Salamander was in for a surprise when he and Thunder Legion were patrolling together. Attempting to stop a bank being robbed, Salamander was surprised to see Sting and Rogue working with the likes of Jiemma. He wanted to know why those two would and soon found out. Rogue informed him and his team that their dear friend Yukino was being held hostage by Jiemma and being forced to commit crime.

"Where is Rogue?" Jiemma questioned.

"I'm sure he's on his way." Sting said.

"I'm here." Rogue said as he entered the warehouse they were using. Rogue came over and dropped the beer off with Jiemma. Jiemma helped himself to the beer, but those small cans were like weak shots to him. "If there's nothing else we need, we at least like to go home and get some rest."

"Fine. I'll call you when I need your help with something else." Jiemma said.

"What about Yukino?! How long do we have to do this before you let her go?!" Sting said.

"When I say I don't need you anymore." Jiemma said to remind them that he's in charge around here. Sting wanted to throttle him, but Rogue held him back and practically dragged him out of there.

"I hate that guy!" Sting complained. "I can't believe he's doing this to us! What are we going to do, Rogue? We've got to get Yukino out of his hands."

"We will. I met some people that will help." Rogue said as he was escorting Sting to where they needed to be.

...

The Airship

That night, Rogue agreed to let Salamander and the team help. They regrouped and they let Sting and Rogue on the ship. They met Jellal and they were all being kept in the loop as to what is going on.

"Salamander, good to see you. I just wish it was under better circumstances." Sting said as the two shook hands. "Sorry about that right hook I gave you earlier."

"It's all fine. Rogue told us everything. We're going to do everything we can to help you find Yukino and save her." Salamander said.

"How? That giant bastard has her hidden somewhere and we have no idea where." Sting said as he hates Jiemma and scared on what might have happened to Yukino.

"Jiemma had to have given you some sort of insight, something to use as leverage so you two would work with him." Steel asked.

"Nothing. We don't know anything." Rogue said.

"Jiemma thinks he's holding all the cards, but we need to take that away from him." Jellal said. "Jiemma is the type that focuses on strength, and that strength entitles him to do whatever he pleases. Just like a malicious emperor, he thinks he's in control because he's the one with all the power. We need to see that we won't back down to his rules. There must be something he has that could help us find Yukino."

"Doesn't he have a daughter? Can't we go ask her?" Rogue questioned.

"No. That monster abused her. She finally got the strength to getaway from him, but she's scared to get involved with him again." Salamander said.

"Well? What's the plan?" Steel said.

"Jiemma is either holding her close or holding her somewhere only he could have access too." Jellal figured. "Still, it doesn't narrow it down. Sting and Rogue, we want to help, but we need you to be our eyes and ears on Jiemma."

"And then what? Call the police when we have something? What if Jiemma figures us out before we rescue her." Sting said. "What if it's too late? What if we don't get to her in time?" Sting is greatly worried on what might happen to Yukino, but he also wants payback at Jiemma."

"We will handle it, but we're going to need your help." Jellal said, but Sting wasn't so sure about this. "What if I sweeten the deal. You could get payback yourself by giving you powers." When he offered that, Sting and Rogue were all ears now. "I can give you powers that can help you fight Jiemma so you can take matters into your own hands, get the payback you want. You'll be able to fight." That did sound rather good to them. "Of course, there's something you need to understand. If you ever use these powers for the wrong purposes, we will do what we must to stop you."

"The only thing I want to use powers for is to get Yukino back." Sting said.

"Can you do it with both of us?" Rogue asked.

"Of course." Jellal said.

"Jellal, are you sure about this?" Salamander asked as he didn't like that Jellal was just handing powers out.

"I am. I'm willing to take responsibility for this." Jellal said. "Besides, since I'm the one who gave them powers, I'll be able to neutralize them if I have to. What matters the most is that this young lady is saved and Jiemma is stopped." They all certainly agreed to that.

"What kind of powers would we get exactly?" Sting said as he likes how this is shaping.

...

Jiemma

Jiemma has always been a creep. He think he can do whatever he wants because of his strength. He thinks power is all that matters in the world. That's why he has no remorse over anything that he's done. Jiemma will do anything to get what he wants and he doesn't care who gets hurt. At the moment, he walks into an old a rundown building and made his way up until he reached a small apartment. When he opened it up, Yukino was there with her being tied and gagged.

"Brought you some food." Jiemma said as he just tossed a bag of takeout food near her bed. He walked right over to the bed and removed the gag from Yukino's mouth.

"Please... Let me go..." Yukino pleaded as she was on the verge of tears.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Jiemma said.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Yukino said.

"I need you to make sure your boyfriend and his friend do as I say. As long as I have you, they'll have to do what I say." Jiemma said.

"But why are you doing this to us?" Yukino cried.

"I surrounded myself with weaklings for too long, and it only ended up driving me down." Jiemma said. "I need stronger subordinates to do my bidding. Don't worry, you'll be free to go once I no longer need them."

"That's ironic." Yukino said. "You claim you don't want to rely on weaklings, but here you are trying to force Sting and Rogue to commit terrible crimes. If you don't need weaklings, why are you forcing them to do such terrible things? Are you finding out you're not as strong as you say you are?" Saying that was a mistake as he grabbed her by the face in his giant hand.

"Watch who you're talking to. I could crush you like a grape if I want." Jiemma warned. "I'm not saying I NEED their help. It's just that they are useful to me at the moment. Does a powerful king truly need a knight to fight his battles when he can handle things himself? No. He keeps them around to do his bidding. This is no different, and those two are of use to me until they aren't anymore. Once I claim all the money and power I need, I'll be done with them. Until then, you just keep your mouth shut and eat." He said before releasing her and left her there, but not before crushing the food he brought her. "Whoops." He then left there with Yukino trapped in that depressing place. Once he was done with Yukino, he walked out of that building. He thinks he has all the control, but he's about to find out how wrong he is.

"Jiemma!" Jiemma looked across the street and saw Sting.

"What are you doing here?" Jiemma questioned. "Did you follow me?"

"I've had enough. Rogue and I have done everything you said. Now, it's time to give Yukino back." Sting said.

"You're done when I say you're done." Jiemma claimed.

"And when would that be?!" Sting shouted. "What exactly do you want with me and Rogue?! We have nothing of real value to you, so there's no reason for us to work with you!"

"I don't need to explain myself to a peasant like you!" Jiemma claimed. "You will do what I say or your girlfriend will pay for your defiance."

"She's in that building, isn't she?!" Sting said. "Well, now that I know that, I'm taking her and getting out of there and we're done with you!"

"Do you really think you can just take her from me?" Jiemma said as he popped his knuckles to imply he's going to crush him.

"Well, aren't you in for a surprise." Sting said as he had something for him. Just then, a light began to glow from both of his hands. Then, he fired two shining rays of light and actually blasted Jiemma with it. It stung him, but it didn't do too much damage to him. Sting did just get those powers, so he still needs to work them.

"I don't know what that was, but that didn't do much." Jiemma said.

"What about this?!" He looked down to the side and saw Black Steel coming at him as he was covered in iron. He charged right at him and smashed his fist against Jiemma and that actually knocked him back a little. Then, Salamander jumped in as he swung a flaming kick right into Jiemma's face.

"Better, but not good enough!" Jiemma called as he tried smashing his fist down on Salamander, but he jumped out of the way. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to bring me down."

"Where are Sky Maiden and Thunder Legion?" Sting questioned.

"Crowd control. We don't want people to see you and Rogue with powers." Salamander said. "Rogue, now!" Jiemma turned around and saw Rogue was there as well and hurried inside the building to get Yukino.

"Get back here!" Jiemma called. He tried going after him, but Black Steel got in the way. "Move it!" Jiemma smashed his arm against Black Steel and got him to move out of the way. Jiemma was gonna go after Rogue, but Sting blasted him in the back with Salamander jumping at him and kicking him in the back of the head. "You all want to be crushed so badly? I'll be happy to oblige." He claimed and went to fight them.

...

Rogue

While they were trying to hold Jiemma off, Rogue went inside the building and looked around for Yukino. He searched every room he could to try and find her.

"Yukino! Yukino, where are you?!" Rogue called.

"Rogue? Rogue?! Is that you out there?!" Yukino called. She kept calling out to him until he arrived at the door she was behind. He tried to get it open, but Jiemma had the door locked shut. This was the perfect chance to try out his new power.

"Hang on! I'm coming!" Rogue said as he tried to focus and concentrate. Then, something unreal happened. Rogue turned into a shadow and was able to slip through the door. When Rogue pulled himself together and reformed, he spotted Yukino with Yukino amazed at what she just saw.

"Rogue?! How did you do that?!" Yukino questioned.

"Don't worry about that now. Let's just get you out of here." Rogue said as he hurried to get her out of there while he still could.

...

The Fight

The others continued to try and fight off Jiemma. Black Steel charged right at him and tried smashing his fist against Jiemma caught it and smashed Black Steel to the ground. He was about to crush down on Black Steel, but Salamander jumped in as he aimed for the head again, but Jiemma deflected his attack.

"If that's all you got, you'll never beat me!" Jiemma claimed.

"Oh yeah!" Sting called as he tried firing rays of light at him, but Jiemma pushed through those attacks and charged right at Sting. Jiemma ignored the attacks and managed to reach Sting with Sting barely avoiding Jiemma's punch, but Jiemma did manage to kick him and knocked him down.

"You have powers now, but you can't beat the likes of me. You're weak." Jiemma claimed.

"Say what you want, but I'm not leaving without Yukino." Sting claimed as he tried to get back up.

"I can't believe you're doing all this just for a mere woman. You're pathetic." Jiemma said. "A weak woman like her shouldn't mean much to you. I don't see why you care so much about a fragile thing like her. She's just a woman."

"You son of a..." Sting was going to attack him for saying such things, but Jiemma knocked him away and that really hurt Sting.

"Just like I said: pathetic." Jiemma said as he was going to finish him off, but that was when a shadow came in front of him and formed Rogue. Rogue punched him right in the face and got him to back off, but Rogue did hurt his hand from doing that.

"Rogue... Where's Yukino?" Sting asked in his pain.

"Safe." Rogue said.

"I'll just crush you as well." Jiemma said.

"No you won't." Salamander said as he and Black Steel joined in with them regrouping. "Just give it up, Jiemma. You've got nothing left." Jiemma hates the idea of retreating from those he thinks is inferior, but he's in over his head with this. He might look all brawn, but he does have some brain.

"I swear that I will come back and kill you all, especially Sting and Rogue." Jiemma claimed. He took a car and tried throwing it at them with his inhuman strength. Steel and Salamander grabbed Sting and Rogue and jumped out of the way with the car exploding. Once that happened, they saw that Jiemma managed to escape.

"Gone..." Sting complained. "When I see him again..." "Sting!" Sting didn't finish that as he turned around and saw Yukino there. She hurried over to him and tried to be gentle since he was in a lot of pain, but she held him in her arms and was glad to see him again. Sting was just glad she was back and unharmed.

...

The Airship

They might not have gotten Jiemma arrested, but at least they were able to save Yukino. Now that it's all over, Sting and Rogue were back on the airship with the team. They were both grateful for the help and wanted to express the gratitude.

"Thanks so much for helping save, Yukino." Sting said. "She's going to spend some time in the hospital just to make sure she's perfectly fine, but I'm just so glad to have her back and away from that man."

"We were glad to help." Jellal said.

"Still, what do we do now?" Rogue said. "Sting and I have these powers now. Are you going to take these powers back?"

"Well, it's really up to you." Jellal said. "If you do decide to keep those powers I gave you, you must use them for the right reasons or we will be forced to step in. I told you I be willing to take responsibility for what you do with those powers."

"But I can think of something." Salamander claimed. "You two could join the team." He offered with the two of them surprised he would do that. "We can teach you how to really use those powers of yours. You could do a lot of good with them. Plus, I remember when we met Sting. You wanted to help people in ways no one else could. You can do that here, and Rogue is free to join as well. The two of you can now become actual heroes." That was quite the offer to Sting and Rogue and they almost couldn't believe it.

"Salamander is right. I see the same potential Jiemma saw in you, but I don't wish to exploit it." Jellal claimed. "It's completely up to the two of you. We won't force you to do something you don't want to."

"Sting... We could help so many people, just like you want to. We could make a real difference in the world." Rogue claimed as it sounded like he was leaning towards it.

"This is...awesome!" Sting said as he sounded excited. "I always wanted to be a superhero when I was kid! Now you're saying I really can be! I am so in! Of course, I do promise to be responsible with the powers and everything, but I'm not going to let you guys down! I'm in!"

"As am I." Rogue claimed. "This is quite the opportunity, and I want to see what I can really do. We could really help so many people. That's what I want to do." This is a great day for a lot of people. The team now has two new members and just keeps growing and getting stronger. With such a force coming together, there's just no telling how strong they could all get.