A black SUV slowly pulled up towards the warehouse. When it came to a stop, a number of armed men wearing shades stepped out and began looking around. Once they were sure no one was around, one of the men nodded and another figure stepped out of the car. A shady looking man wearing a suit and tie stepped outside.

He began making his way inside the warehouse, his armed guards following him every step of the way. When they opened the door they saw another group of armed thugs waiting inside, right next to a number of large wooden crates. One of the thugs smirked towards them. "Right on time fellas."

The man in the suit scowled down at the young punk. "Open it up. I want to know you runts aren't screwing around here," he said dangerously.

The youth chuckled before reaching out and opening up one of the crates. A number of high tech looking weapons were revealed. "Hey, we're working under the Youngblood. We're professionals here man," he said picking up one of the weapons. "The latest high grade armor piercing laser rifles. You're not going to find these anywhere else for at least the next few months. Should be more than enough time for you to flex on the other gangs right?"

The man grunted. He really couldn't believe that these brats had gotten their hands on weapons like this. They really must have been working under the Youngblood. "Alright then." He snapped his finger and one of his men walked over carrying a suitcase. He opened it revealing an enormous sum of money.

The teen's eyes widened and he slowly stepped forward. He had never seen so much money in his life. "My men will be here in a few to load everything up. You can count it to make sure it's legit," the man said straightening his tie. Right as he was about to reach out and grab the case, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew by. "What the…?"

The wind suddenly began to pick up even more, and soon the suitcase was pulled right from the man's hand. "Hey!" the teen shouted. They watched as the suitcase was pulled up into the air and towards… a figure floating in the air. "Who the hell is that?!"

The figure floated down a bit giving them a clearer look at her.

It was Nia.

The princess was sporting a new look than she had three weeks ago. She had traded in her skirt for a pair of shorts. Something Renee suggested after she knew the princess could fly through the air now. Her hair style had changed as well. She had two braided buns instead of one now, and a good portion of her hair was now pink.

The girl frowned down at them, floating the suitcase over her finger. "Fuck, where the hell did she come from?!" The man yelled pulling out a gun. "You said this location was secure!"

"It is! I don't know where she came from!" the teen said stepping back. This was bad. If the heroes got involved they'd be screwed. He really didn't want to be the one to tell Griffin this operation was a bust. "Take her down, now!"

Both sides all began pulling out weapons and aiming them towards the girl. They fired, but Nia raised both hands and a sphere of wind surrounding her. The bullets were all pushed away from her. "I'll just be taking these," she said raising her hands up. Another tornado formed near them, this time lifting up all the crates of weaponry off the ground.

She bawled her fist up, and the tornado spun even faster, shredding the crates up along with the weapons inside. Everyone looked up in shock. "So, how about you guys just give up and we can call this a night and go home?" she asked.

Some of them dropped their guns and raised their hands up, while others scattered. Nia sighed before reaching up into her ear piece. She was going to be late tonight. "We have some runners," she said, swinging her arm. She managed to knock a few of them over with a gust.

"Okay, just keep the main group there. We'll handle the stragglers."

Nia sighed and stared off. Yep, she was definitely going to be late. The moment she took her eyes off of the group, one of the gang members had pulled out a weapon. Xiang had always told him to keep one on him for display purposes, or in case things went south and they doubled crossed. He took aim at Nia and then fired.

The blonde noticed the beam headed towards her the second it was fired. She raised both hands in front of her, and when the blast hit she was pushed quite a distance. She winced in pain as the men looked absolutely stunned. That weapon should have torn right through her like paper. How was she still in once piece?

Nia palms were burnt, and her hands were now smoking. She shook him and gave the men an annoyed look. "That stung…" Her hands glowed for a moment, and suddenly the burnt skin on her palms were back to normal. "Alright then, we're doing this the hard way."

She raised her hands again, and suddenly a tornado formed around the group. They all looked around fearfully, thinking they were about to be torn apart. But soon they realized that hurting them wasn't her goal. The air was slowly being pulled out of their lungs. They gasped and tried to escape, but it was too late.

One by one they started to fall to the ground unconscious. And once the last one had fallen Nia stopped and pressed her ear piece. "Hey Kingsley, one of them made a move so I knocked them out. Is it cool if I go now?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure that's such a good-"

A portal suddenly opened up nearby, and soon after Amber stepped through it. "Don't worry Kingsley, I can take care of the rest of this," she assured.

Nia saw the fellow princess and flew down towards her. "Amber, are you sure? I don't want you to do it just because I'm whining," she said landing down in front of her.

Amber smiled. "It's fine Nia. I know you've been looking forward to tonight. I don't have anything going on, so this is a good way to kill time," she assured.

Nia squealed and then hugged the girl. She took her earpiece out and handed it to the septarian princess. "Thanks Amber! You're awesome!" she said before turning and running off. "I'll make it up to you next time! Princess promise!" She took off into the air, flying off into the night.

Amber watched her fly off with a frown on her face. "That was nice of you Amber," Kingsley's voice said over the ear piece.

"I just think she needs this," Amber said. She did a good job of hiding it, but Nia hadn't quite been herself since her brother had vanished. She had changed. Not just her new look either.

It had been three weeks since Astro had gone off with his father. Right after they'd gotten back to the Butterfly castle he'd gone to Star and asked for answers. She didn't know if he got them or not, but clearly he felt something was wrong. He'd left a note for Nia and Maria saying he'd be gone for a while, and then just… left.

Nobody had the slightest clue where they had gone to. They didn't use scissors, so her mother couldn't track them. Sear couldn't pick up any scent. Not even Star could find them with the All Seeing Eye. Wherever they were was beyond any of their reach.

And though Nia had told everyone she was fine, it was clear things were getting to her. Her magical powers were growing, and growing fast. Then there was the news about her father which she seemed much too casual about. She didn't even seem to want to find him. When Hank asked if he wanted him to start looking up info, she said it was fine.

Amber and Vera both knew she was trying to keep herself together, but they didn't want to push the girl. They figured she'd open up when she was ready… she hoped anyway.

Nia landed down and stumbled forward a few feet before running up towards the house. She made her way up to the door and rang the doorbell. A few moments later the door was opened and she was met with Sky. "Hey, you made it just in time. Show's about to start," she said smiling. "Come on in."

The blonde eagerly followed her inside and saw a few others sitting around the tv in the living room. "Yo, what's up blondie," AJ said waving from his spot on the couch.

"Hey Nia," Erin greeted from the floor.

Ezra, one of their new recruits, smirked. "Hey, showing up at the last minute as usual."

Nia blew a raspberry before taking a spot on the couch next to AJ. "Had to deal with some vanguard stuff. Weapons deal or something like that. But Amber covered for me," she explained. "It's about to start right?"

"Yep! Monster movie marathon is a go," Sky said, taking her seat. There were bowls of chips, popcorn, and other snacks spread about the room. "First one they're showing is 'It came from Jones' lake'. Classic."

The princess looked excited as she made herself comfortable. This was exactly what she needed. Not worrying about her family drama or dealing with Vanguard issues. Just to sit back and watch a bunch of old scary movies. Normality.

The given preteens continued to watch the movie. It was old, in black and white, and very few parts were actually scary. But they enjoyed it nonetheless. When the monster finally had showed up though, they broke out in laughter. "Wow, they really didn't have a budget back then did they?" Erin said, snickering.

"Yeah, that costume is really lame. Looks like a saggy knockoff of Sear," Ezra said amused.

Nia's eyes widened, and Sky immediately elbowed the boy in his side. He looked at her confused until he Sky nodded towards the princess. He looked down and saw she had an odd look on her face.

A few days after Astro had left, Sear followed. He'd always been edgy when Astro wasn't around, but usually stuck with Nia. This time he seemed to know something was wrong. He was grumpy and snapped at everyone. Then he just flew off and left. He'd been spotted a few times around town, but whenever one of the others tried to get a hold of him he'd growl and take off.

"Hey, you okay blondie?" AJ said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Nia snapped out of her daze and then offered a weak smile. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a little out of it I guess. I'm gonna go get some more popcorn!" she said jumping up off the couch.

She headed into the kitchen as the other shared a look. The princess walked over to the stove and poured another bowl of popcorn from the pot. She took a breath as she set the pot back down, trying to calm her nerves. Normal night. She just needed a normal night.

Suddenly she heard a strange noise, and she looked up to see more popcorn rising up from the pot. She gasped and put the top back over it, but it began pushing upwards. "Oh stump!" she said trying to push the top back down. Seriously? Her power was acting up now? What kind of magic even affected popcorn?

"Nia, you okay in there?" Sky called.

"Yeah! I'm fine! All good!"

She took a deep breath and calmed her nerves, and the tower of popcorn finally stopped rising up. She let out a sigh and picked up the bowl before heading back into the room. All she had to do was keep calm and get through this. A normal movie night. That's all she wanted. She could do this.

Just as she was about to walk into the living room however, her cheek marks began to glow brightly. She stopped as she felt them heat up. "What the…?" She set the bowl back down and touched her face. Were her powers acting up again?

Or was this something different?

"You okay Nia?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see AJ standing near her. She giggled nervously. "Yeah, I'm fine. Totally alright," she said.

He clicked his tongue. "Look blondie, I know you don't want to talk about all this drama with your family, and I'm cool with that. But don't try pulling the wool over my eyes. You ain't good at lying. Way too innocent for that," he said leaning against the counter.

Nia blushed and pouted. "I'm not lying… and I'm not even blonde anymore. Not completely…" she muttered reaching up and grabbing a strand of hair between her fingers. When her powers started acting up her hair had started to change. She'd tried dying it back, with both magic and regular dye. But it always changed back. It was annoying.

"Yeah well, I like calling you blondie. So it stays," AJ said smirking. "Now come on. You finally going to tell me what's bothering you? Or at least where your brother went off to?"

Nia shook her head. "It's nothing. Can we please just go back to watching the movie?" she asked pleadingly.

"You know if you keep trying to hold this in it's just gonna backfire right?" AJ asked.

Nia looked down at her feet. "Look, I know okay. I just need a little time to… not think about all of this. All this stuff has been happening and… I just need some time," she said, giving him a pleading look. She knew he was only trying to look out for her, but she really didn't want to bring this up right now. She just wanted to watch a stupid horror movie.

AJ shrugged. "Alright blondie. Fine. But you're gonna have to talk about it eventually. With me or somebody else. I don't want you going crazy over this, you know," he warned.

She smiled and nodded towards her friend, thankful someone was just letting her forget about what happened for a while. "Thanks AJ…"

"Well, as a professional young punk, I know what it's like to want to forget your problems sometimes," he said, smirking. "Never hurts to get a bit of normality now and then."

Nia smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, normality huh? That's a pretty fancy word for a street punk?" she said giggling.

"Well, I've been spending time with fancy folks," he said winking at her. The princess blushed before making her way back into the living room, AJ following after her.

This was all she needed. Just a normal night. There was a lot of crazy stuff she'd have to deal with, but it'd work out. It always worked out…

The orange haired man sat at his desk with a board expression on his face. The week, no, the whole month… it had been so uneventful. Usually things were so much more lively. Whether it was on the corporate side or some mystical threat, there was always something to kill the boredom. But lately nothing had happened.

It was unbelievable. This was New York for god's sake. There was always something happening here. The Avengers saving the world, mutant turtles fighting aliens, creatures of ancient times rising from their grave. How can things be so bland for so long?

Lately it seemed everything was happening in… what was it called? Townville? He had never heard of the place before a few months ago. But then suddenly some new hero team pops up and they were all anyone was talking about. After doing some research one the place he found it was actually quite interesting. Not unlike New York usually was.

Perhaps he should think about taking a trip there. If not for any other reason than to kill his everlasting boredom anyway.

Just as he was about to grab his phone and check his schedule, he suddenly felt a pang of pain go through his head. He grabbed his temple and groaned.

What… what was that? He hadn't felt anything like that since… no, it couldn't be. He hadn't been here for years. And even though it felt familiar there was something off about it. There was a hint of something else. Not to mention it was small in comparison to his.

He closed his eyes for a moment and focused. It was faint, but he could still sense where it was coming from. And oddly enough, it felt like it was coming from Townsville.

A devious smirk made its way across his face. He reached over and pressed the button on his intercom. "Owen, could you come in for a moment?" he asked.

Not a moment later, a blonde man with glasses wearing an impeccably neat suit walked in. "You called sir?" he asked as he made his way towards his desk.

"Clear my schedule for the next two weeks. I want to make a trip to Townville."

The man straightened his glasses. "Is there some potential business you've taken an interest in down there? Townville does have a number of successful organizations and companies who would make a fine addition to the fold."

The orange haired man stood up and smiled. "No Owen, I'm not in the mood for a corporate takeover today. I think this trip may involve a family matter actually," he said heading towards the door. "Have a flight and suitable housing arrangements ready by the hour."

"It'll be ready in half that time sir."

"Excellent! Reliable as always Owen!"

"It's no trouble at all Mr. Xanatos."