Issue #1: The Coming Storm

I'm never gonna get there on time. I throw the scrambled eggs on a plate and put some butter on burnt toast before dropping it in front of my little brother Sean. "Eat. I know it's burnt, I don't want to hear it, you're not getting anything else so I'd better see some chewing. Well?" I give him the 'I mean business' look before I plop myself in the chair across from him and crunch on my barely edible burnt toast while finishing up my Biology lab homework. Every couple of chews I glance back at the clock. 11:45am. Shit.

Emma wasn't usually one for big celebrations or bigger crowds. But after that battle the year before, after Sage, it didn't feel right to skip out on it. And hey, they had been invited after all. So there she was, a bit early at Freedom Park. Not that she was dressed for the occasion just yet. Just dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie, long hair braided over her shoulder, Emma stood in line for one of the food trucks at the edge of the crowd, waiting for her chance at a pretzel. She moved forward mechanically as the line of people grew shorter, her eyes fixed on her phone as her fingers tapped away at yet another Bejeweled game rip-off.

Rama stares at his bed. Arrayed and hanging from the foot of the bed are his Aeon Crow outfit, and his comfortable clothes. Maybe the next costume I sew should have more black. And razors. And fake stitching. In his head, he hears papa-ji, "Now that wouldn't be very heroic would be. Look at him, my son, the Angry Beetle. You must be proud of your gifts, like your momma is proud." He sighs and grabs the Aeon Crow duds. For good measure, he grabs the torn canvas trenchcoat he got from the army surplus. Wouldn't be heroic to

His mother is spooning curried yogurt onto naan when he gets upstairs. "Momma-ji, I don't have time to eat."

"What is this now? You can telepurr yourself anywhere you want and you don't have time for lunch?"

"It's teleport, momma. They have food trucks there. I was going to..." he trails off. He couldn't talk about girls with his mother. That would immediately start up some kind of intimate discussion about names of the oodles of grandchildren that would be expected, and "You must bring her to dinner so we can grill her mercilessly."

"Yes, momma-ji." She smiles and turns back to the kitchen. He looks outside and BRRAPP he was out and running for the bus, slinging his WW2 canvas trenchcoat on. Riding the bus wasn't very heroic, either. Best not be seen.

Jennifer walks through the crowds at Freedom Park, with a small smile of satisfaction curling one side of her mouth. I never could have done this two years ago...walk through all these people without going insane. She thinks back to their victory a year ago, and on how much has happened since. She chuckles a little at how people would respond if she wasn't in her disguise as a "normal college freshman": no mask, suit or weapons to be seen. Just a girl with a backpack, nothing to see here. She looks around, trying to see if she can spot any of her friends. She sees Emma waiting in line for a pretzel and slips quietly in behind her, peering over her shoulder. "Candy Crush? Seriously? I thought only old people played that, she teases affectionately.

Just on the south side of Freedom Park was a tall, brick-red apartment tower. Ollie was on its roof, watching the festivities from a distance with an uninterested expression. She was hovering just a few feet off of the roof's edge with nothing beneath her, exerting her telekinesis to remain afloat. Legs crossed, elbow propped up on her knee and her chin resting on her fist she squinted her eyes at the festival to see if she could recognize anyone. She spotted a few costumes or color schemes of adult heroes that she knew, but she didn't exactly have telescopic sight so it was difficult to make out anyone she was more familiar with. Besides, she definitely couldn't go down there now, with what she was wearing. Ollie was wearing her full Omen outfit; the black-and-yellow supersuit with a heavy, black hood.

Her thought process was disturbed by her ringtone, causing her levitation to falter momentarily. She floated back to the rooftop until she could get a solid footing, fished out her outdated flip phone and answered, "..Hi, mom." Her voice was scratchy and quiet.

A woman responded with a polish accent, "Hii, honey! You are at the park?"

"Yeah," Ollie says, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as she shifts her weight to the other foot, "I'm here. It's fun." She didn't try too hard to lie about it.

"Oh, my little Olesia, you celebrate. You deserve it." Ollie scratched at her head, chewing her lip for a moment. A simple response just wasn't coming to her, and so she stayed quiet.

Her mom picked up on it, as she always does, and spoke in a slow, insinuating tone, "You, my daughter, are a stellar young lady." Ollie quirked a brow and was about to mutter a questioning sound before her mom continued, "You are out of dis world. The amount of love I have for you is... astronomical. There was a humor in her mom's voice, as though she was only barely keeping from chuckling.

Ollie, resisting the tremendous urge to roll her eyes, scratched at her ear, "I'm not an alien, mom. You know I hate space puns." At that moment she could hear her dad's voice in the background.

"Is that our space-baby on the phone?" He asks with humor in his voice, "Did you tell her about the one from this morning? Um.."

Her mother chimes in, laughing, "Dis morning I asked your father, 'What should we do for Ollie's birthday party?'" Her mother sounds as though she can't finish the sentence, she's chuckling so hard, before she comes back to say, "He-.. hehe..he said, 'I don't know, but we better planet!'" Laughter from both parents fills the earpiece enough that Ollie has to pull the phone away.

This continued for some time with Ollie pacing the rooftop and observing the festivities from a distance, bearing the burden of two loving parents.

Xavier stood in line and looked at his phone again. He'd downloaded the map of where the souvenirs were and had a planned route. As he walked forward his hand absently went to his backpack where he had stored some extra bags for carrying items. Some of them were definitely going to be limited addition so getting multiples for trading was a must. After putting his phone away and shuffling in line again he mentally went over the route his hand moving through the air as if taking the turns already. Once he was in he looked around and found a bench close to the front and pulled out his camera taking a panoramic picture of the front of the park. Looking it over and satisfied he put his phone away and hopped down suddenly sprinting for the booths. Realization limited edition probably meant limited supply put a little extra desperation in his stride for items.

A giddy almost maniacal laugh escaped him thinking about if he could get everything on his list as he dashed through the crowd.

It's 12:20p when I stroll into the park in my full costume. I occasionally stop and take pictures with anyone who asks (considering just how many of us there are, it's always a surprise when someone recognizes me) before politely excusing myself to move closer to the staging area. I let Talia's insecurities fade to the background as Cammy takes over, all smiles and full of inspiring quotes for the little ones. Despite having had a second breakfast not 20 minutes ago I'm still starving. I glance towards the food stalls and start heading in the direction while looking around for anyone else I recognize.

My phone rings suddenly. By the ringtone I can tell it's someone on the team. Looking around at the crowd and expecting a frantic wave back from someone, I answer. "Hello- Where are you? What's wrong?"

"You can't go wrong with boots and a cape." I smile despite myself as I am wearing neither of those things. "What about that outfit you wore last week? That was a solid Hero costume."

"Absolutely! Remember, you're a hero no matter what, and everyone knows it. That's what today is about. You worry too much."

And suddenly Jennifer was right behind her, talking over her shoulder, and Emma started. A flash of blue in her eyes and the girl sucked in a breath, closed her eyes and settled. "Jen, god, don't scare me like that," she admonished with a roll of her eyes. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying to pretend stupid little jump scares wasn't likely to set Procyon on fire. Again.

"But nah, not Candy Crush Saga. This is Soda Pop Crush. Knock-off number 3 billion and one."

I hang up, and without paying attention accidentally run right into Void Fist (or, more accurately he runs into me). "Hey what's the rush? Are they giving away free food or something?"

Void Fist wobbles a bit and flails before he resettles several bags on himself while standing on one foot before he stands on two feet and exhales in relief. "No... there are some limited edition figures they're giving away from some of the food trucks that have 'secret menus'... Also did you know there was a limited edition Omen shirt when you buy fifteen or more Heroes of the VHast Invasion models?" he explains pointing at the Tshirt he has on over his Void Fist outfit.

"I... no... I didn't know that." I wonder if Sean would be into those. Huh.

Aeon Crow wanders into the crowd, brushing the bus smell off his shoulders. His shoulders slumped, he glowers his way through the assembled fans, trenchcoat wrapped tight. This spandex is so tight they'll be able to see I'm not circ- Hey, is that Cammy and Void Fist? He rushes over to join them.

"You want to get something to eat?" he asks rummaging through his back he pulls out a silicon and metal stick and attaches his phone to it before pointing at the food trucks. "That one has sweet and savory crepes." he offers already sidestepping in that direction making you wonder by how much luggage he has if it's special training or if he's just that much of a super hero fanboy.

"Hey, look who it is!" I give Crow a big wave and motion him over. "We were just about to get some food. Or, at least, I was. I have no idea what he's doing. Something about collectibles?"

Omen sat on the edge of the rooftop, legs dangling off the side as she had her head cocked against her shoulder to hold her phone to her ear. She kept a soda can floating freely over the edge of the building, repeatedly crushing it and reforming it as she talked to her mother.

"I'm very proud of you, Olesia."

"I know, mom." She replied succinctly.

"Have fun with your friends today. I love you."

Ollie bit her lip and eventually replied, "Okay. I will. Bye, mom."

Her mom laughed, "Live long and proper." Ollie flipped her phone closed quickly, threatening to give her mother the satisfaction of her own brief chuckle. Of course, she'd be laughing more because her dorky mother couldn't get the quote right, but the attempt was sincere. Ollie pocketed her phone and resumed her perch, observing the park from the distance. She couldn't help but smirk after the interaction with her parents, as much as she tried not to.

Jen distractedly replies, "Uh-huh. You seen any of the others?" She peers around at the crowd again, oblivious to her brush with death.

Ollie stiffens in surprise, her heart sinking in her chest, but she (unsuccessfully) tries to seem nonchalant about it. Typically she's the one doing that to others and it was strange to be on the receiving end of it. She could only wonder how much of her conversation Luke had heard. She doesn't make eye contact, simply peering out at the festival, "I'm thinking about a large, vulnerable mass of people all gathered in one place."

She frowns, "No, I need to stay here and keep watch." Her eyes glance in Luke's direction before snapping forward again, "You?"

Ollie looked down between her feet at the wall of the apartment tower that descended far below to the street. She felt a knot in her stomach when Luke spoke; She felt like an outsider. But that's what she was going for, right? Be distant and inhuman to keep the Compiler at bay.

Her thought was disrupted when Luke stood. She turned and looked at him momentarily. Her eyes drifted to the side as she replied simply, "Okay." She pondered over whether or not to say thanks, but by the time she made a decision, the moment had passed. She stayed quiet and looked back at the festival, wondering what to do.

Void Fist edges away from Chameleon and the approaching Aeon Crow pointing towards the food trucks a bit quicker and gets in line fiddles with his phone and starts moving the stick around in the air above him.

Aeon Crow smiles at Cammy's suggestion of food, and quickly falls into place following Void Fist. He frowns at the taco truck remembering some awkward moments on a long bus ride from such a venue. He points at a gourmet hotdog truck, salivating over the thought of....

With Blitz's comment, he momentarily flinches, and a dozen tiny black birds spring from his pockets. "Vishnu's right arm! You startled, um, Cammy!" He then looks around, and shrugs furtively.

"It's alright. It would be better with more food. The lines are insane." I clutch my growling stomach.

She shook her head, finally stuffing her phone into her pocket. "Nah, not yet. I'm sure they're around somewhere." And now they were finally up at the truck window. "Want a pretzel? It's on me," she offered Jennifer, already pulling out a few crumpled bills.

Ollie looks down only after she's sure Luke has vanished. A strange tingle passes over her at the discharged energy from Luke's disappearing act. Her eyes go back down to stare at the street far below her, and then lift to look at the festival. Ollie spins around, swinging her feet onto the roof again before rising. The backpack she kept with her normal clothes is by the stairwell, so she heads on over to get changed. Her "civvies," as she calls them, were some black jeans, sneakers and a black jacket, which went over her suit with only a little struggle and discomfort. She decides to keep her hood down; Omen wore the hood, not Ollie, and she's probably a little less recognizable to the population with her face showing.

Some minutes later, after a clumsy telekinesis-aided landing in the alley and some casual jaywalking, Ollie finds herself within Freedom Park. She sends a quick text to Luke:

I'm here.

Jennifer shakes her head, "I'm good. Just ate."

"Welp, I'm gonna remember that when you end up asking for a bite." There was a quirky grin on her lips, feeling more relaxed now that there was someone she knew nearby. And a moment later she was stepping away from the food court, hot and fresh salted pretzel in hand.

"Oh hey, is that Ollie?" she asked back to Jen. Not that she needed an answer as she was suddenly waving and jogging up to Omen. "Hey, Ollie. Glad you made it." A brief pause, and she was tearing off a piece of her pretzel, offering it up to Ollie. "Want a bite?"

Hecate jogs up seeing all the activity and smelling the food cooking in the serving trucks.
She walked around trying to get the lay of the land and see if she could find any of her friends and fellow Young Nebulae.

Checking my pockets for cash, I realize I have $1.64. I glance around the booths for anything in that range and silently curse myself for not taking any money out of Uncle's wallet while he was asleep. Never thought I'd wish it was a school day. Chicken nuggets smothered in ketchup sound pretty good right about now.

I yell over to Void standing on line. "Hey get me a chili cheese dog! You totally owe me!"

Void Fist extends the stick his cameras on and takes pictures of Blitz. Seeing Aeon Crow and Chameleon getting into line but looking at the competition he wonders. Pulling down his phone he searches up the various food trucks to see who's currently active and making comments and starts tapping his away his thumbs a blur.

So who's your favorite young nova? Would you want them to stop by your truck? Free food might get them over at your food truck. We are growing teens so we get hungry. Also any limited edition items would likely sweeten the invitiation if you know what I'm saying. #freeadvertising #scratcheachothersbacks

After sending out a few messages he waits since the line is the line jumping the line may be kind of acceptable but free food well he could wait for free food.

"I'm trying to see who wants to give us free food, we might have to say it's delicious and amazing..." Void Fist lets Aeon Crow and Chameleon know as he waits quietly.

"No... unless you have any of the limited merch they only gave to the first 100 that came in today! If so yes?" Void states drooling a bit about sweet limited edition merchandise... Flashbacks to being excited about the Void Fist Coasters but the fact they're throwing them at people and it looks more like it says Loidfist with a guy in a jade green outfit... his expression devolves and his lower lip starts to quiver "Why'd it have to be Green!!!" he complains out loud pawing at Sunspot for comfort.

"Hey Ollie."

Adam slowly wanders through the crowd, not at all bothered by the number of people around him. He'd grown quite accustomed to navigating through large groups in the month he's been traveling. He originally planned to wander for longer than he has already, but since today is a weird sort-of birthday for him, he feels obligated to make an appearance, even if it's a low-profile one. It's pretty doubtful that anyone would peg him as a hero of any kind based on how he looked; a torn-up pair of jeans, a hoodie, and a guitar case don't exactly scream "superhero" to most. Even if it did, Adam's appearance had changed somewhat since most had seen him, looking almost entirely desaturated of color. As a result, he decides to wander the area on the lookout for his teammates, starting near the food trucks.

Ollie glanced around at the others in the park, trying to find anyone that she recognized while trying to hide in plain sight at the same time. Upon seeing Emma jogging up to her, Ollie raised a hand to her hood, about to flip it up. She was generally used to concealing her face around her team, not meeting with them outside of "work" all that often. It dawned on her that she preferred to remain unrecognized by the populace, and so she turned the raised hand into a slight wave back at Emma and Jen. "Hey," she said quietly in that scratchy voice, tucking one hand back into her jacket pocket.

Ollie's eyes seemed to go anywhere but directly at Emma, and they focused in on her offer of a pretzel when presented. "Sure," she says, taking the offer and immediately saying "Thanks" without her typical hesitation. She wasn't even hungry. "Hey, Jen," she says back to her other teammate when she comes up, "Have you guys seen any of the others?"

Hecate after a time looked for a spot to lay on the grass and look up at the sky.
She watched the clouds and birds passing by which made her smile.
It was so much better out here outside of the Pantheon lab.

After a while she got up and stretched and decided to hop up someplace high so she could get a better view of the park and
see if she could see any of the bright costumes of her friends.

I internally sigh before reaching towards the obscenely large cotton candy in Blitz's hands. I give him a grin. "Since you offered and all."

Emma just kept smiling as Ollie took the pretzel, quietly noting the way she didn't really look at her. Ollie never seemed to look directly at her too much. But Emma pushed that almost melancholy thought away (she couldn't really blame anyone, after all), and just shrugged her shoulders. "Nope, not yet. Let's see..." she trailed off, pulling out her cell phone and quickly typing out a text to Void Fist.

[Text] Here with Ollie and Jen.
[Text] Where are you?

Complete with an emoticon of a pretzel. Just because.

Void Fist pulls himself together a bit when he gets some notifications and texts back.

"By the Food Trucks trying to get free food, under Blitz #freecottoncandy and Sunspot #flyingdowner."

Ollie's mind wandered a bit as Emma tapped away at her phone. She stole a couple glances at her redheaded teammate and nearly cracked a smile (heaven forbid). As her mind went to a happy place, it was quickly dragged back out of it when Ollie recalled that Jen - who was right next to her - was a telepath. Her eyes widened with the realization as she glanced over at Jennifer, her heart sinking as she pondered if Jen could hear her thoughts a moment ago.

Rama snags a couple of chili cheese dogs, paying for them both, and hands one to Cammy. "Oh gods, this is going to be awesome," before biting too much off. As chili spreads on his cheeks, he groans in pleasure. "So much tasties," he mumbles with a full mouth.

After finishing it in a few bites, he wipes his cheeks clean and refocuses on his surroundings. "What the - Blitz?" He looks embarrassed and angry.

[Text] omasdfgasdf. Blitz is there!!!???
[Text] btw, you better save me some #freecottoncandy

Emma lowered her phone, her smile just a touch on the side of manic giddy. Okay, so she was still a bit of a Superhero fangirl. "They're by the food trucks. Hanging out with Blitz," she said, a slight bounce to her step as she turned. And then she paused, looking around, because she was pretty sure they weren't anywhere near pretzel land. "Uh, the other food trucks, I guess."

I lean over and give Crow a peck on the cheek. "Thanks!" Then I walk off with the chili cheese dog, turn away from him and begin to scarf it down as quickly and carefully as possible in an attempt to not to make a huge mess. OMG why did I do that?? Stay cool... holy shit this chili cheese dog is amaaaazing! I close my eyes and bask in the cheeseness. This is probably the best thing damn thing I've eaten in my entire life.

Seeing Ollie's reaction, Jennifer sighs and looks sad. "From the look on your face, you think I'm reading your mind, again. I told you...that's not something I'm good at yet, and I would never do that to a friend or teammate without her permission. 'sides, in a place like this, I'd be crazy to open up...so many people..." she looks briefly frightened, then puts on her confident face once more. She notices Emma's excitement. "C'mon, I think she found the rest of the gang. Or Blitz. Hard to tell."

Aeon Crow's eyes go super-wide, so he punches Void Fist on the shoulder. "Did you say merch? What did you get?" Stay cool, man.

Ollie doesn't reply to Jen's explanation with anything more than just a look of acknowledgement. She falls in line well behind the two of them, shoving her hands deep into her pockets. Her eyes lower to the ground in front of her as she's lost in thought, and she suddenly wishes she'd stayed on the rooftop instead of coming down into the park.

Void Fist having not gotten any responses has shuffled through the line for crepes and is mid nom session between a pizza crepe and Korean style bbq fried chicken crepe in one hand and a strawberry banana crepe and chocolate creation with nuts it seems in the other. With his cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk while he chews he spreads his arms to show the limited edition Omen shirt posing before he seems to strain poking his phone with one pinky to turn it around to go through the slideshow of merchandise he's gotten plus the limited edition swag. There seems to be a lot of poseable models of heroes and young heroes, a stack of green coasters, various posters, among other things. It would explain why his superhero outfit has such a large backpack with add on pouches, bags, and hooks for more bags attached. It's very evident he's gone full superhero fanboy today. Going back to eating it almost looks like his teeth are fangs and he might eat his hand. Frequency between meals or the tastiness of his purchases come to mind or he was raised by wild animals.

"So, uh, where's the statue at?" I nonchalantly look around the square for anything resembling Sage.

Seeing the small gathering of her friends and slowly strolls up and stands near them.
Watching their antics with a slight smile.

Emma looked between Ollie and Jen, eyebrow raised. Where had that come from? But hey, no matter. She fell into step behind Jen, automatically checking her phone for any reply from Void Fist. Nada. Welp, as long as he came through on that cotton candy. As they followed Jen towards the others, she fell back to walk next to Ollie, bumping her shoulder with her own. "It's not that bad hanging out with us, is it?" she asked teasingly.

After wandering for a while and finding no one he recognizes, he hears a crackling that he believes is Blitz and heads in that direction. He sees the gathering of his teammates and walks up behind Void Fist. "Hello, my companions. It is an excellent day for a party."

"Mimic? Hey you're not dressed up! I barely recognized you. Nice hoodie, by the way." I look at the guitar case curiously.

Void Fist gnaws at the contents of his right hand finally finishing the quad crepe special he ordered and balls a fist up and pounds his chest. He can see why ordering a drink was a $5 addon but where would one hold it??? Once breathing normally he'd wipe his hands with some handiwipes.

"Mimic! It's also an excellent day for swag. Did you know you had limited edition swag... most of us did... surprisingly it's like 88% accurate for most things..." he explains checking his phone.

Seeing his missed texts he messages back.
Still by Blitz... Cotton Candy is gone... it's showing up online for purchase though... Would not advise... $40 for one bite of Blitz' Cotton Candy... Hanging with Aeon Crow, Chameleon, and Mimic... Sunspots here too... Unsure why he's readying my texts over my shoulder... I think he wanted to be included in the message...

"Heroes sometimes take multiple customs though right? I mean you can't wear the same thing all the time unless you have multiples of the outfit... those are clothes right? That outfit isn't part of you or something is it?" he offers up before finally looking up and somehow disturb himself with his own rambling.

Ollie is caught off guard by the bump against her shoulder, and she looks up at Emma curiously. A brief smile flashes on her face. "Oh, no," she says in response to her question, turning a bit more serious again, "It's not that." Her pace becomes more lively, and her eyes turn away to stare at something else that might catch her attention. "I'm just..." trying to not insult anyone else, "...thinking, is all."

Ollie raises a hand to her temple, pressing her palm against her head. "Tell me where. And how much of a may are we talking about?" She asks, obviously not speaking in Donner's direction, but rather she seems to be talking to herself. She throws her backpack down and puts her hood up, making her at least somewhat more recognizable as a superhero. She attempts to concentrate as best she can on putting a TK field around as many people as possible to deflect the hail away from them.

I shift into crisis mode, corralling as many people away from the danger and shouting directions to them. "No pushing or shoving! Keep moving this way! Don't worry, we're here to protect you and keep you out of harm's way." I hope I sound convincing. I keep an eye out for any lightning. Hail they can handle but I'd rather be the one to absorb the lightning damage if it comes down to it.

This doesn't seem normal. Hecate thinks.

Zeus ?

She quickly looks for a big heavy object to shield people with as she tries to lead a group of people to safety.

Rama looks about to bolt, but he shucks his canvas trenchcoat and chucks it on top of the hotdog truck. His demeanor changes with that action, standing taller, looking less sullen, and more... mischievous.

He holds a hand up to block the falling sleet. "Where should we put them? I can create a sign showing everyone were to assemble."

"Just tell them to get inside!" Omen shouts toward Aeon Crow, trying to focus on her power, even as her phone begins vibrating and chiming in her pocket. "You couldn't just say it to me?" She grumbles aloud, as if talking to her phone. Omen puts a hand into her pocket to check the device and spots the map. She keeps her other hand up to try and create this field...

I take a look around as I herd people, searching the crowds for the most vulnerable of them so that I can protect them as best as I can. What here is in the greatest danger?

I toss the guitar case to the ground and move with the crowd, watching for where the greatest concentration of people is. My eyes start glowing a pale blue as I extend my hands over the crowd, trying to create a projection focused on areas Omen doesn't already have under control.

"Do we know what is causing this aberrant weather?"

Aeon Crow uses his Illusion powers to try and give the crowds a direction to proceed in. He creates a large glowing arrow above them pointing the best way out of the square.

I keep my eyes on the crowd but my ears open in case my teammates need my help. "No time to think about that- need to get everyone safe first. Everyone ok?"

"Nice job with the barrier Mimic, Omen," she said, sucking in a shaky breath as she felt her power settle, pushing back against its subtle flair. Now that she had something of a handle on it, she flew back over the thinning crowd, encouraging the stragglers to keep up with the rest.

Omen does what she can to support the barrier, but begins running, weaving through crowds, out of the park. As she does, almost as an afterthought, she adds, "I've found what's causing this! I'm going to take care of it!"

"Wait, what?" she blurted out, utterly confused as Omen just took off like that. The girl hesitated only a moment before she turned and took off after her friend. As she did, she willed her clothing to shift, that blue glow enveloping her as her civvies were replaced with the midnight blue and gold accents of her Polaris costume.

"No way! I'm coming with!!" I catch up with Emma in her pursuit of Omen, dodging the panicking crowd with ease.

Void Fist looks around a bit late in reacting but does what any normal person would do besides freaking out. He grabs Mimic's case and bolts for the food truck Aeon Crow tossed his coat and drops his own gear pulling out a silcon cased chain and locks everything up thinking still this would be a perfect time to steal his stuff when it's unattended. Once done he'll look around. With Blitz on the lightening and the hail being the major issue Void Fist realizes people are splitting up. "The Girls are taking off! Watch Blitz' back in case this is a setup!" he yells to the others jumping down having just rolled his limited edition T Shirt up and stored in his pouch. He takes off after the girls moving subconsciously to the shadows the storm is causing dropping his center of gravity he runs low to the ground keeping an eye on the faster moving trio.

It be nice if Sunspot was helping too... he thought to himself.

Jennifer slams down her mental barrier, cutting off the agonizing pain inflicted when she opened up to try and send calm to the panicked crowd. Well, that was a mistake! Seeing that everyone else has the crowd under control, she ducks behind a stall and pulls off her civvies, throws on her mask, and emerges as Procyon. She takes off running after Omen, using her minor telekinesis to leap over obstacles and parkour after her friend.

Aeon Crow tries to keep the direction marker in place as long as he can, confident on his own ability to keep up when needed.

"Care to fill us in?" she called out to Omen, her flight leaving her free to catch up with no real obstructions besides the occasional tree or streetlights.

I continue to follow the blue glow in the sky, hoping Polaris has her eyes on Omen.

Come on everyone follow those signs. Hecate says following the sign one of her team created.

Just as her movements begin to blur, her superspeed about to kick into gear, Omen pauses. The momentum forward causes her to have to skip a few steps to slow down before she turns around. Normally she felt like it was better for her to take care of things on her own; no one gets hurt but her and, most likely, the villain. Something kept her from doing that this time though, especially when she could hear Emma calling out to her. Omen bit her bottom lip, pondering a moment and standing still. Turning around she'll call out to those that are following, shouting so that she can be heard over the thunder and hail, "That new building they're constructing downtown - The Mars-Angstrom Tower - there's some kind of machine there that's causing it."

With that, she will turn and continue to run, this time at her full speed, shouting, "Meet you there!"

As I'm running, I text the location to the others. We're meeting here when you're done with the crowd. Something about a weird machine. Stay safe! XoXo

I keep moving downtown, taking breaks to catch my breath. Damn that girl can move fast. I need to do more laps.

Void Fist flips out his phone while he runs and checks the location before making a beeline in the new direction. He slows down and looks around at the bike rental kiosk.

"No one said we can't..." Void Fist looks to see where he can drop off the bike on the way since it's rented before he gets there.

Finding an anime opening about cycling on his phone he races to the closest kiosk to drop the bike off before getting to the building.

If anyone sees him from the team he'll blurt out that he's not cheating and pedal faster.

After he makes sure his barrier will hold at least long enough that everyone has been escorted to safely, Mimic pulls out his phone, seeing the message from his teammate. He focuses his powers and an enormous body of light forms around him. He reaches over and picks up Void Fist sans-bike and puts him on his shoulders. "Does anyone else need a lift?"

"I will follow you Mimic, unless your going to fly." Hecate heads over stifling a chuckle at Void Fist getting scooped up.

Void Fist flails "The deposit!!!" he tries to mark his location on his phone so he can put the bike away later. Looking around he records a bit of the area around him on his phone before he puts it away.

Man, Omen really needed to learn a thing or two about teamwork. Emma grit her teeth, but she got the message from her teammate and flew after her as best she could. Even in flight she couldn't keep up with Omen's superspeed. But finally the building was in sight, and Polaris hovered several stories up, eyes scanning the area for Omen or anything else of interest as she waited for the rest of the team.

Mimic reaches down and also scoops up Hecate. I am afraid I am incapable of flight, but this should get us there quick enough." He sets her on the shoulder opposite Void Fist. As he does, harnesses made of the same light the body is made of appear around the two. "Safety first. Now we must be on our way." With that, Mimic starts running in the direction of his other team members.

Emma kept a sharp eye out, her cape rustling in the breeze.

As his team heads off, Aeon Crow decides to follow, teleporting a far as he can toward them, then repeating. BRRAPP "Excuse me. Pardon me. Sorry about that."

When I get to the building, I text Omen and Polaris. Here. Finally. What's going on?

Void Fist givers directions from shoulderback and enjoys the ride although it's a bit unsettling to think the only thing keeping him from falling face first onto the ground a few stories up... is light.

Wow most impressive Mimic !

Procyon arrives beside Cammy and takes a look at the place.

"Hey! Wasn't sure who else would be coming. What do you think? Run in first, ask questions later?" Procyon usually knows what's up. I'll just follow her lead.

Polaris lowers herself down beside Chameleon and Procyon, eyes still fixed up on the building. "So, I can sense some kind of energy up there. I'm guessing that's what Omen is heading for."

I glance back briefly and see Mimic casting a shadow over us. "Wow, you really know how to make an entrance! Where's Crow?"

"And where is Omen? Let's get inside." She heads for the front door.

Omen had followed the directions sent to her until she arrived in the general area of the source. Her eyes narrow as she takes it all in.

Sliding down the light body once at their location Void Fist looks around. Shuffles off a bit and takes a selfie with the team that's shown up so far in the background. Pulling his phone on silent he pulls up his facemask. "We going in covert? I got this!" Void Fist offers moving to the nearest shadows to access inside and possible take something if possible 'for superhero purposes'.

"Right. Okay!" I follow behind Procyon.

Crow appears in a flash of pale blue light. "What are we doing? What's going on? Who did that thing?"

I hear Crow appear somewhere behind me. I turn and wave, then head into the building after Procyon, whipping out my phone to text the other missing team member. Omen. Status? See anything?

Omen steps up from an alleyway nearby, doing her best to pull the "appear from nowhere" superhero technique, "Nothing out here, but it should be inside somewhere."

Do we need to make our own entrance ?

"I can sense some kind of energy high up in the building," she said, filling in the rest of the group. "Whatever this machine is, that must be it."

I could leap up there and make a hole, is that what we need to do ? Hecate asks Emma.

Which floor, could you point it out.

"Er...let me get back to you on that," she said, just a little flushed as she quickly propelled herself back up into the air. She flew higher this time as she shut her eyes, trying to pin-point the exact location of that energy source.

"If it's some kind of machine gone wrong, maybe we can just cut the power?"

Oh uhmn, yeah I guess that could work too. Hecate blinked and felt a bit foolish.

"We should wreck it. What if someone restores its power?" Aeon looks around for a stairwell.

"True, but we gotta find it first. And technically, we're not supposed to hang out near construction zones."

"Come on! We can do what we want!" Aeon calls over his shoulder. She's still miffed because of that fire. One time!

Omen charges up to the construction, using her superhuman strength and speed to scale the support beams and climb the structure, attempting to look through to find what could be causing this.

"The last time you said that, we barely got out of there. I'm not saying don't go in, we just gotta be more careful is all." I look around for an elevator. They gotta have one of those, right?

Omen braces herself!

Hecate leaps trying to catch Omen.

Mimic reaches out and attempts to catch Omen, forming a bubble around her and using it to slow her fall. "This situation is less than ideal."

Omen, taken so suddenly by surprise, doesn't make a sound as the gun fires. She simply falls.

Caught by Mimic's bubble, Omen clutches at her stomach during her slow descent and hisses at the skull-faced stranger, "Guess that shows what they think of you, then."

"So you pulled that whole stunt just to get attention? Wow, I thought I had problems." Behind the mask, I'm maybe kinda freakin' terrified. But my friends are with me, so we can totally figure this out together! I hope. I glance over at Procyon and Crow. One of them will know what to do.

As she floats down, Aeon Crow marks the spot where the woman stepped out from, and BRRAPP teleports himself there. From higher than her, he eyes the situation, looking for a way to distract her from harming his friends.

"Ha, you've got a brown streak up the back of your shirt, Padma!" he calls out. Balls! You moron, she has a gun!

For a moment she forgot to breathe as she saw Omen free-falling. But seeing her caught safely in Omen's bubble and moving, Polaris whirled back towards the woman as Aeon attempted to provoke her. No way she was hurting anyone else.

The girl thrust her arms forward, that familiar blue glow enveloping her hands as matching energy began to swirl around the woman, Polaris attempting to bind her limbs and limit her movement. "Bind her, bind her, bind her," she uttered, struggling to focus herself.

As Omen is lowered to the ground, I move as close to her as the bubble allows, making eye contact. "We'll show that bitch what happens when someone messes with one of us. It's going to be ok."Current Team Pool= 4

Omen pauses, looking at Chameleon as though she were certainly not expecting the reassurance. After a brief hesitation, her resolve shows, and she gives Chameleon a confident nod in return. She doesn't directly speak her gratitude, but it shows, and that's a lot for Omen.

Procyon looks up at her. "That's right. What's your deal?'

Void Fist's speed slowed down as he got closer to the building. They didn't really have a plan for when they figured out where the machine was, he had no idea how to work advanced machinery and thoughts of a large explosion from destroying it had them possibly back again for a lesser extent getting yelled at. What if it caused one big natural disaster when it exploded? Lost to most and his thoughts he snapped out of it when Omen was coming down fast and hard. Focusing up he tried to place the woman from her outfit and powers being used to figure out why she was here and possibly doing this crazy weather business.

For someone who floats around she's got some nice legs... No time! FOCUS! Wait did anyone see me checking her out??? he thinks shaking his head. Sometimes it's rough being a hormonal teenage super hero that isn't so super.

While the woman seems to be distracted, I run around to the left side of the building (hopefully out of her sight) and try to climb up from that side. This is such a stupid idea... I can't believe I'm doing this...

"Wow...your vocabulary and originality are stunning. Must be why you were so much white...no flair."

Omen gets to her feet, one arm draped over her stomach as she clenches the other fist.

"She makes a good point peps what can I do to in this kind of situation? I'm open to suggestions?" Void Fist responds pulling out a notepad while searching for a pen.

Slamming the notepad to the ground suddenly realizing he was falling into her pace, "Listen Lady even I can tell you're stalling for you next play here!" he exclaims.

"Plus this shirt was limited edition... >3> " he mutters in a lower voice trying to keep Omen's back to him.

Lucky for Void Fist, Omen hadn't noticed the shirt yet.

As Aeon Crow falls, he looks up and teleports himself to the first thing he sees... a girder. Great, now what? Hanging on by his arms, feet dangling, he looks around looking for something to move to.

Emma grit her teeth, stomach twisting as her own attempt to bind the woman had fizzled away to uselessness. But her eyes snapped up, wide as she saw Aeon Crow just drop away into the building. And suddenly the girl was pushing herself, trusting her team to handle the woman for now as she sped to the last spot she had seen Aeon, and carefully lowered herself down into the building.

Oh good. He was just dangling there instead of a pile of splat somewhere. The girl let out a breath as she floated over to him, reaching for her arm. "You look like you could use a hand," she said, extending just a bit of her flight field to carry her along with him.

The giant humanoid morphs into a large slingshot, with Mimic squarely in the cradle. It stretches back, releasing and sending him flying towards the woman.

Omen launches herself forward with a telekinetic burst. She hits the ground running with super speed as she pulls her fist back, aiming for the villain. Dark energy swirls around her fist!

Mimic stares the woman down as she pulls the trigger, causing his head to snap back. Though he refuses to give ground, when he regains his composure, his jaw appears offset, probably broken, and the skin has been stripped away from the area around the exit wound below his right eye, revealing the metal skeleton beneath. "This will be much easier if you give up now."

I keep climbing up, trying to find the floor that Omen was on before she was hit by the woman. Not knowing what exactly to look for, I reach outwards, using my energy absorption as a sort of compass to point me in the direction of the machine we need to shut down. pleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework

I send out a quick group text. Keep her busy, but I'm gonna need help. Whatever this machine thing is, it's big. I'm almost there-ish

Procyon reaches into her backpack and pulls out her pistols. "C'mon, Omen, go all Arnold on her ass!" She fires at the Lady in White.

Aeon Crow's feet flail about wildly as Emma's flight field leaves him weightless. His phone beeps and like any teenager, he pulls it out to check. "Cammy is near the thing. See her?" He looks about for the Chameleon, forgetting for a second that he is suspended above a deathly fall.

Emma shook her head, pulling Aeon up with her. "Not yet, but tell her we'll meet her there." The girl bit her lip softly, looking back towards the exit. "Hopefully the others have things handled below."

Polaris moved steadily towards that source of energy she had sensed the moment she had arrived at the building, eyes frantically scanning her surroundings for anything that might have been a giant weather machine.

Hecate followed along and seeing what could be the device she charged forward using the in a china shop maneuver to damage the device or it's cables.

Void Fist lost watching the combat off to the side points up and opts to take the stairs or use his martial arts training and climbing claws to make it up. He didn't really want to explain to his grandpa how he got shot. Sometimes not being super powerful erases your presence. Using it to his advantage he tries to use his powers of stealth and not being very effective in Ms. Maims perspective to his advantage. The device seemed pretty non descript and didn't offer a lot of clues as to what it did and how to work it.

"Huh... well I guess the rod calibrates weather and the cables lead to a power source? I'll check the cables to see what they're going to. Someone should figure out how to break that rod..." he offers.

"Wait! Hecate, that might not be the best..."

Uncharacteristically, Aeon Crow leaves the property damage to the more damagy of the group. He sidles over to the edge and looks down. "OMG, it's Sunspot powering up, protect him, he's vulnerable!" He crafts an illusion of Sunspot high up, charging up with a mega-nova burst, and looking to unleash it on the lady in white.

"Right," she says to Void Fist with a nod. "Let us know what you-- Hecate, wait!" The words were barely out of her mouth, but Polar was already recoiling back as Hecate slammed right into the possibly apocalyptic weather machine.

Omen lifts her hands toward her, clenching her fingers and gritting her teeth. She focuses as much telekinetic energy as she can to slam the villain back into the ground.

Watching Hecate slam into the machine, I spring into action. I run towards the metal fridge-thing, my hand touching the metal and melding into a seemingly perfect copy of its surface. As my entire body becomes metal, I focus my attention on diverting most of the energy through me, out and away from Hecate to attempt to minimize the damage. It might be too late, but I have to try!

Procyon reaches down and tosses a handful of gravel in the woman's face, just as Omen focuses her power, in an attempt to distract her and give the telekinesis a chance to pull her down. As she does, she tries to remember something her mentor told her...

As Cammy helped out Hecate, Polaris let her power lift herself into the air, pointing her hands towards the metal rod rising up from that device. If that was the thing creating the weather.... Polaris sent out a surge of energy at the rod, attempting to snap it free from the device.

Polaris narrowed her eyes, trying to focus her powers to rend apart metal.

Once Void Fist has found where the power cables leads and pulls them if he notices things are looking 'brighter' he'll hit up Sunspot & Blitz on social media otherwise he'll headback to the device and check to see if that helped.

"Dude Ms Maim over here is being sassy and saying you're a joke. #SheCalledOutBlitz #SunspotDissing #Ladysgotagun"

Hecate looked around, Did I even help ? She was curious and took some time just to see what was going on including looking at the sky.

Void Fist comes back to the rest of the others around the advise and moves his phone around. "I can't get a signal... anyone see a jammer around? Like preferably one small enough for us to take?" Void Fist frowns as he comments and moves around a bit with his phone some more looking for anything that might be the cause of this dead space.

It's... strange. I've done this kind of thing before, usually to charge my phone (why bother plugging it in if you don't have to?) or to help someone jump start their car (again, cables are so annoying), but this is different. I feel like I'm physically pushing the energy out of my body as quickly as I've absorbed it. I'm kind of feeling like a lightning rod, if I knew what those felt like. Or like a battery maybe?

Even as the antenna broke away under her onslaught, Polaris swallowed heavily around the sudden guilt welling in her stomach. Great. She'd manage to break apart a big stick. Omen had still been shot. And she'd frozen when Hecate had run head first into danger. All that power, and how could she actually help?

But Polaris swallowed down her worries, turning instead towards Void Fist, as she landed back down on a steal beam. "Could just be a dead zone," she guessed, completely unhelpful. "Or... Cammy, you okay over there?"

Aeon Crow nods his head appreciatively. "Smoke bomb. So cool."

Omen coughs as the smoke fills her lungs, "Ca-.. .. can anyone see her?!"

Void Fist pops his head out a door and looks around seeing smoke. Everyone done here alive? Also anyone have reception? We're poking and kicking the device upstairs... if Void Fist sees something Ms Maim left behind like her staff he'll opt to call 'dibs'.

Omen shouts, "Wait! Wait, I still have her..." She focuses a moment, hands held out in front of her as she squeezes her eyes shut and mutters, "Get ready... wait... and... Now!" At that moment she throws her arms open. The air in front of her shimmers, cracks, and splits apart as a rift between space forms. Electricity violently snaps around the edges of the portal, and Omen looks to be straining to sustain it even just a brief time.

If she timed the opening right, to cause the other end of the portal to appear right in front of the villain, she planned on closing it behind her as soon as she came through this end.

Seeing Sunspot taking the credit, Procyon snorts, "Figures."

Panting, Omen plants her hands on her knees and tries to catch her breath from the strain of it all. "I hate you, Sunspot," she mutters.

Procyon approaches her and rests a hand on Omen's shoulder. "Hey, did you get hit? I can take you to get patched up if you need."

Standing up straight, she brushes the concern aside, "No, I'm fine." Omen's costume still has a small bullet hole over her stomach, but there is no longer a wound underneath. She diverts her eyes a bit, clenching her hands into fists and tightening her bottom lip.

I step away from the fridge, feeling the last traces of energy leaving my fingertips. I kinda miss it. I take a look around. "Everyone ok?"

Procyon cocks her head, "Hey...you did good out there. Like Rigel's always telling me, you used your head not your...um...ovaries, I suppose."

"Yeah, I think so," she said, looking back towards Cammy. "Looks like they've wrapped things up down there too." And in the distance below them, it looked as if the battle had ended. Polaris lifted herself gently into the air, gliding out from the building. "Anybody want a lift?"

Omen looks at Procyon with a quirked brow before her face twists into laughter - a rare instance for her - and she asks, "Does he really say that?"

"Ba ha ha, she got captured by Sunspot.... that's perfect!" He nearly falls over laughing so hard.

"Uh... sure! Just one sec." I revert back to my non-metal form.

Polaris taxi'd whoever needed it back down to the ground, air shifting around her as she landed. "Um..." She paused, raising an eyebrow at Aeon's laughing fit. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh hey, Sunspot! He... captured the woman in white I guess? Who is she anyway?"

Procyon looks embarassed, "Well, not that exact word, but well....you get what I mean, right?"

Hearing Cammy's question she becomes serious once more. "Santa Muerte. A normie mercenary, likes to take down novas."

"Ha, yeah," she says, her laughter dying down a bit, "I do." Omen rubs at her temple a bit before letting the portal close, not wanting to stare at Sunspot any longer than she had to.

Void Fist slides in front of the downed villain with Sunspot over her and takes a selfie. "You know she was talking smack about your mom Sunspot.". He comments before taking the selfie. Tapping some buttons he adds some filters for his personal collection before making his way down stairs.

"Well Sunspot does what he does, that's jump in the spotlight and blot things out, but I think you guys, err we kinda saved the day. He captured the villain but didn't stop the weather machine or was the one to hold her off. We kept her here until he got here to steal the credit? I mean I don't see him sporting injuries or out of breath. Also we should probably do something about the machine. Anyone know super smart people that can figure out what it was for? Communication jamming might have been a side affect from weather manipulation."

Licking the tip of his finger he wipes a spot on his limited edition Omen Tshirt wondering if it's a stain or just sweat.

Void Fist tries to jump noticing the staff in mid air but obvious can't jump that high. "Oh dibs! Ugghm... Little help here? You guys hearing that?" he asks mostly distracted.

"Yeah, su-..." Omen freezes after turning to look at Void Fist. She points at his Omen t-shirt and says quietly, "What.. is.. that?"

Void Fist stops jumping mid attempt and purses his lips looking at Omen as she gets quiet when she talks which doesn't sound good at all. "Li... limited edition... TShirt..." he offers sheepishly looking at her from his side, "I stood in line for 2 hours for it..." he says under his breath.

Omen stares in silence for a moment until her gaze is disturbed by the irritated twitch of her eye. For a moment, as she alternates clenching and relaxing her hand, it is clear that she is weighing the cost of taking a swing at her teammate.

Polaris snickers as Omen catches sight of Void Fist's shirt. "You might want to ditch the shirt," she suggested lightly, flying up to retrieve the staff that Void First couldn't quite reach.

"Yeah, we're good," she says at her cell phone, eyeing the device uncertainly. Did she need to put it to her ear...? Speakerphone wasn't on or anything. "We found some crazy weather machine."

"I'm not throwing it away... you know someone would crawl through the dumpster for limited edition items right?" Void Fist explains before compromising and taking off the shirt and folding it up into a tight rolls and storing it in his belt pouch.

Void Fist's eyes get big like saucers as he tears up and paws the air, "My precious..." he whispers mostly to himself.

Omen takes a deep, slow breath once the shirt is out of her sight, seemingly calmed.

"Are Donner and co coming to check out this building and that fridge thing? I mean it's kinda broken but it might be useful for something."

"Be glad he wasn't wearing the limited edition Omen pasties." Aeon Crow snickers then turns beat red.

"Pastries?" I look confused for a moment. "Hecate, you ok? That was a serious hit you took. Or should I say the fridge didn't know what hit it!"

Omen does her best to pretend she didn't hear Aeon Crow, turning away from the group to hide any embarrassment.

Mimic suddenly snaps out of his completely motionless pose where he had been shot. He looks around for a moment to assess the situation before turning to his teammates. "It appears we are victorious. Is everyone else okay?"