May 29th, 2020. Gotham City. 23:43 EST
Alexander Jackson Atlas flew across the evening sky, leaving behind him a trail of cyan flames against the clouds and stars. It had been months since he'd become Atomix, the newest member of the Firestorm Matrix, the superhero.
"Your trust in the woman was surprising," an all too familiar voice observed. Nowhere was there another person in the sky with him, instead the speaker came from within his mind, a phenomenon that began the same day he became a part of the Matrix.
"It just means people have taken notice of us, Jason," Atomix responded, addressing the voice within.
"Of you," Jason proudly commended, swelling the young boy's chest with pride as cityscape swept by underneath him.
His compliment had only put the night in perspective. It seemed like the culmination of all his training, late nights, lies he'd told to his grandparents. When the Vixen approached him just a week ago to invite him to a new mission, he was absolutely over the moon, and the four days hadn't passed fast enough.
Decked out in his black Firestorm costume with red trim, hood flowing behind his head, he felt like he'd finally made it.
"Jason, I..." he said, trying to articulate it all, some semblance of a thanks or appreciation. But, nothing quite seemed fitting.
It came as a relief when the voice inside his head saved him from floundering for the right word, "Don't mention it, guy."
Another smile was all Atomix could give in response, just before his blank, blazing white eyes spotted the coastline approaching fast.
"Showtime! Any last words of advice?"
"You already know it all, hero."
Three figures milled about on the otherwise abandoned dock. Finding a spot of empty concrete below him, Atomix floated down, his blue flames pushing off of the ground to offer a safe descent.
Black boots smacking against the ground, he let the flames go out, and without the cloak of a nuclear conflagration, Alexander almost resembled a normal kid, his light brown skin, bulky frame and strong features protruding from under his hood and costume, only those blank eyes remained unnatural.
Vixen was not among the trio he'd seen near the water. One of the three was sizing him up as they walked towards their new guest, but the other two seemed far more preoccupied.
"Ha! Were you expecting the man in red undies, girly?!" a brash abrasive voice called out, antagonism oozing from his words. He wore a costume as well, but, it was none that Atomix recognized. Wearing white boots, a torn skirt around his pants, a vest and shoulder pads, with a belt buckle reading, "K" then "D." Unmasked to show freckles, gray eyes, and a thin goatee, he was a touch taller than Atomix, a bit narrower too.
The girl he was speaking with wasn't nearly as dressed up. A plain denim jacket was worn over a gray shirt sporting a white star, dark pants and purple high tops. The shortest of the four on the docks, light brown hair spilled out atop angular features and green eyes piercing through the evening. "I was expecting what I was promised," she responded, "Red Hood, Vixen and them holding up their end of a deal."
"Raw deal!" the first boy shouted, oblivious to any concept of stealth. "Just another disappointment blowing through!"
"Keep it down, Knuckle Dust, we're obviously supposed to be keeping a low profile," the third figure observed, "why else would we meet here?"
"It's Duster, Buster! And, don't tell me what I should be doin'!"
"Keep your screeching to a minimum at least," the girl pleaded. Clearly she'd been enduring the boy for a while before Atomix's arrival.
"Buster," as he was introduced, approached Atomix first, "The name's El- or, X, rather," Atomix met the boy's handshake. X towered over the other three, almost six and a half feet tall and a mess of lean, lanky, limbs. Combat boots, a black and blue kevlar shirt under a leather jacket and a spandex mask sporting a blue "X" design composed the guy's costume.
"X? Kind of on the nose, don't you think?" Atomix asked.
"Introductions," Jason chastised inside his head.
"Ah, but, I'm Atomix, nice to meet you."
X, the tall boy, let the joke slide with a polite laugh, "I bought the mask before the name came around, for the record. I can't say the same for everybody's fashion choices," he cast a quick glance towards the belt buckle sporting "K" and "D," and Knuckle Duster caught on to the joke, finding some red filling his cheeks with embarrassment.
"It was a gift! Jackasses! Stupid- where the hell is Vixen?!"
The girl abstained from an introduction, addressing their newcomer, "Why are you here?"
"Come on, that's pretty clear isn't it?" X hopped to defend him.
"Suspicious girl," Jason commented.
She ignored X's scolding and stood silent, arms crossed expectantly.
"Same reason as all of you, I suppose," Atomix answered, trying to understand the girl's aggression.
"Who told you about this?" she changed gears, but, pressed on with a step towards the boy.
X stepped between them to defuse the situation, "Not sure there's any need for those questions, right? We're all on the same team, no?"
"I've never met any of you before," she pushed past X's raised arm, "and I didn't get the guest list. If you're really that relaxed, I'm surprised you've lasted this long."
"Ha!" Knuckle interjected, "I changed my mind! I like the girl!"
"What's your name? Who invited you here?" Atomix pressed back. Tinges and licks of blue fire fanned to life on the boy's skin.
"Guys, this isn't gonna make for very a good first impression," X pleaded, but he didn't step between the two.
"I say let 'em duke it out!" Knuckle argued from the sidelines, sporting a toothy grin.
"The opposite of helping," X retorted.
"Listen to the mask, simmer down, big guy," Jason advised.
"That's what the old me might have done," Atomix responded out loud.
The girl shook her head at the comment, stepping away from the conflict she mentioned to no one in particular, "I haven't seen a thing worth sticking around for."
A blue and yellow motorcycle rolled up, as if on cue to keep the girl's attention. Shining bright, with faded paint and a sidecar. A small creature seemed to leap out of the sidecar, melding with the bike's driver, who lifted her leg over the seat and onto the ground. After fiddling with her sleeve for a moment, she turned away from the bike, and even without a rider, the bike turned away as well, pulling out and driving off into the night.
Walking towards the quartet that was previously in such heated debate was another young girl, Knuckle was audibly disappointed to see it wasn't the woman that had invited him. Like him, she didn't wear a mask, and her features were plain to see. A dyed purple pixie cut sat under a brown sloop style hat, sporting the symbol of the Gotham bat on one side. Splattered across her nose and cheeks were more freckles than the boy as well, with dark almond eyes to contrast her pale skin.
Looking at the outfits of the others present, the newcomer tried her hand to nervously break the ice, "Seems like I'm a bit underdressed." And it was sort of true, her costume besides the hat consisted of a purple bandanna and a violet kevlar shirt to match her hair color, covered by a sleeveless brown leather jacket. Paired a leather belt sporting vaguely shaped tools and two pistol holsters, only one of which was actually equipped with a pistol, the other empty. Completed with a pair of desert fatigues and black boots, it wasn't quite as flashy as Atomix or X's attire.
"Lucky for you nobody's around to enforce the dress code just yet," joked X, trying to bring levity to what was so recently a heated argument.
Kid Star wasn't eager to jump on the bandwagon. "What's your name supposed to be?"
"Weasel," she nervously replied, "I'm glad to see this wasn't any sort of ambush me and leave me for dead situation."
"The night's still young," Kid Star offered optimistically, returning her gaze to the streets.
"I'm X, she's Kid Star," the tall boy offered, and the other two followed suit with their aliases, leading to what was probably the first moment of silence since superheroes had arrived at the scene.
As if just to break it up, a small red circle sprouted up from the ground, crimson and sparkling, but only the size of a quarter. It caught the attention of the five kids at odds, urging Atomix and X to back away from the mysterious circle as it expanded further and further. Slowly, it spread across the concrete of the docks, wider and wider until it was the size of a bedroom, glowing, simmering and bursting with sickly crimson energy.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen!" The red energy popped all of a sudden, dissipating into ribbons of crimson until completely disappeared. Standing in its place was something hardly human. "Is an entrance!"
Sickly, pale white, it was tall, possessing a humanoid frame. It bore pointed ears, short, jagged, black horns and blazing amber eyes. The most normal thing about it were its clothes, a fur-lined leather jacket, dark pants, a chain from its brown belt to pocket and black shoes. Ironically, it was probably the most normal outfit of the five despite being the strangest among them.
"C'mon, it's not everyday that mortals get to see an express gate from the underworld," he endeared.
"Sick joke," Knuckle Duster said, "you're supposed to be a demon?"
"Dilias Sangriente the Hellborn, for short," he introduced himself with a half-assed bow.
"For short?" Jason asked, earning just a shake of the head from Atomix.
Kid Star eyed the thing up and down, braving to closer than the three boys. "We're supposed to believe you came from Hell?"
"The name would be a dead giveaway, no?" he said, "But, I just came from Washington, D.C. that's where all demons work," the joked earned a chuckle from Weasel, who tried to pass it off as clearing her throat, doing her best to blend in with the rest of the squad.
"When are the actual heroes supposed to show up?" Knuckle complained loudly, as seemed to be the norm for him.
"Now that the best for last has shown up, your heroes should be here any second," Dilias confidently replied, looking towards the waterfront, while the others kept their eyes trained on the streets and cityscape at their back.
X furrowed his brow underneath the mask, counting every kid with a finger on his hand, "We're still waiting on number seven, Hellboy."
"Seven?" Weasel asked.
"Hellborn. It's Dilias Sangriente the Hellborn."
"You got the roster and we didn't?" Kid Star asked X apprehensively, her glowing silver eyes leaving the streets to peer at the guy's mask.
"I was told I'd be meeting six other up and comers, and the Trinity in charge."
"My invitation said, I'd be getting only five new friends," Dilias remarked, turning away from the rhythmic tide, "I specifically waited so no one would miss my grand entrance."
"Oh, I might've been a last minute addition," X admitted, not wanting to meet the gaze of an upset demon. Or an upset demon-looking metahuman, or whatever stood seven feet behind him. This night was spiraling away from his expectations.
"Either way, it looks like we've caught some attention," Jason was the one to point out the black town car pulling up towards them, through the dark and the tinted windows, nothing inside the vehicle could be made out. But, Atomix echoed the observation to the rest of them.
"They probably came to investigate what's been making so much noise," Kid Star said, aiming the verbal jab at Knuckle.
"They probably came to investigate the blue firefly over there, the curious case of the spectral motorcycle or our friendly neighborhood Hellspawn!" Knuckle shoved the suspicion off, not backing down in volume.
"Firefly, excuse me?"
"It's self driving!"
"Hellborn, squirt."
"I am a walking, talking nuke, you had better watch your tone," Atomix warned. And, surprisingly, it got Knuckle to simmer just a bit.
A middle-aged driver popped out of the front seat, walking serenely to the rear door. Apparently not a single one of the six kids made for even the slightest hint of a distraction for him, as if it was a fairly regular club for him or his passenger to visit.
Out of that rear door walked the most normal among them, or at least the most familiar. A teenage girl, eyes on her smartphone, blindly walking away from the car while frantically typing out a message.
She walked towards the group, completely bewildered at this impossibly casual approach, reaching them, she chose to first address her driver, as opposed to the six costumes before her, "You're good, Jeeves, no need to wait up tonight," which earned a polite nod, two doors slammed shut and the town car pulling away from the docks.
Kid Star was about to address what everyone else what seemed to still be processing through everyone else's mind, but was cut off by this new girl whirling herself around, angling her phone with an outstretched arm and snapping a picture with a bright flash.
"Did you just take a selfie of us?" Kid Star asked, enraged now beyond the care for stealth, "This is supposed to be covert, who the hell are you?"
"Is your butler actually named Jeeves? Because, if so, that's actually the coolest thing I've heard all night," X remarked, smiling wide under the mask.
"There are easier ways to get pictures of superheroes, perv," Weasel accused, "could I at least have pulled my bandana over my face or something?"
"Hey wait, wait, you gotta retake that, I didn't have any flames goin' and that wasn't my good side, it's not gonna turn out well," Atomix complained, striking a pose for a second chance.
"I'm praying you're not number seven, darlin'," Knuckle complained, "what a let down this roster is."
"Holy lord of darkness below," Dilias said, finally connecting the puzzle pieces. "Don't you guys know who this is?" he asked the other five, earning mostly blank stares of anticipation.
"Oh, Ms. Smalls," he approached, reaching out a bony, pale, devilish hand, "I'm a big fan, truly."
"You know her?" Knuckle Duster asked.
"So do you," Dilias said. "This girl right here, is the Yasmine Smalls, also known as Karisma. Former actress, current musician, prominent social media personality, and vigilante! She became a superhero just so she'd get more Twitter followers. Honestly," he paused to catch his breath, "the vanity, the greed, the pride, I adore it, darling."
A sound effect like gust of wind rang out from her smartphone before she pocketed the device into some cut off red denim shorts. "Good," she finally spoke, with a high voice and a laid-back tone, "because I despise having to introduce myself."
She was the only one who seemed to be without a costume, pairing her shorts with a pale pink t-shirt under a black corset wrapped up in a pink faux fur coat. Yasmine had a conventionally attractive face which she took no efforts to mask, with round, dark green eyes, plump lips and a thin layer of makeup, her long black hair was covered under a violet beanie. Her body was muscular and athletic however, with a dark olive skin tone, and a mostly bored expression.
"Yes," she began answering the questions one by one, "I just posted the team pic to Insta, sorry, not sorry. I pay my driver enough to call him whatever I like. I don't do reshoots. And I'm not number seven, shorty," she approached Knuckle, just a hair taller than the boy, "I'm number one."
"She is a work of art," Dilias quietly noted to Atomix, who could only nod in agreement, much to the internal scolding of Jason.
"I don't much like my location being broadcasted to your thousands of followers," Kid Star said, trying to break up the staring contest between Yasmine and Knuckle.
"Millions. And, I accepted Vixen's invitation for the publicity," Yasmine said, then tried to loosen up a bit, thinking of the advice her dads gave her in the back of her head. "Sorry, but, it's gonna be a part of this gig."
"This 'gig' is falling apart at the seams," Kid Star replied, still looking at the streets past the docks for another car to show up.
Weasel stepped between the two, "C'mon it's not that big a deal, right? Who really uses social media anyways?"
"Everyone," Yasmine replied curtly, cutting off the attempt at diplomacy.
"You got invited by Vixen?" Dilias asked, "I would've thought you were more like me," he said, genuinely confused.
"And what's that supposed to mean, honey?"
"That you got invited by Black Manta," Dilias casually explained.
"What?!" Atomix asked, "Supervillain, Black Manta?"
"Makes sense. You thought a Hellborn would be called to action by a superhero?"
"I knew this thing smelled rotten," Kid Star said, "I got called here by the Red Hood."
"Hey! Twinsies!" X gestured between the two of them.
"Oh yeah, mask, this would be hilarious if it wasn't so life threatening," Knuckle remarked.
"Who really cares who invited who, right?" Weasel pleaded.
Before any more arguing could continue, two large black oblong ships broke free from the ocean water. Even in the dark of the night they could be recognized as Black Manta's infamous vehicles of terror.
"And, I'm out of here," Kid Star said, lifting herself off the ground to begin a flight path far, far away from the Gotham docks.
"Relax, Star," a voice called from outside of the seven kids, catching their attention and halting her ascension. A red helmet came into view from the shadows, "He's on our side."
Nestling themselves against the long wooden docks were the two large vehicles, only portions of their metal hulls peeking out over the water. From the two submarines came a duet of hissing gas and loud mechanics at work, preluding the opening of a pair of hatches to the submarines. Climbing out of a ladder and into the night air was the supervillain under contention, Black Manta, the red eyes of his helmet piercing through the night. Trailing behind by only a few moments was Vixen from the other vehicle, whose unmasked face peered out from the black metal machine.
"A hostage situation?" Atomix asked, breaking the silence that followed their appearances.
"No," Red Hood answered, approaching the seven teenagers. "Vixen, Manta and myself are on the same page here, we've teamed up and we're hoping you'll all join us."
"You've teamed up with a villain?" Knuckle Duster called out, addressing Vixen inside of the submarine. She agreed with the criticism, even now second-guessing their plans, but, she managed to stay silent.
Red Hood tried to take control of the situation again. "You were all invited here under a pretense that was only partly true. Until we know you're on board, we can't give you the full reasoning."
"We agree to join you and then you tell us why we should join you?" Dilias asked, "Sounds pretty backasswards to me."
"Incorrect, Mr. Sangriente," said a cold, modified voice coming from Black Manta. The man leapt out of the sub, walking towards Hood and the kids. "You must agree to join us, and prove you're worthy of joining us, before you're told anything more."
Vixen leapt out of her own sub, exquisitely landing her jump onto the docks, and walking calmly, trying to keep a brave face while joining ranks with the criminals.
"You invited us," Kid Star asked, "we still need to prove ourselves?"
"Not all of us are convinced of your abilities," Black Manta promptly replied.
"I've already posted our group shot," Karisma answered, "plus this gets more tantalizing by the minute. What do we gotta do for you?"
"I'm in, too," X agreed. "I've been out on these docks forever and am praying those things have central heating."
"They do not," Manta answered, as serious as anything else.
"You'd jump on board that easily?" Kid Star asked, "You leap onto a supervillain's ship with no questions asked?"
"We all agreed to come, didn't we? No need to turn back now," Weasel calmly argued, not seeming to be shaken by this news.
Atomix turned his eyes towards the sky, trying to silently consult Jason for any advice he could give.
"It's precisely because I have questions that I wanna get on," answered X, "more exciting than hauling my rear end back home."
"I suppose it'd be pretty disappointing to have made this trip for nothing," Knuckle admitted.
Jason finally piped up, catching onto Atomix's call for help, "It's still your chance to prove your strength, one way or another, buddy."
With that, Atomix didn't need any more prompting, but was cut off by Dilias.
"Hey hostage situation or not, I've always wanted to see how a guy like Manta rides in style."
Atomix again tried to interject his own answer as well, but this time it was Red Hood to cut him off. "Kid Star, you remember what I told you, right? I wouldn't be leading you astray. If you trusted me enough to show up, you should trust yourself to follow through."
The girl was previously caught up in her thoughts, but nodded at the advice, "I'll go. I want answers."
"Me too!" Atomix rushed to answer before another one of the six could give their answer, but realized at that moment he was already last to reply.
"If you want answers," Red Hood replied, "you'll have to take them for yourself. Manta?"
The tall man nodded his helmet, stepping back and gesturing at one of the submarines. "That there is the Manta-Sub. In its cockpit is an autopilot recall system that will lead the Manta Flyer directly towards the Sub's position," he gestured towards the submarine that had been holding Vixen when referring to the Flyer.
"If you can bring the two vehicles together by the time the Sun rises on this spot, we'll give you all the answers you could want."
"No chance it's that easy," Knuckle Duster answered, doing very little to hide the contempt in his voice.
"My men are currently on board the Manta-Sub," he ignored the interruption, "they've got orders to kill all intruders, as does every security measure on board. Fail, and you'll be fished out of Gotham Harbor a corpse."
"High stakes for an entrance exam," X noted, rubbing the back of his neck with a tinge of nervousness, thinking about his family back home.
"I hate to say it," Red Hood took over, "But, if you can't at least do that, you won't have much of a chance doing what we have in store for you."
"Now if you don't hurry, your ride will leave you behind," Black Manta remarked, pressing a button with a sharp tone on the forearm of his suit. Almost imperceptibly, the submarine began sinking underneath the water's surface.
"All aboard."
Some of the seven shared a hasty glance, but Kid Star broke their frozen stances, flying away from the group and towards the open hatch Atomix took to the air just behind her as well. Weasel, X and Karisma followed suit, with Dilias casually beginning a sort of incantation on the ground around him. Knuckle Duster stayed still, looking towards Vixen, who'd been silent throughout the evening.
"You told me," Knuckle said, "that this team was put together to help people, to save lives. Is that still true?"
Vixen cast a quick glance at the two masked figures by her, but nodded at the question, "It is."
Knuckle responded with a nod, and sprinted towards the sinking ship, catching up to the other three, while Dilias disappeared in a flash of fire behind him.
Once all seven kids were gone, Vixen seemed to loosen up, finally feeling as if she could speak again. "Manta, you didn't actually tell your guards to kill them, right?"
"You were the one who wanted to test them," he replied, walking towards Manta-Sub A, "That was the least that was necessary. I only hope they don't break my ship."
May 29th, 2020. Atlantic Ocean. 23:59 EST
Knuckle Duster slammed shut the hatch above him, dropping down the chute to join the four others that had climbed inside.
"Where's Dilias?" Kid Star asked.
In a flash of dark flame and magic, just as had happened earlier in the night, a pale white demonic being appeared with them, flamboyantly blinking into existence alongside the rest of the group.
With his appearance, red lights began silently flashing across the wide, black metal hallway, flickering on and off.
"Man, you tripped the smoke alarm," Atomix joked.
"You're one to talk," X said, gesturing to the guy's blazing blue appearance.
"Pretty sure that's the intruder alarm," Kid Star observed, gesturing to a pair of armor clad soldiers now leveling their futuristic rifles at the seven invaders.
"Oh no!" X shouted, "Faceless, armed guards! The jig is up, gang!"
"Fire at will!" One guard ordered, and just before the two muzzles came alive with gunfire, Knuckle Duster leapt in front of the group, spreading out his limbs and body to act as a wall between the guards and their targets. His skin seemed to discolor, changing texture and leading the bullets to bounce harmlessly off of him into the walls or towards the floor.
"Has he ever stopped a rifle of that caliber before?" Red Hood asked. He and the rest of the Trinity were underwater in the Manta Flyer, watching an array of security screens that gave them a live feed of the action on the Sub.
Vixen thumbed through a physical file, confirming what she thought, "No, I don't believe so," she continued her profile, reading through what she had down on him, "Anthony Romero, a.k.a. Knuckle Duster, the seventeen year-old vigilante from Queens. Metahuman ability to harden his body at will," she slammed the file closed. "But, he's only ever had to deal with pocket knives and handguns before, not live assault rifle ammunition," she levied a glare towards Manta.
"He can handle it," Manta said calmly, "after all, it's my team, isn't it?"
Back on the Sub, Weasel was first to break into action, from her sleeveless leather jacket popped out a small creature, scurrying swiftly towards the manta troopers.
Not far behind Weasel's creature was X. He ducked his lanky body underneath the boy's outstretched arm and sprinted at shocking speed towards the Manta Troopers. Their barrels redirected towards him, and as soon as it happened, he coiled his body against the wall next to him, his body standing almost horizontal, staring intently at the two trigger fingers.
They were about to squeeze down. He launched off the wall towards the other, in an acrobatic feat, his other leg landed on the opposite wall, and he rebounded to the ceiling leading the Troopers' guns on a wild goose chase all while X had more than halved the distance between them. But, stuck in mid-air, they settled on their target just as the boy whipped his arm across his body, and the troopers felt the small knives dig into their hands.
Jumping from the floor was the creature, that landed on the underside of one of the assault rifles. It extended from one gun to the other, and sprung back together, coiling the two weapons together and pulling them from the soldiers' grips.
Landing safely just two meters in front of the gun barrels, they tried to recover from the shock of X's attack and their disarming, but, it was far too late. X had completely closed the distance of thirty yards between Knuckle and the Troopers, already inside the range of the gunmen. He slammed an elbow into one's helmet to kick off a combination that had sent many assailants to the ground.
"Ellis. Chicago gang boss known as X," Vixen was reading from another manila folder. "I'm still against bringing in a person with no powers, especially known criminals."
"Ellis is an old friend," Red Hood replied, "you'll remember Manta and I don't have any powers or special tools."
"You two are grown adults capable of making your own stupid decisions," Vixen argued, "he can't be older than fifteen."
"He just sent two of my trained men to the ground. Say what you will, that's no easy feat. Even if he was the only member I didn't choose, Mr…." Manta paused for a moment, "What was his family name again?"
"Ellis doesn't have one," Red Hood replied plainly.
X ended his string of strikes with a straight kick to the second guard, pinning him against the wall, and letting him slide to the floor.
Atomix hear a familiar voice in his head, "Don't get left out Ajax, show 'em what you can do," Jason said.
"Don't worry," Atomix replied, "We're not getting left behind!" Blue flames surged at the declaration, and the hero launched towards X, rounding a corner blind to take point.
"Who's he talking to?" Red Hood asked, looking to Manta and Vixen for an answer, but the latter came up short looking into his file.
"Mr. Atlas is a part of the Firestorm Matrix," Manta explained, "he's speaking with his partner in the Matrix, acting as a sort of voice in his head."
"But, I thought Atomix didn't have a partner in his fusion? One seventeen year old kid goes in, one superhero comes out, right?" Vixen asked, noting the information in the writing.
"My theory," Manta continued, "is that it's a leftover from a past fusion. Past minds fused with the Matrix may be communicating with him."
Vixen closed the file, "You don't think that's dangerous?"
"It very well could be."
"One more at our back if anybody wants to show off next," Dilias called out, watching X follow Atomix down the hallway he'd chosen, and the creature return to Weasel. Upon closer inspection, the others of the party could see it was actually some sort of robot, mechanical, metal, with glowing green eyes in the shape of a weasel, to nobody's surprise. It coiled around its hero's arm, extending its midsection like a coil.
"Demons have X-ray vision too?" Kid Star asked, but positioned herself at the tail of their party all the same.
Dilias grinned, running a long finger across his bottom lip, "His fear, darling, I can taste it."
An armored arm swung around a corner behind them, sliding an oblong black device across the ground towards the four of them. Before it could cover half of that distance, Kid Star's fingers let loose a silver pop of energy, colliding with the device and detonating an explosion that clouded the corridor for a moment.
Flying through the smoke left behind, her flying form shocked the guard. Before he could even raise his rifle she fired off another bolt of energy, the concussive force slamming the manta trooper against the wall behind him before he slumped to the floor. The way before her clear, she flew off on her own, leaving more than half the team behind.
"How long can she last under the water?" Vixen asked, perusing Kid Star's file for the answer to her question.
"Without sunlight to charge her?" Red Hood clarified, "From what I saw she could go for a while, really depends on how much she uses her powers."
"Sixteen year-old Sadie Duncan, Kid Star. A Gotham City metahuman," Vixen rattled off the notes like they were part of a trading card. "She should be in school."
"Seems she's more focused on her own survival," Black Manta simply said.
"No cell reception?" Karisma complained, pocketing her smartphone with a show of disgust. "Does anybody even know where this stupid cockpit is?"
"Not a clue," Dilias stated, "looks like our new superfriends don't have much idea either."
"Well they couldn't have done much on their own," Karisma said, walking casually down the hallway in the direction the first two guards had come from. "I'm gonna end up carrying this team, aren't I?"
"No need to say something like that," Weasel scolded.
The screech of metal grinding into metal rang out, catching the attention of Karisma, Weasel and Knuckle, who saw Dilias, now sporting a scythe that had seemingly come out of nowhere. Sporting three curved blades that grew longer as they came closer to end of the weapon's staff and a sturdy looking cord tethering the weapon to his hip, it looked equal parts unnatural and dangerous.
"Heroes don't get much done around here, darling," Dilias said, wrenching the scythe from the metal floor and resting it on his shoulder. "Some jobs need a villain's touch, you coming along?"
Karisma smirked confidently, "Sounds more like a challenge than an invitation. Say what you want, but, I'm a superhero. And this hero's sure to kick more ass than you."
"That is what a challenge sounds like," Dilias answered, "First one to the cockpit? What do you wanna put on the line? Your immortal soul?"
"Bragging rights."
"I'd have preferred the soul. But, it's hard to resist a chance at boasting. You've got yourself a deal."
Karisma felt strange all of a sudden, looking down at her left hand, she saw a strange mark she didn't recognize come into existence on her skin.
Dilias laughed heartily, "And careful, darling. Deals with devils are absolutely final. No backsies."
With that, the demon ran off, and Karisma did the same, leaving Knuckle Duster and Weasel standing still between them. Standing between the two personalities, even Anthony felt paralyzed, like he had no place in the conversation. Shaking off the feeling, he cast only a last glance at Weasel to see what she'd do, but getting no reaction, he ran along, following Dilias at a distance, while Karisma jogged in the opposite direction.
"Yasmine Smalls, also known as Karisma. Pop star. Sixteen years old, and-"
"It's not working," Black Manta said, cutting Vixen off this time. "Rattling off their age does not deter me from my conviction. This mission requires very specific points to work, I've no problem putting these people on the line for the sake of getting my son back."
"We all want something out of this mission," Vixen fired back. "It was you two that wanted to put kids on the line!"
"Perhaps you're on the wrong ship, Ms. McCabe," Manta replied, keeping his demeanor calm, "do we need to test your mettle on the Sub as well?"
"Relax!" Red Hood interjected, "Both of you need to simmer. Vixen, we didn't force anybody to show up tonight. They'll only do what they agree to do. Manta may have selected most of this team, but they can do what we'll be asking them to do. And, Manta, we'll get Aqualad back from the Light. But, it won't be at the reckless risk of anyone else.
"We do this intelligently, we do this rationally, and at the end of the day, everyone will be safe."
He let his words hang in the air, pulling them all back to reality.
Vixen caught her breath and tried to extend an olive branch. "Dilias Sangriente. Is he really a demon?"
"I was skeptical, when I first heard of him," Black Manta replied, accepting what he saw as a verbal armistice. "But, now, there's no doubt in my mind, that he's the real thing."
"And sixteen-year old Nicole Wesley," she continued to emphasize the age, "your other supervillain, did she turn out to be a meta?"
"No," Manta curtly responded, ignoring her determination to instill guilt in the father. "The robot and the bike are just her tools, and, she's not a supervillain either. I should know, one's family doesn't define them."
Atomix rounded yet another corner in mid-air. Frustratingly, all he could find were more black corridors. Everything looked the exact same, and he couldn't make heads or tails of any it after all the thoughtless turns he'd made. All he could tell from the mental map he was constructing was that he hadn't been retreading any ground he'd already covered. Banking right, he finally found what he was looking for.
A small alcove jutting out from the normal black metal walls, saw a panel of controls, two seats and one Trooper to the left managing a number of buttons and controls in front of him. He'd found the cockpit in no time at all.
Darting forward, he blistered across the hallway. Within just a couple seconds, he was standing next to an aloof manta trooper, who could only look up at the boy the on fire, sporting a wide smile. Atomix tossed the Trooper outside of the cockpit, and his armor landed on the ground with a clanking rattle of thuds.
Ajax Atlas was an intelligent guy, but he'd never been asked to fly a mysterious submarine, and as such, the controls might as well have all been nonsense to him. Realizing his mistake in tossing away his only source of information, the hero turned around to see the trooper on his feet, waving a goodbye to Atomix.
Pressing a button besides the entrance to the cockpit, two sets of heavy metal doors slid shut. Very quickly, Ajax realized he hadn't found the cockpit. And when he saw the controls light up like a Christmas tree, his suspicions were confirmed. The alcove ejected itself from the ship, swimming through the water. Ajax was standing in an escape pod, not a cockpit. Beeping began to ring out under the seats next to him, and upon inspection, the situation became far worse, as the boy found a quartet of oblong explosives planted on the vehicle.
Preluding the explosion, Atomix could simply say, "Perfect."
Manta Trooper B-652 was over the moon. Black Manta had promised that killing even one of these heroes meant a bonus greater than any score they'd ever pulled. With that much cash he could even retire. He could buy a huge piece of land somewhere landlocked, somewhere he'd never have to put on stuffy black armor ever again. Maybe he could reunite with that girl back from college. Take up that job his brother kept talking about. Could he even raise a few kids of his own?
Every fantasy came undone when he heard a low humming behind him. Just behind the two metal doors seemed to be coming a buzz, as if there was some electric buzzsaw on the other side. But, that was impossible. Right?
A portion of the metal door seemed to vibrate, rupture and ripple, as if it was liquid. All of a sudden, the metal popped, turning into a thin paper that was broken open to reveal a sopping wet teenager outlined by cerulean flames. Turning back to the leak, the guy's hands moved to the door, resealing the metal wall with material, while the floor beneath his feet became thin and warped.
The water pouring in stopped, and Atomix turned to face Manta Trooper B-652, marching towards him with an agitated determination. "Energy absorption," one finger on Atomix's hand flicked up counting, "auto sustenance," he lifted a second finger, now only feet from B-652, who was trying to slowly back away, "and matter transmutation," he lifted a third finger, "didn't know about those powers, huh?"
Trooper B-652 frantically shook his head back and forth.
"Didn't think so," Atomix swung a blazing blue fist at the man's jaw, sending him to the metal floor with dreams of a house in the heartland and a redhead holding his hand.
Karisma looked up from her phone, still frustrated at the lack of reception now that they were so far under water. A manta trooper crossed her path, pulling a double-take when he took notice of the girl. He instinctively caught her in his sights, but soon found himself paralyzed. Across his face bloomed a pink mask across the trooper's face, covering the faceplate of his helmet.
Testing the control, Karisma, raised her left hand, and like looking in a mirror, the trooper raised his own, lifting the rifle towards the ceiling.
"Easy pickings," she said, almost complaining.
"Trooper, what's going on over there?"
"We're coming to you, say something!"
Two voices called from past the hallway this trooper had appeared from, and soon enough, their boots could be heard making their way to support their fellow soldier.
Karisma could feel him about to say something, and she reinforced her control of her closed jaw, keeping him silent. Spotting a familiar oblong explosive on his belt, she reached her own hand down to where the machine may be on her own body, in turn forcing him to do the same. Within a moment, the bomb was activated, beginning its countdown to detonation.
Letting go of control of his mouth, she said, "That won't kill you, right? That's what the armor is there for, no?"
Feeling control of his own throat returned to him, the trooper tried to voice a warning, only getting out, "Wait-" before a sizeable explosion threw him through the corridor and felled two other suits of armor.
Karisma surveyed her handiwork, noticing the mask that still surrounded her first trooper. "Three down for Karisma," she said. Staring at the two other guards, she found them to only be unconscious as well, much to her delight.
"And, three up for Karisma," on cue, the trio of guards all stood up, rifles in hand, pink masks covering their helmets. Surrounded by the team of troopers, she walked on, checking her phone again to see if there was any change in reception.
Dilias lazily swung his scythe back and forth in front of his path, every few times he'd scratch the metal floor, igniting sparks with a hideous sound he hoped would attract some troopers his way. Hearing some footsteps behind him, he lifted the scythe, blindly hurling it at the wall behind him, lodging it deep into the ship's hull.
Just out of its trajectory was Anthony, his body entirely hardened, but staring at the tether between Dilias and the scythe.
"Thought you were fresh meat," Dilias said, "wouldn't think you'd be the one to volunteer to be my sidekick."
Knuckle Duster recovered from the shock, swallowing and losing the hardened state. "Just thought I'd keep an eye on our resident villain in training."
The demon whipped his hand back, taking the cable with him and freeing the weapon from the wall. Before it could even fall to the floor, he pulled back again catching the handle of the scythe with a practiced hand. "No training about it, Buster. I'm not here for ethics or such, and I sure as heaven don't need a Professor Manta to teach me how to reap a few souls."
"Duster. Knuckle Duster, Hellspawn," he replied, putting all his effort into his back and voice, making sure neither wavered. "You were the only one of us invited here by Black Manta. Ignoring the fact he's one of our guys in charge, if you're anything like him, then you're not to be trusted."
"A smart predator doesn't let his prey know he's watching."
"I'm not a predator," Knuckle corrected, "I'm a hero."
"And, I'm sure you get a little hard-on whenever you hear yourself say that. But, that doesn't change-"
"Two of 'em!" a manta trooper shouted out and three other guards joined him, forming a quartet of two kneeling in a front row and two standing at the ready. Four rifles were pointed at the pair of teenagers.
Dilias grinned at their arrival, turning around and standing straight with his arms wide and eyes closed.
"What're you doing?" Knuckle asked.
"Open fire!"
Four rifles came alive with a chorus of continued firing. With no thinking, Knuckle leapt in front of Dilias as he did before, tanking the dozens of rounds with his armored body.
Cackling along with the gunfire, Dilias was ecstatic standing behind his human shield. Swinging his lanky arm around Knuckle, the Hellborn fired out his scythe, its three blades cleaving a standing trooper, and one less gun was rattling off rounds.
The demon felt the soul he'd earned, having killed the man, it traveled up through the cable towards Dilias, finding a host in its killer, producing another string of laughs.
"No!" Knuckle yelled.
"Oh, yes!" Dilias reeled back his Harvester scythe, but instead of finding its place in his hand, it was stopped before reaching the demon. Knuckle had caught the weapon by its blades, still enduring the gunfire of the three troopers.
"Give it back!"
"You killed him!"
"Call the cops!"
The gunfire they were screaming over ended, with the troopers reloading their respective rifles. Leaping at the opportunity, Knuckle broke from his defensive pose. Though the dozens of bullets had weakened his armor, he was, by no means, a softie throwing straight jab towards the demon's neck.
A swerve to the right and Dilias was out of the way, tugging his arm down to try for another retrieval of his scythe. But, it was to no avail, Knuckle held on tight, steadying his body and throwing out a hook with his other arm, this time connecting fist to rib cage.
"Unload!" a trooper shouted, and Knuckle Duster was forced to halt his follow-up attack, standing perfectly still over the hunched Dilias to protect him from the next volley of gunshots. The Hellborn caught his breath, clutching the side of his torso. More quickly than before, Knuckle felt his armor begin to dissipate, his back absorbing each round that collided with his body, draining more and more from the integrity of his ability.
He was forced to remove the armored skin from the front side of his body, re-allocating it all to his back side, just to make sure he'd survive this next wave of bullets. Even then, he could feel that redoubled armor softening with each repeated impact.
Standing straight again, the change in Knuckle's power didn't go unnoticed by Dilias, who grinned wide. Terrified as he was, Knuckle couldn't move an inch, wavering from his position might get Dilias torn apart by the three troops behind him.
He was absolutely helpless, watching the demon raise his own fists, abandoning the cord connected to the scythe. Dilias began by returning the punch to Knuckle's ribcage. Pain shot through the boy's body, but he held fast, keeping his body still.
Manic laughter burst forth from Dilias' wide open mouth, and he continued his onslaught. A straight jab to Knuckle's nose, a punch across his jaw, burying his fist in the boy's gut, hooking his fist around, into the kid's temple, a quartet of punches to Knuckle's chest followed suit. Dilias' punches were unrefined, but managed to hurt all the same, and it took everything in Knuckle's power to keep on his feet.
To conclude this combination, the three gunmen found themselves out of ammunition again. With the ending of their gunfire, Knuckle Duster fell to his knees, the armor completely disappearing from his body. Coughing up a surge of blood, even his vision seemed to be fading, only the staccato laughter of a pale demon ringing out like gunfire.
"Don't worry, teammate," Dilias said between fits of giggles. He bent over to lazily retrieve his Harvester scythe. "I got your back."
The words were fuzzy to Anthony, who could only make out his pant leg moving past his own crumpled body. Reaching out to grab onto it, Knuckle made a final effort to halt the demon's murderous progress. The butt end of Harvester met the hero's temple, and it was the last thing he remembered.
Nicole Wesley stood under the discrete security camera, her eyes trained on the small device's wiry innards. The tool was blended into the corner of one of the Sub's hallways, and if it wasn't for the girl's partner she might not have noticed it at all. That very partner jutted its head out from the camera, bringing along just the cord he'd been asked to find. Dropping down to Weasel's shoulder, she took hold of the cord, plugging it into the terminal over her right forearm.
"Thanks for the help, Junior," she said earnestly, referring to the now absent-looking drone. The cord connected to her personal computer, she began furiously clicking away at keys and windows, sniffing around for the vulnerabilities in the ship's security system.
Head down in the corner of two hallways, she did her best to ignore her vulnerable position and focus on the task at hand, but, it made difficult by four untimely arrivals. Two troopers from the left corridor and a matching set from the right, she only noticed them by their heavy boots marching against the floor.
Without a word, they approached, leveling their rifles at the helpless girl attached to the ceiling.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, "could you guys please give me a minute or two? I'm trying to undermine your ship's security."
"Unplug yourself from the wall!" Though they'd stopped in their tracks, it didn't seem likely they were going to give her the grace period she'd requested.
"Ah well, you can come a little bit closer than that," she pleaded, eyeing the half circle devices she'd planted on their hallways, just a few feet in front of the two pairs.
"We'll give you to the count of two!"
"Mark!" Ignoring the threat, her keyword triggered the explosives across the hallways, detonating pockets of smoke, flame and kinetic energy that turned most of the soldiers to ragdolls. From her left, the set of troopers were now getting to their feet for retaliation.
"Junior, left!" The drone responded to the words and the point of her finger, scrambling off the girl and towards the indicated gunman. Removing her pistol from its holster, she fired a bolt of energy with a squeeze of the trigger, which dissipated across the soldier, stunning him for only a moment, and sending him back by a step or two.
The other had found his target, but a robotic weasel interrupted his shot. Hopping from the ground to rifle, it wound its body around the gun, extending the lower half to loop behind the trooper's neck. The move had formed a neat oval, with one side of the robot's flexible body stretched around the barrel of the assault rifle, and the other around its owner's neck. Squeezing tight, the oval constricted in a flash, sending the gun on a collision course with the trooper's helmet, cracking the faceplate, and putting him on the floor.
Trooper on the right had recovered from Weasel's energy pistol. But, it was just enough time for her to plug the gun into a spot on her utility belt, and when she fired again, the gun's energy merely powered a grappling hook that dug into her opponent's weapon. With a flick of a switch, the gun was swiped away by the machine's whirring and spinning, yanking away the rifle.
"Junior!" she called, pointing her finger at her feet, and the weasel let go of its imprisoned trooper, sprinting back to the vigilante. The soldier wasn't far behind following along in the footrace to the girl.
"Equip!" Once Junior had come close enough, the command was given, Weasel's drone leaping from the floor to her wrist, coiling neatly around her free arm. Before it had even settled along her arm, Weasel lashed out her arm, and Junior's flexible body took care of the rest, acting like a steel whip, catching onto the man's ankle and tearing it out from under him.
Sliding across the ground with his legs taken out, the manta trooper didn't have enough time to react to the next strike of the Junior whip. Its steel face rebounded against the trooper's helmet. A few more repeated attacks from the makeshift whip and he was out cold, lying still at Weasel's feet.
Junior uncoiled off of Weasel's wrist, perching defensively on the girl's shoulder as she returned to her work on the security feed. It only took a minute or so without distractions, and finally, "I'm in!" she exclaimed, excitedly perusing the new suite of commands she'd gained access to with her brute force coding. "I've always wanted to say that in one of these high stakes situations, you know?" she confided in Junior.
Cycling through the files present, she found a detailed map of the submarine, completely the position of the cockpit. "And the winner is Weasel," after a moment of further exploring through the files, "and Junior of course," to which the drone responded with a short animalistic chirp.
Taking stock of the positions of every other member of the group, she rested on a single feed. It unmistakably portrayed the motionless figure of Knuckle Duster, crumpled up by four manta corpses, bloody and sliced. By the downed hero was X, who had squatted down to sling the other body over his shoulders, standing again to walk him out of the bloody scene.
"The cockpit will have to wait," Weasel knew there'd be no worth for her in victory if some of the team went down around her. Entering commands into her terminal, a sliding door snapped open up the hallway from X, trying to give them a place of refuge. Noting their position relative to her's, she unplugged from the camera, setting off with her drone in tow, "Up to us to save the day, Junior!"
Sadie Duncan flew low to the ground, turning another corner along the Manta-Sub's sprawling pathways. In an effort to conserve her power, she'd been avoiding as many confrontations as possible. With no luck in discovering a cockpit, she was desperate for even a clue as to its location. Banking blindly to the right, she ran smack into a trooper, rebounding off the armor. Avoiding fights was no longer an option.
With an extension of her arm, a burst of silver light came forth, revealing three more figures as he hurtled back.
Ready to fire off another blast of her starlight, her concentration was interrupted, "Rude!"
Pausing in mid-air, she took closer stock of the figures, seeing Karisma flanked by two manta troopers with strange pink masks. "You just wiped one of my bodyguards," the girl complained.
The situation defused, she let herself land to the floor, wiping a thin layer of sweat that had begun to form on her brow. "Bodyguards? How much do manta troopers cost these days?"
"These bad boys were free of charge," she explained with a smile. Her finger moved to point to one guard's mask, "my power just reels 'em in." As her hand moved to the faceplate, both troopers mimicked her motions, lifting their arms in perfect synchronization with Yasmine.
"Then I don't owe you anything for the one I wiped," Kid Star observed.
"I'll have you pay me back later."
"Any luck on the cockpit?"
Yasmine rolled her eyes, "We're still looking for that? Everything on this ship looks the same, I'd be so down to go through an actual villain hideout, but this is just a let down."
"This is an actual villain hideout."
"I guess," Yasmine admitted, crossing her arms. She noted the girl's labored breathing, then quickly darted her eyes away. "If it gets this thing done any quicker, would you wanna move with my crew? We recently lost a member, we're seeking a replacement."
Kid Star did not, in the least, trust Yasmine Smalls with her life. Or, rather, she felt like she absolutely shouldn't. But, the girl just seemed so much more sincere than she expected a teen pop star to be. Maybe it was her tired mind talking, but having someone to watch her back didn't sound like the worst thing in the world.
"As long as you don't try that voodoo mask crap on me."
"I pinky promise."
Kid Star turned about face and moved to the right corridor, venturing down a hallway she knew she hadn't seen before.
Sadie tried to probe into the girl a bit more in an effort to better understand her, "Do you have any clues about the cockpit? Or have you been going in circles?"
"Technically they'd be rectangles," Yasmine corrected, "this ship doesn't have a lot of rounded edges to it. But-" Kid Star's arm stretched across her body, cutting off the girl's voice.
Looking at her, Yasmine saw a finger pressed against her lips. Apprehensive at being hushed, she was about to lay into her newly minted partner when she just made out some words.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Both girls heard it, and looked at the other to make sure the other had too. In nonverbal agreement, they quietly walked towards the source of the noise.
"It'll be fine, head's ringin' like a bell, but my power's back. That's what counts."
'Powers?' Kid Star thought to herself, finally settling on the door it seemed the voices were behind.
That first voice spoke again, "No need to push it out here," it said, muffled and muted.
Kid Star pressed her ear against the door, trying to find out if this was some kind of trick, or perhaps the very kids they jumped into a submarine with. Before she could hear another word, three loud knocks like gongs rang against her ear, as Karisma knocked brashly on the metal door.
"What're you doing?" Kid Star exclaimed.
"Hm?" Was all Karisma had time to get out before the door slid open and three vigilantes popped out, stopping in their tracks as the five recognized one another.
Weasel, X and Knuckle Duster were standing in fighting stances, Knuckle covered in a few sloppy bandages and Junior coiled around Weasel's arm. Kid Star had flew as high as the ceiling would allow her, her eyes glowing bright defensively, while Karisma moved her body so her puppet troopers would be aiming their guns at their targets.
"Fancy seeing you ladies here!" X said, dropping to a more relaxed stance, followed by Weasel.
"Not an ambush," Kid Star identified, her body relaxing back to the floor.
"What happened to you shorty?" Karisma asked Knuckle, who still seemed ready for battle.
"What's it to you?!" But, just as quickly as he rebuffed the question, he asked one of his own, "Any luck finding the damn steering wheel on this thing?"
"Actually," both Weasel and Karisma piped up at the same time, interrupting one another.
"You can go first, Weasel politely offered.
Karisma nodded as if that was obvious, "I came across a part of the ship crawling with troopers. I'm thinking it's gotta be near the cockpit at least."
"Was it near the center of the submarine?" Weasel asked, getting a slight nod from the other girl. "That's what my map seemed to read, but I've lost access to security feeds, they must have found what I did to one of their cameras," she said, sounding more frustrated with herself than the pesky troopers.
"I'm so excited for our team-up adventure!" X said, arms akimbo, genuinely happy at the prospect of not having to traverse the ship alone any longer.
"You still game for a fight?" Kid Star asked Knuckle Duster, more thoroughly inspecting the roughed up hero.
It felt like that very question had been asked about a hundred times in the past five minutes of him being conscious, but before Knuckle could delicately convey such emotions, Weasel intervened on his behalf.
"He's gonna be just fine. We're ready to go when you are."
A/N: Thanks for reading! Part two of the first Arc has officially released with the full roster of accepted characters! Below are the credited authors. If you're at all curious about my choices in character roster, feel free to let me know via PM, and I'll be willing to talk to you, though I hope you weren't offended or hurt by my choices. I appreciate each and every submission, and am sorry I couldn't accept more into the story. I'm absolutely hyped for this story, as you can probably tell by this chapter that is absolutely way too long! Don't expect every chapter to be this length, I just got way too excited and couldn't find anything I wanted to cut down on.
Anthony Romero. Knuckle Duster. - JackHammerMan
Dilias Sangriente. The Hellborn. - FrozenHydra
Ellis. X. - WhenUniversesCollide
Yasmine Smalls. Karisma. - CrimeSheTyped
Sadie Duncan. Kid Star. - Dad. Hats
Alexander Jackson Atlas. Atomix. - FlamingFateZero
Nicole Wesley. Weasel. - 101romansoldier
Review Responses.
jojobinks01: I have no idea what this is meant to say! PM me if you'd like to talk! Thanks for reading!
Princess of Flames: I hope this was as fun as the last chapter and this was a worthy follow up.
Stones in the Road: I'm glad you appreciate the Trinity I've got going, it was the core concept for this story. In terms of timeline, it takes place a few years after season 2 and basically ignores anything that might've happened during a season 3. The fresh start has been fantastic!
Apriciti: Again, yep! I can't wait to give this trio more screen time and explore Vixen and Red Hood's places in this world. I'm glad you're enjoying the writing!
Wraith's Heart: Glad to have it! Hope this didn't lose it by any means.
Soul of Lightning: By my watch, yes.
Thanks for reviewing! I'll be responding to every criticism, it's what I look forward to the most when I release a chapter. I hope you'll be reading when the next chapter comes out too!