[center][color=dodgerblue][h1]The Wards[/h1][/color]
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[h3][color=firebrick]Day of Reckoning I[/color][/h3][/center]
Mastar slunk down from the ceiling with a gleaning smile as she slowly morphed back into the smaller form of Kendall, mask now gone and hooded cloak pulled down. They were feeling pretty proud at the current situation, considering Protean was advertised as the strongest cape that the PRT had, if not [i]the[/i] strongest. Shame he had to fall like this though... wait, was that the Director?!

[color=fbec5d]"Oh carrotsticks!"[/color] Kendall rushed over to the side of Lillian and the Director and plopped themself down. They would've put their hands on Kens and tried to help him out, but unfortunately they were at a loss of arms right now. Tragic, but it was true. All they could do was watch as the Director was having a hard time staying alive... dammit, why did this have to happen! Why now?! Today was just not shaping up to be g-

[i][color=cyan]”Wards, there’s been a new development you need to see!”[/color] Decoy called out over the communicators. A nearby projector animated Patriarch’s broadcast on the wall.[/i]

Son of a radish! There was more?! Kendall watched the broadcast intently as if it was the textbook They needed to study in order to pass an exam. Not that there was anything honorable and dutiful about the broadcast that was going on, especially since Patriarch had a parahuman that he was about to... they didn't even know what was going to happen to Judah / Mantis. No matter what it was, it certainly wouldn't be good, and that's without considering that Kendall was 90% certain he broke some of the Unwritten Rules in his clever plan to show his dominance over the city. God, Kendall just wanted to beat the living tar out of him... wait, something else was happening...

The sirens. No...

There was an Endbringer coming.

Kendall panicked. There couldn't be! There just... couldn't be! How was it so perfectly timed that on the day of a Community Attack en mass on Denver that one of the Endbringers just decided to rear its ugly face around here? Why'd it have to happen?! Why did this day just have to escalate from the trash it already was?! In their panic, the tarry facade of Mastar slowly crept back out into the world, Kendall's hood coming back over their head as their strained voice started to lower one octave, and their body began to grow.

Even if the tar was running black once again, Mastar's panic was set aside when she heard Lillian speak.

[i][Color=pink]"No! No, this can't be..."[/color] she muttered in disbelief. [Color=pink]"Decoy, what do we do?"[/color][/i]

Tulpa was running off, Tiger Lily was asking Decoy what to do... everything was disorganized and out of order. Even if it wasn't her place to speak, she felt like she just had to. She felt like she knew what to do, and she couldn't help but just blurt it out.

[color=firebrick]"Fuck it,"[/color] she started with her disgust of the situation clearly evident in her voice. [color=firebrick]"I'll tell you what we do, Lily. First, we're getting the Director as far away from here as possible, meaning somebody here's calling a goddamn ambulance and we're getting that on a one-way trip to the nearest PRT we can get it to. Hell, if we can get a teleporter here that'd be just as good, if not better. After we know the Director's gonna be safe, we're going in and we're giving this Endbringer a taste of what Denver has to offer."[/color] Mastar turned towards the remaining Wards with a confident smile across her mask. [color=firebrick]"Regardless of how fuckin' dangerous this is gonna be, it's our damn jobs to fight whatever threatens the lives of the masses. I'm hella scared, and I know I'm not gonna be able to do much, but I'm getting my ass in there and I'm gonna help as much as I can."[/color]

She let that hang for a moment before she turned to Messiah. [color=firebrick]"Messiah, I'm gonna need you in my room for a bit. I'd make a saucy joke, but it's not the time. I can't defrost my spare tar in time to help the evacuation of the city, and I'm gonna need you to help me with that. I'll see you up there."[/color] Mastar quickly turned heel around her and ran towards the staircase, reverting to her more liquid form as she scaled the flights quickly.

After a quick run to her room, Mastar dropped her facade for a few minutes as she ran to the phone she had kept in the room. Kendall quickly pressed in the number they needed to call, placing the phone up to their ear immediately after using a new arm, their leg shrinking into their body before it was gone.

It rang, and it rang, and it rang one more time, before Kendall's mom finally picked up.

"Did you hear the sirens, Kendall?"

[color=fbec5d]"Yeah mom."[/color]

"... then... w-what're you going to do?" Their mom was already on the verge of tears, her voice just gave that away immediately.

[color=fbec5d]"... we didn't discuss this, since it wasn't a likely thing the other week when I joined... but I'm staying. I made a commitment to Denver, and... while I'm afraid of this, I'm going to keep it."[/color]

"... n-no..."

[color=fbec5d]"Mom... I'm sorry I'm not coming-"[/color]

Their mom interrupted Kendall mid sentence. "No... i-it's alright! I'm... I'm just... proud of my baby..."

Kendall's face went into a soft smile, tears forming in their eyes. [color=fbec5d]"You're... proud of me?[/color]"

"Kendall, me and your father have always been proud!" Kendall's mom's voice finally gave in, her crying becoming audible through the phone. "We've seen your grades, your actions, hell, we know you've always had a heart of gold and you've always liked sharing that with others! We only grew prouder of you when you became Mastar! You were bringing direct change to Denver, and we... we... oh my god, I'm so sorry I'm crying baby..."

[color=fbec5d]"... I'm... I'm almost there too mom."[/color] Kendall chuckled softly before they hushed.

"... we're just... we know you're gonna do great things, and if we... if we don't see you again..."

[color=fbec5d]"Mom... don't say that. We're gonna see each other again."[/color] Kendall couldn't hold it back anymore, and the softened sobs broke through the line.

"K-Kendy... this is something that kills thousands p-per attack... w-we might not see you again..."

[color=fbec5d]"I-I'm... I'm..."[/color] They couldn't even say anything.

"... we love you Kendall." The mom was full on bawling on her end of the phone. "If me and your father don't make it, don't forget that..."

[color=fbec5d]"... I love you guys too... I always will..."[/color]

"Now go..." Her mom sniveled, trying to regain composure. "Go be a hero! Go do what you need to do!"

[color=fbec5d]"I will! I'm gonna make you guys proud!"[/color]

Kendall hung up the phone before reducing themself into a puddle and just... sinking into the ground. They couldn't cry when they didn't have tear ducts.

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[center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjgwLjk0OTQ5NC5SM0poZG1WNVlYSmtJRlJ5YVc4LC4w/miserable.regular.png[/img][h3][color=fff200]The True Martyr I[/color][/h3][/center]
[u][b][color=gray]Fran[/color][/b][/u] stood in front of a TV station, staring at the televisions behind the window. Patriarch's grand show was finally going on, and even Fran had to admit it was disgusting to watch. She knew probably the most about her Father, and watching this event go on in front of her eyes was something she'd never have thought she'd witness on the other side of the spectrum. It was... more wrong than she had ever imagined.

[color=gray]"... I-I... I don't know what to say..."[/color]

[color=cadetblue][i]Typical. Men. Stealing free will from others because it's their so called right. Bullshit. Fucking bullshit. Fucking worse than Mantis ever could've been.[/i] [u][b]Whip[/b][/u][/color] wasn't too fond of the broadcasting, either, though it was clear she had her own brand of disgust towards Patriarch. He wasn't a good person, even without regards to what he was, and she loathed everything that he had directed the Community to do. Even with that, she hated the very mention of his name more than any others could ever imagine.

Oddly enough, [b][u][color=fff200]Gaia[/color][/u][/b] was silent. She was seething with anger at Patriarch for revealing Judah's real name to the world, but she stayed silent all the same. She had already lost her brother, and she wasn't ready to say goodbye to another of her friends, absolutely not.

Axel was watching, too, and was very audible as he stood on his hind legs and scratched away at the glass. He was scared and worried out of his mind, and not even Gaia could calm him down.

Just before Patriarch did Mantis in, he was interrupted by something loud and blaring.

Endbringer sirens.

[color=gray]"Oh no..."[/color]

[color=cadetblue][i]What.[/i][/color]

[i][color=fff200]We've gotta get Mantis.[/color][/i] Gaia finally chimed in, saying what she felt was necessary. It seemed like a flash of movement before Fran was replaced with a limping Gaia, still bleeding from the shards of glass that impaled her skin. She was still in a lot of pain, but she didn't care one bit. She didn't even know where to go, but she was determined to trail her blood across the entire city, to every TV station, to every box, and even to Behemoth itself, in order to save Judah and get them out of there. Axel was right beside her too, walking with her every step of the way.

Whip immediately protested. [i][color=cadetblue]Leave him. He's worth nothing. Always has been and always will be. And, fuck, look what he did to you goddammit! Look what he did to [u]us[/u]![/color][/i]

[color=fff200]"I don't care, Jen."[/color] Gaia, for maybe the first time, referred to Whipstitch by her actual name. [color=fff200]"He's all I have left, and I'll be DAMNED if I let either Patriarch or this Endbringer kill him."[/color]

[color=gray][i]Gaia, you're not going to even make it down the block, let alone to the station Patriarch is at. We can save more people than this, we can save my family. Let me take the reigns.[/i][/color]

Gaia still stayed in control, still moving forward despite the pain she was in. [color=fff200]"He's my family, Fran. He's my only family. I'm gonna save him, and you can either help me or just SHUT UP!"[/color]

Fran stopped. Did Gaia just call Judah family? T-that was absurd! How could someone as twisted as Judah ever be treated as Family to someone like Gaia? As she pondered the thought, more and more similarities came up between Gaia and her. Judah really was the only person Gaia had left. 

The Community had pretty much killed everyone she knew except for Healer, who was only with the crew for a short amount of time at most. Whipstitch was physically killed in the last fight. Excaliblast was being targeted right now and, for all Fran knew, was probably dead. Sparce was killed in the last fight, too, except he wasn't able to come back like Whipstitch. Kozel was killed indirectly by the Community's actions. Like it or not, she was the only one left of her ragtag assemblage of vigilantes, and Judah was the only one that she had left that she cared about. Maybe... maybe this was one thing that should go right for her.

[i][color=gray]... ... I know where they are.[/color][/i]

[color=fff200]"So... you're willing to help me?"[/color] Gaia asked as she pulled out her burner phone, using her teeth to pull the antenna out before dialing a number that she never thought she'd use again.

[i][color=gray]We can save my family at the station, too, but even if we couldn't... we're gonna save your family, goddammit![/color][/i]

[color=fff200]"Thank you, Fran..."[/color] As the phone started ringing, Whip couldn't help but speak up again.

[i][color=cadetblue]Fine, whatever. If you two really want to help his dirty ass, even after everything he's done to us, then fine. Let's save the fucking prick bastard.[/color][/i]

Gaia smiled. [color=fff200]"Glad we're all on board. Just need to make one more call..."[/color]

The voice on the other end finally picked up. [i][color=palegoldenrod]"Hello?"[/color][/i]

[color=fff200]"Hey, Genevieve. Mind if I ask your help for one last job?"[/color]