Dreams and Nightmares (Fall of the Spanish Empire)

Now

She’d deflected many of them over her extensive period as a warlord, but today something was different. Perhaps it was the tenacity in which he fought, or skill? It did play an important factor; or maybe she wanted it? Whatever the reasoning, the toxic life force of the Outlaw Queen spill from her bosom onto the once veiled Liafador Family painting, now in ruins. As she lay, waiting for death to take her once more, she kept an enigmatic grin on her blood-tinted lips. With each prolonged breath, her bosom shuddered in the frigid air.

“Well done…” She whispered followed by a series of problematic coughs. “You got me.” The deep wound kept her voice soft but harsh as if she were using every facet of her being to continue speaking. “But how will you stop the Nightmares that have yet to come”.

Blood drip down the curves of her olive tinted cheeks, followed by a series on involuntary blinks. “Ab sequuntur somnia somniabunt (Dreams from Nightmares) she muttered softly, before closing her pacific blue eyes for the final time.

But, apparently the death of Ziccarra wasn’t seemingly the end of this…nightmare. She’d launched something, something perhaps more powerful.

10 Hours Before

The palace didn’t have the same feel; instead of the energy that Tassi and Maya usually brought, it was dead and cold. Instead of the new trinkets Selene would purchase it was empty and bare. The smell of Leon, Leonel and Alexis sparring no longer littered the air. Instead the smell of scorched servants, and days old decaying carcasses lingered in the air. Deep through the corridors of the west wing, in the darkest room down the left side of the hall.

The Outlaw Queen sat bearing the heart of Catalina, and an intricate little spell she secured from The Goddess Amora just days before. In the end, she’d be killed she knew it, all major Cardinal resources had been depleted, they were coming to kill the queen, but not before she released the final blow.

“Darkness is something that lies within everyone. For others it takes a little temptation.” Though the captives could hear her, they weren’t in the position to speak at all.

“My Queen, you really should prepare to depart Spain, once they realize you’ve returned to Madrid, they will not stop until you’re dead.”

“By that time darling it will truly be too late. Have the Cardinals activate the Quantonium; I do not want this city standing. I am to be informed the moment Tassiania or Maya enter this city…is that understood.”

As the Cardinal guard obliged, Ziccarra executed a pirouette and emerged in her once iconic Cardinal Goddess uniform. “You all will remain here, if the quantonium proves to be unstable this blast room will be the only thing to shield you from the explosion”

Those were her final words before disappearing in an incandescent burst of psionic energy. The destination? Downtown Madrid, much like Emerald City it had been turned into a war zone, the bulk of Ziccarra’s new Cardinal legion fought not Citizen soldiers, but a konite fueled string of retaliators. From just across the pond she’d heard tales of a man using the addictive drug to assert his dominance in Gothic City, apparently he was now it Madrid, something she could not have.

With the quantonium ready to launch and what was left of the Spanish parliament stashed in a security warehouse on the far side of town, The Cardinal Queen could finally divert her attention back to this konite problem.

Reappearing in a burst of psionic energy the battle ready goddess launch herself into battle for the first time since battling Mercy, she needed to know where he was. Where was Satar.

5 Post until Quantonium Explosion

The leaves fell early that year and so did every single in the west apparently.

Ziccarra should have been more careful with her outburst. Psionic energy like all kinds of en energy had a signature which could be easily traced, most of all in large amounts. The people who were able to radiate that much were only a a handful. But only one of them would be on Spanish territory.

The city below him burned. Gothic city, Emerald city, now Madrid. It felt like the beginning of another failure. Except this time around he wasn't as concentrated on stopping the fires. He was leaning more toward extinguishing the source "or die trying". As he dramatically put it.

He felt it in his gut, This was the end. It all came down to this. The moment of truth. History repeats itself. Mark Antony was backed into a corner.

A few months ago he was fighting the same battle against Quintus. Now he finally adorned himself in his dark clad armor as the Black Mamba, the Noir Rose, it felt strange and right at the same time.

For a brief moment he saw an impaled Darkwing with the green domino mask and the silly yellow cape in the mirror's reflection. He was crying, bleeding a bit from his nose and lower lip. Choking on his own blood and tears.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Ringing came from his wrist alarm. Telling him that it was almost time for his medicine. He rolled his sleeve and made pressure with his fist as he injected the vial into his veins. So many puncture wounds were in his arm that he could be confused for a junkie.

Taking a moment, he reflected at the kind of life he had led, the choices he made that got him to this point. All his friends has deserted him or so he liked to believe. The truth was that he had pushed them away with his attitude. His relationship had fallen apart due to his cowardice. He ran away from the possibility of sharing intimacy with someone. He was a fake, Pretending to be some kind of womanizer when he had never gone all the way.

He ejected himself from the chair and flew down to battle.

Andres couldn't make his tongue grow back but he had created an alternative. A prosthetic made out of nano technology. It was a bright silver which made him love it more than his real tongue.

"I didn't know retirement homes allowed their senior citizens to wander around, granzy" A shit eating grin could be seen across his face.

@shanana: @_nox_:

Zoe’s eyes fluttered open as her hands balled into fists, her eyes glazed over with an unnatural green hue, her lips stained with the dry blood she had just expelled from her stomach moments ago. Her eyes darted around like a feral beast as she slowly stood up, looking down at her hand that seemed to be holding onto a small vile that contained… something. “Maya?” She spoke as her eyes focused on the hybrid Goddess. Her face was twisted with confusion, the necodexa virus coursing through not just her blood but was also altering her state of mind.

Her mind was pulling her in different directions as urges from the virus began to trigger the frontal lobe where emotion control was located, and instantly her face went from confusion, to anger. “Get away!” She yelled out as her eyes began to give a bright emerald glow. If Maya attempted to talk to her, she couldn’t hear her, or anyone around her for that matter. The Fire Goddess began to feel a pull, a draw, a need to stand by her masters side, to fight for her master, in the name of her master name… who’s name? “Ziccarra.” She whispered, as if she realized what she had to do. Her attention was drawn back, for just a moment as her eyes looked up to Maya once more, still holding onto the vile.

A maleficent grin pulled across her face, she needed to get to Ziccarra's side. "Race you toMadrid ." with that her entire body erupted into a wild crimson flame in every direction as her body took off into the sky like a rabid animal. Her eyes focused on her destination ahead. As she flew the full effect of the virus began taking place, her features quickly changing with every second until her she was unrecognizable thanks to the virus.

Madrid Quickly came to view as the booming roar of the sound bearer being broken thundered through the sky. As she came close to her Goddess a view of a person dawned in black appeared in the battlefield and the The Harbinger of Ziccarra instantly shift her attention to him. Landing between Marcus and Ziccarra her tameless blaze rushed outward towards the onyx armored individual like a viper, her fire crackled as it consumed oxygen around him, growing stronger and bigger like a tilde wave, wanting to overtake him. Her lips curled into a poisonous smile as she slightly turned her head to the side to look back at her master, as if asking for her blessing to take on her pest of a grandson for her.

@feral_nova: @_nox_: @shanana:

Underground, meters beneath the surface, Satar felt the ground above him lumber and roar, bits of dust and rock descending from the cavern's ceiling, littering the ground upon which he sat. He'd yet to fully recover from his injuries. He'd slain Lucia Aurelius, destroyed the Iron Phantom and injured others, but Lucia, the blade she'd driven deep into his bowels had left his torso scarred and his ability to walk, a struggle. He was healing, steadily, his strength returning to him, but he was in no condition to do battle lest he resort to his power ring, the power ring stolen from a defeated Connor O'Hara. Instead, the Baabda Beast sat, in the comfort of an underground cavern, a terrorist haven for the Brahma Brotherhood.

He gazed upon them, his gathered forces, his pale, crystal blue eyes shifting from each of the Brotherhood's Mad Dogs and Kamikaze Kings. Behind his mask, his features were held in earnest, his eyes holding his cronies with a glare, one marred by an unsettling, psychopathic cold. Before him they stood, Mad Dogs and Kamikaze Kings. Of the two, the Mad Dogs were the least human. They were faceless men, permanent shadows cast over their features by the hoods of their red hoodies. They were tall, unnaturally lanky, and uttered no sound. They walked barefoot, the soles of their feet toughened by callouses and a mutant's durability. They were the attack dogs. The savage ones. They hunted in packs and pounced like maniacs. The Kamikaze Kings? They cut a more elite force.

Adorned in trench-coats, gas masks and gas tanks, their garments were sealed environments, their flesh never to be seen by the wandering eye. He gazed upon them, the Baabda Beast. He'd incited a revolution above. A civil war of sorts. He'd created supply lines of Konite, created dependency on it, and hooked Madrid's desperate citizens to it. Super-powered and under the influence, they'd fallen under Satar's command, and many now did battle with Ziccarra's forces, fighting their oppressor and returning to Satar for more, for more Konite. And oh he gladly gave it to them. With his Konite-infused followers doing their best against Ziccarra's forces above, Satar issued one simple command to the Brahma Brotherhood, his paramilitary monkeys, "Capture Madrid". He wanted the city.

To seize it and turn it into an independent terrorist state, a sovereign territory ruled by the Brahma Brotherhood. Their approach was tactical and indirect. Those left super-powered by the Konite were a minority force, demonstrating in front of the enemy, in front of Ziccarra's forces, distracting them so that the Mad Dogs and Kamikaze Kings, the majority of Satar's forces, could advance from underground, emerge, then attack the Spanish military from the flanks and rear. And they would do so by chaining their attacks together. Infused with the power of Konite and granted the ability to manipulate water, one of the civilians had conjured a wave of water, an aquatic juggernaut that sought to steamroll the Spanish military. In response, the Mad Dogs fired at the water. Launching CIF3 (Chlorine Trifluoride) grenades.

Why? Because Chlorine trifluoride reacts violently and explosively with water. Once in contact with the conjured water, the grenades would detonate and give birth to a most lethal blaze. The hydrolysis reaction with the water brought to life a violent explosion, first of hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid in a vicious burst of corrosive steam that sought to burn through flesh, attack bone, interfere with nerve function, and cause fatal fluorine poisoning in Ziccarra's soldiers. Then came the second explosion, of fluorine fire. More dangerous than fluorine gas, it burned nearly anything. It burned things often thought to be nonflammable. It burned the bricks and concrete in the streets, it burned things that had already been burned, and it could not be stopped by water. Because when the two meet, it exploded. Ziccarra's army however, was among the most formidable in the world.

The Brahma Brotherhood had to act with aggression. The explosions, conjured by the Mad Dogs, were meant to cause disarray, disorder in the city's defending military force. Because a disorganized enemy force was a ripe target for the Kamikaze Kings who took aim and fired their plasma rounds.

@

Lincoln lay in on the cold floor of his cell. For the last week or so, he'd been confined to this one room, with the blood seeping from his side like so much syrup. The interrogator had been obsessed with his healing factor, brutally punishing the aging Liafador and waiting until he had healed to begin anew. But that was then. Now, the sounds of war are outside. And despite his demeanor, there is one thing that Lincoln has always loved. And that was war. His gear is on a table just to of his reach. The metal piping he's chained to is rusty. It rips like tissue paper. The mask is like an old friend. The jacket, a warm embrace. Guards are coming. But they're greeted with a smoking hole in the wall and a live grenade. The Spanish army was already in the street by the time he arrived. A contingent split off and heads for his prison. A hail of bullets and and several dead friends stop them dead. "Sorry, I'm not done just yet."

The wanton carnage ignites a small flare of excitement in him that has not seen day for twenty years. His only regret is that he's gonna need a car wash to get all the blood off of his boots.

Previously....

@shanana

The men loaded the Quantumonium onto the craft. Enough of it to easily possessing energy sufficient to bust a city and giving the likes of any who possessed it the capacity to bust entire cities. Originally, the plan was to board it all above the cloaked the cloaked craft and transport it safely away from the country, where it no faction present would be able to access it and come into possession of some weapons of mass destruction. However....

"Class four, New God, Ziccarra Liafador spotted. Shut the f***ing craft. Engage! Engage!"

The noise of gunfire echoed throughout the comms of Maverick, as Ziccarra Liafador alluded their means of detection by simply teleporting over to them. The men were not frantic, but the scene was chaotic. The craft's door closed and members of strike weren't even given chance to come aboard as soldiers in the area went to fighting against her with a notorious ferocity and tenacity that the corporation's military force had often become legendary for in the face of things seemingly much greater than they. Something that to a simple man may as well have been a god.

Static.

...

"Any survivors?" Bradshaw asks.

"Some. We managed to get the strike troops out and some of our own. But she was too much for them. They weren't prepared for some one hundred tonner with mountain leveling power to just appear right then and there. Some retreat, but the craft was downed before it could cloak and she managed to get the Quantonium. We managed to track it down however, but from what we can gather on the ground, she's using here, to blow up Madrid."

"Doesn't make much sense. And Emerald City?"

"We're the city and already purged much of the infected. However, we were able to Quarantine the city. A lot of people who didn't run, ended up joining a resistance movement gathering in the city. Not a lot of people ran. Some left with families but we found this new drug, Konite. We looked up some medical examinations and they seemed hogged up on this new meta-drug, "Konite." Stuff gives you superpowers. Highly addictive, not just the drug but power itself. People are scared, powerless. Constantly smacked around by people like her, screwed over by grand schemes like by the likes of Hastings and just killed for fun by the likes of the Warsman. Only inevitable someone would take advantage of them, and profit off it. Give them power."

"You mean like how we do....?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's stay on topic, shall we? Now, this resistance movement, seems to be made up of those who fought their way out of Emerald City and the rest of people they just swept up in this.

Your choice if you want to take this mission. We've done enough here. Costing us enough to babysit the earth. If you do so choose to go in, you'll have support and strike package access at best. But we aren't sending an army, and bossman wouldn't consider it much of a detriment to us if the city blew up. You and your squad go in, and you'll all be alone. Our only boots on the ground. We have to start making cutbacks. So what's it gonna be.

Go in or go home?"

Now

@_nox_@feral_nova@satar@the-archivist:

The craft cloaked from sight and hearing, radar unable to pick it up as it moves through the skies. Within, the Maverick mutant hunter prepares to descend into the heart of Madrid. Equipped with weapons that would cause the earth to tremble. Man portable devices more meant to purge populations and wipe out armies. Things previously the inventions of fiction and fantasy not too long ago. They held them in their hands, extra-ordinary weapons meant to take on extra-ordinary things, such as what they were facing today. Below them were two conflicting armies and a literal goddess lying within the heart of the city. The squad required thorough knowledge of the forces they were facing.

Just because they excelled at brute force, did not necessarily mean that they threw tactics and information warfare to the wind. Indeed, at times like this, it was one of their main advantages, as it was something many did not do or know how to do. Just some of the many skills acquired from taking in some of the world's finest. Military, Government agencies, other civilian contractors, law enforcement, professional criminals and diamonds in the rough hand picked from third world countries. It didn't matter where you were from to Maverick, more so it mattered how you would perform and how you contributed to the whole.

And thus, their many sources gave them information on many prominent forces that have made themselves known on the battlefield, having briefed Bradshaw and company on them.

"Objectives are to kill Ziccarra Liafador."

Satar and the Brahma Brotherhood

Sources: Recon Performed at the Black House and the Spanish Revolution

Nox, A.K.A Marcus Antonius Knightfall

Source: International "criminal underworld", loose bits of gathered footage from Gothic Street Cameras and loose bits of footage gathered at the Spanish revolution.

Feral Nova A.K.A Zoe Olisnicky

Sources: S.T.R.I.K.E Database

Lincoln Liafador

Sources: General Public records and general surveillance/investigation.

Ziccarra Isabella Liafador-Pettis

Sources: Various. Eyewitness reports, countless footage, government files, etc...."

They kept the intelligence gathered in mind for the operation, keeping constant track of combatants. Some were unknown such as people who developed powers as a result of konite and others were just obscure. Which meant that holes had to be filled. Every weapon, power, tactic, vehicle, skill, facial structure, movement, all visible within their site, was recorded and was to be placed on file. Information seemingly useless stored for a later date to be used necessary. Knowledge was vital, and Maverick was sure to gather as much knowledge as it would possibly seek to do.

And so the team leaped from the craft, as prepared as they could be for what lied ahead. Primary objectives being to secure the Quantonium and eliminate Ziccarra Liafador. The "mere" mortal men jumping from the craft, diving fearlessly into the heart of the battlefield below. Landing promptly, hidden in the midst of the ambient chaos of war, that had all but consumed the city.

Their tactics were evasive, armor made to withstand the frequent tactics of chemical warfare used by the Brahma brotherhood. Remaining unmasked for a only a moment before they'd all slip theirs on, taking it off at certain moments but being careful to not be caught unawares without it. Bradshaw lead them, the ground of perhaps 5 or so following suit as they troops moved without insignia indicative of affiliation. Without large numbers to give way of their presence to any but those observant enough to notice their presence.

They did not engage the Spanish Soldiers, nor did they aid the rebels. They merely moved about stealthily, firing off grappling devices that latched to whatever such surface with Van-Der-Waals force, much like a spider or Gecko. Cables created from Carbon Nanotube infused spider-silk well capable of supporting their weight and then some, rappling them about with swift speed. Their constant feedback to the position of the enemies allowing them to slip through not with cloaking devices but with natural trained stealth. Bradshaw constantly keeping track of the positions of the enemies, all mapped out on his HUD as he peered through walls and kept tabs on DNA marked enemies and things picked up from satellite and modified reaper drones.

The Maverick Mutant Hunter sat on the roof for a moment, as they made their way through Madrid. His eyes scanning the battlefield as he conducted his tactical analysis of the area, his intuition and attention to detail so keen that some within Maverick said it was his true superpower. He couldn't help but think of the chaos as he mulled about the happenings of the area.

Might makes right, huh? Seems to me like all might brings is fight, after fight, after fight. The mighty rules the world, but look at it go to sh**. I wonder how long t'ill someone just busts the planet for f***ing shits and giggles. I hope they do it when these clowns up here run the world deeper into the ground than they already have.

He continues to move about, through rooftops and buildings, evading contact. Keeping aware of what was happening, their eyes on the objective but looking about at all of went about. They wouldn't engage either army....

....Unless engaged first.

@maverick_6: @satar@feral_nova@shanana:

"Its springtime for Zicarra and Spain! Don't be stupid be a smarty...come and join the Maverick party!" The soft singing voice was actually quite elegant and very beautiful but it couldn't have been timed more poorly as Bradshaw spent his time studying the battlefield. A lone figure was walking list fully through the fighting without a care in the world. She wore long dark clothes with a hood and was spinning an old style walking stick in one hand and whistling the tune when she wasn't singing it. Stray or even intentional bullets bounced from seemingly fabric clothing. She was headed straight for Bradshaw's position with a recurved metallic bow held in her other hand. As she neared it became apparent that one of her eyes had a scar running over it and was glazed over.

"Do you want to build a snowman? Wait...no that's the wrong song..." She muttered to herself and then went quiet as she closed the remaining distance to Bradshaw. Once she was there the woman smiled a weird, almost psychopathic smile. "D'you know something funny? When you regenerate it screws with your brain chemistry." She said, making wavy motions at the side of her head. "All scrambled and mixed around, whole new brain really, never quite know what new skills you'll wind up with or weird personality quirks that sometimes linger from the victim. Makes your mind all kind of wibbly wobbly for awhile until things settle down a bit. Let me see...your name was...frank...no...steve...no...oh! Bradshaw!"

The woman smirked and did a classical bow. "I had something important to tell you...something...right on the tip of my tongue..." She continued and set the cane down leaning against the wall. "Let me see...I need a gallon of milk, some kid in Gothic stole mine...no...uh...don't cross the streams?" She shook her head. "OH RIGHT! How could I forget at a time like this?" She smiled and lowered her voice to a near whisper. "Did you know that Quantonium has a peculiar temporal line, it's kind of shaky...staticy even. It's almost like it doesn't know what it wants to be or when it wants to be. Funny thing is, I could totally destroy it if I got close enough, see static lines require a little finesse, the sort of thing you can't do very well from a distance. Could eat the thing...could blow up the whole mess...hell might even make it worse." She snickered. "Can you imagine making it worse? Loop the line back in on itself, cause an expanding wave through time that would cause the bomb to replicate itself perhaps a hundred, even a thousand times. Holy crap that would be fun to watch."

The woman, obviously a Time Siphon, smirked. "But you probably knew that, you're Bradshaw, you have files on people and files on things and files on files...you always have a plan, a backup plan and a contingency plan. I bet you even have a plan for if I go completely freaking psycho and start to kill everyone. But y'know...it won't work. See, I have plans too, you don't live this long without having a backup plan. As you probably know if you destroy my body I can't regenerate." She grinned. "Or can I?" The woman leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper again. "Name's Raeyn by the way, nice to meet you again. Did you know I'm the oldest Time Siphon...hell, I'm the first Time Siphon. Driven to destroy and consume because I'm constantly starving. Except...I figured it out. I've found a cure. Just takes a little...bit...of a shove."

Raeyn sighed. "I hate new brain chemistry, can't stop rambling until it fixes itself. Just started this regeneration ten minutes ago." Her smile faded. "So Bradshaw, lets work together you and I. I'll be quiet and be a good little Time Siphon in exchange for your help in getting to the bomb. Once we're there, I'll stop the bomb while you shoot anyone that tries to stop me...and then...well...I figure you plan on killing Queen Bitch."

@timesiphon:

"Is that singing?"

"We have a contact. Female. She's approaching our twelve."

His mind, was seemingly in tune with the battlefield around him, something almost comparable to how one can become in tune with nature. He was in tune with war. He had long acquired the enigmatic figure before the men mentioned her approach. They held their guns up towards him, but for reasons unknown to them, he told them to hold their fire. He sat within the allyway, motioning his men to seemingly leave, as they seemlessly and without supernatural aid, merged into the shadows and disappeared from sight.

As she showed up, he slowly brought his hand up, an M1911 in hand. A cold, stoic expression across his face, one that indicated that if necessary he would kill her if he were so able. But, he wasn't sharp the movement of the pistol to in between the eyes. He said nothing, as he allowed her the timesiphon to speak. His eyes indifferent and expression unchanging beneath his mask, as he held the steely gaze for quite some time.

Only until the Timesiphon reveals herself to be Raeyn does he lower his gun. "Oh, it's you." He says with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm in his drole tone, putting the weapon away as he slings his ACR back in hand, lowered towards the floor. Behind her, a few radioactive rounds go into the ground and cut through the walls as if they were hot butter, prompting him to motion her to follow him deeper into the allyway, as he kicks down a door, sending it sliding across the room as he enters a supermarket. His men discuss their perspectives above, as they silently pick off aggressors who seek to close in on the pair.

"She's crazier than usual. That's encouraging."

"Also weaker. Her power fluxuates, and right now, seems she needs us."

"Wonder what's gonna happen after we feed her and she is all crazy like this. Doesn't make for a good mix."

"It's his call."

Once having some relative peace and quiet between the two, he replies. "Well Raeyn, since you asked so nicely."He says with a droll tone. "I feel inclined accept your offer. You've always been a batsh** crazy little b*****. But" He points to her temple, leaning over as he glares into her eyes "Somehow, you seem to manage to keep that head of yours on your shoulder. Controlled that devil inside you. Channeled it against the bad guys. I've seen it before, and I'll have you tag along to help me, so you can get some kind of snap. But, Raeyn, I don't care i you start growing to try to bust the universe. Still mortal now. You still bleed. Don't give me a reason to try to put you down like the dog you got caged up in there."

He stands upright, clenching his reinforced ACR, loaded with hyper velocity rounds at the moment. His eyes idle as he looked around.

"So you can tag along, Raeyn, but you listen to me. I tell you to hold your fire, you hold your fire. The plan is to breeze past them like a ghost.

No f***ing skipping through wonderland singing f*cking frozen songs. Got it? Good. Let's go."

He motions Raeyn to follow him as he moves now, the team appearing from above. If need be, he'd just haul her ass around if she didn't have the mobility needed to get up to the rooftops like the rest of them in a moment. If they weren't unimpeded, might not even be too long before they make it through them all and into the palace, given how close they dropped themselves off to it.

The Maverick Mortals and cosmic Time-powered Terror soon found that themselves on the way to the house of Z. Engaging any who sought to impede their ultimate objectives.

"Get ready for evac."

The words of Leah Liafador rang through the ears of all of the passengers of the huge cargo plane. In the dark, nothing could be seen- a red, flashing light above them all occasionally giving them a view of one another for brief moments before sending them all into darkness once more. Leah and the White Cardinals. Soldiers, together. Try as she might, Leah hardly felt that she herself was in a leadership position among them. They, who were so skilled, and she, who was so privileged as to have been born into the family of Liafadors.

Either way, they'd all be shot to pieces out on the field. Tightening the parachute around her waist, the pale girl watched the doors slowly swing open, and instinct made her tell the Cardinals to go. To go forth in battle, to fight and die for some sort of Spanish redemption. Useless, most likely, but who knew. Within moments, she too was running alongside them, before making one final swan-dive off the end of the carrier. Leah was now heading face-first for the ground in Madrid. If she pulled her chute too late, she'd be paste on the concrete... And from thousands of feet in the air, the city still looked like sh!t. Fires raging across the streets, explosions sounding less distant with each passing moment, gunfire.

Too late to turn back, Leah thought, as she reached back to grab at her chute's handle. The Cardinals around her did likewise, as they all pulled- their free fall turning into an almost gentle drop into the streets of Spain below. At first the Liafador thought she might make it through this okay... When suddenly, a hail of bullets sailed past her, some striking a Cardinal to her left and others striking something of more personal value- her parachute. Now, the rate at which the girl fell was greater, and she looked through the Spanish skies to seek out something, anything that could be used to help her.

And, with much effort, she found it. Catching up to the Cardinal closest to landing (by a few hundred feet) she reached out a lone hand, as Leah knew she only had seconds if not less to make the grab before her sole opportunity was missed. Snatching her fingers around the Cardinal's arm, the girl pulled herself close, relying heavily on the support of the servant before they landed- somewhat roughly. The two skidded across the pavement, an easy landing almost impossible for them to perform with each other holding onto the other person. As they came to a stop, Leah stood- incredibly dizzy now from the fall she had taken. Stumbling over to the side of the street, she threw up, vomit covering up a pile of mystery blood that sat dried on the concrete.

When finished, Leah turned around, watching the Cardinals fall in more gracefully than she and her comrade had. As the leader of them wiped a bit of puke from her chin, she drew from her backpack a handgun, making sure it was loaded before eyeing the surrounding area. Filled with nothing but the dead. Good. "Okay, boys. There are a dozen of us, all together here, and only one Ziccarra Liafador. So, uh... Let's go get her." A small chorus of acknowledgement to her command answered her, but the girl payed no mind. The city was sprawling with activity. The Brahma Brotherhood, rebels, and Ziccarra's forces, all in combat with each other. And at the moment, her squadron was in contact with... none of them.

Great. Alone, hunted down, and in a city where almost everyone speaks Spanish but me. What could be better? A deep regret of leaving the Castello Cardinale sparked in the back of Leah's mind, but swiftly she shook it off. Now, the woman had an obligation to a newly found family. Even if that obligation meant killing part of her newly found family...

@maverick_6:

Raeyn grinned, not at all phased by his criticism. She was surprisingly adept at following them...in fact she seemed to have nearly the same skill level at blending in with her surroundings and moving silently and that was not a skill her previous incarnations were known to have. She kept up with them just fine, moving swiftly through the city with an almost creepy quietness. She brought her cane with her but it slid into a sheath apparently made specifically for it along her back. The bow she still clutched tightly in one hand.

"You know what's funny." She told him after a moment. "Skipping and singing through wonderland will get you out of a surprising amount of situations unharmed. People don't like messing with crazy. Was that really a frozen song? I knew I heard that somewhere..." She had no immediate comment on the nature of her mind, but after a bit she felt compelled to tell him something.

"It's not always easy keeping the beast inside." She said in a near whisper. "Fortunately there's a mistake in my mind that helps me do it." Her previously jovial expression vanished at the mere mention of 'the mistake.' Even Bradshaw would have no way of knowing exactly what that mistake was, she'd told a very small group of people. Namely one person, actually. "What do you think of my new face? I haven't gotten to see it yet in a mirror. I figured it's female but who knows, might be ugly, might even be old. I was old once, that was weird and really difficult to deal with. Whatever body you end up with you end up with its." She shut up instantly when she saw people ahead. She didn't speak again until they were in the clear. "whatever you end up with." She said as if she'd never stopped talking. "You get all the bits too, scars, birthmarks, big penis, what have you."

“ZOE NO!!!” Maya screamed watching as her friend blasted off in a psionic stupor, throwing caution to the wind, the Cardinal Princess launch herself off the rooftop in pursuit of her fellow STRIKE agent. From Emerald City, Madrid was a little over four hours away; she didn’t have the speed to get there, she just prayed Zoe didn’t do anything stupid.

Madrid

Scattered gunfire ricocheted through every block throughout the capital city. Just like Emerald City before, Madrid had been turned into a battleground. Cardinal forces once more clashed with Maverick and the resistance, instead of a makeshift version of the Cardinal Goddess, being led by the irrational queen herself made them more aggressive. She embeds herself so far deep into their minds that she essentially guided them.

Descending from the heavens on top of an untouched building, Maya’s russet eyes reflect the battle torn Madrid with anguish. “We have to kill her…” She muttered, realizing what she and Leonel talked about was coming to fruition.

“I’m glad you realize that…” A woman said causing Maya to turn to see the Director of STRIKE, Ruby Gallagher.

“I’m afraid your mother has attracted the attention of a known terrorist, she’s not the only problem in this city anymore. And now she has Zoe.” Ruby stated flanked by Agents Barnes and Norfleet.

“I know, I’m going to take care of Zoe, but first I need to find that….” Before Maya could finish her sentence, the quantonium exploded, pushing a massive shockwave across the Madrid skyline.

“Sh!t she actually set it off!” Ruby screamed, her face illuminated by the azure hue radiating from the destructive energy. “Look!” Barnes screamed pointing towards the various items being sucked into the vortex.

“It’s going to get bigger…” Norfleet whispered. “We have to contain it somehow. I only know three people who can do it and none of them are here” Maya lamented before turning her attention back to the golden flames bellowing in the downtown area.

“If I can get Zoe back in her right mind. She might can help me contain it” With that the 5’11 Liafador beauty launch herself from the building, fighting the strong pull of the bellowing energy.

As Maya drew near, she saw her mother. Ziccarra the woman that started all this! She couldn’t even purse her lips to call this woman mother. By her side Zoe, one of her friends and teammates. Her Nephew Mark Antony a child that’d already been through so much.

“Mammi! Look at what you’ve done…” Maya screamed, but she could tell from the sinister scowl creeping along Ziccarra’s face that she was not getting through.

“I came looking for Satar, but instead I found a brat, and ungrateful daughter. And a pawn to be used.”

“Fine is this what you want!” Maya screamed again, this time making a fist allowing her hexing energy to manifest. Before she could lunge at Ziccarra, she noticed Zoe twitch…as if she were preparing to attack.

“Alright…let’s do it then” Maya whispered, pushing her hands together to conjure her light magic. Throwing them in Zoe’s direction, the Cardinal Princess sought to take Zoe, leaving Nox to tangle with his granny.

@_nox_@satar@timesiphon

Mark Antony” on cue the Outlaw Queen removed the legendary Black Rose Blade from its sheath. “You can speak again, lovely. I would hate to kill someone who cannot scream” like always she taunted circling him like the hunter she was. Off in the distance her daughter, Maya had begun battle with her pawn Feral Nova, the quantonium, was now an active energy mass swallowing the infrastructure of Madrid until it’d eventually reach critical mass.

None of that mattered to the Outlaw Queen, throughout the entire series of events Mark believed she was this monster, he predicted it all. There was never a time she doubted his intrusive nature; but he seemed to be riding some sort of high, as if killing Quintus just a few months prior meant anything to her.

“Darling…death is certain… it tis only a matter of how” dark psionic energy burned in the once pacific tinted pupils of the Cardinal Queen. Thrusting the gold plated hilt of the demonic blade forward, Ziccarra sent the poisonous shards spiraling towards her grandson, should they hit perfect, if not the Modern Day Athena already sought to make up for the probability by using a teleport to reappear offset to Nox, before executing a timely pirouette to push her psionically charged shield toward his cranium.

Shifting to the balls of her feet, as she did so, The Malagan Marchioness’ hands begin to glow with a pulsating purple. Lunging forward with her energized free hand she sought to send a powerful concussive burst of psionic energy into Nox’s chest.

Elsewhere.

“Fck…FCK!” Ruby screamed, trying to keep herself grounded, the closer they got to the magnetic energy, the stronger the pull. “Agent Barnes you got 10 minutes to figure out how to contain it” She grunted, ducking as idle fragments of debris slowly fed the growing energy mass.

“Well the only thing I can think of is that containment field we used to contain Y-intercept when she attacked our vessel, but it’d take hours for me to recalibrate and at this rate it’d be to big!”

Ruby’s eyes peered at the energy before coming to her own conclusion. “What if someone absorbed it?”

“I mean it could work, but not of us can do it. The only other person I know is Maya, but who knows where the hell she flew off too.”

“What about Raeyn?” Both Ruby and Norfleet gave Barnes a side eye, not because Raeyn wasn’t a suitable candidate, but only because they weren’t exactly sure of her mental state.

“Agent Norfleet, see if you can get in contact with Agent Time Siphon, stay safe and relay any new developments to me.”

“Where are you guys going…?”

Norfleet received no answer, instead both Agents Barnes and Director Ruby set off toward the far side of town, and apparently Ziccarra’s Cardinal forces were engaged with Brahma Brotherhood, someone knew where Satar was, Ruby intended to find out.

@satar@shanana

Sahi had considered not making this particular journey...but there was someone here she needed to see, someone very important. So she had made the journey with her current boss and sat quietly while he gave orders to his Brotherhood. It was clear that something was on his weapon's mind, she was quiet the whole trip over and quiet even now and Sahi was almost never quiet. When the attack began she stood and made her way to one of the walls of their underground facility, quietly tracing a finger over the cracks in the wall like a child who was only half paying attention to their surroundings.

After more than a day of silence she finally spoke. "Do you know what's weird? Raeyn hasn't acted against the energy mass that Zicarra has building." It had been bothering her since they arrived. "She could have absorbed it a long time ago, it's worth ten million years and with the range I think she still has..." She shook her head. "Raeyn is up to something." She was really speaking to herself more than anyone else.

Realizing now that she had spoken aloud she determined to bring up something else that was on her mind with Satar. "Boss man, you know of course that your actions are bound to attract the attention of some of your more powerful enemies and...forgive me for saying, but you are not at peak health, yet you didn't require that I come here, even though I'm your most powerful weapon." She looked at him for a moment. "Are you hoping the distraction of the fighting above will keep them from looking for you?"

Several weeks ago, Madrid Palace

Her head snapped back as a first smashed into her face, stumbling back as blood drizzled down from her nose and down to her chin. Surrounded by Red Cardinals the Liafador Matriarch was heavily outnumbered in the Palace. Members of the family had attempted to intervene Ziccarra; Alexis, Zeon, Lincoln, Tassiana… all tried to get through the Prime Minister of Spain, but it was all in vain.

As soon as Ziccarra left, many of the family took off behind her either after her or to another event that was happening, but Zeon stayed behind, hoping to reclaim the Palace… but failed. She underestimated her Zia’s Cardinal’s she underestimated the amount of Loyal Red Warriors were left behind, she underestimated everything.

A sharp pain jabbed into her neck as the tip of a dart embedded itself into her. Her feral eyes burned with anger as she pulled it out forcefully, throwing it on the ground as she spat upon it, but before she could attack the one who attacked her, dizziness swept over the White Cardinal. Her eyes blurred as unconsciousness was beginning to quickly cause her world to go black. “Accidenti.” <damn it> She murmured before her body fell limp to the ground.

Now, Madrid Palace

Everything went in slow motion in that moment. Red Cardinal that she was pitted against for the day came at her like a viper, swinging her fists at the White Cardinal leader. But being trained by her father and mentored by Ziccarra, it was an attack she was all too familiar with. Blocking the attack she quickly countered with her own, striking the Cardinal with a final blow as the warrior dropped to the ground.

Zeon was slouched over, barely standing, with contusions and small lacerations of old and new covering her body, breathing heavily with blood dripping from her fist as they trembled. Her eyes burned with anger as a body of one of the red cardinals laid before her covered in blood. Since her capture Zeon had be treated as a form of entertainment with the Red Cardinals, a battle till one of the combative rendered unconscious, but never killed, they didn’t dare kill The Outlawed Queen’s niece, not without her approval. She was a prisoner in this war, and like a prisoner, she was treated. Rags were given to her to wear, just enough food to keep her from starvation and even less water. Her wounds that had developed her time here she treated herself but every day during these battles, several new ones appeared.

A red Cardinal came behind Zeon, slamming the hilt of their blade upon her back, forcing her to the ground as she grit her teeth, the cold steel pressed against her neck while another Cardinal assisted the unconscious warrior away from the bloodthirsty Liafador. “Usted todavia lucha como un demonio.” <You still fight like a demon.> The cardinal standing over her chuckled as the other Cardinals began to exit the room, the entertainment over for the day.

“Y como un demonio voy a enviar a todos a infierno.” <And like a demon I will send you all to hell.> She hissed as she gathered the last bit of strength she had. Grasping the blade with her bare hands she ripped it out of the Cardinals’ grasp, catching him off guard with the sudden movement as she then quickly got up on her knees, turned clockwise and jabbed the blade into his chest. His body fell limp upon her, forcing to the ground as she pushed him off with a forceful grunt, slowly rising to her bare feet as she grasped the hilt of the blade in her hand. The Wildcard Liafador took in a deep breath, her eyes scouting the immediate area. She needed to help her family, she needed to make sure they were ok, but most of all, she needed to get out of this damn Palace before the guarding Red Cardinal's knew she was about to try and escape.

The youngest Pettis stood in the middle of the chaotic Emerald City, the battle lost, the city destroyed and citizens dosed with Konite, attacking anything that seemed to be Liafador related. Tassiana’s heart began to race, “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” It was a phrase she noted that she had been repeated non-stop since her arrival to this timeline. But she continued to remind herself, this wasn’t her mother’s fault, this wasn’t her doing, this wasn’t of her free will. She knew she had to be stopped but… could she bring herself to harm her mother?

In that moment a massive surge of energy seemed to ripple through the Earth’s atmosphere. To anyone who wasn’t in touch with the flow of energy, nothing happened. But to the Sapphire Goddess, a huge spike of energy drew her attention, as well as several powerful lifeforms could be felt collecting in one area. These included her mother, her sister Maya, her nephew Marcus and even her cousins Leah, Zeon and the Time Siphon Raeyn. What ever was happening there, couldn't be anything good.

Madrid

In a blinding flash of electric blue light Tassiana appeared in the city as her attention was drawn to the large blue vortex in the sky above them. Debris, benches, light posts, stop signs, all being ripped from the ground and sucked into the unknown. Her eyes widen, her pulse quicken, this wasn't good, at all. Her mother, sister or cousins were no where in her line of sight as she took a quick scan of the area. But the destruction this vortex was creating was something that needed to be stopped right away. Could she do it on her own? Maybe... but if she did so, it would be a level of power she had never actually tapped into before. The Sapphire Goddess always put limits on herself, she never fully ever used her powers in fear of harming others than helping.

"Kaylen... I wish you were here."

Lifting her head up towards the sky a sapphire glow surrounded her body as she began to rise into the air. She could feel the pull of the vortex try and pull her closer to it and could feel its strength grow with every second. If she couldn't close it, she had to at least stop it from growing. Elevating as far as she could without being sucked into the unknown abyss herself, she rose her hands towards it as she began draw the energy from the vortex like a battery. The growth and increase of the vortex had come to a halt, but the rate it was growing was too fast for Tassi to fully close on her own. It was a stale mate between the Sapphire Goddess and the Vortex... so long as no one tried to interfere.

@maverick_6: @maya_liafador: @shanana: @timesiphon: @tassania_pettis:

Madrid, Spain

Above him, the cavern's ceiling of rock lumbered and rained its grains of dust and pebbles. His chest, armored and heaving, up and down, slow and calm, Satar breathed, exhaling air from behind his peculiar mask. He'd taken note of Sahi's ramblings, and even more so, her attempt at diversion. He entertained it and answered her question. "No", he paused, his voice, it's bass echoing all about them, prominent Lebanese inflection hanging in the air as he resumed. "Because I will soon go to the surface. The point is to distract them all, the Liafador, her family, the Maverick troops that have been fighting, from my forces elsewhere. Everyone is desperate for control of Madrid. Spain's seat of power".

"Myself? I am wrestling for a different territory". He struggled, the Baabda Beast, winced and grunted, his lingering injuries and scars spreading swarms of pain through his body as he rose from the ground and stood to his full height. He was adorned in his ballistic vest, weaponized glove and armored garments. Grenades hung from a belt strapped across his chest. Firearms dangled from his hide. He was adorned for combat. Reaching into his pocket, his hand emerged bathed in emerald light. A light that in a pillar, swallowed him whole, the power ring stolen from Connor O'Hara clinging to his index finger. The light dimmed and he emerged, striding, thick legs mechanically supported by an emerald exoskeleton, his veins swelling with a green glow. "Sahi, with me", she was to be his partner in the field of battle. "If I succeed, I succeed. If I die, I'm a legend".

On the surface, chaos had taken hold. Chunks of concrete were torn from the ground, flung into the air and swallowed into the vortex, as were several of the Brahma Brotherhood's armed units. And yet, their priority was to do battle with Ziccarra's forces. As was the rebels. They were his army, spread across Spain as he fought for control of the broken nation. The vortex grew, dragging into it's mouth rebels and Brahma Brothers alike, reducing them to fundamental particles as the battle bled across the destroyed city. Again the ground lumbered, and from beneath, the Baabda Beast emerged, blasting into the sky, energized debris flung in every direction as eyes of pale blue sprinkled with luminous green took in first the sight of war, and second, the growing vortex tearing the sky asunder. The vortex that Ziccarra's youngest, Tassiana, now sought to tame.

With his forces engaging Ziccarra's, Satar's sights were set on the only other greatest threat to his plans; Maverick. "Sahi, kill the Maverick troops. Every single one of them". She was to attack first, unveil their strengths and weaknesses by coaxing them into battle, so that he may enter and slay them with a gameplan.

Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Elsewhere in Seville, the capital of Andalusia, the Brahma Brotherhood's lingering Kamikaze Kings and Black Reapers had come together with Satar's Konite-addicted rebels into a unified army. One which under the Baabda Beast's instructions had spread across much of the autonomous community, aggressively launching a propaganda campaign claiming Satar as a fiery revolutionary fighting for Spain's freedom from Ziccarra's tyrannical reign, and accusing the 'Junta de Andalucía' of allying itself with Ziccarra's government. It was through this campaign and offering Konite to oppressed civilians willing to become militant as a means of defending themselves as part of Satar's rebels that the Brotherhood amassed it's support in the region.

The process had been gradual, months in the making, but successful. And with Madrid now in a state of war, the Baabda Beast's command had been issued; capture Andalusia. Intent on facilitating the task for his armed forces, Satar sought to occupy Maverick, and the bulk of Ziccarra's forces in Madrid by personally involving himself in the battle under the illusion that Madrid was his target. Despite their hopes of minimum resistance, the unified Brotherhood-Rebel army acted cautiously. Though powerful, even Konite-infused, they were equipped with stealth garments. Their gas masks and adornments manufactured from a material with differently colored lights attacked to protein motors (running on tiny microtube rails) embedded at the surface. Lights that rotated and turned on and off dynamically, matching the color of their surroundings. Lights that were highly fluorescent nano-scale metal semiconductors absorbing and emitting light of different wavelengths, controlling their own intensity and using slick video input to capture their surroundings, cloaking their wearers.

Invisible and armed with weaponry awarded from King Aventus' shadowed alliance with Satar, weaponry exclusive to the unified army, they marched through the city of Seville, some visible, others not. They hung the Brotherhood's flags and strode, in formation, on foot and in vehicles, to the 'Palacio de San Telmo', the seat of the Andalusian Government's presidency. Their goal? Overthrow the government and take over the region.

@satar: @maverick_6: @maya_liafador: @shanana: @tassania_pettis:

Sahi followed behind Satar using her anti-gravity systems. The system struggled only a little against the vortex at the heart of the city. Once she was given her target she spotted them by their temporal lines. Raeyn is with them. Maybe I can make short enough work of them that it won't be a problem. Sahi floated in the air for a moment as she decided on a tactic. Finally convinced of a plan she suddenly accelerated and bent time to her will to cause her to move even faster than those around her. To the world she was essentially moving a second ahead of everyone else, it made her look as if she was moving faster than she was and would make striking out at her difficult at best. She swept through the sky and took a direct path for her opponents, not by advancing straight for where they were in plain line of sight, but by flying through a building they were grappling to. She focused her efforts ahead of her as she flew through a window, every support beam and wall section in her path crumbled to dust just seconds before she blasted through it.

In following the temporal lines of her targets she was able to track their progress onto the roof without being able to visibly see them. She chose a person in the middle, unknowingly someone right next to Bradshaw. The first sign of her attack was one a section of the roof just behind the man next to Bradshaw suddenly crumbled away. Sahi flew from the new hole like a bat out of hell. She activated her temporal blade mid flight and swept it up, aiming to slice it along the spine of the unfortunate Maverick soldier. Mere contact would instantly age his skin away to nothing and his spine would soon follow, a gruesome and unkind death to say the least.

Sahi spun around in the air and continued her assault without bothering to check her success in the first attack. She lashed out another of Maverick's soldiers with a slash meant to cut through his face and then landed on the rooftop. Once landed she pivoted on her foot and drove her elbow back into her second victim's side while making a driving thrust with her blade for the next person in line...this one being Bradshaw. All of this happened in seconds, a swift assault aimed at gutting the center of the Maverick squad so she could leave just as quickly as she arrived. She didn't know Bradshaw though and didn't count as his skills and abilities. She was desperately hoping to get out of this fight before Raeyn decided to intervene, she knew full well the sort of power her father could wield and wouldn't stand up to it very long.

@timesiphon:

"Yeah? Well singing and skipping and dancing and all that good sh** means attention. So if you'd f***ing quite till this all done. Than that would be great."

He mumbles, not looking at her, and glad she didn't have some tech telepathy implant that wouldn't enable him to hear her thoughts, whatever they might be. Her being in this state didn't make him lose his cool, but he was cautious, and not particularly encouraged when she mentioned that the mere reason for her keeping her beast inside, whatever it may be, was due to some mistake. His eyes did seem to go to her face.

"Keep her talking. The more information. The better."

"Well Raeyn, I'm pretty f***ing flattered you asked for my opinion. I'd say, you're a pretty well endowed, handsome young man with f***ing swavish charm and an air of swagger. Happy?"

A few of his men clearly chuckled beneath their masks.

"Been watching their comms and have been watching a few cams. Based on what we've seem to have some sort of stealth tech. Keep an eye out for that. And you have company."

They already knew, Sahi being another marked target and a recognized ones, from John's recon in Gothic city. They knew already that she was a Timesiphon and thus, wished to act accordingly though the distance was closed quickly. This should be fun.

"We have company. I think she's got some kind of lightsaber, based what I'm picking up." The man peered through the floor.

The men moved forward, the floor beginning to crumble, everyone backed up as she came up. Swiping to a soldier who was prepared, or so he'd thought. His ERA activating, his feet stuck to the ground and he held up an arm to block as there was an explosion emitted from the armor, one that have repelled away a blade of infinite sharpness by not allowing it to touch. Plasma would have just been repelled and indeed, the magnetic field could even potentially such a thing to backlash against the user. However, to his dismay, it was not an ordinary blade, as it kept going through the explosion it seemed and sliced his arm cleanly off, much to his horror. He didn't scream, more swore and jumped back out of reaction, stumbling back and falling on his ass. "SH**!"

The rest learned from his mistake. One leaning back to narrowly evade a strike against his face as it decayed away his visor. Robbing him of his HUD and extra-sight as he stumbled back. Her elbow collided in the gut of one soldier, and the strike did absolutely nothing to impede or even stop him. Meanwhile, Bradshaw looked at her, seemingly already knowing what she'd do, before she'd do it. His reflexes, in itself, honed, he'd practically seen all this happen in a few moments and instinctively came up with a plan before she even reached them. She would her target had stepped into an odd area into her peripheral vision. 120 degrees from where her she was facing.

He had disappeared from sight completely. No cloaking, invisibility more so he just knew how to exploit peripheral vision. He just knew exactly where the blindspots of human sight was and was fast enough to exploit it. From Raeyn's perspective.

He sought to grab her wrist and simply, hold it there as he appeared next to her, to restraint her and deny her movement of her wrist and use of her blade. A few milliseconds later and if she didn't act, the soldier would slit her throat with the blade. A touch of it would cause flesh to boil as it would cut through concrete and steel with little difficulty and flesh like it was air.

@satar:

From afar, Maverick as an entity monitored Satar's movements and his army's communications, using previously acquired data. New revelations of this activity prompting the corporation to consider their nexts steps carefully. To decide how best to go about acting. Monitoring every action that occurred from orbit and feeding the team on the ground, constant information. The corporation capable of doing such through the creation of the massive infrastructure made from exploiting the fears of people in the world. Fear from things such as this.

On the ground, there was only a small squad of Bradshaw and company, with a very specific set of objectives and little else. However, objectives were set to change as new things came into light. There were deliberate reasons as to why they sent a small squad, instead of an army. Things could very well change, however, it all depended on how things occurred and what new information would come into light towards them. Right now, the larges opposition they seemed to face was the cardinal army.

@maverick_6:

Raeyn rolled her eyes. "I've been doing this for fifty thousand years Bradshaw, I know when I have a dick thank you. That was last time, this one is female and I..." she trailed off, sensing the attack before it happened. Another Time Siphon...so soon?!

Raeyn was silent during the initial stage of the attack and was pretty impressed with Bradshaw's actions, right up until he grabbed the other Time Siphon's wrist. "Holy fck Bradshaw don't TOUCH THEM!" She said sharply. Direct contact was worse than distance, it meant she didn't have to find his temporal line, it was already there for the taking. "Let go before she kills you!"

Sahi was quite surprised at how fast Bradshaw was able to act, he did indeed grab her wrist and she grinned. The aging process would start with his outer covering, be it clothes or armor, either way it was the first to suffer for the mistake. If he didn't remove his hand soon his skin would begin to wither. The process was slower from direct contact, ironically, but much easier to cause. Instead of happening all at once it happened from point of contact back, it meant Bradshaw had a precious second or two to react. Sahi had no intention of regenerating today and was a little upset they thought they could just kill her with a simple throat slash. She de-activated her blade and responded to the attempt at her throat with her other hand, swiftly putting it between the blade and her throat. The blade contacted Temporal Armor immediately and at first it seemed as if the armor was completely immune. If the blade had been meant for Raeyn there was a good chance it would have done nothing, but Sahi wasn't at nearly the power levels Raeyn was and couldn't sustain as powerful of armor. As a result it began to form spider web cracks from the point of contact with the blade and then started smoking, revealing that the supposedly simple cloth she wore was nothing of the sort.

Sahi paid no heed to this problem though and instead she slammed her foot down on the boot of the soldier behind her, initiating contact with him as well. Like the clothing or armor Bradshaw wore, the boot would suffer first, then the skin and bone, then the leg and so on up his body until there was nothing left but ash. This would be a true test for Maverick, they had yet to fight a Time Siphon and would soon discover what Bradshaw probably already knew...fighting one up close didn't always mean just fighting sword strikes or plasma cannons. She was a temporal Vampire and she reached out with her mind, finding a third soldier to attack, seeking to drain him away to ash in a faster manner than the two she had contact with. Defenses against such an attack were slim, but they did exist. The best method had been mastered by Raeyn a long time ago, making your temporal line 'slippery' but since these troops had no means of doing that, they were left with another more desperate defense. Get Sahi's attention focused elsewhere as quickly as possible. Right now her mind was able to subdivide into different attacks, if she suddenly had to worry about her own health, at least one of them would have to be dropped from her attacks. The forces of Maverick would have less time to help the distant soldier than Bradshaw or the man with the stomped on boot, at this power level a half second was all it would take for his body to begin physically aging at a crippling rate.

Raeyn watched silently aside from her brief pieces of advice. She was sizing up the Time Siphon, she had no intention of letting the Maverick squad die though.

@timesiphon:

His mind seemed to filter Raeyn's words out. His eyes went up to the man behind him, his footslipping from Sahi's step instinctively. However, the Maverick Mutant Hunter stayed there. Fractions of a second frozen to his eyes, to the point that he could probably read the manufacture labels of a spent cartridge as it was being ejected from the magazine of a weapon. The man was intent on running after the slash from the get go, he didn't even grip her. Once everyone was clear from the rooftop, there was something of screeching through the sky towards them. His hand let go after around 1.25 seconds, far too long to evade the harm she'd done him. But he'd kept her there and given the rest prime opportune to escape. Meanwhile, all he had time to do was fall back through the hole Sahi created.

There was an explosion and the rooftop, along with the upper half of the building was completely destroyed in one swift strike from an AGM-114 predator missile that set the entire structure ablaze with nanothermite.

"The bitch dead? Did she react fast enough?"

"Cannot confirm kill."

"That armor was way less durable than I thought. Didn't think I was going to actually mar it with this. Where the hell is he? F***ing Jackass. Why did he do that?"

The men look around.

"Guess we'll have to deal with her ourselves. If she is still around..."

They looked around, the blast flying off in directions opposing them, shrapnel flying from the point of impact, and bricks falling from above, breaking over one of their heads, they more or less shrug it off as they look about. From the exterior, their weapons did not look like anything out of the ordinary. They looked around, seeing no sign of him or even the other two men. The one with severed hand missing along with Bradshaw. Leaving, the four. Raeyn and the three company. They loaded their weapons, them appearing to be nothing out of the ordinary, they didn't need to be. At least, not with such Hafnium based munitions as they'd taken to use.

"You see your sister...?" One of them asked Raeyn, forming up around her as if she was something they still had the mission to protect.

@_nox_: @shanana: @satar: @tassania_pettis:

"Ode to anarchy."

Felix found himself frequenting this peculiar collation more and more - first uttered in his hometown when Satar first struck, then in Vegas and now here. Earthly conflict came in surprising likeness, with fire and smoke that siezed the air and armed disarray that siezed the society. Mutineers against the army, friends and fellows pit against one another in a battle that wasn't their own. "Insane."

He came superluminally speeding from the west in the blurry form of a blue streak. His trajectory was groundbound, like that of a falling plane that desperately tried to pull up. But instead of violently crashing, Felix pulled up and up until his feet made contact with the soil of Madrid's alleys. His posture leaning backwards, he slowed down in a fashion that created a fissure trail behind him and unsettled a large volume of dust. From it, The Neutron Son emerged in the middle of the main square where battle brielfly settled around him as both fighting sides stared to him in earnest disbelief. "Must be the suit."

Nonchalantly, Felix looked up through his special polymer visor to meet the sapphire portal in the sky and a goddess that formed a sort of tether with the malignant abyss and determined, through his electromagnetic vision, she sought to contain it's rampart power. Probingly, he lowered his head and looked around to survey the soldiers around him and then immediately accelerated upwards with supersonic haste, in turn releasing a thundering kinetic shockwave that knocked down all fighters in the immediate vicinity.

He darted through a sea of rising debris and indoctrinated pulses of anti-gravitons, channeled from his autogravitational field through his hands, that countered the vacuum-like force exterted by the vortex and temporarily suspended everything hit in mid-air. Specifically, he focused on anything that levitated in the woman's vicinity so she could continue siphoning energy from the vortex unobstructed.

Once this labor was done, he swiftly elevated his flight then set his course towards the woman enveloped in blue light and abruptly stopped by her side. For an instance he gazed into the void before turning to her.

"¡Hola! Uhh...c-cómo...uh...puedo...", he musingly scratched his head. "Goddamn, this is embarassing. Heh."She's really pretty too. Well, screw it!"Any ideas on how to stop this?"

@maverick_6@tassania_pettis@_nox_: @shanana: @satar:

Raeyn shook her head. "You damaged her armor because it's Temporal Armor and Temporal Armor's durability fluctuates with the temporal reserves of the user." She informed them. She didn't move from her position. "Of course she isn't dead, you don't understand how to kill a Time Siphon do you? You have to completely destroy the body, if there is so much as a single cell left you've failed." I wonder if they're being forced to regenerate though, I don't feel anything.

Sahi had been given little time to respond, like any young Time Siphon she was too focused on her immediate vicinity to notice the missile until it was too late to destroy it. She didn't have time to create a temporal stasis field which gave her little option than to take a route that might well have wound up saving Bradshaw's life...she dove after him through the opening in the roof a half second before the missile hit. The shock-wave hit her in the back with full force and lit her armor on fire with the thermite in the process.

So it was the first sign she was alive was when she stood up out of the ruins directly in front of the Maverick squad, her armor was severely damaged, large chunks of it were even missing and the whole thing was cracked and burnt, smoke rose from her armor like a cloak. Sahi's eyes burned with fury.

"Boys." Raeyn said and stepped between the Maverick squad and Sahi. "Find Bradshaw and get on with your mission. I'll take care of this one. If you could then provide a little covering fire when I start the next step of my plan that would be swell."

The two Time Siphons didn't move but everyone in the area with any ability to sense fluctuations in reality or changes in energy levels could see their fight as if it were an atomic bomb explosion. The fight between Time Siphons occurred on the temporal plane and reality screamed around them as cracks began to form in reality. Time Siphons fought by attempting to take the temporal energy from the other but unlike their victims, they had means of defense and evasion. So it was that time was the victim in any fight between Siphons and now was no different. Thirty seconds into their fight and time around the pair began to flow at a different rate, everything moved as if in slow motion, particles of debris fell through the air and looked as if someone had put the whole scene in slow motion.

Sahi was not prepared to take out Raeyn, not only was she not willing, she wasn't able and she knew it. She had to disrupt the attacks before Raeyn took things too far. There was another problem too...she was dying. The explosion had destroyed most of her armor and a piece of debris had lodged in her back, a fatal but slow wound. She broke off her attempts and held up a hand, dropping to one knee in pain. "Wait." She said weakly. Raeyn hesitated to make the final kill, uncertain at the time as to why. "My name is Sahi." She said and reached behind her, jerking the debris from her back and tossing it to the side. "You're my father."

Raeyn's eyes widened briefly and then narrowed again. The upstart could be saying anything to save its life. Raeyn coiled around her temporal line, intent on killing her...when Raeyn saw the truth. She traced the line back to its origin and saw the moment of Sahi's creation. "I..." She started. She suddenly rushed to Sahi's side. The young Time Siphon's body was failing. Raeyn didn't know what to say...as far as she had known she had no family left, they'd all died at one point or another, with her sister and her sister's daughter being the last to go. Now here was another family member...a daughter even...

"It's ok, I'll be fine." Sahi said after a moment. "Go, you have work to do. We can talk later." Sahi urged.

"Find me." Raeyn instructed. "I've lost enough family for one life time." Raeyn stood and shifted her attention to the Maverick squad for a moment. "STRIKE wants me to take care of that vortex...and I have a plan." Raeyn said with a sly and dangerous smile. "Go...and leave Sahi alone, she won't harm you now." Raeyn finally responded to the call from STRIKE with an affirmative. After one last longing and confused look at her daughter Raeyn flew off towards the vortex. She allowed it to pull her in and protected herself with a temporal stasis field that would allow her to float in the middle of the vortex without being destroyed by it. The field cost considerable temporal energy to create, but it was worth it.

I should have done this a long time ago. I knew the cure months ago and I did nothing because I was complacent. I won't have my daughter growing up starving...it's time for that to end. My species has suffered long enough. Raeyn closed her eyes and coiled around the Quantonium's temporal line like a viper. All it needs is a little shove.

"Tassania, trust me." She sent a message to her friend from the future. It was an important message, because the strength of the Vortex began to increase suddenly. Raeyn had taken the temporal line of the vortex and folded it in on itself like folding a clean towel. She did it again...and several more times, creating a temporal loop that would make the vortex increasingly powerful as Raeyn forced the Quantonium to exist in the immediate past, immediate present and immediate future. She was relying on Tassi to keep the vortex from expanding as its power levels increased. Just need to get powerful enough....there it is...

Reality unfolded before Raeyn's temporal vision, an infinite series of events spanning out from a single point in time. In this moment the future was uncertain, Spain itself could be forever destroyed...or it could survive. An infinite range of possibilities spanned out from there, an infinite series of what if scenarios for both the nation and its people revolving around life and death, success and failure. Raeyn reached into infinity and began to feed off of it. The process took her out of the fight, it would take her hours to complete the process. She was also working to feed off of the vortex itself but it would take time to reverse the process of having expanded its power.

Edit: @maverick_6 (What I PMed you remains true)

Sahi slowly forced herself to her feet again, not concerned with the Maverick forces when she had regenerating to do. They were still there and she looked at them for a moment as her Temporal Armor deactivated. "That missile...was a dirty trick." She told them. "Fortunately..."

Once the regeneration was complete Sahi's eyes snapped open and she re-activated her Temporal Armor and blade. "I have tricks of my own." What she didn't say was how weak she was, the battle had consumed a lot more of her temporal reserve than she wanted to admit.

@timesiphon:

"Well, guess it's a good thing I didn't try to kill her then." A familiar voice says.

There was no need to look. The men saw him appear, from seemingly nowhere hardly surprised to see him standing there without seemingly a scratch of any kind from the missile. This was a normal thing, and much like Raeyn, they'd hardly believed her dead. The armor around his hand gone. His eyes eyes weary, and crows feet more prominent as they raced across his eyes if one looked close enough through his obscured visor, as they fell on Raeyn. "You should probably get closer to it. And all of you. Cover her. I'm going after the Alpha target."

They exchange glances for a moment, and then nod as he walks them by. Seemingly having little need to converse among themselves, more so they already knew what to do. Not only this, but they had a need to redeem themselves. They were trained to be the world's finest, to expect the unexpected and they even knew she was coming .Yet, they performed against Sahi like that? Their pride wouldn't allow for such an act to without redemption if they are very well so capable.

His eyes went over to Sahi as she was regenerating for only a moment. Before he walked past her, and moved on to towards the palace.

The men moved about to turning their attention to those who would try to attack her. And soon, she had her attention of the squad once more, who'd left her alone deliberately. But, her display of hostile intent had meant that her chance was gone. Contain? Capture? She could make things practically cease to exist by simply being within it's vicinity. Though there were speculative contigencies on how one such as her could be contained, they currently had none of those methods. So instead, they opted to repel if not outright kill her.

"Open fire."

@satar

They fired, this time with Hafnium based ammunition, simply small bullets with minor amounts of Hafnium. An expensive explosive that contained some 1300 MJ in a single gram, making it only approximately 3 magnitudes of the time lesser than a nuclear explosive. A regular gram of TNT Contained 4.7 megajoules in only 1000 grams. Each round had very, very small amounts. Enough for each to cause large explosions of gamma rays that obliterated anything it touched. Men turned to ash and vapor. Buildings and conventional materials blown apart. If the round didn't just destroy Sahi in her weakened state, the intent was to blow her away to crater into a wall some 40 or so feet away.

Only one of the three could see the cloaked enemies of Satar's near by forces, but any of them who sought to engage them were met with such metahuman killing rounds, equal in aggression. Not only this, but their Electro-Reactive Armor was very ideal for outright repelling, deflecting or dampening much of their EM based weaponry. Making landing a hit on one, to say the least, difficult. They were just as inclined to simply spray blindly and hope for results. The one, equipped with a tunable omni-visor scope, able to perceive whatever frequency of electromagnetic radiation with SPEAR PSR's scope, would begin at picking them off.

Downtown, Madrid

@shanana@_nox_

"Did the courtesy of marking all of your targets for you. Have fun."

Much like what was done before, and how the team navigated, Bradshaw was very aware of where his enemies were through Maverick technology. Various tracers serving to mark his enemies for him, he could see the blindspots, the gaps in their defenses, and through that he could exploit it. It is often forgotten that he was once apart of M.A.R.S.O.C special forces, making stealth a preferred tactic for some situations and in this case, perhaps the most ideal.

His fingers appeared on a rooftop, his grappling device enabling him to effortlessly ascend 20 or so floors as he saw his target off in the distance, Ziccarra Liafador, engaging one Marcus Knightfall approximately 400 meters away hand to hand. He'd have to be quick. She is a teleporter after all. But she was distracted by the small Knightfall as they fought close up hand to hand. Mentally, he was prepared to fight a goddess. But this did not seem the goddess the file described.

Huh. He seems be fightin' her hand to hand. Either Nox is on venom or she just got weaker.Should make this all the more easier.

He took aim on Ziccarra. Time seemingly frozen before him. The time was measurable in milliseconds before he'd acquire her and take the shot.

@feral_nova: @shanana:

At the sight of fire, the suit warned him like he was a blind bat.

<Detecting critical temperatures>

“Thanks for the info, deploy self-extinguishers”

The Black Mamba dropped to one knee, as if he was bowing down when he was actually releasing from his back monoammonium phosphate, a dry chemical agent used to defeat even “class A” fires through asphyxiation.

Maya’s arrival was a welcome diversion, it opened a window of opportunity for Mark to counter attack Nova and possibly incapacitate her. During the disastrous events in Emerald city, he witnessed how she became baptized by the Necodexa virus. Since the virus reacted differently with other species, his antidote would not work on her.

This meant he had to formulate a plan to take her down.

The Black Mamba remembered how his predecessor used fear toxin against his enemies. This toxin grabbed people’s greatest fears and turned them into reality. When the formula was concentrated it could drive a person insane. He had another idea in mind. What if he were to alter the gas so it would make someone afraid of something more specific? Something like fire.

Tampering with the formula wasn’t the difficult part, the real puzzle was finding a way to get the toxin into her body. A regular dart would turn into ashes before reaching her skin and even then the possibility that it would burn through in her veins. It had to be in a gaseous form, allowing the toxin to go directly into her brain.

From his wrist he fired a small capsule while the Cardinal Queen circled around him like a lioness. This pill programmed so it would release its gaseous contents once it reaches high temperatures.

Then he responded.

“You know people can scream even without tongues, right? I didn’t think I would have to explain to you how tongues work”.

Mark crossed his arms and waited for her to make a move.

Her tensing posture, veins popping, he knew she was going to attack. Instantaneously he took over behind the wings. When he left the defensive position, he couldn’t help to notice she had vanished.

Predicting what her next move would be, he turned in an attempt to defend himself. Instead his face was greeted by a psionic shield. His vision begun blurring, for a moment he thought that she had created psionic duplicates of herself. Beneath the mask he felt blood dripping from his broken nose, he uncovered his jaw for a second to spit some of it out.

The Noir Rose made an attempt to escape the following energy burst, ultimately failing due to the Malaga Marchioness’s power. It felt like getting kicked by a horse in the chest.

Nevertheless, Nox needed to stand up again. He positioned himself like he was about to start a race. Tapping his feet against each other twice, he activated the boot’s propellers. Launching himself at his grandmother.

“Isn’t it time for you to have your diaper changed?”

Before that he would throw a knightorang set to stun. Like a common stun grenade, it creates a flash of light that activates all the photo receptor cells in the eye, making sight useless for ten seconds. An after image plagues the vision after the sight comes back. The loud noise is meant to temporarily make someone deaf while also disturbing the fluid in her ear, causing balance loss and creating a perfect opportunity.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling you old. Quite the opposite actually”

As Mark was getting closer, he shut the rocket boots off and extended the glider wings, giving him better stability over his body. He turned his entire torso while still in midair and used the sling shot like force to extend his left foot towards her solar plexus, hoping to cause her severe breathing compulsions and crack her diaphragm.

“This has got to be the biggest tantrum thrown by a child since you told Tassnia that she couldn’t have a dog”

When his feet landed on the ground after the kick, he turned his hips rather than only his shoulders maintaining balance and increasing the power. Mark’s fist launched at her throat sideways. The Chinese called this move “sun fist” because it resembled the way the word sun is spelled in their dialect.

“I agree that parents should discipline their children when they are misbehaving, but trying to murder her is extreme”

@feral_nova: @maya_liafador: @tassania_pettis: @felix_faraday: @timesiphon: @shanana:

The sky seemed devoid of clouds, torn asunder by a storm of energy that threatened to reduce Madrid to rubble. Across it, a streak of incendiary smoke stretched, black and speckled with vibrant flames. It stretched and accelerated, it's lit tail whipping all about, the scent of it's fire hanging in the air with prominence. Behind it? A New God, Leonel Pettis. Adorned in his jacket, of leather and crimson, dark jeans and his father's legendary crest, the 'S' emblazing his chest, he soared behind the streak of smoke. Behind him, shock-waves were born, rippling through the air, an aura of plasma enveloping him. "Hey", Leonel began, "Kaylen. I'm heading to the palace. I know my mom's there".

"Wait!", the streak of smoke replied, "I need your help first. That vortex is being a problem right now. And it looks like Tassi's up there with someone trying to contain it". With a nod, Leonel complied, climbing higher into the sky with the Knightfall Savant. "Mi Fresa (Strawberry), you're doing great", Kaylen smiled, his body emerging from smoke that shifted and grew into great wings of smokey black from his back, keeping him airborne with the thermal air currents from the fires burning from within his wings. Beside her, Tassiana, he hovered, "Just keep it up, mi amor, I have an idea", he smiled, the timbre of his voice echoing. It was the kind that soothed the soul and dispelled the great fears of others, replacing them with confidence and self-love.

He climbed higher into the air, flaming bits dropping from his wings with each flap as he drew closer, dangerously close to the vortex. Meanwhile, Leo accelerating past both his sister and Felix, rose with Kaylen, intent on bringing their plan to life. "It's time to contain this thing. You sure about this, Kay?", the New God asked, concern marring his golden boy features. "I would not be here if I wasn't, Leo", the Ivory Mamba assured. Together, they began. Thrusting his palms toward the vortex, the Ivory Mamba seized his rarest power; chronokinesis. His fingertips tingled and vibrated, glowing violet as fluorescent dots swarmed the vortex. Here, he sought to seize the vortex's chronons; the quanta that control the vortex's passage through time. Why? So that he may slow it down considerably.

Where the vortex needed only minutes to devour the city, it would, should he succeed, now need hours. But it was difficult. To slow the flow of time of an object of great mass. He felt blood trickle from his nose, his mind shift from consciousness to unconsciousness, but he endured. All while Leo reached into the depths of his own reserves, into the core of his personal quantum dimensional space. He channeled his own energy, and little by little, began wielding it, his body lit by a blue flame as he began gathering the energy to conjure a second vortex of similar mass. Why? To force both vortexes to cancel each other out.

San Francisco, United States

While his family did battle in Spain, Alexis had reverted to the role of a father. Largely abandoning his cape and heroics, his heart and mind focused only on Tassiana, his youngest daughter. That she recover from the entire ordeal, from the trauma of having her life threatened by her mother, from witnessing the fall of her family, that his only priority. He'd moved them from his remodeled airbase in the Great Basin Desert. Arid lands, scorching heat and scarcity of life was no life for a child. They'd relocated to a home in San Francisco, one settled on a steep, rolling hill. There, Thee Champion tended to his daughter, played his roles as her father, friend, playmate, and protector.

Plucking her from the bathtub and wrapping her in a towel, Alexis smiled, "I have a surprise for you, Tassi". Striding through the house and into her room, he set her down in her crib, unveiling from the closet, a myriad of children's Halloween costumes... including a replica of his own. "Daddy's going to take you trick or treating", he began, "You pick a costume and then we go out and knock on doors. When someone opens their door, you do this", the father paused, reaching for a bag and opening it with childlike glee, "And say trick or treat! And you get candy", he chuckled, doting his daughter's forehead with a kiss. "Now, which costume do you want, point it out for me. Do you want to go as Elsa from Frozen, Merida from Brave, Darth Vader from Star Wars, a pumpkin, an Angry Bird, or Thee Champion.. hmm, Thee Champion, Tassi?".

@_nox_: @shanana

Her eyes quickly fixated on her teammate and friend landing before her like a feral beast. Words couldn’t even touch her mind. Being manipulated by the virus she was bound to Ziccarra’s iron will. She watched as Maya’s produced energy and it was enough for Zoe to quickly go on the offense, her hands twitched and her already flamed body roared louder than before as a warning to anyone who dared to attack not just her, but Ziccarra as well.

Just then, light magic rushed towards Feral Nova and Zoe quickly thrust her right hand forward as a mixture of crimson and golden flames rushed ahead colliding with the Crimson Cardinal Goddess. The two energy’s causing an explosion of fire and energy that rippled through the area. The heat of the explosion signed the cement on the ground and nearby buildings as Zoe stood firmly in place, unwavered by the explosion.

But then something happened, small pellet flew at her from Nox, that designated before it could hit her flames. She snickered at his pathetic attempt to harm her. Her temperatures reaching a dangerous 2,280 Fahrenheit the same deadly flames of that of a gasoline fire and her temperature was continually rising and with that, so was her durability. There was nothing solid or fluid that could touch her without evaporating into nothingness. The Fire Goddess began to sway her body back and forth, teasingly like a feral animal at Maya.

But then… it hit her, almost instantly, without warning.

An unnatural fear washed over her, a fear of... "FIRE!" she cried, screaming as her aflame body began swaying back and forth as if she had never seen her own flame before. The toxins of Marcus capsule taking effect but also collided with the effects of the virus. The virus allowed Zoe to increase the power of her abilities through intense emotions and at the moment, that emotion was fear.

Instead of putting her fire out, her abilities became unstable. The temperature quickly rising going from the 2,000 to a 10,000F degrees and climbing every second. With the human skin going into 3rd degree burns at a mere 156F degrees, it was now over 60 times hotter. As of now Zoe was as hot as the photosphere of the sun. The concrete below her began to quickly turn into a damaging pink color before completely melting down into a black goo like substance. The are around her almost impossible to breath and the light radiating off of her too blinding to look at directly.

Light posts fell over, nearby cars tires popped by the extreme heat as they began to simultaneously explode. Small out eruptions of flames would rush outward every now and then, like miniature explosions, energy releasing itself from Zoe, unable to be controlled by the Fire Goddess. The built up energy that Zoe was releasing from her fear alone was only going to get worse with every second... and in about a minute... she was going to release an explosion of fire that was going to be the equivalent of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima back in world war II.

@timesiphon: @maverick_6: @shanana:

Madrid, Spain

Around him, an emerald rim came to life. His veins surfaced, bulging against his flesh and glowing green, his frame surging with energy. Energy born from the power ring that clung to his finger. His eyes, no longer a pale, arctic blue, burned with a fire that was green and wild. His legs, as thick as tree trunks, were hugged by the emerald shell of a conjured exoskeleton. His torso, muscled to the dimensions of a beast, was armored, the crest of the Green Lantern Corps burning bright on his chest. In the air he hovered, arms folded before his chest, unfazed by the storm of energy that threatened to tear the sky asunder. The power to do the impossible, vibrating at his fingertips.

A power ring, a weapon of mass destruction, a matter of global security, resting in his possession. His eyes remained transfixed, watching as Sahi did battle with Maverick's troops, as the Brahma Brotherhood and Konite-addicted rebels fought against Ziccarra's Cardinal forces. He reached for his kukri, the Baabda Beast. His gaze fell upon it, examining it's blade, inwardly curved and seventeen inches long. It was forged from high carbon steel, and coated in anti-flash non-reflective titanium carbide. By the will of his power ring, he took it apart, encasing the blade's lethal micro-capsules in super-dense emerald darts. Inside the micro-capsules, was a cocktail of experimental (fast-acting) PhTx3 (a neurotoxin and calcium channel blocker that inhibits glutamate release, calcium uptake and glutamate uptake in neural synapses) and a surplus of serotonin.

By the power of his will, the emerald darts were propelled forward, accelerated to relativistic velocities by Satar's power ring, they came in a blitzing hail, targeting Maverick's troops and boasting the the penetrative power and speed to bypass their armors and dump the darts' poisonous cocktails in their bodies. Why? To overwhelm their bodies with pain. To send intense tremors rippling through them as the serotonin shot straight for their brains and the cocktail's neurotoxin working to shut down their bodies' primary functions. Loss of muscle control would come, as would respiratory difficulties, paralysis, and and asphyxiation. And perhaps most comically, priapism. While Satar attacked from above, his ground troops, the Brahma Brotherhood and rebels opened fire. Met with rounds that scorched the air and reduced many of their own to ionized dust, the Brahma Brotherhood responded in kind.

Opening fire, their rifles held reservoirs of ferrofluid, magnetically drawn into their firing chambers before being expelled at blitzing velocities. Like bolstered high-pressure water jets, the propelled ferrofluid, able to cut through nearly anything, sought to butcher and dismember Maverick's troops with a hail of cruelty.

Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Over five hundred kilometers from Madrid in Seville, the cloaked Brahma Brotherhood armada swarmed the streets, marching alongside the Konite-drugged rebel force, raising their flags of violent extremism under the guise of justice. Propaganda was widespread. Satar, the Brahma Brotherhood, the rebel force, hailed as defenders of the Spanish people, revered as the heroes who protected them from Ziccarra in their time of need, providing them with the means to fight back, do battle, and take back what they could from Ziccarra and her Cardinals. Striding forward, the Brahma Brotherhood, armed and armored beyond the boons of their usual arsenal, surrounded the 'Palacio de San Telmo', the seat of the Andalusian government.

Hungry for 'justice', the rebel force stormed inside, charging and arresting the regional government's president, Susan Diaz for allegedly aligning herself with Ziccarra's tyrannical regime. With little armed resistance from the regional police force, the Brotherhood-Rebel army caused minimal bloodshed. Communicating the success of their capture of Andalusia to Satar, the Brahma Brotherhood were fed with the instruction to seize full control of Seville and prevent the outbreak of anarchy.

@kaylen_knightfall: @maverick_6: @shanana: @satar

Raeyn sensed the change in the flow of time for the Vortex and smiled in her stasis field. She continued to feed on the infinite possibilities opened up by the vortex and allowed the others to do what they would with the vortex, there was at this point nothing that could be done to stop her from curing her own hunger, infinity would submit. As for the vortex with it now slowing down she was also able to increase her efforts to consume it as well, though she had little attention for it. This resulted in the vortex weakening but it would take help to kill it entirely...it seemed that help had arrived.

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

Sahi realized the mistake she'd made when the Maverick troops reloaded and turned their attention on her. She was much to brash and would take note of her failure here. I shouldn't have just come crashing in...and I should have left instead of threatening them. Sahi tapped into her Temporal Reserve and once more increased the flow of time for herself. This allowed her to flee the scene before the weapons fire could impact her. Some of the rounds still did make it to her while she was preparing to take off but the temporal armor absorbed most of the damage. The armor itself was now weaker however and cracked under the impact of even basic small arms fire, though it held up for the time being.

Sahi was not out of the fight, regardless of how it appeared. Once Maverick's forces were attacked by Satar and his forces she determined to direct her attention elsewhere to regain her strength. Sahi disappeared into the swirling melee that was Madrid but soon reappeared, as a new problem for the Cardinal Army to deal with. Here she would continue to aide Satar while regaining her strength by feasting on those foolish enough to get or stay close to her. It would not be long before she had the strength to return to fighting the movers and shakers that were shaping the conflict.

Malibu, U.S

The sun shined ardently on the beach-side estate of the McStorms while the waves gently lapped at the shore, painting a beautiful scene of tranquility. Jaired lie relaxed on the sand, sipping lemonade with a peaceful smile on his face. It was a special day of course, his mother was off on a business trip, leaving him freedom to lounge around as he pleased. "Yo Leon, what's taking so long with those cupcakes man!" He wanted to get up and check as his friend didn't answer him, but was in such a comfortable position that he didn't bother. The Kinetic Demon merely dossed off, turning over to let the sunlight hit his back.

The speedster sat up oddly aware within moments of waking up, only to find that he saw his body still sleep below him. For a moment he had been jolted, but waking up on the Astral plane wasn't a new occurrence to him. The Kinetic Slayer floated into the mansion, and noted with annoyance that Leonardo lie asleep on the couch, cupcakes scattered around him. "JAIRED!" Leon's astral figure yelled as he appeared through the walls. "What? Also you owe me 5 bucks for those cupcakes." Leon seemed panicked, and shook his friends shoulders as he moved closer; "Dude! Forget about the cupcakes! I was flying around in Spain to see what's up with my family, and I saw Zoe!" Jaired raised a brow curiously as Leon continued; "No, not that kind of saw. She's in a lot of trouble right now and you kind of need to go down there. " Within the next nanoseconds the speedster had already returned to his body.

Now, Spain

Jaired, outfitted in his usual orange vibranium speedster suit raced frantically through spain, zigzagging through the war-zone, past brother-hood members, cardinals and more. He could feel them all, Raeyn, Ruby and the S.T.R.I.K.E members, Bradshaw, even the Brotherhood and Satar. But his only attention was focused on her; Zoe. Someone who, at-first glance, instantly imprisoned his heart. But he had been, regrettably, unnaturally shy about expressing his emotions toward his teammate. Most of the time he was a womanizer, able to capture the hearts of most females he wanted with ease, and yet, the sight of her had evaporated the smooth façade.

He couldn't put his emotions into words, and so, he had avoided her unless they were on missions together, and even when they were, he preformed less than optimal. Ever since those days he'd fought the temptation of other girls, no matter how strong the allure may have been, and shifted his focus onto other things. But now, the fiery speedster felt it was up to him to save her in her time of greatest need, and the aura around him grew intense as he surged forward faster.

As long as the journey took for him, someone who's perception of time around him was drastically superior to most of those around him, it took minuscule fractions upon fractions of seconds for him to arrive on the battle-scene. He saw Maya, and someone he'd seen before, in Gothic, and in his own mansion almost a year prior before that, and spared them a greeting. But what he saw next nearly broke him. He watched breathlessly, as time slowed to a crawl, as Zoe moved about in pain, clearly not herself.

Her energy signature...it was different, more malevolent in nature, and he knew instantly that someone had took possession of her mind and body. Regret coursed through him, regret for not being by her side then, for not stopping this from happening, for selfishly and carelessly forgoing the fates of his teammates. But he would, or at-least he would try to, make amends here and now.

He could feel the energy within her growing immensely, she would release a massive explosion soon, an explosion threatening the lives of everyone around her for miles. Acting as fast as he could, Jaired sought to zoom by her side and envelope them both in the extra-dimensional energy known as the speed force. From there, he would attempt to teleport them both to his speed force, a hellish plain filled with the energy that gives him his speed.

At that point, he could only wait for her to release said explosion, almost certain he could withstand the heat.

@feral_nova: @maya_liafador: @tassania_pettis: @felix_faraday: @kaylen_knightfall:

Madrid, Spain

Wouldn't have believed it, but I suppose I'm finally starting to go mad, that or I'm following a very well done illusion, Dante silently mused, muscularly sculpted frame instantaneously materializing above ground, amidst a faded, carmine haze exemplifying yet another form of teleportation. In this instance, he had forgone his signature kingly, imposingly crafted armor, form instead adorned in a simplistic grey T-shirt, complete with a leather, fur collared, sepia colored jacket. He had comfortably seated himself along the edge of an ivory rooftop, genuinely perplexed gaze fixated upon those whom had taken to the skies, abilities put to work as they made a respectable effort against the chaotic monster of a vortex that had torn through the cerulean skies.

Or, one should say, he was fixated upon one individual in particular.

Among the Azure Son (Leo), the Ivory Mamba (Kaylen), and the Young Champion (Felix), King Aventus' surprise inadvertently came at the hands off the Sapphire Goddess herself (Tassi), whom he could keenly detect siphoning off energy from the spiraling whirl of destruction. She was an unfamiliar face, her identity clouded from the demonic god in a haze of unknown. Under normal circumstances, Dante wouldn't contemplate her for very long. But her power, her energy, something about the girl not only struck Aventus' familiarly, it was fresh in his head. Her power was like Tassiana's, reminiscent of the young child whom he had taken to secretly protecting. Yet it wasn't a potential concept, something in the midst of gradual growth, as with the case of little Tassi. Her energy was fledged out, expanded, but there was no denying its almost exact resemblance.

And yet, truly, it hardly made any sense! Before, he had detected Tassi in the United States, presumably safe. How could she be here, siphoning power from a vortex? Nevermind that even! How could she be grown, a young woman, when she hadn't even aged past a year?! Utter madness it was, non sensible. It made hardly any sense at all... Or perhaps, it did.

It was with some degree of difficulty, that Aventus' jaw dropped naught as his inhumanely operational mind began to piece things together. Brows arched, liquid scarlet pools gradually widening in a manner that betrayed his natural demeanor, he lightly began to hover forward, precise gravitational capabilities absentmindedly coming into play. So, she's gotten herself time displaced? Or rather, coincidentally ventured into this timeline? It had begun to make sense, the scenario of time travel, even an alternate reality, making for a sensible explanation, even in these times. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time he knew of one whom was outside of there own time or reality.

Nothing I can do about it now, I suppose. Later perhaps. His arms gracefully smoothed alongside his frame as he skyrocketed upward, positioning himself alongside Felix and Tassiana. If nothing else, he could aid in the vortex's destabilization while he remained here. Child or adult, present or future, he remain compelled to aid her in what ways he could, nonetheless. "You're doing splendidly, but I may as well help you along," He offhandedly remarked, lips curling into a collected grin. He could vaguely feel the chaotic hole's attempts at levitating him into its depths, yet his heightened willpower enabled him to remain suspended amidst the vortex's surging power. Hastily thrusting a single arm upward, his scarlet orbs vibrantly gleamed for but a moment as he had begun to aid in inhibiting it from growing via siphoning off greater amounts of its energy.

Ziccarra, The Cardinal Goddess of Illusion, she was a woman that swayed battle rhythm’s with her employment of confounding life-like illusions. This battle, in Madrid; was no different. With her presence, The Outlaw Queen lured her enemies into a battle they believed they could win. Even with her eventual death, she’d spread horrors across Spain for years to come, horrors an entire generation was not prepared to overcome.

Standing with the grace of a bullfighter the Modern Day conquistador watched as her grandson rose with resiliency full of his usual bravado. Not that it meant anything to Ziccarra, she’d done battle with his kind before, and nothing he spat could shudder her stone cold nerves. Reforming the misplaced shards on her blade, Ziccarra prepared for his counter.

Her pacific blue eyes caught the sight of his projectile, with a simple miscue she paid dearly, expecting it to do some sort of damage; she found herself both blind and disoriented, none of the battle sounds made any sense. It was hard to put a lock on his motions.

Whilst trying to regain her senses, he struck. His foot slammed into her armored solar plexus. Ziccarra’s body went airborne before careening onto the cobblestone road. His kick was strong enough to injure her and cause minor discomfort; but wasn’t strong enough to penetrate her L-TAC 87 armor given to her by William Greystroke.

No sooner than she bounced up, his fist was on a collision course with her throat; however the educated feet of the Malagan Marchioness, showed her history as a master ballet dancer. Back shuffling just slightly in an effort to create some space, his fist slammed into her jaw, causing her once immortal blood to waterfall from her glossed lips.

A definite knockout punch, had it been anyone else; but this reduced the queen to one knee. She couldn’t do it, her timely misstep still cost her, but she couldn’t fight without positive ID on Mark.

“Impressive…” She muttered before breathing in deeply three times, she activated one of her most ancient Cardinal techniques “The Blind Sword” a technique that allowed her to see in times of low visibility, and even though she was still largely disoriented, she could at least get a general location of his attacks.

Sound would eventually return, but now, through use of her Cardinal skills, and her TK homing she could at least defend herself. Once again, dispatching her blade she prepared a counter attack…that is until a single shot pierced her shoulder, the only unprotected part of her body.

As the shot opened and exited her body, more of her venomous blood began to rush from her body littering the ground beneath her. Biting her lip to stop the stifled pain, her attention was momentarily snagged by Feral Nova’s unstable energy manifestation. With the distraction, the Outlaw Queen channeled her psionic energy and teleported away for a moment’s reprieve.

House of Z

Ziccarra emerged in the palace to a new world of Chaos; Zeon apparently had escaped her imprisonment and was now loose somewhere in the grand estate. “M’lady…you’re injured” one of her servants called out rushing to aid the wound, only to be shooed off.

“No. The more of my blood that pollutes these lands the better” She replied holding her shoulder in pain. Which hurt worst, The gun shot, or the jaw shattering power of her grandson, it didn’t matter, the first part of her plan was a success.

“Now for phase two.” She murmured, at the cabinet retrieving the “Dreams and Nightmares” Spell she visited Amora on Asgard for. “For those left standing, I will be remembered in as a nightmare, but for those that this is intended…this world will be nothing more than a dream”

Downtown.

Ziccarra emerged back downtown to continue her bout with Nox, this time encased in a thick veil of tactikenesis. The time between her departure and return was just a measly 10 minutes, just enough time to leave them wondering. Standing with blood cascading down her mouth and shoulder with pain resounding in every orifice, she was prepared to launch phase two.

Taking a step forward her eyes noticed a mushroom immediately sprouted under the moisture of her blood. It was working much faster than she thought, and before too long the entire city would feel its effects.

“Where were we?” having had the effects of his earlier gambit subside, she stood before Mark ready to counter…but not before turning her attention to the unknown gunmen.

Extending both hands towards the adjacent buildings, Z charged them with explosive psionic energy, whilst simultaneously casting an illusion on herself, allowing the energy to detonate she sought to bring all the surrounding buildings down, hoping to crush the unknown gunmen.

Without warning, she teleported again, this time appearing to the right of Nox throwing her fist towards his face in a ruse. It was her illusion, in actuality the Cardinal Queen looked to psionically charge his armor, which if it worked would allow her to detonate it while he was in it. Should her attempt failed, she quickly followed with a pirouette looking to hurl him with a TK burst.

@zeon_liafador

Zeon. Even from three hundred meters through the barrel of a sniper rifle Leah could make out the image of her sister. And surrounding her sister, Red Cardinals. Narrowing her eyes, the Liafador turned to the White Cardinal standing closest to her, relaying the plan that was swiftly coming together in her mind. "Take two other Cardinals and go to Zeon. Don't enter until I give the signal... And leave no witnesses." The last sentence was murmured without an ounce of hesitation. The bastards had harmed her sister, one of the only friends that Leah had in the whole world. And they served Ziccarra, who- by looking around her current surroundings- was doing a fairly crappy job at running a country.

Now, while the White Cardinals headed for the Palace, Leah got ready to make her shot. At best she'd kill two of them on her own before they took evasive action... and then the girl would have to wait until the White Cardinals drew the Red out. The only hope Leah had was that her precious sister would make it till then. Zeon was, frankly, the only person in the family that Leah really knew. A surprising bond had grown between them, with Zeon's fierce loyalty to family and Leah's more calm and sultry nature, and that was a bond that the young woman did not want to let die so quickly.

Cocking the sniper, Leah slowly inhaled, the figures of her current warriors now being seen edging towards the window of the estate. Trigger focused on the one closest to Zeon's bedroom door, the young Liafador held her breath before pulling the trigger- the bullet going through and shattering glass from the Palace before shattering the skull of the poor Cardinal that had been aimed down. Immediately the man collapsed, and White Cardinals flooded in, as Leah swiftly readjusted her targeting. Bam. Another one, picked off. That was two, and a smile almost formed as Leah's goal was reached.

Bam.

Surpassed. The White Cardinals managed to fight off the last few Reds, and Leah kept firing- now, aiming for whatever she could hit, instead of her 'headshots only' idea. When the Red Cardinals had been thoroughly dispersed, the girl stood, slinging the strap of the sniper rifle over her shoulder and starting her long walk to the actual Palace. A spring was almost found in her step, for even among the likes of a battle such as this, she had found her sister... Her sister, who was only a short walk away.

As a few minutes passed by, the White Cardinals tended to Zeon, as she was their true master. Anything that they could do to help, with their short timing, and limited medical supplies, was of course provided, given that she actually took the medicines, and the Cardinals also kept close eyes on the door to make sure no other Reds got inside. Eventually, Leah arrived- climbing through the window and having to restrain herself from running to Zeon, from wrapping her arms around the little sister and showering her in affection and care, from asking who had dared to treat her so roughly. But instead, rather coolly, Leah walked up to Zeon, and held out a lone hand to help her to her feet.

"Sister... You've certainly looked better."

@felix_faraday: @kaylen_knightfall: @timesiphon:

She couldn’t move, not yet, the vortex was still growing, slower than it would have been without her, but still growing. The Sapphire Goddess couldn’t contain all of it’s energy, not on her own. She needed help. Just then a streak of blue and yellow appeared in her peripheral vision, and instantly she recognized the energy signature, “Felix” she whispered as she watched as he assisted her in keeping anything that may have been flying her way, from colliding with her. The two had worked together in the future more than once and she would even take the extra step to call the two friends, despite the age difference.

She couldn’t help it as her lips slowly curled in a small smile, listening to him trying to speak Spanish. Always trying to be considerate of others, that was who he was. “Felix, it’s good to see you.” Her eyes shift form the vortex to Felix and then back. “I’m not sure, we either need to either cease the energy flow, maybe counter the vortex flow or-“

In that moment a woman flew into the vortex and Tassi couldn’t help but gasp. She knew exactly who it was, who was surrounded by the temporal energy.“Raeyn! What are you doing!?” She cried out, her teeth gritting as she pushed herself, trying to keep the deadly vortex from completely taking in her friend. “Trust me” she heard the voice in her in her mind as she felt the urge to go after Raeyn but before she could, the vortex became stronger, it’s power quickly rising. Tassi struggled to hold her ground, struggled to keep the vortex contained, to keep the city from completely being taken in from this death trap. “IT’S TOO STRONG!”

But the soothing and comforting voice of her love seemed to appear from no where as her eyes landed on her ivory knight. “Kaylen,”she couldn’t help it, she smiled. “you’re here, you’re both here.” Her eyes looked over to her older brother. Kay had a plan, and The Sapphire Goddess knew she had to stay strong, not just for her, but for everyone who was involved. Her heart almost skipped a few beats as she watched as Kay begin to elevate higher and higher towards the vortex. She had to keep faith that he knew what he was doing, that both of them did.

Then she saw it, the development of the second vortex, and Tassi knew exactly what the two were doing. “Felix!” Her voice carried over the sound of the duo vortex roaring in the sky above them.“In a few moments, I need you to try and get the vortex’s to collide into one another!” She knew The Neutron Son was powerful and if anyone could pull it off, it would be him.“Doing so can cause the two to cancel each other out!” She explained why she would want him to do such a thing.“But be careful, make sure Leo, Kay and Raeyn aren’t near either vortex!”

As all of this was going on, Tassi began to suddenly feel a familiar energy, one of that belonging to the demonic God himself. It was the same energy she felt as a child, one that was almost like a shadow, always following her and yet at the same time, had protected her for many times over the years. Even through all the chaos, all the destruction and stress going upon her body, she crackled a small smile. Then… he came to view before the young Sapphire Goddess and The Young Champion. He looked exactly the same to her, his scarlet eyes, his golden locks… it was the Perennial Paragon himself. Tassi didn’t say anything at first, instead, she watched as he began to assist her in attempting to stabilize the original vortex

The two working together lift some of the burden off of the young hybrid Goddess, an almost relief could be seen in her eyes as she glanced over at him once more. “Dante… I’m glad you’re here.” The young Pettis knew that Dante already knew who she was, he was far too intelligent to have not figured it out on his own, and she knew there could be a possibility of questions needing to be answered after this. But right now, she needed the two of them to focus on the task at hand, the chit chat could come later.

@felix_faraday: @kaylen_knightfall: @maverick_6@satar@tassania_pettis

Two vortexes... Raeyn's eyes opened, glowing in golden power. Two vortexes was a huge problem, a giant, catastrophic problem. Oh hell. Normally the two vortexes would not have been a problem but with Raeyn tapping into the infinite possibilities that spread out from this particular moment like highways she was essentially cracking open space time. When the two vortexes began to merge the crack began to widen dramatically as it was essentially copied and merged with itself.

Uh...ok...don't panic...it's just an opening temporal conflux in the middle of Spain. It's fine, everything is fine...just...run away...no I can't. If I run the conflux will be born and this planet will fall into the same temporal storm Cocytus is a part of and humanity will be consumed by its own future, past and present all at once. They aren't strong enough to survive the unraveling of time. You're the only one here that can stop what they've accidentally started.

Raeyn considered the problem for a moment, a problem no one on the outside of the vortexes would be aware of yet. She reached into a hidden temporal vault in her armor and removed the Key of Time. Maybe... She looked down at the cube and activated it. She'd drained it in the Catacylsm even and it was currently trying to regenerate its energy. She held it for a moment and then nodded to herself. She could feel the power of infinity coursing through her, her purpose here was complete, it would just be a matter of time to discover if her theory had any merit.

Raeyn threw the cube into the opening conflux. In the world outside of the vortex Tassi would suddenly see a giant flare in temporal energy, like the whole of time had opened up for a half second, it was almost beautiful, a rainbow pattern of realities that formed a bridge between this earth and every other possible earth in every possible timeline. For that moment Tassi was even able to see the time line she came from. That time was still out there her actions hadn't erased the world she knew, they had simply made it into an alternate universe, another Earth.

As quickly as the conflux had appeared it vanished and so too did all the temporal energy. Raeyn was flung from the vortex like a comet, her unconscious form crashed through a window and disappeared inside of an abandoned building. Elsewhere in the city Sahi had seen the same thing and she abandoned the fight and raced to her father's side like a streak. She emerged from the broken window carrying Raeyn's form in her arms and moved to a rooftop far away from the action. Now Tassi was exposed to something else, there were two Time Siphons on Earth, she could see the same temporal energy coming from Sahi and what's more, it was very similar to Raeyn's.

"Dad, wake up..." Sahi said softly, gently nudging Raeyn's unconscious form. The ever confident Sahi was suddenly devoid of it, nothing made sense about her father's temporal line, it was in a constant agitated state, she knew Raeyn was alive but didn't understand what was happening. She shouldn't even be able to see the line, Raeyn always kept it slippery and hidden away. Raeyn had never known Sahi existed but Sahi had always known about her father, she had always kept track of rumors and information about Raeyn and strove to emulate its actions. To Sahi it didn't matter what body Raeyn wore, Raeyn was always her father. Now for the first time she found herself uncertain...she didn't know what to do and felt panic striving to coil around her heart. What if he dies? I mean really dies...what's even happening?!

@shanana: @kaylen_knightfall: @dreadpool10: @timesiphon: @tassania_pettis:

"Oh, good! You speak-- Hold the phone. Good to see me? What do--", Felix felt relieved that he didn't have to continue exterting his lingual knowledge past it's limits but quickly became confused at the damsel's words, she greeted him with the warmth of an old friend but his hyperthymettic memory held no records of her - suspicious since Felix had the uncanny ability to memorize every waking Yoctosecond of his existence. However, before he could continue asking his mildly twitching ears captured a faint whining nearby. "Hold on...", he said whilst gesturing a plea for timewith his index finger upwards and turning away.

With optical brilliance, augmented with an unsual apparatus - personal gravity lense fashioned within his autogravitational field, Felix caught a squirming Shiba pup in the midst of the levitating debris and a young girl on the ground crying her heart out. Terrifying how despite his attempts at slowing the destruction down with his antigravitons, the vortex was vigorous enough to progressively deconstruct Madrid's tallest buildings. No further procrastination, Felix boosted towards the endangered pup and gently caught it and brough it closer to his chest so it doesn't slip.

The pup showed it's gratitude with wet love, joyously licking Felix's cheek on the way to it's owner. But the Young Champion didn't stop, instead he grasped the girl with his other hand and swiftly flew his two passengers to the gates of a nearby church where evacuation operations took place. "Ten... uh...cuidado! <Stay safe!>", parent-like worry accompanied his words as he pleaded the youd duo, holding the girl by her shoulder before turning around.

He was about to leave, but felt some weight clinging to his waist. Rotating his top to the side to inspect what happened, he's found the girl hugging him. He could not help but smile and crouch to return her embrace, for even if she didn't know, this action made him determined to help Mardid prevail.

Moments later Felix reappeared on the horizon, once again whizzing through the waves of levitating debris and suspending them with his antigraviton pulses. Now however, he flew lower than before, applying doses of antigravitons that were slightly stronger than the vortex's current pull on the roofs of tall buildings and heavy objects. The former to preven their breakdown and compromisation of structural integrity and the latter for them to slowly hover back to the ground like bird's feathers to avoid future casualties.

"Sorry for leaving you.", he said whilst returning to Tassi's side, now realizing something familiar about her energy signature but also looking at her masked helpers. "I guess we're lucky the cavalry had arrived.", he finished whilst concentrating on Leo or as he and Mark came to refer to him: Assholeo. His brow grudgingly frowned for a moment, although The Golden Gate Bastion subsequently set his feeling aside in favor of saving the city, it was more important than personal disgust. Besides, without his gargantuan power reserves they would most likely fail at containing the situation. He's still endangering the people with this.

"Aye, aye cap'n Sapphire.", his words hoped to relieve some stress of the girls shoulders. Suddenly the vortex crackled with rainbow and Raeyn jettisoned from inside the vortex. "Oh!.. I hope she's alright. Eh, I proOoOobably should have caught her...anyways.", he cringed in shame whilst scolding himself in silence. "Be prepared to move after I start inducing the collision. I'll go check in with the ninja and the assholeo- I mean jock, jock.", he advised Tassi and her help before superluminally transporting himself to Kay and Leo, stopping in alignment with the two vortexes.

Energy. It's usually an intagible fundamental of the universe, the movement of particles. It's fate is to exist in a constant flux, transferring from one subatomic vessel to another or splitting to rally others to it's cause. Energy is unyielding motion, Felix is undeniable presence - density physical and...mental. He hovered closer to borders of Leo's vortex, gloves disinegrating in proportion to his proximity until only tattered sleeves remained and his hands made contact with the energy monster. Usually. Felix's hyperdense make-up made the extraodinary possible, he could "grasp energy" because his bodily neutron matter left not only no space for other particles to slip through, but also remained incredibly resistant to agitation or actual transfer of energy.

But it wasn't enough, if he applied force this way he'd only puncture it's outer shell and compromise the vortex's integrity. To find a way around this, Felix exterted some of his own energy - violently crackling in the brightest shade of blue from his fingers and slowly enveloping a considerable portion of the vortex to spread the force he will apply evenly on it's surface. It was pure electromagnetic energy fashioned into the rough form of a net.

"Hey, jock!", he shouted at Leo to gain his attention and overpower the noise emitted by the bewildered energies around. "You can stop feeding it now, I'm going to force a collision! Make sure the others are safe!", he forcibly established eye contact with the Azure Son through his damaged goggles as if demanding his cooperation.

@dreadpool10: @dreadpool10: @tassania_pettis: @timesiphon: @felix_faraday:

He felt it, a torrent of energy fling the hood from his head, sending his medium-length, dark brown curls into disarray. He kept his arms extended, palms facing one of two vortexes, fingertips vibrating with the power to slow down time. He could feel it. The sluggish movement of every chronon, the quantum of time. Kaylen's skill had always been in precision, creativity, never raw power. He'd never sought to tamper with the flow of chronons belonging to a phenomenon so massive. It drained him. His features, suave and charming, winced and twitched. The color, the hue of his bronze flesh began to fade. His skin was growing pale, as if it no longer reacted to the sun. His biophysical reserves were waning, slipping, his energy levels dropping sharply.

Still, he endured. He hovered closer and closer to the vortex, closer to their nexus point, where the two would meet in a collision that could break the world, he drew himself closer but never too much. Kaylen hovered, gargantuan wings, black and of incendiary smoke, keeping him afloat as he struggled, expelling his breath with every pant. In that moment, his heart clamored in his chest, streaks of glowing blue emanating from his being. He cut a courageous figure but he was scared he was going to die. Death itself never frightened him. But leaving behind the ones he loved? Tassiana, his mother, father, his sisters.. it terrified him. And yet, he committed. Committed to what he was doing; helping save the city of Madrid. 'That's what makes you a hero, Kay. Risking it all for the good of everything even though you're scared', Thee Champion's words, the words of his girlfriend's father, echoing in his mind.

Despite hovering the closest to the vortexes, Kaylen's eyes failed to see Raeyn. Through the storm of energy? How could he? Some meters below him however, Leonel could. His eyes peered into the cosmic microwave background radiation that was omnipresent, and he could see it all. Holding his features in earnest, the New God controlled the power and intensity of his own vortex, it's ionizing winds whipping at the crimson leather of his jacket. A lone wolf, a self-reliant force of nature, Leonel loathed not being able to stop the vortex his mother had opened. At the height of his power, he could. Oh at the height of his power he'd have absorbed the storm in the blink of an eye, and yet, it was that arrogance that had now left him a shell of the warrior he once was. Still, he remained focused. Focused on the task at hand, and on Kaylen above him. Then, then his senses flared, his ears catching sound of a familiar voice. Felix.

'Heh.. self-righteous brat's more than Mark's guard dog I guess', he thought, grinning at the sight of him, contemplating what Leonel, the warrior, the killer, always contemplated; fighting. Yet even he wasn't so blood-lusted as to pick battles in times so inappropriate. 'I'll whoop his ass another time', his thoughts decided. "Whatever you say, schoolboy", the New God smirked, diverting his attention to Kaylen, "Hey! Kaylen! Let's go! It'd really suck if I had to tell Tassi I let her boyfriend die. Come on!". Above him, Kaylen's wings flickered, gradually losing their mass as his skin grew paler. He barely forced a smile in Leonel's direction. "Hey, didn't they tell you, mano? Knightfalls don't stay dead. Just... relax", he panted, "Give me a second or two", he implored. Slowly, Kaylen descended, catching sight of the Neutron Son, "I'll leave the rest to you", he nodded, his mind growing lightheaded, his voice lacking breath.

And in that moment, Kaylen descended, Leonel soaring next to him as they approached both Dante and Tassiana. "Alright guys, to the ground. Give the kid up there the space to do his thing. He can take it from here", Leonel insisted, doing his best to convince Tassiana and Dante to follow both he and Kaylen to the ground where he'd erect a barrier around them, one to shield them from the shock-wave certain to come from the vortexes collision. And while Leonel did so, Kaylen's wings vanished, his nose trickled with blood and he took a step forward. He was no god. He lacked the infinite reserves, durability and power that Leonel, Dante, Tassiana, and Felix held in spades. A second step and he collapsed, unconscious and exhausted from seizing the chronons of an object so massive.

His aim was for her (@shanana) head. The rifle he carried having fractions of a megajoule worth of energy, fueled by a compressed form of hydrogen stored within the bullet. 0.4 Megajoules hardly sounds like anything, but in actuality, this is the equivilent to the impact of 147.512 tons, with a round harder than diamond. Even even the impact didn't pierced, he expected it to send her hurtling back with it. In her weakened state, it might have even liquified her. At least, that was the plan. As he pulled the trigger, a bright flash of light appeared from a S.T.R.I.K.E teammates turned enemy (@feral_nova), one that hindered his shot, only slightly. He still knew where she was and pulled the trigger, and instead of hitting her head, it hit her shoulder.

The result, was drastic case of overpenetration. The result of his overestimation of her durability? It did almost no damage. The round would have just, pierced a normal human as if they were water. Going through them, and only halting when it encounters something of great resistance, such as steel, concrete or the flesh of a metahuman. All of that energy, and little of it went to her. The round continued forward,hammering through a car as if tissue paper and piercing straight into the concrete below it.

"F*ck me."

He anticipated a teleport nd swerved around to aim behind himself instinctually. Without thinking consciously about it at all. However, there was nothing there within him inside the building. "Where is Ziccarra Liafador?" "Not sure."Was the simple reply. He tapped into Maverick's orbital satellites while keeping note of all that happened around him. Looks like Roadrunner showed up. He knew of his (@theflashfire) presence the moment he showed up. From his perspective, Nova simply dissappeared, and based on the file received from S.T.R.I.K.E, he knew she was most likely taken to another dimension. More and more contenders show up. King Aventus (@dreadpool10), Faraday (@felix_faraday), Tassiana Pettis, Kaylen Knightfall, Leonardo Liafador and more. He knew Ziccarra was still here, he knew she would come back for Marcus (@_nox_.) He doubted her pride would allow to her to be seemingly bested by a mortal. Particularly when she holds no value to her. He swapped positions, shooting his grappliing device as he thrust air born, swinging and moving from building to building quickly as he re-positioned himself.

---

"Siphon is down. Moving to recover. Encountering heavy resistance from hostile forces (@satar). Calling in support."

To them, it was a lot like old times. Conventional tactics and skills they'd been imbued with in their time serving the military, would be what they'd call upon today. A metahuman was very often very easy to outmaneuvre and outsmart. These men were superhumans, but they were trained. They fought like soldiers and the men of Maverick were used to weaving through and past bullets. They had to. Their armor could only deflect so much punishment. Upon activation, the armor activated, generating an intense blast of plasma accompanied by an intense magnetic field, it looking and sounding not unlike an explosion to the outside observer. Boots either anchored the user to the floor or they allowed themselves to be thrown by the explosion while the round was deflected. The electromagntic weaponry the Brahma Brotherhood used, meant that all of their weapons were in actuality more susceptible to this type of armoring. However, each shot, Adamantium or otherwise, sapped energy from their armor. Most assuredly, without it one of them would have fallen, but so far, they are worn down and forced to retreat. Returning fire with hypervelocity rounds used to penetrate their armor, the men watching streaks from firearms and marking cloaked enemies detected by the drones advanced Infared technology to mark them. They watched the streaks created from hypervelocity weapons traveling in the air. Though each man could very well fight off an army, not quite one such as this.

"Call in the Warthog."

The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt was a formiddable craft in the eyes of Maverick, devised by the United States. With the planes primarily being retired, they'd acquired a few quite some time ago. And now, they'd deemed that was it was time to use them to show the Brahma Brotherhood just the type of "security firm" they were up against.

Twin Electrothermal Autocannons swerved as they were supplimented massive amounts of energy from Hydrogen fuel cells, before they spun to live and unleashed an abundant hail of 30 mm Depleted Uranium. Muzzle energies achieved that enabled a gun that could already sport .2 megajoules, to .8 MJ. Or 813 KJ. Enough for the energy to translate to be approximatel 300 tons of force in every round. The 50 or so it spewed every second. The rounds tore through buildings, destroyed armored vehicles up to and including tanks. Metahmans? If the rounds didn't penetrate their hides,they were sent throttling back by the tremendous impact each shot had to offer. Cardinal soldiers simply, vanished from stray impact. Only lose bits of armor and gore remaining of them as their crimson fluids were strewn about everywhere. Each continous run from the stray warthog littering the city in more bullets.

The temporal lines of two of the three individuals was apparent as they stood on the rooftop with her after a few moment, aiming not towards Raeyn (@timesiphon) but to her daughter. Armor ebbing with energy. Ordered to not fire unless absolutely necessary.

"Are you done now? Why don't we take it easy here, huh? She. Or he. It? Whatever, is hurt. Let us have a look at her. Might need to evac, if the boss says so."

Even now their equipment was mostly looking towards her vitals, attempting to see if she had any physical injuries. Something more thorough would be done if they would get closer.

---

"We've spotted Ziccarra Liafador. High amounts of energy detected."

Bradshaw moved instinctively away but was hardly fast enough on his own to evade getting caught in the blast, as buildings came down, a blast wave ripped through them, and he shielded himself as he was thwapped by the force of Ziccarra's psionic energy, sent through multiple walls and out of the building like styrofoam statue as he rolled through the air, his armor rigid to prevent his joints from being snapped like twigs. As he plummets, he deploys his CNT shoot to save him the full impact of slamming against the concrete pavement. He doesn't even bother to look up as he starts to run a building threatening to collapse atop him and crush him under colossal amounts of rubble. With one shot of his grenade launch, he blew a hole in a sewer cap, gripped it tossed it and then jumped down into the hole, as roughly 13,000 tons of steel and concrete came crashing on the street he was once in.

Good thing Madrid has some big sewers. Made things easier.

Slowly, a lid crept open. Clear. A few moments later, it's tossed up as he climbs out. And low and behold, as he sits in an ally way, there she is. Ziccarra Liafador, in the midst of combat with Marcus Knightfall (@_nox_). As she fought with him, he saw opportunity. However he didn't have his rifle, only his M1911 loaded with Hafnium rounds. She is too close for him to use them on her, at the moment.

The Gunman turned into a Knife fighter at that moment as he appeared behind her, making a lung with his knife, swinging it around her so that he could make a stab her eye sockets with a blade that generated intense heat and could cleave into diamond. His intention was nothing less than to tickle her frontal lobe, and from there, the blade's vibrations would liquify many a metahuman's mind.

Irregardless of whether or not it worked, Bradshaw activated his armor, a loud *vrrrring* noise heard accompanied by an explosion as he (and hopefully his opposition) was tossed back in a blast of molten air. The Maverick mutant hunter recovered to his feet quickly. He had to be ready. If she could launch one attack that can level several buildings, who's to say she wouldn't launch another?

And yet still, he twirled his knife in his fully gloved hand, and stopped as he came to a slower, less leisurely stance. The blade held in his left hand, and the gun held in his right. His body squarled south paw to her like a boxer, and the weapon placed in his hand. Being aged by Sahi hindered him, it lessened his endurance, but he knew what he could and couldn't do.

His head shifted to his side as he audibly cracks his neck.

Been a while since I've fought this up close and personal with a meta.

TenMinutesAgo

BLAM!

Mark’s eyes widened as the blood splattered on his costume. Not because he was shocked from the sound the gun made or even the crimson stains that had come from it. Not even because this meant that the next shot could be headed his way. In the contrary, the bullet trajectory meant that the sniper had to wait for the precise millisecond so that he wouldn’t tag him.

“Hmm” He nodded. The Black Mamba expected her to come back again the moment she teleported like before. Yet everything fell into an unsettling silence. Movie makers often use this to build up tension. Imagining where the monster is going to appear is sometimes worse than the actual creature.

He wanted to set a trap, he hesitated, she could very well be watching him right now and use them against him. Like in a horror movie, there was no way to predict where she would teleport to anyways so setting up a mine would be pointless.

So he reached into his utility belt for two small razor sharp knightorangs and waited patiently. His monocular focusing allowed him to scan the shattered landscapes around him for her.

Now

“I think I was kicking your ass” Mark smirked with his arms crossed. That smile soon faded after seeing her blow down all the building around them like they were pieces of cardboards held together by duct tape.

A cloud of dust came over them, disturbing his senses. He tried to concentrate through them, before he could notice she had already teleported next to him or so he thought. Mark flung the hand holding shuriken at her, before realizing too late that it was an illusion. The dust made it impossible for his senses to identify an illusion from the real thing.

The suit flashed a warning that it was reaching critical levels.

“Dismantle now!” The armor begun disassembling itself much like Antony Stark’s used to. It didn’t matter; the pieces that managed to break apart fired into his body and the ones that had not left burned him.

“Heh. Good thing I wore clothes under the armor otherwise this would be embarrassing” Blood poured from his head and covered his eyes and lips. He took off the largest piece that was sticking out of his leg. Struggling, Mark took off his armor arm pieces revealing his skin eaten alive by the psionic energy.

It was a miracle that he was still standing.

Then he wasn’t. He was flung towards the building by telekinesis attack. Darkness begun to overtake him. He couldn’t help closing his eyes. As he resting his head on his shoulder he saw his swords next to him. Mark grabbed them, using them as a cane. He unsheathed them and lifted them; his arms were strained.

The Noir Rose smirked again, showing a few missing teeth and pearly red teeth.

“My grandfather hits harder than you”

@maverick_6: @tassania_pettis

Sahi looked up from Raeyn's fallen form when she was questioned by members of Maverick. She looked like a cornered animal in that moment and was likely just as unpredictable. After a moment though she de-activated her temporal blade. "He's hurt." She said softly with the tone of a frightened child. "I don't know what's wrong. His Temporal Line is all distorted and fuzzy...I shouldn't even be able to see it." She ignored their uncertainty about Raeyn's gender, there was only one gender that mattered to Sahi when it came to Raeyn, everything else was just cosmetic.

Their scans revealed no physical harm, the armor had done its job and protected her from any damage caused by being flung from the vortex. Raeyn's energy levels were all over the place though. Sahi paused and then asked something from someone she viewed as a lesser being that she never expected to ask. "Help me." She said softly, turning her attention back to her unconscious father. Nothing else mattered to Sahi anymore and that much was obvious, none of the usual time siphon bravado or stall tactics were in play, her weapon was de-activated at her side and she wasn't even keeping her eyes on their weapons. "I don't know what to do...I can't remember enough." She said in that quiet voice again, even going so far as to admit to her current weakness even if she didn't say it in so many words. Memory and power were linked for Time Siphons, that much they would know from their experiences with Raeyn.

Sahi looked Raeyn over and found the elder Siphon's hand clenched around an object. She gently opened the hand and removed a strange metal cube from her hand. The cube was covered in alien script and it glowed with golden energy. Sahi held it in her hands for a moment reading over the script. She tucked the cube away somewhere in her armor, getting it quickly out of the sight of the Maverick forces.

@timesiphon:

The two exchanged glances as they cautiously went forward, only having some lose understanding of what exactly a "temporal line" was. Further analyzation revealed no broken bones or internal bleeding. From Sahi was describing, it seemed to be something else. Either she was just in shock, knocked unconscious or it was just something else all together. They did not know themselves. They weren't physicians, doctors, coremen or medics. Let alone very knowledgeable of her actual physiology or of her esoteric energies. The other stood by near her.

"Best thing we can do right now is move her away from here. I'm calling in an extraction."

"Mind explaining that thing you took from her hand and put into your pocket?"

They'd have to have attention if they had to survive this long. It was something trained. By life or by their time spent on the battlefield. Very little got past them. Especially in an environment like this, when you have pay attention to everything.

@maverick_6:

"Huh?" Sahi asked of their question. "Oh...it's the Key of Time, an ancient Time Siphon artifact that Raeyn is the guardian of. He must have used it in the vortex somehow or it wouldn't be glowing." Sahi said. "I'm keeping it until he gets better. As next of kin it falls to me to keep it safe." Sahi brushed some stray hairs from Raeyn's face. "Where are you taking us?" She asked, shifting her gaze momentarily to the Maverick troops. She was putting her life and her father's life in their hands and needed to know where it was they were extracting to.

(and I'm just about out of this one, lol)

@theflashfire

Before she knew it she vanished from the city and was instantly teleported to another dimension entirely. Fire all around her, roaring from every direction that only intensified her fear, caused her energy to hit it’s peak. Her heart was racing and pounding at the same time with palpations, she swore that oxygen was almost non-existence anymore. Everything she feared, fire… the fire that cursed her family, the fire that took her sister, her mother, brother… herself. Everything horrible that has happened in her life was due to fire and now it was everywhere! She dropped down to her knees as her flames began to coil around her, her head held by her hands as she screamed in fear more than pain. Then, it happened.

An eruption of fire that was as hot as the atomic bomb created back in World War II rushed forth from the Fire Goddess in every direction. However, because Zoe was in another dimension entirely, there was no destruction of business, homes and families, at least not by Nova’s hands, all thanks to Jaired. But the speed force foundation did tremble under her power, which was only a fraction. This wasn’t her full power, thankfully, but it was still dangerous. When the explosion passed Zoe was left breathing heavily on the ground, her hands pressed firmly on the ground as the effects of Marcus fear gas ran its course. What should have rendered her unconscious simply allowed her to regain control over self once more… well… as much control as she did with the sickness still coursing through her veins.

Her head slowly began rising up, her features still of that was manipulated by the virus. While the virus didn’t necessarily make her align herself with good or evil, the manipulation of the virus due to Ziccarra’s darkness did force her to work under her name. But for a moment, just a second, her mind was clear, and her eyes locked onto Jaired’s filled with fear and worry. She couldn’t waste time. “Jaired, it’s a virus, please you have to stop me, please-“ She paused as a sharp pain shot through her entire body, forcing her wrap her arms around her abdomen once more as she suddenly spewed her blood upon the ground. The Virus quickly retaking control of Zoe as her eyes gave off the sickly green glow. Wiping the blood from her face with her fingers, the infected hero slowly she stood up, a venomous grin appearing on her face as she began to feel a new power around her… the flames of the speed force.

Her head began to tilt to the side, as if her mind began to fill with curiosity as she continued to stay silent. If the two of them were trapped in this 'speed force' could she tap into its power too? The flames that made up the power that was the speed force was now roaring around her, dancing seductively, calling out to her… begging her to take them. Quickly throwing out her hands towards the flames they began to collect a large portion. The flames of the speed force surrounding her body, as if betraying Flash Fire before his eyes. She couldn’t hold back a chuckle as she then absorbed the living flame, and instantly she could feel the effects of it course through her body. It was as if it was vibrating, moving so quickly it was difficult for her to keep herself still. She only wanted to do one thing now… run.

“Thank you.” She gave a toothy grin as her eyes focused on the man before her, teammate and friend. Without another word she sprinted forward, the power of the speed force coursing through her body as she moved faster than she had ever done so before until nothing left was a blur was left as she exited the time force. In a thundering boom she returned to the battle with her new found abilities.

Without stopping her eyes fixated forward each of her new targets in view as she ran full force across Madrid using her thermal seeking abilities to hunt down her pray. First was around the Palace, the daughters of Marcos (@leah_liafador) as she ran pass them in a gust of heated wind attempting to scratch both of them with her bloody fingers. Next was the men of (@maverick_6) Maverick, nothing but a blur as she darted from one man to the other attempting to infect all of them with a single scratch mark using her thermal and new found speed to not only use extreme temperature to cut through their armor but also vibrated her hands to try and assist in pricing through to infect each of them. From there the contagious fire goddess ran towards the area of the vortexes. Her first was the God Demon himself, (@dreadpool10) Dante. She ran up towards the occupied King of Power by running from one levitating debris, that was being pulled up to the vortex, to another, never missing a step, never slowing down until she reached him, attempting to infect him with a single bloody scratch before fixating towards the Sapphire Goddess herself as her fingers attempted to graze upon her skin as well. Quickly shifting she moved towards the Reality M survivor and the (@kaylen_knightfall) young Knightfall, zooming right past them in a blur of crimson with the intent of infecting them both. Continuing to go upwards towards the vortex her eyes zeroed in on the (@felix_faraday) young champion, Felix. The pull of the dual vortexes actually assisted in her speed upward towards the young hero as she then attempted to dig her bloody fingers into his skin by using her thermal and speed abilities. But never once did she stop running, instead she came and went without a word and then quickly made her way back to her master, all of this taking just seconds. Every person the pyrohero attempted to infect, if successful would undergo the symptoms of the virus followed by becoming the herald of Queen Ziccarra.

Finally coming up to (@shanana) Ziccarra her attention didn’t even seem to glance at Marcus, knowing he was already infected, he didn’t attract her as much as the newest member to join the battle did… Bradshaw. Like a meat shield, the Herald of Ziccarra stopped between (@maverick_6) The Gunman and The Cardinal Goddess. Using the heat generated from the friction of her running, she quickly reverted it to increase her durability raising up her right arm as she could feel the Bradshaw’s blade pierce into her arm about halfway through and as soon as she felt the blade begin to tremble with vibration she quickly matched the waveform she felt with her new powers thanks to Jaried and his speed force to minimize the damage done to her muscle, tendons, nerves and ligaments. But not a single expression of pain could be seen on the Goddess face, instead an amused grin was there. As the blade was withdrawn, a gush of Zoe’s infected blood rushed out of her wound. With a sadistic grin she shook her wound outward towards him as her crimson fluid flew towards him before licking her wound clean. She knew who this man, she knew of his toy’s and abilities thanks to S.T.R.I.K.E but in turn, he knew of her abilities… or at least he did until she became a speedster minutes ago.

Her body roared to life with a blazing glory with temperatures reaching a staggering 100,000F, which was almost ten times hotter than the Earth’s core. But unlike her unstable display of power just moments ago, she kept the extreme temperatures close to her own body. But anyone coming within a couple of feet of her, would surly feel the deadly effects of the viral Fire Goddess power. Not wasting time she took off in a blur, leaving a stream of fire behind her as she began encircling The Gunman attempting to entrap him inside a circle of fire that were as tall as the buildings around them. If this worked she would then suddenly stop and make her way into the circle itself, her flames no longer around her as she gave a taunting grin towards him. The flames burned as hot as the 100,000F but were moderately rising in temperature. She wondered… how much heat could Capt Bradshaw take before he would turn to ash?

If it didn’t work and he managed to avoid the entrapment she would then outstretch her hand and manipulate the flames to rush towards Bradshaw in a stream of fire, hoping to swallow him whole.

Everything was transpiring too fast battles erupted all over Spain, the forces of Maverick pushed the majority of Ziccarra’s Cardinal forces out of Madrid with the vast majority of them stationed around the palace gates. In a simple flash the threat of Zoe was gone, and Maya was left to watch her nephew battle her mother. As much as she wanted to aid Mark, she couldn’t. Partially because she still couldn’t bring herself to strike her ill mother, and partially because she knew intervening would only get in Mark’s way.

The moment following Ziccarra’s return was filled with enormous amounts of energy outburst on part of the Outlaw Goddess. Maya could do nothing, only protect herself with a series of shield constructs to soften the impact, but even still the untamed raw power of the Outlaw Queen sent her flying across the dilapidated streets of Madrid.

“Maya, get in the fight!” A voice called out. She wasn’t sure if it was genuine but it sounded a lot like Catalina. Reeling from the force of the blast, her russet eyes gaze upon the sight of her lithe-framed deceased sister.

“Come on, get up” Cat screamed, helping her downed sister back to a vertical base. “Leonel was right, Mark was right. It’s time you believe it to Maya. Whatever moms going through has put her too far over the edge. We have to put her down.”

The 5’11 Cardinal Princess dropped her head low in pain, how could she kill her own mother. “I-I-can’t Cat…I just can’t” she sobbed, her voice turning into light squeal.

“Maya…look around you…she’s infected this place. Decay, fungus even the air is turning foul. The Cardinal God of plague and pestilence infects her…if you don’t kill her now…all of Spain will be infected.”

Maya rose to her feet, Cat was right, she hadn’t noticed it; but the air got significantly toxic. Mushrooms sprouted all across the urban area, and now a dense green fog was settling in the city.

The Cardinal Goddess of reality through her hands forward, not to attack any of the members at play, but to manipulate the probability. She sought to raise the chance that either Bradshaw or Mark could penetrate Ziccarra’s L-Tac87 armor. With it they could deal the blow needed to defeat Ziccarra once and for all. Just as Maya rejoined the fight, so did Zoe, but she was entirely too fast for Maya to even focus on.

Throwing her hands in Zoë’s general locale she sought to use her ability to erase powers to incapacitate Zoe, only…that did happen. The phoenix force took over instead of using her power to aid her friends and allies, she inadvertently sent a powerful blast of light magic at all involved. (Z,Nox, Bradshaw, and Zoe)

S.T.R.I.K.E Outpost- Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Commander Stacy, Commanding.

While the fighting in Madrid grew fierce, a new foe, a new challenger to the throne rose in Seville, and amidst the Spanish revolution, The Brahma Brotherhood moved in to take the reigns on the collapsing Liafador Empire. Maybe it was her brief tenure as Ziccarra’s best friend, or perhaps her time engaged in combat battling the Cardinals that forced them to bring her in, whatever the case it appears what they originally needed her for; changed with the inclusion of this new faction.

“Why do I get the feeling that your boss doesn’t know I’m here?” Emerald asked, hands fixed on her slim curves.

“She doesn’t and we need to keep it that way. With your skills you can probably understand why we called you, your ability to negate sound a phase makes this mission almost too easy.”

Emerald scoffed, how many times had she heard something similar; especially from her on again, off again love interest. “What exactly do you need me to do.” She asked only interested in the paycheck.

“Your mission is to infiltrate the Palacio de San Telmo, locate Susan Diaz, and take her to the extraction point marked on the tablet.”

“Seems simple enough, what’s my opposition look like?” She asked, direction her attention to Special Agent Hollins, and Agent Line, their faces would tell what Commander Stacy wasn’t.

“I aint even going to lie to yah hun, it’s a goddamn rat farm out dere! The Cardinals still have a heavy presence here, The Brahma Brotherhood has taken the government buildings, and we have a small task force here, making sure we can get people out of the city.”

Shortly after Hollins finished his brief, bombs…a lot of them. Shook the foundation, sending a concussive shockwave through the city. Close enough to scare the hell out of them, but far enough to not to any damage.

“Oh…uh…Maverick’s here too.”

“We’ll talk about what exactly you owe me, when I get back” Ashley murmured before disappearing into the city. Her eyes immediately saw the result of Maverick’s devastating airstrikes. This was just like Tibet all over again. With a quick snap of her fingers, Ashley negated the sound surrounding herself…no one would hear her, with that she set off on foot towards the government building.

@shanana: @timesiphon: @maverick_6: @zahra:

Madrid, Spain

The Spanish capital, in it's current state, was a domain of confusion. Rubble and debris from explosion littered the streets, collapsed buildings and rotting infrastructure blocked every route in sight, columns of smoke climbed into the air, and erratic civilians fled under fire. Madrid's layout, as a city, had become random. The streets were paved in blood and human remains, and marred by war. The rebel force, Konite-infused and loyal to Satar, fought alongside the Brahma Brotherhood, the Baabda Beast's terrorist faction, exchanging fire with Maverick's troops, gunfire conducting a symphony of urban warfare. Casualties accumulated, on both sides, and yet, neither side seemed intent on admitting defeat.

And to seem intent on gunning down all enemy forces and securing the city of Madrid, it was fundamental to Satar's strategy in this military campaign. His paramilitaries were spread out, across Spain, but focused in Madrid, and the region of Andalusia. Maverick was no ordinary foe. Unlike the armada of metahumans that came and went, they were tactical, fought as a unit, moved and engaged their adversaries as interrelated components of the same system. They were the world's most efficient military force. But the Brahma Brotherhood? There was no terrorist faction of their breed. Quickly, among the Brahma Brotherhood, squad tactics changed, communications transmitting between squad commanders. Units engaged with Maverick, now sought to minimize their exposure, and draw their foes in. In Madrid's deteriorating streets, the reckless exchange of fire was a deathtrap.

The Brahma Brotherhood moved, support squads hoping to delay Maverick's response with suppressive fire. Storms of blitzing ferrofluid, magnetically drawn and propelled, sought to butcher and cut down Maverick's troops. It packed the punch to bypass their armor, and conjured the cruelty to execute them without mercy. The Brotherhood's squads moved, their Mad Dogs relying on their sonar to study their surroundings and ensure that all danger areas were covered. To ensure that their security was three-dimensional and omnipresent. The squads in the front line moved, covered by the suppressive fire from their support squads, and assessing any danger areas that were not covered, before planting their mines and launching their toxic grenades in any uncovered danger areas. The numbers game was theirs. The Brahma Brotherhood and the rebels were great in quantity.

And their tactics sought to make good of that advantage. Maverick was the smaller unit. Their forces were more mobile. Through their slow but aggressive retreat into the more disheveled streets of Madrid, Satar's forces hoped to draw their foes into an ambush, so that allying rebel forces may flank then encircle them from behind, trapping them in a pocket of space wherein death was certain. Inside waning buildings and evacuated structures, the Brahma Brotherhood's snipers readied themselves, placing the butts of their rifles in the pockets of their firing shoulders, steadying their breath, relaxing their muscles before taking aim and firing. At supersonic velocities, radioactively charged rods, encased in magnetic fields and consuming up to half of their total mass, scorched the air and blitzed towards Maverick's forces, their increasing acceleration and superheated properties all but ensuring graphic penetration.

As fast and hot as can be, the rods sought to burn through armor, scorch their victims' viscera. Ah but as a weapon of cruelty, the rods, even in their failure to kill immediately, would cool off and plant the seeds of radiation poisoning. Maverick however, seized the moment and turned the tide in their favor with aerial warfare. Rounds born from the wrath of Zeus rained down on the Brahma Brotherhood, slaying many and convincing the others to seek refuge where they could. The Baabda Beast's hide, thickened by the overflowing power of his power ring, resisted, if only for the following minutes. But the rounds didn't bounce. They smashed into him and blasted him across the battlefield and into whichever building lay in his path. With the air knocked clean from his lungs, his body throttled, and his mind and vision blurring, his flesh bruised and swelled, and as the next wave of rounds came, his bones were cracked.

He'd been re-injured, and still the next rounds' intentions were cruel. They tore into his flesh, scorching what they could of his skin before piercing through his organs, spilling his blood and testing his resilience. He stood and moved, the rounds that stuck to his organs burning like superheated kidney stones. He endured, and through the might of his power ring, acted simply but logically. He watched the skies, spotted Maverick's aircraft, and conjured a construct.. a gargantuan, emerald arm that reached into the sky and sought to either swat away or seize the plane and smash it clean into the ground.

Seville, Andalusia, Spain

Elsewhere, in Andalusia, the majority of the Brahma Brotherhood and the rebel army spread, taking control but focusing primarily on the region's seat of power; Seville. Their campaign of persuasive propaganda broadcasting across the entire region, silver-tongued messages of deception. Insisting that Ziccarra's reign threatened Spain's end, pointing to Satar and the Brahma Brotherhood as the saviors of a nation by highlighting their military presence in the war and their distribution of Konite to every able bodied countryman willing to fight for their freedom. Broadcasting across homes was live footage of Satar and his forces in Madrid risking their lives for the betterment of Spain.

Theirs was not a hostile takeover. Instead, it was secured through the manipulation of public perception, and being at the right at the right time. Spain's military was in shambles and integrated into Ziccarra's Cardinals, most of which did battle in Madrid. Andalusia was largely unguarded, and after a string of propaganda, was secured by rebel forces. The Brahma Brotherhood was spread thin, it's units concentrated in Madrid, others in Seville, and the majority back in Gothic City. Across the rest of Andalusia, it was the rebel army, Konite coursing through their veins, that secured it on Satar's behalf. Armed to the teeth and equipped with weapons beyond what the generic Brahma Brother was allowed, those in Seville had stormed the 'Palacio de San Telmo', overthrew the regional government, and arrested it's former president, Susana Diaz.

The process however, was deliberately nonviolent. Whatever bombs were dropped that reduced portions of the city to rubble were endured. The Brahma Brotherhood and the rebel forces were under strict instruction not to engage in unnecessary combat, but to prioritize the securing of Andalusia and protection it's people; their most passionate supporters. In the 'Palacio de San Telmo', Susana Diaz was kept under house arrest. Rebels and Brahma Brothers seemed to be crawling in the government building, with two of each standing guard of Susana. Their instructions? To guard her until Satar returns from the battle in Madrid. Accused of being an accomplice in Ziccarra's war crimes against the Spanish people, Susana was to stand trial and face judgement.

And throughout the city, throughout the majority of Andalusia where the Brahma Brotherhood's flags were raised, the people telephoned, screamed, tweeted, and messaged for Susana to face justice. And yet, none, not even the Brotherhood, knew of the operative who now lurked in the shadows, intent on stealthily rescuing Andalusia's former regional president. And they were not prepared. While four or six armed cronies guarded Susana, the majority of the Brotherhood and their rebel allies were focused on one thing; maintaining their control and military presence in Andalusia.

@feral_nova@shanana@kaylen_knightfall@tassania_pettis@felix_faraday@maverick_6@_nox_@theflashfire

"Indeed? In that case, good fortune, boy," King Aventus briskly remarked, sparing Felix a contemplating glance as he immediately ceased absorption of the vortex's chaotic energies. Dante's arms once again smoothed along the sides of his frame as he began to make his descent, hands radiant with the rapidly fading, cobalt hue left from his previous actions to contain the vortex. In the middle of his descent, however, the demon came to an abrupt halt in mid-air, brows arched. Betraying an almost offhand composure, he seemed largely more alert, gaze flickering about as his unearthly senses detected... a something, hurtling towards this particlar area. Something fast, very fast.

He detected an eerie, uniquely resonating shift in the winds themselves, a swift and terrible rush that indicated the coming of a speedster. Something more than a speedster, boasting unbridled energies ultimately laced with horrid malevolence. He found himself at a lack of much time to think it over, muscles tensed as the contagious fire goddess zoomed by his position, carried through the roaring winds by the array of hovering debris. The coppery, now tainted scent of blood filled his nostrils as her thermal and speed enhanced fingers just barely skirted across his chest, absentmindedly descending as small, tattered tufts from his shirt was pulled upward.

What?! Fortunately gifted with a high degree of superhuman durability, her infectious scratch had just barely managed to cut into his skin, unnaturally scented trickles of blood seeping into the already regenerating scratch. In an instant, his head had begun to pound, clutching either sides of it as the virus internally struggled to bypass his immune system, godly empowered systems already at work to prevent the virus from taking thorough potency. His fist clenched, sculpted frame enveloped in flames as he sought to keep hold of his will, his sanity. He silently cursed himself for not adorning his armor, surely it would have prevented this mental struggle! Would have freed him of the lingering urge to transport himself to Ziccarra's side, to carry out her will unquestionably!

"No."

He murmured the word with a commanding growl, a reverberating boom that exemplified the inner will, the utmost desire to retain control of himself. No matter the case, no matter the cause, no matter the scale... he would not fall victim to this attempt at his mind. The fleeting touch of the virus' shadowed embraced was naught but another obstacle. But Aventus did not surrender, and he served none but himself.

Dante's fists tightened, the demonic fires that threatened to transport him to a supposed master purged in an instant. His eyes had begun to vibrantly gleam, seething as he glanced in the direction where he sensed the woman whom the virus would have him serve. The wicked wrath that followed what would have inevitably been his service to the outlaw queen enabled him to maintain his individuality from subservience. His disdain against the attempt at his mind had ultimately saved him. And it had given him incentive...

"Must you learn as well, girl?"He lowly began, his body momentarily becoming transparent in an odd shimmer as he utilized the mystical ability of teleportation once more, this time in close proximity to Zoe herself. His intent? Not to attack, or otherwise harm Zoe in any way, for was she anything more than a paw? No, his intent was to incapacitate Ziccarra herself, to go after the queen. Her apparent madness, her blatant, indirect attempt at his subservience through the fire goddess had earned her his presence, and even more, his ire. Dealing with her was an absolute necessity.

"NO ONE, carries any ability to so much as scratch me unless I deem it acceptable," His features were wrought with exasperation, hovering inches above ground. His immediate materialization at a certain distance from Zoe had fortunately saved him from being struck with the force of Maya's mystical blast of light magic, but even its presence, its emission nearly causing him to wince.

The inevitable damage it could deal against those present luckily troubled him naught, particularly if it struck Z herself. Regardless of whether or not she was struck with the Cardinal Goddess of Reality's blast, the back of him would be bathed in the radiance of several dozen portals, its infinite depths loaded with weaponry brought forth from the vault's quintessential capabilities. From afar, he would commence the rapid fire of dozens of bladed weapons at Ziccarra, forged and cultivated in likeness to weapons crafted by the Aesir Gods themselves. Should the weapons make any form of contact, they would immediately detonate like mystical bomds, empowered by the vault's energies.

@maverick_6: @feral_nova: @dreadpool10:The Cardinal Goddess reset back to her former position with her blade in hand, smirk stretched across the length of her face, ready to go again. Dust littered the air thanks to her powerful psionic explosion coupled with her telekinesis. If turning on her own family wasn’t enough, she showed them through her willingness to negligently discharge her own energy. The result? Mass destruction, the most opulent dwellings in downtown Madrid are now dust and dado’s.

As the Queen zeroed in on her nephew, she remained ignorant to the forces moving around her. She was almost certain her psionic shockwave killed whoever shot her a few moments ago—but she was wrong. With a quick flash, Feral Nova returned and just in time too, the Fire Goddess wedged herself in-between Ziccarra and Bradshaw, her would be attacker.

She recognized him, Bradshaw of Maverick; she’d learned that he and his faction played a major role in the battle of Emerald City; she also sorta kind of fought alongside him in the invasion of Asgard. He was impressive, but also a nuisance. Throwing her hands back to catch the agile little human off guard, she intended to launch a series of psionic daggers in his direction, however; Maya’s unexpected energy outburst hit the outlaw queen.

An attack that should’ve been negated by both her armor and tactikenesis hit her full on, sending her body skipping across the shattered road. “I-forgot…about you…” Ziccarra whispered, trying to rise back to her feet with shuddering muscles.

The attack left large areas of her skin blood red, whatever the energy didn’t do, the fall on the ground picked up. It was in this moment that Z realized her plan was still a go. A dense almost toxic fog had descended on the city. As a matter of fact the new atmosphere cause her wounds to burn and ache.

Finally, Z rose favoring the shoulder Bradshaw had penetrated, throughout the entirety of the fight; she was able to use her Cardinal Core skills to shake the feeling of pain, but Maya’s light magic negated her mental fortitude.

Scanning from right to left, she took note to Mark’s location. With Nova currently engaged with Bradshaw, she could once again take to killing her grandson—or so she thought.

Her face took an incandescent glow, too fast to move, a new opponent sent a cache of floating weapons in her direction. Thanks to both Maya and Bradshaw, speed was out of the question, so she settled on the next best thing. Curling into a ball, the Illusion Queen construct a Psionic wall fortified by her own mind, the projectiles slam into the wall exploding on impact.

One by one, the small explosions weakened her shield, with the pain on her flesh and shoulder her fortitude dropped, allowing one of the mystical blade to not only pierce her pristine skin, but explode on a direct hit.

More debris flooded the area, again her armor didn’t hold, in fact, the mangled construct fell completely off her chest leaving her breast exposed. Her entire bloody upper body was littered in an intricate string of what looked like contour lines…a indication of the virus at work.

“Heh…” she chuckled, laughing at how perky her breast still happened to be. “You brought this upon yourself.” She taunted before digging in her satchel and retrieving the heart of the Cardinal Goddess of Darkness, Catalina Liafador.

“With this heart, I command the cold, make what’s pure, as black as coal.” Blowing over the heart the magical dust shot right towards Maya, it’s whom Amora drew it up for.

As the curse hit the pure hearted reality princess, the winds picked up blowing at a force just below a hurricane, lightning struck all over the city, but the Cardinal Queen…just stood laughing. A massive black cloud eclipse the city cutting off long distance sight for just a short while.

It’s was one of her plans all along, her daughter, Maya she was so pure but naïve, yet she possessed the power to change just about anything. What would happen when a person who could think no foul thoughts suddenly became exposed to them.

Using the diversion of Maya to try and catch Mark off guard, Ziccarra once again lunged at him with the intent on impaling him with her blade before disappearing in another teleport she needed to becareful not to make contact at the exact moment of teleportation…or Mark would teleport too.

@leah_liafador

Her weakened body moved as quickly as it could through the Palace, knowing well that they knew she was missing and they would be looking for her. It was only a matter of time, but she had to get to her room, she had to get something from her room she refused to leave behind. She was already exhausted, she couldn’t fight off whatever Red Cardinal’s were left in the Palace, she had to hurry, she had to get back to Italy, she had to make sure Leah was alright. The White Cardinal leader could only hope that her own Cardinal’s had done their job, and trained her older sister for combat, if anything happened to her…

She pushed the bedroom door open and stumbled in, her usual prideful stance was now slouched over as her wounds were keeping her humble. Walking to bed she painfully knelt down, pushing a crimson rug that once laid there to the side to show a small latch. Grasping it with her wounded hands she forcefully pulled it open, wincing in pain as she did so until a reflection of light shone upon her face. It was her blade, one that was given to her by her father when she became leader of the White Cardinals years ago. She kept it safe and hidden in her room at times like this, when she was outnumbered and without a weapon. Grasping the hilt she lift it up as she could visibly see her hand tremble with weakness, she could barely hold the blade, none the less use it. She was going to have to mustard whatever strength she had to make it through the Palace alive. Just then the rapid footsteps could be heard as Zeon quickly stood, her blade in hand but her arms almost too weak to lift it. She grit her teeth, her eyes focused forward as a crimson cardinal came rushing in. But before she could even attempt to defend herself the cardinal’s head shot back and fell lifelessly on the ground, blood pouring from bullet wound to the middle of the forehead as the born White Cardinal stood almost confused as her loyal White Cardinals came rushing in.

A sigh of almost relief could be heard from her as each of them surrounded her in a protective circle with the Liafador in the middle. Another one of their Zia’s warriors came in only to hear the same gunshot followed by the cardinal falling to the ground once more with a thud. “Aspettare.” <Wait> she quickly made her way to her dresser where a small jewelry box sat, opening it she took out a small bracelet, the seashell bracelet that Chance had made her from what seemed another life ago. Slipping it on she nod to the Cardinals, giving them the silent order to get her out of the Palace. There was no time for talk as the group quickly made their way through the Palace, killing anyone who got in their path with occasional help from the unknown gunwoman.

Finally taking a breath, the questions were beginning to be asked. “Perche sei qui? Dove si trova Leah? Si dovrebbe essere con lei, non qui.” <Why are you here? Where is Leah? You should be with her, not here.> Worry of loosing another sister flooded her mind as her loyal warriors began to tell her that her Leah was in fact the gunwoman who was helping them. A sense of pride in her sister filled the recently captured Liafador. She had planned this rescue for Zeon, risked her life to come back into Spain and the Palace to get her. As Cardinals attempted began to tend to her wounds only to have the stubborn Liafador refuse treatment of any sort until she saw her sister, wanting to make sure she was ok. “Ci porti a mia sorella, ora!” <Take me to my sister, now!> She sat with her eyes locked on her Cardinals that tried to tell her over and over again that Leah was on her way, but she seemed to refuse to believe them until she saw her with her own eyes.

"Sister... You've certainly looked better."

Zeon’s head quickly snapped in the direction of where the all too familiar voice came from as she looked up at her sibling. Completely ignoring her sisters hand she forced herself to stand, even though her legs felt as if they were about to crumble under her, and wrapped her arms around Leah in a tight embrace, but at the same time, used Leah to help her keep her standing. “Grazie a Dio stai bene.” <Thank God you’re ok.> she whispered before pulling away, her hands holding onto Leah’s arms for support as she could feel the weight of cinder blocks be lifted from her chest. Leah was ok, she was fine, nothing happened to her.

“Thank you Leah.” A faint smile appeared on her lips before vanishing. “But we’re not safe here.” She slowly let her sister go, allowing the Cardinals to assist her back to sitting as she grasped an ice pack that one had brought her moments ago. “The Vortexes that hoover above the city… they are just the start, if I know our aunt, she has bigger plans, ones that are going to involve someone in the family.” Zeon had fought along Ziccarra’s long before she had become a family woman and remembered all too well of her manipulative and twisted plans of attack that used to conjure up for those who opposed her. “I heard talk among the Red Cardinals that our Aunt had visited Amora, a evil Goddess of magic. I don't know what deal was struck between the two, but I don't wish to wait around to find out." She looked at her Cardinals. "She's downtown at the moment, we have to go there and help... kill her." She spoke in her usual cold tone.

Before any other words could be exchanged, a massive ‘BOOM’ could be heard coming into the city and Zeon’s head perked up as the Cardinals quickly got onto the defense standing before the two Liafadors with weapons drawn. The doors opened suddenly as a blurred crimson figure came rushing in like a demon, and the Wildcard Liafador’s first instinct was to protect her sister. Adrenaline kicked in as she leaped up from where she sat and threw herself on of her sister, using herself as a shield as she forced her to the ground with Zeon on top of her as she felt a small scratch along her shoulder before the figure made it’s way out as quickly as it came in.

Zeon’s lift her head up looking in the direction the figure left and with the help of the Cardinal’s stood up as the other Cardinal’s helped Leah from the ground as well. Looking at the wound she now carried on her shoulder the Liafador eyes began to scan her own sister for wounds only to find none. "Are you ok?" She asked as she could feel her wound begin to burn unusually, but ignored it, looking out the window for a moment as the winds began to roar mercilessly throughout the city as if a storm had suddenly came upon them. The sky darken by ominous clouds while they boomed with thunder and the empty city was struck by lightning in every direction, causing the power in the Palace to be cut off. "It's begun." she whispered. "Whatever the true plan of all this was... Ziccarra had already begun it." She looked over to her older sister. "We must brace ourselves for whatever is about to happen."

Dizziness began to suddenly sweep over her as she stumbled away from the window, the room felt as if it was beginning to spin as she dropped to her knees becoming diaphoretic, the White Cardinal began breathing heavily as nausea swept over her. "Stay away!" She held one hand out to anyone who attempted to come near her, unsure of what was happening to her. Her stomach began to burn with pain as if she had drank hydrochloric acid. Lowering her head she began to feel something come from her stomach, up her throat and the taste of a warm metallic fluid filled her mouth before she heaved forward, blood spewing from between her lips and upon the marble flooring. She had heard about this before, from her father, it was The Necodexa Virus. Her father wanted to use it in the past, but it proved to be more destructive to the host than he would have liked. She heard her aunt had used the virus in Emerald City... but now it had seemed to have made it's way to Madrid and infected Zeon. But it didn't stop with one or two episodes, they were one right after another, only allowing Zeon to gasp for air in between. "Necodexa." She managed to get out between episodes.

Quickly the Cardinal's took their stance as one attempted to grasp Leah by the arm to pull her behind them away from Zeon, they knew what this meant, and quickly began to explain what was happening to The White Cardinal. As Zeon finally stopped she took in a final deep breath before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and fell limp to the ground on her side. Cardinals began quickly (but careful not to get any blood on them) restrain Zeon, knowing all too well what was about to happen to the Cardinal Leader. Just about a minute later, now tied up to a chair, the White Cardinal Liafador's eyes fluttered open. Her once chestnut eyes were now a sickly green as her pin point pupils darted from Cardinal to Cardinal, her face suddenly twisted with anger as she attempted to break the chains that held her only without any luck. While the virus naturally didn't see between 'good' or 'evil' it was manipulated by Ziccarra to force anyone who was infected, to become her servant, and at the moment, she wanted to fight in the name of the Outlawed Queen.

"LET ME GO!" She roared, her blood stained lips twisted with anger as she struggled to move in the chains that were currently holding her. While Zeon was a person who had issues with anger already, the virus doubled the amount of aggression that she already held which also determined exactly how much of a strength and speed she gained due to it. Like a captured feral beast she bucked in her seat, trying to free herself and over and over again. Even the sight of her sister didn't seem to calm her, instead, it made her even more violent as she began cursing in her native Italian tongue.

With the night taking over the sky, he could see better than before. All the other options would be futile. His eyes couldn’t see, his ears served as surrogate senses. Vibrations in the ground informed him of her location and her organs pumping blood reinforced it. The whistling the wind made against the blade as she moved gave him the ability to know where she would strike.

Strategically, The Noir Rose took a step sideways, placed his katana back in the case, and allowed the sword to stab him in between the ribs. The virus assisted with the pain; regardless a blade in the ribs was a blade in the ribs. He had started looking for a pattern since the first time she teleported, a useful power like that was bound to be abused. He tightly held onto the extended wrist and did not let her to detract the blade.

His gamble paid off, they teleported to another location. The Black Mamba took a step towards the blade, his teeth grinded themselves so tightly that they chipped. Blood begun covering the blade, it ran down like a cul de sac road. So close that from far away it seemed like they were asking for forgiveness.

He grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her even closer, with his right arm he raised the sword given to him by his father and inserted it through her back. Snapping the blood vessels from her heart and puncturing his stomach. His left hand helped the right lift the sword upwards, decreasing the chances they had for survival.

Everything begun darkening, he started removing himself from the blades slowly. The sound that his entrails made as they were being kissed by the metal was one of the most horrific things he had ever experienced. There was no point in trying to stop the bleeding. No purpose in fighting fate. He just fell in the ground and looked at the sky.

For some the meaning of life is finding love and peace, he found neither, only hate and rejection wherever he went. No legacy left behind.

At first he couldn't find peace, he knew there was more that he could have done, so many regrets. Maybe he could have tried to be happy with Ashley and Maya. At least he was able to make peace with one before leaving. It was cruel, after being apart for so long he had to abandon Ashley. That was his biggest regret, putting her through that again, hurting her.

He wanted to go back and make things right for the Liafadors, to apologize for the hurtful things he said. Mark wanted to kiss Cecilia one last time, to let her know that he was sorry and that he loved her. He wanted to give the other Quintus a chance to be his father, to share a last drink with Andres. Save Gothic city with the help of his friends. But he couldn't.

It took him a few moments to speak

“This world doesn’t need people like us. People who want to bully humanity into peace. It needs people with vision. I thought I could make a difference the past year, even if I pretended I didn’t care. When I realized I couldn’t I decide to pursue a vendetta that left me emptier than before. It didn’t change anything. I had the chance to enjoy my life, I saw a light in the abyss and I turned away, it hurt my eyes.

That’s what happens when you stay in the dark for too long. It’s too late now. I wish we could have been a family. I want to say I forgive you, that I forgive Quintus for all that he did while he was alive, but I don’t. Even if in my mind I know that it doesn’t matter anymore. I can’t. ”

The little light that remained in his eye flickered, he closed his crimson lip and saved his breath for someone who actually needed it. He could feel everything, the blood filling up his lungs, a fading heartbeat, he hoped that God was not real becuase he could not take another rejection.

Then the little shine in his iris faded.

@dreadpool10: @kaylen_knightfall: @feral_nova: @shanana: @_nox_:

*Alright. I can do this 'cause, in the immortal words of Kanye West...*

The brief moment of satiric reassurance as Felix watched his brothers-in-arms cautiously gain distance, reluctance in their wayward flight. They were heroes, of course the idea of leaving someone behind in the face of quantum obliteration littered their minds with subliminal worry. In the last moments of visual contact he played it off with a wide confident smile, but doubt was his real mental commodity. Gods had departed from the heavens, seeking refuge from the imminent decadence of their religion.

*..My life is dope and I do dope shit.*

A contemporary mental mantra cycled through his tachyon mindscape accompanied the initial recruitment of his strength. Felix's hands spread a bit past shoulder width, he pushed with all his extraherculean might and ever-so-slowly Leo's vortex started moving thanks to his even electromagnetic dispersion of his strength along the vortex's outer energetic layer. It's form remained stable, only bending slightly inwards around where Felix was pushing. Progress. Centimetres to decimetres, decimetres to metres as Felix hauled the massive abyss with ant-like parable. Until, at last, the two Liafador constructs made contact. Resistance was exterted by the Quantonium-spawn, a futile defense against it's accelerated analogue.

According to the laws of an Einsteinian (or static) universe, what would happen should the two would collide? Well, they would simply dissipate in a crackling display of vibrant energy, or more precisely the two equal forces would simply cancel out. How? As Newton's Third Law of Motion disctates, with both of their integrities compromised the vortexes would collapse into one another but not necessarily detonate and annihilate all of Madrid. The two equal parties would simply expend all their energy against one another, leaving only an after-shockwave to resonate from the point of collapse. Not as threatening, but still with enough bravado to endanger structures and beings in it's weakening reach.

Suddenly, he's heard a very special it. Subliminal registry in his hearing sensed a shriveling heartbeat.

"M-Mark?", he's turned away, one hand still attached to the construct, as deep confusion siezed his very mind. His eyes desperately shifting from location to location, frantically trying to find any signs of his friend. And then, in the moment of disarray and remote focus, a deranged speedster caught him by surprise. Her attack was swift, burning, unexpected.

There was no actual damage due to his ultradense dermis, however, she inadvertently achieved something else entirely. She transfered momentum. As he was still attached by his electromagnetic net, she had sent him drifting along the axis of Leo's vortex. He drifted until getting caught up between the two vortexes, clawing for a way out but it was too late. He was gone.

Swedish Wilderness;
North-East of Östersund.

A light flickered high on the skyline, a star fell.

It's impact marred the Earth for miles, releasing the soil into the air and obliterating everything in it's wake until finding stop in the frigid embrace of Scandinavian mountains. It watched the snow on the distant mountain range glitter in evening sunlight, in a state of deep confusion time passed indifferently. Seconds maybe hours, until, from the center of the crate it rose, covered in pastiches...pastiched on blood. God, and the unusual cold gnawing at it's every nosiceptor.

It's gait like that of a crippled veteran, barely holding it's chest together, it sought to ascend again. Just for gravity to reinstate it's undisputed mandate.

"N-n-no...", broken ribs and bloodied nose, Felix sought to fly again - jumped up and fell. "F-fly..." Jumped up and fell. "...F-f-fly!.." Jumped up and fell. "...FLY!.." Jumped up and fell to his knees, gripping the dust below himself in silent mourning. "Please...", The Young Champion bit his quivering lip. "...fly."

First the world took his parents in a bout of self-righteousness, then a decade later it forced Felix to excommunicate his remaining family and love, and now even sooner it took his best friend. If the world made men cruel, but left heroes broken and alone... then what good is it to be a hero?