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[sub][center]A Step Toward Balance[/center][/sub]

[b]Time: Day of Satellite Attacks - Present Day
Location: Sherman Square, Lost Haven[/b]

From the height he was at, Pantheon could see a smattering of strangely dressed people--not that he himself was the fancier--each was garmented oddly enough where ‘superhero’ was the first and only thing which came to his mind. Plus, all the flying still gave him motion sickness. He made himself vertical before descending, and it was in his descent he recognized one of the faces in the small group. How strange did they all look huddled together like this? It didn’t bode well for Hassan’s self-conscious issues. Right as she spoke is when his feet touched the pavement,

[i]“You don’t know me. There isn’t a single person here to represent the magic folk getting terrorized by the Hounds of Humanity the same as you guys. My name is the Alchemyst. I was at the University the day it was attacked. . .[/i]

“[color=yellow]As was I. I am Pantheon. You will allow me to assist you in eradicating these pests.”[/color]

“[color=honeydew][i]Jesus fucking christ![/i][/color]” Charlie shouted, jumping away a few feet. She patted her chest, clearly and obviously startled.

“[color=honeydew]Pantheon! Fuck, do you have any human tact? Suddenly appearing at superspeed is-[/color]” She complained, gesturing wildly with her hands. “[color=honeydew]Really fucking annoying.[/color]”

Huffing, regaining some minimum of composure. Nerves already on edge from dodging stalking hounds and an undead cat. Charlie maintained no cool. She went to Lady Hex, telling her to go on while she dealt with Pantheon, promising she’d be right behind her.

Pantheon giggled. Hassan spoke,

“Do you wake up angry all the time? You need a boyfriend or something. Anyway, now that  the formalities are done--I need your help. Wow, thanks for accepting! I think this will be fun!”

His rainbow-colored iris’ slid along every person present. Did one of them have a motorcycle? Hassan always wanted a motorcycle, all the bad boys with motorcycles in the movies got the girls--this whole having a mystic entity trying to consume his mind thing made for lonely nights and late night ice cream binges. And lots of crying. Nonetheless, he had come here searching for help, and he found it; well, he found the one person he needed to find, the rest of them looked weak and stupid. He trained his eyes on Alchemyst,

“Wow, really? You act like [i]he[/i] knows what ‘human tact’ is. I thought we bonded, Alchemyst, I really did. And since you’re gonna be helping me, you should probably, like, stop being so angry. He gets defensive sometimes.”

Charlie squinted through her goggles up at Pantheon. She let out a big sigh. “[color=honeydew]Yeah and bouncing between a teenaged boy and a brick is easy to follow. I get angry ‘cause you catch me on bad days alright, I haven’t [i]stopped[/i] dealing with the Hounds of Humanity since the University and have had my plate full with bullshit you don’t care about.[/color]” She tapped the end of her staff against his head, “[color=honeydew]What would you need my help with? You can crush a bus between your hands.[/color]”

He flinched when the staff touched his head. A jolt of uncomfort rippled through him from head to toe. He took a step back. She presumed he hadn’t stopped thinking about the Hounds since the University attack. . . well, she wasn’t wrong. They didn’t pose a threat to [i]him[/i] without those weird tower things, but they did pose a threat to his ohm and his cousins. That was why he was there, for them.

“But that’s why I’m here! Back at the University when you told me, ‘Fuck you, fuck that stupid cape, and fuck that dumbass lightning bolt!’ I thought about it, you know. You had a point, honestly--fuck this dumbass lightning bolt, and so I went home that day and was wondering about how exactly to make him fuck off. Doesn’t seem like I can, which is a shame really because I know how much you love him. According to my cousin, I [i]can[/i] make him fuck off. I can learn to control him. . . somehow. And you do…” he waved his hands frantically, “whatever it is you do with the staff, so I came to you.”

He hadn’t come specifically for her, but it made him sound like he was all-knowing; fitting for the whole nigh-all powerful thing he had going on with Pantheon.

“I know you think I’m some dumb kid--I think I’m some dumb kid--but I have people to protect just like you. So, like, help me do that.” his customary snide tone fell to true plea. The news of the satellite attacks drew things into perspective for him; he didn’t have much in the way of people he truly cared about, and he was going to hold on to them whether he figured out how to control Pantheon or not.

Listening, she felt pangs of sympathy for the kid. The whole flying brick thing was pretty new to him. Not really buying the sentiment of him looking for her specifically, she happened to be there with the other metas gathering to deal with the Hound’s satellite. “[color=honeydew]Look, kid. I don’t know what I can do for you, I don’t know the first thing about your deal with Pantheon. I know alchemy,[/color]” She held up her staff to emphasize her point, the wood began to peel apart like a banana showing strands of gold, copper and tin. “[color=honeydew]Breaking matter down, rebuilding it, separating it, changing it. My alchemy is as natural to me as breathing is.[/color]”

She tapped the butt of her staff against the ground snapping it back into shape.

“[color=honeydew]Tell me a little about your family, how did you end up with Pantheon uh…. Possessing you? I guess? His spirit doing its… thing.[/color]” Charlie struggled plainly with the weirdness. She wished Carrie was here to help put his whole deal into words. 

He put a finger to his chin, contemplating.

“Here--” he blazed away, a whir; he returned some seconds later with two movie theater recliner seats. He sat one behind Charlie, the other he procured for himself. “This is gonna be a long one. So, from what my granny used to tell me, he’s supposed to be like… the entirety of my family’s life’s work. You kind of know that already, so I’ll skip to the interesting part: he’s part of every person in my family’s lineage, but he doesn’t always show up. Shati, Rahna, my mother, Pantheon has ‘possessed’ them all, he just doesn’t uh, come out unless something or someone threatens my family’s well being. And I mean like, ‘able to wipe us all off the face of the earth’ well being.”

Charlie pat the chair, peeking past at the receding backs of the heroes. Nobody would care about a couple missing movie chairs. She sat relaxing a bit into the cushion, fingers fidgeting - picking at stray string wear and tear. 

He reclined the movie theater seat forcefully since it had been detached from its motor,

“Doesn’t have to be some world-breaker threat, nah. The problem is though that Pantheon is, as you’ve seen, pretty--” a swirl of lightning fritzed along Pantheon’s body, there was a noticeable grimace, his eyes briefly shifting to one color, then back to their pallette.

[color=yellow]”O[/color]U[color=yellow]T![/color]”

A pause, and once Hassan gained again he continued,

“Violent. But apparently it’s not just toward whatever he’s after, it’s against my lineage itself. How he manifests, when, it’s all random. All he wants is control so he can. . . I don’t even know. But I don’t think that would be safe… for anyone. That’s why I’m here. What you saw him do at the University was child’s play compared to what he’s capable of. So I need to harness it, control him before he gets to me; and I don’t think I’m strong enough to do it on my own. You know [i]something[/i] about harnessing… the flippity floppity magic bullshit. So I’m begging you, help me.”

Charlie flinched when he shouted, dodging some static. Offended at the mention of magic bullshit she snapped, “[color=honeydew]It’s [i]not[/i] bullshit. Alchemy has been in my family for centuries.[/color]”

She rolled her staff in her hands in thought, what was one more misfit to help? Charlie wondered if this what she signed up for. “[color=honeydew]Alright alright, don’t need to beg okay? I’ll make you a deal, protect my ass on this Hounds attack and I’ll help you figure out how to deal with Pantheon. Deal?[/color]” She stuck out her hand. “[color=honeydew]It sounds like you need to set up some boundaries and shit like that. Like a bad roommate.[/color]”

A child’s excitement, he ensnared her hand in his own and delivered a bit too strong of a handshake, certainly not enough to crush her hand, however. A boundary? Bad roommate. It made more sense than Hassan knew, the breadth of his business settled, he went on to secondary matters,

“So that’s what this gathering is all about.” He glanced at all the heroes present, few of whom he knew, although the one in the suit and the other who looked as muscled as Pantheon stuck out to him. The rest he cackled at: Lyger, Slipstream, Nemesis, Fletch, Iron Knight, Radiance, Lady Hex. Hassan slipped,

[color=yellow]”Hahahahahaha! [i]This[/i] is what you believe will stimy these wretches?! Pathetic! All of them, weak! One of them is wearing pink! Do you plan to effeminate them to death?”[/color]

He was getting better at it, fighting back. The lapses were becoming shorter, but they were a strain his conscious could not bear for much longer. It took everything he had to maintain control for more than half an hour.

“[color=honeydew]Hey Pantheon I don’t mind turning your clothes pink if you’re gonna be a dick about costumes.[/color]” She said, looking to the heroes as well. “[color=honeydew]Yeah, that’s them. What’s [i]your[/i] name kid? It’ll be easier to address you instead of the blockhead.[/color]”

“Hassan. My name is Hassan.” he staked it with pride,

“[color=honeydew]So long as you don’t blab, I’m Charlie. When the big shots are around just refer to me as Alchemyst okay? I don’t want any of ‘em following me home.[/color]” She replied, smiling underneath her mask. “[color=honeydew]Nice to meet you, Hassan.[/color]”

“Charlie. Nice name. If you were just a [i]tad[/i] bit cuter I might date you or something... And I don’t know, between you and me--you seem like a big shot.” he winked at her.

She recoiled at the comment, poking him again with her staff. “[color=honeydew]Thanks for the actual compliment, pass on the [i]everything[/i] else. Teenagers aren’t my type and neither are boys.[/color]”

She sat up from her chair thinking looking at the chair then deciding on to salvage some of the leather for later. “[color=honeydew]Alright, try to keep a lid on Pantheon when the big shots start talking and we might actually get to doing the job and getting to go home satellite free.[/color]”