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Weaknesses? Strategies? Yeah right as if he'd ever tell anyone what he'd been planning. Percy may have been his boyfriend, but he wasn't about to fall for any competitions’ tricks. All he did was stick his tongue out at Percy before he turned to the sheet before him. It seemed fairly straight forward so far. Name, School, Team, and Date of Birth. His birthday was a bit harder to pin down, given he was adopted after an incident with purifiers, but he wrote the one they'd celebrated for all his years. Physical age seemed like an odd phrase, then again how would Andy fill it out knowing now what he knew? He let out a frustrated sigh, seeing that this was a bit more complex than he'd originally cared to realize. The rest of it seemed fine, filling out each section as clearly as he could and trying not to leave anything out so that they couldn't disqualify him on technicalities.

”See ya” Was all Dorian said back as he continued to write. Focusing on his sheet as Percy gave him a kiss before leaving. He could hear Danni begin to ask him a question when he suddenly found the answer himself. Dorian chuckled at his antics, rolling his eyes. It was easy to forget that Avengers Academy was actually called The Margaret Carter Institute. Most students didn't bother with that name. ”In a minute D. Just makin’ sure I didn't forget somet'in’.” He said before finally getting up and making his way over to Danni and April. Hugging them both tightly before pulling away. ”’arry Simmons?” Dorian asked. ”I didn't t’ink uncle ‘arry would be able to make it from Canada. I t'ought ‘e was on tour t’at dirty liar.” He huffed, a hint of amusement beneath it all. It seemed like he was bringing his twin and her wife along too.

One of the lines seemed to clear up as he watched Andy leave her room. He waved over to her before looking back at April and Danni real quick. ”My time to shine! Don't take too long you two! I'll be right back.” Dorian said as he ran towards the examination room and entered inside. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, maybe a white sterile office with a chair that had crunchy white paper to sit on? He hated those. But this didn't seem too bad. Some odd equipment was out, some he recognized, others he didn't.

There were two physicians in the room - a cheerful older woman, with a bee pin on her lapel, and a calico cat, her tail wrapped around her waist.

“Ah, sit down, sit down - we’ll take your paperwork, sweetheart,” the older doctor insisted, gesturing for Dorian to take a seat - there was, indeed, crunchy white paper covering the surface, and a small shelf for his feet to be placed on. “I’m Doc Bee, and that’s High Priestess Mirabel, we’ll be doing a quick check-up and then you’ll be on your way.”

Mirabel’s eyes flickered over towards Dorian.

“Did you have any questions for us before we get started?” Bee then asked.

Dorian made his way over towards the seat, handing the paperwork to them as he passed by. He eyed the paper hesitantly, before deciding to just float. He hadn't used his telekinesis to fly before, mostly relying on his Astral powers to do so, but he didn't need to be stuck there right now. So he enveloped himself in his powers, lifting off the block that was placed before the seat and hovering gently over the paper before letting himself down so as to make as little sound as possible. He truly hated these things. ”Only one…Mirabel wouldn't happen to be related to Usagi would she?” The last thing Dorian needed was for this to be another trap.

Mirabel tilted her head at Dorian. “All of my siblings died in the flood, child.”

Bee grimaced, as much as she tried to force a smile. “Right! We’re going to start by taking your blood pressure,” she explained, as she grabbed the small device and approached Dorian, wrapping the cuff around his upper arm. “This might be uncomfortable for a moment,” she added sympathetically.

”For a moment? I think I just made it uncomfortable for the remainder…” Dorian muttered under his breath as Bee applied the machine to him.

“Why would it be uncomfortable?” Mirabel asked. “I didn’t say I liked my siblings.”

“Ooookaaaayyyyy then,” Bee breathed in through her teeth sharply. The blood pressure cuff tightened and tightened, until Dorian would be able to feel his blood pulsing in his arm - and then suddenly, the pressure released. Bee noted the value, and as she was writing, Mirabel grabbed the stethoscope with one paw.

“Can you breathe?” the cat asked, before pressing it to Dorian’s back, so as to listen to his lungs.

Dorian suddenly felt as if he messed up even trying to speak to or about Mirabel. He had no idea which Flood she meant, but had a sinking feeling she may have meant the biblical flood. It was almost enough to distract him from the growing pressure on his arm, mostly feeling it by the end just before all the pressure was released. ”Yeah, I breAthe” He answered, moments before the cold stethoscope pressed against his back. Why did they never warm these things?

He then realized she was asking him to breathe, not if he had the capability to. Dorian sure as heck didn't know, maybe some mutants or other species didn't require air or breathing? But either way he took a deep breath in, held it, and then let it out slowly. He repeated this twice more, hoping that'd be enough for the cat.

“Good,” Mirabel affirmed. “I need to feel your abdomen next. Don’t worry, I’ll keep the claws sheathed.”

”Uh. Ok? What does t'at do? Or tell?” Dorian asked. He never understood some of the things doctors would do. It seemed strange.

“Oh!” Bee said chipperly, careful to interject before Mirabel could explain. “We’re assessing your organs - rough shape and size, if there’s any evidence of discomfort or pain. Is that okay, Dorian?”

Mirabel didn’t wait, of course, instead immediately setting to work, palpitating his abdomen like she was making biscuits.

”Oh. I didn't know you could just…feel t’at like t'at.” Dorian asked, though his mind was elsewhere. The idea of seeing the rough shape of his organs and if they were in good condition made him wonder if he could partially go ghost to make himself translucent on one side. Then they could truly see his organs, but the idea they might somehow spill out grossed him out.

“Yup! Isn’t the body cool?” Bee gushed. “You’d be surprised how much we can learn about a patient without having to use any fancy equipment - when I started training to be a doctor, most of what I had access to was salvaged equipment. But you make it work! Okay, just need to check your eyes, ears, and heart and then we’ll get onto the fun stuff!”

“Is this not fun? I’m having a great time,” Mirabel deadpanned, jumping away as Bee took over - shining a light into each of Dorian’s ears, having him follow one with his eyes, and then finally listening to his heart.

”Salvaged equipment? Where did you first start out if I can ask?” Dorian asked as he tried not to blink while the light was shining in his eyes. Following it the best he could but also trying not to look directly at it.

“Oh, I washed up on Madripoor after S-Day,” Bee explained offhandedly. “Doc Nemesis mentored me, showed me the ropes, but then he got back into crime - you know how it is, you’re always in recovery, it’s a process that never really ends. But great! Mirabel is the magic expert, so she’s going to do this next part - just a quick check for any sort of enchantments.”

The cat nodded, before pulling out an amulet from a small, ornate chest with her teeth. She tangled the chain up in her claws and batted at it, causing it to spin. She circled it three times around Dorian’s head, noting a faint green glow. “Someone tried to curse you - at the start of September,” she noted. “Piss poor spellwork, though.”

”Curse me? But…t’at's around my birt'day. Unless…” The stalker had gotten more aggressive that day. Saying something weird in a note that Dorian had blocked out. ”Right…I t'ink Aggie took care of it. But you mentioned washing up after S-Day. Does t'at mean, are you also from Genosha?”

Bee nodded once more. “Sure am! Your tell your pas that Bee says hello, okay?” she added with a wink. “I need to take a blood sample from you next - are you afraid of blood or needles, Dorian?”

“I hope you are,” Mirabel mused.

”I'm fine with it? Bloods part of the ‘ero gig and well. Needles are needles I guess? Wonder if any ‘eroes ‘ave a fear of needles?” Dorian thought out loud before realizing what Bee had said to him. ”You know my Pa's?”

“‘Course I do,” Bee answered. “Every Genoshan still alive knows your pas - and a good handful of the ones no longer with us, too.” She worked pretty quickly, drawing up just enough blood to sample in triplicate. Mirabel took the samples and ran them through a small device, and evidently there was nothing concerning in the readout, as Bee then grabbed the next piece of equipment in the room - it looked like a fancy, glorified radar gun, emblazoned with the blue and white of the Future Foundation.

“Almost done,” Bee added. “Just a quick scan and then it’s on to the truth test!”

Dorian groaned as he saw the logo of the next piece of equipment. ”Absolutely not’in’ fantastic about t’ose four. What's t’e scan do?”

“It’ll tell us if there’s any quantum or cosmic abnormalities,” Bee said succinctly.

“You can’t just throw around the term quantum, it’s a nonsense word,” Mirabel grumbled, licking her paws.

“It’s not nonsense, it’s science,” Bee corrected, before activating the device. She tilted her head from side to side, biting her lip as she considered this. “Honey… You didn’t mention you’re entangled.”

Quantum science was a little bit above Dorian's school grade. But he figured Bee knew what she was doing. Not that Mirabel seemed to give two tails about the science or potentially lack thereof. ”What do you mean entangled? I t'ought you said t'is was cosmic and quantum stuff?” He asked. While he'd heard of the terms Quantum Entanglement and Cosmic Entanglement, he never really understood what it all meant.

“It’s a little above my paygrade, the exact specifics of it,” Bee admitted. “I don’t fully understand everything about how it works, how it happens - but what entanglement means is that some pieces of you, they’re part of someone else. And some pieces of them, they’re part of you. Did you… not know you were entangled? Nothing strange happened - you couldn’t suddenly access powers that weren’t yours?”

Dorian shrugged. Wondering who he could possibly be entangled with, or even how it would've happened. ”Not t’at I know of? If so I ‘avent noticed it. Does it say…who?”

“Oh, that’s interesting - it looks like you’re entangled with another student - another competitor, which is… unfortunate. Hmm. Do you know a Percy Novikoff?”

Dorians face went bright pink as blush shot across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. ”T'at's. Uh, t'at's my boyfriend. We were on t'e same team till a shake up ‘appened due to losing a coach to villainy. I-...” He closed his mouth, not wanting to know how they even became entangled. Or what this meant for them or the competition.

“Ah, so you were entangled,” Mirabel observed with a slight laugh. “I suppose you’ll have to beg your boyfriend to leave the competition - or perhaps you’ll fall on the sword for him.”

“Mirabel,” Bee coughed. “But… She is right. You won’t both be allowed to compete. Even with a low entanglement value of five percent, the fact that you are on different teams… You could try to make an appeal, but…” Her voice faltered, as she saw a message flash across her screen. “Oh! Good news, Dorian. Percy has elected to withdraw.”

Dorian's face journey was about as telling as The Hobbit. Between embarrassment from what Mirabel had said, to the idea that he'd have to withdraw for Percy's sake or vice versa, to the immediate disappointment about what Bee was telling him as if he had just received grave news (which he basically had), and now he was being told Percy elected to withdraw? Dorian was so torn, both glad he could continue his dream and upset that they hadn't even had a conversation about, but also an odd mix of love for his boyfriend who likely knew how much this meant to him and chose to dive. He was speechless. Well aside from a single word that burst out of his mouth. ”What?!”

“Yep!” Bee said cheerfully. “Now we can do the last part of the exam - this is the Tome of Izneth - or, well… It’s a Tome of Izneth, I think there’s about twenty copies,” she added, before taking out the small ancient book, and she held it out to Dorian. “If you could put your hand on this, we have a few questions we have to ask.”

“I dare you to try lying,” Mirabel baited, batting her tail from side to side. “Please.”

Dorian felt almost empty, as if he was having an out of body experience, which was weird given his powers. He placed his hand upon the tome, but it was almost as if going through the motions. His mind focused on wanting to speak to Percy.

“What is your name?” Mirabel hissed.

”Dorian Stephen Gray”

”Who are you?”

”T’e son of Professor Maximillian Gray and Ben Gray, but a Student at Margaret Carter Institute.”

“Finally, a normal answer to that one…” Mirabel scoffed, before continuing with the final question. ”Do you want to compete in the Contest of Champions?”

”More t'an anyt’in’ in t'e world. Not just compete, I wanna win mon amie.”

Mirabel then gave Bee a nod, as the physician placed the tome away. “Great - you’re all done, sweetheart! Best of luck out there!”

”T'anks! Be sure to root for me in t'e stands. For now…I got to go talk to Percy.” Dorian remarked as he made his way to the door.

“Yes, talk,” Mirabel murmured. “I’m sure that’s what you’ll be doing.”

Dorians ears burned, turning a faint shade of pink at the tips as he rushed out of the examination room, texting Percy. ”We need to talk, where are you?”

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Sabine paused for a moment, checking her phone. Neither Leah nor April had responded. Surely, April had seen the messages. She expected her to be freaking out right now and coming to find Leah (and by extension herself) to talk about it. And then Sabine's thoughts ran to the extreme. No, he wouldn't attack in broad daylight, right? They were surrounded by people, heroes and civilians alike. It would be stupid.

Right?

Sabine exited the medical exam room and began making her way back to the center, hoping to meet up with Leah. She looked around at unfamiliar faces, those she would be facing and, hopefully, beating out in this competition. Her heart might be in it, but her mind was everywhere else.

She took a few steps forward and felt the hairs on her arms stand up. A coarse chill ran through her veins. It felt as if someone had latched on to her, her every moment tracked. Sabine spun around to face behind her, nearly colliding with another person who gave her the stink eye as she continued towards her own destination. Was that shadow moving? Did she see something in the corner of her eye.

Sabine felt her chest constrict and her breathing felt labored, but she took some deep breaths anyway. She moved back, keeping an eye out for unfamiliar movements, those that someone hiding their presence would try to shadow. She glanced back and forth, sure she saw something.

Was Leah's dad following her? Was it someone else?

Sabine stopped. What was she doing? There were plenty of people here. Some that wanted her to fail. That had to be it. She was getting into her own head. She needed to find Leah. They could then inform Vision and have some safety measures set up. Sabine turned back and kept walking.

Unbeknownst to her, a figure peered around the corner, watching the young woman walk away.

---

Sabine shook off the uncomfortable feeling as she finally made it to the central hub. She saw a familiar poof of hair before she saw the figure attached. Leah seemed to be deep in thought. She had to be going through it. Challenged by her own father in a place she should feel safe.

Sabine gently ran forward and wrapped Leah in a side-hug. "All done. How are you feeling?" Sabine knew the answer. Her own anxieties felt like they were flying off of her body, but she needed to put on a brave face. Leah had enough to worry about. "Any sign of April? She didn't respond to your message."

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As Diana looked around the hallway there were a few other students still waiting for the examinations to start, she had finished with hers which was good she didn't have to worry about doing anything else. Other than having to wait here until they were allowed to go back to their hotel room. Diana thought about going to talk with Percy to try and mend things between her Dorian and Percy, she really hated not talking to her younger brother. But she didn't want to do it in front of complete strangers really either and make a scene, she noticed Andy making her way over to Vision.

She made her way over towards Andy, and started to hear her asking about what happened to Lady Nimue as she looked between the two of them for a moment before turning to look at Andy. She didn't know Andy all that well but the girl seemed to be pretty nice as she stepped into the conversation. "Lady Nimue is in Otherworld at the moment dealing with what happened to Ser Nemo." Diana said, she was pretty sure that they were told about what happened to him.

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Madalyne looked at Agatha for a moment seeing the vacant stare in her eyes and calling her Mackenzie which wasn't her name at all and she asked about how her family and how her father was. Something was wrong since the last time she saw Agatha before she left to become a teacher here in this school. "It's me Madalyne Crane from the Margret Carter Institute?" Madalyne said hoping that it'll jog her memory or something.

"You were my mentor and a teacher at that school before you ended up transferring over here at the start of the year." She told her tt could be a number of things, maybe it was some sort of magic that messed with her mind. Or maybe it was due to her old age as well to, Madalyne didn't really know at all really.

“WoOoOoOoOoOoOoW! Someone’s got too much contest on t’e brain ta stay wit’ us apparently. Disrespectful.” Danni laughed as Dorian shot his way to the examination room. He didn’t expect anything less. Honestly, Dee had been the most intense about it out of the three of them so Danni had already prepared himself for the tunnel vision he’d get. Dee got the same way during video game competitions and all that nonsense. Danni gasped at April’s idea, very excited but as he watched the door shut firmly behind each person.

“I don’t t’ink t’at’s an option, Princess. And I kinda don’t wanna try, ya know? Like, we got t’is far and we get ta do it toget’er, so I don’t wanna get disqualified ‘cause we did somet’in’ we didn’t know about.” Danni explained, leaning forward so Amélie leaned forward to sniff at April and then abruptly shot back as he realized what she was going for - her hair! “Amélie, no no. We don’t chew ‘air, silly dragon.” Danni chided half-heartedly, giggling at the displeased puff of smoke. He gave April a kiss on the cheek and untangled them.

“OKay, okay, okay. We do t’is quick and t’en after, we can…” Danni trailed off as he watched Mads interacting with the one and only Aggie! He started vibrating and quickly clapped his hands over his mouth before he could scream. “Princess, Princess, Princess! It’s Prof. Aggie! I ‘ave ta introduce ‘er ta ‘er granddaughter! Right, like it would be rude not ta, right? Omg, omg, omg. Amélie, you’re gunna meet Mamie Aggie! Aren’t you excited?!” He whispered between his hands, afraid he’d scare her off if he made it too obvious he was going for her. He decided to interpret the demanding chittering from above him as a yes. He grabbed April by the shoulders, stared her in the eyes seriously, and reached up to block Amélie as she leaned towards April’s hair. “Super top mission. Get in, get out, tackle Aggie. Got it? One, two, three - break!” Danni tucked Amélie in his arms and scrambled towards a door, certainly not putting a little fire beneath his heels to get there that much faster. He ducked under the arm of someone he didn’t know, turned on the threshold, stuck his tongue out at them, and slammed the door, all while Amélie huffed and wiggle in excitement at the sudden burst of speed. Amélie would be all worked up when she met Mamie Aggie but how didn’t love a playful dragon?

“Okay, docs, I’m all yours! ‘It me wit’ every’in’ ya got!” Danni beamed as he hopped up on the obvious seat. Amélie tumbled out of his arms, bouncing off his lap but immediately protesting as she stepped on the crunchy and scampered back into his lap. She then tapped the paper on the seat aggressively, flinching and growing at offending material, and Danni cooed at her soothingly. He looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat, and offered a megawatt smile in apology.

“Don’t worry, my whittle baby isn’t participating. Pa didn’t t’ink about what people were ‘oldin’ again when ‘e portaled us. Really, ya should just be glad its just a dragon. Someone, not naming any names Dee, coulda been doin’ adult cuddles since t’at’s a t’in’ t’ey do now. Don’t you t’ink t’at’s kinda rude? Like, who just casually tells t’eir best friends “‘ey, we play ‘ide t’e cucumber under t’e sheets now, btws?” Like, I feel like I shoulda been wined and dined before t’ey dropped a tactical nuke in my lap. And everyone knows I ‘ave bad control! Why would you surprise me, t’e walkin’ fire bomb?! I can’t even remember t’e number of socks I’ve lost ‘cause Dee decided ta prank me and I got so spooked, I burned t’em right off my feet! Actually, I lost a lotta stuff like t’at. But I have a fireproof baby now, isn’t she cute! Look at t’is spot she like rubbed under ‘er chin and -” Clearly not going to stop, the examiner went about their business and occasionally interjected with muttered commands.

“Okay, stop.” The examiner demanded. Danni paused in his explanation of how She-Ra was the perfect life example that everyone should live by. “I just need you to put your hand on this book and answer the questions. Succinctly. Please.”

“I don’t know what a plant ‘as ta do wit’ t’is but jeez, alright.” Danni rolled his eyes as this book was offered and he placed his hand on it. The other one was busy keeping Amélie from also putting her teeth in the box.

“What is your name?”

“‘ow am I supposed ta put a succulent in t’at? Like, my ‘rents named me Daniel but I prefer Danni, ya know? The I is important. I was just tellin’ myself t’at I gotta get it-”

“Who are you?”

Danni stared at the interruption. “I just told you. Danni. Maybe if you’d listen, you’d remember t’at.” Danni snarked back, more than a little annoyed that he’d asked the same question twice.

“Do you want to compete in the Contest of Champions?”

“OMFG YES! I’ve been dreaming of it since I stepped foot in t’e school and now we get ta do it toget’er wit’ Dee and Princess! T’ey split us up ‘cause t’ey knew we were too dangerous and we’d upset t’eir favorite team by crushin’ t’em but t’en-” Danni blinked as he found himself talking to the exam room door. He blinked, exchanging a look and a shrug with Amélie, and turned on his heel, took in a deep breath, and screamed -

“MAMIE AGGIE!” As he flew across the room, hurtling towards her.

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She knew it was psychosomatic - well, hoped really - but as soon as their hands touched, Victoria felt a wave of discomfort crawl up her forearm, like maggots burrowing under the skin of her hand. Which was terrible, since now mr. Macleod apparently intended to lead her out by hand. She already hated this deal. She really should have just stayed put, or perhaps try her luck with finding her way out. But her stupid curiosity was going to be the end of her. Did she learn nothing from the whole Ed situation? Ten seconds before she sunk into the framework, she warned Ed against pulling a fast one. How’d that pan out?

Sucking in a breath, she complied for now, and took the hand he offered. No need to let him know just yet that she was not as blind as he believed.

Barty took a few steps forward, making sure that his blind companion was at least capable of following his pace. Once he was satisfied, he held out his free hand as if he was about to turn a knob on a door. Grasping at thin air, a black door frame appeared and sprawled out into what seemed to be nothingness. He pulled them through as he proceeded forward. Closing the door behind them before making his way through the darkness on a transparent pathway. ”Stay close. I'd hate to lose you in here.” He commented, though it was more in the way Mother Gothel spoke to Rapunzel's hair rather than Rapunzel. He didn't want to lose his favor in here. Not like he couldn't retrieve her if he cared to.

The sudden appearance of the doorway on her sensor did actually confuse Vicky somewhat, considering she right now saw the world as a sea of dots at various distances from her. Thus, she followed as Barty beckoned. Still, something felt off. As they stepped through, what Vicky saw was distinctly not a street outside. This guy was either a complete hoser or-

She stopped in her tracks as it clicked. If Barty was looking, he could see the emotions change several times from fury to relief, before setting on a small smile. Slowly raising her hands, Victoria gave him a slow clap. ”Ah. I see. Well played.” She only said that the effort of her favor had to be equal to his. Not that his effort had to be the minimum amount necessary. Barty could pad this up as much as he wanted to.

For a second the blonde thought she just sold herself to slavery, but when she thought about it… He could pad it up, sure. But the morality clause would only let him have her do things that she would have no problems doing anyway. So while it was an asinine, spiteful move, he only set her up to do bigger things she was okay with. ”I don’t think I ever felt quite this conflicted. That’s a new feeling, that does not happen too often nowadays. Thank you.” she said, actually sincere about it.

Barty felt a sudden tug as Victoria stopped still. Her hand sliding out of his as she began to clap. At first his instinct was to dash backwards, his hand going for his pocket and gripping a small figure within it. He expected a fight, as if this was some sort of ruse Victoria had concocted to get him alone and away from the school. But even in the Neverish he wasn't alone. As she spoke he focused on her words, but also her posture, emotions, every little detail he could to indicate where this was going. Centuries of persecution came up at once before finally he relaxed and settled down off haunches. She was cunning, she just realized what he'd done.

”That's sort of my specialty, Victoria. I show people new emotions they never knew they were capable of. Some even forgotten to time as humanity seemed to abandon them. But either way, you're stuck with me until I take you outside. The debt will be high but I'm sure your morality can take it.” Barty grinned. At least he wouldn't need to pretend anymore, good.

”You're not doing your effort to disassociate you from the devil any favors, by the way. Though that might be just me, considering the one witch I am somewhat acquainted with is half demon.” Victoria snorted, looking around. The place was a monochrome void, which seemed to have pathways of something barely visible running through it, and what she assumed to be spheres of… magic energy concentration? Beats me.

She stepped up by Barty’s side, a clear indication that she could navigate better in this space. ”If it incurs a price of another favor, or hell, if it’s too personal, don’t answer, but… You speak and act like you’ve seen more in life than a person of the age your appearance suggests. What’s your story?”

Barty began moving through the space alongside Victoria once more. Deciding whether or not he truly wished to divulge anything to this stranger. ”Quid pro Quo then. You answer my question and I'll answer yours. Besides it wouldn't do us to walk in silence the whole time so some conversation might not be so bad.” He replied, his tone even and collected as they made pace. ”What is with your aura?”

”Hm? What do you mean, aur-” then she looked at herself. She failed to notice it before in the swirling mess, but here where the magic seemed less saturated, she could see it. Or rather, couldn’t. Whatever magic permeated the space, it stopped and bent away from her.

”Oh. I’ve been loaned a talisman that creates an anti-magic field around me. These levels of magic are usually deadly to me otherwise. Hence, my lack of knowledge about it. I don’t feel like Marie Curieing my way through the subject. Which sucks. I wanted to start on it next year but I’m not sure I’ll be able.” she explained. ”Your turn.”

Barty fully ignored her telling him it was his turn. The answer only provided more questions than anything. ”Who gave it to you?”

”Nope.” Victoria gave Barty a cheeky smile. ”I answered your question, I am owed a question now. Spill.”

Barty rolled his eyes. He needed to find a way to answer her question without actually answering it. At least, not until he knew exactly how she'd acquired that medallion. ”Then let me answer it this way. Witches have been persecuted over the centuries by those who would call themselves hunters. I'm sure you've no doubt heard of the Salem Witch Trials, but they extended far beyond just Salem. The last time I had seen an aura like yours, it was on a hunter who carried the lineage. There are those who still believe my kind don't deserve to live. So if I am to answer about my life, any aspect of it, I must first ensure the nature of how you acquired an artifact that mimics the aura of my people's enemy.”

That seemed to be a bit of a veiled answer, but it said enough. And it hit home. ”I… understand, though I am nowhere near that badly off. You could say I’ve been muzzled by people with power over me because of what I could do, not because of something I already did. I’m sorry if worse happened to you.” taking a moment thinking on how to answer Barty’s question without explicitly dropping mr. Gray’s name, she settled on: ”It was given to me by a wizard, I don’t think he would hold ill intentions for one of his fellows, although fair is fair, I just met them and don’t really know them. As for me… So long as you do not intentionally harm people, unless it is an unfortunate price that needs to be paid to protect great many more, I have no reason to object to your existence. However irritating it may feel on occasion.” she smirked, knowing full well she just gave away her moral framework. She figured he would learn of it sooner or later due to the favor anyway.

Barty watched her closely. He'd grown accustomed to reading people, finding tells. She seemed to be honest, although clearly withholding some of the information. Smart. There were no shortages of Witches, Wizards, and Sorcerer's alike in New Orleans. Having a whole school to teach it sort of made that all happen. Any one of them could have given her the amulet, but who? Why? She stated magic was deadly to her, but what sort of creature had adverse reactions to magic like that? If they weren't currently traversing this plane, Barty would've had half a mind to open his third eye fully to see what was wrong with her, but doing so here would only give him a headache. ”So long as there are those who think themselves above the others, there will always be persecution. That is the ugly truth of humanity. They fear what they cannot control and what they do not understand. Regardless, you won't find me harming people. As stated before I am an enchanter. I befuddle the mind, make you feel things that aren't there, hear things that aren't real, I choose what is reality and project it onto another so that only they may see it. I could drive someone mad if I cared to, but harm them? Not in my wheelhouse. Leave that to the Evocers and their incessant use of flames around all top precious books.”

Barty didn't meet Victoria's gaze. His mind was off in the distance at something she had said. ”Worse has happened to me, not all of my existence has been good. I've lost my family, my sister…good witches were burned before my very eyes by the lineage of hunters that roam this earth. They take without asking, without remorse…So if what you wish is to know what it sounds like to hear a woman scream as her flesh is melted or the way hair smells as it's being charred away and floats downwind…I do not think my story is one to tell…for now.”

That checked out, she heard enough. From what she could tell, Batry wasn’t bullshitting her either. Well, this time. ”I mean, mental health is still health, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and trust you are not going around, turning people insane for fun.”

She was quiet for the next few paces, before taking a pen and post-it block from her pocket and writing her phone number on it. ”And I am afraid you’re right about humans. While it’s not my primary mission… If you ever feel hunted, yell. I may not be skilled in handling magic, but as far as I know, it’s not magic users that do the hunting, and those I can deal with. Well. No favors owed.” she said as she handed over the note.

Barty took the note, pocketing it next to her token. He decided not to comment on the idea of turning people mad for fun. If it was a hunter of course he would. They deserved it. But there was always the risk of madness when he used his magic. One never knows exactly how they're target may react. Paranoia could settle in without his wanting to, or perhaps it could trigger an episode he didn't know they would have. That was the danger of messing with someone's mind. But if he was doing so, typically they deserved it. He flashed her a smile, not a friendly one, but one of snarky recognition. ”My dear, I always feel hunted. But I appreciate the sentiment. Also, you may want to hold on, our first stop is going to be a doozy.” Barty said as another door appeared from thin air.

---

---

---

Something unprecedented happened for the Margaret Carter Institute. They had brought three teams to the Contest of Champions, twenty students in total. Not all of them had gone through the examination yet - not all of them had been cleared to compete. But before even thirty minutes had passed, not one, not two, but seven students would no longer be participating in the Contest of Champions.

This is how it happened.

Zari Raynordattir had been about to go complete her examination, having wandered briefly on over to her girlfriend, when her watch began to beep. There was a brief parting in the multiversal storm that was preventing her from leaving this dimension - a brief moment in which her home reality was accessible to her once more. She grinned at her watch, chattering eagerly at Mr. Eyeball and Mr. Jaws, before she glanced up at Andy. "Bye, Andy!! It was nice knowing you!!" And then, in the blink of an eye, she was gone - back to Earth-257, back to her family, back to where she really belonged, with all of the people who mattered to her.

Zelda Flynn had almost successfully completed her examination, when the last question forced the truth from her. She did not want to compete in the Contest of Champions. She didn't even want to attend the Margaret Carter Institute. All she wanted to do was design costumes - she wasn't a hero, wasn't a fighter. And after her sister's mental break, who could really blame her for wanting to choose a different path? One of the Strange Academy professors was kind enough to provide her with a teleportation portal to go back home - to go back to her parents in Washington D.C., where the conversation they would have would result in her withdrawal from the Margaret Carter Institute - and instead, her parents would look into arts schools for her to attend.

Mary Sue Sullivan similarly did not wish to compete in the Contest of Champions - the trauma of Arcade and the trauma of Thanos was too much for her. Her speedster father came to pick her up almost immediately, as he and her mother were in the area. The conversation they would have would result in her transferring to the Braddock Academy, much closer to home in the British Isles.

Madalyne Crane had finished her examination, and was speaking with Agatha when she was pulled away - not by a stranger, but by her father. He had discussed things with her mother, and they had come to the conclusion that Madalyne would benefit from connecting with her more demonic side. The two of them left for Limbo to reconnect, and her mother would soon after send in the forms withdrawing Madalyne from the Margaret Carter Institute.

Diana Novikova had seemingly passed the examination, until the blood work analysis concluded, revealing that she was taking a significant amount of mutant growth hormone. This drug resulted in her immediate disqualification. A later investigation would reveal that this drug was the source of Diana's powers, and that she had been born as a baseline human, rather than a mutant like her brother. She would then be expelled from the Margaret Carter Institute.

Gideon Pearlman was disqualified from the contest due to an unfortunate and avoidable situation - she was failing her English class, and in danger of (again) being unable to graduate.

Percy Novikov withdrew from the contest due to his entanglement with Dorian Gray, ensuring that his boyfriend would be allowed to compete, as they were on different teams.




The Vision, understandably, was having a rough time. Leah had come up to him and informed him she was going outside to wait for Sabine, evidently wanting him to go outside and chat with them - he was concerned about whatever it was they wanted to tell him, but they were not the only ones coming to get his attention. Andy did not know about Nemo's passing, Diana was hardly delicate in explaining it, and then Zarina dumped her girlfriend and disappeared before his eyes.

"Excuse me, one moment, Ms. Andy," the Vision apologized, as a contest employee called him over for a moment - and gave him the rundown of every disqualification or withdrawal that had been summarized above. "I see," he murmured, his brain operating at a thousand miles a minute, as solutions were generated by his software. "I believe I have a solution that will work for most parties. Please do not process Mr. Novikov's withdrawal yet." He then sighed, wishing he was not the only faculty member present. Diana Novikova's case needed a second adult present to handle. He blinked, as he shot off a series of messages quickly back to the school, asking for Coulson to arrive as early as possible to speak to Ms. Novikova, and decide what was to be done.

"With the other disqualifications, the students of Excelsior and the Uncanny Avengers can consolidate to a single team - in which case, there would be no violation for Mr. Novikov and Mr. Gray, correct?"

Meanwhile, Agatha grimaced a bit as Mads left her presence, going back to hell. "Yikes, hate to see what happens when you're grounded, Mac," she commented, shaking her head slightly. However, her attention was quickly caught by a student screaming her name and running towards her - her hands immediately went up to defend herself, glowing purple energy surrounding them, before a smile broke across her face. "Why, if it isn't little Danni Kingston, my favorite little gay disaster!" Agatha cackled.

She then gasped, seeing the tiny dragon with him. "Ah, you have a baby!!! Awww! Ebony's skulking around here somewhere, I'm sure she'd love to meet her daughter - you know how mothers get with their kids. How are things back at school, kiddo? You miss old Agatha already?"

---

---

April gasped, her jaw dropping. Danni and Dorian were related to Harry fucking Simmons?! She screeched slightly in surprise, completely shocked. She knew that their parents were well connected, but she didn't know they had a famous pop star for an uncle! Had she not been in such a good and hyper mood, she might have been annoyed at them for not telling her - instead, she was just completely in awe at how close her friends were to a literal star. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god!!! That's so cool!!! I didn't know he was your uncle!!!"

Before she could beg Dorian to get them tickets to see one of Harry Simmons' shows, though, he was already off, having made a beeline for one of the open exam rooms. April pouted slightly. She hadn't gotten in nearly enough hugs from him! She didn't see the issue with both of them going into the exam room at the same time, either. As pumped up and energetic as she was, her thoughts felt scattered - a little hard to form, a little hard to keep things coherent. So as much as she tried, she couldn't quite arrive at the same conclusion that Danni had - and any discomfort or confusion with that was quickly eliminated, as she giggled as Amélie tried to chew on her hair!

"It's okay if she eats my hair!!! Honestly it doesn't even feel like my hair most of the time - like it feels like it's hair that belongs to someone else, like it's so long and girlie and stuff - like it feels like Barbie's hair, y'know? Like I'm some sort of a doll and I can't change things because I'm made of plastic and I'm a collector's item or something, so they're never going to take me out of the box," she rambled. "So she can eat it, it's chill! It's not really mine!"

She whined a bit as Danni untangled them, but it was fine - they had a mission to do! April nodded seriously at Danni's instructions - she wasn't exactly sure what her job was going to be in this, since Danni had the dragon and just needed to bring her to Agatha, but she was ready to do anything he asked of her for this. Maybe he wanted her to run interference? There were plenty of kids with water bottles in the room - she could clear the way for him by blasting a path through the crowd? Use the water to box Agatha in so she couldn't leave? Was that what he wanted? She didn't know, but she was going to do it! "Got it, sounds good!!"

She couldn't help but giggle more, watching as Danni made his way on over to the exam room, ducking under people at some turns. He was so silly!!

April then spotted another room that was about to have an opening, and miraculously didn't have a huge line in front of it, allowing her to slip on in relatively quickly. Inside, the exam room wasn't like any sort of doctor's office she'd ever been to before - not that she went super often to the doctor's. Well, not until recently. Her mother had done most of her examinations growing up as a kid, only taking her to the actual doctor's if she needed to get a second opinion, which was rare. Dr. Bonnie Chase was SHIELD's medical science director for a reason. This didn't look like her mom's office at home, and it definitely didn't look like any of the exam rooms at CAGE, or even the nurse's office at AA. If anything, it looked like a doctor's office for a new HalloweenTown movie.

"Hi! I'm April Flynn. Here's my paperwork! Let me know what you want me to do!" she introduced herself, as she held out the forms to a red woman dressed in white and a gigantic tree person. Definitely aliens, but her brain was blanking on what kind of aliens exactly, even though she could have sworn she'd read about tree people before.

"I am Groot!"

A branch quickly grew out from the tree's arm, wrapping around the forms and taking them from her.

"Hi, Groot!! That's a cool name! It's nice to meet you!! I love your bark!! Did you grow it yourself?"

"I am Groot!"

The pink and green woman shook her head slightly. "His name ain't Groot, luv. It's Gwit."

April titled her head. Didn't he just say twice that his name was Groot? Was she misunderstanding something here? She opened her mouth for a moment, before closing it again, as the woman introduced herself as Doc E, and set about running through the exam. It was pretty similar to the tests that had been done on her at CAGE - checking her vitals, her organs, her heart, her eyes and her ears, followed with some more specialized measurements. A magical amulet that Doc E spun around her head, an alarmingly fast bloodwork analyzer, and a glorified radar gun that Gwit manned.

"Alright, luv, last thing. Need ya to place your hand on this book, and I'm going to ask ya some questions."

"I am Groot!"

"That's right, Gwit, no lying, understood? Izneth will be right upset if she catches you fibbing."

"Wait, what'll happen if I lie?" April asked. "What if I don't think I'm lying but I'm not telling the truth - like if you ask me what the capital of California is, and maybe I think that it's San Fransisco, when it's actually Sacramento, does that count as a lie? Is it the truth or is it my truth? And who is Izneth? Can I meet her? Or or or is she in the room but she's invisible?" That had happened to Zelda - April's sister had found a way to fully disappear, becoming the ultimate wallflower. At least the invisibility wasn't wasted on her.

"Mm, you don't want to know. Now, poppet, what is your name?"

She froze for a second.

What was her name?

Suddenly, that question about lies that she thought were true seemed really relevant. "Umm, April - right now, at least."

"Who are you?"

"I'm... I'm still April? Was that not the right answer? Or do you mean like... like what kind of person I am? I think I'm a good person? I hope I'm a good person? Or was I supposed to, like, come in here telling you that I'm a support player or a DPS or a tank - I think those are the terms, right? I haven't played a lot of video games, but I have played some Rivals before - Dorian gotta reeeeally into it, I'm not nearly as good as him - he's my best friend, well one of my best friends, my other best friend is Danni. I thought I was besties with Mads but, like... she visited me in the hospital and it felt really weird and I think I actually don't like her very much - and it's not because she's a demon or anything, it's because she like... she feels kinda empty when I talk to her. Does that make sense? Is that normal?"

"Do you want to compete in the Contest of Champions?"

"Yes!!! Obvi!!!" It didn't bother April that the doctor hadn't answered her questions - or the way that Gwit practically shooed her out the door, repeating I am Groot over and over again - she was still so incredibly pumped, so incredibly excited! She was riding an energy high that she hoped never ended. If she could keep this up, she knew they would win the competition for sure - she felt like she could take on the Young Avengers all by herself in this moment!

---

---

Percy was not surprised to receive a text from his boyfriend almost immediately. He must have been told the same thing - that they could not both compete in the Contest of Champions. But had they informed Dorian that he would no longer be competing, that Percy had solved the issue for them? He frowned, biting his lip ever so slightly as he considered it. ”We need to talk, where are you?” It didn't give him very much information to go off of. He did know, however, that we need to talk was a much maligned phrase to receive from a partner - he'd done a similar dive into research after he'd started dating Dorian, in order to try to be a good boyfriend.


He then put his phone back into his pocket, as he made his way towards that end of the room - it was quieter over there, with not nearly as many prospective champions crowding about, so he hoped they could have a conversation with some amount of privacy. He had solved the problem, though. His presence in the competition was the issue that would prevent Dorian from competing, so he'd withdrawn. It was simple. He wouldn't allow Dorian to give up on his dream for him, and Percy could always compete again in the future. If he were to be honest with himself, it was his pride that had caused him to care about this anyways - his inability to let others see him as weak, as helpless. He wanted to win to show that he could. Dorian's reason was better.

But even though he'd made that choice, he couldn't help but feel a strange hollowness. He didn't know what the feeling meant - he didn't have the words to describe it or the tools to examine it. Instead, he just was filled with this pervasive emptiness as he stared at the buzzing crowd of students, all of them excited and chattering - all of them ready to prove themselves, to show the world what they were capable of. He'd watch from the stands, no different really from how he had watched on the sofa in years past, his moms making idle commentary.

As for the entanglement itself... He hoped that Dorian wanted to keep it - that he wasn't scared of it. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, as if he could reach out and feel what Dorian would feel, as if the lines had blurred where one of them ended and the other began.

For a brief second, he felt a flicker of something - a buzz of energy crawling up and down his skin. But it died as quickly as it had come on. He opened his eyes again, and he fidgeted slightly, suddenly unable to remain still - pacing back and forth in the small space as he waited for Dorian.

It didn't occur to him that his boyfriend might have been upset about the decision he'd made.

---

---

---

---

Andy nodded at Leah as she came up and told Vision she’d be waiting outside. Okay, so they could go outside. That answered some of Andy’s questions. She figured Leah wanted to talk to Vision about something, but she wasn’t sure why. Diana answered some of that with what she said next. Diana told Andy that Nimue was in the Otherworld because of something happening to Ser Nemo. Andy didn’t know what happened to Ser Nemo. What Diana said didn’t tell her either.

Zari finally showed up, and said something to her. Andy had feared that Zari was mad at her since she had gone to Magneto's house. Despite planning on breaking up with her, Andy didn’t want Zari to be mad at her. But what she said was basically a goodbye. Andy didn’t even get to say anything in response. She blinked, and Zari was gone. Andy figured Zari had returned home since her watch had been beeping. Zari had told her that the watch wasn’t working. So, had something happened to allow her to go home? She just stared at the spot that Zari had been moments ago with her mouth open.

She needed to sit down again. This was a whole lot. She had planned on breaking up with Zari, but now it felt like Zari had broken up with her. She swayed a little on her feet as she went through a series of emotions quickly. The flash of anger passed faster than she expected. The final emotion she landed on was relief. She’d miss Zari, but this made it a lot easier. It also solidified for Andy that Zari hadn’t loved her similarly. That the attraction had been one-sided.

Now what?

Andy still didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing. At least, it seemed they were done. And without Zari to wait for, without Zari to drag her somewhere. She felt like a stick bobbing in the water. Suddenly, the current that had been dragging her around was gone. She was alone.

Andy heard Danni talking. She looked over and saw her friends around the room. Danni was talking with Agatha. Andy wasn’t alone. She smiled. She had friends. There were more people in the world than Zari. She had already known that. Sure, she had been planning to break up with Zari; she just hadn’t expected her to leave. That was what had caused her to lose her focus. It was okay, though. Andy would be okay. She had found her dad. She didn’t have to deal with her mom. There was a burden and half just from that.

With no hesitation, Andy joined Dorian and Danni. She’d figure out what was going on later. "How’d your exam go?” she asked. "I found out I’m cursed, apparently.” Somehow, that didn’t surprise Andy, not one bit.

---

---

”Well, I can’t help you with your paranoia, however justified it may feel. Although I did recently get help from a shrink who seems to know what she is doing, if you want her business card.” Victoria smirked, before grasping Barty by the shoulder rather than his hand. That still felt wrong to do.

Before them, through the open doorway, was what appeared to be the cosmos. A swirl of colors dancing around with speckles of light peppering the area. ”Oh, I can assure you a shrink wouldn't help with my issues. For now, let us focus on the terrain ahead. This is the Magic of the Cosmos. Let us make our way through until the next doorway.” Barty warned before kicking off of the threshold and pulling them both forth into the vast space ahead. Luckily this wasn't his first foray into this space. His feet found purchase against nothing before he continued to walk forward.

”Uh-huh.” Vicky grunted, stuffing one of her hands into her pocket and stealthily attaching an MFG to her palm. ”Been to space before, though never quite in this sort of suit.” she smirked, brushing dust off of her suit’s cuff, before creating a weak gravitational field in front of her, just like she would use to hover with her suit, pulling her forward in Barty’s wake. She could not walk on nothing, but she could adapt. And, she was dying to see what her unlikely companion would make of the situation.

Barty quirked an eyebrow at his companion. ”Next Question. You are a student at Margaret Carter Institute who knows and potentially studied underneath Agatha Harkness. What is your skill set that seems to be helping you navigate through this area.” He asked as he continued forward in search for the next door.

”I never studied under prof Harkness. In fact, when I expressed my remorse over her leaving before I could attend her class, she said she didn’t. My kind is, apparently, a pain in the ass to teach, end quote.” Victoria smiled at the memory. Then, as she felt an opportunity to fire back at his next question, a sharky grin appeared on her face and a dry chuckle escaped her throat. ”Magic.” Arthur C. Clarke would be so proud of her for that one.

”Magic? Is that meant to be a question? Statement? Jumping off point?” Barty asked dryly, wondering what exactly was her kind.

It’s supposed to be a fuck you. Victoria groaned in her mind. ”Is that another question? I may need to count those towards repaying your favor.” she was enjoying her momentary upper hand, perhaps a little too much.

”No. It was the need for clarification so that I may know how best to proceed further based on new information that was being brought forward. If anything it's more effort on my end to help you get out of here as apparently getting an answer from you about your circumstances is like pulling teeth.” Barty said very matter of fact.

”It would help tremendously to know what you need to know that for. I don’t really see how it’s relevant to getting me out of here. But as information for you to know just what kind of favor you can ask me for, though? So no, I don’t feel like sharing, thank you, figure it out on your own. As for pulling teeth, that about summarizes my feelings about this whole affair so far.” she grumbled, annoyed.

”Oh I don't need that sort of information to know what favor to ask of you. I can collect that information myself as soon as we are done here. You are a Van Dyne, a name not too many get to throw around. There's bound to be a plethora of information on you already. Even your school's teams members have a ton of information on them already. That's what happens when you enter the limelight. Your privacy vanishes.” Barty didn't look at her as he spoke. Simply continuing forward, turning here or there in places that were just a continuing vastness of before. But it was clear he knew where to navigate.

Twisting in the not-air to look like she was lounging on an invisible sunbed, Victoria floated next to Barty as he led them to magic lands unknown. ”I’m hoping you aren’t exactly banking on my name to have much of a ransom potential. Fam and I aren’t exactly on good - or talking - terms.” she grunted, ”You have lost your family to your hunters. My family are my hunters, after a fashion.”

”I don't do ransoms. So you have no worries there. Now my brother, he might. He's a lot more strict on his deals than I am. That's why he typically carries my favors for me. One cup too many and I'm likely to call one in for a good time if I can't find it myself within my immediate vicinity.” Barty replied. He began approaching a star, it looked small, even at this distance, but no matter how much they moved it's size didn't seem to change.

Completely missing the meaning, Vicky grunted back: ”Good time, psh. I could use some of that right now, because this place is kinda drab. If you’re just planning to pad up the favor, could you at least hurry up with it? Unless you’re also punishing me for something by making me bored to tears.”

”What, you don't enjoy the Grand Cosmos? Even most non magi marvel at the beauty and expanse of it. The seat of power where cosmic energy flows and powers spells beyond those you'd be capable of. Then again maybe your…affliction, doesn't allow you to care for such things. But if you're wanting a good time, well then the next door I open could be to my private location.” Barty said with a wink.

”Well, it’s picturesque I guess… But I’ve been to space before, that’s not quite new. And magic just looks like an acid trip to me as I am now. I may be able to appreciate it more if I learned to at least filter through it, but…” she shrugged. Then Barty’s other comment dropped, and the meaning behind his words finally clicked in Vicky’s brain. The feeling of maggots crawling under her skin was suddenly back with a vengeance. ”Oh hell no! Ugh!” she shouted, somewhere between mortified and disgusted, looking everywhere but at his smug face to hide the embarrassed blush burning on her face. ”Who do you think I am, a dissembling harlot?!” she floated some distance away from him.

”Someone who just stated that they wanted a good time. You asked, I offered. It's as simple as that. I'm not as…prudish as most nor do I care for things such as gender or species or what have you. In a world such as ours there's too much to it's vastness to care about something so…miniscule.” Barty shrugged. He never quite understood those who looked at sex like it was some sinful act. It was a natural thing and a pleasurable pastime.

Vicky thought hard about whether to deign that with an answer. ”There’s prudish, but also the other end of the spectrum! Sheesh. How’s your head still on your shoulders if this is your default setting I’ll never know, with all of the slaps and sucker punches you oughta be collecting.” she shuddered. She could not help but go through her mental checklist of minimum requirements for relationship prospects, and was happy with herself when she arrived at the conclusion that the only thing possibly attractive on this guy was looks.

”Slapping, choking, fine. Punching not as much. But anyways, we've reached the next door.” Barty explained as his hand reached outward and grabbed onto the star who's size never shifted. Another frame of a door would appear before them as he opened it back up and the same expanse of darkness they had come from previously opened up once more. ”And back to the pathways in between. You know, the fae used to use similar pathways to traverse the lands. Little rips in reality that they could slip into and out of at will just to close the distance. It's where magics for teleportation began.”

---

---

”I’m fine.” It wasn’t technically a lie. It wasn’t technically the truth, either. Leah was always just fine, because that was one of her strengths. Her ability to just deal. Leah tolerated bad things, and had a higher patience limit than other people, so she just put on a brave face and kept moving forward. That didn’t mean she liked it when things got bad, but she could handle bad.

But this was bad.

It was easier with Sabine here.

”April’s in there with her family,” Leah answered. In there with Danni and Dorian, who actually knew how to help her be happy. ”Too distracted. He’s too smart to get near her in there, with all those people.”

Sabine froze for a second, worried that April was with her parents who she had a strained relationship with, until she realized what Leah meant. And Sabine found herself growing jealous, albeit briefly. But she pushed it down deep. That was something to deal with later.

”That may be true, but if he’s as bad as you painted him out to be then it doesn’t matter how many people are there with her.”

Sabine pondered a moment. ”Going to ask a weird question off-topic, but did anything weird happen during your medical exam?”

”You mean aside from getting prodded at like a dead body? They said somebody enchanted me with something. No idea what that means.”

”When they did the cosmic test the staff looked…terrified. I can’t imagine why. They let me through though so it can’t have been that bad. I also get the sense I am being watched, but given everything that isn’t surprising.”

Sabine wondered what enchantment Leah had on her. Was it something from her father or after? ”Either way, we passed, meaning the competition is still on. But we still need to tell Vision.”

”Yeah.”

That sucked.

It was damn near impossible to tell what was and wasn’t part of some plan of his, that may or may not have even existed. Always scheming and plotting, always doing something.

”Pretty damn funny how this is happening, actually.” Going by Leah’s tone, it wasn’t actually funny at all. ”You spend three years thinking the asshole’s dead, making sure no one ever wonders how you got here and that no one knows you’re his kid… And now we’re in this fuck up. I should’ve made sure he was dead last time.”

It almost sounded like she was apologizing for not killing him.

”Leah, none of this is your fault.” Sabine knew those words didn’t resonate usually, even for herself, but they needed to be said. ”That man is a monster and deserves everything coming to him. I know you think you need to take this on yourself, but you can’t. At some point you need to know this is more than you can handle on your own no matter how strong you are.”

“Hell, look at the Avengers. They rely on each other a lot and no one thinks less of them for doing so. He is not your sole responsibility. Let me take some of that pressure off.” Sabine put her arm around Leah and pulled her in close. ”I know these words will probably go in one ear and out the other, but let me help you dummy. Let others help you.”

”Watch the h-” Oh, she didn’t even care about that right now. Slowly, she put arms around Sabine too, at the risk of accidentally crushing her ribs. She really needed to find out if that was suddenly a possibility.

Leah breathed in slowly, breathed out faster. ”...Yeah. Okay. This time, at least.”

Both Leah’s and Sabine’s phones would begin to ping and vibrate incessantly, with the following message taking over their screens, disallowing access to any other functions:



Glaring down at her phone like she could set it on fire with her eyes, Leah damn near crushed it to dust. She literally told him she’d be right outside.

”That had better mean he’s not talking to someone else right now.”

”He probably has to stay with all of the students. Don’t be too hard on him. Come on.” Sabine grabbed Leah’s hand and led her inside. Vision was probably one of very few staff Sabine trusted with this information.

In the middle of the room, Leah and Sabine would see a visibly stressed Vision deep in conversation with a contest of champions employee - the wires in his skull bulging like veins. Their phones would buzz again.



Huh. Okay.

Leah glanced down at Sabine, then back at him from across the room.

”Earlier, my dad showed up. I never told anyone here I had any family, because he’s- He’s a supervillain.” She said this quietly, like someone other than Sabine was right next to her. Her bones were rattling in her chest again.

Sabine took a moment, jarred by how Vision intended to communicate with them, but it made sense. Less likely to be overheard. And she was used to talking in people’s minds. ”He made a pretty big threat against Leah and me. I can share the memory if that makes it clearer. But suffice to say he is a dangerous man. He potentially knows about April too, especially if he is targeting people close to Leah. Either way, he’s around but we can’t cancel the contest.”



Leah blinked. He didn’t even try to bitch about it? Do you know how dangerous that is, you stupid rock-for-brains idiot? I calculate a 99.99% chance you just killed us all. That was more or less what Leah was expecting.

And the fact that wasn’t what came caught her off guard.

”He’s a mutant. He learns things faster than anyone else can. He’s really good at using just about any kind of weapons, machines, or whatever else,” Leah whispered. ”He probably learns those things faster than you could. It takes him one day to learn how to do things anyone else would spend years figuring out. He takes jobs from people all over the world to kill or steal, or worse. He could throw basically anything at us.”

As Leah spoke, Sabine attempted to transmit the memory of Leah’s father to Vision for him to better understand the situation. However, this felt like nothing she experienced before. It made sense as Vision was some technological being and not a human, it was clearly different. Sabine struggled and struggled to push through, but nothing worked.

She let out a long sigh of frustration. She was worried Vision wouldn’t take the threat as serious as they knew it to be. ”Look, he’s incredibly dangerous. I can’t share the memory with you but if you can’t accept my words, accept Leah’s. She’s had the most experience with him and if she says he’s a threat, he is a colossal threat. I don’t know what measures would work, but all I know is that if the contest is cancelled, he is going on the warpath.”

There was a slight pause, before the next message flashed across their screens.



It was tempting for Leah to tell him that was a bad idea. Leah told herself and others that sending the Avengers would be a suicide mission. She bit it back.

”He’s gone by different names… Alain Pavon is his preferred one, though. His “codename” is Imperator, it’s what people call him when they’re paying him. He’s also been called stupid things like the Red Terror or the Blackbird. He’s assassinated at least a dozen leaders from different countries for money, spied on and spied for more than that… I’m pretty sure he’s also been to other planets or worlds,” Leah added. ”Like Limbo or Asgard.”

She fidgeted with her hands. ”He looks mostly like I do- Did, before this stuff happened to me. Brown skin, curls, except his hair isn’t sandpaper, I think. He’s got this ridiculous suit of armor with black wings, like he’s Iron Man. He’s one of those high-end, stupid-expensive mercenaries that you never hear about unless you’re running a country.”

Sabine allowed Leah to share it all. It was her father and this was her moment, as hard as it was. She gripped Leah’s hand for support as she recounted her father’s war crimes. There was some hope though. If Vision could rally the Avengers, perhaps there was a chance.

Sabine also wanted to help, but she knew Vision would disapprove. Leah’s father knew her especially, and she was willing to help take him down if it meant a moment of safety for Leah. Even then, Sabine was smart enough to know she couldn’t take on someone like him alone.

”The Avengers would be helpful right about now.”



Leah really didn’t think they would be.

”If the contest gets called off, he’ll blow the school to hell. Or he’ll nuke it, or set it on fire, or something. He said it wouldn’t be there if I don’t compete.”

”So we compete. We compete and we win and then we take the bastard down.” There was an undercurrent of rage, try as she might to hide it. ”Thanks Vision. For trusting us and helping.”



Without another word, Leah walked back out. Vision could just track her phone or tell She-Hulk to hover over her shoulder. That would be annoying, but at this point, Leah’s patience was wearing thin enough that she wasn’t going to bitch about it.

Sabine felt Leah pull away as her hand fell to her side. She knew Leah didn’t like this, but there was no other choice. People were now in danger and they needed to be protected and that meant calling in reinforcements.

Sabine followed quickly behind. ”Hey Leah, talk to me. What’s up?”

Leah didn’t stop walking. ”I used to hear this guy talk about how easy it was to deal with the Avengers like he was bored by them. Vision might as well have just told them to put a gun to their heads, and it would’ve been faster. Oh, and did I mention how fucked this is?” She asked. It was a rhetorical question. ”I thought he was dead, it took me months just to stop seeing my mom’s face when I closed my eyes, with blood running down her eyes after he fucking shot her. Everything is wrong because of him. Now he’s back, like a fucking ghost.”

She was not going to start sobbing again, damnit.

Sabine pulled Leah back. Granted, it may have needed to take extra effort but she tried, having Leah face her. Sabine put her hands on Leah’s shoulders. ”I know this is hard. I know this is a sucky situation. I cannot tell you how to feel about it but what I can tell you is that right now I need you to suck it up. We can cry about it later, lash out, break shit, whatever you need to process things, we’ll do it. But right now we need to keep it together. I’m fucking terrified so I can only imagine how you feel, which is why we need to get a grip. This man has done tremendous damage to you Leah, I get it. And I can see how scary it is to face him now, but, and I will repeat this over and over until you get it through your sandpaper hair and thick skull, you are not dealing with this alone. I know you are trying to and opening up to Vision felt wrong, but you cannot be the one to handle him on your own. Let others in who want to help, who can help. Let me help. Because when I see that man when this is all done I am going to melt his brain from the inside until I see it pouring out from his eyes for what he did to you. If you need to let it out now, do it. But once you're done we are going back in there and getting ready for the contest where we will crush it and then crush your asshole father. Got it?”

It wasn’t that easy for Leah to just let people in. She was terrible at it. She didn’t know when to, didn’t know when not to, so she just never did. She’d been trying to do that more, lately, but it wasn’t quite the same as this.

If it wasn’t for Sabine nudging her along right now, she would’ve just grabbed a boulder and soared back to Arizona to snap dear old dad in two.

Gently as she could manage with her rocky hands, she held Sabine’s. Leah stared down at her girlfriend as if she could communicate her thoughts to her with just a glance. She stood there, still as a statue, thinking things through without just opening her big mouth and saying the dumbest shit possible. Not like when she was visiting April at C.A.G.E.Not like any other time she ran her mouth and had nothing thoughtful to say.

”I believe you. I’m trying, okay? I’m… Bad at this.”

”I know you are and I appreciate it. It’s ok to admit when you don’t know what to say or what to do. Hell, that’s something I am trying every day.”

Sabine shut her eyes a moment, feeling the warmth from Leah’s hands meld with her own. ”I fucked things up with April. I handled the situation poorly and I hurt her more. I was jealous of how close she is with Dorian and Danni and why she felt the need to pull away from me, from us, and that made me think I hurt her more than I ever intended.”

Sabine shook her head, allowing a sob emit, but she pulled through. ”See? That was fucking hard, but I did it, because I know I have you and April and Dorian and Danni and Andy and, hell, even Percy and Victoria to some degree. We got this.”

”Yeah. Yeah, we do. We’ll figure it out,” Leah said. ”I figured it out once before, I’ll figure it out again. And… I thought I’d fly off and leave when he showed up. I thought I’d sneak away and not let anyone worry about me. But you’re going to be there for it this time.”

They stayed like that for a moment before Leah broke the silence. ”Let’s go.”

Sabine let the moment linger before she followed Leah back in. The emotional weight lifted somewhat. She didn’t want to admit to April, not yet. Win the contest, kill the douchebag, and then have a heartfelt moment. Just like the movies.

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Dorian's phone buzzed sooner than he anticipated. Percy had gotten back to him, both relaying what he'd already known about the situation as well as where he could find him. He craned his neck trying to see above the crowds in order to find where this poster was. Finally he'd spotted the poster, making his way over there as he pushed past a sea of students and competitors until he finally reached Percy. The crowd began to thin, the voices lowering the more he pressed forward. ”Percy, what t'e ‘eck? Why did you wit’draw wit'out…wit'out even talkin’ to me?.”

Percy frowned slightly. Dorian seemed upset with him. ”They said I wouldn’t - that we wouldn’t be allowed to compete due to this entanglement,” he explained. ”I know how much this means to you. So I solved the issue.” Was he supposed to have talked to him about that? He didn’t really see what there was to discuss - they both knew how much Dorian wanted to compete, how few chances he had left. He wanted to participate for better reasons than his own. ”Did I do something wrong?”

”We could’ve talked to someone, seen if we can do a player swap, anyt’in’ else to try before just given up…I don't want you to give up opportunities just for me. I mean, I'm grateful really, I've been dreamin’ about doin’ t’is wit’ Danni and April for years now and to be told I couldn't for a moment I…it was a lot. But we can't make big decisions like t'is wit'out consultin’ wach ot'er first…” Dorian replied, torn between Several emotions he was feeling at the moment.

Percy paused for a moment. He bit his lip, considering his words carefully for a moment. In truth, it hadn’t occurred to him to try to switch back onto Dorian’s team. His cheeks tinged a bit pink with embarrassment at the oversight. He’d tried to do the romantic gesture that classical heroes did - to take the fall so Dorian could continue on. And then, there was a tinge of hurt to it, too. He hadn’t wanted to be removed from the team in the first place - to be shunted over to another one where he was a redundancy for his sister. ”I thought we had already given up on being on a team together,” he said softly, avoiding eye contact. ”No one seemed to care when I was moved to the other team.”

”Everyone cared. We were a team. Are a team. We didn't ‘ave a good enough reason to dispute t’e changes, or at least nothing t’ey'd likely listen to us about. But t’is? T’ey'd ‘ave to pay attention to t’is. It's a Contest rule. We can swap you for Zelda. Regardless of what Beanie t’inks, Zelda doesn't even want to compete so I'm sure t’ey won't mind a swap around. And we, t’e obvious champions of t’is contest, can showcase Zelda's skills in suit making so it's a win win. But first we need to find Vision. Set t’ings right before t’ey can go wrong.” Dorian spoke with a clear passion behind each word. This to him was no different than a hero saying no one gets left behind during a mission. Percy was going to be on his team, they could fix this, fight this. They had rules backing them up.

Hearing all of this from Dorian… it made him feel strangely raw. He blinked his eyes a few times, finding them a little more moist than he had expected, his chin ever so slightly wobbly. ”I… I see,” his voice cracked slightly. The cat poster on the wall was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. ”I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it mattered to you that I compete, too.” He was silent for a moment. ”It would be nice to be able to hit my sister with my axe, too.”

Dorian chuckled, holding his arm out for Percy to hook his into before they went off. ”T’en let's go and see if we can't make t’at ‘appen. It'll be good for Diana to get axed a question.”

Percy laughed slightly, before slipping his arm around Dorian’s, his hand resting gently on his boyfriend’s wrist. ”We should start with asking her about what she’s wearing,” he muttered. ”She looks like la putain.”

”I don't t'ink Putin dressed like t'at back t'en…but t'en again Russian ‘istory wasn't my best subject.” Dorian said with a shrug, the French words clearly not being recognized by him.

Danni preened at Agatha’s comment. Obviously, he was Agatha’s favorite’s gay. He conveniently ignored the disaster part because that was clearly an exaggeration. “Omg! You ‘ere t’at Amélie? You can meet your maman, too! Look at t’is family reunion.” Danni booped his dragon on the nose, conjuring a little puff of fire for her to bite at. “Of course we miss you, Aggie! Who could ever replace you? But actually, it’s been a wild ride since ya left. Gosh, ‘ow long ’as it… Oh! I know where ta start!”

“So, ya obvi were at t’e festival but ya know, it got real wonky after I left ya tent. So, before t’at, Spicy actually ran inta Dee and ‘it t’e ground. I tried ta do t’e eye t’hin’y ‘cause ‘e clearly might ‘ave maybe ‘ad a construction and I - and I’m not sayin’ t’at I did t’is but rumor ‘as it, ya know? - supposedly messed up and caught ‘is jacket on fire. But like, who wears velvet in summer? T’at stuff is ‘otter t’an me and not in t’e good way. Like 10/10 t’at ‘e stopped wearing it since really, but yeesh was t’at a choice. Anyways, Pa made a new jacket for me lickity split and t’en I graciously gave it ta Dee so t’at ‘e could be t’e knight in shinin’ armor since ‘e was ‘ead over ‘eels at first sight. Jeez, like ‘opelessly ta be ‘onest. Kinda gross.” Danni rolled his eyes at the memories. “Of course, Spicy ‘ated me for t’at. Andy kinda ‘ated em too ‘cause apparently I made t’em feel like I was mockin’ t’eir clothes but I was just given’ some fashion advice. And t’en we found Zeld’s who was freakin’ out and conjured a bee storm so I tried ta set it on fire, but instead I kinda lost t’at whole fireball and burned all my clothes and some light burns ta people. But I did make a wicked cool fireball earlier t’at day!”

“And t’en we ‘ad our presentations, which was so fun! I made a whole routine! It was a whole dance routine, ‘cause ya don’t wanna be basic AF and borin’ when t’ere are already so many ot’er people goin’ and doin’ just t’e normal wham, blam, t’ank you ma’am routine, ya feel? Gotta keep it fun and fresh! So lots of flamin’ pillars, lots of spins and whirls, I even gave myself some pretty wings right at t’e end!” Danni spread his arms, barely giving Amelie time to scamper up with plenty of disapproving chatter. “Sorry, Amelie. I forgot I was ‘oldin’ ya darlin’! But t’en I kinda, sorta, maaaaaaybe set fire ta t’e Judge’s table and t’en exploded it instead of one of t’e targets and so I kinda t’ink Poisson-Pas was tryin’ ta kill me wit’ all t’e bombs and survival trainin’ wit’ revenge but I got t’e last laugh ‘cause I’m alive and ‘e’s not! Oh, you weren’t t’ere, but Poisson-Pas ‘ad a ‘eart attack or somet’in’, but we’re doin’ a seance ‘cause a lotta people are all spooked even t’oug’ just ‘cause you’re dead doesn’t mean dead, ya know? Even if t’ey don’t come back, they’re still around. Ya just gotta learn ‘ow ta dial t’e spook phone! But t’en, we were all super excited for t’e team announcement, and you’ll never guess t’e bullshit t’ese people t’ought ta pull!” Danni paused for a moment to give Agitha a moment to guess but waved his hands and kept going, impatient.

“T’ey broke us up! Princess and Dee and I wanted ta be on t’e same team - we said it a lot and loudly and I know t’ey ‘eard us ‘cause I’m loud - and t’ey broke us up! Like, ta disrespect, right? So t’at was a whole t’in’ ‘cause like Zelds was on our team but didn’t want ta be ‘ere so t’at was a whole t’in’. I tried ta cheer ‘er up and just, like any sane person, asked for no bees, flamin’ or ot’erwise. Spicy want ta murder us and Beanie was just tryin’ ta figure out ‘ow ta get everyone on board. Dee eventually gave inta t’at and like, t’ey co-captianed? Idk if t’at’s ‘ow it boiled out but I decided t’at in my brain. So t’at, Poisson-Pas split us up and made us challenge each ot’er in t’is wicked race and we ‘ad ta cross a canoe or somet’in’ and t’en figure out t’e door t’at a bomb was behind, which we t’ought was fake t’at wasn’t fake cause it went fuckin’ off, but it’s fine ‘cause fire, ya know? And Dee went in Spicy for t’e first time and made ‘im use ‘is powers so Beanie and Spicy went back ta t’e beginning, but I t’ink… No, no we won ‘cause we survived t’e bomb. I t’ink Spicy and Beanie died.” Danni pondered for a second and then shrugged, Amelie flapping her wings along with the motion as she peered around the room for something more interesting. “‘onestly, Idr ‘cause ‘e put us t’rough so much deat’ stuff t’at it all kinda blurs toget’er. And ‘is rewards were never fun. T’ey were always just more ‘omework and survival tactics and trap doors t’at ‘e said weren’t trap doors and ‘onestly, I feel for it way too many times. But what if, just once, ‘e actually got t’e winner T’e Supreme Collection of Madame Margret’s skin care? I can’t pass t’at up!” Amelie agreed loudly.

“Aaaaanyways, t’en we ‘ad t’e qualifyin’ round, right? Even t’oiugh we passed t’e auditions, ‘ad our ‘earts and dreams crushed ‘cause our teachers live on t’em, we ‘ad ta again fight for our right ta do t’is. Which, so rude. ‘Owever, Zelds made us t’ese bomb fits so we rock t’em and t’at’s definately what got us t’e win. The ot’er team, even t’ough t’ey ‘ad people who like, et light - It was weird and I didn’t like ‘ow my fire was useless against t’at - never really challenged us ta be ‘onest? Like, t’ey ‘ad t’is siren lady who was a tough cookie but after everyone broke free, she kinda folded. So I fell back ‘cause I t’ought people were gnna rush t’e point, right? Well, t’ey didn’t. I wrapped me and t’e point in a pretty wall of fire, absolutely majesty if ya know what I mean, and t’en… not’in’. Like, Beanie and Spicy and Dee and everyone just kinda wailed down on t’em and I didn’t get ta do nothin’. Like, just vibe t’ere. So kinda borin’ but we won. So it was a great t’in’ ta brin’ ta ‘omecomin’, which t’e trio won.” Danni sighed. “But like, not us even t’ough I t’ink it should be. No, it was Princess and Beanie and Leah when t’ey were still ‘ead over ‘eels about. We did a whole t’in’, ya know? Actually, lemme…” Danni patted his pockets once, twice and then went cross eyed trying to glare at Amelie, who tilted her head as she tried to stare back. “Amelie, did ya eat my phone again? ‘Ow many times ‘ave I… Oh. Nope, Pops ‘as it ‘cause ‘e’s a butt. So I can’t show you, but it was epic. We all did She-Ra cosplays, t’en I got photos of all of us in t’e ‘allway wit’ pretty little fires everywhere ‘round ‘te couples. And t’en I realized I was t’e only one not datin’ someone but yeesh, t’ere’s a lotta drama t’ere so I felt super left out at t’e time but lookin’ back, I t’ink I kinda dodged a ‘otshot? ‘Cause, yeesh t’e drama but anyways, t’e girlies win ‘omecomin’ royalty and t’en we were all bickerin’ ‘bout w’at ta do first and we all split up ‘cause I wanted ta dance but people kept sayin’ t’at it was lame so I was gunna just go dance by myself ‘cause I’m ‘ot enough ta ‘andle myself, but t’e relationship girlies just wanted ta go off on t’eir own little bubbles. So t’e girlies went ta t’e ‘aunted ‘ouse… actually, lotta people went ta t’e ‘aunted ‘ouse and I tried ta warn t’em it was a bad idea. Who wants ta go ta a ‘aunted ‘ouse in a school t’at ‘as instructor wit’ superpowers and magic? Like, it was obvi gunna be a whole nightmare t’in’ so I noped out and sure enough, I was right, like I always am. It’s a whole t’in. People are comin’ out beat up, one kid came out wit’out an eye, anot’er one ‘ad a whole arm torn off. It was awful. Supposedly, ya ‘ad ta kill yourself or be killed in t’ere and man, I t’ink t’e school is gunna run outta t’erapy money at t’is rate if t’ey keep messin’ wit’ t’eir students. But Princess comes out, water is spoutin’ outta every’in’, Beanie and Leah are all I gotta defend my girl, lemme at ‘im, lemme at ‘im so Dee and I gotta calm ‘er down, ‘ave spicy pop ‘er outta t’ere ta t’e dorms, and ‘ave us run behind t’em. I really don’t know what ‘appened after t’at but it took fooooooooooorever for the place ta be fine again. T’ough, some people who got really spooked still won’t go anywhere near t’at place ‘cause t’ey swear t’ey still see t’emselves in t’e reflections. It’s wild.”

Danni shook his head and waved it off. It wasn’t a fun thing to think about so Danni just… wasn’t! “So t’en, we really wanna win t’is contest right? So our friend ‘Cadie comes in and tells us all ‘e got a cool plan. ‘E’s ‘acked t’e framework like t’e smartie ‘e is and we all sneak inta t’e trainin’ rooms ta suit up and practice t’e night before break, right? We’re feelin’ pretty cool ‘cause like, ‘ow many ot’ers were able to sneak past t’e campus guards, avoid t’e little security traps t’e adults put up, and break inta t’e framework ta get some extra trainin’ in? ‘cause is it really fair t’at t’e Young Avenger’s get all t’is extra practice time and we are stuck in classes all day? Correct answer is: No. So, we take fate inta our own ‘ands and make some extra time ourselves. And more ‘cause we ran into a real life villain!” Danni laughed, scooping Amelie back into his arms as he bounced. “Turns out, ‘Cadie chose us ta kill for ‘is villian debut! Which like, so cool ta be first pick for a bludgeoning villain, you know? So we get uploaded inta t’e game, all split up, reveals ‘is true identity: Ed! Wait, no. Ed was t'e fake name, ‘Cadie was t'e real one. Well, no “Arcade” but bot’ t'ose names are lame so he's ‘Cadie. Isn't t'at so much cuter, Amelie?” Danni paused to give the dragon some attention, cooing at her as she bit at the little puffs of fire he gave out. He flicked his fingers, giggling as she scampered across his shoulders to chase one.

“So, I get turned inta t'is ‘ot AF dragon and I still got all my fire powers and Leah turned inta a big, stronk person and t'en Spicy was a… goblin? Yeah, def a goblin. T'ere like gremlins right so makes sense! And Diana was somet'in’... probably a goblin tbh. She was always a little wonky, especially since she refused flaming arrows. Flaming arrows! Who in t'eir left minds turn down flamin’ arrows, am I right? So t’en we find a t’in’ t’at I t’ink is Zari, idk I don’t know. But t’en everyt’in’ ‘arts, like real bad Aggie. Like, we didn’t t’ink we were makin’ ot, but we popped out just fine and ‘Cadie panicked and Beanie and Dee said some stron’ stuff ta ‘im and suddenly ‘e realized ‘e was doin’ bad stuff so t’e Avengers showed up, ignored us when we didn’t want ta talk to t’e ‘rents, and bundled ‘I'm all up ta prison! Sups easy ya be ‘onest. Except t’e groundin’. And t’e nightmares. And t’e burnin’ random stuff down got waaaaay worse. Like, ‘ouse sized worse, ya know? So t'e gave us all A's for t'e semester and gave us therapy and Mavie is such a sweetie. Super chill, t'ough I still t'ink ‘er idea of relaxin’ is waaaaaaay too basic but t'at's just me. Oh and ‘apparently, we did all actually die but t'at time doesn't… No, hasn't… No, won't? Idk tbh but we're still alive so who cares? Stil stand by t'at, btw, but lotta people got spooked and angy ‘bout it so it was a whole lotta arguing and I just wanted ta ‘ave a good time so I tried ta just talk about y'e contest, but apparently callin’ dibs on teams is a bad t'in’ ta do ‘cause I got pulled aside and told it was a bad t'in’ and ‘onestly, Princess, Dee, and I are all on t'e same team soooooo I got what I wanted, t'ank you very much!”

“Oooh, and t'e juicy stuff! So t'e ‘omecomin’ royalty is broken up. Princess axed t'at whole t'in’ from t'e asylum ‘cause she was feelin’ a little self murderous and needed a little grippy sock vacation. Idk ‘ow Beanie and Leah are ‘oldin’ up t'ough. Gotta check in on Beanie too, t'ough idk if ‘er or Leah wanna see me you know? Beanie was real spicy wit’ me before, but I t'ink we're good, but t'en t'ere's t'e whole ex drama but we can still be friends, right? Like… Hm, maybe I gotta ask Princess. But Leah's probs glad ta ‘ave me outta their ‘air, t'ough t'at stuff is dangerous so I wasn't t'ere in t'e first place, and she might just punch me… Eh, still wort’ sayin’ ‘I right? I'll just get ready ta fly!” Danni giggled as Amelie jumped, chomped down on the fire, and burped out a puff of smoke. “And t'en t'ere is Dee and Spicy. still not sure ‘ow I feel ‘bout t'at ‘cause like, we kinda did everyt’in’ taget'er and t'en now Dee's bumpin’ uglies wit’ a freshie, well Spicy ya know, and it's not like Spicy is terrible but def not my jam. I don't t'ink Spicy could ‘andle me 24/10, ya know? But like, kinda makes me sad again ‘cause ‘e's leavin’ me out! And! ‘e just prings it on me! Sends me a text like FYI, I'm rollin’ ‘round t'e ‘ay wit’ my frieshie so like be cool. ‘ow am I, t'e resident volcano, meant ta stay cool after t'at?! Just bein’ dropped t'is little nugget, ‘ow could ‘e not expect me ta explode? So ‘course, I go off, catch t'e dorm on fire again, but remember Dee's ta blame, and t'en boop! My most precious wittle baby is born! I was kinda annoyed ‘cause not everyone came.over ta celebrate. T’at’s why I'm ‘ssumin’ Beanie doesn’t really wanna talk, ‘cause who wouldn’t come over ta ‘hangout wit’ a dragon?! Spicy’s on the lame list too for t’at ‘cause ‘e t’ought I didn’t notice ‘im pull away from t’e group when ‘e coulda said ‘I ta my baby. Still waitin’ on t’at apology, hm, from bot’ of t’em.” Danni asked irritably at the memory, but it was gone as soon as it came.

“But t’en, we invited everyone over ta our ‘ouse ta ‘ang for t’e contest! Super cool, right? But Princes couldn’t come ‘cause t’e sperm donor ‘ates Pa. We’ve tried for yeaaaaaaars ta ‘ave a ‘angout but nooooooooo. Still, ‘apparently Andy knows Old Man Erik, who wasn’t a meanie ta ‘er which great!, and Vicky’s room is borin’? Dee and Spicy took way too long in t’ere room and so Pa just decided ta pull t’e portal out from under us and pop us ‘ere! So poof, ‘ere we are!” Danni did a little flourish, beaming at her and the students behind her.

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From now until ~June 22nd, we are going to be doing flashback collabs/posts - freshman year!

Everyone in the cast (except Percy) is currently a junior. For the next ~6 weeks or so, your job is to post at least one (more is encouraged!!) posts that describe your character as a freshman, brand new to AA! this can be light hearted and fun - this can be dramatic and edgy. Please note in the collab when it takes place (i.e., the first day of school, homecoming dance, etc etc) and be mindful of who your character knew and was at this time.

For characters like Andy and Percy who weren't at AA as freshmen, please instead do posts from their last status quo - i.e. for Andy, posts from her time on Genosha or even with the Drummonds. For Percy, this could be posts about him in middle school.

One post is required, but tbh please do as many as you'd like! Rolls aren't needed, just please check in with the co-GMs to make sure what you are doing isn't world breaking. I'll try to be available to check on that as well (sorry Leah you can't punch Coulson into the sun), but I will make no promises as to my availability.

Once I am back and not drowning in stress, we will then resume RP from where we currently are.

If you have questions/concerns, please let us know.

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The early morning sun beat down on the rocks and reflected off the sky. It wasn’t anything Mayra didn’t know well enough already. It was warm, it was always warm here. Dad was busy doing something in Phoenix, so she convinced him to let her get home herself. That meant taking sandstone and turning it into a small platform that she used to soar over the desert until she found the house.

It was hard to find, but anyone who lived with any form of nature in the backyard learned how to navigate quickly. A steep cliff that overlooked a field of verbenas was the sign that it was close. Then, one only had to walk under the cliff and turn left. And their house was there, build into the rock like a nuclear bunker. Even though many people lived in this desert, dad seemed to like it for some reason.

She wasn’t used to flying over things like that, but Mayra gave it maybe an hour before he got here. That meant if they could get out and away from him quick then maybe they’d be fine.

Mayra’s hands flew over a keypad, putting in a 12-character code that was, apparently, mathematically impossible to crack in less than an hour. The sandy-brown walls shuddered, and a door slid open. Mayra booked it inside, down a narrow corridor barely wide enough for two people. Her heart was beating faster the further she walked, until Mayra found the stairs. This house was always so damn weird to get around in, compared to other places that dad would take her when he was on trips. Up a flight of stairs, and then she found another hallway.

The halls were lit by fluorescent lights, motion activated so no one had to flip a switch. She passed three doors that she had never opened before, and wound up at the living room. It was a big, spacious place that had all the markers of a modern, egotistically rich house. Floor-to ceiling windows holographically modified to be one-way, with fake rock on the outside. Stark white floors, stark white ceilings, and no walls between it and a kitchen that could’ve been at least the same size.

"¿Ya estás en casa?" You're already home?

Her mom was sitting there at the kitchen table. Mayra looked a lot more like her than dad. Practically identical, without the earrings. Though, mom didn't have the same thing going on with her hair that Mayra did. Her head was bowed low, and she was staring into a glass of something, probably water.

Mayra was trembling a little. She hurried over to her.

"Hey- Feeling good or bad?" She asked.

Her mom's head twisted slowly, facing Mayra but barely tilting upwards. She didn't answer.

"¿Puedes moverte hoy?" Can you move around today? If you can, we've got to go." Mom sometimes didn't get either language fully, it was easier to talk to her in both. She was more familiar with Spanish, but it still jogged her thoughts more to hear English.

Her mom nodded, and she immediately started to stand.

Mayra took her hand. "Tenemos que irnos antes de que regrese." Her voice hitched We need to leave before he's back.

"Hm?" Her head tilted, and she finally looked at Mayra. "...You're scared?"

Yeah, she was. So very, very scared. This was the perfect time to slip out from under him, take mom and find something other than this. Mayra wasn't really sure what they'd do, given the way mom was, but fuck. She'd been to enough places that she could find something, probably. Maybe she could fake a passport like dad did, or just stay in the country long enough for him to leave first.

And here she was, fumbling already.

"Dad- He's- It's-" There was a lump in her throat. Her mom stared blankly. "Did he ever tell you what he does for money?"

She shook her head.

"He's... Evil. He's bad, he hurts people, and he has superpowers like me."

He always told her not to say that.

That got something out of her face. A confused expression. "I don't understand."

"¡Es un supervillano!" She shouted, without meaning to. "¡Estoy tratando de alejarnos de él! Lo explicaré más tarde" He's a supervillain. I'm trying to get us away from him! I'll explain later.

It felt bad, yelling at her. But they had to move.

"...Okay. What does he-" She searched for the words. "Is he strong like you?"

"No- We need to leave. What do you need to bring? I'll get it. Just get ready and I'll-"

She cupped Mayra's hands in her own. "Where are we going?"

Mayra didn't know either, but the touch helped calm her down. "Later, okay? If we go now, we can figure that out after we're out of the desert-"

A snapping sound cut her off.

Her mom's hands tightened around hers, twitching suddenly. Mayra looked up at them and saw dark blood coming down her face, with a gaping hole where her left eye was just moments ago.

She fell backwards, not quite limp, but gently convulsing on the ground.

Mayra screamed instead of turning around. She bent down and tried to do something. But she smelled smoke.

It was coming from behind her.

---

He's dead.

The sun was going down, and Mayra was following it wherever it would land. The wind ripped past her, making it feel about ten degrees colder than it really was.

The Sonoran Desert was a warm place, dotted with one cactus species after another, palms and sparse grass and more everywhere she went. She soared over the rocks and mounds of sandy soil on a stone platform, trying her best to focus on moving forward. She clothes were stained with blood, and caked in rock dust. She sunk the house under the spire of stone it was built into. Mayra barely got out herself, and that was hours ago. She had crossed into a different region of the desert, since it was big enough to have several.

I killed him. It's done. If I was faster, she'd still be alive.

I'm sorry, mom.

She felt tired, she felt angry, she felt ready to break down and sob like a baby. But she couldn't. If she stopped, she'd probably stay there in the sand and wait for a mountain lion to come by and test its luck.

He said something to her, and Mayra barely heard it over the blood rushing into her ears. Before she knew it, she had wheeled around on him and shattered the foundation of the house. Then, the ceiling came crashing down like the sky had been broken by a hammer. It didn't matter anymore, she may as well have just flown off and not returned. Mom would've lived, then.

Mayra tried to shield her from the rocks, thinking that maybe, maybe that bullet hadn't gone past her eye socket. Maybe it didn't make it into her brain. But her body had stopped moving, she didn't even react when Mayra had lifted her up. She was already dead when she hit the floor, and she didn't even realize what was happening.

She was replaying it over and over in her head. Bang. Bang. Bang. That sound, the gun going off. It was quiet enough that it didn't blow her eardrums out, but it wasn't quiet enough to be quiet. Why didn't she hear the door opening? It was louder. Why hadn't she been eyeing the fucking door? Why didn't Mayra just grab mom and haul her out without explaining?

It was her fault. The only person in her life she actually cared about, her own fucking mother. Dead.

The thought of that wouldn't let her go. Wouldn't let her think of anything else.

So the rock she rode on clipped something, dipping low enough due to her lack of concentration. It was like a motorcycle hitting a pothole and flipping wheels-over-seat. Mayra went flying off ahead, and the rock tumbled down into a pit somewhere.

She banged her head against a cactus and rolled into cold sand.

And then she stopped to really think.

The sand caked itself against her clothes, it mingled with the blood that somehow wasn't dry yet. She heard the clattering of stone against stone, somewhere off in the distance.

Her back against the ground, the sun going down, Mayra was still enough to take things in.

Dad shot her mom, now she was an orphan. No more going overseas, no more "business trips" to shady places. No more scared attempts to hide herself from dad at home.

No more taking care of mom when she couldn't move around.

Mayra sat up on the ground. She looked around and didn’t hear any animals coming closer. No scorpions getting testy, just a cactus sheared in half by her hair and the stars overhead.

She brought her knees up to her chest and screamed into them. The sand around her lifted into the air, like gravity had just been shut off somehow. A sandstorm whipped up and around her, spiraling up like a tornado.

It lasted ten minutes, and then she balled the sand up into another rock to fly on. She had to keep moving and do something.

Keep the momentum going. Don’t stop for too long.

If she could get to the Colorado River, she could stop and clean the blood and sand off. And if she could do that, then people wouldn’t gawk at her so much. That was her first plan.

Mayra didn’t know what her second plan would be.

---

Three days had passed. On the first, she had found some food in the desert before she left, in the form of agave plants that she'd torn to pieces. On the second, she broke into a gas station to make up for the lack of it when she ran out. The cameras were the first to go, just for good measure. On third, she slept under a bridge stretching over the Colorado River.

Today, she grabbed a rock and made her way here. She stared out at the sun coming up. She sat on top of a two-story building made of brick, watching cars and people pass by. None of them paid attention to her, they were too busy.

Los Angeles, California.

It was so loud, here. Most cities were, because of the cars and clamor of foot traffic. It smelled like any other city, too. Smog, oil, the oily, early-morning street food being sold down below that smelled like carnitas.

Over the last few days, she had made a plan. She wasn’t Mayra anymore. It was a thing her dad told her about, sometimes. Most people didn’t question someone’s name and just took it for what it was. So if anyone asked, she’d call herself Leah.

It didn’t feel right to call herself that. Mayra was a name her mom gave her. But her mom wasn’t around to protest. So Leah made the decision to come to a big city, where there would be so many people that she was just one face in a crowd. Who would remember her if something happened here? Probably no one. But there was more to it than that.

She noticed fliers about a school. One for people with superpowers. The Avengers had a hand in it, Leah knew that much. Dad always takes about how easy it would have been to get rid of them. Mutants went there, like her. It didn’t matter much to her that she was a mutant, that was never an identity that she cared one way or the other about, but they couldn’t really blame a mutant for coming from a fucked up background, could they?

They wouldn’t push it too hard if she didn’t answer many questions. Right?

One of the fliers Leah grabbed said they’d be opening up “auditions” today. Meaning anyone could sign up and land a place there. It was one of those schools people lived at. All she had to do was show them she could handle her powers, and they’d let her sleep in a bed. She had other schemes in mind, but that was a start. Leah wanted to grow her hair out, just in case one of dad's criminal friends went looking for her. It was also just nice in theory, since no one could touch it and not get hurt, especially in this big of a city.

She leaned back and rested flat against the roof. Leah was tired, in a way she wasn't used to feeling.

Did she want to be a hero? Sort of, but not to save lives. It was a better life than what was set out for here. But she felt more interested in hurting bad people than protecting the good ones.

People like him.

I'm better than him. I'll do it.

It would be a few more hours before Margaret Carter opened up and started taking names. She jumped down into an alleyway and walked out into the streets. Her clothes were mostly free of bloodstains, and she used her powers to get the sand and dust out of them.

Leah Jordan bought a carnita at the truck with stolen cash, and went for a walk down the street.

It was going to be a long, long day.

---

When: October, 2018
Where: Rochester, New York

---

The days had started to get shorter and colder. To Andy’s memory, she had never seen snow. The closest she had ever been to snow had been at the school in Colorado. But she had run away, had made it onto a city bus, and from there to a Greyhound. She had stolen, but she didn’t care. Getting as far away from that hated school as fast as possible was all she had cared about.

After the Greyhound...Well, she didn’t want to think about that either. Now she is in New York. Not New York City. Something inside her was afraid of that city. Instead, she had followed a pull to this town. The shelter that she stayed at required her to be eighteen. She’d be put back into the system if she were under that. Andy couldn’t stand the idea of that. The system had let her down. Every home had let her down.

She was bundled up in an alley. Tonight, she didn’t plan to go back to the shelter. One of the people was starting to ask too many questions. Andy didn’t look eighteen. She was undersized for her age already, and at only fourteen, there was no way she could keep up the lie.

A door slammed, and she startled, looking up. A man was throwing a bag into a dumpster. Their eyes met.

“Oh, sorry for scaring you.” He had a soft Scottish or Irish accent; Andy didn’t know which. The man paused for a moment longer and then put the trash away. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” Andy said automatically. The man dusted his hands on his pants.

“Liar. Try again.” It wasn’t accusatory or mad, just a gentle reprimand. Andy chewed her lip.

“Fourteen,” she said softly. The man nodded.

“Better. When was the last time you ate something hot?” Andy shrugged in response. She wasn’t sure. “Come inside. I made a pot roast. We always have leftovers.”

Andy didn’t move, but her stomach rumbled. The man sighed and went inside. A few minutes later, a woman came out carrying a plastic bowl.

“I’m Ash, my husband, Jamie, said you were hungry. If he says something, I believe it.” The woman’s voice carried the same accent, a little softer. She held the bowl out for Andy, but she set it down next to her when she didn't take it. “I’ll be back in an hour for the bowl. I expect it to be empty.”

Once she was gone, Andy didn’t wait a moment longer to eat the food. She had had a moment of fear that maybe they would poison her, but she didn’t dare let that stop her. The food was hot and smelled so good. She almost cried at how good it tasted. Her tongue was a little burned, but she didn’t care. Andy scraped that bowl clean.

She decided it would be best not to be there when they came back out. If Jamie or Ash called the cops and used the food to keep her there until the cops came, she didn’t want to be arrested. Arrested meant so many scary things. So she left the bowl on the back step of the building and went to find a new spot to hide for the night.

A few nights later, Andy had been chased from two spots and was back behind the Drummond’s Gym. She was almost asleep, and the door slamming startled her again. This time, Jamie was there.

“Oh, good. I was worried you’d gotten into some trouble. You hungry, kid?” Andy gave a slight nod at his question. “Can I convince you to come inside?” She shook her head at this question. “Thought as much. Ash said you seemed like you’d been through a lot. I’ve seen people with that look in their eyes. People who have no control over anything take what they can. Lots of those people come here. It’s a good place to find that control. Stay put, I'll get you some dinner.” He disappeared back into the Gym. He returned with the same bowl and water bottle a few minutes later. “Tamales. Ash bought them from the lady at the store right out of the trunk of her car. She says that’s the best way to get your Tamales. Have you had them before?” Andy nods. She had lived in San Francisco and had lots of Mexican food.

“Ash is right. That’s the only way to get your tamales.” Jamie grins as Andy speaks to him for the first time.

“She’ll love to hear you think that. Do you like hot sauce? I can bring you some Tapatio.” Andy nods. Jamie goes back inside, and she can hear some murmuring. He comes right back out with the bottle of Tapatio. For the first time, Andy takes it directly from him instead of him setting it down and her picking it up. “I’ll be back in an hour for the dishes.”

He goes back inside. Andy eats the food and considers whether she should move on again. This is risky, but they seem nice. Her heart hurt. It ached from so many things. She didn’t want to let this hurt her, too. She left. But instead of going far away, she hid and watched. At the hour mark, Jamie comes out and looks around. His shoulders slump a little, and he picks up the dirty dish and sauce. He goes back inside.

The next night, Ash came out with the dish. She walked close to Andy, but stopped short, just as Andy’s heart started to race, then took a step back.

“I’m Ash Drummond. You don’t have to tell me your name, but it’d be nice to know.” She set the dish down and pushed it close to Andy and another bottle of water. It looked like potatoes and meat. Andy thought for a moment and then softly told Ash her name. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Andy. Tomorrow we have an open house for the Gym. Trying to bring in new people. If you come in around eleven, there will still be some snacks and juice, but the biggest rush of people will have passed until after lunch.” Ash stood up and went back inside. Andy didn’t hide this time when Ash came to collect the dish.

---

The next day, Andy went inside the Gym through the front door. There were a few groups of people of various ages. A table with food and drinks was set up. She grabbed a muffin and some coffee. God, she loved coffee. She hadn’t had any in a long time, and this was hot.

Jamie waved her over, and she shuffled over slowly. This Andy was not sure of herself. She was weak and could only trust that her touch could protect her; the lightning that lived inside her was her only power.

“Andy, this is one of my employees, Kyle.” Jamie gestured to a tall black man. “He works with the teens that come through. I’ve asked him if he’d work with you.”

”Work with me?” Andy asked. Her throat was feeling dry, so she took a sip of coffee, hoping to clear it.

“Yeah, I help first timers learn what styles they’d be good at.” Andy’s face apparently clearly posed her next question as Kyle smiled. “Martial arts styles. Like Judo, boxing, and so forth. You know those, right?” She nods a little.

”I played Mortal Kombat a few times. And I had this...I’ve seen some wrestling.” She told him. Cutting herself off from talking about a family that watched WWE together.

“Exactly. I help assess what you might be good at, and once we get you started, the trainer that is best for that will take over.”

”I’ve never done any fighting before, except some scrapping school yard fights. Those don’t end well.”

Kyle smiles easily and shakes his head. “Don’t worry. Experience is not necessary. I prefer people who have no experience.”

”Why?”

“It is easier to assess someone with no experience fighting; if someone has too much of an idea in their head of what they can do, they focus on that, and not on all the possibilities.”

”I meant, why teach me?” Kyle looked at Jamie and waved him to answer.

“The streets are not safe for anyone,” Jamie said softly. “I can see you’ve been through a lot, and you need to be sure of yourself and capable of protecting yourself. We can teach you. Ash and I have discussed it, and we want to offer you a job here. As payment, you’ll get room, board, and training.”

”What is the job?” Andy felt like a trap might be closing around her. Something dangerous, but Jamie exudes kindness. Kyle too. She didn’t trust easily, not anymore. But she was willing to work if it would get her something in return.

“You’d be cleaning. We have a lot of equipment that needs to be kept clean. You’d help move equipment as needed. We also have a lot of little kids who sometimes need an eye kept on them while their families are busy. Do you have experience with any of that?”

Andy gave a slight nod. ”I’m not great with kids, but I’ve been around them. Never been responsible for them.”

“We’ll work up to that then. Start with cleaning and helping out. You can grab stuff and make sure everyone has water.”

Andy chewed her lip, thinking. It wasn’t difficult. ”Where would I be staying?”

“Our basement has a few unused rooms. Ash has cleaned one out and pulled an old mattress in there. She’s been pretty determined about it. I’ll let her show you. If you want.” He smiled, reassuring her. Andy looked over at Ash, who was shifting her weight from one foot to the other, half paying attention to some conversation with an adult and their teen. Her eyes were looking at their little trio. Ash smiled when she saw Andy looking at her.

”Are you sure,” She asked? A small bloom of hope, but fear of cops and worse kept her ready to run. She’d have to be careful. Be secretive and do not let it slip that she is a mutant. That was dangerous. But maybe she could get food and a bed for a while. There had been no promise of money. That was her biggest concern. If she couldn’t make money, she wouldn’t be ready to run again if she needed to. As if reading her mind, Jamie spoke again.

“Of course, we are sure. We wouldn’t offer if we weren’t. And we will pay you a bit under the table. Just minimum wage for hours worked. Any time spent in the gym training won’t count.” Andy nodded.

”Alright. I’ll stay and work for you.” She agreed. Jamie threw up a thumbs-up for Ash to see. Ash extricated herself from the conversation she was having and came over.

“I’ll show you around.” Andy let herself be led around.

---

It had been only three months now, since Leah enrolled in this school and blended in with normal people. It had been… interesting, in a way. They gave her a specific set of clothes she had to wear like a lot of the schools only rich kids went to. Leah had to give the school demonstrations with her earth powers and her strength, which she displayed by beating the shit out of robotic test dummies. They had asked her about how she learned to fight like that, since she tore one’s head clean off with a high kick, and she didn’t give them a real answer.

It was enough that someone decided Leah didn’t necessarily need a beginner’s course in combat, but could still benefit from learning from “official” instructors. So she was put in a group of people her age who had, for the most part, never thrown a punch in their lives. One absolute twink of a boy flinched every time someone went for his face, it was painful to watch. But eventually, she stopped being the only one among them capable of some amount of fighting.

And this was the part of it that Leah really didn’t like.

A few times a week, the whole class was lined up, and their teacher would pick someone at random. They’d pick someone to fight, and the whole class would watch to “learn” from them.

He picked that bitchy blonde who always looked too fragile to even be here, today.

The bitchy blonde in question was Sabine.

Full of anger and condemnation for the world at large, Sabine’s time at school started on a rough note. She made it everyone’s problem. Despite how good she was in the classwork she would often make remarks to the teachers, to other students, even to those she was considered a friend to. Sabine felt the icy chill in her veins, the same feeling each time she was accused of doing something she never would. Her mother made sure she understood the risks, but now she was gone. And despite her father being alive, he was gone too.

She didn’t care if people disliked her. People already judged her so she may as well lean into the villain she was painted out to be.

She watched in classes, seeing others fight over and over again. She knew she was not physically the strongest, but she was damn sure she surpassed everyone else in intelligence. So when she was picked to fight in class, she stood in front of her target.

She knew very little about the girl in front of her apart from her hair looking ratty and unkempt, much like her overall demeanor. Despite this, Sabine knew the girl could hold her own. There was anger behind her fists. So Sabine knew the battle started even before the first punch was thrown.

”Excuse me, but could you maybe pick someone else? It seems like life has already beaten her down to a pulp and I would feel just so guilty if I made it worse than it already was for her.” The intention being: knock her down first.

”Did anyone ask, you stupid bitch?” Leah spat. ”You don’t even belong here… I’m picking her.”

Leah was sick of her shit. The rich girl always had some bitchy comment or look to give her, always had more makeup plastered on her face than personality in her brain. She walked over to the space where fights happened and gave Sabine a death glare.

”Get over here. Now.”

”That’s the difference between you and me. Leaders don’t wait to be asked. They just do. But sure, scream into the void what a bitch I am. Only makes you look weak.” Sabine strode forward to the space she needed to stand in. ”Never mind. I’ll gladly take part in this, if for no other reason than to put the garbage where it belongs.”

She clenched and unclenched her fists. Sabine met Leah’s glare with her own. ”Bring it on, dirt.”

”Dirt?”

Leah angled her arm into a ninety-degree angle, and made a fist. A piece of the floor tore itself open, as a rock shot out, appearing in front of Sabine’s face.

”Fine.”

The rock exploded on a molecular level, turning into a small cloud of dust to cake Sabine’s face.

She wanted dirt, she got dirt.

As the dirt hit her face, Sabine shut her mouth for once, letting the debris cake her. She had asked for it. Sabine opened her eyes and wiped some of if off with her hand. She nodded. ”Cute. My turn.”

Sabine launched her psyche into Leah’s mind. There was an intense emotional block, but Sabien found anger easy to get through because the brain was going a mile a minute. Once she got through Sabine picked a memory at random, one that seemed to be on the top of Leah’s mind.

And, for a moment, Sabine hesitated. But she got through it. The bitch wanted a fight, she would give her a fight.

Sabine amplified the memory; the moment Leah heard the gunshot that took her mom. She increased the sound, having it echo throughout the memory. She added a voice. ”It’s your fault. Your fault she died. You could have saved her but you are too weak. Your own mother. Pitiful. Weak. A monster. You are a monster!” The words would play through Leah’s mind.

Sabine pulled back out, letting the memory take control for however long. Sabine prepared for retaliation.

Leah went inside herself, closing off the world for a second. On the outside, it looked like she just blinked and didn’t react… Until her face slowly twisted into a scowl.

The floor rumbled, and there was a snap. Leah rushed her down, pushing off the floor and leaving a dent in it. She got in Sabine’s face like a dog going after a cat, dropped low, and swung an uppercut at the sassy fucker’s jaw.

How fucking dare she bring that shit back up?

”Fuck you!”

Sabine arched back, avoiding the uppercut but falling flat on her ass. She scrambled quickly, getting back in Leah’s face. ”What, you get to fling dirt around but I can’t? Mine just happened to be better. If you can’t handle your own trauma what good are you?” Yeah, big talk Sabine, pull the other leg now.

”Count yourself lucky that’s all I did. You just need a therapy session and you’ll be all right I could have permanently bedridden you while you eat mashed potatoes out of a tube. So step off with this bullshit pretending you know what you are doing. You’re lower than worthless, how the hell did you even get into this school?”

The answer to that was a falling elbow aimed directly at Sabine’s diaphragm.

”I fucking chose this, you idiot,” Leah answered. ”You probably wouldn’t come here unless your fucking rich dad paid someone to let you in.”

Sabine felt the wind knock out of her as Leah elbowed her. Sabine started coughing, grasping at her throat as Leah started screaming at her. She barely heard a word though she did catch that last bit.

Sabine took a breath and, once she was able to do so fully, stood back up, cocked her fist, and punched Leah in the eye.

And it hurt like a bitch. But if it hurt Leah, it was worth it.

She rubbed her now bruised hand, but she pressed on. ”I auditioned, same as you. The difference being I’m not a scholarship applicant, one the faculty took pity on. Hell, maybe use you in advertisements. ‘If we can accept her, we can accept anyone.’”

Leah had rolled over and, with muscle memory, gotten to her feet while basically blinded by a punch to the soft parts of her face. It was a miracle the bitch didn’t lose her hand by hitting her hair.

Leah swung both her arms upwards in a table-flipping motion. The spot on the ground where Sabine was laying shot upwards, with the intent to springboard the fuck out of her.

”It doesn’t even cost fucking money to go here, are you fucking stupid?!”

Sabine felt her feet lift as the earth beneath her shot upward, sending her flying backward, landing on her back. Not only did her hand hurt, but now her upper back was throbbing. ”All the more reason you’re a pity applicant! No one in their right mind would have you here.” Sabine launched her psyche back in to Leah, this time instead of grabbing a memory she wanted to do as much damage as possible. If she couldn’t beat her from the outside, she would do so from the inside.

Sabine let out a psychic burst, intending to cause a massive migraine headache, a ringing in Leah’s ears that wouldn’t go away quickly. Anything she could hold on to to break her was up for grabs.

Leah clenched her head and wailed like an animal that just had its leg broken. Her head throbbed, her vision started blurring. This bitch was one of those telepathic assholes that played with minds and didn’t actually fight back.

With a growl, she stomped the floor and caused a miniature earthquake that shook the whole room. It sounded like a fighter jet was roaring over their heads.

Sabine and the other students, the teacher, all felt the rumble beneath their feet. Some fell over while others braced. Sabine fell to the ground on her knees as the mini earthquake erupted. She knew she was hurting Leah, but Leah was holding out. Sabine tried not to be impressed, but couldn’t. Leah was strong.

Sabine let go of the psychic hold she had on Leah and stood up. ”There’s no need for collateral damage.” It was clear Leah outmatched her in physical strength, but Sabine was sure her mental aptitude was far beyond Leah’s. Almost equals. Possibly friends if life experiences happened another way.

”I’ll yield if you do.” Sabine took some deep breaths. She wouldn’t admit it, but this was a lot of fun for her. No one ever challenged her before. But she wouldn’t admit it. Not to her.

Leah’s face was a scowl.

Who did this bitch think she was? Digging up those memories that Leah had tried to bury, then acting high and mighty and wanting a fucking draw?

She stomped over to her and drove an elbow into the blonde girl’s jaw.

”Fuck you. I win, it’s over.”

And the teacher immediately got between them about it, calling Leah’s behavior unacceptable and unheroic. As if that mattered.

Sabine wasn’t surprised. She knew the fight would have ended with both of them exhausted, beaten down, and possibly in need of medical and psychiatric care. So when Leah ran over and decked her she knew it was coming from a place of genuine anger.

Sabine knew. She saw Leah’s memories. She knew Leah was hurting and she pulled on that string. She didn’t feel bad about it. She was challenged to a fight and she used what was at her disposal.

Sabine took a beat, took a breath, and stood up.

She wiped the blood off the side of her mouth. She would be bruised. ”Fine. You win. Enjoy the hollow victory.” She looked at the teacher and nodded, signifying she was all right. ”After all, a villain isn’t going to just give up. They are going to do whatever they can to bring the hero down. Like, for example, concede defeat and let the hero beat them. Let that one person punch them as they stand there and admit they lost. Imagine what that looks like, to see someone you think of as a hero beat down someone willingly accepting the loss. Well, that person would be a monster, wouldn’t they?”

Sabine cracked her neck. ”Seems I am in need of a cold compress or something. I would get something for that eye also. I’ll go to the nurse’s office.” Sabine turned and started to walk away. But she stopped and turned to face Leah again. ”I had it right, you are a monster.”

Being petty, Leah stomped the floor and made a chunk of stone fly up to smack Sabine over the head.

”I’m not the one who fucks with brains, bitch.”

Sabine felt the rock collide. It hurt, again. She took another breath. ”Are you quite sure about that?” And she continued to walk, leaving Leah to sit in her feelings.

And she had a lot of them.

She stood there in the middle of the room, surrounded by others who were watching in shock or dismay at how disordered the fight was. Leah had a mean, unheroic look on her face. Sabine was right, she wasn’t much of a hero if this was how she handled petty shit like that. She wasn’t much of a hero if she responded to a surrender with a punch to the face.

And she was right about what she saw, too. It was Leah’s fault.

The teacher was giving her a look.

”Yeah. I’ll fix it.”

---

Andy didn’t spend a lot of time alone, but Zari was working on her tech. Andy didn’t really understand it and there wasn’t much she could do to help. As such, she had decided to go for a walk. Genosha felt huge. There were always people milling around in one place or another. So many mutants in one place. Andy expected something to go awry. Something always did. But so far nothing had. It was late July, maybe July 22nd. Well past her birthday but not yet August. Andy had had tea with Magneto and he had adopted her. That was something so bizarre Andy wasn’t sure how to handle it. She went to the apartments that the Mutant Underground lived in and went looking for her stuff. There wasn’t much. Andy hadn’t had much on her when she had been turned into a popsicle. But the few things that had been on her were things she cared about. Now that she had a new place to lay her head, a place to call home (she honestly wasn’t ready for that word, it was much too big), she wanted to gather her scant few things and take them to that house.

Max had been making his way through the building. Checking the wards he'd placed up against its walls to ensure they were still intact and operational. While Genosha as a whole felt safer the more the days went by, he still had a lingering sense of dread and anxiety about it all. As if the other shoe would drop at any moment. Selene may have been mentoring him and the other mages amongst the Mutant population of Genosha, but something still didn't sit right with him. That in combination with Sinister, Frost, and the Cuckoos, Max felt it important to protect those he'd grown to love and care for. He waved his hand as magic flew off it and towards a marking placed on the wall, fixing a rather sloppy symbol from his first casting. Andy had stepped into view, drawing Max's attention away from his work, allowing the wards to fade from vision slowly. "Hey, wasn't expecting anyone to be back so soon.”

Andy flinched a little startled by Max. "Oh, sorry. I wanted to get a couple of things I left here.” She admitted. "Sorry,” she said again. Andy had the air of someone who had been kicked while down too many times. She was confident in her abilities as a fighter, but she seemed ready for something terrible to happen at a moment's notice.

"Sorry? For what? This place is as much a home to you as it is to me or anyone else here. So there's no need to apologize.” Max said as he crossed his arms and looked at the young girl before him. He realized it'd felt odd to him to call it home, with how many times the Underground has displaced him, it felt like everytime a place was about to allow him to settle, some new big threat would occur. His eyes darted to Andy's side, unsure of how to proceed with her. He could only imagine how she was feeling.

"I sort of moved out. Without much fanfare or telling anyone.” She shrugged. She didn’t dare mention she didn’t even know what home meant. Not really. How could you when everything you had considered home had been taken or destroyed over and over. "I don’t know if...you were...mad.” Countless times Andy had run away and whenever she had been picked up again she got in trouble, and often the ‘parents’ thought she wasn’t worth it and had sent her packing to a different home.

Max quirked an eyebrow at her. "Mad? I'm happy for you Andy. I mean, it would've been nice to know so we could've thrown you a little going away party. Maybe had some cake and balloons or something but…I wouldn't say I'm mad.” He spoke as he moved across the room slowly, pulling a chair to the side and sitting halfway on it. "You found somewhere you belong, someone who you can call family…if you want. Eriks not too bad either, I've lived under the same roof before. He's a bit intense but his hearts in the right place always.”

"Intense is one way to put it.” she says mostly under her breath. ”He is nice. He, uh, you weren’t there, but he went to great lengths to get his daughter back. I had never seen someone do that before.” She told Max. He hadn’t been there when Magneto had come for Polaris. Tearing down the MU headquarters to get her free of Havok. She had fought because that was what she did, but she didn’t blame him. Even if he had temporarily stolen her jacket.

Max wondered if she'd been talking about Wanda. He still had her spellbook and journal from when he was away. They felt close, even when they fought it had a sense of just a larger scale family argument to him at times. Why else would she build a whole world just for her father to rule? For her brother to be reunited with? ”I'm sure he'd do the same for you now. It…must be nice. I'm still looking for that, for a family of my own.”

Andy shrugged. It was small. "Maybe you’ll find one here.” She was surprised. He was part of the MU right? He had them. She frowned, and bit her lip. "I thought...you were close with them.” She gestured around the empty room as if there were people gathered there.

"Close, yeah. I just…maybe it's me getting into my own head honestly. After what my family- my…parents, did. It feels like a cursed word. I'm afraid if I get too close, too attached to them, they'll disappear somehow.” Max didn't make eye contact with Andy as he spoke. Deciding instead to conjure a drink between his hands and focus on that.

Andy snorted a little. "Sorry. That’s, just, exactly how I feel.” She admitted. "I...I grew up without any parents at all. Totally alone. And everytime I thought I had something I could call a family it didn’t work out.” A massive understatement.

"Well as someone who had them…you didn't miss much.” Max said half heartedly trying to make a joke. He instantly regretted his choice. "Sorry, I guess I'm still a little sore about them. Not every parent would sell you out to Purifiers. I know no one here would its just…having that happen, then seeing how quickly Sunshine got attached to Erg only for the Morlocks to be obliterated…it's hard. But we aren't alone, we have each other and I'm always a portal away.”

"I can’t do magic.” As fantastic as superpowers were, magic was something else. She had flinched at the mention of Purifiers. Once the first bit of fear passed anger flared. She hated Purifiers. They had cost her the one thing she had thought would be there forever. The one family who hadn’t been paid to keep her. ”I don’t know who Erg or the Morlocks are.” She admitted though she frowned a bit. ”Wait, weren’t we in a Morlock tunnel or something when you rescued us?” She had remembered thinking about The Time Machine when Veil had said where they were going.

"I think so yeah, they were a group of mutants, ones with visible mutations that made it hard for them to blend amongst the people. So they hid in their tunnels, the sewers. Using their powers to stay off the radar and away from Purifiers. Those without visible mutations could take a mark, an M branded onto them. They helped a few of us out while we were on the run, but trouble came and…” Max had a bit of a far off look as he stared down his drink. "The way Selene makes it seem, I think anyone can do magic if they've the mind for it. Though I suppose there's a difference between what I do and what Strange does. James always makes it seem so much more fantastical than it is. To me it feels…chaotic, half the time it doesn't work, and for all it does I can't bring people I've lost back…but if you wanted to I'm sure you could learn.”

The idea of learning how to do magic is intriguing. If anyone can really learn how...

"That would be neat to learn. I only have lightning in me. We'll, that and I've got good reflexes. I'm not a true speedster. But hitting me is hard.” She smiles a little.

"Lightnings not a bad start.” Max said with a chuckle. "If this was D&D that would be considered a form of evocation magic. After all it has to come from somewhere I assume. If you want, I could work on a bit of a how to for magic? Based on the teachings I'm learning here as well as my own experiences. See if maybe you can do more than lightning.”

"You’d do that?” Andy is surprised by the offer. She’s been burned by people so much in the past it is weird when someone is kind to you. Even after her time with the Drummonds and learning that altruism did exist, she didn’t expect it.

"Yeah. Why not? If you want to learn magic you'll need to start somehow and from somewhere. I'm not sure Selene would be a good mentor if you're looking to get your footing, but maybe after you have she'd let you in too. But before all that you need a how to, I've got Wanda’s spellbook around here somewhere, I'm sure I can use it to see if she had any instructions as well, after all the more sources I can pull from the easier it'll be to help you out.”

”Thank you, Max,” Andy said. ”I am interested. I don’t know anything about magic at all. But anything you can teach me I’d appreciate.” She didn’t know who Selene was, but maybe if Max got her to show some potential Selene would let her learn at the magic area. That’d be neat.

”No problem.” Max said. He didn't want to have Andy leave empty handed however, especially since she was making her way towards a new home, new family. She'd need a housewarming gift. He tried to think about what Andy might like. She tended to stay on the road, never had too much on her and everything she did have was in her bag from what he could tell. Whether that was a necessity of how life had treated her, or just the way she liked to live he didn't fully know. So, he made her something simple. Max crafted a book out of his magic, something that would match her aesthetic. Inside was a single photo, a group picture of the Underground as she knew one. The rest of the pages were blank, spots for her to fill with more photos of her future adventures. ”Here, a housewarming gift.”

Andy opened the book and smiled. She appreciated the gift. "Thank you.” She knew the people in the group seemed to care about her. They had been kind, mostly. She didn’t care for Havok. They also had treated her like an interloper. They all had so much history together. She had only known them for a day when they fought Stabberson. "I look forward to adding pictures to it.”

"I look forward to seeing them in the future. See what adventures you get up to.” Max said with a smile. "Now go gather your things before I start to cry” He said with a bit of a laugh.

Andy smiled and gave a small wave to Max. She carried the photo album with her to the room she had spent only a couple of nights in before Magneto had adopted her. There wasn't much there. But what was hers, she gathered. It took only a few moments. She didn't look back at the room. It had no nostalgia for her.

---

It was a late summer, and Victoria was more confused than ever. She has completed the function testing of her new mobile shell two months ago. Therefore, she logically expected to get more advanced training now, preferably alongside some sort of professional with skills she might be of use. Field medics? Firefighters? Maybe a tango with a few F-22s?

No, she has found herself walking through a park in LA, apparently waiting for school to start. "I still don't understand why this is necessary," Vicky said as they passed a playground. "I could be shadowing first responders right now. Assisting search and rescue operations. Paramedic training. Even lazying around in low orbit repairing some satellites! All that would be actually helpful to someone." she put up, confusion never leaving her face since she was told about the future plans for her a few days ago.

Rhodey let her finish. He never rushed her, letting Vicky arrive to the conclusion mostly on her own, with a careful nudge in the right direction from time to time. When she glanced up at him in a silent question, he raised an eyebrow. "How long did it take you to memorize field triage manuals?"

"Four minutes and twenty one seconds," she replied. "I've been practicing first aid in the nights."

"Right. So maybe what you need most now isn't more of the same." He nodded ahead toward a small plaza in the park, where a few teenagers were scattered across benches, steps, and the edges of the fountain. "Humor me for a minute: Go make a friend."

Victoria blinked: "Come again?"

"You heard me."

She stared at him like he asked her to disarm a warhead with a paperclip. Sweeping her gaze across the park, she analyzed her options. A boy tossing a frisbee. A girl with purple earbuds tapping out a rhythm on her thigh. A couple having a picnic. Her mind offered dozens of conversation starters. "Hello, may I join you?" No, too intrusive. "Do you enjoy carbohydrate based frozen drinks?" Well, maybe not that one. "What is the appeal of aimlessly walking in circles around a pond?" Each of them was promptly vetoed for one reason or other.

After several seconds, she started toward a bench where a girl sat drawing in a sketchpad. But as she came closer, she slowed down, her mind branching into scenarios where the interaction ended terribly. But the girl noticed her and looked up, surprised, but not unfriendly.

Victoria opened her mouth. No words came out. She tried again. "Is this seat taken?" she asked, voice barely a whisper.

The girl smiled. "Nope. Go ahead."

Victoria sat rigidly, hands folded neatly in her lap. She stared ahead, then glanced sideways at the sketchpad. "You like drawing?” she asked, mentally kicking herself immediately after. I'm sure if I change my last name to Obvious, I'll be taken into the army at the rank of captain as soon as I show up!

"Yeah," the girl said. "Do you?"

Victoria took a moment too long to think of a good response, so she rolled with the first thing that came to mind. "I tried, but I'm too clumsy with a flat sheet. The world does not exist in two dimensions, capturing it like that is... lacking."

The girl blinked, just having her past time hated on. "Uuh... Okay, then." Sensing Victoria’s tension, the girl offered a smile. "I'm Julia."

"Victoria."

"Nice to meet you, Victoria." Julia said in a warm tone, trying to thaw the iceberg next to her before she got a frostbite. "You from around here?"

Victoria hesitated. "...Yes. After a fashion. We move around." The silence that followed was very loud.

Victoria could not take the awkward situation anymore and rose abruptly. "Thank you for your time," she said, then walked back toward Rhodey, gazing down on her feet and looking morose.

Rhodey was leaning against a tree nearby, arms crossed and an amused look on his face, mixed with a little bit of understanding and pity. "So, what have we learned today?"

Vicky considered that seriously. "Having a great theoretical knowledge of human behavior... And applying it are very different things."

Rhodey chuckled, then nodded towards the path they came from and started walking them back. "Vicky, I've seen you solve aerodynamics problems that stupmed Stark for weeks in under a hour. But this is not the same." he explained. "This," he gestured behind them toward the kids laughing near the fountain, "this isn't a problem you solve. It's about people you need to get to know. And that's slower. And it's not an algorithm or an equation. But it matters, perhaps more than what you can obviously do."

Victoria looked at him quizzically: "Why?"

"Because that helps you grow as a person, not just as a tool. That person - who you are when no one needs saving? That's the person that decides whether and who shows up when they do." he shared.

Victoria was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "I think I understand. I will try again... Later."

Rhodey smiled, clapping her gently on the shoulder. "That's all we're asking, kid. That's all any of us are doing."

---

Sabine had been fed up for a while now. Not only was she roommates with the one person at school she detested, she hadn’t made any friends. No one wanted to be near her. Sabine tried to find out why and overheard some of the rumors: some included her powers and others included how she acted during the fight (using Leah’s dead mother against her was not her brightest moment). Some just hated her because of her looks, some because of her family’s wealth. Some because she started a social media account and it took off pretty quickly.

So she kept her head down for the most part and focused on school. That in and of itself was a task insurmountable given no one wanted to be paired with her for any task. And whenever someone did dare to give her the time of day she lashed out, knocking the person’s looks or status or powers or whatever else her eyes landed on. She was slowly becoming public enemy #1.

When Danni imagined hero school, it involved a lot more kicking butt and waaaaaaaay less math. Why the hell did he need math? Apparently, he hadn't thought about the possibility of flight and understanding trajectories and he'd been kept back for almost half an hour, the teacher lecturing him for a whole half hour after class let out and now he was going to be late to be late to his culinary club and then he'd be late to sparring with Dee and then he'd be late…

To tutoring.

“Maybe t’is whole chain of events ain't so bad after all. Sure, I definitely ‘ave a budding ‘eadache from t'at ‘ack tryin’ ta bash t’e importance of realistic flight dynamics into my ‘ead and Dee is goin’ ta absolutely freak out when I show up 10 minutes late ta t’e sparrin’ room we ‘ad ta beg for and t’e culinary club is gunna give me t'e sad eyes for stumblin’ in late again but 10 or 15 minutes less wit’ t'e tutor t'e teacher recommended was worth it. 10 out of 10, would recommend. Maybe 9 out of 10… No definitely like 6 out of 10. 10 out of 10 would be convincin’ Dee ta possess t'e fire alarm and break us outta regular classes!

Danni, more interested in his schedule than his surroundings, came to a screeching halt when he walked face first into someone. He stumbled back, blinking at whoever was in his way. “Hey, w'at t'e ‘eck!” Danni whined, but quickly shut up. “Ooooooh, oooooomg, pls don't mess wit’ my ‘ead. I promise it is like, completely empty. Not'in’ interestin’ at all. Just ‘ot ‘air. You're trendin’’ on [idr the site lol], right? I ‘ave a decent followin’, Kingston's Kitchen. I can follow you, I can promote you?” Pop's warnings about telepathy never really sat well with him, but everyone knew Sabine was a mean girl and not the fun kind.

Sabine’s mind was elsewhere when she collided with something. She fell backwards but caught herself, rubbing her head. ”Ah watch where you’re going!” She caught sight of who had ran into her. She recognized him from some of her classes but couldn’t place the name right away. Began with a D she felt and then when he brought up his social media page she remembered. Danni.

What she could have gone without was the immediate implication she would wipe his memory. Figures. He was another jerk at this school who thought she was a bad guy. ”Keep your stupid page, I don’t ned it. Leave me alone.” On any other day she would have ripped into him and made him suffer, but she felt a headache coming on and was truly drained. She began walking away, intent on getting an iced coffee or something and drowning her sorrows.

“Stupid?! What do you mean, stupid?! I'll ‘ave you know t'at my followers are amazin’. You'd be lucky ta ‘ave t'em!” Danni rushed to fall in step with her, his previous fear struggling to keep pace with the simmering annoyance bubbling in his stomach. “Come on, now we ‘ave ta collab at some point, just ta make it up ta t'em. Do you cook? We can do a first time video! Do ya like New Orleans fare? Seafood? ‘cause I gotta a gumbo recipe t'at’s ‘otter t'an me and t'at takes a lot, ya know?” Danni winked with a nervous giggle. “Are you a spicy food fan? Or are ya one of t'ose people t'at get all bloated when ya eat it? I always t'ought it'd be nifty if someone made a t'in’ t'at could like, stretch a belt automatically when t'at happened wit’ like pressure plates or somet'in’ in t'e clothes so t'at old people wouldn't ‘ave ta pop t’eir button if t'ey ate too much if t'e food was good. Yeah, t'ey ‘ave stretch material but it never seems ta work out like t'at, at least in t'e movies. Not a fan of t'at stuff myself really, much prefer somet'in’ wit’ a little flair and stretch material is def so 2020. What do you t'ink about t'at? ‘Ave you t'ought about stretch material? ‘ave you looked at any of t'e new stuff t'at's rumoring for t'e next fashion week? T'ey're rumorin’ Spider Man is helpin’ wit’ some of t'e material and if t'ats true, I wanna see if they keep it sticky.” Danni wiggled his eyebrows.

Sabine could only watch in horror as the bohy just kept talking and talking and talking like one of those wind-up puppy toys that just go on forever until their battery dies. She had a feeling Danni didn’t have a battery though. ”Christ do you have an off switch?” She felt the headache grow deeper and stopped. She closed her eyes and took a breath. ”No, I do not cook.” She almost left it at that until Danni spoke about fashion. That sparked something. ”I heard their doing a whole line of Captain Marvel fashion. I am trying to net an invite to fashion week.” Perhaps Danni wasn’t the annoying twit she thought he was. Aggrivating, but loveable, like a new puppy.

“People don't ‘ave off buttons, silly goose!” Danni giggled again. “Captain Marvel fashion? But eh, aren't t'ose colors so overused? Like, yeah I get it it. Classic, powerful, vibrant, but ugh, come ooooon. Every ‘ero in te last decade wore t'em like a flag and we need somet'in’ a little new, ya know? I'd like ta see somet'in’ in kaladescope ‘ittin’ t'e stage wit’ Captain Marvel's energy. T'e red, blue and gold just feels… dated.” Danni scrunched his nose in distaste.

“Wait, no. You're distractin’ me! You owe my followers an apology for callin’ t'em stupid!” Danni pouted, easily distracted. “I wanna collab, and you're gunna cook… you're gunna cook… Pili Pili Eggs!! It's super easy, can be done in one pan, and it's sooooo good! You'll love it and your followers will see ‘ow fun you are!”

”They are using her look as inspiration, the color scheme is going to be different. More empowerment, more leadership vibes.” Though she took offense to calling the colors dated. Captain Marvel was never and never will be dated. ”My followers already know I am fun. But fine, cooking. What the heck are Pili Pili Eggs?” She let the apology ask fly by. She wasn’t about to concede the fact this dude pushed his way into her space, as nice as he seemed to be.

“Well, maybe it'll be good for ‘ere ‘cause like, you're kinda sorta terrifyin’, ya know? You got t'at cool, above everyone, Frost kinda vibe, ya know? Like, super cool ya ‘aven't pulled my brains out my nose my ‘ead yet, which thanks btw, but t'at's like, t'e first t'in’ I was spooked about so like, you can do t'at so it's not just me!” Danni linked his arm with hers and started dragging her to his club. He can't be that late after all!

“Pili Pili Eggs are soooooooo good! Its named that ‘cause t'e sauce is from… uh, I t'ink… eh, I don't remember but it's pepper, garlic, and ‘ella fresh oil and a ton of eggs! Great breakfast! Kinds like an omelet but everyt'in’ us all cooked up toget'er instead of separately and t'en toppin’ or stuffin’ t'e eggs!” Danni explained, free hand flying wildly as he did. “Unless ya ‘ate eggs, which we can do aomet'in’ else with Pili Pili sauce ‘cause now I'm cravin’ it. When are you free? You wanna do it t'is weekend? I need a break from all the book stuff Dee keeps tellin’ me I ‘ave ta pay attention ta more.”

So close, Sabine felt. Someone here actually being nice to her despite everything and she let her guard down for but a moment. And then he hit her with it. ”He’s just another person here who thinks the worst of me,” she thought to herself. She stopped, letting her arm be pulled slightly before she yanked it back. ”You know, I just remembered I need to be elsewhere. Wouldn’t want you to be seen with the girl that could ‘melt your brain’ after all. Thought you were different.” Sabine bit her lip in a vain effort to stop herself from letting out any other emotion bubbling up before she turned her back to Danni and began walking away. She was stupid for thinking someone here was different.

Look! An escape from club and tutoring! “Oh, cool! Where we goin’? I'll tell club I ‘ad somet'in’ come up! I don't know what we're doin’ but I can ‘elp, I guess! as long as I get ta t'e trainin’ room at ” Danni asked, simply turning and skipping as he kept pace with her. “And why would I care if people saw you wit’ me? I wanna collab wit ya and am willin ta subjedt us ta the collective opinion of strangers across the world. I'm just sayin’, that wicked fight ‘tween you and Rockie over t'ere wasn't a good look, ya know. I mean, even Pops warns us ‘bout mind melters ‘cause ‘e came across…” Danni did some slow math on his fingers before proudly holding them all up “Eighteen in ‘is life and all but two of t'em tried ta make ‘in kill Papa or Pa or Appa or Dee or me or some combo of us at some point in our lives. That fear ain't leavin’ quick, tbh.”

”Danni, read the room.” Figure of speech, but still. ”You walked up to me and all but accused me of doing….whatever it is you think we do. You don’t know me and I’m supposed to, what. Let you insult me? Newsflash, not everyone should be lumped in the same category because of one similarity they share.” She stopped herself before she made further points. That would be an awkward conversation. ”So, just…leave me alone. Less chance of your brain being melted then.”

“Read a room? I didn't know you could… Oh, I see! Wait, what? I haven't been mean to anyone.” Danni did stop at that, biting at his lip as he tried to think about something he said that was mean. He came up short and couldn't stop from tearing up. “I don't know what you're talkin’ ‘bout! All I said was t’ank you and pointed out ‘ow people see you and wanted ta be your friend ‘cause you were actually cool and ‘ot and we could collab and it'd be fun but fine! If you just wanna be alone and upset and… and… and a meanie butt face, t’en be one!” Danni sniffed as the tears started coming, rubbing at his face to wipe them off in some attempt to stop them.

God she hated when people cried. And especially if they were the human equivalent of a puppy. ”Look, I don’t think you meant anything by it. But maybe stop referring to people as brain melters? It sends a bad message.” She wanted to get out, but some part of her brain told her to stick it out. What else did she have going on? ”Fine, we can collab. You have the ideas, after all.”

As quickly as they started, the tears stopped. “You wanna collab?! Really?! You'll do it?! Yes!” Danni jumped up and down excitedly. “Oh! I need your number! We gotta get our fits toget'er and do you ‘ave anyt'in’ for t'e kitchen? Cute apron, gloves, a little hat? I can get Pa ta make a spare real quick if we need ta! We'll ‘ave ta use t'e culinary club space and t'e lightin’ is t'at terrible florestent stuff so it just washes everyt'in out but beggars ccan't choose t'in's ya know? You're gunna ‘ave so much fun, I promise! When are you free t'is weekend? I can see if I can beg t'e advisor ta open up t'e space for us. ‘ow ‘bout Saturday evenin’? Or we could do Sunday afternoon? I got dance stuff in t'e mornin’ and Dee and I are gunna start using Sunday nights for the gym. T'ough, I guess we could do Friday night, but lots a people do stuff Friday nights, so maybe Saturday mornin’? Though, ugh mornin's. Really, I just wanna sleep, sleep, and more sleep but art is sufferin’ I suppose.”

For the first time in a while Sabine felt….good about something. He was aggravating, but somehow despite all he heard and felt he still wanted to spend time with her. Sabine chuckled a bit as Danni went on leading to a full belly laugh. ”All right, I’ll leave that in your capable hands then. I can get the word out and get my fans ready for it. Who knows, perhaps this will lead into something more?” And also, for the first time, deep inside she felt something else. Hope.

“Oh! We should take a selfie now so we can post it! How do I look? I'm such an ugly crier, I wonder…” Danni whipped out his phone and flipped the camera so he could see himself. He clicked his tongue in disappointment at what he was. “Oh well. T’ey all know how I look after I cry. ‘Appens all t'e time.” Danni did mess with his hair a bit, going through a few expressions before he seemed satisfied. “Okay! Selfie time? And t'en I can call Dee so I can borrow ‘is computer ta edit t’e video. Last time I burst inta ‘is dorm while ‘e was streamin’ and begged ‘im ta use ‘is computer and ‘is people made fun of me for like two weeks. Boosted ‘is viewers t'ough ‘cause who wouldn't wanna see my pretty face.”

Sabine sidled up to Danni as he prepared to take a selfie, a warmth flooding through her. A feeling she hadn’t had for a while now. This weird kid who needed to cut down on caffeine or whatever the hell he was on showed her kindness when he didn’t have to. And while he made a few slip-ups, she felt his intent was pure. Perhaps this was the start to something great.

---

Boredom was a dangerous thing for Danni Kingston. It normally ended in tears, fire, or bothering the nearest family member until they screamed and he ran away giggling but for now, he was content kicking his legs off the end of the bed and doom scrolling through whichever app screamed the loudest for his limited attention. Dee was streaming so he couldn’t go bother him and no one else had responded to his texts despite having sent approximately one million of them in an attempt to get anything so now, he just had more time to plot up…

His finger stopped moving as he stared at a picture from two years ago, when things were less murdery. Beanie back when everyone thought she was the spookiest thing in town (she had some sharp edges, sure, but Danni didn’t mind them!) was an adorable thing, not quite grown into the powerhouse of a woman she was now, and Danni was a spaz so he looked just the same, except a few poor choices. He zoomed in and groaned, a tiny little zit clear as day, and wondered how he’d even let himself post it. Still, he couldn’t resist forwarding it to Beanie.

The text beneath the photo read: “Wanna collab?”

Sabine sat, waiting anxiously for events to transpire. She was simultaneously excited for the Contest as well as worried. She had done all she could, but her mind raced to Leah, who was probably going through hell, to April, who was excited for the contest and, if things progressed, possibly endangered, and to Dorian and Danni, who were comfortably at their home, a place she was still too nervous to set foot in.

As if fate noticed this, she received a message from Danni. She opened it and clocked the picture right away. Back when she was an uppity bitch (more so than now) and when she thought everyone was against her. Who knew in a matter of years she would be dating her “enemy” and having a solid support system, on top of growing into her own.

Danni knew how to take the pressure off. She could always count on him to make her smile when she needed it the most. She knew it was thanks in no small part to his efforts that day that she started changing for the better. She still had things to work out, but he was the catalyst.
She quickly typed a response back: “Always <3”

---

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Previously on Avengers Academy: Contest of Champions...

The students arrived in New Orleans the day before the contest would officially begin, ready for their examinations to ensure they were cleared to compete. While this should have been a routine, if not boring note to begin upon, it proved to be anything but. Leah had an encounter with her estranged father at the hotel. Vicky's magical allergy proved to be a liability in the home of Almost-Sorcerer Supreme, Maximilian Gray and led to her trusting the right (wrong?) person at Strange Academy. Percy's hangover was healed by Dorian's father, exposing his routine abuse of alcohol to an authority figure. April's moods changed faster than the weather, oscillating between extreme sorrow and unhinged joy. Danni really wanted to talk to Agatha and Sabine really wanted to be a supportive girlfriend to Leah. Andy reunited with her terrorist adoptive father and finally got rid of the creepy doll possessed by the spirit of her biological mother. Zari dumped Andy and then peaced out on the way back to her home planet. Mads was grounded in Limbo. Diana was found out to have been abusing performance enhancing drugs. Mary Sue couldn't take it anymore and quit. Zelda faded into the background. Percy was disqualified for being entangled on a quantum level with Dorian. Gideon somehow managed to fail a class despite Coulson giving them all straight A's after the events with Arcade. Celebrities took pictures in the hotel and nearly killed Billy Maximoff with pure gay joy. Ser Nemo died and Lady Nimue stopped showing up to work. So many students were disqualified that Percy was let back onto the team, as the teams consolidated down into one. Leah and Sabine met with the actual Sorcerer Supreme.

Ser Nemo died.

We'll pick back up with that one.

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April's buoyant mood continued to carry her throughout the rest of the evening - even with all of the drama that had happened. She probably should have been really upset about at least one of the disqualifications, definitely Mads being taken away by her demon dad, but the negative energy didn't seem to be able to touch her. It slid off of her, repelled like oil. If anything, her enthusiasm was probably spurred by the fact that she'd successfully avoided an encounter with her family - they'd collected Zelda and left. She didn't have anything to say to them - nothing that they were ready to hear, at least.

So instead, she had practically bounced her way through dinner, chattering off the ears of anyone who would listen to her. She talked about the different outfits the teams they'd be facing wore, about the gossip sites that claimed that Wiccan and Hulkling were on the outs, that the Strange Academy team had made a pact with the devil to get extra powers, that the Future Foundation team had unstable molecules grafted into their skin - and less relevant things as well, such as what shade of blonde she really was, about the other kids she'd met at CAGE, or how she was expecting to have another growth spurt soon as her body just didn't feel quite right, like it hadn't been made for her.

Her grief over Ser Nemo felt as far away as a cloud.

Meanwhile, Percy was not nearly as at ease as April. He was hyper aware of everything that Dorian's father, James did. He always had eyes on him, waiting for James to tell Dorian what he had done. Of course, that assumed that Dorian didn't already know - that he couldn't feel it through the strange bond that had developed between him. The thought sent a shiver down Percy's spine. If Dorian's parents didn't hate him for his drinking, they would surely hate him for that - that he had tied someone so fundamentally good to someone so fundamentally... not.

If it hadn't been for two factors, he would not be attending the seance at the Kingston-Gray estate at all: namely, a) maintaining proximity to his boyfriend and b) pure curiosity in the summoning of the undead. No, instead he would have made his excuses and gone to bed early, locking the door so that way no one could come to speak to him. He would have called his mothers, but he knew that Maria was busy handling Diana's drug habit... An unfortunate trait he learned that he may in fact share with his sister, although his was under control. He used the alcohol as a tool. Nothing less, nothing more.

Percy was quiet, then, as dinner concluded and Dorian's most unhinged parent, Casper, clapped his hands together and stood on a chair, one foot on the seat and the other at the top, the furniture swaying and creaking beneath his weight.

"Okay okay okay!!! It's showtime!!!" Casper clapped his hands together before pulling them apart, shaking them back and forth slightly. "We're going to pop on up to the seance room, get your teacher on the phone, ask him how ghost hawaii is this time of year - that is the technical term, don't @ me, aaand then you kids can do whatever else it is you want to do at sleepovers! Spin the bottle, right? Is that still cool? I was amazing at spin the bottle when I was your age, I was undefeated at it - and yes, you can win at it. You just need to get good."

He shifted his weight forwards and backwards repeatedly, the chair rocking more and more with each word. "Iiiiif you don't want to see a ghost, which I can't blame you, I did a LOT of drugs to avoid seeing them because - well, no offense to any ghosts here, but some of them are so fucking ugly it's horrifying. You'd think ghosts would be sexy and everything, but no. At best, they're grumpy and boring and lame like that one!" he paused, pointing a finger at Dorian's other father, Ben.

"Casper, you can't... No talking about drugs to kids. Please. At the bare minimum," Ben muttered. He stopped pinching the bridge of his nose, before glancing at his other two partners for a moment. He had absolutely no interest in participating in the seance. He'd spent too much time on the other side of things. He didn't want to remember what that felt like. "Max, James, dears - I can hang out with the kids who don't want to participate down here," Ben offered. He then thought for a moment. "I'll make milkshakes." Kids always liked milkshakes. And it would be good, having a task to focus on.

"Lame, you're no fun!!" Casper pouted. "Jaaames, you're coming right? Right?" An unspoken - I need you to come. Followed by the sound of a crash - as the chair finally gave way beneath Casper, as he lost his balance and collapsed onto the ground, hitting his jaw on the table as he fell.

April shrieked, her eyes widening. "Mr. Kingston!!! Is he okay???"

"He's fine, he does this all the time. You'd think he'd learn..."