[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/SR52k84p/54b4e63d635603b22d80f72a4ba2be54.png[/img][hr][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019a36d3-4be9-7616-9783-4fa7574f5e95.webp[/img][hr][@Morose][@Achronum][@Blizz][@Forsythe][@Kirah][@PatientBean][@Trainerblue192][hr][h3][color=AC3EFF][b]Morning - Thr. December 16th, 2038 - New Orleans, Louisiana[/b][/color][/h3][/center][hr]	April looked on in awe, mesmerized by the events that unfolded before her. A stray tear fell from her eyes, as the Entity reached out and embraced everyone, a warm familiar sensation enveloping her. And then as quickly and suddenly as the Entity had formed, it was gone - replaced by her dearest friends, by Danni and Dorian, and her cousin’s spirit, slowly falling back into his still floating body. She was speechless and still for a moment - a little stunned at Leah’s hit, given that Leah had been the one to call for a ceasefire. She hadn’t thought Leah could be two-faced like that. It unsettled her slightly, thinking about her obtusely honest ex-girlfriend being capable of deceit… so she set it aside. 

	[color=42A9FF]“Are they allowed to do that?”[/color] she asked, as Andy suggested that the Young Avengers simply surrender in defeat, after everything that had happened. She knew that she ought to have made an attack - but she felt guilty. She didn’t want to fragile the tentative peace, not until she was sure that everyone was okay - Danni looked like death, and she wanted nothing more than to rush over to him to check on him, and Dorian… April bit her lip. She didn’t know how he was doing. 

	But at the same time, this was the contest she had been preparing for for years - she didn’t want it to just end like this. She didn’t want the Young Avengers to give up. She wanted them to fight till the last one standing - for them to be able to [i]really[/i] prove that Excelsior was just as good as them. [color=42A9FF]“But if you guys are good to fight… I’d love to continue beating the shit out of each other for the prize?”[/color] she rubbed the back of her neck, before pulling water around her fists like boxing gloves. 

	Percy, of course, was having an even [i]worse[/i] time. He’d fled to the stands, only to be pulled back down by the Entity, hugged and his hair ruffled. If he had been on the edge of a meltdown, the physical contact pushed him over. His skin felt like it was on fire, swarmed by ants with the touch. He couldn’t control his face or his emotions, as the ugliest tears [i]roared[/i] out of him, so thick that he couldn’t see. He wanted to be anywhere else, he couldn’t breathe, he didn’t know where he wanted to be, but he knew that he didn’t want to [i]be[/i]. The roar of the crowd was deafening, what he could see of the lights was blinding, and even the feeling of air on his skin was like a lash. He was beyond overstimulated, every sense dialed up to a thousand. His heart was going faster and faster, the energy of his powers swelling up around him, and then… Suddenly, he was gone, reappearing not on the stage or in the arena, but in medical, the doctors having made the decision to remove him from the competition. 

	April’s eyes widened. [color=42A9FF]“Um… Percy?”[/color]

[hr]	As for the reigning champions, the Young Avengers, America flew down to Danni, cheering for him with a victory whoop. “That was incredible!!” she enthused, clapping him on the back. “You’ll have to tell me what that’s like! And with the [i]demiurge[/i] mixed in, [i]dios mío[/i] that’s intense shit you just did!!” She was positively beaming, until her face fell for a moment. Her clap on Danni’s back had been a [i]little[/i] too strong, evidently - as he collapsed to the ground in a faint, and vanished, evacuated to medical a moment later. “Shit… I didn’t… Oh boy… I really need to learn my own strength, huh?” she bit her lip, before looking over to Leah. 

	America pointed at Leah, and then at herself, and then banged her fists together. She had an iconic plan - grapple Leah, and fly with her up into the sky, so high up that she wouldn’t have any access to Earth. And this plan would have worked, had she not been greedy - had her first attempt to grapple Leah leave her overpowered, and on her second, [i]pinned[/i] - ending up in the very situation she had envisioned for Leah. With her arms pinned together, she was struggling, straining, unable to fly. Awkward. 

	Patriot wasn’t doing well either. He was in bad shape, one punch away from collapsing and not getting up. Each breath was agony, as if metal was scraping up against his lungs. “Cassie - try - try plan - fuck - just - make some space!” he hacked out. He hit his own abdomen, as if that would jumpstart his healing factor, but it did little for him. “Billy - get your - get your fucking head in the game!” he added. 

	Cassie nodded - in her giant size, she had a relatively easy way to make space. The threat of a fireball had gone away, so it was okay for them to group up. And with Billy clearly rattled and Eli on his last leg, they needed to defend each other better - the few of them left. She flung her arms out, knocking back Andy and Sabine - Sabine who would be seeing stars, already so critically wounded from America earlier - Leah and Dorian and April managed to dodge the attack, in one way or another. But the goal had been to create space, and to that effect, it worked, as Cassie prepared herself to defend. 

	“C’mon, Billy… If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to,” Hulkling said softly, mid conversation with his boyfriend. It had started telepathically, as Billy had slipped back into his body - and continued through gestures, as he guarded his boyfriend, flying them down to where Cassie and Eli were. “I don’t care about the contest. I care about [i]you[/i].”

	“‘M fine,” Billy murmured, the blue magic in his eyes somewhat dimmer, as he chanted out a protection spell, a glowing astral shield appearing around him. Voices and visions were rattling around in his head, and he was there, but not really [i]there[/i]. The Entity had been a beautiful dream for Danni and Dorian; for him, it had been a nightmare, one he hadn’t quite woken up from even now. “Let’s just finish this,” he grumbled, as his chest heaved slightly - as he almost fell to pieces. 

	“Are you… Fine, we’ll finish this. But we’re talking about this after, okay? We - we promised each other. No more secrets,” Teddy argued, setting his jaw. He then glanced out at Excelsior. “Come on, then! Finish us already! Whatever you have to throw at us, we can take it!” He blinked back the tears that threatened to spill. “What are you waiting for?!”