My Superhero University

Squad 1 / 3 / 4

One after another the three boys came into the classroom;

Shane distinctly disheveled, making it remarkably clear he spent his night off campus and, going by the smell of cologne and sweat intermingled, made it clear he had been quite busy. His clothes were disheveled, showing he had hastily put them on that morning and hurried off to class, not wanting to miss the class start by too much.

"Shane Calston, present and...haah...whew...accounted for. Sorry about...whew...being late by a bit."

Van on the other hand was nothing but pristine - though going by his distraught expression, it was clear that even now he blamed himself for not being on the trip to the ruin - and thus resulting, in his mind, in a diminished performance that put the artifact in the enemy's hand. He looked down at the sword at his side, now bound in what looked like strange red paper - such was necessary to keep it from acting up.

For some reason in recent times, the sword was becoming more and more restless. And Van was not eager to find out what that meant for the future.

"Van Tepes, here."

And last but not least Cole - the psychic teenager had been having violent and nasty dreams, though he'd learned to wind down from multiple trips to the school psychologist. Keeping himself so high strung and battle ready was doing nothing for him but making him even more of a nervous wreck than he was already. He didn't want to know what would've happened if the dreams had happened to him mere weeks earlier...

The subject of the dreams was also personally frightening. Once again he saw his twin brother as the subject of his nightmares, and this made him ponder yet again if his brother was close by, or if something lent itself as a portent of his involvement.

Thankfully, nothing did, but Cole was left having to cool off in the shower that morning to avoid coming to school a wreck. "...Cole Streiss. I'm here."

Upon seeing Dante, Sally takes a deep breath.

"I have to. If he doesn't understand now then, it will be harder later. I'm sorry but, it needs to be said."

Upon hearing roll call, she raises her hand.

"Sally Martel, present." After answering, she looks over to Dante.

"Hey Dante, we need to talk about something. Something very important, it's about your behavior." She says, being somewhat stern.

"Finn Acker." Finn says quickly says raising his hand. He is still in the same state.

"There is some issues I think need to be addressed." Finn says to his squad, his voice made it clear how serious he is.

Just an adorable fan girl and cosplayer ヾ(*・ω・)ノ💝💟

Iridium Wonders – Training Room

And there Mahvash and Martin go, bribing people with superpowers...

Oh. It looks like Sally wants to talk with him...

"My...behavior?", he asked, comically puzzled.

His behavior was always the same: his confident, dramatic, hammy, super favoloso, flashy, pride of the King behavior!

There totally wasn't some irregularity in there...right?

"Hmm...You shall go ahead, Ms. Martel...", Dante nodded, sounding calm now.

There's definitely no defect in his dazzling persona, right?

You might know everything I'm going to do...but that's not going to help you, since I KNOW EVERYTHING YOU'RE GOING TO DO! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?

Sally takes a deep breath.

"Dante, you have been acting off ever since we got back after defeating Dementius. It feels like you have been dismissing all of us. This doesn't feel right and I want to know why." Sally says sternly.

Edited by LovelyMagicianSavvy on Jul 18th 2019 at 12:26:23 PM

Just an adorable fan girl and cosplayer ヾ(*・ω・)ノ💝💟

Iridium Wonders – Training Room

"Something...off?", Dante's calm persona starts to crack a bit, showing a slightl distraught version of himself.

"I-It's not like I was dismissing you or something!", he raised his hands a bit, a bit exasperated.

He then let out a huge breath and regained his composure. He now looked more somber.

"I'm being serious this time...", he gave Sally a heavy glare.

"During that arachnid's "reign of terror", I was truly, truly helpless. Like a gecko that was getting overwhelmed by a swarm of ants, or a kitten that was getting infested with fleas. Helpless....hopeless. Someone that would cry, scream and wail in a mad, ugly struggle in vain, because the opponent..the invader...the parasite...they...they would always leech off your positivity!", he remained silent for a while.

"Don't you understand this feeling too, Sally?"

He then unsheathed the Kordoro Blade out of his forehead. Some sparks of purple, strange energy started to appear around him. If someone, other than seeing it, could also sense this energy, they see that this energy was pretty damn messy! It's as if a god and a demon with the blood of an angel started madly dancing and jumping up and down like fish out of water, in a drunk trance.

"You guys saved me! I no longer had to be abused, kicked around and whipped to death in my dreams...I no longer had to see my "family" stare in despair at Father's coffin...I was finally able to spread my wings and fly like a butterfly towards the sky of freedom. It was like a rebirth...a second chance...a new leaf. I tried to regain my will by trying to act strong-willed, straightfoward and light-hearted...someone who moved on towards some first-world cheerfulness!", he gradually burst into "happiness", spreading his arms and making an extravagant pose.

But almost no time passed from that crescendo in euphoria when the jested shifted in a hunched, grim pose, teary-eyed.

"B-But I guess you didn't take that well...and—and!—", Dante, in a horrifyingly abrupt fashion, held the elegant rapier's hilt with his two shaky hands and pointed its blade towards his abdomen.

"I am ashamed of myself for saying those things to you!", he cried as he kept his wobbling grasp on the Precossini Kordoro, "I'm certainly, definitely, absolutely, ultimately ashamed of myself. I've outed m-my cursed and vile nature with that awful mistake!", Dante fell on his knees, his skin sparking out more and more metaphysical energy.

"It would be better for you if this heartless, selfish, hidden cursed abomination of an involuntary celibate by the name of Dante Precossini decided to spill his soul and blood out from his body, like a balloon that is flying left and right, erupting air...until there's no more...spending its last minutes being a pathetic, helpless whelp like its past self...", he then thrusted the sword into his stomach.

You might know everything I'm going to do...but that's not going to help you, since I KNOW EVERYTHING YOU'RE GOING TO DO! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?

I.W.-Martin

Plenty of people in the class had seen Martin move quickly. It was rather impressive, through more to some then others. But the moment Dante moved the blade toward his stomach Martin moved, leaving a dust cloud in his wake and a wave of force that would probably make some stumble on their feet. Before the blade could touch skin he wrapped a hand covered in radiant energy around the blade and looked down at Dante, the perfect picture of an angry demigod about to suffer his wrath onto someone.

"You unbelievable prick." Martin wrenched the blade away and tossed it to the side, using his other free hand to pick up Dante by the scruff of his shirt and lift him to eye level. "Sorry for my language, I am going to take Dante to the infirmary. He obviously isn't well." he looked back toward his squad and the rest of the class before dragging Dante into the hall and letting go of him. "We're going to the training room, because before we get you sectioned and removed from the school for a near blatant act of suicide I hope we can talk about this like reasonable adults."

And with all that said he waited for Dante to make his move.

Iridium Wonders

---

Something was on fire. Martin hit the ground at something resembling c, the shockwaves...well she was standing right in the epicenter of it. Though she picked it up through everything.

"..." Mahvash tilted her head and did not rush. One Martin had moved and two, she was done with this the last time. The others though... "Well thanks for your time." She said it simply to Vivian, tabling her whole free boon. Oh, and the demands. She didn't just work like that for flesh-and-bone outside of her communion.

---

"Sally," Mahvash appeared beside the android girl, putting a hand on both her cheeks. "First, do not even let a single thought begin 'if only I had'." She had not focused on their conversation but between catching Dante's act and Sally being Sally...

"Second," She let the girl go only a moment to take her in an arm. "Take a moment." Injury on the battlefield was one thing, but the trauma coming from teammates... She'd happily skip the class with the group, and call a walk a 'patrol' for volunteer hours. And this bit was more than enough. If Martin wasn't informing Dante of his transfer out.

Edited by CenturyEye on Jul 18th 2019 at 7:25:23 AM

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives

Training Room

Fujin pinched his brow as he decided to just get on with it. "Okay, so while they're busy dealing with whatever that was, let's get this out of the way. Not gonna name names, but from what I heard from Bozo, that last field trip of yours was a disaster, and that's putting it lightly. He was pretty pissed off too, which for Bozo isn't something you see every day. And part of that was because some of you idjits don't know how to work together for shit. So we're gonna try and rectify that."

He took a quick glug from a jug of sake he held in his right hand, though somehow he didn't seem the least bit tipsy. "'Case it wasn't obvious, this is gonna be a team-building exercise. We'll be goin' through the Pit of Eternal Despair or at least a fair recreation. Trust me, most of you would be running for the hills if you ever wound up in the real one. Difference is instead of torture and eternal suffering, this one's gonna be puzzles and tasks. Each of these is gonna need your Squads to work together, or else no-one is gettin' through. You wanna hate each others' guts, fine. But if you can't put that aside when the shit hits the fan, then those guts are gonna be spilled all over the pavement. Anything you wanna ask before we get started?"

Consider this retconned...

Edited by Theyja on Jul 19th 2019 at 3:53:27 PM

You might know everything I'm going to do...but that's not going to help you, since I KNOW EVERYTHING YOU'RE GOING TO DO! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?

I.W.-Martin

Martin watched the entire transformation, or rather metamorphosis, with a certain level of disgusted interest. Just to be safe he had already summoned the sword Mahvash had created for him, ready to strike should the worst suddenly happen. When the new Dante stepped out he held his blade, but didn't attack. If only for the possibility that this actually was Dante reborn in some new form and not some horrifying creature trying to take his place.

Of course the moment he spoke it was easy to tell the person in front of him was the real deal. So he let the blade disappear and listened very closely to everything he said, closing his eyes for a moment and doing something that showed his feelings toward the situation.

He counted backwards from ten and let silence fall in the room between them.

"At first I thought that maybe, just maybe I was mistaken. I know my first thought is always to be hopeful, to consider that maybe it was an accident or some misunderstanding, that through gentle communication things can be decided." counting back from ten was for some a way to calm down. For Martin, who could remain calm and smile even in the middle of a fight against villains it was quite the opposite.

"You utter and complete monster, do you not even understand for a moment how you are hurting your friends, or are you so self centered that you can't even imagine for a moment how others feel?!" Martin's anger was not the cold and calm collective that was Mahvash, or the gentle tone of Sally. "You're sorry for how we feel? You accepted the gift of a mass murder! Regardless of this!" he waved toward Dante's general direction. "You looked like you were about to kill yourself in front of someone who cares about you because you were scolded. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU HURT HER? HURT ALL OF US?"

It took a moment to reign himself in, and he looked toward Dante with cold eyes. "But given how you've been, all of that anger is just 'how I feel' and has no reflection on your reality. So I'm going to say this. I'm not angry. I always thought that all of your boasting showed your pride in what you did, that being someone training to protect others was something you took pride in. I looked up to that confidence, but now I see, that its just empty pride." he shook his head. "I'm disappointed." he turned off the training room and turned away. "Go talk to the school for your paperwork given the new form. I am going back to class. If you decide to come back figure out a way to apologize and fix what you did. Or just don't. The world ill needs the hero you are becoming."

Squad 1

After everything that happened, Sam raised a hand, deciding to get things back on track.

"Any preview of what is waiting for us, or you want to keep it a surprise?"

Wake me up at your own risk.

I.W.-Martin

After leaving the training room Martin's entire world was in a daze, any movement being almost automatic, one foot in front of the other all the way down the hall. It wasn't until he reached the door for the classroom. What sort of face should he show here? A confident smile? Even if he failed utterly he should show some hope, but at the same time he didn't want to give his team false ideas. So instead he simply let out a breath and stepped in. To put it frankly, he didn't look the best.

His body was shaking slightly, rage and sadness mixed together, and his voice tight. "Sorry, I don't think, I might not be okay for this class today. Um, Dante is...fine. Being taken care of. I mean. Sorry." he stepped out and walked a bit away from the door. He needed to be stronger because they had known Dante longer and would need his help. But that, the entire situation. Even his strength had limits it seemed. "Have to figure something out, maybe..." he nodded to himself. "Yeah, that might work," he pulled out his phone and texted his squad.

Want to skip class today and do something good?

Squad 4-Clay

"Shoot, I am looking forward to showing off a bit," he cracked his knuckles and looked toward his squad, looking pretty confident. "Lets show off why we are one of the best of the best." maybe such confidence wasn't deserved, but his team was full of people to pull together. Even if he didn't want to be what his teacher had been, at least he could play the part until someone showed a talent for it. "Unless any of y'all don't think you can keep up."

Training Room

"You already know the gist. What's important for all of these trials and puzzles is to work together as a team. That means talking to each other like civilized people. You wanna pass, that's what you gotta do. And anyone caught not doing that, well. Anyone seen Seven Samurai?" He whipped out his katana before sliding it under his arm, slowly slipping it back into its' sheath as though he were stabbing himself in the chest. "Course, it's not gonna be that dramatic. Though back in the day, that was getting off easy. But I think you get the idea. Now, let's get this party started! Computer, activate the Pit of Eternal Despair."

As soon as Fujin ordered it, the Training Room morphed into a dank, dark pit that seemed to stretch on forever. The only source of light was a series of bright gemstones installed up top, but one got the feeling this was added solely for the benefit of the class. There were a series of manacles scattered throughout the room, complete with bloodied torture tools lying on the ground where the bodies presumably used to rest.

Suddenly four giant monstrosities appeared out of thin air. Each was a shaggy, four-legged brute snarling at their prey, eager to sate their hunger. However, for now they stayed put.

Fujin stepped forward, petting the beasts as though they were pups. "Right. This is how this it's gonna go down. Each of you Squads is gonna take on one of these beasties here. The trick is, you can't do it alone. You can all attack it on your lonesome, sure, but dealing the finishing blow together is the only way to bring 'em down for keeps. You don't do that and they'll be feasting on your bones in no time flat. That clear?"

Iridium Wonders - Field Training

---

Between Martin's one-foot-in-one-foot-out two-step and Sally's front row view of earlier, yep. "Let's go then," she gave Sally and Ryuu an ushering wave.

Not like they didn't do exercises against hardlight beasts regularly. And in this case, their spirits were at issue not their cooperativeness. And I have a bet going with the janitor on how quickly he can repair the controls the next time the training room goes on the fritz.

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives

Squad 1

Sam looked around, giving a nod to the others as he tried to give a good look at the enemy.

That's a face only a mother could love

"Well, you heard the boss, I'll try to disorient it, and you try to give a chance" He started a blizzard surrounding their target, sneaking shots from different directions. He is aware it wouldn't do too much damage, but if it distracts it, it'll be enough.

"Anyone want to signal the the combination?"

I.W

Ryuu was completely dumbfounded from all that happened. But now there was something to do, and people to check on.

"Sally?" He asked, nervously. There might be a fair bit to do now, but for now, he'll check on those he could do something for.

Wake me up at your own risk.

Everything felt just felt numb mentally from the instance when everything went down. She felt like something just broke in her and she didn't have a clue on what to do. Things just felt like a blur. She didn't say anything, do anything and the expression on her is blank as everything had transpired. Upon hearing Ryuu say her name, she just clings to him.

I-I-I-just....just....sorry.... Her voice makes it hard to make out what she is saying.

Finn has no words for what happened and realizes he just missed an earlier opportunity to say what he was going to say.

"Okay, I know I had something to say but, I'll say it once training is done. For now, let's take care of this! You ready guys?" Finn transforms and gets a sword ready.

Just an adorable fan girl and cosplayer ヾ(*・ω・)ノ💝💟

I.W

Ryuu could barely hide a small yelp, but quickly wrapped his arms around Sally.

He looked at the others, and whispered some words to her.

"I am here for you" He said "We all are, we can handle this together"

Wake me up at your own risk.

I.W.-Martin

Martin watched as the rest of his squad left the room, giving his best attempt at a smile despite the situation. "Hey guys, so I was thinking, maybe we could go out and find something to do to take our minds off of this. Plenty of damaged areas around the city, reconstruction work that could use a few hands, and I'm pretty sure between our various initiations we could probably entertain sick kids in a hospital without blowing too much up. Or at least anything important." he scratched the back of his head. "I know its not exactly a normal idea of fun or anything, but then again I can't really pretend to be anything other then who I am right?"

Some people dealt with stress by getting away from work and relaxing, Martin tended to find that anything that wasn't hero work ended up stressing him out more. "I think, maybe it would be nice to put the fists away for a day and do something...well make today a net positive for someone."

Iridium Wonders - All together now

---

Mahvash silently made her way to the man, putting hands on both his cheeks. "I'm doing this alot recently. Don't apologize. And I'm not going to tell you to 'suck it up'. We're not chasing insurgents now, and I'll lookout if they come to us. Take the time. Exhale and every time you need it take a squat, or just lean on me or Ryuu, Sally too but the height difference may be awkward."

Maybe she gave them a moment's relief with some levity. Maybe not. She sighed. Twas one of those things she mimicked. She might have let out air too long. Maybe not long enough. As long as it carried her intended meaning in the local human-speak. Be at ease. Except...

"You!" She stared straight into Sally's eyes. "That very same thing." Martin did work to clear the air, but she had to treat this problem quickly. "You led, gathered yourself and confronted a problem strongly and as just one result, we're not having this moment in the middle of a battle. Do not forget that."

That sigh thing again. She about faced, hands folded behind her back. "So, sick kids and reconstruction. I'll drive then." And work from some accommodation. Bobbing a halo in hospice was like throwing red meat into a crowd. Poisonous meat in her case. Blessing a new construct though, that was a classic.

Edited by CenturyEye on Jul 21st 2019 at 5:00:49 AM

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives

I.W

Ryuu nodded at Mahvash.

"I wish I knew what to say, but that one kinda went completely out of our hands" He admitted "You were great, but this one felt like it went out of our hands a long time ago. Too bad we didn't get help a lot sooner" Realizing how the mood was, he tried something else.

"So, ready for work?"

Wake me up at your own risk.

Saint University — March 15, 2020

In the weeks since the class had their training, not much had changed. Tensions between the Guardians' supporters and the Purists were still on the rise, and the heroes were only growing more extreme. But in spite of that, there had been nary a peep from the Guardians themselves. Or from the Terrans. All the while, something or another seemed to be in the air. Everyone seemed to be on edge, though most couldn't say why. It was as if something was coming to a head. That somehow, everything that had happened over the last several months was leading to this moment. And any day now, it was all going to go down.

Still, life went on, though the class had a bit of a reprieve. Today was Sunday, meaning they had the day to themselves. And yet they couldn't help but feel that it wasn't going to be as uneventful as it may have looked. As though they were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And hoping that all hell wouldn't break lose.

---

Outside Finn's Dorm

Suddenly a loud series of knocks could be heard outside Finn's door. At the same time, they were also steady and leveled. As though someone was trying to get his attention.

Mason - Squad 1

Sundays were more or less his relaxation day, though for Mason that didn't...exactly adhere to much. It just meant that he didn't go overboard on the designing and creation spectrum of his life. But now he just wanted to hang out with his squad and relax.

Other neat ideas forming in his head not-withstanding.

"So!" He said to his squad, clapping his hands. "Day all to ourselves, we wanna hang out together or do we wanna split off?"

Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?

Lily – Saint University (Squad 1)

“I don't really mind...” Lily started, glancing between Mason and the rest of her squad at the question as she lowered her gaze and clasped her hands behind her back. “I mean, I wouldn't mind if we hung out together... I haven't really taken that much of a break from training...”

True, she was exhausted, but it was helping. Her respect amongst the Aquatos was increasing, even if it was reluctantly. And even her father was beginning to show signs of satisfaction. Maybe even pride. It was difficult to tell with him. In whatever case, it was becoming easier to get his approval on things.

She couldn't help but wonder how much of it was guilt, though. Ever since she flat out told him how she felt, he seemed to have been troubled. She herself had started to feel guilty about it. She wanted to apologize, but she knew it'd be redundant. She knew that the Aquatos had an archaic set of practices. It was time that changed. Before any more of her family got hurt because of them.

Admittedly the other subsidiaries of the clan didn't seem all too impressed by the main family's softening of their regime, but a loss of respect was worth sacrificing in her books. It didn't necessarily mean the others thought the same.

She prayed it'd all work out in the end. And that she hadn't been abusing her position this entire time.

“...Maybe we could go out someplace?” she eventually suggested, shaking off her concern for her clan as she did her usual calming practice of discreetly dousing herself in moisture. It felt strange to have a day off. Or at least, strange to have a day off without feeling obligated to worry about things.

She'd worry about things anyway, of course. It was practically in her nature to be stressed out about something. But still, it was refreshing to catch a break—even if she could only really appreciate it by principle.

bork

Squad 1

Sam just nodded at the others. His time was surprisingly intense, including a bomber that ended up a much closer call than he would have liked, and a fair bit of physical training on his part.

"I am game for anything" He said "Hopefully, it won't involve dealing with a lot of people" Even now, the public side of heroism, or just big crowds was a bit too big a challenge for him, even in a casual situation. Letting the others take care of it would be for the best.

"Best idea I had was to go to a jazz club, but what do you want?"

Wake me up at your own risk.

Iridium Wonders - Snow's Anatomy ^note (because I didn't have a clever wordplay on House MD.)

---

"Now, we'd do best to follow the directions of the nurses. This is their domain." Mahvash had driven straight into the heart of town. Directly straight. The nurses had worried about beating rush hour traffic.

"Though I could've sewn our own candy stripes..." The ones they had in storage were random sized to fit all volunteers and the ones with few enough holes and less frayed seams could be counted on one hand. She did in fact count them before gathering the group again.

"This is what the local CHC call 'Mobile & Communal Health Outreach Arms'. In short, mobile clinic." Indeed the concrete that wasn't overgrown had long since gone ash grey. Traffic rolled through but quickly and motorists freely threw trash out as they passed. "And we're starting here for a reason."

Mahvash swiveled in the seat. It wasn't built to do that. She just made the seat turn. The vehicle hadn't stopped moving. "Now, hospitals are full of things both heartwarming and tear jerking but the point right now is those people are already in a facility, being cared for trained staffs and many many volunteers in climate controlled rooms."

"We are going out into the nitty gritty, because we can. And its one of your people's efforts at inclusive care. Don't think of this as delivery as much as finding the people in need of primary care and bringing it to them. We can tell them face to face the steps to staying in good health, or rather, we can parrot what the doctors say. And we'll have the doctors here, in their faces, so we don't hear 'I don't have time to make the trip', 'I don't have money or paperwork', etc."

"In short, we're bringing the clinic to the people, targeting those who would never enter a doctor's office. Its an experience. Take in as much as you parrot. You're dealing with people not villains. And do not worry too much about memorizing all the materials you have. We're volunteers. Feel no shame if you have to say 'please let me look that up' or 'please give me a moment to ask the doctor'. And we have unique ways to render aid. The mobile clinic, for example tends to set up open air. The people we get to there will adore a Ryuu open air AC."

Having finished timing it, She almost idly shoved the stick, the van quarter turning into a perfect curbside park. "For housecalls, every child loves cute and cool androids, as long as they haven't just seen Terminator. Even then its just Terminator Salvation that leaves a disgusting taste in your mouth. You know your gifts. Be prudent. And the doctors and especially nurses will ask. They know who we are. All the same, we're still medical volunteers. Throwing away a used syringe is not beneath anyone. Have fun."

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives