Dickenson Cottage, Wednesday late morning, Dec 19th, 2007

Traci Hoffman sat on the edge of her bed, staring down at her hands. She was procrastinating and she knew it. As much as she disliked it, she knew what she had to do now.

After muttering a curse, Traci finally picked up her phone and dialed. Seconds later, a woman’s voice responded with, “Hello?”

“Hello, Holly,” Traci greeted her sister with a grimace.

Holly was a superhero, a member of the Liberty League over in Lake Michigan. As Super Star, Holly had a perspective that might be useful, but as Traci’s big sister, she was bound to be annoying about it.

“I need some advice,” Traci said as though the words were physicaly painful.

There was a long pause before Holly’s voice responded, “It’s about time you asked for my advice. I’d be happy to share my experience.”

The tone was smug, which was what Traci had expected. She bit back what she wanted to say, and got to the point instead so that she could get this over with.

“My…group…wants to do something that’s…” Traci paused, unsure of exactly how to phrase it. “Questionable.”

Traci scowled. Questionable was putting it lightly. Questionable was a good description for some of the things Denouement had already done in the name of achieving their goals. But this… What Exquisite wanted to do was something else.

“What do you do when someone on your group might be getting you all into trouble?” she asked.

“We had someone like that on my team,” Holly answered. “Adonis. We thought he was up to some pretty sketchy stuff, but we weren’t sure. I mean, we had suspicions but no real proof…”

“So, what did you do?” Traci asked hopefully.

Holly shrugged. Traci couldn’t see that over the phone, but she knew her sister well enough to picture her shrugging before giving an answer.

“Oh, we never really got to the point of doing anything,” Holly admitted. “I mean, a couple of us talked about it…about starting an investigation to get proof one way or another. But then, he got himself killed, so the problem just kind of vanished.”

Traci just stared at the phone for several long seconds. “So, you’re saying that I should just ignore things until the problem takes care of itself?”

“You’d be surprised how often that works,” Holly agreed.

“Thank you for the advice,” Traci responded, not sure if her sister would get the sarcasm. Sometimes, Holly could be a bit oblivious to other people.

“Anytime,” Holly told her in a cheerful tone. “Well, I’ve got to get going. We just got an alert about some new villain…”

“Good luck with that,” Traci said with a sigh as she hung up the call. She sat there for a moment, then muttered, “That’s not the worse advice I’ve ever heard.”

Whitman Cottage common room, Wednesday afternoon, Dec 19th, 2007

“So, how did it go?” Stryff demanded. “Was he as big of a doofus as I predicted?”

Darqueheart stared at her friend, wondering how she ever thought the girl was shy and quiet. Sure, that was how Stryff came off when they first met, but once the blue-skinned girl got to know her, her personality nearly reversed.

“Chris was nice,” Darqueheart said defensively. “It went really well.”

“Really?” Stryff asked a little skeptically. “He has a reputation for not liking people with GSD…”

“He has a reputation for being an idiot and jumping to conclusions,” Darqueheart corrected. “And he’s getting a LOT better about that stuff too. Honestly, I think he just wants to be a hero and tends to get carried away.”

Stryff nodded at that, then began to smirk in a way that concerned Darqueheart. “So, you’re planning on playing Catwoman to his Batman?”

That made Darqueheart nearly choke. “Hey,” she protested. “It’s not like that..” She squirmed uncomfortably in place, sure that she would have been blushing if her skin color allowed it. “He’s not a hero…yet…and I’m not a villain.”

The blue-skinned girl shrugged using all four of her arms in the motion. “Come on… We both have…edgy looks…and names. You do darkness magic while I do chaos and entropic magic. Face it, we’re both destined to be villains, whether we want to be or not. That’s just the way the world works. Sooner or later, some hero, cop, MCO agent, or news person is going to see us and declare us to be villains…and then it becomes official, whether we earn the title or not.”

“Maybe,” Darqueheart reluctantly admitted. She’d heard too many stories of that kind of thing happening to other mutants, especially to those with GSD.

“But just because you’re a villain, that doesn’t mean you actually HAVE to date some hero,” Stryff said, pointing to the pin on her shirt, one of a smiley face with horns and a tail. Everyone in the Imp fan club had a pin like that. “You’d NEVER see the Imp giving in to THAT old trope.”

Darqueheart snorted and shook her head. “Are you trying to convince me that I should date Chris, or that I shouldn’t, because you’re sending mixed messages.”

Stryff just smirked and pointed all four of her thumbs back at herself. “When you have a name like mine, it pays to keep people guessing.”

“Whatever,” Darqueheart told her with a roll of her eyes. “Either way, I’ve got to get going. The Imp set up an arena match for my team, and I don’t want to be late.”

“Good luck then,” Stryff said with a smirk. “And say hi to Chris for me.”

Wednesday late afternoon, Dec 19th, 2007

Alyss looked around the arena setting, seeing that they appeared to be in the middle of a city. This immediately reminded her of her combat finals match the previous week, though there were definite differences.

During her combat final, the city had been old and decaying, more ruins than actual city. What she saw this time, was a new and modern city, all nice and clean. And instead of the brick buildings that she’d seen then, these ones seemed to be mostly concrete and glass. And of course, this time, there were no zombies.

“What do you guys think?” Alyss asked her friends.

“Considering who set up this match,” Amy said with a thoughtful expression. “I expect that it should be…interesting.”

“And fun,” Melissa added with a broad grin.

Melissa ran her hand over her jacket, which was bright red and doubled as body armor. A moment later, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a couple smoke bombs, though she only held them at the ready.

“She said we just have to find our opponent and defeat them,” Chris stated as he looked around carefully. “So, I expect that we’ll have to find a supervillain…”

Darqueheart snorted at that. “Or a superhero. Remember who set this thing up.”

“Good point,” Amy agreed. “We should expect anything.”

“Like a giant clown,” Melissa exclaimed with a grin. “Clownzilla…throwing giant pies at us.”

“I think we’ve had enough of the giant pies,” Alyss pointed out with a shake of her head.

Sapphire looked around with a worried expression. “I hope it isn’t a clown. They’re creepy…”

Alyss looked at the blue haired girl, taking note of the blue scaly cloak that she wore. Sapphire was from a family of snake girls and had been one herself until she manifested. To hear her call clowns creepy… It was not quite what she would have expected.

“Or a giant cat,” Amy muttered with a visible shudder while readying her coil gun.

Chris hesitated a moment, then suggested, “Maybe, it’s the Imp.” When everyone looked at him, he shrugged. “Coming in here to fight us herself… It just seems like something she might do.”

“Totally,” Melissa agreed. “That would be awesome.”

Alyss chuckled at that. “Whoever our enemy is, I don’t think we’ll find them by lollygagging around here.”

“Ah, there you are,” a voice suddenly called out. “My opponents…”

“What the fu…?” Alyss started as she snapped around.

Off to the side, a figure had just emerged from around the corner of a building, and he started casually walking towards them. His appearance was…unexpected.

The man stood over seven feet tall, not including the extra height added by his helmet. Alyss’ first thought was that he looked like some kind of viking or barbarian warrior who’d been given power armor. He wore what appeared to be power armor over most of his body, which was a bright purple color. On top of that, there was a wide leather belt and a furry cape which could have been the pelt of a large wolf or bear.

“I stand corrected,” Alyss said in disbelief.

In addition to the power armor and leathers, this strange figure wore a helmet which matched the leather and cape far more than the power armor. It was the stereotypical helmet that people usually associated with Vikings, the kind with animal horns jutting out from the side and pointing upward, but one of the horns was broken off at the base, leaving only a single horn on one side.

His face was open and exposed, revealing a rough face with a short black beard and a patch over one eye. And then to add to the odd appearance, this man was casually eating what looked like a candy bar.

“So, you lot are to be my opponents,” the man announced, looking disappointed. “I can’t say as I’m impressed… You lot look like you’ll all go down with one swing of my axe…”

“Go ahead and try it,” Chris announced as he took a step forward.

Their opponent chuckled. “At least you have stones…” Then his expression turned serious. “But I’ll not be facing you in battle until you prove yourselves worth the effort of staining my axe…”

With that, the man dropped his candy bar and wrapper to the ground, then he flew straight up into the air and out of reach. A second later, he was gone from view entirely.

“So,” Monkeywrench mused. “I guess this means that we have to fight our way to the boss…”

“Looks that way,” Amy responded.

“Figures,” Darqueheart said with a sigh before teasing Sapphire, “But at least he isn’t a clown.”

“No,” Monkeywrench added with a broad grin. “But that might be the second phase of the boss fight.”

Alyss looked down at the abandoned candy bar, getting a good look at the wrapper. The words ‘SOYLENT GREEN’ were clearly written on the side.

With a wry smile, she said, “It’s people…”

“What’s that?” Amy asked.

Alyss was about to explain the reference when the other clues suddenly came together in her head. She groaned at the real joke, knowing that none of her friends were likely to either catch or understand it. Still, at least she was able to appreciate the Imp’s humor, even if none of the others did.

“Should we follow him?” Chris asked, pointing in the direction that the purple clad man had flown in.

“Might as well,” Alyss agreed.

Nobody disagreed, so they began walking in that direction. However, they’d barely gone a hundred feet when new people suddenly appeared. They rushed out of doorways, emerged from around the corner of nearby buildings, and even burst out of some shop windows. In mere seconds, they found themselves surrounded by several dozen people.

Each and every one of the newcomers was dressed differently, and none of them in a way that could be considered fashionable. One man wore a football helmet and shoulder pads, while having a baseball bat clutched in his hands. Another man wore a black leather jacket and chains, while swinging a lead pipe. A large and muscular woman was dressed in a neon green leotard that looked like some kind of wrestling outfit, and she held a knife in each hand.

“Some kind of gang,” Chris announced as he looked around.

Alyss snorted. “Only if you’re talking about those weird themed gangs that you sometimes see in movies and TV shows.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “And they’re all from different themed gangs.”

“And they’re all armed,” Darqueheart pointed out.

“Yeah,” Alyss agreed, taking note that Darqueheart was right. Every one of these newcomers was armed with simple weapons. Pipes. Chains. Knives. There was even one man with a spiked rubber chicken. “And that’s all pretty random too.”

Amy chuckled. “Like someone used a random generator on the thugs we’re facing.”

“At least they’re all different,” Melissa pointed out.

Sapphire let out a sigh. “Whatever they look like, can we just deal with them already?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Monkeywrench agreed with a grin.

Monkeywrench wore a bandolier across his chest, with a dozen apparent bananas strapped to it. He casually pulled off one of the bananas, then reached into a large pouch on his belt and took out what looked like a round red fruit.

“Is that an apple?” Melissa asked in surprise.

“Nope,” the furry boy responded with a mischievous grin. “A pomegranate, also known as a grenade…”

And with those words, Monkeywrench threw the pomegranate right into the middle of a group of thugs and it suddenly exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Seven of the thugs went down with various levels of injury, though the furry boy continued his assault by throwing the banana, which exploded into a spray of liquid that coated the ground. Several thugs rushed forward and stepped on this spray, only to slip and fall.

“The banana peel grenade gets them every time,” Monkeywrench exclaimed.

As soon as Monkeywrench made his move, everyone else charged forward as well. Alyss reached a man who was dressed in some kind of pastel jumpsuit and wielding a machete, then picked him up and threw him into a woman with a motorcycle helmet, knocking both of them into the small cluster of other thugs behind them.

Alyss glanced at her friends, seeing that Amy was opening fire with her needle gun, firing tiny flechettes which were probably coated with Sapphire’s venom. Sapphire, on the other hand, was simply spitting out a spray of her venom, causing any of the thugs that were hit with it to stagger and trip as their bodies started to go numb on contact.

“This isn’t much different than fighting those zombies last week,” Chris announced as he blocked a lead pipe with his arm before punching the one who’d swung it.

“A bit more colorful,” Monkeywrench added.

Melissa laughed as she zapped one of the thugs with a stun gun, then teleported a short distance away to hit another one. “You get a tase,” she exclaimed. “And you get a tase… EVERYBODY GETS A TASE!”

Darqueheart didn’t say anything, though her actions spoke loud enough. A wave of darkness spread out along the ground while inky black tentacles rose from this darkness and grabbed at the thugs, pulling them down into it.

Alyss rushed forward and simply charged through a mob of thugs, taking them out with her impact alone. They were all weak compared to her, about the level of an unstilled normal person. In spite of them being badly outnumbered, they still managed to defeat all the attackers in just a few minutes.

“You know,” Monkeywrench mused as they looked at all their defeated foes, “I might have to create a cherry bomb to go with my arsenal…”

“You know,” Alyss pointed out. “Between your pomegranate, that pineapple grenade you used in your combat final, and your usual bananas, you’re starting to get a full fruit salad.”

Melissa quickly pointed out, “Just be careful, or you’ll dilute your entire theme…”

“Good point,” Monkeywrench responded as he reached for another banana on his bandolier. “I wouldn’t want to risk that.”

Amy just gestured in the direction that they’d been heading before the recent ambush. “Shall we continue?”

“Yes,” Darqueheart responded with a deep scowl. “Let’s get this over with.”

Chris just shrugged. “It’s good exercise.”

A minute later, Monkeywrench abruptly announced, “I’m getting a real sense of deja-vu here…”

“More enemies,” Sapphire added, pointing out the obvious.

Just like before, new opponents were starting to step out from around the building corners where they’d previously been hidden from sight. More of them rushed out of doorways and alleys, until once again, they were surrounded by these new thugs.

Alyss immediately noticed some differences between the current group of opponents and the one they’d faced before. Previously, all of the thugs had been dressed randomly, and they’d all been carrying simple weapons. These new thugs were dressed differently, or at least more thematically, with a consistent Mad Max or post-apocalyptic aesthetic.

She quickly glanced over the thugs, taking in the leather clothes, the chains and spikes, and most importantly, the weapons. The weapons were definitely an upgrade over what the previous thugs had used. She saw chainsaws, flame throwers, even someone with Molotov cocktails.

“Welcome to round two,” Melissa exclaimed.

“I just hope they’re more challenging than that last bunch,” Chris added as he flared his PK shell so that it glowed a bright gold for a moment, just enough to make a statement.

“Show off,” Darqueheart teased him, smiling a little as she did so.

Then, so as not to be outdone, Darqueheart muttered something under her breath and made a brief gesture with one hand. Suddenly, her shadow seemed to come alive and rushed up her body, giving a swirl of darkness about her that lasted a couple seconds before fading away.

Chris looked like he was about to say something when the thugs attacked. A man with a chainsaw charged straight at Chris, who just barely avoided being hit. He punched his attacker, who staggered back a little but didn’t go down.

A wave of flame came rushing at Alyss, who tried to get out of the way but failed. The man with the flamethrower was swinging it in a wide arc, catching Alyss and nearly hitting Melissa, who barely teleported away in time.

“Damn it,” Alyss cursed as her dress burst into flames. Her manifested material was flammable, much to her current annoyance.

Alyss tore her dress off before her hair could get more than a little singed. As it was, she suspected that she’d have a red mark on her cheek from a mild burn, at least for a few minutes until she healed.

“You ruined a perfectly good dress,” Alyss exclaimed, though she didn’t really mind the loss of the dress. It would only take a couple seconds to replace and had been doomed to disintegrate on its own anyway. However, what she was annoyed by, was being forced to undress in public.

The apparent ten-year-old glanced down at herself, thankful that she’d planned ahead. Instead of being naked, or even in her underwear, she was fully dressed in a thin black bodysuit that covered everything from her neck down. This was the costume she’d made in costume shop, or at least, something to wear underneath whatever costume she manifested, which was fireproof and would give just a little more protection from bullets.

Alyss threw one of her ebidium bracelets at the thug, hitting him hard enough to break his ribs as he flew back, losing control of his flamethrower in the process. The flames shot out to the side, spraying two of his own people before he hit the ground and stopped moving.

“Anyone else want to mess with my dress?” she demanded.

Chris yelped in pain and Alyss snapped around, seeing him on the ground and holding his arm. Something had gotten through his shell, but Alyss couldn’t tell what. Three of the thugs were advancing on him, though Sapphire leapt at them from the side, spitting out a spray of her venom.

A Molotov cocktail flew through the air and was about to hit Chris, but a black shadow wrapped around him and pulled him back just in time. Darqueheart released Chris and sent another wave of darkness out along the ground, attacking one of the thugs that was still approaching.

“Thanks,” Chris told Darqueheart, looking chagrinned as he got back to his feet. “These guys are a lot tougher than those last ones.”

“We need to shake things up,” Amy announced, pulling out a gold metal sphere the size of a softball. “I’m going to throw a ricochet grenade… Whatever you do, don’t look at it. I put a ‘look at me’ enchantment on it, so that should get their attention.”

Amy threw her ricochet grenade, which hit one of the thugs in the chest and then bounced off, shooting through the air until it hit a wall and bounced again. It kept flying through the air, bouncing off one obstacle after another, seeming to get just a little faster after each bounce.

“You’ve got their attention,” Alyss said, watching the thugs more than the bomb. When she’d glanced at it, it had taken a bit of effort to tear her eyes away. The thugs kept their eyes fixed on it, leaving them all open in their distraction.

“Ribbon,” Amy said, using Alyss’ codename. “You’re the toughest one here, so you need to get their attention on you.” Amy looked to Chris and Sapphire. “Aegis and Sapphire, you watch her back and keep them from sneaking past her.”

“Sounds good to me,” Chris said.

“And me as well,” Sapphire agreed.

Amy looked to Monkeywrench and Darqueheart. “You two focus on crowd control. Keep them off balance as much as possible.”

“And what about me?” Melissa demanded excitedly.

Amy gave her an almost evil grin. “Get up to a little mischief. Hit them from behind and keep them distracted.”

“Aye aye,” Melissa responded, snapping a salute.

“And what about you?” Monkeywrench asked.

“That’s easy,” Amy responded as she holstered her needle gun and held up her coil gun. “I’ll be hitting them for as much damage as possible.”

Just then, there was an explosion as the ricochet grenade finally went off. Alyss looked over and saw that it had detonated while in the middle of a group, tearing several of the thugs apart in the blast while several more had been knocked back and injured.

“GO!” Alyss ordered.

Alyss ran forward, snatching up the ebidium bracelet that she’d previously thrown. She jumped up and kicked one of the thugs in the chest, then grabbed another and threw him into his friends. Chris and Sapphire had come up behind her and were guarding her back as Amy had asked.

“HEY!” Melissa yelled out from the other side of the group. “OVER HERE!”

Several thugs turned to look at Melissa but she teleported away. She appeared behind another thug, only to grab his pants and yank them down. He swung his chainsaw at her, but it only passed right through her. The girl made a show of sticking out her tongue as she ran off.

“EAT HOT BANANNA!” Monkeywrench yelled as he threw a couple of his banana peel grenades. They exploded into bursts of liquid that settled all over the ground. Several thugs immediately slipped in these pools and fell down. “Now, I really wish I had my POO launcher…”

“Less talk,” Darqueheart told him. “More fighting.”

Darqueheart held out her hands and muttered a quick spell under her breath. A wave of darkness spread out from her hands and covered several of the thugs, leaving them completely blind inside.

“Good,” Amy announced as she fired a shot into the dark cloud. A moment later, there was an explosion inside where Alyss couldn’t see. “You set them up, I’ll knock them down…” The shadows faded, revealing three thugs laying motionless on the ground.

Alyss continued charging at the thugs while Chris and Sapphire followed behind her. Sapphire spat out a spray of venom that caught two more thugs, causing partial paralysis wherever it hit and slowing them down. Chris was more direct, simply punching one as hard as he could and taking him out.

Further back, one of the thug women was about to throw a Molotov cocktail when it suddenly exploded in her hand, engulfing her in flame. Melissa appeared a short distance behind her, holding several rocks which she’d been throwing.

“Ouch,” Melissa exclaimed. “That’s gotta hurt.”

“I almost feel guilty for this,” Alyss said as she looked over motionless thugs that were sprawled out along the ground. With a critical eye, she noted that if they’d been real people, there would have been blood. As it was, she didn’t see a single drop of it on them. “Almost.”

The current strategy was working, and in only a few more seconds, the last of the thugs went down. He was face down on the ground with Melissa standing over him with a stun gun in her hand and an almost evil grin on her face.

“Shocked that a girl beat you?” Melissa teased her fallen opponent.

“That’s the last of them,” Chris said as he looked around.

“Yeah,” Monkeywrench agreed. “But what do you want to bet that there are more of them up ahead?”

“No bet,” Alyss said.

Alyss formed a new dress to replace the one that had been destroyed. It wasn’t necessary, but she felt a little more comfortable with it on.

“I’m gonna go scout ahead,” Melissa abruptly announced.

Everyone turned to look at the blonde girl, and Alyss was a little startled to see that she actually looked serious for once. That was not an expression that she saw on the girl very often.

“If you’re going into a dangerous area,” Melissa explained, “you should do as much research as you can ahead of time. Be prepared and plan an escape route or three.”

From the way she said it, Alyss suspected that she was repeating something that she’d been told. And considering who Melissa took private lessons from, Alyss was pretty sure that she knew exactly who had given her that particular advice.

“A good idea,” Sapphire said with a nod of approval.

Amy looked at Darqueheart. “You have some kind of stealth power too, don’t you?”

Darqueheart hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “I can blend into shadows and become extremely hard to see…but there’s too much light here for that.”

“It looks like it’s just you then,” Amy told Melissa. “Are you sure you’re up for scouting alone?”

“No problem,” Melissa responded before turning and hurrying off, vanishing just a couple seconds later.

Chris looked around before saying, “I guess we hang out here until she gets back.”

“We should probably duck out of sight until she gets back,” Alyss pointed out. “They might have their own scouts.”

Monkeywrench nodded enthusiastically. “Or wandering monsters.”

“Good point,” Amy agreed wryly.

They moved to the side and hit inside an alley entrance, while keeping watch for any threats. It took nearly ten minutes before Melissa returned.

“I found em,” Melissa exclaimed, pointing down the street. “About two blocks away… I can’t tell how many there are because they’re spread out and guarding this building.” She scowled for a moment as she continued to report in a serious tone, “Two guys at the door, six that I could see patrolling around it.” Then she shook her head. “And these guys have guns and radios.”

“Could you get inside the building?” Amy asked.

Melissa nodded at that. “Yeah… I only checked the bottom floor since I wanted to be fast… Looks like an office building with a couple guys inside too…”

“You said they have guns,” Alyss said. “What kind?”

“I don’t know,” Melissa responded. “Hand guns, I guess.”

“Better than machine guns,” Chris added.

Monkeywrench snorted. “Each group keeps getting tougher, so I bet the next group will have those…”

“Not much different than when we fought the Triangle,” Chris reminded them.

Sapphire looked around the group and adjusted her blue scaled cloak. “So, what do we do?”

“If they’re spread out,” Darqueheart suggested with a thoughtful expression. “Maybe we separate them and take them out one at a time.”

“And if they have radios and guns,” Alyss mused, “then we’ll probably have to hit them fast, before they have a chance to shoot or call for help.”

It took another couple minutes of discussion, but they had a basic plan and were ready to go. They made their way towards the building that Melissa found and saw exactly what she’d reported. Two men in suits standing guard at the entry, while other men in suits patrolled around it.

“Let’s get those patrols first,” Amy suggested, looking to Darqueheart. “You’re up.”

Darqueheart moved off to the side, keeping low and trying to stay out of sight. Once she was in position, she waited until one of the thugs on patrol walked near her, just out of sight of his friends. Then she struck.

A long black shadow stretched out from Darqueheart and reached her target in a couple seconds. He didn’t see the shadow rising behind him, not until it suddenly wrapped around him like a thick black tentacle. It quickly held him in place, his arms fixed to his side, and clamped over his mouth before he could scream or call out a warning. Then his feet were yanked out from under him and the shadow pulled him back towards where Darqueheart was hiding.

At the other side of the building, Sapphire got into position and waited. Once another thug walked past where she was hiding, she leapt out and charged him with all the speed an exemplar 4 could bring, taking him down before he had a chance to react. She quickly pulled his limp body back and out of sight, then readied herself for the next patrol.

Suddenly, the guards at the door answered their radios and immediately jumped to attention, drawing their weapons as they did so.

“Someone spotted us,” Alyss said, glancing to Amy.

“On it,” Amy responded, firing a shot at the two guards from her coil gun. The grenade round hit the ground in front of them and exploded, slamming both thugs back against the wall.

Alyss ran for the door, barely paying the downed thugs any attention. She slammed into the door with her shoulder and smashed it in, opening the way inside.

The sound of gunfire immediately filled the air and Alyss felt something smack into her shoulder. It felt like someone had punched her, or at least, like someone with a lot of strength had punched her. A quick glance down revealed the hole in her dress, though the bullet hadn’t gone through her inner costume much less her skin.

A quick glance around revealed that this did indeed look like an office full of cubicles, just like what Melissa had described. And also as she’d described, three armed thugs were spread around the room, all of whom were pointing their guns at her and shooting. Alyss felt several more rounds hit her.

“So, you’re the kind of assholes that like to shoot at little girls,” Alyss said with a deep scowl. She made a show of cracking her knuckles. “Too bad for you.”

A second later, Chris burst into the building, just in time to see Alyss throwing one of the thugs all the way across the room and into the far wall. The other two thugs were already down, though one of them seemed to be partially embedded in a wall.

“What took you so long?” Alyss asked, making a show of brushing off her hands.

“Sorry we took so long,” Monkeywrench said as he came in behind Chris. “Traffic.”

“We took the wrong turn at Albuquerque,” Melissa announced as she suddenly appeared beside Monkeywrench.

Then Amy stepped through the door, adding, “And we had to take care of one of those guys out there.” She gestured back the way she’d come.

Darqueheart and Sapphire quickly joined them, then without a word, they began moving up the stairs. Alyss took the lead with Chris behind her. Sapphire remained at the back, ready to deal with any surprises from the back end.

“I should scout ahead,” Melissa protested.

“Too late for that sneaky stuff,” Chris pointed out grimly. “They might not see you coming, but they might start shooting down the hallway at any moment.”

“Yes,” Darqueheart added wryly. “So, hide behind the tiny little girl.”

Then, just as Chris had warned, bullets began flying down the stairway. Alyss held her arms in front of her face to keep from getting shot there, but otherwise remained standing to soak up as many of the bullets as she could. Chris remained behind her, flexing his PK shell and blocking more of the shots, though the impact was still having an effect on him.

“Good thing they’re not using anything more powerful,” Chris said with a grimace.

“I’ve got this,” Monkeywrench announced, pulling out a bright yellow boomerang. “My bananarang should take them out no problem.” He threw it up the stairs, then winced. “Damn, I missed.”

Amy just fired a round from her coil gun and there was an explosion, followed by a moment of silence. The gunshots were no longer coming.

“The coil gun might be overkill in here,” Amy said as she slung it back over her shoulder and drew the needle gun from her holster. “And I don’t want to burn through all my rounds too soon.”

“A bananarang?” Melissa asked Monkeywrench. “Really?”

Monkeywrench shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

When they reached the top of the stairs, they saw the gunman who’d been shooting at them, laying motionless on the ground. From the damage to his clothes and the wall nearby, it seemed that Amy’s grenade round had worked perfectly.

Another thug appeared from down the hallway, opening fire on them. Melissa suddenly vanished, reappearing right behind him, where she promptly kicked him between the legs. He dropped to his knees, and before he could even hope to recover, several flechettes from Amy’s needle gun appeared in his chest and neck.

“This batch is coated with something I bought from Bunsen,” Amy said, gesturing to the thug who collapsed the rest of the way to the ground. “All it cost was two batches of brownies.”

“The special kind?” Melissa asked.

Amy chuckled as she shook her head. “Nope. Turns out, he just likes good brownies.”

“Should we search the floor?” Sapphire asked.

“There might be more of them hiding in those rooms,” Darqueheart pointed out, indicating the closed doors.

Melissa poked her head through the nearest door, not bothering to even open it. Her intangibility made such considerations unnecessary.

“Empty,” Melissa announced before running to the next door and repeating this. “Nothing here…” Then on the third door, she stuck her head through, only to immediately yank it back out as the sound of a gunshot came from within. “There’s someone in this one…”

The door swung open and a gunman leapt out, shooting at Melissa though his shots went right through her. Once he stopped shooting, she let out a breath and teleported back down the hallway, appearing behind Alyss. Amy had already fired off a burst of flechettes and the man quickly dropped.

“Even more effective than your venom,” Amy told Sapphire.

Sapphire merely shrugged. “Perhaps, but I don’t have to trade baked goods for my venom.”

Monkeywrench picked up the bananarang he’d thrown just a minute earlier. “We should probably check the rest of the rooms so they don’t come up behind us.”

“Here we go again,” Melissa muttered.

Once they confirmed that there was nobody left on that floor, they began moving up the stairs again to the next floor. A couple thugs were waiting for them in an attempted ambush, but Melissa teleported behind one and shoved him down the stairs while Amy shot the other.

“How many floors are there?” Chris asked with a look of annoyance.

“Five floors,” Amy answered. “I counted when we were still outside the building.”

“And we’re on floor three,” Sapphire pointed out.

“I just don’t like fighting on these stairs,” Chris grumbled. “Because I haven’t been able to do any fighting so far.”

Alyss snorted. “And I’m being used as a wall.” She shrugged. “Right now, our job is to keep everyone else from being shot, because we’re the ones who can take it. We just have to deal with it until we get into a spot where we can do more.”

“Speaking of which,” Darqueheart said with an evil grin. She muttered something under her breath and then shadow began pouring up the stairs, one step at a time. A few seconds later, there was screaming from another thug as she grabbed hold of his leg and pulled him down towards them. “There are ways to be useful.”

“Hey,” Monkeywrench exclaimed. “I hear someone coming up from below…”

He looked down the stairs, then grinned. A moment later, he had two of his banana peel grenades in hand and threw them down below.

“That should slow them down,” the furry boy said.

There were nods of agreement as they continued going up. It didn’t take long before they heard a loud ‘thump’ and a yelp of pain as someone slipped and fell down the stairs. Monkeywrench made a show of buffing his nails on his shirt and then smugly examining them.

It didn’t take long to clear the remaining floors and to then reach the roof. As soon as they stepped onto the roof of the building, they were met with three armed thugs, all of whom already had their guns pointed at the doorway.

“I have it,” Darqueheart said while she and the others took shelter behind Alyss and Chris.

They’d expected this particular greeting, or at least something like it, so Darqueheart had already begun spreading her shadows out along the ground ahead of them. It took little more than a snap of her fingers for the shadows to attack all three of the thugs at once, wrapping them up in inky black tentacles and holding them still long enough for Amy to shoot them with her needle gun.

“Very good,” a voice announced from the other side of the roof. “You lot have proven yourselves worthy of my axe.”

Alyss looked over and saw their real opponent, the armored man who’d first met them in the arena. He casually took a bite of another Soylent Green bar and then tossed the remains to the side before reaching for the large double-sided axe that was strapped to his back.

“Big boss battle,” Monkeywrench exclaimed, throwing his bananarang at their opponent and hitting him on the chest. The weapon bounced off, though it did leave a nice scratch on the armor. “I REALLY need to upgrade my weapons…”

“No kidding,” Chris responded, giving him a flat look.

“Hey,” Monkeywrench protested. “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Darqueheart snorted. “Then maybe you can give HIM some of your love.” She gestured to the large man who was slowly walking towards them with his axe ready to swing.

“Not my type,” Monkeywrench quickly responded with a frantic shake of his head.

“Perhaps we should focus on the approaching enemy,” Sapphire suggested.

“I second that,” Melissa said as she vanished from view.

Melissa appeared beside the armored man and threw a handful of powder at him before she abruptly vanished again. Then she reappeared on his other side, throwing a smoke bomb at his feet and blinding him in a cloud of smoke.

“Itching powder and a smoke bomb,” Melissa said as she reappeared beside them. “Now, why aren’t you guys taking advantage of that distraction to attack?”

“Yes,” Amy agreed with a look of vague annoyance. “Why aren’t we?”

Amy holstered her needle gun since it didn’t look like it would be able to pierce the man’s armor, then she readied her coil gun. But before she could fire a single shot, the opponent stepped out of the smoke cloud, no longer blinded by it. And from the way he showed no reaction to Melissa’s itching powder, Alyss suspected that very little of that had made it past his armor either.

Alyss charged forward and punched the man, knocking him back several feet but not taking him down. She lunged for another strike but her fist slammed into the flat of his axe instead. He sneered and then swung it at her, forcing her to move back.

Chris rushed forward and punched the man, doing even less damage than Alyss had, though he followed it up by shifting his PK shell so that his hands formed a pair of PK blades. He slashed at the man, only to be forced back by another swing of the axe.

“Come, children,” the man demanded, giving them a flat look with his one good eye. “Is that all you lot possess? I’m disappointed.”

Amy called out, “I need a clear shot.”

Alyss glanced at Chris, then pulled him back, creating an opening for Amy. As soon as the path was cleared, Amy opened fire. The round hit their opponent in the chest and then exploded into flames.

“Napalm round,” Amy called out. “Followed by a grenade…”

“Back,” Alyss warned, taking several more steps back.

Amy fired her grenade round, but their purple clad opponent simply swung his axe and hit the grenade, causing it to explode a little early. His armor was now charred, but he was clearly not down or even close to it.

Sapphire quickly rushed in and spat at the opponent, sending out a spray of her neurotoxic venom. He shifted position so that the liquid hit his back and shoulders which were protected by his armor. However, Sapphire followed up this failed attack with a swing kick, hitting him in the thigh and knocking him to the ground.

“Good one,” the man announced as he quickly got back to his feet. “So, you lot do have some fight in you after all.”

“We need to keep him off balance,” Amy pointed out. “Monkeywrench. Darqueheart.”

“On it,” Monkeywrench responded, pulling another banana peel grenade from his bandolier. But before he could throw it, the opponent floated up into the air until his feet were nearly ten feet above the roof top. “Come on, that’s cheating.”

The man gave a deep laugh at that. “No such thing in war.” Then he smirked, “And you lot should know better than to discuss your plans right in front of the enemy you intend to use them on.”

“Good point,” Chris said, looking up with an expression of annoyance. Then he had an idea. “Hey, Al…Ribbon. You think you can throw me at him?”

“Sure,” Alyss responded with a shrug and an exasperated sigh. “But what did he just point out?”

Chris looked chagrinned. “Oops.”

“I’m going to enjoy this,” Alyss responded as she picked Chris up and threw him right at their opponent.

The opponent moved to the side, easily avoiding Chris, who hit the ground on the other side of the roof and came rolling to a stop. However, while he was avoiding Chris, he hadn’t noticed the black tendril that was rising up from the ground, right beneath him, not until it grabbed his ankle and began pulling him down.

Just before he hit the ground, the man swung his axe and cut through Darqueheart’s shadow. But before he could take advantage of this momentary freedom, Alyss leapt up above him and came down with a heavy punch that drove him right into the rooftop.

“His axe,” Monkeywrench warned.

Sapphire rushed in and snatched the axe from the man’s hand before he could even get back to his feet, then she casually tossed it over the edge of the building. He snarled and held out one hand which glowed for a moment before a beam of energy shot out of his palm. Sapphire quickly shifted position so that the blast missed her, though barely.

Monkeywrench pulled a banana off his bandolier, though this one looked a little different from his other ones. This one had a red stripe painted around it. A moment later, the banana hit the armored man and exploded into a burst of liquid that sprayed all over him.

“Make him slippery,” Chris said with a look of annoyance. “Now it will be harder to hold onto him…”

“Not exactly,” Monkeywrench corrected with a smirk.

The liquid on their opponent was starting to bubble and foam up, a reaction that Alyss hadn’t expected.

“I can’t move,” the man exclaimed in surprise. He was back on his feet but he seemed to be struggling to move at all.

“Something new I’ve been working on,” Monkeywrench proudly explained. “It hardens…to trap people in place a bit.”

The opponent grimaced and fought against the now hardened foam, causing it to start cracking. Pieces broke away and he suddenly pointed his hand at Monkeywrench and fired another blast of energy.

Chris suddenly leapt in the way, his PK shell glowing gold, with most of the glow focused on a small area around his arm that almost looked like a shield. The blast hit the PK shield and knocked Chris back, but it wasn’t able to penetrate.

“Damn,” Chris grumbled. “I think I may have strained my shoulder a bit with that one…”

“Thanks, dude,” Monkeywrench responded, his voice shaking a little. “I was almost toast.”

“Keep him busy,” Amy ordered, keeping her voice low so their opponent couldn’t hear her. “I’ve got a finisher…”

“Got it,” Chris said, fixing his gaze on the purple man.

“No,” Melissa said with an evil grin. “I’ve got it…”

With that, Melissa vanished from view. A few seconds later, a puff of green smoke suddenly appeared in the opponent’s face, right before he began to cough and gag. Melissa came back into view right beside the man, though she quickly ran away.

“It’s fart spray,” Melissa exclaimed with a giggle. “Trixie made it, based off her stink bomb…”

“Ouch,” Darqueheart said with a wince.

“Yeah,” Monkeywrench agreed. “Trixie makes the best stink bombs, so…”

“Instant distraction,” Melissa said as she rejoined them.

The opponent continued to cough and gag, still fighting against the hardened shell from Monkeywrench’s attack. However, the shell was mostly broken and now falling off in pieces, leaving little to still hold the enemy in place.

“You lot are more tenacious than I gave you credit for,” the man said with a grimace. “That just means I’ll have to tenderize you good before I eat your livers…”

“Eat our livers?” Melissa exclaimed. “EWWWW.”

“With some fava beans and a nice chianti,” the armored man added with an evil smirk.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Darqueheart stated.

A thick shadow was forming around Darqueheart, and with a quick gesture from her hand, it began moving along the ground towards their opponent. He raised both his hands, ready to fire another blast, though Alyss positioned herself to block when he did so.

Alyss looked past their opponent and saw Amy coming up behind him. She’d dropped her weapons and now held a glowing blue ball of energy that crackled with sparks. She grinned, recognizing Amy’s energizer ability. It was a little slow to charge up since she had to gather ambient electro-magnetic energy, but it could also pack a nice punch.

Amy hit the armored man from behind, slamming her glowing sphere of concentrated electro-magnetic energy right into his back. There was a burst of light and sparks as it came into contact, frying the man’s armor in an instant.

Their opponent stood there motionless for several seconds with smoke leaking out of his armor. His expression was now blank as he appeared to be unconscious. Then, he suddenly moved.

“Look out,” Monkeywrench warned.

But instead attacking, the enemy simply fell forward, landing face first on the ground. There was no further movement.

“Did we get him?” Sapphire asked.

Melissa held up her stun gun. “I’ll make sure…”

Alyss snorted. “That little thing doesn’t have anything on what Am…on what Roulette just hit him with.”

Amy came over, keeping a wary eye on their downed opponent. “I’m just glad I could use that power for something more than charging batteries.”

Monkeywrench pulled out his bananarang and gave the downed man a suspicious look. “He’s going to jump up and do a surprise attack,” he warned. “They always do that in the movies.”

But then, the Imp’s voice came from the intercom somewhere above. “Good job, kids. You did it. Now come on in for your debrief.”

“Okay,” Monkeywrench said with a shrug. “I could be wrong.” He suddenly snapped around and raised his bananarang to throw at the opponent. “Or am I?” The body still didn’t move.

--------------------

Alyss stepped into the briefing room with her friends, still caught up in the conversation that they’d been having ever since they finished defeating their opponent.

“Your energy ball thing was awesome,” Melissa said for the third time. “POW! Sparks fly and he’s down.”

Amy looked rather pleased by that. “I was just lucky that I’m in energizer mode today. That power is especially useful against something like power armor.”

Monkeywrench smirked and added, “You could say, it’s super effective.”

“I think that is what she just said,” Sapphire pointed out.

The furry boy let out an exasperated sigh. “Come on, I was making a Pokemon joke…”

“If you have to explain it,” Alyss pointed out, “then it’s not funny.”

Then Alyss turned her full attention to the briefing room and the two people who were already present, waiting on them. One of them was the Imp, the architect of that particular arena match, while the other was Gunny Bardue. She remembered the way he’d gone over her combat final in thorough detail after she was finished with it and knew that this was going to be a similar experience.

“I don’t think this is going to be a quick overview,” Alyss quietly told her friends.

“And you’re right about that,” Bardue responded with a scowl. “Take your seats, because we’re going to be here for a bit.”

“But this isn’t part of any class,” Monkeywrench protested. “I mean, I didn’t think we would be graded…”

Bardue snorted at that. “This might not have been one of our official matches, but it was still good training, and I aim to make sure you all get the most out of it.”

“What he said,” the Imp added casually.

The eccentric art teacher had been humming a tune when they came in, and she’d only stopped long enough to make that comment. Once she did, she began humming again. Bardue gave her a brief look of annoyance but otherwise seemed to ignore her. Alyss admired his self-control.

Alyss recognized that old familiar tune, though she hadn’t actually heard it in years. Back when her kids were a lot younger, her youngest, Rich, had gone through a phase where he’d loved silly songs, and this was one of the ones that he’d frequently played over and over again. The memory brought a faint smile to her face, even as this confirmed her suspicions about the Imp’s in joke for the match.

“We’re going to go through your entire match, step by step,” Bardue told them while the Imp continued to quietly hum. “We’ll cover everything you did right, everything you did wrong, what you could have done more effectively, and how you can prepare for the next time.”

Just then, the Imp abruptly broke out singing the actual lyrics.

“It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater.
One-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater.
One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater.
Sure looks strange to me.”

Wednesday late afternoon, Dec 19th, 2007

Time was running out and Traci knew that she didn’t have much more of it to think about her options. She had to make a decision now. Act or don’t act. Stick with Exquisite and achieve her goals or turn her back on her team and her own interests.

It should have been an easy decision. All Traci had to do was go with the flow and she’d be one step closer to achieving the adoration and power she deserved. But in spite of that, in spite of knowing the smart choice, she still hesitated.

“All I have to do is wait,” Traci reminded herself. “It will all work itself out. I’m just worrying over nothing.”

However, in spite of her own words, Traci didn’t really believe that. Sure, that had actually been Holly’s advice, and in the end, that fact was what made her decision.

“I’ll be damned if I ever take HER advice,” Traci announced with a dismissive snort. “I’d NEVER live it down.”

Traci let out a sigh, relieved that she’d actually come to a decision. Now, she just needed to follow through with it…and deal with the consequences. However, she tried not to think about that and instead focused on making the short journey to Kane Hall.

Once Traci reached the security offices, she went to the man at the front desk and announced, “I’d like to report a planned murder.”

“Another one?” the security officer asked with a dismissive sigh. “Do you know how often we get those reports? You kids always exaggerate everything. Every little thing is suddenly a conspiracy…”

Traci scowled and clenched her fists as the anger rose, though she managed to keep her powers from flaring out of control. As it was, that security officer was lucky that she hadn’t flared up and blinded him for life.

At this rate, Traci thought that she’d probably be more effective just by warning Roulette about what Exquisite had planned. The idea of dropping it in her hands and letting her take care of herself was kind of appealing, but Traci had no intention of approaching that freak unless she had absolutely no other choice. After all, she still had a reputation to protect.

“Exquisite,” Traci started to explain, only to suddenly have another security officer immediately turn in her direction.

“Did you say Exquisite is involved?” the second security officer asked.

“Yes,” Traci answered, relieved that this man seemed to be taking her a lot more seriously than the first.

He gestured for her to approach and said, “Come with me…” The officer led her down a hallway and to a closed door. He gave the door a quick knock, then explained, “You aren’t the first student to bring this to us.”

“What?” Traci asked in surprise.

A moment later, the door opened and the security officer gestured for her to go inside. She stepped through the doorway and then froze, seeing Samantha Everheart sitting behind a desk, while right across from her was someone far more familiar.

“Iron?” she blurted out, stunned to see that her teammate was already there.

Iron stared at her for a moment, then nodded with a grim expression. “Some lines,” he stated firmly, “should not be crossed.”