The first day of work studies is here. Suri gets deja vu. And coffee. Alpha teaches her the basics of being a hero. Vampires are back but why are they scared?

Suri was in heaven.

Why?

Because coffee.

The scent of coffee beans and freshly brewed pots of coffee filled the air of the little cafe she was in and her senses were dancing. Dancing from how wonderful and delicious it all smelled to her. Was she concerned about the obtuse looks she was getting while waiting in line? Nope. She hadn't even registered that she was being stared at. And it wasn't like she was the only pro hero who frequented this shop. Not at all. Actually it was a great business venture. Need a steady clientele for your little corner cafe and coffee shop? Open up right across the street from a hero agency. Bam! Easy business. And it meant that if you frequented the shop, especially if you were employed by the agency, the baristas already had your order down pat.

"Morning, Wild Eyes, just the usual today?" The barista happily chirped and greeted as Suri stepped up to the register.

"Absolutely," Suri grinned. "Oh! And can you add a large Irish creme and cinnamon latte with two fresh eggs blended in?"

"Sure thing, Vipress' usual," they continued as they hit a few keys on their tablet. "Is that all?"

"Yup, that's it," Suri grinned wide.

"So we've got a large caramel ribbon macchiato with heavy creme and five shots of caramel sauce and a large irish creme and cinnamon latte with eggs. Your total comes to twelve hundred and fifty yen."

"Cool!"

Suri confirmed the amount and got to show off the newest addition to her hero costume; a pocket hidden behind the embroidered logo on her chest. One that conveniently carried her hero license, her ID, and a debit card. With a quick scan of her card and a soft ping on the register, Suri paid for her drinks and moved down the line towards the pick up counter. As she did so, her eyes flicked upwards to the screen, showing the news as it played like background noise for the hustle and bustle of the morning. Her attention locked on as the caption mentioned something about Endeavor and she watched some live coverage of him taking on some old guy that had created some sort of giant ball out of glass. Then the footage changed to bystander video footage of the number one hero's new recruits giving chase; Izuku, Shoto, and Katsuki.

"Go get 'em, Green Bean," Suri purred softly under her breath as she saw her boyfriend race by on the screen. She couldn't help the wide grin that was curled over her lips as she watched him.

"You know them?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I do," Suri answered, turning her attention to a young woman who couldn't have been much older than her. Suri's first thought of the girl was pretty in a bookwormy way with her freckles, thick rimmed glasses, and dark purple hair done up in a long braided ponytail. Her eyes gave her a quick once over, assessing threat level as her nose, while filled with coffee, scented for intent. No red flags went up. "I go to school with them. In the same class actually."

"Pretty close with them?" the girl asked again as the two of them turned to look back up at the screen. Suri was especially drawn to Izuku who was now chatting with Hawks.

"You could say that," Suri shrugged with a smile, her cheeks warming as she watched the greenette highlighted on the screen.

"I'm sure," the girl replied with a small giggle in her tone.

"Mocha vanilla latte, double extra vanilla!"

"Oh! That's me," the girl bounced forward with a sing-song voice. It didn't match her original shy bookwormish vibe and Suri narrowed a brow slightly. Before Suri could think to ask, the girl grabbed her drink and began skipping towards the door just as Suri's order was called. "See you around… Wild Eyes."

Suri blinked and furrowed her brow as she heard the girl say her name, a tone that was not entirely friendly. Though when she turned around, the girl was gone, like she'd vanished into thin air and the only trace that was left was the smell of vanilla. Lots of it. It made Suri cautiously pick up the drink tray, her attitude flipping to cheery as she thanked the guy behind the counter, and walked to the front of the cafe and out onto the street. The girl's scent was nowhere to be found and suddenly the red flags that should have been going off before were everywhere.

It made her grumble as she mentally scolded herself as she walked across the street and through the sliding doors. She tried putting on a happy face for Sasayaki and Alexandria, not sure if she achieved it or not. Not that either of the two women at the front desk say anything though she knew they'd noticed her attitude shift.

Like Alexandria had said before; Suri was incredibly easy to read.

Instead of dwelling on the situation, or trying to at least, Suri pushed through to The Pit and then up the first flight of stairs to the bottom level of desks. Her mood softened, almost happy even as she neared the end of the row and slipped into the last office. She didn't mind the renovations to the team areas, going from a group of four cubicles to actual walled if and personally furnished offices. The back wall of the offices faced The Pit and were still open so you could interact with other heroes below or watch the highlighted sparring matches.

Hellfire's games weren't going anywhere and that was made plenty obvious.

With a soft smile she took in a deep breath and calmed herself as she pushed through the door and into the office and the sight of Yumei already fielding calls. Seeing the snake girl made her mood brighten as she sat the girl's drink on her desk in front of her and snuck in to press a long, warm kiss on the snake girl's cheek. A kiss on the cheek meant that she could continue the call, even if having Suri press into her was slightly distracting. For good reasons of course. Once she pulled away, Suri moved to her own desk spotting a bright yellow post-it note already stuck to it.

Meet me on the roof.

Suri recognized the handwriting and quirked an eyebrow. What could the old man want already? With a shrug, she took a long first sip of her coffee before setting it down and turning on her heels to head back through the door she'd just come through. Yumei gave Suri a nod, meaning she knew the sticky note was there or she'd seen the man who'd put it there. Not that this exchange needed the snake girl to be in Suri's ear, it wasn't like she was getting reprimanded and needed back up. Right?

A short run up the stairs to the top floor and through the roof access door later, she was walking out onto the large patio area towards a man in a black and amber armored singlet. He was taking a long swig of his own coffee as his eyes darted to the corners, noticing Suri behind him. It had been a long while since she'd seen him in his hero costume, over a year in fact, but seeing one of the throwbacks that she'd only ever seen in storage or in old photos was something else. It was almost like the time they'd seen All Might come to class for the first time in his silver age costume. Because it was. On the front, in a white jagged font that looked like it was from an old slasher flick with a black 3D shadow behind it, was a large A with a circle around it. Coming from the top right of the logo were three claw marks that met the circle, stopped, and then popped out the other side finishing the marks on the bottom left. The claw marks were from a bygone era in his career and he hadn't used them since before Suri was born. In the radiant blue morning sky, he looked like he'd stepped out of one of those old comic books and Suri couldn't help but feel a fuzzy warmth in her chest.

It was like looking at her dad back when she was still really little. Back when she had every single ounce of admiration for him. Back before all of the other shit and the drama.

This was prime Alpha.

"Hey, pops," Suri greeted. "You wanted to see me?"

"I did," his voice boomed with a chuckle as he turned to her and stood at attention and looked over her, really taking in her own hero costume for the first time. It was a similar look that she'd given him. "First. You looked off when you first came in, something wrong, kid?"

Suri froze.

Which probably wasn't a good thing to do. No, it was definitely the wrong thing to do cause now she could see him narrowing his eyes at her, knowing for sure something was up. It meant she couldn't brush it off. It meant she'd fucked up within a matter of seconds.

"Ugh. Okay," Suri sighed, and rested her hands on her hips as she stared up into the sky just so she didn't have to meet his eyes. "At the cafe while I was getting coffee, I got distracted by seeing Iuku on TV. Kind of a fangirly moment, I know. Anyway! There was a girl getting coffee that struck up a bit of a conversation and I didn't think anything of it at first but then…"

"What happened?"

"Nothing! It was just… Ugh!" Suri growled and ruffled her hair in frustration before she stomped and looked forward with her arms crossed over her chest defensively. "I read her, just like you taught me. A little profiling. Assessing threat. And she didn't come off as a threat at all, like just normal, average joe schmo, no big deal. But then her mannerisms and the way she said my name felt very… deja vu."

"Thinking it was Gemini?" Alpha asked cautiously.

"No. Not exactly," Suri narrowed her eyes and focused on the ground as she thought back to the interaction. "Maybe the mannerisms triggered some sort of PTSD, which doesn't feel right either. And then there's the fact that she ordered vanilla, which is whatever, but it was loaded with enough vanilla that you could taste it on the air."

"So you tasted blood," he nodded and sighed. He gave a big gallic shrug as he tried to think on his own experiences and try to ease his daughter down then thought better. This week, she wasn't his daughter, she was his sidekick. He needed to treat her as such. "Did you tail her?"

"I tried to, but she was gone before I knew it. The scent just up and vanished."

"Sounds like we know what we need to drill you on then," he smirked.

"What, magically finding some random chick from a coffee shop?" Suri questioned, furrowing her brows up at the big man.

"Nah, pup!" he chuckled and then moved to smack his hand down on her shoulder, harder enough to jolt her and then get pushed down by his weight leaning on her. "See, I asked you up here to ask you what you thought you could improve on. Now I know."

"Oh? And what's that?" Suri groaned, pushing at him to get her annoying ass dad from holding her down like she was still a little kid.

"It's back to basics for you, kid."

"This fucking… sucks!"

Suri roared into the atrium, her voice echoing and ringing throughout The Pit as she pushed through her last rep. The next sound filling the central atrium was that of a loud crash as the massive vehicle crashed back onto the ground. The squeaking of the cab above the suspension was expected as the body of the vehicle wobbled and then came to rest. The extra squeaking had Suri filling her throat with an angry growl as her eyes rolled upwards and she glared at the big man on top of the tank.

Yes. A Tank.

A Whole fucking tank.

Plus the extra weight from the pro hero that had been sitting on top of it.

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that?"

"Love you too, kid. Now keep moving, you ain't supposed to be resting and doing nothing."

"Fuck off," Suri grumbled and rolled her arms as she bent over to grab her water bottle and chug a few signs of its contents. Once she swallowed it down, she took a few hops and flexed her shoulders, loosening herself up again. "Ten more reps?"

"Ten more reps. And then ten laps around the block."

Suri paused and then blinked as she stared up at her dad who was taking a seat back on top of the tank. He didn't just say what she thought he did right?

"You're joking, right?"

"Twelve laps."

"What?!"

"Fourteen."

"Now wait a minute."

"Sixteen."

"Dad!"

"Eighteen."

"Dad!"

"Twenty."

"Fuck!"

Suri screamed, storming up to the tank and gripping where the vehicle had added the modified bar. This M1 Abrams was specifically built for this purpose, not to storm battlefields, but to be used to show off someone's strength. Cause why lift a truck when you could lift an honest to god tank. The metal groaned as Suri grabbed it and let Atiena loose, flooding the atrium with power that flowed off her skin like a fire. The tank rocked back and forth as they pushed, pumping the vehicle above them over and over again, mentally keeping count. That, by itself, was a bitch as they standing pressed the tank. By the time five rolled around, the two of them were struggling, and the next five came slower and slower still. Then they finally got to their last rep. The two of them cried out as they lifted, pulling the behemoth off the ground and then pushed as hard as they could, sending it upwards so that the tank stood vertical. Then it rocked back and forth before coming to a rest, pointing upwards to the roof as all but two of its eight wheels remained touching the ground.

"There! You happy now?!"

Suri was panting, bent over and clasping her knees as much to stay upwards as she did to try and soothe them from how sore they were. She looked up through her hair that was falling over her face and drenched in sweat. It was a look of defiance that only made her old man laugh as he came around from the back of the Type 16 MCV, looking up at it and then down at his daughter with a smug grin. The smugness did not settle Suri or make her happy one bit.

"Nope. You haven't taken your twenty laps yet," he chuckled, resting his hands on his hips.

Suri went cold, her breath hitching as she looked up at him and saw that not only was he having the time of his life, he meant it. And if she didn't start running now, she wouldn't stop at twenty laps. No he'd make it more and get a kick out of it. Because he loved the basics. And yes, basics included lifting cars on top of the regular weights. Going back to basics was just his simple way of describing a session of crossfit from hell.

And then the room went cold and Suri's heart dropped as the weight of power filled the atrium and flushed her warmth and fire out with thick dread and the icy touch of death. She went on the defensive immediately and turned, claws at the ready to face the intruder. An intruder that was being graciously escorted into The Pit by Hellfire, DreamWeaver, and Rook. It was a party that Suri wanted no business with and had never wanted to see again because two months was not long enough to be rid of them. And then someone else stepped out from behind Master Yasuke, Lady Oda, and Ozuma - scratch that - two someones. Two people she'd wanted to see even less than the three of them.

"Yeah, I'll take those laps now," Suri growled and made a few angry steps towards the door. The back door, because there was no way she was getting a foot closer to any of them.

"Wild Eyes."

Suri froze, flinching as she heard the tone in her dad's voice. It wasn't his warm bourbon tone, it was his commanding all domineering, all business voice. The air around him said he didn't want to meet with them either but for business he'd suck it up, be the bigger man, and do the damn thing. And that damn thing would be a conversation with the Master Vampire, his pride, his kiss… and his kid. It made Suri pull herself upright, stand at attention and turn her head just enough to see him out of her peripherals and see that, yeah, he was about as happy as her.

"Sir."

"Go get cleaned up and into your suit. You've got five minutes to be in the conference room," he stated firmly, giving her a slight nod.

"Yes, sir," Suri answered, flexing her fists before she made a beeline for the locker room.

She tried to muster up as much relaxation and solace as she could in those couple minutes. She let the cold water push away the press of the walking dead from her skin, because the cold water was warmer than the feel of the vamps that were now in the same building. In fact, when she closed her eyes and started opening her senses up even more, she could now feel that the entire building was surrounded. The soft warmth of rage began to fill her, letting the cold of the water melt away, it made her burn hot enough that when she turned off the water and walked to her locker, not only was her skin steaming, she hadn't even needed a towel to dry herself off. The scent of De'Jon's kiss and Akeno's pride surrounding the agency was more than enough to stoke the fire inside her. A fire that promised the vamps and lions that if they were here to play games, she'd not only play them but she'd out right fucking win them.

She was flexing her fists repeatedly - out of habit or maybe it was a nervous tick - to the point her skin was whitening around her knuckles as she stepped onto the top floor. A couple steps later, she was walking into the conference room with Atiena wrapped around her like a warm, fiery cape before she took a seat between Ketsuiki and Yumei. The snake girl was about as happy to see the group as Suri was and it was not lost on anyone how warm their welcome was to the vampires, werelions, and kitsune.

"All right, let's get the elephant outta the room, shall we?" Alester sighed, folding his arms tight and giving everyone in the room a firm glance. His ethereal green eyes fell on Master Yasuke first, pushing the burden of saying anything on him.

"Fine, fine," he sighed, waving his hand like he was flicking air away from him. He closed his eyes and then turned his gaze toward Suri and Yumei. "I suppose I should apologize to you two young ones. Firstly, to you Suri for not only my actions but my son's as well. And you, Miss Nagamaki, was it? I apologize for my son, he may take after me a little too closely."

His tone and choice of words were less than desirable. It was like listening to a child apologize for something just because their parents were forcing them to say sorry. It was empty, meaningless, and about as lifeless as he was.

"Yasuke," Alpha growled, the sound of it and the threat of violence filling the room with the one word rolling off of his lips.

The vampire simply side eyed the big werewolf and rolled his eyes as his gaze fell back onto Suri and Yumei. The longer this went on, the more like a child he acted. It made sense why then his kids were self entitled spoiled brats. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"Yes, yes, fine. I do hope you accept my sincerest apologies. My kin and I, we were acting rash, reacting to what we perceived as greater threats to the entire preternatural community as a whole. We simply wished to ensure our survival if those threats were to perhaps come to fruition. It was simply a rash misjudgement on our part."

"Ahh, let me guess, these threats are all my fault right?" Suri scoffed bitterly and stared directly at Lady Oda, guessing as to where the so-called perceived threats had been coming from.

"Wild Eyes," Alpha grunted, scowling at her in disgust. "You want kicked out of here before we really start? Cause that's what's gonna happen."

"Sorry, sir," Suri sighed before taking in a deep breath and holding it in and letting it out slowly.

"The reason we called everyone here today is because we finally have some solid leads on what's going on in the preternatural community. The trafficking and arranged marriages are side effects of a bigger problem," Hellfire pushed forward, ignoring the bitterness in the room and trying to reel everyone in with some solid facts. Facts that made the master vampire flinch. "Are you aware of the recent string of deaths in the Court of Evermore, Master Yasuke?"

The vampire flinched for a split second, ever so slightly before his normal facade went back up.

"I had only heard of rumors."

"So the rush to grant De'Jon and De'Ante a pair of powerful hybrid brides was just a whim."

"As I said; that was misjudgement on our part."

"The same misjudgment that helped undermine every wereanimal clan in Japan? Or maybe you misjudged the loyalties of some of your lower masters? Or maybe-"

"Enough!"

Master Yasuke's voice came out in a screeched yell that hit everyone's ears with a painful whip of power that pushed everyone back away from him. The room flooded with the power of cold death that turned the air thick with must and the smell of decay that made it hard to breathe. Everyone was choking in the split second before he quickly shelved that power and sucked it back into himself. When everyone was able to open their eyes and breathe again, Yasuke was standing hunched over the conference table, panting, and… sobbing.

It was the first time Suri had ever seen a vampire cry.

His tears came out red and pink, he was crying blood.

Lady Oda, Ozuma, De'Jon, and Akeno were all looking away from him. Lady Oda looked cold, like she was disappointed, Ozuma had the same expression but it felt more like she was disappointed in herself. For De'Jon and Akeno, the two of them were fighting back their emotions and were looking like they were about to break down as well.

"Master Yasuke, if I may," Ketsuiki spoke, his voice calm and gentle as he stared at the master vampire across the table from him. "Are you the ones that have come for our aid today?"

He nodded.

"I myself was under the impression you were helping us so that now begs the question," he looked up from Yasuke to the leaders of the Outsiders. "What is going on?"

"Chaos. That is what is happening," Lady Oda answered bitterly. "A year ago, a wave hit the community worldwide and before you point the blame towards yourself, Miss Kuroyashi, you need to hear all of this. You were not the only one who threw a pebble into the pond. In fact, I don't believe you were supposed to be the one who cast that pebble in your case."

Suri's brow furrowed as she listened to the werefox. Her words didn't exactly make sense but inside her mind, the gears were turning as different things began to take shape.

"Every wereanimal clan that has longstanding ties to one of the old families, be it the Kings of Japan, the Court of Evermore, the Thirteen, the Palace of Night, the House of Ravens. Every single one of them has had an attempt by the dominant animals."

Suri's eyes went wide, not just because she recognized the various conglomerates of master vampires and high councils from around the world. No. It was one council alone that stood out to her, because that was the one she was most familiar with. The one that happened to have ties to her family because she personally knew one of the members. Sebastien, the Master of Salt Lake City, one of the kings in the House of Ravens, the council that just so happened to rule and keep order over all vampires and preternaturals in the western United States. If one or more of the kings had fallen, that would mean…

"Holy shit," Suri breathed out. "Don't tell me you think-"

"Yes," Ozuma answered simply. "In your case, should Hyrum Black have succeeded in securing the role of Ulfric of the Aspen Throne Clan, he would have taken over more clans in neighboring territories to aid in the destruction of the House of Ravens. Across the world, these younger clans are decimating the old order, not to better the world but to destroy it."

"But why, what would they gain?" Suri shook her head, trying to make sense of it all.

"Freedom," Ketsuiki shrugged. "Maybe they believed that the older generation and the ties to the different vampire councils were oppressive in some nature."

"I'm afraid it gets worse," Hellfire said solemnly. His eyes stared ahead, dreading what he was about to say and it only made Suri begin to clench the conference table tightly.

"The clans that have succeeded in decimating their neighboring vampire kisses, began spreading, conquering other clans and taking prizes for their victories. Sound familiar?"

Yes. Yes it did. A familiarity that Suri wanted nothing to do with.

"After we took down Gemini, we started hounding her contacts, running them down and bringing in the network that she'd built for herself in less than a month. She had her hand in drugs, conquering smaller clans, weapons trades, and child trafficking. What's more disturbing is what we found when we were shutting down the trafficking lines. It's also why Alpha is taking point on this entire thing."

Suri's eyes moved to her dad who was looking somewhere between pissed and stoic, like he couldn't decide what emotion his face needed to display. This case was bugging him to no end, like it was a ghost from his past. And then it hit Suri.

"Almost seven years ago, I faced off against a villain known as King Saber, a bengal weretiger that I had chased for almost twenty years before that. He always slipped my grasp," Alpha snarled those last words, decades worth of regret pouring out. Suri recognized the villain's name because he'd come up over and over again when her dad was heated on really bad days on the job. Now she was beginning to understand why. "And the last time we faced off, it was no different. But now… Now I know why he'd always been able to come back, stronger, better, and more evil than the time before. And that's because he's not a king to himself."

"Sir, what are you saying," Ketsuiki dared to ask the question no one really wanted to ask or have an answer to.

Alpha scowled, more at himself than anything. Behind him, Hellfire hit a button that dimmed the lights to the conference room and brought a large screen on the whiteboard behind him to life. On the screen was a large man of Japanese descent with a similar build to Alpha with a strong, sturdy upper body with broad shoulders and layered with lean muscle. Very attractive with a similar rugged handsomeness to him that said he'd aged very very well even without the benefits of lycanthropy. He had a very rougeish, old school mob boss look and appeal to him, which the perfectly tailored black suit added and played into. There were three things that drew Suri's attention and made the rage inside her begin to boil once again. One was the tie, it almost seemed off putting to the suit because it was the only pop of color in his clothing; a shade of golden orange. One she'd seen before. Second was his eyes and hair, both golden, his eyes being a pair of golden amber tiger eyes set inside black sclera while his short, perfectly styled hair was jet black with streaks of bengal tiger orange running through it. Again, the same orange she'd seen before. And then there was the name on the screen.

"That's…" Yumei dared to whisper as Suri's eyes grew darker with rage.

"King Saber, bengal weretiger and the commanding general of All For One. Former founder and CEO of Byakko International and former king of the Hamamatsu Ambush. Kenji Mutekabe."

And then to drive the nail home, another picture of the man was shown on screen; an older one of him walking down a street surrounded by security personnel and others. One of which she recognized because, staring up at the man was a very happy, very young weretiger girl. One who Suri knew was a strong tiger and an exquisite witch proficient in barrier magic. Apparently, Suri had never seen through this particular barrier of hers.

"Me and Taiga are going to have a long… long… talk…"