need to be taken somewhere else."

- - -

The address Shuzo was given had taken him to a hospital in what had once been the higher-class area of Tokyo, now a metropolitan like New York, battered and torn from the cosmic apocalypse of 2033. It seemed, however, that rebuilding and recovery had been focused on all medical facilities, most likely in an effort to treat civilian injuries as soon as possible in the midst of such a calamity. The hospital standing before Shuzo definitely showed signs of damages, but it clearly stood in better condition than most. After paying the cab driver extra for his troubles and taking his suitcase, he took a deep breath and walked inside, though his mind still swirled with uncertainty.

It seemed that whoever had sent Shuzo the message hadn't been acting alone; after explaining his situation to the assistant at the front desk, the nurse promptly nodded in understanding and stood to direct him to "his room", according to the worker.

The doors were unguarded, and the pit in Shuzo's stomach only seemed to grow heavier as the nurse casually entered the room, his voice chipper as he spoke.

"Kenjiro-san~! Your visitor, as you predicted."

Following the nurse inside, Shuzo warily entered to meet the individual seemingly pulling the strings since his arrival in Japan, and as he studied the face of the figure now sitting up before him, the patient's name struck an unexpected chord of familiarity from long ago. Shuzo's eyes widened as the cogs in his mind turned, the memory of a family picture in his childhood home flashing in his eyes. Though his demeanor may have been kept monotonous thus far (well, as monotonous as it could be), his voice suddenly seemed raspy and carried a tone of incredulity when he opened his mouth to speak.

".....Grandfather."

 

[comic]

Might Girl
"Can't say I have. Mostly stuck to the outskirts. Don't talk to many." Martin stated as Rose made her way back to Vanssa, carrying a small spray bottle. “This might hurt a little…” Rose warned. “… just sit still.” With that, Vanessa allowed the fox person to begin to clean the gunk from her eyes. It felt like it was working, as Might Girl's vision was clearing, but it still stung like crazy. Rose, Martin, and Vanessa were very different people. Rose seemed to be a more passive type of a person. Reserved, but not distant. Martin was obviously experienced in life, and was a bit of a loner- even if he continued to hang with them. And Vanessa, of course, was the bright-eyed super just looking to fix the world's problems, as impossible of a task that might seem.

A brief silence befell them as Rose worked, in which Martin filled it in with; "So you like comic books?"
Obviously he was talking to Vanessa, she was the one always making comic book references, after all. "Yeah." She answered, trying not to move her head. "I collect whatever I can find. Mostly Spider-Man and Batman comics, but there was this really freaky comic about the Avengers being zombies I found a few days ago." She grinned. "Zombies are creepy. You guys ever read comics?"

Hush
The hood was pulled low over their face, obscuring any curious eyes from getting a good look. The coat worn concealed the gender of its wearer, despite the somewhat small stature of Hush. They had only recently arrived, having had to make precautions to ensure the yacht remained undetected and uncompromised. Things felt as though they were coming to a head, after all these years of hunting and killing. A trail of blood lie in their wake, but this was something no one else would do.
Hush paused for a moment on the busy street, civilians wandering around them as they closed their eyes, tuning their ears, searching for anything of note. Something they were searching for.

A few seconds later, Hush jerked their head to the left, hand reaching beneath their cloak as they began to stride off the street and down an alley, nearly knocking over a vendor shouting about noodles. The vigilante strode the length of the alley, coming to a stop at a spot that appeared unimportant. Inconspicuous. Forgettable. Not to Hush, of course, this was something they'd learned about.
Raising their free hand, Hush ran their fingers over the cold stone of the wall, tracing their fingers along the rough surface, before stopping.

Something felt... off. A feeling. That feeling one gets when they've encountered something familiar. A gut feeling that had suddenly assaulted the anti-hero, whose gaze fell from the wall to turn and glare back from whence they came. Through a sea of faces, there. There he was. Hush's breath hitched, catching for a moment, but they quickly recovered themselves.
Shuzo. That's a face they never thought they'd see again. He was an assumed casualty in the battle against the Whitefrost Herald known as Skade. A body had never been recovered, but that was true for at least 90% of the deceased.

As quickly as he was there, he had gone, continuing down the street, heading for the main road. Hush stared for a moment, blankly glaring down the alley, before glancing to the wall. They knew this was here, they could come back. A dead man walking was far more interesting.
With the sweep of their cloak, Hush turned and strode back out of the alley, picking out Shuzo's head through the crowd. He was a bit taller than most of those around him, making him easy to pick out for the most part.
He hailed a taxi, and was on his way. As quickly as Hush had found him, he was gone. They stared after it for several moments, memorizing the registration plate on the back. He unknowingly had gotten away, but this was far from the end of their little... 'reunion' to be. With that, Hush turned and began to make their way back toward the alley.

 

[The Alright Attorney]

Alan watched as Rose carefully worked on Might Girl's eye sights. Seemed to be working thankfully as the young hero didn't complain and just let the fox girl keep working. Suddenly, she had responded to Alan's question about comic books. Spider-Man, and Batman, the real essentials. She spoke with such an enthusiasm and delight, with that grin on her face that Alan couldn't help but remember back when he was younger and collecting his comics. A small smirk found it's way to the scavenger's face

"Marvel Zombies, that shit freaked me out as a kid. Definitely one of my guilty pleasures." Alan said as he leaned back in his seat a bit. "Comics were pretty much my hobby growing up. Don't hear about them all that often now of course." He shrugged a bit and looked back to Might Girl and Rose. "I'm surprised anyone still reads them nowadays, considering heroes became a real life thing after all."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

New York City


The city was a shadow of it's former self. Ruins. It wasn't completely dissimilar to something you'd find in Fallout, Hunger Games, or other dystopian fiction. Making it even more surreal to see it happen in real life. Without a strong hand or community to aid them, the people were forced to fight for their own. Some adapted, growing bonds in a group. These people had the highest chance of survival...or so one would think.

A man stood, leading a group of twelve equally environment hardened survivors. They had just hiked to this section of town, having brought with them many shopping carts filled with food and supplies, all tied together by chains.

"Hey...our numbers are looking pretty good!" The man spoke. "We just got Ralph and Charlie yesterday, making us a heft twelve! I think we can finally call ourselves a community!"

There were mixed smirks and chuckles in the group. They found it corny, yet somehow satisfying to hear. Normalcy? Not quite. But comfort in that of a group. They all trusted each other through thick and then. This could be the start of something great. Perhaps rekindling of civilization?

"Ey you gits!"

The tone was immediately stifled when they were interrupted by a rather crass voice. Looking up, they found many figures above. They were all...kids? They wore many patch worked cloths and coats, each one having a mix of scrap made goggles, caps, armors, or otherwise. Meanwhile the loudmouth of the group slouched comfortably on what looked like a garbage can.

"What...what is this?!" The man demanded. They were too in uniform to be just survivors.

"What you dinks it is? We 'ere to gives ya a message!" The brat called. "I's Scud, leader of the Junk Chukers! We's been watching you lot for cramping long time, now dat you be callin' yourself a 'munnity, dat means you be putting' yourself on the food chain. Join the highness's Kingdom and gives us your loot! Den you can join!"

"W-What is he talking about?" A woman in the group cried.

"I think I heard about this..." A man spoke. "Crazy trash people living in a kingdom, I thought it was a myth."

"Well apparently not." The man in charge responded. "Look kid, we aren't interested in your kingdom. We can survive well enough in our own. So go back to where you came from!"

A grin began to grow on this kid, Scud's face. It looked like he was waiting for that kind of response. Adjusting his soup can hat, he immediately appeared more predatory than he already was.

"Hur Hur Hur...I dinks not, ya git. See you ere, we can't has any 'munnities risin' up, Prince don't like dat. Can't have no rivals comin to steal his kingdom. Oh well, Loot 'em boyz!"

"Wha-"

Suddenly, dozens of men flooded from the city streets. Coming out of stores, jumping from windows, and jumping out from the mounds of debris that lay across the street. They 'community' was caught off guard. Readying their firearms to retaliate. However, the quick movement of these men and how swift their blades cut made sure their arms wouldn't be able to use these weapons.

Screams and cries filled the street as the raiding band took into effect. Quite literally murderhobos and greedy scavengers swarmed their cart. All the while, Scud chuckled from his high perch along with the rest of his squad.

"Hur Hur Hur...we didn't even need ta bring out you Junk Chuckers for dis. What a joke." He laughed off before pointing to a boy to his right. "You dere, bring me some of dat loot, they got some scrap with 'em!"

The boy saluted him firmly with a dopey grin, shooting a grappling hook with the other to the scene, being yoinked along. The boy had four layers of goggles and lenses over his eyes, each one having an unknown purpose...if they did have one at all. He crawled on the ground like a spider, gripping individual parts and cocking his head at each of them. A weird kid, but a good loota.

A successful raid. Not the first and not the last either. This was paradise. Scud never had this much loot back when they had to hide their nation underground!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Lady in Black
The Lady in Black raised an eyebrow under her sunglasses as Luigi kissed her knuckles.
"Ah, an older-fashoned gentleman..." Lady said. The bartender put down the drink Luigi had ordered for Lady, and the mercenary sipped the beverage. With a ping from her phone, it notified her that the search had been completed.
"One moment, darling." Lady said, turning away to look at her phone.

Luigi Esposito - Veggie Man
Powers: Veggiekinesis
Affiliations: Food Groups (Eliminated, only survivor)
Below the text, Lady in Black looked over a photo of the hero 'Veggie Man' using his powers to lift a car. It certainly looked alot like the Luigi she was talking to. She remembered this guy... Wasn't there some sort of shady rumors circulating about him? Even more so than usual when it came to heroes?

The Lady in Black put away her phone and turned back to Luigi with a winning smile.
"My apologies, darling. Why don't we take this somewhere more... private?" The Lady in Black asked Luigi.

 

[DevVoid]

Wrath
Completing several more hits throughout the day, Wrath was kept busy for long, yet could still find the time to briefly stop his work to book some tickets to Japan - as several messages have been addressed to him that instructed him to kill several different targets there - one of them standing out to Wrath. That one hit request asked him to take down an entire Yakuza organization. Albeit, by the member count given by the sender, it wasn't very big at all. Still, Wrath had a job to do and, strangely enough, Mortis seemed very eager to tackle this next hit. So, Wrath had gotten himself plane tickets after the next few hits he had done and got on a flight to Japan.

The next day..
Tokyo, Japan
Wrath had been to Japan a couple of times, as he had completed hits all over the world. Such was life as an assassin. Wrath had not any luggage on him - he wasn't expecting to stay in Japan for long. He only had the essentials along with Mortis, having taken a private jet in order to not get through the hassle of sneaking Mortis onto a regular civilian plane. Using his Agility and Dark Boost, Mason moved into a dark alley to put on his mask and other assassin apparel, then climbed the building to his right to get atop its roof. There, he hopped from roof to roof, keeping a lookout for his targets. Soon enough, he found two of his targets - two men wearing the same clothing as in the given picture, smoking a cigarette in a back alley behind a building.

Wrath activated his Dark Boost again, using it to quickly get down to the ground and behind a dumpster before his targets could spot him. Then, waiting out the time until he could use it again, Wrath used his Dark Boost to run up to the guards and slice their necks open with Mortis, the cursed dagger absorbing their souls into it. Now, with the guards taken out in silence, Wrath headed into the building to take out everyone who appeared to be part of this mob, the door swinging shut behind him..

 

[comic]

Might Girl
To her surprise, Martin admitted to not only having read comics, but also having read Marvel Zombies. Vanessa felt as though they were forming some kind of connection here. She'd never really had friends before, but if this depressing stinky old dude needed one, she'd be there. He seemed like decent friend material anyway. Martin shrugged, appearing exhausted, which seemed to be his default look. "I'm surprised anyone still reads them nowadays, considering heroes became a real life thing after all." He stated.
That statement confused the girl for a moment or two. She had to remind herself that Martin was much older than her, he'd seen the world in the 'Age of Heroes'. Who needed comics in those days when you could watch the news for the latest story on superhuman activity? And of course there were the Paragons, celebrities as much as heroes, the first public group of supers- and probably the last.

Vanessa didn't much remember that world. She'd been eight when it crumbled, but before and after that event, she'd been under the 'care' of the current President. Charles Warren. It had taken a lot of her power to just get away from the guy, only for him to just... let her go. Still didn't sit right with her, but she was happy for freedom. Seeing what the world had become, seeing how different it was from the comics she'd read...
"I guess... sometimes an escape into a nicer world is needed." Vanessa stated. "I know none of it's real, but to read about the Avengers and the Justice League, to see them save the world again and again... it inspires me. To do better than what this world's seen. To be better than my dad. I wear gold to be seen. I want to inspire hope wherever I go." She admitted as Rose pulled away, having fully cleaned the wound. "Thanks, Rose." She grinned, offering an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Hush
An infiltration. It hadn't been 20 minutes since they'd seen Shuzo, and yet, another familiar face had appeared. Their infiltration was being interrupted, though this individual was not of a personal nature to Hush like Sparkblade, but instead, something of a rivalry. Wrath, the assassin. More than once he'd interrupted their missions after a target of his own. They tended to avoid each other, Hush even glad that the amount of enemies being cut in half and then some from time to time aided their personal mission, but here? Now?
No.

Hush stared down from the rafters of this complex, having been ready to enact their vengeance when the fool barged in, magical blade already drenched in blood. Once upon a time, Wrath would have been their kind of prey. A super sadist, exactly what they loved to bring down. This building itself, while well-stocked with kazuya, wasn't particularly guarded at the entrance. From Hush's observations, they had determined that a certain kazuya lieutenant was present in this place, having gathered most members to speak to them, hence why Hush had yet to strike.
Now this idiot was ruining her plans.

One lonely kazuya turned to Wrath as he swept inside, the mobster raising a pistol toward the possessed super- before a dark form landed upon the man, deathly quiet as the only sound that came after his crumple to the ground was the crunch of his throat as Hush crushed it beneath their boot, before turning toward Wrath.
In the distorted voice the mask provided, Hush spoke in their usual whisper, amplified by the same voice distorter. "Wrath." They hissed. "Go home. This is MY mission."

 

[Void_Nugget]

Forsythe & Charlie
Sat looking through multiple forms and news clippings Forsythe sighed as he looked up from the armchair in his apartment and glanced at the young girl sat doodling at his feet, he smiled softly before returning to his research. The day before after they had got out of the water, they had returned to his apartment, he knew the would be safe for the time being as the smugglers were all dead and his client didn't know where Forsythe lived. Staying hidden was important as Forsythe had decided almost immediately after seeing the girl that he would not give her to his client. They had driven back to the apartment and the spent the whole day trying to get the girl to talk to them, it had taken till late that evening when she seemingly decided that it was obvious that himself and Lilian could be trusted, she said her name was Charlie, she didn't tell them much else and didn't seem comfortable talking about the reason she was in that box. So since he woke up that morning Forsythe had acquired as much info as he could, from a handle of documents he had swept up during the attack on the boat. He also looked up news stories from where the boat had come from and was lead down a rabbit hole of confusing and quite terrifying stories. From his research he figured that the girl was powerful but either didn't have control or something else was going on, the weirdest thing was that every now and then he sensed something familiar about the girl but it wasn't something he could quite place.

Charlie was happily doodling away as the voice crept into her head once more "after much deliberation I have deemed these two as excellent pawns, the woman is certainly intriguing but we will have to be causious as the immortal and I have met before" Charlie ignored the voice always hating it when he spoke as she started to doodle a picture of a little devil whereing a dunce hat which infuriated the voice which made Charlie giggle all of sudden before clamping her hand over her mouth and going a little red in the cheeks, she didn't agree with the voice but she knew she could trust these adults, but at the same time she decided to keep her guard up. She continued to doodle, humming quietly to herself.