Abby started driving towards Spellbound’s grandmother's house. She planned to break in quickly, neutralize her and tie her up so she would not try to escape. And then she would haul her away to a safe location. Having studied the schedule of his Abuela, and around this time she would be at home alone. Parking the car a few streets away before getting out. Wearing her villainous outfit. She made sure that no one was around before floating over the fence. Slowly walking over towards the porch door, stopping in front of it before raising her hand towards the door. Using her powers to unlock the door and head inside. Carefully she opened and closed the door so it wouldn’t make any noise, before she made her way inside. She hoped that Spellbound’s grandmother was somewhere else in the house and didn’t hear her entrance.

Abby quickly moved from the back of the house, and towards the living room where she assumed the old woman would be. Taking out her pistol from the holster. And keeping it lowered in case she would need to use it. But as she started walking towards the living room she stopped moving. Noticing the old woman was speaking to someone she knew. “Damn it.” She cursed ducking into the kitchen. She could hear the thoughts of the old woman and the reporter who was Timothy Olsen from the Daily Trumpet, her co-worker.

The villain wondered why Tim of all people was there putting a wrench in her plan. Tim meanwhile had been following Abby having figured everything about her. The project which was called “Whateley”, and her being a test subject. Tim followed her from the hill and planned on stopping whatever she was going to do here. Getting into the house under the guise of interviewing her about her grandson Spellbound.

“So Mrs.Reyes please tell me a little more about your grandson? What was he like as a child?” He said while jotting down some notes. All the while Abby was in the kitchen pistol in hand waiting for the right time to strike. She could take both of them hostage. Or kill Tim and take the old woman. Or she could wait for him to leave and then take her hostage. Either way, him being here made her plan a lot more complicated.

Eli’s grandmother, Lourdes Reyes smiled softly at the question. “Eli was always a gentle boy. Even when other children teased him, he would rather hide than raise a hand against them. He hated to fight. When the lightning first came, he was terrified. But I told him, ‘Don’t be afraid, mijo. It’s waking up, just like I always knew it would.’ His gift is not a curse. It comes from our ancestors, from the faith that runs in our blood. He doesn’t believe it yet, but I know he was born to protect people.”
“Really? Is most of the Ryes family magic users?” Timmy said with a smile on his face. He was curious to see if this old woman could perform some form of magic. “He seemed to be quite an up-and-comer from what I have seen. You should be very proud of yourself, Ms.Reyes.” Tim was sincere in his words. From what he saw, he could tell Spellbound was a good kid. As Tim was writing down her answers, in the back of his mind, he wondered where Abby was hiding.

“Excuse me, but may I use your washroom?” He asked, hoping he could find her or, at the very least, try to scare her off. Tim closed his eyes, listening to all the noises around him. He could hear a large bang and what sounded like cursing. Abby had banged into a table trying to move into a better hiding spot.

“Thank you, mijo,” she said to Tim softly. “Yes… there is some magic in the Reyes family. Not all of it looks like lightning and lights, though. Some of it… is quieter…” She paused as Tim asked to use the washroom. “Of course, mijo. Down the hall, second door on the right. If the door sticks, just wiggle it a little.”
But then she froze.“¿Qué fue eso?” she murmured under her breath. It was faint. A bang, barely audible—but not unfamiliar. Not in her kitchen. Lourdes knew her house, and more importantly, she knew that sound wasn’t natural. She slowly rose from her seat, walking to a nearby end table covered in photos and little religious candles. Nestled between them was a small clay dish filled with coarse salt and dried rose petals.

She lifted it carefully and whispered something under her breath in Spanish.A faint blue shimmer passed over the doorway to the kitchen. “Whoever is in my kitchen… should come out now, before I lose my patience.”

Tim had also heard the noise. Thinking that Abby was trying to find a better hiding spot. He didn’t want her to get hurt, so he quickly stood in front of the old woman. “Get behind me, Miss Reyes.” He moved his hand to his side. A holster was strapped to his side, and inside the holster was a taser gun that he had purchased beforehand. He had another holster with bear mace inside, in case he needed it. Both of them were prepared for a fight, with Tim dreading that the conflict would be pretty chaotic. However, he was surprised when he noticed Abby coming out with her hands up.

“My apologies for intruding, but I had some questions for you as well.” Abby said before motioning towards a nearby chair.“Do you mind if I have a seat?” She took a seat regardless of whether they allowed it or not.

“I don’t know why you are here, but whatever it is, doing this will not help your cause.” Tim retorted, moving his hand to touch the holster of his taser gun. “Abby, don’t do anything you will regret later. I wanna help you expose what the government did to you.” This statement from Tim made Abby give her co-worker a sneer. Tim was suddenly pushed back into his chair, with Abby turning to face the old woman.

“I wanna ask you some questions about how your grandson does those neat magic tricks.” She said, now pulling out her pistol from the holster. And now it was pointing at the old woman. But she didn’t seem to want to answer her questions. So in response, Abby made what she held fly out of her hands. As well as making her trip onto the ground. Tim gave Abby a dirty look as he went over to check on her.

“It seems we’ll have to do this the hard way. Not that I mind, of course.” Abby was smiling behind the mask and aimed her gun at the old woman before speaking again. “We are gonna take a little trip. Get up!” Screaming the last part, making Tim help the old woman up. All three of them made their way out of the house and flew to her hideout.

Sam was staggering along the streets like a zombie. Her face was pale. Her eyes bloodshot from crying. She'd been let go from another job. The same excuses. She wasn't presentable enough. Not confident enough. Too jumpy. Too skittish. Too clumsy. No big deal-breaking reason but a buildupof small ones. She 'wasn't the right fit' for this role. She wondered if there was even a place out there where she was a right fit. No, stop that, Sam. You're going to make yourself cry again.

What about rent? How was she going to explain this one to the employment office? Questions she did not have the mentalor emotional energy to begin tacking now. She wanted to go home. She wanted to curl up on her bed and take stock. Recharge her batteries and clear her head. She knew from plenty of experience that the worst thing you could do is worry about these things when you're already in a very negative headspace.

Sam misses when talking to people with a bright, sincere, confident smile was so easy. She can't stopthe doubts and gloom for clouding her heart anymore. Anytime a customer seems happy to see her, she feels a pang of crushing guilt, and can't smile back. Sam sighs. She tries to shut out that day. She has to force herself to think about something else the moment she starts to hear the screams again.

Wait. They didn't sound like that. There were no children's screams that day.

Sam snapped out of her headspaceand looked behind her. There was a four-armed monster commiting mindless, chaotic destruction in front of the government offices. Maybe it was the fact Sam suddenly had something external and urgent to focus on to distract her from herself but she felt...calm. She surveyed the scene. The people around were scared. Some were fleeing. Others were hiding in the government building. Anyone nearby still in their cars were abandoning them. Sam spotted them. Two children cowering behind a minivan. She also saw that one of the cars that the monster had thrown was going to hit the van, and the momentum would seriously injure the children.

Sam rushed foward, increased her density as she remembered she was taught, and braced the van. The impact of the collision sent shockwaves through her arms and pain through her hands, but the van did not budge. She managed a very weak and timid smile to the children, who took the hint and ran. She turned her attention back to the monster, who was now staring right at her. She gulped.

Dr. Eileen Fang

@Omega Man @Azure Bubbles

In the weeks since her 'graduation', Eileen had presented Omniac with the data of her scans of the anti-power device so that Omniac could analyze it as well as search for more information in government records that they had infiltrated. In the meantime, she was accompanying Son of Liberty to what appeared to be his mother's secret hideout. She found the patriotic regalia a bit much but decided to keep that opinion to herself. With Son of Liberty's permission, Eileen started rifling through the computer systems and trying to understand how Lady Liberty organized her data.

"Do you know how your torch works?" Eileen offhandedly asked Son of Liberty, "I mean, I assume it was designed by humans, and not say, aliens, for example; I mean, why would aliens design a weapon that resembles a symbol of our nation. It's not magical is it? I figure Spellbound would have said something by now if it was." If it was designed by humans, then it stands to reason that the technology could have been applied to other things belonging Lady Liberty, and if her computer systems ran off the same tech, knowing how it worked would make this job much easier. Eileen was also looking for potential clues, anything that was slightly out of the ordinary, things that might look like mistakes or organizational errors. After all, Lady Liberty had died under mysterious circumstances and Eileen was sure that fact was gnawing at Son of Liberty. Perhaps she left breadcrumbs.

The Son of Liberty, Interference, Painkiller, as well as Pitbull and mister late-to-the-party Stampede were all now at the Freedom Fortress. Stampede powered down and was hitting the weights and gym area of the HQ while Pitbull and Painkiller were working with a sparring robot repurposed from what looked like a Silverwing android. Interference was working through computer files and looking at some of the tech within arms reach when she glanced over at SoL's torch weapon he'd placed on the edge of the large computer station.

"Do you know how your torch works?" Eileen offhandedly asked Son of Liberty, "I mean, I assume it was designed by humans, and not say, aliens, for example; I mean, why would aliens design a weapon that resembles a symbol of our nation. It's not magical is it? I figure Spellbound would have said something by now if it was."

"It's just regular tech my mom worked on with the guy who was Megaplex. At one point she had a crown that worked in tandem with the torch to give her short term giant growth too but she only used it once or twice to help 'Plex. I'm using her first torch, manipulating electromagnetic fields to give me strength, durability, and that super jump. The one she used later manipulated EM fields enough to give her flight and an energy blast of sorts from the torch but I get sick easy and have shitty aim." Son of Liberty explained picking the torch up and placing it back down again.

"There's an alert up in the left corner of the main screen, you check that out yet?" SoL asked Eileen.

Eileen looked where son of Liberty was pointing and moused over to expand the notification. "Oh my! There's an attack in the city!"

_________________________________________

Moments later the Son of Liberty leaped into action next to the new face in town. Painkiller was a few minutes behind him on his green motorcycle. The block of the city was a wreck, and the four armed orange behemoth that was once called Kid Cosmo was the one behind it all.

"You look like you could use a hand! I'm the Son of Liberty, you got a name?" Judah asked the new girl as Painkiller pulled up and immediately took to getting civilians healed and out of harm's way...

@Stern Algorithm @Silver Carrot

Sam watched the monster get close. The immediate danger, her fear and adreneline were masking the searing pain in her hands. She had altered the weight and density of her body but it was still ordinary skin and bone. She couldn't turn it to steelor heal herself. Her arms were shaking from the effect of that impact. She wasn't sure if her palms were bleeding or just sweaty and stinging but she difn't want to take her eyes off Kid Cosmos in order to check. She watched him begin to charge at her, and her mind started thinking back.

The memories flittered in the front of her mind one after the other. Sitting in a chair having a pleasant chat with Dr. Harwood as he took some of her blood. The...less plesant chats with Dr.Fuchs while tied to a table...but the place she spent most of her time was the training room. And the most common adults in her life were the men in suits whose names she didn't know, who talked about her to each other in hushed voices but never talked to her directly. And Sgt. Greaves. Her instructor. It was his barked orders she recalled at this moment as the muscle memory kicked in.

When the monster reached her, it swung clumsily at her. Sam, with the efficient, tight movements of a trained professional, ducked under the swing, closed the distance, planted her foot and sent Kid Cosmos flying backwards and into the side of an abandoned bus with a strike to his center of gravity. Though, there was still no way a woman this size could have done that without some kind of super power.

She hadn't noticed Son of Liberty approach until she heard his voice come from right next to her. She jumped, then half-turned to him. She did not want to take both eyes off Kid Cosmos.

"Me? I'm Sam. S-sam Reilly," she answered, speaking not with the level of confidence you'd expect from somebody who could do what she'd just done.

@Omega Man

@Omega Man @Silver Carrot

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

&

James “Jimmy” Hung

Abby had been called away from her hostages by Judy to help the Dark Alliance with their next plan. Being there to be the sort of handler for Kid Cosmo. She made sure that he did the job that needed to be done. Berating him with curses and rather explicative pejoratives whenever he was knocked down. Of course, she made sure to help Kid Cosmo deal with the heroes. She used her powers to throw various objects at the heroes. Targeting those she deemed a threat.

Floating behind Kid Cosmo while watching the fight between the villains and heroes. Mainly, she focused on attacking the Sons of Liberty because he was their leader. And she thought if she took him down, then the rest would flee. But she was also targeting Spellbound since she assumed he could be pretty dangerous.

She stopped for a moment when she noticed Sam. She remembered the girl back at the facility. Having a few conversations while she was locked inside her cell. And her sudden growth spurt was the cause of her escape. She wondered what other subjects were out there and if they were hiding, or chose to become heroes or villains. Her moment of pause could allow any of the heroes to attack her.

—-----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, another newcomer had arrived to help the heroes. Xero had recently gotten into the superhero game and was looking to make a name for himself. He stood close to Sons Of Liberty, wanting to assign him a task. "Hi, boss, what do you need me to do?" Xero had just started becoming a hero a few days ago. He had spent many months at the academy working to be a certified hero.

He had discovered his powers as a kid. Inspired by heroes before him, he wanted to follow in their footsteps.

Eris stalked towards the doctor in her cell, her eyes dangerous and madness dancing at their corners. ”A week!” She roared out as the ground in the cell began to ripple under her feet. ”A week, you left us in here, listening to those incessant machines. No entertainment, not even music to listen to. Taking your notes on your clipboard! We’re human, damnit! Not some fucking labrat!” She reached out to grab the doctor by the throat when an all too familiar voice cut through the chaos.

Crimson eyes flashed to Queen as she cut down the door to her cell. Her hand froze as the doctor took her chance to run. Her gaze flicked between the two before she finally settled it on Queen. She rose up to her full height, staring the woman down as she stood into the doorway of the cell. Her eye moved past her to the doctors as they ran out of the room. Then it was just her and Queen.

She turned and began to pace, her crimson gaze locked on Queen once again. ”You let them take us.” She moved like a predator staring down a prey, just waiting for it to make the wrong move. ”Here I thought you were different but the moment you saw the chance, you let those doctors take us away. Let them lock us up in here. You let them drug us. I don’t know what they did to us when we were unconscious!”

She clawed at her head, pulling on her hair. She was still in the hospital garb and she reached down to pull on it. ”Look at us! Look what they have us in! Like we’re some labrats that they need to learn from. Notes! They took so many notes. Just like mother used to do. Just watching us.” Her nails dragged along her face, drawing blood in long streaks. She shook her head, pacing in the cage once again. ”You let them.”

She moved quickly, suddenly upon Queen, a hand going out to grab at her throat. ”I thought you were different!” The ground under her rippled and became unstable as her power flared out, dousing the area in red.

@Finetales

The young woman in white with the creepy mask let herself be known, floating down behind the four armed monster that was once a hero after he'd been dealt a punishing strike by the female newcomer. As the orange alien picked himself up another new face hit the scene. Asking how he could help, Liberty Son was a bit overwhelmed now with another new hero he knew nothing about. He took a few deep breaths, noticing Painkiller had successfully got all the endangered civilians to a safer position behind police barricades that were set up.

"Interference, do you copy?" Son of Liberty voiced to his ear piece styled communicator. At a glace he though he saw Spellbound from behind what he was using for cover. However it may have just been a random kid in a blue hoodie rather than a mystical cloak.

Unfortunately, the ally back at the Fortress didn't get the call. Like weeks earlier something had happened to the technology in the general vicinity. Since the Son of Liberty's tech was based around creating electro-magnetic fields, his torch weapon was at least still functioning properly.

"Hi boss?! I don't know your name, your powers, and you drop in with that?" Judah asked as surprised as he was confused. "I can't shake that this is just a distraction. It's too random." SoL stated behind the cover of a turned over SUV.

"Listen, Sam was it..? You and the other guy here try not to get ki..." and before he could even finish something even more frightening than a four armed alien behemoth and a woman in a horned skull mask poured out of a nearby grocery store.

Dozens of large bug-like aliens burst out of the front end of the store ravenous and tearing apart the food they'd stolen. Anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths was torn apart by their lower appendages. The former Kid Cosmo paused, as if knowing that this wasn't their fight. Painkiller jumped on to his green motorcycle and took off directly at the mass of bug creatures coming out of the grocery store. Ramping off of a damaged flatbed truck, he launched the cycle at the creatures while hitting the ground himself near injured civilians. He attempted to dodge the stampeding bugs but got cut up himself. However, his healing powers were working overtime healing his wounds as well as those of the injured civilians.

"I don't know anything really about either one of you. But there's a few dozen bugs that need exterminating. Do what you can and don't get killed. Maybe help the other guy in green save some civilians..." Son of Liberty stated running at the battlefield at first before using the power of the torch for a super leap. He landed with a thud knocking down a handful of bug creatures around him to the asphalt street.

Spellbound landed hard. he hit the pavement just behind Judah.

The bugs were everywhere. Sharp legs. Shrieking mouths. Civilians screaming. Blood. Grocery carts. Chaos.

Eli’s hands lit up with frantic blue magic before he’d even fully processed the scene. “Okay. That’s a lot of bugs. This is a literal nightmare.”

He could feel his heartbeat in his teeth. His pendant was also glowing. He didn’t know what exactly, but he sensed something was wrong. Besides everything that’s going on right now. But there was no time to think about that.

People were dying.

He lifted his hands and shouted, “¡Luz protectora!”

A glowing blue shield expanded outward in a burst, creating a barrier between a group of cowering civilians and an incoming cluster of bugs. One of the creatures skidded across it with a horrible screech, legs flailing. Eli winced. “I don’t know how long I can hold that!”

He turned toward the horned woman in white, the guy with four arms, the new arrivals. Trying to place friend or foe by vibe alone. “You with us or… trying to kill us?” he asked the skull-masked woman, voice cracking slightly. “Because we’re kind of full-up on creepy right now!”

@Omega Man @Azure Bubbles

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

&

James “Jimmy” Hung

Abby, for a moment, seemed to be staring at the bugs that appeared to be flooding out of the grocery store. This would not help with her plans, so that immediate action would be required. Even though it wasn’t her fight to begin with, the aliens were surely going to attack her next. Thinking, perhaps this could be the perfect opportunity to get rid of the heroes once and for all. She commanded Kid Cosmo to continue his attack.

As the aliens approached the heroes, Abby continued to hover near the group. Using this opportunity of chaos to hurl nearby cars towards them. This seemed to answer Eli’s question whether she was friend or foe. However, James appeared to jump into the action. Using his powers to make the cars slam into the ground."Well, I’m new around here. And I’m lookin to help ya guys out." He said quickly, noticing the array of cars coming at them. "Shit" James used his powers to place the cars onto the ground gently.

Abby’s attention was now focused on the heroes. They couldn’t see it, but she was very pissed off at James for defending against her attacks. James moved quickly to try to rescue as many civilians as possible. "Will do, boss, just be sure to watch my back." James made sure to get between himself and the incoming aliens. Using his powers to use a stop sign as a club. Swinging the makeshift club at the bug aliens. Each swing makes the aliens fly in the air in a quite comical manner.

Abby tried to use her powers to brainwash the aliens into focusing their attack on the heroes. James was multitasking, making sure anyone left was quickly moved behind them.

Dr. Eileen Fang

@Omega Man @Azure Bubbles @Eviledd1984 @Silver Carrot

As Son of Liberty went off to deal with the emerging situation, Interference stayed behind at the HQ to continue researching into Lady Liberty's files and systems, though she sent a handful of her drones to follow him, offering support. Yet as the stampede of aliens emerged, the drones closest to the creatures were knocked out by the strange field, though Interference reacted fast enough to have those further away pull back to avoid getting affected. Interference couldn't believe her luck. In three missions, she encountered twice something that disabled her drones and once a device that could disable her own powers. Not a great start for an up-and-coming superhero. She had to learn how Lady Liberty managed to shield her inventions, since Son of Liberty could seemingly continue to wield his torch no problem. Knowing she could do little to help in this situation, Interference commanded the drones that hadn't been affected to start scanning, certain that whatever was causing it had to be somewhere on the electromagnetic spectrum, which meant that it was a form of 'light', something that she was a master of. perhaps with access to Lady Liberty's blueprints and data from this encounter, Interference would be able to improve her drones to shrug off this kind of disabling effect.

The four armed monster was slowly getting back to it's feet. As it did so, a masked woman floated down behind it. This wasn't just a freak case of a rampaging monster. There was something bigger going on. Sam didn't regret any of her actions, but was now worried that she might have just put a target on her back. She'd managed to escape her past so far because any attempt to bring her to justice would need themto exposewhat they'd been doing to her first. But having dangerous people after her because of an a spontanious act of good would be just her luck. Sam was already imagining ways in which she could slip back under the radar after this was over. She'd need to move city again but she's disappeared before.

More heroes had now arrived as backup. Her role as a helpful citizen was over. Now she just needed to evacuate herself and wait for the coast to be clear. The Hero started saying as much, when bugs swarmed out of a nearby shop. The Hero then gaveher orders. Did he...think she was a Hero? She'd have to correct him when everything was over.

It initially looked like that monster and the lady behind him were hesitating, but then the lady ordered the monster to keep attacking. SAm didn't want to kill the bugs. She didn't think she'd be much help and it wasn't her duty as a civilian. The Heroesmust have some kind of trainingor countermeasures for this. But Sam knew she could do something about the Monster. Feeling emboldened from having alreadylanded a blow, she ignored the bugs and began walking towards Kid Cosmo. As she did, she seemed to grow in size until she was the same height as the hulking brute, and much more dense.

"There's enough chaos and destruction right now. Focus on me" she said in a shaky voice more suited for talking down a scary strange dog, than a heroic speech.

@Omega Man@Stern Algorithm@Eviledd1984@Azure Bubbles

Son of Liberty couldn't really say much. Half the people fighting this alien bug horde were in civilian clothes; at least Judah was wearing a mask. Painkiller worked to get the injured civilians healed closer back to the police and EMT barricades. With the help of the other slightly older Asian gentleman the process was almost flawless. "Perhaps the two men knew each other?" Liberty Son thought silently to himself as the bugs numbers were starting to diminish. Other heroes like Yellowjacket and Little Guy joined the fight just in time to help contain the chaos.

Spellbound had been ignored by the floating female giving orders to the monstrous form of Kid Cosmo. His words didn't matter to her. However when the size altering girl squared up with Kid Cosmo the fight seemed a little more evenly matched. The orange alien grabbed Spellbound with one of his lower arms and tried using the cloaked teen hero as a weapon against the girl while also throwing punches with his top two arms. Son of Liberty surveyed the craziness and with the most of the bugs being dealt with he refocused on the girl with the horned skull mask and Kid Cosmo.

"Spellbound! I've got ya, man!" Judah screamed clubbing the four armed monster with the enhanced strength granted by the torch until the alien released his grip from the young man's blue cloak. "I'll help the new girl with Dorito-face here, you think you can do something with Ruby Gloom up there?" he asked hoping Eli had time to get his wits about him.

"Where's the lady with the wings when you need her to hit something?" Painkiller thought to himself as he watched the more physical heroes finish off the bugs and refocus on the prior threats. As Xero brought another civilian to Painkiller he had to ask, "You been at this long? You're not half bad at crowd control."

Across town....

Judy Juggernaut waited as the Supercop left the Academy on the edge of town. The half cyborg hero got into his souped up squad car and took off towards the action on the other side of Liberty City.

"He's gone. Tell me where to go. I think the staff has already went home for the day..."Judy stated into the radio in her helmet.

@Silver Carrot@Stern Algorithm@Eviledd1984@Azure Bubbles@Finetales

@Omega Man @Stern Algorithm @Azure Bubbles

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

&

James “Jimmy” Hung

Abby continued the assault on the other heroes. Cars kept getting hurled towards them with no sign of stopping. She could win with some of the main players being knocked out of the game. Interface, or whatever she called herself, would be a problem if left unchecked. As she commanded Kid Cosmo, she was also trying to disable the devices she was using. Soon enough, she found that there were no more cars for her to throw. Deciding to throw carts instead of and near the garbage bins at them.

“Kill em.”Abby commanded Kid Cosmo to try to take out the size-changing girl and Judah.

Xero smiled at the compliment and finished off the remaining bug aliens. "Thanks, man." Xero made sure that the remaining civilians were far away from the battlefield. He noticed the floating woman and wondered if taking her out would knock some sense into the former hero. He used his powers to freeze the carts and bins in place. Jumping in the air to start walking on the frozen objects.

Abby suddenly felt something tugging at her legs, and she slammed into the ground. Xero’s powers have made her body extremely heavy. She was now pinned on the ground and was frantically trying to get back up like a pinned bug and only getting free when she pushed Xero backwards into a fallen car.

Now she was floating a few feet from the ground, trying once again to brainwash the aliens so they could try to swarm the heroes.

Kate didn't react to the chaos-bringer as the villain grabbed her throat. Her face remained neutral as she sent flames licking out of her neck, ensuring that the crazed woman's hands wouldn't be able to keep their grip for long. As she did so, Kate responded with an uncharacteristic calm in her voice - both for the fiery-tempered goddess, and for the situation at hand. "Different to who, exactly?" she began, speaking slow and measured. "Did you really think I was somehow on...on your side?"

Eris's gaze flickered for a moment, blinking fiercely as if trying to keep tears away. She held tightly to the woman's throat for far longer than she should have, the flames cutting into her skin and causing it to bubble. Eventually she released with a hiss, ripping her hand back and grabbing that wrist. "I should have known you were no different than the others. I thought-," she paused a moment as she shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore." The ground below her turned to liquid and she began to sink below. "You're just like every other lying hero out there."

Kate's expression turned angrier as Eris spoke, and doubly so when the chaos-bringer began to sink into the ground. "Oh no you don't," she snarled, and jumped at the villain as she sank into the ground, grabbing her forcefully as she did so. As they both sank completely into the ground, Kate kept her forward momentum going to endlessly tackle the villain through the ground. She had hated this before, but this time she was angrier and felt that she had the upper hand.

As they crashed through the liquidfied floor, Eris kept her power going. One floor after another, they pushed through until she finally brought the power to an end and the two crashed harshly onto the ground floor of the prison. Liquid from the floors above them dripped off them like water. Eris found herself trying to get her breath back as she lifted her leg and sent a harsh kick at Queen. "Get off me!" she wheezed as she scrambled to try and get out from under the woman.

The debris that followed them down hit Kate heavily, as the two landed in a way that Kate was essentially a shield for the villain. Kate winced as she felt the heavy impacts on her back, which her wings were powerless to do anything about. Then before she could react, she felt the heavy kick from the chaos-bringer below her, which hit just above her knee and caused her to partially roll off as the force of the kick sent that leg airborne. But Kate was quick to react, and not about to let the pain get in the way of her objective. She managed to keep hold on the villain with her arms grasping their counterparts tightly, and she brought her leg back down to knee Eris wherever she could manage. Her eyes sparkled with flame as she scowled back at the villain. "Make me," she replied darkly.

Eris squirmed underneath Kate, trying to wrangle herself free. "You're such a child! Make me? Really?!" She eventually was able to wrangle an arm free and she reached out to grasp a hold of a light fixture by its pole. She brought the item around in a swing, hoping to knock Kate off her and finally get some wriggle room so she could get a full breath of air. At this point, her lungs were burning but her diaphragm refused to expand far enough to let her get a full breath, especially with Queen holding onto her so tightly. "Get off me!" She repeated again, though this time far angier than a moment before.

Kate found herself somehow even more annoyed as the chaos-bringer managed to get an arm free and grab hold of something to attack with. Though Kate wanted to keep the villain down, she also knew that light pole would probably hurt a lot, and made the split-second decision to stop that instead by halting its swing with both of her hands shoving against it. She still sat on top the villain, but no longer had control of her upper body as she stopped the light pole in its tracks, using her two-handed advantage to yank it free from the villain's grasp and toss it aside where it couldn't be reached. "Who's the child now, you pest?"

"Pest? Pest?!" Eris's anger flared, causing the area to be doused in red as her power consumed the room. "I am not a pest." Her voice grew slow and dropped a few octives as her red eyes locked on Queen's face. A dark grin crossed her face as she brought her hands up by her chest, red energy condensing there between her palms. "I'm a fucking monster." With that, she released the energy in a powerful pulse, Queen directly in its path.

As the chaos-bringer built up red energy, Kate had plenty of time to manifest a shield in front of her. When the energy was released, the shield did not stop the attack. Instead, it translated the energy into a harsh knockback, sending Kate flying backwards across the derelict room and breaking the shield construct in the process. Kate barely had time to think as she was sent flying, using her wings in a desperate attempt to slow down before smacking the opposite wall. This wasn't enough though, and although she did slow her velocity considerably, she still smacked against the wall with enough force to briefly knock the wind out of her as she fell to the ground. She paused a moment as she caught her breath, and then looked up at the offending villain, flames dancing around her eyes, hair, and fists. "Yes you are," she said coldly. "You are a pest. And nothing more."

As Queen was flung off, Eris rose up from the ground quickly, finally able to take a full breath and feeling the relief as the burning sensation in her lungs began to fade to nothing. She snorted as she stepped over to the lamp that Queen had just tossed to the side. She hefted it in both hands as she turned to face Queen, her eyes dark and dangerous. "Tell me, Queen. If I make you bleed, will it be golden like ambrosia? How hard do I need to hit you to find out?" She stepped over towards the woman, raising the lamp up like a major league bat before she brought it down towards the woman's head.

Despite her anger, Kate managed a smile as she watched the chaos-bringer grab the lamp and attempt to talk big. "You'll never find out," she replied as she manifested two short swords, set them alight with flame, and used them to slice the lamp in half as it came down towards her, causing the two halves to fall harmlessly beside her. She then brought the two swords to an X, inches from the villain's throat. "You are but a pest. It is your destiny," she said with a smirk.

Eris let out a manic laugh as Queen brought the swords up by her throat. "My destiny? My destiny is to burn this whole world to ash. And you and any other pathetic hero isn't going to stop me!" She brought a hand up, sticking it between the blades at her throat before using her other hand to fire chaotic energy at the woman, that hand with a finger and thumb extended like a gun. She even made pewing noises as she shot the chaotic energy at her. "Heros are just lying fools who think they're better than anyone else! When the world burns, what will there be left for them to save? What would they do then? Turn on each other? I can't wait to see."

Kate watched as the chaos-bringer lived up to her name (well, the name Kate thought of her as anyway) and "fired" a chaos bullet right at her face. But she didn't try to dodge it; she let it graze her cheek, leaving searing pain and a noticeable mark on her face. She smiled, almost endearingly, at the villain. "Another scar for my collection," she said brightly. "How kind of you." Her tone got darker as she continued, not ever moving the two swords from the villain's throat. "You can't even burn a parking lot to ash. You're no real threat. But if feeling like you're somebody makes you feel better, I won't stop you."

"I'm no threat?" Eris's eyes moved to the new scar on the woman's face before she leaned forward and licked it. "This nice little mark says otherwise." Her hands began to pump her energy into the blades at her throat, finally sick of having them there, no matter how enticing and thrilling it was. When the blades showed no signs of melting like she had expected, she let out a scoff. "I'm sick of this. Bored already. This is just turning into a see who's dick is bigger show. I'm not here for your entertainment or anyone else's for that matter." A wall of chaotic energy formed in front of her and she used it as a spring board to push away from the blades by her neck. Then, while still jumping back from Queen, she began to spawn more chaotic stepping stones. She ran along them, heading towards the window just on the other side of the room. "Catch me if you can, copper!" She called out with a cackle as she ran.

Kate rolled her eyes as the chaos-bringer tried to run from her. "Playing hard to get, I see," she called out after, her wings catapulting herself into the air as she gave chase. It took her seconds to reach the window, alighting on its sill like a bird as she watched the villain reach her. She crossed her arms in theatric disappointment. "Running? Really?" she said judgingly.

Eris couldn't help but laugh at the way Queen reacted to her attempting to flee. She paused on her stepping stones, her head tilting to the side as she eyed her. "Oh," she swooned as she batted her eyelashes at Queen. "I knew there was a reason I loved you." She laughed as the stepping stone under her vanished and she plummeted down towards the floor again. Her red energy formed below her, developing a slide and catching her before she hit the ground. She slid along it, giving a wave over her shoulder as she zipped along towards the open door of the room. As the slide came to an end, she popped off it and began a sprint down the hall, heading for where she hoped was the front door.

Kate sighed and shook her head as the villain once again flirted with her. This charade would never end, though Kate supposed she preferred it to her opponents being angry all the time. Still, she wondered what the chaos-bringer's motives were, considering how diametrically opposed the two were. She was in no hurry to catch up because she knew she could fly much faster, so she casually lept off her perch on the windowsill and gave chase, not bothering to go anywhere near her top flying speed. That wouldn't have helped anyway, considering the tight corridors, but even in her relaxed pace she caught up to the running villain in no time, choosing to fly behind her and match her pace. She made a point to let out a loud yawn as she did so, both announcing her presence and broadcasting just how hard she wasn't working.

Eris peeked over her shoulder to see Queen casually flying along behind her. She let out a bit of a laugh as she whirled around, running backwards, her pace slowing significantly. She let Queen's momentum carry her close as she threw her arms out to embrace her. She wrapped her arms tightly around the angel before she let her feet slip out from underneath her. Either Kate would carry their weight aloft or the two of them would crash down into the floor below. Either way, Eris didn't care as she brought her mouth up to kiss Kate. "I can't be mad at you. Look how your wings glisten in the light. You are beauty incarnate. Venus born in an angelic form."

Kate expected the villain to continue running, or to duck into a room, or to attempt to throw up some chaos walls. What she did not expect was for her to turn around and stop, making Kate run into her even at her relaxed pace. As Eris embraced Kate, she briefly kept the two aloft before being confused enough to stop using her wings, which resulted in the two falling and briefly tumbling, before coming to a rest on the ground. At was at this moment that Kate noticed she was being kissed once more by the villain. She had a flashback to the park, where they had first met...and fought. This time it was a little less bewildering, considering their brief past, but still confusing enough for Kate's mind to very briefly short circuit before snapping back and realizing she had kissed the villain back. This made her even more confused, which was only compounded by the chaos-bringer piling on the pillow talk. Kate tried a few times to speak unsuccessfully, before finally getting her mind back in (relative) working order. "What...is this?" she asked simply.

"This is love, my sweet Queen. Don't act like you didn't just kiss me back." Eris's hand slid along Queen's cheek, carrassing it lightly before she ran her finger along the newly formed mark there. "You have to admit, we make quite the couple." She laid there on her back, gazing into Queen's face with an alluring smile.

"Do we, though?" Kate asked. "People like you are who I came here to fight, and to defeat. Not because of some costumed heroes, but because it's what I was made to do. And we did just fight, did we not?" She sat in the silence for a bit, looking down at the villain's oddly comforting smile, considering her still-glowing red eyes and all. "How does...this...work?"

Eris allowed her head to tilt to the side. "It doesn't work." She said with a small laugh. "It's not supposed to work. You said it yourself, I'm the type of person you live to take down and yet," she waved a hand, gesturing to the two of them laying on the ground together. "Here we are. If there's anything I am very, very good at, it's breaking the rules." She slid her fingers through Kate's hair. "We just need to break a few rules and the world would be ours. No one would ever stop us, could ever hope to stop us. Just me and you."

"But see, that's where you lose me," Kate replied. "I'm not here to conquer. Never was, never will be. I've done enough conquering for generations. Here, I'm here for..." she paused. "Well, not that. I'll never want what you want, and at the end of the day I need to stop you if you're going to put peoples' lives at stake. Especially since none of the so-called 'heroes' can fight worth shit," she said with a small chuckle. "But...here, now... I like this."

Eris allowed her eyes to scan Kate's face, her thumb lightly rubbing along the woman's cheek. "It is nice, isn't it? Just take a moment for ourselves. The world be damned." Her lips pursed for a moment as she watched her. "What if, we just leave, yeah? Who's going to stop us? Those heroes definitely can't stop me and they don't give a damn about you. Let's just go. Live our lives how we want to live them, together. I'll even stop killing people, well, some people. I can't promise you a lie. Some people will die by my hand. That's just how life is for me but I could hold back. For you. If that's what you want from me. I would hold back for you. Maybe just kill the really bad heroes. You know, the ones doing it for all the wrong reasons. The fake ones." She was trying to negotiate in her own way. She was very, very bad at it but she was willing to try.

Kate sighed. "I don't mind if you kill evil people. You'd be doing me a favor, honestly. But even the heroes doing it for the wrong reasons are," she paused and lightly put her head over her face as if to cover it in shame, "...I hate to say it, but necessary." She made a show of spitting after she said that, as if she was spitting out the words she had just said. "I can't do everything for this town. One day real evil will show up and Liberty City will need everyone it can get to defeat it. Right now we have no chance. So as much as these pathetic heroes infuriate me...I need them to stay alive." She sighed and gazed into the villain's eyes. "Not to bring the mood down or anything."

Eris laughed lightly, moving her other hand to the woman's other cheek. "Then we continue this dance. Day in and day out, we go against each other. I do something to lure you out, you defeat me or chase me off. Rinse and repeat and we never get to be together like we want." She let her hands drop down on each side of her head, looking up at Queen with a dark smile. "I love you, Queen. You deserve to be recognized for your greatness. You are a true hero and if it means that I have to still be that villain until the world sees it too, then so be it. I'll be the villain the world needs so you can shine." She leaned forward, bringing her lips up to meet Queen's again in a deep kiss as her hands moved up to cradle her face. "I'll see you again, my sweet angel." The ground below her began to ripple as her power turned it to liquid. "And until then, fight the good fight and I'll continue to go bump in the night." She began to sink below the surface, her hands being the last things to leave.

Kate watched the villain sink into the ground, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop her this time. She lay there for a long time after, thinking about all that had just happened. "It doesn't have to be one or the other," she spoke softly, as if the chaos-bringer could still hear her. She felt torn at a deep level. She knew she could never abandon her purpose, but she wished deeply to continue down the road of love with the chaos woman. She knew there had to be a way to do both, but it would be tricky at best and cataclysmic at worst. Of course, the easy solution was for Eris to stop killing and causing mayhem, but Kate knew there was no chance. So, she resigned herself to staying the course, and hoping to steal a kiss from the mysterious woman whenever they found themselves alone after a fight. For now, she had some heroes to address.

---

Eris rose up out of the ground a few blocks away. She clawed her way through the liquid cement until she was on her knees on the sidewalk. She sat there for a while, thinking about what had just occured. She was so close, so incredibly close to getting Queen behind her. She drove her fist into the cement, feeling a sense of euphoria as her knuckles split on the sharp ground. She brought her hand up, looking at her bloody knuckles for a moment before she licked the blood from her hand. Her uninjured hand dragged along her face and she drifted back and away, Kersey's eyes being the ones to open and look around. She blinked a few times as she slowly stood from the pavement. She wasn't sure where she was or how much damage she had done. Her hand hurt and when she looked down, she saw her knuckles split. She hoped the blood on her hands were her own and not some poor doctor that Eris had killed like she said she would. She didn't have her bag. She didn't have her laptop. She didn't even have their trench coat. She was still in that hospital gown she was wearing when Eris took over. She needed to move, figure out where she was, and go home. She couldn't linger, not out in the open and so obvious. So wrapping the gown tighter around herself, she began a barefoot sprint to no where in particular. She was just going to keep running along the streets until she recognized something, anything. After all, all roads eventually lead to Rome.

---

Kate eventually made her way out of the compound. Despite the fact that Eris had escaped, Kate considered her efforts a success as no doctors had been killed at the villain's hands. Still, as much as Kate had to admit that she did have a spark with the chaos-bringer, she was not happy that the villain was loose again, and undoubtedly soon to cause trouble once more. But for now, she was ready to put her mind at ease for the rest of the day. She decided to take a lazy flight over the city instead of taking the subway or a cab, as snaking through the skyline was always relaxing. Unfortunately for her though, her respite was short-lived as about halfway home she heard some commotion. She turned the corner to see what the fuss was, and...well, shit.

A huge four-armed...thing appeared to be terrorizing the block in front of her. She could see a handful of heroes attempting to do something, noticing an oversized girl the most as she seemed to be the best match for the monster. But it wasn't looking fantastic for the heroes, which made Kate roll her eyes, and then she saw it. That lady from the park that had interrupted Kate's fight with Eris. Her anger flared up immediately, in such a way that really proved she was deserving of being a citizen of Liberty City. "Oh FUCK this asshole," she yelled, and flew full speed at the battle. As she did so, she manifested a huge two-handed spear and targeted the large monster. For one, she felt that the girl from the park wasn't as big of a threat, and for two, she saw said girl get pinned to the ground by an unfamiliar hero as she approached. Attacking the monster was the better tactical choice in that moment, so she careened straight for it. As she closed in, she lit the spear with flames, and used both arms to send the spear straight at the monster's chest. She didn't know what the monster was made of, but this was a great way to gauge what it could take.

@BunniesOfDoom @Omega Man @Eviledd1984 @Silver Carrot @Azure Bubbles

Dr. Eileen Fang

@Omega Man @Azure Bubbles @Eviledd1984 @Silver Carrot @Finetales

As the other heroes began taking the aliens out one by one, Eileen found that she was regaining control of more and more of her disabled drones. This not only suggested that whatever was disabling her tech was linked the aliens' consciousness, but reclaiming her drones gave her back more scanning power, and she could specifically analyze any signals that seemed to suddenly decrease with every downed alien, allowing her to zero-in on the cause of the disruptive effect. Still, within the safety of Lady Liberty's hideout, Eileen could contribute nothing towards the effort to quell the chaos in the city. She considered how rapidly things were spiraling, escalating out of control. Was this a portent of things to come? It felt like all she could do right now was take a step back, observe, and attempt to plan and prepare.

Eileen felt a wave of relief as her drones captured footage of the golden hero descending like lightning upon the four-armed giant. Right now, the Queen of Gold seemed to be the most powerful hero in Liberty City, so her presence was always reassuring, though this power discrepancy unfortunately bred a certain degree of condescension from the powerful entity. But if all a so-called 'hero' like Eileen could do was sit back and hope for victory, then the Queen in Gold had every right to be dismayed by her 'peers'. Still, Eileen hoped that, despite her inaction, she was in the process of laying the foundations for future success. If one hoped to win at chess, then one must learn it first. Figuring out how to disable powers, figuring out how to shield her tech from interference and in turn figure out how to interfere with her opponents' tech should grant her unprecedented control on the battlefield against other superpowered individual. She only needed one last piece. Magic.

The winged Queen of Gold hit the scene like a champ. Wielding a two handed spear she almost sent the behemoth into shock enough to snap out of the mind control. As if the ending was already foretold the woman with the strange skull helmet had disappeared. Was this all a distraction? Several of the heroes questioned just what the hell was going on, and Supercop had hit the scene minutes later to finish with the clean-up and questioning.

"I hate that I missed all the action, kid!" Supercop exclaimed to a worn out Son of Liberty and other heroes.

Painkiller worked with several EMT's off to the side of the scene for several minutes while police finished taking in the still mindf***ed alien formerly known as Kid Cosmo.

"I'm gonna head back to HQ, you gonna come back by after? Might get a few pizza's..."
SoL asked the green clad Painkiller.

"Nah man, I'll probably just call it a night. Using my powers this much usually taxes me..." Painkiller replied.

"Spellbound, you gonna come check out the Freedom Fortress? Or you gotta run errands for one of your relatives again?" Son of Liberty asked his cloaked compatriot.

"Xero! You weren't half bad either my man, you like pizza? Wanna join this hero Alliance I'm putting together?" he asked the other new face in the superhero crowd.

Judah didn't see Sam. The superhumans in civilian clothes always disappeared into the crowds easier. And the Queen usually just came and went with those wings of hers.

Across town...

Judy Juggernaut left the Academy on a motorcycle. She tapped the side of her helmet to activate a communication device of some kind within the helmet.

"Did you get away? I don't care about the alien. Just make sure you're not followed..." she spoke to whomever was on the other end.

@Silver Carrot@Stern Algorithm@Eviledd1984@Azure Bubbles@Finetales

@Omega Man @Finetales @Azure Bubbles @Stern Algorithm

Abigail “Abby” Blavatsky

&

James “Jimmy” Hung

Abby gave a long glance at Kate, having remembered how she embarrassed her earlier. In her mind, she was planning a lot of horrible things she was going to do to her. Her train of thought was interrupted when she noticed Kid Cosmo losing the fight. Turning off his pain inhibitors so he could continue fighting.

James, meanwhile, focused on taking down Kid Cosmo. Floating a few feet off the ground and running full speed towards him. Giving the former hero a good kick in the head. Combined with his and Kate’s attack, it was surely enough to take him out. And in this, he was correct as the giant alien landed onto the ground with a hard thud. James let out a victorious yell as he raised his arms high in the air.

Abby could see she was not going to win this battle.“Damn it.” She cursed as she flew away.

Jimmy, meanwhile, felt pretty good, since he assumed he had done pretty well in the fight. The idea of getting pizza sounded amazing. “Hell yeah i’d love to get a pizza. I’ll go halfsie if that is what we’re doin?" The young hero looked around at the other heroes. Wondering if they were on the same wavelength.

A few moments later

Abby was in her hideout, which was an abandoned amusement park. The villain was pacing back and forth, trying to think of her next move. Deep in thought, she was pulled out by her phone ringing. Snapping her fingers, a clown brought her phone over. Abby listened to the voice on the other end. ” Yeah i got away, and I made sure I was not followed. What’s our next plan of action?” She didn’t sound sorry for failing in the mission, but Judy didn’t seem to care as long as she got away.

Abby shooed away the clown while she continued pacing back and forth.

None of this day had felt real. When backup arrived, everything had seemed like a blur. Now she was no longer fighting, Sam stepped back and shrank back down to normal size, before collapsing to her knees. She didn't remember getting back up but she must have done because her next concrete spell of lucidness wasgiving her statement to the police. She then heard the Heroes talk amongst each other. She heard them talk about having pizzaat 'HQ'. Going somewhere they belonged. Some were helping paramedics and civilians.They were being thanked, and appreciated. They were looked at with admiration.

Sam raised her hand. She wanted to call out to them. Asl them if she could join them. If she could be a Hero. But the words caught in her throat. Did she deserve to? They'd glare at her. Laugh at her if she was lucky. They'd find out about her somehow. No, no, she didn't deserve to even ask.

But what was she going to do now? No job. Won't even have a home in a month's time.

What did she have to lose?

"Excuse me!" Sam called out to Painkiller and Son of Liberty. Her courage evaporated the moment she had their attentionas she realised she hadn't planned the working first. "C-can I come with you?"

Dr. Eileen Fang

@Omega Man @Azure Bubbles @Eviledd1984 @Silver Carrot @Finetales

Eileen leaned back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief as her allies came out of the fight victorious. Though she regretted not being able to be out there in the frontlines with them, she had gathered a good amount of data and should have some new capabilities soon. She watched through her drones as the heroes gathered together and sent a drone towards them. "Hey, if you all are gonna meetup at our HQ, I can start taking pizza orders," Eileen offered. After taking down everyone's preferences, Eileen called up a local pizza place and drove over to pick up the order; she didn't want it getting delivered to the HQ, not even to the apartment building that it was hiding under. She had heard about how people could tell there was going to be a major military operation when the Pentagon started ordering a bunch of pizzas, and Eileen wasn't stupid enough to allow herself to be tracked in such away.

She returned to the HQ with the pizzas in tow and tried to tidy the place up as much as possible without overstepping her status as a guest in Judah's late mother's base. She may not have been much help today, but at least she can throw the other heroes a decent welcoming party.