Hitman

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-388

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Hugo Powers was currently standing outside Club 27, waiting patiently, foot tapping on the ground in rhythm, when he noticed Pandora emerging from the ground like some sort of cement mermaid. The massive, hulking human being walked over to Pandora's location, looking somewhat more pleased than usual, though "somewhat more pleased than usual" in Powers' case was still "much less pleased than usual" for your average person. The stoic director squatted down next to Pandora (or more accurately, the half of Pandora that was there) and spoke, his gruff voice matching his towering, threatening figure.

"First, a pleasure to meet you, Pandora," Powers said, extending a hand over to the ground-submerged woman. "It's a pleasure to see you in person. Second, as for my employees, from the reports I've received, they've managed to save themselves. They're quite the bunch. You'll like them." Powers said, contemplating for a moment, before shaking his head. "Actually, you won't. You'll hate their guts. But they'll grow on you. They did for me, anyway," the Director said, before standing. "They should be here any second...ah." Powers turned over to a portal that had formed across the lawn. "Here they come."

Back over at the Roman coliseum, Grace was very busy oogling a certain somebody that had just entered the Coliseum. She was about to laugh at Chad, poke fun at him a bit for his flair for the dramatic (not to mention exaggeration), but the arrival of Starbright had saved him from any sort of brutal rubbing. Grace instead found herself staring at Starbright, the beautiful sculpted man that was Starbright...hot damn, it must've been illegal to be so incredibly attractive, what type of phenomenal genetics caused this beautiful man to exist...Grace stared at Starbright for what felt like a few days before Patricia's harsh words cut into her stupor. “Stop undressing this man-child with your eyes and focus. We have somewhere we need to be, remember? He's not even worth it, anyways,” Patricia had said, and Grace blinked, having been freed from Starbright's unholy trance. Grace made sure to avoid eye contact with Starbright as she got to work crafting a second portal. She sincerely hoped Starbright never betrayed HERO, because his looks would make it impossible for the Korean girl to take him in. "Right, right. Club 27, portal, got it. I have a good idea from where it is, it's not far from my place...alright. You think Starbright is single? He can't be, right, not with shoulders like that..." Grace mused, before pulling herself out of this trance again and swiping her hand, opening a second set of portals. "Alright, this is pretty far for a portal, I've stretched my limits pretty thin, so the wormhole experience might be a little more unpleasant than usual...make sure you're not eating or drinking anything before hopping in. Also, don't hold your breath. Your lungs might collapse." With that, she shoo'd the gang through the portal, making sure to look away if Starbright decided to use her vastly more convenient form of transportation. She then used her remaining strength to haul the nearby unconscious Alpha through the portal (luckily for him, Grace had caught a glimpse of him as she was scouting the area), before practically flopping through herself.

The group was deposited on the lawn of Club 27, a gorgeous club belonging to the Wings of Law. Grace was the last to be thrown through, and she found her arms wrapped tightly around Tom for balance as she made it through. She looked a bit green- this portaling had taken quite a bit out of her, for sure. Powers folded his arms as he waited for the entire group to finish materializing, before speaking. "Pleasure to see you all in one piece. Glad you could all make it," the Director said, before gesturing towards Club 27. "Thanks to Mr. Polamor and Ms. Mok's timely cooperation, I was able to see that the Wings of Law were not abiding by HERO's code. So I decided that enough was enough, and to take matters into my own hands. The Wings of Law are no longer going to be employed at HERO."

Powers paused. "It's a shame that it had to come to this, watching the Wings devolve from legitimacy to their current state, but it shows what happens when you let power and fame get to your head. Never let that happen to any of you. You're all young, impressionable people that can have much brighter futures than Seraph, Mr. Impressive, and Sea Serpent will be having," Powers said sagely, before clasping his oversized hands together. "With that said, I'd also like to be introducing two new heroes to our organization. Pandora here is...a veteran hero, to say the least, and the organization as a whole is very pleased that she'll be lending her talents to us," Powers said, a rare honeyed kindness in his voice. Either he was sucking up, or there was a deep respect that existed from the Director to the Brit, something that was rare in HERO. "Also joining us is a much younger hero, Chad...he's a character, for sure, and I'm sure there's plenty of work to be done in regards to his abilities, but I'm confident he'll be a very capable hero soon." Powers nodded, having cleared up what he wanted to say. "That's all there is to it. Hopefully your days of hero-ing will be much more pleasant without the looming presence of the Wings of Law," Powers noted, before putting a hand to his earpiece and turning away, walking towards his expensive car. "I'm going to need a Restoration Unit at the old Marcus Aurelius set in Brookside...there's been an incident there..." he said as he entered the vehicle, before driving off.

He left behind an awkward silence as his car slid quickly down the streets of Castleburg, unknowing that his decision might not have been his wisest to date.

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One Week Later

_{3:05 PM
July 12th
Acre Plaza
New Athens, Castleburg}

Blake wasn't the type of person to have much alone time. He was a social creature, always looking for somebody to hang out with. Whether that somebody be a romantic interest, a co-worker, or just Tom (a common choice), Blake tended to be part of a duo or more when it came to his social outings. However, today, Blake was walking through Acre Plaza, moving through the intense bustle as he pushed through the crowd. Acre Plaza was often referred to as "the center of the galaxy." It was located in the heart of New Athens in the middle of Castleburg, and was a massive commercial intersection and a very busy pedestrian area. People ran back-and-forth up an down the plaza, underneath the flickering lights of the thousands of brilliant billboards, all shining down in an impressive display. Acre Plaza was the home of so many businesses, places of interests, tourist spots, and theaters (it was also smack dab in the center of Grand Avenue, the massive boulevard that cut through Castleburg and was synonymous with show business and theatrical entertainment). Blake was currently wandering almost aimlessly, looking for something to do. The summer air heated his skin as he looked at the storefront location of Disney Acre Plaza, staring at the giant Mickey Mouse head protruding from the glass, wondering if Jamie would prefer some sort of Disney memorabilia or a ton of chocolate from the Hershey's across the way.

Eventually, Blake decided on the latter, and he turned towards the massive chocolate-y store nearby. He didn't make it all the way there, though, as he noticed something very peculiar. All of the glowing billboards on Acre Plaza, including the massive jumbotrons on some of the skyscrapers, blanked out for a second, before changing instead to an image of what appeared to be a large black wing, with sleek edges and a dangerous-looking design. It looked like a logo, like something a gang would use as their representation, but Blake was unfamiliar with the design. The symbol flickered onscreen for a few moments, drawing attention, before changing to an image of a person that Blake had never expected to see again.

"Seraph...” Blake muttered under his breath, clenching his fists. He was not happy.

Seraph had all but vanished in the week following his mysterious removal from HERO. According to news organizations, Seraph had amicably parted ways with the organization and quietly retired. Blake knew that was not true, but it was better this way, truth be told. There would be no fighting on-air or media dispute about HERO, just a casual retirement and dissolution of a longtime group. It was surprising, true, but as far as the media was concerned, it was just a hero retirement. Nothing particularly spectacular, considering heroes retired all the time. It was a dangerous line of work, after all, and the pension definitely made it worth it. Blake had never expected to see Seraph again. He had hoped that Seraph would just take his piles of cash and move to Florida or something, go bother people down there instead of hanging around. Obviously, the former HERO had not heeded by his wishes.

Seraph began his speech, gesturing out with his arms and wings. "Citizens of Castleburg, this is Seraph. Now that I have your undivided attention, I would like to speak to you about something near and dear to my heart, and that is this city. Castleburg has been a city of wasted potential. The failure of our institutions to protect and serve is apparent in our society. Thankfully, with the recent retirement of Hugo Powers, I will be taking actions to help remedy this problem as your new superhuman leader."

Blake's head spun. What the hell? Powers wasn't retiring; he would've definitely known if he was, and Powers would never, ever appoint Seraph to be his replacement. Something was up here. Blake watched in horror as Seraph continued. "I've worked with HERO for many years, and they've given a great deal to this city, but to truly elevate Castleburg as a city, new measures will be necessary. That's why I'm announcing Castleburg's newest hero organization- EAGLES, the Elite American Group for Law Enforcement and Security, headed by me, Seraph. I've decided that I can't retire while I watch this city burn from scum and villainy. I had to take action again, take to the skies, and EAGLES will be the way to do it.” That same black wing logo appeared on the screen behind him, and Blake heard some pedestrians cheer. Cheer. Jesus, some people were really stupid.

"Unfortunately, with this good news, I have some more tragic news to announce. Very tragic news, in fact. Just today, not long ago, at my private club in Kingsdale, there was an unfortunate incident of mass murder. The entire club was found mysteriously dead. The autopsy revealed that there was no signs of any force or trauma, just a sudden death. Investigators are convinced that this is the work of the Maestro, or much more likely, the Maestro's daughter, Patricia Donnelly. I've spoken out against her countless times before, but it seems my warnings were too late and not heeded in time.”

Blake heard gasps in the crowd as the screen flicked to what Blake vaguely recognized as the interior of Club 27, the Wings' former hideout and an operating high-end nightclub, full of what appeared to be sleeping people- people slumped over the bar, laying on the floor, sprawled everywhere. Blake breathed heavily. It certainly didn't seem violent in nature- Blake would've assumed that his dad's house would've looked the same way after they were all gassed. Blake knew roughly of Patricia's capabilities, and that if she tried to death-sing a whole room of people, it would probably look something like that, but he also knew Patricia, and knew the teen would never, ever, EVER do anything like that. Also, he knew Seraph was a cold-hearted lying bastard, so there was that.

The screen flashed back to Seraph again. "EAGLES' first act as your new protectors will be bringing Patricia Donnelly to justice. My assistant director, Mr. Impressive, is already en route to bring Donnelly to justice. We're also seeking to bring any potential accomplices of Donnelly, some former HERO employees, in for questioning as well.” The screen flashed to a bunch of photos, with Patricia (Seraph had not gotten a flattering picture of her, that was for sure) in the front-and-center of it. Underneath Patricia's photo was a row of pictures including all people that Blake knew well, including Tom, Grace, Brie, Jamie, Rumi, Joseph, Eliza, and...shit, that was his picture too!

Blake noticed some people were turned to face him, and that he heard some dialing of phones, and he quickly realized that this was not a good place to be right now. "EXCUSE ME!” Blake loudly declared, pushing through the crowd quickly as he shoved his way through the crowd of people, before going into a sprint. This was probably highly suspicious behavior, but Blake didn't care. As he shoved through the crowd of pedestrians, he grabbed his phone and quickly dialed Tom as he ducked into an alleyway, sprinting down before making a few sharp turns to get himself away from prying eyes. Once he found himself in a dark, secluded alleway, he put the phone to his ear.

"Dude,” he panted into the phone. "What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening?!”

---

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_{3:05 PM
July 12th
Koreatown
Waterside, Castleburg}

Castleburg's Koreatown neighorhood was small but fascinating to Grace. As much as she loved her new life in America, working for HERO with a new group of people she was very happy to call friends, she missed her old life in Seoul sometimes. She missed Korean food almost every day, speaking Korean, really every facet of life back in Korea. She made it a habit to spend some time in Castleburg's Koreatown as much as she could. It wasn't a massive community, and it wasn't the most pristine she had ever seen, but it was authentic and Korean, which was what Grace cared about more than anything else.

Grace strolled down the sidewalk of the small neighborhood, waving and greeting and occasionally picking up a small thing from a street vendor. She was dressed lightly for once, wearing a t-shirt and jean shorts, a blue plaid jacket tied around her waist, her stand-outish violet hair running messily in knots down her back. She ducked her way off the sidewalk into a Korean supermarket that was abuzz with energy. The market was full of people and foods that most of Castleburg would consider strange (for starters, there were eel hanging from a rack only a few yards from the entrance), but to Grace, it was home sweet home. As she walked through the aisles, looking for something good to take home, she noticed something on a corner-mounted TV. "Motherfucker..." she cursed as she saw Seraph's face fade in from what appeared to be a black wing logo (she cursed in English, as a good portion of the patrons in a Korean supermarket would definitely understand her Korean swearing). Her expression went from annoyed to mortified as Seraph spoke. This was bad. Really bad.

Grace comprehended the information as quickly as she could. Seraph had somehow staged what could she could only describe as a coup d'état. He had somehow gotten rid of Powers (how he had done so made Grace shiver), and had now framed Patricia for a crime that she could not have done...and on top of that, now she was on their wanted list?! This day had turned into a waking nightmare very quickly.

Grace knew that she didn't have much time to act, and so she quickly thought of a plan. The first step to this mystery seemed to be HERO One. Grace knew that Powers could not, and would not, stand for this. That was clear as day. But Grace knew that if Seraph was even remotely cunning, there would be some sort of trap waiting for them. The same could be said of Club 27- Grace knew that if she was in Seraph's shoes, she would throw them the location as bait to investigate, and then promptly reel them in. Grace then realized something. Patricia. Seraph definitely wanted her, probably for revenge, definitely for nothing good, and it seemed as though she was the top priority here. Patricia also lacked the ability to portal around the city with ease. She would probably need help. Of course, teleporting directly to Patricia's apartment would also be putting Grace into risk, but Grace decided that if there was a problem, she would be able to hopefully just grab Patricia, get out, and work out a plan from there. Thankfully, Patricia's failure in pre-calculus ("it's really not that hard, Patti, it's actually really fun!") had necessitated Grace's tutoring skills. It turned out that as good as Grace was as math, she was a very frustrating tutor, but their private time had given Grace knowledge of Patricia's apartment.

With that plan in mind, Grace grabbed her phone and chucked it down the supermarket aisle, landing it in a nice pile of cod, before she then traced her finger over a few cans of kimchi, opening a portal smack dab in the middle of the supermarket shelf. The second portal opened in the middle of Patricia's living room with a gentle "pop" and a bright swirling of magenta light. Grace tried to teleport outside doors and knock, but time was of the essence here, and the situation definitely necessitated a little breaking and entering.

Grace hopped out of the portal, the dimensional oval closing behind her, as she looked around for Patricia. "Patricia?" she called out. "We need to go. Soon. And by soon, I mean right now."

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Punching Summer square in the jaw admittedly felt incredible, almost liberating in a way. The look on her face was absolutely priceless. But as the rest of the newly-inducted witchlings flocked around them, with Jeremy and Charlie trying to break up the fight, and some of the others commenting about her absolute stupidity from the outskirts, Dakota realized that she had probably made a mistake. She panted deeply, her anger levels lowering slowly as she saw Calypso holding Astro safely in her arms. Astro was safe. "I..." Dakota started, her normally bravado-layered tone weaker than usual. Dakota had a habit of acting impulsively, a habit that often got her into trouble- once, in middle school, Billy Jenkins had cut her in the lunch line and told her off when she tried to take her spot back. Billy Jenkins would be found screaming later that day hanging from the monkey bars by his shoelaces (Dakota ended up buying him a McFlurry, and all was forgiven). Dakota looked around her, her quick breaths slowing as she regained her cool. "You're right, Cal...not worth it..." Dakota muttered, deep in thought, but her words were quiet, hard to hear, certainly if the witches weren't paying attention.

All hope of the situation being resolved peacefully, though, was dashed as Summer walked over, her confidence soaring. Dakota instinctively shifted her weight to her back leg, readying for what she thought was a punch as Summer told her off. Dakota, in truth, did not want to continue this fight. She was ruining everybody's night, and letting her drama ooze over everybody else. Maybe she would confront Summer some other time, and Dakota certainly did not regret her decision in the slightest, but as for right now, she wanted it to end. "If you shut your mouth for one second, I-" Dakota began, but didn't finish as Summer tapped her on the forehead and cast a spell. "What the-" Dakota tried to say, but she quickly realized what Summer had done to her. She couldn't see anything. She was blind.

Dakota was not the type of person to be easily shaken or easily afraid- she had, after all, suggested minutes earlier that the girls do drugs in the forest at midnight- but this was a different level, and she started to panic as she staggered clumsily, her footing clearly uncertain as she stumbled across the forest ground frantically. She quickly discovered that her ability to walk was not very solid when she had no vision, and so she soon toppled over, hitting the ground roughly. The fall hurt, and she could feel that she had definitely scraped her hands and knees, but that was much, much less critical than the other major issue she was grappling with. Her panic rose as she fully came to grip with what was happening, and she began to call out, her head twitching back and forth like a rabbit that had just heard a snapping twig. "Callie!" Dakota cried out to her friend, her voice no longer the same as it was just minutes earlier. She was frantic now.

Her words came out disjointed and overwrought. "Summer...my eyes...gone....blind..." Dakota said in a near-moan, each word followed by a sharp gasp, and though she couldn't see, she could feel water rim around her eyes. This was not good. Dakota Lawson was not a crier. She never cried. She had sat stone-faced through broken bones and bad bleeding- she was not going to let this rattle her. She would figure it out- maybe there was some magic that would get her vision back, or something, or maybe she'd figure out how to echolocate or something, turn into a real-life bat. That would be cool! Her own positive thoughts seemed to betray her very negative experience, though, as she was still on the floor and still, despite her best efforts, crying somewhat. She wasn't sobbing or anything close to it, but for anybody that knew Dakota, it was a highly unusual occurrence.

Thankfully for Dakota, her vision came back, though the manner it did was quite annoying- just as Dakota was getting to her feet, her vision came back with a jolt, so suddenly that it sent her back down to the ground again. This time, though, Dakota was much quicker to recover, wiping her eyes as she staggered to her face, a thin smile of relief on her face as she regained her bearings. Her knees and the bottoms of her wrists were scraped up a bit, but this didn't bother Dakota in the slightest as she gave the group a melancholy smile."Sorry for the hysterics," she said weakly as she removed the bracelet from her wrist, chucking it as far as her arm could throw, before smiling a little wider. "Feeling better."

---

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The dark-skinned youth watched silently as the altercation quickly devolved. It all happened so suddenly- Summer pushed Dakota, Dakota got up, Summer stole the ferret, Dakota punched Summer, Calypso grabbed the ferret, Summer hexed Dakota, Dakota fell like a wounded animal, Summer ran off into the woods, Dakota got back up, pretending nothing had ever been wrong and disposed of the bracelet with some flair. It was quite entertaining to watch, but Jean-Luc couldn't help but feel just a little bad for the two of them. It was clear that Summer valued the bracelet, and Dakota, like most, valued her vision. Despite the obvious entertainment value of the conflict, the girls were quite beat up about it. Jean-Luc's eyes followed the arcing path of the bracelet, which landed in a tall patch of grass a way's away from the campfire. Dakota had a good arm, if anything.

Sighing to himself as he rose, Jean-Luc's hunched and eerie figure made its way past the group, walking through the campfire in the direction where Summer had fled to, like the Phantom of the Opera retreating from the scene after dropping a chandelier. Smiling to himself at his reference, Jean-Luc held out his right hand towards the patch of grass where Dakota had thrown the bracelet and cast a spell, enjoying the feeling of the sudden reservoirs of magic that he had inside himself now. His Magic Hands- a shadowy, translucent purple-black gnarled hand, like one would expect of a storybook witch, snaked from underneath Jean-Luc's right arm, slinking towards the grass and gingerly snapping up the bracelet. It then retracted, depositing the bracelet into Jean-Luc's hand before vanishing. Jean-Luc continued to walk, following Summer into the woods, stepping carefully over branches and brambles, sticks and stones, as he made his way through the forest. He was grateful that he had chosen the nice, comfortable flannels over something thinner, as the cold was quite nippy, surprising for a Virginia summer day.

He moved swiftly, knowing he had ground to catch up on, and eventually he called out, "hey!" into the forest, his deep voice resonating between the trees as it echoed through the area, bounding into the darkness. "I have a bracelet...I have your bracelet," he added, staring into Summer's general direction and into the dark forest. Silently waving his hand, he snapped his fingers and let what felt like endless amounts of magic flow again, and opened his palm, a small glowing sphere of golden light emanating from within. A simple spell for illumination, one that Jean-Luc had used countless times to read while in the dark. "If you want your bracelet, come and get it. It's cold here," Jean-Luc yelled out, his voice layered with irritation as it stood on a large, smooth rock.

"And just to let you know..." Jean-Luc added on, his voice now adopting a cool, unsympathetic overtone to it, "I am doing this for you not out of the kindness of my heart..." Those last words were spoken with near mocking, his lips taught as he stared into the night. "...but out of pity. Now take it." He carelessly dropped the silver bracelet underneath the glowing sphere of light, giving the mobile candle enough energy to last a few moments longer, before turning on heel and walking back towards the campfire, eyes as stony as they always were. He promised himself that would be the last act of charity for the night, for sure.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Grace couldn't help but blush faintly as Tom wrapped her in a surprisingly tight hug, but quickly reciprocated nonetheless, wrapping her own arms around him for a brief moment as they were reunited. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Grace quickly insisted as the two embraced, before nuzzling her head against his chest. This would spell the end for their moment together, though, as Grace sniffed in the aroma emanating from Tom's clothes and pulled away from the hug. "Is that soot? Ugh..." Grace complained as she stepped away, nose wrinkled, but her good nature quickly returned as she looked up and smiled at Tom. "It was nothing much. It was you guys taking out the ogres that gave me the opportunity...but yes, it was pretty cool. Not easy, either. It's difficult to calculate the malleability of an ancient Roman helmet and the properties of a portal while you're kidnapped and tied to some sort of disturbing lightning rack..." As she trailed off, she found herself grinding the bottom of her shoe against the ground. She had something on her mind. "Sorry...about everything I said last night. You're not an idiot. Normally, at least," she finished somewhat lamely. She looked down again before her eyes drifted back up. "Anyway, I...well, I was an ass, so...sorry about that. She put a hand on his arm. "Heol, Tom, how did you get so much ass on you...ash, shit, sorry," she quickly corrected herself, silently cursing her accent as the blush flooded back to her face, and she quickly pulled her hand back (causing some soot to sprinkle through the air) before turning away and heading over to Nero's computer, which Rumi was currently manning.

Grace's eyes scanned the screen as Rumi scoured the computer for evidence. Grace had thought of that possibility, but she was not nearly gifted enough with computers to break the level of encryption on Nero's well-fortified (and very not-Roman) device. Rumi seemed to make mincemeat out of it and began to sift through the heaps of data, looking for anything that could incriminate the Wings. It wasn't exactly hidden very well. Phone call transcripts between the Wings and Nero, purchase receipts, blue bomb instructions, e-mails, and all-in-all a massive mountain of evidence against the Wings. It was clear that the Wings had overestimated Nero and vastly underestimated them, as they had been caught with their hand showing. Grace reached over Rumi's fingers, hitting a couple keyboard buttons to download the information and then clicked a few more to send it to Powers.

"That ought to do it," she said confidently, her eyes scanning over the gang, and she felt some emotion tug at her chest as she looked at them. They had somehow done it again, come out mostly unscathed. Grace smiled weakly as she looked at them, feeling proud to be a part of this little crew of nutballs, before she heard what sounded like a fairy laughing. Her text message notification sound. "Bastard has my phone..." she grumbled as she rummaged through the office, searching for her phone, as everybody else's phones sounded off like a chorus. She eventually managed to find her phone stuffed between two sofa pillows, and yanked it out, turning it on to reveal a text message from powers, which Grace inferred that had been sent to everybody (unknowingly, it was also sent to some of the newer heroes that Grace had yet to meet). The message read, very simply:

𝙼𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝙲𝚕𝚞𝚋 𝟸𝟽 𝚒𝚗 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝙰𝚂𝙰𝙿.

Grace recognized the name of the club. Club 27. Kingsdale. The Wings of Law headquarters.

What the hell was Powers doing?

Grace was about to make a portal out when she noticed another individual having arrived. Tall, black, muscular, and thoroughly unfamiliar. Grace did not think he was one of Nero's lackeys, considering that none of the files on his computer mentioned anything about any sort of henchman, but it was worth checking out. Grace motioned out the window before opening a portal and hopping through, leaving it open on the other end for the rest of the crew to follow out.

The other portal opened just a few feet in front of Chad, and out from the portal stepped Grace, looking a bit beat-up (and dusty) but otherwise mostly alright. She looked the taller figure up and down before asking him, "Who the hell are you?"

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Powers' car, a custom-made Bugatti Chiron, rocketed down the side streets of Castleburg heading towards Kingsdale. Powers' ability to get from point A to point B was remarkably fast, in part because A) he knew Castleburg like the back of his hand, B) he had one of the fastest
cars available, and C) he was breaking every traffic violation in the books. Powers' fingers were gripped tightly around the steering wheel, and his vehicle took off down the highways of Castleburg like a bat out of hell. It wasn't long before the car pulled up in front of Club 27. It was a quiet day at the HQ today, only a few expensive vehicles parked outside.

Powers swung the car door open and stormed to the back, popping the trunk to a reveal an impressive collection of weapons. Powers removed a pump shotgun from the back, slinging it over his back, before storming up to the glass doors. He didn't even bother to knock, instead walking directly through the door, the glass shattering helplessly as the monster of a man walked directly into the club. The patrons inside (the three main Wings of Law, plus Rubber Man), quickly jumped to their feet as the alarms set up, eyes falling on Powers. Seraph was the first to speak up. "Ah, Director. I didn't realize you were coming. The occasion?" Seraph asked, his voice cordial and polite but eyes frosty.

Powers swung the shotgun from his back and pumped up. "I'm here to announce your termination."

Before any of the Wings of Law could even bother to question this expression, Powers aimed the shotgun upwards with one hand and fired a round, blasting out the massive, expensive glass chandelier that hung from the ceiling. The lights quickly went out, shards of glass and wiring falling everywhere, as the room was submerged in darkness. The only light that was coming in was from the door down the hallway, and it was too faint to be useful in combat, and unfortunately, combat was the only thing on Powers' mind. He wasn't there for any more bargaining and games.

After a minute of darkness, the emergency lights, a series of dim red bulbs that lined the walls of the facility, turned on, illuminating the room enough to see. Mr. Impressive was currently hung from the wall in a wedgie, hanging from his underpants, which were in turn hanging from his own sword, which was pinned in the center of an oil painting. Sea Serpent was planted face-first in the bar in a pool of liquors and glass. Rubber Man was across the room, headfirst in a fireplace. The only Wing of Law left standing was Seraph, who had a couple nasty bruises to his face. His pretty (plastic) features curved into a scowl, he flapped his wings and sent a rain of feathers at Powers, who simply walked through it like it was a light drizzle. "Listen up here, Zhenka. I'll make this quick," Powers said gruffly as he approached the injured (former) hero. He discarded the shotgun and lifted Zhenka by the collar."If I ever see your ass around HERO One again, I will make it clear who's the boss. Very, very clear. Even more clear than today. Understood?" Powers said, glaring at Seraph, nothing but pure blackness in his eyes.

Seraph muttered something about 'being the boss' and a few curse words, but was shut up by Powers' violent shaking. "I SAID, DID YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Powers roared. It was a scary sight to watch, really.

Seraph nodded reluctantly.

"Good." Powers tossed Seraph in the air like he was pitching himself a baseball, before executing a devastating roundhouse kick to his side, sending Seraph hurtling across the room into a bust of himself, shattering both the bust and likely something of Seraph's.

As Powers strolled out, Seraph yelled after him, "You'll regret this, Hugo! You'll regret this badly!"

Powers turned back, stopping his stroll for a moment. "That's Mr. Powers to you."

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Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-372

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Jean-Luc nodded along as Maggie described the book that she had. Jean-Luc liked books. Books were always a source of comfort for him- they were never judgmental or harsh, always objectively teaching their readers what lies in its pages. Jean-Luc was not a huge fiction fan himself, much preferring to browse encyclopedias, language books, guides, or, best yet, spellbooks, but he certainly was not opposed to picking up a nice novel and reading through it when he was alone and didn't have anything else to do. They weren't necessarily informative, true, and information was often an end goal on Jean-Luc's reading pursuits, but they were often entertaining and sometimes rather heart-warming, not like Jean-Luc would ever admit that out loud.

He gave an understanding nod to Maggie before looking down at the book in his arms. "This? Well, it's not quite a novel," Jean-Luc explained, lifting and opening the book cover. As he did so, there was a faint gasp that emanated from the heavily-enchanted book, which could be a potential source of fright for anybody already wary about camping in the forest at night. He leafed through the worn pages effortlessly, which showed diagrams of dolls, poppets, glyphs, sigils, plants, and more. "It's a collection of spells, potions, and curses I've worked out, and some notes of the like...perhaps not as entertaining as your book, but quite informative. It's personal to me...I've had it for a long time. It's almost a friend," he said, closing the book and looking it at. "If you'd like to read it sometime, I'd be more than willing to lend it. There's no grand tale, but it has some neat tricks to use...just make sure you ask my permission first, or else...bad things might happen," Jean-Luc said ominously, before giving a friendly nod to Maggie. The soft-spoken young man's attention shifted over to the stories being told by the campfire, as he listened to them, expressionless. Jean-Luc was not superstitious in the slightest, and if he was affected by the ghost stories at all he certainly didn't show it. Instead, he just sat there, watching as Maggie went out to join Dakota and Calypso away from the fire. While Jean-Luc's presence was quite eerie, the young man deduced that it was likely the ghost story, not him, that had caused her to flee.

Jean-Luc would normally criticize somebody for being so afraid of a simple tall tale, but he held his tongue. The girl seemed a bit frazzled at the moment, what with all the witch rituals happening that night, and Jean-Luc couldn't fully fault her for being on edge. It had been a long day, and most of them wanted to return to a nice warm bed. "We're stuck here instead..." Jean-luc said with clear irritation in his tone to nobody in particular, looking at the fire for a few moments longer before turning his head over his shoulder. A fight seemed to be brewing. Jean-Luc was far from the mediating type- in his view, he had no reason to intervene in other peoples' squabbles- and so he simply sat there, watching the fight. A nice bowl of popcorn would be nice right now...

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Dakota frowned as Calypso shot down her suggestion. She had somewhat expected the girl to not agree to her request- she had known for quite a while, and had a hunch she might be impartial to getting wrecked in a forest- but had clung to the hope that Calypso might want to branch out a little. Despite Iris' approval on the drug idea, it seemed as though Calypso (and Charlie too, but his opinion meant next to nothing to Dakota) were against it, and so Dakota relented. "Alright, alright, fine," Dakota relented. "Some other time sounds nice, though. We're gonna be hanging out a lot more now, which is great! You're a great friend, you know," Dakota said, a little bit more mushy than usual but truthfully. Dakota liked her school friends a lot (they got into all kinds of trouble together), but she enjoyed the dynamic that the other witchlings (now witches!) at the Coven brought. It was nice to have a different group of people sometimes. Even if those people didn't want to get high with her.

Dakota then heard a somewhat unfamiliar voice chime in, and it seemed to be directed at her and Calypso. She turned to look at Maggie, giving the girl a grin as she spoke. “Hey… mind if I join you two? Kate and Isolde are telling ghost stories, which isn’t exactly my scene.” Dakota flashed a full smile. "The more the merrier, Mags! Gosh, we haven't spoken in forever," Dakota said reflectively, tapping her chin. "Yeah, anyway, come over, sit down, and tell me what you think of this bracelet Astro found in the woods! It's really nice-"

Dakota was cut off (rudely) by a grating voice that sliced its way into her conversation. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?! I should’ve known you were a thief!” Dakota's head turned like a deer that heard a snapping twig, and her cheeriness vanished almost instantly as her face turned to a scowl. Summer. Dakota did not like Summer at all. She did not like her rich family, her attitude, her looks, her talents, anything. Dakota disliked Summer from the moment they locked eyes, and while Summer did have some less-than-kind tendencies at times, Dakota never did anything to change that. Dakota always added fuel to the fire and always fought back. This was no different tonight, apparently, as Summer stormed over. “That’s my bracelet!” Summer continued, and Dakota clenched her teeth in annoyance. The one time she had been lucky enough to find something pretty that she liked, Summer tried to yank it from her hands. Well, enough was enough. "Your bracelet?
Excuse me? I found this lying around. You know how it is. Finders keepers, loser weepers. You just can't stand the idea of me having something nicer than you, huh? Well, why don't you go cry to your daddy about it, huh, you little-" Dakota taunted, before being cut off as Summer gave her a hearty shove. Dakota had not expected Summer to go physical, and to do it so soon, and she was caught off-guard by Summer's push and fell backwards, falling onto the ground roughly. “Give it back. Now,” she heard Summer say as Dakota quickly got to her feet, her eyes looking for her target, and she quickly found Summer, who was now holding Astro by the scruff of the neck, the little ferret scratching and pawing midair, trying to escape Summer's grasp.

If Dakota was mad before, she was absolutely furious now. It wasn't the first time that she and Summer had traded mean words, or even some light violence, but roping Astro into this was a step too far. "Oh, you fucking bitch, you put him down right now or I'm going to fucking tear you apart!" Dakota did not listen to the others near her as she glare directly at Summer, her hands balled into tight fists, as she stared, before stepping back and moving forwards.

Dakota was best known for her ability to fly almost anything (in her words, "if it can move, I can fly it, and if it can't move, give me two minutes and I can fly it too"), but she was far from a one-trick pony. She had a few other moves that she kept up her sleeve, and one of them she had named the "feather step." It was really a simple bit of magic: Dakota just made herself move really quickly in short bursts. This ability was not quite as fast as Summer's teleporting crap that she did, and Dakota could only do so in straight lines, but neither of those circumstances really impacted her. Dakota only saw red right now. Nobody messed with Astro and got away scot-free. This had spiraled beyond the bracelet now. This was war.

Dakota allowed her magic to flare up and then did her "feather step." A trail of pastel blue light followed her form as she crossed the distance between her and Summer near-instantly, a woosh in the air resonating nearby as she had gotten right up in Summer's face. She then swiftly brought her right fist back, wound up, and delivered her best haymaker, her arm sweeping around rapidly and swinging directly into Summer's left cheek with a great deal of force. "Bitch!" she made sure to exclaim as she attacked, fury in her eyes. This was not a Dakota that came out very often, but it was one that was quite scary to witness as she went to mercilessly slam Summer in the face.

She deserved it, right?

《 H. E. R. O. 》

”God DAMN it, my ogres! I had those imported from Italy...oh, Seraph's gonna kill me..."

"Correction, I'm gonna kill you," Grace said snidely, which earned her a painful shock and a "shut up" from Nero, who quickly manned the large computer in the office. "Oh, great, now they're manning the elevator. I shouldn't have been so generous, leaving the key out, I thought it would be fun to have something like that open for sport... Nero's armored fingers flew across the keyboard, punching in some code. "Well, Seraph's not going to have that enjoyable tape, but I can still take them out before they ruin everything! I just have to activate the blue bomb and wipe them out..." As Nero's fingers flew across the keyboard at an ever-increasing rate, pulling up and promptly disabling all sorts of safety mechanisms, Grace began to sweat, teeth clenched. To most people, a blue bomb just sounded like some colorful explosive variant, but Grace was not most people. Grace's 20th birthday present was a high-tech state-of-the-art calculator, her 21st birthday present was a collection of science textbooks, and her 22nd birthday present was a fancy microscope. Grace knew science, and what Nero had just said worried her.

A "blue bomb" was a relatively recent innovation that was invented only a skip over the bay at UCNA. Blue bombs were a very small-scale biological weapon with a core of actinium and a rapid dispersal method that, in essence, evaporates biological life within its blast radius while leaving most inorganic matter relatively intact. A lightweight plastic shell surrounding the weapon meant that the bomb disposed of itself, leaving it practically undetectable. Of course, a blue bomb was a very futuristic, difficult piece of weaponry to assemble. It was not something that Nero could assemble in his backyard. It needed a lab and smart people, or alternatively, a rich person to pay the lab and smart people. Seraph, Grace thought again angrily. Just another check written off to some science lab, all to create a contingency for his rivals. Grace couldn't help but still feel shocked at these revelations. It was just months ago when she had thought Seraph was a charming hero. Now, he was paying villains to kidnap, torture, and now irradiate and evaporate them. It was incredible at how well he could hide his true personality in front of the cameras and reporters. It was almost like a second superpower.

Grace closed her eyes as she thought of a plan. Nero was busy preparing his death bomb, and for once he wasn't paying attention to his captives- a crucial mistake on his part. Grace couldn't really get herself off the fence with a portal- doing so would either leave her stranded somewhere else tied to a lightning fence (in which case Nero would likely execute her and Eliza- unideal) or potentially cutting off one or more of her limbs (just about as unideal). Grace's only move was to take Nero out of the picture quickly, before he could activate the bomb and turn all the occupants of the Coliseum into ash and dust. Grace took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and opened a portal.

The portal emerged right beneath Nero's feet. Like Wil E. Coyote standing above a ravine, he blinked a few times in shock before plunging directly into the fluid purple portal, giving a loud "AIEEEEE!" before plunging into the depths of the portal. A paired portal opened on the ceiling, which roughly deposited Nero from the ceiling back into the original portal. After a few rotations, which were quite humorous, Grace closed the floor portal right before Nero flew into it, causing a resonating crack as Nero slammed, helmet-first, into the ground. If it wasn't for the armor, Nero would've likely been turned to a pancake then and there, but even still, he was likely not going to be in good shape. Strangely enough, Grace didn't feel bad for him at all.

The elevator door dinged a moment later, as the large metal doors swung open to reveal the office. Grace and Eliza were still tied to the rack (Grace had somehow managed to get a stick of gum into her mouth and was currently blowing an exceptionally large bubble), and Nero was laying a few feet in front of his captives, moaning and rolling around from the collision, a large and very noticeable dent in the center of his helmet where he had slammed roughly into the carpet.

"Nice timing," Grace said after popping the bubble. "Really helpful right here." Her sarcastic comment made, Grace's eyes quickly sought out and found Rumi. "Apparently, Nero got his hands on a blue bomb. Or more likely, Seraph gave him one." She spat the name out with pure malice, before tilting her head in the direction of the computer. "It's linked to the computer. You should probably disable it. If it wasn't for me, you guys would all be blue dust right now, so I think I deserve a little props for saving you." She pulled against her restraints. "If you could help me with these zip-ties, that would be nice too. Check on Eliza as well. She doesn't look too hot right now."

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The movie set in Brookside, a massive space on the west side of the borough with massive, towering stone walls on all four sides, looked almost like some sort of prison, though the advertisements for Marcus Aurelius on all four sides clearly indicated otherwise. (As Grace would be quick to point out if she hadn't been kidnapped, the movie was exceedingly good, one of the best biopics delivered in the 2030s for sure so far). Surrounding the massive stone-walled movie set were a few construction vehicles and some girders and other building supplies, but outside of that, it didn't seem too out-of-place in the run-down areas of Brookside. Of course, the IDD told a different tale. Anybody that was really anywhere in Brookside or even Watervale's western sides could pick up massive heat readings, electromagnetic fields, seismic waves, gravitational flux, really just about everything that the IDD read was present at the site. Anybody with half a brain could figure out that the something was happening there- even some local residents had called ambulances for heat strokes around the massive set.

The IDD wasn't the only device that could pick up anomalies- HERO2 was equipped with much stronger tracking devices, and it wasn't before long that Hugo Powers had a good idea of where the captured heroes were. Even better, they were definitely fighting back, and all indications pointed to them having a great deal of success in that regard. Powers was confident that the heroes would be safe, especially with the two new individuals en route to assist. What annoyed him, however, was a phone call that he had received from Starbright's secretary, of all people.

"Listen, ma'am, I understand Starbright's willingness to help his fellow heroes..." (this was a lie), "...but I'm not sure if he's up to the job. These are some high-tier heroes that have been abducted, surely there's some type of higher-level threat currently engaged in combat with them, it's simply unsafe for him to be in close proximity to such a powerful threat..." Powers said as politely as possible to Francine, before pausing to think. There were several heroes of great power helping out another group of already powerful heroes, likely fighting off a limited number of villains. On top of that, Starbright was a walking magnet for good publicity. A successful rescue attempt would restore some credibility to HERO's damaged image, and while Powers was normally the type not to give a hoot about either HERO's image OR Starbright, both of them would have to be in good shape for the public to trust the organization to hunt down Caustic and other villains. And so, against his better judgement, Powers coughed before speaking into the phone again.

"Scratch that, tell Starbright that he's in charge. I'm sending the coordinates of the heroes' likely locations to his phone now, I've also pinged a few other heroes that are in the vicinity..." Powers did so with the tap of a button on his laptop. "Tell him I give him the best of luck. Bring them home," Powers said, drumming up some much-needed charisma before hanging up. Hopefully, he had not made a monumental mistake there.

@Zoey Boey @Duoya @Jumbus @DClassified

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

After the ritual was over, and the panicking people had finally cleared out like the worms they were, Jean-Luc walked back towards the Coven House, hands in his pockets, a few steps detached from the rest of the group, not so far as to be clearly detached, but far enough to be alone in his thoughts as he pondered. Walking alone, he thought about his past, and how everything had accumulated up to this point, where he was now a witch in this coven. Jean-Luc looked down at his wrist. Outside of a small patch of slightly lighter skin, the color of milk chocolate in a sea of ebony darkness, his wrist was entirely healed over, without so much as a blemish. Jean-Luc felt a spark of pride inside at his successful healing, but that pride was quickly drowned out by a wave of ambition. This was only the first stepping stone across the creek. There was still much to be accomplished.

Upon returning to the Coven House, Jean-Luc's shiny coal eyes scanned the area, looking for his parents. The search did not take long, in part because of his parents' ability to stand out in a crowd. For one, his father was a titan, standing at 6'5" with a modestly hunched back. He had coal-black skin and cropped curly hair, just like his son, and a pair of thick-framed walnut-colored glasses sat perched on his nose. Emmanuel Laguerre was wearing a blue button-down shirt with a handkerchief spilling haphazardly out of his breast pocket, his ocean-blue tie a little too loose. He looked eccentric for sure, perhaps too much so. His mother, Stéphanie, stood out as well, though in a less quirky way. A stunning woman with coffee-colored skin and lavish rich locks of thick dark hair that cascaded in waves down her back, Jean-Luc's mother was much shorter than her husband but made it up for in glamour that her other half lacked. Lastly, Jean-Luc's sister, Lovelie, hovered near her parents. Lovelie was short at only 5'3" with curly pecan hair and darker hickory skin, with sleek pointed glasses perched in front of her boisterous brown eyes, her thin fingers dusting off the edge of her sundress. Lovelie was a witchling a year Jean-Luc's junior and was planning on joining the Coven next year, and the girl was nearly the polar opposite of Jean-Luc: socially vibrant and extremely warm, but magically very klutzy. She still had great talent and was looking forward to joining the Coven immensely, and had already spent much of the day trying to mingle with as many people as she could.

His family, once they noticed the youth returning from the wellspring, descended upon him like vultures would upon a carcass. After a lot of hugs and kisses that Jean-Luc accepted reluctantly, standing still as a statue as his family gave him compliments of all kinds and told him how proud they were. Jean-Luc's lips remained pursed as they flattered him, before they eventually spread apart to go mingle elsewhere- Stéphanie went to hang out with some of the other older witches, and Lovelie roamed around seeking an older peer to talk to. Emmanuel, nursing a cup full of mysterious liquid, gave Jean-Luc a pat on the back and a wide smile. "Fyè de ou, pitit gason," he said wistfully, before walking off.

That same well of pride built up again for a moment before simmering away as Sister Lark called for their attentions. She then announced that the initiates would be going-...ugh, camping. Jean-Luc was looking forward to actually staying at the Coven House, but he supposed that the tradition, however pointless, would be kept one way or another, and so, after fetching his pajamas, he journeyed off with Lark into the woods.

"Fantastic," Jean-Luc muttered sarcastically as he made his way into the forest, emerging soon after dressed in his pajamas. Walking over, he scanned the area. Small pockets of the newly-inducted witches had formed into small groups, and Jean-Luc had no intention of butting into any of these social circles. He stalked around the campfire a half-lap before taking a seat next to the blonde girl, Maggie, and crossing his legs. Looking into the flickering fire quietly, he removed the book that was currently tucked under his arm- a thick, vintage-looking hard-cover book with swirling violet glyphs decorating the beaten brown cover- and gazed silently, in contemplation.

After a few moments of somewhat awkward silence, Jean-Luc spoke, his voice quiet and laced with the soothing sounds of a pleasant Creole accent. "What's the book about, eh?" he asked Maggie, nodding his head in the direction of Maggie's book, his lips forming a straight line, unsmiling, but his tone soft and welcoming. He was not happy to be there, for sure, and he would've liked nothing better than to curl up in his nice, warm bed, but he might as well not sulk anymore today. As his sister constantly told him, he sulked way too much already.

@Melissa

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The Sisters of the Dying Branch

After giving Dakota her signature warming smile, Dakota wandered back with the rest of the group towards the coven house once again, her hand absent-mindedly running over the scar on her wrist. She was a capable healer, but she was definitely not the best, and the scar on her wrist- and the matching one on Calypso's- was clear proof of that. As she dragged her fingers over her scar, she nearly walked into her father, who was standing there, arms in pockets, with a big smile on his face. In a flash, he put his thick, sturdy arms around Dakota, squeezing her into a tight hug against his chest. "You did it, Kota! So proud of you," he said warmly to his daughter, who turned a light shade of red and squirmed against his grip. "Dad...Dad...people are watching, you're so embarassing, stop it..." Dakota protested, which only made Kai Lawson laugh. "My baby girl, all grown up...this is such a big day for you, sweetie, and I'm so happy for you..." Kai eventually released his daughter from his iron grip, putting his hands on her shoulders, his dark eyes staring proudly into hers. "I'm going to be going soon, taking the Plymouth out. You can find a car, right?" he asked, tilting his head as he looked at Dakota, who nodded with a smile. "Yeah, it's no problem, Callie has a car, I think, I'll just borrow her's if I need a ride."

In their few conversations, Dakota did not believe she had failed her driver's test 4 times and was operating under the assumption that Calypso wouldn't check. The Lawsons' financial situation had not been stable since the divorce, and the family car- an old , dated 1990 Plymouth Sundance, which was further damaged by Dakota's pitiful driving skills.

"Alright, I'll see you soon, Kota." Kai leaned in, giving Dakota a kiss on the forehead, before walking off to join his other witch friends for a last talk.

After this humiliation, Dakota soon heard Lark calling the other initiates to gather around, and she bustled over, looking enthusiastically at Lark as she explained what was going on. She smiled giddily. She loved camping! She had gone with her dad yearly, MORE than yearly, in fact, and she was very much looking forward to hanging out in the woods. She loved the forest. She followed Lark enthusiastically, spring in her step as she made her way down the beaten path, following closely behind Lark as she was guided over to the forest clearing, sleeping bags arranged in a circle around a flickering campfire. Dakota smiled widely. This was what she loved to do. "I’m gonna change!" she said enthusiastically, scurrying off into the woods with her pajamas coiled around her arm.

She returned moments later dressed in a long button-down flannel shirt that sank down to her knees. It was covered in light blue in color, with little Tweety Birds scattered about. Dakota looked around, her eyes falling onto Calypso, who was currently cowering away from the rest of the group. Well, that wasn't acceptable now, wasn't it? Dakota immediately went over to Calypso, tapping her on the arm a few times. "Callie! That looks so cute!" Dakota commented with a near squeal, giving the girl a smile. "Cheer up, Cal...you still upset about the whole…?" Dakota mimed puking. "Listen, it's OK, I almost lost my dinner too. It was pretty disgusting. And it could've been a lot worse! At least you didn't almost die like Little Miss Perfect over there." Dakota gestured in the general direction of Summer. "Believe me, nobody thinks less of you now. You're a really good witch and I know the Elders think the world of you, believe me-...hey!"

Dakota smiled brightly as she looked down at her leg, where Astro was currently pawing. "Astro! You found us! C'mere!" Dakota scooped up Astro from the ground. "Cal, you wanna hold Astro? He only bites some people...hey, what's that in your mouth?" Dakota, one arm wrapped under the ferret, plucked the mysterious item from Astro's jaws. "Oooh, bracelet!" Dakota said loudly, dangling the item in her fingers. "It's kind of pretty, actually...here, take Astro, let me try it on!" Dakota handed Calypso her ferret as she put on the bracelet.

"Looks pretty! What do you think?" Dakota held her wrist at a few angles, admiring the bracelet. "Such a good boy, aren't you, Astro, finding me such a pwetty bracelet!"

Astro, currently snuggled against Calypso's pig onesie, made a cackling noise.

Joy from her find clear in her eyes, Kota looked back to her friend. "Anyway, wanna go deeper into the woods? I'm not exactly a potions master but I figured out how to make this serum, it'll get us both totally wasted...I can get Astro to fetch us some, whaddya think?" Dakota had that confident smirk on her face as she looked at Calypso with spunk. "Come on, I bet it'll take your mind off things. It'll be a blast. Let's do it!"

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Blake would normally marvel at Jamie's power as she caused the Roman building to crumble on top of the ogres, crushing tons of them with ease and impunity. He would normally give a cheer, a hoot of victory, but instead he found himself cursing while hopping in a circle. "Oww, holy fuck, it hurts...” Blake stopped hopping and extended his ankle towards Rumi, who took a look at the wound. "Alright...good to know, good to know,” Blake said as the pain subsided a little bit. He rested his foot down on the ground, testing it, before taking a couple steps. "It's a little better now!” Blake said confidently, one hand resting against his head as he looked over to where Jamie had collapsed the building. The unfortunate ogres inside had been totally and completely flattened by the building. If they hadn't been trying to eat them alive earlier, Blake might've felt sorry for them, but what was done was done. Blake looked back over to the Vermile, who was inching around him curiously. "Awww, I bet the little critter was just scared! Well, it's OK! I'm not gonna hurt you, little guy, why don't you just c'mere-”

Blake was stopped mid-sentence as the Vermile promptly lunged for his other ankle and found its target, his teeth sinking into Blake's flesh and causing him to curse loudly once again. "FUCK, YOU LITTLE BASTARD, YOU FUCKING-...OWWW, HOLY SHIT, IT HURTS, JESUS, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE MOTHERFUCKER, YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!” Blake turned around in anger and pain as he faced the Vermile, who had scuttled away, over to Joseph, and cowered behind him. Blake glared at the creature. "I'm going to fucking cook this little piece of shit...” Blake said, glowering at the creature, but his thoughts of vengeance were cut off by a loud war cry near the basilica.

Jamie had done a number on the ogres with the building, but it seemed the sound and great deal of vibrations had drawn the rest of them nearby, and they stood there, forming a large semicircle in front of the basilica, all hooting and beating their chest as they stared down the gang, eyes filled with hunger and bloodlust. Blake decided to put aside his murder plan for the Vermile and instead shift his attention to the ogres. Blake knew next to nothing about them, but he knew that they didn't seem to like fire. Well, as it happened, Blake had a lot of that in store, and he was ready to use it. "Guys, guys, get back, I'm going to deal with this...” Blake said as he lifted his palms, and began to channel energy.

The temperature near Blake began to rise drastically as the entire forum began to tangibly heat up, and soon some crimson flickers began to sparkle in the air. The fiery glistening in the air began to intensify as flames began to materialize, serpents of fire wrapping around Blake's arms and palms, a fluid blaze encircling him. The ogres, though, seemed to have grown somewhat immune to Blake's fire, and were still closing in on the gang, hooting and hollering and looking menacing as ever. Blake closed his eyes as the fire began to glow brighter and burn hotter, before the ropes of flame began to all condense in the air in front of Blake, forming a large sphere of fire, like a sun, that was expanding, larger and larger, and once again re-shaping. The ogres now were full of trepidation, stepping back, and witnessing the new flaming shape before them. A phoenix.

Blake's fire had taken the form of an actual firebird, emanating blistering heat, its crimson wings flapping threatening, its head cocked and glaring at the ogres, who were now very afraid and very blind. The flaming bird was very bright, and looking at it too long was not a good idea. On top of that, it was very hot. It was already a hot day out, being almost mid-day in July, but this actual bird of fire raised the temperature to a stupidly hot degree. Even people across the movie set could feel a raise in the temperature, and any sort of temperature detectors or anomaly investigators would certainly pick up on this development.

The bird, whose mouth was literally emanating with smoke, cawed at the ogres (alright, it might've been Blake's sound effects, fine), before then charging directly at them. The remaining ogres gave a bunch of frantic grunting noises before turning on heel and trying to scatter. Some of them managed to get out of the way, but a good chunk of the ogres were plowed down by the massive bird and its equally impressive wingspan, the flaming construct blasting through a good group of ogres and leaving them scorched like ants under a magnifying glass. As the bird took to the sky again, the rest of the lucky surviving ogres did not attempt a rematch, instead fleeing from the area and cowering away. The phoenix dove back down to the ground again, flapping its wings once more, before vanishing into a large pile of ash in front of Blake that was releasing a thick, constant plume of black smoke, much like a chimney.

Blake grinned dumbly as he looked at his handiwork. "I've been working on that one,” he said as he stepped around the ash pile uncertainly, a bit wobbly on his feet, and he definitely sounded out of breath. He looked inside the basilica. "I think there's an elevator in there...it looks kinda locked, though,” Blake said, scratching his head as he wobbled on his feet, before starting to tip over. The combination of being hungover, poisoned by a Vermile twice, and then overexerting himself was too much for his body to handle, and he promptly fell over, planting himself face-first in the pavement.

"Angie~,” Blake muttered deliriously, his words muffled by the fact that he was practically kissing the stone walkway. "You look so pretty, muffin,” he added sweetly as the Vermile's toxins got to his brain, and then his eyes fluttered shut as he laid in the middle of the walkway, standing right before the massive basilica.

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Meanwhile, Grace was experiencing the worst torture of her life.

After analyzing the CCTV footage and recording a few elaborate-sounding introductions, Nero had taken to discussing his personal life with his prisoners, considering that there wasn't really much else to do. For the last however long, Nero had rested his feet up on the desk and was currently talking about his strained relationship with his girlfriend, who was also a villain, and who was very disappointed with his lack of success in the villainy field. ”So she tells me, 'Nero, I thought you were a strong, feared villain. Why are you working for these dinky villain companies?' And I always tell her, 'baby, this is my path to the big leagues of villainy!' She just doesn't understand me!” Nero said frustrated, folding his armor-clad arms over his chest. "But this thing is going to be my big break! Once I collect the money from this and send Seraph his check, I'll definitely crack into that top tier of Castleburg villains! I can already hear my name on the TV reports..."

Grace tested her restraints for what felt like the millionth time. "Right, right, so, listen, can we maybe talk about what Seraph wants here? I mean, considering that I'm definitely going to die, tied up on this rack, it can't hurt, right?"

"I told you already, he wants you to die, slowly and painfully, and in distress, and I'm arranging that. Now, where was I? Oh, right, so..."

As Nero began to ramble on, now about politics, Grace snuck a glance over at Eliza. Poor girl. Grace couldn't imagine what she was going through right now, being held hostage by this psycho right now. Grace would've portaled at least her out if she could, but the device electrocuted her every time she tried to concentrate and create a portal, and so she was stuck here, listening to Nero rant to his very bored, very unamused audience. It was actual hell. Grace was genuinely starting to believe that the electroshock torture was better than listening to Nero's speech.

"...I'm just saying, right, Amazon pays zero dollars in federal taxes. I mean, imagine how much revenue the United States government could make if they could actually get money out of them! If we could get them to pay a tax at a 35% rate, or hell, even at 21%, we could actually implement real social change and expand the welfare net! I mean, this is basic economics!"

"Listen, listen, I totally agree with you, probably too much considering you're evil, but can we, uhh, have this discussion while I'm unrestrained, maybe? Then we can talk about big business and all that in an open, free, environment. "

Nero seemed to be considering this prospect when his computer began to flash red, and he quickly rushed over. "Noooo, they killed my Swampjaws!" Nero exclaimed, devastated, as he gestured to the screen, which showed a low-res image of Brie and William standing in what seemed to be a Roman bathhouse, standing in front of a pool full of floating Swampjaws. Dangling from the center of the room, on a string, was what appeared to be a keycard with a word covered in whiteout on it, though anybody with half a brain could tell that, through the terrible whiteout job, it read 'basilica.' Grace smiled confidently. They seemed to be doing pretty well. Obviously, Nero had not thought this through enough.

"Damnit!" Nero cursed, storming around the office with his head hung. As he walked around, Grace took a glance out the window to look at their surroundings. She saw a large stone wall that was wrapped around the entire set. To the outside world, it looked like just a massive walled-off area. Grace looked above the wall to see a barber shop and a beat-up Italian restaurant. It looked to her like Brookside. Great. Brookside.

As Nero began to talk about Swampjaws enthusiastically, Grace tugged at the zipties for the 1,000,001st time. Her friends had better come and save her soon. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.