Betrayal is the only truth that sticks. ~ Arthur Miller
Ivy cursed under her breath as she made her way through one of Spero's many gardens. She had only been in Gotham for a day when she was summoned by an emergency call. There had been an attempted coup d'état which had turned out to be a cover for a prison break that was followed by fifteen clans separating from, and then declaring war on, Spero.
The battle was over by the time Ivy arrived. The elite members of the loyal clans had easily dispatched their attackers. But then again they were not fighting the elite members of the traitorous clans. No, those elite had instead broken into the prison, freeing those that would aid there cause, and others who would merely provide another distraction, before retreating to other worlds were they had built strong holds or had gained allies, or a combination of the two.
It was actually a smart plan, one that might allow the traitors to one day conquer Spero. A war had the potential to drag on for years, depleting resources and tiring out enemy forces. Trying to take over in on all-out assault would have meant instant death for the traitors. Their numbers were lower and they would have fallen almost immediately to powerhouses like Tara and Kyoko. Trying to wear them down over a long period of time was much smarter in regards to survival.
The once lush garden Ivy walked through had been turned into a battlefield. The scent of flowers had been replaced by the smell of blood and smoke. Hikari Himura walked among the bodies, documenting what clan the person was from before moving on, and if one of the bodies groaned in pain or made an attempt at moving then Hikari would move over to them and… well let's just say that there were no more signs of life afterword. Hikari was a tall seventeen-year-old girl with long brown hair tied back in a low hanging pony tail, her left eye was blue and her right eye was a clouded gray, surrounded by scars that marred the upper right portion of her face. She usually had that eye hidden behind a fringe of brown hair. She was dressed in a black tank top and loose fitting black pants.
After Hikari had inspected a body, Ivy would toss it into a burn pile. It was grim work.
"Not exactly fitting of a Superhero, is it?" Hikari remarked.
"Still, it's better than monitor duty. Most boring task ever." Ivy replied.
"Yeah, but boring is safe." Hikari responded. "Safety is something we don't have anymore."
Ivy sighed. "So I take it there's going to be a mass recall of personnel in order to bolster our forces."she said.
"No. It'd be too suspicious to pull everyone out of other worlds. Besides, the traitors scattered themselves among many worlds, so we can just leave everyone where they are with new orders to fight." Hikari explained.
"Which worlds?" Ivy asked.
"Hueco Mundo, the Shinobi Nations, the Fragmented World, Sengoku jidai, the Galactic Republic, the Adler Home world, and the Alchemic Utopia." Hikari answered. "You'll be briefed later on what to expect when you return.
Ivy frowned and inquired "Why do we call it "the Alchemic Utopia"? I mean, it's not a utopia. The place is at war a lot."
"Because, it was shorter than calling it 'the place where alchemy thrives.'" Hikari stated.
"Ah." Ivy said. There was a long silence after that and they were nearly done cleaning up the garden when Hikari spoke again.
"How much money are you making right now?" she asked. Ivy flinched. Hikari was a part of the family that held Ivy in debt and it was kind of a touchy subject. Hikari didn't usually bring it up because she didn't need the money but her younger sister held it over Ivy's head and used it to make her life hell whenever possible. Of course, that wasn't about money either, it was the fact that one of Ivy's 'experiments' had burned down a large portion of the Himura's library which was the thirteen year old girl's favorite place on Spero and one of the more important archives.
"Not nearly enough." Ivy answered. To cover the debt, went unspoken.
"You'll probably be making more now." Hikari stated. "With a war on they'll want new weapons."
"Is that really a good thing?" Ivy asked. The question was never answered.
Hikari's words rang true, Ivy's received a pay raise and in return she was expected to design new weapons while on the Adler Home-world. She was given a list of the traitors and prison escapees that were believed to have made it to the Adler Home-world. She was told to deal with them the same way everyone else was dealing with the traitors in other worlds; they were to be killed on sight. Ivy didn't have a problem with this, especially after she got a good look at the list
That could be a problem considering Ivy's position on the league.
Short, I know, but I lost a lot of what I had been working on when my old laptop crashed, so this will have to do for now. Looks like Ivy is going to have a conflict of interest soon.
