Liberty City Info

* Some things are slightly altered for our RP.
* Rather than a knockoff Statue of Liberty, we have the Colossus (male) version
* Our Liberty City is on the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina
* Rather than whatever GTA came up with, I'm calling the Sheepshead Bay area of Broker 'Bayside' (I'm secretly a Saved by the Bell fan)



1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, a Co-GM will take control and their word will then be law.



Two weeks ago....

Judah looked out of the window of his uncle's apartment at the ocean and the bay. His phone was against his ear for a few moments before he pulled it away and touched a button on the screen.

"I'm sorry kid, but I think the Alliance has moved on." stated Judah's uncle, Sam.

"None of them were even at mom's funeral. I'm not sure I can do this without the Alliance..." replied Judah holding his mother's Torch weapon in his other hand.

"Then make your own." the uncle said bluntly.

Present day....

He didn't understand the science of it all, but the power that the Torch gave Judah was incredible. Being able to nearly leap a skyscraper in a single bound was something else. He'd made himself something of a superhero costume, though it was nothing more than a green mask and military fatigues. He didn't need anything flashy, just enough to get the job done.

"Some nutjob is on the other side of Broker holding up a bank. Reports are saying there's also a situation in Middle Park... some free concert turned into a riot. When the police showed up they joined in." said Judah's uncle from an ear bud type of device under his mask.

"I think I'll deal with the situation a little closer to home. I'm sure there's other heroes closer to the park anyway. We got any info on the bank robber, like if it's just a guy with a gun or somebody with superpowers?" asked Liberty Son as he leapt from building to building until he reached the bank.

"No idea, but be careful. I've gotta go silent, somebody's at the door. Now that I'm the new maintenance man for the complex it seems like there's always something that needs fixed..." Sam said from his home at the Bayside apartment complex as he walked to his door.

"Hello?" he asked opening up to an aggravated elderly woman.

"A couple of other people and me keep losing power on the first floor! This has been a problem for several months now!" the woman exclaimed.

"Does the power come back on within a few minutes or so?" Judah's Uncle Sam asked the woman.

"Usually within about ten minutes or so. That doesn't mean it's ok to keep writing it off..." the woman began to say before Sam cut her off.

"Nothing is getting written off, let me grab my tool belt..." Sam stated reaching over for some tools near the dining area.

Kersey had tried to stay away from the action of the free concert. She really did. She was hiding away in her little make-shift camp under the bridge. Her little mattress was tucked away against the wall of the bridge and her hole ridden tarp was pulled down tightly to try and give her some privacy. She had tried to focus on her coding with her laptop planted firmly in her lap but the music was so loud. It wasn't long till she found herself muttering and trying to cover her ears. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest like a war drum. She needed to get out of this mess. Maybe she could relocate to some other part of the park for now. She could take a stroll along the river or go see if there's any work open at her job. Literally anything at that moment would be better than the stress inducing beat that was banging on the sides of her head. Her camp was supposed to be her little retreat from the world. It was where she was supposed to be safe and it was being interrupted by that accursed music. Who even listens to electronic death metal anyways!

Because the music was so loud, she didn't hear the footsteps of the boys as they approached her camp. It was only when her tarp was unceremoniously ripped to the side did she see the two as they peeked in at her. Her head snapped up at the sound of her tarp moving and when she laid eyes on them, her breath caught in her throat. ”No, no. Not today! I've been doing so good. Not today.” she muttered to herself as one teen looked to the other with that stupid smirk on his face. Kersey knew what that smirk meant. Every homeless person knew what that damn smirk meant.

The first to go with her tarp. It was ripped down and thrown to the side. Kersey quickly snapped her laptop shut and stood to her feet. “You two need to go!” She said as firmly as her quivering voice would let her. “If you don't, you'll regret it!” The two boys looks to her then one another before laughing. Kersey could hear her heartbeat in her ears now. She tried to settle her racing heart but as the two boys pulled her mattress up and tossed it to the side, she was finding it harder and harder to breath. They were running out of things to throw. As one boy stepped up towards her, she took a big step back. “You don't understand! You need to leave!” she squeaked out, her voice barely above a whisper.

“We'll leave when we're ready to leave.” One of the boys said as he reached out to grab the laptop in her arms. She pulled back, reeling from him as she tried to get out of his reach but his hand grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her back around. He reached down to grab her laptop once more and she let out a cry before everything went black.

It was like a switch had been flipped. A firm hand grabbed a hold of the boy's wrist and ripped his grip off her arm, the laptop dropping to the ground at their feet. Eyes that glowed a crimson red bared down on him as she stood over him. She slowly turned her eyes onto the other person, a vicious grin crossing her face as her abilities ignited and the ground below the second boy began to liquefy. “Do you know what it's like to drown underground?” She asked as she watched him try and scramble his way out of the circle of quicksand he suddenly found himself in. “You probably don't. Most people don't. Most, that is. The few that do are those who find themselves face to face with me.” She turned her eyes back on the now terrified teen she had a grip on. She peered down at the laptop before she gave a loud huff and reached down to pick it up. “I'm sure there was some kind of communication. 'A please don't'. Probably a, 'you don't understand'.” She gave a mighty shove to the teen she had a hold of and he fell down to him rump in front of her, his hand just barely grazing the pit of liquefied dirt. His comrade reached out to grab a hold of him, having sunk to his waist by that point. The boy ripped himself away from his doomed friend, trying to scramble away when semi-transparent crimson colored walls appeared around him.

“I wouldn't touch those if I were you. Who knows what the chaos will do to you when you do.” Eris said as she opened the laptop to check on its condition. She was lying, of course. Her little constructs couldn't stop that boy if he tried to get away but he surely didn't know that. It was all just a way to keep him contained while she checked on the laptop before handling him. Thankfully, besides being a little dinged up, the laptop seemed to be fine. She then went about setting the camp back up how it was before the teens found their way to them. All the while, the first boy sank lower and lower into the ground and the second one began to truly panic within his little crimson box. By the time she was done with the camp and turned her eyes back on the boys, the first boy only had the upper portion of his head left above ground and the second one was crying to himself. Eris grinned broadly before she crouched down in front of the cube of crimson. “So- what was your plan today? Have some fun with me? Leave us damaged and crying under the bridge as you went along on your way?”

“No!” The boy squeaked out, “No! We were just looking for some kind of fun! We weren't going to do anything to you! I swear.” Eris's grin fell away from her face as an unbemused expression crossed it.

“Your grip on my arm says otherwise.” The boy's face paled as realization dawned on him that he wasn't going to be able to lie his way out of this. “So let's try again, shall we? What were your plans?”

“We were just going to wreck some homeless people's camps and move on! That was it. I saw the laptop and was going to trash it. I wasn't going to do anything else! I swear!” Eris eyed his face for a moment before peering over at the other boy who had well and truly sunk below the surface of the ground at that point. She reached over and pushed her hand into the pit of liquid, finding the top of the boy's head and giving it a nice firm push downwards. She pushed down under she was elbow deep in the ground before pulling her arm out, shaking the grime off as she did so. “Alright, listen here. Your friend is dead. I even buried him for you. You're welcome.” The ground behind the teen hardened up once more, turning solid and sealing the boy's fate. The other teen looked down at the ground, slowly reaching out to feel the solid ground that he could touch without touching the crimson walls. “Normally, I would kill you both but I'm going to go shut down that accursed music. So consider yourself lucky. Go home and don't ever try and do anything like this again. I'll be keeping my eyes out for you.” She leaned down to give him a small peck on the forehead before standing up and strutting away.

“Um, ma'am, the walls?” The boy asked out after her. Eris grinned viciously as she snapped her fingers. The walls began to condense around the boy, growing closer and closer. She could hear his cries of panic as she walked away until they collapsed on themselves and dispersed, leaving a very shaky and thankful teen behind.

It didn't take Eris long to find the concert. She strolled into the crowd of dancing listeners. The music was so loud she couldn't even hear herself think. The bass from the speakers rattled her very bones and the screaming from the singer was making her heart spike. She, somehow, loved it. The music was atrocious but the feelings she was getting from it, they were quite pleasant. She could see why some people might listen to this type of music on the regular. However, she had enough visitors to her camp and was quite done with the large crowd of people. She was thankful this type of music sparked a type of reaction because it was so very easy for her to grab a hold of that rage and just give it a mighty yank. She started with just a few people here and there. A person bumping into another caused a fist to be thrown. Angry shouts cascaded through the crowd as she pulled on one person after another, gathering up their strong emotions like puppet strings. Soon, the whole crowd was brawling with each other and she had to step up and out of the way or else find herself mixed up in the fighting. She used her crimson constructs to step out into the air, one stepping stone at a time until she walked out on the stage.

She smiled at the band, giving them a wink before turning her eyes back to the crowd of raging people. “Sweet, glorious chaos.”

@BunniesOfDoom

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

A blonde-haired woman opened her eyes, feeling a strong sense of anxiety fill every part of her body. The dream she had was quite terrifying. In her dream, she was back at the lab being strapped to a table. The doctors hovering above her, but they didn’t look human. Most of them had large bulging eyes with a foul smell. And that damn cat was there watching them experiment on Abby. But there was a flash of light, and a woman wearing a white robe came over her. Or so she thought was a woman, judging by her voice. She said something that seemed to calm her down. However, she couldn’t see the woman’s face since she wore a mask. Then she woke up from her dream.

Slowly stumbling out of bed and to the bathroom. Looking through her medicine cabinet for her anxiety pills. She took two pills and swallowed them with some water. Feeling some relief, but decided she’d take the pill bottle in case the anxiety came back. Getting dressed while listening to the news. It was something mindless to listen to while she got ready. But there was a piece of news that caught her attention. A few days ago, a scientist named Walter Heisenberg died. The cause of death was ruled as a suicide. Hearing this made Abby smile cheek to cheek.

Finishing getting ready, she was almost out the door before forgetting something. Quickly rushing to her bedroom drawer to grab a pill box. Locking her apartment and heading to the parking lot. It took about forty or so minutes to get to her workplace. And during that time, she listened to music to help calm herself down. She parked her car and entered the building via the elevators. She had been a journalist for The Daily Trumpet for a couple of months. It was good because she could help expose her suffering and used this position to right other wrongs.

As the elevators opened, she was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice someone was talking to her. “Ah, good morning, Erika.” The voice belonged to Timmy O’Connor, a photographer, and her partner. And she almost forgot that she was using a fake name.

“Good morning Tim.” She said, walking out of the elevator and heading to her desk. Tim was following her like a lost puppy. It was a little annoying, but sometimes it could be adorable.

“Before I forget, P.J. wants to talk to you about something he wants you to cover.” Tim was standing by Abby’s desk while she was sitting down. He was referring to their boss, Perry John Jameson. But most people just called him P.J.

“Thanks, Tim, I’ll go to his office after I respond to some emails.” Abby said, starting up her computer. But looking from her left, she could still see Timmy standing by her desk. “Do you need anything else Tim?” Saying this made Tim start looking quite nervous.

“Yeah, I was actually wondering if you’d like to get a couple of drinks with me.” Tim said after what seemed like a long, drawn out silence.

“Mmm, no sorry.” She said, blunting before returning to her computer. She knew Tim had a crush on her, but she didn’t reciprocate his feelings. Tim shambled back to his desk feeling dejected. A few hours later, she was inside P.J.’s office listening to him talk. Something that irritated Abby greatly.

“Abby, I've got something I want you to cover. There’s some commotion at a local concert, and I want you to cover it.” P.J. told Abby some details of what he had heard and where the concert was located.

“Alright, I’ll go over there and cover as much of the story as possible.” She thought this incident at the concert was because the artist was causing a ruckus. So it wouldn’t be anything too important.

She grabbed her camera and notepad before leaving the building for the parking lot, avoiding Tim as she passed by his desk. She got into her car and drove to the location. From the parking lot, she noticed the ensuing chaos. This was not going to be an easy assignment. Quickly, she exited her car and started moving towards the deformed wall. Climbing over, so she was at the mouth of the wall. She pointed her camera and began taking pictures of the crowd and the lone person standing on the stage.

But she was having trouble getting a good shot because of the intense emotions in the crowd. Their violent thoughts were making it hard for her to concentrate. “Darn it…” Abby could tell this was the work of a superhuman. She was afraid to get closer because of both the fighting and being overwhelmed by the crowd’s emotions.

Eli Reyes/Spellbound

Location: South Bohan rooftops, Liberty City

Eli hovered three feet off the roof of his apartment building. That was the good news. The bad news was that he was sweating, panicking, and already drifting sideways about to crash into his neighbors laundry line. “Okay okay okay. Focus, Eli, focus,” he muttered, one hand clutching his pendant, the other clutching a composition notebook full of half legible spell notes, and smeared pastelito grease.

Below him, the streets of South Bohan buzzed with car horns, chatter, and a distant BOOM he was actively ignoring. He wasn’t ready for that kind of noise yet. Not until he could levitate without endangering himself or others.

“Levitate,” he whispered. “Stay calm. Remember what Abuela said. Intent equals outcome. Intent equals…”

A pigeon squawked past his ear. Eli shrieked. The spell snapped. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, landing hard on the gravel roof.

“Mierda…”

⸻

After a long moment of staring at the sky and contemplating quitting magic forever, his phone buzzed beside him.

Alert: Incident in Broker. Armed robbery in progress.

Eli sat up slowly. He wasn’t ready. He could barely get off the ground without crashing. How could he possibly expect to be any help? But he remembered Lady Liberty. He remembered what she stood for. He stood up, wiped dirt off his jeans, and whispered, “Alright… I am light. I am fire. I am ready.” Then paused. “…Okay, maybe just light for now.”

Dr. Eileen Fang

"Due to the widespread adoption of the O.M.N.I. protocol general artificial intelligence into various federal agencies, Dr. Eileen Fang, the protocol's primary developer, is being recognized as employee of the year."

Eileen's glazed over eyes scan the rest of the email in the dimly-lit room, noting her program's use in fields as varied as face recognition, aerospace design, epidemiology, and genetics. But she knew what wasn't being said: surveillance, missiles, planes, bioweapons... On the one hand, it hurt that her brainchild would be used to further atrocities, but on the other hand, they had no idea what the O.M.N.I. protocol was actually for.

"Please do something about your posture, Dr. Fang," came the electronic voice of Omniac, Eileen's personal assistant AI, which she had integrated into the smart home infrastructure of her house in Dukes.

It was only after this admonishment that Eileen realized that she was hunched over in her seat. Though she instinctively straightened up, she still chided Omniac, "Hush, you. I'll sit how I want." She did, however, realize that her mood was affecting her posture. The email had put a sour taste in her mouth. It had been her hope to use her education to help humanity. She naively believed that a sort of 'scientific singularity' could come about that would take mankind into a post-scarcity world. They had always been taught that it was primarily resource scarcity that created global conflicts and that enough science and technology could fix that. Believing that human health was the priority, Eileen joined the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia a few states south, but quickly became disillusioned when she realized that no amount of technology could curb human greed and malice, the true source of global conflict. It was a rapid race to the bottom as wealthy oligarchs and the governments that served their interests plundered the planet and weaker nations of their resources while speeding up global catastrophes. Eileen eventually switched to a remote position, started consulting with other departments, and peddling her AI protocol, planting the seed. But this wasn't enough, there was another rising power she couldn't ignore: superhumans, like herself. Currently there were three camps, 'villains', who used their powers for selfish gains, 'heroes' who served at the beck and call of their respective governments, deluded into believing that 'order' was 'justice', and 'vigilantes', who lived by their own code. None of them could see the big picture, but perhaps they could be persuaded. Eileen needed an in, she needed young, idealistic people, other supers hungry for real justice and real change. They couldn't just sit on the sidelines and hope the world fixes itself. They would be the trump card that would change the world order for better or worse. That's why she came to Liberty City. The city seemed to attract young, ambitious superheroes, and with the recent death of Lady Liberty, Eileen was sure something big was about to happen, something that could disrupt the status quo. How could the Alliance have allowed this to happen? Were they in on it? If so, could they be overthrown? Could other supers be turned against them?

"You wanted to be notified of high profile criminal events? There is a bank robbery in Broker and a riot in Middle Park," Omniac suddenly chimed in.

"What's the riot about? If they're anti-government protests, I'd rather just let them continue," Eileen remarked.

"Seems to just be a music festival gone rowdy," Omniac commented.

"Hmm, stopping a bank robbery would probably garner the attention I'm looking for, more likely to meet a fellow super there, I'd think. Though I hate the thought of saving a bank. Probably just some desperate sap down on his luck and disgruntled with predatory financiers. But he roped other innocents into it..." Eileen pondered. "Alright, gather the swarm in the car."

---

What should have been a short drive was exacerbated by the typical Liberty City traffic. Finding a place to park a ways away from the bank, Eileen exited and put on her mask, while a large, coffin-sized silver metal box with articulated wheeled legs clambered out of her trunk. The top opened up, launching out a cloud of small, insectoid drones that flew towards the bank. The inside of the mask's HUD came alive, providing Eileen with a conglomerated live feed of what the swarm was seeing. It was an overwhelming amount of information, as each of the thousands of drones sent a different view, but with Eileen's ability to detect light with her skin, every square centimeter of her face under the mask served as an 'eye', and she had a brain that could process this data. "If I can get a clear shot, I could knock the assailant out with a beam of ultrasound," Eileen thought to herself. The swarm dispersed as it reached the bank, each individual drone by itself was quite difficult to spot, but together they gave Eileen a 360 panoramic view of the situation. She scanned the surroundings for a good vantage point, while keeping an eye out for other approaching heroes. Brandishing her Blast Bludgeon, Eileen walked in the direction of the bank, the large box wheeling along behind her.

Inside the bank, Stalker found herself in a bit of a predicament, namely that there was currently a fire-arm pointed at her head.

Things had been going so well too up until this point. Well. At least as well as could be hoped given the situation.

The Tirmin ship’s Scavengers had broken into some sort of waste water transportation system first as they dug towards the surface, then found smaller tubes containing a seemingly infinite supply of drinking water to tap into, solving the most urgent crisis that had been facing them. Then they'd found a way up to the surface and found it teaming with local life, which surely meant that there must be an overwhelming amount of food available to feed them all.

Stalker's task them was simply to infiltrate the local's society and figure out how to get herself access to their distribution network.

To this end, she began observing the local population, walking among them without much issue baring 3 incidents with the high speed machines that seemed to dominate the travel arteries of this settlement.

They didn’t seem very safe, and she had decided she did not like them nor their toxic stink.

She also didn’t appreciate being screeched at by all the locals either, be it after the vehicle incidents, when she’d emerged from the wastewater system access hatch, or when she’d attempted to acquire an edible pink flesh tube in a processed cereal grain container for sustenance.

This latter incident she had at least worked out why she’d gotten screeched at, as it seemed that the locals did something with metal disks, fabric slips, and/or plastic rectangles after the food was handed over, and that the distributor had not taken kindly to her not partaking in this act, resulting in her losing most of the food during the third vehicle incident when she'd made her escape. In an-attempt to prevent this occurring again she’d attempted to interact with wall mounted machines which others got the slips from, but to no avail. The local symbology was as entirely meaningless to her as their screeching and salt smell method of communication.

Refusing to get disheartened, she’d tracked down another source of the objects needed to acquire local food. It was a large building in which some locals screeched at other locals who sat behind glass booths, and began observing to see if she could figure out how to get some of those paper slips.

Unfortunately, she’d done so in a way that the locals did not seem to like, and had been in the middle of being screeched at by one strong looking one when said one’s cloth garments burst into flames.

As he rolled around on the ground screeching and ripping the garments off, she beheld the source of the flame. It was hard to miss, given that it consisted of a local who’s eyes, hair, and one arm were engulfed in it, and yet despite this did not seem to be suffering harm at all.

The burning being pointed one of its fiery arms at her as it approached, and here, at least, the signal was clear. If she moved, she was going to suffer the same fate as the local who had just been harassing her.

What followed was incredibly confusing to the disguised alien, but not to people who kept up with the local cape scene. The notorious PyroJack, serial superpowered arsonist, had subdued the small bank’s guards via severe burns (they had been rushed to hospital), and then taken a young woman who’d been distracting the guards (perhaps intentionally, or so some of the rumors went) in a headlock. With a threatening fist of flame pointed at her head, he had then induced the people in the bank to build him a bonfire of all the loose bills in the building, entirely for his own pyromaniac amusement, the smoke billowing out of a shattered skylight.

The police had made a cordon and brought in a hostage negotiator, but given the ongoing riot, it was heavily undermanned and was mostly preventing people going in the front door. The windows and smoke filled skylight meanwhile where wide open.

What was unusual about the incident was the fact that every single camera pointed at it displayed static at best, or simply crashed at worst, which was making getting a clear picture of what was going on incredibly difficult. Rumor and hearsay where abound, some of it tying back to a string of strange incidents in the area supposedly involving the hostage in question, and claims that the she did not looked scared for her life, but instead merely increasingly annoyed by the situation.

Eris stood upon the stage, her arms spread wide and her head thrown back as if she could consume the very chaos the riot was unleashing onto the world. A large grin split her face but it quickly faded when the sounds of police sirens could be overheard in the distance as they came closer and closer to her little party. Her head snapped up as she looked in the direction of the sound. Sure enough, a group of police cars were quickly closing in on the park. A pout formed on her face at the sight of them. They were here to ruin her fun! That was something she just couldn't allow to happen.

She turned back to the band that had taken to cowering behind their instruments. They were too afraid to step off the stage into the brawl but had no doubt the woman who stood before them was superhuman. So when she stepped over to them, her hand extended as if asking for something, they clung to one another and flinched away from her. She wiggled her fingers in an impatient gesture, the band members staring at her in bewilderment. She groaned loudly before throwing her other hand out in a dramatic gesture. “The mic, you imbecile!” Only then did the singer of the band realize he was still holding onto the mic and he unceremoniously threw it at her feet. An ear splitting screech came from the speakers as the mic protested its mistreatment and Eris looked down at. She looked back at the band members who flinched and ducked behind the drums. She groaned before snatching the mic up and turning around to face the scene before her.

The police had left their cars by then and were forming a long line in front of the brawling crowd with riot shields. The crowd had yet to notice as they violently struck each other but Eris quickly changed that as she put the mic to her lips. “Well, well, well! If it isn't the pigs of the city! Swine of Liberty! Look at them! With their shields and weapons!” The police shifted nervously as the crowd slowly started to turn their eyes on the protective line. “How many of us were taken too soon by THEIR HANDS!” Eris bellowed. “How many of us called for help! ONLY TO BE IGNORED!” The crowd practically vibrated like wolves on leashes, waiting to be unleashed. “They sit in their throne of power, looking down on us! We'll, I think it's time we look down on them!” Eris could feel the tension in the air like a thin strand of string pulled too tight. She smiled as she brought down the snapping of that strand. “Get ‘em.” Her words were low and dripped with venom. The crowd roiled and pushed forward in a loud cry. Humans bodies slammed into the line of protection, some parts holding well while others crumbled under the weight of enraged concert goers. Those whose shields fell to the side were ripped into the crowd and left to fight for their lives admist the chaos.

Eris reached out with her powers to grab a hold of the fear and anger in those brawling police and pulled, hard. Before long, those men and women were not fighting to survive but more fighting to take down as many as they could before they, themselves, were taken down. Practiced and perfected fighting skills lost to the emotions. Weapons forgotten in the chaos. Soon, those police officers were attacking their own brothers in arms. All this while Eris stood upon the stage, watching happily.

The riot grew more intense as the protective line was slowly picked apart and Eris corrupted the officers that found themselves in the middle of the mess. Only a few officers remained, untainted by her tampering, their will far too strong for her to sway. They were like little lighthouses amongst the sea of chaos, struggling with everything they had not to lose themselves or their weapons to the crowd. Then the crack of a firearm sounded and Eris clasped her hands over her ears, the mic now pressed firmly against the side of her head, her concentration shattered. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched one concert goer drop to the ground in a screaming heap. Then another shot rang out and Eris dropped into a crouch, keeping her ears covered. Another person dropped as more shots began to fill the air. Now Eris didn't have to pull on the emotions of the crowd to bring chaos. Panic ensued.

Screams rose from the crowd as gunshots continued to sound. People dropped to the ground in all directions. All the while, Eris watched from the stage. A vicious grin was planted on her face as the sight of it all. She hadn't intended for it to get this out of hand but she couldn't have wished for a better outcome. She wasn't sure who fired the first shot but, at that point, shots were being fired from multiple different sources. Citizens and police alike were being hit and now people were either fighting to get a hold of the weapons or trying to run for their lives but panicked people all running into each other over and over again do not make for quick escapes. And she had a front row seat to it all.

She monkey crawled to the edge of the stage before taking a seat on it. She tucked her hands into her lap, the mic banging against her thighs in the process, and slowly kicked her feet like a small school girl waiting for her ice cream cone. The smile never once leaving her face.

@BunniesOfDoom

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

Abby could feel the angry emotions of the crowd, which were quite overstimulating. She wanted a better shot of the perpetrator, but getting through the crowd would be an issue. She did her best to take as many pictures of the crowd and the perpetrator as possible. Deciding to get closer, she pushed through, using her powers to help with crowd control. Either pushing people out of the way or in the way of incoming attacks, she tried her best not to give in to the crowd's emotions.

”Scheiße, get the hell out of my way.” Abby was worried that her true identity would be exposed if she used her powers extensively. However, there was the real danger of being killed if she didn’t protect herself. She had to elbow and punch her way through the crowd. Feeling some relief as the police came in to try and control the crowd. But this relief turned to horror as they soon joined the frenzy. Using her powers to try to block the influence of the woman.

Abby stood inside the crowd briefly and then moved towards the girl standing onstage. She stared at her and felt somewhat in awe of her abilities. ”Fantastic.” She pulled out her camera to photograph the woman onstage. She wondered if this woman would be helpful in exacting revenge. But she seemed unpredictable which could bite her in the ass later. However, she felt this woman could be of use to her. Her mind wandered as she noticed a woman in a white dress wearing a featureless mask. She looked similar to the woman she saw in her dreams. Running towards her, the woman disappeared, leaving her standing by the guardrail. Silently, she looked up at the woman on stage.

Concentrating on the woman while trying to ignore the gunshots being fired around her. Without moving her mouth, she started speaking. ” Why are you doing this….this? They are in pain…so much pain…pain. Can you feel their pain? It’s amazing…isn’t it. The madness…MADNESS is quite…breathtaking. Come on let's get out of here...before the heroes come come. We can help each other other.” Her voice sounded like a whisper in Eris’ mind.

It had been a few months since Kate had chosen to stake her claim in Liberty City. After she was essentially banished from Khodali as there were no more wars for her to fight, she had wandered around the universe aimlessly, traversing just about every Khodali portal out there in search of a world ravaged by far. She knew she had hit the jackpot when she stumbled upon Earth, a world infested by a sentient species full of hate, greed, and war. But they were also capable of love, selflessness, honor, and profound beauty, and she decided to set down roots here.

Liberty City had been an easy choice. Every facet of humanity, good and bad, presented itself on a daily basis in the gritty city. Though Kate still resented the Khodali Emperor for sending her away, he had ensured her new life would be a comfortable, befitting a goddess like herself. She had been set up with enough money to never want for anything, and in a place like Liberty City even the richest stood out. To strangers she passed and people she met and befriended, she appeared to be just another upper-class eastside woman who worked in fashion and had a shopping addiction.

Of course, her real purpose was to find wars to fight, so she could fulfill her duties as the Khodali goddess of war. And in Liberty City, she found that that usually manifested in the form of busting crime. The criminal network in Liberty City was extensive, with formidable villains coming and going. It was a normal part of life for the city's citizens, but it at least gave Kate an opportunity to do some good and get some fighting in.

Today, she was relaxing at one of her favorite coffee shops near Middle Park. But she wasn't enjoying it as much as usual, on account of the loud music happening nearby. She tried to pay it no mind, but even at a distance the volume made it hard to think. She was about to leave and walk south a few blocks to get away from the noise, when she started hearing a different kind of roar from the crowd - one of violence. Her ears perked up and she grew concerned as the commotion became increasingly peppered with yelling and screaming, and not the joyous kind. Feeling obligated to learn more, Kate took a final swig to finish off her coffee, stood up, and exited the coffee shop. She began walking towards the commotion, and as she turned the corner she beheld an all-out brawl between concertgoers and police alike. She noticed that it wasn't just concertgoers fighting the police, either; cops were fighting cops and civilians were fighting civilians. It was pure chaos, plain and simple.

Kate couldn't see the stage through the crowd, but she jogged closer to get a better look. As she did so, she could feel the chaos, and she didn't know why she started feeling angry herself. But she steeled her resolve and pushed forward. She still couldn't see the stage from where she was, and there seemed to be no impetus for the raging brawl going on in front of her. The police alao fighting made her suspect that this might not have been a natural occurrence.

She doubted that she could snap them out of it, but she could at least distract them before anybody else got hurt. Gunshots were ringing out, and people were dropping. Katee snarled and entered a sprint, sprouting her great white wings from her back as she did so. She took off as soon as she was able, her wings bringing her upward with great force and drama. Once aloft, she manifested a large circular shield, to stop any bullets sent her way. But to reduce the chances of the bullets hitting her, she never stopped above the crowd, instead flying quickly in circles about 30 feet above the the crowd. She deployed the voice she had used to command armies, knowing it would be loud enough to hear even over the chaos below her. "HEY!!" she yelled, her voice tinged with the uncertain anger she continued to fight down. "HEY!!! Stop! Chill the fuck out!!" People began looking up at her, giving her traditional Liberty City greetings such as "fuck you!" and "make me, bitch!"

Guns started pointing up at her, but those who weren't distracted tackled, beat, or shot most of them before they could shoot. Still, a few bullets flew past Kate, and a handful hit her shield. "Lunatics...", she said to herself, finding it harder to ignore the sourceless anger she felt. She spawned flames enveloping her shield and licking her arms, both to be more intimidating and to give her anger an outlet. As she continued to circle, she looked around, trying to find the source of the chaos. She glanced at the stage, which was now empty except for...a woman casually sitting on the edge? Kate's eyes narrowed as she focused on this mysterious girl. "You..." she said, her anger building as she connected the dots.

Dr. Eileen Fang

Eileen scanned the feed from the scattered surveillance swarm drones being sent to her mask, noticing a serious malfunction. "Omniac? You getting these dark spots?" She asked.

"I am, however, the drones are not malfunctioning," Omniac replied.

Focusing on the feed again, Eileen sent commands to the drones to have them sweep the scene. Their vision only went dark when they attempted to look into the bank. "What is that?" Eileen asked herself rhetorically, "Can't get a visual on the situation. What are the police saying?"

Omniac quickly hacked the police radio airwaves, "PyroJack is holding people hostage. He's burning the money, seemingly for amusement."

"PyroJack? Tch!" Eileen clicked her tongue in disgust. Just another petty, shortsighted villain; no goals, no manifesto, just thrills and hedonism. "But if memory serves, his flames are combustive. He shouldn't be able to emit any sort of radiation, EMP or otherwise, that could disrupt cameras or electronics unless his powers have gone... nuclear."

"If so, everyone there is already dead, they just don't know it yet. I would advise against getting involved. The risk to your health is too great. You do not yet have adequate radiation shielding."

Eileen shook off the morbid thought. "No, if it's radiation powerful enough to black out the swarm's cameras from such a distance, then we'd be hearing reports of hostages and police vomiting by now. We have to suspect that there is some other force causing the blackout."

Yet intervention would not be so easily achieved. As she approached the police cordon, Eileen was immediately stopped by an officer. "Hey! Can't you see the tape? There's a crime in progress, lady!" He held his hand out to her in a stopping gesture, though his other hand was already at his belt, touching his firearm.

"I am Interference, a superhero, here to help!" Eileen uses her powers of sound manipulation to disguise her voice, speaking with as much authoritativeness as she could muster.

"In that getup? You some kind of nutjob?" The police pointed out Eileen's rather civilian looking clothes, with just a lab coat thrown on for good measure. The only thing that really stood out was her technological-looking, white, enamel mask, the strange weapon she carried, and the walking box trailing behind her. Unfortunately, this was only her first attempt at getting involved in crime fighting, and she hadn't yet made a name for herself.

Eileen craned her neck, trying to get a look around the officer and into the bank, but there were too many police and cars gathered around to get a clear view.

"HEY! Stop ignoring me!" The policeman yelled. Eileen turned her attention back to the agitated man. While she could try to disable him to get around him, there were plenty of officers just past him, and taking out law enforcement was not a good look for her superhero debut.

"Apologies, I will back off now," Eileen said, giving a slight tilt of her head and walking away. She then whispered to Omniac, "If our cameras aren't working, use echolocation." The scattered drones began emitting inaudible, high-pitched pulses, generating a three-dimensional image of the surroundings for Eileen. "What the...? There was no structural data available for the inside of the bank. "Something in there... does not want to be seen. But at least we know it's not radiation..."

But Eileen had gotten a good visual of the surroundings and found a nearby multi-story office building with a vantage point. If her devices couldn't see inside, surely she could use her eyes. After all, the police didn't seem to be reporting any visual impairments, so maybe it was only electronics that were being interfered with. But as Eileen slunk into the alley and found a door into the building, she realized that it was locked. "Of course. Well. Shit." Activating her blast bludgeon, which started to thrum, she swung it lightly against the door. Upon contact, the door vibrated so violently that it blew itself off its hinges. "The collateral of superheroics, I guess..."

"You should have given anyone on the other side a warning first," Omniac chided.

"If the police are properly doing their jobs, they'd have evacuated the building by now," Eileen shot back, but realized that Omniac was in the right. Peeking inside, Eileen confirmed that no one was hurt by her entry, then made her way up to the second floor, blowing up several more locked doors on her way. She found a large window that gave her a clear view into the bank. She could see PyroJack holding a woman hostage and a pile of burning money at his feet. She couldn't understand what about this scene was blocking her attempts at surveillance when nothing was hidden to the naked eye. "An illusion...?" Eileen quickly looked at all of the people in the building and started describing all of them to Omniac, "...and when this whole thing is over, send one drone after each of these people. I want to know which one of them is trying to hide something."

"This doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the crime at hand," Omniac warned, "Aren't you being a little too... nosy?"

"Electronic disruption of this scale must imply something big. Bigger than this stupid arsonry, at any rate," Eileen explains.

"But now that we're up here, what now?"

"That's... a good question," Eileen mused, running through her options. Her original plan was to hit PyroJack with a disabling sonic pulse, rendering him unconscious, but this would be much easier to regulate and aim if she could triangulate multiple drones pointing ultrasonic beams at him. Since her drones could not see into the bank to aim at him due to the electronic interference, she would have to do it manually. Opening a window, Eileen reached a hand out and does a finger gun, pointing into the bank. She emitted a tiny ultraviolet laser dot at PyroJack's skull that only she could see to help her maintain her aim. Then she considered how strong the ultrasonic pulse should be. Too little and she would do nothing or just give him a headache; at worst that would agitate him and potentially endanger the hostages. Too much and his cranial cavity would explode, brains everywhere; 'use of excessive force' to put it mildly, not a great look for a superhero. But just right, and his brain would jostle in his skull, causing a concussion, like being hit on the back of the head with a bat, hopefully resulting in immediate unconsciousness.

"Bang."

Eli Reyes/Spellbound

Location: Bank

Eli levitated and ran to where the bank was. He’d managed to get there in record time, even if he’d nearly crashed into a neon sign on the way. He was out of breath by the time he reached a rooftop that was overlooking the bank. “Okay, okay, I’m here,” he whispered to himself, bent over with his hands on his knees. “No one’s exploded yet. That’s a good sign.”

He peeked over the edge, eyes widening at the smoke billowing from the broken skylight. The stench of burning bills hit his nose. “Okay, Reyes. This is it. Big hero moment. Do not panic. Do not explode. First, assess the situation.”

He glanced down at his notebook, thumbing through half-formed spell notes. “Fire guy, hostages, money burning, possibly another super on the scene?” He caught a glimpse of a woman in a white mask in a nearby office building, aiming something that looked suspiciously like a weapon at the bank’s interior.

“Okay, Reyes, you’re not losing this one. You’re a hero. Or at least… you’re trying to be.” He took a deep breath, whispered a “Aye dios mio. Por favor, don’t screw this up” under his breath, and flew into the bank, dropping in through the shattered skylight.

He landed hard, rolled to his feet, and immediately felt his cloak flare up with nervous static. The hostages gasped, and there he was, face to face with a fiery supervillain. Eli swallowed. His pendant glowed. He had one shot to make this not a complete disaster.

“Hey!” he called, trying not to sound like his voice was breaking. “You want a real bonfire, buddy? Try picking on someone your own voltage!” As he shot out a jolt of blue lightning from his hands aimed at the villian. He immediately regretted every word that left his mouth.

@Stern Algorithm @DracoLunaris

After a few minutes of leaping from rooftop to rooftop the Son of Liberty made it to the bank. In fact he was across the four lane street. He could see smoke billowing out of the skylight.

"Great. Something's already on fire..." he started to say out loud before seeing what looked like a super scientist or doctor approaching the police barricade. "Wait... is that somebody new?"

Judah continued to watch as the first officer she approached turned her away. What he assumed was an AI powered crash cart was following behind her and he saw her disappear into a nearby building.

"Well at least I'm not the only one on the scene if something goes down. Plus there's a fifty-fifty chance they're a super paramedic." thought the Son of Liberty as he turned his attention back on the bank and the smoke emitting from the roof of it. And that's when another super powered individual floated into the scene. From across the four lane road and on an opposing rooftop all Judah could really see was the blue hood and cape. He took another super leap and landed near the broken skylight but the hooded figure was already inside face to face with the anarchist known as PyroJack.

As the Son of Liberty dropped down from above an invisible force hit the villain in the back of the head somewhat assisting in the elusion of the blue bolts of lightning being fired from the cloaked teen hero. Now the guy was just pissed off.

"You ready for a superhero team-up?" the Son of Liberty asked the cloaked Spellbound as he gripped his torch.

"I don't know what hit me, but now you're both as good as de..." before PyroJack could finish his sentence something else entirely hit him seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hey G.I. Joe Boy, you gonna hit the guy with your club or just stand there?" said what looked like a red and white talking action figure.

Liberty Son took the swing and managed to KO the confused villain. The sprinklers finally kicked on and doused the flaming desks of the bank tellers after people began exiting the scene to the police and EMS crews outside. Liberty Son stood there with the cloaked teenager before the seasoned hero Little Guy did a super leap of his own onto a chair to address the newer heroes.

"So who got that first shot in on that guy? I'm small and stealthy but I ain't invisible. I think I heard a window shatter maybe?" the red clad micro hero asked.

Elsewhere....

The man once known as Megaplex wasn't the man he used to be. Like an aging wrestler his physique went downhill once he began getting up in the years. His red helmet that gave him the ability to grow in size was displayed in his home on a counter, however he didn't live a lavish life these days. It was a mess of an apartment but it was all he had. He removed a bath robe to reveal his dad bod and gut before climbing into his bed.

The elder stateman of a hero was asleep when somebody came through his window. It was the same person who killed Lady Liberty in broad daylight back in Liberty City. The figure remained in the shadows as they grabbed the Megaplex helmet off of the counter piled with dirty dishes. The bedroom door of the chubby Asian man was cracked already. As the unknown assailant snuck into the room and raised the helmet to bash it's owner the door made a noise and the man's eyes opened. The last thing he saw was the spiked mohawk of the Megaplex helmet before it caved in his skull.

@Crimson Flame @Stern Algorithm @DracoLunaris

Eris's eyes moved from one person to the next, gazing along the crowd and watching the chaos as people fought and fell. So when the woman paused in the midst of the crowd to gaze upon her, Eris's eyes settled on her. It was not hard to spot the odd one out from the crowd. She didn't fight, she wasn't struggling to get free from the mess. She stood still within the mass of moving bodies and then she vanished within the crowd once more. Eris scanned the crowd quickly. That woman made her uneasy. It wasn't uncommon for her to find someone who could resist her pull but to stand so blatantly amid the crowd of fighting people, even for a moment, that took guts that typical people didn't have. Did a super arrive? Was she about to have a serious fight on her hands? Anxiety brought her to her feet as she searched the crowd for the woman's face. She had well and truly lost her. That was, until she stilled once more to take a photo of Eris.

Orbs of crimson light locked onto her and she sneered at the woman. Who was she to take Eris's photograph? Who even was this woman? How dare she! She was going to show the woman the error of her ways as she raised the microphone to her lips, only to pause as her eyes moved to a newcomer in the crowd. Eris watched as an angelic being rose up from the mass of people and produced a shield to block projectiles. Eris's mouth fell slack-jaw at the sight for only a moment before she began to cackle loudly as the woman tried to call the raging crowd.

Eris brought the mic to her lips once more. “We all are men, in our own natures frail, and capable of our flesh; few are angels.” She paused for a moment as she watched the woman circle above the crowd. When flames ignited the shield, Eris raised a hand to the sky as if to reach out and grasp the angel. “And yet, we find ourselves within one's presence. Oh angel of fire and rage! Have you come to drag us to hell?” She cackled again, her hand dropped down by her side. Her magic flared within the palm of her empty hand, a small vortex of crimson energy but before she could cast out her bolt of little damage, a voice entered into her head.

Eris froze. Her eyes grew wide as the whole world around her was forgotten except for the voice echoing inside her head. No. This was the worst possible thing that could happen at that moment. No, no, no, no! She could feel Kersey shift within her mind as if slowly waking from a long rest. Get out of my head! The voice continued, speaking of madness and pain. Eris dropped the mic, clasping her hands to either side of her head as she tried to somehow push the voice out. Out! She roared within her mind.

Help each other? This voice wanted to help her? It had no idea what it was doing! Eris could feel Kersey shift again and she reached out to mentally grab the girl and slam her back into the darkness. She wasn't done playing! She wasn't ready to hand over control again! Out in the physical world, Eris had dropped to her knees while still clinging to her head. Her magic swirled around her like a violent tornado of crimson. As Kersey settled back once more into the dark abyss of their mind, Eris finally allowed her arms to drop from her head and looked around at the people. She was breathing heavily as she scanned the crowd. Her eyes fell on the woman she had spotted earlier, the same one who had taken her photograph. She was staring intently at Eris and when they locked eyes, a growl left the enraged woman. She slowly began to rise back to her feet, her eyes locked on the woman at the railing until she heard the loud “You,” come from the angel above.

She reluctantly ripped her eyes from the woman to look up at the enraged angel above. “Great,” she muttered to herself as she gained control of the spiraling vortex about her and condensed it down into her hands. “Yeah, me! What about me?” Her sarcastic, witty remarks were left behind as she realized she was solely outnumbered here. She needed to get out of this mess before she found herself hurt or worse, dead. She took one more look at the woman by the railing, giving a quick judgment of whether or not she was a friend or foe before she turned her full attention on the angry celestial being. She fired the condensed chaos at the woman. She hoped it would at least by her some time as the wooden floor of the stage began to liquefy and she began to sink below it.

@Finetales @Eviledd1984

@BunniesOfDoom @Finetales

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

Abby was staring intensely at Eris, hoping she could convince her to follow her out of here. But that didn’t seem like a possibility. And in fact, she had gotten the opposite effect. Now Eris was pissed off and a “hero” had arrived to stop Eris. Turning around to face the angelic looking hero, she was cursing under her breath because of this. “Verdammt, nicht jetzt.”

She took another picture of the hero, hoping it would be useful for her article. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so close to the action because she would likely be injured in their battle. Putting herself further involved in the situation could lead to danger. Or her cover being blown. Walking backwards, she didn’t notice that there was an unconscious person on the ground. Abby then tripped over this person, falling onto the ground.

Yelping out in pain, as she was sure she had just sprained her ankle. Just then, she noticed two men were above her, trying to kick or punch while she was defenceless on the ground. One of the men was starting to pull on her hair, causing her to scream in pain. Images of her suffering at various points in the past flashed in her head. One particular image was her struggling against her restraints as the doctors tried to subdue her. She knew they were going to rummage around in her head. And as she was put under, the last image she saw was a shadowy looking man. He looked like a middle aged white male wearing a black suit. He looked normal except for his eyes, which seemed otherworldly. They looked like empty eye sockets, with pus and other putrid things coming out of the eye hole. The man smiled as she went under, showing her his open maw. Which was filled with rows of sharp teeth and what looked like a bright light emanating from his throat.

Abby was snapped back into reality as she was thrown onto the ground by the man pulling her hair. “Shit…” She yelped while trying to fight back. Her hand frantically looked for the pocket knife in her jeans pocket. After some frantic searching, she had the weapon in her hand. But it slipped out of her hand as the other man kicked her in the stomach. Vomiting all over the floor as blood was pouring out of her now broken nose. ” Get the hell away from me, you son of a bitch.” She yelled unintentionally, using her powers to slam a nearby guard rail into the man holding her hair. This loosened his grip on her, and she turned her attention to the man who kicked her. She used her powers to unfold her pocket knife and made it fly into her hand.

Slashing the air and moving backwards while using her dirty sleeve to wipe the blood from her nose. The man moves forward to attack, but Abby uses her powers to make him slip and fall. Abby ran over to stomp him in the stomach with her foot. Scoffing while putting away her pocket knife. She became worked up by this whole situation. She thought of giving P.J. a good scolding when she returned to the Daily Trumpet. Walking over to the camera on the floor, and luckily found that it was not broken. Abby picked it up and looked up at the angelic looking hero. Being reminded of the angels she would see in the pictures of the bible she’d read as a kid.

She took a few more pictures of the angelic hero before holding the camera to her side. Looking dumbfounded at her presence, she slowly turned to the stage, glaring at Eris as she sank into the stage.

Stalker wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but she did know that she was very very lucky to have not had her face melted off. Or rather that she had not had to blow her cover in order to prevent her face being melted off. At least she was pretty sure that was what the burning man had been holding her in a headlock and pointing his flaming fist at her head had been threatening to do in order.

Possibly whatever that high pitched sound just barely at the edge of her hearing that had occurred had addled his brain enough to not go through with the implied threat.

Whatever the case, she was free now, and the local who’d been responsible for all this was on the ground unconscious. The flames on his face hissed under the fall of the sprinklers, but rather than be snuffed out they suddenly leapt into the dying banknote bonfire, which released one final puff of smoke before going out all at once.

Said smoke cloud ascended into the sky with surprising cohesion, leaving behind a nondescript business man laying on the floor. Though this body had been captured, the spirit of Pyrojack still burned free.

Stalker only paid a little attention to whatever supernatural nonsense was going on with all that, as she was mainly busy being annoyed at the sprinklers soaking her hair and clothes, while also wondering if she could take advantage of the situation. She had come here for the bits of fabric needed to acquire food from the locals, and she’d rather not leave empty handed.

She glanced left and right, and then, with the regular locals seeming mostly interested in getting out of the wet and smoky bank, and the locals who’d taken down the fire guy busy with each other, she made her choice.

She ducked down, pulled one of her several inch long hair pins out of her hair, and began to use the point to sift through the ashes of the banknote bonfire for anything that had at least somewhat survived the fire, before stuffing the salvage into her pockets.

She’d be quick about it, grabbing only the choicest of fabric notes before preparing to make her exit.

Dr. Eileen Fang

"Tch!" Eileen clicked her tongue in disappointment. Her ultrasonic pulse had dealt merely a glancing blow, failing to result in an immediate knockout. It was difficult to manually aim at this distance, reminding Eileen of her reliance on the precision of her tools, tools that had been rendered blind by some unseen force. Still, more than enough heroes had arrived and dealt with PyroJack handily. Though her original goal for coming out here and dealing with this crime was to meet other superheroes and get her foot in the door, Eileen didn't want to appear as some overeager rookie, running back down to the ground floor and into the bank to introduce herself like some fangirl. Besides, she was likely to get stopped by the officer again and would be going against the flow of foot traffic as hostages flooded out of the bank. Instead, she stayed where she was on the second floor of the building opposite the bank, looking down at the crowd and her potential future colleagues, and commanded one of the locust-shaped drones that had been futilely observing the bank from outside to fly in towards the heroes.

"Splendidly done, fellow heroes," Eileen's voice emanated from the small electronic device, "Swift, decisive, no hostages harmed. Please allow me to introduce myself, I go by 'Interference'. I am on the building across the street, second floor. You'll see an open window." Eileen would wave if any of the heroes looked her way. "I primarily use sound and light-based technology, but I can't really take a hit, which is why I'm all the way over here. This is... admittedly, also my first attempt at fighting crime. Things didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped, so I'm grateful that you all showed up."

Eli Reyes/Spellbound

Location: Bank

When Liberty Son spoke to him, Eli opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. What was the protocol? Cool nod? Finger guns? A witty line? “Uh—y-yeah! Totally. That was… wow. Very cool,” he managed, his voice cracking halfway through.

Then PyroJack went down, hard, and Eli stumbled back a step as the little guy popped up and demanded to know who got the first hit in. Eli hesitated, hand halfway raised. “I mean… I shot lightning at him? But I think someone or something else might have hit him first… Maybe…”

Right on cue, a tiny drone buzzed up, and Interference’s voice cut in. Eli got startled so hard he nearly zapped the bug out of the air. His hand sparked instinctively before he caught himself. “Oh,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Right. Talking drones. Totally normal.”

He looked toward the window across the street and spotted the white-masked woman waving casually like this was a casual meet up between friends, instead of a scorched bank lobby and a crime scene.

“Um… nice to meet all of you. I’m Eli… Uh… Spellbound! Sorry, first day on the job.” He gave a nervous smile and a thumbs up, then immediately regretted the thumbs up.

As all of the newer heroes introduced themselves the last of the civilians inside of the bank exited safely. The flames had all been extinguished and just as the words fell from Judah's mouth "I'm the Son of Liberty..." the miniature hero Little Guy made a quick interjection.

"Listen guy's, unless you've been deputized by the local law enforcement you can't be here." Little Guy stated.

"There someplace we can go to do that? My mom never mentioned..." Son of Liberty began to say before the micro hero put two and two together.

"Listen there's no time for me to explain. Just search 'Supercop' on the internet and something about a superhero deputy class should come up. Now you three GTFO before the cops walk through those doors!" Little Guy exclaimed as the police began to make way to the doors to clear the area. The drone would likely have an easier time getting away but the seasoned hero wasn't sure about the other two.

"You make magic portals or you need me to super leap us BOTH out of here, Spellbound?" asked the Son of Liberty.

Eli blinked at Son of Liberty. “Oh! Uh… no portals yet. Still working on that. I tried and it didn’t go so well… All I ended up doing was making a hole in my closet…” He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “So, uh… yeah. If you don’t mind the extra weight… I’m down for the leap.”

As the red clad Little Guy leaped towards the door to greet the local police, Liberty Son tucked the Torch into a carrying case strapped to his waist and lifted the teen hero with ease. Super strength provided by the weapon wasn't needed for anything besides the super leap. Once up through the broken sky light. And then four additional leaps in a zig zag pattern to avoid any potential tails. They were roughly two and a half miles from where they were moments earlier at the bank.

"I've only been at this a couple weeks myself, sorry if the ride was awkward. You gonna check out that Supercop guy and get deputized?"

Elsewhere....

"Sister Shadow died in a plane crash three years ago. That only leaves YOU." exclaimed the unseen enemy attacking the older heroes.

"Listen girl, I helped you on your little revenge quest but I'm not like those other two. I'm not some blonde American who made your dad question his marriage to your mum. And I'm not some slob with a helmet that gives you more powers sitting around on his counter. I still have access to resources you couldn't imagine. The UN took nearly everything from me when I lost my seat on the Alliance. The superhero community let you and your family down. We can make them all pay..." Leopold explained to a large woman clad in red wearing the helmet of Megaplex.

She shrunk back down from twelve feet tall back to her standard six foot eight inches. The spiked helmet was removed and revealed the long white hair of Judy Juggernaut was no more. Her hair was now as short as her temper.

"What are you suggesting, fleabag?"

@Crimson Flame @Stern Algorithm

“Great,” she muttered to herself as she gained control of the spiraling vortex about her and condensed it down into her hands. “Yeah, me! What about me?”

Kate scowled as the mysterious woman on the stage threw back sarcasm her way. She knew this woman was the cause of all this chaos, and she couldn't see anyone else that could put an end to it. There was another woman, taking pictures of both Kate and the chaos woman, though she seemed to have her hands full between taking pictures and fending off attackers on the ground. Had Kate been in a level-headed state, she would have made a note to try to help that woman and find out what she was up to. But in her current, artificially-frenzied fury, she could only focus on her target.

She fired the condensed chaos at the woman. She hoped it would at least by her some time as the wooden floor of the stage began to liquefy and she began to sink below it.

Kate couldn't avoid the condensed chaos nor stop it with her physical shield, and it hit her psyche like a ton of bricks. She growled in frustration and leapt into action. Her shield vanished as she used her massive wings to shoot up high and then dive like a falcon at the woman. On the way down Kate saw the woman begin to sink into the stage, and knew she had only seconds. It was going to be close. Her steep dive began to level out as she entered a collision course with the woman. With all her might, and additionally spurred on by this heated anger that this woman was no doubt causing, Kate slammed into the woman before she could finish sinking into the stage. It was somewhat of a tackle and somewhat of an uncontrolled crash, but it worked. The two shot out of the back of the stage, ripping through the canvas and somersaulting violently through the park behind it, bouncing and tumbling until they came to a bruised and battered, but otherwise unharmed stop.

The little journey had ended with the mysterious woman with her back on the ground and Kate on top of her, who quickly sat up and pinned the woman down with her arms. Kate noticed that her fury seemed to have subsided somewhat, but she was still angry on her own accord. "Who are you and what have you done with these people?!" Kate demanded, her voice hot with anger. "End this madness...now!" She held up her left arm threatening a strike, her fist clenched and flames dancing across it.

@BunniesOfDoom

An audiable “oof” left Eris as the angel woman collided with her, ripping her out of the stage. Upon the impact, Eris's jaws snapped shut and she accidentally bit the side of her tongue. She could feel the taste of copper as blood flooded her mouth but she couldn't spare a moment towards the slight injury as the two careened along the stage, piercing through the backdrop and tumbling along the ground for a good few solid feet before they finally came to a stop. Eris laid on her back, a wheeze leaving her chest as she tried to grab a hold of the wind that was knocked from her lungs from the impact of the wrathful angel. When the woman pinned Eris to the ground and began to demand answers from her, the mad woman only laughed. Her blood soaked teeth glinted in the light as she laughed and laughed.

“All I did was bring to light their anger.” She turned her head and spat a glob of blood into the grass before running her tongue along her teeth in a sadistic display of gory madness. “You felt it, didn't you?” Her voice quivered as she squirmed under the woman's grasp. “That wonderful, sensation of rage.” She laughed again as the woman demanded she release the people from her control, a fist pulling back in a threatening manner. Eris's eyes flashed to the flaming fist as her laugh slowly died, though her smile never once wavered on her face. “I have no more control of their emotions now than they did when it all began.” She released a low chuckle as she leaned up towards the angel. “What are you going to do? Beat me into submission?” Her chuckle grew to a maniacal laugh as she dropped her body onto the ground once more. “You'll have to kill me else I'll do it again. And again. And again. Can you do that, angel? Can you kill someone in cold blood?”

The moment Eris was torn from the area, her spell had been broken, her concentration shattered. By that point, the people were coming back to their senses, though some continued to fight on even after her influence was removed. Gunshots finally grew silent as those of authority began to make the much needed calls to get the injured and dying people help.

Eris's eyes moved to look around as the world grew silent once more, except for the cries of those in serious need of medical intervention. Her eyes locked back on the woman before she laughed once more. “Aw, seems like our fun is coming to an end.” Her hands splayed out in the grass, her magic pulsing out and into the solid earth below. “There are a lot of hurt people out there. It'll probably be a while before the emergency services get to them.” Her bloody teeth made an appearance once more as her smile grew demented and wild. “What are you going to do, oh sweet angel of wrath? Hold me or go help those in need. The clock is ticking! How long will they last, I wonder? Bullet holes can be a very tricky matter.” The ground below the woman quivered as her magic liquefied it under them. “It's your choice, angel!” She began to sink into the ground, her free hand reaching up in an attempt to grab the back of the woman's head. She would make a grab for the angel's hair and pull her face in close before planting a bloody kiss directly on the woman's mouth as she sank lower and lower into the ground. “I can't wait to see what you decide.”

@Finetales