Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Welcome to a world that is similar to our own, but fundamentally different in one major way. Our story still takes place on Earth, but this Earth has had a much different history than ours. The main difference between our Earth and this one is the simple fact that in this one there is a small chance that you can be born with powerful abilities. This doesn’t just apply to the humans on the planet though. All living beings on this planet have a sliver of a chance to be born into greatness. Whether that be animals, planets, or even humans.

History very much began in the same way. I won’t go as far back to how this world originally got here, but there are some fundamentally different ways that certain events took place in history in this timeline. There was a dinosaur that was powerful enough to destroy the meteor that was supposed to wipe them out. Humans didn’t first discover fire, but instead there was a special human amongst them that was born with the ability to do so outright. Other similar events throughout history were also affected in similar ways. The ice age was caused by a massive ice breathing monster, the black plague was masterminded by one particularly evil man who lived during that time, and the Titanic sank because of a giant sea creature instead of an iceberg.

The people and creatures who live on this planet don’t know why things are like this, but for them it has always been this way. With that being said there was one major event they had that didn’t happen in our world.

About fifty years ago there was an incredibly powerful new being in the world. A man who had the power to connect himself to the very source of this world’s incredible powers. He didn’t tell a soul what this actually was though. He made sure to keep that to himself all the way to his very grave.

He called himself The God Of Life and Death, or Deus Vitae Et Mortis. He used his ability to gain an unfathomable amount of power. He thought of himself as a God amongst men. Everyone obeyed his every whim or else they were practically erased from history. As his abuse of power grew more and more unbearable as time went by a group of rebels were secretly founded. They searched until they were able to somehow learn the false God’s weakness and dispel him from the world once and for all. This organization was originally known as the Secret Hero Society and were the first superhero team in the modern sense, but would later be renamed to the Central Hero Society.

One of these legendary heroes was a man who was called Issac Quentin, better known by his alias Sir IQ. After he helped save the world from such a force he founded a school to train new heroes to hone their abilities so that if such a threat were to ever show its face on this planet again they would have a fighting force strong enough to combat it.

Our actual story begins one fateful day as one of the newly enrolled students is about to start his first year at the school.

*Knock knock knock*

“Hey Lev, it’s time for school. Get up!” A woman yells from behind a bedroom door.

Lev Hart, a young man with shoulder length blonde hair puts a pillow over his head to block out the noise.

“Get up NOW! I am not letting you be late on your first day of school, mister! That tuition cost us a lot of money, you know!”

With that Lev gets up out of his bed.

“...Yes…yes mom…”

He quickly put on his favorite blue jacket, a pair of black pants, and a pair of pink tennis shoes before grabbing his backpack and bolting out the door.

His mother, a brunette who was wearing a blue sundress with a light pink floral pattern on it, grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Alright, go out there and become a professional hero!”

“...Yes mom…”

“...So that you can one day make us a lot of money and pay us back for all the trouble you put us through over the years!” His mom says while tightening her grip on his shoulders with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“...Yes mom…” Lev replies completely void of any emotion at all.

He quickly goes right outside of his house to catch the bus. This wasn’t just an ordinary bus that anyone could ride though. It was a bus that was sent just for him. The school that he is going to doesn’t actually have a lot of students so whatever new students they get are kind of a big deal. That is why they want to treat them properly so they don’t try to find a different school to train at.

The bus ride takes several hours. Lev passes the time by putting on some headphones to listen to a playlist of anime theme songs and video game background music. Whenever he was particularly stressed or anxious this helped calm him down. It made him so calm that he eventually fell asleep.

“...Hey kid…kid…”

“...Wha…” Lev says while rubbing his eyes.

“Kid…We’re here. It’s time for you to get off my bus.” The bus driver says while crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

“...Oh…I’m…I’m sorry sir…” Lev says and quickly stands up and bows. “...Thank you for driving me here…”

“...Eh…don’t mention it…” He grabs the brim of his hat and pulls it down. “...I’m just doin’ my job.”

“...I’m sorry…” Lev says while rubbing his arm.

“...You need some more confidence kid…” The driver says as he turns around and goes back to sit at his seat with his hand on the lever to open the door.

Lev jogs to the front of the bus and takes a deep breath.

The door of the bus opens and he steps out of the bus and onto campus.

Chapter Text

Our story begins with someone stepping out of a bus in front of a school. Lev Hart, a young man with blonde hair that goes down to his shoulders and is swept over his right eye walks out onto campus on his first day of college.

This isn’t just any college though. This is specifically the Superhero University for the Preparation of Evacuation and Rescue (otherwise known as SUPER for short). It is a prestigious school that trains young superheroes to hone their powers, expand their skills, and overall just learn all of the ins and outs that it takes to save the day.

Lev didn’t really care much for any of that though. Sure, he does love superheroes and he does have his own power, but that isn’t why he chose to come here. To be honest, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from his parents and this was the only way that he currently knew how to do that.

Lev is currently looking for the auditorium for the opening ceremony, but something (or more accurately someone) runs into him and they both fall onto the ground.

“Golly! I am sorry about that mister!” A girl with atomic blonde hair reaches out for Lev’s hand. She currently has a huge smile on her face. She is wearing a track uniform with mismatched colorful socks and is also covered in glitter and sprinkles.

“...D…Don’t worry about it…” Lev awkwardly responds back. He didn’t really have a lot of friends (or much human interaction in general) because he liked to spend a lot of time in his room.

Lev, feeling responsible for the situation by not paying attention to where he was going, walks over to try to help her pick up her things.

“By the way my name is Candi Kane! What is your name?” She beams while she waits for a response.

“...Uh…m…my name is…L…Lev…”

“What a unique name!”

“...T…thanks…I…guess…”

For some reason Lev never really liked his own name. He didn’t think that it suited him at all. He doesn’t really know why this is though. His best guess was that it is because it is the name that his parents gave him and he didn’t like being connected to them even by name.

“Well it was nice meeting you Lev! See you at the assembly!”

Before Candi bolted off again Lev tapped her shoulder.

“...Um…actually…I am…kind of lost…Do you happen to know…where the auditorium is?”

“Absolutely! I have already scoped out the school over the summer! Follow me!”

Candi grabs Lev’s hand and speedwalks to the auditorium while humming. By the time they get there Lev is winded. He knows that he is really out of shape, but he didn’t know it was this bad.

“Here it is! Since we got here together we might as well sit together!”

“...Thanks…but why are you being so nice to me…I made you drop your backpack?”

“Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”

“...I mean…I am basically still a stranger to you…”

“A stranger is only a friend that you haven’t made yet!” Candi said with the biggest smile you can imagine.

“...Huh…”

‘A friend’ Lev thinks to himself. It would be nice to actually have a friend for once.

Lev and Candi filed into the auditorium while they waited for the ceremony to begin.

After a couple of minutes a person walked on stage in front of the microphone. It was an old man wearing a magician’s suit with a big top hat that had an exclamation point on it.

“Wait a second! I know who that is!” says a young black man with red dreads who is now on the edge of his seat with excitement.

“Greetings new students. Welcome to SUPER. I am the dean of this institution. My name is Issac Quentin, but some of you may know me better by my alias, Sir IQ.”

The young man from before raises his hand with great enthusiasm.

“I am sorry young man. It isn’t time for questions yet.”

“You are THE SIR IQ! I am so honored to meet you!”

“I am flattered, but may you kindly let me get back to my introduction?”

“OH! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt! I was just very excited to meet you! That’s all!” the man says while rubbing that back of his neck with an embarrassed expression and sitting back down.

“Now where was I?...Yes, that’s right. I was introducing myself. As some of you may know, I am Sir Issac Quentin. I used to work for the Central Hero Society before I retired just a few years ago to run this fine school. I may be getting old, but I still want to help this world in any way that I can. That is precisely why I decided to come here. To train the up and coming generation to be the best heroes that they can possibly be. Just to let you all know this school has the reputation of being one of the best hero schools for a good reason. Not just anyone can graduate. You need the strength, wit, and courage to be able to get your diploma and hopefully join a hero association of your choosing when you graduate. Well…if you graduate that is. We aren’t going to be tough on you without reason though. We just need to make absolutely sure that the future of this world remains in good hands. So in a way I suppose this school is also a test to see which of you have the greatest capacity for good in your hearts. Well…I suppose I am starting to ramble and should probably wrap this up, but I'll leave you with this! I can’t wait to see what you all are capable of.”

Soon after Sir IQ dismissed the new students and they all filed off to find the locations of their first classes.

Lev and Candi just so happened to be walking in the same direction, but they also encountered that kid who talked during the beginning of the assembly.

“Hiya!” Candi waves to him.

“...Um…Hello…” the young man waves back awkwardly.

“You are very passionate about superheroes!”

The young man rubs the back of his head again.

“Well, you know, I am just a fanboy. What can I say…”

“No. It isn’t a bad thing. I think that your passion is awesome! I love it when people love things wholeheartedly! It is the best trait that a person can have! It just means that you have a very high capacity for love in your heart!”

“Well…Thank you miss…”

“Candi Kane! But my friends call me Candi!”

“Thank you miss Candi Kane! My name is Ash Burns.” Ash looks down at his schedule. “Crap! Class is about to start. I gotta get going!”

“Who is your teacher?” Candi replies.

“It’s Jack Dionysus for basic training. Why?”

“No way! I have him too!” Candi shows Ash his schedule.

“Alright! Let’s go then!”

As they walk to class Ash finally notices Lev.

“...Uh. Hey Candi? Do you know who this guy is by any chance?”

“Of course! This is Lev Hart! He is also one of my new best friends!” Candi gestures for Lev to introduce himself.

“...Oh…um…hi…I’m Lev…but you…already knew that…”

“Don’t sweat it! It’s cool man.” Ash waves off his awkwardness with a smile. “Do you also have the same class.

Lev just nods.

“Awesome!” Candi yells as she puts her arms around Lev and Ash. “I can’t wait to have class together with my two new friends!”

They finally get to class and take their seats.

A middle aged man with shoulder length black hair and a thick stubble who is wearing a turquoise sweater vest is seen sleeping at the front of the classroom with his legs up on the desk.

Candi walks towards him and starts poking him.

“Hey Mister! Are you our teacher! If you are, you better wake up because CLASS STARTED FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO!”

“...Huh…wha…Oh…Hello students…sorry about that…”

He rubs his eyes and stands to introduce himself.

“My name is Jack Dionysus and I will be your teacher for this semester. It will be my job to teach you all of the basics of super hero stuff. With that being said it is only our first day and I feel like we should at least get to know each other a little bit. So let’s start off this first class with introductions. I will call out your names and I want you to introduce yourself and also tell us your power. We will be going in alphabetical order so we will be starting with…Ash Burns.”

“Aight. As Jack just said, can I call you Jack? I’m gonna call you Jack. As Jack just said my name is Ash Burns and instead of just telling you my power…why don’t I give you all a little demonstration.”

Ash proceeds to snap his fingers and a flame appears in his hand.

Jack pulls out a clipboard and writes something down.

“Fire powers. Got it. Next.”

“...BUT…but…you gotta admit that was cool right?” Ash says bewildered.

“If you’ve been in the hero business as long as I have you’d know how common fire is as a power, kid. Who’s next.”

Ash sits back down in his chair with a thud while grumbling to himself.

“Alright…Calder McHail. You’re up.”

Calder walks forwards. He has snow white skin, light blue hair, and has a blue shirt, white jacket, and a beanie and also has a smirk on his face.

Calder proceeds to put out his hand.

“...Uh…what’s this?” Jack says with a confused look.

Calder just looks over to his hand.

Jack lets out a sigh. “Fine…I’ll play your game.” He shakes Calders hand.

Calder proceeds to freeze Jack’s hand using his ice powers.

“Dammit kid…you some sort of class clown or something?”

Calder just shrugs, the smirk still on his face.

Ash walks up to Jack.

“Need a light?”

“...Be quick…”

“Not so useless now, huh Jack?” Ash says with a smug grin.

“You aren’t going to let that go. Are you?”

“Nope!”

Jack sighs again. “Take your seat.”

“With pleasure!” Ash says as he struts back to his seat after restoring his honor.

Jack holds his coffee cup in one hand to warm it up while looking at his clipboard while scribbling down Calder’s information.

“Okay…Candi Kane.”

Candi stands up incredibly quickly and bolts to the front of the room.

“Hiya Jack! My name is Candi Kane! What’s your favorite restaurant in Central City?”

“How is this relevant to your introduction?”

“You’ll see!” Candi says excitedly.

“...Ugh…fine…Dragon Palace I guess…”

Candi proceeds to take a vile of sugar out of her fanny pack, chugs it in one gulp, and sprints out of the room.

After a minute or two she bolts back in with a takeout box in her hand.

“Here ya go Jack!”

Jack looks down on the box on his desk.

“...Candi…”

“Yes, my new favorite teacher in the entire world?” Candi says with an innocent expression.

“Did you pay for this food?”

“...Um…whaaaat…of course I did. Why would I have?” Candi says while sweating bullets. You know, sweat from the run she was just on. It isn’t there for any other reason.

“...Take your seat, please…”

“Okie dokie!” Candi zips back to her desk.

Jack writes down Candi’s information and reads off the next name on the list.

“Okay…Lev Hart.”

After a moment of silence Jack repeats the name.

“Is there a Lev Hart present?”

Lev shakes his head and raises his hand.

“...Oh…here…Sorry sir…”

“Name and power kid.”

“...Sorry…” Lev stands up “...Uh…hi…my name is…Lev Hart…It is nice to…meet you all…”

Jack stares at him.

“...Oh…my power is kind of…well…it’s complicated…” Lev says while rubbing his arm.

“We don’t have all day, kid.” Jack replies with a bored sounding voice.

“...Okay…well…you see…” Lev looks at the floor. “...My…power only activates when I am in a heightened sense of emotions…sorry…”

Another student quickly gets out of her desk and walks over to Lev. She has spiky light blue hair tied back in a long ponytail, an x shaped scar on her face, and has a tattered long black sleeveless leather jacket on.

“Now this is interesting.” She proceeds to pick up Lev and put him into a headlock.

Jack leans forward in his chair.

“Miss, what are you doing to that boy?”

“Don’t worry, teach. Just helping him show off his power. That’s all.”

“Put him down.”

“Fine.” she drops Lev and thuds back to her own desk.

Lev is now down on all fours and is hyperventilating. Suddenly his eyes turn red.

He manifests and bow and arrow out of light. The bow is gold and glowing but the arrow is red like his eyes.

He turns around and aims the arrow at the girl with the blue hair.

Jack gets up from his desk and runs to get between them.

As Lev fires the arrow Jack just got there in the nick of time to redirect the arrow so that it doesn’t hit the girl. He lifts the bow upwards and Lev shoots through the ceiling.

Lev’s eyes go back to normal and he collapses on his knees again.

“Boo! No fun!” The blue haired girl says with a disappointed look on her face. It seems like that…she wanted to be shot with the arrow for some reason.

“What the hell was that?” Jack says with a concerned look on his face.

Lev is now crying.

“...I…I am so…so sorry sir…it won’t happen again…I’m sorry…I’m…” his tears cut him off as he started to bawl his eyes out.

“Don’t worry kid. Take your time.” Jack leans down and puts a hand on Lev’s shoulder.

After Lev stops crying and sits back at his desk Jack is waiting patiently for an explanation.

“So, are you ready to talk yet?” Jack says.

“...Yeah…” Lev wipes his eyes one more time “...My power…is that when my emotions are in a heightened state I am able to generate a bow and arrow out of energy. Each different arrow color has a different effect. Green arrows that heal. Blue arrows can make people cry. You know…that sort of thing…”

“What do the red arrows do?” Jack says curiously.

“...Let’s…just say that they are the…most dangerous ones…”

“Okay. I think I have what I need, kid.” Jack writes Lev’s information down on his clipboard. “Very interesting.”

“Alright. Next is…Maka Sharktooth.”

The blue haired girl from earlier stands up again.

Jack slides his hand down his face. He really wants to get this day over with.

“Sup. The name is Maka Sharktooth and this is my power.” She takes a bottle of water out of her backpack and opens the lid. She uses her powers to guide the water out of the bottle and makes it float in a sphere. “Cool right?” Maka says to Jack.

“Water powers. Got it.” Jack says and he jots the info down.

“Oh! So that’s how it is!” Maka yells and proceeds to turn the sphere of water into a saw blade and launches it towards Jack.

He jumps out of the way, but his clipboard is cut in half after he drops it.

“Are you impressed now?” Maka gloats.

Jack just takes out another clipboard.

“This is why I buy spares.” He proceeds to jot down Maka’s information again.

“...Whatever…not like I care or anything anyways…” Maka says as she sits down with a loud thud.

“Okay…Lastly we have Violet Newton.”

“Why thank you for the kind introduction Mr. Dionysus. As our instructor has just stated, my name is Violet Newton. I am the daughter of King and Queen Newton and am the heiress to the Chess Company. It is nice to meet you all.” The young woman with bright purple hair tied back in two pigtails curtseys towards Jack. She is also wearing the chest plate to a suit of armor.

“Sir, do you mind if I borrow your desk for just a second?”

“...Sure, whatever…Let’s just get this over with…”

She proceeds to lift up the desk with one hand.

“So…super strength…”

“Oh no Mr. Dionysus. My power isn’t as civilian as just mere superstrength. There is so much more to it than that.”

She proceeds to put the desk back down and puts her hand on top of it. Shortly after this the desk starts to rock back and forth before collapsing.

“...What…why…did you do that?”

“Since it wasn’t very clear before, I thought my power needed some further demonstration. As you can see my power isn’t just mere superstrength. I am in fact able to change the weight of any object that I come into contact with. What just happened was that I made it to where the top board on your desk was so heavy that the rest of the desk underneath it could no longer support itself.”

“...That’s…not what I meant…Why did you break my desk?”

“Oh hush. I can simply just buy you a new one.”

She proceeds to pull out her phone and quickly dials a number.

“Hi daddy! Oh my day is going quite well so far…Anyways I was wondering if you could buy me a new desk. My other one is getting quite old…Thank you! Love you! Bye!” She hangs up. “See. Already taken care of. You can thank me now.”

“...Okay, I think that is enough class for today…”

*Scoff* “Um! You’re welcome!” Violet replies in a disgusted tone.

“...Class dismissed…”

Chapter Text

“Hey Ash! Hey Lev! What classes do you guys have next?” Candi says as they are all walking out of Jack’s class.

“I’ve got a strength training course at the gym.” Ash responds while looking at his schedule.

“No way! That’s what I have too! What about you Lev?”

“...Um…” Lev pulls a crumbled wad of paper out of his jacket pocket and unravels it. “...It…looks like I also…have that…”

“Awesome! What are the odds of that happening?”

Violet Newton overhears Candi say this and walks towards the group.

“Why would that be strange? We are all first year students and we all had the same teacher for our previous class. They probably just want to train us as a group so we can also work on our teamwork skills together.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense!” Candi responds with a big smile. “You’re really smart! You know that Violet?”

Violet becomes flustered after hearing this.

“...Um…Of course I am intelligent! Someone from a family as prestigious as mine better be! It’s basically genetic at this point!”

Violet sounds mad, but she isn’t actually angry at all. She just didn’t know how to respond to such a blunt compliment.

“Oh, look. We’re here.” Ash says as he points to the door of the gym.

“Alright students, do any of you know what we are going to be doing in this class?” says a black lady with a curly pompadour and a long black sleeveless jacket.

“...Uh…Isn’t it just a strength training course…” Ash says with his hand raised.

The teacher burst out laughing. After about a minute she wipes a tear from her eye and continues her introduction.

“Sure kid. I guess it is a strength training course, but it isn’t just any training course. This is MY training course! Do any of you know what the difference is?”

The gymnasium is silent for about a minute. Everybody basically knows the answer, but no one wants to say it though.

“The difference is that this is one of the top three toughest hero training courses in the country. I want to make the future of this world a better place in any way that I can and my job is to make sure that all of you are ready for anything this world has to throw at you. Days are going to be long and hard, but stick with it and before you know it you won’t believe how much you have improved.”

She looks over at the clock and then back over towards the students.

“The names Zari Xango.” she says as she slams her fists together. “Welcome to my class.”

Lev raises his hand.

“...Um…Since it is our first day…shouldn’t you go easy on us…at least for now…”

“Kid.” Zari walks up to Lev and puts her hand on his shoulder. “That’s not happening. We only have so much time and we all need to make the most of it.”

She looks towards the other students.

“Nobody leaves this room until they do at least 500 push ups.”

“...But…but I don’t think I have done that many push ups in my entire life combined…” Lev says dumbfounded.”

Zari turns back to Lev.

“Then you better get started.”

Maka stretches her arms above her head.

“I thought this was going to be a challenge.” She says with a giant smirk that shows off her sharp, shark-like teeth.

Lev had finally finished. It took him hours to do so, but he is finally done. Everyone else left about an hour ago at least. All except for Candi, who was waiting for Lev to be done.

Lev feels like he is going to die. Or maybe he is already dead. Who knows. He sure didn’t.

“Alright friend. Let's get you out of here.” Candi says with a small yet gentle smile.

She pulls him up off the ground and puts his arm around her shoulders.

Candi helped Lev walk all the way back to his dorm. He didn’t know what to expect on his first day of class, but it sure wasn’t that.

‘Maybe I should just quit’ He thought to himself. ‘I knew that this would be tough, but I didn’t think that it would be THIS HARD!’

He puts his backpack down and stumbles off to his bed. Right as he lays down he falls asleep almost instantly.

A younger Lev is seen in his parent’s room. By the way he looks one could assume he’s probably about eleven or twelve years old at this moment. He was still quite skittish, but his parents weren’t currently home so he didn’t think that he had to worry too much. After making sure the coast was absolutely clear he sneaks into his mother’s closet. He looks around at her clothes until he finds something that catches his eye. It is an aqua blue sundress with a light pink floral pattern on it. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

After he is finished putting it on he looks over at a tall mirror off to the side of his mother’s closet. He isn’t sure what exactly he is feeling. Excited, scared, a little melancholic perhaps. Maybe it was a mix of all of these emotions.

Before he had time to think about anything further than this he heard the front door of the house quickly swing open followed by quick footsteps that were leading directly to the room that he was in. He didn’t think that he had time to leave so he tried to take off the dress, but he isn’t exactly used to wearing them so that would be easier said than done. Instead he opted to just try to hide underneath his parent’s bed.

Just a few seconds later the door to the room swung open.

His heart was beating out of his chest. His breathing was steadily increasing. He has never been this scared before in his entire life. He covers his mouth to try to cover the sound of the deep breath that he is making.

He wasn’t really paying attention to what his parents were saying. Whatever it was would have been the last of his worries during that moment.

Time felt like it had slowed to a crawl. He was just waiting for them to leave the room so that he could get out of this dreadful situation, but who knows how long that would take. For all he knew it could be hours before they leave this room. He started making peace with his new home, which just so happened to be underneath the bed of his parents.

Suddenly, he heard something that sent a shiver down his spine.

“Hey honey, why are your shoes just lying on the floor? Go put them in your closet please.” His mother said nonchalantly.

“What shoes?” His father replied.

“Those ones right there.”

“Those aren’t mine. Those are Lev’s shoes.”

“Why would Lev’s shoes be in our room?”

“You know how messy kids can be dear.”

“Fine. Whatever. Just go take them and put them back into his room.”

“Whatever you say dear.” He said as he went to reach for the shoes.

What he didn’t realize is that Lev was still wearing the shoes in question.

“...Hey. wait a second…”

Lev is pulled out from under the bed.

“Son, what are you doing under…”

“...”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING!?!”

His mother quickly gets off the bed.

“Who are you talking…WHY ARE YOU WEARING MY DRESS!?!”

Lev couldn’t move or say anything. He was frozen in place and didn’t know what to do.

“GET UP AND TELL US WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW! OR ELSE!”

“...Or…else what…” Lev meekly responds.

“THAT’S IT!” Lev’s father takes off his belt, pulls him off the ground and onto the bed backwards, and uses his arm to make sure that he can’t get up.

“THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! TELL US WHY YOU ARE WEARING YOUR MOTHER’S DRESS!”

“...Be…Because…I…I thought…that…it…looked…pretty…” Lev manages to choke out between sobs.

“IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TEACH YOU A LESSON YOUNG MAN! ONE THAT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET!”

“DAD…DAD PLEASE DON’T…” Lev yells between sobs.

After the first hit from his dad’s belt, Lev’s eyes glow and bright red.

Lev bolts awake in his bed surrounded in cold sweat.

‘Oh. It was just a dream.’

He looks over to the clock. The time reads 3:27 AM.

“...That’s it! I don’t care how hard this school is!” Lev yells to himself as he throws his pillow across the room. “I am NEVER going back there again!

After a few minutes he lays back down on his bed.

“I made it through the first day. That’s usually the hardest part.” Lev says while looking up at the ceiling. “There’s no way that this can be any tougher than what I have already gone through. How hard could this be?”

Chapter Text

After about two weeks of starting school everyone started to get into the groove of their new routines. Our new group of students basically rotated between learning the fundamentals of hero work from Jack and were put through the wringer with rigorous training with Zari.

It is now the beginning of the third week and the new students are currently sitting in Jack’s class.

“So, if you were all by yourself and you had to pick between fighting a villain and saving a few civilians, which would you choose?”

“Beat up the bad guys of course! Any reason to fight is a good one if you ask me.” Maka blurts out without raising her hand.

“...Anyone else have an answer…”

Violet raises her hand.

“Yes. Violet.”

“Save the civilians of course. If you know for a fact that you can’t defeat a villain because they are too strong, you should get anyone who can’t fight for themselves out of harm's way as quickly as possible.”

“What if you aren’t fast enough and the villain catches up to you?”

“Then...you should…fight the villain. If the villain is currently pursuing the civilians then in this situation defending them would be your only choice.”

“Anybody else have an answer?”

Candi raises her hand. “Why not both?”

“What?”

“Why not…do both at the same time. With my super speed, taking on the baddies and saving the people should be a piece of cake…now I want some cake…” Candi says while rubbing her stomach.

Lev raises his hand.

“Yes.” Jack says stoically.

“...I…I think that…there is no correct answer…this is just a thought experiment to test us on. The answer to that question is impossible because it would change on a case to case basis. With all of that being said, even if the situation is hypothetical, this is why you need to work together as a team. If you have friends that you can closely rely on to help in your or others' time of need then something like this shouldn’t happen.”

Jack rubs the back of his head. “Eh…you’re kind of right, but what if you did have your friends with you and the villain just killed them all. What then.”

Lev is stunned. He thought that he gave the correct answer for sure, but it didn’t even occur to him that this would be a possibility.

“Why would you say such a thing?!” Ash says while slamming his hands on his desk and quickly standing up.

Jack, as stoic as ever, glances towards Ash. The rest of the class is dead silent.

“In that situation there is only one answer. Make the bad guy regret that decision. If you kill one of my friends then you might as well just be killing me because I don’t even want to think about living in a world where such a thing can happen!”

Jack lets out a large sigh. “Ash, I don’t want to argue with you. I am just stating all the possibilities.”

“If I were there I wouldn’t let that happen. I won’t allow it!”

“No matter how much willpower you have, there are some situations that you just can’t win no matter how hard you try.”

Jack turns back towards the rest of the class.

“You know what Lev. You gave a good answer, but there isn’t a correct answer here. I just wanted to give you all something to think about. In the business that we are in things like this unfortunately happen all of the time. Villains kill heroes, other villains for the pettiest of reasons you can imagine, and even civilians. With that being said the only true solution here would be to become as strong as you possibly can. Sure. There isn’t a 100% solution here no matter what, but the stronger you get the higher your odds are at the very least. Don’t underestimate your opponents, but also don’t underestimate yourselves. You are all good kids and I see great potential in all of you.”

After a moment of silence Jack puts his hand over his face.

“Blech…So sweet and saccharine. Where did that come from?

“Awww!” Candi has a huge smile on her face. “Maybe my kindness is rubbing off on you after all!”

“...Nope…that’s not it. Class dismissed.”

“You know I'm right!” Candi says with her tongue sticking out.”

“Goodbye. See you all tomorrow.” Jack says as he immediately leaves the classroom. “Stay here if you want to stay here until then. I’m locking the door.”

“WHAT!?!”

All the students rush towards the door to avoid the possibility of that happening.

As everyone is walking towards Zari’s gym an interesting conversation occurs.

“Ash!” Maka yells.

“Uh…What’s up?”

“You know what’s up! That was badass!”

“...Thank you…I guess…”

Violet walks right up to Ash. “You know what. I agree with Maka for once.”

“The Hell did you say?!?” Maka screams towards Violet with an exaggerated scowl.

“My apologies. I didn’t mean it as an insult.”

“...Whatever…” Maka says after she shoves her hands in her pockets.

“I do mean what I said though Ash.” Violet continues. “Such dedication to one’s friends is quite the admirable character trait. Anyone would be lucky to have you as one.”

Ash is rubbing the back of his head with a huge blush on his face. “Ah. Stop it. You know complimenting me won’t get you anywhere.”

This is a lie.

Candi puts her arms around Ash and Lev’s necks.

“I knew it! I knew I became friends with you guys for a reason! It must be fate!” Candi says with stars in her eyes.

“...Uh…Thank you…Candi…” Lev says with a quiet voice and a small blush on his face.

Lev now turns towards Ash.

“...Don’t…Don’t be modest…You deserve every word of this. I’m…glad to consider you my friend as well…” Lev says with a tiny smile.

Candi extends her arms out and pulls Violet and Maka into the hug as well.

“Hey! What the Hell!” Maka yells.

“Unhand me this instant!” Violet quickly follows.

“Nah! I’m good!” Candi says while beaming. “Just happy to be surrounded by so many good friends!”

“Hey! I didn’t say we were friends!” Maka yells.

“Too late! You’re all my best friends now!”

“...Dammit…” Maka whispers and just leans into the others with a small blush on her face.

Walking a distance away from the rest of the group, Calder just stares at the others with the same constant smirk that he always has.

“Well. This year is going to be interesting. That is for sure.”

“Class! Stand straight and listen up!” Zari Xango says to her students. “Y’all seem to be getting used to my training methods. I never thought I’d see the day…well…at least not this quickly…”

“...So…” Ash speaks up. “Are you saying that we pass…”

“Hahaha!!!” Zari cries from laughing too hard. “No! Not even close!”

“...But…then what were you talking about?”

“Oh…All I was going to say is that I think you guys are gonna be ready a little earlier than usual for this semester.”

“My apologies Miss Xango, but what in the heavens could you be referring to?” Violet asks inquisitively.

“What I’m saying is that I think that y’all are ready to fight…the students from another class!”

“...What…” Lev raises his voice slightly above a whisper. “...Isn’t…Isn’t that too soon…”
“Hell no!” Zari shouts enthusiastically. “I think that you all are plenty ready for this!”

“...I don’t agree…” Lev responds.

“Sorry! My mind is made up!” Zari turns her head and yells towards a door on the other side of the gym. “You can all come in now!”

Just a moment after she said this a group of six students entered the gym.

“Let me introduce you to the other first year students.” Zari announces. “As I point towards y’all I want to hear an introduction. Starting with you.”

She points towards the first student standing in the row. He is wearing a white ghutra and a white shirt with a purple jacket. He also has purple hair.

“My name is Zahid Zahir. I look forward to sparring with you.” He says with his arms crossed and a blank expression.

She then points to a girl with a white gi and long white hair with red highlights.

“Hello!” She says with a quick bow.

“My name is Shiro Long. Pleasure to meet you all!” Shiro says with a big smirk on her face.

Next up is a guy with long green hair on one side of his head with the other side completely shaved off, he also has a goatee. He is wearing a black gi and green pants.

He also currently has headphones in and hasn’t heard a word that Zari said.

“Hey punk! Listen up!” Zari says as she throws her megaphone at him.

He glances over and quickly catches it. “I’m sorry Miss Z. I wasn’t listening. Do you want this back?” He says nonchalantly.

“Well. You better listen up for the rest of class. Otherwise you are going to detention.”

“Loud and clear.” He says with a smirk.

“Now introduce yourself. We don’t have all day.”

“Aight. The name's Takeru Takao.”

“...Is that all you have to say for yourself?” Zari questions.

“Yep.”

“...Moving along then…”

After that is a girl with long black hair that goes over one of her eyes. She is wearing a leather jacket with a purple undershirt and a black skirt. She is also holding a black a purple teddy bear that is covered in stitches.

“...Hey Poe…” She says to her bear. “It looks like we’re about to make a lot of new friends…”

“Stop being creepy and just introduce yourself.” Zari says with a palm on her face.

“They call me Samara McNeil.” She then holds up her teddy bear. “And this cute little guy is Poe. Say hi to your new friends, Poe.”

She has a slightly more husky yet silly voice. “Hello new friends. It is beary nice to meet you!” She is waving Poe's hand while saying this.

“Awesome!” Candi yells. “A teddy bear that talks! That is one of the cutest things that I have ever seen!”

“Can it Candi!” Zari yells.

“Sorry Miss Z.”

“Let’s get this over with.”

Next is a person who has big, curly shoulder length black hair, a red tank top, long sleeves with big holes on the shoulders, and black pants. Their entire outfit is covered in zippers.

“Oh, hello! Aren’t you a cute bunch.” They say while licking their lips.

“My name is Zypp Sunbeck. They/them pronouns please.” They say while giving a suggestive wink.

“Let’s finally get this over with.”

Last, but certainly not least, we have a chubby yet muscular girl with long black hair and purple highlights. She is wearing a white shirt with an open black gi with the sleeves cut off, and is wearing black shorts.

She swings one of her legs high up in the air and lets it down with a powerful sumo stomp.

“Hey.” She says as she cracks her knuckles.

“The name’s Ori Sawano. Who wants to get knocked out first?” She says with a cocky grin.

“Alright. Wait for your fight Ori.” Zari says impatiently. “Now, I will give you all about an hour to get to know each other, but then we are going to be holding a sparring session. Each of you will fight someone from the other class.”

“If y’all can excuse me for a moment. I need to go make the bracket. Just mingle until I’m done, aight.”

So, in year one class one we have Ash Burns, Calder McHail, Candi Kane, Lev Hart, Maka Sharktooth, and Violet Newton.

In year one class two we have Zahid Zahir, Shiro Long, Takeru Takao, Samara McNeil, Zypp Sunbeck, and Ori Sawano.

Chapter Text

As Zari goes to put the bracket together the students of the two classes start to talk amongst themselves.

“Hello!” Candi yells as she runs towards the other students.

“Oh. Hi.” Shiro responds as she waves towards Candi.

“You seem nice! Want to be friends?” Candi says immediately.

“...We literally just met?”

“You know what they say? A stranger is just a friend you haven’t made yet!” Candi says with a big smile on her face.

*Shiro sighs with a small smile on her face*

“...Sure, why not. Might as well make some friends while I'm here.”

“Yay!” Candi yells as she hugs Shiro.

Ash slowly walks towards Takeru.

Takeru is sitting on a bench listening to his music. He has his sword out of its scabbard and is currently sharpening it with a rock.

“Whatcha got there?” Ash asks.

Takeru doesn’t see him. He just keeps listening to his music.

Ash taps him on the shoulder.

“Huh…oh…sup.”

“The name Ash. I was just wondering where you got that cool sword.”

“Oh this. That’s a secret for now. Don’t wanna spoil the surprise.” Takeru says with a small smile.

“Sure. I understand. That will just make the fights more interesting.”

“Yup.”

“So, what are you listening to.”

“Just some punk rock. Why?”

“Nice! Honestly, when it comes to music I don’t really have much of a preference. I just like music that sounds good, you know?”

“...If that’s the case…I have a lot of stuff to recommend to you.”

“Alright! I am always up to try something new.”

Takeru starts to smile as they spend the rest of the hour talking about music.

Violet walks towards Samara and reaches her hand out.

“Hello. It is nice to make your acquaintance. My name is Violet Newton.”

Samara holds her bear up in front of her face.

“It’s beary nice to meet you as well!”

‘This girl is crazy!’ Violet thinks to herself.

“Well you can’t say I didn’t try to make smalltalk.” Violet says as she walks towards a bench to sit and wait for the rest of the hour.

Calder is standing off to the side. He didn’t feel like getting chummy with his current opponents.

“It seems like you aren’t the talkative type. Am I correct?” Calder turns his head to see Zahid leaning against the wall of the gym.

“Why would I want to waste my breath getting to know my enemy. All I am here to do is to fight. Not to make friends.”

“You seem dedicated. I can respect that.” Zahid says before walking off.

Maka slowly walks towards Ori with her arms crossed behind her head.

“So. If I were to bet I’d say you were the strongest person here.” Maka says while cracking her knuckles with a huge smirk. “Well, let’s make that the second strongest!”

“Interesting. So you think that you can beat me?”

“Yep!”

“Alright you cocky little shit! Now you’ve got my attention!”

“You know what? Screw waiting for the fights to officially start. Let’s go! You and me! Right now!”

“...You’ve officially made an enemy today Sharktooth!” Ori says as she starts to pull back her fist in preparation to throw the first punch.

“Bring it on!” Maka says while getting ready to swing as well.

“That’s enough!” Violet yells.

She runs right between the two hotheads and puts her arms up between them.

“Let’s calm down and wait for the fight to actually start. Then you can beat each other up no problem.”

“Get out of my way, princess!” Maka snarks.

“Yeah. This doesn’t involve you!” Ori agrees.

“Do you idiots really want to be kicked out of school this early? Is that what you really want?”

“Shut up! She started this and I’m gonna finish it!” Ori yells.

“You know what? Fine! Get kicked out! See if I care!” Violet huffs and walks off.

Maka grits her teeth.

“...Dammit…”

She puts her hands in her pockets and turns around, slowly following Violet.

“So. I see you’ve come to your senses?”

“...Shut up…” Maka says quietly with a small blush.

“Embarrassed now. Aren’t we?”

“...It’s just that…you’re right…I’ll save it for the fight…I don’t want to get kicked out…”

“So the brute actually has some morals. I never thought that I’d see the day.”

“...Whatever…”

Lev is just sitting on a bench off to the side of the gym. He didn’t care much for socializing right now. He was just anxiously waiting for the sparring to start which he wasn’t looking forward to at all. The thought of having to fight someone was actually starting to make him feel sick.

He suddenly feels a tap on his shoulder and looks up.

“Well, aren’t you a cutie?” Zypp says in a flirtatious tone.

Lev immediately starts blushing and covers his face.

“...Um…no…I’m…I’m…not…cute…”

Zypp takes Lev’s chin in their hand.

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. You know you love it.”

Zypp walks away with a hand on their hip. They slowly turn around and blow a kiss at Lev and then continue walking.

‘Well. At least I'm not thinking about the fight anymore.’ Lev says to himself.

As the hour concluded Zari returned to the gym.

“Alright! Settle down!”

The students stop talking and all turn towards their teacher.

“I’ve got the bracket set up. So let me tell y’all who your opponents are.”

Lev is shaking again. Maybe if he pretended he was sick he’d not have to do this.

‘No. Then I’d get kicked out. That is the last thing that I want. Just get through this.’

He took a deep breath and looked back up toward Zari.

“So! First up we have Ash Burns and Zahid Zahir.”

Ash glances over at Zahid. He just gives a small nod in return.

“Next up is Candi Kane and Samara McNeil.”

Candi quickly runs towards Samara.

“Let’s have fun! Okay?” She says as she smiles.

“You hear that, Poe?” Samara talks to her bear. “We’re about to have a lot of fun.”

“I am so excited. The wait is unbearable!”

“Hahaha!” Candi laughs until she cries. “You’re so funny Poe!”

Zari hits Candi on the head with her clipboard.

“Owie!”

“Don’t interrupt me again!”

“Yes ma'am!” Candi and Samara say in unison.

“Aight. After that will be Calder McHail and Zypp Sunbeck.”

“Well hello there.” Zypp says as they strut towards Calder.

“...Don’t talk to me...”

“Oh! Playing hard to get, I see?” They let out a small giggle. “That will just make this a lot more fun.”

Calder doesn’t even give them a response.

“Then we have Violet Newton and Takeru Takao.”

“It will be a pleasure to fight you.” Violet says with a slight bow.

Takeru can’t hear her. He has headphones in.

“Why do I even bother?” Violet mutters to herself.

“Following that will be Maka Sharktooth and Shiro Long.”

“What?! Why don’t you have me fighting her?” Maka gestures towards Ori. “Don’t say it’s because you think I can’t handle it or some stupid shit like that!”

“Don’t worry Maka.” Shiro says. “I’m no pushover. So give me everything that you’ve got!”

*Maka sighs*

“As long as you don’t hold back. That’s fine by me.”

“Finally, we have Lev Hart…and Ori Sawano.”

Lev gets a chill down his spine.

‘...You…you mean…that…I…am going to have to fight…Her?!”

Ori cracks her knuckles.

“Hey small fry. Don’t disappoint me. You got that!”

‘This is it.’ Lev thinks to himself.

‘This is the day that I die.’

Chapter Text

Before the first fight begins the teachers of the two classes enter the gym. Jack Dionysus is looking just about as stoic as usual and a woman with long blonde hair and a long white toga.

“It has been a while hasn’t it Jacky.” the woman says with a suggestive wink.

“...Hello Angella…” Jack says with an annoyed look on his face.

“That’s not nice Jacky. Think about the example that you are setting for your students.”

“...Whatever…”

“Oh, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Angella DeLux. I am the teacher of class two for the first year students. It is nice to meet all of you.”

“Alright.” Zari says after she blows her whistle to get everyone’s attention “Jack, Angella, take a seat on the bleachers. Let’s get this thing going.”

“Okay. The first match will be Ash Burns versus Zahid Zahir.”

Both men walk into the ring, but Ash notices that Zahid is carrying something in his hands. They look like thin rings that are made out of metal.

“Hey, Miss Xango. Are we allowed to bring weapons into these fights?”

“Yep!”

“There’s got to be a rule about this somewhere, right?”

“So you want rules. Fine. You are allowed to bring weapons into the ring with you. The only other rule is that in order to win the fight you have to either knock your opponent out or knock them out of the ring. Any more questions?”

“No ma'am.” Ash responds before turning to Zahid.

“Aight! Let the first round begin.” Zari blows her whistle. “FIGHT!”

Zahid looks at Ash with a stoic expression.

“May the strongest warrior win.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ash says and he slams his fists together while setting them ablaze. He then starts running right towards Zahid.

In response Zahid holds up his chakrams, swings his arms backwards to build momentum, and throws them.

Ash dodges them both with relative ease.

“Ha! You missed!” Ash says still running towards Zahid.

“Did I?” Zahid questions while Ash turns to see what he is talking about.

Ash sees the chakrams that he dodged flying towards his back.

“What?!” Ash says as he quickly shoots a fireball at the weapon.

Zahid swipes his hand and the chakrams quickly change direction.

They fly upwards and quickly fall back down right towards Ash’s head.

At first Ash sends a barrage of fireballs flying upwards, but Zahid uses his powers to get his weapons out of the way of them. As they come closer to him Ash tries to roll out of the way, but one of the chakrams quickly grazes the side of his face.

“Hey! Watch where you throw those things man! Do you want to kill me?”

The chakrams fly back towards Zahid and he catches them. “My intention is not to kill you, but if you die from my attack, then maybe you aren’t worthy of being a hero after all.”

Zahid throws his chakrams again. Ash starts running away from them while Zahid is directing them towards his back.

Ash stops to catch his breath.

“...This…isn’t…fair…”

“The villains that we are going to fight in the future aren’t going to go easy on us. Neither will I. This is how you learn.”

Ash runs behind Zahid and leads the chakrams along with him. Zahid quickly catches them as they approach.

He then quickly turns around and slashes them at Ash who was still standing right behind him.

Ash jumps backwards right in the nick of time.

‘This is impossible! What am I gonna do?’ Ash thinks to himself while panting heavily.

“It isn’t smart to give your opponent such an obvious opening.” Zahid says as he throws the chakrams at Ash yet again.

Ash suddenly gets an idea.

Zahid’s Chakrams are flying right towards Ash, but he isn’t trying to dodge them this time.

Instead he grabs them with his bare hands.

“...Impressive…” Zahid said, while still holding the same stoic expression.

Ash proceeds to use his fire to melt the chakrams with a big smile on his face.

“Not so strong without your toys now are you!”

Rashid doesn’t respond to this attempt at banter. Instead he just quickly seems to disappear.

He suddenly appears right behind Ash and kicks him so hard that he falls onto the ground.

Zahid quickly does the same thing to get back in front of him.

Ash struggles to stand up for a little while, but eventually he is back on his feet.

“...How…Did you do that?” Ash says as if he was almost completely out of breath.

“Since you are about to lose it is only fair that I tell you how my power works. It is the honorable thing to do after all.” Zahid begins to explain.

He creates a little tornado in his right hand.

“As you can see, I can control the wind itself. I am just using air currents to change the direction of objects. This also includes myself.”

Right after he finished his explanation he disappeared again.

Ash looks up to see Zahid quickly zipping from place to place in the air above him before he aims until he aims his foot right down at Ash.

Right before Zahid can land the kick Ash rolls out of the way.

After he struggles to get to his feet once again Ash tries to throw another fireball at Zahid.

He quickly uses a gust of wind to put it out.

“Oh come on!” Ash yells. “Alright, you can handle one fireball, but can you handle this?”

Ash proceeds to throw out an entire barrage of fireballs.

Zahid creates a small tornado right in front of himself and all of the fireballs are put out as they pass through it.

“You know what? It’s time to bring out the big guns!” Ash yells as he starts channeling a ball of fire in his hands.

It eventually gets so big that he has to adjust himself so that the fireball is above his own head.

“Supernova Flare!” Ash screams out as he launches the attack.

A large fiery explosion fills the concrete square that makes up the arena in the center of the gym.

Zahid is nowhere to be seen after it fully dissipates.

“...No…way…” Ash says with a stunned expression on his face.

Zahid is behind him again and quickly kicks Ash which sends him flying.

Right before Ash hits the floor, Zahid appears behind him and kicks him again, and again, and again.

After the previous kick sends Ash flying straight into the air Zahid zips right behind him.

“It’s time to finish this.” Zahid says as he swiftly gives Ash a powerful kick that sends him flying out of the arena.

After the dust settles Ash is struggling to get up again, but this time he fails to do so.

“Well, it appears that the winner of match one is…” Zari announces into her megaphone. “Zahid Zahir!”

After his victory Zahid walks over to Ash.

“You fought well.” Zahid says while extending out a hand.

After a brief pause Ash takes his hand and Zahid helps him to his feet.

“...Thanks…you too…” Ash says with his hands on his knees while panting heavily.

“Don’t worry Ash.” Zari says as she walks towards him. “We have medics on standby. Just walk out into their tent and they will fix you right up."

Ash gives Zari a weak thumbs up and proceeds to limp out of the gym.

Zahid walks towards the bleachers and takes a seat with the rest of his team.

“Okay. Let’s get straight into our second match!” Zari says into the megaphone. “Next up we have Candi Kane versus Samara McNeil!”

Chapter Text

“What a surprise? It appears one of my students won the first match.” Angella says with a haughty demeanor.

“It isn’t a competition, Angella.” Jack says with an annoyed scowl.

“Oh, of course it isn’t, but if it was we would be winning.”

“It has only been one match. Don’t get too cocky.”

“Hi Samara! Hi Poe!” Candi says excitedly as she enters the ring. “Don’t go easy on me, okay!”

“Of course. This wouldn’t be much fun otherwise.” Samara says with a creepy looking smile on her face.

Zari brings her megaphone up to her face.

“Go!”

Candi takes a small container of sugar out of her fanny pack and quickly consumes all of it in one quick motion.

Samara takes out an umbrella and shades herself with it.

Candi dashes towards Samara.

“Out of the darkness and into the light. Me and my shadow are ready to fight.” Samara chants which brings two snake looking shadow creatures out of the shade underneath the umbrella.

Samara points towards Candi with a creepy grin and the two shadows follow the command.

Candi quickly dodges this attack. “Aww! They're cute! Do they have names?”

“The one on the right is Edgar and the one on the left is Allen.”

“So clever!” Candi says while being chased by them.

“I know,.” Samara says as the shadows continue to follow Candi.

Candi quickly turns around and does a slide kick to avoid an attack from Edgar and Allen. She then runs towards Samara and does a flying kick.

Samara’s right arm turns into shadows and she catches Candi by the leg and tosses her to the side.

“Wow! You’re super strong!” Candi says while she slowly gets back on her feet.

“Why thank you.” Samara says as she has her shadows return to where she is standing. They slide up onto her body and onto her arms.

Candi sprints towards Samara again, quickly dodges another attack from her shadows, and tries to kick her from behind.

Samara’s entire body suddenly turns into shadow and Candi’s leg flies right through her.

“...Wow…what a cool power…so versatile…” Candi says as she positions back into a running start.

Samara just smiles in response and extends her shadowy arms out to strike again.

Candi quickly dodges again.

“Too slow!” She says while sticking her tongue out.

While still being chased down by the shadows Candi runs back towards Samara and starts to run circles around her.

“Are”

“You”

“Getting”

“Dizzy”

“Yet?” Candi says while running around Samara. She only has enough time so say one word per lap.

“No. I am actually just getting started!” Samara exclaims.

She then sends out a ring of shadowy spikes around her in every direction. One of them hits Candi and sends her flying back again.

“You're fast.” Samara says as she turns into shadow and quickly gets right behind Candi. “But not fast enough.”

She uses one of her shadows to constrict Candi and raises her about ten feet in the air before slamming her back down against the pavement.

Candi slowly gets back up on her feet and uses the back of her hand to wipe some blood off of her cheek.

“Is that all you’ve got? I thought you said that this was going to be fun.” Samara says while calling her shadows back to herself.

“Don’t you worry.” Candi says while heavily breathing. “I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeves…well I’m not actually wearing sleeves, but you know what I mean.”

She goes back into her fanny pack and pulls out three more small containers of sugar and downs them all quickly.

Before Samara could even react Candi is already behind her.

“Eat this!” Candi yells out as she races past Samara’s shadows and lands a successful kick.

This causes Samara to tumble for a bit, but she eventually stops and gets back onto her feet.

“What is that Poe?” She says and she puts the bear up to her ear. “You wanna have a turn to play? As you wish.”

She calls all of her shadows back and sends them all inside of Poe.

She tosses him forward as he quickly grows.

As he lands on the ground he is now about 8 feet tall.

“Still so cute! Wait, focus! Don’t get distracted!” Candi says as she goes back into her starting position and quickly sprints off again.

She quickly dashes behind Poe and sends a roundhouse kick to the back of his head.

Poe sees this from over his shoulder, quickly turns around, and swipes his claws at Candi.

After taking the hit Candi flies back a fair ways and lands right at the edge of the arena.

She gets back onto her feet and runs towards Poe again.

This time she dodges Poe’s claw swipe and successfully lands a kick. This sends Poe sliding backwards a bit.

“Alright. I think I know what to do.” Candi says as she runs towards the bear again.

She quickly dodges and kicks him again, and does so successfully about three more times until Poe is towards the edge of the arena.

“It seems that I have underestimated you, but let's get this over with.” Samara says as she looks towards Poe.

“It looks like somebody wants a hug? Poe, you don’t want to upset our new friend. Give her what she wants.”

Poe nods his head and quickly uses shadows to extend his paws towards Candi.

She tries to run for a bit, but she feels her energy start to slowly leave her body. She slows down enough to where Poe is able to catch her.

“Candi Kane. You have nowhere left to run. Do you forfeit?” Samara says with a creepy grin.

“No way…I am just…getting…zzz…zzz…zzz” Candi slurs out before falling asleep.

After consuming so much sugar it seems like Candi has finally had a sugar crash.

“Alright. The winner of the second match is…Samara McNeil!” Zari exclaims.

“And Poe.” Samara corrects.

“Sure…and Poe.” Zari repeats into the microphone.

Samara puts her umbrella away and absorbs all of the shadows back out of Poe.

She walks up to Candi who is now laying in the center of the arena fast asleep.

“That was a lot of fun. Let’s do it again sometime.” Samara says with a small smile.

“...I’m sorry Mr. Ice cream…” Candi talks while asleep “...I just want one more bite…”

“...Uh…Okay…” Zari says after shooting a confused look towards Candi. “...The next match will be…Calder McHail versus Zypp Sunbeck!”

Chapter Text

Angella stares at the arena with a dumbfounded look. Jack is still making the same stoic face as usual.

“...Well…not exactly how I expected that match to go, but my class is still winning and that is all that matters.”

“...Still not a competition…” Jack dryly replies.

“Of course it’s not.” Angella replies with a small grin.

“Okay, now that the paramedics have taken Candi out of the ring and into their tent we can move on to the next match.” Zare announces.

Calder McHail and Zypp Sunbeck enter the arena.

Zypp blows a kiss towards Calder.

Calder furrows his eyebrows and rolls his eyes in response.

Zari holds up her megaphone “...Fight!”

Calder begins the match by sending a large wave of ice towards Zypp.

That smug smirk returns to Calder’s face.

‘There is no way that anyone could have dodged that. It seems like this battle was over as quickly as it started. Pathetic.’ Calder thought to himself.

Suddenly Calder feels someone tapping him on the shoulder.

He quickly turned around and realized that Zypp was right behind him.

‘What? That was fast. How is that possible?’

“Aww! You look cute when you get confused.” Zypp taunts.

“...Don’t worry, now that I know what your power is I’ll be able to defeat you easily.”

“Really now, then what is my power? I mean, since you are so smart after all.” Zypp sarcastically says with a smug expression.

Calder smiles confidently.

“You have the power to teleport.”

“...Hmm…nope, that’s not it.”

“...What? But if not that, what else can it possibly be?”

“Don’t worry. You aren’t completely wrong, big boy. You just aren’t exactly 100% right either.”

“...Whatever…It doesn’t matter.” Calder’s cold yet smug expression returns. “I’ll beat you anyways.”

“Oooh. So scary.” Zypp says with a hand over their face pretending to be intimidated.

Calder sends another wall of ice towards Zypp.

“Missed me again.”

Zypp is behind Calder again. Calder quickly turns his right arm into an icicle and turns around to stab them.

Zypp just does a backflip and dodges it easily.

“After all that talk I thought you’d be stronger than this.”

“Don’t worry, You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Calder starts to form a compressed ball of ice in between his hands. After charging it up for a little while he throws his arms upwards and launches the ball of ice into the sky.

Just before it reaches the roof of the gym it explodes into a cloud of mist that is quickly followed by a lot of icicles that fall down towards the arena.

Calder quickly looked towards where Zypp was standing to gloat about his impending victory, but all he saw was them putting a zipper onto the ground, unzipping it, and jumping down through it.

Calder snaps his head upwards to see Zypp quickly falling from the ceiling above all of the remaining icicles.

Calder quickly encases himself in a dome of ice and waits for the icicles to finish falling.

After a few seconds he gets rid of the dome and checks his surroundings.

He doesn’t see anyone in the arena.

“...Where the hell are…”

“Boo!” Zypp shouts behind Calder who jumps back in response.

“Shit! What is wrong with you?” Calder says while catching his breath.

“A lot of things. You’d have to be more specific.” Zypp says with their tongue sticking out.

“Alright, that’s it! I’ve had enough of this!”

“Really? I was just getting warmed up.”

Calder launches himself into the air using a column of ice. He then charges up another attack.

“Sub-zero freezer!” Calder yells as he quickly encases the entire floor of the arena in a thick layer of ice.

Afterwards he falls back down to the ground and slows his descent by shooting ice towards the ground until he eventually lands.

‘That had to be it! Right?’ Calder thinks to himself.

“If I knew there was going to be a rink I would have brought skates.” Zypp says behind Calder.

“Shut up!” Calder yells as he shoots a barrage of icicles towards Zypp.

Zypp just puts a zipper onto the air where the icicles are flying towards and opens it up. This makes another zipper portal open up on the other side of Zypp.

The icicles fly through the first portal and back out the second back towards Calder.

“Shit!” Calder yells out as he creates a shield of ice right in front of himself to block the attack.

As Calder was preoccupied blocking his own attack Zypp teleports behind him and kicks him right into his own shield.

“Ouch! That hurt, you bitch!” Calder curses.

“Wow, What a temper. Maybe some ice will help you cool off.” Zypp says as they roundhouse kick Calder into the ice hard enough to crack through it and send him flying backwards.

Calder struggles to get back up with a furious expression on his face.

“God Dammit!” He screams as he slams his fist against the ground. “I will not be beaten! Especially not by someone like you!”

For the first time for the entire match Zypp’s suggestive expression is replaced by a slight scowl.

“What does that mean?” Zypp responds with anger bubbling up at the back of their throat.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Calder says with his smug expression slowly returning. Now that Zypp is angry he thinks that he might be able to get the upper hand now.

Calder hops back onto his feet and starts to make a path made out of ice.

The path starts to spiral around the edges of the arena as he slowly starts to ascend. To keep up with the speed at which he is creating this ice he has given himself skates made out of ice.

Before he reaches the ceiling of the gym he stops the path which ends right on top of the center of the arena. He then jumps off of it and encases both of his fists in blocks of ice.

“Let’s see if you can dodge this, you freak!” Calder yells out.

Zypp takes a deep breath and looks up at Calder who is falling right towards them. He has one fist pulled back. It seems like he will try to finish this fight with a punch.

Just before Calder lands the blow Zypp creates a zipper portal on the floor right where he was falling and quickly dodges him. Right before Calder falls into the portal Zypp grabs the hoodie and jumps down with him through the portal.

The portal brought them to the top of Calder’s ice structure. Zypp lets go of Calder and punches him hard across the face. As he slides all the way to the bottom Zypp creates a zipper portal and beats him there.

Right before Calder reached the bottom of the slope Zypp creates another portal. As Calder reaches the floor of the arena again Zypp quickly grabs him, punches him in the face again, and throws him through the new portal.

The portal was about ten feet above the bleachers and Calder fell right onto the bottom of them with a loud clang.

Zypp dust off their hands and slowly walks towards the bleachers.

Calder seems to be out cold.

“Hopefully that will teach him a lesson.” Zypp said as they turned towards Zari expectantly.

“The winner of the third match is…Zypp Sunbeck.” Zari says into the microphone.

Zypp walks back towards the bleachers and takes a seat.

‘What a jerk.’ They mutter to themselves.

Lev turns towards Violet.

“...That got heated near the end…What do you think that was about?” Lev asks anxiously.

“Honestly I am not sure, but now I have a bad feeling…” With a serious tone and her arms crossed.

“...About what?”

“About Calder. I don’t trust him.”

“...Why…why not?”

“Someone who doesn’t talk that much must have something to hide. It’s…just trust me on this, okay?”

“...I don’t talk much either…Does that…make me untrustworthy to you?”

“No. You’re obviously quite introverted and really shy. I don’t get the same feelings from him.”

Lev just nods his head. He will probably keep a closer look on Calder from here on out.

“Alright, who is ready to start the next match?” Zari says as she turns around towards the bleachers.

Shiro raises her hand.

“What’s up?” Zari responds.

“What about the arena? We can’t fight if it is still covered in all of that ice, right?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Zari says as she puts her megaphone down onto her chair and walks towards the ring.

She walks towards the center of it and cracks her knuckles.

“Let’s do this!” Zari yells out as she sends her arm backwards in preparation for a punch.

She quickly punches the grounds with a force that is strong enough to instantly shatter all of the remaining ice in the arena.

Zari puts her hands behind her head and walks back towards the bleachers.

“...That was…awesome!” Maka yells.

“Nah. That was nothing.” Zari says as she picks up her megaphone. “I didn’t even break a sweat out there.”

“So cool!” Shiro yells out with stars in her eyes.

“Alright. Let’s get back on track.” Zari says as she picks up her megaphone. “The next match will be between…Violet Newton and Takeru Takao!”

Chapter Text

Violet enters the arena and waits for her opponent. Even though she wasn’t sure if they were going to be allowed to bring weapons she brought hers just in case which came in the form of a giant mace that had a eight foot long handle.

“Where is my opponent? Was he afraid to show his face because he knew he didn’t stand a chance?” Violet says with a haughty grin.

Takeru is still sitting in the bleachers listening to his music. Shiro taps him on the shoulder.

“...What’s up?” Takeru says as he removes a headphone from his ear.

“It's your turn to fight.” Shiro says as she points towards the arena.

“...Oh…cool.” Takeru gets up and slowly walks towards the ring.

“Look who finally decided to show up! You know that it is rude to keep a lady waiting.”

“Sure.” Takeru says with a shrug.

“Very well, let’s get this fight started. Shall we?” Violet says with a determined look on her face as she shoots a glance at Zari.

Zari gives Violet a nod and holds the megaphone up to her face. “Fight!”

Violet runs towards Takeru with the mace down at the side of her body. As she runs into range she gets in position to swing and clashes with Takeru who quickly unsheathes his sword.

Takeru pushes Violet and sends her staggering a few feet backwards. He holds his sword over his shoulder. Violet notices that his sword is now glowing a light green.

“It seems that you are stronger than I thought.” Violet says while panting.

“I get that a lot.” Takeru says as he moves into a battle stance.

Violet runs towards Takeru and swings her mace over her head and down towards her opponent. Takeru quickly dodges as Violet’s mace hits the ground with a giant clank.

Violet grunts angrily and lifts her mace back up before swinging at Takeru again which he easily dodges again.

Violet swings again and misses, but the swing after that actually does connect with Takeru’s blade.

“...How…are you so fast?” Violet questions in between pants.

“I just go with the flow.” Takeru says as he raises his sword over his head using both hands.

He then swings it downwards which unleashes a massive wave of green energy right towards Violet. She blocks it using her mace, but the force of the projectile causes it to fly out of her hands and clatter on the ground behind her.

“...What was that?” Violet asks with a confused yet intrigued look on her face.

“Oh. That’s just a little trick of mine. Cool, right?” Takeru responds with his usual chill demeanor.

“...Well, I might as well show you a little trick of my own then. That would only be fair, right?”

Violet proceeds to bend down and lifts a massive tile of stone out of the grid that makes up the floor of the arena.
She then tosses it towards Takeru with great force.

Takeru dices it to pieces with the precision of a professional chef. The stone slab separates into small cubes and Takeru’s sword is glowing again.

Takeru sends out another massive wave of energy towards Violet who quickly lifts another stone tile out of the floor of the arena and tosses it towards Takeru.

Takeru’s attack easily causes the stone tile to crumble, but Violet flies through the cloud of dust that the previous impact created with her mace and swings towards Takeru once again.

Takeru attempts to block, but the attack is so strong that it sends him backwards and causes him to drop his glowing sword.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that you can’t do much without your sword. What a shame, but I’ll admit that this wasn’t nearly as dreadful as I thought it would be.” Violet says smugly.

A small smirk climbs onto Takeru’s face. He proceeds to backflip three times and quickly grabs his sword again.

He beckons Violet towards him and she loses it.

She screams in anger and runs towards him while wildly flailing her mace around.

Takeru successfully blocks every single one of her swings.

After her barrage is done and her energy is mostly spent she slams her mace against the ground and leans on it for support while sweating profusely.

Takeru slowly walks towards Violet with his sword which is shining a brilliantly vibrant color which isn’t too dissimilar to that of the Aurora Borealis. As his sword slowly drifts from side to side while in his hand it leaves a rainbow-like trail in its wake.

He then swings his sword and a gigantic wave of rainbow colored energy flies from his sword and towards Violet. She holds up her mace to block, but the impact is so strong that it breaks down the middle and the pieces fly behind her. It also sends her flying backwards for a while after she eventually lands on the ground in a sitting position.

“You're quite strong, princess. I’ll give you that, but it will take more than brute force to defeat me.” Takeru says with a small grin on his face. “You actually might just be one of the most physically strong fighters I have ever met, but that doesn’t matter much if you can’t land a hit.”

“What are you saying? I did land a hit on you!” Violet says as she struggles to stand up and dusts herself off.

“Sure, but it was a lucky shot. One out of about 100 swings working isn’t something I’d brag about. You may have power, but you lack rhythm.”

“...What? Now you're speaking nonsense!” Violet responded with anger bubbling up inside of her.

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not, but you can’t argue with the results.”

Violet thinks for a moment and lets out a long sigh.

“You know what. That’s fair. I know when I have been beat.” Violet says as puts her mace down and slowly walks towards Takeru.

“I’m sorry that I underestimated you. That was a good fight.” Violet says as she extends a hand towards Takeru.

He quickly returns the handshake while rubbing his other hand behind the back of his neck. “Don’t mention it.”

“With that being said…” Violet says with a large smile. “...Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate me either.”

“...What?” Takeru says with a confused look on his face that is quickly replaced with one of shock.

Violet begins to swing Takeru around herself in a circular motion and after gaining enough momentum tosses him out of the ring and towards one of the walls of the gym.

He slams against the wall in a giant thud that leaves a massive crack in his wake.

Violet dusts her hands, crosses her arms, and slowly walks out of the ring and towards Takeru.

“You know, you're quite strong, princess!” Violet says in a mocking tone towards her downed opponent. She follows up with an incredibly arrogant and haughty laugh.

Violet then turns towards Zari with a small, yet noticeably smug expression.

“Go ahead Miss Xango. Announce the winner.” Violet says as she brushes her hair off of her shoulder.

“Aight.” Zari says while raising her megaphone to her lips. “The winner of the fourth match is…Violet Newton!”

“Oh, stop it! You're making me blush!” Violet says in a way that indicates that she actually wants the praise to continue.

Jack glances over at Angella with the same face as always.

“Not a word! This isn’t a competition, you know?” Angella says with a grumpy expression on her face.

“...Sure it’s not…” Jack says with what was his first smile for that whole semester so far.

Zari looks towards Jack and Angella and lets out a small chuckle.

“...The next match will be…Maka Sharktooth versus Shiro Long!”

Chapter Text

“Hell yeah!” Maka says as she walks towards the arena while cracking her knuckles. “Finally! It’s my turn to kick some ass!”

After they both enter the arena Shiro bows towards Maka.

“May the best fighter win.” Shiro says while giving Maka a thumbs up.

Maka flashes a toothy grin at Shiro.

Zari holds up her megaphone.

“...Fight!”

Maka immediately uses some of her water to create some sawblades and launches them towards Shiro.

Shiro dodges all of them with ease and begins to run towards Maka.

Maka tries to splash Shiro with a wave of water, but Shiro dodges again and lands a flying roundhouse kick that sends Maka flying back a few feet.

Maka gets up as she wipes some blood off her nose.

“Alright. You’re strong, I’ll admit that, but I’m stronger!” Maka announces as she creates half a dozen water whips and sends them towards Shiro.

Instead of dodging, Shiro just stands in the same place confidently. When the water whips approach her she slams her fist together and is suddenly surrounded by a white aura. A shockwave flies out of her body and causes the water whips to evaporate.

“...That must be your power. Impressive. I can’t wait to see what you can do.” Maka says as she surrounds her arms with water and walks towards Shiro.

As she gets closer to Shiro she starts to run. Shiro does the same.

When they close the distance their fists immediately collide with one another. This creates a massive shockwave that can even be felt all the way in the bleachers.

They begin to trade blows at a rapid pace, but as the brawl continues Shiro’s aura starts to cause Maka’s water to turn into steam.

Eventually the water fists Maka created are completely gone. Shiro seizes her opportunity and sends Maka flying backwards with a powerful palm strike.

“Alright!” Maka yells out as she struggles to stand. “I’m not playing games anymore! It’s time to get serious!”

She creates a whirlpool at her feet and launches herself upwards into the air using the stream of water.

As she is falling back to the ground she molds some of her water into the shape of a shark and sends it directly towards Shiro.

Shiro closes her eyes and breathes deeply.

After Maka launches the projectile she lands back on the ground, but the force of the impact causes her to fall to her knees.

Right before Maka’s shark clashes with Shiro, her eyes snap open and she sends a powerful ball of energy towards the oncoming attack and destroys it.

“...Damn it…DAMN IT!” Maka screams as she slams her fist against the ground. “I am not going to lose! I WON’T!”

Maka starts tearing up. “...I…I can’t…”

Shiro notices this, dispels her aura, and slowly walks towards Maka with her hands behind her back.

“Hey Maka. Are you okay?” Shiro says with genuine concern.

“SHUT UP!” Maka says as she glares towards Shiro. “...You're my opponent…I have to beat you! I have to win!”

Maka slowly manages to get herself onto her feet again.

“Are you sure? You looked pretty distressed just a moment ago.” Shiro says with a slightly confused look.

“I don’t want your pity, and I don’t want you to go easy on me either!” Maka says with a furious looking expression with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I want to win fair and square! You got that!”

“Noted.” Shiro says as she turns her aura back on and assumes a combative stance. “Show me what you can do.”

Shiro charges up another energy ball and launches it towards Maka.

Maka quickly dodges. uses her water to create two swords, and starts running towards Shiro.

When Maka approaches Shiro she starts slashing wildly with more aggression than before.

Shiro dodges each slash with relative ease.

Maka lunges forwards with one of her blades and attempts to stab Shiro right through the heart.

Shiro quickly steps to the side, uses her arms to throw Maka’s off to the sides, and charges up a small ball of energy that she directly uses to strike Maka in the chest.

Maka is sent flying backwards for a long distance and is just about to fall over, but she manages to catch herself and stay on her feet.

Maka screams at the top of her lungs and creates a stream of water that leads directly behind Shiro. She jumps into the stream and the current carries her directly to her desired location.

When she arrives she surrounds her fists in water again and manages to successfully land a blow on Shiro which manages to send her sliding backwards a couple of feet.

“You managed to actually land a hit on me. I’m actually really impressed. Good job Maka!” Shiro says as she gives a thumbs up.

Maka quickly averts her eyes and tries to ignore her blush.

“...Shut up…”

This causes Shiro to briefly giggle.

“...Alright. This has been fun, but now I think that it is time to finish this.” Shiro says with a surprisingly solemn expression.

She starts charging up another energy ball attack.

After shaking her head Maka gets back to her senses and immediately sends a giant wave in Shiro’s direction.

Right before it connects, Shiro opens her eyes and launches her attack.

Even though Shiro has been using a lot of energy attacks this entire fight this one was different from all of the others. After quickly flying towards Maka in the shape of a giant laser for a couple of seconds the attack quickly takes the shape of a dragon.

As it approaches Maka the dragon opens its mouth and swallows Maka whole.

Afterwards it flies directly into the gym wall that was directly behind and slams Maka against it. Even though Maka hit the wall the dragon itself passed right through it.

As Maka fell from the crater that her impact just created she somehow manages to stay on her feet. She slowly tries to walk back towards the arena, but after a couple of steps she falls face first onto the wooden floor of the gym.

“...And the winner is…” Zari announces. “...Shiro Long!”

Shiro leaves the arena and quickly jogs over to where Maka landed.

“Hey Maka. Are you okay? I’m sorry if I went too hard on you.”

“...Nah…You’re good…” Maka says while struggling to balance on her hands and knees.

“Are you sure that you’re okay? I can get the paramedics if you need them. They are directly outside of the gym.”

“I said that I was fine! Okay!” Maka yells as she slams her fist against the ground.

Shiro suddenly gets a soft look of understanding on her face.

She crouches down and extends out a hand towards Maka with a grin.

Maka tries to bat her hand out of the way, but misses and falls flat on her face again.

Shiro rolls her eyes and helps Maka up anyways.

“...I don’t need your help…” Maka says with tears in her eyes.

“I’m just helping you get to the paramedics. After that, no more help from me. I promise.”

“...Whatever…” Maka says with a small sniffle.

As the two walk out of the gym and towards the tent where the paramedics are set up, Maka slowly lets her head fall on Shiro’s shoulder.

“How sweet.” Zari says as she looks away from the doors of the gym and back towards the bleachers. “...And now for the final match of our sparring session! Lev Hart and…Ori Sawano!”

Right as Zari was finished speaking a jolt went down Lev’s spine.

‘This has to be a dream, right?’ Lev is fully panicking now.

As fear starts to consume him Lev sees something right out of the corner of his eyes. After looking towards whatever it is that entered his vision he feels his heart stop.

Ori Sawano was slowly walking this way.

Her eyes shoot daggers towards Lev as she wears a huge toothy grin.

“Hey, this ones too small. Throw it back.” Ori says as she pretends to talk to someone else who wasn’t actually there.

Tears start to form in the corners of Lev’s eyes as sweat starts to form on his brow.

“Don’t worry kid, I’m just kidding.” Ori says while still looking directly towards Lev.

She starts to slowly walk towards Lev again.

“If you were to leave this gym then I wouldn’t have anyone to punch.” She says as she grabs Lev by the shirt and holds him about a foot into the air. “And let’s just say that it has been a while since I have been legally allowed to fight someone.”

She drops him and walks all the way down to the bottom of the bleachers, but as she does so she turns around one more time. “One more thing…”

“I have really been looking forward to this fight so you better go all out. If not, then…let’s just say that you won’t like what happens next. “Ori emphasizes the last part of her sentence by dragging her thumb across her throat.

After this she walks the rest of the way to the arena.

‘...This can’t be happening!’ Lev thinks to himself, fear fully devouring him and sending his mind quickly spiraling further down than it ever has before.

Chapter Text

Against all logic and reason that was telling him otherwise, Lev eventually made it down to the ring where Ori has already been waiting for a while now.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” Ori taunts with a smug grin.

Lev doesn't respond. He just stands and tries to calm his nerves to no avail.

He slowly turns his head towards Zari hoping for a miracle to occur.

“Alright! Let’s get this final match started! Lev Hart versus Ori Sawano! …Fight!”

Immediately after Zari started the match Ori bolts directly towards Lev and punches him in the stomach. This sends him stumbling back several feet.

Lev tries to get up, but immediately clutches his stomach as he is overwhelmed with intense pain.

“Is that all you’ve got? How pathetic.” Ori sneers as she spits to the side before slowly walking towards Lev.

Lev turns over so that he is now lying on his back and attempts to sit up.

When Ori eventually reaches Lev she kneels over him.

“What are you doing here?” She asks.

“...I…I…want…to…become…stronger…” Lev says between shaky breaths.

“Is that so? Okay…then prove it!”

“...What?”

“I said prove it!” Ori yells as she kicks Lev directly in the face and sends him tumbling backwards again.

She walks towards Lev again as he struggles to breathe between his intense pain and his tears.

“You know what? I’m starting to get bored so I'll finish this.” Ori says as she slams her fists together.

She is suddenly surrounded in a powerful red aura that engulfs her body like a flame.

As the smoke clears she has transformed. Standing before Lev was a creature that still looked a lot like Ori, but who was much taller and stronger along with having red skin and horns.

Lev manages to steady the top half of his body by balancing on his hands, but after he witnesses Ori’s transformation he starts slowly crawling backwards.

“What? Are you scared?” Ori says with a bloodthirsty expression.

Lev just nods in response.

“You better be.” Ori says and she slowly walks towards Lev while rotating her shoulder.

As she approaches Lev she picks him up by the front of his jacket.

“There is no way that they let someone into this school who is this weak. You gotta be hiding something…Show me your power!” Ori yells directly into Lev’s face.

“God dammit! Show me!” Ori screams as she punches Lev across the face.

“Show!”

“Me!”

“Your!”

“Power!” Ori emphasizes each of these words with another punch.

In a fit of anger Ori lifts Lev over her head and throws him across the ring.

“THAT’S IT! THIS ENDS NOW!” Ori says as she jumps high up into the air.

At the apex of her jump which is about twenty feet into the air she starts to curl her hand into a fist before falling back down directly towards Lev.

“YOU’RE TOO WEAK TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD!!! SO JUST DIE!!!”

Right before Ori lands a direct hit that would have most likely killed Lev he dodges at the last second.

As the dust clears Ori walks out of the crater she just made and searches for her opponent.

She sees glowing red eyes glaring at her from out of the corner of her vision. She looks over to see that it is Lev, but there is something vastly different about the way he carries himself.

“I’ll admit that I am impressed! I was sure that attack was going to kill you.” Ori says while she takes a second to catch her breath.

Lev doesn’t respond. He just summoned his bow from the air and immediately fired a red arrow.

Ori dodges it with ease.

“Ha! You missed…” Ori gloats until she is cut off by an explosion from behind.

Lev immediately follows this up with another arrow which Ori dodges again.

Lev continues to fire arrows for about another thirty seconds. The barrage doesn’t let up until the stone flooring of the arena is absolutely obliterated.

Ori manages to dodge the first dozen or so, but eventually as the volley continues she is hit by at least four or five of the arrows.

“NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!” Ori says with a huge grin on her face “SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO! NO HOLDING BACK!”

Ori runs towards Lev again, but Lev follows suit.

Right before they reach each other Lev slides on his knees and underneath Ori and fires an arrow point black from right beneath her.

This causes Ori to fly up and away for a good twenty five feet.

Since the arena is destroyed there is no way of knowing where the bounds of the ring were originally located.

Ori actually struggles to stand for a bit, but once she is back on her feet she immediately runs towards Lev again.

Lev continues to fire arrows, but Ori is weaving between them with relative ease.

She eventually reaches Lev and attempts to do an overhead punch with both of her arms, but before she can connect the hit Lev grabs one of her arms and shoulder throws her back onto the ground.

Lev walks up to Ori and knocks another arrow on his bow.

“Where did this power come from?” Ori questions as she wipes blood from her cheek.

Lev doesn’t answer. He just stands over her with the arrow with an angry yet stoic expression. His eyes were also still glowing a bright red.

“Alright. I’ll admit that you are actually a worthy opponent.” Ori says as she attempts to stand, but fails to do so.”

“What are you waiting for?” Ori sits with a look of anger and confusion. “Finish me!”

“Stop!” A voice screams out as someone approaches the two fighters.

Violet suddenly appears between Lev and Ori.

“The fight is over!” She looks at Lev with a very concerned expression.

“Look!” Violet turns her head and gestures towards Ori who was still on the ground. “Your opponent can’t even walk! This isn’t you!”

Lev is still standing with his bow knocked with the red arrow, but now his stance is starting to falter.

“You are one of the kindest people that I know! You wouldn’t do this! Don’t do this!” Violet says with tears in her eyes.

Suddenly Lev’s bow and arrow disappear and he begins to fall.

Violet catches him before he hits the ground and puts his arm around her shoulders.

Zari quickly grabs her megaphone.

“And the winner of the sixth and final match of our first year class one and class two sparring session is…Lev Hart!”

“...What…what happened…” Lev says as he looks around like he just woke up from a nap.

As he sees all the destruction he just unknowingly causes and at Ori who was still sitting on the ground while struggling to do so.

“...Oh…no…I wasn’t…I didn’t mean to…” Lev suddenly starts crying. “...I’m…I’m sorry…I’m so…so…sorry…”

Violet squeezes her arms around Lev’s shoulders.

“No. It wasn’t your fault.” She says as she shoots a glare towards Ori. “She provoked you and brought you to this point. This had nothing to do with you.”

“...But…but I still…I…” Lev is cut off by his own sobs.

Violet tries to calm him down by slowly rubbing his shoulders while she walks him back towards the bleachers.

Ori finally manages to stand up again and slowly limps out of the gym and towards the paramedic’s tent.

Before she leaves she shoots a glare at Violet.

Now that she and Lev are seated she just lets him rest for a while.

After a couple of minutes Lev starts to talk again.

“...Thank you Violet…thank you so much…”

“For what?”

“...If you didn’t interrupt I don’t know what I would have done…Honestly…I don’t even want to think about that…”

“Well, you are very welcome.” Violet says with a genuine smile on her face.

Lev just nods with a small smile on his face.

“Since the day is finally over, let me help you get back to your dorm.” Violet says as she stands up and extends a hand towards Lev.

Lev has a slight blush on his face before he accepts her help and Violet pulls her up and puts her arm around his shoulders again.

As they walk out of the gym and towards the dorm rooms Lev lets his head fall onto Violet’s shoulders.

Chapter Text

The day after the sparring session between class one and class two happened to be a saturday which means the new students have the day off.

At about noon a very concerned Violet walked up to Lev’s dorm room to see if he was doing okay. She softly knocked on the door and waited for a moment.

“Hey Lev. Are you in there?” See said after about a minute.

After about another minute Lev slowly opens the door.

“...Hello Violet…What’s going on?” He says with bags underneath his eyes and tear stains streaking down his cheeks.

“I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” Violet responded delicately.

“...Don’t worry about me…I’m…I’m fine…” He lied.

“Can I come in?” Violet asked with a worried expression.

“...Uh…” Lev thought for a moment while rubbing the back of his neck. “...Sure…I guess that would be fine…”

“Thank you.” Violet said while wearing a smile.

As she was entering the room she looked around to see how Lev decorated the place since he got here.

The walls of the room were almost completely covered in posters for anime and video games with them being a good mix of stuff that was generally popular along with some things that would be considered more feminine. There were a few character figurines that were lined up on top of a dresser on the side of his bed. Speaking of his bed, it was also filled to the brim with colorful plushies of all shapes and sizes.

“This place sure is…colorful…” Violet responds while trying not to be rude.

“...Thank you…” Lev said while he went over to sit on his bed as he grabbed one of his plushies which just so happened to be a navy blue shark.

Violet just continued to glance around the room. She wasn’t aware of what most of these things were. The only things that she recognized were the ones that were from franchises that were so popular that they were unavoidable. She wasn’t a media nerd by any stretch of the imagination unless you count history as nerdy, but that is more book smarts than actually nerdy.

“...So…you still like cartoons…that's…interesting.”

Lev felt a blush of embarrassment climb onto his face as he hugged the plushie closer.

“I didn’t mean that in a bad way.” Violet quickly said while waving her hands in front of her face. “It’s just not exactly what I expected from the room of a young man.”

“...Yeah…” Lev said solemnly.

Even though Violet didn’t say anything bad she still felt awful. She didn’t know what she said was wrong, but she felt like she said something wrong.

A lightbulb appeared in her head as she tried to course correct the situation.

“You know what.” Violet says as she quickly stands up. “How would you like to come to my room for a movie night?”

“What?!” Lev said with the blush on his face getting bigger.

“Don’t worry, it’s not going to be a date or anything like that. I’ll invite Candi, Ash, and Maka over as well. We could make it a thing.”

Lev thinks it over for a moment before giving a small nod.

“Great!” Violet says as she quickly gets her phone out of her pocket to make some calls.

After about fifteen minutes of calling their other new friends Violet puts her phone back into her pocket.

“Now it’s set! We will watch a movie in my room at 6:00 PM tonight. I’ll also prepare some food and get some board games just in case.”

“...That…sounds like a lot of fun actually…” Lev says with a surprisingly big smile for him at least.

“Alright! I’ll give you some time to get ready. Remember, my dorm, at 6:00 PM. Got it.”

Lev nods in response.

“Excellent!” Violet says as she leaves Lev’s dorm to get this prepared.

After thinking about how much fun he is going to have later Lev eventually snaps out of it and bolts upright.

‘What am I going to wear?!’ He thinks to himself in a panic.

At about 5:45 Lev is pacing outside of the building which houses Violet’s dorm. He wanted to be there early because punctuality is important to him, but at the same time he didn’t want to be the first person to arrive and have to make awkward, one on one small talk.

He is wearing a light blue hoodie with a t-shirt of a magical girl anime underneath.

At about 5:50 Lev hears a voice behind him.

“Hiya Lev!” Candi says with a wave and a huge smile.

“...Hey Candi…” Lev says sheepishly.

Candi walks right up to Lev and gives him a big hug.

“I am so excited! This is going to be so much fun!”

“...Yeah…I am also looking forward to it…”

“AAAHHH! This is gonna be great!” Candi says as she starts speed walking towards where she thinks she might find Violet’s dorm.

Before she takes off completely she grabs onto Lev’s hand and starts tugging it. “Come on! Let’s go together!”

“...Um…okay…” Lev says with a blush.

Eventually they found their way towards Violet’s dorm and knocked on the door.

It quickly opened since Violet was expecting company.

“Candi! Lev! Come in. Make yourselves at home.” Violet says as she beckons them inside.

As Lev walks in he is amazed by how much Violet has already modified her room.

“...Wow…This place is…fancy.” He says as his eyes dart around at the decorations around him.

Various paintings cover the walls as many vases, clocks, and other expensive looking knick knacks cover the shelves that she also has installed.

“What?!” Candi yells as she gestures towards the ceiling. “You have a chandelier!”

“Yes. When I first arrived at the school…about a month earlier than necessary I’ll admit, I went ahead and scoped out my dorm room which I honestly just thought looked dreadful…I mean…too rustic for my tastes. I just decided to make some modifications to make myself feel more at home.”

“Amazing!” Candi says as she rushes towards something else.

“This is the biggest flat screen TV that I have ever seen!” Candi says while vigorously gesturing towards the 2.5 meter (or 100 inch) long TV that covered one of the walls of her room.”

“...Why…does this place look bigger than my room?” Lev questioned. “Aren’t all of the rooms supposed to be the same size?”

“You are correct. I just also bought out the room right next to me and had the place remodeled into one larger living space.”

“...I know you said you were rich, but I wasn’t aware that you…were this rich.” Lev says while still glancing about.

“One of the perks of being the next in line to own a Fortune 500 company.”

The three of them kept chatting until the next couple of guests arrived.

“Sup losers!” Maka shouted out as she entered the room.

“I beg your pardon?!” Violet exclaims with a hand over her chest.

“It’s just a joke. Don’t take it personally.” Maka says with a shrug. “So, where’s the food?”

“My butler should be finishing up with the cooking as we speak.”

“A Butler!” Maka says as she bursts out laughing. “Does he also slice the crust off your sandwiches? Does he tuck you into bed and read you a bedtime story before you go to sleep?”

“I invite you into my room and this is the thanks that I get?!” Violet says as she quickly crosses her arms while glaring at Maka.

“...Uh…Just kidding…” Maka says while rubbing the back of her neck.

“You better be.” Violet says as she hears another knock at the door.

“Yo!” Ash says as he walks into the room.

Following closely behind him is Takeru from class two.

“...Wait…I thought it was just going to be the five of us?” Lev says in confusion.

“When I was making the calls to arrange this earlier he asked me if he could bring a friend.” Violet answered.

Takeru shoots up a peace sign as he walks into the room.

Directly after this an old man with a curly mustache who is wearing a suit walks into the room and speaks to Violet.

“The food is ready madam.” He says with a bow.

“Thank you Baldemort.” Violet also says with a bow.

“You are quite welcome.” Baldemort says as he walks towards the coat rack by the door. “Anything else you need me to do before I head back to the mansion?”

“No. Thank you for the help.”

“Very well. Have a good day Miss Violet.” Baldemort says as he grabs his coat and hat before leaving the room and closing the door.

“Have a good day Miss Violet!” Maka says with a mocking tone a moment after Baldemort leaves.

“For the love of…” Violet says before calming herself down with a quick breathing exercise. “...Since we are all here, let us get started.”

The group of young adults have all found places to sit in front of the TV. Violet was sitting in a chair by herself on the left side of the TV, Ash and Takeru were sharing a chair on the right side of the TV, and on the couch in between sat Candi, Lev, and Maka from right to left.

“So.” Violet says as she claps to get everyone’s attention. “What type of movie are we going to watch? Any preferred genres?”

“Let’s do a horror movie!” Maka immediately blurts out. “There is this new one that I heard about that holds the record for having the most blood ever used on set in movie history.”

Lev taps Maka on the shoulder.

“...I’m sorry Maka…but I can’t …watch a horror movie…” He says sheepishly.

“What? Are you afraid?” Maka says with a toothy grin.

“...Yes…” Lev says very matter of factly.

“No horror movies…” Violet says as she jots something down on a clipboard. “...Noted.”

“...No fun…” Maka huffs and she leans back into the couch cushions.

“I know!” Candi says as she shoots her hand up. “What about a musical!”

“Boo!” Maka says as she gives Candi a thumbs down with her hand.

“What about a comedy?” Takeru says while leaning forwards to grab the soda can that he was drinking from.

Lev turns towards Takeru.

“...That depends…if they have…offensive jokes in them…”

“Oh come on!” Maka says as she quickly stands up and turns towards Lev. “Do you like anything?”

Lev puts his hoodie on and pulls the strings to cover his face.

“Woah!” Ash says as he stands up and walks towards Maka. “Different strokes for different folks.”

“Ugh!” Maka says with an exasperated tone as she sits down to avoid doing something she might regret.”

“What about…a superhero movie?” Ash says as he turns around and looks at Lev for approval.

Lev just nods with a small smile.

“Yes!” Ash says while pumping his fist. “Let’s watch the new American Dream movie!”

The American Dream was one of the strongest and most popular superheroes in their world. He had long, flowing golden hair and wore a costume that was adorned with the pattern of the American flag.

Now that they were finally in agreement they all sat down and enjoyed the movie together.

As the credits rolled Ash stood up and gave the movie a standing ovation.

“Don’t you just love a well put together cinematic universe?” He says while wiping a tear from his eye.

“Sure. They’re alright.” Takeru answers.

“Alright?!” Ash says as he quickly pivots towards Takeru. “You just don’t see the artistic merit that goes into such a project. The movies are consistently good while also contributing to the universe they are setting up as a whole. You just watched the culmination of everything great about modern day storytelling.”

“I get that you are excited, but…” Violet interrupts. “Take the nerd talk out of my room, please.”

Ash leaves the room, but quickly turns back towards Takeru before exiting completely. “This isn’t over!”

With that, Ash and Takeru both leave the room.

Candi and Maka were both fast asleep while Lev was sitting between them fiddling with the strings of his hoodie.

“So…” Violet turns towards Lev. “What did you think?”

“...I…thought it was really good…” Lev lied. He thought it was incredible, but didn’t want to come off as too much in front of his new friends. When he liked something he tended to over explain everything about it and annoy those around him, but he didn’t want to be a bother.

“I am glad you enjoyed yourself.” Violet responds. “Feel better.”

“...Yeah…I actually feel a lot better…Thank you Violet…”

“I am glad.” Violet says with a soft smile.

She then stands up and walks towards the remote to turn off the TV.

“Do you want to make this a weekly thing?” Violet asks Lev.

“...I…think that I would like that…” Lev says while trying to hide the immense amount of joy that he was currently feeling.”

“Then it’s settled. From here on out, Saturday night will be our movie night.”

After they talked for a little longer Candi and Maka eventually woke up and were promptly shooed out of the room by Violet.

Lev thought he might as well leave too so he just gave Violet a soft wave and a small smile and walked back to his own dorm.

As he got ready for bed that night a warm feeling washed over him.

‘Today was one of the best days of my life. I am so lucky to have Violet as a friend.’ he thought to himself as he dozed off.

The thought of Violet caused him to blush a little as he soon drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

After the previous couple of days Lev was exhausted and just wanted things in his life to calm down for a bit.

This would be the case at least for the next couple of days which basically continued the same school routine. He kept learning from Jack and training with Zari. His life was currently in a flow state without that much of importance to take him out of it across these several days.

“Alright,” Jack said at the beginning of another class. “Today is going to be a little different than usual. Instead of having to hear another lecture from me you will be meeting up with a couple of other teachers. That is because we need to start getting your gear and costumes ready.”

“Hell yeah!” Ash says while pumping his fist towards the sky.

“Follow me. I’ll lead you to their classrooms myself.” Jack says as he walks out of the room.

They shortly arrive at the front of two very different looking rooms right next to each other. The one on the left looked like a car repair shop and the one on the right looked like a fancy clothing store.

Jack goes inside to inform the teachers that his students have arrived and are ready to get started.

As Jack exits the room he is followed by two teachers on either side of him. The one on his left looked like a biker who was a brunette with a mullet and a long beard who was wearing a jean jacket, black jeans, and a ripped shirt that looked like a skull. The one on the right has long yellow, white, and purple hair on one side of their head and was shaved on the other with sunglasses, a purple vest, fishnet sleeves, black jeans, and a red scarf.

“The man on my right is Bulldog. He will be making you gear to help you enhance your strengths and cover up your weaknesses.” Jack explained. “And The person on my left is Rose Chanelle. They will be designing your superhero outfits.”

“Hello darlings!” Rose introduces themself. “My job is to discover your inner beauty and assist you with designing a costume that will display who you are to the world. Also, I am nonbinary so they/them pronouns please.”

“...Uh…The name’s Bulldog…” Bulldog says matter of factly while scratching his beard. “...and I’ll be building you some stuff…”

Rose puts their hand onto Bulldog’s shoulder.

“What Bulldog meant to say is that he will assist you in crafting objects that are custom made to minimize weaknesses and accentuate strengths so that you can be the best heroes that you possibly can be.”

“...Uh…Sure…” Bulldog says with a dull expression.

“He seems intimidating, but he’s really a big softy, like a teddy bear who likes to play with power tools.” Rose says with a giggle.

“...Let’s just get this started…” Bulldog says as he turns around and walks back into his classroom which might as well also be his workshop.

“Okay!” Rose says while putting their hands together. “The boys will go with Bulldog and the girls will come with me. After half an hour we will have you all switch. By the end of today you all should have a rough idea of what you want your costume to look like and what gadget you might want.”

With help from Bulldog the boys came up with concepts for the gear that they wanted.

Ash Burns is going to get gauntlets that will help him with both the quantity of fire and the direction in which he wants to send it.

Calder McHail basically wants a similar yet opposite thing to what Ash asked for.

Lev Hart didn’t know what he wanted. He didn’t need a quiver because his arrows form from thin air. Maybe a glove that helped with gripping the bow? Maybe goggles that help with aiming? By the end of this half hour he did have something written down, but he wasn’t very satisfied by it.

Rose did the same but with costume ideas for the other half of the students.

Violet Newton wanted a cybernetically enhanced suit that took the appearance of knight armor.

Candi Kane just designed a costume that added as many compartments to store sugar and sweets as possible.

Maka Sharktooth just made an amateurishly drawn picture of herself with buffer arms.

At the half hour mark they swapped classrooms.

Violet wanted a few weapons that were easily concealable yet as big as possible when fully operational. These included a mace, hammer, javelin, shield, and sword.

Candi asked Bulldog if it was possible to make a container that shrinks its contents just so she could fit more sweets onto her person.

Maka told Bulldog she didn’t need any weapons because she already had some while gesturing to her biceps.

Ash wanted his superhero costume to have a cape that looked like one huge, flowing flame along with a mask and helmet that made it look like his head was on fire.

Calder’s costume design was heavy snow clothing with sleeves that attached to the gloves that he asked Bulldog for.

Finally there was Lev. For about ten minutes he just sat there deep in thought. He knew almost exactly what he wanted, but was afraid to put the thought to paper. He took a deep breath to balance his mind and drew out a costume concept that included a headband with a heart adorned at the center, a pink jacket that had angel wings attached to the back with a heart emblem between the wings, and a blue dress with a white sash along the waistline.

As he walked towards Rose with his rough sketch held closely at his chest his mind started to think about the consequences of what he was about to do.

“Hello again.” Rose said with a small smile on their lips. “Are you finished with your concept?”

Lev gave a small nod and quickly handed Rose the paper before he had time to think about what he just did.

“...Hmmm…” Rose said as they took a moment to look at the concept and analyze its components.

“...Do…do you like it?” Lev said softly in a way that indicated that he was quite embarrassed while rubbing his arm.

Rose looked up at Lev. Their sunglasses were currently on so he couldn’t see their eyes. “...Do I like it…”

Lev awkwardly shuffled in place while anxiously waiting for Rose to finish sharing their thoughts on the costume concept.

“...I…LOVE IT!” Rose says with a gigantic grin. “I genuinely believe that this costume fits you perfectly! It is also just an incredibly stylish fit.”

“...So…you don’t think that it is…I dunno…too girly for me?”

Rose takes their sunglasses off and dawns a more serious expression.

“Anyone is allowed to wear anything. Clothing isn’t gendered. The only thing any person of any gender needs to make an outfit work for them is to have the confidence it takes to put it on.”

Hearing this was a revelation to Lev.

‘I…can wear women’s clothing! The only person who is stopping myself from doing so…is me!’ Lev thought to himself as a huge smile suddenly appeared on his face.

He leans over the desk and gives Rose a hug.

“...Thank you…you have no idea how much I needed to hear that…” Lev says with tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

“I am just doing my job. You don’t have to thank me. As I said earlier, my job is to help you discover your inner beauty and help you display it to the world.” They emphasize this last sentence with a wink. “Also, when I said that your costume fit you perfectly I meant it.”

Lev was glad that Rose’s class was now over because he didn’t want to cry in front of everyone else.

After class he quickly went back to his own dorm room and cried his eyes out.

It took him about half an hour to let his emotions out and to calm himself back down.

He walked over to his bathroom mirror and took a long and hard look at himself. He also took his shirt and pants off so he was standing there while only wearing a black black undershirt and gray boxer briefs.

He liked his hair. For some reason he never really enjoyed getting his haircut and he was satisfied with its current length.

That is about where his self compliments stopped though.

He thought that his jawline was way too well defined. He didn’t like the shadow of facial hair that would never leave his face no matter how many times he shaved. He also didn’t like how boxy his shoulders were or how narrow his hips were.

He then looked slightly downwards in the mirror and looked at his chest.

Mostly because of Zari’s rigorous training he actually was decently muscular. Specifically all of the muscles on his chest were quite toned. Most men would be proud of such a physique, but he can’t say that he cared about that in the slightest.

If he were being honest with himself, he actually hated that part of his body. He couldn’t really explain it, but something about it just fell…off.

While still paying close attention to himself in the mirror he slowly reached upwards and dragged his hands down his own torse.

‘I wish that I had boobs.’ He thought to himself.

After processing what he just thought for another moment he suddenly starts to panic.

‘Why did I just think that?! I am a boy! I shouldn’t want such…things.’ He frantically thought of an excuse for himself.

‘...But…am…am I…really…a…boy?’

They went back over to the mirror.

It suddenly dawned on them that everything that they didn’t like about themself were all of the more masculine attributes.

“...Can I…” They said out loud. “...Can I really just be a girl though…”

Their thoughts were now swirling like a hurricane in their own mind.

“...Am…I allowed to let myself do this?”

They looked in the mirror again.

“...I…want to have boobs…” They said aloud, but in a whisper. “...I…want…wider hips…and to wear makeup…and to wear pretty clothes…and…” They suddenly covered their own mouth to suppress a gasp.

“...I…want to be a girl…” She says to herself. “...I…I am a girl…”

“Oh my god! I am a girl!” She says while she had the biggest smile that she has ever done on her face.

“...Oh shit! I’m a girl…” She suddenly says in a much sadder tone with a more solemn expression.

It started to dawn on her exactly what that means and everything it entails.

She would need to eventually tell people. She would need an entire new wardrobe. She would need to learn how to do makeup. She…might need a couple of surgeries down the line.

‘How much money is this going to cost? What if it all just a waste of time and I end up looking like a man wearing a dress? What if my friends…hate me because of it.’ This thought broke her heart.

After all of these years she finally has a group of people that she can actually call her friends. She didn’t want to ruin that with such a revelation.

She went to her bed to lie down and grabbed her shark plush and hugged it close to her chest.

After she calmed herself down a little she grabbed her phone and started to do some research.

She didn’t get any sleep that night.

Chapter Text

After being stuck with her own thoughts for the entire night when morning finally came, Lev decided that she needed to talk to someone about this and she needed to do it as soon as possible.

After getting ready Lev immediately went where she needed to go and knocked on the door. She knew it was only 8:00 AM, but she couldn’t wait any longer.

After waiting about a minute the door opened.

“Hey Lev, what’s up?” Ash said with a towel around his neck. It seems that he was lifting some weights right before Lev got here.

“...I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to wake you up so early…”

“You didn’t wake me up. I get up at about 7:00 on weekends to work out.”

Ash gestured for Lev to come inside. Lev sat down on the couch as Ash went to sit back down on his workout bench.

“...So…what did you want to talk about?” Ash asks.

“...I was…I was just curious…how did you…get those scars on your chest?” Lev responded sheepishly.

“Oh, these.” Ash gestures towards his own chest. “They are top surgery scars.” He is now mentally preparing himself on all of the things that he might have to explain right now.

“...Interesting…” Lev said while staring down at the ground.

Ash thought he might as well explain this just to make sure they were both on the same page.

“Alright, let me explain.” Ash says after a long sigh. “I am a transgender man. I used to look more feminine, but I didn’t prefer looking that way so I decided to make a change.”

Lev nodded her head in response.

“...How exactly…did you figure out that you were transgender?” Lev said with a blush.

“I guess…when I was younger I always felt like things…weren’t right. Generally speaking, girly things that I was expected to like never really gelled with me. Could care less about dresses or dolls. I would always prefer to play with the boys in my class and would join them in basketball or superheroes or whatever. As I got older people thought that this behavior was getting less acceptable and people started giving me odd looks. One day somebody called me a certain word that I refuse to repeat here and I decided to look into it. After researching it I figured out what it meant to be trans. I then decided that this definition fit my situation almost perfectly so when I was in high school I told my parents about this who were honestly surprisingly cool about it and after talking with a therapist I was put on hormone blockers soon after. Right when I turned 18 I got started on testosterone and got top surgery soon after and well…I guess you are now mostly up to speed.”

“...Ummm…well…” Lev was struggling to come up with a way to say what she really wanted to say.

“I think that I know where this is going, but I am going to let you say it first.”

Lev took a deep breath before giving her response.

“Ash…I just wanted to tell you…what I am trying to say is…that…I’m…I am…” Lev’s heart was beating out of her chest. She knew what she wanted to say and she knew it was a safe place to do so. Why was it so hard for her to just say it? Just say it already. It shouldn’t be this hard.

Ash got up and walked over to the couch to sit directly next to Lev and put his hand on her shoulder. “Just take a deep breath and take your time. You don’t have to tell me anything until you are ready.”

Lev followed Ash’s instructions and calmed herself down.

‘It was now or never.’ Lev thought.

“...Ash…I…I am…trans…” Lev was finally able to say what she was feeling.

She immediately put her hands over her chest. A warm, tingling sensation ran all throughout her body.

‘I can’t believe I just said that.” Lev thought to herself. ‘...and I can’t believe…how good that felt…’

“...I am a transgender woman…” Lev said with a big smile on her face.

Ash immediately gave Lev a big hug.

“Feels nice to say it, right?”

“...Yeah…I…I feel great…” Lev felt tears start forming at the corners of her eyes.

“I am glad to hear it.”

They just sat there for a moment while not saying anything. Lev just wanted to let it sink in that this was real.

“So, Miss Hart” Ash breaks the silence. “Have you thought of a new name yet?”

“...I…” Lev rubs the back of her neck. “...haven’t thought about that yet…”

“I can help you come up with something.”

“...Thank you Ash…That would be great.”

“So…” Ash says as he begins to brainstorm. “...Do…you know what your parents would have named you if you had been assigned female at birth?”

Lev shakes her head no.

“...Hmmm…” Ash goes back to thinking. “...What…what about…Chloe?”

“...Ummm…” Lev starts to blush a little bit. “...That…is a little generic…don’t you think?”

“Fair enough.” Ash says with a shrug.

“...I…I think I would like it to still start with an L.”

“...Luna…” Ash suggests.

“...No…That doesn’t feel right either…”

“...Lily…Linda…L…Louisa…” Ash squints his eyes while saying the third name.

Lev shakes her head no.

“Alright…let’s keep thinking. We have eventually got to come up with a name that you’ll love.”

Lev’s ears perked up at the end of that sentence.

“...Can…you say that again?”

“Eventually we’ll come up with a name?”

“...No…specifically the last word of that sentence you said before…”

“...Alright…” Ash scratched his head. “We…have eventually…got to come up…with a name that…you’ll…”

“Love?”

Love feels a tingling sensation suddenly course through her body.

“...I…think that…I have found a name that I like…”

“Okay.” Ash stands up.

“I am so sorry miss, but I don’t think that I caught your name. What was it again?”

“...My name is…Love…Love Hart…It’s nice to meet you!” Love says with a huge grin.

“Nice to meet you Miss Love Hart. I’m Ash.” He says while holding his hand out.

Love takes Ash’s hand and quickly pulls him in for a hug.

“...Thank you Ash…thank you so much…” Love says with tears in her eyes.

“Don’t mention it. We’ve got to take care of our own, right?”

Love just nods while bawling into Ash’s shoulder. These weren’t tears of sadness like usual though. These were tears of joy.

“...Ash…how can I ever repay you for this?”

Ash just puts his hands onto Love’s shoulders.

“By being yourself.”

Chapter Text

When Love gets back to her dorm room she goes to a chair and sits down just so she could process what just happened.

‘I can’t believe I just did that.’ She thought to herself.

‘I wonder if I can tell my new friends about this. They would probably understand’ Hopefully.’

‘What about my other classmates? What about the teachers? What about my…’

‘No, my parents absolutely can’t find out about this.’

‘I can probably just hide this from them forever. That is absolutely something that is actually possible and not just a coping mechanism I am currently giving myself.’

Love is now spiraling. She has to stop and do something to get out of her own head.

‘Okay, I have to tell my new friends. Better to do this sooner than later, right?’

She pumps herself up and proceeds to pull out her phone and post in her and her friend’s group chat.

L. Hart: Hey, are any of you guys free today?

IWantCandi: I AM NOW!!! <3

SharksRCool: Just let me finish my workout and I'll be open.

Violet Newton: Let me check my schedule.

Violet Newton: As long as we are finished before 5 PM I should be fine. That is unless you all would like to come to a new product demonstration for the Chess Company.

IWantCandi: I AM SO THERE!!! :)

SharksRCool: Nah, I’m okay.

Violet Newton: That was sarcastic Candi, but I love the enthusiasm.

IWantCandi: OKAY! THAT’S FINE!

SharksRCool: Hey Lev. What do you have planned anyways?

L. Hart: Nothing much. I just want to talk to you guys about something important.

SharksRCool: If this is about the group project 4 Jack’s class then we still have a month for that.

IWantCandi: WE HAD A GROUP PROJECT???

Violet Newton: Don’t worry Candi. I already finished ours.

IWantCandi: THANKS VI! YOU ARE DA BEST <3 <3 <3

L. Hart: No. This doesn’t have anything to do with class or training.

SharksRCool: Cool.

L. Hart: Whenever you guys are ready just come by my dorm. I’ll tell you guys when you are all there.

IWantCandi: OOOOOH! IS IT A SURPRISE??? I LOVE SURPRISES!!! <3

L. Hart: In a way I guess?

IWantCandi: AWESOME! I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Violet Newton: I’ll come too Lev. As I said, my schedule is open until tonight so I am good with anything until then.

L. Hart: Okay. Sounds good. See you all soon.

Love puts her phone away. After she tells her friends, this pit in her stomach should go away. Right?

Candi went to Love’s dorm immediately.

“Hiya Lev! So what is the surprise?” Candi says excitedly.

“...You have to wait until the others get here…okay…”

“Okie dokie!” Candi gives a salute and goes to sit down on Love’s couch, bouncing up and down while sitting because she is so excited that she can’t sit still.

Maka shows up next about 15 minutes later.

“Hey Lev. What’s up?”

“...I don’t want to say this more than once, so is it fine if I wait to tell you until Violet gets here?”

“Whatever.” Maka shrugs and goes towards Love’s minifridge. “As long as I can grab something to eat while I wait.”

“Go right ahead.”

“Thanks dude.”

“...No problem…”

After grabbing a bag of chips Maka opens it, sits on the couch, and proceeds to eat while she waits.

It takes about another 20 minutes for Violet to show up and it is probably about 11:30 at this point.

“I’m terribly sorry for my late arrival. Hopefully I didn’t miss your announcement, Lev.”

“...No, it’s okay Vi…I was just going to wait for you to show up before saying anything anyways.”

“Fair enough.”

Violet goes to take a seat right next to Candi on the couch (who is still bouncing in her seat by the way).

“I hope you aren’t dropping any crumbs on Lev’s couch, Maka. I am sure that he doesn’t want to attract ants.”

“Uhhh.” Maka looks down right next to her on the couch. She proceeds to brush off some (but not all) of the crumbs off of the couch.

“Don’t worry about that.” Love tells Maka. “I’ll clean it up later. You are my guest after all.”

“Thanks bro.”

“...Welcome, I guess…” Based on what she was about to tell them, Maka calling her ‘dude’ and ‘bro’ are starting to bother her a bit. “Now that you guys are here I have something to tell you all.”

“Finally! I can’t wait to hear what the surprise is!”

“...Don’t get your hopes up too much, Candi…Technically it is a surprise, but I need to clarify that it is not a gift or anything like that.”

Candi looks dejected for a second, but is soon back to her goofy self. “I guess that's okay.”

“Alright dear.” Violet wanted to get this seemingly important conversation back on track. “So what was it that you wanted to tell us?”

Now that it is time to say it, Love felt all of the courage she built up leave her body.

‘Okay, how to start.’ Love thought while coming up with a way to break the ice on such a topic.
“...So…do any of you think that it is…I dunno…kinda weird that I…am in a friend group with you guys?” Lev says nervously.

“Not at all!” Candi announces to the room.

“...What I mean by that…is…do any of you think that it is…odd…that my friends at this school are mostly…women?”

Candi shakes her head no.

“Not at all.” Violet says with a sympathetic yet confused expression on her face. “Why are you worried about something so…insignificant?”

“...Yeah…there is a…reason for why I am telling you this…it’s…well…”

“Just get to your point already!” Maka rudely interrupts.

“Maka, don’t be rude!” Violet says with a scowl before turning back towards Love. “Take your time. Also, I don’t care if it is embarrassing or if you think that it isn’t worth our time. You can tell us anything.”
“...Uh…How do I say this…” Love feels like that she has stalled for as long as she could. She takes a deep breath.

Just rip the bandaid off.

“...What I am trying to say is…that the reason why I didn’t mind being a part of this group…or why I think that we make such good friends in the first place even though I am a boy is that…I…don’t think I am actually…a boy…”

“What do you mean by that dear?” Violet asks curiously.

“...Um…Well…What I am trying to say…is that…I think that I would be happier…if you all…referred to me as…a girl…”

There was a moment of silence. This made Love doubt herself and she felt like that she might have made the wrong judgment and just ruined all of her friendships.

Before she could continue to spiral further Maka spoke up.

“So you're trans, right?”

“...I suppose I am…trans…That is what I am trying to say…”

Candi jumps off the couch, runs towards Love, and gives her a big hug.

“Don’t lie to me silly! Seeing my friends happy is a great gift! Don’t let anyone ever tell you any different, okay?”

Love was touched by this.

“...Thank you Candi…Thank you so much…”

Love is tearing up now. She hugs Candi back.

Maka stands up and walks towards her. She puts her hand on Love’s shoulder.

“That’s awesome dude…I mean ma'am…shit…What do I call you now?”

“...Uh…Love…My name is now Love…”

“Okay. That’s awesome Love.”

“I love your new name!” Candi chimes in. “Love! I love Love! Love is my friend!”

Maka pats Love on the shoulder and stands there awaiting the response of Violet.

Violet gets up and walks towards Love.

And joins the group hug, pulling Maka into it as she does this.

“I support whatever makes you happy, Love. I am glad that you trusted me enough to tell me this.”

Love is now crying filled with more…well…love than she ever felt in her entire life.

“...Thank you guys…Thank you all so much…You don’t know how much this means to me…”

“No problem.” Maka responds. Simple yet to the point as usual.

“...Thank you Maka…”

“My best friend's name is Love! Love is happy being a girl!” Candi is still saying phrases to familiarize herself with her friend's new name and gender.

“...Thank you Candi…”

“If you ever need any help with anything don’t hesitate to ask me dear.” Violet offers. “I know some of the things having to do with trans healthcare are rather expensive, so if you need any help with money it is no issue.”

“...Thank you Violet…”

After what felt like an hour the group hug broke.

“...Honestly…I was kind of afraid to tell you guys about this…but now that I have it feels kind of silly that I was…”

“That’s perfectly understandable dear. I have been keeping up with recent news and your fears are honestly completely justified.”

“...Yeah…” Love feels a sense of dread in her stomach about having to come out to anyone who might not be supportive of her. Even worse is she has no idea who would and wouldn't be supportive. I mean I guess she could just ask them what their opinion on trans people is, but she isn’t sure she would want to hear the answer if it just so happens to be a negative one.

“I’m sorry if I scared you with that my dear, but I am not going to tell you a lie that might not be in your best interest. It is good that you want people to accept you, but be careful, Love, okay?”

“...Okay, I will…” She looks down at her feet feeling herself about to spiral again.

“I’m sorry for making you feel down, Love. Even though I believe that it was important to inform you about such things I now realize that this might not have been the best time for it. This should be a special day for you...”

“...Yeah…”

Violet decides to force this conversation in a more positive direction.

“You know what. Let’s go out. I’ll have my chauffeur pick us up and take us somewhere fancy to celebrate. My treat.”

Candi proceeds to hug Violet.

“Thanks Vi!”

Violet feels like she is being crushed by a fully grown dog who thinks that it is still a puppy.

“...Your very welcome Candi…”

“Hell yeah. Free food. Let’s go.” Maka adds.

“...Thanks Vi…”

“You are very welcome, Love. Now, what is your favorite type of cuisine?”

“...Is there a ramen shop around here?”

“I’m sure that we will find one.” Violet replies while pulling out her phone to call her chauffeur.

The girls get to the ramen shop, which isn’t as fancy as Violet would have hoped, and have an enjoyable meal while having casual conversation.

Love, Maka, and Candi thoroughly enjoy the food here.

Let’s just say that Violet has a much more refined palette than the others, but ‘what’s a mediocre meal among friends’ she thinks to herself.

‘Well. That’s four people down.’ Love thinks to herself. 'And so so so many more to go, but let's just try to take this one day at a time.’

Chapter Text

“Sorry girls. This has been fun, but I have got to start getting ready for the company presentation.” Violet says after looking at her watch. “I’ll have my chauffeur escort us all back to campus.”

“Thanks again Vi.” Love responds.

“You don’t have to thank me for everything dear. Your happiness right now is thanks enough.” She reaffirms her friends. “But with that being said we really ought to be going.”

The group gets up and is driven back to school. When they get there they head their separate ways back to their dorms.

When Love gets back to her room she thinks to herself that things might not be that bad after all.

As the school year continues forward things go forward mostly the same as they had been. Love is emotionally exhausted currently and probably won’t be telling anybody else her secret for some time.

Within that time nothing else big happens, but there are a couple of notable things that occur. Slowly yet surely some students have started getting their gear and costumes back from Bulldog and Rose respectively. While these two very much clash personality wise, Rose makes sure to check in with Bulldog to see if his gear matches their costumes for each individual student and they would make suggestions if Bulldog goes off the rails too far.

“I’m sorry Bully, but those colors do clash quite a bit with the outfit that I am already making for Ash. Do you mind repainting them, or maybe even making them again from scratch if it isn’t too much of a bother?”

Bulldog is working on his bike and taking a break from the students orders while this conversation goes along.

“For the last time it looks fine. As long as the stuff works the students will be happy. Nobody here is trying to end up on the cover of superhero magazine or anything like that.”

“Speak for yourself.”

Bulldog grunts and continues to work on his bike ignoring all of Rose’s requests for the rest of the conversation.

Another thing that happened is Jack’s superhero name class where each of the first years got to pick what their superhero name was going to be.

“Alright. Every great superhero has a superhero name that they are known by. They do this for various reasons that include but are not limited to recognizability and branding purposes. You each need to come up with a name that you would like to be called while out on patrol and in the public’s eye. It works best if it is easy to remember and unique so that your name isn’t confused with that of another hero. Keep in mind that you can change these as often as you want for now, but as soon as something sticks in the public consciousness it will be hard to change from there without it becoming a big news story. Also, look up whatever name you decide online to make sure it isn’t already taken. With all that being said go ahead and brainstorm. You don’t need the name you are absolutely going to go by forever by the end of class, but you need to give me something before you leave.”

Not even a minute later Maka runs up to Jack’s desk.

“That was quick.”

“Sharktooth! My hero name will be Sharktooth!”

“...But that’s just your last name?”

“Yeah, and?”

“...Alright…” Jack takes out a pen to write on his clipboard. “...Sharktooth…Got it.”

Another couple minutes pass and Candi seems to be ready to share.

“From here on out I will be…drum roll please…” Candi tries to build up hype before a dramatic reveal. “Sugar Rush!”

“...That…actually fits perfectly.” Jack writes this down.

Next up is Calder.

“Zero Kelvin.”

“...I get it, but won’t that confuse people?” Jack responds. “We are in the United States.”

Calder just shrugs and walks back to his desk.

Next up is Violet.

“My superhero name will be V.”

“Why?” Jack responds.

“Well It is the first initial of my first name, plus technically my full name is Violet Gemma Newton the Fifth of course. Violet being a family name and I being the fifth person who has had the honor to carry it. In roman numerals five and V use the same symbol. So that is why I chose V for my superhero name.”

“Such a long description for such a short name idea.”

Violet huffs to herself.

“Well I for one find it quite clever. I am sure my fellow students will back me up on this.”

Violet turns to her class expectantly.

“I love it!” Candi responds first.

“Cool with me.” Maka is next.

“It suits you.” Love says. Their answers seem to be satisfactory for Violet and she turns back to Jack.
“See.” She turns to Jack smugly. “They love it.”

“...Okay…V…Got it…” Jack jots down.

Ash is up next.

“My hero name will be Ogun. He is the god of iron in Yoruban mythology. He also represents fire. Since I use fire I thought it was fitting.”

Jack nods and jots this down.

That leaves Love.

Class is nearing the end for today and Jack is starting to get a bit impatient.

“Lev, you got anything?” Jack says while looking at his watch.

“....Um…Well…” Truth be told, Love had her name done for quite a while, but she was just trying to build up courage to present this to the class.

She gulps and proceeds to get up and walk in front of the class.

“...Hello class…the superhero name that I decided to go with…is…”

She looks over at her friends for moral support.

Candi gives two big thumbs up. Maka does a small affirmative nod. Violet just smiles knowingly.

Love looks over at Ash. He has a very similar expression to Violet right now.

Feeling a resurgence in nerves after being reaffirmed by her friends she continues.

“...Eros…” She stutters out. “My hero name will be Eros.”

She waits worriedly for a response.

All of her friends and Ash have positive reactions. Calder doesn’t respond at all. Jack just silently writes this down on his clipboard seemingly more happy to be done with this class than anything else.

“Okay. Now that you are all done picking hero names, class is dismissed for the day.”

That went better than expected, Love thinks to herself. As she leaves class all she can think about was Calder’s silence. Maybe he hated it. Maybe he didn’t care either way. Maybe he wasn’t even paying attention. The only way to find out was to ask him, but Love didn’t feel like doing this right now.
‘I’ll ask Calder about that later.’ Love thinks to herself as she walks back to her dorm room.

Chapter Text

Warning: Transphobia, Transphobic Slurs, Violence

After such a big realization Love was hoping the next couple of days were relatively calm in comparison, which they were for the most part. That was the case for a while, until today that is.

Love, after finishing another long day of classes and training, heads back to her dorm.

Before she could make it there though she sees Calder walking by himself. As soon as he sees her he sends a glare in her direction.

Love was starting to get tired of Calder’s mysterious reactions so she decided to confront him head on.

“...Hey Calder…are you alright?” Love began the conversation normally enough.

He shrugs with a neutral expression on his face.

“...It’s just that…I’ve been noticing you…staring at me whenever we are in class…” She takes a moment to think about her next words before saying them. “...Are…are you angry at me…I don’t know what I did…but I apologize if I accidentally did something wrong.”

Calder rubs the back of his neck and thinks about his response.

“Not necessarily angry. I am just curious about something.”

“...What…what are you curious about?”

“You introduced yourself as a boy at the beginning of class, but I have never seen you do anything even remotely manly.”

“...Yeah…Do you have a problem with that?”

“That depends.”

“...D…depends on what?”

“Are you really a boy or…”

“...O…or?”

“Or are you one of those tranny freaks?”

A chill just went down Love’s spine.

The only people she has come out to so far would be Maka, Violet, Candi, and Ash. Nobody else knows about it yet. At least that is what Love thought up until now.

She looks at her surroundings. Nobody else is around, it is getting dark, and Love is all alone besides the person standing right in front of her.

“...Uhhhhhh…”

This is all Love is able to say at the moment. She isn’t a good liar, but she also doesn’t want to tell Calder the truth. So instead she decides to do nothing. She just stands there as frozen as a statue.

“Hmm. Interesting. I’ll take that as a yes.” Calder says as he puts a hand on his chin.

He slowly walks towards Love. She slowly takes a few steps back and is currently scared for her life.

Calder turns his right arm into an icicle.

“Want to see what I think about your kind?”

“...N…no…” Love somehow manages to squeak out.

“Well, isn’t that too bad.”

He runs forwards and attempts to stab Love through the heart with an icicle.

Love dodges this attack, but Calder isn’t done yet.

What follows is a dance of sorts with Calder slashing towards Love and Love dodging for dear life.

Love trips and falls on the cold grass.

“...Why…why are you doing this to me?” Love slowly stutters out.

“Because you are a freak!”

Calder kicks Love in the chest.

“A predator!”

He kicks her again.

“And a threat to the natural order of things!”

He is about to stab Love right through her skull. Love tries to block the oncoming attack with her arms.

‘Is this is?’ Love thought to herself. ‘Is this how I die?’

As soon as Calder is about to finish her off he hears a yell in the distance.

“Get the fuck away from my friend!”

Calder turns to see an absolutely furious Maka running right towards him.

Maka uses her water powers to surround both of her arms. She now has two fists made of swirling streams of water.

She sprints towards Calder and attempts to punch him in the face.

Calder blocks the attack using his icicle arm.

“Did you say friend!” Calder tries to suppress a laugh. “You mean to tell me somebody actually likes this thing?”

Maka is absolutely furious. Calder manages to push Maka back during their clash, but Maka pounces right back towards him and destroys his ice in one swift clawing motion.

“What the hell did you just say?” Maka says with a snarl.

“All I said was…”

Before he could finish that sentence Maka decks him right in the face. This sends Calder flying back about fifteen feet. After rolling for a bit he slowly gets back onto his feet.

Calder wipes blood off his mouth using his thumb.

“That’s fine. I guess I’ll just have to kill you both!”

He proceeds to send a wave of icicles towards Love which Maka automatically jumps in front of.

Maka braces for impact with her eyes closed tight, but before anything happens Maka automatically feels a sudden source of intense heat right in front of her.

She opens her eyes to see Ash defending Maka and Love from Calder’s attack.

After melting the entire wave of icicles with an intense flame Ash turns back at Maka and Love with a concerned look.

“Are you girls okay?” He questions.

“Girls… Wait, you know?”

Maka turns towards Love.

“...Yeah…He kind of helped me discover who I was…”

Maka turns back to Ash.

“That true?”

“Yep.” Ash says with a knowing smile.

“Badass.”

The trio all look back towards Calder.

He is still standing there with his never ending smug grin.

Maka and Ash both start to stomp towards Calder.

Calder doesn’t move from his spot. He only continues to smile.

“What is wrong with you bro?” Ash demands Calder for an answer.

“Just correcting nature’s mistakes.” Calder shrugs nonchalantly.

“Oh that is it!” Maka and Ash yell in unison.

They surround their fists in their respective elements and dash towards Calder to beat his ass.

Calder puts up a wall of ice.

With Ash using his intense flaming fists and Maka using water drills they break through this with ease.

Calder creates a mountain of snow underneath himself. Once he reaches the top of it he starts sending giant chunks of hail down at them.

Ash and Maka trudge their way up the hill and easily dispatch whatever attacks Calder sends at them.

Before they reach the top Calder starts to think that he might not be able to win this fight. He encases himself in a prison of ice.

Ash sets his fist on fire and puts his palm onto the ice until it is completely melted.

He then grabs Calder by his shirt caller.

He spins around and tosses him in Maka’s direction.

Maka proceeds to hit Calder with a clothesline while her fist still has the swirling water around it.

Calder tries to get up, but he keeps slipping on the water beneath himself.

Ash and Maka stand over Calder.

Maka cracks her knuckles.

“Never mess with my friend again or else!”

Calder somehow has the guts to respond to this.

“Or else what?”

Maka grabs Calder by the shoulders and lifts him up.

“Or else I won’t go so easy on you next time.” Maka practically spits out at him.

Maka drops him and Calder falls on the ground with a big thud.

“Now get your punk ass out of here before I change my mind!”

Calder doesn’t need to hear this twice. He tries to stand up, trips, successfully stands up on a second attempt and sprints away from her.

After making sure Calder is gone Maka and Ash go to check on Love.

Love was sitting up on the ground watching the entire rest of the fight.

“Love.” Maka huffs with her hands on her knees taking a breather before continuing. “Are you okay? Did that piece of shit hurt you?”

Maka kneels down to check on Love.

Love nods as tears start to form at the corners of her eyes.

“That bastard! I’m gonna kill him!” Maka jumps to her feet and prepares to chase after the coward.

Ash puts a hand on Maka’s shoulder.

“Maka. Calm down. Take deep breaths.”

Maka is hesitant at first, but eventually listens to what Ash is saying.

“Breath in…and out…and in…and out one more time.”

“Fine. I guess I won’t kill him. Assholes are not worth my time anyways.”

“Good, because revenge may be sweet in the short term, but try to look at the bigger picture. Do you really want to put a target like that on your back?” Ash gestures towards Love. “Or hers?”

Maka thinks to herself.

“...N…no…”

“Thanks for being reasonable. I know that Calder guy is an asshole, but look around you. Whose side do you really think a court would take right now. I mean you’ve been watching the news right?”

“...Yeah….That…that makes sense…” Maka rubs the back of her neck.

“Now then.” Ash claps before continuing his statement. “We should probably get out of the cold. I am freezing my ass off right now.”

“That’s right. You don’t like the cold. I forgot.”

“Let’s head back to my place. I am going to assume that Love’s dorm would probably not be safe for the next few days so you guys are welcome to crash at mine.”

“...Yeah…yeah that sounds good.” Love meekly responds.

Maka extends out an arm around Love and pulls her in for a hug. Love accepts this and Maka helps her up.

The group heads back towards Ash’s dorm room to lay low for a while.

Chapter Text

As the group arrives at Ash’s dorm they notice that they aren’t alone here.

“...Uh…” Love blurts out. “Hey Takeru. What are you doing here?”

Takeru was sitting on Ash’s couch with a laptop in his lap with one headphone in.

“Hey babe. I didn’t know we were having people over today?”

Ash walks over to Takeru and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s okay. These two just need a place to crash for the next few days.”

Love is blushing.

“...So…so how long have you two been…”

Ash picks up where Love left off.

“Dating? For about a month now.”

Maka interrupts them now.

“Wait! How did we not know this?”

Ash and Takeru look at each other and shrug. Ash responds for the two of them.

“I guess you never asked.”

“Oh. Cool, cool.” Maka slowly trails off.

Takeru closes his laptop and puts it to the side. Ash proceeds to sit on his lap and wraps an arm around his shoulder.

Love sits on a chair across from them. She crosses her legs and waits patiently for an inevitable conversation.

Maka sits down at Ash’s workout bench and mindlessly picks up a weight and starts curling it.

Ash is the first person to speak.

“If any of you are hungry we have some snacks in the fridge.”

Takeru cuts him off.

“Just don’t eat anything that Ash cooks. He burns everything.” Takeru says snarkily Ash gives him an annoyed yet loving eye roll.

“You know that is how I like my food.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s okay to offer it to other people babe.”

Ash huffs. Takeru lets out a small laugh.

Ash turns back towards his guests.

“...As I was saying…snacks in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

The uncomfortable silence returns.

Maka puts down the weight, rubs the back of her neck, and turns towards Love.

“So…do you wanna talk about it?”

Love takes a deep breath.

“...Y…yeah…I probably should…”

The others wait patiently for Love to start.

“...When I slowly started to publicly transition whenever I would go to class I noticed Calder was starting to just….randomly stare at me…and I had no idea why that was…until today I guess…I just decided to confront him about this and then…well…you know what happened next…”

Takeru looks confused.

“Wait. I’m lost. What did Calder do?”

“...Well…um…” Love looks over at Maka. “...Please…”

Maka sighs, but picks up where Love left off.

“Calder is a transphobic piece of shit who decided to make his hatred somebody else’s problem. After he assaulted Love, me and Ash showed up and put that bigoted punk back in his place.”

Takeru turns towards Love now personally invested in what is going on and concerned if she is okay.

“Love, if there is anything me or Ash can do for you just ask us, okay?”

“...Thank you…and I will…”

Takeru thinks to himself for a moment. He reaches for his laptop. Ash gets out of his lap and sits besides his boyfriend on the couch. Takeru opens the device up and starts typing away on his keyboard.

“...Calder…Mc…Hail…” He quietly says as he types.

After a minute or so of clicking through different websites Takeru’s eyes light up.

“Hey guys. I think I found something that you might want to see.”

Love and Maka get up and walk over to where they can see what is on the screen of the laptop.

What they see disgusts and scares everyone in the room.

The webpage Takeru just opened up seems to be a cheaply made website. Imagine one of those personal websites that people would have made for themselves in the early 2000s before web domains started to become too expensive for the average person.

What was really concerning about the website was the article title at the top of the page and the image in the center of the page.

It appears to be a collection of pictures with Love and some sparse information about her as well.

The article title did have a name, but it wasn’t Love’s current name. It was still her deadname.

Love looks like she just saw a ghost.

“...What…what is this?”

Takeru sighs before explaining.

“This website appears to be a database for trans women.”

He clicks on the homepage button on the top right of the screen and proceeds to scroll through hundreds and hundreds of different names.

“...But…why…why would someone make this?”

Maka puts her arm around Love’s shoulder before Ash responds to her.

“I know this is hard to hear, but the world is not safe for people like you and me. Not currently at least. Calder and other assholes like him want us dead and this website seems to be a hitlist of sorts.”

Love has never felt this scared in her entire life, and for her that is saying a lot.

“...W…w…why? Why do people hate us so much?” Love is now sobbing. Maka wraps her in a tight hug and whispers sweet phrases of reassurance into her ears.

Ash thinks for a moment before responding.

“I have thought about this for quite a long time, but the answers are usually a lot more simple than you might think. It is usually things like how they were raised, what their parents taught them, what their religion told them to think. Some people just hate others because they are afraid of change, or are afraid that they will somehow become a minority themselves. As ridiculous as that sounds to any of us here, that is genuinely what some of these people think and is often how monsters are created.”

“...Is…is there anything we can do about it?” Love responds dreading whatever answer she is about to receive.

“There are things we can try to do. Fight back against hatred wherever you can, join local politics and be the positive change that you want to see in the world, maybe vote, but none of these are guaranteed to stop hatred. They can only push it back temporarily for the most part. The way I see it, if one day enough genuinely good people stand up against monsters like Calder the better our world will be, but most people don’t really know or care about what is happening to people like us. At the end of the day there is no answer. All we can do is fight what battles we can and hopefully if enough people join us things will hopefully be better one day. That day won’t be today, or tomorrow…Hell, maybe that day will never come, but as long as there are good people in the world willing to stand up and fight with us I will never lose hope. Without hope there is no fight, and if there is no fight that is admitting defeat, but I am never going to let that happen. As long as I live I will keep hope alive with me.”

Love takes a moment to let this all sink in. She had just come out to herself about a week ago and knew a little about how trans people were treated, but she never really knew it was this bad until now. Maka just continues to hold her as Love feels the weight of the world’s hatred start to push down on her shoulders.

Maka turns towards Takeru.

“Hey. Where did you find that website anyways?”

“On the Dark web. I searched for Calder on the surface web and couldn’t find anything, but I was able to find plenty of information down there.”

“...That…isn’t good…” Maka responds.

“No, no it is not.” Takeru scrolls through the site. “And now that his hatred is out in the world I wouldn’t be surprised if Calder decides to take this website down, or move it to a different domain, or something else, but I am going to save as much information as I can from it in the meantime. Just in case we need evidence.”

Love turns towards Ash to ask him something.

“...Since you said that I shouldn’t go back to my dorm for a while…do you guys have anywhere for me to sleep?”

“Sleep in my bed tonight.” Ash points towards a door right behind them. “Me and Take will sleep on the couch tonight.”

Takeru quickly responds to this.

“I didn’t agree to this.”

Ash gives Takeru a serious look and he backs down.

“Fine, we’ll take the couch I guess.”

“Thanks babe.”

Ash and Takeru stay up to investigate this website while Love goes to Ash’s bed to get some rest. Maka goes back to her own dorm room.

Before Love falls asleep completely, Ash comes to sit at the edge of his bed to talk to her.

“...Look…I know that today was really bad for you but…I want to make sure that you stay safe…” Ash takes a deep breath and looks towards Love. “I will try my best to be there for you and make sure something like this never happens to you again.”

Love doesn’t respond.

Ash places his hand onto her shoulder.

“...Just get some sleep…okay…” He said before walking back out of the room.

It takes a while for her mind to calm down, but Love is eventually able to go to sleep.

Chapter Text

Love didn’t feel like going to class the next day after what she has just been through. She instead decided to spend the day resting in Ash’s room (mostly because she was terrified to go back to her own).

Eventually Ash and Takeru returned after their classes were over for the day alongside Maka. (Ash did make up a story to cover for Love not being in class), but that didn’t help the nerves of a couple of the students in class. A few minutes after the two boys got back Love got a call on her phone.

“...Hey Violet…How are you?” Love responded while trying to play dumb.

“Love! Thank god! After you didn’t show up to class today I have been worried sick! Where are you?”

Love looks over at Ash and he just gives her a nod.

“I am in Ash’s dorm right now.”

“Me and Candi will be right over!”

After that Violet hangs up.

Barely a minute later Violet is practically knocking down the door with how loud she was banging on it.
Ash let the two girls into the dorm room.

“Alright. Where are…”

Violet and Candi look over at Takeru.

After a brief moment of silence Candi speaks up.

“Let me guess. You two have been dating for a few months, but you didn’t tell anybody because you wanted to keep it on the down low.”

Ash and Takeru trade surprised looks and then look back at Candi and slowly nod.

“I knew it! Also, I am happy for you guys!”

“Right, me too…” Violet interrupts her. “But back to the matter at hand. Where is Love…I…I mean Lev.”

“Don’t worry.” Ash responds. “We know.”

*Phew* Violet wipes sweat from her brow.

“Well that is good. I was getting tired of having to deadname her to keep her secret, so at least I know I don’t have to do that around you two anymore.” Violet shakes her head. “Back to business. Where is Love?”

Ash just points over to his room. Violet gives him an affirmative nod and her and Candi walk over to the room and open the door.

Love and Maka were both just sitting on Ash’s bed talking about whatever was on their minds.

“Love. Are you alright? You weren’t at class today and I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

“...Well…I am doing fine right now, but…” Love thinks for a moment. “It’s kind of complicated I guess…”

“Alright.” Violet takes a seat on the bed and gestures towards Candi to sit besides her. “I’m ready to listen. And don’t leave anything out if you can. I want to be as informed about this as possible.”

Candi nods and they both wait for an explanation.

Love tells them about everything that Calder did to her yesterday.

“That good for nothing, no good, piece of…” Violet stops to avoid having an ulcer and starts rubbing her temples. “Do you know where the website is? I need to have a good look at this.”

“Takeru was able to get a couple hundred screenshots before the website was taken down.” Maka explains. “If you want to know anything about that you can ask him”

“Thank you Maka. Thank you Love. Glad you are okay.” She bows and turns to go talk to Takeru.

“So…” Candi looks towards Love and Maka. “...Two adult women lying on the same bed…”

An uncharacteristically devious smile appears on Candi’s face.

“...How was it?” Candi says with a smirk.

Love was confused.

“...How was…what?” Love responds without any idea of where this was going.

“...You know what I am talking about…” Candi says with the devious expression still on her face. “...How was…your first kiss?”

Maka and Love look even more confused for various reasons and they are both blushing wildly.

“...First of all, we aren’t dating. Second of all, why did you say it like that?”

“Say it like what?” Now it was Candi’s turn to be confused.

Maka proceeds to whisper an explanation into Candi’s ear.

Candi’s eyes widen and a huge blush suddenly appears on her face.

Now Candi is blushing wildly and trying to apologize to Love. Also, Love is still blushing and babbling so both women are almost completely incoherent with their ramblings at this point.

Maka leaves the room and enters a conversation with Violet, Ash, and Takeru.

“Well I am pretty sure I can set up some sort of investigation to look into this. My parents have so many resources at their disposal that we should be able to apprehend these heathens in no time.”

Suddenly Violet gets a call.

“It’s from my mother. I have to take this.” Violet clears her throat and puts on the most sugary sweet fake voice you have ever heard. “Hi mommy! There is something I wanted to ask you about!”

“Now you listen to me, young lady.”

Violet is surprised in this dissonance from her mother’s usual tone with her.

“Yes?” Violet is now confused.

“What is this that I found on your credit card bill this month?”

“You know you have to be more specific than that mom!” She is still keeping up with the faux innocent voice even though she is starting to get worried because she thinks that she knows what he is referring to.

“Why are you buying estrogen? You know our personal doctors could take care of anything that you need because I don’t need you wasting money on things like this.”

“...The thing is mom…I am not buying it for myself...”

“Then who are you buying it for?” Her mother was impatient waiting for an answer.

“...It is for a friend…”

“Explain further, daughter. I need more information than that.”

“...Well…she recently discovered that she was a girl so I was trying to help her by…”

“For heaven’s sake daughter! I don’t want you associating with that kind of riff raff! You hear me!”

“...But she is my friend…and…and it is making her so much happier. I just thought…”

“Well you thought wrong! I demand you to stop buying this for him and for you to stop being friends with him immediately!”

“...Her…”

“What was that?”

“...Her…My friend wants to be a girl. I already explained this…”

“No daughter of mine is going to be friends with a…creature like that! I absolutely refuse it!”

“...no…”

“What did you say to me? Speak up? I don’t believe I heard you clearly! You weren’t disobeying me just now? Were you?”

“...What…what if I was?”

“I beg your pardon!”

“Not only am I not going to stop being friends with her! I am going to keep buying her estrogen which literally is making her happier than she has ever been in her entire life!”

“No! No. No. No. This won’t do. No daughter of mine would…”

“Well what if I didn’t want to be your daughter anymore!” Violet is now yelling at her mom. She didn’t mean this. She wasn’t trans. More of a hypothetical situation to gauge a response from her mom.

“I would immediately send you to a conversion therapy camp until you were back on the straight and narrow!”

“That is it! I can’t take this anymore! I wish I was never born into a family of such stuck up, self centered, racist, homophobic, transphobic people!”

“I never! Don’t dare speak to me in such a way! I am your MOTHER!”

“Not anymore! I don’t want to be a part of this family for a moment longer!”

There was about a minute of silence.

“Well. I guess that’s settled.”

“What do you mean?” Violet responded in a confused tone.

“If you are no longer a member of this family, then you are also cut off. We are turning off your credit card immediately. Don’t bother coming back to the mansion or calling me, or your father, or any of your servants ever again!”

Violet’s mom hung up after that.

After another moment of quiet, Takeru spoke up.

“So…I guess we need to get the funds for the investigation another way, huh.”

Violet dropped her phone on the ground. She shortly followed suit and she crumpled to the floor.

Maka put a hand on Violet’s shoulder.

Violet then started to cry.

After hearing this, Love slammed open the door to Ash’s room as her and Candi followed the sound of sobs.

Love immediately goes over to Violet.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“...M…my parents…they just…CUT ME OFF!” Violet says followed by her wailing sobs continuing.

“...That is terrible…Why would they do this to you?” Love said with an empathetic tone.

“...They…c…caught on to the f…fact that I was…buying you estrogen…”

“...Oh no…I’m sorry Vi. If I’d have known this was going to be such a big issue for you I wouldn’t have…”

“No!” Violet yells through her tears. “Don’t finish that statement!”

“...B…but…”

“Don’t apologize!” Violets wiped tears from her eyes with her sobs starting to die down. “Not for this! Never for this!”

“...But it is my fault that…”

“It is not your fault! You are not my parents!”

Love is speechless at this point. Eventually Violet is just about done crying.

“You know what? I weirdly feel better now. I almost feel…free…in an odd way. I was getting sick and tired of dealing with their racism and homophobia. I no longer have to be tied to that old patriarchal clan of dinosaurs anymore. I am glad to not be one of them anymore.”

A thought just hit Love at that moment.

“...I…I won’t be able to afford my estrogen anymore…”

Maka cuts Love off.

“No! Don’t think like that!” Maka turns to Violet. “You must have some sort of backup funds. Right?”

Violet shakes her head no.

“My parents didn’t allow me to have physical cash. I used to have a near infinite amount of money on this…this.” Violet gestured towards her old credit card that she proceeded to throw against the wall. “...Sorry Maka…I am broke now.”

Maka stands up and looks around the room.

“Okay. Does anybody here have enough money for Love’s monthly dose of estrogen?”

Maka herself has a…let’s just say complicated family history and doesn’t have access to a lot of money right now.

Love can’t tell her parents anything ever again. Especially not after the fact that she found out she was trans.

Violet of course was just cut off right now.

Takeru moved out of his parent’s house vowing to not return until he was able to make his dream of becoming a DJ profitable. This hasn’t happened yet.

Ash is from a family that has about an average income and he does have an allowance, but he is already spending a good amount of that money on his own testosterone.

That just leaves Candi who raises her hand.

“Love. I can buy your estrogen using some of my monthly allowance. I usually just use it to buy more sweets anyways. I now get a good supply of that from the school to use in combat scenarios so I suppose I can just…learn how to ration. I guess.”

Candi is immediately crushed in a hug initiated by Love herself surprisingly enough.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Love is crying again, but these are tears of joy.

“...Don’t…mention it…” Candi tries to say and she is being crushed.

Love realizes how tight she is hugging and let’s go of Candi.

“...Sorry…” Love says sheepishly.

“...Don’t…worry about it…” Candi says while trying to catch her breath.

Everyone takes a moment to process everything that just happened. Eventually Ash breaks the silence.

“Okay. Back to Calder. I assume he is not smart enough to run this whole operation by himself so somebody else must be hosting the website. He must just be collecting data for it, but how are we going to figure this out…”

They thought about this for about an hour, but unfortunately none of them were able to come up with anything.

After a while everyone started to go back to their own dorms. Luckily enough for Violet, her dorm was still paid off until at least the end of the semester.

That just left Ash, Takeru, and Love who slept in the same places that they did the previous night.

‘...We have got to think of something…right?’ Love thinks to herself as she slowly drifts to sleep.

Chapter Text

Another one of Jack’s classes starts and he seems to have an announcement for his students.

“You have all been making great strides forward in your training and I think you are all now prepared for a new challenge.” He is as enthusiastic about this as he usually is. “We are going to sign you all up for a superhero shadow program. You shall be interns to these heroes for the next week starting tomorrow.”

Violet raises her hand.

“Do we get to choose the hero that we would like to shadow? If so, I have a few ideas myself.”

“No you don’t.” Jack responds. “We already have a hero organization that agreed to take you all in as interns for the next week. Tell me, class. Have any of you heard of the Central Hero Society?”

Violet raises her hand again.

“Does anybody besides Violet have an answer?”

Violet puffs her cheeks angrily before lowering her hand.

Love slowly puts up her hand.

“Yes Lev.” Jack responds. Love has got to say something about her name in the school’s system soon enough, but she isn’t ready for that yet. Instead she brushes this off and answers the question.

“...That would be Headmaster Quentin’s old superhero organization that he started before he retired from hero work.”

“Correct, and since you mentioned Isaac that reminds me. This team will specifically be run by Isaac’s daughter Isabella otherwise known as Little Miss IQ. You will all meet together with Isabella’s team tomorrow and she will inform you about the rest of the plan from there.” Jack explains. “Okay. That is all I have for you today. Class dismissed.”

Jack’s class met in front of the school the next morning. Since Jack doesn’t have to be here for this he opted to take the rest of the week off.

They are eventually joined by Angella and the students of class two.

Ash decides to start a conversation.

“Hey Ms. DeLite. I thought that this was only going to be only for our class.”

“Did Jack not tell you? Oh, of course he didn’t. That is so like him.” She tries to keep a calm composure while her anger subsides about the lack of caring from her co-educator. “No. This will also include my class. I will not be going with you all though. I am just here to see you off.”

“...I’m sorry for what happened in the arena when we first met. Would you like to start over?” Love extends out her hand.

Ori doesn’t say anything. She just drags her thumb across her own neck in a slow motion like she was pantomiming a knife.

Love gulps and decides to head back to where her friends are to wait with them.

Eventually a vehicle does show up to pick all of them up. It is a big black van with the letters CHS on the side.

The students get in and are driven to Central Hero Society’s main office.

When they get there they enter the building and are greeted by one of the team’s members. She has long orange hair with bangs covering one of her eyes and is wearing a small straw sunhat, a floral patterned green blouse, gardening gloves, and blue jeans.

“Hello students. I am Gloriosa Gardener, but you might know me better as…”

Before Gloriosa can finish her sentence Violet cuts her off.

“You are Wallflower, correct?”

“...Huh…It seems like you all have been doing your research. Well, I am here to take you towards the training center. There you will meet up with the rest of the members on my team.”

Gloriosa walks the students to the training center.

“Hello SUPER students!” Isabella greets them. “I am Isabella Quentin, the daughter of your current headmaster, but you can call me Little Miss IQ!” She does a cute pose that involves sticking out her tongue and doing a peace sign as she says her hero name.

She is wearing a bowler hat that is similar to that of her father with long curly pink hair. She is wearing a sleeveless black suit with a pink shirt underneath.

“Alright team! Introduce yourselves!”

Gloriosa steps up first.

“Hey kids. We’ve already met, but just to reiterate I am Gloriosa Gardener, but you can call me Glori for short if that is easier to remember. As you may know I have the power to control plants.”

Next up is a ten foot tall viking-looking man with a long curly brown beard and wearing a metal helmet, a blue unbuttoned shirt, black shorts, and sandals.

“Greetings lads and lassies. They call me Fredrik Njord, but you might know me better as Bellows. He gestures to a giant horn that he was carrying over his shoulder. “I have breath that can cause a mighty gale, and this helps focus that into a wallop of an attack.”

After that is a person who appears to be alien in origin. They have long flowing hair in the color of space and constellations along with floating hair poofs with rings floating around them, pinkish skin, and a purple monk's robe. They are holding a stuffed toy in the shape of a gray alien.

“Nebulon!” Nebulon introduces themselves. They don’t know English let alone other earth languages that well.

Gloriosa decides to take over introducing them.

“This cutie here is Nebulon. They are a powerful extraterrestrial being with the power to control astral bodies. I know that may seem kind of scary, but we keep them on our side…” Gloriosa pulls a candy out of her pocket. “Using candy.”

She flicks the candy in the air like she is flipping a coin. Nebulon floats toward the candy and catches it in their mouth.

“Yum! Yum!” They say while happily chewing the candy.

Lastly we have a man who has light blue skin and pitch black eyes with long dark spiky hair and a black jumpsuit.

“I’m Urchin.” He says in a monotone voice. “And this is my power.”

His team takes a step back from him. He puts his right hand up in front of him. His fingers grow out into long dark claws.

As he retracts his claws Isabella walks back to the front of the group.

“You will be divided into four groups of three and each group will be shadowing one of us while we go on patrol this week.”

She uses her psychic powers to float a clipboard into her hands.

“Alrighty! Now to organize you all into teams”

She looks down at her clipboard.

“First up, Ash Burns, Calder McHail, and Zahid Zahir will be teaming up with Bellows. Next, we have Maka Sharktooth, Shiro Long, and Zypp Sunbeck who will team up with Urchin. After that, Candi Kane, Samara McNeil, and Takeru Takao will join Gloriosa and Nebulon. Finally, Lev Hart, Violet Newton, and Ori Sawano! You're with me!”

She lowers her clipboard.

“Any questions?” Some hands are raised, but she doesn’t acknowledge any of them. “Okay! Good! Get together in your respective groups and get ready to attack the day!”

They all form into groups that consist of their assigned teams and prepare for the first patrol.

Chapter Text

After Isabella organized the teams and everyone all geared up and ready to go they all left in their respective groups to go out on patrol.

Currently we are following Bellows, Ash, Calder, and Zahid.

“Alrighty lads. Always make sure to be on the lookout for anything you see that might be suspicious. If you have any questions about what might count as ‘suspicious’ behavior then just let me know okay.” Bellows explained to his temporary students.

As Bellows was saying this Ash looked up and saw something interesting in the sky.

“Hey Bellows?”

“Oi Ash. What be your question?”

“Does that count as suspicious?” He points up at the sky.

Our group looks up.

They see what appears to be a man floating in the sky about 50 feet above the ground. He looks kind of like a wizard with a purple robe, but the most notable thing about him is that he has a giant light bulb attached to the top of his head.

“Citizens of Central City!” The wizard announced to the people below. “Be not afraid! I only want to rule over you all with an iron fist!”

“Hey Oz!” Ash shouts up at him.

“Who Dares to interrupt my monologue?” The wizard starts to float towards our group of heroes.

“You seem to be pretty far away from the Emerald City right now.” Ash quips. “Ain’t very close to Kansas either.”
“Oh, you think you're so clever, but you won’t be acting so tough after I, Wattz The Electro-Wizard, am done with you!”

Ash tries to suppress a laugh.

“What was that? Why are you laughing?”

“Oh nothing. It’s only that I thought Halloween was next month. Guess I must have been mistaken.”

“Oh, My dear boy! If it is a fight you want then I am more than happy to oblige!”

Wattz proceeds to put one of his hands on the light bulb attached to the top of his head and points the other one at Ash in a finger gun pose.

Suddenly out of his fingertips he shoots a beam of lightning at our group which they all dodge with relative ease.

Wattz blows on his finger to put out the smoke that is lingering. “There is plenty more where that came from if you keep taunting me, but I assume that show of power was enough to put you in your place you insolent child!”

Ash is about to retort, but Bellows pulls him aside.

“I see what your doin’ lad, but it might be for the best if you don’t try to make too many nemeses on your first day.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Njord, but I thought that was part of what heroes were supposed to do.”

“...You have been watching too many superhero movies laddy…”

While Bellows was talking to Ash, Calder walked towards Wattz.

“Big talk for a man wearing a dress.” Calder says with a smug grin.

“Seriously, for the love of…for the last time this is a wizard’s robe. Not a dress! Got it!”

Ash glares towards Calder.

“What? I was just doing the same thing that you were doing bro.”

“I was just trying to do some hero/villain banter which I thought was just part of how these things went.” Ash turns towards Wattz. “Come on, back me up on this. You know I'm right.”

“I’m inclined to agree with hotshot over here. His banter mostly gave me something to retort with, but you!” Wattz points at Calder. “You're just a jerk.”

Bellows cut everyone off.

“Okay, that's enough. Why don’t we just skip to the part where we arrest you. How does that sound?” Bellows gestures towards Wattz awaiting a response.

“HA! Like any measly hero could ever keep up with me.” Wattz strikes a menacing pose. “For I am Wattz The Electro-Wi…”

As Wattz was monologuing, Bellows put his horn up to his lips and blew a mighty gust of wind at the wizard.

“Oh! If you want to play then let's play!” Wattz flies higher in the air and puts his right arm towards the sky. All the clouds in the vicinity start to fly towards where he is. “I’d like to see if you are still so arrogant after you ride the lightning!”

Right on cue a storm begins to surge.

“Enough chit chat! Time to fry!”

Wattz sends a volley of lightning bolts down towards our heroes.

They dodge this at first, but as they do so they are becoming more and more exhausted. They can’t keep this up forever.

Bellows puts up his horn to block the continuous attack.

“Get behind me!” Bellows yells towards the boys. “I think it is time to come up with a counter attack.”

As they formulate their plan Wattz becomes bored by their lack of reaction.

“Oh boo! You guys are no fun! Well, if you don’t mind I will share my tragic backstory with you all in the meantime.” Wattz clears his throat before continuing. “I wasn’t always bad, shocking I know, because for a time I felt like I was able to live at least a semi-decent life. I went to school with a major in electrical engineering and passed as an honor student. Afterwards I was quickly hired as an electrician and quickly soared to the top of my field. Of course my control over electricity helped quite a lot with this. Name another electrician who is shock-proof. I dare you. Things were going well, for a time. That is until just a few months ago I was out of a job! Fired! Forced to live on the streets! And Would you like to know why?”

The heroes were not listening. They were still huddled behind Bellows coming up with a plan.

“I’ll tell you why! It is all because of you!” Wattz turns around and points to a billboard.

The billboard in question is an advertisement for a company with a man smiling and pointing out at the city. He had a gold and black striped suit and wind blown golden blonde hair.This man is Maximillian Midas, the CEO of Midas Machines.

“If it weren’t for you and your robots I would still be in a job and wouldn’t have had to resort to supervillainy to get by!” Wattz is visibly fuming in anger. “You and your robot worker initiative! I could have at least been a repairman for the robots but NO! You hired robots to do that as well!”

Wattz turns back toward our heroes.

“And that is what made me into the supervillain you see before you! Now you understand my pain!”

“Okay break!” Bellows yells as he and the young heroes get into position.

“What the…were any of you even listening to me? No matter, back from the top here we go! I wasn’t always bad…”

Before Wattz could continue to say that entire monologue over again the heroes have started to fight back.

Bellows runs right below where Wattz was floating and unleashes a mighty gust of wind.

Ash and Calder respectively shoot beams of fire and ice at the wind current.

Zahid uses his control over wind and starts combining the wind current and the beams of fire and ice into one small tornado.

As Ash and Calder continue to cast their elemental attacks the tornado starts to grow.

When it gets big enough to reach him Wattz is pulled into the tornado. As this happens his storm clouds dissipate and he starts shooting lightning bolts into random directions, but this doesn't help him.

Bellows, Ash, and Calder stop their attacks.

Zahid gestures his arms downward and causes the tornado to shrink.

Wattz is now standing in front of them trying to keep his balance. He ultimately fails doing so and falls on to the ground.

Bellows helps him up and proceeds to lift him over one of his shoulders.

A few police cars drive towards where our heroes are standing. The officers in the cars quickly get out of them and head towards Bellows.

“As soon as we saw that tornado we came as fast as we could.”

“Well, that saves me a call.” Bellows jokes and gives a hearty laugh. “Me and these heroes in training just caught this villain. That is all.”

“Okay. I think we’ve got this from here.”

One of the police officers handcuff Wattz and starts to walk him towards the back of an open police van.

As they shove him in, Wattz gets up and turns towards Bellows and the students.

“You haven’t seen the last of me! For I am Wattz The Electro-Wiz-”

He is cut off by the door closing in front of him.

Bellows turns towards his temporary students.

“I think that would be enough excitement for one day, lads.” Bellows pats Ash on the shoulder. “Let’s head back.”

Chapter Text

We join Wallflower and Nebulon going on their patrol with Candi, Takeru, and Samara following behind them.

Takeru is currently listening to his music and isn’t really paying attention. Samara doesn’t seem to be very talkative currently and would rather just observe her surroundings. The same can’t be said for Candi Kane who of course has plenty of questions to ask which Gloriosa seems to be more than happy to answer. As she does this Nebulon floats alongside her as she occasionally gives them a treat.

“So what’s it like being a real life superhero? Is it dangerous? Is it fun? Do you have insurance?” Candi prattles on a seemingly endless stream of different questions.

“It is a necessary job that brave and hard-working people must do to be able to keep people safe. Also absolutely yes, not particularly, and fortunately yes.” Wallflower responds.

As Candi is about to ramble on another string of questions an alarm is heard in the distance.

“Alright kids. Follow my lead.”

Wallflower proceeds to run towards the sound with the rest of her group following along behind her.

They eventually see where the alarm came from. It seems that a bank has just been robbed by a group of five thieves. The leader of the group appears to be wearing a small mask covering his eyes and has slicked back blonde hair, a thick blonde beard, a white tank top, camouflage pants, and tall black combat boots. The other four are wearing black ski masks and all black outfits. All of them are seen running away from the crime scene.

“Hey! Stop right there!” Wallflower yells at the group of criminals. Upon hearing this they stop and look towards her. “You are under arrest. Put that money back where it belongs and come with us quietly.”

“Nah! I don’t think we want to do that! You guys know what to do!” As the leader says this he and his goons proceed to take out their weapons. Two have guns, two more have baseball bats, and the leader of the group doesn’t take out a weapon and is just standing there with his arms crossed.

Wallflower raises her arms and grows vines out of the cracks on the sidewalks. She sends these towards the group of criminals. Most of them evade her attack, but one of them gets caught by the vine.

“How cute.” The leader walks towards his suspended ally and puts his right hand onto the vine. An explosion leaves the palm of his hand as the remainders of the vine turn to ashes. “But do you really think that you can stop us with just a particularly green thumb?”

Gloriosa takes a defensive stance and has vines protecting her and her students.

“Alright everyone. Stay back. Nebulon, keep the kids safe. I’ll handle this.”

“Oh. So most of you are just interns. This will be easier than I thought.”

“Don’t you DARE threaten these kids!” Glori sends a vine directly at the man’s neck.

He nonchalantly grabs it and blows it up with a grin on his face.

“Is that all you can do? Are you trying to get my allergies to act up?” He says while slowly walking towards the group.

Wallflower preemptively creates a wall out of her vines as the imposing man charges towards her. He punches the wall and the following explosion turns it to ash.

Also, that explosion burned the mask off his face.

“How rude of me. It seems that I haven’t properly introduced myself. They call me Blitz.”

Wallflower winces in fear upon hearing that name.

‘So this is him.’ Wallflower thinks to herself. ‘The man who has been killing multiple other heroes around the city. This is the first time I am actually seeing his face. We are only aware of him because of the aftermath of his fights and the calling card that he leaves behind. Not many people who see him seem to live to tell the tale.’

He cracks his knuckles.

“They call me that because most fights I am in tend to not last very long. It’s honestly a pity. I have a lot of fun during these confrontations, but I wish I can find someone who can at least give me a proper bout.”

He slowly walks towards Wallflower while making small rotations in his right shoulder. Gloriosa sends another wave of vines in his direction which he dispels with a quick flick of the wrist. He raises up his right arm into the air and seems to be charging another, bigger blast. He then points towards Gloriosa and sends the explosive directly at her. Before it lands, Takeru successfully blocks the attack.

“Not cool dude.” He says while standing in front of Wallflower now with a glowing green sword.

“Interesting. It seems you were able to completely nullify my attack. What an intriguing power?”

Takeru proceeds to send a wave of energy towards Blitz. He blocks this, but it sends him back about three feet.

“Impressive, but it will take far more than that to best me. I can assure you that.”

He starts channeling another blast, but this time is cut off by a shadowy figure biting his arm hard enough to draw blood.

“Now what could this be?”

Samara is sending Allen towards her opponent to join Edgar and bite his other arm.

“That’s rather annoying.” He flexes his arms and an explosion covers his body. Edgar and Allen, now shrunken down, whimper and head back and go behind Samara. “Anything else any of you would like to show me?”

Candi usually wasn’t this quiet. With her seemingly never ending positivity somehow finding its limit when encountered with a dire circumstance.

“What about you Blondie? What can you do?” He points towards Candi as she feels her heart skip a beat.

She slowly reaches into her fanny pack and pulls out a cookie.

“...Fascinating...” Blitz starts to strike his beard. “Now you have my interest. I can’t wait to see where this goes.”

She takes a small bite of the cookie as adrenalyn starts to surge through her body. That seemed to renew her confidence, or at the very least briefly supercharge her fight or flight response. She proceeds to stomp on one of Wallflower’s vines and tears it out of its roots. Within the blink of an eye she is behind Blitz with all of his henchmen dizzy and tied up.

“How is that for a demonstration, you big jerk!” She says while sticking out her tongue and dragging down the bottom of her right eyelid.

“How very entertaining. This might actually be a bit fun.” Blitz said while charging up another blast. “Now, how fast can you run?”

He sends an explosion towards Candi who dodges with ease.

“Come on! Dance for me!” He says as he continues his barrage.

She continues to dodge and zips behind him after one of his attacks and tries to land an ax kick on the back of his head.

He turns around and catches her foot in his hand, swings her around in a circle, and sends her flying back towards the rest of her group.

Wallflower quickly makes a net of vines to catch her in which Candi slams against it.
“Okay that is enough!” Gloriosa turns towards Nebulon who had just been watching this entire time, mostly unaware of what was going on.

“Nebulon, bad guy!” Glori says while pointing at Blitz.

Nebulon proceeds to raise one arm towards the sky. Blitz watches them with interest for about a minute until he realizes what is actually happening.

Nebulon is calling a handful of small meteors from outer space to meet them at their location. They each burn up to about the size of a basketball upon their entry into the earth’s atmosphere. They are now rotating in a circle around them.

“...Bad…guy…” Nebulon slowly says to themself while staring at Blitz.

Blitz doesn’t seem as eager to fight as he was before. He may be strong, but he doesn’t think that he could defeat somebody who could probably throw the literal moon down on him.

“...You know what. It has been fun…” Blitz says while slowly backing away from the group of heroes. “...But I should probably get these back to my place.” gesturing at the three bags of money he is carrying over his shoulder.

“Hey, get back here!” Gloriosa yells at him, but it seems like she was too late.

Before they knew, it Blitz had used a small explosion as a smokescreen to get away. After running about 20 feet he lights an explosion underneath his feet and jumps away.

“...H…hey, what about us boss?” One of the henchmen replies to Blitz after he abandoned them, but his cries aren’t heard.

“Oh no you don’t!” Candi says in a runners start position until Gloriosa puts a hand on her shoulder.

Gloriosa puts her hand onto Candi’s shoulder and gives her a sympathetic look.

Candi stands up to face her.

“...But, but…we can’t just let him get away!”

“Your safety is more important to me right now than anything else.” She turns to the other kids who were both shaken up by the situation as well. “This is getting too dangerous for all of you. Let’s head back to base.”

She sighs.

“Most days aren’t usually this bad, but you never know what’s around the corner when you are in this line of work…I’ll send some of our other heroes after him when we get back.” She looks out at the kids with concerned eyes.

Candi tried to object, but stopped herself before she said anything.

Chapter Text

Warning: Blood and Excessive Violence

Isabella Quentin is walking down a sidewalk spinning her cane while being followed by Love Hart, Violet Newton, and Ori Sawano.

Little Miss IQ is leading the way in the front, Ori is in the back still shooting the occasional glare at love, and Love and Violet are talking to each other and are in deep conversation.

“So…” Violet tries to bring this up in a way in which Love knows what she is talking about while not letting anybody else in the group catch on to it. “Are you feeling okay? You have been through so much recently so I just want to be sure.”

Love blushes, but quickly looks away from Violet to try and hide her face.

Isabella suddenly stops and the group does the same behind her. She lets out a big, disappointed sounding sigh seemingly out of nowhere.

“This day has been really boring!” Isabella blurts out. “I want something exciting to happen!”

At that moment Isabella starts to sense something. After all, one of her many psychic abilities is reading people's emotional wavelengths. The more heightened and unconventional they are the easier they are for her to sense. Even though it is very faint she can absolutely tell someone who is quite powerful is close to her current location.

“Interesting. Quite interesting indeed.” She says under her breath.

As they walked, Love and Violet continued their conversation.

“...You know…despite some of the things that have been happening to me recently…I would still say that these last couple of months were some of the best in my entire life so far.” Love stated genuinely.

“That’s good to hear.” Violet gives Love a small smile. “I am genuinely happy for you.”

Love suddenly started blushing even harder than she was before.

‘What is this feeling?’ She thinks to herself.

The group continues to follow Isabella.

She eventually stops in front of a random alleyway.

“Alright! Come out with your hands up! I know where you are!” Isabella yells confidently into a dark alley.

A glowing pair of eyes appear in the darkness slowly followed by a huge grin.

Isabella points her cane at the shadowy figure standing in the alleyway.

“Show yourself!”

The figure proceeds to step into the light.

What stands before Isabella and the others is a tall, lanky man. He has long, greasy black hair with bangs that are covering his right eye. He was wearing a black and white striped prison jumpsuit, a leather jacket, and knee length black boots. He has many scars and stitches across his face and gray skin.

He licks his lips in anticipation for what was about to happen.

“State your name and business.” Isabella keeps her cane pointed at the mysterious man.

“Oh…I don’t have a name…Not anymore at least...but some people call me Noir.”

The gears in Isabella’s brain start to turn. Just where had she heard this name before?

“As for my business, well…” Noir starts giggling to himself while looking at Isabella with his cold, unblinking eyes.

Suddenly, Isabella is lifted off the ground by an unknown force.

He puts the sharp fingernails of his right hand onto her chin.

“...Is to put an end to each and every last one of you so-called heroes once and for all!” He yells enthusiastically as he pulls a knife from the pocket of his leather jacket and quickly tries to stab Isabella right in the heart.

Before he is able to do anything else, Isabella uses her psychic powers to stop him. She freezes him in place, lifts him off the ground, and throws him directly into a brick wall.

“Such big words. I do wonder if you have the strength to back them up.” Isabella quips back at the criminal.

Despite this, Noir's grin remains. He takes his knife and slashes himself across the chest. He begins to profusely bleed from this wound.

He puts his hand at his chest and his blood starts to follow his command as it starts to change shape. Seemingly out of nowhere there are now about fifty small needles in front of Noir that are made entirely out of his own blood.

With one flick of the wrist the needles fly towards Isabella and the others.
Isabella spins her cane to dispel every spike that was sent her way. Violet does the same with her mace.

Ori slams her fists together, turns into her oni form, jumps up to the roof of one of the buildings making up the alleyway and is now kicking her feet watching the fight like it was some sort of sick and twisted entertainment to her.

Love runs behind Violet, but unfortunately is hit in the right shoulder by about a handful of the spikes.

“Love!” Violet yells out right after this happens.

Violet quickly drops her mace and puts her arm around Love’s shoulders.

“...Don’t…Don’t worry about me Vi…I can handle this…”

Violet looks at Love’s shoulder.

“Love! You are bleeding!”

She looks over at her shoulder and takes a good look at it.

That…sure was a lot of blood.

Love proceeds to temporarily pass out in Violet’s arms.

That is until something else wakes up in her place. Whatever happened to Love during her sparring match against Ori was happening again.

She was suddenly standing up with the same red glowing eyes from before.

Noir and Isabella stopped fighting for a moment and both glanced towards Love.

“...How interesting…” Noir says while he licks his lips and walks towards the students.

“...Nothing interesting happening here. I can assure you that…” Violet says while standing in front of Love.

“...You’re lying to me…Aren’t you…”

“...How…How did you know that?” Violet responds as the worry inside of her begins to grow.

Noir walks up to Violet and pokes her in the middle of the breastplate of her armor.

“...From the way your heart is beating…For some reason your heartbeat increased…and I want to…” Noir licks his lips. “...Find out why…”

He shoves Violet out of the way and walks toward Love.

“...You’re protecting this one…Let’s see why that is…”

Love instantly shoots an arrow at Noir.

It flies right through his chest, but his body instantly reforms itself.

“...You're brave…I’ll give you that…but let me show you what happens to people who play hero…”

Noir uses his powers to turn his right arm into a bloody sickle.

He lunges towards the two girls, but he is blocked by Isabella’s cane.

“...How cute…” Noir says right before he stabs Isabella in through the heart.

“...You…won’t get away…with this…” Isabella says before she passes out from blood loss.

Noir absorbs quite a lot of Isabella’s blood into his arm.

“...One down…Two more to go…” Noir says as he slowly walks towards the girls. His sickle arm creates sparks against the floor as he does so.

When he gets in range he attempts to slash Love across the face, but he is suddenly blocked by Violet.

“...So…you want to die first…” Noir says with a psychotic grin.

Violet manages to shove Noir away with her mace and swings it back over her head while Noir stumbles backwards. She then follows through and hits Noir over the head.

When she lifts her mace she sees that Noir is just a puddle of blood on the pavement.

After a moment, he uses his powers to get his body looking like it did before.

“...So much power…Too bad…it won’t do you any good…How are you going to defeat an opponent…” Noir uses his blood to create bigger arms for himself. “...That you can’t even touch.”

Noir suddenly grabs Violet and lifts her into the air.

Love suddenly yawns, sits up, and begins to rub the back of her neck.

“...Where…am I?” She questions before looking upwards.

As soon as she sees Noir holding Violet without hesitation she conjures her bow with a red arrow already knocked.

“...Let go…of her…” Love says while trembling with fear.

“...Why should I?” Noir says while turning his attention towards Love.

“...Because…if you don’t…I’ll make you regret it…”

“...Oh…I see…” Noir turns back towards Violet. “...This one is your friend…Is that right?”

Love, still scared out of her mind, gives him a small nod in response.

“...How convenient…” Noir says as he begins to squeeze Violet.

Love takes a deep breath and fires the arrow at Noir.

It passes through his arm just like the previous one.

Noir just turns towards Love, the same psychotic grin on his face as before. As he stares he continues to squeeze Violet.

“...Let…Let her go!” Love’s eyes are suddenly the same color as the sun. As she knocks another arrow Noir notices that it also changed color to match her eyes.

“...What is this… some sort of party trick…”

Love shoots another arrow at Noir, but this time it actually hits him.

Noir suddenly drops Violet and grabs his arm.

“Shit! That actually hurt!” Noir instantly becomes furious and quickly turns his attention towards Love.

“...You bitch!”

He raises one of his giant, bloody hands straight into the air and quickly swings his palm down towards where Love is standing.

As he raises his hand he notices that Love isn’t anywhere to be seen.

“...Eyes up here, blood bath!” Love says from about fifteen feet in the air.

She shoots another arrow towards Noir.

“Ahhh! That…burns!” Noir says as he tries to extend his arm up to where Love is.

Love quickly falls back onto the ground with a heroic pose, does a backflip off the building behind her, and flings herself right back into the air.

“...That’s it! I am going to kill you, fucking bitch!” Noir says while he transforms his arms into cannons and he shoots a barrage of bloody spheres towards Love.

At the same time Love was preparing another attack. After charging up the power of the attack for about twenty seconds she sends a volley of arrows down at Noir that easily pierce through and burn up all of his projectiles and pelt him as well.

Love lands again and slowly walks towards Noir who is now half formed and is mostly just a steaming puddle of blood on the alley floor.

“...There is…no way…that a kid just beat me…How are you so strong?”

“This is what you get for hurting my friend!” Love yells out as she launches another arrow towards the Noir.

This burns up most (but not all) of the blood that formerly made up Noir’s body.

After the fight was over Love's eyes turned back to normal. She then turns around to go see if Violet was okay.

She sighs in relief as she notices that Violet is already back on her feet. She was currently standing over Isabella.

Love jogs over to see how she was holding up.

“...This…looks bad…” Love is instantly spiraling again.

“...Now that is exactly what your patient wants to hear...” Isabella says sarcastically while she grabs her chest after she feels a sharp pain.

“...Sorry…” Love responds.

“...Hey…It’s okay…Don’t worry about me…I have been in much worse scrapes before…” Isabella’s eyes are starting to close as she says this.

“...Miss Quentin…” Love starts to feel a sense of dread at the pit of her stomach.

“...Hey kid…can I ask you something?”

Love just nods while tears start forming at the corners of her eyes.

“...Just…tell my dad…that he has a good group of kids this year…” Isabella says as her eyes fully close.

“...Miss Quentin…” Love starts to hyperventilate “...ISABELLA!” Love suddenly screams out.

Violet puts a hand on Love’s shoulder.

“...No…no…this isn’t happening…” Love is sobbing now.

Right before Love was about to accept the finality of this situation her eyes suddenly started glowing a bright green.

“...No!” Love says as she stands up and conjures her bow again. “You aren’t going to die! I refuse to accept it!”

Violet quickly stands up and walks a safe distance away from Love.

Love knocks a green arrow and shoots it directly into Isabella’s heart.

Afterwards, Love’s eyes stop glowing and she falls onto her hands and knees.

After about a minute a green aura starts to cover Isabella’s body.

As the energy passes through Isabella’s heart she suddenly bolts upright with a deep breath.

“...What…where am I?” Isabella says before looking down at her chest.

Love and Violet suddenly rush over towards Isabella.

“...Why…am I not dead…” She says while looking for injuries on herself. “...That blow should have been fatal…”

She turns towards the girls.

“...Surprise…” Love said while shrugging her shoulders. “...I…guess…this is something that I am able to do now…”

Isabella spent some time processing what just happened.

“...Hey kid…Thanks for…you know…saving my life…”

“...You’re welcome…”

“Wait a second!” Isabella suddenly stands up. “Where is that blood guy!”

“...Oh…Don’t worry about him…I took care of that too…” Love said while rubbing the back of her neck.

Isabella lets out a sigh of relief.

“Okay. Let’s head back to base. That is enough excitement for one day.”

After the three others left the alleyway Ori jumped down and walked towards what remains of Noir.

The few drops of blood that were still on the ground started to slide towards one another.

Ori goes to grab the knife that he left on the ground earlier and cuts across her palm.

She goes back over to where Noir was as the blood from her hand starts to drip downwards.

After a few minutes the pile of blood starts to take form again.

“...I…need…blood…” Noir cries out.

Ori suddenly walks towards the edge of the alley and pulls a middle aged business man into the darkness with her.

“Hey, what are you doing!” The man screams before Ori instantly plunges a knife into his chest.

“Nothing personal. You just have something that I need right now.”

After some more dirty work Ori dust off her blood covered hands standing next to a fully reformed Noir.

“...And here I thought you were one of those boy scouts…” Noir says with a sinister grin.

“...Nah…That place was a drag, but I think I know something that would be more…up my alley…” Ori says while flashing a toothy grin.

“What was your name?” Noir asked.

“Ori.”

Ori holds out her hand. Noir gives her a firm handshake.

“...Welcome to the organization, Ori…” Noir says as he lets out an evil laugh.

Chapter Text

Urchin is crouching at the edge of an alleyway and is peering out onto the street with Maka, Shiro, and Zypp right behind him.

“Make sure to always be alert when on patrol. Always be aware of your surroundings because you never know what could happen at any given moment.” Urchin explains to the group. “Sometimes my days are filled to the brim with petty crimes while other days not much of note happens. I am telling you this because those are usually the times when your guard is down the most, but your guard should always be up because bad things always happen when you least expect them.

Maka is growing bored of Urchin’s long winded explanations.

“Boring! When do we get to fight bad guys?”

“Hopefully not today. For all of your sake you should hope that today is as uneventful as physically possible.”

As they keep walking the streets (or I should say that Maka, Shiro, and Zypp are just walking the streets and Urchin is sneaking around every corner while doing unnecessary combat rolls).

This goes on for about an hour until they finally find something interesting happening.

“Shhh.” Urchin says to the others while he slowly peers around a corner with Maka and the others doing the same.

What they end up seeing is what appears to be a confrontation between members of a mob.

There was an incredibly pale man who was way too young looking to have gray hair and had it tied back in a bun, sunken in eyes with dark circles around them, a tattered black suit with a skull bowtie, and was holding a briefcase that was shaped like a cross.

He was talking to two men. One of which Had black, long, greasy hair and a purple suit with the top few buttons undone which showed off his chest hair and the other had a spiky brown hair and a white and red patterned headband and a blue suit with the sleeves torn off.

The pale man seemed to be the one who was currently talking.

“Yoh, Kendo. You know that you are very behind on your protection fees, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout.” Yoh, who was the one in the purple suit, responds while mindlessly playing with a yoyo.

“...Well, that’s unfortunate…” The pale man responded while opening up his briefcase.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Kendo responded with a sneer while readjusting his wooden sword.

“I’ll give you one last chance…Do you have the money or did you just waste it like you usually do?”

“Who’d like to know?” Yoh said while quickly rolling his yoyo back up before holding onto it.

“I go by many names, but the one you might be the most familiar with… is Hades…”

Yoh and Kendo immediately tense up. Yoh fumbles his yoyo, but manages to catch it at the last second. Kendo’s visual response is a lot more muted, but he is still visibly shaking.

“...Did…did you say Hades?” Yoh says while he is now scared for his life.

“...If I were you…” Hades responds “...I’d start running…I’ll give you a minute long head start…”

Hades pulls a two pronged trident out of his briefcase that has a lantern hanging from it.

“...Are…are you actually serious…” Yoh barely manages to say due to his fear.

“...One…Two…Three…”

“Oh. He’s serious alright…” Kendo said while pulling out a walkie talkie. “All men to my position! Now!”

After Kendo gave the command, he and Yoh went back inside of their hideout while they met up with some of their goons.

“I need you to take care of him.” Kendo says while tapping one of his henchmen on the shoulder.

“Sure thing, boss.” The henchmen says. He and all of the other henchmen (about twenty in total, all with different colored suits and hair) all walk out and confront Hades.

“Hey. There’s only one guy out here.”

“One guy. Ha! What were the bosses afraid of?”

“This should be a piece of cake.”

“...Fifty Eight…Fifty Nine…” Hades immediately spins his trident and puts it on one of the henchmen's shoulders. He immediately slashes downwards and the color drains from the man’s face as what appears to be his soul flies out of his body and into Hades’ lantern. “...Sixty…”

The henchmen stand in stunned silence for a moment.

“...What…what just happened…”

“I knew I shouldn’t have come in today.”

The henchmen were talking amongst themselves in hushed voices until the tallest among them shoved some of the others and walked right up to Hades. This man had tall spiky hair, sharp teeth, a suit jacket was completely unbuttoned revealing a hairy chest underneath, and was holding a giant wooden club with spikes on it.

“Hey asshole! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”

“Kong! Are you crazy! You are gonna get yourself killed!”

“Shut up! This guy needs to learn to respect us!”

Kong lifts his club over his head and begins to slam it down right at Hades.

Hades quickly sidesteps this and gets behind Kong and slashes him across the back.

Immediately after this Kong collapses on the group and his soul is absorbed.

“...That…that guy beat Kong like it was nothing!”

The goons were silent for about a minute until another one of them spoke up.

“...What are we doin’ just standin’ around? Let’s get ‘em!”

“...We don’t stand a chance. Whoever tries to fight him will die?”

“...It looks like we’re probably gonna die anyway. If that’s the case I wanna go down swingin’!” The brave henchmen says before charging right up to Hades before promptly being killed on the spot.

“...Let’s get out of here! Every man for himself!”

All of the henchmen start to run for their lives.

“...Look at them, scurrying around like cockroaches…What a pity…Well, since I feel bad for you all I’ll make sure your deaths are quick and painless…” Hades says right before quickly dispatching all of the rest of the henchmen in one fluid motion.

He stands there with his back turned while all of the souls fly inside of his lantern.

After seeing what happened to their henchmen, Yoh and Kong leave their hideout through a hidden exit in the back and try to sneak away.

“...Where do you think you two are going?” Hades says after immediately spotting them.

Both of the men immediately drop to their knees and start begging for their lives.

“...P…please Mr. Hades…We’ll get the money…right Kendo?” Yoh says while shoving Kendo with his shoulder.

“...Yeah…we’ll…we’ll get the money…just give us one more chance, please…”

“...Hmmm…very well…” Hades says while putting his trident back into his briefcase. “...But only one more chance…”

“...Thank you…thank you Mr. Hades!” Yoh says while crawling towards Hades' feet and kissing his shoes. “...We won’t let you down! I swear!”

“...How juvenile…” Hades says as he turns around and walks away, disappearing into the shadows of a nearby alleyway.

Urchin immediately steps out of the alleyway and walks towards Yoh and Kendo.

He picks up Yoh by the shirt collar.

“Who was that? Your boss?” Urchin says with a deep, intimidating voice.

“...Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t…” Yoh says while glancing to the side.

Urchin extends the fingers on his right into long black claws.

“Talk, or else I’ll make you talk!”

“Fine! I’ll talk! Just put me down!”

Kendo shoots a glare at Yoh who shrugs in response.

Urchin drops Yoh and he quickly gets back to his feet.

“I actually have never met that guy before, but he does work for my boss.”

“Then who was that?”

“You don’t know?! That was Hades, one of the rulers of this city’s underworld.”

“If that wasn’t your boss. Then who is?”

“I actually don’t know! Honest! I’ve never met the man before.”

“I find it hard to believe you work for a man you’ve never met.”

“I am sayin’ the truth! He is a man who is completely shrouded in mystery. None of us know who he is. Right Kendo?”

Kendo facepalms and nods.

“What else?” Urchin continues the interrogation.

“...Uh…that’s…that’s it…That’s all I know…” Yoh says while glancing to the side.

Urchin puts his claws up to Yoh’s throat again.

“Fine! You got me!” Yoh yells out. “My sources are tellin’ me that the bosses are gonna be meetin’ up at the main hideout about a week from now, next Saturday.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“...No…” Yoh says with a gulp.

Urchin glares at him with squinted eyes. He then drops Yoh who quickly crawls backwards and hides behind Kendo.

“Kids. Come with me.” Urchin says while quickly walking out of the alley and back to CHS HQ.

Maka stops him.

“Get out of my way kid.”

“So, are we just going to let that creepy guy get away?!”

“Yes.” Urchin says while shoving Maka out of the way as he continues to walk.

“Why?” Maka yells out as she gets in Urchin’s way again.

“Because we aren’t strong enough.” Urchin says while shoving Maka out of the way again.

“...I can take him…” Maka says while crossing her arms.

Urchin turns around and walks right up to Maka.

“No you can’t! We are going back to headquarters so I can tell my team about what we saw. We can then come up with a proper plan and have reinforcements to actually go through with them.”

“...But…”

“That’s enough! Talk back to me again and It’s a detention!”

“What? You can’t do that?”

“I know the teachers at SUPER very well!” Urchin says while poking Maka in the chest. “Who do you think they’ll believe more? Someone they have known for years or some kid who has an ego bigger than her own head?”

Maka grits her teeth and starts to tear up.

Urchin sighs, takes a deep breath, and takes a knee to get down on Maka’s level.

“...Kid, your heart is in the right place, but you have got to think things through sometimes. If I let you follow that guy you would have died. Believe me. I am doing this for your own good.”

Maka just nods while she wipes her nose.

Urchin pats Maka on the shoulder before standing back up.

“...Okay…now let’s head back…”

Maka holds her arm as Shiro and Zypp walk on each side of her.

Shiro puts her hand on Maka’s shoulder, but Zypp is the first of the two to speak.

“He’s right, you know.”

“Zypp! Now is not the time!”

They just shrug in response.

After shooting a glare at Zypp, Shiro turns her attention back to Maka.

“Hey. We might not be ready for a villain that strong today, but that’s why we are training, right?”

Maka gives a small nod.

“Yeah! We’ll get there eventually.” Shiro quickly runs between Maka and Zypp and puts her arms around them. “When we’re strong enough we will definitely get to kick some ass!”

Maka lets out a small laugh. “...Yeah…I can’t wait for that…What is better than getting paid to kick ass?”

“I can think of a few things.” Zypp says seductively with their tongue out.

“Zypp!” Shiro says while jumping backwards and blushing wildly. “You can’t just say things like that!”

“I don’t know. It seems like someone is enjoying it.” Zypp says while looking at Maka who was also blushing.

“What an interesting response.” Zypp says with their hand on their chin.

Eventually Urchin, Maka, Shiro, and Zypp get back to HQ so Urchin can tell his team what he saw.

Chapter Text

After the day that they had just about all of the heroes and students were exhausted by the time they got back to CHS HQ.

“How ‘bout that for a first day of patrol!” Bellows laughs in a jovial way after saying this.

“That sure was interesting.” Ash responds to Bellows while giving Calder a stern look.

“I’m glad that there is one less criminal on the streets.” Zahid continues the conversation.

The next group to return was Gloriosa and Nebulon’s group.

“I apologize again, kids. That was way too dangerous for you to get involved in.”

Nebulon follows her happily chewing on a piece of candy that she just gave them.

“I still can’t believe that we just let the bad guy get away.” Candi says exhaustedly while a small frown on her face.

Takeru was too focused on his music to chat while Samara just didn’t feel particularly talkative right now.

Next to arrive is Isabella’s group.

As soon as Violet sees a bench she has Isabella and Love sit down on it. She also sits down between them seemingly too exhausted to move either.

Gloriosa walks over to Isabella.

“Hey Izzy. Where is your third student?”

Isabella stared up at Gloriosa.

“...I…I actually don’t know…So much was going on and I didn’t even realize…”

“Hey.” Gloriosa says in a calming voice even though she was worried herself “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out and find her.”

Isabella just nods in response.

Soon afterwards, Urchin’s group is the last to arrive.

He looks over at Isabella and notices the condition she is in and walks up to her.

“...IQ…Are you alright?”

“..Don’t…worry about me…I’ll be fine…How did your patrol go? Hopefully better than mine.”

“...About that…I finally have a lead on the mob…”

The rest of his team suddenly seem a lot more invested in what he has to say.

“Out with it lad.” Bellows says. “What did ya hear?”

“We were able to find a meeting between a couple of goons and what appeared to be one of the highest ranking members of the organization.”

While the others were intently listening, Nebulon was just in their own little world happily snacking on some candy.

“I was able to interrogate one of them. He said that they were going to meet up next Saturday at their main headquarters and that all of the big targets were going to be there. I didn’t hear exactly where it was going to be held, but that is at least something.”

“...Alright…” Isabella said while attempting to stand up. “...Let’s make a plan of action…”

She almost falls, but Gloriosa grabs her before she does.

“Hey Glori, you should get these kids back to school for the day.”

Gloriosa nods.

“Alright students, follow me to the van.”

Gloriosa and the eleven students that were still here were in the van. It was a lot quieter than earlier today.

“...So…did any of you have fun…or learn anything at least?” Gloriosa says awkwardly in an attempt to make some smalltalk while she was driving.

“...This…whole hero thing…” Maka says in a hushed tone. “...Might be a lot harder than I thought it would be…”

Gloriosa took a moment to come up with the best response she could.

“...Yeah…it is a lot of hard work…but I assure you that it is worth it. I won’t lie to you all. What we do is incredibly dangerous, but there is nothing that is more satisfying than knowing that the people of this city are safe…at least that’s what I think…”

Maka just nods and the rest of the drive back is completely silent.

After the students are dropped off back at school and in their dorms safe and sound Gloriosa decides to give Isaac Quentin a visit.

She knocks on his door.

“Come in.” Isaac says while he was reading some paperwork and sipping some tea.

“Hello Sir.” Gloriosa says after opening the door.

“Oh. Miss Gardener, have a seat.”

“Mr. Quentin.”

“I am assuming that there is a reason why you are here. Did something interesting happen during the internship program today?”

“Yeah…about that…” Gloriosa says while twirling some of her hair between her fingers. “...We…actually lost one of the students…”

“...What?”

Gloriosa takes a deep breath.

“...It was Ori Sawano sir…Isabella went on patrol with her, Violet, and Lev…After they came back…she wasn’t with them…”

Isaac puts his tea down and threads his fingers.

“...I see…”

“...I’m sorry sir…”

Isaac takes off his monocle and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“...Well…” He sighs. “...We will figure this out…anything else to report?”

“...Yes…” Gloriosa continues. “Spyke got a lead on the mob we have been searching for. Their bosses are going to be meeting up next Saturday. We don’t know where or when, but that is still more than we knew before.”

Isaac takes a moment to absorb all of this information.

“...It seems like you had a rather eventful day…”

Gloriosa nods.

“...That…is a lot…” Isaac gets a rag and polishes his monocle before putting it back on. “...But worrying about it now won’t fix anything. Just let me process all of this and I’ll get back to you and the rest of IQA and the CHS later.”

“...Thank you for your time sir…” Gloriosa curtsies and leaves the room. She then heads back to HQ.

The students didn’t get very good sleep that night. They were all too busy thinking about everything that happened today.

Love just laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling until she eventually drifted off to sleep.

A younger Love is seen playing with toys in her room when her parents suddenly barge in.

“Come with us Lev.”

“...Where…where are we going…”

“You’ll see.” Love’s dad says after he grabs her arm and drags her out of the room.

They get inside of a car and drive for about an hour.

When they eventually stop they park in front of a building that looks kind of like a small hospital.

“...Where are we?” Love asks in a confused voice.

“Me and your mother were talking…and we decided that this would be for your own good.”

As her parents escort her into the building, Love notices a sign.

‘Conversion Therapy Center’

Chapter Text

The rest of the week at SUPER was a lot less busy than the first day.

The IQA continued to take the students out for their patrols, but were a lot more careful from there on out. Luckily nothing else really notable happened while they were out.

They also kept looking for Ori, but had no luck in doing so.

After they got back from patrol they did still have to go to class with Jack and Angella and training with Zari.

After patrols, class, and training were done on Thursday, Love decided to be a little brave.

She pulled out her phone and texted Violet.

Love Hart: Hey Vi

Violet Newton: Hello Love

Violet Newton: Is there anything you needed help with?

Love Hart: Yeah

Love Hart: It is actually something I need help with in person

Love Hart: If you aren’t busy or anything…

Violet Newton: That’s quite alright. My schedule is actually surprisingly open today

Violet Newton: So what is it that you need my assistance with?

Love Hart: Well

Love Hart: I can’t tell you over the phone

Love Hart: It has to be in person

Violet Newton: …Interesting…

Violet Newton: I’ll be over shortly

Love puts her phone down and waits for Violet to get to her dorm.

About fifteen minutes later Love hears a knock and opens the door.

“...Hey Violet…” Love says sheepishly.

“Hello Love” Violet responds “So, what did you need help with?”

“...Um…about that…” Love starts rubbing her right arm.

Violet tilts her head in confusion.

“...I…actually wanted to…ask you…something…” Love is now blushing.

Love gestures for Violet to take a seat next to her on her bed which Violet quickly accepts.

“...About?” Violet questions.

“...Violet…” Love turns and puts her hands on top of her friends hands. “...Ever since I got here you have helped me so much…possibly more than you will ever know…”

‘What is going on?’ Violet starts to think to herself.

“...You helped me pay for stuff for my transition…well…when you still had money…the movie nights in your place have been so much fun…and you always help me out during training whenever I ask…” The blush on Love’s face is growing even wider. “...Violet…you are my best friend…the best friend that I have ever had in my entire life…”

“...Wow…Thank you Love…” Violet is now noticeably blushing as well. “...I am thankful to have you as a friend too…”

“...Well…” Love tries to build up the courage to say what she needs to say. “...I…will…you…”

Violet puts her hand on Love’s shoulder.

“…Take all the time you need...” Violet noticed that Love was starting to panic and wanted to ease her mind. “...also, just to let you know you can tell me anything…”

‘Well, here goes nothing’ Love thinks to herself.

“...Violet…I think that…I am in…love with you…” Love finally blurts out.

Violet wildly blushes in response.

“...Oh…” is all Violet can say.

After about three minutes of awkward silence, Love finally says something again.

“...So…”

Violet turns and puts her hands on Love’s shoulders.

“...Love…I am flattered, I truly am…but there is also something I need to tell you…” Violet takes a deep breath before continuing. “...I am sorry, but I am straight…”

Love looks to the side to avoid Violet’s gaze.

“...Oh…”

“...Even though I am not attracted to you and don’t want a relationship doesn't mean I still don't want to be friends with you.” Violet grabs Love’s chin and turns her head to look at her. “When I said you were one of my best friends I meant it.”

Love just nods slowly in response.

“...That’s…that’s fine…”

Violet gives Love a tight hug.

“...I’m sorry…but I have to admit what you just did was very brave…You shot your shot and that takes courage…”

Violet feels another nod from Love on her shoulder.

“...Even though it probably didn’t go the way that you wanted…I just want to let you know that I love you and will always be there to support you in any way I can…you know…as a friend…”

Violet breaks the hug and stands up from the bed.

“...I’ll give you some time to process your feelings…but call or text me if you need help with anything…okay…”

“...Okay…I will…you’re a great friend…”

Violet gives Love a small nod and exits the room.

Love just sat there on her bed hugging one of her plushies for a few minutes in total silence.

Then she started crying. It started with a few tears at the corners of her eyes, but soon turned into straight up sobbing.

She didn’t leave her room for the rest of that day.

Somehow Love built up the willpower to go to all of her classes the next day, but she wasn’t happy about it. She just knows that good attendance is really important.

Her and all the rest of the first years met together in Zari’s gym for their usual training, but for some reason Jack and Angella were here as well which wasn’t usual.

“It seems like your teachers are here to make a special announcement. I’ll stop wasting their time and let them say what they gotta say.” Zari says before handing Angella her megaphone.

“As you may recall your classmate Ori went missing during patrol on Monday and we still haven’t found her yet. Don’t worry though. We are still looking, but in the meantime we thought that it would only be fair if we fill her spot with one of the other applicants that barely missed the cut to join our school earlier this year. So, please give a warm welcome to your new classmate!” Angella announces before gesturing to the front door of the gym.

Suddenly, the front door of the gym bursts open. After putting her leg down from the kick (because she kicked open the door), the new student throws something into the air and quickly rolls forward before catching the object. She then stands up and strikes a pose.

“What is up, party people!” she announces. “The names Jazmine Soul, or Jazz for short, and let me introduce myself…with a song!”

The object was a saxophone. She immediately starts playing a cover of “When The Saints Go Marching In” while walking further into the gym.

She is a black woman with white curly hair with black spots that look like musical notes, a gold jacket with a white undershirt, and black pants.

After the song is done she takes a bow.

“Thank you! You have been a wonderful audience!”

Angella walks over to Jazmine.

“Hello again Jazmine.” She then turns towards the rest of the students. “Since the empty spot on our school’s roster is in my class Jazmine here will join the rest of you.”

“...I like her already…” Takeru says with a small smile.

Ash looks at Takeru and rolls his eyes with a small blush.

Zari takes her megaphone back.

“Since today is such a unique occasion we are actually going to take a day off from training. Just use this time to get to know your new classmate.”

Jazmine walks towards the others and starts talking with just about everyone.

Zypp walks towards Jazmine with a hand on their chin.

“...Oh…Hello gorgeous…” They say with a flirtatious look.

“Thanks, you aren’t too bad to look at yourself.” Jazmine responds with a wink.

This actually causes Zypp to blush which almost never happens.

Candi jogs up to her next.

“Hi! My name’s Candi! Do you wanna be friends!”

“...You know what…” Jazmine pretends to think for a moment. “...Yeah…That’s fine with me.”

“Yes!” Candi says as she pumps her fist.

After that Shiro and Zahid walk towards Jazmine.

“Hello! I’m Shiro!” She says with a bow. “It’s nice to meet you.

“You too karate girl!” Jazmine responds.

Zahid is standing to the side with his arms crossed.

“I look forward to training with you.”

“Sure. I can’t wait to kick your ass either.” Jazmine says with a smile.

“Such arrogance.” Zahid says as he shakes his head with a small smile.

Jazmine then walks towards Samara who was sitting on a bench off to the side and playing with her bear Poe.

“Awww! How cute! Does he have a name?” Jazmine says as she cups her cheeks.

Samara immediately gets excited.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you! I’m Samara…” she immediately starts doing the bear voice. “...and you can call me Poe!”

“Ha! That’s funny!” Jazmine walks away from Samara. “You’re funny, creepy girl!”

She then walks towards Love, Maka, Violet, Ash, and Takeru who were all standing in a group.

Violet takes a step forward and curtseys. “Hello. My name is Violet Newton. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise your majesty.” Jazmine says while also doing a curtsey.

Maka steps out next and puts her hand out for a handshake which Jazmine immediately accepts.

She then immediately puts Jazmine into a headlock.

In response, Jazmine escapes from Maka’s hold and flips her over her shoulder.

“Ouch!” Maka says while rubbing her elbow.

“Alright. I’ve made up my mind.” Maka says while standing up and dusting off her shoulder. “You’re cool with me.”

Jazmine just does finger guns in response to this.

She then turns towards Ash and Takeru. She immediately notices Takeur’s headphones.

“Another music person! Noice!”

“Okay. I can already tell you are the type of person with a ton of great music recommendations.” Takeru says with his hands in his pockets. “...Oh..and by the way the name’s Takeru…”

Ash puts his arm around Takeru’s shoulders and glares at him.

“...And I am his boyfriend, Ash.”

“Awww! How sweet! You are such a cute couple!”

Ash and Takeru both blush in response.

She then finally turns to face Love and puts her hand out.

“Don’t be shy. I won’t bite.” Jazmine says with a smile.

After a moment of awkward silence, Love eventually shakes Jazmine’s hand.

“...My…my name is Love…Love Hart…”

“What a pretty name.” Jazmine responds.

“...Oh…thanks…I picked it myself…” Love says while rubbing the back of her neck.

Jazmine continues to get to know her classmates.

All except one of them that is.

As Jazmine was getting chummy with the rest of the group, Calder was sitting halfway up the bleachers just watching from a distance.

“...What a waste of time…” He says before jumping off the bleachers and walking out of the gym.

Chapter Text

The next day at school after their classes with Jack and Angella the students are back in Zari’s gym for training.

“Alright students.” Zari announces into her megaphone “Today we are going to be sparring again. Since I know all of you better now I set up the bracket in advance. I’ll give you all fifteen minutes to warm up and prepare yourselves, but after that we are starting.”

This sparring session went a lot more smoothly than last time (probably because a certain student is no longer here).

Love Hart had a much less stressful match against Shiro Long this time. She still lost to Shiro, but at least the fight ended on good terms.

Maka Sharktooth went a round against Takeru Takao. She didn’t win either, but it was really close.

Ash Burns sparred against Zypp Sunbeck. He also lost.

Violet Newton fought against Samara McNeil and actually ended up winning again. It seems like her previous training has done a lot for her.

Candi Kane’s match was against Zahid Zahir and she was quickly defeated.

“Okay!” Zari yelled into her microphone “Today's final match will be a fight between…Jazmine Soul and…Calder McHail!”

Both fighters approached the ring.

“Hiya!” Jazmine waved to Calder. “I didn’t see you in class yesterday when I was introducing myself so I might as well do that now. My name is Jazmine Soul but my friends call me Jazz. It’s nice to meet you!”

Calder just rolls his eyes in response.

“...Um…okay…” Jazmine says with a confused expression on her face.

“Are y’all ready?” Zari asks.

Jazmine gives her an enthusiastic thumbs up. Calder doesn’t say or do anything.

“Alright! Then…let’s fight!”

“May the best fighter win!” Jazmine says with her hand extended out for a handshake.

Calder smacks her hand to the side.

“...Alright…I see how it is…” Jazmine says with a much more serious expression.

She grabs her saxophone and starts playing.

Suddenly, visible musical notes started coming out of Jazmine’s instrument.

Calder barely dodges them and quickly turns around.

When the musical notes hit the edge of the gym they create an impact crater on the wall.

“...Alright…now it’s my turn…” Calder says before sending a giant wave of ice towards Jazmine.

Jazmine takes a deep breath and continues to play her instrument. The musical notes she creates shatter a large chunk of the ice that Calder just blasted at her.

She starts walking towards Calder with her instrument in position right under her lips.

Calder turns his arms into icicles and lunges towards Jazmine. She bobs and weaves them with ease.

When she finds an opening she backflips and kicks him in the chin, jumps off the top of his head, and sends a flurry of musical notes down towards him.

He uses his ice to propel himself to the side to dodge and starts skating towards where she was going to land.

He puts his arms outwards and shoots ice which begins to create a trail of ice on each side of him.

He then slams his palms together and causes a wall of icicle spikes to appear right behind Jazmine.

This attack actually lands and Jazmine flies towards Calder. He holds her up by her shirt collar and uses his other hand to freeze her.

He then puts his hands in his pockets and slowly walks towards Jazmine.

“Just to let you know, I am not here to make friends.”

Jazmine stares at him with a confused stare from inside the ice.

“The only reason I am here is to become strong enough to be able to do whatever I want. Why you might ask?” He waits a little while and listens for a response he knew wasn’t coming.

“...Because…when I gain enough strength I will be able to do anything and no one will be able to stop me…”

He is now right in Jazmine’s face.

Even though she was still frozen in ice Jazmine’s face became noticeably angry.

Suddenly, the ice around her started to crack. Luckily when she was frozen her saxophone was still on her lips.

She used her soundwaves to blast the ice away from herself. When she was able to move again she dusted the ice off of her suit jacket.

“Look. I am not the type of person who usually likes to tell people how to live their lives…”

She blows into her saxophone while facing the ground and launches herself above and behind Calder in one quick motion.

“...But I make an exception for bullies!” She says while restraining calder in a choke hold.

Calder tries to free himself by wildly squirming around in her grip.

“I am not going to let go until you tap out.” Jazmine says to Calder with a completely serious voice.

After being held in place for over a minute Calder finally submits.

“Fine! Just let go!”

Jazmine, the woman of her word she is, unhands Calder and he immediately drops towards the ground.

“...and the winner is…Jazmine Soul!”

“Let’s go Jazz! Woo!” Candi yells from the crowd.

The rest of the students also begin to clap and cheer for Jazmine.

Calder gets up, adjusts his hoodie, and looks towards the crowd.

“...You know what? Screw this and screw all of you!” Calder announces to the crowd while flipping everyone off. “I’m out of here!”

He then storms out of the gym.

After a moment of awkward silence the rest of the students get up to talk amongst themselves.

“What the Hell is up with that guy?” Jazmine asks the group.

Most of them either don’t say anything or just give a shrug.

Ash then walks up to Jazmine and starts to give an explanation.

“Simple.” Ash responds with his hands in his jacket pockets. “He’s a rich white nepo baby who only thinks of himself.”

“How do any of you put up with his bullshit?”

“...Well…” Ash gives a shrug. “...You know…we…kinda don’t”.

“People like him make me so…” Jazmine crosses her arms with a huff of rage. “...I just don’t get it…”

Ash puts his hand on Jazmine’s shoulder.

“I understand…sorry about him…”

Jazmine sighs.

“...At least the rest of y’all are cool.”

Jazmine and the other students chat for a little longer before Zari kicks them out of her gym and locks it up for the day.

Chapter Text

On Friday, the night before the meeting between the mafia members, Team IQA are currently at CHS headquarters in their meeting room trying to figure out where exactly the meeting is going to take place.

Little Miss IQ takes a sip of her tea.

“So, did anyone discover any new leads?” She asks.

“Nay lassie.” Bellows responds. “Not yet at least.”

“...I’m sorry, but no…” Wallflower says while giving Nebulon another piece of candy.

“Nebulon!” Nebulon exclaims.

Urchin just shakes his head no.

Isabella folds her hands in front of her.

“...Alright, I am not going to rest until I find more information on this meeting. We have been looking for an opportunity like this for months. I am not just going to let it slip through my fingers. The rest of you can go home and get some rest if you want, but I am staying here.”

Bellows walks over and puts his arm around Isabella.

“Not a chance lass! We’re a team, aren’t we!” He says with a big smile.

Gloriosa and Spyke nod their heads in agreement. Nebulon is still enjoying their candy without a clue about what is going on.

“Thank you.” Isabella says while reciprocating Bellows’ hug. “Now…let’s get to the bottom of this.”

“I can help you with that!” Says a voice beyond the door of their meeting room.

He immediately kicks the door and walks in with a heroic pose.

“Oh. American Dream. Did you find any leads on our case?”

The American Dream is a tall and muscular man with spiky golden hair and an American flag themed superhero costume. It has a chest emblem, mask, and cape with the flag on them.

“I can do better than just leads!” He slams a piece of paper on the table. “I have already found where they are holding the meeting!”

“That’s perfect!” Isabella says as she quickly picks up the piece of paper. It is a map with a circled location on it. “Thank you so much Mr. Dream!”

“No need to thank me! I am just doing my job!”

“Alright!” Isabella says with renewed enthusiasm. “Now that we know where we are going we can formulate a plan!”

“...I’m sorry…” The American Dream says while rubbing the back of his neck. “...But, since I found the target location, I think that it is only fair that my team takes this mission.”

“...Wait a second!” Isabella says while slamming her palms down against the table. “This was my team's mission! You can’t just do that, right?”

“...Lass…” Bellows says with a sigh. “The important thing is that it gets done. Does it matter which team goes as long as we are able to apprehend the bosses?”

“I agree with Bellows.” Gloriosa chimes in. “Also, his team is a lot stronger than ours so they are more prepared for this mission anyways.”

“I also don’t have a problem with this.” Urchin adds on. “I believe that The Dream Team taking this mission would be the best course of action.”

“Nebulon!”

The American Dream begins to scratch his chin while in deep thought.

“You know what…it’s only fair. My team will still be going on the mission, but if any of you would really like to come with us then that would be fine with me.”

“...Those terms…are…” Isabella thinks before finishing her sentence. “...agreeable…I will be coming with you.”

“As will I.” Urchin adds.

The American Dream turns towards the rest of Team IQA.

“Would any of you like to come?”

“...No…that’s okay...” Gloriosa responds while giving Nebulon another piece of candy.

“I think that you lot can handle yourselves just fine.” Bellows chimes in. “I trust you can do this lassie.”

Isabella nods with a smile.

“Alright! Little Miss IQ, Urchin, follow me.” The American Dream says while walking out the door. “If you want to come then you must make plans with the rest of my team.”

Isabella and Spyke follow Mr. Dream’s lead.

They soon arrive at the Dream Team’s meeting room.

“Attention team!” Mr. Dream announces as he walks in. “We have some allies helping us with tomorrow night’s mission”

“Sir yes sir!” Says a man with slicked back blonde hair, military fatigues, and sunglasses. He gives a salute while saying this.

“Alrighty! We really do appreciate the help, friends!” Says another man who has black hair and a gold mask, but also has an American flag themed costume.

“...Whatever…” Says a goth girl with red hair and tattered black barbarian armor. She shakes her head to swish the hair out of her face.

“Great!” Mr. Dream turns to Isabella and Spyke. “Let’s quickly introduce ourselves before continuing the plan.

“Salutations.” Isabella says while taking her hat off and bowing. “I am Little Miss IQ, the leader of Team IQA. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

“...Urchin...” Spyke says with his arms crossed.

“Hello! My codename is US Andy! I look forward to working with both of you!”

“Call me Slick Rick.” The military man says while lighting a cigar.

“...Sup...” The goth girl says while swishing her hair again. “I’m Visi-Goth.”

“Now that we’re all acquainted let’s get to business.” Mr. Dream says while grabbing a remote and turning on a computer screen.

He pulls up a slideshow that lays out what information he knows and his ideas for strategies.

“Thank you for letting us join you on this mission.” Isabella says after taking another sip of tea. “But I am still curious how you obtained this information.”

“I sincerely apologize, but that is classified information.”

“...I should have expected that…”

“Alright, unless anybody has any more questions than lets begin.”

He goes through all of his slides while giving in depth information on each one.

They are going to be meeting in a secluded warehouse on the outskirts of downtown Central City. It is in an abandoned area that most people forgot even existed.

The plan is to cut the power, scatter their henchmen, and pick everyone off one by one.

“Alright, try to familiarize yourself with the plan and we will rendezvous back here tomorrow.” The American Dream says as he finishes his presentation.

*Crash!*

“What was that?” Isabella questions.

“Let’s go investigate.” Spyke says while getting out of his chair.

The heroes all leave the room to see who or what made that noise, but gave up after a few minutes of searching.

After the heroes all left someone drops from the ceiling and lands with a cool superhero pose.

“Shit! That was too close!” Maka Sharktooth says while catching her breath.

Chapter Text

As Maka was getting ready to leave CHS Headquarters she noticed something interesting.

She sees someone typing away at a computer in a random room she just happened to be walking by.

She stopped by the door and peered into the room quietly so she wouldn’t be noticed.

After getting a closer look at who it was Maka felt a shiver go down her spine.

‘What the Hell!’ Maka thinks to herself. ‘Why is Calder here?’

As she tries to get an even closer look she accidentally trips and falls over a trash can near the front of the room.

“Shit!”

“Huh! Who the hell was…” Calder turns around. “...Maka…what are you doing here?!”

“I could ask you the same damn thing!”

“Like I'd tell you anything…” Calder says as he turns around to get back to what he was doing before he was interrupted.

“Hey!” Maka yells as she walks behind Calder and spins his chair around so that he is staring directly at her. “Answer me punk!”

“...I don’t have to tell you anything…” Calder says with a smug expression.

“That’s it!” Maka grabs Calder by his shirt collar. “It looks like I’ll just have to make you talk!”

Calder spits in Maka’s face.

“You motherfucker!”

Maka slams Calder into the desk, knocking over and breaking the computer screen in the process.

“You’re crazy!” Calder says. He is actually getting scared now.

“You’re an asshole!”

Calder grabs the hand that Maka was using to hold him and begins to freeze it.

“Shit!” Maka says as she drops Calder and grabs her own hand.

Calder quickly pulls a flashdrive out from the console of the computer and bolts for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going, you little shit?!” Maka says as she makes a buzzsaw out of water and hurls it at Calder.

Calder quickly ducks and it grazes the doorframe. He then scurries out the door and starts running down the hallway.

“Oh! No you don’t!” Maka yells as she sprints out of the room and after Calder.

Maka runs after Calder until she eventually catches up to him. When she does so she tackles him to the ground.

“...Now answer my question!” Maka says while trying to catch her breath. “...What…are you doing here…and what’s on the flash drive?”

“Bite me!” Calder says with a sneer.

“Oh! You think I won’t?!” Maka says as she bares her fangs and growls at Calder.

“God Dammit! Fine!” Calder finally submits. “You win! Are you happy now?”

“Not until you tell me what I want to know!”

“Alright!” Calder screams. “Let me up first.”

“Why should I?”

“Because this is incredibly uncomfortable.”

“You know how many people would be dying to be in your position right now?” Maka says with a smug grin.

“...Pervert…”

“What did you just say?!”

“Nothing!” Calder says with his hands up in front of him to defend himself. “I didn’t say anything!”

Maka still doesn’t trust him. Calder sighs.

“...It’s not like I even have the energy to run away right now…”

Maka thinks it over for a moment before finally letting him up.

“Fine, but no more bullshit. Alright?”

Calder stands up and dusts himself off.

“...So…” Maka slams her fists together. “What are you doing here?”

Calder crosses his arms and sighs.

“...I…was trying to hack into the CHS security system.”

“Why?”

Calder glared at Maka.

“Because I wanted to try to find some dirt on you and all of your dumb little friends!”

Maka’s anger comes roaring back.

“What did you see?!” She says while holding Calder’s collar again with a raised fist.

“...I think you know what I saw…” Calder says with a smug grin.

Maka punches Calder in the face.

“You have no right to look into my past!” Maka screams.

Calder just shrugs, his smug look returning to his face.

Maka throws Calder to the ground in a fit of rage.

She gets ready to punch Calder again who flinches in response.
She doesn’t actually end up punching Calder because she knew it wasn’t worth it, but she has to punch something right now.

She speedwalks over to a nearby water cooler and tips it over, kicks over a filing cabinet, grabs and throws the same filing cabinet, and punches a nearby wall about thirty times.

Calder tries to use this tantrum to his advantage to escape undetected, but Maka notices this.

She grabs a chair and throws it on the wall right next to Calder.

“...You missed…” Calder says.

“...I missed on purpose…” Maka says while slowly walking towards Calder. “I may be furious at you right now, but I don’t want to kill you. Hell, I don’t want to kill anyone. I may seem like a mindless brute, but I do have a code of honor.”

Maka then holds out her hand.

“...The flash drive…”

Calder sighs and places the flash drive in Maka’s hand.

“Thank you, ice prick!” Maka says with a shit eating grin.

Maka begins to walk away, but Calder stops her.

“You know this isn’t over right?” Calder states.

“I know.”

“Once I get into contact with my dad you are going to be in so much trouble.”

“...Really…” Maka turns around. “...I am sure that the CHS, the school, and your father are going to love hearing about how you broke into a government facility for your own personal gain.”

“...So…you just did the same exact thing…”

Maka walks up to Calder and gets right up into his face.

“If I'm going down, I'm taking you down with me!”

Calder takes a step back.

“...Whatever…” He says while putting his hands back into his pockets.

Maka starts her walk back to SUPER while flipping the flash drive in her fingers.

Maka goes back to her dorm room, goes to her computer, and plugs the flash drive in.

A chill immediately goes down her spine. She can’t believe what she is looking at.

“...What…what the fuck…”

Chapter Text

It was now Saturday morning.

Love was peacefully sleeping in her bed, that is until she suddenly heard a lot banging on the door of her room.

“...Who could be here at this hour…” Love checks her clock. “...It is only 5:30…”

She reluctantly gets up to check the door.

It was Maka Sharktooth. By looking at the bags under her eyes Love can tell that she probably didn’t get much sleep last night. Despite this it seems like she also just chugged ten energy drinks.

“...Maka…” Love said before a yawn. “...You know I love you…but this is way too early…”

“Sleep can wait!” Maka says at a much louder volume than what Love could currently deal with. “I’m sorry to wake you, but I have something that you have to see!”

“...Wait a second…What is going on…” Love says while rubbing her eyes.

“Follow me! There is something that I have to show you!” Maka says while grabbing Love’s arm and pulling her along. “We should wake the others too!”

“...Is…it that important…Can’t it wait till later?” Love questions while her eyelids begin to droop.

“No!” Maka turns around to look at Love. “Trust me! This is important!”

Maka proceeds to go bang on Violet, Candi, and Ash’s doors as well (Takeru just so happened to also be staying the night in Ash’s room…on Ash’s bed…with Ash) and urges them all to follow her to her dorm.

Everyone arrives at Maka’s dorm room to see whatever it is that got Maka so worked up.

“...What was ever so important that you had to wake us up all so early…” Violet says with a yawn. “...A lady needs her beauty sleep…”

Maka quickly goes over to her laptop and opens it. She quickly logs in and opens a document that she found.

“Look!” Maka exclaims.

All of the students suddenly realize why this was so important.

“...Hey Maka…” Love says. “...Why is there a picture of me in this news article?”

Maka points to the headline.

A chill immediately crawls up Love’s spine.

The article was about her. The headline reads ‘The Trans Problem! Or Why Men Shouldn't Be Allowed In Women’s Spaces’.

Violet snatched the computer away from Maka and began to speedread the article.

It takes a few minutes, but she finally finishes the article.

“...So…What did it say?” Ash questions.

Violet just drops Maka’s laptop. She follows soon after and falls onto her knees.

“...Love…” Violet slowly turns to her friend. “...I’m so sorry…but it seems like whoever wrote this article just…outed you…”

“...What?”

Violet stands up and walks towards Love.

“...It seems like the whole city knows that you’re trans now…”

“...Oh…” Love says.

It takes about a minute, but soon she is bawling her eyes out.

Candi isn’t nearly as talkative as she usually is. She just walks up to Love and gives her a hug.

Ash and Takeru head towards where Maka and Violet are to get some more information.

“Wait a second…who posted this article…we’re the only people who knew about that…” Ash suddenly figures out the unfortunate answer to his own question. “...It couldn’t be…”

“Yeah! It’s fuckin’ icehole!” Maka says through gritted teeth.

“What the fuck is his problem with us?!” Ash yells.

“He is an asshole! What else could it be!” Maka yells back.

Takeru picks up the laptop and skims the article.

“Is there anything else we should know about, or was this the only thing that he posted?” Takeru questions Maka.

“Only this…as far as I could tell at least…” Maka says while rubbing the back of her head. “He did have a folder on his flash drive called blackmail that had articles written up on each of us as well, but he didn’t actually post any of those yet.”

“So, was it only stuff about us?” Takeru continues.

“No…not only us…” Maka grabs the laptop from Takeru. “...Doesn’t surprise me. An asshole like him probably has a lot more enemies than just us.”

Maka continues to scroll through the files on the flash drive.

“Oh shit!” Maka immediately yells after finding something else.

“What is it now?” Violet says while massaging her own forehead in a futile attempt to get rid of the migraine she just acquired.

“So it turns out that our city’s biggest superhero isn’t quite as super as we thought he was…” Maka explains.

“What? Who?” Ash says, his curiosity instantly piqued.

“Take a look at this.” Maka turns the laptop around.

Ash immediately jumps backwards.

“Nope! No, no, no!” Ash is now pacing back and forth. “I can’t believe it! I refuse to believe it!”

Takeru puts a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“You know what, maybe if I close my eyes this will all just go away!” Ash is now in denial “I mean, this has to be a bad dream, right?”

“Let me see that.” Violet says as she walks over and grabs the laptop again.”

“What the hell!” Violet says as she drops Maka’s laptop again.

“For fucks sake! Stop dropping my laptop!” Maka yells.

“So you're telling me that…The American Dream…is actually a villain?!” Violet questions.

“No! Stop saying what you are saying!” Ash says and he walks up to Violet and pokes her in the chest.

Violet rolls her eyes and bats Ash’s hand away.

“...So…” Candi speaks for the first time since she arrived in Maka’s room. “...What do we do now?”

“We gotta go warn the IQA!” Maka says.

“...Wait…what…why?” Candi asks with a confused look.

“Oh, I didn’t say that, did I…” Maka rubs the back of her neck. “...I kinda…sorta…snuck into CHS HQ last night and…heard some things...”

“...Wait…” Violet turns towards Maka. “Why were you at CHS HQ?”

“...Well…you know…I wanted to know if there were any updates on finding the location of where the mafia meeting was going to be held. It turns out that they do know where that is now.”

Love wipes away her tears and joins the discussion.

“...and why do we have to go warn the IQA?” Love questions.

“...Because Little Miss IQ and Urchin just decided to join The Dream Team on a secret mission to crash the meeting.”

“...But why do you want to go?” Love inquires.

“Because I want to.” Maka responds.

“They are professionals. I am sure that they can take care of themselves.”

“Why wouldn’t they want my help?”

Love suddenly stands up and starts to walk towards Maka.

“Didn’t Urchin already tell you to stay put?”

“So?! What does that have to do with anything” Maka was now avoiding eye contact with Love.

“...Maka…what is this really about?” Love says with great concern.

Maka’s attitude suddenly falls a bit.

“...Nothing…”

“...Come on Maka…Please stop lying to me…”

“I am not lying! Nothing’s wrong!” Maka yells in frustration.

Love takes a step back. Maka can tell that she was caught off guard by the sudden anger in her voice because Love is shaking a bit.

Violet walks between Maka and Love and puts her hands up between them.

“That’s enough!” Violet yells.

Maka crosses her arms and sighs.

“Fuck…I’m sorry…”

Candi walks towards Love.

“...Do…do you want another hug…It looks like you need one…”

“...Yeah…Thanks Candi.”

Love sinks into the hug with Candi, takes a few deep breaths, and recenters herself. She then looks back at Maka expectantly.

“...Come on Maka…Please…” Love pleads.

Maka slowly goes and sits down on her couch.

”...This is so fucking embarrasing…” Maka says with her head between her hands. “...I just want to feel useful…”

“...What do you mean?” Love questions with a confused look.

“...Come on…You know what I am talking about…” Maka starts to tear up. “...What I mean is that I have barely been helpful to our group so far. I have lost every fight during sparring matches so far, I got into a fight with Calder that probably led him to posting that article, and I just broke the law…”

Tears are streaming down Maka’s cheeks now.

“...I am so fucking useless!” Maka cries out between sobs. “I talk big, but I am not good at anything. I keep on causing problems for everyone…”

Maka wipes a few tears from her eyes.

“...Oh Maka…” Love walks up to her friend. “...Why would you think that this is your fault?”

“Because I am the one who decided to antagonize Calder!”

“Hey!” Ash interrupts. “I think that we ALL antagonize Calder. Don’t take all of the credit for that. I fought him too.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Violet says. “Honestly, I don’t blame you for fighting him. I’ll admit that I have had rather…let’s say intense thoughts about wanting to fight him as well…”

“You can just say that you want to kick his ass.” Takeru tells Violet.

“I said nothing of the sort…” Violet says with a huff.

“Yes you did.” Takeru says with a shit eating grin.

“Well…” Violet said with a scowl and a small blush “...I said it in a more sophisticated way than you did…”

Love clears her throat to get everyone’s attention.

“...I…I think that…we should do it…” She says.

“Do what dear?” Violet questions.

“...I think that…we…should go with Maka’s plan…”

“Hell yeah!” Maka yells in response.

Love walks over to Maka’s couch and sits beside her.

“...Hey…” Maka says to Love. “...I’m sorry about…you know…yelling at you and stuff…”

“...It’s fine…” Love says while giving Maka a hug. “...I forgive you…”

A small blush climbs onto Maka’s face.

“...Thanks…” Maka says and she leans into the hug.

“Group hug!” Candi yells as she runs over to join Love and Maka.

Ash and Takeru shrug before going to join the hug.

Violet is standing on her own with her arms crossed.

“Come on Violet! The water's fine!” Candi says.

“...Candi…I…am not sure if that phrase works here…” Love responds.

“Maka! Make some water so that my analogy works!” Candi yells.

“On it!” Maka says as she is about to conjure some water.

“Don’t.” Ash says as he turns towards Maka to glare at her.

Violet lets out a sigh.

“Fine…but only this once…”

She walks forwards and joins the hug.

“Come on princess. You know you love it.” Maka says.

“...It is…quite nice…” Violet agrees.

They all stay in the hug for several more minutes.

“Alright let’s do this!” Maka says as she slams her fists together. “Tonight! We go to the meeting and warn and kick some ass!”

Violet clears her throat and glares at Maka.

“...and warn the IQA…I guess…”

Chapter Text

It is about noon on Saturday (still the day of the mafia meeting) and we see Noir and Ori walk down some stairs into what looks like a basement entrance.

“What are we doing here?” Ori questions with her hands behind her head.

“The boss wanted to see you.” Noir responds.

He taps on the door, but it sounds like the tapping is actually morse code.

Soon afterwards they hear a latch unlock as a metal panel opens up in front of them. A pair of eyes can be seen behind a metal grate.

“Oi! What’s the password?” The person behind the door questions.

“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.” Noir responds.

“Alright.” The girl behind the door says before opening it. “Welcome back Wanker. ‘Ello new girl.”

She had her pink hair styled into a mohawk of thin spikes with a small ponytail, face tattoos, a crop top of the flag of England, red and black plaid pants, and way too many belts.

“...Joan Grace…” Noir responds with his arms crossed.

“...Noir…” She responds.

“Aight!” Joan says while putting her hands into her pockets. “New girl, what are you called?”

“Ori.” She says while looking around the place. They were currently still walking down the entrance staircase which was very, very long.

“Cool. I’m “Stone” Joan Grace, but you can call me Punk Rock if you prefer.”

“Oh! We still do cool names here? Well then, I already came up with one of those!” Ori says with an excited look in her eyes.

“Well, let’s hear it!” Joan responds.

“Call me Oni-Chan!” Ori says while pointing to herself.

“...That…unique…”

“Get it…It’s a pun…because I can turn into an Oni.”

“Sure kid. As long as that’s what you wanna be called it aight with me.”

They finally get to the bottom of the stairs and enter the main area of the hideout.

“Take a gander.” Joan says while gesturing around her. “Like what ya see.”

“This is…badass!” Ori exclaims.

The room they have entered is actually a catacomb, but with some more modern day furnishings in it to make it look more liveable.

“Welcome to the Shadow Union.” Joan says while turning back towards Ori. “Make yourself at home.”

“Awesome!” Ori says while sitting down on a leather couch. “This is a lot better than my old place.”

“It’s great, innit?” Joan responds.

“Hell yeah!” Ori says as she jumps up from the couch to look around more. “What else you guys got here. There’s gotta be more cool rooms than just this one…ya know…because of how big this place is.”

“Sure. I’ll give you a tour.”

“...Joan…stop wasting time…” Noir says while pinching the bridge of his nose. “She’s gotta meet the boss.”

“Sure. Whatever you say mate.” She says with a shrug. “We’ll do the tour later. Let’s go introduce you to the others.”

They walk deeper into the hideout until they eventually reach another door which Joan kicks open with her knee high, leather, steel-toed boots.

“Sup blokes!” She announces. “We got some fresh meat!”

“Joan!” Another girl yells as she runs towards the door.

She was an anthropomorphic possum with a leather jacket with the sleeves cut off and jeans. She also had a bunch of goth makeup on.

As soon as she reaches Joan they immediately kiss each other.

“Good to see you too, babe.” Joan says after they break the kiss. She then turns around to Ori “This is my girlfriend Piper O’ Possum.”

Piper gives Ori a peace sign.

“Behave yourselves you plebeians. I am trying to focus on writing my next concerto.” Says a man with a thick French accent sitting at a piano.

“...Shut the fuck up Pierre!” Joan grumpily responds. She turns around and slides her hand down her face. “...This old codger’s Pierre Papyrus. Yes, he’s French. Yes, he’s also annoying.”

He had white face paint, a powdered wig, a black suit jacket with a white undershirt, a white frilly collar, and white baggy pants and thin black boots that curled upwards at the ends.

Pierre gets up from his piano and walks towards the others. “Bonjour. As this neanderthal just stated I am…how you say…Pierre Papyrus. Better known as Fortissimo, the great composer!”

He picks up a violin.

“Want to hear a song?”

Joan punches Pierre in the face.

“Not my beautiful face!”

“Never play your bloody music in here again!” Joan says as she walks further into the room. “...moving right along…”

As they walk they encounter a man who was sharpening a giant pair of scissors on a spinning wheel. He had long orange hair covering both of his eyes, a green flat cap, a beige collared shirt, and green overalls.

“Oi! Billy! Meet the newbie!”

Billy just briefly turns, nods his head, and gets back to sharpening his scissors.

“That’s Billy Gardener, or Shears. He doesn’t care either way.” Joan says while pointing at him.

He just nods while he continues to work.

“...He doesn't say much…” Joan says while beginning to walk again. “...Now, let’s meet the big boss and his number 2…”

The next room they walk towards has two giant black doors that had to be at least twenty feet tall.

“Alright…Noir, help with the doors…” Joan states.

“...Fine…” Noir says as he begrudgingly assists her.

It takes a bit of effort, but they eventually get the doors open.

They then walk into what appears to be a church hall.

At the end of the room there was a man sitting on a throne and another man standing next to him.

“Hey bossman! The new girl is here to meet ya!” Joan says while gesturing to Ori.

The man in the throne nods his head and gets up to approach them. He is followed by what appears to be his bodyguard.

Who Ori assumes is the leader was a thin and pale man with long, wavy silver hair, a cross tattoo over his eye that wasn’t covered by his hair, a puffy white shirt with medium length baggy sleeves, a black coat that looks like what a priest would wear just with the buttons undone, black pants with a cloth white belt, and a cross necklace. He appeared to be holding a bible in his left hand.

The man who was with him was much taller, about eight feet tall at least, He had blue skin, horns, a long black spiky mohawk that reached the bottom of his back, had a black gi with a white fur trim, black spandex shorts, and a necklace with the yin symbol.

“Thank you for escorting her to me, Joan. Hello my child. Welcome to the Shadow Union.” He says while doing prayer hands. “I am known by many names, but you can call me Grimm King, or Father Nightingale if you prefer.”

“...Are…are you God?” Ori says with a bewildered expression on her face.

He thinks for a moment.

“...Close, but not quite.”

“...Okay…” Ori responds while nodding slowly before looking towards the blue guy. “Who’s him?”

“That would be my assistant and bodyguard Mezu Kanabo, but he also goes by Oni-San.”

“Hell yeah!” Ori raises her hand to give him a high five. “We’re monster buddies!”

Mezu just glares at her and growls with his fangs bared.

“...Um…maybe…later then…” Ori says as she awkwardly puts her hand down.

“Noir, Joan, may you please get the others in here as well. I have an announcement to make.”

“Sure thing boss.” Joan says as she jogs out of the room. Noir follows after he rolls his eyes.

“Right.” Grimm says while at a podium in front of his throne and a hand on his bible. “Now that you are all here I might as well get started.”

The rest of them were sitting amongst themselves in the first several rows of pews.

“I’ll get right to it then. I have accepted another…job for us to do!” He says while doing jazz hands.

He pauses for a reaction…which doesn’t come.

“...Okay…” He says as he puts his hands together. “It is a security job. We are being hired to make sure the meeting between Maximillian Midas and his associates goes as smoothly as possible.”

Ori suddenly raises her hand.

“Yes Ori.” Grimm says while gesturing towards her.

“...Well…isn’t that…you know…kinda dangerous…” Ori says with a shrug. “...I mean…don’t get me wrong…I love danger and fighting and all that…but that sounds…you know…like a death sentence…”

“I am glad you brought that up Ori.” Grimm responds. “You and I will not be attending this meeting. The rest of you will be going though.”

“...Oh…thanks…Father King…” Ori says while bowing her head.

“Think nothing of it my child. I wouldn’t want you to get killed on your first day.”

“...Wait a moment…the job, it’s today?” Pierre interrupts.

“...Yes…sorry for the short notice, but Midas only asked for the extra security last night so I didn’t have a lot of…time to tell you all before.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “More precisely it is tonight. I’ll be giving you all the exact location after our meeting concludes…which would actually be right now…because that is just about all I had to say…”

He looks at all of his team members expectantly.

Ori was paying close attention, but wasn’t saying anything.

Noir was just sitting back in his chair bored out of his mind.

Joan and Piper were making out again.

Pierre was tuning his violin.

Billy was spinning one of his scissor blades at the end of his right pointer finger.

Mezu was fast asleep.

“Okay. Meeting adjourned. Just take the papers by the door on your way out. It has all the information you need for the mission on it.”

Chapter Text

As the day begins to turn to night, The Dream team along with Isabella and Spyke drive up a couple blocks away from the rendezvous point and proceed to walk the rest of the way to the meeting location.

“Alrighty! We all know the plan and should be more than prepared for what we’re up against. Let’s get this over with” The American Dream announces to the group while cracking his knuckles.

“I actually think that we should run through the plan one more time”. Isabella says to Mr. Dream.

“...Fine, but make it quick…” He says while tapping his foot.

“Alright,” Isabella says to the group. “We are going to shut off the power to the building and then divide and conquer. All of you have flashlights just in case, but try to be as stealthy as possible so use them only when you absolutely need to. Andy has an EMP which he will be bringing to the center of the building to cut the power. Visi-Goth and I will be one team while Urchin and Rick will be the other one. We are going to focus on fighting off any guards that we find in the building. The American Dream is going to make a beeline right for Max Midas so that he could hopefully talk some sense into him.”

“Oh, I am going to ‘talk’ some sense into him alright!” Mr. Dream says while cracking his knuckles.

Isabella looks over at Mr. Dream and glares at him before turning back to the other team members.

“...What?” He says with a shrug.

“...Okay…After we incapacitate, not kill, all of the guards we will call the police when the threat is neutralized and it is safe for them to arrive. Finally, we’ll rendezvous back here after everything is set and done.”

“Can we start the mission now?” The American Dream says after a yawn.

“Yes, let’s do our best out there.” Isabella says to the team before they start walking towards the hideout.

As soon as the heroes leave, a familiar group of students peer out of a nearby alleyway.

“...Okay…I think the coast is clear…” Violet says to her team in a hushed tone.

Violet, Maka, Love, Candi, Ash, and Takeru leave the alley and start to follow the heroes at what they assume is a safe distance.

“...So…what’s our plan exactly?” Violet asks the group.

“Run in, punch all the bad guys, and save the day!” Maka yells with a big toothy grin.

“...I think that we were just supposed to tell Little Miss IQ and Urchin that they shouldn’t trust The American Dream…” Love says while putting a hand on Maka’s shoulder. She was kind of terrified as it dawned on her what they were doing and how stupid and suicidal it seemed.

“...Uh…Yeah…That is what I meant to say…” Maka says while rubbing the back of her neck.

“...Maybe The American Dream is actually a double agent pretending to be evil to gain the villain's trust in order to get some secret information?” Ash says hopefully.

“...Sure babe…whatever makes you feel better about yourself.” Takeru says while wrapping his arm around Ash’s shoulders.

“...I’ve got sugar packets, a few cookies, and even a small slice of cake!” Candi says as she rummages through her fanny pack. “I’ll be ready for whatever those meanies throw at us!”

They continue to follow the other heroes all the way until they are near the front gate of the hideout.

The villain's hideout doesn’t look too special. From the outside it just looks like an old abandoned factory, but it does have a section that is taller than the rest of the building that goes up at least five floors.

“If I were to make an educated guess…” Violet says with a hand on her chin “I’d say that the leaders of the mafia are going to be meeting on the top floor of the building. That is where any self important CEO usually places their office and meeting rooms.”

“Sounds like you’ve been to places like this before.” Maka says with a shit eating grin. “Right, princess nepo baby!”

“...Yes…but that is besides the point…” Violet crosses her arms and blushes with a scowl on her face.

Maka laughs in response to this.

“...Wait a second…” Isabella says as she looks behind herself. “...Did you call for any more backup, Mr. Dream?”

“No, It should just be us. Why do you ask?”

“...Because there are people following us right now…” Isabella states as she starts to walk towards the energy signatures she is detecting.

‘Oh crap’ Love thought to herself. ‘We've been found out!’

The students were currently hiding behind a bush and peering through it towards the heroes, but they started to back away slowly.

“...What are you all doing here?”

“Ahhh!!!” Love yells as her and the others turn around.

Urchin was standing over them with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed.

“It isn’t safe for you here. Go back to SUPER immediately.”

“...But…” Maka starts to respond before they are cut off.

“Oh, you are in for it now!” The heroes turn around and spot someone familiar walking out of a nearby alleyway.

“Oh, I’ll make you pay for threatening me pally!” Yoh says while twirling his yoyo and walking slowly towards Urchin.

“...You again…” Urchin turns around “...I’ve already beaten you once…It seems like you didn’t learn your lesson the first time…”

Urchin extends his claws on both hands and points them all towards Yoh’s throat.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you buddy.” Yoh says with a smug grin.

“...What are you so confident about…you didn’t stand a chance against me last time…”

“I am confident because…you are outnumbered!”

After Yoh said this a lot of other people poured out from the alley behind him. Most of them were random goons that they have never met before, but there were at least two hundred of them. Yoh’s buddy Kendo and, more importantly, Oni-San were standing right beside him.

“Get em boys!” Yoh says with a wicked smile while pointing towards our heroes.

Chapter Text

Warning: Some excessive violence

At Yoh’s command all of the henchmen run towards the heroes to give them the fight of their lives.

“This is why nobody messes with Yoh Yeoman!”

“...Wait!” Maka stifles a laugh. “...Your name…is yo-yo man!”

“...Shut up! You’ll pay for makin’ fun of me! You’ll all pay!” Yoh screams. “I want ya’ to make sure that none of these punks make it out of ‘ere alive!”

The forces of the mob clash with our heroes.

“It’s time for me to warm up!” The American Dream says while cracking his knuckles. “Show me what you got!”

Dozens of men run towards Mr. Dream, but he knocks them all back with one mighty punch.

US Andy flips over the head of one of the henchmen and throws him into another guy.

“Sorry, but I am doing this for the good of the city! Nothing personal.” Andy announces before running off to fight the next goon.

Slick Rick takes a cigar out of his belt and lights it up.

“Alright maggots! Step right up if you want to meet your maker!” He says after he exhales some smoke.

One of the henchmen runs right towards Rick and punches him in the face, but this doesn’t phase Rick at all. Actually, he wanted this to happen.

That is because after he is punched Rick’s torso stretches back and then flies right back into place as he punches the enemy with more than double the force of what he was hit with.

That henchmen flies back into a group of about half a dozen others.

“...What…what are you?” One particularly scared henchmen cries out.

“The same stuff that Stretch Armstrong is made from! Now get over here so I can shove my rubber boot right up your ass!”

About a dozen more men run towards Visi-Goth.

“...Ugh…people…” She wines. “...Why won’t you just leave me the Hell alone…”

This didn’t stop the men. They just kept running towards her.

“...I told you to…” A burst of red energy bursts out and radiates from her skin. “...Leave me alone!”

She screams and rushes towards the men with a rapid flurry of punches.

“This is what you get…” She yells as she approaches another group. “...For pissing me the fuck off!”

Urchin and Little Miss IQ are fighting in a circle around the students holding the men off the best they can.

“...Get out of here while you still can!” Urchin yells after using his claws to slash someone across the throat. “...We’ll make sure these men bring no harm to you!”

“You should listen to what he says.” Isabella says as she telekinetically throws three people against a nearby wall.

“...But we want to help!” Maka pleads. “Come on! We’ve been training for this! Just let us do what we’ve been preparing for…please…”

“...Fine…” Urchin says after slashing another guy and retracting his claws. “...But only until we deal with the men outside of the base. You are not entering the hideout with us. Do I make myself clear?”

“...Crystal!” Maka says as she slams her fists together with a giant toothy grin on her face.

Maka creates a handful of buzzsaws out of her waters and tosses them towards some of the men.

“Direct hit! Hell yeah!” She yells as she pumps her fist.

Violet swings her mace down towards two of the men and slams them into the pavement. As soon as her mace touches the ground another guy comes behind her to strike.

“Nope!” Violet turns around and grabs the guy by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t think so!”

She spins in a circle and throws him towards a few of the other men.

“You call this a challenge?” She says as she dusts off her sleeve. “None of you are even strong enough to be a match for my butler.”

Ash and Takeru are fighting back to back. Ash is throwing fireballs at anyone who gets close to him while Takeru is blocking bullets and redirecting the energy back at them using his counter attack.

Ash charges up a powerful fireball attack in his hands before throwing it towards a group of men that are running right towards him.

“I’m sorry, but you’re all fired!” Ash quips as he turns towards Takeru for a reaction.

“...Eh…” Takeru says as he shrugs.

“...Yeah…that was kinda lazy…”

Candi takes a cookie out of her pack, flips it in the air like a coin, and eats it in one bite.

“Run run run, but don’t make yourself strain…you can’t catch me because I’m Candi Kane!”

“Boo!” Ash yells out while throwing another fireball.

“...That was better than yours, babe…” Takeru responds.

“...Whatever…” Ash says as he crosses his arms.

Candi runs around a group of men so quickly that it starts to create a small tornado.

As the men lift off the floor and into the air Candi jumps and swiftly kicks them all back to the floor.

“That was as easy as stealing candy from a baby!” Candi stops to think about what she just said. “...Wait, that's mean…”

Love didn’t feel like joining the fight right now. She was honestly really afraid. That is why she has been hiding behind Isabella this entire time.

“Are you alright Lev?” Isabella asked.

“...Yeah…I’m fine…”

“Well, you don’t look fine.” She says as she uses her powers to send a guy 20 feet into the air before crashing back down on some of his buddies. “...Don’t worry. We should be just about done here.”

“Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that.” Yoh says while rolling his yoyo back up and catching it.

“Back off!” Isabella turns towards Yoh. “These kids have done nothing to you.”

“Actually, some of these kids were there when your fish buddy humiliated me last week. The boss said I could do anything as long as nobody gets into that building. I’m sure he wouldn’t have a problem with me disposing of some snot nosed brats!”

Yoh suddenly sent a yoyo flying towards Isabella’s stomach. She tried to use her powers to block, but it was too quick for her to react.

She doubles over and grabs her stomach.

“...You…you bastard…”

“Language missy! There are kids around ya know!”

Yoh uses his yoyo like a lasso to grab Isabella and tosses her into a nearby wall.

He starts to walk towards Love.

“Hey kid.” Yoh says as he approaches. “What powers ya got?”

“...I…um…” Love couldn’t speak. She was too scared.

“Heh. Cat got your tongue. I see. You’re scared. You may be training to be so-called heroes, but let me show you how the real world operates, kid.”

He uses his yoyo to tie Love’s ankles together and pulls her to the ground.

“This ain’t trainin’ kid. This is the real deal. If you’se got a problem with that, then you shouldn't have stepped onto our turf.”

Love starts to hyperventilate. Tears were falling from her eyes, but she can’t say when she actually started crying.

“Let this be a lesson to any upstart young hero who wants to be somebody!”

He launches the yoyo string around her neck, but she puts her arms up before it completely constricts her. The yoyo is wrapped around her wrists and the back of her neck, but it was still becoming hard for her to breath.

“Tell ya what.” Yoh kneels in front of Love. “Since you seem like a nice kid I’ll make sure your death is quick. How does that sound?”

She shakes her head no as well as she possibly could.

“Well, ain’t that too bad.”

He pulls on his yoyo string and makes it constrict even tighter.

“Don’t worry.” Yoh licks his lips. “This’ll be all over before you know it. Any last words?”

Love was struggling to breath so she didn’t really have any way of actually answering his question.

“Well, you can say I didn’t try, but it looks like you’re a little tied up at the moment.” Yoh has a psychotic smirk on his face. “...Now…let’s end this…”

Suddenly, Yoh’s body was surrounded in a bubble of pink psychic energy.

“...What the…” Yoh said as his yoyo string was cut into tiny pieces (which allowed Love to breath again) and as he was promptly throws into a brick wall face first.

Isabella runs up to Love.

“Lev! Oh my God! Are you okay?” Isabella says as she checks for wounds on Love’s neck.

Love doesn’t say anything. She is in too much shock to move or say anything.

“...Well…it seems like you will be okay…” Isabella says after checking the pulse on Love’s neck. “You have some minor cuts, but nothing that we can’t quickly fix back at HQ. Once we get there they’ll have you patched up in no time.”

Love just gives a tiny nod.

“...With that being said, I have to finish dealing with these punks first.” Isabella says while slamming her cane on the ground. “Would you be alright for a few minutes while the rest of us finish up here?”

Love gives another small nod.

“Okay.” Isabella picks up her cane and spins it in her right hand. “Let’s wrap this up.”

Right on cue, Mezu Kanabo the blue oni stops right in front of Isabella.

Isabella tips her hat over her eyes.

“It’s show time!”

Chapter Text

Isabella and Mezu are standing in front of each other and are ready to fight.

Mezu lifts his club over his head with the intent to knock Isabella out with one mighty blow.

As he swings his arms downwards to follow through he suddenly stops, but not of his own free will. He was surrounded by the pink veil of Isabella’s psychic power.

She walks forwards and lifts her cane and places the end of it against Mezu’s abs.

“Psycho Shock!” Isabella yells out as an enormous burst of psychic energy surges through Mezu’s body.

After the attack runs its course he is still for a moment before he drops his club on the ground.

He falls to his knees, but supports himself with one arm so he doesn’t fall completely.

“You seem tough, but don’t you know that brains are better than brawn?” She says while using the end of her cane to tap the brim of her hat.

Mezu suddenly glares at Isabella and slowly starts to get back up.

Even though he is incredibly hurt he just grunts through the pain. When he manages to get back on his feet he picks his club back up.

“...Annoying worm…I’ll show you your place…”

He swings his club upwards again, but instead of aiming for Isabella he just smashes it directly against the ground. This causes a fissure to start forming across the pavement with cracks starting to head in Isabella and Love’s direction.

Isabella uses her powers to create a bubble of energy to protect herself and Love.

“...It’s going to take more than that to defeat me…” Isabella says while breathing heavily. It seems like she is still recovering from her fight with Yoh.

Mezu walks towards the energy bubble and slams his club against it.

This causes his club to splinter, but a moment after the impact the shield disappears.

Isabella drops her cane and puts her hands on her knees so that she could catch her breath.

“...That was…my favorite club…” Mezu growls out.

He kneels down and slams his fists into the pavement. After exerting a massive amount of force he pulls a giant chunk of rock from the ground.

“...Die!” Mezu yells as he hurls the stone towards Isabella.

Isabella creates a wall of energy, but as the stone slams against it the shield shatters instantly. She quickly uses her powers to grab Love and toss her out of the way.

The stone slab lands right on top of Isabella.

“...Miss IQ…” Love says quietly while covering her mouth as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

Urchin suddenly turns his attention from the henchmen he has been fighting and towards his team leader.

He is silent for a moment as he processes what had just happened.

After a moment he suddenly starts to get angry. Very, very angry.

“Isabella!” Spyke screams out.

He starts to head towards her location, but he is quickly stopped by Kendo.

“Get out of my way!” Spyke says while extending his claws to threaten the man in front of him.

“Make me.” Kendo says as he points his wooden sword at Spyke.

“Fine!” Spyke says immediately before sending a barrage of claw swipes towards his opponent.

Kendo parries all of these strikes perfectly. When he finds an opening in Urchin’s defenses he slams the blunt end of his blade against his opponent’s forehead.

“If you want to try to save your friend, you’re going to have to do better than that.” Kendo says as he puts his sword to his own shoulder.

Kendo jumps into the air and sends a vertical slash down towards Urchin.

He dodges, but there is now a crack on the ground right where he was just standing.

Kendo walks towards Urchin and slashes at his head.

Urchin grabs the wooden sword using his right hand.

“...What?” Kendo says with a look of shock on his face.

Urchin uses his strength to turn Kendo’s sword horizontally and uses his other hand to cut it into pieces.

Kendo drops the remaining pieces of the sword and staggers backwards.

“...Listen close, punk…” Urchin says as he walks towards Kendo. “...Never mess with me or my team ever again!”

Before Kendo had a chance to react Urchin quickly extended the claw on the pointer finger of his right hand all the way to Kendo’s stomach. He then flies back against a wall before crumpling to the floor.

After taking a moment to catch his breath Urchin turns his attention back towards the rock that is currently on top of his team leader.

“...Don’t worry…you’ll be fine…” Love says between choked sobs. “...I’ll get this thing off you and…we’ll get you to a doctor…”

He notices that Love is trying to use all of her strength to get the rock off of the hero.

Her grip slips from the rock and she stumbles backwards before falling down.

Love puts her head into her hands and sobs uncontrollably.

Right before she started to think that all hope was lost she sees a veil of pink energy surround the stone.

It shatters right in front of Love’s eyes and she rubs her eyes to check if what she was seeing was real (along with getting some of the tears out of her eyes).

A shape starts to emerge from underneath the rubble.

“Psycho Blast!”

A giant beam of pink energy shoots through the remaining layer of stone.

Isabella climbs out of the rubble and brushes a bunch of rocks off of her suit.

She points her cane at Mezu again.

“Hey meathead! The show’s not over yet!”

The blue Oni turns around and grunts.

Isabella uses her powers to lift hundreds of small fragments of rock and levitate them around herself.

She then compresses them until they all crystallize.

“Diamond Storm!” Isabella yells as she launches all of the gemstones towards Mezu.

Mezu uses his arms to try to block the attack, but this only works for a short while. One of the stones that flies towards him manages to break the radius bone in his right arm.

“Fuck! You bitch!” Mezu yells out in pain while using his good arm to grab the broken one.

After the attack ends Mezu notices that Isabella is walking towards him through the dust.

As it clears he realizes that has her cane aimed right at his head.

His entire body is surrounded by pink energy as he is lifted into the air.

“...Put…me…down!”

“With pleasure!” Isabella says with a smirk. She walks towards him and places her cane against his stomach again.

“Psycho Shock!” She yells again.

The energy quickly flows through Mezu’s body as he screams in pain.

As she releases him he falls towards the floor and passes out.

Isabella walks towards Mezu’s unconscious body, leans on his side, and snaps her fingers.

A cup of tea suddenly materialized in her hand and she took a sip.

“...Ah…How sweet…” Isabella lets out a slow breath. “...I love the taste of victory…”

Chapter Text

As Isabella defeated Mezu, the other heroes were also wrapping up their fights.

The American Dream punches one last group of henchmen and puts his hands on his hips. “...And that’s the last of them!”

The heroes group up so that they can get ready for the next phase of their plan.

“...Alright…Let’s split up into groups…” Isabella says with shaky breath. She was still quite tired and very injured from her earlier fights. “...Andy…do you still have the EMP?”

“Yes ma’am!” He says with an enthusiastic salute.

“...Alright, you get as close to the center of the building as you can and flip the switch. Spyke and Rick are together as are me and Visi-Goth. Mr. Dream, go beat up Midas.”

“I thought that you said violence wasn’t the answer?” The American Dream says with a smug smile.

“...That was before they pissed me off…give them hell…”

“With pleasure!” He says with a devious grin before turning away and walking towards the building.

“...Students…” Isabella says as she turns towards the kids. “...Go back to SUPER.”

“...Wait, but we can help…” Maka responds.

“Nope. This is non-negotiable.” Isabella points her cane towards Spyke. “Make sure they get back to school safely.”

Urchin nods and walks towards the kids.

“Follow me, I’ll escort you back…” He begins to explain before he is suddenly interrupted by a loud buzzing sound.

The heroes turn to see what made the noise.

Yoh, still unable to stand from his injuries, had a remote in his hand with a big red button on it.

“…You guys are so screwed…” He says before passing out again. He drops the remote as it clatters against the ground.

The heroes suddenly hear a large creaking sound.

They turn again to look towards the source of this sound.

It was coming from a nearby building that has a giant metal garage door that is slowly cranking open. It didn’t seem to be attached to the rest of the hideout though because this building was behind them towards where they originally walked into the hideout.

For a moment all they could see was darkness as the heroes peered into the inky blackness of the garage, but that was soon interrupted by a glowing red light.

The sound of turning gears and steam started emanating from the source of the light. This was followed by a series of clunking sounds that seemed to match the pattern of footsteps.

A large figure emerges from the shadows.

“...What…the hell is that?” Love says as she looks at the thing in terror.

The ‘thing’ she was looking at turned out to be some sort of giant robot. It was about ten feet tall and was wearing a long brown trench coat and a fedora on the top of its metallic head.

The machine raised its arms as it started making a whirring sound.

Suddenly a barrage of bullets flies towards the group.

Takeru jumps towards the front of the group and uses his sword to deflect all of the bullets.

“Eat this, metalhead!” Takeru yells as he sends a green shockwave towards the robot.

This causes the machine to fly backwards and crash against the ground.

“Is that all you got?” Takeru asks smugly before he quickly gets an answer.

About a dozen or so more sets of glowing red eyes emerge from the shadows.

“...Everyone!” Isabella yells. “Get out of the way! NOW!”

She quickly raises another barrier as thousands of bullets fly towards her.

“...But…” Love stutters out. “...I…I thought you told us to go home?”

“No time! Follow the heroes inside!”

Love doesn’t take the time to respond. She just listened to the order as her and all of the others ran into the hideout.

As the heroes catch their breath Urchin walks to the front of the pack and faces the others.

“Alright. It looks like we can’t actually send all of you kids back to SUPER until Miss IQ clears the entrance. In the meantime we will try to keep you safe as we continue the mission.”

Violet raises her hand.

“I’m sorry sir, but isn’t that too dangerous for us?”

“...We don’t have any better options right now…” Urchin responds with crossed arms. “This place is crawling with guards. Nowhere in this building is currently safe. The best we can do is have you follow us so that we can try to keep you all safe in the meantime.”

Urchin looks out at the group.

“Any more questions before we continue?”

“Let’s go kick some ass!” Maka yells in response.

Urchin sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

“...Alright…Violet and Takeru are going with Visi-Goth, Candi and Ash are with me and Rick, and Andy will take Love and Maka with him. Does that sound good to all of you?”

“Absolutely!” Andy says with a huge grin on his face.

“Let’s go blow their sorry asses to the kingdom come!” Rick shouts as he exhales another puff of smoke.

“...Ugh…Let’s get this over with…” Visi-Goth wines.

Aside from Maka, the rest of the students weren’t nearly as enthusiastic as most of the heroes were.

Love was beginning to shake again.

“...Hey…” Violet put her hand onto Love’s shoulder with a small smile on her face. “...It’s going to be alright…”

Love exhales and gives her a small nod.

“...Alright, let’s go…” Urchin says as he turns to walk further into the hideout as everyone else splinters off into their assigned teams.

*Ding*

The American Dream leaves an elevator that just opened up on the top floor of the building.

“...Alright…if I remember correctly his office should be…that way!”

He walks in the direction that he pointed towards until he finds himself in front of a door.

There was a golden plaque on it that read ‘Maximillian Midas, CEO of Midas Machines’.

Mr. Dream knocks on the door.

He hears footsteps from inside the room that quickly approach the door.

The door swings open.

“Hey, long time no see!” The American Dream says enthusiastically.

The man standing on the other side of the doorway had spiky golden hair, a black sleeveless suit jacket with a striped golden undershirt, and black slacks.

“I’m glad that you could make it to the meeting…brother.”

Chapter Text

“Come in and join us Andrew. We were just getting started.” Max Midas beckons his brother into the room.

The American Dream, real name Andrew Adams, takes a seat at the conference table.

“Alright, let’s get this meeting underway.” Max says as he goes to take his seat at the head of the table.

Aside from Max and Andrew there were three other people sitting at the table.

First among them to speak was a seven foot tall older black man with who was bald on the top of his head, but had white dreads from the back of his head that reached down to his shoulders, sunglasses, a full mustache with a decently long beard, a white suit jacket with a yellow undershirt, and white slacks.

This man’s name is Franklin Jupiter, or Zeus. He took his pocket watch out to look at the time.

“It seems the meeting is starting a bit late, Midas.” Franklin says while gazing up from his watch.

“I agree with Franky, let’s get this over with.” says a woman with long spiky black hair that almost reached all the way down to the floor, red skin, and a black dress with silver trim that looked like cascading waves at the ends of the fabric. “You know that it is rude to keep a lady waiting.”

Her name is Neptunia Imperialis, but goes by the nickname Poseidon.

“...Insolent fools. How dare you question the boss's actions. You should both learn your place.”

Finally, there was Paetyr Pluton, better known as the villain Hades, who was crossing his arms as he was scolding the others who were sitting at the table.

“Now calm down Mr. Pluton, they haven’t caused me any trouble.” Max responds while putting his hands behind the back of his head and kicking his feet up onto the table.

“Why hello there Miss Neptunia.” Andrew says while shooting finger guns at her. “You are looking as beautiful as ever.

“Oh. stop it you.” She says while fluttering her eyelashes in a way that actually says ‘please, keep talking about how good I look’.

“It seems like you are still the same little brat I met all those years ago.” Franklin says with a small smirk. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“It’s good to see you too, old man.” Andrew turns to look towards Hades. “Hey Max, who’s the new kid?”

“That would be my new business partner Paetyr Pluton. He may have only started working for me a few months ago, but he has already made a massive name for himself.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Adams.” Paetyr says with a bow.

“You don’t need to be so formal, kid. Andrew is fine.”

“So…let’s get to it.” Max Midas says while getting up and walking towards the window of his office to peer out onto the street below. “How’s business?”

“My district’s payments are on time and in full as they have always been.” Franklin states while putting his watch back into his coat pocket.

“I have actually gained a new client within the last month.” Neptunia smugly smiles towards Franklin. “Unlike the dinosaur, I am actually expanding our territory.”

Franklin just rolls his eyes in response.

“How about you, Mr. Pluton?” Max says while turning around and walking back towards his chair to take a seat.

“...I was able to acquire most of our fees, but there were a couple of poor souls…” Paetyr readjusts the bident in his hand as he looks at the souls trapped in the hanging lantern. “...who unfortunately didn’t reach quota this month. I made sure to…make an example of them…”

At first a small smile appeared on Max’s face, but this soon grew into a giant grin as the mob boss started to laugh.

“Fantastic! I knew you were the right man for the job.” Max says while wiping a single tear from his eye. “Good work everyone! Very good work!”

Max then turns his attention back towards his brother.

“...So Andrew, how is the plan coming along?”

“It’s going perfectly! The city is like putty in my hands!” Andrew says with a mischievous grin.

“...Sorry if this is inappropriate…” Paetyr interrupts after raising his hand “...But what exactly is this plan you two speak of?”

“Oh right, you’re new.” Max rotates his swivel chair so that he is looking towards Hades. “Me and my brother have a plan to eventually take complete control over Central City. You see, I already run this city from the shadows, but the public still loves me. I hired all of you to manage my affairs so that I can keep my hands clean. With that being said, you all know that superheroes have been on the rise ever since the fall of Deus Mortis. That makes things rather complicated for me, but me and my brother were able to use this system to our advantage. It’s quite the simple plan actually. My brother used his gifts to become the most powerful hero in Central City. Being the strongest hero in the city also comes with a lot of clout. Every once in a while Andrew brings me some up and coming big shot heroes and politely asks them if they want to join my family. You know, because I am a reasonable man. If they refuse…well…you can say that we take care of them, right Andrew?”

“That’s right brother. Actually, I have some new faces in the building as we speak.” Andrew gets up from the table and walks through the door. “I should probably check on them to see if they are reasonable folks.”

“Sounds good to me! Go take care of business, American Dream.” Max emphasizes the last part of his sentence with air quotes.

After giving one final wave Andrew kicks down the door and walks back down into the building to check on how his ‘teammates’ are doing.

Max Midas turns backwards in his chair and takes a quarter out of his pocket. He crushes it in his palm and then releases his grip. As he opens his palm the once silver quarter was now made of gold. He begins to flip the coin as he looks out the window and onto his empire.

Chapter Text

We follow Urchin, Slick Rick, Ash Burns, and Candi Kane as they walk down a corridor. Rick kicks down a door which leads to a small clearing.

Three people were standing in the room they just entered.

Standing right in a row from left to right we have three members of the Shadow Union. Joan Grace, Pierre Papyrus, and Billy Gardener.

“Alright men!” Rick cracks his knuckles. “Let’s show these sorry sons of bitches who’s boss.”

“...Actually, I’m a girl…” Candi says as she points at herself with a confused look on her face.

Rick ignores her and continues taunting the three villains.

“Urchin, you handle scissors. Kids, take on the tea drinker.” He points at Pierre. “I’ll take on Mozart.”

“My name is Pierre Papyrus you American swine!” He puts his bow on the strings of his violin at the ready to play. “I’ll show you a symphony of despair!”

Pierre started to play his violin. As he did so, papers covered in sheet music started to fly and circle around himself.

He pointed his bow at Rick and the papers flew towards the soldier.

Rick uses his stretchy powers to easily evade all of the paper projectiles.

“Alright fancy pants! Let’s dance!” Rick says as he springs himself towards Pierre before launching an elastic fist directly into his face.

“Aie! Why does everyone always aim for my beautiful face?” Pierre says while checking to see that his right eye was now bruised. “Engarde, you brutish barbarian!”

He continues to play as he sends more papers towards Rick.

Urchin walks towards Billy while extending his claws.

“...You seem familiar…what is your name…” Urchin says while analyzing his opponent.

“...Shears…” Billy says with a monotone voice.

“...Not one for conversation are you?” Urchin asks.

Billy doesn’t say anything in response. He just separates his scissors into two blades.

“...Fine by me…” Urchin says before lunging towards Shears.

Spyke’s claws clash with Billy’s blades as sparks begin to fly.

Billy pushes Spyke back and slashes at him with his scissor blades.

This attack leaves a gash across Urchin’s chest.

“Gah!” Urchin cries out in pain.

Billy walks towards him while spinning a blade in his left hand.

“...Time to get rid of the weeds…” He says as he immediately runs towards Urchin for another attack.

Ash and Candi approach Joan Grace.

“Nice outfit!” Candi compliments the villain.

“Thanks mate.” Joan says as she cracks her knuckles. “You lot wanna see something wicked?”

“Sure!” Candi enthusiastically answers as Ash rolls his eyes.

Joan crosses her arms as her skin starts to quickly become more pale. Cracks start to form on her new gray skin as wings start to take form on her back.

“My name may be Joan, but I’m better known as Punk Rock, the gargoyle!”

Ash puts a hand on his chin and analyzes his opponents before noticing something.

“...Hey…wait a second…you’re made of rock…the violinist is using paper…and the other guy has a…giant pair of scissors…”

“...Yeah, yeah…” Joan says as she rubs the back of her head. “Laugh it up while you still can.”

“I’m not making fun of you guys.” Ash responds. “I actually think that the cohesive theming is really cool.”

“...Oh…” Joan blushes slightly. “...Thanks…I suppose…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ash shrugs. “Now, let’s fight!”

Ash slams his fists together and sets them ablaze.

Candi eats the small slice of cake out of her pack.

She bolts towards the gargoyle as Ash sends a barrage of fireballs her way.

Candi quickly dodges behind Joan as the fireballs pelts against her rocky skin.

This creates a large cloud of smoke around the villain.

“...Did…we beat her?” Ash questions.

They suddenly hear laughing from inside the field of smoke.

“No yah blokes! We are just getting bloody started!”

Joan suddenly rises out of the smoke. She is using her stone wings to fly.

Ash and Candi ready themselves as she starts to fly towards them.

“Let’s rock!” She yells out before swooping down towards the heroes.

Ash and Candi dodge as her stone claws slash the ground.

Ash launches a few fireballs at Joan as Candi runs behind her and sends a flying kick towards the back of her head.

Joan turns around and grabs Candi’s leg and throws her directly at Ash. Both heroes crash into a nearby wall.

“Ready for an encore?” Joan says as she puts her hands in her pockets and slowly saunters over towards the heroes.

Ash uses his thumb to wipe some blood off his nose as he slowly gets up. Candi gets up, but kneels over and coughs up a little blood.

They both get up and get ready to fight again.

Joan shoots them a psychotic grin before taking off into the air.

Visi-Goth, Violet Newton, and Takeru Takao are walking through the hideout.

“I know that this place should be crawling with guards, but we haven’t seen anybody for a while.” Violet questions as she follows Visi-Goth.

“Hey Visi-Goth.” Takeru asks before he is cut off.

“...Ugh…that name is so lame…my real name is Alexandria…” Alexandria Aleric responded.

“...Wait…if you don’t like it why do you use the name…” Takeru questions.

“...It’s my stupid dad…He says that he wants me to continue the family tradition…” She says the last part mockingly. “...Such a drag…”

“…Alexandria…” Violet says before she is cut off.

“...Too many words…” Alexandria groans. “...Just say Alex…”

“...Okay…Alex…” Violet continues. “You don’t seem to match the rest of your team. Is there a reason for this?”

“...As I already said to neon green over there…it’s my stupid dad…” Alex says while crossing her gauntlets.

“...So…I guess you two don’t have the best relationship?”

“...Yep…”

Violet decides not to push the issue further.

After walking for a while longer the heroes finally find someone else in this place.

They see the Shadow Union’s Piper O’ Possum leaning against a wall. She is holding a bat that was covered in nails and carrying a duffel bag.

As the heroes enter her field of vision she grabs something out of her bag, throws it into the air, and swings her bat at it.

This causes the object to fly towards our heroes.

*BOOM!*

The object in question turns out to be a bomb.

Chapter Text

As the dust settles from the explosion Piper walks closer to our heroes.

“Hey, heroes! Go long!” Piper says as she grabs another bomb from her bag and bats it towards the heroes.

Alex, Violet, and Takeru barely dodge this, but it is too close for comfort.

“...Alright…I’ve just met you…but I am already sick and tired of seeing your face…” Alex says as she slams her gauntlets together.

“Then do something about it!” Piper yells as she bats another bomb towards the heroes.

Alex growls as she slams her gauntlets together. She then punches the bomb.

It flies back towards Piper, but she dodgerolls and it hits the wall behind her.

“...Get out of my way!” Alex screams.

“Not a chance!” Piper responds as she throws her duffel bag up into the air and bats it towards the heroes. Before the bag lands about half a dozen bombs fall out and land on the ground causing a massive explosion.

Before the blast can hit Alex and Violet, Takeru jumps the way and absorbs the energy of all of the explosions into his sword.

It is glowing a brilliantly bright green in a more intense way than we have seen it so far.

“Sonic Wave!” He yells before he sends a massive wave of energy back at Piper.

She barely manages to dodge the projectile, but it does singe off a few of her whiskers.

“Alright, that’s it!” Piper screams as she runs towards the heroes with her bat over her head.

Violet blocks the bat with her mace.

Piper growls as Violet grabs the bat and uses her powers to throw Piper. She slams against a nearby wall.

She crumples to the ground, but manages to keep herself steady by balancing herself on her bat.

“God Dammit!” Piper yells. “When is my backup getting here?!”

“Right behind you!”

Piper uses her remaining energy to turn around and look at who was talking to her.

“...No way…” Takeru says as he lowers his sword to the ground.

‘Not him again.’ He thinks to himself.

“Let’s have some fun!” Shouts Blitz as he charges an explosive blast in his right hand.

“...Kick their asses…” Piper manages to say before she passes out.

“With pleasure!” Blitz says as he hurls the ball towards the heroes.

Takeru quickly raises his sword to block the explosion.

This…kind of works.

He does fully absorb the explosion, but he is also sent tumbling backwards into a wall from the sheer force of the blast.

“Takeru!” Violet yells as she grits her teeth and turns towards Blitz. “That’s enough!”

Violet holds her mace like a spear and throws it towards Blitz. It is light as a feather as she is throwing it, but she makes it weigh several tons the exact second it leaves her hand.

It flies towards Blitz at a speed that is imperceptible to the human eye and nails him right in the stomach.

He cries out in pain as the force of the impact causes him to fly backwards through the wall all the way at the end of the hallway. Violet and Alex walk towards where he landed to see if he was still conscious.

Miraculously, he actually was.

He is standing in the rubble covered in dust and blood.

“You brat! How dare you?!” He screams as he sends an explosion towards Violet.

Alex blocks the attack with her gauntlets. This sends her skidding backwards several feet, but she doesn’t fall.

“...If you want her…you’re gonna have to deal with me first!” She cries out.

“...Works for me…” Blitz says as he dust his shirt off. “...I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill her after that.”

“...Not if I have anything to say about it!” Alex yells.

Blitz starts to charge an explosion in each one of his hands.

Alex blocks in the meantime as Violet stands behind her and watches the fight.

Blitz then merges the balls of energy together into one bigger energy ball. He raises the ball (that is ten feet across now) over his head with both hands.

“Tsar Bomba!” Blitz yells as he throws the blast.

The explosion is absolutely massive. It causes almost the entire floor of the building to be devastated. The outer walls were surprisingly left untouched so the building itself didn’t collapse, but one more attack like that will cause what remains of the building to topple over.

Alex blocks as well as she could, but the impact causes her to fly back through about half a dozen walls.

Blitz takes a moment to catch his breath before walking towards Violet.

“...And now to deal with you, brat!” He says as he starts to charge another blast.

Violet tries to hide behind her arms, but she knows that won’t do anything to protect herself.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Before Blitz threw out the attack they heard an eardrum shattering scream from the direction where Alex laned.

They both turned to look in the direction of the scream.

From out behind the giant cloud of dust Alex emerges.

Her hair is now flowing like it was being blown by a strong breeze and crackling with bright red flashes of energy. Her eyes were also glowing a bright yellow.

“BERSERKER’S RAGE!!!!!” Alex screams out as she slams her right foot against the ground. This causes a small crater to appear on the floor underneath her.

Blitz takes a step back before composing himself.

“...No matter…I’ll just have to knock you down again…Doesn’t sound…too hard…” Blitz says with less gusto than before.

Suddenly Alex launches herself towards Blitz. Before he could even blink she was right up in his face.

She punches him so hard that he flies out of the building and onto the street below. She runs towards the wall and jumps through the hole that Blitz just created.

She then runs towards where he landed.

Blitz was trying to sit up, but struggling to do so.

Alex quickly reaches Blitz and gets her next attack ready.

“FURY OF THE NORTH!” Alex yells as she sends a lightning fast barrage of several thousand punches down on Blitz’ body.

When she was done with the assault Blitz was already unconscious. He actually passed out from the pain about halfway through the attack.

Alex quickly catches her breath before turning around back towards the building.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!” She screams again as she punches the ground several dozen times.

Eventually she gets her anger out of her system and calms down. When she does so her hair also turns back to normal.

While the fight was wrapping up Violet was outside of the building and heading towards Alex’s location.

She walks up to her slowly and as non-threateningly as she possibly could.

“...Hey Alex…are you…” Violet thinks for a second. “...okay?”

Alex takes another moment to catch her breath.

“...Yeah…I’m fine…” She responds.

“...That’s good…” Violet says as she walks over to Blitz’ body.

He was still breathing, but you had to look really closely at him to notice.

“...So…” Violet turns around towards Alex. “...Where to next?”

Alex points at the building.

“...I’m heading back in there to kick some more ass…You can stay back if you want…I know I’m not safe to be around when I’m like this…”

“...No…it’s fine…I can take care of myself…” Violet responds.

“...Okay…” Alex says as she and Violet walk back towards the building.

Chapter Text

The fight between Spyke, Rick, Ash, and Candi versus Joan, Pierre, and Billy rages on.

“Is that the best you got, Bach?” Rick taunts.

“You wretched fool! I believe it is time to increase the tempo!” Pierre responds as he begins to play even faster which in turn causes the papers to fly even more quickly around him. “Have at thee!”

Not only are the papers even faster, but they are also flying in more erratic and unpredictable patterns.

“You call that an attack, Cupcake?” Rick says as he backflips off the wall behind him and springs forward towards Pierre.

He takes the shape of a ball before slamming into the violinist’s face.

“Not again!” he cries out. “That’s it! Time for my magnum opus!”

Pierre quickly starts playing “The Ride Of The Valkyries” as sheet music starts circling around him at even faster speeds than before.

He soon emerges from the whirlwind of pages and flies above with wings made of paper. He then flies towards Rick and clips him with his wings.

“God Dammit! Get down here so I can kick your ass!”

“My! How uncivilized!” Pierre says as he lets out a haughty laugh.

He flies back towards Rick and slashes him with his wings again, but this time he doesn’t stop there. He dives at him again, and again, and again.

Urchin and Shears are still trading blows.

Spyke aims the pointer finger on his right hand towards Billy.

“Death Spike!” He yells as the finger quickly extends towards Billy’s neck.

Billy defends himself using one of his scissor blades and cuts off the tip of Urchin’s finger using the other one.

“Shit!” Urchin cries out in pain as he retracts his finger.

“Let’s wrap this up.” Billy announces as he sends a barrage of scissor slashes towards Urchin. He is able to dodge some of these attacks, but about half of the swings land and cover Spyke’s chest are arms with lacerations.

“That’s enough!” Urchin screams. “Abyssal Spike Assault!”

Urchin extends the tips of his fingers and hair as far out as they can go in every direction. This sends an unavoidable number of spikes towards Shears. This causes him to tumble backwards, but he slows himself by grinding his scissor blades against the floor.

Urchin retracts all of his spikes and glares at Billy.

Shears quickly gets back on his feet, puts the blades back together, and dashed towards Urchin. He attempts to snip the scissors at him as Spyke dodges the attacks.

Shears then rolls backwards and jumps towards Urchin with his scissors at the ready to strike again.

Spyke sidesteps this attack and grabs the scissors from the side. He then aims the pointer finger on his free left hand at Shears.

“Death Spike!”

A finger extends towards Shears at the speed of light and sends him tumbling back into a wall.

Spyke starts to walk away, but turns his head towards the wall.

“...I’m sorry, but it looks like you didn’t make the cut…” Urchin says before walking away.

“Nice one!” Ash says as he dodges another strike from Joan.

He charges up another large fireball and shoots it at Joan, but Candi accidentally runs in the way and gets hit instead.

“Candi!” Ash says as he runs towards his friend. “I’m so, so sorry!”

Candi looks up at Ash.

“...Don’t worry. I’m fine…” Candi says with a small smile through gritted teeth even though she was hurt. “...Just kick her ass for me, okay?”

Ash nods his head and turns his attention back towards Joan.

“Are you blokes done already? I was just gettin’ started!” the gargoyle taunts.

“It’s not over until it’s over!” Ash says as he starts to charge up another fireball. When he was ready to launch the attack he was holding a massive ball of flames over his head. “Solar Flare!”

He throws the projectile at Joan who dodges with ease. It hits the ceiling and clears a hole right through it.

Joan looks back at the hole and then back towards Ash.

“You rubbish at this mate.” She says with a shit eating grin.

“Shut it Goliath!” He yells out as he steps back to rethink his strategy.

As he is walking backwards he notices that he actually bumped into somebody.

It was Rick who was also currently backing away from his opponent.

They share a glance. Then they look at each other’s opponents before looking back at one another. A lightbulb simultaneously lights up in each of their brains.

“Switch?” Ash says.

“Yeah.” Rick nods as they turn around and walk past one another.

“Hey hotshot!” Joan yells. “Are you really so weak that you had to let your superior take your battles for you?”

“Nope!” Ash says with a smirk. “We're just working smarter.”

“Come to papa, Rocky!” Rick taunts as he quickly extends his arms out towards Joan. She dodges this and flies towards the soldier.

He stretches out of the way as she skids against the ground behind him.

She turns around and quickly flies right towards him.

“I’m gonna knock you the fuck out mate!” She screams as she tries to swing her claws at him.

He quickly stretches upwards to avoid the attack.

As she flies through his legs he quickly retracts them and falls back towards the ground. He turns around and lands right on top of her.

“It’s over stone cold!”

She just spits at him.

“Alright, let’s get this over with!” He says as he wraps his arms around Joan.

He stands back up and starts to extend his legs upwards before leaning back and slamming Joan’s head against the ground.

“Sky High Suplex!”

He gets up and dusts himself off as Joan lies unconscious against the floor.

“...I need a smoke…” Rick says as he takes another cigar out of his belt before walking away.

As Ash begins fighting Pierre, Candi wakes up and looks around. She notices that both Joan and Billy are knocked out.

She then looks over at Ash.

She slowly reaches towards her fanny pack and pulls out three vials of sugar and down them all in one gulp.

Her pupils widen and she quickly gets up like she’s good as new. She then sprints towards Ash.

“Candi! You’re up! Great! I have a plan!” Ash says as he catches his breath.

“That’s awesome! What is it?”

“Alright!” He claps his hands together. “If you run around him really quickly you can trap all of his pages in a tornado. Then I just send a fireball his way and…that’s it! Easy win!”

Candi shoots him a thumbs up and runs towards Pierre.

“Hey Beethoven!” Candi says in an attempt to distract Pierre.

He turns his attention towards her.

“Classical music sucks eggs!”

“You uncultured wench!” He cries out as he flies towards Candi.

Candi dashes away from him with ease.

“Na na nana na! You can’t catch me!”

He grunts as he sends sheet music flying towards Candi’s new location.

She quickly dodges again.

“You know you’ve gotta be quicker than that!”

“You brat! Stay still!” He attacks again.

Candi dodges it yet again.

“You’re too slow!” She says as she waggles a finger at him with her tongue out.

“That is it! Time for the grand finale!”

He starts to play Swan Lake at a quickly increasing tempo as the pages turn into a giant swan.

It starts to peck at Candi.

“How cute! What’s his name?”

“...Thanks for asking. He actually does have a name. It’s…wait a second…stop distracting me!”

“Okay!” She says as she slowly walks away with her hands behind her head.

Pierre looks down at her with a confused expression as he notices a bright light suddenly appear behind himself.

As soon as he turns around to look he is directly struck with a massive fireball.

“Yes! Direct hit!” Ash cheers as he pumps his fist. “It looks like…fire beats rock!”

He looks over at Candi.

She is just looking to the side while whistling with her hands behind her back to avoid his gaze.

“Come one that one was…whatever…” He says as he looks back towards Pierre.

“That’s it! No one makes a fool of Fortissimo!” He gets his violin ready to start playing again.

Before he has the chance to play he looks down at his hands and notices that the violin is gone.

“Hey Amadeus!” Candi says while holding up the violin. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

“How dare you! It is made of the most finely crafted boxwood! Be careful with that!”

“Don’t worry, I'll be careful!” She says as suddenly pretends to trip before smashing it against the ground.

She turns towards Pierre.

“Sorry, it slipped!” She said with a shrug and a smile.

“...You…you insolent child…do you have any idea how much that cost me? That violin is worth more than you are!”

“Sorry…” Candi picks up the two biggest remaining pieces. “... But I don’t think anyone is going to pay that much for a broken violin.”

“...How dare you…HOW DARE YOU!!!” Pierre says as he unsheaths a blade that has been hidden in the bow of his violin the entire time.

“...I am going to make you pay for that! With your life!”

He runs towards Candi, but Ash jumps in his path and throws a fireball right at his face.

“Aui!” The composer cries out. “My face!”

He rolls around on the ground in agony.

Ash dusts off his shoulders as Candi walks towards him.

“Even though he was a musician…you were fire!” Candi says with her hands comedically placed on her hips.

Ash rolls his eyes with a small grin on his face.

Rick and Urchin walk towards the door as the students follow.

“Let’s keep going.” Urchin says as the others follow him out of the room and deeper into the hideout.

Andy, Love, and Maka were walking towards the middle of the building.

“Alright, we should almost be towards the middle of the complex!” Andy says as he looks at his current coordinates on a small handheld device.

Maka looked over at Love and noticed that she was looking at the floor and had her hands stuffed into the pocket of her hoodie.

“...Hey Love, are you alright?” Maka questions.

Love briefly glances over at Maka before looking back towards the ground. She shakes her head no.

Maka takes a deep breath.

“...Look…It's just that…I don’t like sitting around and doing nothing if I know that there is good I can be doing, you know?” Maka says as she looks at Love with a concerned look on her face.

Love looks at Maka again.

“...I…I guess I can understand that…”

Maka sighs.

“...I’m…sorry…”

“...About what?”

“...You know…” Maka gestures around herself. “...For getting you into this mess…”

“...Hey…don’t worry about it…” Love says while looking forward again. “...I did agree to come here with you…”

“...I know…It’s just…” Maka rubs the back of her head. “...I know you don’t like stuff like this…”

Love cocks her head to the side.

“...What I mean is…” Maka puts her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “...That you aren’t the violent type…I honestly thought that you were a pacifist for a bit, but then I figured out that you…just hate conflict…”

Love nods.

“...All that I’m trying to say is that…I’m glad that you agreed to come…” Maka says with a slight blush. “...It means a lot to me…”

“...Uh…you’re welcome…” Love says as she looks forward with a large blush quickly covering up her face. She pulls her hoodie strings to hide her embarrassment.

They looked away from each other now with an awkward tension in the air between the two of them.

“...And…here it is!” Andy announces as he walks towards a room.

He opens the door and walks in.

“This room should create a big enough radius to cut off all of the power in the entire hideout. Just keep a look out as I set this up. It might take a few minutes.”

Love nods while Maka gives him a thumbs up.

“Great!” Andy says as he gets to work.

Love and Maka walk out of the room and into the hallway.

They glance at each other, blush, and look away again.

“...Well, well, well…Look who we have here…” A voice says from down the hall.

A chill runs down Love’s spine as she glances towards the origin of the voice.

‘Wait…I thought that he…was dead!’ Love thinks as she slowly starts to back towards Maka.

“Hey Love, what is it?”

Love backs up all the way into Maka arms.

She doesn’t say a word. She just stares into the darkness of the hallway. Out of curiosity, Maka glances over as well.

A figure started to appear from the shadows.

“...So, we meet again…” Noir says as he walks fully into the light.

Chapter Text

Alex and Violet circle back to check if Takeru was okay before heading further into the hideout.

“...Hey Takeru…” Violet asks. “...Are you alright?”

Takeru scratches the back of his neck.

“...Yeah…yeah…I’m fine…”

Violet doesn’t think that he is answering honestly, but she doesn’t force the issue.

They keep heading further into the building until they start hearing an interesting sound coming from a nearby room.

Alex turns to the others and puts a finger to her lips before stealthily walking towards the sound.

They find the door that they are sure the sound was coming from. Alex opens it slowly.

She sees someone in the room working on something. They were a short chubby woman with short red hair with the sides shaved who was wearing a white crop top, a black apron, and black jeans with flame patterns near the bottom of the legs. She was also covered in freckles and tattoos.

This woman currently has goggles on and is welding something.

Alex, Violet, and Takeru hide behind a workbench in the room.

“Phew!” The woman says as she turns around to take a break from her work. She grabs a small rag and uses it to dab some sweat off her forehead. “Time for a midnight slack!”

She starts to leave the room, but before she makes it to the door there is a loud clunk from underneath the workbench.

“Shit!”

“What was that?!” The woman yells as she looks around the room.

Back behind the workbench Alex was rubbing the top of her head. She hit her head on the top of the bottom of the desk by accident.

The woman activates a flashlight that was attached to her goggles as she continues to search the room.

Right before she is about to look behind the workbench that our heroes were hiding behind, Violet distracts her by throwing a random bolt she found on the ground towards the other side of the room.

“I can hear you! Show yourself!” The woman announces as she picks up a small metal box and presses a button on top of it.

The box quickly transforms into a giant hammer. Instead of a regular hammer head the weapon looked like a cross between an anvil and a furnace. Fire began to sizzle through a few metallic grates near the top of the weapon.

Violet, Takeru, and Alex try to sneak out of the room behind her.

*Creak*

“Aha!” The woman quickly turns around. “Found ya!”

“...You know what…” Alex says as she cracks her knuckles. “Screw being stealthy!”

She immediately dashes over to punch the mechanic.

She blocks with the handle of her hammer and hits Alex right in the side of her torso. This causes her to fly through a nearby wall.

As the woman dusts off her hands Alex can be heard yelling from another room before running back into this one.

“YOU BASTARD!!!” Alex cries out.

“Nope!” The woman says as she slams her hammer right on Alex’s head and sends her crashing through multiple floors below them.

“...Now…who’s next?” The woman says as she turns around with a smug look on her face.

Violet and Takeru look shocked. They saw how powerful Alex was and how easily she was able to beat Blitz before.

‘That’s insane!’ Violet thought to herself. ‘She beat Alex without breaking a sweat!’

“...Wait a second…” The woman says while taking her goggles off. “...Y’all are just a couple of kids…”

Violet and Takeru are still shaking from what they just witnessed and were too scared to give a response.

“Woah! Calm down!” The woman says as she puts her hammer down and leans on the part of it that looked similar to an anvil. “I ain’t fightin’ a bunch of children without a good reason…that being said…why are y’all here?”

Violet took a step backwards, but finally built up the courage to respond.

“We are both just young college students who accidentally got lost on our way back to campus.” She said while putting her hands behind her back. “By any chance you wouldn’t happen to know the directions to the school, would you, miss?”

“...Oh…is that all…” The older woman says as she gets up and slowly walks towards the heroes. “...I can direct you all the way back to SUPER if y’all want.”

A chill goes down Violet’s spine.

“...H…how did you know…that we go to SUPER?”

“...Really…” The woman crosses her arms and shakes her head in disappointment. “You are both dressed up in dumb little hero costumes and that fella has a sword. It couldn’t have been more obvious.

“...Well…can you still give us the directions?” Violet threads her fingers together and tries to use a pleading pair of puppy dog eyes to her advantage. “...Pretty please…”

“Ha!” The woman wipes a tear from her eye from laughing too hard.

“Bless your hearts…” The woman says as she puts a hand back onto the handle of her hammer and lugs it onto her shoulder. “...But that trick ain’t gonna work on me…”

Even though they are still scared and outmatched, Violet and Takeru ready themselves for combat.

“Alright, before I beat you two deader than a doornail I might as well let ya know the name of the woman who’s gonna fight ya.” She puts her goggles back on with a fiendish smirk. “The name’s Maggie Smith, but Vulcan works too.”

Maggie raises her hammer above her head and Violet and Takeru brace themselves, but before she can follow through the power shuts off.

“What in tarnation?!” Maggie yells out.

Violet and Takeru use darkness to their advantage and sneak out of the room without Maggie being able to see them do so.

The two of them keep running and aren’t going to stop until they are sure they have gotten away from that monster of a mechanic.

Without noticing each other Violet and Takeru slam head first into a few other people.

A flashlight clatters against the floor before it is quickly swooped back up by the person who dropped it.

“Who goes there?” Urchin announces as he aims the light at Violet and Takeru.

“Urchin, sir, it’s just us. Violet and Takeru.” Violet says as she waves her hands in front of herself in an attempt to ward off suspicion.

Urchin exhales a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

“Where’s Alex?”

Takeru puts his hands in his pockets and looks to the side as Violet gives an answer.

“A villain knocked her down through the floor. We were actually just running away from someone who was calling herself Vulcan.”

Urchin’s eyes perk up immediately.

‘So, she’s here.’ Urchin thinks to himself ‘That means the others are probably here too.’

“Kids. Get behind me and let’s keep moving.”

Violet and Takeru nod as they follow him, Rick, Ash, and Candi down the hallway.

Chapter Text

Warning: Massive amounts of blood and violence, Death

*A few minutes earlier when the power was still on*

Love is cowering behind Maka as Noir slowly walks towards the two girls.

“...But…but…” Love struggles to stutter out.

“...But what…” Noir laughs creepily. “...You look so pale that I thought you saw a ghost…”

“Hey creeper!” Maka angrily yells. “You stay away from my friend!”

“...You are a feisty one, aren't you?” Noir transforms his arms into bloody scythes and starts dragging them across the floor leaving a trail of blood behind himself as he walks. “...You can bark…but how strong is your bite!”

Noir sprints forwards and slashes at Maka and Love. They both manage to dodge this attack, but just barely.

He backflips a couple times before he launches the scythes as two giant bloody crescent shaped projectiles.

“Shark Attack!” Maka yells as she forms a shark out of her water and launches it at the bloody sickles that were flying towards her.

The shark opens its jaws and eats the bloody weapons. It then explodes as wet blood rains down across the entire hallway. Both Maka and Love were also now drenched in blood.

Noir turns his arms back to normal and points at the two girls.

Maka and Love stare at him in confusion, but are still ready to fight back.

The escaped convict then turns his hand around and makes a beckoning gesture at the girls.

Suddenly Maka and Love felt themselves being involuntarily pulled towards Noir.

“...Hey…what the Hell is this?” Maka growls out. “What the Hell are you doing to us?”

Maka tried to fight it to no avail. Love on the other hand was too scared to move. In fact, she was completely paralyzed out of fear.

As Maka and Love approached him, Noir made his right hand into a massive fist of blood and punched the girls.

They both flew backwards into a wall.

“...Hey…asshole…” Maka caught her breath as she slowly stood up while dusting herself off. “Take this!”

Maka creates hundreds of small needles out of water.

“Pufferfish Quill Cannon!” She screams as she sends the needles towards Noir.

Noir turns his arm into a bloody fan and spins rapidly as the needles approach destroying each and every one of the projectiles.

Noir pulled Maka towards him and put his hand around her neck.

“...So much passion…so little power…” Noir says as a sadistic grin crawled onto his face as he started to choke Maka.

Maka tries to struggle out of Noir’s grip to no avail.

Noir glances over at Love with a deranged look on his face.

“...Your next…” He slides a bloody finger across his neck and points at the terrified girl.

“...You…” Maka says through gritted teeth. “...You stay the FUCK away from her!”

She suddenly creates crab claws out of her water and spins to escape Noir’s hold.

“Crustacean Crusher!” Maka yells as she slams her claws down right where Noir was standing.

He dodges this easily, but Maka keeps going after him.

After about a dozen more claw swipes from Maka, Noir backflips and charges up a sphere of blood in his hands.

“Bloody Stream!” Noir yells as he shoots a swirling column of blood towards Maka.

It bends upwards, lifts Maka into the air, and slams her against the ceiling.

After she falls back down she immediately tries to get back up, but fails.

Noir slowly walks towards her while doing a sinister chuckle that slowly turns into a full on evil laugh.

He starts to use his blood to create a structure that was taller than anything that he had previously formed.

When he was done a chill went down Love’s spine.

“...Hey kids…” Noir says with the most deranged smile you could imagine. “...Impressive, isn’t it?”

Noir has made a guillotine out of his blood.

He turns his free arm into a bloody tentacle, grabs Maka, and places her head in the device.

“Any last words?” Noir says with a wicked grin.

“Bite me!”

“...With pleasure!” Noir says as the blade begins to fall.

“Bloody Execution!”

“...That’s…that's enough!” Love yells as her eyes turn red.

In the blink of an eye Love sprints behind Noir and shoots a flaming arrow directly through his chest.

“Aaahhh!” Noir cries out in pain as his guillotine disappears in the nick of time.

Maka sits up in the pool of blood and quickly checks her own neck for injuries.

“...Few!” She says after finding nothing to worry about.

…Then she falls on her back and passes out instantly.

“...You…You bitch!” Noir cries out as he turns around towards Love.

Andy walks out of the room he was in while whistling.

“Hey kids, everything is set up…Oh my stars and garters!” He yells out in shock. “What in Uncle Sam’s beard is going on out here?”

Noir quickly stares daggers at Andy.

“Stay out of this!” Noir screams as he sends a bloody tendril towards his patriotic opponent.

Andy dodges this easily with a nimble backflip.

“It is going to take a lot more than that to take care of me!” Andy points to himself. “I did gymnastics in college!”

Noir is about to send another attack towards Andy, but Love shoots another arrow through him. This time through his left shoulder.

“Ouch! That burns!” He turns towards Love again and sends a stream of blood towards her.

“Oh, no you do not!” Andy yells as he takes out a device that extends out into a bo staff at the press of a button.

He backflips in front of the stream of blood and twirls his staff.

“...No…NO!” Noir screams. “Get out of my way!”

“No way! Not until you are brought to justice!” Andy says as he runs towards Noir.

He uses his staff to vault himself over the hemomancer’s head.

Noir starts to laugh again.

“...You fool! How do you think you are going to hit me with that?”

“Like this!” Andy says as he presses another button on his staff. A small compartment opens on the top of the stick and a small taser extends outwards.

He lunges towards Noir and electrocutes him. This also causes a small amount of his blood to evaporate.

“...What?! That’s impossible!”

“Is it though?” Andy says with a smirk that is surprisingly mean looking for him.

Love shoots another arrow towards Noir which he sees and dodges easily.

Andy quickly jabs his staff towards Noir. The pale skinned man dodges most of these, but is stung by quite a few of them as well.

Noir screams out in frustration.

“I have had enough of these games! This ends now!”

He extends a bloody fist towards both Love and Andy.

Love and Andy were both directly across from each other on each side of Noir.

The blonde girl backflips and charges up multiple arrows at once.

“Crimson Barrage!” She yells as she lets go of the luminescent bowstring.

This attack makes Noir’s bloody body look like swiss cheese.

Love quickly knocks one more arrow and aims right for Noir’s head.

“...I…won’t die…not to the likes of you…”

She lets go and it flies through his skull.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

Noir screams out as his body begins to evaporate.

As the psychopath dissolves, Love’s eyes turn back to their normal pink color.

Another chill then immediately goes down her spine.

“...Golly…” Andy looks down at the giant hole that went directly through his chest. “...That…doesn’t look very good…”

“Andy!” Love screams out as she rushes towards her ally.

The patriotic protege falls to his knees.

“...Hey Lev…” He says weakly.

“...Y…yeah…” Love meekly says through the tears streaming down her face.

“...Don’t blame yourself…” He says with a strained smile. “...Accidents happen, you know?”

Love uses her sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes, but they are immediately replaced with more tears.

“...The…last thing I would want to do is leave you without closure…” He is now struggling to even breathe. “...You did good, kid…”

Love doesn’t say anything. Her throat is hurting too much to say anything even if she wanted to.

Andy slowly points back towards the room he was working in before turning back towards Love.

He reaches out his hand and she quickly reaches for it.

“...My last request…is for you to finish this mission…”

Love nods her head as the tears continue to fall.

“...Flips the switch…and give ‘em Hell…”

Love manages a small laugh between her tears. She didn’t expect even the most mild of swears from Andy.

He struggles to hold his hand up, but he gives one final thumbs up towards Love…

…Then he goes limp…

Love’s tears immediately start to fall even faster.

After grieving for a few more minutes she eventually manages to at least somewhat compose herself.

She walks into the room and up to the EMP device that Andy spends his last moments setting up.

She grabs a small lever, takes a deep breath, and then pulls it.

Chapter Text

“...Hey Maka…are you okay?”

Love is standing over Maka waiting for her to wake up so that they can finally finish this mission and go back to the school.

“...Yeah…” Maka takes a second to get her bearings. “...Yeah…I think I am fine…”

Maka looks around and notices that she was in a different place then where she passed out.

“Hey Love?” Maka rubs the back of her head. “...Where are we?”

“...Oh…I just moved you into a room so you weren’t just out there in the open…”

Maka nods her head and looks around for a little while.

“...Wait a second…Where is Andy?”

Love instantly felt a pang of guilt surge course through her body.

“...Um…about that…” Love thinks about where to even start or how to bring up what happened. “...What is the last thing you remember before you passed out?”

“...Huh…” Maka thinks for a moment. “...I think it was you saving me from the guillotine.”

“...Okay…”

“...Love, I can tell that you aren’t telling me something…So just say it.”

Love closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“...The thing is…that…Andy…that…he is…” Love tried to say what happened, but it felt like something was stopping her from doing so. Recounting the events in her mind again were starting to make her tear up.

Maka notices how upset Love is so she stands up and puts her arm around her.

“...Hey…” Maka wasn’t that good at talking about stuff like emotions or feelings.

Maka sighs.

“...Just tell me what happened…I’ll be able to handle it.”

“...Okay…” Love took a deep breath. “...After you passed out I still had my red eyes…so the details are kind of fuzzy for the rest of the fight itself…but after I beat Noir again…I noticed that…Andy…was…” Love sighed. “...He had a giant hole right through the center of his chest…Maka…Andy’s dead…”

“That bastard!” Maka said after she immediately started to get angry. “I’ll kill him!”

“...Maka…it wasn’t Noir…” Love took another deep breath. “...There is something else I haven't told you yet…when I had my red eyes…I was…actually the one who shot Andy…”

“...Love…” Maka’s anger instantly deflated and was suddenly replaced with a feeling of emptiness. “...What happened?”

“...I…I shot at Noir to finally win the fight…but Andy was standing right on the other side of him…The arrow I shot pierced through Noir and went through Andy as well…”

Maka started pacing and had her hand on her chin.

“...This…is bad, Love…Like…really, really bad!”

“...Yeah…I can’t control what I do when I…get like that…not…yet at least…” Love started to tear up again. “...But I still feel like this was all my fault…”

Maka instantly puts her hands on Love’s shoulders.

“You can’t tell anyone else about this!”

“...But…we have to tell them what happened…They need to know…”

Maka pinches the bridge of her nose and thinks for a moment.

“...What if…we just tell the others that Noir did it…”

“...I…I can’t like Maka…I’m not good at it…”

“...Love…haven’t you been lying to yourself your entire life…”

“...That’s…that’s different…”

“...I mean…if you think about it…Noir is still the main reason why this happened…You wouldn’t have shot that arrow if he wasn’t there…”

Love rubs the back of her neck.

“...Yeah…you’re right…”

“...We should get as far away from the crime scene as possible…”

“...Yeah…”

Love and Maka don’t exactly know where they are going, but they knew that they had to not be where they were.

When they walked past the location of the fight Love refused to look towards it. Maka looked for only a second, but that was more than enough time for the scene to be scarred into her mind.

When they left a small puddle of blood started moving.

It slowly, but surely made its way over to a vent panel and crawled inside.

Urchin, Rick, Ash, Violet, Candi, and Takeru are walking through more halls of the villain hideout.

“Okay everyone. Follow close and stay behind me.” Urchin says to the others. “Rick, stay in the back so we can keep the kids safe.”

“Roger that.” Rick says as he takes another puff of his cigar.

After walking for what felt like another half hour they eventually ran into more people.

“Love, Maka, Thank God! there you two are.” Violet says as soon as she sees them.

Candi runs up to them both and gives them a big hug.

“...Wait…” Candi looks down for a second before quickly letting go of them. “...Why…why are you guys covered in blood?”

“...We fought Noir…” Love responded.

“...Where’s Andy?” Urchin asked.

Tears instantly formed in the corners of Love’s eyes again as she looked at Maka.

“...I’m sorry to be the one that has to tell you this…” Maka takes a deep breath before continuing. “...But Andy…was killed by Noir…”

“...What?” Is all that Urchin could say.

“...Yeah…we beat Noir…but Andy…didn’t make it…”

Urchin closes his eyes and puts his hand over his mouth. One singular tear falls from his eyes, but after that he shakes his head to refocus himself.

“...What happened to Andy is very unfortunate, but we should all do our best to make sure his death is not in vain…”

“...I didn’t know that it could rain indoors…” Rick said as a few tears fell from his eyes.

Noir takes a deep breath.

“...Alright, let’s keep going…”

The heroes start to walk further into the building, but they are soon interrupted.

“Urchin! Slick Rick!” The American Dream yells out as he quickly heads over to where the heroes are.

“...American Dream…” Urchin says with his arms crossed.

“...That’s too formal, you can call me Andrew.”

“...Okay…Andrew…”

“...Nevermind…just stick to American Dream.”

“Sir!”

“Wait! Before you say anything I have something I want to say to you first.”

“...Yes…”

“...Would you and Rick be interested in a new job opportunity?”

“...I don’t think this is the right time or place for that Sir…”

The American Dream sighs.

“...Fine…What did you need to tell me that was so important?”

Urchin takes a deep breath and prepares himself for what he needs to say.

“...I’m sorry to say this, but Andy didn’t make it…”

“...Okay…and…”

“...Wait, what?!” Urchin was dumbfounded. “...Is…is that all you have to say…”

“...What? He was a good sidekick, but…he could have been…you know…better. This is proof of that.”

“...Do…do you hear what you are saying right now?!” Urchin started to get angry…like…ANGRY angry!

“...Not my first sidekick…Definitely not going to be the last…”

“Andy was a person! Not just your sidekick!” Urchin was yelling now. Tears started falling from the corners of his eyes as he spoke.

“...Eh…” The American Dream said with a shrug.

Rick stomps towards The American Dream, throws his cigar at the ground, and uses his anger to quickly stamp it out.

“...Are…are you tellin’ me that you are okay with leaving a soldier behind?!”

“...He knew what he was getting into. This kind of thing just comes with the territory.”

Urchin and Rick are both shooting daggers at Mr. Dream with their eyes. One wrong move and they were both going to snap.

Urchin walks up to The American Dream and pokes him in the chest.

“If you don’t want to help people, why did you even want to be a hero in the first place?”

“Easy! The money!”

Urchin extends his claws and Rick gets in a boxing stance.

“...Wrong answer, Andrew…”

“Fine!” The American Dream also takes a combative stance.

“...If you want to fight…” Mr. Dream slams his fists together. He does this with so much force that the room shakes around them. “...Then I fight you shall have!”

Chapter Text

A man is seen on his bed fast asleep with his head underneath the covers. He looks like he is having a nice dream. It would be a shame if someone were to…you know…wake him up!

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

An alarm clock suddenly started blaring. The time was currently 8:00 AM.

The clock was quickly destroyed by a bolt of lightning.

“Alright I’m up!” Wattz yells at nobody in particular. The universe perhaps, or maybe God for putting him in such a shitty life situation. No matter whose fault this was, this static sorcerer was not happy about it.

He slowly got out from under the covers, threw his legs over the side of his bed, and stood up to stretch.

He was wearing a white tank top that was covered in stains and blue boxers that had little thunderclouds and bolts of electricity on them.

He slowly made his way over to his apartment’s small bathroom to get his day started.

He did the same dull routine that he had done every morning ever since he was laid off from his job as an electrician about half a year ago.

He took a lukewarm shower while staring sadly at the floor, watching the water slowly cascade down the drain. He brushed his teeth while looking at himself in the mirror. He had massive circles under his eyes and a very dull expression on his face. He then applied some dark purple eyeliner to give himself that signature evil look.

He strikes a menacing pose before deflating.

He takes a deep breath and sighs.

“...You can do this, Wattz…It’s just another day…”

After he finishes up in the bathroom he goes to his closet and puts on his supervillain outfit.

He then grabs his phone and opens up an app that was called Rent-A-Villain.

He taps on a button that tells people that he is available for work.

“Alright…Now we wait!” He puts his phone down and folds his hands. He then immediately grabs his phone again only to notice that he still doesn’t have any offers.

It is now about 10:30 and Wattz was sitting on his reclining chair while eating a bowl of cereal and watching TV.

He is watching an old saturday morning cartoon that stars a young Sir IQ fighting off an evil clown.

“...Oh Crazy Clown, we are really in it now…” He talks to his TV while taking another bite of cereal.

His phone finally starts ringing.

“Good day to you sir or madam! I am Wattz, The Electro Wizard! How do you need me to fight?”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

“...No, I don’t do birthday parties…”

He hangs up the phone and places it back on the table next to his chair. He quickly gets another call

“Good day to you sir or madam! I am Wattz, The…Oh…Hi mom…”

“...Nope, still looking for work…”

“For the last time! I am not moving back into your basement!”

“...I’m sorry…I love you too…”

He finishes his breakfast and turns off the TV.

He then slowly walks towards a wall that was covered in posters of famous villains of Central City’s past.

Deus Mortis, Crazy Clown, and The Mad Magician (who was an old black and white villain who wore a suit and top hat. He was hunched over and twirling his mustache).

He walks over to a mirror and takes a long hard look at himself.

He then strikes another menacing pose.

“Greeting citizens of Central City! For it is I, Wattz, The Electro Wizard! Now hand over your money and no one gets zapped!”

“...Oh, is that The American Dream I see...Let’s see if you can handle my lightning storm attack!”

“Yes, Father Nightingale! I would love to be the new leader of The Shadow Union! Thank you for asking!”

He slumps his shoulders and sighs again.

“...Who am I fooling...I am never going to live up to any of these great villains…”

He looks out his window to see a newsboy on a bike throw a paper at his apartment door.

He goes outside and grabs the paper. He then walks towards his kitchenette and makes himself a cup of coffee as he puts on a pair of reading glasses.

He sits at his small table and starts to read.

“...WHAT!” He screams as the paper is suddenly incinerated by his lightning.

The Headline of the paper read ‘Max Midas given key to the city! Mayor Roseybelt says he was overjoyed to have such an intelligent and handsome man make a name for himself in the city. So happy, in fact, that they are making a statue of him to display right in front of the mayor’s office.

“Who does he think he is?!” Wattz is furious now.

“I did so much hard work to get to where I was! Some much blood, sweat, and tears! And for what?!”

He slams his fists on the table and knocks everything off of it.

“...I went to college!”

He walks over to a wall and lays his head against it until he calms down.

He takes his phone back out of his pocket and quickly dials a number.

“...Is that birthday party still going?”

“Great! I’ll be there shortly!”

“Thank you for coming Mr. Wattz! Bobby loved the show!”

“Don’t thank me ma'am! I’m just doing my job!”

“By Mr. Wizard!” Bobby waved as Wattz walks out of the backyard.

He takes out his phone, opens a ride share app and sets up a pickup, and sits down on a nearby bench.

After a few minutes he starts tapping his foot.

He quickly stands up.

“...What am I doing here?! I am a villain, Dammit! I shouldn’t be entertaining children! I was meant for so much more!”

He turns and sees a billboard of Max Midas.

“Screw you Midas! I am tired of waiting around letting my life slip away from me! Am I going to take matters into my own hands!”

He suddenly flies high into the sky above the city.

“Citizens of Central City! Be not afraid! I only want to rule over you all with an iron fist!”

Chapter Text

Love was fast asleep in her room enjoying some extra shuteye because it was a weekend. One of Love’s favorite things about weekends is the fact that she gets to sleep in.

Suddenly, Maka kicks down Love’s door.

Love snaps awake and bolts upwards in her bed.

“...Maka…” She says with a yawn. She looks over at the clock and notices that it is only 6 AM. “...It is so early…”

She looks at her now broken door.

“You broke my door!” Love cries out.

“I’ll fix it later!” Maka shrugs with a big smile on her face.

Love sits there dumbstruck for a moment.

“...What?!”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“...Okay…” Love rubs her eyes. “...What is this all about?”

Maka walks towards Love and points a finger directly at her face.

“I am going to teach you…how to be more confident!”

Love immediately throws a blanket back over her head.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Maka pulls the blanket off and drags Love out of bed.

“...But Maka! I don’t wanna!” Love says as she frantically grabs for her mattress.

Maka puts the doormat of a girl over her shoulders and walks out of the room.

Maka walks over to the gym (which Maka asked Zari permission to use for the day) and kicks down the door.

She finally drops Love.

“...No…” Love pines for her nice warm bed.

Maka grabs her shoulders and turns her around.

Violet, Ash, and Candi were there waiting for her as well.

“...Hey Candi…”

“Yes, Love?”

“Why are you wearing a fake mustache?”

“Why not?”

Love squints her eyes at Candi for a moment.

“...I guess I can’t argue with that…”

“...Okay!” Maka drags Love over to the others. “Let’s get started!”

Maka has Love sit across from Violet at a small table.

“...So…” Violet looks over a paper before putting it down and staring up at Love. “You want to apply for my company.”

“...What?!” Love exclaims.

“Tell me.” Violet takes off a pair of glasses that she didn’t actually need. “What are your qualifications? Also, what are your credentials, tell me any and all previous work experience that you have, and what college you graduated from.”

“...Violet…” Love looks incredibly confused. “...I am still in college…We are literally both in the gym of SUPER right now…”

Violet grits her teeth and takes a sharp breath.

“...I’m sorry miss, but that just isn’t the right attitude that we look for in a worker. You are excused.”

“...What?!”

“Get out. I have more applicants to get through.” Violet says and she puts her glasses back on and starts to read another paper.

Candi immediately grabs Love by the hand and drags her into a makeshift stage.

“...And for our last act tonight, here is the beautiful and talented Love Hart!” Candi says into a microphone before passing it to Love.

Love immediately clams up and starts to sweat. She looks over into a the crowd which was composed of about thirty or so stuffed animals on the bleachers.

“...Uh…” Love taps the microphone. “...Is this thing on?”

A teddy bear falls over in the audience.

“...Uh…Candi…” Love looks over with a worried expression on her face. “...What…am I…supposed to be doing?”

Candi sits at a small desk with a little red button on it with her hands folded in front of her.

“So, Miss Hart…What exactly is your act?” Candi says in a faux-British accent that was clearly meant to be a Simon Cowell impression.

“...Uh…” Love’s mind is completely blank. She can’t think of anything to say. She is way too anxious to form any cohesive thoughts at all.

“...Well…” Candi says waiting for Love to do something.

Love just started singing the first song that popped into her head.

“...If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands…” Love claps to the rhythm of the song.

*Buzz*

“...I’m sorry…” Candi says as she slides her hand down her face and pinches the bridge of her nose. “...but what the bloody hell was that?”

“...Huh?!”

Candi takes a breath and sighs deeply.

“...Let me just stop you right there…That was one of the most appalling things that I have ever heard in my entire life…and I have seen people literally bring animals onto this stage that they claimed could sing. Each and every one of those animals still sounded better than whatever sounds just came out of your mouth right now.”

“...But…”

“Get off my stage…Come back when you actually find some talent…” Candi turns away and takes a sip from a water bottle.

Ash goes on stage and pulls Love towards whatever the next thing was.

He was wearing a magician hat and led Love back over to the same stage that she was just on.

“Hello! Welcome to the show! I am the Amazing Ash and this is my lovely assistant Miss Hart!”

There is a small clap from the audience. Violet, Candi, and Maka are sitting at the desk that only Candi was previously judging from.

“Now Miss Hart!” Ash looks over at the shy blonde “Step on over and get into this box!”

“...Uh…Okay…”

Love walks over and gets inside of a long box that was laying on a table.

“Lovely! Now for my first trick…” Ash pulls out a saw. “I will be sawing this woman…in half!”

Love immediately tries to get out of the box, but she falls out and slams against the floor of the stage.

She quickly stands up and runs towards the doors of the gym.

“You people are crazy!” She says as she sprints back to her dorm room.

Maka rubs the back of her head and looks over at the others.

“...Same time next week?” She asks.

“...Yeah…” The other three say in unison.

Love and Ash were walking back to their dorms from the school cafeteria while deep in conversation.

“If there is anything else you want to know about being a girl you are always welcome to ask me, okay?”

Love nods her head.

“...Thanks Ash…” She says with a small blush.

“Don’t mention it. I am just glad that someone can get some use out of all of this stuff that I didn’t really care about myself.”

They walked and continued to talk until they both noticed something.

They both peered around a corner and noticed that Samara was staring at a wall, but it looked like she was talking to someone.

Samara stopped talking and looked towards them, but they ran off before she could notice them.

Love and Ash just so happen to be walking by the same place the next day and notice that Samara is in a random hallway talking to…something…

As they stare at her, Love accidentally trips over a trash can and falls into the hallway.

“...Huh…” Samara turns around and sees Love.

“...Shit…” Love says as she scrambles back around the corner and she and Ash head back to their dorms again.

On the third day Ash is determined to find out what the heck is going on and he is forcing Love to come with him.

As they get there Ash turns to Love and puts one finger over his lips before turning back around and peering into the hallway.

Just as he expected, Samara was sitting there talking to the wall again.

“Okay. I have got to get to the bottom of this!” Ash just stands up and walks into the hallway.

“No, Ash, Don’t!” Love reaches out at him.

“...What?” Samara turns around. “...Oh…Ash, Love…What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Ash says with his arms crossed.

Samara cocks her head to the side.

“...What do you mean?”

“What I mean is who the heck are you talking to? It’s been bothering me and Love for days.”

Samara looks over at Love. The shy girl quickly notices this and leans back around the corner so that she is out of view.

“...Huh?” Samara was even more confused now.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You were talking to something!” Ash is getting animated now. “I know that you are usually creepy, but this is something else!”

“...You think I’m creepy…” Samara turns away and hugs Poe even tighter.

“Stop trying to change the subject!” Ash points at the goth girl. “Answer the question!”

Samara sighs.

“...If you really must know…” She pulls something out of a trash can that was in front of her. “...I made a new friend…”

She puts the creature on the ground and…

…It was just a raccoon.

Love looks back around the corner and sees the little guy and immediately starts walking towards it.

“...So…” Ash rubs the back of his neck. “...This…is who you’ve been talking to?”

“...Yeah…” Samara gives the raccoon a grape and he takes it and eats it. “...His name is Rocky…”

Love heads to where Samara is and sits down to pet the raccoon.

“You’re a cute little guy! Yes you are!” Love says with a sweet voice.

Ash sighs.

“...I’m sorry…”

“For what?” Samara asks. “Who did you think I was talking to?”

“...I dunno…I thought you might have been talking to a ghost…”

“...Oh…” Samara quickly responds. “...There are no ghosts here…I already checked…”

“...Wait, WHAT?!” Ash and Love say in unison.

“...So!” Candi claps her hands to get her friend’s attention. “You know why I gathered you all here, right?”

“...Uh…No, we don’t…” Ash says with a confused look on his face. “You told us that it was a surprise and that you weren’t going to tell us until we all got here.”

Candi, Ash, Love, Maka, Violet, and Takeru were all sitting on various chairs and a couch around a small table in Candi’s dorm room. The room was covered wall to wall with plushies, glitter, and a whole lot of sweets that covered just about every surface in the room.

“Right!” Candi said as she slammed her hands down on the table in front of her and quickly stood up.

Love was startled by this and jumped backwards a bit.

Candi then jogs over to a closet, opens the door, and goes inside.

Maka puts her legs up on the table in front of her and puts her hands behind her head with a smile on her face. She is at the ready to be entertained by whatever was about to happen.

“...Okay…” Takeru says joining Ash in his confusion.

“You know we love you, Candi, but what is it that you are doing?” Violet questions.

Candi opens the closet door a crack and peeks her head through.

“Hey! Shhh!” She says before closing the door again.

The others look at each other in confusion.

Suddenly the door slams open as Candi kicks it down.

“I am coming out of the closet! I am Pan and Poly!” Candi announces.

“...Wait…” Love says with a confused voice. “...I thought your name was Candi?”

Everyone else in the room, including Candi, looks towards Love with an exasperated look on their faces.

“...What?” Love says while being even more confused.

Violet glances around the room as she realizes something.

“Hold on a moment…” Violet puts a hand on her chin.

“...So if your pan...and Love and Ash are trans…and Takeru is with Ash…Am I the only straight cis person here?”

“...Probably…” Maka says with a shrug.

“In what way?” Violet questions. She didn’t remember Maka telling her anything specifically.

“I am a huge lesbian!” Maka says with a wink and a smile. “I thought that was obvious!”

Violet blushes and looks down at her feet.

Candi quickly runs over and gives Violet a hug.

“Don’t worry Vi! We still love even if you aren’t queer!” Candi looks over at the others. “Come on, everybody join the hug pile!”

Love joins the hug first, followed by Ash and Takeru.

Instead of joining the others, Maka walks all the way to the other side of the room.

They all stare at Maka with confusion.

Then Maka quickly turns around and sprints towards her friends with a huge smile on her face.

“Cannon ball!”

She slams into the group and knocks all of her friends to the ground.

A moment after they all fell Candi started to laugh.

She wipes a tear from her eye. “I love you guys!”

“We love you too!” The others say in unison.

Chapter Text

Ash and Takeru’s Concert Date

Ash gets in the passenger's seat of Takeru’s car.

“This is going to be so much fun!” Ash says as he puts his seatbelt on.

“It sure will be, babe.” Takeru kisses Ash on the cheek before getting his seatbelt on and starting the car.

Ash and Takeru are going to their first concert together. When Ash figured out Urban Jungle was performing he knew he couldn't miss it…

…But first they had to go by Ash’s house and pick up his younger sister who also wanted to go.

As Takeru parks they walk up to the door and Ash knocks.

“Hey bro!” Ash’s sister Amber opens the door. She had dark brown dreads that covered her left eye and was wearing a red hoodie that was crop top length with a black Urban Jungle band t-shirt beneath.

“Sup Amber!” Ash says as he and Takeru walk inside.

Amber looks at Takeru and smirks.

“Is this that boy you can’t stop talking about, Ash?”

Ash blushes and looks away.

“Awww!” Takeru puts his arm around his boyfriend. “You talk about me behind my back? How sweet…”

“Is that Ash?” Ash’s mom quickly heads into the front room. She had short brown hair with orange highlights and a red blouse with open shoulders.

“There’s my little hero!” She gives him a big hug and kisses him on the cheek.

“Mom! Stop!” Ash pushes her away with a huge blush on his face. “You’re embarrassing me in front of my new boyfriend!”

Mrs. Burns puts her hands on her son’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry, but that’s my job, sweetie!”
“Did I hear someone say boyfriend?” Ash’s dad walks into the room. He had dreads that were dyed red in the center, but a more natural dark brown on the sides. He was wearing a black suit jacket and slacks with a red sweater underneath.

“Hey, dad.” Ash waves as his dad walks towards the young men.

“Ash.” Mr. Burns says as he looks directly at Takeru. “Mind if I talk to you this new flame of yours one on one?”

“Do I have a choice?” Ash responds with his arms crossed.

“Nope!” He puts his arm around Takeru’s shoulders and takes him to another room.

Mr. Burns had Takeru take a seat across from him.

“My name is Flint Burns.” He reaches out his hand for a handshake.

“...Takeru…” The swordsman says as he reciprocates the handshake.

“So…how is Ash by the way?” Flint questions. He had his arms crossed and was leaning back in his chair. Takeru couldn’t make out his expression because of the glare on the man’s glasses.

“...Uh…” Takeru was starting to get a bit stressed. “...He is doing fine…I mean great…you know…as great as he usually is at least…”

Flint leans forward with a stern expression on his face.

“...Let me just cut to the chase…Are you treating my boy right.”

Takeru rubs the back of his neck with a forced grin on his face.

“...I am treating him with the utmost respect Mr. Burns!”

“That’s great to hear!” Flint says as he stands up and walks towards the door.

Takeru wipes sweat off his brow.

“...Just to be crystal clear though…” Flint turns around and puts his arm around Takeru’s shoulders again. “...If anything bad happens to my boy I am going to shove my foot so far up your ass that you won’t be able to walk right for a month…”

“...You don’t need to worry about that, sir…” Takeru is shaking with anxiety. “...I will try my best to make sure nothing bad happens to him…”

Flint glares at Takeru with and looks at him closely while squinting his eyes before immediately going back into cool dad mode.

“Fantastic! That is exactly what I wanted to hear!” Flint says with a giant grin on his face. “You passed the test, boy!”

“...Great…” Takeru says with a nervous grin.

The DJ quickly goes over to his boyfriend and walks him out of the house and to his car.

“After you, my prince.” Takeru says as he opens the passenger door to his car.

“Why, thank you sir.” Ash kisses his boyfriend before sitting in the passenger's seat of the car and putting his seatbelt on.

Amber gets in the back seat of the car and Takeru drives to the concert venue.

They park in the lot in front of the venue, show the bouncer their tickets, and go inside.

As they get there they see the tail end of the performance before Urban Jungle which had an old man with a tattered suit and top hat playing acoustic guitar while skeletons danced around him.

As he finishes up his act the host of the event takes the microphone.

“...And that was Grayson Graves and the Boney Boys! Give them one more round of applause!”

Some light clapping comes from the audience as one other audience member coughs.

“...Now, for the moment you have all been waiting for…give your best Central City cheer for…Urban Jungle!”

A group of anthropomorphic animals walks out on stage They included A punk cheetah girl with a blue hoodie on lead guitar and vocals, A muscular lion man with a leather jacket on a second guitar, A lizard with a purple hoodie on drums, and a sheep with her hair (or in her case wool) covering both of her eyes and wearing a black turtleneck on bass.

“Central City! Make some noise!” The Cheetah girl said into the microphone which was followed by loud cheering from the crowd. “My name is Chel Lightspeed and we are Urban Jungle! Now, who’s ready to rock!”

Ash and Takeru look over at Amber who might be cheering more loudly than anyone else in the audience.

“I love you Chel!” She screams out.

The cheetah girl gives the fiery girl a seductive wink before beginning her set.

Ash leans his head on Takeru’s shoulder.

“...So…” Takeru turns towards Ash with a blush. “...How are you liking the show?”

Ash smiles warmly at his boyfriend before kissing him on the lips.

After about twenty seconds their lips part so that the boys can catch their breath.

“...It’s perfect…” Ash says with a soft smile on his face.

He and Takeru lean against each other and enjoy the rest of the show.

Chapter Text

*Imagine this entire chapter from the perspective of a camera screen*

“Hello again listeners!” Candi says while shakily holding a camera towards herself. “Welcome back to The Candi and Co. Podcast. Just to let any new listeners know this is a podcast in which I interview my new friends! This episode is going to be a special treat because I just made five new friends!”

Candi put the camera down on a table and pointed towards a couch and a couple of chairs where Love, Maka, Violet, Ash, and Takeru were already sitting. She runs over and sits down between all of them.

“Hey guys!” Candi says to her BFFs. “Introduce yourselves to my listeners please!”

“Sup!” Maka says while pointing at herself with both hands. “I’m Maka Sharktooth.”

“Greetings Candi’s dear listeners.” Violet says while looking directly at the camera with a small wave. “My name is Violet Newton. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

“Hey!” Ash says with an arm around Takeru. “I’m Ash Burns and this fine specimen here is my boyfriend Takeru.”

“Yo.” Takeru gives a peace sign.

After a moment of waiting for her final friend to speak Candi clears her throat.

“...Oh!” Love breaks out of her daydream and snaps towards the camera. “...Hello…m…my name…is…Love…Love Hart…”

“So!” Candi claps to get everyone’s attention. “Today I will be interviewing you all. I know we are all already friends, but this would be a great way to get to know each other ever better! We will go in the order you introduced yourselves in. So Maka first, then Violet, Ash, Takeru, and finally Love. Also, I will give my own answer at the beginning of each question. Got it?”

All of the friends nod.

“Also, these are mostly just going to be icebreakers so don’t worry about thinking too long or hard about your answers.”

Candi turns towards Love with a reassuring smile.

Love starts to blush and quickly looks down.

“Okay! Let’s start simple with an easy one.” Candi picks up a notepad and looks at the questions she had written down and debates which to start with. “...What is…your favorite color? Mine is rainbow, of course.”

“Navy blue.” Maka answers with her eyes closed and hands behind her head.

“...Well…Violet…” Violet says awkwardly.

“Hot rod flame.” Ash says as he turns to his boyfriend.

“Neon green.” Takeru says as he hugs Ash a bit closer.

Candi expectantly turns towards Love who is sheepishly poking her pointer fingers together.

“...Um…Pink…” She sinks backwards into the couch.

“Those are some great picks!” Candi responds. “I mean, all colors are fantastic, but it also tells you a lot about a person, you know?”

She picks her notepad up again.

“...What about…favorite music genre? I love all music, but I am really into K-Pop right now!”

“Punk rock!” Maka says as she signs some devil horns with her tongue out.

“Classical, but more specifically the works of Beethoven and Mozart.” Violet says while taking a sip of tea.

“Let’s go on three!” Ash says as he turns towards Takeru.

“3, 2, 1! Classic rock!” They say in unison before sharing a quick kiss.

“...Uh…” Love is rubbing the back of her neck. “...Do anime theme songs count…or nightcore?”

“Of course, but if you were to pick a more conventional genre, what would it be?” Candi questions.

“...In that case…uh…Eurodance…”

“Oooh! How unique!” Candi says as she gives Love a quick hug around the shoulders. She then grabs the notepad again.

“Next question!” Candi exclaims. “...on a similar train of thought…favorite movie genre? Mine are rom-coms, but what about all of you?”

“Horror movies, specifically slashers. The more blood and gore the better!” Maka says with a sinister smile while looking directly at the camera.

“French impressionism. Oh, we should all go to Sundance later this year!” Violet says as she excitedly looks towards her friends for a reaction.

“That…sounds…awesome!” Candi responds. “We should absolutely do that!”

Candi writes that down on her notepad, then turns towards Ash.

“Do I even need to say it?” Ash says as he turns towards his boyfriend and gestures towards him to answer for him.

“Superhero obviously.” Takeru says while hugging Ash and pulling him into his lap and kissing him on the top of his head.

“...Musicals…specifically Disney ones…”

“Interesting!” Candi says with a hand on her chin. “Which one is your favorite?”

“...Let’s just say…Mulan means a lot to me…” She says while moving some hair out of her face.

“That is so you!” Candi responds. She hums Reflection while picking up the notepad again.

“Aside from training to be a hero and hanging out with each other, what else do you do with your time? Any hobbies? I actually can’t answer that one very easily because I have so many, but let’s just say I am really into baking right now.”

“...Will I get you into any trouble if I say something that is…well…technically illegal?” Maka asks Candi.

“...Moving on…” Candi doesn’t want to get her podcast demonetized again.

“It’s graffiti by the way.” Maka cuts Candi off.

“...Violet?”

“Oh, what to choose…I have been practicing the cello recently. Actually, my dorm isn’t far from here! I could go grab it and play you all something.” Violet says as she quickly stands up.

“...That’s amazing Violet, but let’s finish the podcast first, okay? You can totally do that after though.” Candi puts her hand on Violet’s shoulder and sits her back down.

“...Yeah…you’re right…” Violet sits down and crosses her arms and threads her fingers together.

Candi nods at Violet with a smile and looks over towards Ash and Takeru.

“We have been going on a lot of concert dates.” Ash says as he and Takeru share another kiss. “But we also have been practicing some instruments as well. Takeru is great at guitar and I am learning drums.”

“How fun! Also, let me just say that you guys are, like, really cute together.”

Ash blushes. “...No we’re not…”

“Don’t spread misinformation to Candi’s listeners, babe.”

“...Fine…” Ash huffs and crosses his arms.

Candi giggles and then looks at Love.

“...Um…Does…watching anime or playing video games count as a hobby?”

“...No…I’m sorry Love, those aren’t hobbies…what is something you do to…flex your creativity?”

“...In that case…” Love thinks long and hard about her answer. “...I like to draw sometimes…”

“...Love?” Candi questions softly as she slowly puts her notepad down on the coffee table.

“...Yeah…”

Candi grabs Love by the shoulders and shakes her lightly.

“WHY HAVE YOU NEVER TOLD ME THIS BEFORE?!?!” Candi yells. “I WANNA SEE EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE DRAWN!!!”

Love nervously turns towards the camera.

*Static*

“These are great, Love!” Candi says as she thumbs through one of Love’s sketchbooks. “Why aren’t you in art school? You can totally make a living out of this if you wanted.”

Love nervously rubs the back of her neck.

“...Th…Thank you, Candi, but…the industry isn’t doing too hot right now…It would be really hard to get paid for my drawings right now…”

Love and Candi both look directly into the camera for a few seconds before moving on.

“Okay, final question!” Candi announces. “...Do…any of you have a crush on anyone?” Candi says with a coy expression.

Ash and Takeru give Candi a deadpan stare.

“...Aside from the cute couple of course…” Candi clears her throat and turns towards Maka.

Maka, Violet, and Candi all started blushing at the same time.

“I am going to mix things up this time!” Candi said with a shit eating grin. “Let’s start with you Violet.”

“...Well…” Violet is suddenly very interested in the details of the floor.

“Come on…don’t be shy!” Candi sings the last part of this sentence.

“...Fine…I…” Violet is blushing wildly now. “...I have a crush on Jack!” She immediately covers her own mouth.

“Oooh! How scandalous!” Candi says as she writes something down on her notepad.

Candi looks towards Maka who immediately shrinks into her chair before skipping over her and settling her gaze towards Love.

“...What about you, Love?” Candi has a devious smile on her face. “Anybody tickle your fancy?”

Love was blushing so hard that she looked like a tomato. She didn’t know if she could physically blush any more than she currently is.

“...Um…uh…” Love stammers out.

Candi scoots towards Love and looks her right in the eyes.

“Come on Miss Hart.” Candi pokes Love right in the heart. “Who has you under their spell?”

Love shakes her head no.

“...Come on Love, you don’t want to disappoint our dear viewers? Now do you?” Candi looks at the camera. “...We don’t want to drag out all of this blushing and awkward interactions forever. That can be cute for a bit, but after a while the readers…I mean listeners…start to get tired of this and just want to skip ahead to the first kiss.”

Love wanted nothing more than to not be in this situation anymore. After thinking it over for a moment she quickly discovers that the only way to get out of this situation is to rip the band-aid off and get this over with.

“...I have a crush on two people…actually…” Love finally responds.

“What is that?” Candi closes her eyes and sniffs the air. “Is that a love triangle I smell?”

She turns her attention back towards Love.

“...We have all waited long enough! I need names, Hart!”

Love takes a deep breath.

“...I…I…” She slams her fists down on the coffee table and knocks over Violet’s tea. “I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU AND MAKA!”

Everyone sits in stunned silence for what seemed like forever, but was actually only about a minute. Candi and Maka look at each other.

“...WHAT THE FU…” The two girls yell in unison before they are cut off.

*Static*

*Memory card full*

Chapter Text

Urchin and Rick both dash towards The American Dream.

Spyke slashes in an X formation while Rick stretches his fist right towards the traitor's jaw.

After he dodges both attacks with ease Mr. Dream grabs Urchin by the collar of his mesh undershirt, punches him in the face a few times, and slams him against the ground.

He then turns towards Rick who throws another stretchy punch towards him, but he quickly catches him by the wrist, pulls him in, and raises him up in the air by his throat.

“Come on, sarge! Where did all of that bravado go?” Mr. Dream says with a sinister smile.

Rick splits in the anti-heroes face.

An angry expression suddenly appears on American Dream’s face as he tosses Rick up into the air, jumps up after him, and roundhouse kicks him down the hallway.

Rick bounces against a wall, but doesn’t stop bouncing until he is out of sight.

The American Dream dusts his hands off before turning towards the students with an evil grin.

“None of you saw that, right?”

The kids are too scared to speak or move.

“Come on!” He walks towards the kids with a shrug. “You’ll be perfectly fine as long as you all cooperate!”

He stops and flexes which creates a small shockwave around the fake patriot.

“...Uh…” Ash is the first to speak.

“...A fight! What fight?” He says while rubbing the back of his neck before shoving Takeru.

“...Uh…yeah…I…I didn’t see anything…” the DJ responds. “...None of us did…right guys?”

Love, Candi, Violet, and surprisingly even Maka all shake their heads in response.

“Good answer!” The American Dream gives thumbs up and starts to walk away.

Love exhales a deep breath that she didn’t realize she was keeping in.

“...But…” Mr. Dream stops and turns around. “...If any of you leave this place and I hear that you told somebody about this down the grape vine…”

He cracks his knuckles.

“...Let’s just say you wouldn’t like what happens next…”

He actually starts walking away, but they hear him say one more thing under his breath.

“...I mean…I know where you guys live anyways so it’s not like you have that much of a choice…”

He finally heads out of sight with his arms behind his head while whistling the US national anthem.

The kids turn towards each other.

“...Let’s get out of here…right now!” Violet exclaims as the others nod. They retrace their steps and rush out of the building as quickly as they can.

Back outside of the building Isabella Quentin is somehow still standing and is currently fighting off the last half dozen au-tommy-tons.

She uses her powers to telekinetically grab them, crush them into small spheres of metal, and releases her power to drop them with a mighty clunk.

As soon as she finishes she puts her hands down on her knees to catch her breath.

“...huff…huff…What…an incredible performance I must say…” She says before she falls over and passes out.

The American Dream heads back to his brother's office.

“Hey Max, so…” He sits down to give his brother the news. “It seems like the heroes I brought weren’t as…loyal as I would have hoped…”

His brother doesn’t answer. He was just sitting backwards in his swivel chair.

“...Uh…Hey…Earth to Max…” Mr. Dream says with a confused tone. “...I know you can hear me right now so you can stop whatever game you’re playing…”

Max suddenly yet slowly turns around and folds his hands onto the table in front of him.

“...So Andrew…if those heroes weren’t compliant…you killed them all, right?”

“...Well, none of them are conscious at the very least, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to gather them all up and do the dirty deed later.”

Max suddenly slams his fists against the table.

“...So…you let them…get away!”

“...What are you talking about…of course not!” Andrew raises his hands in a futile attempt to appear less guilty and more compliant.

“Then what the hell is this?!” Max says as he quickly grabs a remote and turns on a nearby TV.

The screen shows a fuzzy recording of the fight that just happened.

“...See…I took care of the heroes no problem.”

Max pauses the tape and looks at Andrew with a scowl.

“You know that isn’t what I am talking about Andrew!”

“...What do you mean?”

Max plays the tape again and it shows Max having a brief conversation with the students before letting them walk away.

“What the Hell is this?!”

“...Sir, I may be a villain with plenty of blood on my hands…but those are just kids!”

Max turns the remote into gold and chucks it at his brother.

“Those are witnesses! It doesn’t matter how young they are! They can go to the police and put a stop to our entire empire!”

“...Like they’ll believe a couple of kids over us…” Andrew says with a shrug.

Max puts his hands on the table and turns it to solid gold, picks it up over his own head, and launches it towards Andrew.

He barely manages to dodge this as the table barrels through a wall and falls down to the city street below.

“What about our plan Andrew?! Have you forgotten or are you just that stupid?! No matter what you think those kids are a liability!”

“...But Max…”

Max marches right up to Andrew and gets right into his face.

“Do as I say Andrew! Or else!”

“...Or else…what?”

Max angrily pokes his brother in the chest.

“Or else I’ll continue this plan by myself!”

“...Fine…” Andrew says as he exhales. “...But…how do you want me to do this?”

“Any way you like! Poison them! Drown them! Bash them on the head for all I care! Do whatever you need to do to get the job done!”

Max takes a moment to catch his breath, slick back his hair, and walk to his chair to sit back down.

“What are you waiting for?! Get you there and kill those brats! I will not let my empire end like this!”

“...Yes…yes sir…”

Max pinches the bridge of his nose before turning around in his chair.

“...One more thing Andrew…”

“...Yes?”

Max turns his chair around slightly so that he can look backwards towards his brother.

“You better not disappoint me…or else!”

Chapter Text

Franklin Jupiter, Neptunia Imperialis, Paetyr Pluton, and Maggie Smith file into Maximillian Midas’ office.

“You wanted to see us, sir.” Franklin sits as he checks his pocket watch for the time.

“...Yes…” Max says with a hand on his chin and scowl on his face.

“I thought that we finished this meeting earlier?” Neptunia says as she leans forwards in her chair with a grumpy expression on her face. “...This better be important…

Max looks towards Neptunia. “...This is plenty important. I can assure you that…”

He gets up and looks out the window with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, Pluton?” Max turns around. “Are you at all curious about how I acquired my empire?”

“...Not at all sir…” He says with his legs crossed and his hands folded. “...That would be none of my business…I am only here to follow orders…”

Maggie walks over and smacks Paetyr in the side of the head.

“...Well…that wasn’t very hospitable…”

“Shut yer mouth!” Maggie yells at the newbie. “You best show our boss some respect, or else! Ya hear me, pardner?!”

“...What?”

“He wanted to tell you a story and you said no! That’s more rude than a squirrel refusing to share acorns after hibernation!”

Paetyr sighs.

“...Fine…how did you acquire your empire…boss?”

Max turns around with a stern expression.

“About twenty years ago me and my brother both had just graduated from SUPER. We both thought that being heroes would be a very quick and easy way to make a lot of money, but we both quickly realized that wasn’t the case. So, we devised a plan.”

He walks back towards his chair and takes a seat.

“To make a long story short, since we couldn’t make money while being on the up and up we decided that…alternative methods of acquiring wealth might have been necessary. You see, Andrew might be the brawn behind this operation…” Max taps the top of his head with his pointer finger. “...But I am the brains for a good reason…”

He gets up and walks right in the center of the chairs in which his colleagues were sitting in where his table used to be.

“It was such a good plan! So simple, yet so efficient. He pretends to be a big shot superhero and captures the hearts of the citizens of this city as a distraction as I take it over from upside down…With that being said…it seems like me and my brother might be having…” He stops to think for a moment. “...Let us just say a difference in what we are willing to do to accomplish our goals.”

“...Like…get on with it old man…” Neptunia is filing her nails. “...You are soooo boring!”

Max briefly glares at Neptunia before turning back towards the rest of the group.

“...So, this is where you come in…” Max puts his hands behind his back. “...I want you all to follow my brother and make sure…that he finishes the assignment that I have given him…Understood?”

The Greek God look-alikes nod.

“...Excellent!” Midas says as an evil smirk appears on his face.

Midas is walking down the halls of the hideout looking for where the kids could have possibly gone off to.

“Hey heroes!” Andrew announces. “Be not afraid! I just wanna talk to you!”

He stops to think for a second.

“...They are probably helping the other heroes get to safety…” He says with a hand on his chin. “...We can’t have that now, can we?”

He goes to check where he just fought Spyke and Rick, but nobody was there.

“...Drat…those snot nosed punks must have already helped the others and are probably heading out of the building…that was a lot quicker than I thought…No matter!”

He takes a runner’s start and takes off towards a wall, slam through it, and flies down to the street below.

Love, Maka, Ash, Violet, and Takeru are outside and have gathered Spyke, Rick, and Isabella and leaned them against the side of the building.

They also found Andy’s corpse and got a tarp to place over him.

“...And that’s the last of them!” Candi says as she runs towards the others with Alexandria on her back.

She places the goth down with the others and sits down to catch her breath.

“...Phew…I may be really fast…but I need to workout my arms more…"

“Excellent work, Candi.” Violet says as she puts a hand on Candi’s sprinkle covered blonde hair.

“...Thank Vi…” Candi says between breaths.

“...Now…” Violet turns towards the exit. “Let’s depart, shall we?”

“...I still think we should turn around and teach those punks a lesson…” Maka grumbles.

“For the last time, Maka!” Violet yells. “That is a terrible idea! We are not going to risk our lives on such an obvious suicide mission!”

Maka quietly growls to herself.

“...Whatever…” She puts her hands in her pockets and leans back against a wall.

Suddenly, something slams into the street right between the students.

“...Hello young heroes!” The American Dream announces.

They are all surprised by this, but Love especially so.

“...Hey Mr. Dream…” Love stutters out. “...I…I thought that you said…that we could leave if we….didn’t say anything…”

Andrew cracks his knuckles.

“...I am sorry…but there has been a slight change in plans.”

“...What…what do you mean?” Love heart is starting to beat faster.

“...I told my boss what I told you and he…didn’t really like that…so…” He claps his hands together. “...Let’s get this over with!”

“...What…do you mean by…’over with’...”

Andrew sighs.

“...Let’s just say…he told me I have some loose ends to tie up.”

He takes a moment to stretch before he slowly starts to make his way over to where Love is standing.

“...Hey!” Maka screams.

Mr. Dream turns to look at the rebellious girl who quickly ran over to stand in front of her timid friend.

“Back the fuck away from Love if you know what’s good for ya!” She says with a furious expression on her face.

“Ha! You really think that you can stop me?!” He says with a devilish smirk.

“...No…not on my own…” Ash, Takeru, Violet, and Candi quickly gather around Maka and in front of Love. “...But together…We WILL KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS!”

Chapter Text

The American Dream scowls.

“...So be it…” He cracks his knuckles. “...Let’s do this the hard way!”

He winds his arms behind his back and quickly returns them to his front to create a massive thunder clap.

This sends all six of our young heroes flying backwards in various directions.

Maka is the first to get back up. She spits blood from her mouth, but still has a wide toothy grin on her face.

“Is that all you’ve got, American Idiot?!” She says as she creates half a dozen buzzsaws out of her water and launches them at the fraud.

He stands completely still and lets the blades hit him. They all just bounce off of him and he takes no damage.

“...Kid…” He glares at Maka. “...You haven’t even seen a fraction of what I can do…”

Ash throws a fireball towards his face to distract him.

“Hey red, white, and ugly!” Ash yells aloud. “Stop trying to pick on women and fight me like a man instead!”

“Hey!” Maka responds to Ash’s statement. “I can take care of myself, you asshole!”

“I know, but just let him take the bait.” Ash responds to Maka with a hushed tone and through gritted teeth.

“...Fine…” Maka crossed her arms and headed back to check if the others were okay.

The American Dream walked towards where Ash and his boyfriend were standing.

“...How chivalrous!” He says as he winds up his right arm. “...I’ll reward your thoughtful behavior with a quick death! How does that sound?”

“I’d like to see you try, Gruncle Sam!”

“...What?” The American Dream stops dead in his tracks with a confused look on his face.

“Come on! It is a combination of grandpa and uncle…shut up, it’s clever!” Ash looks towards his boyfriend who rolls his eyes, looks back towards the former hero, and slams his fists together to set them ablaze. “The important part was that I was calling you old!”

“...Really…Well, in that case…” Mr. Dream says with a devious smile. “...I am going to have to teach you to respect your elders!”

The American Dream stomps on the ground which creates a shockwave around himself, and quickly sprints towards the boys.

Ash shoots a barrage of fireballs at Andrew, but he just brushes them all off like he was being pelted with cotton balls.

The false idol jumps into the air and slams his fist against the ground in the spot where the boys previously were standing.

Ash jumps back and charges up another ball of fire in his hands, but puts it over his head when it becomes too big.

“Hey, star spangled asshole! How about you feel the heat of my solar flare!”

Ash throws the massive ball of fire at Andrew…

…Who bats it out of the way like it was nothing and lets it explode a few hundred feet up in the sky.

“Do you have anything besides these measly fireworks in your arsenal, kid?” The American Dream walks towards Ash with his hands behind his head and a bored expression on his face. “You know that fire is incredibly common and such an overrated ability, right?”

“Shut your mouth! Fire is awesome!”

“...Of course you’d think so…”

“...Well…” Ash thinks fast before coming up with an idea. “...I’d like to see if you can handle this!”

“...What party trick are you going to show me now?” Andrew says with a yawn. “...You know that you don’t have all day…”

Ash quickly charges up another fire attack, but instead of throwing it at his opponent he throws it directly at his boyfriend.

“Flash bang!”

“Are you out of your mind, kid!”

“...Nah!” Ash says with a smirk as the smoke clears “...You just don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

From behind even more smoke Takeru emerges with a blade that was radiating with a brilliantly bright green energy.

“...You’re fired!” Takeru screams as he launches a giant green projectile at the former hero.

“...I thought you said you didn’t like that one?” Ash says with a confused face.

“...You know…it may be simple, but it’s effective…” Takeru blushes slightly and looks away. “...It’s growing on me, okay…”

Ash giggles and softly punches his boyfriend in the shoulder.

“Ow!” Takeru rubs his shoulder.

“...I’m sorry, babe, do you want me to kiss it better?”

“...Yeah…”

“...That is what I thought…” Ash says as he kisses his boyfriend in the spot he punched him on his shoulder.

“Hey!” The American Dream steps out from the dust of Takeru’s last attack with a mighty stomp. “Don’t forget, we are still in the middle of a fight, you punks!”

The American Dream sprints towards the young heroes again.

Ash throws another decently charged fireball at Takeru who deflects it towards Andrew, but the American meathead dodges with ease this time.

He reaches both of the boys and clotheslines them both into the pavement which knocks them both out instantly.

He brushes some rubble from his shoulder and turns around to look at the other heroes in training.

As he does this he instantly notices that Violet, Candi, and Maka have been preparing some sort of combo attack.

Candi just grabbed three small vials of sugar from her fanny pack and downs them all in one quick gulp. She then grabs onto Violet by the back of her shoulders who was holding Maka in a very similar way.

Candi beams at the fake hero and quickly starts to spin around in a circle. This eventually creates a small tornado around herself, but when she gains enough momentum she launches Violet and Maka high up into the air.

“Candi Catapult!”

Violet and Maka reposition themselves midair so they are holding on to each other by their hands.

Violet quickly spins around in a circle while she is still holding onto Maka in freefall before launching her friend after Making her weigh many times over her natural weight.

“One Million Pound Human Cannonball!”

Maka slams her fists together to create water blades with her hands while she quickly flies towards The American Dream.

“Super Swordfish Slash!” Maka screams at the top of her lungs as she collides with the false hero.

Andrew holds up his arms to defend himself, but Maka clashes with him hard enough that it actually sends the hero stumbling backwards.

Quickly seizing their opportunity to capitalize on his weakened state, Candi sprints behind Andrew and roundhouse kicks him towards the other girls.

Maka creates a giant hand out of water that launches him towards Violet.

Violet quickly grabs the fake hero around the waist and starts to do a suplex. She makes him weigh as much as she can possibly make him weigh in that moment.

“GRAVITY BOMB!”

She slams his head into the pavement with such an incredibly powerful force that it creates an earthquake. This tremor was so powerful it actually caused the rest of the hideout to finally collapse upon itself.

After the dust settles and the girls catch their breath they notice the American Dream’s body is submerged halfway down into the pavement.

“...Did…did we do it?” Violet says while catching her breath.

“...I…I think we did!” Maka cheers. “HELL YEAH!”

Candi sprints forward and wraps Maka and Violet in a big hug.

“That was amazing!” Candi had the biggest smile that the other girls had ever seen on her face (which was saying something). “I especially loved it when I threw you, Vi, and you threw Maka and Maka yelled out her attack name! We are so awesome!”

“...Don’t you think it is a little premature to celebrate?”

The girls turned towards Andrew who was slowly unlodging the upper half of his body from the pavement.

He fully pulls himself out from under the street, stands up, and dusts himself off.

“...But…but how?” Violet, along with the other girls, are in shock.

“...I’ll admit, that attack was quite impressive, but I have fought opponents who are much, much, MUCH more powerful than anything you could ever imagine!” He stretches and starts to walk towards the girls.

He then puts his hand on his cheek and looks at the small amount of blood from the only scratch on his entire body.

“...All of that effort for just one scratch?” He crouches into a runner's starting position. “...I hope it was worth it…”

He sprints towards the three girls who try to defend themselves, but the asshole grabs Candi and Maka by their ponytails and uses their bodies as weapons as he slams them into Violet.

This attack knocks all three of the girls out cold and Andrew looks over at Love.

She was now completely alone. Every single one of her friends and allies were either unconscious or dead.

At this moment all she wanted to do was to get away from the situation that she has found herself in…

…but she couldn’t move…

…She was paralyzed out of fear and was entirely immobile…She couldn’t move even if it was what she wanted to do more than anything else in her entire life at that moment.

…Not only that, but she was also scared…

…She thinks to herself as her life flashes before her eyes…She literally couldn’t imagine a time in her life where she was more scared than the moment she was currently in and that is absolutely saying something in comparison to the Hell on Earth that she has been through.

…Even worse though…even if she could move there is no way she would be able to get away or survive this anyways…

…When they entered this hideout she was surrounded by her friends who were all more powerful than she was on top of some of the strongest heroes in an entire city full of heroes…

…She was absolutely out of options…there was literally nothing that she could do except pray for some sort of miracle to happen…but she gave up on hoping for such impossible things a very long time ago…

The American Dream walked right in front of Love and kneeled down.

“...Hey kid…”

Love didn’t answer. She couldn’t have even if she wanted to.

“...What are you doing here?”

Chapter Text

…Love doesn’t have a good answer for this…

She thinks long and hard to herself, but the best justification that she could think of is that she has a crush on Maka and wanted to help her out even though deep down in her heart she knew that this was going to be a suicide mission.

The American Dream stands back up and turns around. He then exhales a deep breath.

“...Fighting kids is one thing, but I don’t want to hurt a child who won't even fight back…”

This only ever so slightly eases the stress that was surging throughout the entirety of Love’s body.

As he starts to walk back towards what remains of the hideout five bodies suddenly rise from the rubble.

“...Oh Andrew…” A large grin can be seen from the darkness.

The man slowly walks out into the light of the dim streetlamps and reveals himself to be Maximillian Midas.

He is followed by Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Vulcan.

“...Those weren’t my orders…” He said with a deranged smile.

He turns towards Hades and nods.

“...What the…”

Andrew feels a slash across his back.

Hades walks in front of Andrew, kneels down in front of him, and puts his bident on his chin.

“...My apologies Andrew, but orders are orders…”

The soul of The American Dream slowly flies into Hades’ lantern.

The American Dream slowly reaches an arm out towards Love before he collapses for good.

Hades gets up and walks back towards his boss.

“...Now then…” Max snaps his fingers. “Kill them all! Leave no survivors!”

“Yes sir!” his four henchmen say in unison.

“Stop right there!” A megaphone is heard in the distance.

A police car drives up to the crime scene and a man gets out and walks towards the Midas Mob.

This man had long, icy, light blue hair that almost reached down to the floor, a police jacket slung over his shoulders with a white undershirt and a blue tie, a police cap with a star symbol on the front, and black slacks.

He takes a cigarette out of his mouth, drops in on the ground, and puts it out with his foot.

Max and the others take a step back out of both surprise and fear.

“...Chief McHail…What…what are you doing here?” Max stutters out.

“Let’s just say a little birdie told me everything. Now, put your hands up where I can see them!”

Hades exhales and sprints towards the police chief.

“Not so fast!” The police officer says as he waves his hand towards Hades.

Before he could respond, Hades was frozen solid in a massive block of ice.

“...Wait…” Love finally builds up the courage and strength to stand up. “...Wh…what did you say your name was, sir?”

The police officer turns towards the timid blonde.

“Chief McHail, Eiss McHail to be more specific. You might also know me as the hero Permafrost. Why do you ask?”

‘...Oh…oh shit…’ Love thinks to herself. ‘This is…Calder’s dad?!’

“...Oh…” Love quickly tries to formulate an answer while hiding her fear. “...Just wanted to know the name of the man who was saving my life…that’s all…no other reason…”

“How do you not know my name?” Eiss questions. “...Everyone should know my name in this city…”

“...Uh…let me just say…that I was a…very sheltered kid…”

Eiss squints at her for a second.

“...Fair enough…Carry on, citizen…”

He turns his attention back towards Max and his three remaining henchmen.

“...How did you know we were here?” Maggie questions. “WHO RATTED US OUT?!”

“...If you really must know…It was the leader of CHS’ IQA team…Little Miss IQ…” Eiss steps forward leaving a path of ice in his wake with every step. “...She told me everything that she knew…but who would have guessed that Mr. Midas was behind all of this the whole time?”

“...THAT'S IT!” Midas screams at the top of his lungs. “I DON’T CARE IF THEY SEND THE ENTIRETY OF THE US MILITARY AT ME! I WILL NOT LET MY EMPIRE FALL!”

“...We’ll see about that…” Eiss says as he tips his cap.

“ZEUS! POSEIDON! VULCAN!” He screams. “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DO, BUT BEAT THIS FROSTY ASSHOLE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! GOT IT!”

They all nod and get into combative positions.

“...I’ll give you one last chance…” Eiss says as he walks towards the three faux Gods. “...Give yourselves up right now…or suffer the consequences…”

“Like Hell we will!” Vulcan shouts as she deploys her hammer.

She lifts it over her head and aims it at Eiss’, but is quickly frozen as well.

“...Who’s next?” Eiss says as he brushes a few snowflakes off his jacket.

“Let’s dance, big boy!” Neptunia yells as she extends her claws and leaps towards Eiss.

She swipes at him about thirty times, but he dodges every slash with ease.

“...WHY WON’T YOU LET ME KILL YOU?!” She screams.

“...Why would I let you do that?”

“THAT’S IT!” She yells at the top of her lungs. “ABYSSAL SPIKE ASSAULT!”

Her fingers and hair extend out in every direction, but Eiss just leaps backwards and out of the way of the attack.

“AAAHHH!!!” She cries out as she dashes towards the police chief. “JUST DIE ALREADY!”

“...I’d rather put you on ice…” He says as he freezes Neptunia right before she tries to lunge at him again.

Zeus looks at his pocket watch to read the time (it is currently 11:59 PM), closes it shut, and places it back into his suit pocket.

“...It appears that it is my time to fight…” He says as he uses his hands to create a thunder clap. “Strike Of Midnight!”

He disappears as a bolt of electricity flies behind Eiss.

Suddenly, Franklin reappears behind the chief. He winds up a punch while his arm is brightly surging with electricity, and he slams his fist directly into the middle of his back.

Eiss flies forwards and tumbles onto the ground.

Franklin looks at his wristwatch.

“...Hmm…that was a whole fifteen seconds…I can be more efficient than that…”

“...You’re saying that like I am done, but we are just getting started!” Eiss quickly gets back up and sends a massive wall of icicles towards Franklin.

Zeus claps and quickly evades the attack.

He appears behind Eiss again and traps him in a bear hug.

“Heaven’s Wrath!” He yells out as a massive bolt of lightning flies down from the sky and strikes the police chief.

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!” Eiss screams out as he is being electrocuted.

Franklin drops the police chief and lets him fall against the pavement.

“...Hmm…an entire minute…I must be losing my edge…”

Franklin tries to walk away, but Eiss grabs him by the ankle.

“...What is it now?”

“ICE AGE!” Eiss yells as Franklin is instantly frozen, but the attack is so massive that it covers the other three with another layer of ice as well.

He quickly unfreezes only himself, takes his cap off, and dusts it off before putting it back on.

He attempts to walk back towards Midas, but is interrupted.

Even though she was under multiple feet of ice, Maggie’s skin looked like it was boiling.

She melts the entirety of the ice that she was previously trapped in and stares daggers at Eiss.

“Now you’ve pissed me off, ice prick! I am angrier than ugly on an ape!”

She flexes and her entire body becomes a bright red and her small tuft of hair turns into a long flowing mohawk made of fire.

“BOILING POINT!” She screams as she places her hammer down and aims it towards Eiss. “ERUPTION!”

She presses a button that opens a hatch on her hammer as it shoots a giant wave of lava flies towards Eiss.

He dodges this, but just barely.

“DRAT! LET’S TRY THAT AGAIN!”

She fires at Eiss again, but this time he freezes the lava and it slowly cools down back into rock.

“DADGUMMIT!” She yells as she fires at Eiss a third time which he freezes again.

She tries to fire again, but realizes she is out of ammo.

“SHIT!” She screams out as she tries to fiddle with the weapon to see what is wrong with it.

“Sub Zero Snap Freeze!” Eiss yells seizing the opportunity and freezing Maggie a second time.

He sees Maggie instantly try to thaw the ice with her heat, but he puts his palm up to the side of the ice and sends an icicle towards her.

“Sub Zero Sniper Round!”

It pierces her through the shoulder.

She had an incredibly pained looking expression on her face, but she soon finally gave up and passed out from the pain.

“...Now…where was I?” He rhetorically asked as he walked towards Midas again.

Max put his hands up in self defense.

“...Now listen Chief…we could just work something out here!”

“...Save it for the judge…” Eiss says as he freezes Maximillian Midas in an instant.

Eiss then walks towards Love to check on her.

“...Are you okay, young man…” He says as he is standing over Love.

Even though she should be thankful that this man saved her life, his words still stung her a little.

“...Y…yeah…I think I should be fine…”

“...Glad to hear it…” He says as he stands up and pulls out his phone.

“Send a couple of paddy wagons to my current location.” He says as he walks to investigate the rest of the crime scene further.

Love, alongside Maka, Ash, Violet, Candi, and Takeru were all in the back of a police van and were being driven back to SUPER.

Midas and all of his henchmen were arrested at the crime scene and all of the other heroes were in a different van.

They had a hearse come from the morgue to pick up the bodies of The American Dream and US Andy to get them ready for the funeral.

Surprisingly enough, aside from the two patriotic themed heroes, none of the other heroes died during this attack.

“Alright, this is your stop.” A police officer says as she lets the kids out of the van and back onto campus. “We might call you in as witnesses for the course case so just keep that in mind, okay?”

Love and the others nod and the police officer drives off.

As soon as she leaves, Love immediately started to cry again.

“...Hey Love, it’s okay…” Violet says in a sweet and quiet voice. “...We are all alive and well…that is all that really matters, right?”

Love doesn’t respond and just keeps crying.

Candi wraps her arms around Love’s shoulders to give her a hug.

“...Hey guys…I think she just needs some time to herself…”

Candi looks towards the rest of the group who all just slowly nod in agreement.

She escorts her friend back to her dorm and tucks her into bed.

“...Sweet dreams, Love…” Candi says as she gives Love a kiss on the forehead goodnight.

After this, Love quickly falls into a very deep sleep.

Chapter Text

It was now Sunday morning, the day after the raid on the secret headquarters of Max Midas.

Even though it was already 10:30 and Love had already gotten more than enough sleep, she still didn’t want to get out of bed.

It’s not like she was actually asleep or anything like that. She was just kind of lying there, staring up at the ceiling.

Suddenly there was a knock at her door.

She slowly got up and checked who it was through the peephole.

All five of her friends were crowding around the door to check if she was okay.

Even though a lot of them had physical injuries that were a lot worse, Love had absolutely gone through the most mental stress the previous day.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Maka, Violet, Candi, Ash, and Takeru were all standing outside. They were also a lot quieter than they usually were.

“...Hey, Love…” Violet gave a small wave. “...Mind if we come in…”

“...N…not at all…” She steps to the side to let her friends into her dorm room.

She immediately went back to her bed and grabbed her shark plush to give herself some extra comfort.

“...So…” Maka sat next to Love on her bed. “...You like sharks?”

Love gave a small nod.

“...Interesting…” Maka blushed slightly. “...I’ll keep that in mind…”

“...Why…why are you guys all so quiet?” Love questioned the group.

“...Before we got here…” Violet sat on the other side of Love. “...I told everyone to be on their best behavior so that you wouldn’t have anything else to stress about…”

Love gave another small nod.

“...So…if you want to…you know…talk about anything…we are here for that, but if you’re okay to just sit in silence that’s fine too.”

“...Okay…”

Violet leaned her head against Love’s shoulder.

“...No pressure, but I just want to let you know that you can tell us anything…”

“...I think that I am okay for now…” Love responds. “...But sitting here in silence is kinda letting my mind wander, you know…I think…I want something to distract myself…just for a bit at least…”

“...I’ve got just the thing.” Ash grabbed the remote to Love’s TV and put on her favorite animated musical.

“...Is that better?” Ash asks his friend.

“...Yeah…a little…” A small, but noticeable smile appears on Love’s face.

They gather more places to sit around Love’s bed. Of course, Maka and Violet were sitting on either side of Love, but Candi also decided to sit right next to her on the bed. Ash and Takeru were sharing a bean bag chair that was a little bit off to the side.

The friends just spent the entire day together watching movies, eating snacks, and talking about whatever. By the end of the day, not just Love, but all of the friends felt a lot better.

The next couple of days went by normally, but on Friday of the next week Love and the others were called into court as witnesses for the case of Maximillian Midas.

They all were able to get out of classes that day because of it and a special chauffeur was sent to the school to pick all of the young heroes up.

One interesting thing about this case though was the fact that it wasn't public knowledge yet.

Apparently, the city council wants to decide whether or not they want to release the information about the case depending on what the outcome ends up being.

Even though Maximillian Midas is absolutely guilty, his vast wealth and resources might be able to somehow find him a loophole and absolve him of the crimes that he committed.

The city did announce that Andrew Adams (AKA: The American Dream) and Andy McKennedy (AKA: US Andy) were dead though. Since various members of The Shadow Union were present at the hideout it seems like the city is trying to pin this entire thing on Grimm King and The Shadow Union to take attention away from Max Midas on purpose. A funeral for the both of them will be held the following weekend.

After a long and awkward drive the kids eventually did make it to the court where Midas was to be tried.

They arrived a bit early so not everyone was there yet, but slowly and surely people did start filing into the courtroom as the case drew closer.

Among them were Spyke Imperialis, Rick McMann, Alexandria Aleric, and Isabella Quentin who all sat in the same area as the students.

Another thing to note is that the court in Central City doesn’t operate like a normal court in our world. In this city, the city council basically has absolute power over everything, but they try to balance this out with the fact that there were five of them and that all had differing interests in opinions.

The first to arrive was Isaac Quentin, the dean of students at SUPER.

When he saw some of his students all he did was tip his hat then make it over to his seat, which was placed next to four other seats for the other members of the city council.

After that was Eiss McHail, the chief of the Central City Police Department.

He just gave a small nod as he passed the students and took his seat.

Next up was a muscular yet chubby man with shaggy dark red hair, a thick beard, a hat with a star on it, and a beige shirt with a badge on it that read ‘Warden Aleric’.

When he walked past the kids he just glared at them with a stern expression on his face.

“Aleric.” Isaac says with a small nod.

“Quentin.”

“Warden.” Eiss says without nodding.

“McHail.”

With pleasantries out of the way, Alvin Aleric (AKA: the hero Iron Ball), the warden of the Iron Cage prison, takes his seat.

After that was a Hispanic woman with dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail, sunglasses, and a black suit. She also had the number 1 seemingly tattooed on her forehead.

“Long time no see Isaac!” She runs up to meet her former boss.

“Hello there Juanita.” Isaac tips his hat. “How have you been?”

“I have been wonderful!”

“That is great to hear my dear. How is the CHS doing?”

“Honestly, I think it is even better than when you were in charge.”

“What a bold claim, but since it is you who is saying it I’ll take your word.”

Juanita De La Primera (AKA: the hero Countesa), the current president of the Central Hero Society, takes her seat.

Finally, the last of the council of five to arrive was a older balding man who had one strand of gray hair down the middle of his forehead, had plenty of birthmarks all over his body, and was wearing a black sweater vest, a white undershirt, a bolo tie, and black slacks. He was also surrounded by half a dozen secret service people.

He had a small smile on his face and gave the students a small wave as he walked by.

The other four members of the council all bowed their heads as the mayor of Central City, Rusty R. Roseybelt, took his seat.

“Hello Mayor. How are you doing today?” Juanita asks.

“I am doing splendidly darlin’, thanks for askin’.” He takes a rag out of his pocket to dab some sweat off of his forehead. “Now, I say, when are we gettin’ this case started because I have a rather packed schedule today.”

A woman who was among the mayor’s secret service walks up to answer his question.

“It should be starting just about now, sir.”

“Well ain’t that wonderful.”

A moment later Maximillian Midas is escorted into the room by two police officers with handcuffs around his wrists. They also gave him special gloves that he couldn’t take off so that he couldn’t turn anyone to gold.

A woman with sunglasses, a black suit top, and a black skirt stands near the front of the court.

“All rise for the honorable judge Eustache DuVall.”

Eustache DuVall was an incredibly tall and lanky man. He was probably about eight and a half feet tall. He was wearing a black robe and a powdered wig which weren’t too out of the ordinary for a judge to be wearing, but he also had an iron mask on his face.

Judge “Iron Mask” Eustache DuVall took his seat at his desk at the front of the courtroom.

“The case of Maximillian Midas is now in session.” He says with a booming voice as he slams his gavel down.

Chapter Text

The friends sit in silence for a few more minutes just soaking in what Love had just revealed.

Love looks down at the ground not wanting to look at her friends. She was mostly doing this because she was afraid of how they were going to react.

Violet taps Ash and Takeru on their shoulders.

“...I think we should leave…Let’s give them some privacy so that they can talk…”

Ash and Takeru nod and the three of them leave the room.

Now it was just Love, Maka, and Candi who were all awkwardly sitting in silence. None of them knew what they wanted to say.

A wave of guilt just washed over Love and she started crying.

“...I’m sorry…” Love managed to say between sobs. “...I’m sorry for ruining your podcast Candi…I didn’t mean to…”

Candi quickly sits next to Love and puts her hand on her back.

“...No, Love…you didn’t ruin it…If anything I messed up by asking such an invasive question.”

“...You…” Love wipes her tears with her sleeve. “...You’re not mad at me?”

“...Why would I be mad at you?” Candi cocks her head to the side in confusion.

“...I…I don’t know…” Love was still crying, but not as intensely as she was before. “...I’m…used to people being mad at me…I guess…”

Candi wraps Love in a big hug.

“There is no reason why I would ever be mad at one of my friends…” A small smile appears on Candi's face. “...You know…unless one of you becomes a villain and tries to take over the world, but what are the odds of that happening?”

Love giggled in response to Candi’s question.

“...I am sorry for asking you such a personal question…” Candi deflates a bit.

“...No…it’s fine…” Love tries to reassure her friend.

“...No, it’s not though…” Candi was starting to tear up now. “...One of the main reasons why I set up this interview with you guys was to figure out who you had a crush on…”

Love starts to blush a bit and hugs her knees against her chest.

“...I’m not completely clueless, you know…” Candi’s cry was now turning into a sob. “...I noticed each and every time that you blushed at either me, or Maka, or Violet and I got nosy and wanted to know which one of us you were into…”

“...Well, I can tell you that it isn’t Violet…” Love says with a sad expression. “...I told her that I like her a few weeks ago…and that is when I figured out that she was straight…”

“...I am sorry, Love…” Candi goes to hug her friend again. She was mostly done crying now as well. “...I didn’t know…”

“...It’s okay…” Love meekly responds.

They sit in silence for another moment before they both turn their heads towards Maka.

“...I’ve noticed that you haven’t really said anything yet…” Candi states.

“...Oh…” Maka responds while rubbing the back of her neck. “...I just didn’t want to interrupt your moment…”

The room is silent for a bit again until Maka speaks again.

“...So…Love, do you wanna…talk about what you said?”

Love gives a small nod.

“...Yeah…We probably should…”

“...Okay…” Maka thinks for a moment before she continues to speak. “...So…how long have you had a crush on…all three of us?”

“...Honestly…” Love thinks for a moment as well. “...For a couple of months now…before I met you guys I didn’t really…have many friends…and you guys were all so kind to me and supported me through everything…you are all just so nice and talented and funny…and pretty…” Love says that last part more quietly than the rest of the sentence.

Love starts to tear up a little bit again.

“...Everything that I…am not…”

“...What?” Maka walks over and sits on the other side of Love. “...You are one of the kindest people I have ever met…”

Maka wipes a tear from Love’s cheek.

“...You’re just saying that…to make me feel better…”

“...Why would I lie to you?” Maka says with genuine concern.

Love doesn’t have an answer to this specifically, so she pivots the conversation a bit.

“...I want you both to be honest with me…” Love puts her head down and stares at the floor. “...Do…do I still…look like a…man?”

“Of course not…What makes you say that?” Maka responded with a concerned look on her face.

“...Be…because…when I look in the mirror…all I can see is how masculine I still look…” Love is sobbing again. “...I FUCKING HATE MYSELF!”

Both Candi and Maka quickly wrap Love in a tight hug while she continues to sob.

“...You are a wonderful person…Why do you hate yourself?” Maka asks.

“...Sometimes when I look in the mirror…it makes me feel so terrible that all I want to do is crawl into bed and wish that I was never born…” She was crying so hard that she started to hiccup. “...WHY DID I HAVE TO BE BORN AS A MAN?”

Candi cuts into the conversation for the first time in a while.

“HEY!” She raises her voice. “You weren’t born as a man! You were always a girl!”

“...Then why do I look so ugly?”

“YOU AREN’T UGLY!” Candi yells in response. “YOU ARE ADORABLE!”

Love suddenly turns towards Candi in shock.

“...You…you think…I am adorable?”

“OF COURSE I DO!” Candi was crying again. “I CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE COULD LOOK AT YOU AND NOT SEE ONE OF THE CUTEST PEOPLE THEY HAVE EVER MET!”

Love is taken aback by this. She didn’t know what to say.

Candi wiped tears from her eyes.

“...Please…” Candi said between pained sniffles. “...Please stop saying those things about yourself…because they aren’t true…”

“...But…but what about my jawline…and my wide shoulders…and my Adam’s apple?”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT! THINGS LIKE THAT SHOULDN'T BE GENDERED!” Candi grabs Love by the shoulders. “The most important thing to me is that you are trying! It is true that you can only do so much, but the effort matters to me more than anything else…”

Candi looks at Love with a heartbroken expression.

“...So please…please stop insulting my friend…”

At first Love didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t used to compliments and she didn’t know what the standard response was for these kinds of things.

Eventually she sighs as she finds the right words.

“...Okay…” Love looks back at Candi. “...I can’t promise anything…but I will try to take your words to heart…”

Candi hugs her again. Love couldn’t tell you how long the hug lasted, but it probably felt a lot longer than how long it actually lasted.

“...So…” Maka brings up the elephant in the room. “...Can we talk about that other thing?”

Love nods.

“...I think the main reason I have a crush on you guys…is just because you were all so nice to me…and maybe my brain couldn’t rationalize this positive attention in any other way…”

Maka leans back on the couch and stares up at the ceiling.

“...You know…I am actually glad that you told us this…Better to have everything out in the open then for this to possibly cause trouble down the line…”

“...Yeah…” Love says while pressing her pointer fingers together with a blush on her face.

“...With that being said…” Maka sits back up and stares at the other two girls. “...What are we going to do about this?”

“...We don’t have to do anything if you guys don’t want to…” Love immediately says. “...I could just…bottle this back up and try to forget about it…”

“I don’t like that idea.” Candi responds. “You have been bottling way too much for way too long. I don’t want you to have to do that with anything else.”

“...What do you mean by that?” Love asks with a confused expression.

“...Well…” Candi stands up and turns towards the other two. “I already told you guys I was open to a poly relationship right? Also, we are all attracted to women here…so…”

Candi shrugs before continuing.

“...I don’t want to force anything, but I am just putting that out into the universe.”

Love blushes and hugs her knees again.

She and Candi look over at Maka to gauge her reaction.

The rebel was crossing her arms and looking away with a huge blush on her face.

“...Hey, Maka…” Love says with a soft voice. “...This is a safe space…if you have anything to share you can tell us…we won’t judge you no matter what you tell us…”

Maka sighs before she turns towards the others.

“...Is it okay…if I take some time to…you know…think about all of this…”

Candi and Love look at each other before turning back towards Maka.

“...Yeah…that’s fine…Take all the time you need…” Love responds.

Candi nods in agreement.

“...Thanks…” Maka rubs the back of her neck. “...I think I am going to head back to my dorm…”

She gets up to leave, but looks back at the other two one more time before doing so.

Candi and Love both give her a small wave.

Maka gives a small smirk and leaves the room.

Chapter Text

DuVall put his gavel down and folded his hands.

“Mr. Midas, the case has started. Where is your defendant?”

“He should be here…” Midas looks down at his watch.

In the blink of an eye something zooms into the courtroom and takes a seat right next to Midas.

“...Right about now…” Midas finishes his sentence.

“Sorry for running late, your honor.” the speedster says to the judge as he opens up his briefcase.

This was a man with shaggy, shoulder length, dirty blonde hair that spiked up near the top, a light brown suit with feathers around the collar with wings embroidered onto the back of the jacket, light brown slacks, and a pair of sandals with wings on the sides of them.

“...And who might you be?” The judge says, looking intently at the man.

“My name is Miller Mercury and I will be Maximillian Midas’ defense attorney for this case”.

“...And why were you late?”

“Come on, your honor…” Miller shrugs. “You know how traffic is, right?”

“...Fine…I’ll allow it…but you better not be late again for the entirety of the rest of the trial…” DuVall leans over his desk and squints at Miller. “...Do I make myself clear?”

“...Crystal…” Miller says while rubbing the back of his neck.

“...Now then…” Judge DuVall picks up a sheet of paper in front of him and skims it over before putting it back down and folding his hands. “...For those who have never been in my courtroom before I would like to make a few things clear…There isn’t going to be a lawyer to hold the opposition to Mr. Mercury, because I will be doing that…nor will there be a jury…for in this court of law…I am the judge, the jury, and the executioner…So Mr. Mercury, the only person who you Miller have to convince in this room of Midas’ innocence…is me…”

“...That’s fine…I can work with that…” Mercury responds while wiping sweat from his forehead.

“...Of course I will still be calling witnesses to the stand…but sadly it appears that the court writer is out sick today…so I will be making an executive decision…”

He points over to the stands in which the students and other CHS heroes are sitting at.

“You there!”

He is pointing directly at Candi Kane.

“I appoint you as a replacement court writer. You will only have to do this until the actual court writer is well enough to come back to work. Is that alright with you?”

“ABSOLUTELY!” Candi yells, but then clears her throat and folds her hands. “...I mean…yes…I will be okay with that…”

Candi zips over to a laptop near the front of the courtroom, cracks her knuckles, and prepares to type.

“...With that predicament out of the way…” DuVall looks back towards Midas and Mercury. “...Does the defendant have any opening statements?”

Miller gets up and straightens his suit jacket before looking back at everyone sitting in the courtroom.

“...People of Central City…Maximillian Midas has been a tremendous boon to our city’s economy for as long as he has been in business here…His company, Midas Machine, has been making leaps and bounds forwards when it comes to technological advancements. There are so many different things that his company has developed. So many that I can almost guarantee that he has made something that has improved the lives of each and every single person in this here courtroom.”

Miller turns back towards Judge DuVall.

“...With all of that being said…why…would such a man jeopardize his entire career, nay, the good name of his entire company…just…for what? Murdering a man who had never wronged him…No, not just a man, but the greatest hero and greatest man to ever live in our wonderful city. I highly doubt that he would do such a thing. Why? Because there is no motivation for him to do so. He wouldn’t get any monetary gain from such a things, nor would the public be in favor of such actions…There isn’t a single reason in my mind as to why Mr. Midas would even fathom doing something such as what he is being accused of here today…and with that…I rest my case…”

Candi quickly typed down everything that Miller had just said.

“...Hmmm…That is quite the argument Mr. Mercury, but let’s see if it holds water against the claims of our eye witnesses…”

Judge DuVall points towards the gallery.

“...I call Isabella Quentin to the stand…”

Isabella tips her hat towards the judge and makes her way over to the podium.

“,,,Miss Quentin, you may speak…”

“...Okay, I am going to start by saying that almost none of what Mr. Mercury just stated was the truth.” She glares over at Miller. “First of all, almost all of us who bear witness to the events that transpired last Saturday can tell you as much. Also, almost all of his lackeys have already been arrested. It is true that Midas himself didn’t do much of the fighting, but he was absolutely the person who commanded his men to do so.”

Miller raised a finger to get the judge’s attention.

“...You may speak…”

“Such an accusation, Miss Quentin. We can all say whatever we like all day, but that alone doesn’t make it any more or less true. From what I can gather from your statement it seems like you didn’t actually see Midas give any orders to his subordinates. Who is to say one of them did this of their own accord right under Mr. Midas’ nose, because it is true that some of his men did attack and kill a few people, but where is the proof of his actual direct involvement because what you are saying right now is all assumed from hearsay…so…If I may ask, do you have any evidence of what you are saying right now?”

“Is evidence actually needed? If you ask me this is a pretty open and shut case. I am honestly surprised that this went to trial at all.”

“...So…I gather that is a no?”

“Judge, do you really believe what this man is telling you? Because I for one can see right through him. Actually, let me read his mind right now!” Isabella points her hand towards Miller before being interrupted by the judge.

“...Miss Quentin…No powers are allowed to be used in this courtroom. If you proceed I will find you in contempt of court…”

“...but…fine…” Isabella deflates. “...Technically speaking…I don’t have any actual direct evidence of what we are accusing Midas of doing…”

“...Miss Quentin…you are excused…” DuVall says as Isabella gets up and walks back towards the gallery with her shoulders slumped.

Miller sits back down, leans back in his chair, and puts his feet up on the desk in front of him with a smirk on his face.

“...Next…” DuVall announces with his deep, booming voice. “...I call Rick McMann to the stand…”

Rick marches over from the gallery, gives DuVall a salute, and stands behind the podium.

“...Mr. McMann…” DuVall says.

“...Yeah…” Rick says as he was about to light a cigar.

“...There is to be no smoking in my courtroom…”

“...Uh…Sorry, your honor…” Rick quickly stashes the cigar and lighter back into his pocket.

“...Now, you may speak…”

Rick nods and turns towards the others.

“Attention!” Rick announces into the microphone. “...Even though Miss IQ didn’t actually see any foul play from Midas with her own two eyes, I for sure did. Not just me though…” Rick gestures towards the gallery. “...Urchin, and all of the students from SUPER besides him can also tell you that everything that I am about to say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…The truth that I am speaking of is, in fact, evidence that Maximillian Maggot is guilty!”

“Your honor!” Miller quickly stands up and raises his hand.

“...Yes Mr. Mercury?”

“Mr. McMann just insulted my client which I personally find unacceptable behavior and is quite uncalled for.”

“...But…He is a maggot…and I refuse to withdraw my previous, hilarious, insult…I mean statement…” Rick says with his arms crossed while glaring towards Miller.

“Your honor! He insulted my client again! Is this the proper way to act in a court of law?”

“SILENCE!” DuVall yells as he slams his gavel against his desk. “...Mr. McMann…I will excuse your previous words if you apologize and promise not to do so again…”

“...Nope!” Rick looks away from the judge with his arms crossed.

“...Then step away from the stand…”

“...Freedom of speech my ass…” Rick grumbles to himself as he walks back towards the gallery.

“...Now then…” DuVall looks down at his papers again “...I call Lev Hart to the stand…”

Love felt a shiver crawl down her spine as her deadname was called. She knew that she might have had to speak during the trial, but she wasn’t aware that it would be so soon.

She does her best to calm her nerves, takes a deep breath, and approaches the podium.

Chapter Text

“...So…Mr. Hart…” Judge DuVall says to Love in a deep and booming voice. “...Please tell the court about your encounter with Maximillian Midas…”

Love tried to think about how she could try to use her words to get Maximillian Midas arrested, but the words were escaping her at the moment.

Before she was called up to the stand she had some ideas of what she wanted to say, but now that she was here all of those thoughts have now completely disappeared…

…Instead, all she can think about currently is how many people were staring at her and expecting her to speak…and that terrified her…

“...Mr. Hart? Are you alright?” The judge questions.

‘No…not now!’ Love thought to herself.

She was about to have a full on panic attack in the front of the courtroom.

Seemingly out of nowhere she started hyperventilating. Tears followed soon after this.

The people seated in the gallery obviously noticed this and started to talk amongst themselves. They were saying things such as what did that man do to elicit such a response and that they now thought that Midas was obviously guilty of something.

“Order In the court!” DuVall slammed his gavel down on his desk a few times.

Everyone who was previously talking quickly stopped doing so to pay attention to the judge.

Duvall then turns to Love.

“...It seems like whatever you have been through has been a lot Mr. Hart…Would you like us to take a brief recess so that you could put yourself together before we continue?”

Love gives a small nod.

“...Alright…We shall be having a brief recess…Everyone, be back in this court in exactly thirty minutes…no more, no less…” DuVall says as he slams his gavel down on his desk again.

As everyone was filing out of the courtroom, Violet decided to go and check on Love who was still relatively close to the podium that she froze up at.

“...Hey Love…Are you alright?”

Love briefly looks towards Violet and shakes her head no.

“...Do…do you want to talk about it?”

Love doesn’t immediately respond. She Just hugs Violet and cries into her chest.

After a couple of minutes Violet was able to get Love to calm down a bit.

‘...I’ve got an idea…’ Violet thought to herself.

She walks over to Judge DuVall who was looking through some paperwork on his desk.

“...May I have a moment of your time, your honor?” Violet asks.

“...Make it quick…” He says as he puts down the papers and folds his hands.

“...You see…My friend has really bad social anxiety…and…uh…he often freezes up when he has to talk to a lot of people in public…Would it be alright if…he…tells me what happened in private and that I speak for…him…when everyone returns to court?”

Violet felt bad about misgendering her friend so many times, but she knew it was for the greater good in this situation.

DuVall looks around Violet and towards Love before looking back at Violet again. She was done crying now, but she was still shaking a little bit.

“...Fine…on one condition…You may speak for your friend…but he must also be at the podium as you are sharing his story with the courtroom so that we could make sure what you are saying is absolutely true…Are these terms agreeable?”

Violet looks over at Love who gives a small nod.

“Yes.” Violet responds. “That would be fine. Thank you.”

DuVall nods and looks back down at his paperwork.

Violet and Love go outside of the courthouse and into a nearby alleyway to talk. Love tells Violet everything…except she leaves out the part with her and Andy.

Everyone was now filing back into the courtroom.

After everyone was seated, DuVall slammed his gavel down.

“...The case of Maximillian Midas will now continue…”

Violet and Love walk up to the podium, but when they get up there Love is trying her best to hide behind Violet.

“...Since Mr. Hart was unable to tell the court about his experience on his own…I allowed one of his friends, Miss Violet Newton, to recount this story for him…”

The judge folds his hands and looks towards Violet.

“...You may begin…”

“...Alright…Thank you, your honor…” Violet looks at DuVall before turning her attention towards everyone else who is currently sitting in the gallery. “...People of Central City…I am here to reveal to you the misdeeds of Maximillian Midas and why it would be in our best interest to make sure that he is put where he belongs…in Iron Wall prison behind bars…”

Violet looks towards Love before she continues recounting last weekend's events.

“While it may be true for the others that they didn’t specifically see Midas give his subordinates direct orders to attack us, what…my friend…has revealed to me tells me that he absolutely did do exactly what he is being accused of…Apparently after the rest of us were knocked out by Midas’ underlings…Lev…witnessed everything else that happened…So…right after the rest of us we beaten unconscious…he…saw Midas give a man with gray hair tied back into a bun and a suit the command to kill Mr. Adams, which the man followed through with immediately…After this Midas gave an order to kill not only the other heroes that were in the building, but all of us kids as well…Chief McHail arrived on the scene soon after that and arrested Midas and his underlings…”

Violet looks towards Love who gives an affirmative nod of confirmation.

“...And there you have it…If you ask me that is more than enough information to get Midas convicted…” Violet crosses her arms as a smirk appears on her face “...I don’t know this next part for sure, but one could also easily assume that Midas gave the order to kill Mr. McKennedy as well…”

Love immediately freezes up again. Violet turns around to look at her friend.

“...What is it…isn’t that what happened?” Violet questions with a confused look.

“...Well…yes…but…”

Miller Mercury quickly takes notice of what is going on and raises his hand.

“...You may speak Mr. Mercury…” DuVall tells the Hermes wannabee.

“...Now…I might just be me seeing things, but did anyone else notice how tense Mr. Hart got when Miss Newton mentioned Mr. McKennedy?”

There were murmurs of confirmation of this happening around the courtroom.

“...If everything happened just as you said, Miss Newton, then why would such an innocuous thing give Mr. Hart such a visceral response?”

“...I…I don’t know…” Violet felt herself starting to get worried. “...Everything before that point I can assure you was the full truth…but to be honest I was just making an educated guess with that last sentence…I can’t confirm nor deny what actually happened to…Mr. McKennedy…”

“...Interesting…” Miller strokes his chin as a devious smirk appears on his face. “...How very…incredibly interesting…”

Chapter Text

Miller Mercury walked over to the podium that Violet and Love were currently standing behind with a smug look on his face.

“I wonder what could have possibly gotten such an unexpectedly strong reaction…”

Violet looks at Love with a concerned look on her face.

“...Tell me…what are you hiding, Mr. Hart?” Miller says as he slams his hands down on the podium.

*SLAM SLAM*

“...Mr. Mercury…Stop badgering the witnesses…” Judge DuVall says with a stern yet not entirely readable expression. He puts his gavel back down and folds his hands.

“...My…apologies, your honor…” Miller backs up and leans against his and Midas’ desk.

DuVall turns towards Violet and Love.

“...With that being said…would you like to explain what happened Mr. Hart…it seems like you know something about Mr. McKennedy that the rest of us don’t…”

Violet tries to say something, but notices a tap on her shoulder and a small nod from Love who walks up to the microphone to speak for herself.

“...I…I was present for the death of Andy McKennedy…”

Everyone sat in silence and was at the edge of their seats including even the likes of Miller Mercury, Maximilian Midas, and Eustache DuVall. The room was so quiet that you could easily hear a pin drop.

“...I…uh…you see…”

Love glances over at Maka who had a concerned look on her face.

Love takes a deep breath.

“...I can tell you…that Midas himself didn’t order for the death of Andy specifically…because the person who killed him…was…”

Everyone was leaning in as closely to Love as they could.

“...It was…NOIR!” Love cries out as tears start to form at the corners of her eyes.

“...Wait…” DuVall responds. “...So what you are saying is…that the Shadow Union was responsible…”

Love wipes a few tears from her cheeks.

“...N…not entirely…As far as I know…Midas hired the Shadow Union as bodyguards so that they could make sure that their meeting would be uninterrupted…I am pretty sure that…Noir…acted on his own accord…With that being said…Midas did still specifically tell one of his henchmen to kill The American Dream…along with an order to kill the rest of us…you know…before Mr. McHail saved us all…”

“...So…both the Shadow Union and Midas are both guilty then?” DuVall asks the timid blonde.

She nods her head yes.

“...And what you are telling me is the absolute truth…”

“...Y…y…yes…”

DuVall turns towards the gallery.

“Those who are either faculty at or enrolled at SUPER, would you say that Mr. Hart is a trustworthy person?”

All of Love’s friends along with Isaac Quentin nod their heads yes.

Love feels a pang of guilt in her heart, but doesn’t say anything.

“...So…Mr. Mercury…it appears that your accusation was unfounded…”

“...What are you talking about? I didn’t accuse anyone of anything!” Miller slams his hands on his desk.

“...But you were insinuating it…Were you not?”

Miller doesn’t say anything in response to this.

“...It appears that Mr. Hart was just rattled because he witnessed a murder in front of his very own eyes…The same reaction he had when he first stepped towards the podium when we asked about The American Dream…He may be very shy…but I have no reason to believe that he is being untrustworthy in the slightest…”

The guilt in Love’s heart grows stronger, but she still resists the urge to say anything.

Miller starts to sweat and quickly flips through the papers in front of him trying to find any sort of loophole to get him and his client out of this situation.

“...I…um…I…” Miller Mercury stands up and points at Love. “I THINK THAT MAN IS LYING! HE IS THE ONE WHO KILLED MR. MCKENNEDY!”

DuVall slams his gavel down with great force.

“THAT IS ENOUGH OUT OF YOU MR. MERCURY! CONTROL YOURSELF OR I WILL THROW YOU OUT OF THIS COURTROOM MYSELF!”

Miller is taken aback by this. He sits down, folds his arms, and puts his head down onto the desk in front of him.

Meanwhile, Midas is sweating and tugging at his collar.

“...Alright…I think that I have reached a decision…but…at the very least I would like to hear the opinions of our city council before I conclude today’s trial…”

DuVall looks over to the five members of the Central City Council.

“...Let us start with you, Sir Quentin…”

Isaac stands up and clears his throat.

“I…personally believe that Midas…”

Isaac sits back down and takes a sip of his tea.

“…Is guilty…”

Juanita De La Primera stands up next.

“I trust the word of my former boss more than anyone else in this entire city…so I also say that Midas is guilty.”

After her it is Warden Alvin Aleric who has a psychotic grin on his face.

“...I can’t wait to see the look on his face as I get to introduce him to a few of my new toys…I also say guilty! Lock him up!”

Police Chief Eiss McHail stands up after him.

“...Do I even need to say it…” Eiss says with a stoic expression.

“...Yes…” DuVall quickly responds.

“...Fine…guilty…”

Finally, Mayor Rusty R. Roseybelt stands up. He uses a small rag to dab sweat off of him forehead before he speaks.

“...First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Midas for all of the help that he has given Central City economically…That was mighty helpful of you…”

A glimmer of hope appears in both Midas and Mercury’s eyes.

“…but, with that being said…I don’t want to be a party pooper here today…so I will…also say guilty…”

Midas and Mercury’s hope is now gone.

“...Interesting…” DuVall says. “...Before I conclude today’s trial…do either you or your Mr. Midas have anything else that you would like to say to the court?”

“...I…uh…” Miller turns to Midas. “...It has been a pleasure working with you…”

He taps his boss on the shoulder and proceeds to quickly sprint out of the courtroom.

“...OH NO YOU DON’T!” Candi stands up and pulls a vial of sugar from her fanny pack downing it all in one quick gulp.

Candi quickly sprints out of the courtroom and also quickly comes back dragging Miller along with her.

“...Alright…for leaving the courtroom during a trial, I sentence you to ten years in the Iron Wall prison…”

“...Hey…hold on a second…” Miller puts up his hands defensively. “...This trial was for my boss…I mean Mr. Midas…This didn’t have anything to do with me…”

“...Hmmm…” DuVall thinks to himself for a second. “...Let’s make that twenty years…”

He slams his gavel down.

“...As for you Mr. Midas…I hereby sentence you…TO LIFE IN PRISON!”

DuVall slams his gavel down.

“...Also, all of your assets will be seized and your wealth will be redistributed to the citizens of Central City…”

“...What…what do you mean redistributed?” Midas is rubbing the back of his neck with sweat pouring down his face. “...Is it hot in here to anyone else?”

DuVall leans over his desk and towards Midas.

“...I think you know what I mean, Mr. Maximilian Midas…”

Midas quickly stands up and starts to hyperventilate.

“...I…I…” Midas grits his teeth. “THIS WILL NOT BE THE END OF MY EMPIRE!”

He turns his entire body into gold and tears the handcuffs that were on him in half. He also quickly takes the gloves he was forced to wear off and throws them against the ground.

Tears formed at the corners of Midas’ eyes.

“IF YOU WANT TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME! THAN YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE IT FROM ME BY FORCE!”

He kicks the desk that was in front of him towards DuVall.

The Judge slams his gavel down on the desk that was flying towards himself. This causes the desk to splinter.

“MCHAIL! ALERIC! STOP HIM!” DuVall points at Midas.

McHail nods and jumps towards Midas.

“...Ice Age…”

Eiss tries to touch Midas, but the golden man jumps back and out of the way.

A giant handcuff flies through the ice and towards Midas’ torso, locks around him, and yanks him back.

“Ball and Chain!”

Alvin Aleric summons a giant black iron ball and slams it into Midas’ stomach.

This causes Midas to cough up blood, but his blood was also made of gold.

Juanita De La Primera touches the one on her forehead and creates four copies of herself that respectively have a two, three, four, and five on their foreheads.

“Crujido De Números!”

Juanita then points towards Midas as her clones dogpile him.

All of the clones suddenly turn into gold as Midas breaks out of the pile.

“DO YOU THINK THAT WILL BE ENOUGH TO STOP ME?!?! I AM THE RULER OF THIS CITY! I AM…A KING…no…I…I AM A GOD!”

Midas slams two of Juanita’s clones together as they crumble into pieces.

This causes Juanita to wince in pain.

He then takes the two other clones and throws them directly at her.

Juanita braces herself for the attack, but after a few seconds she realizes that she is fine.

The golden statues were floating in front of her while they were surrounded by a pink aura.

“...Gracias Sir IQ…”

Isaac just gives her a small smile and a nod, puts the statues down besides himself, and turns towards Midas.

“...Isabella…”

Isaac’s daughter perks up and quickly responds.

“...Yes dad?”

“...Mind helping out your old man. This will only take a moment of your time.”

“...I don’t mind at all…” Isabella says as she puts down her cup of tea, stands up, and quickly walks to her father’s side.

They both point their canes towards Midas.

“NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!” Midas screams as he rampages towards the family. “THIS WILL NOT BE THE END!”

“...This isn’t your story, Max…” Isaac says with a stoic expression.

“...You are just the villain…” Isabella continues with a small smirk.

A giant ball of pink, crackling energy emanates from the bottom of Isaac and Isabella’s canes.

“...SUPER PSYCHO SHOCK!” They both yell out at the same time as the projectile flies towards Midas who was still running towards them with reckless abandon.

As the energy ball collides with Midas’ skin he screams out in agony as he falls onto the ground.

He continues to writhe for about another two or three minutes before he passes out from sheer pain.

As he loses consciousness his skin turns back to normal.

As do Juanita’s clones.

She walks over to them.

“Juanita De La Segunda, Juanita De La Tercera.” Juanita says to her clones.

“Juanita De La Primera” The clones say in unison in response.

Juanita snaps her fingers as the clones are absorbed back into her own body.

At some point in the middle of the fight Mayor Roseybelt had fallen off of his chair.

He slowly stands back up and dusts himself off.

“...My…that was sure something…”

“Are you alright, mayor?” Juanita says as she approaches him.

“...I am fine Miss Primera…Thanks for asking though…”

After the dust has settled and the fight is over, everyone in the courtroom turns towards Judge Eustache DuVall.

DuVall dusts himself off.

“...Mr. Aleric…”

The Warden nods towards the judge.

“...Make sure to put Mr. Midas in the most secure room in your entire prison…”

A sinister smile climbs onto Alvin’s face.

“...With pleasure…”

“...Also, take Mr. Mercury with you as well…”

Alvin nods, walks over to Max and Miller, puts them onto his shoulders, and leaves the courtroom.

Maka, Candi, Ash, and Takeru quickly walk over to where Love was standing.

“...Hey…” Maka asks her friend. “...You okay?”

Love thinks for a moment and nods her head.

“...Yeah…I am okay…” She smiles softly. “...I can’t believe we actually won…”

Candi quickly wraps her friends into a big hug.

“WE DID IT! HOORAY!”

“FUCK YEAH WE DID!” Maka shouts along with Candi.

“Justice prevails!” Violet adds.

Ash and Takeru turn towards each other and kiss each other on the lips…This quickly turns into a full on makeout session right in the middle of the courtroom.

Maka, Violet, and Candi look at Love again. All of the girls have huge grins on their faces.

Love blushes and sweeps some hair behind her ear.

“...This is great and all, but…I think we should go back home…” Love says as she yawns. A tired look started to creep onto her face as the exhaustion from the day catches up with her. Despite this she still held a smile though.

“...Yeah…Let’s go home…” Violet agrees.

The friends are driven back to SUPER and head back to their dorms.

Love walks into her dorm room, jumps onto her bed, and falls asleep almost instantly.

A younger Love is seen in a dark room with a singular lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

“...So…How long have you had these feelings?” A voice comes from a figure that was still halfway shrouded in darkness.

“...Uh…I dunno…” Love says as she looks down at the ground.

“...You know these feelings are sinful, do you not?”

Love doesn’t respond. She just sits there, waiting for the man to continue.

“...Don’t worry, sport…” The man grins in the darkness. “...We have ways to take care of that problem here…Just let us help you…”

Love gives the smallest of nods.

The man takes her hand and leads her to a different room.

“...Sit here please…” The man’s grin is somehow ever bigger than it was before.

Love does as she is told and sits down.

She is then strapped into the chair as the man walks to the side of it and puts his finger next to a switch.

“...Just to let you know…this is for your own good…”

The man flips a switch that administers a small, yet painful shock to Love who cries out in pain.

Love wakes up in a cold sweat with tears streaming down her face.

She calms down a little when she notices where she is.

She then lays back down as stares at the ceiling.

Chapter Text

Warning: Transphobia, Alt-Right Talking Points

Now that Maximillian Midas is behind bars things finally started going back to normal…or as normal as possible for some people…

Throughout everything that was going on Love completely forgot about Calder outing her when he hacked that news website to post the article about her. To her luck the article was deleted at some point after that because she couldn’t find it no matter where she looked. It seems like it was completely scrubbed from the internet.

With that being said, Love didn’t want to be outed again so she decided that she was going to come out on her own terms.

Love waited for the next time both class A and class B had training together to make her announcement.

All of her friends along with all of the students in her grade level, Jack, Angella, Zari, Isaac, Rose, and Bulldog were all present at this time.

“Alright!” Zari announced into her megaphone. “Before we start training today Lev wanted to make a personal announcement!”

Zari hands Love the megaphone.

“Here ya go, sir!”

All of the students were sitting in the bleachers. Aside from Love and Zari, Isaac, Angella, and Jack were standing at the front of the gym. Bulldog and Rose were leaning against the wall of the gym.

“...Um…Hello…” Love stutters into the megaphone. “...There is something I would like to share today…about myself…”

She looks around the room. Her friends all had big supportive smiles on their faces, most of everyone else had a neutral expression of anticipation, and Calder looked colder and more distant than he usually was.

“...I…I…I am…uh…”

She was completely frozen by stage fright.

Noticing that she probably needed some help, Maka, Violet, Candi, Ash, and Takeru got up from their seats to surround her at the front of the gym.

Violet leans over and whispers into Love’s ear.

“Do you want me to say this for you?”

“...No…I think…that I should be…the one who says it…but thank you…”

Violet nods and puts an arm around her friend.

“...Hello…my…my name is…Love…Hart and I…am…a…”

Love takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

“...I am a transgender woman…”

She quickly hands the megaphone back to Zari and tries her best to hide behind her friends.

Now that the information was out into the world she was curious about how people were responding to this, but at the same time she didn’t want to know what people thought.

…I mean…she did want to know if they were supportive, but she rather not know if anyone had the opposite opinion.

Violet and Candi hugged their friend.

Maka, Ash, and Takeru stood in front of Love and scanned the room for any trouble that this might bring to their friend.

Zari puts the megaphone up to her lips slowly.

“...Oh…That was…” She puts a hand on her chin for a second while she thinks over what she says next. “...Not what I expected, but also very brave!”

Zari turns to Love.

“Would it be alright with you if I open the room up for questions?”

Love thinks about it for a moment, but nods her head yes.

“Okay, if you have any questions for Love she said it is okay to ask.”

Zypp Sunbeck walks up to Love and they point at her accusingly.

“I knew it!”

That is all Zypp had to say. They walk away after this.

Rose walks up to Love next and gives her a hug.

“I know that was probably really hard. You are very brave, Love.”

Love’s eyes get misty after she hears this.

“...Th…Thanks Rose…”

Rose decides to stand at front with the others for now.

Bulldog walks over to Rose.

“...Hey…should I scrap my work on…her equipment to make it more…you know…”

“Oh, most definitely! I think that you should scrap it completely and I’ll help you restart! I told you, not everyone wants hot rod flames and skulls on all of their stuff!”

“...Noted…”

Jack just sighs in annoyance.

He writes a note to himself to update Love’s pronouns in the system.

“...Making me do extra work…” He grumbles to himself.

Angella shoves him in the shoulder.

“Come on Jack! Be happy for her!”

Jack looks at Angella with a deadpan expression.

“...I will never be happy to have to do more work…The reason for it is irrelevant to the fact that I have to do more work…”

“Whatever you say, Scrooge!”

Jack glares at Angella and continues to write on his to-do list.

Zahid walks up to talk to Love next with his arms crossed.

“Just to let you know, this doesn’t change anything about our upcoming sparring session. Just because you are a woman doesn’t mean I will go any easier on you.”

“...That’s fine…”

Zahid bows his head and walks off.

Shiro is next. She wraps an arm around Love’s torso.

“...I was going to say something similar to Zahid, but in a nicer way, you get what I mean!”

“...I…I think so?”

“...Yeah…Congratulations! I am genuinely happy for you, but I also will not hold back in combat! So…be prepared yourself for that…miss…”

Being called miss sends a warm feeling surging through her body.

Samara was next with Poe wrapped in her arms with a tight hug.

“...Since you are a girl now I should reintroduce you to Poe…”

She grabs Poe’s hand and waves it at Love.

Love does a small wave back to the teddy bear.

“...What do you have to say, Poe?”

“The circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant…It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are…”

Both Samara and Love look at Poe with a bewildered and confused expression.

“...Uh…I mean…it is beary nice to meet you, Love!”

After this Samara scrambles away.

Jazmine walks up next and wraps Love in a bear hug.

“Love! What a great name! It’s music to my ears!”

She lets go of Love and gives her a second to breathe.

“Just a tip, if you have any more feelings you need to work through I highly recommend expressing them through creativity. It doesn't even have to be through song! Writing or drawing would work for this too!”

Jazmine is about to walk away, but gives Love one more hug before doing so.

…and that just leaves Calder…

He is standing in the bleachers with a bewildered and angry expression on his face.

“...What…the fuck is going on?! Is it opposite day or something?!”

Everyone turns their attention towards Calder.

He jumps down from the bleachers and walks towards Love and the others with hands in his pockets.

“Why the fuck are you all indulging in his fantasies?! What the hell is wrong with you people?!”

Violet walks up to Calder with an angry expression on her face.

“Her!”

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!”

“HER!” Violet is pissed now. “LOVE IS A TRANSGENDER WOMAN! WOMAN AS IN SHE/HER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!”

“I KNEW THIS TRANNY IDEOLOGY BULLSHIT WAS CONTAGIOUS! I FUCKING KNEW IT!”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!”

“YOU ALL FELL FOR IT! YOU ARE ALL MIND CONTROLLED SHEEP THAT BELIEVE WHATEVER THE WOKE MIND VIRUS TELLS YOU TO DO!”

“...Oh my god…” Violet says with a more quiet tone. “...I didn’t know people like you actually existed…”

“What do you mean…Smart, rational people who don’t believe what the government tells them?”

Every other person in the room is also starting to get angry at Calder and are staring daggers at him.

“...No…” Violet says as she tries to calm herself down. “...What I mean is quite the opposite actually. I didn’t believe it was possible to not only be so unintelligent, but actively be such an anti-intellectual. I really shouldn’t be surprised though. You probably also believe that the Earth is flat, don’t you?”

“...Yeah…of course it is…what does that have to do with any of this?”

Violet just bursts out laughing.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD! YOU ARE ACTUALLY SERIOUS!”

Laughter bursts out from the rest of the room as well.

Calder starts to feel a bit self conscious for once in his life. He looks around the room and notices that everyone else was laughing directly at him.

He didn’t get it though. He knew for a fact that he was right. They were in the wrong, but they were somehow blaming him.

‘Who gives them the right to laugh at me?!’ He thinks to himself.

“You know what! FUCK THIS! FUCK ALL OF YOU ACTUALLY!” Calder flips off everyone else in the room. “I’M OUT OF HERE!”

When he tried to leave though, Maka, Ash, and Takeru were blocking his way.

“YOU THINK WE ARE JUST GOING TO LET YOU SPEW ALL THAT BULLSHIT AND WALK AWAY WITHOUT ANY CONSEQUENCES?!” Maka yells out. “THE FUCK!”

Calder feels anger surge through his body. More powerful than any anger that he has ever felt before in his entire life.

“...You know what…” A twisted smile climbs onto Calder’s face. “...You’re right…”

He turns back around to everyone in the room.

“...Why the Hell am I just taking this shit! I am not the weird one here!”

Icy winds start emanating off of his skin.

“I’LL JUST DO THE DEVIL’S WORK MYSELF! WHY SHOULD I LET ANY OF YOU LEAVE HERE ALIVE?!”

He leans back with a hand over his face and cackles out the most disturbing evil laugh that you can imagine.

After he is done laughing he looks at everyone with a fucked up smile. He slowly puts a hand up towards the other people in the room.

“ICE AGE!”

Chapter Text

Warning: Severe Transphobia/Homophobia and Intense Violence

Calder sends a giant wave of ice towards the other students and faculty of SUPER.

Sir IQ leaps into action and stands point blank in front of the attack.

“Everyone! Get behind me!” He shouts.

He creates a giant wall of pink energy to block the onslaught of ice.

Candi downs some sugar and quickly grabs any stragglers and gets them behind the shield.

Isaac then pushes the barrier towards Calder.

The kid jumps out of the way to avoid being crushed.

He creates a ramp out of ice and goes behind the group.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rose throws a giant sewing needle towards Calder, wraps it around him, and pulls him towards themself.

They then wrap him up more tightly. Bulldog wraps Calder in a bear hug and attempts to take him out of the room.

“NO!!” Calder yells while covering Bulldog’s arms in a thick layer of frost.

He pulls himself out of Bulldog’s grip.

Zari is right in front of him as he attempts to escape.

“OH HELL NO!” Zari yells as she tries to punch Calder.

He dodges this, but this is quickly followed by another punch that he also barely manages to dodge.

The second punch was much more powerful than the first punch though. It is so powerful that it makes a shockwave and creates a sizable crater on the floor.

“...What the…” Calder says with a surprised look.

“...Oh…” Zari says with a smirk. “...I never explained my power, did I?”

She punches the ground and creates a massive crater below her.

“I like to call my power the combo attack! The longer I fight the stronger I get! To be more accurate, each consecutive attack is twice as powerful as the last!”

Zari jumps towards Calder and slams her fists right where he was standing before he somehow managed to get out of the way.

This impact creates a small yet noticeable earthquake.

“...You’re insane!”

“...Nah…” Zari responds. “...Just very protective…”

Even though she was much stronger than Calder she was somehow already getting tired.

Zari winds up another punch, but she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“...What?” Zari snaps at the person who was touching her.

It was Jack who was closely followed by Angella.

“...You need to stop, Zari?” He says with a stoic expression. “...One more attack from you and this building comes down…”

Zari gets even angrier for a few seconds until her anger melts away as she lets out a dejected sigh.

“...Yeah…You’re right…” She puts her hands in her pockets and walks away. “...I hate fighting in enclosed spaces anyway…”

Jack nods and he and Angella turn towards Calder.

“...You know that you are going to be expelled for this behavior, right?”

“I DON’T CARE!” Calder yells. “IF THIS IS HOW THIS SCHOOL TREATS SEXUAL DEVIANTS THAN I DON’T WANT TO GO HERE ANYMORE ANYWAYS!”

“...I don’t think your father would appreciate all of the money of his that you wasted…”

“WHO CARES? I AM RICH! MONEY DOESN’T MEAN JACK SHIT TO ME!”

Jack sighs and takes a small flask out of his back pocket.

“...How naughty of you, Jackie…” Angella says with a haughty tone. “...You know you aren’t supposed to drink on campus…”

“...That may be true for most people, but I am the exception…”

“...Why is that?” Calder says with a confused expression.

Jack just sighs and rubs the back of his neck.

“It’s because he gets his power from alcohol!” Angella says with a wide grin.

“...If you knew that then why were you telling me off?” Jack says with an annoyed look.

“Oh, Jackie! You know I was just having some fun!” Angella replies with a small giggle.

“...Whatever…” Jack takes a swig from his flask.

Calder doesn’t know what exactly Jack’s power does, nor does he want to learn, so he just sends a massive wave of ice towards his teacher.

As the ice flies towards Jack it melts right in front of Calder’s eyes.

“...What?”

After all of the ice has melted, Calder notices that Jack was literally breathing fire.

“...What the hell is that?”

Jack sighs.

“...If you must know, different types of alcohol give me different elemental powers. For example…” He holds up his flask and points at it. “...This specifically is jalapeno infused tequila…”

“...Why are you drinking something so strong so early in the day?” Angella questions.

“...Let’s just say it takes A LOT for me to get even slightly drunk…I can probably hold my liquor better than anyone else in the entire world…”

Jack takes another drink and shoots another flame towards Calder.

Calder dodges this and creates another path of ice to quickly get behind Jack.

Jack melts his path, but Calder surrounds his fist in a block of ice and punches Jack in the back. This causes Jack to drop his flask which Calder quickly freezes.

Angella slams her staff down and Calder’s head snaps towards her.

“That is quite enough, you insolent child!” Angella says with a disgusted look.

She points her staff at Calder as it slowly gets more shiny until the tip is blindingly light to look at.

“Lightspeed Laser!”

Calder creates a wall of ice to defend himself from the attack, but it is incinerated by the beam of light in an instant.

Angella puts her arms up to her sides and starts charging several dozen smaller spheres of light.

“Brilliant Barrage!”

She suddenly points forwards as all of the balls of light fly towards Calder.

Calder puts up another giant wall of ice and sends it sliding towards Angella.

It is shattered as it collides with her attack.

“Had enough, you brat?”

“...No, I don’t think I have!”

Calder throws a ball of ice towards the ground.

“Dry Ice Haze!”

The room is suddenly covered in a chilly fog.

Angella lights the tip of her staff so that she could see.

“Sub Zero Sniper Round!”

A thin icicle flies through Angella’s shoulder.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!” She cries out in agony as she falls to the ground.

Jack tries to help her, but he is quickly shot through the knee.

He falls to the ground in pain right next to Angella.

Zari and Bulldog try to block themselves with their arms, but are taken down just as easily as the other two.

Rose quickly jumps out of the way of the ice bullet that is flying towards them.

Isaac puts up another pink barrier and sends it towards Calder, but this time he follows it up quickly with two more barriers traveling behind the first.

Calder blocks the first barrier with an ice shield, but the second knocks him into the wall behind him and the third makes sure he stays there.

Rose suddenly appears beside Calder and they quickly sew a corset around his torso with more fabric around his arms and legs to limit his movement.

Calder thinks that he was finally defeated, but as he starts to drift off he glances down and notices the corset that he was now wearing.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FAG SHIT?!” He yells as he quickly freezes the clothing and escapes from Rose’s trap.

“How dare you insult my work! That was a fabulous corset!”

“SHUT THE HELL UP YOU TRANSVESTITE FUCK!”

Before they can react Calder freezes Rose.

Isaac slams his cane down on the ground in front of Calder.

“That is quite enough, young man!” A glare covers his expression as he continues his rant. “Not only are you expelled from SUPER, but after this is all set and done I will have a nice long chat with you father to see what punishments are suitable for your transgression.”

“SHUT UP! I AM NOT TRANS! WHAT THE FUCK!”

“...Look, transgression doesn’t have anything to do with…you know what…I shouldn’t waste my breath…”

He tips his hat down over his eyes and aims his cane at Calder.

“PSYCHO SHOCK!”

Calder quickly creates another wall of ice and sends it towards Isaac, but it is easily shattered by the headmaster’s attack.

Calder runs to the side and quickly creates a ramp out of ice with a loop that ends right above Isaac’s head.

As Calder slides down the path he just created, Isaac tries to destroy it using his powers, but Calder is too fast and Isaac is too late…

“ICE AGE!”

Calder yells as he grabs Sir IQ by the shoulders and slowly starts to freeze him.

“...You won’t get away with this!”

“...Shut up, Old man…”

Calder successfully freezes Isaac.

“...Now, just for good measure…”

Calder shoots an icicle through Isaac’s shoulder which causes the retired superhero to pass out from pain.

“...Where was I?” Calder asks himself as he turns towards the other kids with a psychotic expression. “...Oh yeah…”

He slowly walks towards the others while he creates two long blades out of ice.

“...It’s time for me to put all of you fags on ice…”

Chapter Text

It is December! Snow was falling on campus and the students were more than happy to have a three week break from classes.

Since most of the students were going to be going home for the holidays and that Candi didn’t want to choose between her family and her friends she decided to throw a holiday party before everyone had to leave. It was set for December 22nd which gave them all more than enough time to enjoy the holiday with their families. Candi also convinced Violet to hold the party in her dorm since it was bigger than that of any of the others.

Of course Love, Maka, Violet, Ash, and Takeru were going, but Candi went out of her way to ask the other students as well.

Jazmine, Shiro, and Zypp all said yes.

Zahid respectfully declined because of his religion, but he wished the others well and insisted that they had their own fun without him.

Samara and Poe also said yes…well…at least Candi thought that they did…in their own specifically creepy yet oddly charming way.

Candi also set up a gift exchange. There are ten of them in total which conveniently was an even number for the exchange. Each of the students was randomly assigned a classmate to shop for.

It was 4 PM on December 22nd as the others started to arrive at Violet’s dorm.

Love notices that she went all out with decoration as she entered her friends room. There were various small Christmas themed trinkets littered around the room, a roaring fireplace that she had placed more than enough seating around, and a Christmas tree that was so tall that Love honestly wasn’t sure how Violet even got it into the room.

“...Wow…” Love says as she glances around. “...This must have been expensive…How did you come up with the money?”

“Let me just say that I called in a favor.” Violet replied.

She turned to her butler Baldemort. Even though her family had financially cut her off, that didn’t mean that she still didn’t have her butler’s phone number. It was also convenient that they were very much still on good terms. He honestly preferred working with her than anyone else in Violet’s family.

Candi was already there helping Baldemort prepare some food. More specifically, Baldemort was cooking the main meal which consisted of ham, mashed potatoes, and various vegetables with rolls on the side. Candi was more focused on making gingerbread cookies.

“Love!” Candi quickly leaves her station to hug her friend. “Happy holidays!”

“...Hi Candi…Happy holidays to you too…”

Candi immediately released the hug as she noticed smoke coming from the oven.

“Oh no! My cookies are burning!” She says as sprints back to the kitchen.

The rest of the students arrive fairly quickly.

As the food was finished being prepared the others struck up various conversations around the room.

Love was currently sitting alone by herself on a couch eavesdropping on some of these conversations, but was currently involved in none of them.

Violet was walking around the room making sure everyone was having a good time.

Candi kept trying to balance talking with friends and baking. She kept on eating cookies to keep her super speed active. Love doesn't know how many cookies that she has eaten at this point, but is kind of afraid to ask.

Ash and Takeru have found the mistletoe and are now just making out.

Maka was telling a story to Jazmine, Shiro, and Samara. It was about her fighting a sea serpent. Love wasn’t sure how much of this story (if any of it) was actually true, but decided to hold her tongue and let her have fun.

Love suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped in her seat.

She looked over to see who it was which turned out to just be Zypp.

“...So…” They strike up a conversation. “...How are things?”

“...Actually pretty good…Thanks for asking…”

“...Is there…anything on your mind that you would like to talk about…Anything at all?” Zypp said with a hand on their chin and a small yet noticeably smug smile on their face.

“...Not particularly…”

“...Come on, you know what I am talking about! This should be exciting for you!”

“...What do you mean?”

“If I am not mistaken this would be your first Christmas out as trans, am I correct?”

“...Oh…yeah…I hadn’t thought of that…”

“...and that would also mean that the person who got your gift would be aware of this information, right?”

“...Yeah…” Love starts to realize what Zypp is actually talking about and starts to get a little excited.

“There’s your holiday spirit!” Zypp says as they notice a small smile on Love’s face. “I am not sure who got your gift, but I am sure that it will be something that you will love!”

Love’s smile slowly yet surely got wider as she truly realized what this meant.

‘Was I finally going to get some girl clothes? Girl clothes that were mine and that I could truly call my own? That I could wear whenever I wanted without worrying about what my family thought about it?’ She thought to herself as her mind raced with possibilities of what exactly she might have gotten.

“The food is finally ready!” Candi announces as she and Baldemort finish setting everything on the table.

After everyone eats their fill they gather around the couches and chairs around the fire. They were all cozy, warm, and full from the food they had just eaten so Violet decides that this is the perfect time to start opening presents.

Violet has random slips of paper in a small container.

“Okay, so as I call out your names, you will give your gift to the person you got it for.”

She reaches into the box and pulls out the first slip of paper.

“...First up is…me!”

She grabs a gift from underneath the tree.

“My gift is to…Candi!”

Candi quickly sprints over and grabs the box.

“Thank you Violet!”

She tears the wrapping paper off in the blink of an eye. After she notices what it was she gives Violet a big hug.

It was a box full of many different baking ingredients. There were things for cookies, pies, and cakes inside.

“Thank you so much! I love it!”

“You are quite welcome!”

Violet goes back to the box and grabs another paper.

“...Next is Ash!”

Ash gives Takeru a small container.

“Happy holidays babe.”

Ash and Takeru share a quick kiss before Takeru opens the package.

“...Wow…”

Takeru’s gift was two concert tickets for his favorite band.

“I know. I’m an amazing boyfriend!”

Takeru has an awkward smile on his face as he pulls a small box out of his pocket and quickly hands it to Ash.

“...Open it…”

“...Okay?” Ash says with a confused expression.

He notices that it is two more tickets for the exact same concert.

“...Oh…” Ash responds. “...Did you keep your receipt?”

“...I am honestly not sure…do you have yours?”

“...You know what…We will figure this out later…”

The next name Violet pulls is Samara’s.

Samara grabs a gift and walks towards Violet.

“Here you go!” She says with a small smile on her face that was only a little creepy.

“...Thanks…” Violet says as she braces herself for whatever might be inside of the box in front of her.

“...This is…just Poe…”

“I know right! Isn’t he great!”

“...Isn’t he…your doll though?”

“Yep!”

Violet sighs and hands Samara her doll back.

“Yay!” Samara says as she hugs Poe.

The next name is Shiro’s.

She has a large gift box for Jazmine.

“Thank you!” Jazmine says as she opens up the box.

“...Oh…my…God…THIS IS SO COOL!”

Inside of the box was a Shamisen (which was a Japanese instrument which was similar to that of a guitar, but with a longer neck).

“I am glad you like it!”

“This must’ve been expensive! You didn’t have to do this for me!”

“Don’t worry about it! I got it from my family a few years ago.”

“...Wait…if this was a gift to you then why get rid of it?”
“My family got it for me, but I am not a musical person in the slightest and I knew that you would appreciate it more than I do.”

Jazmine gives Shiro a hug.

“Thank you! As soon as I head back to my room I am going to start to learn how to play this thing!”

Next up was Maka.

She walks over to Samara with a medium size box.

The girl quickly opens the box.

“Wow! I love it!” Samara exclaims.

“...No…” Violet says softly.

It was a ouija board.

Violet walks over to Maka and Samara tries out her new gift.

“Get that thing out of my room!”

“Why?” Maka says with a smug grin.

“Because it is creeping me out!”

“Come on Violet, lighten up a bit!” Maka puts an arm around Violet’s shoulder. “Let creepy girl have her fun!”

Violet takes a deep sigh.

“...Fine…but only until the end of the party! After that, it is never allowed in my room again!”

“Hooray!” Samara says as she continues talking to ghosts.

After that the next name is Zypp’s.

They have a huge gift that they plop down in front of Shiro.

Shiro quickly opens it up and…is confused…

“...What the…”

It was a punching bag with Zypp printed on it. The image of Zypp on the bag was blowing a kiss.

“I know you love to train and I think that this will help you with that.”

“...I get that much, but why does it have your face on it?”

“...Oh…” Zypp says as a devious grin appears on their face. “You want to know why? Well, let me show you!”

Zypp bops the punching bag right into Shiro’s face.

“Hey! What was that for?”

Zypp giggles and does it again.

“Stop that!”

“Make me!” Zypp says with a wink as they bop it towards Shiro for a third time.

“That’s it!” Shiro yells as she punches the bag. It flies into one of the corners of the room.

Zypp slowly goes to sit down on the couch with a smug grin as Shiro chases the punching bag and starts wailing on it.

After that Jazmine’s name was pulled.

She gave a thin gift box to Zypp.

They ripped it open and pulled out two flags.

A small smile climbs onto Zypp’s face.

They were specifically a small pair of nonbinary flags.

“Thank you Jazmine, but…why are there two of them?”

Jazmine takes the flags from Zypp and presses a button on the side of them that extends the flags out a few more feet.

“I know you like to show off, so I thought that these would help with that.”

“You know me so well already! I love to show off because I am amazing!”

Jazmine then performs a quick and simple ribbon dance. It was short, but still very well coordinated and elegant.

She hands them to Zypp.

“Now you try. I know you probably won’t get it on the first try, but practice makes progress, you know?”

Zypp nods and does the same routine Jazmine did perfectly on their first try.

“...Show off…” Jazmine says under her breath.

“You know it!” Zypp says with a wink.

The second to last name was Love.

She walks towards Maka with a medium sized bag stuffed with red and green tissue paper.

Maka quickly tears it open and pulls out a small shark plush.

“...Hey…” Maka said. “Isn’t this yours?”

“...No…I got another one…I would never part with my little shark buddy, but I thought you might have wanted one too…you know…because you love sharks and all…”

Maka extends her arms out with the shark plush still in her hands.

“...I don’t really care for cute things…but…it is a shark so it is still cool! Thanks, Love!”

Love gives a small smile in response to this while she tries to hide her blush.

The last name was Candi’s.

Candi walks over and slowly drags a giant box into the room towards Love.

After Candi is done moving the box she sits next to Love.

“Since this is a very important time for you, me and the others decided to pull together to get you something that we know you have been wanting for a while now.”

“...I thought ...that we were only supposed to get gifts for the person we randomly got before?”

“I know. Even though it is actually from basically all of us I am the one who organized this gift. If you are worried about getting me something then don’t! You being my friend is more than enough of a gift already!”

Tears form in the corners of Love’s eyes as she gives Candi a hug.

After the hug ends, Love wipes her eyes and begins to open her gift.

As soon as Love saw what it was she put her hands over her face.

She started to cry even more tears of joy.

It was a box full of a ton of girl clothes. Almost everything she wanted and more from dresses to skirts, blouses, short shorts, leggings, overalls, sweaters, crop tops, and many, many more.

“...I…this is…I can’t…”

Candi hugs her friend again.

“Happy holidays Love!”

“...I can’t…what? There is no way…”

“...But it is!” Candi says with a small smile.

Love breaks the hug.

“...But…aren’t these things expensive? You didn’t have to spend so much money on me…”

“That’s the thing!” Candi says with a small grin. “Almost none of these are actually new clothes. They are almost all some of our old clothing, but with a couple of new things mixed in for good measure. These are from me, Violet, Maka, Jazmine, Shiro, Samara, Zypp, and Ash. Actually, especially Ash. Almost all of his old girl clothes are in here.”

Ash shrugs.

“What can I say? They will look much better on a cute girl than a guy like me.”

“...I…I don’t…know what to say…” Love says as she wipes tears from the corner of her eye.

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to!” Candi responds with a small yet knowing smile. “All you really need to do is enjoy your gift!”

Tears were now streaming down Love’s cheeks.

“...Thank you…Thank you all so much…”

Candi hugs Love again.

“Come on everybody! Group hug time!”

Soon after Candi said this all of the friends were in one gigantic hug.

As the hug ends they all return to where they were sitting before.

“...This…might be…no…this is the best Christmas that I have ever had…” Love wiped tears out of the corners of her eyes again. “...My parents never got me anything that I actually wanted…I mean…they did get me toys and video games and stuff, but since they were never supportive of who I really was they would have never done something like this for me…”

“...Hey…” Candi says. “...It’s okay…they aren’t here right now…You are surrounded by people who love you for who you are…”

This causes Love to tear up again, but only briefly this time.

“...I am so happy right now!”

After they were done opening gifts they played a couple of board games and chatted for a while.

As it started to get dark Zypp, Jazmine, Shiro, and Samara left and went back to their own dorm rooms. Baldemort also left to drive back to the Newton family mansion.

“...Violet…” Candi said with a yawn.

“Yes, Candi?”

“Would you mind if we sleep here tonight?”

Violet thinks for a moment before she nods.

“That sounds like fun. Why not.”

“Thank you.” Candi says as she closes her eyes and immediately drifts off to sleep.

The others followed Candi’s lead soon after.

Love changed into a pink tank top and blue sweatpants with pink hearts on them that she got from her box of new clothes.

Candi was already asleep of course, but Violet was sleeping on the couch right next to her.

Ash and Takeru were both fast asleep while sitting on a recliner in each other’s arms.

Maka was splayed out on the middle of the floor that she passed out on and was soaking the nearby carpet in her drool as she snored.

Love found that the other couch was still completely open so she readjusted the blankets and pillows that were already on the couch and tucked herself in.

‘I am lucky to have such good friends’ Love thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Warning: Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexism, and Unwanted Sexual Comments

As Calder attempts to approach the group, Maka runs forwards to confront him.

“Alright you piece of shit!” She says as she creates drills out of water to clash with Calder’s ice blades. “If you won’t shut up on your own, then I will make you shut the fuck up!”

She knocks Calder back and kicks him in the chest. He is somehow still standing and immediately shoots a beam of ice towards Maka, freezing her and her next water attack instantly.

“No! You shut up you fucking dyke!”

Ash, Zahid, and Candi approach Calder next.

Candi takes a cookie out of her fanny pack, devours it in one bite, and starts running circles around Calder.

Zahid starts to funnel wind towards Candi which creates a small tornado around Calder.

Ash charges up a large fireball and tosses it at Calder.

“You’re fired!” Ash tries the same quip yet again.

The tornado that was surrounding Calder suddenly transforms into a pillar of flames.

“...Was that enough. Did we take him down?” Zahid questions as the other students stare at Calder.

“...I mean…surely this would work against him if anything…” Ash rubs the back of his neck. “...Fire beats ice and all of that…”

As the windstorm died down there was a block of ice where Calder was before.

“...Of course…” Ash says as Calder breaks out of his icy shield.

Candi runs behind Calder and puts him in a headlock as Ash and Zahid shoot fire and wind towards him respectively.

Calder shoots a stream of ice towards the two which travels up the streams of their respective elemental attacks and freezes them where they stand.

He tries to freeze Candi as well, but she gets away and catches her breath behind some of her other friends.

Takeru walks forward to challenge Calder next.

“...How dare you…” Takeru unsheathed his sword. “...HURT MY BOYFRIEND!”

Calder just stands there as Takeru waits for him to throw out an attack to redirect.

“Come on! Do something!” Takeru cries out.

“...So predictable…” Calder says with a shrug. “...I know your powers, as long as I don’t attack there isn’t much you can do now, is there?”

“You know what! Screw being patient! You can go to hell!” Takeru screams as he foolishly runs forward to attack Calder head on, but is quickly frozen.

“...So emotional…That was making me sick…”

Shiro and Jazmine approach Calder next.

Shiro took a combative stance while Jazmine had her lips ready on her saxophone.

“Come on!” Calder says “Give me your best shot!”

Jazmine starts playing a song as musical notes fly towards Calder like bullets.

Calder dodges most of these with ease while creating small shields of ice to dodge the ones that were too fast to evade.

Shiro leaped towards Calder with a downward strike. Even though she missed and Calder dodged, the attack leaves a massive crater on the floor.

Shiro slams her fists together and summons a dragon made of white spirit energy.

“Dragon Strike!” Shiro yells as she sends the dragon towards Calder.

As it approaches it slowly freezes from Calder’s barrage of ice.

She jumps over the dragon and lands a successful punch right on Calder’s nose.

She follows this up with a few more punches and an uppercut charged with Shiro’s white spirit energy.

As Calder flies into the air, Jazmine capitalizes on this by shooting a long stream of musical notes towards him which sends him flying into the wall behind him. He falls back to the ground with a mighty thud.

The other’s don’t want to celebrate early so they watch with bated breath.

“...I…will not…lose…to you freaks!” Calder says with gritted teeth as he touches the ground which starts to freeze. The frost slowly extends outwards and towards the others.

As the field of ice extends, some movement can be seen from the ice.

There are various snow creatures coming out of the haze. Some as small as bunnies and foxes, most were the size of an average snowman, but there was one that was currently forming that was a snow giant that was about twelve feet tall.

Shiro goes out to fight one of the snowmen, but is frozen immediately upon contact.

Jazmine shoots musical notes towards some of the smaller ones which seems to be keeping them at bay at the very least.

Zypp is creating zipper portals under some of the average sized ones along with zipper portals on the ceiling and watching as they fall through and crush one another.

Candi quickly runs through and kicks some of the average sized ones down into piles of snow.

As the snow giant fully forms it starts to approach the others.

It bats an arm towards Jazmine, Zypp, and Candi.

Candi is able to dash away without any problems.

Zypp creates a zipper portal underneath them and tries to pull them through, but as they exit through the other side they are both frozen solid.

“...You…are not very nice…” Samara says as throws Poe down on the ground, summons Edgar and Allen, and funnels the two shadow dragons into Poe making him grow to his full size.

“Poe! Beat up the bad guys!” Samara yells.

The giant stitched up teddy bear nods.

He clashes with the ice giant. They trade blows as Poe slowly freezes over.

Before he is frozen completely, Poe slams his fists down on the ice giant and turns him into a pile of slush.

As he freezes, Poe turns to give Samara a thumbs up.

“POE!” Samara screams as she scrambles towards her teddy bear friend.

Calder immediately shoots her with a beam of ice, freezing her on the spot.

That just leaves Candi, Violet, and Love to fight off Calder.

“...So…that’s it?” Calder shrugs. “Really? Do you really think that you two broads and a transvestite can defeat me?”

Candi and Violet are pissed and take combative stances in front of Love.

“For the last time…” Violet says. “...SHE IS OUR FRIEND!”

“...I don’t say this lightly, because I try my best to find the good in each and every person…” Candi says with a scowl on her face that is angrier than anybody has ever seen her before. “...But you are a FUCKING ASSHOLE!”

“...Well, that's just your…” Calder says before being cut off.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Candi yells. “I WASN’T DONE TALKING! …DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS FOR ME TO ACTUALLY MEET SOMEONE LIKE YOU! SOMEONE WHO WAS SO DEVOID OF ANY LIKABLE QUALITIES THAT I COULDN’T FIND A SINGLE REASON TO WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND! WHEN I SAY I TRY TO BEFRIEND EVERYONE I MEET I MEAN IT! I TRULY TRIED TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANY GOOD IN YOU, BUT I GUESS THAT WAS A WASTE OF MY FUCKING TIME BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ANY! YOU ARE A SOULLESS MONSTER! …Actually…no…you are so despicable that your soul is literally a black hole that sucks up any goodness around you! I thought that people like you were made up strawmen to argue against on the internet, but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! I GUESS I WAS WRONG TO THINK THAT THERE WAS GOOD IN EVERYONE! I HAVE NEVER MET ANOTHER PERSON WHO I COULD FULLY JUSTIFY BEING MEAN TO! EVEN MOST OF THE BAD GUYS WE WERE FIGHTING THAT WORKED FOR MIDAS HAD SOME REDEEMING QUALITIES! HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSSIBLE?

Calder takes a deep breath and tries to talk, but he is cut off yet again.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE MCHAIL! I AM DONE LISTENING TO YOU SPEW YOUR VILE, HATEFUL, STUPID, IGNORANT NONSENSE! IF YOU STILL WANT TO FIGHT US, SURE, GO AHEAD, BUT IF YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH TO SPEAK AGAIN I WILL KICK YOU IN THE FACE SO HARD THAT THE DOCTOR’S WILL HAVE TO SURGICALLY REATTACH YOUR TONGUE FOR EVEN THE GHOST OF A CHANCE TO EVER TALK AGAIN! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!

“...Big words coming from such a small person, let’s see if your money is where your…”

Candi dashes towards Violet, jumps off Violet’s hands like she was a caber to toss at the highland games, and sends a flying kick towards Calder.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Candi yells as her foot collides with Calder’s face.

He coughs up blood before tumbling backwards.

Calder wasn’t very bright, but he was smart enough to take this hint at least.

Calder gets up again and pantomimes sealing his lips and throwing away the key.

He shrugs and walks towards the door again.

“OH NO YOU FUCKING DON’T!” Candi yells.

She sprints towards the door and blocks his way.

“...Fine…I…I think you’re right…”

“What?”

“...That I was being an asshole…but it was really because my father forced his views down my throat…but I actually never thought about how my words can affect others…”

Candi looks at Calder with a look of wild confusion.

“...Can you look into your heart to forgive me?”

Candi thinks for a moment.

“...You’re being completely honest…this isn’t a trick or anything?”

“...Of course not. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though…I am just putting my own words out there for peace of mind.

“...Well…” Candi thinks to herself as a small smile forms on her face. “...If you really mean it, then I can’t stay too mad at you…I mean…that would go against my entire personal ideology if I didn’t at least give you another chance…”

Calder holds his arms out for a hug.

“...Fine…bring it in!”

Candi hugs Calder and for a moment Candi thinks that they have finally won. The power of friendship triumphs over evil and all of that…

…but Candi slowly starts to freeze.

“...What the…” Candi says with a confused expression.

“...Well, that was easy…” Calder says with a psychotic grin.

Tears formed at the corners of Candi’s eyes which turned to ice as they slid down her face. As she continued to freeze, she also began to sob.

“...Why…are you doing this?”

“...Sometimes in order to win you have to use the enemies weapons…”

An absolutely devastated look of sadness formed on Candi’s face as she was completely frozen.

Calder turned back towards Violet and Love.

Violet looked absolutely furious, but made no attempt to move from her position. She stood like the statue of a soldier with her mace in hand. She was currently guarding Love with her very life.

“...I won’t let you kill her…I won’t…” Violet says as tears stream down her cheeks. Her body is shaking ever so slightly from anxiety and fear.

“...Never say never…” Calder says as he dashes towards the two girls.

He creates two maces of his own out of ice and clashes with Violet.

After some back and forth of one of the attacking and one of them blocking Calder eventually gets the upper hand. He disarms Violet as her mace slides across the floor. He smashes and shatters his icy weapons over her body.

“...Any last words?” Calder asks Violet.

Violet doesn’t say anything just yet, but she uses her last remaining strength to grab Calder’s ankle.

Violet tries to make Calder’s body weigh so much that he collapses on the spot, but she only makes his leg a couple hundred pounds heavier.

“...How disappointing…” Calder says as he uses the temporary extra weight to kick Violet in the chest. She flies across the room and into a wall. She is now out cold.

Now, only Love and Calder remain.

Love collapses on the floor and uses her arms to cover her face. Not only was she trying to block any attack that Calder was going to send her way, but she was also trying to cover her tears as she sobs.

“...Help…” Love yells out to anyone who could hear her. “HELP! ANYONE! PLEASE! HELP ME!”

Calder looms over her with a terrifying expression on his face.

He kneels down and puts his hand on Love’s chin to look her directly in the eyes.

“...How pathetic…You think that someone will come here to help you…I thought that you were training to be a superhero, but you can’t even help yourself…”

“...Please don’t hurt me…” Love says as she cowers in fear.

“...You know…” Calder says as he takes a closer look at Love’s face. “...For a tranny you are actually kind of cute…”

“...Huh?”

“How about we just…forget about everything else that just happened…If you do one thing for me then I will let you live…Heck, I might even let you go, who knows…”

“...What…are you…talking about?”

“...Don’t play dumb with me…” Calder says as he licks his lips. “...You know exactly what I am talking about…”

“...That…THAT IS IT!” Love yells out as her eyes turn a bright red.

Chapter Text

Love, now with her glowing red eyes, quickly stands up and looks towards Calder.

Love conjures her bow and knocks a red arrow.

“...No…be more specific…OR ELSE!”

Calder was taken aback by this. Amidst the chaos he somehow completely forgot about Love’s power.

“...No…that’s alright…” He says as he tries to weasel his way out of the situation that he created.

Love shoots an arrow as Calder quickly dodges. It pierces through the wall of the gym and continues to fly for who knows how long.

She immediately knocks another arrow.

“Say it! Tell me how you really feel, you coward!”

She slowly walks towards Calder while pointing her bow directly at his chest.

“...But I…”

She shoots another arrow at his feet. This creates a massive crater in the ground that Calder barely manages to avoid.

She knocks another arrow.

“...Look…all I was saying is that I think you look cute…Is that such a bad thing?”

Love shoots another arrow which Calder dodges again. It files through the hole that was already in the wall.

“What about when you tried to kill me after class a few months back?! Or the time you made a fake news article just to make me look like a creep?! That isn’t even mentioning all the different times you have verbally harassed me and my friends! Was I “cute” back then or are you just trying to get away with some more bullshit?”

“...Look…” He defensively puts his hands up. “...You are further along in your transition now and…”

Another arrow immediately flies towards Calder’s head. She immediately knocks yet another arrow.

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?”

“I COULD ASK YOU THE EXACT SAME THING!”

She releases another arrow and replaces it again.

“OH NO THE FUCK YOU CAN’T! NOW THAT YOU ARE CAUGHT WITH YOUR TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS YOU ARE TRYING TO BACKTRACK, BUT I WON’T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!”

“...You know what…now I don’t want to fuck you anymore!” Calder aims his hand towards Love as icy mist emanates off from it.

Calder blasts a torrent of ice at Love, but she fires another arrow and it dissipates with ease.

As Calder puts up an ice wall to defend himself, Love shoots another arrow which destroys the barrier instantly.

“You know what! Screw you!” Calder puts his hands out in front of himself as he prepares his next attack. “ICE AGE!”

A giant wave of ice flies towards Love, but she rapidly shoots a barrage of arrows that leave nothing left of Calder’s attack.

Calder creates a path of ice behind himself and slides backwards.

Creatures made out of ice start forming on the path as Calder drops another dry ice bomb which covers the room in even more mist.

“Sub Zero Sniper…”

A red arrow files towards Calder and clips his shoulder.

“AAAHHH! FUCK!” He cries out as he grabs his shoulder.

Love fires more arrows and easily takes out all of the snow creatures that Calder just created.

Calder tries to use his good arm to fire another ice attack, but love shoots him in that shoulder as well.

Love slowly approaches Calder with another red light arrow in her light constructed bow.

Calder is now cowering on the ground trying to get away from Love.

“Stay the fuck away from me!” He yells.

Love shoots another arrow at his feet.

Love just stares at him with bright red eyes that are the highlight feature on Love’s furious looking face.

She doesn’t say anything to Calder in response. She just knocks another arrow and aims it right between his eyes.

“...I’m…I’m sorry…” Calder is starting to cry now, tears almost immediately streaming down his cheeks. “...but…please…please don’t hurt me!”

Calder is using his arms to defend himself from Love.

“...Pathetic…” Is all that Love says as she puts away her bow and arrow.

As she walks away Calder takes a deep sigh of relief. He tries to get up, but with the condition he is in he suddenly realizes that he is not going anywhere. Not only were his shoulder injuries making it nearly impossible for him to use his arms, but the exhaustion of the long fight was also starting to catch up with him.

Love creates another red arrow and holds it in her hand as she approaches Ash.

He was still frozen solid, but she uses the heat from the arrow to slowly yet surely thaw him out of the block of ice.

When the ice is melted enough for Ash to move again he covers himself in flames to melt the remainder.

“...Thanks Love…” Ash says as he remembers where he was.

Love, as her eyes were turning back to normal, nods at her friend.

Exhaustion sets into her as well as she falls backwards onto her butt.

Ash looks over at Calder who is currently out cold.

“...Don’t worry about Calder…” Love says to her friend. “...I took care of him…”

“...Nice…” Ash responds. “That punk finally got what’s been coming to him…”

“...Could you please help me unfreeze everyone else?” Love asks.

“...Oh…for sure…” Ash says as he walks towards the others to unfreeze them all (starting with Takeru of course).

Love, now both out and proud and finally done with Calder’s bullshit, lays on what remains of the ground of the gym and drifts to sleep.

Quite a few hours later Love wakes up. She finds herself in a hospital bed.

“...Oh, Love’s awake!” Candi says as she approaches Love’s bedside.

Candi, Maka, Ash, and Takeru were all in her room waiting for her to wake up.

“...Hey guys…” Love says as she leans up in bed. “...How long have I been out?”

“To us, a few months.” Candi cheekily responds.

Love rolls her eyes with a small grin on her face.

“...I mean, how long have I been out cold…”

“Only a couple of hours.” Ash responds. “That was still earlier today. It’s just about 8:30 right now.”

Love looks around the room.

“...Hey…Where is Violet?”

“Don’t worry!” Ash says. “She’s fine. She is just resting in another room. Calder broke a few of her ribs, but the doctors said that she should recover just fine.”

“What about the others?” Love continues to question.

“Everyone is fine.” Ash reassures her. “Most of the other students and teachers are also up and about already. The person who took the most damage was definitely headmaster Isaac though. He took quite the beating, but they said he should also be good to go in about a week or so.”

“...Oh…That’s good to hear…” Love says as a weight lifts off of her shoulders. “...What happened with Calder?”

“Zari called Eiss and…let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be Calder right now.” Ash tells Love. “He said that he is pulling Calder out of SUPER entirely and making him work with Warden Aleric. He isn’t in prison or anything like that though. Alvin is just making him clean some toilets at the jail with a toothbrush and stuff like that, but he will probably be doing so for a very long time”

“...Thank god…” Love says. “...Despite what he had done to us I didn’t want him to suffer too badly. I am not the type of person who would wish jail time on anybody, but I am glad to hear that he is actually paying for his crimes…”

“...So…” Candi said while suppressing a bigger smile on her face. “...I didn’t know how long you were going to be out for so I made you…this!”

Candi pulls out a cake. It says “Get better soon Love!” in pink frosting. Love actually noticed that the entire cake was themed with the colors pink, white, and blue.

“...Wait a second…are those…”

“Yep!” Candi responds with a smile. “It’s a trans pride cake, but it is multifaceted in what it is actually celebrating though! Which is both you coming out and you waking up!”

“...Thank you Candi!” Love said while tearing up. “...Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it!” Candi says with a blush. “Anything for a friend!”

Maka walks up to Love’s bedside next.

“...Hey…so…that is not the only thing we did for you while you were out…”

She was holding a bunch of papers in her hands that she gave to Love.

After seeing what they were, Love drops them into her lap and covers her face with her hands to cover up her tears.

They were tears of joy of course!

There were multiple papers. One said that Love’s name and pronouns have been updated in the school system while another said that her name had been legally and officially changed to Love Hart. Basically, if it was somewhere that Love’s name or pronouns had to be updated in, her friends have done it for her.

“...You guys…” Love said as she sobbed tears of job. “...I don’t know what to say…”

Candi, Maka, Ash, and Takeru surrounded their friend and gave her a group hug.

“...You don’t have to say anything…” Candi whispers to Love. “...All you have to do is enjoy yourself…”

Love continues to thank her friends and sob as the day goes on.

END OF SAGA 1!

Chapter Text

“Our monthly meeting for the first year teachers and faculty will now begin.” SUPER headmaster Sir Isaac Quentin announces.

Him, Jack Dionysus, Angella DeLite, Zari Xango, Rose Chanelle, and Bulldog were sitting around a table for the meeting.

“I am sure all of you are paying attention…” Isaac says as he glances towards Bulldog who was currently asleep with his arms crossed as Rose wakes him up with a snap of their fingers. “...But just as a reminder that the purpose of these meetings is to coordinate our lesson plans and talk about any specific things our students might need help with going forwards.”

“...Obviously…” Jack says with a bored expression as he crosses his arms behind his head and leans back in his chair. “...Let’s just get this over with so I can go back to sleep…”

“Come on, Jackie!” Angella says with a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “This is for our students! At least pretend to care about them!”

“...Isn’t it also bad to teach the kids that lying is okay…” Jack says as he closes his eyes. “...Because that is all I am hearing from you right now…”

Angella huffs and crosses her arms.

“So, Isaac?” Zari says with her feet propped up on the table. “What are you waiting for? Start your list of key points already!”

“...Yes, very well…” Isaac clears his throat and levitates a piece of paper near his face while adjusting his monocle. “I guess I will start us off by asking Rose and Bulldog how the hero outfits and equipment are coming along.”

“I might be a bit biased, but they are coming along quite beautifully!” Rose says as they fold their hands under their chin to prop themselves up on the table. “I am just putting the finishing touches on the outfits. They should be ready by the beginning of the next quarter.”

“Splendid!” Isaac says as he takes a sip of tea and turns his attention towards Bulldog. “What about you, Mr. Bulldog?”

“...Huh…Oh, you’re talking to me…” He snaps awake again and turns his head towards Isaac. “...The gear is coming along…I should also be done by the beginning of next quarter…”

“...So…” Rose says with a suspicious look. “...You are also color coordinating the colors of your gear with the palettes from my costumes, right?”

“...Uh…sure…let’s go with that…”

Rose squints their eyes at Bulldog.

“...Wonderful!” Rose turns their attention back towards Isaac. “As you can see, things are moving along just as planned!”

Bulldog immediately nods off again.

“Moving right along…” Isaac glances at his next key point. “...Zari…”

“Yep!”

“Are you making sure to escalate your program's difficulty alongside the progress our students are making?”

“...Sure…”

“Zari?” Isaac leans forwards and threads his fingers. “Be honest with me please.”

“…I might be a…bit ahead of schedule when it comes to the difficulty of my workout regiments.”

“...Was that so hard, Miss Xango? Please ease your planned workouts accordingly.”

Zari glares daggers at an unphased Sir IQ as he takes another sip of tea. She eventually relents.

“...Fine…” She says as she crosses her arms. “...but I was doing it for their own good…”

“I know you think our new students are full of potential Zari, but burning them out won’t do anything for their futures.”

Zari sighs.

“...I guess you're right…I’ll ease off…just a bit…”

“Fantastic!” Isaac looks at the next point on his list and then looks over at Jack and Angella.

“Jack, Angella? You are both still coordinating your lesson plans so that both of your classes are learning things at the same speeds, right?”

“I am following the rubric just as planned!” Angella proudly announces.

“...They’re going to be fine…” Jack says with the same stoic expression as always.

Isaac and Angella’s eyes dart towards Jack’s face.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Angella says as she wraps her arms around one of Jack’s arms with a pleading expression. “Don’t let the children down, Jackie!”

Jack forces Angella to let go of him while staring at Isaac.

“...Fine…I will admit that I am a little behind schedule…”

Angella reaches into Jack’s pocket and steals his phone.

“Hey!” Jack says with slightly more enthusiasm than the others have ever seen from him. “Give that back!”

Angella opens up the app that has all of his class information.

“Jack!” Angella yells. She is so mad that she didn’t even say her pet name for him. “You are a full month behind me and my class! What are you doing?”

“...Alright!” He says as he steals his phone back from Angella. “I’ll skip ahead to where you are!”

“No you can’t!” Angella yells. “If you do that your students will be missing some vital information!”

“...Jack…” Isaac says with a glare on his monocle. “...What is the meaning of this?”

Jack takes a deep breath and sighs.

“...Let’s just say…that I might have…missed a couple of classes because I slept in…”

“Jack!” Angella yells as she lightly and repeatedly hits him in the arm. “These kids are relying on you! How could you do this?”

“...Sorry…”

“Sorry doesn’t excuse what you have done!” Angella continues her rant.

“I agree with Miss DeLite.” Isaac says. “If what I am hearing is the truth than you are failing your students, Mr. Dionysus.”

“...What do you suggest then, Sir?” Jack says with his arms crossed.

“The only choice is for you to double your class schedule to make up for lost time. These students are paying a lot for these classes even after considering their scholarships, Jack.”

“...Do I have to?” Jack says as he rubs the back of his neck.

“...Yes…” Is all that Isaac says in response.

“...Ugh…Fine…” Jack relents.

“...Angella…” Isaac says as he turns to the other teacher.

“Yes, Isaac?” Angella says as she is still calming down from what Jack has done.

“Keep an eyes on Mr. Dionysus please. Make sure he is keeping up with my new assigned schedule.”

“Certainly! You can count on me, sir!” Angella says as she gives Jack a devious smile. Jack grimaces in response.

“Alright!” Isaac says as he claps. “That concludes this month's meeting.”

As Jack walks back to his house he sends an email to his students.

Love and the others all just so happened to be hanging out when they received this email.

“...Why?” Love says as she drops her phone on the couch after she reads the email.

“What’s up?” Maka said as she and some of the others were playing some video games.

Love shows her the email.

“FUCK!” Maka yells as she throws a controller at the ground.

Chapter Text

Outer Space.

The infinitely vast cosmos are equally as scary as they are beautiful.

A seemingly never ending inky blackness that is only interrupted by the occasional glimmer of a far off star.

Each of these stars houses their own solar systems with their own planets, moons, and life.

With that being said, each and every one of these stars have to come from somewhere.

In a random corner of the far off reaches of space a dying star suddenly collapses into itself and explodes in a massive supernova!

As the explosion dissipates, something was watching the star as its life cycle finally ended after billions and billions of years.

It was a being that had a light purple body and long and flowing mane of hair that looked like space itself.

They were wearing what looked like a Greek toga that was draped over one of its shoulders.

They approach the remains of the star and come across another being that was very similar to themself.

Floating in the remains of a dead star was what appeared to be a baby. They also had purple skin, but had much shorter translucent astral colored hair.

The larger of the two star beings picked up the smaller one.

The smaller creature stared at who was holding them with a look of boundless curiosity.

“...Hello child…welcome to the universe…”

“...ba…” The younger of the two sputters out. They were just born after all. It only made sense that they spoke like a baby.

The larger of the two cradled the smaller one in their arms.

“...My name is Nebulon…Can you say Nebulon?”

“...N…Na…Ba…Non…”

“...That was a very good first try…”

Nebulon puts the baby down and watches them float. They tried to steady their movement, but they couldn’t stop themself from spinning.

The smaller of the two got dizzy and was starting to be upset by this…

…So much so that they eventually started crying.

“...It’s okay, child…let it all out…” Nebulon says as they grab the star baby.

The baby cries in Nebulon’s arms until it lets all of its emotions out.

Nebulon smiles softly at the child.

A few other beings with hair made of stardust approach Nebulon.

“...So Nebulon…” One of them asks. “...Did that egg finally hatch?”

“...Yes, it did…”

“...So, where is the child?”

Nebulon turns around and shows them the child.

The baby grabs towards the others with their small hands.

“...So…when are you going to start training them?”

“...Can we maybe wait a bit…They were literally just born…” Nebulon responds as they pull the baby back into their protection. “...Besides…they are going to have billions of years to find all of that stuff out anyways…”

“...Fine…but only one hundred years! After that then their training must begin! Are those terms agreeable?”

Nebulon looks at the child lovingly and thinks for a moment.

“...Sure…that works for me…”

“...Alright…” They turn to the baby. “...See you for training in one hundred years.”

50 years have passed since then.

Nebulon is still playing with the star baby.

“...Let’s try this again…Can you say Nebulon?”

“...Ne…Nebula…Nebulon! Nebulon!”

Nebulon hugs the star child.

“...Your first word…I am so proud of you!”

The child didn’t exactly understand what was going on yet, but they did know that they liked being praised.

“Nebulon!” A voice from behind says.

One of the star soldiers from before was back.

“...Where are the others?”

The remaining star soldier looks down with a solemn look.

“...They were…destroyed by the great devourer…”

“...Oh…my condolences…”

“...I am just going to cut to the chase Nebulon…I have to break my promise…”

Nebulon holds the baby in their arms.

“...but it has only been fifty years…The deal was one hundred…”

“...I know that you are attached to this one, but the great devourer is coming and we are running out of reinforcements…”

“...Please…you can’t do this…”

“...I am sorry Nebulon, but you need to hand them over!”

“No!”

“I wasn’t asking! Give them to me!”

“...I…I won’t…I refuse!”

“NEBULON! THIS IS FOR THE FATE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“...This child didn’t ask to be in this war…”

“...None of us had a choice either Nebulon…”

Nebulon hugs the child harder and turns away from their superior.

“...I tried doing this the easy way, but that child is coming with me whether you like it or not!”

“NO!” A burst of light comes out of Nebulon.

“FINE! LET’S DO THIS YOUR WAY!” The star soldier announces as they magnetize a nearby meteor into their own personal orbit.

After it rotates around them and gains enough speed they launch the space rock at Nebulon.

Nebulon puts the child down and punches the meteor into rubble.

Nebulon then pulls the shards back together and throws it back at their superior.

They use one hand to bat it out of the way and send it flying away from them at the speed of hundreds of miles per hour.

“...You know you can’t defeat me, Nebulon! I am hundreds of millions of years older than you are!”

“I know that!” Nebulon yells. “...I know…”

“Then give this up and hand me the child.”

“...I…I can’t…”

The star soldier approaches Nebulon.

“I am taking that baby!”

“NO!”

Nebulon wrestles their superior for the baby, but eventually loses grip.

They start to fly away with the child, but Nebulon throws another large rock at their back.

“...I won’t let you do this…”

Nebulon throws another large rock and the star soldier uses both hands to redirect this.

…They drop the baby in the meantime and Nebulon grabs them again.

As their superior redirects the meteor towards Nebulon they encase the child in a bunch of rocks and send them away at light speed.

The meteor then directly crashes into Nebulon’s back.

“...I’ll say this one more time…give me the baby…”

“...I…I…can’t…” Nebulon says as they struggle to breath as they feel their life start to fade away.

“WHY NOT!”

“...Because…they…they are gone…”

The star soldier looks around to find out that Nebulon is right.

“...Where did you send them?”

“...Far…away…from you…” Nebulon says as their millions of years of life suddenly come to an end.

“...No…NO!” They scream as they realized what had just happened.

“I’ll find that child if it is the last thing that I do!”

A meteorite crashes into the Earth and Team IQA investigates the crash site.

“Look alive team!” Isabella Quentin says to her superhero team. “We don’t know where that meteorite came from or if there was any dangerous life aboard! So our mission is to look until this area is cleared!”

“Yes ma’am!” Urchin, Bellows, and Wallflower say as they search the area.

The team continues to look until Wallflower comes across something interesting.

She found a small purple baby-like creature with hair that looked like space amongst the rubble of the meteorite.

“...Hey Isabella! I found something…or…someone?”

Isabella and the others come quickly.

Wallflower picks up the star child and cradles them in her arms.

“Alright!” Isabella says to her team. “Let’s head back to CHS HQ to see what to do with this anomaly!”

Urchin and Bellows nod and start to walk off until they are cut off by Wallflower.

“...Can I keep them…” She says.

“I am sorry Gloriosa, but no.” Isabella says.

“Come on, Please!” Gloriosa says with puppy dog eyes.

“...Well…” Bellows comes over to give the star child another look. “...They are just a wee little thing…I don’t see what the issue is…I say let Gloriosa take care of them!”

“...Thanks Fredrik…” Gloriosa says as she warmly smiles at the star child.

“Anytimes lass.” The viking says while rubbing the back of his neck.

“...I don’t know about this…” Urchin says to Isabella. “...Something about this feels off to me…”

Isabella thinks this over for a moment, but then relents.

“...Fine…”

“What!” Urchin yells. “You can’t be serious ma’am!”

“I am serious!” Isabella responds. She then turns to Gloriosa. “You can take care of the child, but if anything goes wrong it will be on you. Do I make myself clear?”

“...Crystal…” Gloriosa says as she hugs the child.

She holds the child in front of her face.

“I don’t want to keep calling you child…what do you want to be called little one? Do you have a name?”

“...Ne…Nebulon!”

“Nebulon! What a fitting name!”

Gloriosa gives them a piece of candy which Nebulon enjoys quite a lot.

As they walk back to base, Gloriosa continues to feed Nebulon small pieces of candy.

Nebulon was very excited to start their life on Earth. Especially if they could have more candy.

Chapter Text

It was now a few weeks after the trial of Max Midas and Calder’s attack inside of Zari’s gym.

Love and the others were currently sitting in Jack’s class while he was giving them a lecture on what to do when you see someone steal an old woman’s purse.

“Love Hart, please report to the dean’s office! Love Hart, please report to the dean’s office!” The intercom blares.

Love is confused, but she does as she is told.

Love enters Isaac Quentin’s office as he is staring out the window while drinking his tea.

“Have a seat, Love.” Isaac says without turning around.

“...But, how did you know it was me?”

Isaac turns around with a small smirk on his face and just taps the top of his head.

“...Oh…right…your psychic abilities…”

He nods and takes a seat behind his desk.

“So, Miss Hart, did they tell you why you have been called into my office?”

She shakes her head no, but is also starting to get a little nervous.

Isaac notices this and course corrects the conversation.

“Oh, no need to worry, miss. You aren’t in trouble. Quite the opposite in fact!”

“...Huh…What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that the school, myself included, are very glad with your ability to apprehend Calder McHail.”

“...Oh, thanks…I guess…”

“You are very welcome, my dear! The school thought a simple thank you would have been more than enough to repay you for your bravery, but I thought otherwise.”

“...Oh…are you giving me a reward?”

“Yes, I suppose that is one way to put it.”

Love was starting to get a bit excited. Her mind was racing with what her reward was going to be.

“To thank you for your efforts we are going to pay off your tuition for the rest of your time at SUPER! How does that sound?”

Love thought about it for a second. This was a very exciting offer, but she thought of a better idea than to take this gift for herself.

“...I would love to accept your gift myself, sir, but would it be alright if I gift it to one of my friends instead?”

“...Are you sure?”

Love nods her head.

“Alright, which of your friends did you have in mind?”

“Violet Newton, please report to the dean’s office! Violet Newton, please report to the dean’s office!” The intercom blares again.

Violet was in the middle of answering a question in Jack’s class as she was called.

She apologizes to Jack (who couldn’t care less) and leaves to go to Isaac’s office.

She walks in and notices that Love was still here.

“Take a seat, Miss Newton.” Isaac says as he takes another sip of his tea.

She sits down next to Love with a worried expression suddenly appearing on her face.

“What can I help you with, sir?”

“No need to worry, Miss Newton. You aren’t in trouble.”

Violet’s shoulders de-stress.

“Thank you for telling me that, sir. That is a relief. With that being said…why did you call us here?”

Isaac turns to Love.

“Would you like to tell her the good news or should I?”

“...You go ahead, sir. You are much better with words than I am…”

Violet’s interest was piqued and she was getting a little excited now, but she did her best not to show it.

“Miss Newton, I was just rewarding Miss Hart for taking care of the…Calder incident…and she declined the reward for herself because she wanted to give it to you instead.”

“...Thank you, Love.” Violet says as she turns to her friend before turning back towards Isaac “What is the reward?”

“...The reward is…a free full ride scholarship to SUPER! This means all of your classes will be paid for along with all other on campus expenses such as your dorm room. Love told me about the situation between you and your parents. I am quite sorry that you ended up in such a situation, but hopefully this makes up for that.”

Violet turns towards Love.

“Are you sure about this Love?”

Love nods her head.

“My parents are still paying for my tuition. I don’t need this as much as you do.”

Violet immediately hugs her friend.

“Thank you, Love! Thank you so, so, so much!”

“...Too tight…” Love says.

“...Oh, I’m sorry…” Violet says as she lets go of her friend.

“...Don’t…worry about it…” Love says as she catches her breath.

Violet then turns towards Isaac.

“Thank you, sir!”

“You are quite welcome, Miss Newton.” Isaac says with a small grin. “The school will update your file to waive the fees for the rest of your schooling along with the other expenses soon.”

Isaac nods his head and goes back to his paperwork as Love and Violet leave the room.

“...So, Love…”

“...Yes Vi…”

“I am happy about this of course, but why didn’t you accept this gift for yourself? You have more than earned it.”

“...If I am being completely honest, I get a little bit of a kick from my parents spending their money on me to go to school even though they would retract that money as soon as they figure out I am trans. Sure, if they figure out things will probably be bad, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“...I suppose that makes sense…but if you want to tell them I am more than willing to come with you and protect you from anything bad they might do to you.”

“...Thank you Violet, but I don’t expect to have to do that anytime soon if I have anything to say about it.”

“...Well, if you're sure…” Violet says with a slightly worried expression.

The next day in Jack’s classroom, Jack has an announcement to make.

“As you all know, since Calder is no longer attending SUPER I have an open slot on my class roster. So let me introduce you to your new classmate, Fang Jenks.”

“It is wonderful to meet you all!” Fang says with a theatrical bow.

He was wearing a green jumpsuit and a beanie…no…I think it’s actually a green jester’s cap. He had medium length black hair. He also had curled shoes with bells at the end of them.

“Hello Fang!” Candi says as she zips toward Fang with a hand outstretched for a handshake. “My name is Candi! It is nice to meet you!”

“Likewise!” He says as he reciprocates the handshake.

*ZAP!*

“Ouchie!” Candi yells as she retracts her hand.

“Ha! Oh, I am sorry miss! I couldn’t help myself!” Fang takes the buzzer off of his hand and places it back into his pocket.

“Are you okay, Candi?” Violet says as she approaches her friend to make sure she is okay.

“...I’m alright, Violet…” Candi says as she recalibrates herself and turns her attention back towards Fang. “Now that I know you are a prankster I can finally use my backlog of prank ideas!”

“Now that's what I like to hear!” Fang says with a wide smirk on his face.

“...Wait a second…” Violet says with a confused look toward Candi. “...If you love to pull pranks, why have you never pulled any on us?”

“Because you don’t pull pranks on people without their consent!” Candi states matter of factly as she glares at Fang with a small yet mischievous smile.

Fang giggles at this. He is more than up for this challenge.

Suddenly, Fang feels an arm around his shoulders.

“I think I am gonna like this guy!” Maka says as she tries to give Fang a noogie.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” He says with a small but knowing grin.

“Why is tha…” Maka is cut off by the ears on Fang’s cap suddenly moving and aiming towards Maka. It seemed like his hat had mechanical parts inside that created some sort of defense mechanism.

Maka is then shot in the face with a torrent of seltzer water.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Maka mocks Fang as she uses her powers to redirect the water back towards Fang.

She splashes him over the head with it. Fang currently looks like a sopping wet sad clown.

“Good one!” He says as he gives Maka finger guns. “You are next on my hit list!”

“Bring it on, buddy!” Maka says with a devious smile. “Bring it on!”

Fang takes a seat in between Ash and Love.

“I am glad that I am not you right now.” Ash says. “I hate water.”

“What is that guy’s problem?” Fang says as he leans towards Love with a whisper.

“...Oh…that’s Ash…He has fire powers…”

“By the way! I noticed you weren’t paying attention to my introduction a minute ago!”

“...Uh…What do you mean…I was…paying attention…” She lied.

“...Uh huh…Then what is my name?”

“...Pennywise?”

“...Yup…you totally missed it…The name’s Fang by the way! Put ‘er there!” He says as he extends his hand towards Love.

“...Oh…uh…sure…my name is Love Hart…” She says right before she is shocked.

“Ouch!”

“You would have seen that coming if you were paying attention!”

Love doesn’t say anything. She just folds her arms and puts her head down onto her desk.

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!” Fang says with a small laugh.

Chapter Text

The first semester of the first year students at SUPER has come to an end and it is now the first day of their second semester.

Jack was sitting in his chair behind his desk resting his eyes as he usually did as his students entered the classroom.

Jack hears them, opens his eyes, and sighs deeply before welcoming them in.

“...Alright, one semester down…a lot more to go…let’s get this over with…”

“Hiya Jack!” Candi says with a wave and a smile.

Jack just glares at her in response as she slowly and awkwardly takes her seat.

Love, Violet, Maka, Ash, and Fang also find their seats as class begins.

“So, since I taught you all the basics of being a hero last semester, this semester we are going to go into more detail.”

Jack got up to write something down on the whiteboard. Fang gave Candi a whoopie cushion and quickly ran it over to Jack’s chair.

“...So…as I was saying…” Jack sits back down and is cut off by the sound of the whoopie cushion.

Candi and Fang instantly burst out laughing while Maka and Ash join them after processing the moment.

Love is just sitting there with a blush and a confused look on her face.

Violet just rolls her eyes.

“...Alright…” Jack says as he stands up while holding the origin of that crude sound. “...Was this one of Fang’s tricks or was it Candi this time?”

They both burst out laughing again.

“...You are both getting detention later today…”

“WORTH IT!” They both say in unison.

“...Can I continue my lesson?” Jack says rhetorically. “...Okay...here we go…”

The first couple of weeks went by like normal. No villains to fight. No traitorous classmates. No “incidents” involving faulty stink bombs in Bulldog’s workshop. Nothing of the sort.

That was until Headmaster Quentin called an assembly with all of the first year students.

“Aight! Listen Up!” Zari shouts into her megaphone. “Sir Quentin has something to say!”

Zari passes her megaphone to Isaac.

“Hello, students. We are going to do the internship program with the CHS again and some of you will be working with Team IQA again, but they will specifically be working with class two. Class one will be working with a different team from the CHS this time. Everyone give a SUPER welcome to the leader of team Prism, Pythia Nostradame, also known as the hero Fortuna.”

A cloud of smoke suddenly appears in the gym as Isaac passes the megaphone over to who we can only assume in Fortuna. As the smoke clears we see a person wearing a blue tophat with a feather, a blue suit jacket with the buttons undone with a mesh shirt underneath, and blue slacks.

“Hello SUPER!” Fortuna says into the microphone. “We heard about what happened to you guys last time you guys did the internship program and think that you guys could use some extra help this semester. This time we will be divided into bigger groups each with more students and heroes. As Sir IQ has already mentioned, class two will be paired with team IQA, but class one will be paired with me and my team. This isn’t the only reason Isaac asked us to help you guys specifically though. I have been made aware that most of class one is queer and team Prism is a superhero team that is entirely composed of LGBTQ+ people. For example, I am genderfluid, but am currently male presenting, along with being pansexual. You will meet the rest of my team next week when we actually start the internship program. That’s enough from me for now though.”

Fortuna passes the megaphone back to Zari.

“That also means that y’all don’t have regular classes next week, but I assure you that I am going to spend quite a bit of my time off planning on how to cram workouts when you all get back.”

A wave of groans comes from the audience.

Zari smiles and passes the megaphone back to Isaac.

“That is all from me for now. I’ll leave to let you all so you can continue your training with Zari.”

The class groans again.

Zari takes a deep yet relaxed breath.

“...Music to my ears…” She says as she puts her mouth up to her megaphone. “NOW DROP AND GIVE ME 100!”

The students now have to meet up with Rose and Bulldog again because their costumes and equipment are done. Well, most of them were done. Since Jazmine and Fang were newer students they were still working on their stuff.

The students are given their stuff, leave to change into them, and come back to show them off to Rose and Bulldog.

“...You all look…DEVINE!” Rose says to the students with hearts in their eyes.

“...Yeah…they look alright…” Bulldog says while rubbing the back of his neck.

Rose wraps their arm around Bulldog’s neck.

“He loves them too!” They say.

“...Uh…Sure…yeah…”

“Okay! Now I want you all to strike a pose one by one and shout out your superhero name!”

Ash goes first.

“I am Ogun!”

He flashes a heroic pose. He had a red mask that took the shape of a flame, had styled his dreads to look more like fire, and was wearing a long flowing cape that looked like a long flowing burning flame. He also had red gauntlets with hotrod flames that were to help him with aiming his fire.

Violet went next.

“Prepare to do battle with the one and only V!”

She had futuristic armor that was mostly silver with purple highlights. She also was wearing a purple visor. She had a utility belt that had a bunch of small metallic rods that extend out into holographic weapons at the press of a button.

Candi was after that.

“SUGAR RUSH!” She screams as she dashes into the room.

She was wearing an outfit that was similar to what she had on before, but this one had a lot more pink on it along with a theme of sprinkles and balloons covering the vast majority of the fabric. She also had a pink mask over her eyes. Also, a utility belt with compartments for sweets of course.

After that was Maka.

“Sup! The Name’s Sharktooth!”

She was wearing a surfer’s wetsuit with a torn yellow jacket over it. The costume was also covered in a lot of tears and spikes as per Maka’s (later and more in depth) request. There were also two shark dorsal fins on the back of the jacket which were used as areas to store water.

Next was Takeru.

“DJ Ronin in the house!”

He was wearing a full suit of neon cybernetic ninja armor with a headpiece that looked like one of Daft Punk’s helmets with headphones on the sides. He also has a spot cut out on top for his hair to go through. He had a new sword with a button on it that sent excess power into his suit. So, at the press of a button he could either save excess energy into his suit or channel it back out into his sword.

After that was Shiro.

“Enter the White Dragon!”

She was wearing a new gi that was mainly black still, but had white accents and gold trim. She also was wearing the type of combat gloves that MMA fighters would often wear.

After that was Samara…

…Who took a second to show up.

“BOO!” Samara quickly jumpscared the others who almost all jumped back in fright.

“Ooh! How creepy! I love it!” Rose responds enthusiastically. “But tell us your hero name, Samara.”

“...Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, BLOODY MARY!”

She was wearing a long tattered light purple and black dress with accents that looked like bloodstains. She was also carrying an even bigger gothic looking umbrella that would help increase the range and power of her shadows by a lot.

Zahid was next.

“I am Zephyr!”

He was still wearing the same head dress that he always wore, but was wearing a purple and black outfit with a long flowing gray scarf that looked like clouds. He also had a utility belt to fit his more compact chakrams that can extend their blades out with the press of a button.

After that was Zypp.

“Nylon’s the name! Don’t wear it out…who am I kidding! I love attention! Say it as much as you wish!”

They Were wearing a black and red sleeveless jumpsuit with bell bottom pants that was almost entirely covered in zippers including a zipper down the front, zippers down the legs, and a zipper where a belt should be. They also had a small fanny pack that was full of additional zippers.

Last, but certainly not least, was Love.

She was standing right out of the classroom, but was too nervous to go inside.

“Love! Are you out there?” Violet says with concern.

“Just to remind you we will love and support you no matter what!” Candi yelled.

“Also, I am sure you look lovely so that shouldn’t be something you are worried about.” Zypp tries to reassure Love.

“Come on Love!” Maka yells with frustration. “Get in here so we can get out of here!”

Love takes a deep breath.

‘Here goes nothing’. She thinks as she takes a deep breath and opens the door.

“...I…I am…Eros…”

She was wearing a pink jacket with a wing pattern on the back along with a blue dress with a white sash separating the torso from the rest of the length. She also had pink archer’s gloves.

She conjures her light bow and aims it upwards, but is visibly trembling with fear. She wasn’t that confident yet, but she was getting there.

Suddenly, Rose stood up and started clapping.

“How wonderful! You look absolutely stunning darling!” They say.

Everyone else also claps, Bulldog included (after a nudge from Rose).

Candi runs up and gives Love a big hug.

“I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT!”

She lets her friend down to breathe after she noticed how hard she was hugging.

“Oh my!” Zypp says while seductively biting their lip.

“It suits you quite well!” Violet says to her friend.

“...Yeah…You look…great…” Maka says awkwardly with a blush on her face.

“Feels good, doesn’t it.” Ash says with a knowing smile.

“...Yeah…It does!” Love says with butterflies in her stomach. She felt…amazing! Was this what dressing as her true gender felt like? She needed to do this more often!

“Alright students! Make sure to show off as you test your new suits and equipment out next week at the internship program!” Rose says as they dismiss the class.

Love goes back to her dorm, but just ends up looking at herself in the mirror for the rest of the day. She felt incredible. She didn’t even know it was possible to feel this good about her appearance…or herself for that matter.

After a while she started to cry, but these aren't tears of sadness. They were tears of joy!

Chapter Text

“Alright students!” Zari yells into her megaphone. “Today you will all be practicing to use your new equipment!”

All of the students of class one were in the gym wearing their costumes and gear.

“I want you to showcase what your stuff can do one at a time, but we aren’t going to do this here.”

“...Why not?” Violet questions.

“Now that you guys have trained your bodies I want you to focus more on honing your powers, but this gym can’t cater to all of your different abilities as well as I would like. So, follow me!”

Zari walks out of the room as the students follow her.

They walk to another building that has a door that Zari has to open with a special cardkey.

“Welcome to the VRTR, which stands for the virtual reality training room. Here I will be able to set up individual tests for your powers. You will go in one at a time and the rest of us will watch through this window. Sounds good?”

All of the students nod except for one of them.

“What about me? I don’t have any equipment yet.” Fang asks Zari.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to train today. You can just sit back with me and watch the others train for the day.

Fang nods with a smile.

“We will start out with Ash!”

“Alright!” Ash responds as he gets up from the bleachers.

Ash’s powers were really good at a closer range before, but he had less control of his flames the further they went, so these gauntlets should hopefully help with this issue.

“Okay! Let’s go!” Ash yells enthusiastically.

Zari sets up a specific test for Ash and turns on the program.

Ash is suddenly surrounded by a ton of targets moving in every direction all around the room.

“Hit as many targets as you can within the time limit! You have three minutes…starting now!”

“Got it!” Ash says as he starts his test.

He charges up a fireball and launches it towards a target that is moving from left to right. He whiffs the attack completely.

“Fire to where they are going to be instead of where they are!” Zari lectures.

“I know!” Ash yells back as he focuses again.

He shoots another fireball and misses. He tries again with the same result.

“Ash has one minute left on the timer without a single point yet!”

“That’s not helping!” He yells as he tries again.

He focuses, charges up another fireball, aims, and fires…

…and he finally hit a target.

“Woohoo! I finally got one!”

*BUZZ*

“Ash! Your training is over! You may now leave the training room!”

Ash heads towards the others with a cocky look on his face.

“I got a point!” He says as he snaps his fingers towards Zari.

“Yes you did. I don’t know why you are celebrating though. That was a terrible performance!”

“...Wait…what is the average for that test?”

“17.”

“...Oh…”

Ash, now dejected, sits down on one of the seats in the control room with the others.

“Hey! Chin up kid! Practice makes progress! Keep training and you are bound to get more points next time!”

“...Yeah…Thanks…”

“Welcome!” Zari says as she gets the next test prepared. “Candi is up next!”

“Yay!” Candi shouts as she runs into the training room.

“Alright Candi! Your test is to use your super speed to take out as many bad guys as possible! Got it!”

Candi nods, downs a vial of sugar from her belt, and gets into a runner’s starting position.

Zari presses the button and starts the test.

“You’ve got three minutes!”

A bunch of random holograms of people suddenly appear. Some of them looked like stereotypical bank robbers while some were dressed more casually to represent innocent civilians.

Candi starts running and starts annihilating the holograms with an onslaught of kicks.

*Buzz*

“Whew!” Candi says as she wiped sweat from her brow. “How did I do?”

She went back into the control room to come face to face with Zari.

“...So…the good news is you took out every single bad guy in the simulation…”

“Yay!”

“...But the bad news…is that you also took out every single civilian in the simulation as well…”

“...No…”

“Each robber was worth three points. There were 40 in total so that earns you 120 points, but each civilian subtracts five points. There were 25 civilians, so you lost 125 points. So, your total number of points is…negative 5…”

“...Well…technically none of those were real people…so I didn’t actually do anything wrong…”

“Don’t get philosophical on me Candi. Just take the L and do better next time.”

Candi sighs, but shakes her head and quickly regains her smile.

“Okay! You’re right! I’ll just do better next time!”

Zari nods and sets up the control panel for the next student.

“Maka! You’re up!”

“Hell yeah!” She says as she runs into the training room. “I can’t wait to beat up some thugs!”

Zari presses the start button.

“There is a water tower that is about to collapse surrounded by civilians! You have three minutes!”

“...Wait…no bad guys…”

“Nope! Good luck!”

“Fuck!” Maka shouts as she realizes that she can’t just muscle her way past this exercise.

The water tower begins to buckle and break.

Maka uses her powers to try to lift the water tower back up, but all she actually does is break the top of the water tower and a small stream of water starts to pour onto her and the ground around her.

“Shit!”

She uses her powers again to push all of the water to the other side of the tower.

The water tower starts to lean the other way.

Maka smirks at her seemingly successful solution…

…Until the water tower collapses backwards.

A wave of water hits the wall and starts to flow towards Maka and the civilians.

As the water approaches, Maka uses her powers to lift the water again.

This works, at least for a short time. All of the water is floating above her in a giant bubble.

“...Can’t…hold it…for much longer…” Maka strains herself to say.

When she couldn’t hold it anymore the water fell onto her and the civilians.

Zari presses a button and the simulation ends.

Maka walks into the control room.

“...So…did I pass?”

Zari just raises an eyebrow at Maka.

“...Okay…I failed…Got it…”

“Violet! You're next!”

Violet nods and walks into the training room.

Zari presses a button that drops a massive boulder onto Violet’s shoulders.

“Hold this for three minutes and you pass!”

“Ha! Easy!” Violet says as she holds the boulder with one arm.

A small dagger appears and plunges into the top of the boulder and Violet starts to buckle under the weight.

“...Wait…What…is going on?”

“I knew that one heavy object would be nothing for you, so I added a second object that you can’t touch!”

“...That…That’s not fair…That’s not what you said…”

“I just said hold this! I never said what ‘this’ was!”

Violet angrily grunts as she continues to struggle to hold the boulder.

When one minute and fifteen seconds remain on the clock Violet taps out. Zari presses the button again and the boulder disappears.

Violet leaves the training room while rubbing one of her arms with a defeated expression on her face.

“Love!”

“...Y…yes…”

“It’s your turn!”

Love gulps with fear and walks into the training room.

“Okay Love! The room will present you with your greatest fear! All you have to do is face that fear for three minutes!”

“...Wait…what? How do you know what my greatest fear is?”

“I don’t, but this machine can! With that being said, nothing can actually hurt you in there! Everything is just holograms!”

Zari readies the program and presses start.

Love was alone in the room for a moment, but at about the 2:45 mark two holograms appeared in the room.

…They were holograms of Love’s parents…”

The holograms process what they were looking at as disgusted looks appear on their faces.

“...Lev…is that you? What the hell are you doing?”

“...I…I just…um…”

“I thought we told you to stop it with this girly stuff a long time ago!”

“...but…but…”

“Now you listen to us young man!” The holograms start walking towards Love. “The first thing we're going to do is get you a haircut! No son of mine is going to look like a hippie!”

Love instantly grabs her hair.

“...No…I don’t want to…”

“Do not talk back to us! You will do what we say or else!”

“...Or…or else what?”

“THAT’S IT!” The hologram of Love’s father takes off his belt and walks towards Love.

Love falls onto the ground with tears streaming down her cheeks as she puts her arms up to defend herself.

“No! Not again!”

Zari presses the button again and shuts off the training room’s holograms.

Love is quickly surrounded by her classmates and Zari.

“...Love…What the hell was that?” Zari asks with a concerned look.

“...Those…were…my parents…”

“...Oh honey…I am so sorry…I didn’t know the machine was going to do that…I thought it was going to create a monster of something…”

Violet, Candi, Maka, and Ash quickly wrapped Love in a group hug.

“...It’s okay…That wasn’t real…They can’t hurt you here…” Violet says in a soothing voice.

“...It’s only us here Love…It’s just your friends…You’re safe here…” Candi reassures her friend.

“...I am so sorry, Love…” Ash says. “...I wish your parents cared about you as much as mine would…”

Everyone just sits there as Love continues to cry.

“Is that how your parents actually treat you?” Maka questions.

Love nods.

“THOSE BASTARDS! I AM GOING TO FIND THEM AND TEACH THEM A LESSON!” Maka yells as she cracks her knuckles.

“...Please don’t…” Love says to Maka between sobs.

Maka looks at Love with a confused expression before her anger leaves her body as she deflates.

“...Fine…”

Fang was standing off to the side, unsure of what to do with himself. He did know that a joke wouldn’t be appropriate right now so he just decided to stay silent.

As Love eventually stopped crying her friends let her out of the group hug that was surrounding her.

Violet helps her up to her feet and Love puts her arm around Violet’s shoulders.

“...I will make sure to devise a different test for you…” Zari tells Love. “...I think that’s enough for today…Class dismissed…”

Love and all of her friends went to her dorm.

They decided to have an impromptu game night to lift her spirits. They didn’t stop until they were sure that she was feeling better.

After a while Candi came up with the idea to have a sleepover which all of the friends quickly agreed to. None of them wanted to leave Love by herself after what had happened.

Some of them briefly leave to grab more pillows and blankets along with their toothbrushes and head back to Love’s room. Ash also contacted Takeru to stay with them as well which he quickly agreed to.

As they play games and chat they eventually get tired and fall asleep.

Love’s mind was no longer focusing on her parents and she was able to go to sleep.

Chapter Text

The students continued to train with their new equipment while also getting used to the unique quirks of their hero costumes.

Eventually, it was time for the students to start their apprenticeship again.

The twelve heroes were picked up and taken to CHS headquarters again by Gloriosa Gardener, but as they were told from before, class two went with Team IQA and class one met up with Team Prism.

Pythia Nostradame leads the heroes to her team's meeting room. Her outfit was slightly different from the last time they saw her when she was presenting male. This time she had on black lipstick and blue eyeshadow. She was wearing a sleeveless blue suit jacket and a blue skirt with fishnet leggings and sleeves along with black gloves and shoes.

Love, Ash, Maka, Violet, Candi, and Fang filed into the room behind her.

“You all have already met me of course, but now it is time for you to meet the rest of Team Prism!” Pythia said with some suppressed excitement.

As they took their seats they noticed five other heroes in the room with them.

“Team, introduce yourselves!” Pythia says while gesturing towards her team.

“Hey gang! My name is Pat Tracker, or you can call me by my hero name, Ursa.”

A man with the physique of a professional weightlifter introduces himself. He was wearing a blue unzipped down vest with a brown shirt underneath, blue jeans, brown boots, and a brown cap with a bear face and ears on it. He had shaggy brown hair, a beard, a lot of arm hair…actually let’s just say that he was a hairy dude.

He walks up to Pythia and puts an arm around her shoulder.

“Hey babe!” Pythia says as she kisses him on the lips.

“It’s good to see you too.” He says before turning his attention back to the students. “As we are introducing ourselves I might as well also say what letters of the LGBT+ alphabet apply to me. I am a pansexual man and also one of Pythia’s two partners.”

“...Wait…one of two?” Violet questions. “Who is the third person?”

Pythia and Pat turn around and beckon their other partner forward.

She was a half black-half hispanic woman who was wearing a black hoodie with neon graffiti on it along with dark gray leggings and purple converse. She also had massive frizzy purple hair as well.

“...Hello…I’m Ezmeralda Esperanza…or ESP…these two idiots are my partners and I am bisexual and a transgender woman…”

Pythia and Pat quickly wrap Ezmeralda in a hug.

“We know you love us!” They say simultaneously.

“...Yeah…whatever…” Ez says with a blush.

Next was a very tall Pakistani woman who was wearing a black abaya with pink highlights and a pink hijab. She was also incredibly muscular.

“Sup!” She said while flexing. “The names Ilma Iqbal, also go by the hero name Quwwa and I am a lesbian.”

Another woman walks up to Ilma and kisses her on the cheek.

“Stop it Fran! I am trying to look tough in front of the newbies!” Ilma says jokingly.

“Nope!” She says as she kisses Ilma again before turning to the kids.

She was tall, but not nearly as tall as her girlfriend, had black hair tied back into a long ponytail, and was wearing a black corset as a shirt with a pink and black jacket along with pink skinny jeans.

“I’m Francince Valentina, otherwise known as Valentine, and Ilma’s girlfriend and am also a lesbian.”

As the students and the heroes start to talk amongst each other, Pythia notices that her team’s newest member hasn’t introduced himself yet.

Pythia beckons her final team member forwards.

He rolled forwards on his skateboard before stopping right before the students.

He had brown shoulder length hair inside of his red backwards cap, a blue plaid shirt with a white jersey underneath with the numbers 01 on it, tan shorts, and red converse with long white socks. He also was covered in freckles.

“...Yo…” He says with a peace sign. “...I’m Thomas Boyd…hero name Skater Boy, and I am an asexual trans man…”

Love looks at him with a confused look on her face.

“...Wait…he is just a kid…why is he on a superhero team?”

Pythia glances over at Thomas with a sad look as he nods back at her.

“...You see…Tommy was kicked out of his house for being trans…”

Tommy was just sitting there hugging his skateboard to his chest as Pythia continued to explain his situation.

“...Our team was just making our usual rounds throughout Central City as we found Tommy…sitting alone between a few dumpsters in a random alley way…I believe it was also raining on that day…He was only fourteen when we found him out there…so I made an executive decision to allow him to live with us at our base of operations, but he insisted that he wanted to be a hero too. We did try to convince him otherwise, but you can probably see who won out at the end of that discussion…”

Love turns to Thomas to ask him another question.

“...How old are you?”

“...Seventeen…”

“...Oh, I am so sorry…”

“...Nah, it’s cool…This place is much better than my parent’s house was anyways. I get to skate wherever I want whenever I want…as long as it is before my curfew…I get to help the team beat up bigots…and…” Tommy wiped a tear from his eye. “...I get to be me here…”

Love walks up to Tommy and gives him a hug.

“...Just because you are fine now doesn’t mean that was an acceptable thing for your parents to do…” Love was now crying as well.

“...Uh…thanks…” Tommy said as he tapped Love on the shoulder so she let him go.

“...I’m sorry…” Love says as she wipes tears out of her eyes. “...It’s just that…your situation is quite the familiar one…”

“...Oh…” Tommy responds. “...That makes sense…”

“...Let me introduce myself…My name is Love Hart…and I am a trans woman…”

The rest of the students introduce themselves as well. As Violet and Fang introduced themselves they had to kind of awkwardly say that they were cis and straight, but aside from that the rest of the introductions went smoothly.

“Alright!” Pythia says to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s split you all up into teams and get this apprenticeship program underway!”

“Ilma and Francine will go with Violet and Ash, Pat and Thomas are with Candi and Fang, and me and Ez will team up with Love and Maka! Sounds good!”

Everyone nods.

“Great! Then without further ado!” Pythia says as she walks out of the building with everyone else following suit before they split up into teams.

Chapter Text

After another long day of class Love left Jack’s classroom and started to make her way back to her dorm.

As she was walking down the hall she suddenly collided with something that wasn’t there just a moment ago and fell backwards onto the ground.

When she was eventually able to process what just happened she looked around to see what exactly she just bumped into.

She soon found out that the thing that knocked her over was Candi.

She was extending her arm out towards Love to help her up.

“Sorry about that!”

“...Candi…what was that all about?”

Candi takes a deep breath before she begins her explanation.

“So as I was leaving Jack’s class I realized that I forgot one of my books back in the room, but then I realized that the book wasn’t in his room so I went to check my dorm to see if I left it there. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t in my dorm so I was going back to Jack’s class to check again to see if I somehow missed it.”

After she took a moment to process everything that Candi just said, Love took her backpack off and started to unzip it.

“...Candi…you let me borrow that book…” Love says as she takes the book in question out of her backpack.

“...Oh…Silly me! I forgot about that!” Candi says as she takes her book back and places it in her own backpack.

After the mystery of the location of Candi’s book was solved both girls stood there in silence for an awkward amount of time.

“...Well…see you later Love!” Candi says as she prepares to head back to her dorm.

“...Wait…” Love says as she grabs Candi’s arm.

“...Okay…What up?” Candi says as she turns back around towards Love.

“...Do you remember…that conversation that we had a while back?” Love asked as she started rubbing the back of her neck.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that Love! We have had a lot of conversations!”

“...It…it was the one…about…about the thing…” Love stammers as her cheeks start to turn red as she pokes her pointer fingers together.

“...So I guess that narrows it down a bit…” Candi says as she thinks for a moment. “...We were talking about something that was embarrassing to you?”

Love nods. Candi tries to narrow it down from the very limited information that she was given.

“I’m sorry, Love. You’re gonna have to give me more information than that. Was anyone else present for the conversation?”

Love nods again.

“Well, who was it?”

“...Um…it was…Maka…”

Candi instantly remembers the conversation that Love has been trying to remind her of this whole time.

“...Oh yeah…” Candi says as she also begins to blush. “...That conversation…”

Love nods a third time.

“Let’s continue this conversation in my room.” Candi says as she grabs Love while carrying her princess style as she jogs off to her room.

Love is now sitting on the bed in Candi’s dorm as Candi returns from grabbing a couple of water bottles from her mini fridge.

She passes one of them to Love before sitting next to her on the bed.

“...So…” Candi says as she opens the bottle and takes a sip. “...Do you want to accept that offer I gave you?”

“...I…uh…maybe…” Love says as she rotates the water bottle in her hands. “...I’ve been thinking about what you said…”

“...And?”

“...And I think that…that I…might…might want to…you know…” Love stutters out as her face progressively gets redder and redder.

Candi quickly takes Love’s hands in her own.

“Even though I can’t read your mind or anything like that…can I help you out by saying this for you?”

Love shakes her head no.

“...No Candi…I…I want to be the one to say it…”

“Okay then!” Candi says as she patiently waits for Love to say what she wants to say.

“...Candi Kane…do…do you…want to…go out…with me…” Love says as she is blushing profusely while unable to look Candi in the eyes.

Before Love could blink Candi wraps her arms around her.

“Yes! Yes! Of course I want to go out with you!” Candi says as a smile beams across her face. It might just have been the biggest smile that Candi has ever done in her entire life which when it comes to Candi is saying something!

Love finally builds up her courage and looks Candi in the eyes. She then wraps her arms around Candi in a gentle embrace.

“...Hey Love…” Candi says as her and Love’s faces move closer and closer together.

“...Yes Candi…”

“...Can I kiss you?”

“...I…yes…I would like that…”

Love closes her eyes and moves her face even closer to Candi’s.

…That is when she remembers that she has never kissed anyone before and has no idea what she is supposed to do right now…

They bump their noses together by accident.

Candi just laughs this off as Love is starting to get really blushy again.

“...I’m sorry Candi…but I have never kissed anyone before…” Love says as she looks away shyly.

“...Would you like me to show you how it’s done?” Candi says as she removes her scrunchie.

Candi’s atomic blonde hair cascades down her shoulders as she stares down at Love with a look that Love would have never expected to see from Candi before.

Candi, the fun loving, hyperactive, sweet toothed goofball that she became friends with all those months ago. Her first ever friend. Never in a million years was she expecting to be in a situation like this.

Love expected to go her entire life without romance. Not because she didn’t want it, but because she thought that she didn’t deserve it.

It took Love a long time to not hate herself, but it took her even longer to learn to actually…well…love herself.

She expected her life to go through the motions as it passed her by, never making any friends let alone a partner.

She was alone for so long. Of course she technically did have her parents, but her parents only ever saw her as their puppet in which they would control as they saw fit. Moving her strings to contort her in ways that she absolutely despised.

So, aside from the tyrants that brought her into this world she was alone.

Actually, between her hating herself back then for reasons that she didn’t yet understand and her parents forcing her into a box she was never going to be able to comfortably fit inside of she was almost completely isolated.

Back then she never would have fathomed that she would somehow be able to crawl her way out of that inky, black abyss that she was drowning in.

‘...Do I deserve this?’ Love thought to herself as Candi brushed her hair off of her shoulders and behind her back.

Candi’s face slowly yet surely inched towards Love’s again.

She gently held Love’s chin in her hand as she waited for an answer.

Before the darkness was able to consume Love again she shook her head and snapped herself back to reality.

‘...What am I thinking? It doesn’t matter whether or not I ‘deserve’ this. The only thing that matters is if this is what I want…’

Love recenters herself and focuses on Candi again who still had that same sultry look on her face.

‘...and this is what I want!’

“...Yes…” Love finally responds.

“...Good answer…” Candi says as her face approaches Love’s for a second attempt at Love’s first kiss.

This time Love tilts her head slightly to the side as her and Candi’s lips finally meet.

The kiss was quick, but it felt much longer than that. Love briefly thought if she had met anyone with the power to freeze time before she focused on being in the moment again.

“...So…how was that?” Candi says as she was desperately waiting for Love’s feedback.

“...That…was…incredible…” Love says as she catches her breath.

“...Wanna do it again?”

Love thought about this for a moment and was briefly tempted to say yes, but that is not the answer she went with.

“...I…I think that I am okay for now…” Love says as she sits up slightly. “...Don’t get me wrong…I enjoyed that quite a lot, but it was also…well…a lot…I guess…I don’t want to get too overwhelmed with emotion…Not exactly in the mood to unlock a new secret power right now…”

“...Oh…okay…that’s perfectly fine!” Candi says as she backs away slightly.

“...I…wouldn’t mind sitting like this for a while though…” Love says as she leans against Candi. “...This is nice…”

Candi leans into Love and places her head onto her shoulder and slightly into the crook of her neck.

“...Yeah it is…” Candi says as she enjoys the moment.

They spend some time just enjoying each other’s presence…Just the two of them…

…Which eventually reminds Love of something…

“...Hey Candi?”

“...Yes my Love?”

“...Should…should we tell Maka about this?”

“...Yes…I think that would be a good idea…” Candi puts her arm around Love’s shoulders. “...but we can do that later…let’s just enjoy this for now…”

“...That works for me…” Love says as she closes her eyes as she melts into Candi’s embrace.

Chapter Text

Over the next couple of days Love and Candi were crafting a plan on how to fill Maka in about what happened between them.

The two of them kicked around a couple of ideas until they agreed to the plan of one of them inviting Maka to hang out in their dorm and then to just tell her about it.

It was decided that Love was the one who was going to do this.

While Jack’s class was being let out for the day Candi gives Love a pat on the shoulder before making her way back to her dorm. Love then walks alongside Maka.

“...Hey…” Love breaks the ice.

“Sup?” Maka responds dryly.

“...Do you…have any plans later?” Love says as she rubs the back of her neck.

“Nah, not really.” Maka says with a shrug.

“...Would you like to…hang out then?”

After thinking over this offer for a moment Maka responds with “Sure, why not.”

“...Cool…” Love says as she snaps and points finger guns towards Maka.

Maka stifles a laugh.

After realizing how awkward she must’ve looked, Love begins to blush and look towards the floor.

“Any reason for your sudden interest in the floor?” Maka asks with a smirk.

“...Just…making sure I don’t step on any cracks…” Love says and follows with an obviously fake laugh.

Maka puts her arm around Love’s shoulders.

“Look at you! Cracking jokes!” Maka says with her sharp toothy grin.

“...Yeah…” Love responds with a sheepish grin.

The conversation continued all the way to Love’s dorm room.

Love walks over to her bed and instinctually grabs her shark plush.

“...So…” Maka says as she plops herself down on the foot of Love’s bed. “Anything that you wanted to do in particular?”

Love is silent for an awkward amount of time before she finally gives her answer.

“...I…actually…wanted to talk to you about something…”

“...Oh…alright…” Maka says as she turns towards Love with an intrigued look on her face.

“...Do…do you remember…that conversation that we had…with Candi?”

“...You do realize that we talk a lot right…” Maka says with a chuckle. “You are gonna have to narrow it down a bit for me.”

Love starts to blush again and hugs her plush closer to her chest.

“...The one about…her and us…”

Maka finally remembers and starts to blush a bit herself.

“...Oh yeah…that conversation…”

“...So…I was talking to Candi a few days ago…and it actually began in a very similar way to this one we’re having now…and one thing led to another…”

Maka leans towards Love and immediately becomes incredibly invested in what she was going to say next.

“...And…me and Candi…kissed…” Love said as she buried her face in her plush.

“...Oh…” Maka says in a near whisper and a scowl on her face before she puts on a nice face with a fake smile “...I mean…that’s…great…good for the both of you…”

Love notices the uncomfortable look on Maka’s face and attempts to course correct the conversation.

“...Maka…if you remember the conversation from before…then you might also remember that…Candi said that she was open to a…polyamorous relationship…”

“...Oh yeah…” Maka says with a blush as she looks away and rubs the back of her neck.

“...So…have you…thought about her offer?” Love asks.

“...Yeah...I thought about it…”

“...And?”

“...And…I don’t know…it’s an interesting idea…but that kind of seems like a lot…”

“...Oh…” Love says in a disappointed tone.

Maka quickly realizes the implication that Love took from what she said and tries to fix things.

“I didn’t mean that I thought that you were a lot, Love!”

“...Do you…think Candi is a lot?”

“No! That’s not what I meant either! I love my friendship with Candi!”

“...Then…what did you mean?”

Maka takes a deep breath.

“...It just…seems like a lot to keep track of…” Maka tries to explain. “...Having one partner already seems like a lot of work, but having two sounds…overwhelming I guess…”

“...Have you ever had a partner before?”

“...I…actually did…I was dating her a while back…but I don’t really want to talk about that right now…”

Love almost lets her curiosity get the better of her in an attempt to get some more information out of Maka, but decides that she shouldn’t pry.

“...It’s not that I’m…opposed to dating either of you though…” Maka says as she falls backwards onto Love’s bed and stares at the ceiling.

For the next few minutes neither of them say anything.

“...So…” Love breaks the silence. “...I want to let you know that me and Candi might start dating soon…”

“...Yeah…” Maka says as a scowl starts to form on her face.

“...We…just thought that you should know…”

Maka sighs before glaring at Love.

“Why isn’t Candi here?”

“...We thought that…both of us being here for this conversation would be a bit overwhelming…”

“...I guess that makes sense…” Maka says as she lies back on the bed. “...Still, that’s a strange thing to hear from you specifically…”

“...What do you mean?” Love says with a puzzled expression.

“...I didn’t mean anything bad by it…but you are one of the most easily overwhelmed people that I have ever met…”

Love thinks about it for a moment, but just ends up nodding in agreement. She then follows Maka’s lead and lies back on the bed.

Maka turns her head to look towards Love.

“...You are also one of the most kind and considerate people I have ever met…”

Love blushes in response to this and looks away from Maka.

“...You…you really think so?”

“I don’t just think so, I know so!” Maka gives a big sharp toothy grin.

“...Th…thank you!” Love rolls over to give Maka her full attention. “...I genuinely appreciate that!”

Maka gives a small chuckle

“It’s not that big of a deal!”

Since Maka complimented her, Love thought that it was now only fair that she gives one in return.

“...Well…I th…think that you are one of the most brave people I have ever met…you don’t take shit from anyone…you’re strong…and funny…and…cute…” Love trails off and gets quiet near the end of this.

“...Well…” Maka tries to process her feelings while she fails to suppress a blush. “...I’d like to think that I am more hot than cute!”

“...You…can be both things…” Love says as she puts her pointer fingers together.

“...I s’pose…” Maka turns her whole body towards Love “...Also, thanks for saying all that other stuff too…”

“...I meant every word of it…”

Maka is now blushing more intensely than she has ever before in her entire life.

“...You know what Miss Love Hart?” Maka says as she looks Love straight in the eyes. “...I think I might consider that offer…”

“...Really?” Love is genuinely surprised at this response.

“...Yeah, but that’s not a yes…at least not yet…”

Love nods in response to this.

“...So…now that we got all that mushy stuff out of the way do you wanna play some games or something?” Maka suggests.

“...I would love that…”

The two girls spend the rest of the day playing games, having fun, and enjoying each other’s company.

Chapter Text

Ilma, Francine, Violet, and Ash are on patrol.

“...So…” Ash says with his hands behind his head “...Would you mind telling us what your powers are?”

Francine and Ilma laugh.

“You’ll see soon enough.” Fran says with an amused expression on her face.

“Wait a second!” Violet scoffs. “It almost sounds like you want us to run into trouble!”

“...Yeah…and what of it?” Ilma says with a smirk while flexing her muscles.

“...Oh…nevermind…” Violet says with a sigh.

‘Why did I get paired up with the thrill seekers?’ She thinks to herself.

Suddenly, Fran gets a call.

“Hello! This is Valentine!”

“Oh, that sounds terrible! We’ll be over right away!”

She hangs up her phone.

“Follow me!” Fran says as she points a fencing sword forwards.

“Hell yeah!” Ilma yells out as she follows her girlfriend.

Violet and Ash share a glance with the former looking annoyed and the ladder giving a shrug before they follow the heroes.

As they arrive on the scene Ash and Violet quickly see what the issue is.

The call Fran got led them to the entrance of a local drag club. It seems like there might soon be a fight between some of the staff and patrons of the club and the hate mob that was right outside their door.

Their were a group of protestors holding up signs that had anti-LGBT messages on them.

As the heroes and students drew closer they were able to hear the argument more clearly.

“What you all are doing is unnatural!” A man holding a sign yelled.

“Fuck off and leave us alone!” One of the club’s Drag Queens yelled back.

“That isn’t a very nice thing to say!” Francine says with a smirk.

“I know right!” The man holding the sign responds.

“I wasn’t talking to you!” Francine snaps back.

“EXCUSE ME!” The man responded. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!”

“Do I really need to repeat myself?” Fran said with a smug look on her face. “I thought I made myself quite clear!”

“I heard you loud and clear babe!” Ilma says with a smug smile of her own.

“Aww! Thank you!” Fran says as she gives Ilma a quick kiss on the cheek.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” The man screams with a disgusted look on his face.

Fran thinks this over for a moment.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with me. Do you think there is anything wrong with me babe?” Fran says with a faux confused expression.

“Not at all! In fact, I think that you’re perfect!” Ilma says with a wide grin.

“THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SINFUL BEHAVIOR!” The man yells as he runs directly towards Fran and tries to slam his sign down against her head.

Fran, completely unphased by what was happening, just grabs the sign and pulls it out of the man’s grasp.

“Hey babe!” Fran turns towards Ilma again. “Which sin am I behaving like?”

“...Uh…” Ilma considers this for a moment before she gives a shrug. “...Pride maybe…”

“...Interesting…” Fran says as she hands the hateful sign to Ilma. “...I think that I am more of a lust than a pride…”

“Speaking of pride...” Ilma ponders as she breaks the wooden sign in half with her bare hands. “Let’s protect this nice club from these violent individuals.”

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING VIOLENT?!” The man shouts as he raises his fist in an attempt to punch Ilma in the face.

Ilma quickly grabs his fist and stares at him with a blank expression.

Ilma quickly blinks twice and then points at the man's fist.

“Hey babe. This counts as violence right?”

“That is an interesting question, but wouldn’t that man have to damage you for it to be considered violence?”

Violet chimes in to give her opinion on the matter.

“In this circumstance I believe that the attempt of harm is in and of itself a violent act even if no one is harmed.”

Ash nods in agreement.

Ilma turns her attention back towards the man.

“So, you know that you just attempted to strike a licensed superhero, right?”

The man stands in stunned silence before he eventually gives a response.

“...They let the gays be superheroes?”

“Well I am gay and I am a superhero.” Ilma casually responds.

“I am also a gay superhero.” Fran quickly follows up.

“I’m gay too.” Ash says. “and I am also trans.”

“So if we are to go by the rule of threes, then gay superheroes are a thing.” Ilma says as she looks back towards the man she is still holding the clenched fist of.

The man is in stunned silence yet again before he eventually gives his next response.

“THEY LET THE TRANSGENDERS BE SUPERHEROES?!”

“As far as I can tell I’d say that is also a yes.” Ilma says as the man stumbles backward to pull his fist from Ilma’s grip.

The man tries to punch Ilma yet again.

“I think we should wrap this up! Right babe?” Fran says as she winks towards Ilma.

“Yeah. I think you’re right.” Ilma says as she quickly dodges the man's attack and punches him in the face instead.

Before the man realized what had just happened to him he was already half way down the street before he eventually collided with a light pole.

“Punching bigots never gets old!” Ilma says as she cracks her knuckles.

“You can say that again!” Fran says as she walks towards Ilma to give her yet another kiss on the cheek.

“That never gets old either!” Ilma says with a blush.

Fran turns her attention towards the other protestors.

“Anybody else have anything they’d like to say? I’m all ears!” Fran says as she puts a cupped hand behind her ear for emphasis.

All of the other homophobic protestors immediately drop their signs and take their leave.

“Well that takes care of that.” Ilma says with her hands behind her back.

“Not quite.” Fran says as she walks towards the bigot who just got punched in the face.

The man just got back up onto his feet and is brushing dirt off of his pants.

Fran saunters up to him, raises his chin with her pointer finger, and gives him a seductive look.

“Go turn yourself in.” Fran calmly says.

“Yes ma'am.” The man says with swirls in his eyes as he immediately begins to walk towards the police station.

Ash watches the man walk by him and turns his attention towards Francine.

“...I…He…What?” Ash says with a lot of confusion in his voice.

“Oh!” Fran walks back towards the others. “That’s my superpower!”

“...Explain…” Ash says not any less confused than he was before.

“I have the ability to briefly mind control people who find me attractive. It works on anyone of any gender as long as that criteria is met.”

“Oh, Cool!” Ash then turns towards Ilma. “What’s your power?”

“The more love that I feel the stronger I am!” Ilma says with a wide grin.

“And I love her a whole lot!” Fran says as she gives Ilma a kiss on the lips.

“Also, before you ask, my power has nothing to do with how muscular I am! These guns are all natural!” Ilma says as she proceeds to flex her arm.

“...Can I ask one more question?” Ash says as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Sure, go right ahead!” Ilma responds.

“Does Fran ever use her power on you?”

“Not often. I just force her to do the chores when she forgets sometimes.”

“...Hey…these kids don’t need to know that!” Ilma blurts out with a flustered look on her face.

“At least I didn’t tell them about the other stuff!” Fran says as she nudges Ilma with her elbow.

Ilma quickly picks Fran up and throws her over her shoulder.

“Hey! Put me down!”

“Not until you stop talking about that stuff!”

Fran crosses her arms.

“...Fine…Can I get down now?” Fran said with a huff.

“Well, since you asked so nicely!” Ilma says as she places Fran back on the sidewalk.

The drag queen that was arguing with the bigot approaches our group of heroes.

“I just wanted to thank you all for your help!”

“Don’t mention it! This is what heroes do!” Fran says with a smile.

“Also, here are some free tickets to our next show!” The queen hands them four tickets. “I know that you aren’t doing this for the rewards, but I just had to show you my gratitude.”

“Thank you!” Fran says as she takes the tickets. “We’ll be there!”

The heroes say their goodbyes as they continue their patrol.

Chapter Text

We meet up with Pat, Thomas, Candi, and Fang as they continue their patrol.

“Do you sense anything wrong yet?” Thomas asks his older teammate as he kicks the ground to keep up the momentum of his skateboard.

“No, not yet.” Pat responds as he sniffs the air in front of him.

“Hey Pat. Do you have a cold or something?” Candi asks.

“No, I’m good. Just using my power.” He quickly responds.

“...What is your power exactly?” She says trying to clear up her confusion.

“I just have a really good sense of smell!” Pat says as he taps the bridge of his own nose. “Like a bear!”

“...Is that why you are bear themed?” Fang interjects. “Wouldn’t it make sense for you to be dog or elephant themed for a power like that?”

“Actually, bears are widely regarded as having the best sense of smell in the animal kingdom!”

“...Huh, I guess you learn something new everyday!” Fang says as he rubs the back of his neck.

“...Wait!” Pat says suddenly as he starts to notice something strange. “I am sensing someone's fear nearby.”

“...You can smell fear?” Candi asks.

“Yes. I can actually.” He goes over to a wall and slowly looks around the next corner. “I think we’re getting close to our target by the way.”

The others follow Pat’s lead and they all quickly notice what the problem was.

That problem in question being an ongoing bank robbery.

The thieves are actually in the process of leaving the building with their spoils.

“Stay still if you know what's good for ya!” One of the thieves says as he leaves the bank with a bag in one arm and a gun in the other.

“Yeah! Just leave us be and nobody gets hurt!” Another thief follows up.

A getaway driver pulls up to the curb, picks up the two other thieves, and drives away.

“I’m on it!” Thomas and Candi say in unison.

“Wait!” Candi exclaims. “You are a speedster too!”

“Yep!” He says as he snaps his fingers. In the direction that his finger was pointing after the snap an arrow suddenly appears on the ground. “I can make speed boosts!”

He then hops on his skateboard and begins to ride it forward. When the wheels of his board made contact with the arrow he suddenly sent flying forwards at what must have been over 100 miles (or about 160 kilometers) per hour.

“Wait, I think that I’ve got an idea!” Fang says as he pulls an object out of a fanny pack (which is actually what Fang’s power is. He has a small green fanny pack that he is able to use as hammer space). It was two green sickles that were attached by a chain. “I’ll jump on your back, you run towards the car, and I’ll stop it by wrapping this chain around the wheels!”

“Sounds like a plan!” Candi says as she takes a small vial of sugar out of her own fanny pack and quickly downs all of it. “Let’s do this!”

Candi and Fang are able to quickly catch up to Thomas and the getaway car.

“Hey Tommy! We have a plan!” Candi says as she runs alongside him. “Are you fine with being the distraction?”

“Sure! I am great at being intentionally annoying!” He says as he creates another arrow to speed in front of the car.

The window of the car rolls down and a voice quickly follows.

“Hey kid! Get outta the road!”

“Only if you give back the money you stole and turn yourselves in!”

“Never in a million years!” The driver says as he now is trying to run Thomas over.

“Well, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you!” Thomas says as he and the others quickly approach a road that has a sharp downwards curve. Thomas does an ollie and a 360 turn before he lands perfectly on the downwards slope of the road.

As he and the others speed down the hill Thomas notices that there is an old man with a walker trying to cross the street in front of them.

“Fang!” Thomas yells out as he quickly skates around the old man. “I think it’s about time for your plan!”

“I’d be inclined to agree!” Fang responds as he spins and launches his chain towards the back right wheel of the car. As the chain wraps around and locks onto the target Candi quickly skids to a halt and starts running in the opposite direction back up the hill.

She isn’t going nearly as fast as she needs to for the plan to work though.

“Tommy! Can we get some help!” Candi yells out as she barely maintains a neutral balance between her running and the car trying to pull her back down the hill.

“With pleasure!” Thomas says as he turns around and starts using his arrows to climb the steep incline of the road.

“Oh no you don’t!” The thief in the back seat rolls down the window of the car, pulls out a tommy gun, and opens fire on our skateboarding superhero.

As he dodges these bullets with ease and catches back up to where Candi and Fang are he creates a speed boost arrow right underneath her feet.

“Just for good measure!” Fang says as he pulls a jawbreaker out of his pack and places it into Candi’s mouth.

With the help of Thomas and Fang she is now quickly gaining forward momentum. After she crosses the first arrow Thomas creates another. He repeats this as she passes that arrow as well, so on and so forth until she makes it to the top of the hill and they start their way back to the bank.

“I wish I could see what those kids are up to.” Pat says as he is leaving the bank after he checked to make sure everyone was okay.

Right as he finishes that sentence he sees Candi and Fang followed by the getaway car and Thomas.

“That doesn’t look good!” He shouts as he quickly runs to the middle of the road.

“Thomas!” Pat yells out. “Use your arrows to turn the car around! Candi! Start running back up the hill as soon as Thomas does this!”

“Can do!” Thomas says as he skates around the car while placing sideways arrows under the wheels.

Candi then does her part by running back up the hill, but is only able to slow the car instead of bringing it to a full stop like before.

As the car approaches Pat he widens his stance, puts his arms forwards, and braces for impact.

As the car slams into his palms he is able to grind the vehicle to a halt.

“Phew!” Pat says as he places his hands on his knees and takes a breather. “That was a close call!”

The police soon arrive on the scene and arrest the thieves and return the money to the bank.

“Thanks for the help, heroes!” says one of the officers.

“Just doing our jobs!” Pat says as he tips the brim of his bear themed hat.

The heroes wave to the officer as they take their leave to continue their patrol.

Chapter Text

Pythia, Ezmeralda, Maka, and Love continue to make their rounds.

As they continue to patrol Pythia takes the lead as Maka follows closely behind her.

“...So?” Maka says before being interrupted.

“...What is your power?” Pythia quickly responds. “Is that what you were going to say?”

“...How…how did you do that?” Maka says with a dumbfounded expression.

“I used my power, that’s all.” Pythia says with a smug grin.

“...Can you…specify what your power does because I need to know exactly how you just did that.” Maka asks.

Pythia puts a hand on her chin and thinks for a moment.

“I want you to think of a number.”

“What does this have to do with your power?”

“Any number will do.” Pythia says without responding to Maka’s question.

“...Fine…” Maka says with a huff as she does what she is told. After a moment a number pops into Maka’s head.

Pythia presses her hand on her forehead.

“...The number you are thinking of is…one billion, two hundred and thirty four million, five hundred and sixty seven thousand, eight hundred and ninety…one…”

“...Huh…how…how did you know that?” Maka says as her mind proceeds to break.

“I knew that because…I am a telepath and a clairvoyant!” Pythia exclaims. “I have the ability to see into the future, but I also have the ability to read minds. With that being said I am not nearly as powerful as either Sir IQ, his daughter, or even Ezmeralda over there. I can’t move things with my mind like they can, but even though my abilities aren’t as flashy I think that they are quite useful.”

“...So…Ezmeralda can move things with her mind?” Maka says as she puts her hands behind her head.

“Yes, that is all she can do though. Her powers may not be nearly as varied as the Quentin family, but she more than makes up for it with her creativity and quick wit.”

As Love and Ezmeralda trail behind them, Love has something that she kind of wants to talk about.

“...I…I just want to let you know that I am really glad that I was able to…find someone else like me…” Love stutters out.

“I am glad that I was able to meet you too, Miss Hart.” Ez warmly responds.

“...I mean…I have met other trans people before, but…but you are the first other trans woman that I have ever met…in person at least…” Love says as she rubs the back of her neck.

“...It’s nice isn’t it?” Ez says in response.

“...Yeah…yeah, it really is…”

Love mulls something over in her mind for a little while before she continues the conversation.

“...So…” Love asks. “...Do…do you mind if I…ask you a kind of personal question?”

“Go right ahead.”

“...How long have you known that you were trans?”

Ezmeralda places a hand on the side of her face as she thinks this over.

“If I am being honest I wasn’t one of those people who always knew ever since they were little. As I went into my teenage years I started to realize that something didn’t feel right. I wasn’t exactly sure what the feeling was back then. When I eventually learned about trans people I still didn’t realize that I was feeling the same things that they were all feeling. It took me a couple more years to realize that what I was feeling and what they were feeling was the same thing. It took a couple more years after that to actually do anything about it though.”

Ez turns to look at Love. “To answer your question, I’ve known since I was about 17, but I didn’t do anything about it until I was 21.”

“...Thank you…” Love looks down at the sidewalk as they continue to walk. “...That…was a longer answer than I was expecting…Did you…rehearse that?”

“Kind of, yeah.” Ez responds almost immediately. “One of the purposes of Team Prism is to educate young queer people and young queer people ask a lot of the same questions. You aren’t the first person I’ve relayed this information to and you certainly won’t be the last either.”

“...That’s…that’s really cool…I am glad that there are people like you in this world…” Love says with a small grin on her face.

“Happy to help!” Ez says with a smile of her own.

As they continue to walk Pythia suddenly stops in the middle of the sidewalk.

“...Hey…why’d you stop?” Maka says with a confused expression on her face.

“Something bad is about to happen. Follow me.” Pythia says as she heads towards a wall that is right next to an alleyway.

The others follow suit as Pythia slowly turns her head around the corner and into the alley before quickly heading back behind the wall.

“What did you see, Pythia?” Ez whispers.

“There are a couple of villains around this corner.” Pythia says with a worried look on her face.

“Then let’s go do something about them.” Ez quickly responds.

“...I don’t think that is a good idea…”

“...Why?”

“...I saw us confronting the villains and quickly getting into a fight…”

“...And?”

“...And I saw us…losing…”

The heroes stood there in silence. Some of them were thinking over their options. Others were worried about what was about to happen…and by others I mean Love…

“...Hey…It’s gonna be alright Love…” Maka said with a voice that was softer than usual.

“...How...how do you know that?”

“Because we’ve done this before. I doubt that the losers in that alley have anything on Max Midas, or The Shadow Union, or even Wattz.”

Love closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

‘I can do this.’ She thinks to herself as she gets her bad thoughts under control.

“...Hey Pythia…” Maka asks. “...Are your predictions…always true?”

“...Yes…everything that I have ever predicted to happen has happened…”

“...So, what you’re telling me is that no matter what we are about to get into a fight that we are destined to lose?”

“...Yes, that is exactly what I just said…”

“I refuse to believe that!” Maka responds as she slams her fists together.

“...What are you doing?” Pythia yells out as Maka runs into the alleyway.

“I’m doing things my way!” Maka screams. “If we’re going to fight then let's fight! Even if I lose I’m going down swinging!”

Two figures deeper in the alley hear Maka and slowly start to make their way towards her.

Maka is able to make out their features as they walk towards the street and into the light.

One of them is a black woman with an afro, sun glasses, and a white jumpsuit. The other is a knight with a full set of black armor and a shield as tall as they are.

“Hey, it looks like we have some company!” the woman says as she cracks her knuckles.

Chapter Text

“Hey kid.” The woman says as she tips down her sunglasses as she glares at Maka. “I’ll give you a chance to leave this alley in one piece. You just have to pretend that you didn’t see anything. What do you say?”

Maka raises her arms in a combative stance in response.

“I’ll be honest and say that I don’t really know what’s going on here or who you guys are, but what I do know is that you aren’t up to anything good!”

“...So, you made your choice…” The woman says as she snaps her fingers and a white sphere the size of a bowling ball materializes out of the air and into her hand. She then lobs it into the air and punches it as it falls to the ground and in front of her fist.

Maka dodges this with ease.

“HA! Is that all you got?!” Maka taunts.

“...Nope…” The woman says as the ball ricochets off of the ground, onto a road sign, and collides with Maka’s back.

Maka falls face first onto the ground in front of her.

“...Since you were so curious, I might as well tell you what exactly we were up to…” The woman walks over to Maka and lifts her head up by her ponytail. “...We were paying a visit to one of the queen’s former peasants…and let’s just say that he forgot to pay his taxes…”

“...Why…why are you telling me this?” Maka says with gritted teeth as she spits out some blood.

“...You’re not the first person I had to kill today, child…and now you are just another leak that I need to plug…”

The woman then proceeds to pick Maka up by the back of her jacket, toss her into the air, and punch her so hard that she flies into the wall of the alleyway and cracks it.

She then walks towards Maka, threads her fingers together while raising her arms above her head, and attempts to slam them down into Maka’s skull.

“Okay that’s enough!”

Maka looks up to notice that Pythia was standing between her and the woman who she just vastly underestimated. She blocked her fists with her cane and was able to shove her back a few steps.

“...and who might you be?” The woman says as she places a hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side.

“I am Fortuna! The leader of Team Prism and member of the Central Hero Society!” She says as she slams the tip of her cane against the pavement. “Since we are introducing ourselves I think that it’s only fair for you to do the same. It’s easier to catch a criminal if you know their name after all”

“...I’m not dumb enough to tell you what my actual name is, but if you must know I go by The Pawn…” She then points at the person in the full suit of black armor next to her. “...and this is The Knight…”

“Ah! I see! A chess themed villain team team!” Pythia says as she snaps her fingers. “...I…am unfamiliar with your group…”

“...That isn’t surprising…You guys are probably some of the first people to see us and live…aside from those in the Queen’s court of course…”

“...Well, now that we are no longer strangers, let’s fight!” Pythia says as she points her staff towards The Pawn.

“...Works for me…” The Pawn says as she snaps her fingers and materializes to white spheres and tosses them on either side of Pythia.

Using her clairvoyance she is able to dodge both of the spheres with ease along with all of their ricochets.

“...Oh, I see…” The Pawn says as she snaps her fingers to produce yet another white sphere. “...Your power gives you the ability to predict where I throw these things…”

“I’ll just have to throw something that you can’t dodge!” She says as she tosses a sphere directly towards Maka face. “...It either hits you or her…the choice is yours…”

Pythia doesn’t move or even blink as the sphere flies towards Maka…but it stops immediately in front of her face anyways. It’s surrounded by a field of pink, blue, and purple energy that quickly dissipates as the sphere slams against the pavement.

“...No use hiding anymore I guess…” Ezmeralda says as she walks around the corner. “...I’ll play ball…”

Ezmeralda then uses her powers to lift all of the spheres that The Pawn has previously spawned and launches them back towards her.

As they travel towards her the woman just raises an eyebrow before eventually snapping her fingers again. After she does this all of the spheres immediately disappear.

“...Did you really think that you could use those against me?”

“It was worth a shot.” Ez says with a shrug. “At least your spheres aren’t a threat to us anymore.”

“...Hmm…I suppose you're right…” The Pawn says as begins to rotate her right shoulder. “...Good thing I don’t need them to win this fight…”

She then stomps her foot against the ground before she seemingly disappears.

“Right in front of you.” Pythia says as Ez stands her ground unphased.

Just like she said, The Pawn seemingly materializes in front of Ez, but before she could land a punch Ez uses her powers to lift her into the air and push her away into a wall.

Before The Pawn is able to slam into the wall she instead places her feet against it and uses it to propel herself toward Ez again.

Ez just sighs in response to this before she just snaps her fingers and surrounds The Pawn again.

“...That’s fine…I just won’t let you move at all this time…”

“...Do you really think that you have me in checkmate…” The Pawn says with a slight chuckle. “...Have you forgotten that I didn’t come here alone…”

She then turns her head to the side towards her partner in crime.

“...Can you get me out of check…”

The Knight nods their head and slams their shield into the ground.

The ground is suddenly covered in darkness that is spawning from where the shield collided with the pavement.

Before anyone could react to this Maka, Pythia, and Ez are all wrapped in dark tendrils and lifted a few feet into the air.

“...I must admit that you all put up a good fight, but y’all ain’t no match for this brute…This one could have done this alone…The only reason I am here is just because she wanted some company…”

A muffled sound suddenly comes from The Knight.

“What was that?” The Pawn responds.

“Hey!” The Knight suddenly says as she suddenly takes off her helmet. “Stop ruining my mysterious aura!”

“I’m not the one that just took off her own helmet!” She says as slaps her palm against her forehead.

The Knight suddenly blushes and quickly places her helmet back on.

“...Yep…the one and only great and mysterious Black Knight…” The Pawn sarcastically gestures. “...She can still kick all your butts though…”

Love makes the mistake of glancing around the corner at the wrong time.

The Pawn sighs and stretches her arms above the back of her head.

“...I guess there is another one of you…”

Love quickly retracts her head and hides back around the corner, but it’s too late now.

Chapter Text

Even though Love has been in plenty of fights at this point, a few of which she was almost sure that she wasn’t going to make it out of, she was still terrified each and every time she found herself about to be a part of one.

“There’s no point in hiding anymore. Reveal yourself.” The Pawn says as she slowly makes her way over around the corner to where Love is.

Love covers her mouth to muffle the sounds of her erratic breathing that she was afraid would somehow give away her already revealed location even more. She knew that it was perfectly logical to be scared when she was being threatened with violence, but she didn’t want things to be like this forever.

She was tired of being scared. She was tired of having to be saved by other people even though she was perfectly capable of saving herself. She was tired of being such a burden to other people even though she was a superhero too.

‘I am a superhero!’ Love thought to herself. “Sooner or later I am going to have to act like one.’

Love closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

‘Remember your training.’ Love thinks to herself as she manifests her bow and an arrow. ‘You can do this.’

Love then jumps out from behind the wall, aims towards The Pawn, and fires.

The Pawn snaps her fingers to cause another white sphere to appear and tosses it towards the light arrow.

As both projectiles collide they both explode and disappear in a flash of light.

As Love lands back on the ground she quickly hides behind the other wall, knocks another light arrow, and appears from back behind the wall to fire again.

The Pawn snaps as another sphere appears in her hand, but this time she doesn’t even throw it. She just waves the sphere towards Love’s arrow and redirects it into a nearby wall which causes another small explosion.

‘...Well, shooting her isn’t going to work…’ Love thinks as she quickly formulates a new plan of attack. ‘...but this might…’

As she is hiding behind the wall at the end of the alley yet again she knocks three arrows onto her bow at once, quickly rounds the corner, and fires.

Instead of aiming for The Pawn again she instead aims for the black tendrils that were holding her teammates. This causes them to weaken enough to drop the other heroes onto the floor.

“Ouch!” The Knight yells out as she lifts her helmet again. “That hurts you brat!”