Birthday Present For Fiona

Silver-Willow and Britta Summers sat cross-legged on their family carpet, sat close to the fireplace, looking excited. The child-like gleam in their eyes made their fathers chuckle. They both had their blonde curls in plaits and decorated with pink flower hairclips.

They didn't look a thing like their dark-haired, bright-eyed fathers. Once they found out how genetics worked, it may well become clear to them they were adopted, if the fact they had no mother wasn't clear enough. The two girls sat side by side in colourful party dresses, looking directly at their  two fathers with identical brown eyes. It was almost time for the party, and they watched Ryan Navara and Bertie Summers pull on their coats and shoes.
"C'mon kids, time to go!" Ryan called, sending Bertie to the front door to get the car started. It took a whole half hour to get both girls in the car and start off for a party.

They got to the building, an old tower that they hadn't been to for a couple of years. They hadn't told their old leader why they wanted her to meet them there, and a quick scan with eyes showed that Demon wasn't showing. Bertie smiled, turning a slow circle in the main room. Despite the hurried start (thank goodness the lads predicted it would take a while and shot to leave early) the other members of the old Titans team were still putting up decoration. Blessedfire seemed to be enjoying sticking bits of streamer, banner and tinsle to the ceiling, zooming around in a stream of dressy light purple. Bullion was over by the stack of presents, sorting them out into a neat display. There was a large amount of friction between Afton and Bullion, but the levitating Frenchman had insisted on coming. Belle was leaning against a window, listening to music. She rolled her eyes as Blessedfire showed off with a handful of ribbon and his little blasts and twirls. A telekinetic girl sat on a counter, eating unused cake frosting. This was Nightmare Sights, formerly Kid Nightmare. Close friends of Afton, and old friends from her hero academy days. Kurt and Eustacie sat in one corner with their daughter between them. Storme was checking out the music, none of which she was overly fond of, with her boyfriend, who had had very little contact with Afton. Addie, his wife and children were nearby, Addie himself talking happily to Lydia and Tazor, and a little dark-haired girl named Hannah Hart.

There was an odd silence considering the amount of children present. The Summers girls didn't know any of the other kids, and Tracey and the younger Wollstoncraft kids seemed to be scared of Hannah. Dee-Dee, however, seemed to be best friends with the curious girl.

Afton walked up the narrow path to her old tower. It wasn't that her team didn't last long, but so many of the members wanted to pursue a proper career, and they didn't want the superhero gig to mess with it. So they split off for a short time. It was simple as that. She made her way into the tower and along darkened hallways, whistling as she went. As she rounded a corner, she spotted the light from the other end of the hall, and with a slight sigh and a roll of her chocolate brown eyes she pushed the door open gently. That was when she was bombarded by the noisemakers, joyous shouts and confetti.

"I do love confetti." Came the cheerful coo of Bless as he landed beside Belle, beaming.
"'Appy birthday!" Pepinot yelled, enveloping her into one of his hugs. He latched his hand around her wrist and pulled her over to the middle of the room.
"Can we play party games?" Nightmare called, leaning forward and unveiling the cake. Afton felt herself grinning.
"Wow, guys...this is..."
"Wonderful?" Summers tried,
"Fantabulous?" Nightmare suggested.
"Yeah, sure whatever."

AND NOW, BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE WHAT ELSE TO DO, HAVE BLESSEDFIRE, DRUNK!

Curious. That was how the little alien boy would describe the liquid in these bottles. He stumbled back from his third drink, already feeling hazy. Demon had left these drinks out and said it was okay for Bless to have a few. He didn't predict that not long after they would have a Tamaranean sat just under the ceiling, wearing nothing but a top hat and underwear, singing some kind of folk song from his people.

Christmas Lessons

Lightning seemed to find the decorations enchanting. He was sat in a coffee bar in central Jump City, his girlfriend sat opposite him. They both had gingerbread lattes, and Kitten was enjoying watching him exploring the new drink. He liked the taste, it appeared.

Finally, the Titan gestured to the decorations hanging over the cafe. "Kitten? What is all this about?"
She gave him a slightly shocked look. "Please tell me you know what Christmas is..." She had had to deal with his poor knowledge of a lot of things, like American culture, etiquette, technology...she didn't want to deal with this as well. Lightning didn't answer and turned to look out the window. She sighed.
"Okay...how do you explain Christmas?" She thought for a moment, finger over her lips. "Okay, so it's supposed to be this time of peace and goodwill to all men, and basically a holiday all about winter, every 25th of December. Basically, everyone gives everyone else presents, and there's a feast, and you kiss under mistletoe, and crackers, which are things that you pull open and stuff comes out, usually hats, games and really bad jokes, and a guy called Santa comes and gives presents to everyone, if you believe in Santa."
They looked at one another for a little while.
"Presents?"
She laughed. "I thought you might like that, Zappy-Poos."
His face quickly changed to a scowl. "What did I say would happen if you called me that?"
She waved him off dismissively. "Yeah yeah, dark storms and death threats, whatever. Anyway, you always have this huge feast and stuff, and it is my favourite holiday, next to Valentine's Day."
"Val-?
"I'll teach you about that one later."
She drummed her fingernails on the table, watching him trying to take it all in. "And why is there a holiday?" He asked curiously.
Kitten thought for a moment. "I think it was a Pagan festival at first, but Christians wanted to crush the Paganism so they decided an event they would never know the actual date of happened on that day, so it became the birth of Jesus. But then, I heard all that from Cash, and he isn't the most reliable of people, he's just a really irritating Athiest. Personally, to me, it's just the birth of Jesus, but I know you're Buddhist or whatever, so..."
There was a small hesitation. "Cash is the boy who is dating your spider-headed ex, yes?"
"Yeah, him."
"And Paganism is another religion?"
She nodded. A few minutes passed of relative silence and drinking fancy-named gingerbread drinks. "I'll let you off getting me a present this year since it's your sort-of first..." She told him, smiling. "Hey! You and your brother should spend Christmas at my house!"
He seemed a little startled by this prospect. "At your house? Your father will not mind?"
"He might, but hey, it's just like any other friend staying round...and I don't want you homeless on Christmas."
"I am not-"
"Living in clouds counts as homeless, Zap."
"Huh." He crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "You will not take no for an answer, will you?"
Her face pretty much said it all and he heaved a sigh.
"I will run it by my brother."

A week later he was sat in the disgustingly pink bedroom belonging to his girlfriend, eyes drawn to colourfully wrapped gifts with an almost aweful quiet. She couldn't stifle a laugh. It was sort of adorable, the child-like glee on his face. His brother was pretty much the same, but he was downstairs. Kitten's father was in his little basement room, working on...well, things...and working off his anger at his daughter deciding to invite these Titans to his home out of the blue. Honestly, did she have no sense of decent villainy? She seemed to have a strange thing for the skinny one, and that annoyed Killer Moth beyond belief. Still...when push comes to shove...

December 25th, Christmas morning

Thunder and Lightning were given the guest bedroom, which used to be a  pet room before the basement came along  for Killer Moth's experiments. Kitten waited until the  sun rose before walking into the guest room with an armful of presents. The brothers appeared to still be fast asleep. She arranged the presents in a small pile, deciding to make things seem truly magical for them and giving the impression of Santa paying the household a visit, as they  still weren't awake, and then she crept  back out and went to sit before the tree. She waited there for a moment, eyeing the presents beneath the tree. When she heard the distant chatter of the brothers in the other room, she got up and went over, grinning at the glee in their voices. She had already opened her stocking gifts, but she had only gotten main gifts for the twins. There was a strange scrabbling sound and she heard one of them approaching the door and jumped back to avoid being hit in the face, and when the door opened, she was faced with Lightning's energetic grin. He was already wearing a jacket she had bought him. She had bought his brother another one, same kind, different colour, different size. Lightning's was green, as the electrical elemental had told her green was his favourite colour. She didn't know the same for Thunder and got him a red one as it was the first in his size she found.
"Hey Zappy-poos!" Kitten cooed, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. She heard him groan and heard a laugh from the brother at the rather amusing nickname. "Having a good morning?"
He pulled away, grinning ear to ear. "I feel great! I have presents, and everything seems perfect and-" He cut himself off and held up a finger to excuse himself before he ran back inside the guest room and came back out with his hands behind his back. "I got you presents too."
He giggled as her eyes went wide. "Really? Oh my God, you didn't have to-"
She cut off as he kissed her. He didn't think her eyes could get much wider now. She pulled away softly and looked up, following his extended arm. At the end, his hand was holding a small bunch of mistletoe dangling from a bright pink ribbon. Kitten let out another giggle. "That is sweet..." She breathed, beaming.
"It's not all." He replied, passing her a golden chain with pink disks on one half. They were clearly plastic, and they had what were supposed to look like rubies in their centres. It was clearly quite a cheap trinket, but she reminded herself he was trying his best to avoid thieving and that with what little he had, it was probably the best thing he could afford. She forced a smile and he shifted uncomfortably.
"I know it's not very good, but I was trying to...I couldn't...I thought you might like it, but..."
"Help me put it on." She handed it back to him and turned around, lifting her hair clear of her neck so he could fasten the clasp safely. Once done, she brought up her arms and wrapped them around his shoulders, placing a chast kiss on his cheek. "Merry Christmas, baby."
"Uh, m-merry Christmas." He stammered back, blushing, well aware his brother could see the scene playing out.

Twerking Ninjas and Wolf Boys

Addie let out a low groan, pushing himself up into a sitting position and feeling his throbbing head. It was bleeding. Joy of joys. He cracked open an eye and groaned again. Prison cell, or dungeon, and not a very nice one either. There was some nasty crust on the floor that was either blood or vomit, but it was too dark to tell which. The smell was vile. Suddenly, Mishka was before him, checking he was okay, saying something it took a moment for him to register.
"I'm okay." He insisted, pushing her hand away gently. She nodded.
"We need to get out of here."
"Damn straight we do." Came a new voice. Male, adult. Addie peered through the darkness and tried to make out who was there, but he couldn't see anyone. "Hello?"
"Hello." The voice replied cheerfully before someone hit the person it belonged to. "Ow!"
"Don't worry about them." Said Mishka. "They're prisoners here, like us. They're on our side..."
"We're not much use though." Mumbled a rather depressed voice, different to the first one. A man with spikey brown hair, dressed in a karate uniform, stepped close enough to be seen.
"Dirk?" Addie asked, confused. The man gave him a confused look back.
"I have a brother named Dirk...I'm Boyd..."
"Boyd McKenzie?"
He was silent for a moment. "Call me MacButtkick."
"I'm The Twerking Ninja!" Called the first voice. He was hit again. "Cut it out, Sandals!"
Mishka gave Addie a helpless look. "They told me their names were MacButtkick, Twerking Ninja and Old Man Sandals..."
"Well...that sounds promising..."
Mishka nodded. "They refuse to tell me what they can do."
Nervous as he normally was, Addie stayed where he was, back pressed against the bars. Twerking Ninja and Old Man Sandals were staying out of sight, but MacButtkick sighed.
"It doesn't matter, girl. We've all tried to escape before. Our powers can't break this prison. We don't even know who's holding us. We've yet to meet them. We're sustained here, but we don't know why they want us..."
"Have you ever tried as a team?"
"We have." Came the voice that must have belonged to Old Man Sandals. "Efforts were in vain, girl."
A sound of approaching footsteps stopped all of them in their tracks. A man came to the bars, shrouded in shadows.
"You know, this is a rare treat. Mishka, Boyd, Adolf, Oro and Carny. I must say, it's been a while since I saw all of you."
The voice had strange intonations. Echoing? "John Greenwolf?" Sandals asked incredulously. "We're friends, Greenwolf!"
"You're not friends with all of us."
"There's at least three people in there..." Mishka noted.
"Dildo Omelette?" Asked Twerking Ninja. Clearly the two of them were friends.

The door clicked open, and red lights came on. The face of the man was flickering. John and two other men neither Adolf nor Mishka had seen before. These were Dildo Omelette and a deceased man named Greenfield.
"It's Greenfield..." MacButtkick muttered furiously, clenching his fists. "This is all him...he's insane..."
A tremor went through the earth, knocking everyone off balance, except Sandals, who was standing on the ceiling. He and Twerking Ninja, who had created the tremors by twerking, grabbed the other three prisoners and pulled them away.
"So let me get this straight," The ninja began, "This Greenwolf guy and my man Omelette are possessed by this Green guy?"
"I'm not sure." Boyd replied before both he and Ninja were thrown off balance by a shot. There was a red flash, Old Man Sandals had to shield his eyes, and then he was screaming at the sight of two wolves, and the possessed Dildo Omelette fighting Twerking Ninja and MacButtkick. "Run!" Sandals commanded the wolf children, as he saw them, a look of desperation in his eyes. He didn't believe they would all survive should they stay and fight. "I know all three of these men, and combined they are too powerful!" He began running himself, and Noble Wolf and Mishka followed. Neither felt good about leaving the other two behind.

Mishka saw a light, headed for it, when the path caved in behind her, sealing her off from Noble Wolf and Old Man Sandals. She did her best to get back in, help when she heard the fight, but the absolute most she could do was watch, dismayed, as they were beaten up, held at the mercy of a red jewel on a string-...

Katarou had come in there and then, getting Omelette away from the others, beating him up in five swift movements, taking the gem from the hand of Dildo Omelette as John separated from him and all trace of Greenfield disappeared. and then he turned on the two men before him. The building once again began to crumble. Twerking Ninja had made the supports weak. She only just got out alive, and the next thing she realised was that Katarou had taken Addie from her.

Blood Sweat And Tears 2

"Brother?"
Thunder gave no reply and looked away.
"Brother, stop trying to ignore me. You know it will not work."
"Just like this. You are wasting your efforts, Tavis."
Lightning sighed, looking to the floor. "They say I might never use this arm again, Gan. I am left handed! How am I supposed to do anything?"
"Try using your right." He replied airily, but at least he looked guilty. He was unwilling to meet his brother's eyes.
"Why did you betray us?"
"I got an offer."
Lightning leaned forward slightly, interested. "What did this mad man offer you?"
"What he offered me is none of your business, brother. This is childish. You cannot fix anything that has happened."
"I can try."
Thunder shook his head. "You are so stubborn. This is a fruitless effort. Spend your energy elsewhere."
"You keep saying that, but I do not believe all is lost."
"Perhaps you should start."
Lightning gave a little growl of anger. "I shan't. I do not care what you have done. You are my brother and I love you."
"Touching."
He lost his temper and slapped his big brother. "Stop it!" He shrieked. "Why are you doing this? Do you have to be so horrible?" Slowly, he sat back and quietened down. "I want to help and I want my brother back."
Thunder sighed, looking away and spreading his arms. "I am here, as I am." There was a hesitation before he looked back to Lightning. "I tried to protect you, to keep you separate from this whole thing, for a reason. Because I truly have not changed that much."
"You still broke my arm and made me almost fall to my death, twice!"
"Those were my orders. I must follow my orders, no matter how...macabre."
"You could have objected! Objected to hurting your friends, your family..."
He shook his head quickly. "Risks of such behaviour were too high."
"What does that mean?"
"If you couldn't stay out you would be hurt, simple as." He insisted, crossing his arms. "If I did not fight, I could be punished severely. I knew what I was getting into when I got into it, and I have unlocked my full potential. You saw I have new powers. I have more yet than you have seen."

"So these guys just call out of the blue with the idea that they can bribe us?" Jinx asked sceptically. They had called in some other Titans to help, getting Titans East, Kole and Gnaark and Herald involved. They had tracked the mystery caller to a warehouse. The same warehouse they had fought Thunder at.

Lightning refused to come with them, so it was that team plus Herald, Kole and Gnaark. The place seemed empty at first, but "Nice little squad ya got there." alerted them to the presence of someone else. Girl's voice. They turned, and found themselves facing a girl with long, white hair and a mask reminiscent of Slade's.
"What is this?" Jinx yelled. The mystery girl held up her hands and chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'm not on his side. Think of me as...an anti-hero."
A much older man stepped out beside her and put an arm protectively round her shoulder, which she shrugged off. He was wearing all grey and black, a small tuft of blonde hair visible where it was poking out from beneath his mask. His smile seemed directed at one Titan in particular.
Jinx scowled. "Who are you?"
"Not important." The man insisted. "I think you know what's important, and that's finding your friends."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Kole asked.
"You don't." The girl stated. "Thing is, we have information you need, and I think you've something for us."
"And what would that be?" Asked Flash.
The two contacts looked at one another for a moment before the man spoke up. "My sister and I think you stand a chance against this guy, and we gotta say, we've a thing against him too."
"Even though your sister dresses like him?"
The girl shrugged. "Unfortunately, it suits."

She gestured for them to follow her, and her brother did so immediately, but the Titans all hesitated, for varying lengths of time. Jinx and Jericho made the first moves.

Strike of the Dagger

His vision was blurry when he woke up. The room was a disgusting shade of pink and he felt cold. Too cold. He tried to wrap his arms around his skinny frame, only to find they were shackled above his head. Suddenly, he felt sick. He tugged at the shackles, but he couldn't get free. Next he noticed his clothes were missing. He had been fooled by the thin, pink material wrapped around his body, like a silk cocoon blanket. There was a giggle from the foot of the bed. Why was he on someone's bed? Last he remembered was Dagger and Fire knocking him out...
"You might notice something around your wrists. I wish they could have had a sweeter touch to them, but Slade uses them to keep our powers at bay when we're misbehaving. Only way I could make this safe for me."
He craned his neck and gasped. He was shackled to the Ruby Dagger's bed, and she stood at the foot in lingerie. He tried again to free his wrists. This woman was not someone he wanted to be helpless before. She sauntered over and mounted his waist.
"What are you doing?" He asked through gritted teeth. She giggled again.
"Come on, it's no secret I'm...intrigued by you." She slowly peeled away the blanket. His eyes widened and he tried to shock her, but nothing happened. He felt her hands on him and began kicking. "Stop touching me!" He shrieked. "Let me go!"
She blocked his screams with a kiss. Wisely, she kept her tongue in her own mouth. He continued to scream. To kick. He was trying to get her away. Her hands were still down there, where he wanted her furthest from. She was heavier than he was, and stronger. So much stronger. He was weak. And he was terrified. Ruby suddenly swung herself off him and he gave a sigh of relief. That relief quickly turned to panic. She was naked now. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt her straddle him again.
"Please...please...please don't..."
"I never thought I'd hear you plead, boy."
"You're a psychopath."
"I love pain, bug-zapper. The more you kick, the hotter I get."
He retched. Okay, he was going to be sick, he knew it. He forced himself to remain still. "Go away." Maybe if he kept still, this wouldn't happen. He felt her tongue on his cheek, and he felt her...no...God, please, no. He tried again to struggle, but she countered by attempting to pin his legs with her own.
"Please! Stop! Don't! Please!"
"This was destined to happen from the moment we met." She told him. She wouldn't say another thing for the whole sordid event. He screamed and swore, struggled as best he could and cried for help. No-one came. There wasn't even the slightest sign anyone heard him. He screamed until his throat was so sore he could no longer.

He was left alone in the pink room. He was cold and tears flooded down his cheeks. No more struggling. It was all over and there was no point. He had failed to defend himself, and now he felt he was nothing. What had just happened? That could not have seriously happened. Never in a million years. Surely. He felt bile rise in his throat and tried to sit up before he threw up. All that ended up doing was getting his sick on his arm before he collapsed back down at the edge of the see-through stain. Things probably couldn't get worse. He began to black out again. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

-----

Three supers stood guard by the bound titans. Only two captives were conscious. Neither were struggling. Possibly because one of the guards was holding a gun. Fire and Ice were now joined by a slender girl whose name was yet to be given. Quite frankly, Beast Boy and Thunder didn't care. The changeling had told Thunder that Lightning was there, and both him and the Dagger were missing. All the elemental cared about was knowing his brother was safe. None of the guards seemed willing to divulge his whereabouts, but the pink-skinned boy clearly knew. Of course, he was the one that didn't speak. After a few shared glances with the girl with purple skin, he sighed.
"I do not condone this, Rain."
There was silence. The girl did not respond.
Thunder spoke, saying something that was along the lines of pretty much everything else he had said before. "Just tell me what that witch has done to my brother!"
Fire and Rain looked away. Ice had been looking at the ceiling for a pretty long time.
"If we lift a finger against her, we're dead." Rain mumbled.
Fire was trying to think of a delicate way to put it. "She's a disgusting person who does disgusting things when she isn't killing. Killing is okay, causing pain is okay, but some things still make me shudder..."
The two titans looked confused. In the distance, the sound of stiletto boots echoed through the hollow tunnels. The pyromaniac dropped his weapon and walked off, as if he simply couldn't be bothered any longer.

-----

In actual fact, he had gone into Ruby's room with a key. The key to the shackles. He carefully freed up the electrical elemental's wrists and located his clothes, or most of them at least, and put them at the foot of the bed. Now, perhaps some would at this point misjudge him, but Fire would never again offer even the slightest bit of help to any heroes bar family members. He was only undoing these bonds because rape had to be where he drew the line. He was fine with killing, but he preferred to make it quick and simple. He didn't like drawing out another's suffering. The electrical elemental would never know the fiery one had tried to set him free.

As, when Lightning awoke, Fire was gone. His wrists were free, though. Things seemed a little shaky. He dressed quickly and hurried out, wiping his eyes and trying to pretend the smell of sick didn't linger on his shoulder. The Dagger didn't seem to be nearby.

-----

The Titans found it rather suspicious how easily they had managed to escape. They had been made aware their honorary was hidden there somewhere. Beast Boy and Thunder had realised what the villain was doing, but had not told another soul. How could they? How would they say it? Lightning most likely overpowered the girl anyway. If it really did happen, he would tell in time...right? The Titans walked with distances between them to make it easier to fight if and when need came. Ruby fell in at the back. Just her against all of them gave her little chance, but she was cocky. Oh how she loved her fights. Heck, winning the last one had only been pure luck.

Now, with so many people there on one side, the fight became a little hectic. This humble narrator quickly lost track. I remember Ruby finding she had no room for her fancy manoeuvres in such a tight corridor. There was this really fun and somewhat iconic part towards the end when Ruby spun to avoid a punch, only to make direct contact with a pair of emerald green eyes.

Contact.

Suddenly there was no control over her own body, and she simply stood as Thunder slammed his fist into her jaw. Jericho was behind Thunder, out of Ruby, in seconds. A door opened to the side and there were spins, people ready for another fight, but what occurred instead was a hug. Lightning had been exploring, ready to blast anything to oblivion, but when he saw the other Titans, saw his brother, he powered down and made a line straight for his brother.

Blood, Sweat and Tears chapter 1

Lightning sat across from his brother in a white room with a white table and white chairs. Neither brother appreciated this colour scheme. It hurt their eyes a little. Neither was in their uniforms. Thunder was in a hospital gown and Lightning wore a green shirt and black jeans, his arm in a heavy-looking sling. He had been told he might have nerve damage and torn muscle tissues and warned to keep it still and undisturbed. The arm was inside the shirt, nestled against his sallow skin.
"Brother, you know we only wish to help you. You know!"
"I do not wish for your help, Tavis." Came the snarled reply.
To his credit, the yellow elemental didn't even flinch. "You could have killed us all, Gan. Does that not mean anything to you? Does it not mean anything that you hurt your own brother?"
Thunder crossed his arms and looked away. "All I care about is that Kid Flash cut my leg off, and I am certainly not happy with that."
"You said before-"
"Shut up!"
This time he flinched. He looked at his twin with wide, terrified eyes. "...Brother..."
"Be gone. You insist on trying to 'assist' me. There are people who need your assistance more than I."
"What has the old one done to you...?"
Thunder slammed his hands down flat on the table. "Perhaps I simply made a choice, Tavis! Perhaps Slade did nothing! Perhaps I decided I wanted more recognition, more appreciation and companionship more worth my time! I do not care about Kid Flash, or Jinx, or Jericho, and I certainly do not care about you any more! You are nothing but a fool. I tried my best to protect you all and you kept coming! Kept picking fights! If you lot are truly that stupid, I shan't hold myself responsible for your problems, injuries or upsets!"
Lightning bowed his head, trying to control his temper. Instead, tears of both sorrow and frustration broke free of his eyes. "What changed?"
The blue elemental looked away, offering no reply.
"At least pretend you are still on side..."
"Why? To give you false hope? You are my brother, I cannot make things worse by making you think everything will just go back to normal. It does not work that way, Tavis." Lightning stood as his brother spoke. "It does not work that way, no matter how much you want it to."

Lightning left the room in low spirits, not willing to talk to any of the team when he re-joined them. Kid Flash enquired as to how things were going with Thunder, but Lightning just turned away, in a bit of a mood.
"Badly, then?"
No reply. The speedster turned to Jinx instead. "Any link on the Titans yet?"
"Not even the slightest." She sighed, stepping away from all the tech before her. She wasn't the best at that sort of thing, but looking at Lightning, she realised she clearly wasn't the worst either.

That was when the phone went off. Just a normal phone, belonging specifically to them. No-one was supposed to have that number. Maybe it was given to that girl Lightning had been out with when Thunder had betrayed them. Kid Flash answered, sounding wary. Naturally, their trust was a little low.
"Hello?"
"Hello."
"Who is this? How did you get this number?"
"Who I am isn't important." The voice was male. "Secondly, I have my ways. Thirdly, I have some information you might find...intriguing."
The speedster frowned. "What kind of information?"
There was a hesitation, and a very distant chatter, as though the mystery man was talking to someone beside him. "I think I know some things that mean you can find your little Titan bosses."

Tenevex V Dexacen

Dexter Vex had a rather fun relationship during the war, but one that he was afraid to talk about. In those times, it would definitely be frowned upon, no question, after all. Oddly, the Necromancers accepted it. It had no interference in their little religion. Dexter, however, was scared. Those weren't his friends, after all, and how his friends or those fighting in the war would react...

Hands behind his back as he walked through a busy street in Central France with Auron Tenebrae, he looked over their relationship with a wide smile. Sweet nothings whispered in ears, warmest of hugs, the way the robes tickled his skin. He could never see a kiss coming, and neither could anyone else. Auron was almost like a ninja. Their hands fit perfectly. He was taller, but definitely, and embarrassingly, the submissive, effeminate member of the couple. Auron always had something fun and maybe a little dirty to suggest, eyes sparkling with mischief and adoration. Only today, when he pulled him somewhere a little more private, the look on his face was different. Sombre.

"Are you breaking up with me?"
Auron shuffled his foot nervously, not even aware he was doing it. "Look, Dexter...it's not you, or me, it's just...this is a war...there are less risks if we're not together, you know? You're part of the special squadron and if they get wind of...well, us, that'll be trouble."
"Oh come on! No-one ever sees us together! We never tell! We're so careful about it!"
"There's the other problem. I feel like you're ashamed of me."
"Oh, WHAT?!"
"I know you haven't exactly come out to your friends yet, but it's just a bit too much for me to be pushed away whenever anyone you know or I know comes near. You even made me promise to keep this whole thing a secret from my friends. Personally I'm quite open about my feelings."
Vex sighed. "So you're leaving me because I'm too protective?"
"Because you're a pedantic coward with no thought for my feelings!" For a moment he thought Auron was going to punch him. He didn't though. He just turned and left.

He walked back in, feeling remarkably low.There were two people in the room. Ghastly was scribbling on paper, some sort of design. Saracen was stretched out across a sofa like a cat. He appeared to be asleep. Vex leaned against the doorway and stared at the floor, wishing his glare could make a hole the size of...a big tunnel-like thing anyway.

Rue cracked an eye open. "Deeeeex?"
"What?" The blonde man replied moodily
He sat up, frowning. "I was going to ask the time, but now I'm going to ask why you're in a mood."
"No reason. Just...just a moody sort of day."
Ghastly turned in his seat. "You don't get those." He stated suspiciously. "I get those, Skul gets them, Erskine gets them, Hopeless never doesn't have them, but you are one of the ones who never just gets moody for no reason."
"He's right, Dex."
"Shut your traps, both of you."
Saracen sighed, getting up and half-guided, half-forced Dexter back outside. "Dexter, we're friends, right?"
"I guess."
"You guess? You mean you don't consider me a friend?"
"No, of course I do."
"So we ARE friends."
"Yes."
"There we go. So I trust you with my secrets. Can you trust me with yours?"
Vex looked Rue in the eyes for a few seconds, then turned away. "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me." Getting annoyed, Saracen gripped Dexter's chin between thumb and forefinger. "Look at me, Dexter."
"It's pathetic. We're in a war and I'm worrying about someone who I'm beginning to think I was only a plaything to."
"Ah, I get you now. Look, whoever she is, forget her. You clearly deserve better."
Dexter was tempted to correct him, but left it. "I didn't even know anything was wrong, and suddenly I'm neglectful. He said he's had enough and now he's gone, but I still love him! I mean her!"
Saracen's face remained impassive. "Dexter, hate to go against all this modern day view stuff, but I don't care whether you're dating a guy or a girl as long as you do the same for me, mmkay?"
"Are you kidding? You're a womaniser."
"Is that all you see me as?"
"I'm sorry, I could list millions of women you've seduced."
"Because it's safer to flaunt the women than the men!" His eyes widened and he covered his mouth, glancing back towards where the others were. Dexter arched an eyebrow. "I like both, okay?" Saracen whispered furiously through gritted teeth.
What happened next surprised him. Dexter actually giggled. It was a proper, girly giggle, with his hand up in an attempt to muffle it, make it sound more manly. "Do you fancy anyone in the team?"
"Come on, if they hear, I am so dead..."
"We can move a little more out of earshot..."
With a sigh, he conceded, walking a little further on with Dexter. "I admit, some of them do have an attractive quality to them." He mumbled.
"Who?" The blond adept asked with a grin.
Saracen shook his head. "I don't know..."
Dexter gave a slight shove. "Come on. Is it Anton? You spend a lot of time around Anton."
"No! He's my best friend! That would be weird!"
Dexter grinned. "I dare you to kiss whoever it is."
"In front of everyone?" He asked, sounding a little uncomfortable.
"In front of me at the very least."
Saracen heaved a sigh and stood on his toes, considerably shorter than his friend, and planted a kiss on his lips.

Even so, as time went on, Dexter found he missed the fun, the raw emotion, the romance and adventure of being with Auron. What to do? This little affair he was starting with Saracen was going nowhere fast, and the best it could do was cause trouble.

A Good Deed Goes A Long Way

Fledgeling Comics pieces are, unfortunately, written mainly with my friends who have been following from the very beginning of my Teen Titans fangirl stage in mind. Sorry :3

Yang was in love. He was sure of it. He felt all tight and anxious and turned on when the girl was nearby. She was good to him, treated him in a way no-one had ever treated him before. He liked it. He was sat on the sofa, bad leg outstretched, ankle resting on a foot rest. He was, for the moment, in all honesty, bored. Mystica came into the room with a basket of various objects. Another English lesson. He wasn't bilingual, and he never would be, he was sure of it. Yin was the one who was good with this stuff.
"Okay, this is an apple..."
He rolled his eyes. He hadn't known the word, but he still rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yes, app...le..." He made a grab for it and she jerked away. Stupid. "...Hungry..."
Now it was her turn to roll eyes as she lazily tossed him the apple.
"You're a strange one, you are."
He shrugged. "Built."
"Uh...yeah...well, this is a glove." She told him, picking out the next object, then brushing her fingers delicately over his hand. "Goes on your hand...look, I'm sorry if I seem patronising..." She muttered, reading his face fairly well, "I don't know how much you do and don't know, I'm not good at this teaching stuff..."
He nodded. "Okay. Hands."
She smiled and pointed elsewhere. "Body parts is certainly something to work on. Foot. Feet. Foot is one, feet is both. Got it?"
"Uh..."
She giggled. "Okay, Yang, I'll try again." She put her hand on one of his feet. "Foot."
He nodded. "Foot...yes."
She put her other hand on his other foot. "Feet."
"Oh, Èr?" he held up two fingers and she nodded uncertainly.
"Two."
"Tooh"
"Yeah!"
He opened his mouth to speak, but that was when the screaming started. A woman, it was. So loud it made his whole head hurt. Gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes, Yang clamped his hands over his ears. It only seemed to make the screams louder. It was getting so painful he himself joined in.

"Make it stop!" She screamed in Chinese from her little prison cell. "For the love of God, please! Stop it!" The other prisoners looked at her in confusion. They couldn't see or hear anything harmful. The girl had just suddenly started screaming. The guards came running. They tried to sedate her. It didn't work. Suddenly it stopped, the screaming in her head, and she calmed down, relatively. She lay on the floor, sobbing. The woman she had seen...the woman who frequented nightmares of hers and her brother. "Mother..." She muttered, grasping out, grabbing the guard's jacket. "Please...I beg of you...help me..."

After managing to convince a psychic super to come down and see what was going on, the guards were thinking of not helping, but Gypsy thought otherwise.
"I've done a deep mind probe." She told Squad with a stony tone. "What I've found out is there's an innocent woman in grave danger. An innocent man has already died. My own team is on a mission, and I ought to join them, hence calling you. Something's been implanted into the girl's mind. I can't access it. Someone wants to lead the girl to wherever this innocent woman is being kept..."
Bloodshot sighed. "So we take Yin Feng out of prison and let her lead a rescue mission for her own mother..."
"Pretty much...good luck."

Yang's babbling made no sense to the Cult. He was hysterical once the pain had stopped, moving on his broken leg, trying to drag Mystica out the door, she guessed wanting her help with something.
"Yang!" She yelled. At least it shut him up, but his breathing was frantic, bordering hyperventilation. His grip on her wrist was like a vice. "Look, if you need our help with something..." He nodded. She was on the right track. "Okay, we'll help. I'll get the other Cult members assembled and we'll get going, yeah?"
He nodded again, tears welling in his eyes.

They approached the building. It was well hidden, they had to admit, but Yin seemed to know what she was doing...Alexei found somewhere to break in, him and Bloodshot working on disabling security mechanisms as they went. Red Wasp kept close to the prisoner, vice-like grip on her arm. She was actually quite pretty. Not as pretty as the demon girl he used to date, but...he shook his head, clearing his thoughts, as they went inside and forced open a locked door. That was when things started going down hill. The lights went off, and before anyone could light anything up, something hit Red Wasp and he blacked out.

When he woke up, he was on his side in snow and ice. He wasn't cold, thanks to his jacket. He sat up, brushing snow off his face, and saw Yin Feng leaning over him, looking worried and very, very cold. She was so used to her brother keeping her warm. She offered her hand and Vlad let her help him up, then grabbed her arm and forced her to walk down the path, letting her choose the direction. She just kept shivering. It was so pitiful. Vlad was going on a guilt trip, and with a sigh he offered her his coat. She gratefully accepted.

Metal armour on a metal grate...it wasn't the best sound. Just another thing to add to the list of things that had Yang grinding his teeth. The others didn't want to be there. A favour purely for Mystica, as convinced as she was that she could reform the little dragon man. He was too far gone, too far along the road of corruption. They all looked around cautiously, but the place they had been drawn to seemed...empty.
"There's nothing here." Ashburn muttered furiously. "Come on, dragon boy, where to?"
Yang just looked round helplessly and shrugged. "No clue. Gone."
Scrounger was sniffing round a door. With a roll of his eyes, being the only one to have noticed, Cailyin walked over to the door and kicked the blonde mutant gently away from it, but he came back, scratching at the door. With another roll of his eyes, he tore the door off it's hinges. "Guys...green room...suspicious..." He squeaked, glancing over his shoulder. The others came forward, looking through into the room illuminated by a green light. There was a long metal walkway with various luminous tubes of bubbling green liquid at regular intervals.
"No way..." Nefarious breathed, shocked.
"Right..." Ashburn muttered, thinking. "We have to shut this down, and shut it down good. This does not look good, and...is that a foetus in that one?"
Shame promptly vomited. Yang jerked away from the group and hobbled down the walkway.

He was hugging himself now. God, he realised why she was so cold, and she had been better dressed than he was without that coat. He looked longingly at the way it draped over her shoulders, and suddenly she turned her head, caught his eye. With a slight smile, she moved closer to him and draped half the coat over his shoulders, so half still stayed on hers. They reached a door. Frozen over. He rolled his eyes, not really caring, and blasted the door. It freaked Yin a little. Of course it did. A sudden blast of radiation. Loud crash. Opened her pretty blue eyes to see a hole melted in that door. They didn't go through, just stood, shellshocked. This was one hell of an operation, by the looks of it. Thousands upon thousands of pods.
"One of these...one of these might be my mother or father..."
"And the rest...they need to be helped as well..."
She nodded. "Agreed."

The Chinese woman in one of the green pods only looked familiar due to the old nightmares. If it hadn't been for those, he'd never had recognized his own mother. He went up to the tub, not sure how to get her out, when the thing collided with him from above. They both went right through the top walkway and crashed into the solid concrete floor. He landed on his back, on those oh so delicate wings, and let out a shriek of pain. The cult of blood appeared on the walkway, but Yang couldn't see them. Vision blurred by tears. The huge thing was crushing his chest. Breathe. He had to breathe. Chest couldn't expand. Armour, the armour that had grown with him, never ever been too tight or too loose, moulded itself to his shape...it was buckling inwards. Fire. He sent a blast of fire spiralling up. No effect. Suddenly water fell on him, and the creature flew off, letting out its own shriek. Yang breathed, greedy for oxygen. Finally, he pulled himself into a sitting position and the first thing he saw was Nefarious trying to fight a large black and red dragon. He stared up at it with wide eyes. The other Cult members were trying to force open the liquid baths without hurting those inside. He took off into the sky, still staring at this dragon, but it opened its mouth and shot a bolt of darkness at the young Mage, slamming him down into the concrete where Yang had been just a few seconds before. The dragon-boy bit his lip, cutting it on his fangs. The dragon was immune to his powers and had the same ones as he-he had taken his eyes off the large creature, and it body-slammed him. He was aware of glass breaking against his wings, cutting them up, getting soaked by something, a crack, like stepping on a rather thin but brittle twig...his wing was broken. He was aware he was screaming again. The last thing he thought before he passed out was 'For the love of all that is holy, do not pass out'.

Some dust crumbled down from the ceiling. Vlad yelped when a sliver of ice fell down the back of his shirt. They were both busy trying to find a way to open all the ice pods. Yin was getting unnerved by the sounds. Crashing, booming, shuddering...Vlad insisted it was ventilation. She wasn't convinced, especially when a piece of white wall moved, unfolded wings with blue undersides, opened blue eyes...it was like her, without the human side. The tail wrapped around her waist before she knew what was happening and she began blasting it. Red Wasp looked round, mouth agape. He shook his head quickly and sent a blast of his own, careful not to hit the girl. That was difficult. White hair, white armour, incredibly pale skin, all blending in so well with those pale scales. Suddenly, the dragon flew up, crashing through the floor above. Yin had his coat, but the room the dragon had brought her into looked warm, so he flew on in, and found himself reunited with a very shocked Squad. "I can't explain," He began, grinning, "but there are innocents frozen below and that dragon thing just sort of attacked."
"...Frozen..." Bloodshot echoed bluntly as Molten Lava hurled a fireball at the dragon.

The redhead prince couldn't get close enough to help Yang, especially since fire didn't hurt the dragon attempting to pick up the poor lad in its jaws. He was able to run forward and help the shocked woman to her feet. She babbled to him in Chinese and he paid no heed, just took her fast to safety. Yang was still out cold, but when the cracks appeared beneath Ashburn's feet, he panicked ever so slightly. This woman seemed fine, so the others were breaking the jars of liquid to free those inside. A little boy called down to the woman, and she replied. Mother and son? The boy wasn't much younger than the Feng twins, but there was something about him that made him seem very small. Something burst up beneath Ashburn. He closed his eyes against the sudden rush of air and suddenly found himself airborne, no longer anywhere near the woman, and then falling...and someone caught him. He opened his eyes and found himself landing, being carried by Avenger of Squad.

Yin was staring up in horror at her little brother, clamped between the teeth of the namesake dragon. Namesake? That had come to her brother right before they'd been transformed by those...those...those spirits! "Yang!" She yelled, voice thin and wailing.
The black dragon turned to look her in the eye. The white dragon looked at the black dragon.
"I know what you are..." Yin muttered quietly. "Yang said it before...when we were little...like an idea implanted into his head...like a prophecy...he was meant to do something, or something, but you two, you're our namesakes..." She realised that, while Yang had been attacked, she had not. She had struck her dragon first. "Let him go...He's my brother, I swore I'd protect him, let him go!"

And then she woke up outside. The building they had just been in was aflame. The people from the pods milled about in confusion, and a Chinese woman and her son fussed over the now-conscious Yang Feng. Yin shakily made her way over and sat beside her brother. The woman was talking to him in their native language.
"-A miracle, pure and simple. Min Chun, this is not the end, they are still out there, and they are not the bad guys...there's someone else...the secret behind everything you and Jiang Yi are...we will meet again, my son, when your blood is passed on to new life." She kissed his forehead while he looked at her quizzically, then turned to stare at his sister as she kissed her on the forehead as well. "Ming!" She called to the oddly small man, who came at her beck and call. The twins stared at one another a little longer, explaining the situation, using their telepathy to speak in private until Red Wasp came over to reclaim his jacket.

Wedding Disaster

Laughter rippled through the room, the groom glancing over his shoulder with a smirk at the gathered guests. Most had been invited by the bride. Artemis was only responsible for the presence of the Cult of Blood, Daisy and his youngest brother. A smile drifted across his face. The plus one system had brought each member's significant other, if they had one. Scrounger was just chained to a wall, chewing an old bit of an old fancy tunic Artemis used to wear when he was about twelve. Cailyin wasn't present. Probably for the best.
"I can think of no just impediment why I, Artemis Greogair Everild Ashburn may not be joined in marriage to Mary Elizabeth Foster..." He half-mumbled, embarrassed, repeating after the woman marrying them together.
Mary did the same, gently taking Artee's hands. He pulled away slightly from the cold touch, an involuntary reaction. "I can think of no just ime-impi-" Another ripple of laughter. Getting tongue-tied. Adorable. "Impediment why I, Mary Elizabeth Foster, may not be joined in marriage to Artemis Greogair Everild Ashburn."

Artee had to admit the cold touch was unpleasant, but he had been becoming more accustomed to it as time went on. The exchange of rings thing was awkward. The consummating kiss reluctant. Mostly he put on a brave face and claimed staying with the Cult of Blood so long had made him accustomed to the cold. The truth was he would probably never be properly used to it, being a prince of a kingdom of fire. People like him needed very warm climates to remain healthy. At least he was never too hot.

Kathy nudged Dennis, pointing. "How many has Adam had?" She asked in French. Dennis snickered and shrugged.
"Too many."
Adam had hold of a very annoyed Ryan's wrist with one hand, a glass in the other that was desperately trying to hold on to the champagne within as the magician waved it so wildly. Whatever he was saying, it was definitely worth a slap, possibly a kick where it hurts.

As of late, Pim Van Dael had been looking increasingly ill. He had been seen talking to himself lately as well. That was what drew Scrounger to him. Scents of mental illness. Scrounger loved that stuff. It was clear he unnerved Pim, who kept trying to shoo him away half-desperately. Well, at least they weren't drunk. Morticia was drunk, and her boyfriend was trying to avoid her. Actually, the only old Cult members who weren't drunk were Scrounger and Mystica, and Mystica wasn't exactly enjoying herself, sat in a corner with only Persephone, Lunetta and Yang to talk to...

Outside, across the road, in a park, sat some very bored villains. Ruby cuddled up close to Beau, her boyfriend, hand resting gently on her swollen stomach. Kold yawned, leaning back on the grass. It was dark, the way people like them liked it, especially when they saw the drunk girl stagger out to throw up outside the bar. Amethyst Got to her feet, fists clenching. The drunk girl was a member of the Cult of Blood. The cult only went somewhere as a group, the girl would not be alone. Amethyst had a bit of a thing against Ashburn. Officially, you could have thought of her as a crazy ex. Pink electricity danced around her fists. She had never been a villain beforehand, but she had made friends with a girl she hadn't known was a villain. She sent her charge at the horned blonde before the bar, who saw and twirled out of the way, shrieking. Kold and Ice grinned, getting up to join the bombardment. Beau and Ruby just watched, admiring the wild vectors slashing out, cutting through ice and crystal, occasionally reaching far enough to slash skin and steel. By now she was bleeding herself, caught countless times by projectiles, her screams masked by the booming music and sounds of fun, but the more it happened, the more people inside became aware, and finally five people came to investigate, long before Shame was too badly damaged. When they came out, Kold and Amethyst faltered, stopped shooting, but Ice kept on with her onslaught, cackling. Beau stepped forward this time, bowing his head and splaying his hands before him, ripping up the ground in front of the building, along with electrical wires and piping, blocking off the door and causing general chaos.

The music shut off, the lights went out and the laughter died down. A couple of beams of light flickered on in the palms of people present and Katherine Devlin tried the door. It wouldn't budge. Lunetta, Shame, Tazor, Karma, Kitzu and Mystica were all out there and by the looks of it, couldn't get back in. With a scream of frustration, she kicked the door. It didn't even rattle in its frame. Instead, she just hurt her foot. That was when the claws pierced through the opposite wall, dragging and rotating, forming a hole large enough for the Dagger to step through. "Having a party?" She asked politely, hands behind her back. "Mind if we crash?"
Artemis swore. This was what happened when over half the heroes in Circle and companions didn't wear masks. His eye met Adam's, but the next thing they knew, Scrounger had charged the Dagger, and suddenly the pipes forming the heating system were broken, jutting out, sharp, hazardous, spraying hot steam all over. There were a few screams. Ashburn had lost sight of all his friends, and his wife. Something collided with him.  He was on the floor, unable to breathe, someone making some kind of pink light stood above him and whoever had fallen on him. Scrounger. Amethyst. Damn it. He sent twin jets of fire at her, but she was gone in an instant and he focussed on getting the thing that was Scrounger off him. He was unconscious. Bleeding badly. "Sedge!" He yelled over the noise in the background, trying to ignore the flashes of light, explosions, ice shots, fireblasts..."Sedge, wake up, please!" He had to admit, he was close to all of the members of the Cult. Was Sedge even breathing? He was quickly distracted from checking by something else. Adam. Adam was fighting the Dagger. He still sucked big time at magic. He had summoned a cricket bat into his hand, but that was already in pieces. He had clearly tried a wide variety of things on her, but it appeared he knew no spell that could be of help, and now he was just backing off, trying to think. The Dagger retracted her claws, managing to confuse him, and gave him a little shove back, swiping his feet out from under him with one of her boots.

She must have seen the pipe behind him. At first, Adam didn't register it had stabbed him, but he certainly registered the pain. His breath was coming in irregular gasps and half-sobs, eyes wide. It had gone right through his belly. He looked down and could see the blood-coated lead right there. Lead piping. Of all the things to be stabbed by, it would have to be something toxic. His hands gripped the protruding edge of the pipe, tears forming in his eyes. Being his first time, if he survived this he would most likely be put off drinking for a lifetime. Next he knew, Ashburn was on his feet, hurling his twin jets, setting the Dagger alight.
"I can't have one day!" He screamed, kicking her to the floor and looking for the next one, which wasn't hard. He turned and he was face-to-face with Ice. "It's my wedding day. I just wanted to have a good day, and just like every single other day of my life, it's been ruined by who I am and how others see me!"
Ice grinned. The next thing he knew, he felt the cold from behind him, frozen solid before he had time to react.

His eyes fluttered open. Someone was crouched above him. Archibald. His little brother. God, he was so cold...
"Artee, you're alive!" He sounded so relieved. The block of ice...god, his mind was jumbled. He sat up, joints stiff, and looked around. Living room. Cult of Blood. Lying on the floor. Scrounger was curled up on the sofa, Cailyin sat cross-legged beside him. Healed. Cailyin knew magic. Lunetta could heal. One of those two. He was fine, anyway. Mystica and Kitzu were in the corner, looking pretty damn miserable. "Adam and Morticia...?"
Cailyin shook his head. "Adam's in hospital. Tish...sorry."
"Ryan and Adam's family are waiting at the hospital to see if he'll be okay..." Mystica told him quietly.
Cailyin nodded and stopped the next question before Artee so much as opened his mouth. "Mary's fine. She beat the hell out of Amethyst from what I've heard. Most she's got is a little scratch on her face. Nattalie was grabbed and brought far away from the fight as soon as it broke out. Persephone."

Skulduggery Pleasant: Outlast: Separate

It went towards the door, and Saracen lost sight of it through the slits in the locker, so he stepped out. It was still in the room, and it had heard the locker open. With a squeak of fear, he jumped into the other locker. The Walrider turned around and he held his breath.

It walked back towards the lockers and pulled open the one Saracen had just vacated. Anton bit his lip, craning his neck and holding his breath, hoping his friend would be okay. It went back to the doorway, stood there for a few minutes, trying to work out where Shudder and Rue might have gone, and finally walked off. They could hear it talking to itself as they both slowly left their hiding places. Anton checked the coast was clear before gesturing for Saracen to follow him. They were heading towards a red light. The exit. They jogged back to the stairwell they had seen earlier, the one that led to the basement. There was a leaking water pipe, and it was a little brighter down here, oddly enough. There were a few inches of water on the floor, bits of ruined paper or cardboard floating along the top. The door that led to the generators was locked, but there was a hole in the wall they could just about squeeze through. They walked down the halls, slightly annoyed with the water now soaking through their shoes. Someone called out in the distance, hearing the movement of the water. They passed into the room with the generator, but no way of turning it on, just another headless corpse hanging by its ankle. They moved to the other side of the room and climbed some old, rickety wooden stairs, passing through a door to solid, dry ground. There was a red light shining in the corner of the room. They had found the button to start part of the generator back up. They went to the door, but the door on the other side of the generator room suddenly shook full force as something big threw itself against it. Saracen hid under a bed while Anton flew out of the room, into the water, and into another little side-room. The second switch for the generator. He ignored that and hid in a locker there. He was breathing rather heavily. If the Walrider were to come in, it would almost certainly hear him.

He waited a long time before he was sure it had gone into the room in which the generator had been activated. He went to the button in the room he was in and pushed it, hoping Saracen hadn't met any misfortune. He slammed the door shut, trying to calm his breathing, not sure what he was so worked up about. The lack of sound around gave him courage and he started hunting around the room for batteries for the camera. He went towards the door he had slammed and hesitated, as he could hear a sound on the other side. Something slammed into the door, trying to force it open. The Walrider. Panicking, he ran past the lockers and hid behind a water boiler instead. So far hiding behind instead of inside had worked for him. He crawled to the edge of his cover and peaked round, but he could not see the Walrider, even though he was sure it was in the room. Perhaps it was checking the lockers. Well, at least he had not gone into those. He moved round a little more, found it wasn't the Walrider he was looking at, but perhaps a patient from the asylum, and he seemed...deformed. He was indeed looking through the lockers, though. Anton suddenly remembered Saracen, and hoped he didn't come looking for him now the man looking through the lockers wasn't in the same room. Surely he knew better. He crawled back behind the boiler, heard the man say something and saw him go through the door. That was when he realised hiding had been a very good idea. The man had a weapon in his hand.

He waited a few minutes more before crawling out from his hiding spot, keeping low and using the night vision on the camera to see. Out he went, jumping into the water and heading to the door, looking round for Saracen. All too soon, he found the man with a weapon instead, and moved quickly back, so he was half-hidden by a pillar. Cursing under his breath, he looped around the back of the generator and found the door out again. He got as low as he could, his hair trailing in the water, and lowered the camera, as it was almost out of batteries. He got to the edge of the generator and found he could see nothing and had to raise the camera again. The man with the weapon was right there. He backtracked a little, wondering how he was to escape. He went all the way round the generator, followed by the man who could not see Anton, until the Adept noticed a little walkway. Dry, oddly enough. The floor was slightly higher than that of the generator room, and it was blocked by an old wooden desk, jammed tight in there. He paused a moment to change the batteries in the camera and then went back the way he had come, knowing if he went this way he would probably get lost. The man with the weapon was coming through the doorway. Anton cursed. He must have tracked him through the sound of the water. He changed direction and hurdled over the jammed desk, crouching down a little further down, just as the deformed man turned the corner. He turned a corner himself and found himself in a small room full of human remains. He tried to look for somewhere to hide as he fought a rising nausea at being knee-deep in intestines. He was half-under a metal shelf and there was a bed he wouldn't be able to fit under no matter how hard he tried. He bit his lip and turned to the door, sighing in relief when the man with the weapon walked straight past. Peaking round the door, he found the man staring right at the doorway of the room he was in, and dodged back immediately, hiding behind the open door. He heard the man  walk away and peaked out again to check the coast was clear before getting up and going further down the hall, where he found another room. He went inside and found a switch, realising this was why the generator wasn't working yet.

He crept out, thinking perhaps there was another one to find, leaping over the jammed desk again and pulling a face, cursing himself. He had made a fair amount of noise with just that jump. Could he possibly have shouted any louder? He continued down the hall, went to turn off to a different path, but saw someone there. He shook his head and continued the way he had been going originally. The first door he came to was locked. Another one leading to what looked like a laundry room stood open. He went inside and crouched behind a desk thing, looking for batteries. After a while of crouching there, he decided the deformed man wasn't coming in and left the room, going back the way he had come and finding himself walking almost right into him. With a gasp, he turned and ran the other way, straight into the washing up area he had been in before. He slammed the door and looked around. There was essentially nowhere to hide. The desk thing would not provide much cover and in the end he hid in the corner that would be hidden by the door once opened. The door fell down and the man noticed him instantly. With a yell, Anton scrambled away as best he could and took off down the hall. He leapt over the desk jamming the hall and hurtled into a room in which he found a locker he could hide in. He rested his head against the back of the locker and tried to get his breath back and be quiet. Where had Saracen gone? The man came in, looked around and...

...and decided no-one was there. Relieved, he left the locker and finally found some batteries. He looked around the room, making a small comment about how fast the batteries ran out, and decided his next priority was to find Saracen. He made his way down the hallway, hoisting himself over the desk again, and found the corridor he had not been down yet was clear. He went into the first room, full of hope, and walked right into the deformed man with the weapon. Despite himself, he screamed. He turned and ran, slamming the door behind him, and went for the next door down, which turned out to lead to the same room, as he found out when the deformed man same barrelling into him, ripping another scream from his throat. He ran, not quite looking where he was going, and found himself sprinting into the room they had found the first generator button in. He tucked himself behind a little bit of wood and hoped.

Finally, the man went away and Anton was alone again. He stood up shakily and went back out to the water, looking around for something. There was a little green light in the centre of the room, so he went to that and found he just had to flick a little switch to turn on the generator. After that, he made his way back to the crack in the wall that had led him to the generator in the first place. He could find Saracen again later. He got through the tight squeeze and took the stairs two at a time back to the little lobby bit. Looking down, he realised he was tracking blood from a puddle at the top of the stairs across the blue carpet in the corridor leading to the security room. He took a detour into a bathroom, finding himself somewhat desperate, but the first toilet had a bludgeoned corpse upon it. The second was filled with blood and had a severed head and arm floating within. He backed out into the corridor again and told himself he could wait. He went opposite, having lost his bearings, and found himself in a room stacked with shelves. The shelves were stacked with body parts being molested by flies. He went round the shelves and found two men, both dead, one on the floor with his intestines torn out, which Anton only realised when he stepped in them. Shaking his shoe clean, he found a computer on a desk and tried to access some information. Naturally, it didn't work. Instead, he found a camera battery and just as he picked it up, the door slammed shut behind him. He jumped, wheeling round and finding his eyes locking on the door. "Who...who closed the door? Saracen?!" Carefully, he made his way back to the hallway, opening the door only a wary inch at first, then, upon finding the coast clear and deciding the door had simply swung shut, he stepped out and continued down the hall. He got to the Security Room and sat at the table carefully. As he reached for the keys, someone grabbed him, fingers knotting in tight with his long, black hair, arms trying to push him forwards. Anton pressed one hand against the desk and used the other to try and get his attacker off him. He looked up and a needle went plunging into his jugular vein. His vision blurred and he collapsed forwards onto the security desk. He looked round and there was the priest. "I'm sorry, my son." He began as Anton tried weakly to push him away. "I didn't want to have to do this to you, but you can't leave, not yet. There's so much more for you to witness." His attempts to push the man away from him only ended up with him falling off his chair and the man grasping his shoulders as he lay helpless on the floor. "Will you see it?" He forced Anton's head so he could see the security cameras, see footage of men who looked like soldiers marching in. "Can you? Are lord, the Walrider, tearing his truth into the unbelievers." Okay, so this man thought the Walrider was God...odd. Suddenly the soldiers were being thrown around by some unknown force. If he hadn't been so drowsy, his eyes might have widened. "The only way out of this place is the truth." The man continued. "Accept the gospel," the screen went out, dissolved into fuzz, "and all the doors will open for you." At long last, Anton's vision failed him and he lost consciousness.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Outlast: The Horror

The following fiction is based off the game Outlast by Red Barrels, and partially the playthrough by Pewdiepie. Not sure if you should expect great things because I'm a good author or terrible things because it follows the storyline of the game...

Mount Massive Asylum was just about visible in the distance, through the rain. Anton wasn't entirely sure what this mission was about. It looked run down. Certainly not the sort of place any of Mevolent's men would hide out. They had been given a camera and told to record their findings, him and Saracen. Anton was driving. The car wasn't a very good little thing as it bounded along the dirt road, suspension rattling. Saracen sat in the passenger seat, fiddling with the camera, a file on his lap containing the details of their mission. He turned up the radio, listening to a news report. Suddenly, the radio signal was lost, dissolving into feedback. Saracen thumped the dashboard angrily and Anton gave him a cold glare. They saw the sign for the asylum and took a sharp right, then found themselves approaching open gates. They passed through and an awful feeling passed over Anton. Binding sigils, he realised. He pulled up at a security booth, empty, with enough space to pass between them and to the barrier. Slowly, he switched off the car engine and turned to Saracen, who handed him the file and the camera. Anton read the file slowly. Someone who used to work in the tech department, witnessing unusual things, not understanding any of it...one of the men on Mevolent's side. When they had captured him, they had been unable to get a sane word out of him. Saracen stepped out as Anton set up the camera, and went to explore the security booth. Anton went to follow, but stopped when he heard an odd noise. He whirled round, getting his hair in his mouth, and was just in time to see the binding gates close behind him. There was nothing to do in the security booth, so they ventured onwards, towards an inner gate. They pushed it open and began making their way up the driveway, around a large fountain.

They tried the main doors, but they were locked. Saracen shrugged and led round the side. As he walked, he nodded to trucks standing at the base of the steps that led to the front door. "Those are military trucks." Suddenly the castle-like structure began to seem somehow sinister. There was a knocking sound behind them, as though someone had knocked on the front door, but once they had both looked back, they dismissed it as nothing. They approached another metal gate, but it too was locked. Saracen gestured to a hole in the bottom, but Anton shook his head. "There is no way I'll fit through there..."
Saracen was already squeezing through. Anton sighed and attempted to climb over. They were in another courtyard, with another large fountain, and another flight of stairs. They walked past the stairs at a speed, keeping low so as not to be seen through the windows, and approached some scaffolding, scaling a ladder on one side. Anton pointed. Open window, light on. He heaved himself up through the gap, followed by Rue. There was a few armchairs stacked in disarray in the centre of the room, and the light flickered before going out. It was pitch dark in the room now. Anton activated a night vision setting on the camera, taking his friend's hand and leading him through the general mess of the room and through a door. Now there was a little more light, and they found themselves in what looked like a hotel room during a power cut. They passed on through to the room opposite, which was empty. A few chairs and tables, a television against one wall that suddenly erupted into static that sounded like tortured screaming. They exited through another door, out into a similar corridor, a book shelf blocking one way, a boarded up door opposite them. They ventured off down the hall. This way was blocked as well, a few filing cabinets and a shelf of heavy equipment, with the tiniest gap between them. Saracen struggled through the gap, then gestured for Anton to follow. With a groan, he tried to force his bulky body sideways through the gap.

"How long do the batteries last in that thing?" Saracen asked as he walked into a new room, empty but for a desk and computer.
"Not all that long. Half an hour maybe?"
He groaned. "Half an hour? How long are we going to be here for?"
"Quite a while."
"Wait, I think I've found some batteries."
Anton was already opening the door to the next room. Saracen hurried after him. There was a phone off the hook and a file that said confidential. As Anton opened and read it, Saracen couldn't help but say "not any more".
"Project Walrider..." Shudder mumbled, putting down the file. "That's certainly something to investigate."
It seemed to be the average creepy building, even with the seemingly self-shutting doors. A bathroom door shut itself, and when Anton tried to open it, it was locked. Saracen tried a glass door at the same time, but it too was locked. They exchanged looks and went into the only door left open and unchecked. There were drinks machines against one wall, the only source of light. On a sink basin stood a few items. Saracen was examining a ventilation shaft, which at the moment looked like their only chance of continuing.
"Battery...note paper, illegible, tray with drink can and...is that an umbilical cord?"
Ignoring a splatter of blood on the table he was now standing on, Saracen pulled himself into the air duct. "Anton!"


It was a tight fit, of course. Saracen glanced over his shoulder. "You know, it would be easier if you weren't recording my butt."
"I'm not, I heard voices."
"Yeah, mine, telling you to quit recording my butt!"
Anton ignored him, turning the camera to look through a grate. "Walrider!" Someone yelled in the distance, before some terrified soul burst into the room, looked around in a panic and ran back out again, slamming the door behind him. "Well..."
"Who the frick was that?"
"Don't know. Didn't see his face." Continuing on, they dropped down into a bright hallway. They opened the first door they came to and were instantly greeted with a bloody body, hanging by its feet. They both gave noises of shock and Anton turned the night vision back on. It was so dark. The body had no head. Anton felt Saracen cling to him, trying to feel his way in the darkness. "We're in a library." Anton told him, loud and clear. They turned a corner and found a pile of body parts and blood under another man, hung by his neck this time. Saracen wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Okay, what is that smell?"
"You really don't want to know."
They stepped closer to the man, and suddenly he gasped for air, reached out, took hold of a handful of Anton's hair. The soldier stood stock-still, not very happy with the bloody fingers in his long locks.
"They killed us!" The man choked out. "They got out! The Variants! You can't fight them...you have to hide...can unlock...main doors from security...control..." He choked and finally died, releasing Anton. The two soldiers moved out, through a different door to the one they had entered through. They were back in the bright hallway, and someone was approaching from the corner. They both ducked back, peaking round the corner to see. They disappeared from sight and the men got to their feet, turning the opposite direction to where they had seen him go. They walked through another door, needing to put the night vision on again, and found themselves in a bathroom, blood leading to the toilet, in which a severed arm rested. The mirror was cracked. There was a functioning hand drier. Those were all the observations made.

They carried on down the hall, giving brief glances to the jumbled messes, finding they had to squeeze through another thin gap. As they started through, they heard an unpleasant, croaking voice. "Little Pig." They were both taken from the gap by some horrific being. 10 feet tall, bald, fat, arms made of pure muscle, mouth covered in blood and filled with razor-sharp teeth. They were both thrown through a window which led to another part of the building, landed painfully and blacked out.

When Anton came to, there was a man in black robing crouched over him. "And who might you be?" He asked in a, quite honestly creepy, voice. He blacked out again. He was still there when he came round once more. "Merciful God, you have sent me an apostle. Guard your life, son, you have a calling." And with that, he blacked out once more.

Someone was shaking him awake. A voice, distant, high-pitched compared to the priest guy. He got to his feet, shaking Saracen off him, and the first thing he noticed was the dead bodies of the security guards. They were at a reception desk, and these men were long dead, flies buzzing around, innards everywhere...Saracen felt a little unwell. Anton went round the desk, finding and reading another confidential piece. "Saracen? I think we've met project Walrider..."
Saracen looked up at the broken window and suppressed a shudder. They were in another security room, more dead bodies. Saracen got the scare of a lifetime by walking into a plant in the darkness. They moved on to a filing room, trailing blood from the floor across the cream carpet. They carried on to the gloomy hallway. A sign said exit, but when they tried the door, it was locked. They went the other way, down the corridor, towards a man in a wheelchair. They walked past, and Anton raised the camera. This man had been disfigured by something, as had the people watching a static television in the next room they visited. The television had a splatter of blood upon it. The other doorway was boarded up, but there was no actual door and the two men could easily duck under the boards. They went through a door, found another corpse, but this one had a badge. It was a keycard to security control. They went and tried another door, which was, of course, locked. They ducked back into the television room. They walked past the man in the wheelchair, who launched himself at Saracen, who promptly screamed "You bitch".
Anton stood by, but made no move to get the man off his friend as he began pleading for help. "Get them out! Please!" He yelled. Anton raised the camera again. "The doctor is dead! Rip them clean! You have to help me!"
All this time it was hard to hear the man over Saracen's wild screams of 'let go of me' as he tried to shake the man off. Finally he threw him into the wheelchair, and the man curled up against the wall. Anton crouched down to check if he was all right. He shot Saracen a look before leading back to the reception area and turning the camera on some red writing on the walls 'PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL'. They moved on to a hallway with lifts and a flight of stairs leading down, blood marking them. Anton turned down the hallway, avoiding the stairs. A man ran across the hall in the distance and tried to break open a door. The soldiers exchanged looks before venturing down the hall and trying doors, hearing a voice argue that he shouldn't have to die for being sick. They continued until they found the security door, which they opened with the card and went to the desk, doing their best to ignore the corpses. 'THEY LIE' was written on the walls in blood. Saracen smirked, despite himself. "The walls never lie."
"Shut up." Anton sat in the swivel chair at the security desk and did his best to hack into the system. It was going well until the man in the robes appeared on one of the screens and turned off the power.
"Oh cock..." Saracen muttered.
"There's probably a generator in the basement. That's where that camera was. Come on." Anton stood from the chair, but once he turned away from the monitors, he heard it, saw its shadow...Project Walrider...He ducked down, below the window bit, so he could not be seen. He tried to cloak himself behind the monitors as Saracen ran to hide in a locker. The Walrider burst in, looked right at Anton but thankfully he was indeed hidden. It went to the lockers, opened the one next to the one Saracen was in. "You were here, weren't you, you little pig?" It growled, turning away. "I'll kill all you whores." It went towards the door, and Saracen lost sight of it through the slits in the locker, so he stepped out. It was still in the room, and it had heard the locker open. With a squeak of fear, he jumped into the other locker. The Walrider turned around and he held his breath.

Sacrifice (FC Sandy story)

He woke up and found he was upright. That was the first shock of that morning. The second was finding every part of his body bound tight to the metal board behind him. He was bound and gagged, and still in his night clothes. Either that had been one wild party last night or he was in deep trouble.

Sem Van Dael opened his locker at school, ignoring the happy laughter behind him. It was at the expense of his overweight little brother, Roe. Edgar and Simon were somewhere nearby, and once he'd gotten his Chemistry book, Sem was going to join his friends. He grabbed the book and put away his History stuff, then noticed the sticky note stuck to the inside of his locker door. He scanned his dark eyes over the note and dropped his books in shock. He heard a chorus of laughter behind him, this time at his expense, and again he ignored it. He left the books on the floor and bolted for his bike. School was far from over, but he didn't give a damn. As much as he pretended to hate his guts...

...Sem's older brother, Pim, was important to him.

Someone stepped out of the darkness. Sandy squinted at him. Or her. He couldn't tell. Nope, him. Nightcrawler was a truly fearsome creature. Instead of hair, tentacles grew from his scalp. He had no visible eyes on his black and blue skin, sharp claws, a wide open mouth with chainsaw teeth and a large, thick tube of a tongue...The Dutch hero felt a shiver go down his spine. Nightcrawler crept closer and for about the eighth time in that past hour, Sandy tried to transform to his dust form. He struggled, bucking violently against his bonds. This was worse than being in that cell waiting to be pitted against another young super. Especially since this time he would feel every single wound inflicted upon him, see every horror before him...he was already covered in marks and sores from whatever the material holding him down was. He was panicking too much to use his brain by that point. He had never faced this thing before and didn't know what he could do, and right now he was completely helpless.

Sem approached the house, frowning. He raised his fist to knock just as the door opened, to show a tall man with black hair. He was in his night clothes still and looked ill. Sem's brown eyes met this man's hazel ones, and the hazel colour changed...the whole eyeballs changed colour...and Sem was gone.

Schizophrenia turned the hands round. The boy was shorter than he was, but stronger. Clearly sporty. He was tanned and moderately attractive, and Schizo could feel the boy's emotion in the back of his head. A slowly bubbling anger. Bad tempered. Brilliant. He walked back in, waving down Cupid when the large lump of winged muscle began to rise from the sofa, and headed to the basement.

As he descended the steps, the boy's older brother came into view.  Nightcrawler stepped away, but he kept screaming through the gag. Probably the pain, the poor thing. "You sure bludgeoned him, Nightcrawler." Schizo said, awed, through Sem's slightly accented speech. It was an accent few heard, not even Sem's own family, as he had grown out of mimicking his parents' accents when he was about six. Pim's eyes opened, vision blurry with tears and blood. He had no clue why this was being done to him, but suddenly he realised something. Sem was somehow involved. he could just about make out his little brother, but something seemed off. Sem came closer, saying something the man didn't quite catch. he was moving oddly, jerkily, although his movement got more certain and smooth with every step. His face looked different as well...his eyes were blue...

Now, while working with Bathilda Brute and Thunder Fists, he had faced the Hall of Evil, and he knew Schizophrenia's takeover signs when he saw them. Nightcrawler disappeared and Sandy's binds came away. He fell awkwardly on his arm. Looking up and hugging his bare arms across his chest for warmth, he watched the younger brother step closer, terrified they were going to make them fight. Instead, Schizophrenia left, was now standing behind Pim. He smirked in an ill fashion as Sem's faculties returned to him.
"Pim!" He dropped to his knees and embraced his bloody big brother. Pim hissed in pain and hugged back.
"It's a trap." He hissed into the younger man's ear. That much should have been obvious, even to Sem, who pulled away and nodded.
"Bit too late for that."
"I know...run..."
Sem shook his head. "You're hurt..."
Pim stuck his hand out, and a soft breeze enveloped him. He could feel his toes disintegrating into a fine dust. "I can get out myself. Run."
Sem watched in shock as his brother transformed to his dust form, then his legs kicked in and he began to run for the door. Fate and Nightcrawler blocked his path and he screamed, turning back. Pim was in full dust form now, keeping Schizophrenia back. He was unaware Fate was in the building, but turned, detached his fist and sent it hurdling towards Nightcrawler, who got hit square in the jaw. His eyes widened when he saw Fate, who tripped Sem.

"For the fate of the world..." She began, raising her sword high over her shoulder, "this child must lose his head..." She swung, Pim screamed, trying to throw her with his dusts, Sem jerked away, Fate was thrown off balance as she chopped into the boy, who let out a shriek of pain. Fate fell. Landed on him. She lost her grip on the sword and when the black dust from the elder brother had settled and returned to his form, her throat had been slit and Sem's arm was missing from the elbow. Pim returned to normal, grabbed his brother, no clue where the arm had gone as when she'd slipped, Fate had flicked it across the room, and found himself challenged to get out of the room without getting killed by Nightcrawler, who had just witnessed his little sister die, or Schizophrenia, who looked quite bored by this whole affair. Plus there was Cupid upstairs, which Pim didn't know about...he could do it in dust form, but that would make it incredibly difficult to carry Sem without giving him blood poisoning or something equally as nasty...

He finally managed to get Sem to a hospital. He phoned an ambulance from near the corner shop Bridget Butler worked at and watched fearfully as the paramedics got to work. They would know the nearest and best hospital, which Pim sure as hell didn't, no matter how many hospitals he had been to before. He walked in through the doors as the paramedics brought him in and a nurse insisted on taking him for treatment as well. It turned out they needed more than just the nurse. His father stormed in when he was talking to a porter named Paisley, who was assuring him his brother was going to live, as that was what she had heard from the other staff.
"Willem!" Fritz bellowed, entering the cubicle, looking terrified. "What happened? Are you okay? Where's your brother?"
Pim's face crumpled. "I don't know where he is, he isn't on this ward...they cut off his arm, Dad, they cut off his arm..."
"Who did?"
"I don't know...I remember being at Claud's house because he was throwing a house party, and getting drunk and crashing on the couch, but then I woke up upright somewhere I didn't recognise, and I was bound and gagged and...and..."
"Okay, calm down." Paisley told him gently. Pim let out a moan, shutting his eyes tight.
"They sent a ransom note to Sem...I don't know why...and they tried to kill us, but..."
Fritz sighed softly, looking at the floor. "It's okay, Willem...it's okay...it isn't your fault..."

The Germany Chronicles: Corrosion

This is the second part of a three or four part series. You may have to go to my Deviantart, Jinxprincess13, to read the first part.

Kurt let out a yawn. "My feet hurt." He complained.

Addie shook his head. "Perhaps we should find a hostel or B&B to check in to...get some rest, something to eat. We're not going to find Vilma tonight."

Kurt gave a nod of agreement. "I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"I threw up my breakfast."

Miguel listened to the conversation but offered no opinion. He was in agreement anyway. He was tired, cold and hungry, and it was beginning to rain, and the group hadn't the slightest clue where this thing had gone.

"We'll find a place and stop for the night, check in with our teams and our girls." He said when he finally spoke, smirking slightly. "Apart from you, Kurt. Not after you messed up so bad with Stacie."

"I didn't mess up, she did. I broke up with her." he argued, looking miffed.

"Riiiight."

Addie smiled at the banter, but the smile slowly faded at the cracking sound. He looked down and found the pavement was cracking beneath his feet!

The cracks were spreading across, under his companions' feet and ahead. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but they'd already noticed. Then, the strange blob that once was Vilma Meier shot up from behind them. The three of them turned and some paving that had been sent flying hit Kurt very hard on the temple. He keeled over backwards.

"Corrosion!"

"Kurt!"

The other two stared in anguish. They couldn't fight this thing, and they could hardly drag the heaviest and strongest member of the team if they elected to run. Heck, Addie could hardly run when in human form.

"Why'd that lump have to be the one to faint?" Volt whimpered, trying to lift him and walk back. Addie looked like he was about to have a panic attack. The ground was still cracking and Vilma let out a fearsome roar...and the next thing Miguel knew, he was falling. The ground had given way beneath him and he was falling...

He gave a harsh grunt as he hit the ground, elbow-first. Nothing broke, by some miracle. Addie wasn't so lucky. He fell on his left foot and gave a scream as his ankle snapped. Kurt remained unconscious. The way he fell made Addie think of a ragdoll. Miguel got up and was about to help Addie when he noticed something. They had fallen into a sewer, and yet there were people everywhere, staring at them. He checked his skin patch was still in place and offered a sheepish smile. "Hello..." The light above them went out. He looked up, saw the green form that was once Vilma pass by above them and suppressed a shudder. He looked back at the people and rubbed his sore shoulder. "Uh, excuse me for intruding...my friends require medical assistance..." He gave a vague gesture to the other two. A man stepped forward.
"I am a doctor." He stated with a nod. He had dark, curly hair and the kind of face that made you think 'miserable snob'. He stepped closer and took a look at the acid-spitter's face, then gave a grim nod. "Linus! Otmar! Bring a stretcher! Carina, how's the spare room looking?"
A petite blonde woman stepped forward. "Messy. Fabian's only just vacated. He should be fine to stay there, though."
The dark-haired man nodded and gestured for Miguel and Addie to follow her. The speedster helped support the wolf-man, difficult as Addie was pretty much half his height, and they made their way to Carina's house.

The sewer people didn't have hospitals. They had doctors, and if you needed a doctor down there, you went to the doctor's house. Rodger Schaumacher wasn't the only doctor, of course. They had no fire service, a council rather than police and, most importantly to Adolph, no phone service. He wanted to talk to Mishka and their daughter, Dee-Dee. He was currently limping around the Schaumachers' living room, trying to get a signal he would never get.
Once over the initial shock that he could still walk on his shattered ankle, Migs spoke. "Addie, cut it out. It won't work. Rest up so we can get back to hunting down that thing tomorrow."
Addie frowned, but stopped moving. "'thing'?"
"How else do I describe it?"
"She's not an it, she's a she. Her name is Vilma."
"Adolph, quit getting emotionally attached to a giant tentacle bogie!"
Noble Wolf turned, looking like he was going to hit Volt. Carina stood to the side with an infant in her arms, not sure what to do. Rodger had long-since finished with Kurt and had gone to the shops. The acid-spitter burst through the door, clearly frightened and confused.
"Where the hell are we? What happened? We were on the street just a second ago, with that thing..."
Volt gave a smug smile. "You were knocked out. We're in a safe house. This woman's husband is a doctor." He gestured to Carina, who was staring wide-eyed at Kurt.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Again with the staring..." He muttered sourly.
"Your eyes..." The woman muttered. "That's not natural..."
"It is for me." He stepped up next to Miguel. "Tell her our names?"
"Not yet, no...I have said his though." Volt gestured to Addie.
Kurt nodded and ripped the skin patch off his companion's neck. "We're supers." He stated bluntly and took a seat. Volt sighed and took the one next to them. Addie sat behind them, at a computer desk.
Carina sat opposite them and tilted her head. "My brother used to have eyes like yours." She told the scarred man. "He was adopted though."
Addie raised a hand. "Uh...used to?"
"He's...he left the community when he was young."
"So he's dead?" Migs asked, much the master of tact.
Carina shook her head. "The council made him leave when he was four."
"Why? Why would they eject a four-year-old?"
"He was considered a danger to our people."
"He was four."
"He...drooled acid...constantly...he could never stop. He was just constantly drooling acid, hurting people, damaging things, and he couldn't help it."
Slowly, the other two turned to look at Kurt. He gave a hand gesture to ask what they were looking at. Volt slammed a hand on the table in front of him.
"What is this, a reunion fest?!" he got up. "How come you two get to see your families? My parents are dead!" He stormed off into the spare room and slammed the door behind him.
Addie gave a shrug. "Kurt, isn't the whole sewer thing why you broke up with Stacie?"
"No. She was a control freak."
Carina stared. "This is Patricia." She stated, gesturing to the child on her lap.
Addie raised his hand. "Was your maiden name Findlay-Fitzhugh?
Carina frowned, having not yet made the connection between herself and Kurt. "It...was, actually."
Kurt looked at the floor. "Carina..."
"I never told you my name."
He snapped his head back up again. "How slow are you?" Then he gave a frown. "And what do you mean I'm adopted?"
She shook her head. "You're not my Kurt."
He frowned. "Of course I am."
"No. He's not coming back. He's in exile. It's illegal."
Addie paled. "Are we breaking the law then?"
Kurt sighed. "My sister doesn't want to acknowledge me, I don't know where my parents are, I'm adopted and Ava's ruined." he got up. "I had a best friend once, but then she kissed me and we became a couple, and that ruined everything. She doesn't want me near our kid. My life sucks. Let's go, Addie."
"Stay and rest!" Carina snapped. "You've suffered a very bad head injury."
"I have a job to do."
Addie shook his head. "The woman's right. We need to rest."
"I'm not staying here."
"There's no use being stubborn, Kurt. Go have something to eat. The rest of us have eaten. It'll do you good."
Carina nodded. "He's right. I think rest is good for all of us right now."
Kurt gave them both a glare and went to find the kitchen. The woman opened something. His wallet.
"He's had a nice life."
Addie frowned. "Did you steal that off him?"
She shrugged. "Sort of. Who's the redhead?"
"His ex."
"Oh. Ava sounds familiar...I think it was the name of a teddy he had."
"Apparently he was very attached to it."
"Oh..." She bit her lip. "He really can't be here."
"So now you do think he's your brother?"
"No. Because he can't be here. Manfred would recognise him instantly."
"Who?"
"Head of the council. Very sharp. To break an exile is a severe crime here. If Kurt is here, he must leave at once. Or else." She looked up, terrified. "And if he is my Kurt, and you are with him, they shall punish you as well."
Addie's eyes widened a little. "We're injured. I doubt I'd be able to get back up top...what would they do to him?"
"To break exile means execution. He cannot be given a reason to stay." The front door opened and closed. "Rodger knows a sloping exit rather than a ladder one. It's a secret, few know of it. It is only for emergencies. Occupied heavily by criminals. Manfred wasn't there when you came in. We can sneak you all there and get you to safety..."
Kurt stepped away from the door he had been hiding behind. He had eavesdropped, starting around the time Manfred was first mentioned. He sat heavily on the kitchen counter and removed the doughnut from his mouth with a heavy sigh.