Blazion

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 25th, 2:28 AM
Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

In the aftermath of the quaking footsteps, booming voice, not to mention the rumble of machinery and moving water, the silence was nearly deafening. In the middle of the night as it was, pitch dark surrounded the facility for miles as the city's power grid was in disarray after the surge of voltage being redirected through the Titan's body. Now he lay still.

Above the great body of Cronus, Grim's Iron Fang armor hummed quietly as the jet-wings worked to keep her hovering in the air. Beneath the glowing gaze of the mask her eyes roamed along the smoking, charred being before them, half submerged in water.

To be honest, she wasn't expecting it to be that easy. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Yet through their combined efforts, mortals had brought down a Titan. A literal mythical being. It was empowering and humbling all at once.

With the sparking of the hydroelectric dam having been exhausted not even sparks emerged from the turbine house as Grim set down near the foot of the man, flipping open a compartment in the armor on her left arm. After all, when else would she have an opportunity to collect samples like this?

"Good work," Was the short comment that filtered through Grim's helmet as she moved, the modulated voice being broadcast to her communicators. "Everyone stable?"

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 25th, 1:58 AM
Washington DC

The roll of persistent thunder echoed through the streets of America’s capital, rattling windows and causing the abandoned vehicles packed tightly together to jolt on their wheels. The attack had occurred without any foreshadowing, allowing no one to evacuate beforehand. Some had chosen to flee by any means possible, while others cowered in their homes in the naive hope that whatever was happening would pass them by.

Flames painted the night in an orange hue as parts of the city were consumed by fire, a looming figure of impossible size standing above it all. His footsteps like earthquakes, his breathes akin to a hurricane...he was the Lord of the Titans, Cronus.

His snowy beard whipped about in the wind of his own destruction, massive scythe cutting a path through apartment complexes and office buildings alike on the harvest deity’s path towards the “White house”. He was to lead this invasion, to wipe away the seat of power of the strongest mortal kingdom as a show of their undeniable power. This was the task given to him by his…benefactor, a creature that seemed to only value chaos and disharmony.

But he had other plans.

This world had become rotten under the uncaring eye of his children, its people deeply flawed and broken. He would play along with the one who freed him from captivity for now, but it would only be to facilitate the return of the Golden Age.

“Ah,” his voice echoed across the city, being carried unnaturally on the wind to the unwilling ears of over half a million people. “The seat of decay, at last.”

Stepping out of the urban sprawl, the King of the Titans set his eyes upon the “White House”, and the similarly colored structures adjacent to it. Though constructed of marble, no one had even bothered to paint it, instead leaving the rock’s drab and stale natural color for all to see! But it should be no surprise: these were increasingly flawed, broken creatures he was dealing with.

Their leader had - in all likelihood - fled to safety when the attack first began, as humans are wont to do. Still, destroying the monuments of their political power will undoubtedly be a devastating blow to their morale.

And he could rid the world of that dull, uncolored marble.

Striding towards the diminutive house, a smile slid across Cronus’ face as tank shells and missiles impacted his body by the dozens, doing little more than giving him a mild itch here and there. Moving past them with little concern for whether or not he crushed them underfoot, his voice once more traveled through the air as his scythe was raised overhead. “Behold, humans! The destruction of your ruler’s throne!”

Tank’s brow furrowed at the sight of the massive figure storming through DC making an absolute mess of the place. It wasn’t a surprise how much was being destroyed but nonetheless upset the big man knowing how people in and around the path were in a lot of trouble. From where him and Emerald Knight were it would only be moments before they could be on the titan but the sight certainly put things into perspective, it's one thing to be told what your going up against and another thing entirely to take in the scale. Not to mention the military blazing away with absolutely no effect on they’re target which reminded him of fighting the Arab Federation’s forces. He was growing more sure he would have to really let loose to make a dent let alone get the attention of a being that large and tough.

“Got vision on him now and wow do we have our work cut out for us.” Girard said giving the other duo heads up on where him and his partner were, switching to Emerald Knight for the last bits before they got stuck in battle. “Lets give the big bastard his lumps for messing up the city, might try getting that scythe of his away from him while your up there since it looks like bad news, I’ll do the same if it comes my way down below.”

At this point, it was almost in character for him to be fashionably late, zooming through the skies in a bright green blur. First it was North Springs, then Gotham, now this damn dam. One would think that a powerhouse like the Emerald Knight would be the first responder to something on this scale. Normally, they’d be right. However, due to the size and scope of the invasion, and who he was paired up with, Emerald Knight’s powers made him the obvious choice for damage control and civilian safety. He was the one to sweep through, take out straggling monsters, and help evacuate any remaining civilians. Not all of them could be saved, but he did what he could.

It wasn’t even as if he could just walk in and walk out on this one. Before of his heavy hitter status and powerful set of abilities, it made him a prime candidate for going straight for the big man himself, Cronus.

He was on the way to Washington D.C. to go and lure him out. Away from the important government buildings, away from any figureheads still in the area, and towards a stage that was rigged from the start in favor of the mortals. Making Cronus give chase wouldn’t be easy, though. Emerald Knight knew this. Tank should already be there, causing havoc and making a scene for the King of Titans to be drawn towards. After that, He just needed to step in and help Tank string him on for a bit to where the others were. Simple plan.

He swooped in low as he arrived on D.C. “It’s so easy to be late when you’re the one stopping in every lefthand town to beat down a few harpies!” He complained over comms, arriving on the scene. “Might have taken longer for us to both do it, but at least we wouldn’t be disjointed. Sorry about my late appearance.” He knew it wasn’t anyone’s fault. That’s just how it was. Right now, he needed to watch Tank smash up stuff with his impossible strength to get the attention of a god.

He closed in. He readied his ring and sent a few missiles at the titan. Omnidirectional combat was something that was hammered down during training on Oa. Because green lanterns could fly, it was important to learn to be aware of things coming from every direction, even if poor little earth guns didn’t even scratch his shields.

The big guy started to relax the fine tuned control on his strength while ratcheting up his weight, trying to think of a total fit for smashing into a titan with that would definitely get his attention. He eventually settled on somewhere around 100,000 tons arbitrarily, it sounded good to him at the time, before dashing forward and with a powerful hop sending himself rocketing directly for the kneecap ready to make his presence felt. Tank was definitely worried about what might happen on impact to everything but his target as he hadn’t ever used this much force before but now seemed like the time to do it if any. This was going to be interesting.

The impact of Tank slamming into Cronus’ kneecap created a thunderous crack that rose above even the sounds of the flames now engulfing Washington DC. Despite this, his leg had only budged slightly in response to the attack, with no apparent damage having been inflicted. Turning his head slightly, the Titan swept his broad gaze across the city in confusion. “Who dares to strike the King of the Titans?”

Missiles homed in, they screamed and spun around one another as they closed in on their target. The booming voice of the titan reached Emerald Knight’s easily, and the Green Lantern replied in his humble tone.

“Oh, you know,” He sent another fleet of missiles, swooping in and around like a green dart. “Just the protectors of earth. I’m not sure where magic fits into my jurisdiction, but you’re going down either way.”

He knew he had to split up his missiles and keep his tactics different from the last. The third set, instead of being close together, spread quickly, intent on hitting the titan from all directions.

“Brrnn…!” Cronus grunted, the bombardment of missiles from every side causing the immense deity to stagger back as he slashed wildly in the air, unable to properly see from the explosive impacts engulfing his vision. While Tank had shown too much restraint in his initial strike, the repaired Green Lantern Ring of Preston had proven capable of extracting pain from the Titan King.

When the smoke at last cleared from his eyes, Cronus was quick to center his focus on the emerald glow above him. Moving with a speed and grace that should be most alien to a being of such immense size, he swung his scythe towards the Emerald Knight, hoping to annihilate him in a singular blow. “Insolent gnat!”

And extra push of force was required for him to beat the speed of the swinging scythe. While blowing up the Titan, Emerald Knight was forced to remind him that the fight wasn’t here. Instead, he and Tank still needed to draw him away from the ruined capital.

He could feel the displayed air behind him from the swing of the scythe, and a single gasp escaped his lips. Not a whole lot could make him worry like that anymore. Insurmountable power made that feeling almost nonexistent. In all honesty, he didn’t mind feeling such worry. Being hit probably wouldn’t be that bad, but Cronus wouldn’t be so slow next time. “You’re gonna have to be a little faster than that.”

He began to fly away from Cronus, but only so far and fast enough to make him want to give chase.

“You shall not escape my wrath,” Cronus promised him, his scythe continuing to swipe at the much smaller Emerald Knight. It was akin to an adult human attempting to swat a housefly, a situation the Titan quickly adapted to by twisting his weapon in his hands. His next series of strikes were instead made with the flat body of his scythe, attempting to pulverize the Green Lantern with it.

The plan seemed to - ostensibly - be working, the behemoth God pursuing his opponent away from the burning city without a second thought. Despite his power, he clearly displayed the intellect of one who might mistake an infant for a stone.

“I will smear your blood and entrails across this world!” He continued to roar.

Had it not been for the heat of battle, Emerald Knight almost would have stopped at the comment. He was almost tempted to fire back a quippy reply, but he only responded with some smaller, less impactful missiles. Just enough to keep Cronus’ attention fixed on him and to keep drawing him to the dam.

“Alright, Tank, time to move!”

Girard had at least gotten the attention of the Titan though not by much and it was Emerald Knight giving him more of a thrashing from above. Obviously what he did was nowhere near enough and honestly why should it have been? This was something he was having to size up on the fly and if that was what it took to make a mosquito bite then he was going to have to hammer the throttle, so to speak, on laying into this particular problem. He supposed it was going to come to it eventually at the rate but hey time to show what he could really do when pushed.

The big guy did just that as he began barraging both of Cronus’ legs with everything he had in just about every way he could within his little zone. Honestly he wanted the big bastard to feel it and to know he could definitely be hurt because what would piss off an age old being more than being smacked around by someone so tiny on both fronts.

“HRNGAAH!” Cronus roared in pain as his legs were knocked clean out from under him, his massive form toppling down onto the forest outside of the capital. Having cleared substantial distance in just a short time due to his immense size, he was now laying sprawled safely away from any civilians.

Slamming a powerful hand down onto the ground with enough force to cause tremors for miles, the Titan King began pushing himself up. “Nnn...who dares?”

Tank leaped the distance in one bound determined to catch right back up because he wasn’t done yet. He landed with a shockwave, smaller but nonetheless, turning to face the angry giant who was attempting to push himself up.

“That would be me!” He yelled out fully intent on getting the attention of the Titan. “The one who is about to feed you a whole humble pie!”

He quickly dashed over to Cronus’ head building up some speed for a proper takeoff as launched himself like an angry comet angling back to headbutt his fallen enemy right between the eyes. He knew one way to get to the high and mighty that he favored most, strike the ego, and he couldn’t think of anything else at the moment that showed quite a much disrespect than a mortal like him going head to head.

For an instant after their heads collided, there was no sound. The air in the immediate area had instantly burned away, and it was only when that momentary vacuum was filled that the ear-shattering soundwaves were at last heard. Windows in the next several states over shattered once it reached them, but this merely heralded the titanic earthquake that resulted from his head slamming back into the ground with enough force to instantly create a crater several miles in diameter, debris being ejected high into the atmosphere as a result.

Blood fell from the point of impact on Cronus, literal rivers of blood streaming down his face as his eyes shot open. Veins the width of roads appeared in the milky lakes of his sclera as he unleashed a scream that once again made the very earth beneath them tremble.

Rising to his feet in an instant, Cronus began to spin his scythe beneath and over his arms in an attempt to to hit his miniscule opponents. Each swing of his titanic blade rent the air, and hurricane force winds began to churn around him. “INSOLENCE!”

---

December 25th, 2:03 AM
Conowingo Dam, Maryland

The clouds hanging in the air high above the large reservoir of Conowingo Dam broke, a slice along the white trailing the dark aircraft that plummeted down at an extraordinary rate. The Grim Jet cut up just feet above the water’s surface, almost skimming along the nine thousand acres of water as the magitech jets propelled it towards the barrier holding the water back. It was only coming up at this human-made wall that the jet slowed, drifting to stop beside the large building just beside the gushing waterfalls.

”Right, here we are. I’ve already warned emergency services in Maryland to prepare for a power outage. Give me ten minutes to work on the turbines.” The cockpit of the large jet opened, the metal clad Grim stepping out onto the nose without a backwards glance to her other passenger. The wings on the back of the Iron Fang armor spread, jets igniting as she hopped off. Landing before the turbine house she couldn’t help but mutter under her breath.

”I don’t have time for this.”

With that one sentence the door hiding what she needed was ripped off its hinges, a metal clad hand tossing it to the side. As she stepped inside the lights came on, illuminating the eleven turbines housed within the large building. Without hesitation she moved to the back, where the higher power ones were, and far more delicately opened the panel on the large machine. On the visor that covered her eyes a small signal flashed with an unseen motion, her communicator turned on to broadcast across the line to the other three heroes she was connected to.

”This shouldn’t be too hard to modify, but we’re going to have to be careful not to overload it too much before Cronus is near, King Orin. The majority of your efforts are going to have to be minutes before he arrives.”

King Orin unbuckled the harness keeping him restrained in his seat and stood up, leaping out of the jet a moment after Grim. Landing atop the dam Orin surveyed the manmade lake and turned to look at the artificial waterfalls tumbling down below. For a moment he thought to be offended by this taming of the wild forces of water, but he reminded himself that Atlantis had similar hydroelectric generators on a smaller scale. Stepping up onto the iron railing designed to keep unfortunate idiots from falling into the lake, Orin keyed his communicator on to respond to Grim.

”I’ll use the time to scout below the surface. Try and see where to direct the currents for their best effect. Just let me know when you’re ready.” Orin said before stepping off the railing and landing on the surface of the water. The Atlantean king took a few steps out on the surface, making distance between himself and the dam.

Aquaman could feel the strength of the currents below, the water being divided into channels as it was forced through the turbines. A moment later, Orin allowed himself to sink, taking his first breath of cold, fresh water. It was a strange sensation, somehow harsher than the salty brine he was used to, but oddly refreshing. Ignoring the pull of the currents, Orin sank lower as he peered through the darkness at the mostly drab wall of the dam. He could see the turbine channels now, and he could feel the currents sweeping through them. The dam was impressive, but not entirely efficient. Whorls and eddies caught at the edges of the channels, slowing the water and creating drag. Aquaman could fix that. Add in a large rush of water thanks to his control over the Trident, and Orin imagined he could supercharge the dam to its new capacity (Thanks to Grim’s tinkering) in just a couple minutes.

Eight minutes after the duo had set down the first of the high powered turbines had its safety protocols disabled, along with a few modifications to allow it to pump extra energy from the falling water. To be honest, it wasn’t safe at all and the turbine was likely to be fried after all was said and done. Yet here Grim was, repeating the same modifications to the second of four high powered turbines. It took considerably less time now that she knew what she was doing.

Then again, they weren’t exactly looking to wear kid gloves when faced with a Titan.

”King Orin,” The deep rumble of the modified voice came on over the comms once more a few minutes later, as two of the turbines were now ready to go. It was really a good thing these magitech communicators worked underwater. ”Start increasing the flow - slowly. I’ve set two of the more powerful ones so far to start storing the extra charge, working on the third now. We’ll get them up to nearly full and then overload all eleven when Cronus is near.”

Aquaman had nearly finished clearing the silt from the bottom of the dam channels when Grim’s message came through. He grinned to himself as he scanned the expansive concrete wall in front of him. This was it. If Grim had done everything on his end correctly, the dam would begin building up energy, and then it was just up to Tank and Emerald Knight to bait Cronus to their location.

”Affirmative, Grim. May luck be with us all tonight.” Aquaman said, before tightening his grip on the Trident of Neptune and backing away from the dam. Once he got a better viewpoint, Aquaman pointed the trident in the direction of the dam and began to channel power. The currents around him began to speed up, and Orin made sure to spend special care on the channels themselves. Eliminate drag, speed the currents, faster and faster and the electricity would begin to build. ”I’m starting, Grim. Currents are moving, you should be seeing a spike in power now.”

”You’re correct,” Grim rumbled over the comms, taking one last glance at the fourth high powered turbine. The storage levels were building slowly but surely, which meant she had to move quickly to modify the low powered turbines now. All in all, their side was working out as planned.

Now just to get the main player in position, then the sparks would fly.

---

The distance between Washington DC and Maryland might be a distance worthy of an automobile for humans, but for a Titan such as Cronus, it was but a short jaunt. In barely any time at all, he had chased Emerald Knight and Tank all the way to the Conowingo dam, neither noticing or caring. With his immense size and speed, he could return to the human’s capital in an instant once he had squashed the insignificant gnats tormenting him so.

They had even had the audacity to injure him! Him, King of the Titans!

Of course, he could heal from these wounds near-instantaneously, but it was nevertheless a blasphemy that couldn’t be tolerated. Much of the surrounding forest had been hacked down just from the aftershocks of his immense scythe missing its targets, and it would only require one of those errant swings to completely obliterate the dam as well.

“Your death is imminent, human filth!” Cronus thundered, eyes scanning sky and ground alike. “End this futile game and accept your fate!”

Girard turned his head back to get the view of the Titan hunting them down and true to form the huge being was wrecking everything in his path while trying to get a decent swing to connect into them. He had been having to adjust his weight and mass on the fly to keep the massive scythe from being able to find proper purchase. There was the feeling that maybe they might have done the job of angering Cronus just a bit too well but it also was kind of a point of pride in having done it. After all it was going to plan for the moment with them being practically on top of the dam now quick as anything.

”I hope you have the dam ready because we brought a special guest, a very pissed off special guest!” Tank said confirming as if they weren’t aware of the huge being probably casting a shadow over the place. “We should have him in position momentarily, just need to get him to move a little more!”

In a similar train of thought, Emerald Knight figured that while making Cronus angry enough to give chase, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to continue spurring him on, only making him angrier and more likely to kill them. However, He refused to back down. Every few moments he would give Cronus a new reason to hate the green suited mortal. He wanted to make sure, just in case, that Cronus’ attention was dead set on them.

“We’re getting there!” Emerald Knight called back to Tank. “Just a little more, almost there!” Other than lead him on and make sure that the Titan ended up in the right spot, there was little else for the Emerald Knight to do. He could create constructs to ensure that Cronus would be unable to escape the trap, but it was up to the others to make sure that the plan was carried through to the end.

So it was time.

The shadow of the great being had fallen over the dam before the three had arrived, giving signal to the two heroes already busy at work within. By now, the turbines had been released from any safety measures, and were nearing full capacity with King Orin’s gentle efforts. Yet, it wasn’t just the sting of full capacity they were looking for, now that Cronus was near. It was a storm.

”Your Majesty,” Grim rumbled over the comms in her modulator’s flat way. She stood apart from the turbines now, hovering to gaze upon them from above. Their efforts were coming to a head, now all it took was just that little bit more, and to spring the trap. ”The turbines are ready and Cronus approaches. Unleash the flood.”

Orin cracked a smile and chuckled at Grim’s approval, spreading his arms as he began to channel more power through the Trident. ”Your wish is my command, Grim!” He affirmed before twisting to point the Trident at the dam itself and focusing his powers. Water began to rush around him, the currents speeding up and up, past flash-flood speeds, surpassing the strengths of a waterfall, the magically enhanced currents roared and bellowed as the water forced its way through the channels and past the turbines. Hundreds and thousands of gallons of water overflowed and overcharged the dam, relying only on Grim’s tinkering and the promise of nearby release.

”And Grim, we’ve worked closely enough by now; please don’t call me Your Majesty. Orin is fine, or Aquaman if you insist.”

”As you wish, King Orin.”

As the cascade of water worked its way through the dam, the fail safes that were once put in place began to fail. Inside the building that housed the turbines, the machines began to let off sparks of warning as the energy climbed. As soon as those sparks began to manifest the wrenching of metal filled the room. The power of the Iron Fang armor showed as the metal slides against the wall were already twisted to connect to one another, and with the power building Grim forcefully pulled one end of the metal lining to the largest of the turbines. Just like that, electricity began coursing through the walls of the building - turning the building lethal as the drab grey metal heated up to fluorescent whites and reds.

When the immense foot of the Titan at last came crashing down onto the dam, the darkness of the night was instantly sundered. Countless billions of volts coursed up through the behemoth deity, the power of the dam augmented far beyond its natural capacity by Orin’s trident. Almost immediately, lights began to switch off throughout the state of Maryland as the dam that powered so many businesses and households was overloaded.

So intense was the luminous current of power that surged through Cronus, that his own thunderous screams of agony could barely be heard. Finally, as his body fell forward onto Conowingo Dam, the darkness reasserted itself fully. Collapsing beneath his immense weight, the Titan found himself sprawled out onto his back amidst the ruins of the once proud hydroelectric facility.

Pillars of smoke slowly trailed from the burnt flesh that now covered his body, his eyes rolled back into his head.

One Piece: The Romance of Blackfin (OPEN)

If there was one immediate change that had been noticeable in the battle, it was that slavers and soldiers alike were avoiding their little group like the plague. The slavers, in fact, had gone from being on the precipice of victory to a complete route as word of their leader’s defeat spread throughout their ranks.

If the Kingdom’s soldiers had time to get their act together at that point, they could likely wipe them out with superior numbers. Thankfully, with both armies still confused, their path through the portside town was straightforward. It took mere minutes before they were standing before the docks.

“There she is!” Siobhan pointed to the fishing boat they’d sailed here in. It had probably been kept under guard after their ‘capture’, but after the fighting began was probably forgotten.

Leaping onto the boat from the docks, the Captain of two waved for her crew to join her. ”Hurry up then, things’ll get messy if they’re allowed to gather their wits.”

”I thought I was eating him?” Came the grumbled reply, no real bite to the words as Kailani jumped into the little fishing boat. It was still so small, especially compared to the pirates’ boat. That was fine though. Soon. ”Didn’t even get any cake either…”

”You won’t eat anyone if we get overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Also, what’s with the obsession with cake? Seems pretty weird for a cannibal.” Mushuro had just enough strength to help propel himself along as they made a beeline for the little boat and then slump over in it, though it was an improvement from the near-paralyzed state he’d been in before.

”Well I don’t only eat people! That’d be unhealthy. But Siobhan kept telling me how great cake is - I’ve never had it!”

Seeing that her crew had boarded their modest vessel, Siobhan wasted no time in drawing the anchor and hoisting the sails. She didn’t know if the Queen or whoever was commanding this battle would still want her head or not, but there was little advantage in sticking around to find out. Besides, she was almost certain they would still want to see Mushuro executed for everything he’d done while under the effects of his allergy.

Watching the coastline shrink as they drifted out further, the redhead’s eyes shifted slowly towards the far larger vessel of the slavers who had attacked this town. It’d have been cool if they could’ve taken such a huge ship, but she had sadly damaged its central mast. Besides, it would take way more than the three of them to operate it.

Taking the wheel in her hand, they slowly made their way past seemingly disabled galleon and embattled town. Dozens of rowboats could be seen returning to the slaver vessel, though she had to wonder how they would retreat with their mast damaged as it was.

It was only after a good few minutes that she realized retreat wasn’t their only goal, illustrated by the wave that swept up over the side of The Coral Skipper. Turning, the redhead narrowed her eyes at the opposing ship, its numerous cannons now leveled at them.

”Fuck me,” She muttered, balling her still gloved fists in preparation to play defense for them until they were able to escape.

Mushuro stepped up beside Siobhan, having recovered more of his strength as they escaped, radiating cocky confidence from beneath his mask. ”Nah nah, it’s fine! Leave this part to me! I’ve been waiting to get some real payback on these guys for forever now!”

As the first barrage of cannonfire came in, Mushuro gripped his swords tight, then unleashed both in a spectacular burst of power almost on the same level as the attacks he’d used against the Royal Guards, a blast of air pressure once again redirecting cannon balls back at their source and smashing into the slaver’s ship. ”HA! Take that you bunch of...bunch of… Mushuro paused and fell over again, apparently overdoing it once more.

Siobhan moved to quickly catch him this time, smiling down in appreciation of her new swordsman’s skill and power, even in such a weakened state.

---

“Die...you bitch!” Barca muttered beneath his breath, blood pouring from his twisted and broken face as he used what remained of the central mast for support. Most of his crew had returned to the vessel by this point, and when he could finally stand, he had immediately ordered them to open fire on the departing fishing ship.

While she might have been stronger than him on land, there was no way that little boat would be able to withstand the power of a full broadside from-

Were their cannonballs returning to them?

“No,” muttered Barca, a feeling of dread washing over him. He knew that technique. He’d seen it plenty of times before, a skill known by only one individual within the armada. “M-Mu-”

The deck was hammered by the return fire as the other slavers began to panic at the increasing amount of damage their vessel continued to sustain. The Nathaniel Creed had never looked so rough, with part of the main deck having now been blasted away, exposing the gunnery deck and the gunpowder below as a lantern fell to the ground, the spark of its flame flashing in Barca’s swollen eye.

“Mushuro, you traitorous piece of-”

---

The night’s sky erupted in a series of flashes that caused Siobhan to briefly avert her eyes, the great galleon being rocked by a series of explosions that finished off the once intimidating symbol of oppression. Broken nearly in half by the successive blasts, it quickly began to dip beneath the waves.

”...Now that’s a proper counterattack there, boyo,” Siobhan complimented Mushuro, his arm pulled over her shoulder as she helped him to stand.

”Proper? That was awesome!” Kailani practically bounced in place beside the two, clapping her hands together. ”Storm, you were totally right about him being strong Siobhan! … Well, if it wasn’t already obvious!”

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 25th, 1:13 AM
Gotham Harbor, New Jersey

A shuddering boom resounded through the area as a minotaur fell, the spin of the auto cannons underneath the aircraft slowing. It didn’t take long for the low hum of the Grim Jet to descend upon Gotham Harbor, hovering a few feet above a stack of shipping crates. Finding an open space for an aircraft as large as it would be nearly impossible in the cluttered area of the harbor.

Luckily, any undesirable elements had either already been fended off by the mythological creatures, or took off on getting the gleam of the silver wolf’s head imprinted on the side of the jet.

From inside the cockpit Grim’s console was alight, showing not only the state of her jet but the surroundings as well. The sensors contained in her goggles were built into it after all, showing the heat signatures of those around. There were still harpies converging on the area, no doubt getting word of a flying foe. With a heavy sigh the auto cannons started once more as Grim turned the jet to the approaching figures. Seriously, she had more pressing things than flying whores to be concerned about, starting with gathering up the group of ragtag vigilantes.

A sudden explosion of water in the harbor sprayed the harpies with a sheet of water, which froze in place an instant later. The more drenched harpies began to fall as the ice held their wings in place, as Aquaman rocketed out of the water, an aura of magic still shimmering off the Trident of Neptune. Landing on the docks, Orin looked up at the familiar dark jet above him, holding the trident aloft and calling down a burst of lightning to try and scare away the regrouping harpies. The trip here had been a quick one, though it had taken some of his own magic to cut the time down; and Orin didn’t want to be drawn into a long fight with some small-time monsters when there were Titans to fell.

In only a short span of time, a green streak skated across the sky and slowed to a halt over Gotham Harbor. Long had he awaited the day where he could walk into Gotham and not have to worry about getting mugged. Today looked to be that day.

It wasn’t all that hard to look around the harbor and find the parked jet. Emerald Knight vaguely remember something like it back when he was fighting high tech future jets before his retreat to Oa. He could very well remember flying around North Springs and hearing that grizzly, synthetic voice asking him to come to Gotham. He knew right then and there that these monsters were attacking multiple places around the world, rather than just starting in some ho-dunk town and working up. Gods were prideful, they’d just march over the whole world all at once.

Crafting a megaphone, Emerald Knight surveyed the area and fought off which monsters came his way. “Did someone ask for the Emerald Knight? Fifteen minute ass kicking or it’s free!”

With his message announced, he recalled the megaphone and pull all of his focus into working on the harpies that had been annoying him since he had flown near the harbor. He flew back up to meet them halfway, and summoned a large hammer to swing at them with.

Loud thuds started sounding out from the north end of the city from the weighted hops and strikes of Tank having arrived and closing distance. It wasn’t long before a whistle came through the air near the harbor followed up by the big man riding a very beaten cyclops down into the concrete where he delivered a knockout blow to the thick head of it immediately to keep the monster out of his hair later. He started jogging over to the meeting place noting how close he had managed to land as an improvement over last time the rest of them had met up. A few moments later he came into view of the others with a wave as well as a smile though it wasn’t visible to them. For the moment it looked like the whole defense crew had been assembled for the show which was great given how tough the fight would likely be, the more the merrier so to speak.

Girard noted the fallen minotaur and harpies already in the harbor quite pleased to see the others doing well for themselves while thinning out some of the opposition before they tried to square off with a Titan. That was a good start but not quite all of them as he heard the tread of a couple more minotaurs coming around the nearest warehouse more than likely coming to see what the harpies were attacking, not to mention the other one who got its ass kicked ahead of them. The helmeted man gave a bellowing roar of his own as they rounded the corner charging at the bull men slamming into the legs of one toppling it before turning to catch the arm of the other trying to punch him. With a hefty pull he flipped the offender into the ground opposite side of him before getting a better grip on the large arm with both hands and starting to spin until shot putting the creature into its partner who was just regaining its footing.

Go figure one of them was still raring for a fight now angry with the relatively small human in front of them as it quickly got back to its feet rushing at the cause of its temper tantrum. The result was a little comical as Tank kicked the head of the minotaur downward hard enough that it flipped over allowing him to catch it in just the right position to powerbomb it straight into the ground cracking in the process, as it had through most of the one sided fight, leaving both defeated in a matter of moments. Afterwards the big guy walked his way over closer to the others who were engaged with the remaining flock of harpies which he would have had much more trouble with considering he couldn’t actually fly or freeze them out of the air.

“One Tank present and accounted for. If you need any help getting them feel free to lead them over here to dry land.” Girard shouted to his fellow vigilantes making his presence know as if they didn’t know from a moment ago. They were pretty busy but it never hurt to let them know he was on hand just in case.

Despite his offer of assistance, with Tank having taken care of the bulky minotaur on the ground between the three other vigilantes it didn’t take long to dispatch their own airborne problem. Between magitech autocannons, the freezing water of Gotham Harbor turned against them, and the sheer power of a green lantern ring, whatever harpies hadn’t been dispatched in their initial arriving assault were thoroughly routed.

Watching them scatter into the streets of Gotham was no comfort to Grim, especially knowing her two adopted sons were now patrolling the streets, however there were bigger things to deal with at this time. The Grim Jet’s autocannons once more spun to a quiet standstill before the aircraft lowered to hover as close to the ground as possible, the glass of the cockpit popping open. Grim stepped over the console to stand on the nose of the jet, something clutched in her right hand.

”Glad you could make it,” The deep rumble of Grim’s voice called out to the others, and without further delay she tossed them each an item one by one. Just like when they worked together in the middle east, they each held a small communicator to fit along their ear. ”These new ones work off my magitech satellites, so don’t worry about getting too far away from each other. Green…” For a moment Grim trailed off, trying to remember the code name of the green individual. She was so used to just discarding them - she barely remembered Lady Arcana and Tank at times.

”Green Knight,” She finally settled on, hoping it was close enough. ”The three of us have a plan to draw these creatures’ leader out. Up for challenging a Titan?”

“Challenging a Titan?” Emerald Knight felt compelled to echo the words that Grim said directly to him. He had something prepared, but a short breath stopped him. He hovered above the city and gazed around to see just what everyone was doing. “You know? Why not. Lets go and challenge a titan.”

Aside from taking out the occasional skyward monster, Emerald Knight would swoop in and dive bomb some creatures here and there. Some flew up into the stratosphere, others were sent into the dirt, and the small third category left special creatures mangled and broken from excessive blunt force. He could afford to take away some time from all the little things to hit a bigger thing.

He was quite glad to know that Grim was already a step ahead with giving out communicators. Maybe if this all worked out, they could get each other’s cell numbers and bug each other at inopportune times of the day.

“So, what’s the plan? Who’s the one behind all this?”

”A God,” Was the simple response from the Gotham Hero, Grim no longer looking to the three men, but rather down at her wrist computer. The small screen flashed with images as her gloved fingers glided across it. ”More than that, the same God we suspect was providing magitech to Al-Asad’s army in the middle east, as well as the Elysium in New York. Looks like he’s finally revealing his hand to the table.”

Finally Grim tilted her arm to show Emerald Knight, the small screen upon her wrist broadcasting the hundred-foot being rapidly approaching Washington, DC. ”So to draw him out, we have to topple his deck of cards.”

Tank caught a communicator turning to adjust his helmet’s newer face cover so he could place it on his ear. Apparently they had gotten an upgrade too and probably for the better with the ever rising amount of complications they were having to deal with. Communication would be extremely important in the long run he figured and having the support/company of others was always a treat. Plus with a team like this they were pretty well equipped to make something of this hammerblow opportunity on the whole invasion and if an actual god was behind the past several months it would be satisfying to give them hell for it in one way or another. This was going to be in a word, cathartic, to say the least.

”Looks like it's just about showtime by the amount of creatures that were in the area. If the deity in charge wants proof of how little ground we intend to give this might be a good start to sticking a nerve.” Girard said sounding excited for the main event ahead of time. “Plus we get to smack around something that big and powerful in the process of holding the line, win-win situation huh?”

Orin snatched the communicator out of the air and affixed it, glancing over and chuckling at Tank’s comment. ”I admire the optimism big guy, but I fear it might not so easy. After all, these creatures gave even the gods themselves a fight last time they were free.” Orin looked around, taking stock of the situation. The four of them here, the Wizard on her way to confront the root of the problem, the plant man dealing with the underworld… It seemed crazy. But none of them were ordinary people. Orin’s grip on the Trident of Neptune tightened, feeling the magical power hum through the artifact.

”On the other hand…” Orin said with a small smile. ”Though the Titans have fought gods before, I don’t think they’ve ever faced four at once. So long as we watch each others backs, I think we have a chance.”

”As do I.” The levels of excitement, determination, and resolve in the three other heroes was palpable. ”Plus, from looking at old myths about the Titans ... I have a plan.”

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 25th, 1:20 AM (Atlantic Time)
Atlantean War Room, Poseidonis, Atlantis

Orin glared daggers at the map of the sunken continent of Atlantis, the spotlight in his war room illuminating it with a harsh light. Surrounded by aides and generals, the military minds of the lost civilization had been running themselves ragged for the past month. First the dead came back from their rest, abandoning the coral tombs and attempting to reenter the city, and now, just as the bodies were being cleaned up ancient monsters had begun to attack! Sirens had been seen skulking outside the city wall, and had already lured half a dozen Atlanteans outside. Fortunately, most of them were relatively unharmed due to their inability to drown, but two had been attacked and whisked away somewhere. Even more disturbing though, were the reports coming in from his scouts of old sleeping beasts, no longer asleep. Krakens. Most of them seeming content to terrorize the ocean at large, but there were at least two on the way to the city. Fortunately, this was not the first time Atlantis had dealt with the Greek myths.

A dozen aides burst into the war room carrying boxes, crates, and some loose scrolls. Opening the lids and laying out the contents, Orin quickly glanced over the haul. Books, scrolls, tablets, even some painted pottery. Written in Greek and Old Atlantean, Orin could pick out a few key words. ‘Katea’, the word for Kraken. Everything in the Domed Library on Krakens, and how to fight them. ”Good, good. Get all of this transferred and translated, we need it as soon as possible. I’m not worried about them breaching the wall; if an asteroid couldn’t do it then we should be safe inside. But I don’t want us to end up under siege, and we still have to defend the rest of the seas. Meanwhile,” Orin said, turning back to the map. ”We need to prepare for the possibility of ending up under siege anyway. Harvest everything, bring what we can into the city. After that--”

The room went quiet at the sound of a comm shell vibrating. Who in Hades had brought a comm-- Oh, it was Orin’s. The special one. ”... Excuse me. I have to take this.” Orin said, pulling the shell off his belt and flicking it open. It wasn’t Lady Arcana though, but it looked like… Grim? From the Arab Federation incident and the radioactive man?. ”This is King Orin of Atlantis. A pleasure speaking with you Grim; though I don’t remember giving you a shell? What’s going on?”

---

December 25, 12:23am (Eastern Time)
Amnesty Bay, Maine.

Girard smiled as he watched cartoons with his daughters, they had gotten into an old collection of cds and tapes he hadn’t had time to sell off or throw out, but on the brightside it meant he got to see them enjoying the stuff he used to watch once he got the VHS player working again. It was nice to have some time to relax lately after the whole undead invasion happened and go figure it calmed some of the locals down leaving him with less vigilante work around home. He did have the nagging feeling that pleasant as it was the whole situation was a bit too quite for his liking to the point he had started jumping states looking to make his presence felt by anyone looking to make trouble. After the first couple of times it seemed like more people were beginning to recognise him which he thought was maybe a good thing, made him seem more reliable than just some random guy in a helmet who kicked around criminals or made an occasional big show like with the war in the Middle East or dealing with a lot of zombies quickly. He had to get word around somehow and honestly he wasn’t big on interviews or stuff like that so this was the next good bet.

The big guy laughed a bit when Haylee and Leila started mimicking the characters on screen for a little bit since the current episode was getting to the end. He had done it too when he was that age and his parents could attest to it making it all the funnier to him. It didn’t take long for it to finish from there and it was about time to check out the news to see if anything caught his interest, his two little goofballs were due for a break so it was as good a time as any plus they could play with some of the new toys they opened up not a minute after twelve o'clock. Nothing unusual showed up at first which was a kindness because of all days in the year he really wanted to stay home it was definitely Christmas. They still had plenty of celebrating to do with a nice dinner to top it all off by the evening so it was kind of a big deal.

Of course that was before the alert came up about fucking minotaurs and cyclops among other things rampaging around Gotham’s outskirts which after a few moments of watching he got a pretty good idea of just where they were.

“You have got to be kidding me…” Girard mumbled with displeasure recognising Kasimir Castle very easily and wondering why walking myths were trying to tear up the place.

He was quick to turn the channel so his daughters wouldn’t have to see it figuring that was the last thing they needed.

“Uh girls go ahead and pop in another cartoon if you want, I’m gonna go talk to your mom.” He said giving them a quick smile before quickly shooting over to the kitchen where his wife had been getting them all some drink and snacks.

True to form his expression gave away the seriousness of the issue immediately and Abigail was prepared to take care of the day while he was gone which she had to stress to him. Girard went to the guest room where he had been keeping some of his new equipment so to speak including the spare emergency phone with line back to Zoey if anything came up, it was ringing out as he opened up the compartment underneath the bed and he answered quickly.

“Hello, just saw the news report and go figure this phone is lighting up.” Tank said starting to get his new and improved costume on for what looked like a big old fight to come. “Could use some filling in on the details while I get ready.”

---

December 25th, 12:24AM
Kasimir Castle, Gotham City

As the Grim Grotto finally emptied of all but the three who lived in the castle above, Grim remained at her computer station, glowing white eyes fixated on the ringing. Finally King Orin came online, shortly followed by Tank before she could get past more than a greeting and explanation that Arcana had given her the means to contact Orin.

”Glad to see you two are alright. We have a bit of a situation on our hands, as I’m sure you’re both aware.” The billionaire’s fingers tapped against the desk, metal on metal as she gathered her thoughts. ”What you may not be aware of, is that there’s more than just an influx of mythical creatures.”

A pause. Inhale. A shuddering exhale.

”This is a full scale invasion of earth by Gods. Lady Arcana has already gone to Olympus, the Bush Whacker to Tartarus.” Glowing white eyes didn’t move, though Grim’s gaze flicked passed the call to take in the various live feeds broadcast along her wall. ”Hundred foot Titans walk the lands now. Monsters. Gods. It’s more than any one of us can handle. I’m looking for those who can help.”

Orin paused, taking a long look at the gathered generals in the room. Excusing himself quickly, he stepped out into a hallway, taking care to make sure he was alone. ”The Gods are against us? Titans have been released? Grim, this is… This is serious. We’ve simply been dealing with Sirens and preparing for Kraken assaults, but… How do you expect me to leave my people now? If Titans are on their way, I don’t know that Atlantis can stand against that without me…”

It took a few moments for the whole of the situation to hit home in Girard’s mind, they were against gods and titans so he figured it.wasn’t horrible to just absorb it as much as he could now rather than in the middle of a slugging match with something that much higher on the pay grade. Not only that but a full on invasion of monsters to go along with them made for pretty much utter chaos if they couldn’t make a dent in them before large numbers hit population centers. The odds weren’t all that great either but what choice did they have? No way could any of them just stand down from this because if they did there might not be anything to stand on afterwards. Everything was at stake so in all reality they would have to give as good as they were about to be getting.

“Wow…that is really bad.” Was all the big man could get out at first shuffling on his jacket but he did have plenty to say,.“Sounds like we’ve already got our magic people on the one side and us here to hold in the meantime. If Aquaman needs time to help Atlantis out I understand so just point me in the right direction and I’ll fight tooth and nail to beat the crap out of any threats even if they are plenty big or powerful. They picked the wrong day to invade, I am not missing Christmas with my family because of these assholes.”

Despite the situation a grim chuckle escaped the Gotham hero’s armored mouth at her friend’s words, nodding her agreement. However, unseen beneath it, a frown still marred her lips as she considered the situation.

”I understand your reluctance,” She began slowly, directing her words to the underwater King. ”I’m not exactly fond of the idea of leaving Gotham, either. The fact of the matter is though, no one will be able to stand against the Titans if we don’t come together.” Her eyes trailed to one of the feeds on her screen, displaying a great being towering over the city crushing beneath his feet, hundreds of feet tall and absolutely exuding power. Buildings, people, an entire society was vanishing along his path, and he wasn’t the only one even displayed on her monitor!

”... We’re needed. More than a single person, or a single city. The world needs us. If you need to stay, I understand. You do what you need to do. Tank, we’re headed to Washington.”

King Orin stared at the screen in silence, feeling torn about his options. He had his city, his people to care for. But Titans, gods, a unified attack against humanity? That needed a defense, something he could help with. Listening to Tank’s determination, even in the face of leaving his family spoke to Orin. His eyes drifted away from the screen as he saw the door to the war room open, the bright red hair of Mera, his betrothed peeking out and making eye contact with him. She was a fighter, a warrior among Atlantis’s best. Regal, nobel, brilliant. Everything one could want in a queen. A leader, for when the king was unavailable…

”Grim.” Orin said, loudly enough for Mera to hear him. ”Tell me I can help. Convince me that I will be of more use to you there than I will be to my people here. Tell me you have a plan to end this. Then… Maybe.”

”I do,” Was the grim response, the Gotham Hero bringing her hands together behind her back. Gazing upon the monitors rather than the call she let out an exhale, heavy and rumbling through the mask. ”I know you two are powerful. I saw your work in the middle east. There are others as well - Green Squire and Celebrity to name two. Vine Talker and Lady Arcana will join us as soon as they can as well. Whoever is behind this has been probing and pushing at our defenses for almost a year - I don’t think this is another test.”

“This is their plan. Their come one, come all. It’s time to bring the fight to them. To do that, we’re going to have to cause a ruckus against their plan. Personally, slaying a titan would draw my attention.”

“Makes sense, the bigger the noise we make the less pressure the others have to deal with. Better we get all of the attention focused in as few areas as possible so we can mop up the weaker monsters.” Tank said before donning his helmet and heading for the backdoor in a hurry.

Orin’s eyes narrowed at the list of names he was pretty sure were wrong; but that thought was eclipsed by the idea presented by Grim. Killing a Titan… Could such a thing really be done? By mortals, no less? Well… Mostly mortal anyway. Orin looked up at Mera down the hall, expecting to see anger or betrayal in her eyes. Instead, she was marching towards him, excitement flashing in her green eyes.

“Titans, Orin?!” She hissed, her shoulders shaking with barely-contained excitement. “You would be the greatest king we’ve ever had, the greatest the world has ever seen!”

”What.”

“I’m serious! You’ve already outlined the plan for us here, I can lead the armies if it comes to that. But if there’s a chance you can fell a Titan and cut this off at the source, you cannot in good conscience ignore that!” Mera exclaimed.

Good to know the Queen was on the same page as Orin in this matter, at least.

Orin nodded, sighing softly. ”You know the plan then, Mera. Listen to the generals if anything goes wrong. If we fall under siege don’t be afraid to start rationing supplies, but remember that a ration applies to every person in the city, palace included. I’m getting my trident.” He said before turning and striding down the hall, already trying to remember what he knew of the Greek myths. ”Grim,” He said into the comm shell, ”I’m coming to help. I can be in Gotham harbor inside an hour.”

”I’ll meet you both with the jet.” The line was cut before Grim turned to her two sons, a deep sigh heaving through her chest. Getting them to stay was going to be a fight of titanic proportions all itself.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 24th, 11:53 PM
Grim Grotto, Gotham City

”So, uhh…” Malcom finally piped up, after having been standing beside Zoey in stunned silence for the past fifteen minutes in his Green lantern pyjamas and holding a puppy under each arm as Karen was half-eaten by a potted daisy, zombified, turned into the Captain Planet version of herself before going flying off. ”Should we… be doing something right now?”

A low, almost inhuman snarl was Malcolm’s response at first, before a heavy exhale rumbled through the modulator. She tracked Lady Arcana - was that still her name when she was green and covered in vines? - before finally Zoey turned the glowing white eyes of the prototype armor to her son, then flicked passed him to the giant monitor taking up the wall. Something she spotted on one of the camera feeds seemed to catch her attention, as the hero gave a short nod.

”Get your gear, some of them have almost breached the emergency bunker with the night staff. Let’s go.”

For a moment, Malcolm just stared at his foster-mother with a blank expression… before a wide, cheeky grin slowly made its way across his face.

”Hell yeah.” Came his only response as he placed the puppers down and ran off to grab his kit.

---

Twisted and scarred metal littered the path of Grim and Watchdog as they ventured from the Grotto deeper into the castle they called home. The great, thick walls of metal that had been slammed into place on the initiation of Zoey’s Lockdown Mode had been torn through, sometimes literally, as a myriad of mythical creatures rampaged through the halls.

With the late hour, and the surprise of the attack, not everyone had made it.

Kneeling down, the metal digits of the Iron Fang prototype armor slid the eyelids closed on the man before Grim. He was slumped against the wall, or at least part of him - he had been torn right in half at the waist. Her night shift doorman and frontline security rolled into one. This hadn’t exactly been listed on the job resume.

Standing behind Zoey in his uniform, a paramilitary-esque mish-mash of kevlar and layered polymer and metal, Malcolm remained mostly silent, simply placing his armoured hand on her shoulder. He’d known the man, Dan, better than he knew most of Zoey’s staff (barring Henry, obviously, who’d made it his mission in life to introduce the boy to decent food), the guy having taken a liking to his… hooliganish personality immediately and taking him out back to shoot at popcans once in a while on the weekends.

Whatever consoling thing Malcolm could’ve said at that point was drowned out as a flicker of sound rippled it’s way across his vision.

”Company.” Came the one word in their place as he turned, pulled on his helmet and snapped down the visor a small hiss resonating from it and a pair of comms antennae styled after a dog’s ears rising as he did so.

”I’ll make sure they’re taken care of,” Zoey muttered lowly to the corpse, before rising up seamlessly in the metal of the armor. Sparing Dan one last look she finally turned, and there was a hum of energy as a metal blade extended from the top of the left wrist on the suit, the edge of it almost glowing with a reddish energy, magic rolling off it in waves.

Experimentally extending and retracting the claws on his gauntlet a few times, Malcolm’s head slowly turned to his armour-clad guardian, the glowing orange of his eyes the only thing visible under the blacked out, military-grade glass of his visor.

”Six harpies and our big, horned friend. Coming fast from the kitchen.” He stated, almost sounding… professional, unlike his usual sarcasm-soaked self. ”...Ready, Boss?”

A small hum was Malcolm’s only response, the sound distorted into a near growl from the helmet’s modulator. Grim stepped to the side, grabbing onto a limply hanging gun against the wall - one of the defenses that had popped out, now disabled. However on ripping it off the wall it took only a moment to get it to mostly working order once more, considering the damage was mostly superficial.

With the rifle hefted up and the vigilante ready the instant a feathered being swept into view the unloading began. Aimed to disable rather than kill the rounds pierced the right wing, sending the harpy plummeting. The second, with the warning, already looked ready to screech - mouth open wide, chest puffed up with breath.

More crimson stained the wall behind them as a well placed series of bullets lodged into its chest, the thing seeming to stagger in the air. It likely wouldn’t survive its lung being punctured.

The rifle clicked as it loosed the rest of its ammo, barely clipping the third’s wings and the head of the giant minotaur. The thing looked to be made of fury and scorn, letting out a bellow of rage just from the slight graze. Grim tossed the now empty gun to the side carelessly, bracing into position as the minotaur bared down on them.

Thinking quickly, and eyeballing the stone archway the raging minotaur passed under, Malcolm abruptly raised his left arm and fired his grapple, the tug of the device immediately ripping the boy off the ground and passed it’s horned head, where the boy used the climbing claw on his right to lash out at it’s eye (the only thing on it not covered by an impossibly sturdy hide), before reeling back to grab the very surprised fourth harpy that poked it’s head around the corner at that moment and found itself in the ballistic child’s path by the jaw and use his momentum to slam it’s head into the stone and knock it out.

Sparing a fraction of a second to exhale and reposition himself as the Minotaur started to rage and thrash about, at the loss of it’s eye, Malcolm kicked off the archway towards the fifth harpy, too busy dodging the flailing bovine’s arms to notice the (in retrospect kinda slasher flicky) child before it was on her back and dug it’s steel claws into a cluster of tendons under her wing with an audible snarl before letting off another grapple downward and riding her straight down into her sister and into the floor at enough speed to break her hollow bones.

That done, the now upgraded version of the Watchdog of Bludhaven’s head snapped up towards the still screaming minotaur.

”HEY, FATASS.” He shouted defiantly, distorted by one of Zoey’s patented voice modulators. ”OVER HERE!”

And the second the creature furiously whirled around to catch sight of the boy with his one good eye... a throwing knife was plunked into it. Eliciting more screaming, more thrashing and more showing the heavily armed and armoured woman it had all-but-forgotten about it’s back.

The flare of thrusters sounded up behind the minotaur, but any response it might’ve had to them was far too late as the magi-tech powered wings and leg-jets propelled Grim forward. The glowing blade coming from her wrists pierced through the back of his knees, tearing tendons and making the things collapse as its sturdy flesh no longer protected it. Dancing away from the flailing arms attached to the collapsing mountain of muscle for a moment, Grim then bolted forward, using the back of the agonized creature as a springboard.

The jets once more thrust to life as Grim hit the back wall of the hall in a crouch, eyes focused on the remaining two harpies. One remained looking at Watchdog, focused as it was, while the other - the one who’s wings she had clipped earlier - had zoomed in on the new threat. Almost as one, they inhaled.

The red of the thrusters burned white hot as Grim shot forward, the metallic wings on the back stretched out. With precision-perfect accuracy the right wing slammed into one harpy’s throat, the vigilante’s armored fist breaking the nose of the one focused on her son. She landed with them as the wing twitched, but rather than focus on it she turned to the one on the ground, gasping as it scrambled up and clutched its bruised throat. Rather than give it time to regroup Zoey’s hand shot out, grabbing onto its throat as well, the armor humming with power as she lifted it into the air. For a moment, she considered just crushing its neck...but finally slammed it into the wall instead, letting the unconscious dead weight drop to the floor.

The first harpy, its wings shot, had looked up to them with defiance. Despite the decimation of its little assault squad it seemed ready to fight once more, raising up on taloned legs.

”...Really?” Malcolm inquired to no one in particular as the last harpy began to rise to it’s feet, seemingly ignoring the events of the past forty-five seconds in a show of defiance…. Before he abruptly walked up and dummied it right in the face with his armoured fist, breaking it’s nose and dropping it like a sack of potatoes.

Shaking his head in irritation and dusting a few feathers off his uniform, the boy turned back to face his Foster-Mom.

”So… shall we?”

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 24th, 10:44 PM
Kasimir Castle, Gotham City

”Actually, finding the lead paper was easier than settling on gifts for them. Of course then I had to wrap the gifts myself since I couldn’t exactly explain to Dan why I needed him to double wrap Malcolm’s gifts, and then David’s just to be sure…” Zoey trailed off, staring at the pile of presents stacked almost as high as she was tall, set around the brightly illuminated Christmas tree. The pine tree was gigantic, just short of brushing the ceiling of the large living room and decked out in … somewhat lopsided decorations.

But that didn’t even bother Zoey. No, what was irritating her, and her explanation to the young blonde beside her, was the presents. A section of them were wrapped in utter perfection, not a line out of place - a couple even had neat little bows. The ones she wrapped were obvious. Slightly askew, mostly covered in tape around the edges to make up for neatness, and one smelled a little like beer since she spilled her drink.

Never again.

”... Anyway, the important part is, I tried and I can’t be faulted for that.” The billionaire huffed the words, crossing her arms, only to have to uncross them to lean forward and scoop up the energetic little border collie puppy that once more was trying to bite at the edge of one of the presents. ”No, Buttons.”

Karen briefly entertained a smile while glancing at the ever enthusiastic puppy, but it didn’t last long. They were talking about Malcolm, after all, the kid who she was pretty certain could star as the villain of a slasher film. His see-through-walls eyes helping him hunt down promiscuous teens with a knife as he giggled innocently.

She really shouldn’t think of him in those terms. He was younger than her...like ten or something. But he had killed those people two months ago without a second thought, and who knows how many before then. He should probably be institutionalize where he could receive proper treatment.

Still, Zoey was at least trying.

”How’s his therapy going?” The teen asked curiously, kneeling down to poke at the whiskey stains on the present. She had seen worse jobs in the The Wedge. At least there were no razor blades sticking out.

Zoey’s eyebrow twitched.

”It’s… a bit slow so far, he still hasn’t agreed to go, even with me. I can understand the aversion,” The last part was muttered under the redhead’s breath before she cleared her throat. ”In the meantime I’ve been showing him how to take down criminals non-lethally. That’s obviously just a patch job, but it’s making the best with what I can do right now.” She shrugged one shoulder, a smile curling at the corners of her lips as Buttons licked at her before she set the little puppy down.

Karen’s eyes shifted to the side at this, though she didn’t rise from her kneeling position. ”So you’re training the ten year old to beat up bad guys? Can I maybe ask why?”

Seriously, it wasn’t like she wanted this situation she was now in. Maybe she had at first, but not after what had happened with Timothy. She understood now that it wasn’t a game, even though games are probably what she should be worrying about...instead of whether or not an even younger kid was going to become a psychopathic child soldier because nobody ever got him help.

”See, it sounds bad when you put it that way.” Zoey grumbled lowly. It dissolved into a sigh before she raised her gaze, trailing it along the entrances to the room. The walls mattered little when it came to Malcolm, but David would need to peek in to see what was going on. Hopefully they had at least listened to her on actually going to bed so she could chat to Karen - though when she invited her over, worried over the young girl being alone on Christmas for the first time, this wasn’t exactly the conversation she was planning.

”Considering what the kid was doing for months before I arrived, I’m pretty sure he’s not going to sit back on his laurels while Grim and Blackstar wander the streets. Trust me, if he decides during therapy he doesn’t want to, then that’s brilliant - you know how I feel about others doing this - but in the meantime I’m doing what I can, Karen.” Another sigh before the older woman backtracked, flopping onto the comfy white couch. A click of her tongue had Buttons following - though when he jumped to try and get up the puppy couldn’t quite make it, which had the billionaire snickering before helping him up.

”But he has that drive in him. I somehow doubt he’s going to stop no matter what I or anyone else say - I’m just trying to make sure he’s prepared.”

Karen pursed her lips, an expression that often meant she was either deep in thought...or irritated. In this case it was a bit of both. She really didn’t like the idea of Malcolm doing this. She - again - didn’t even like the idea of herself doing this, but at least she was the invulnerable Wizard. This was a little boy with some funky eyes. He had no super strength or speed, no enhanced durability. He had the power of a wiry kid whose punches and kicks wouldn’t even register on full grown thugs.

”I know you’re doing your best, Zoey...but I’ve been, well…” She drew a heavy breath, wincing her eyes shut for a brief moment. ”I’ve been reading a lot lately. I’ve been trying to learn about the world and its problems, and I know how horribly messed up kids who have been forced to kill can be. I haven’t even done that yet, and I feel...really messed up.”

She didn’t even really know what she was trying to say, other than that this all felt really, really wrong to her.

Zoey could only lift a pale hand to rub at the bridge of her nose, pressing the slender digits down hard to relieve the growing headache. ”I know, Karen. I know. The first step is getting him to therapy, but when he doesn’t want to go what do you expect me to do? Forcing him won’t do anything good, so I’m doing the best I can to keep him safe and save him anymore trauma!”

A deep, shuddering exhale couldn’t help but escape the billionaire, and her hand drifted down to land on Buttons’ head - who was resting it on her leg. Steel-blue eyes narrowed slightly on the girl before her, after a moment adding on in a low rumble. ”... And for the record, I don’t think you’re messed up. Therapy must be working for you at least.”

---

Pulsing orange and red, spattered with bits of luminescent blue against walls that were both there and not in a world populated by see-through, human-shaped apparitions he couldn’t avoid the sight of for miles around that was also constantly wreathed in a raging inferno. This was the world as Malcolm comprehended it… curled up under a fire-escape in a back-alley that smelt less like shit than most others he’d found.

Sleep had been a pleasant memory to the boy, lost a week ago with so much else, when his eyelids ceased to perform half of their purpose. Not that he’d know the difference between dreams and reality at this point anyway, with how his brain constantly replayed everything he’d seen then and since on loop with such crystal-clear clarity it was as though it was still happening in front of him.

And to be frank, there wasn’t a whole lot the small boy didn’t see anymore.

Up the road in another alleyway, an older man in tattered old army ODs keeled over, his stomach rent open by the knives of three men clad in leather, his blood spilling as a bright purple across the ground.

Malcolm saw it. And knew he’d never forget it.

On a penthouse in a part of town with brighter lights and shinier buildings than the slum he called home, a man with a chainsaw got to work separating the remains of a woman who’d clearly had an abrupt, unforseen end to her her evening. Shining jewellery and bobbles adorned what was left of her neck, cut apart as the saw came down upon it without ceremony.

She was pregnant.

Malcolm’s hands came over his eyes, trying to block out the sight. He failed, and knew he’d never forget.

“No more…”

In a warehouse by the docks, a man was covered in gasoline as another in an expensive suit grinned from ear-to-ear.

Malcolm could see his screams. And he knew he’d never forget.

“No... More...” The words came out, louder this time and hissed through clenched teeth as the incessant shaking of his body… changed in frequency.

Something like molten, hot iron flowed through his tiny frame as a young girl shrieked and cried, dragged through the next alley over by the ankle by a man who wore a police uniform and whipped a bottle at her head to shut her up.

Absolutely shaking with this alien force that pumped through his veins, the boy stood. The haze the past week had placed over his psyche fading away as he somehow found the strength to be on his feet, fists clenched so hard that his nails bit into his palms.

”NO. MORE.”

---

Shooting upright, Malcolm found… nothing. Literally, nothing but black.

And he was goddamned glad about that, as he lay on the floor surrounded by blankets. Opting, in fact, to lay back down with his head on his pillow and enjoy being blind for a few more minutes, before peeling off the special lead-filled sleeping mask Zoey had made him when he came to the conclusion that he was, in fact, probably not going back to bed after that one.

”Ahhh, fer fuck…” The kid grumbled, sounding like an old man who’d been kicked in the nads by the mixture of his pre-pubescent voice and colourful vocabulary as he placed a hand on the bed he’d used exactly once his entire stay in this castle to steady himself onto his feet. Joints popping the whole way up.

Smacking his lips in a comical, sleepy fashion as he cast a glance around the room (or, rather, the whole damned castle) Malcolm to one shining conclusion at that moment.

He was thirsty.

And only his newfound favourite thing, chocolate milk, was going to satiate that thirst.

So, managing not to move like a herd of drunken elephants in his half-asleep state solely by the grace of his immense control over his own body, Malcolm began the ridiculously long trek to the kitchen.

Seriously, whoever thought living in a big fucking castle was a grand old idea probably hadn’t taken into account the fact that late-night cravings were a thing that united mankind as a species. Hell, it took the boy the better part of ten minutes to get where he wanted to be even taking the most direct route and jumping down a flight of stairs. And it was literally impossible for him to get lost.

Finally reaching his destination, acquiring his justly-deserved booty and pulling up a chair so he could reach the cupboard with all the glasses in it, Malcolm took a big gulp and finally began to actually pay attention to the world around him.

That’s about when he actually noticed Zoey and… Karen sitting in the… uhh… room with the tree in it. Talking about… something that was clearly bothering them, judging by how how fast their hearts were beating.

Head tilting slowly from side to side, weighing his options, Malcolm pondered walking over and listening in... Even as curiosity had already propelled his feet forward and made that choice for him.

Truth be told, he was just slightly taken aback when he arrived at the doorway and found that the thing they were so heatedly discussing was him, but not really that surprised; Though Karen had never expressly spoken of it in the few times they’d met, Malcolm was more than a little aware that his presence made the (sometimes) literal Goddess feel just a bit uncomfortable.

...Which didn’t at all stop him from voicing his protest about being talked about by loudly and nonchalantly slurping his chocolate milk from the doorway.

No siree.

Karen’s head jolted up from the floor where it had remained pointed at the sound, the blonde slowly standing as she turned to face Malcolm. She didn’t even hear him until just then, showing his ability to move unseen and unheard.

Yup, definitely a slasher movie villain.

Only frowning at him from her position by the tree, she quietly folded her arms and shot a glance to Zoey. She could deal with this.

The billionaire’s headache, meanwhile, only got worse when her head jerked up to see her newest stray looking at them. Once more her hand crept up, rubbing at her temple. Why couldn’t things ever be simple? For once in her life? Zoey let out a shuddering sigh before finally looking to Malcolm and affixing a smile to her face, small though it was.

”Morning won’t come any quicker if you’re up, my little puglet,” The redhead murmured, only to gesture to the couch beside her. ”Nightmares?” She added on, voice quieter. Gentler. She suffered from them too, after all, often staying up for nights on end. Similar to Malcolm.

”Something like that.” Malcolm replied with a shrug, to his credit, only slightly wincing at his nickname as he casually made his way over and plunked himself down on the offered real-estate on the couch. Glowing eyes travelling between the pained look on Zoey’s face to the look Karen was burning into his skull at that moment, the boy cocked a brow but stayed silent.

...For a few seconds.

”Ya know, if me being around is going to be an issue… I could just, y’know, leave.” He finally stated after a moment, tongue running across his lips in thought ”...I mean, I’m grateful for you putting a roof over my head and grub in my gut, Zo, but... I don’t wanna be a problem to ya.”

”No,” The response was immediate, sharp. Zoey’s eyes focused on Malcolm and she lifted a hand to gently rest against his arm, at her side Buttons already wiggling over to nudge against the young boy as well. You are always welcome here, Malcolm, in any place I call home. Karen and I were just discussing therapy options.”

A slight quirk of her lips, a hint of amusement. ”After all, I dislike it as much as you.”

”I… see…”

Malcolm leaned away just slightly at that, even as Buttons seemingly assimilated himself into his lap, as if attempting to bar his escape. This was a discussion he’d been making every effort humanly possible to avoid since arriving here, for a great number of reasons.

Many of which came back to the fact that, even if he’d wanted to talk to… anyone, especially a shrink about the entire past year (which he emphatically did not), there was the whole matter of how insane it would sound describing it to literally anyone.

’Yeah, so everyone I ever cared about was roasted alive by a psychopath with a flamethrower and now all I can see or ever dream about is fire. Also, I’m now incapable of forgetting anything for some reason so I relive that exact scene over and over again every second of every day in my head in perfect clarity as if it’s still happening and I’m not old enough to shave yet. But man, that weather, eh?’

Realizing he was now trapped in this conversation, whether he wanted it or not brought a look of plain discomfort to his face, as he spoke.

”I… don’t think I’m on board with that...”

Karen had listened quietly in order to allow Zoey to speak with Malcolm uninterrupted. She figured he would trust her a lot more than herself, given that she just poked her head in this place every so often now that she had her own apartment. It still was often enough that he knew her well enough, but he doubtlessly didn’t consider her family.

He, unfortunately, did not seem receptive to therapy...but then again they hadn’t pushed him towards it very hard yet. From what she had read, troubled people often were very reluctant to get help for their problems at first.

While they didn’t know one another as well as they both knew Zoey, maybe hearing another kid’s perspective would help? She had only tried talking to him as Lady Arcana...when maybe who he needed to talk to was Karen Hernandez?

”Hey Malcolm,” Karen took a step towards the boy before glancing back over her shoulder at the tree. ”What were you hoping to get for Christmas? I’ve really been excited about the PS5, especially with the new Tomb Raider having just come out!”

”Eh?” Came Malcolm’s oh-so-articulate response not entirely sure where this new line of questions came from… or what a PS5 or a Tomb Raider was, for that matter.

Still, finding his tongue, he at least tried to give a good answer.

”I, uhh… haven’t really thought about it to be honest.” He began, a pondering, slightly (comically) confused expression on his face ”A guitar, I guess? My Dad used to play a lot... Cash mostly, a bit of Metallica and the Stones.”

He scratched his head and looked off to the side for a second, somewhat aware that until recently, he’d never even listened to a radio and only knew what those things were through his Dad.

”...What’s a Tomb Raider?”

Karen giggled at this for a moment, quickly whipping out her phone. She got it. He grew up on the street, like her. He didn’t get to play games like that...and probably didn’t torture himself by watching Let’s Plays of them, either, unlike her. Speaking of which…

”It’s a game! I guess you never got to play them much either, huh?” She muttered, having started to enjoy her new life thanks to Zoey. Despite having been here a couple of months, it didn’t appear like Malcolm had adapted very much to his new situation. ”I mean, I like it cause it has a badass chica kicking butt, but there’s others with guy heroes!”

Holding the phone steady so he could watch the Let’s Play with her, Karen offered him a gentle smile. ”I mean, they’re not for everyone...but I wouldn’t knock them before you try em’!”

Tilting his head to the side, Malcolm squinted a bit as the glow of his eyes flickered slightly, subconsciously adjusting to focus on the screen on Karen’s phone and not all the electrical gubbins going on behind it. Or Behind Karen. Or Behind Kerberos who was on the other side of the castle weeing on one of David’s shoes.

For a second, he just sat in silence, not exactly sure what to make of what he was looking at; the image of a… gifted young woman in a tank-top doing a lot of flips and shooting things in the face.

...And, well, some guy talking over that in the background, but that wasn’t important.

Leaning forward slightly, the silence continued… until a small smile began to break across his face.

”That’s… actually kinda cool.” He stated, eyes still glued to the screen. ”And there’s more like this?”

Karen quickly nodded her head in response, happy to see that he was showing interest into something that a boy his age should be into, as opposed to stabbing actual real people with a knife. Plus...it was kind of nice to be able to talk about this stuff with someone that was, well, not quite her own age, but close enough. Clarissa wasn’t really into gaming stuff, being more artsy.

”Oh yeah, tons more! You should come over sometime and play with me! Or even get one here, so we could play online!” She eagerly explained to him. ”Some games you play with others, sometimes hundreds or thousands of others!”

”Um, yeah. I’d be good with that.” Malcolm replied, an uncharacteristically goofy smile just ever so slightly starting to make itself known on his face ”-I mean, if you’re fine with it and Zo’s fine with it.”

”Sure. Maybe Santa brought you one,” Zoey offered in response, having been quite content to sit back and watch the two … bond? Maybe not, but it was the start of something at least. Having a friend his own age, for the most part, had to be good for him. She could keep him sheltered, fed, and teach him many things, but she was very much more of a parental figure. Maybe Karen could have more success getting him in therapy than her - the Wizardeth managed to get Grim into it, after all.

Fuck she hated therapy.

”After all, you have quite a few in there,” The billionaire added on, jabbing a thumb towards the tree and the stack of presents surrounding it.

Karen honestly hadn’t expected it to go this well...but now she understood where she had gone wrong. She had been looking at Malcolm as some sort of patient to be cured, when maybe...maybe she should’ve tried just being his friend instead. Maybe that’s what he needed right now more than anything.

”Sauce!” She exclaimed happily, opening her mouth to suggest some of the titles they could try first. Unfortunately, she was cut off by a slurred mutter of her name, the blonde’s eyes darting to the black cat lounging on the carpet.

Releasing a yawn, the heavily lidded eyes of Samantha stared up at teen. The whiskey that she’d wanted poured in her drinking bowl had apparently not quite worked its way through her system yet. “Karen...wassat…?”

”What’s...what? Sam, you’re drunk,” Karen muttered with a sigh.

The cat slowly lurched to her feet her quadrupedal form wobbling slightly in the process. Opening her mouth to speak, she was abruptly interrupted by Buttons charging over to her and lapping at her face. “Auuhh...no...thish ish important…!”

Shaking her head, Karen stepped up to gently pluck Buttons off the ground so her drunken feline friend could at last speak.

“Theresh...uh...magic…” Samantha slurred, glancing towards the door. “Uhmmm….that waysh…I can feel it...”

Karen blinked at this, turning to where Sam was gesturing. Setting the puppy down again, she stretched out her senses and began searching for distortions in the laylines. Sure enough, there was something...or somethings approaching them right now, and at least a few of them gave her a chilling sense of familiarity.

”...Um, I think she’s right. There’s several fairly strong magical signatures approaching us,” She explained. ”Guess I’d better transform…”

Backing up a short distance from Malcolm in order to not blast his poor eyes with the full light of her thunderbolt, she inhaled. ”SHAZAM!”

…

Karen blinked, slowly looking down at herself. At her very human, very teenage self. ”...SHAZAM!”

Again, nothing.

”...Well, that’s not good.”

”... Karen?”

“OH NOSH, the Wizardsh fallen, we musht hurry and--oh, oh,” Samantha began to tremble slightly, before vomiting up the contents of her last meal all over one of Zoey’s presents.

”Er, I don’t mean to interrupt but-” The christmas tree was about to chime in before being interrupted himself.

”Did that fucking tree just talk...?” Malcolm interjected to no one in particular, impressively deadpan for the new and sudden twist his night had just taken.

“I...I don’t undershtand,” Samantha shook her head. “Thish shouldn’t be…”

The unmistakable sound of shattering glass cut the staggering feline short, a chorus of broken glass pulling all eyes back to the front of the castle. Raising her eyes to stare at the trio of winged figures as they clutched a fourth, far larger one in their talons, Karen only had time to utter one brief sentence. ”Get to the Grotto!”

Waving the others away, she began gathering everything the laylines would permit her into her palm. Leveling it towards the ground, orchid energy began to swirl around her hand into solidify into a ball that burned with arcane light. In this brief time, her eyes never left the winged creatures.

Harpies.

She remembered them well enough from the whole incident at the warehouse and brothel, but the larger creature...that one she had only ever seen in movies and books. It was a minotaur, and it was now crashing down upon them. Having been released from the talons that carried it, the towering beast slammed down into the soft carpet only to release a monstrous roar.

Reacting quickly, Karen through her ball of arcane energy at the creature...watching as it detonated with a sound reminiscent of a firecracker. Although it shook its head briefly in irritation, it had apparently done little beyond angering it.

Now it’s attention was focused on her, as it charged the blonde with its gleaming battleaxe drawn back for a cleaving strike.

”Oh fuck that.” Came Malcolm’s aggressively civilized response as he, without hesitation, whipped his glass of chocolate milk right at the Mino’s face, abruptly grabbing Karen around the waist to give her a firm yank hard enough to pull both of them off their feet and forward, onto the floor between the beast’s legs and just missing it’s charging gait.

”Zo! Ideas!?” Malcolm shouted, a year of fighting crime in Blud leaving him astonishingly composed for an eleven-year-old who nearly got murdered by a giant Man-Bull-Thing. ”Because this is a new one for me!”

Zoey Kasimir was known by many to be … a little paranoid. Just a tiny bit. A smidge above normal.

So when a fucking quad-squad of mythical creatures showed up in her god damned living room, after breaking her window, and proceeded to charge her house guest with a fucking axe, Zoey was prepared! Well, not for mythical creatures specifically, but intruders in general.

The side of Zoey’s fist slammed into the wall, in motion with her foot stomping against the floor directly beneath the same area with force. There was a small click, unheard over the ruckus, before a section of wall high above their heads opened, and from it dropped one of the numerous, numerous weapons hidden around Kasimir Castle.

Catching the assault rifle with both hands it took only a second to switch the safety off before a burst of gunfire sounded through the room, but rather than being directed at the minotaur the flash of the muzzle was pointed towards the three flying whores in Zoey’s living room, managing to clip the wings of one and draw blood on the other.

”Idea - idea?! Yes there’s a fucking idea, grab the animals and get to the Grotto!” Abruptly the redhead grabbed onto the back of Sam’s neck, tossing her through the air like a furry football to Karen. Jumping the couch the billionaire caught Buttons by his collar and repeated it by tossing him to Malcolm. ”GO.”

Another burst of bullets, but despite taking advantage of the minotaur’s back being to them as Zoey backed up to the door, the bite of the projectiles barely broke the skin in the back of one of his knees. Zoey needed her weaponry.

Goddammit all, I just wanted to tell them that something weird was going on, now I’m possessing a christmas tree and facing down a bunch of mythical creatures.

Harris would have sighed had the tree a mouth or lungs. The one day he needs to go get some help it turns out that they’re occupied. Well, no use sitting there and being a gaudy decoration, he had to do something.

So he did, sending out a group of vines that entangled themselves around the limbs of the massive half-bull creature. The thing was incredibly strong, he could feel the flesh of the plant ripping as the massive beast pulled against him.

How had he ended up in this position anyway? Why couldn’t he have just went through the day knowing that someone else would handle it? Why did he need to get involved?

”Hey, um, I know what you’re thinking, but it’s me, Harris, most of you probably don’t know who that is but um… it’s me. So uh, I’ll just hold him back while you… get a missile launcher or something, no big rush,” he said, desperately trying to not let the effort that he was putting into keeping the beast contained seep into his voice. ”We can save the pleasantries for later I guess, I dunno, I’m just a tree.”

He remembered back when he had a normal life. When he wasn’t a tree. Those were good times.

Karen wasn’t in much of a position to argue through any of this. She had already given that thing her best shot, and had been narrowly dragged to safety by Malcolm. When Zoey tossed Samantha to her and ordered her to run, the blonde eagerly nodded. Holding fast to the drunken feline, she glanced over her shoulder as she ran for the Grotto alongside Zoey’s second adopted son.

Was that Harris talking through the Christmas tree? Why?!

Well, he...he seemed to be handling himself better than they were at least, though Zoey had managed to stun a couple of the Harpies. The third one, however, was already swooping down towards them. She could already see it opening its mouth to unleash a scream capable of shattering a human skull through concussive force alone.

Reaching down to her wrist, Karen seized the diamond bracelet Zoey had given her and ripped it free. With her main - left - hand, she hurled it in her best pitch into the Harpy’s mouth, causing it to choke on the expensive gift. ”I’m sorry, Zoey!”

”I’ll buy you another one,” Said woman growled in response, followed by another flurry of bullets to stop the second harpy. As soon as they cleared the thresh hold of the living room however Zoey stopped, drawing her phone out of her pocket. ”Nice seeing you again by the way, Harris!” She called out, before a button on her phone had Lockdown Mode initiated.

Throughout the castle giant steel plates slammed over openings - doors, windows, passages - including the hallways they were in. Hefting the strap of the gun over her shoulder to let it rest against her side Zoey finally turned to Karen and Malcolm, plus the inebriated feline and whimpering puppy, not looking to them as her fingers danced over her phone. The metal plate in front of them slid open, as soon as they crossed it the sound of it slamming down behind them echoed out, repeating as they moved towards the Grim Grotto.

Under her breath, Zoey was muttering.

Harris barely managed to get out a “Hi” before he was left completely isolated from everyone else. Alone. With three Harpies and a minotaur.

Welp, he hoped Zoey didn’t care about the tree that much.

The tree exploded into a mass of wood and vine, covering the entire room in plant matter and pinning each of the creatures to the walls and ceiling. That should work well enough. But how the hell was he supposed to talk to them now? The tree was ruined and he was quickly being brought back to his regular body.

Oh well, he’d figure something out.

”Can’t transform… mythological creatures … Assassination? No, but-” An alert on the phone and Zoey glanced down as it switched to an outside camera. ”... And more to come, it seems.”

”Yuuuuup. Plenty more.” Malcolm added, having only to just look up to confirm what Zoey was seeing on her phone, a slight twinge of humour somehow finding it’s way into his voice despite all the insanity going on above ”...Brightsides, though, looks like Dave’s safely asleep in his room for the lockdown and Ker’s locked in a closet munching on your fancy shoes.”

”I’ll kill Buttloaf later.”

Turning his gaze back towards Zoey, Karen and the shitfaced cat, Malcolm finally spoke the question on everyone’s mind.

”So... what the hell was that about?”

Samantha groaned within Karen’s arms, slumping forward in the teen’s grasp as she glanced at the other two girls and three boys. “Sh-shomehow...Karen’sh connection with the Rock of Eternity ish being blocked. That...shouldn’t be posshible, though…”

”Seriously?! That’s why I can’t transform? T-then…” Karen trailed off, wondering what she was supposed to do. ”B-but, that still doesn’t answer the question of why this is happening!”

Sam drunkenly shrugged her shoulders in response.

”Great,” Mother and son deadpanned at the same time.

One Piece: The Romance of Blackfin (OPEN)

Kailani, for her part, had been quite content sitting on the sidelines beside Captain Guntag. Actually, she had been talking to him quite animatedly through the whole fight, not seeming concerned with any danger - half interrogating Guntag about the town and half commentating on the fight, her speech sprinkled with cheers for her own Captain.

When at last the monster of a man fell the bronze skinned girl leapt to her feet, dusting her shorts off before waving to Guntag. ”Nice meeting you! Don’t stay on the road too long, there’s other pirates coming!” Picking up her dented helmet trophy Kailani quite happily trotted after Siobhan to go investigate Mushuro, and the building he was currently occupying. Plus, she couldn’t help but congratulate the taller woman.

”Good work, Chief!”

Offering her shipwright a warm smile, the redhead reached out to scruffle her hair before returning her focus to the structure ahead. Stepping through it the hole where the entrance once was, her eyes immediately fell over the prone form of the swordsman she had only moments earlier been engaged in a life threatening battle with.

The sight of icing smeared over him and and the rest of the store as well as that particular type of floury dough caused Siobhan to pause, glancing over her shoulder at Kailani. It was...probably best she didn’t say anything.

”...Let’s get him up and conscious, then.”

Moving to hoist him out of the obliterated remains of what was probably once a display case, she decided that in order to wake him, a delicate approach would be required.

”RISE AN’ SHINE, YA MAGGOT!” She screamed in his face, slapping him across the face repeatedly.

Mushuro blinked himself awake shakily, then snapped at her hand as she slapped him again.

“Barca you bastard I’ll bite that hand off and really feed the rest of you to a Sea King if you don’t cut it out!”

Siobhan reflexively jerked her hand away, thankfully avoiding getting bitten. Being around Fishmen most of her life made her particularly good at that, to be certain. Still, he was awake now and that was the important thing!

”Barca? Am I to guess that’s who had ya raggin’ like a rabid dog earlier?” Siobhan quirked her brow, taking a step back so he could see that she wasn’t whoever he was thinking of. After the hit he took, he’d probably be dizzy for a while. Admittedly, her method of rousal wasn’t too gentle either.

”Huh...ugh...so...I’m guessing you’re not with the Barca or the Cheribo Army, or I’d be dead...Am I dead? I feel like I’m dead.”

He only looked at her even more confused when she didn’t seem to know who Barca was at all.

“Yeah, a real lousy guy and the head of all the slavers on the Nathaniel Creed, Whip Fang Barca. Originally he pretended to be a real nice guy, talking about how pirates were free and we’d sail the seas seeing the world together. It was only later I found out what a monster he really is. But well, I have this allergy see? If I eat meat aside from fish, I get crazy mad and rampage even stronger and faster than normal until I tire out like I did here. Ever since Barca found out about it, he’s been keeping me chained up and starving me so that he can make me go berserk and wipe out his enemies for him with my allergy. I...don’t know how long it’s been, or how many towns and lives I’ve…”

Mushuro trailed off, slumped and feeling exhausted and defeated from way more than just having been kicked through a bakery.

”Like I said, he’s a real bastard.”

”So he made ya a slave, in other words,” Siobhan noted.

Good, he didn’t seem to be too hurt...at least physically. She didn’t think she would break him too badly, but it wouldn’t be the first time that she underestimated how much force she was using. She had a bad history with that. In his “berserk” state back there, he was pretty much a danger to everyone...including himself, in many ways.

Reaching her hand out to help him to his feet, the redhead offered him a beaming grin. ”Well, ya need not worry yourself with him now, since you’re goin’ to be my swordsman from here on!”

The sounds of gunfire growing ever closer caused her eyes to shift slightly to the side. ”Well, okay...ya might need to worry about him for just a wee bit longer.”

Mushuro looked at her disbelieving, finally remembering to pull his half-mask over the bottom of his face.

”Hmph. Hold on a second, just who do you think you are? Just because you knocked me out when I’d been starved and unable to train for I-dunno-how-long and accidentally free me from Barca, you expect me to join you? Sorry, but after what happened to me last time I might need some more proof before I sign up with anyone.”

The redhead blinked at this for a moment, before turning slightly to the side in order to reveal the shark fin on her back. ”I’m Grace D. Siobhan, and if your worryin’ that I might be a slaver, well…”

She could’ve shown him her brand, but she felt like it’d be a little weird to go stripping off right here, all things considering. This situation was probably moving more than fast enough for his tastes as it was.

”I don’t have the best history with the slavin’ types, let’s leave her at that,” she exhaled, folding her arms beneath her chest. She should’ve figured not everyone would be quite so eager as Kailani to join her. Still, at least she wouldn’t have to bail this guy out of a marriage...probably.

Thumbing over her shoulder at the approaching battle, her lips slid into a smirk. ”Now, you’ll be forgivin’ me if I’m a bit presumptuous-like, but I’d be willin’ to bet you’re pretty worn out right now. Maybe too much to make it out of this alive on your own?”

”Given the tendency for me foot to find itself lodged up the arse end of slavin’ scum like this Barca anyway, what if I were to take him down an’ help you escape?”

Mushuro sighed and what little energy and defiance was left in him went out of him completely. For a minute he just looked tired, staring down at the floor. Then, he slowly let a grin spread over his face as he looked back up at Siobhan “Alright, you have my cooperation for now. But there is one thing…”

“After we beat Barca and all of his men into paste, I promised I’d feed him to a Sea King.”

Siobhan blinked for a moment at his rather specific request, scratching the side of her face in careful thought for a moment. She then glanced over her shoulder at the shorter girl behind her, smiling slightly.

”Would feedin’ him to Kailani here be okay?”

I mean, that sounded scarier than a Sea King to Siobhan, at least! Plus, maybe she wouldn’t ask about the cake…

Said girl nearly bounced in place in excitement, hugging the helmet to her chest as she nodded so enthusiastically her dark brown bangs seemed to be bouncing on their own. ”Oh, oh, yes! That’s a good idea! Siobhan said I probably wouldn’t be able to eat many people out here - which is, you know, weird since there’s so many - but it’s a delicacy where I’m from!” Kailani flashed Mushuro a beaming grin, just to pause and tilt her head.

”... Though, I usually only eat corpses, but I suppose if it’s that important,” Kailani raised a hand to tap at her bottom lip thoughtfully, the other still cradling the helmet close to her. She shrugged. ”I mean, I guess he’d die pretty quickly anyway!”

She then raised a bronze hand to wave. ”... Oh, and hi! I’m Kailani.”

Mushuro was grateful that his facemask prevented the two female pirates from seeing how nauseated he felt at the idea of a person eating another person alive, but then again the fact that it’d happen to Barca helped to steel his resolve.

”Uhh...sure I guess? Just...for now shouldn’t we focus on actually getting out of here alive and beating Barca’s invasion force?

Siobhan offered him a simple nod in reply, turning immediately to the sounds of battle that had found their way to the site of their little fight. Slavers - dozens of them - were clashing with the royal army, and were winning by the looks of things. So disorganized and shaken by Mushuro’s attack were they that their discipline and morale had never really recovered.

It was admittedly quite a smart move, taking advantage of their “secret weapon’s” rampage like that. But these smallfry weren’t what interested her.

”Hmm...so which one is Barca?” The redhead muttered to herself.

Most of them looked pretty unimpressive. In fact, it took her a solid minute of scanning the warzone before her eyes settled on the looming figure of a man who came storming into view. Standing at about ten feet in height, he carried himself with the distinct pride of one who commanded a large ship and crew. His fair blonde hair was drawn back in a ponytail, and the light of the moon glinted off his golden hazel eyes. He was stout, yet also muscular, but most notable of all was the weapon he carried.

Cutting through the air with enough speed and force to cause the wind to whistle audibly, the whip in his hand seemed to shimmer with a silvery light as it danced. Almost seeming like a thin piece of metal more than a proper whip, it effortlessly sliced through soldiers, fortifications and any bullets that were sent his way.

Kailani, head tilting to one side, then the other, finally leaned over to comment to Siobhan in her usual cheerful voice, ”I think it’s the big one! … There’s going to be leftovers.”

Mushuro nodded, his frown evident from his eyebrows and face now even with the half mask. ”Yeah that’s Barca alright. That whip sword of his is tricky, and he’s not a complete pushover himself either. I could have taken him on if he hadn’t turned on me right after finding out about my allergy and starved me between fights, but you should probably still be careful.”

“S-stay out of melee, stay out of-” One unfortunate officer shouted desperately before the bladed whip cleaved his skull clean in half. No matter what obstacle he faced, the massive warrior seemed to wade through them with the most contemptible of ease...though never without the support of his crew beside him, Siobhan noted.

Tapping her chin in thought for a moment, the redhead smiled. ”He’s a fast one, sure. But he avoids havin’ too much fire ever focused on him at once.”

Glancing over to Mushuro, she nudged her head towards the many slavers that had assembled at the man’s flanks. There were quite a large number of them, all things considered. Well, she knew how to rectify that, at least. As for Barca himself...well, there should be a barrel around here somewhere, surely.

”Kailani, watch over our man here. Don’t eat him,” Siobhan glanced over to her shipwright for a moment before skipping out of the hole in the wall of the partially collapsed store.

”Why do you assume I’ll eat him?! He’s still alive, and - you know what, nevermind.” Kailani pouted, though continued to bounce on her feet even as she waved after Siobhan. ”Have fun! Look for cake for me!” With her piece said the bronze skinned girl turned to Mushuro, looking him over curiously. He looked … odd compared to what she was used to, which was honestly not that surprising. Everything did out here in the wide world.

”So… what animal did you skin for that outfit?”

”It’s called a panda, and I didn’t actually skin it, I bought the outfit and I think it’s a realistic fake.”

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 7th, 5:31PM
Gotham City, New Jersey

Anarkee settled into her usual spot on an abandoned fire escape looking down on the open alley below. Ostensibly, the place was supposed to have been a small car park for the nearby residents, but the lack of security, the long dark alley, and the general vibe of the area kept commuters away. Though it did help to attract a certain crowd; those lost souls of this godless pit. The small and downtrodden, those looking for any spark of hope. Anarkee looked at the building opposite her, her eyes narrowing as she took in the sight of those cretins creation. Gotham’s Watchful Hound. Grim’s mural. Street urchins and impoversed passerbys would often duck through this alley, stealing glances at this symbol of hope and even adding to it. Paint, chalk, pencil lines, all manner of graffiti adorned the wall around the wolf’s head symbol with messages to Grim, thanks and requests and praise for this lawless protector. Disgusting.

Anarkee sighed as she set the pizza box she carried down on the steel grate of the fire escape. This had become routine for her. Pizza from Roy’s, the old blind chef not caring or seeing who he sold to; then slink to the mural and watch. Think. Plan. Nothing she was doing was working yet. Nothing got Grim’s attention. Anarkee refused to start in earnest until she knew Grim would see. This wasn’t just about the corrupt blowhards in the seats of power, or about the rampant destruction in the streets. This was about Grim too. All of it, like a big puzzle, all cogs in a machine. And Anarkee herself, the wrench in the works. The people were looking over their shoulders for her. The businessmen feared where she’d hit next. All she wanted was Grim to spare a glance. But for now… She’d wait. She’d watch. And when the time came, nobody would bother to rebuild their little shrine. All in due time.

---

The Grim Mural. The least kept secret about Gotham City’s not so urban legend. A symbol of hope, a sign that there was a bit of light in the darkness that hung over the city, and the best way to catch a glimpse of Grim - aside from being in mortal danger, of course.

And to top it off, the place where people of different stations could cross paths without much fanfare - aside from being in the neighborhood in general. Grim wasn’t above helping the rich when they were in danger, just for their station after all. Well, except maybe the city’s current Mayor, but only she was aware of that. It’s for this reason Zoey Kasimir got little more than a glance as Gotham’s resident billionaire drove through the streets, and most of those being for the vibrant yellow McLaren she was driving than anything. The expensive car pulled into the nearly abandoned carpark with little more than a quiet purr, the vehicle parking right in the center - even between the lines, despite no other cars being present.

When the redhead emerged her steel-blue eyes scanned along the car park, muscles coiled and tensed as she checked the surroundings. Zoey had no fear of who she might meet here, but caution was rewarded. However as her gaze landed on the white paint of the canine’s head, splashed across the brickface, she paused and took it in.

The paint was flaking a tiny bit in places, a testament to how long it had been up this time. When it first went up the mural was painted over within a month - surprisingly swift for Gotham. However it was repainted quickly, then again, and after the third time the messages started appearing. Zoey wasn’t aware of what came first, since by the time she visited there was a half dozen already there. It only grew.

Occasionally the mural was still painted over, but it seemed they had given up the fight for a bit. The artists who put it up were staunch in keeping it, even if the messages were wiped out from time to time.

A symbol of hope…

And for Zoey Kasimir, a symbol of duty.

Exhaling heavily the redhead shut the door of her McLaren before continuing her scan of the area, mentally berating herself for letting her gaze stop. She was confident in her abilities, but there was rarely an occasion to drop your guard so fully.

Even the rooftops were scanned, which is what brought Zoey to a grinding halt. There, on the fire escape of one of the buildings surrounding the mural, was a very familiar figure. For a moment the billionaire could only remain stock still, staring up at her.

Not afraid. Cautious. There was a reason that Zoey had come here without her uniform - reports had been coming in of Anarkee occasionally being there. Yet now, head tilted back to gaze up at the figure who had caused so much chaos, so much death, having sought her out without weapons… The redhead’s tongue felt heavy with regret, words dying on the tip of her tongue.

Even more so, in person, it was reinforced to Zoey just who this was. An old friend.

And now a menace.

Because of her.

---

Anarkee raised an eyebrow as a very familiar car pulled into the alley. That was the last person she’d expected to see here. Finishing off a piece of pizza, Anarkee tossed the crust onto the asphalt below before crossing her arms. Had Grim run into Zoey Kasimir, left enough of an impression on the billionaire that she’d come here to pay respects? Anarkee’s eyes narrowed as Kasimir turned, recognizing the tense body language. She’d never seen it before, but now… It was plain as day. The stress on the billionaire, the way her gaze darted to the alley, the rooftops, and finally… To herself. Something was off about Zoey Kasimir.

Anarkee slowly stood up from her sitting position, resting her hands on the rusted iron railing and chuckling coldly to herself as she looked down at her former friend. ”Well. Well. Well. Look what the cat dragged in. Or, it would seem in this case, the dog. What on earth could bring Gotham City’s Darling to this backalley shithole? Oh don’t look at me like that; like you’re ready for me to pounce at any moment. And you are ready, aren’t you? I know fear, and has no home in your eyes, Miss Kasimir. You’re waiting. Well, you’ll be waiting awhile, I’m afraid.” Anarkee said, relaxing slightly and flashing a toothy grin. ”I’m in no mood to hurt someone right now. Least of all you, strangely. Like you, I’m waiting as well. Biding my time. Staring into the abyss, waiting to see who. Blinks. First.”

Anarkee stared at Zoey Kasimir, unmoving.

”... Darling?” Was Anarkee’s response after a long minute, as Zoey just kept gazing up at the other woman in turn. She was so different. There was just enough to pick out who she was, but it was like some horrible, graffiti’d shell of the person she used to be. Finally however she shook her head, offering a strangely empty smile in return to the anarchist. It didn’t even reach her eyes.

”I like looking at this mural sometimes,” The billionaire finally responded, tilting her head slightly to look to it out of the corner of her eye. Mostly her steel gaze remained on Anarkee, yet she showed no fear. Caution, perhaps, but not fear. ”It’s fascinating, what it represents, despite Grim’s many, many flaws.” Something in Zoey’s expression turned ugly, a grimace tugging her red painted lips downward. The redhead leaned against her car, a deep exhale emerging from her lips. Strangely enough, despite her tense muscles she didn’t feel… in danger, as she should.

Well, no more than the usual paranoia, anyway.

”Then again, from the news reports, I suppose I’m just preaching to the choir, aren’t I, Miss Anarkee?”

Anarkee chuckled and spread her arms, shrugging as she called out. ”So you’ve heard of me! Though I shouldn’t be surprised, you probably had money in the bank I burned down!” Anarkee said with a wink. ”Nothing personal you understand, just… Well, completely personal actually, just not directed at you specifically. Your ‘type’, as it were. The fat, bloated predators that feed on the little people and don’t give a damn about anything but padding their own pockets. But I’m getting off topic.”

“You and I seem to share the same interests, Miss Kasimir. Examining Grim’s spark of hope in the community and pondering his place. You know, were the situations different I wouldn’t hate Grim so much. But we have a history, the two of us. Even if he doesn’t know it. And even aside from that, I could look past that history if it weren’t for the damn high horse. Grim goes around, acting outside the law, disrespecting due process and tearing up the tent-pegs of society… Only to nail them back down. There is so much more that Grim could do! To rebuild humanity as it was meant to be! This city shows it all Miss Kasimir. We are animals. We’re not so evolved as to be removed from our ancestors. Our base instincts guide us, and yet we deny them. To be a ‘good person’, to have compassion and empathy. And yet, those most successful in this city? The corrupt. The vultures. The animals. All I want, all I work towards, and all Grim is working against by using the same tactics is to show these people that they can achieve greatness as well if only they take it! Embrace the animal, and its instincts will guide you to victory. Keep up the charade of justice and honor and be trampled by the animal. Grim knows that. And yet he struggles and fights to keep the weak where they were, instead of making them strong. And that is why I come here. To learn. To see. To understand. And to make Grim see me… Or trample him.”

Zoey remained quiet throughout the whole - well, okay, it was a monologue. To be quite frank she didn’t mind however, just keeping her gaze steadfast on the woman who had caused so much grief to the city, taking in her words quietly. The billionaire wanted to understand her, to figure out what led her down this path. To be honest, at first she thought it was some weird, twisted way of vengeance against Grim.

Maybe it was, and even Anarkee didn’t realize it.

Another exhale, heavier this time as pale fingers rose to run through crimson strands. To be honest, it was a little … frightening how close Anarkee’s thoughts were to her own. Almost like parallels, one path twisted and corrupt. Like all it would’ve taken was one different decision and they could’ve ended up on the same side, or mirrors of each other once more.

And all Zoey wanted to know was what happened in those years Emma disappeared. To wonder if it would’ve been different if she could’ve found her, after Jason’s death. She’d never know, now. Was there even some part of her left? Would it be suicide for a regular person to ask?

Luckily Zoey Kasimir was no regular person.

”... I know of your history with him, Anarkee.” The tall woman finally ventured, voice soft in the air. ”At least part of it, from all those years ago.”

Anarkee’s eyes narrowed at Zoey’s admission, tilting her head to the side to consider this new information. Suspicion rose in the pale woman’s head, theories and ideas shooting off like sparks. That statement could mean so many different things… Were this any other day and any other person, Anarkee would have pounced then and there. Taken the other woman and pried the information from her by any means necessary. Fortunately for the redheaded billionaire, the stars had aligned just right that Anarkee decided on a different route.

”You do, don’t you…” The anarchist mused, letting go of the railing and tilting her head to the other side, cracking the joints in her neck with a loud pop. At the same time she flicked her left wrist, priming her gas glove to start accepting commands.

”Out of every person in this city, I’d thought that only me and Grim would know about that…” Anarkee let a hint of sadness seep into her voice now, the smallest crack of weakness. She needed to know what Zoey knew, to get close enough to confirm her suspicions.

”My messages were in the paper, I thought only Grim would know… But of course you’d be able to figure it out too.” Anarkee sat back down on the fire escape, letting out a mournful sigh. She intended to appear pathetic, to trigger Zoey’s mothering instincts for her old friend.

”That’s when it all started, all those years ago… He never would have been out there if it wasn’t for Grim, Zo’.” Emma Graves admitted with a sniffle, heavy tears starting to fall from her eyes. Emma reached up and wiped them away, smearing the red and white face paint and revealing a streak of her pale skin underneath as she looked at Zoey with her sparkling blue eyes. ”He did that to Jason. Grim created me, Zo’. It’s not my fault…” The woman cried with a carefully planned crack in her voice.

Zoey’s head tilted to the side as she watched Anarkee - watched Emma, her friend from so many years ago. Her sharp eyes took in every detail, every minute motion like she had done for years. Well-honed instincts screamed in the back of her mind. Even without that, a rational person would know very well to steer clear of getting close to the city’s most famed - currently - murderer.

The billionaire wasn’t always a rational person.

”Of course I know. Jason was my friend,” Zoey began in a soft voice, stepping closer to the fire escape. Her eyes slid along the metal railings, noting that the ladder at the bottom wasn’t down. Grim could make the jump. ”It was just… something in the back of my mind, from those messages. Then when I got the hint, well, looking at your pictures in the paper… you know that I used to study the details of your face quite enthusiastically.” A slight quirk of the lips, a little joke before the tall woman took a few steps and attempted to grab onto the ladder with a leap.

Her slender fingers scrambled against the wall as Zoey missed, quite intentionally, her feet landing back on the ground with a muffled curse. ”I’m too old for this,” She muttered under her breath, letting the words carry up to the other woman. She took a few more steps back to be able to look up at Emma, running her pale fingers through red strands. Despite everything, part of her ached seeing someone she once considered a friend like that. Cracking voice, smeared makeup, tears. It was the picture of a broken woman.

”Why don’t you come down here? We can get you help, Emma. I’ll stay with you through it.”

Anarkee watched through the metal grate as Zoey approached, her eyes stinging with hot crocodile tears. It seemed as though her old friend was truly concerned, trying to calm her down. Anarkee very nearly gave up on her suspicions when Zoey missed the ladder, but something about the jump seemed… Off. Zoey had always been meticulous about her workouts, and the two women were close enough in age that Anarkee was confident she had an idea of what Zoey could still do. Reaching out a hand and making sure it has enough of an emotional shake to it, the anarchist rested her gloved fingers on top of the collapsible ladder, toying with the release switch.

Anarkee couldn’t let Zoey any closer without confirming at least some of her suspicions. Cursing herself internally, the anarchist closed her eyes as she continued pretending to cry. Using a skill of hers she tried hard not to rely on, but one that would come in very handy right about now…

In the black space behind her eyelids, Anarkee could see a blossom of emotions. Her own suspicion and yes, slight guilt about this whole situation, though her own emotions were tied up and suppressed. And from below, a swirling, surprisingly well-bundled mix of emotions from the redheaded billionaire. Concern, suspicion, reluctance, relief, hope… And a surprising amount of guilt. Guilt undercutting and defining every other emotion, and running deep into Zoey’s core. Pulling her senses back and opening her eyes, Anarkee nearly smiled to herself. That certainly helped support her suspicion.

Tapping her fingers on the ladder latch, Anarkee wiped her eyes with her other hand, sniffling as she looked down at Zoey. For a brief moment, she actually considered the other woman’s offer. But even assuming she weren’t tossed in prison for life… What then? She wouldn’t stay with Zoey, that was for sure. Not after these questions had been raised. No no, best to stay the course. Of course, right now that meant getting close… Anarkee let out a pitiful sigh as she twitched her fingers, hoping that her trembling would help hide the commands she was issuing to prime a Blank Burst.

”Just… Just sit with me for a few minutes, Zo’... Just let me feel… Let me feel goddamn normal for a few minutes…” Anarkee lied, flicking the latch and listening to the clanking sounds of the ladder unfolding.

In moments like this, a hand on the ladder that would potentially lead to one of her biggest mistakes, it was all risk versus reward. There was so many reasons for Zoey to stay firmly on the ground, to retreat immediately, hell, even to call Lady Arcana to have her just grab this nutcase.

But once upon a time this was her nutcase. Zoey owed nothing and everything to the girl above her, because despite how broken her mind had become Emma was right about one thing. Jason would have never died the way he had if Grim had never existed.

So it was that against her better judgement the billionaire took a deep breath, her fingers ghosting over her pocket and silently calling the Grim Jet to hover a few blocks away, and placed her hands on the rungs of the ladder. The weight of blades up her sleeve was reassuring, but not enough to ignore how bad of an idea this was. Grim had studied the reports for days, had inside information from the police, Zoey knew above all others that this was a colossally stupid thing she was doing, especially without her gas mask. The reports on the bank robbery especially mentioned Anarkee’s toxin filled bombs.

Yet here Zoey was, climbing up the ladder finally.

”Hey, Emma,” Zoey whispered softly to the woman she once called a friend once she got up beside her. The billionaire’s entire body was tense, but it often was considering her paranoia - still screaming in her ear. The redhead carefully sat down beside her, bending a knee to rest her foot against the edge of the fire escape while letting the other hang off. The position would allow her to spring up in an instant, but could also pass as casual.

Taking a deep breath steel-blue eyes lifted to the deep blue’s of the woman opposite her, seeing the hint of who she once was beneath smeared makeup and tears.

Anarkee wiped her eyes clear as Zoey climbed the ladder, confident that her glove was primed and ready to go. This was her moment. The pale anarchist shot a small half-smile at her old friend, waiting until she had settled down before speaking.

”Hi Zoey. Sorry.” Anarkee said, lunging towards the redhead and flicking her wrist. The gas exploded from the vents in her gloves, spraying a concentrated dose of Apathy at Zoey’s face. A whiff would temporarily reduce just about anyone to a blank, mindless state. Not good for much other than answering questions, but that was all Anarkee would need. And with the two of them sitting on the fire escape, there weren’t many places for Zoey to escape to…

Tense and ready to spring, the only surprise was how similar Anarkee’s glove device was to Grim’s. Zoey used her foot resting against the metal beneath it to immediately spring away, pale hands finding the railing as she leapt back, ending up crouched on the same railing as far away from Anarkee as possible. There was a glint of metal near the billionaire’s wrist, ready to throw a blade in an instant if she kept approaching.

But despite her reflexes and quick footwork, Zoey wasn’t quick enough. There was a strange scent in her nose, a burn in her mind that made her constantly tense muscles uncoil and even her pounding heart slow. She cursed in her mind, wishing she had her mask. What a fool she was for thinking insanity could be helped!

Steel-blue orbs glinted in the bits of flickering light over the Grim mural as Zoey cursed lowly, and bit her bottom lip. Her muscles fought, wanting to relax and just smile dopily to the other woman. Of course, that train of thought was ended quickly as her pain receptors lit up, blood blooming against the white of her button up shirt as it spilled down from her mouth to stain against her front. Immediately her heart once again began pounding against her chest, adrenaline rushing her veins like a shot. Her relaxed posture became rigid as the redhead glowered to Emma - no, Anarkee.

Maybe Emma Graves really had died, even if not in body.

”Is that how you treat old friends?” Zoey finally rumbled, lips slick with blood.

Anarkee had reacted quickly as well, throwing herself in the opposite direction as Zoey had begun to move. Leaping on top of the railing around the fire escape, she had kicked at the air briefly, the spring-loaded knives in her boots extending before she leapt towards the opposite wall. Kicking at the old brick and moarter as she hit, the lithe woman slammed her hands against the wall as well, the knives and razors digging into the wall. At the very least she’d bought herself some space. She turned her head to look at Zoey, noting the blood dripping from her mouth and the knives in hand.

Anarkee laughed, the screeching sound ripping itself from her lungs as she grinned at the other woman. ”If those friends got my brother, the last surviving member of my family killed, then yes; GRIM!” Anarkee cried triumphantly, her suspicions confirmed. ”But you know, you did show me one kindness: You murdered the sons of bitches that killed my brother! So I’ll cut you a deal! You get in your stupid car and you leave right now. We don’t have to fight today. You know me, and I know you. And we both know this isn’t our last encounter. So why not be ready next time? We both walk away, and come back to this better and smarter! And we’re even now. Clean slate. Whadaya say?”

”I’d say whatever part of Emma Graves I thought survived in you died long ago!” Zoey spit back in return, quite literally as flecks of blood blew through the air with her words. ”You’re absolutely insane, there’s no way I could be Grim - I hate Grim just as much as you do for what happened to Jason!”

The billionaire’s teeth grit together, knowing it was likely useless to protest now that it was in Anarkee’s head. Still, she had to try - not for herself, but for her two sons at home. Her fingers slid along the throwing blade in her hand, wondering if she could be quick enough to disable the other woman. She was fully decked out, while Zoey was not. It’s not like she’d be able to fight with pure willpower against it when the area was filled with gas…

But she had to try. The Grim Jet was nearby.

Decision made in a split second Zoey threw her hand forward, two gleaming blades leaving her grasp. Unlike the hitman from less than a month before these weren’t aimed to kill; one went for Anarkee’s thigh, the other her arm. As soon as they left she leapt up, grabbing onto the level above in the fire escape to start climbing up it on swift limbs.

Anarkee pushed off from the wall as Zoey flung the knives at her, inhaling sharply as one of the blades grazed her arm before she fell to the ground. She glared up at the other woman as Zoey began scaling the fire escape, laughing harshly as she sprinted for the ladder

”I’m sure you do, Zoey! Filled with hatred and self-loathing, that guilt must drive you crazy! That’s the difference between you and I you know, you deny the darkness inside and let it drive you mad, but I accept it and it’s made everything clear!” Anarkee cried, swinging up the ladder and staring up at her fleeing foe.

”You think I’m crazy, that I’ve lost my mind! But my mind is the only thing I haven’t lost, Grim! You know I’m right, deep down!” Anarkee squinted as she looked up through the grates, cackling up at Zoey’s silhouette. ”Everything I said, the rampant corruption and the bondage of man, the beast inside, you know it’s true! You can’t deny it forever, and when you come to term with it I’ll be right here Zo’!”

”You’ll be in a heavily padded cell by the time I’m through with you,” Zoey hissed in return, but her voice was lower now. Flinging herself over the roof of the building her phone was in hand, issuing commands to the nearby Grim Jet to swap to non-lethal ammunition. Another quick input and the billionaire pocketed the phone once more, a flick of her wrist having another knife at the ready with the other she already held.

Rolling her shoulders and taking a deep, steadying breath Zoey once more jolted onto the edge of the building, this time on the corner of it to have a better visual. With a speed that spoke of how often she did it one knife left her hand to once more head towards Anarkee, hesitating only a moment before the second was let loose as well - corrected with the path of the first.

”Oh, I have so missed our banter, Zoey!” Anarkee said with a laugh as she ducked out of the way of the first knife. The second nearly caught her off guard though, and she swatted at it to deflect as it flew through the air. The sharp blade caught the side of Anarkee’s glove and ruptured one of the gas valves, which began to hiss and spray smoky gas around Anarkee.

”Oh now look what you’ve done!” Anarkee cried, ducking low into the cloud of smoke to try and hide her movements. Reaching inside her jacket with her other hand, Anarkee produced a fear bomb and threw it up towards Grim. It should explode on impact and spread her fear toxin in a wide radius, hopefully causing her old friend to flee.

Zoey was fast, incredibly fast. But braced to throw another knife into the cloud of gas, sharp eyes looking for the slightest human movement in the rolling fog, the bomb came up far quicker. The billionaire struck out with a kick to knock it away, which managed to get a large portion of the gas to instead spread and settle over the car park - and her car for that matter - but the roof of the building wasn’t unscathed either.

Despite her efforts to back track from the cloud of smoke it clung to her clothes, her hair, stuck to her tongue like sap combined with the coppery taste of blood. Zoey gagged but without her gas mask and already having fought the effects of the apathy bomb a cold feeling began to grip at her chest.

She whimpered.

Back tracking, almost tripping over her own feet to collapse, trembling, on the other side of the roof, Zoey wasn’t looking as from the sky came the rev of two very, very large guns. The Grim Jet steadied itself as it took in the moving targets before settling on the one it wasn’t keyed into, and abruptly let loose a barrage of non-lethal bullets towards Anarkee and the fire escape.

Anarkee looked up to the sky with wide eyes as the Grim Jet soared into view. If she wasn’t sure about Zoey’s identity before, she sure as hell was now. The whir of the twin guns on the jet snapped the anarchist into action, and she threw herself off the fire escape again, landing heavily on the ground and rolling to her feet even as a hail of rubber bullets sprayed the alley, a few of them pelting her painfully.

Crying out in frustration and pain, Anarkee sprinted underneath the fire escape for a moment of protection before running full tilt towards the open street at the end of the alley. Knowing Grim, those guns would probably stop shooting once civilians got involved, and this job just got too big for Anarkee to attempt it without a plan. Of course, that would mean leaving her pizza behind, but some sacrifices were necessary for further survival. She could feel the bullets pelting her back, though her stash of toxin bombs in her jacket offered her just enough protection that she could keep running.

Anarkee broke through onto the public street, dodging a speeding car and knocking over a businessman on his phone. Sneering down at him as he cursed at her, Anarkee paused for just a moment to drop a fear and anger bomb in the middle of the street, likely enough to incite a confused riot. Using the spreading smoke as cover, Anarkee sprinted towards the nearest storm drain and dropped down, covering her head to protect herself from the hail of gunfire as she slipped her slender frame down into the sewers below the city. For now she’d lick her wounds and tend to the massive bruising from the Grim Jet. But Anarkee was just getting started.

That night, every pizza delivery man in Gotham found themselves converging on Kasimir Castle, each of them delivering a very special pizza, the toppings all placed in the shape of Anarkee’s ‘A’...

One Piece: The Romance of Blackfin (OPEN)

Kailani’s grin became wider, absolutely beaming as she settled her brown orbs to look at Siobhan. ”Thanks! … Wait, surprisingly?” The Pekelian pouted briefly, the expression obviously theatrical as well as the accompanying deeply wounded sigh.

”That makes sense, though. Don’t want to scare them off.” Unlike the guards, who were almost quaking in their boots just at the mention of this guys’ name! … Alright, maybe that was a little theatrical, too. Still, they didn’t seem excited at the prospect, with how they paled and stuttered. Kailani tilted her head, long dark brown strands of hair falling into her face as she watched the guard scamper away, probably to tell Captain Weirdname.

With only one guard left Kailani returned to watching him, eyes almost unblinking. Their metal armor was neat, as was his rifle and sword. However her gaze lingered on his head, and finally she nodded as though confirming something.

”Siobhan!” The Pekelian declared, finally pushing away from the bars of her cell. The dark skinned girl turned on her heel and came right over to the section separating the two women, only to point back towards the guard. ”Before we leave, I want to get one of their tin can helmets as a souvenir!”

“What?!” Came the sputter from the guard.

”After Mushuro, of course! Well, if you keep him anyway. We’re going to need a bigger boat soon…”

Kailani’s grin became even wider. Oh yes, she couldn’t wait to upgrade boats.