Cayenne landed down on the ground in front of the Vanguard base. She dropped Nia and AJ. The former looked very excited, while the latter was still sulking. AJ clearly didn't like the idea of being carried around like he had. Cayenne headed towards the base and gestured for them to follow. "C'mon in pipsqueaks. We'll keep you here until we can contact your brother and sort all this shit out."

Nia quickly followed after her. This was so awesome! She was going to get to see the inside of a superhero base! AJ on the other hand didn't look all that impressed. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and wore a scowl on his face. "Man, this is going to be so cool! Can you believe it AJ? I've been here less than a week and I already get to see the Vanguard."

"Yeah, it's real nice blondie," he said sarcastically.

She looked at him confused. "You're not excited?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. In my experience these big time hero teams tend to forget about the little guys," he grumbled. There were a bunch of so-called heroes in his school, and not a single one had stepped up when he was getting his ass kicked. Only Nia had.

Cayenne looked over her shoulder. "Hey runt, if you don't like it here you're free to leave. I only brought the princess here because I didn't want her cover getting blown. Not that it probably won't anyone. No telling how many cameras caught your little slice and dice."

AJ scowled back at her. "No freaking way. Wherever she goes I go," he said stubbornly. Nia stared at him for a moment, and then smiled. AJ really was a pretty loyal guy.

Cayenne raised an eyebrow at him. "Whatever…"

They entered into a large room full of tables, and Nia could see a number of other people sitting around the room. "Whoa…" she said looking around amazed.

"Nia!"

The young girl jumped and then turned her head to see none other than the princess of the underworld running towards her. "Vera!" Nia ran back and the two met halfway, grabbing each other into a hug. "Vera! I'm so happy to see you! It's been way too long!"

Vera laughed. "I know! When Maria told me you guys were here I was so happy! Then I turn on the news and all of a sudden I see you cutting up a robot in half! When did you get the wand?! When did you learn how to do that?!" she asked.

Nia smiled sheepishly. "I kind of came up with it on the fly…"

Vera smiled. "Wow, that's pretty impressive."

Cayenne looked over the two. "Hey Vera, do me a favor and keep an eye on her for a sec. I need to talk to Kingsley about this shit. News is going to have a fucking field day with what happened today," she said annoyed.

Before she walked off, AJ reached out and grabbed her sleeve. She looked back at him. "Hey, did you happen to hear anything about April O'Neil?" he asked, trying not to look too worried. He had never managed to get in contact with his mom, and he was really getting nervous.

Cayenne grunted. "I haven't heard her name specifically, but from what I know there weren't any casualties. So she should be fine. But I'll let you know as soon as I find out for sure kid," she assured.

"Thanks…"

With that Cayenne walked off, and Nia put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Astro, I'm sure your mom is fine," she said happily.

Vera walked over towards them and patted them on the head. "Well, I'm sure after what you guys went through you must be pretty tired and hungry. You can grab something to eat in here if you want," she offered.

AJ shrugged. "Sure I guess. Unless you want to fix your hair first," he said looking to Nia..

Nia looked confused. "My hair? What's wrong with my…" Her eyes widened as she looked back and saw half of her ponytail was gone. It was signed at the end.

"Right, forgot to tell you when I tackled you out of the way that beam managed to get some of your hair. Was kind of running for our lives so it slipped my mind," AJ explained, unaware of the fact that Vera was behind her waving her hands for him to stop.

Nia's eye twitched for a moment, and then took a deep breath. Vera looked worried. She had been planning on telling her when they got to a more private place. "Oh no…" she said before covering her ears. "Everyone cover your ears now!" she yelled.

Her hair, her beautiful hair! She had spent so much time every morning washing and combing it! Now it was gone! Before they could ask what was going on, Nia let out the most ear shattering scream any of them had ever heard. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" AJ quickly covered his ears, as did everyone else in the room. "MY HAIR!"

"Well, how does it look deary?"

Nia frowned as she stared into the mirror in front of her. Behind her was the League's image consultant, Angela Crust. After two straight minutes of screaming and sobbing, Nia had finally calmed down enough for them to sit her down and help her out.

Angela had assured her she could style up her hair even better than before. And it did look really good. It was just… different. Nia wasn't used to having her hair tied short. She had always let it flow like her mother had.

"It looks nice…" she said honestly.

Angela frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry about what happened dear. I know how frustrating it must have been for you. But you should be able to grow it back out later if you want. At least this way nobody will be able to grab at it while you're fighting."

AJ, who was sitting nearby, glanced over and saw her. "Hmm… I don't know. I think you look better with short hair," he said casually.

Nia turned towards him surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. But I guess that's just me," he said before going back to bouncing his tennis ball against the wall. He had no idea why this was such a big deal. What was it with girls and they're hair?

Nia reached up and touched her hair again. Well… maybe she would keep it this way. Besides, Angela did have a point. At least nobody would be able to grab or burn it again.

The door to the room opened and three figures made their way in. The first two Nia recognized as Vera and Cayenne. But the third one she hadn't seen before. It was a tan skinned boy with wavy black hair and blue eyes.

AJ sat up and looked at the three curiously, and Nia turned towards them confused. "Uh… hello," she greeted nervously.

The blue eyed boy smiled before approaching her. "How interesting. You're giving off quite a unique energy. You and Vera are both from Mewni, but your auras are so vastly different you'd never be able to tell. Though I do suppose that's due to your being two different races."

Nia looked even more confused. This guy seemed excited yet depressed at the same time. She didn't know how that was possible. She looked towards Vera who just shrugged, then AJ suddenly stepped in front of her and pushed the boy back. "Whoa there Fabio. Ever heard of personal space?" he asked.

Damian held his hands up. "Ah, of course. Pardon my rudeness," he said before flipping his hair. "I just tend to get a bit excited when I sense a new aura."

Vera held her hand out. "Nia, this is Damian. He's one of our lead officers, the head of supernatural affairs," she explained.

Nia curtsied. "Hello there. My name is-"

"Nia Butterfly," Damian finished. "Vera told us a lot about you. I was very eager to meet. We haven't gotten the chance to meet many magic users. Fewer still who use such rare forms like mewman magic."

Nia smiled at the compliment. Was her magic really something that special here on Earth? It was something rare back home too she supposed, but most people were used to seeing her mother and grandmother do it all the time.

"You're wasting your time ghost boy. She's not being recruited," Cayenne said bluntly. "Her big brother was already pretty clear about that."

Nia looked confused. "Wait, you guys spoke to Astro?"

Vera laughed nervously. "Well, Cayenne and our leader Kingsley did. Apparently he wasn't too keen on helping us out. He was pretty clear he didn't want us to try to recruit you either. I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised. He's always been pretty protective of you."

"He's a dick," Cayenne said bluntly. She hated when people acted all polite when they were trying to make a point. Just fucking say what you wanted to say.

"Cayenne…" Vera muttered. The guy's little sister was standing right here.

Nia looked down at her feet for a few moments. Astro had already told them no? He didn't even bother asking her… well, it wasn't like he would have let her anyway, but still. It didn't seem fair that she didn't even get the chance to know about it.

"Hey blondie, you okay?" AJ asked, looking worried.

Nia kept thinking in her head. She'd fought a giant robot, and she'd done pretty well. She used the wand, she used magic, and she'd held her own. Okay, so maybe she needed some more practice. But she had done good right?

"Nia?" Vera asked.

The whole room suddenly began shaking, and everyone grew wide eyed. "What the hell was that?" Cayenne asked, turning around. Was someone attacking them? Another shake and this time everyone almost stumbled. "Shit!"

Cayenne quickly flew out of the room, and the others followed after her. They made their way to the front door of the base, where they could see a bunch of dents in the door. Another crash, and soon another fist shaped dent showed up. "What in the…?" Damian looked stunned.

Was someone really trying to break the door down? The only person here who had been strong enough to smash through it was Cayenne, and she was standing right here. After a few seconds, another blow hit the door, and soon it came flying off the hinges. Everyone ducked as the door went flying over them. "Annoying…" a voice said.

Everyone stood back up, Vera standing in front of Nia and AJ, while Cayenne and Damian got ready to fight. When the figure walked through however, they were shocked to see Astro standing there, with an irritated look on his face. Sear was a few feet behind him, the dragon sniffing in the air until it spotted Nia.

"Astro?" Nia said, confused.

"What the actual fuck?!" Cayenne yelled. "You never heard of knocking assholes?!"

Astro completely ignored her and looked towards Nia. He then spotted Vera and looked slightly surprised. "Oh great…" he muttered. Sear also spotted the princess of the underworld and suddenly began charging at her.

The dragon sped towards Vera, ready to pounce on her and give her a long awaited hello. He hasn't seen her in sometime, and he wanted to make up for lost time. Right as he leapt at her however, Cayenne sped in front of her and swung her fist. Vera and Nia gasped as Cayenne knocked the dragon into the wall beside them. "Cayenne!" Vera yelled.

"He was attacking you!"

"He was just saying hello! He does it all the time!"

"Seriously? Shit…"

Nia turned towards Astro who had a stunned look on his face. He soon narrowed his eyes in anger, and focused on Cayenne. "Astro…" Nia said warningly. "It was an accident, she didn't know!" He started towards Cayenne. "She didn't know!"

Astro raised his hands and fired out a blast of water from his palm. Cayenne was blasted back down to the end of the hall, the stream of water slowly dying down. "Oh no…" Damian said looking worried. Nothing good was going to come of this.

Cayenne pried herself out of the wall, a look of fury on her face. "Okay, it's officially time for a royal ass beating…" she said cracking her neck. Prince or not, she wasn't about to just let something like that slide.

"You hurt my dragon," Astro said before bringing out his sword. Sear had been with him since he was a child. He'd been there when he hatched from an egg. He'd be damned if he stood by while one of his closest companions got hurt.

Cayenne flew forward, and Astro raised his sword and lunged at her. Right before they were about to collide however, Nia slid between them and held her hands out. Cayenne screeched to a stop, while Astro stopped dead in his tracks. "Both of you, stop it!" she said glaring back and forth at them. "Astro, it was an accident! She didn't know! Besides, look!"

Astro followed her gaze and saw Sear was already back up on his feet. The dragon looked slightly dizzy, but not seriously injured. "See, it's fine. Everything is fine. No one got seriously hurt. It was just a big misunderstanding," she said hoping to keep everyone even.

The prince kept glaring at Cayenne, but then took a breath. He put his sword away. "I… am sorry. I suppose from your point of view you were only trying to protect Vera. And I should have known something like this would happen given how… jumpy, Earthlings seem to be."

Cayenne grunted. "Whatever. I'm sorry for hurting your overgrown lizard. But you pull shit like that again and not even your sister is going to save you from getting your ass kicked."

Astro grit his teeth, but Nia nudged him and he decided to just let it go. Damian looked down as Nia and rubbed his chin. She was quite the little peacemaker. Then again she did have a very warm and calming aura about her. Maybe she had some hidden ability that calmed others.

"Well, as wonderful as this visit has been, I think it's time we take our leave. C'mon Nia, we're going back to Janna's," Astro said, turning to leave.

"I don't think that would be a good idea…" Everyone turned down the hall and looked to see Kingsley approaching. He nervously approached Astro, knowing the boy was already mildly irritated by everything that just happened. "You see, it might be a little hard for you two to lay low after today."

Kingsley held up his phone and everyone saw a news article pulled up. It showed two pictures. The first was Astro as he stood off against Carnage and Savage, and the second was Nia as he brought her hammer down on the robot. Over the pictures the title read 'Townsville's Newest Heroes?! League Expanding Its Members!'

Nia looked at it wide eyed, while Astro palmed his face. "Hey! I was there too dammit!" AJ said, shaking his fist. Okay, so maybe he hadn't done that much, but he still helped!

Damian and Cayenne looked surprised. "You stood off against the triplets on your own? Shit, they're pretty high up in the YBA right?" Cayenne asked.

The half ghost nodded. "Indeed they are. Fighting one of them is a feat, but you survived against all three. That's quite impressive."

"I don't care! I'm not a part of this! Go tell them I'm not a part of any of this!" Astro said looking towards Kingsley. He didn't want to get mixed up in this!

"Fat chance of that happening frosty. You stood up against the YBA. They're going to have a target on your back whether you like it or not," Cayenne said bluntly.

Astro grit his teeth in anger. He looked like he was ready to explode. Without saying a word, he pulled out his scissors and then ripped open a portal. He stepped through and closed it behind him "Where is he going…?" AJ asked.

"That's the dimension he goes to when he wants to blow off steam…" Nia answered. "He'll be back in a little bit," she assured. Sure enough, another portal soon opened. Astro came back through, his hair looking a bit messier than before. "You feel better?"

He let out a sigh before he reached up and slicked his hair back again. "Slightly…" he said, looking a bit calmer. He turned back towards Kingsley. "You're sure these… What were they, the Youngblood or something?"

"Youngblood Alliance, yes."

"Right. You're sure they're going to target us now? There's absolutely no chance of us going unnoticed by them?" he asked.

"It's unlikely. It was one thing when you were dealing with that police officer, but you both directly got in the way of their plans. I really don't think that's going to go unnoticed," Kingsley said honestly.

"And you wouldn't happen to know where the Youngblood are based, do you?"

Cayenne snorted. "If we knew that don't you think we would have done something about it by now?" she asked, feeling a little insulted by the question.

Astro grunted. Great, so just busting in and taking them down wasn't an option. He looked down at the floor in thought, and Nia looked nervous. She hoped he wouldn't make them go back home. She had just gotten here. She didn't want to leave already.

Eventually Astro let out a sigh. "If hypothetically I decided to help you deal with these people-"

Nia let out a happy yell. "We're joining the Vanguard League?!" she asked excitedly.

"I didn't say that!" Astro quickly corrected. "I'm only willing to offer a temporary partnership, one that you wouldn't even be involved in!"

"Aw, c'mon! You can't join a superhero team and then expect me to just sit out!"

"I'm not joining them! I just said this would only be temporary!" He turned towards Kingsley with a frown. "I'm putting extra emphasis on temporary. I could care less about the squabbles between Earthlings. We have mutual enemies, that's the only reason I'm offering any help in this fight."

Cayenne rolled her eyes, while Kingsley looked a little confused. He felt like he was kind of being insulted… but at the same time, it wasn't like he could turn down help either. He reached forward and held his hand out. "Well, whatever your reason, we're glad to have you."

Astro stared at him for a bit, and then reached out and shook his hand. Damian stepped forward. "Well, that's great news. If I may make a suggestion, would you consider joining the supernatural department?" he asked.

"The supernatural department?" Nia asked.

Cayenne scowled. "What the hell?! I just said in the last meeting we need more fighters in the combat department, and now you're trying to scout this guy?" she asked annoyed.

Damian gestured towards both Astro and Nia. "These two both use rare forms of magic, and come from a place where monsters and demons are a natural part of their daily lives. I know we need strong fighters, but the info they have will be essential to helping our department deal with the Youngblood. Besides, it's not as if he won't be allowed to assist you if you need it."

Astro looked back and forth between the two of them. "Just to clarify, you're the one in the supernatural department, and you're the one in the combat department, yes?" he asked looking at Damian and Cayenne respectively.

"Yes," Damian answered.

"Yeah, what of it?" Cayenne asked.

Astro pointed towards Damian. "I choose his department…"

"You dick…" Cayenne said, glaring at him.

"Well, that's decided," Damian said, smirking.

"What department can I join?" Nia asked, raising her hand.

"None of them!"