Holly felt a sense of hope in all her confusion, fear and uncertainty. Working with Lady Nova would not only allow her to improve herself, it might also help her find out more about herself, but before she could give her reply, she suddenly found her vision blurring and fading for a moment, signalling that her time was coming to an end, at least for now.

To Lady Nova's keen eyes, a dark, chilling mist, invisible to the eyes of common men and inorganic creatures began to slowly take over. It had a ruthless and powerful flow, like a spider trying to drag the kind butterfly away to be eaten. "Lady Nova, I'd love to take you up on your offer, but I'm afraid... that I must leave now," she replied.

Not wanting to lose her first superhero friend, at least she saw her as such, in this new city, she lowered her tone and spoke to her, "We may meet up again in the future, be it as friends or as foes. Unfortunately, I'm not the only facet of personality that exist in this body. Holly is but another side, a dissociated existence, if you will. If you see me again in a less amicable situation that necessitates you to fight, I sincerely hope that you don't hold back."

Feeling her own consciousness started to lose its grip on the flesh, Holly stood up and looked at Lady Nova. "Thank you for talking to me. I truly enjoy this short time we have," she said with a polite nod. "I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. May we both meet again at a better time."

As if prompted by something urgent, she turned back and made a mad dash into the inner, downtown suburbs, clutching desperately onto her consciousness. She ran and didn't stop until she found a small, dark alley, where she finally let her fatigue and slipping grip on reality set in. "Such a shame... And here I was hoping that I could talk to her for a bit longer..." she sadly mused to herself and leaned against a nearby trash dump, her consciousness gradually fading. She silently hoped that no innocent passerby or, in her worst case scenario, a hero would stumble upon her body.

"She was... such a nice woman too..."

Noticing the mist, and the tone of genuine distress and longing in Holly's voice, along with her mention of alternate personalities, and not holding back in the event of a fight, Lady Nova would set after her, against her better judgement. Sighing, before pressing forward, she would briefly think out loud...

"She would do the same thing for me, and there has to be something I could do to help her..."

Tracking down a energy trail to an alley, she would allow her palm to glow, serving as a flashlight, searching the alleyway for her friend...

"No, 'course not. 'Twould be intolerably cruel. I was once one'v those treated as nothing... so it's happened that I know something of pain." she shrugs a fuzzy shoulder, and gives a cheerful smile. "The last world, an' now this one are where I can spread joy and safety where I can."

She perches on the tree branch and inhales deeply, letting it out in a gusty sigh. She pulls a tiny spiderweb-woven something out of a fold in her clothes and whispers something to it, holding it cupped in her hands. She then drops it, and it grows as it falls. It thunks at the man's feet, turning into a backpack stuffed to the brim.

"Use what ya need, an' share out the rest with those ya can. When yer done with it, just toss it into the wind, and it'll go back to spiderwebs."

She purrs deeply toward Amerikatt, a gentle warmth and deep feeling of contentment wash from her in almost intoxicating waves. She hands over a tiny pouch of leaves to the kitty.

"If yer hungry, just tell it you want the food. It's got some'v the spiced fish we shared."

Turning to face the trunk, she settles herself comfortably and begins to concentrate. Slowly, a seam forms in the tree's trunk. Unlike a logger's axe, however, this splitting causes no pain, and Amerikatt might even feel the tree itself opening as if hands were parting the bark to meet Magda's urging it to open. Giggling, she slips inside the opening, looking at her friend as if to dare the kitty to follow.

Shen Zao continued moving towards the strange concentration of chi, the path continuing to lead him towards Phoenix Plaza.

However, as he drew closer, it began to change, growing dark and menacing. He stopped for a second and closed his eyes to refresh his chi sense, to make sure he hadn't latched on to a different focal point. But it was still the same one and he tracked it to an alley, just as a young woman with a glowing hand stepped into the alley. He landed lightly on the roof of the building that made up one wall of the alley. Dropping off the edge to hang by his hands and plant his feet, he navigated his way to ground level quickly with a graceful series of vaults, landing a few feet from Lady Nova. Though he could have done it quietly , he made sure to make enough noise on his trip down to draw her attention.

"Greetings, Living Light, I am Shen Zao. You must tread carefully here. I sense an unnatural focus of chi energy developing ahead."

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that it was dark, dark and very much smelly. As she gathered her senses once more, the second thing she finally made note of was that she was no longer at the same place she was last time. Whereas she last recalled being on a concrete rooftop, she now found herself sitting beside a trash dump, her helmet being the only reason her face and head didn't smell like rotting food.

[i]'Okay... This is getting ridiculous,'[/i] she thought with no minor annoyance. [i]Of all the places I could wake up at, this is probably the worst place I've been dumped at so far.[/i]

Unfortunately for her, just as Sea Holly was about to stand up and have a better look of her surroundings, her hand happened to land on something soft, warm and furry, something humans called a rat. Being a physically trained and mentally conditioned woman didn't make her too different from many other women when it came to dealing with certain animals.

Naturally, the first thing that came out of her hidden mouth was a surprised shrill, followed by the rat's premortem shriek as she reached for the nearest knife she carried with her and stabbed the poor animal to death with a clean cut on its neck. "Tch! Just a damn rat..." she muttered as she examined the rat's bloody carcass, standing up with her back facing a light and two people who happened to be in that same alleyway.

Melody was out well past curfew. She knew it. Her friends knew it, and she didn't care. School was boring anyway, she didn't care if they wouldn't let her back in. Some rule about zero tolerance for capes using their abilities on normies. It wasn't HER fault Jacob had broken her best friends heart.......... it might have been her fault his car melted.

Melody grinned at her friend across the table. Sammy had been down all day, she wasn't even very excited when Melody slag heaped the car. Sammy had long ago stopped getting mad at Melody for her impulsive nature. She didnt hide the fact she thought Melody fully deserved to be suspended.

"Sammy if you don't talk to me i will listen to music!" Melody put her earbuds near her head and stuck her tongue out. "And it's Imagine Dragons!"
Sammys eyes went wide. "noooooooo, not here, I LIKE this place. Fine I'll talk to you again." Sammy changed the subject. "So you need some sort of secret identity right?"
Melody nodded. The two had been cape watching from the coffee shop all day. The owner was some low level technical genius or something from some moon or another... The coffee shop projected a force field when violent activity approached it. It would not stop an act of chaos that started from inside though, so Sammy figured she would cater to her friends current concerns.

"Well yeah, and a costume. My boobs arn't nearly big enough for half the stuff I see the supers running around in. Do I have to hide my face? I think I look good dancing. Didn't you see how Rachel was looking at me?" Melody did have a point Sammy thought, and Rachel really did have a crush on Mel. Sammy got a wicked idea and grinned at Melody.

"We can call you A-minor!" The play on words refering to not only Melodys non existant chest, but her age and power at the same time. Melody scowled and half pouted.

"Shut up, I was thinking 'Quiet Riot'" Sammy made a gag face at the name. "How about ... Bass Line?" Melody thought for a minute then shook her head. "Someone might think I fish or something. What about Juke Box?" The girls looked at each other... Sam started to giggle.. "Yeah that would be good until people know you are a lesbian."

Melody face palmed and than laughed a bit. Sam always made everything so dirty. Sam sat up a bit. "Firebeat?" Melody shook her head no "Sounds like one of those stupid things in that game your brother plays.

The two girls kept discussing possible secret identities for Melody.

Shen Zao rocked back on his heels as his warning was pretty much ignored by the other hero. Still, it was his duty to protect the people of the city, and he could still feel the way the chi around this "Holly" was being twisted unnaturally.

As Lady Nova helped the girl out of the alley, Zao took up a position on the street, quietly requesting that people stay clear when they walked near the two women.

Melody elbowed for her friend to turn around. The whir noise of the coffee shop generator starting up meant their was the potential for trouble. It was sooooo hard to get good seats for a cape fight. Thats what made 'The window' such a great coffee shop. Middle of downtown and protected from harm. A bunch of normies shifted their seats.

The coffee shop was one of the few buildings in view of where some asain guy and spandex girls were talking. The outfits screamed that they were supers.

"Someday I will be more famous than anyone in this city. I bet I could scatter them with a firestorm!" Melody got... the look... Sammy grabbed her i-pod from her. "Nope, not your issue, look at them. They are clearly physical based Titans. You might have some control over the elements but you are built like... like a 17 year old girl."
Mel pouted... Sammy was right, one of those super punches so many Titans seemed to posses would send her lungs out her back and onto the pavement. Bullets... yeah those would kill as well.

"What the hell are you doing about that anyway? Didn't you promise me some of those fancy power suit part ideas of yours?" Melody glared at her friend. Sammy was one of those super geniuses. She had tried to explain the force field generator the coffee shop owner had built... but it all went over Melodys head.

"Well yeah, but I've been upset. I can't really invent when my ex is acting like a jerk and telling the whole school we did that stuff. We NEVER did that stuff."

"You still have to figure out how to make me fly."

"I know... it's an issue of preserving the energy of your wind dance and only releasing it when you trigger it. YOU tell me how to do it smartypants."

"Nope, not my job, my job is to look awesome and throw fire."

The two girls kept chatting as they watched the encounter between the three titans from the safety of the coffee shop.

Zao turned back towards the confrontation when he felt the heat on his back and heard Lady Nova say the word knife. He moved back to stand off to the side of Nova, but not so close that "Holly" could hit them both in the same attack.

"Indeed. Any peril you find yourself in will be of your own making." The statement was not made as a threat, but more as a statement of fact.

He bowed briefly, his closed left fist in his open right palm. "Greetings. In answer to your question, I am Shen Zao, Master of Chi. Do you have a name you wish to be called?"

Melody booed loud enough for the majority of the normies in the coffee shop to look at her with a bit of disdain. The broad had flown off leaving the confused looking one alone with the Asian guy.
"Oh sure, SHE can fly."
"Of course she can thats.... Lady Nova I think. She has made the news a few times."
Melody scoffed at her friends reply.
"Yeah but bloody knife girl and Asian guy are left, lets hope they duke it out."
"Nuts and bolts Mel... why would you want that?"
"Why not?"
"They are like you.. us" Sammy spoke quieter when she said the word 'us'.
"No they arn't. I'm going to be a rock star! "
Sammy noticed the TV now playing live footage of an attempted bank heist. The recently departed Lady Nova on scene having attracted a news helicopters attention.
"Look Mel, Aethers"
"Don't they use steam n stuff to make things move?"
Sammy was one step ahead... She saw a solution to Mel being unable to fly.
"Mel you remember DDR... you know before you accidently burned down the arcade?"
"Yeah...."
"What if I made a board you could dance on that moved in the direction you wanted?"
"So flying while dancing?"
"Yeah, how much space would you need for wind production?"
"I don't know, like 8 feet by 3 feet for the right patterns."
"So a surf board?"
"Yeah, that could work."
"Well Mel... looks like we are going salvage hunting. Please don't get caught up trying to fight. I need some of the drives from those bots the Aethers use."
"Oh hell yeah!"

Melody practically dragged Sammy out of her chair and out the door. She had completely forgotten about the random capes in the alley, she was going to finally fly!

Shen Zao bowed quickly to Holly. "Many apologies, Holly of the Seas. I must assist at the bank."

He centered himself and streaked across the park, not as fast as Lady Nova had, but still at a good pace. Channeling chi into his fists, he hardened them and proceeded to tear into one of the swab-bots guarding the front entrance. The swab-bot promptly grabbed him and tossed him across the street, where he crashed into a parked car. His chi had protected him but the force of the impact did knock him unconscious.

As the swab-bot advanced across the street to finish off the hero, it's audio pick-ups registered someone yelling and it looked to it's left.

"YAAAHOOOO!!!" The hero hollered as he swung into the swab-bot, both feet extended, the impact severely warping it's carriage and knocking it flying down the street. The hero did a neat flip and landed on the street, looking around. "Holy shit, I can't believe that worked..."

The hero was enshrouded in some sort of energy field which glowed a dull amber, with rippling sheens like oil on water running across it. He ran over and checked quickly on Shen Zao, making sure he was still breathing and getting him out of the car, depositing him behind it. Then he stood back up and shot two strands of the energy from his hands. They latched onto the other swab-bot as it turned and opened fire on him. He yanked it across the street, face-first, into the already ruined car and proceeded to pound on it, each punch landing with a burst of energy, quickly turning the robot into scrap.

Hurdling what remained of the car, he shot two more strands of the energy to either side of the front entrance and used them to catapult himself into the bank to assist Lady Nova.

The rookie crashed into one of the pirates upon entry and sent him skittering across the polished stone of the lobby. Just as the rookie scrambled to his feet, he heard Lady Nova say something, then she promptly dealt with the other five pirates in the room.

While the rookie would've liked to say he made a better impression of himself upon meeting his first famous hero, it was true that he was rather distracted by her uniform, or lack thereof. Hearing her teasing remark, he looked up quickly, the energy armor thankfully hiding the scarlet of his cheeks.

He cleared his throat, "Right, of course. I was just uh... checking you for injuries... yeah, that's it, injuries!"

But by then, she'd already moved out of the lobby and back towards the vault room. He followed, muttering to himself, "...good job, dumbass."

He shot a strand of energy at the door and swung through into the vault room to find Lady Nova engaging two boiler-borgs.

"Hey now, didn't ya know it's not polite to hit a lady?" he quipped as he swung over the head of the closest boiler-borg and reversed direction to land on it's back. He shot two energy strands to catch the hands of it's up-stretched arms and joined the strands together, hauling down on them and then sticking them to the borg's back, immobilizing it's arms. Then he formed the energy around his hands into wedges and started prying and punching at the seam in it's neck armor as it rampaged around the room.

Blinking at the rookie's sudden arrival, along with another display of his abilities, she would coin him with a nickname...

"I had it covered Impact, but thank you regardless...and you missed some"

With that, she would launch three short streaking bolts of energy into pirates attempting to sneak behind him, joining their comrades in sweet unconsciousness. Smiling, she would give him a quick kiss, before heading further into the vault, taking down any pirate or bot that stands in her way with a searing blast or cosmic right hook. Before descending towards the perceived prize of the pirates, she would offer her new partner with a playful wink and equally rated response....

"Do try to keep up now?"

"Impact? Sure, why not." he said, turning to her after taking the Boiler-Borg down by tearing his back armor open and crossing a few wires, leaving him a twitching heap of muscle and brass on the ground.

After taking out a few more, Lady Nova turned to him and kissed him quickly on the "lips". Thankfully, due to the nature of his powers, he could still feel it. It took him a second to remember how to breath and he looked over at her as she teased him again about keeping up. "You betcha!"

As she flew around the corner, he jumped off the downed boiler-borg and shot a strand of energy up to the ceiling, swinging along just behind her... and directly into the path of three massive boiler-borgs.

"Dang! When'd The Captains get a new offensive line?" he asked rhetorically as the three of them sighted in on the two heroes and charged.

Taking down a second hostage keeping marauder, Sea grunted when a few, powerful blasts rocked the building, followed with shockwaves that made it hard for her to move. Even with the protection of her helmet, she was forced to hunker down to keep herself from being thrown away by the sheer force of the explosions. Dust clouds started moving into the building as the explosions subsided and she found herself precariously navigating through the debris of the destroyed walls and roof. Through her helmet, she saw the remaining pirates, if their costumes were any indication, making their getaway, presumably with whatever loot they were looking for, back to their airship, the sounds of gunfire not far from its deck. Assessing her situations, Sea decided that she would like her boots to be on a solid ground due to many reasons, one of which being her current lack of accessible equipment and her usual weapons.

While trying to make her way into the vault room, it wasn't until she heard someone speak up that she finally realized that not all of the robbers had fled. From the arrogant and confident tone, this person was either trying to bluff his way out or was, indeed, a threat the heroes couldn't afford to ignore. Despite being unaffiliated, Sea was unwilling to leave her own investigation halfway done. If it meant working together with the spandex-wearing, cliche and lawful heroes, then she was willing to endure it.

"Alright, Heroes. Let's dance!"

Turning to the source of the voice, she saw a bright, crackling electricity, then noticed how said electricity was wrapped around two glinting sabers, held by a man who, judging from his appearance and the stylized sabers he wielded, was related to the escaping robbers. However, the one thing that quickly invited her ire was how he, confidently so, addressed her the same way he addressed the incoming respondents to the robbery.

"'Hero'? How amusing," she remarked. Having taken her time to loot another rapier from the second marauder she just decked, she kept one just in case and had her first looted rapier turned on. As much as she was tempted to show off, she knew that a rapier wasn't suited to be dually-wielded. She patiently stood her ground in a cautious, defensive position while the heroes gradually made their way in.

Whipping her head back at the sight of Impact being dragged away by the airship, and the explosions shortly before, would cause her to lose her concentration, allowing her shield to falter. As it briefly dissipates, a few gunners would take the opportunity to fire upon her, a clockwork rifle's energy burst managing to hit her in the right shoulder.

Growling, she would turn to her attackers, and without hesitation, would launch volleys of energy bolts, presumably taking them down, leaving the area clear for medical personnel. Eyes blazing, she would turn to unknown, and shout...

"Rally other injured civilians to this point, as well as available medics, I'm heading after the airship!"

With that, she would streak off after the said vehicle, hot on it's trail...

Pursuing the Airship, Lady Nova would launch bolts of energy towards the vessel, careful not to hit the engine or balloon, to avoid causing a no doubt catastrophic explosion. Noticing and slightly thrown off by shockwave as is traveled across the area, she would ponder and think out loud for a second....

"What could have done that, did another bomb go off...did we miss one?!"

She would then begin to streak after the source of the shockwave, determined to figure out what that was, confidant Impact can handle the Airship....hopefully...

Melody sucked in a breath. Eyes fluttering open.
Crawling with desperation she reached her friend and shook her.
"Sam, Sam.. Sam stop it... Sa....s." Melody began to sob over the body of her friend. Many of the wounds had closed but no life had returned to her body. It was simply to late.
Melody began to hyper-ventilate as she clawed at Sams rapidly cooling body.

A primal scream erupted from the small frame of the girl. Clutching the body of her friend the ground shot up from under her, launching her holding her friend up over the the top of the bank and into the hole with the dual wielding pirate.
The sky boiled overhead with the elements fighting to dominate the scene. The weather spill over hampering the heroes in pursuit of the airship.

"Watch this Sam... Watch what I do."
Melody gently laid the body of her friend against the wall and turned towards the pirate who was locked in combat with two supers.
With broken blood vessels in her face and red eyes she hit play.
A tempest of fire sprung to life inside the vault.

Noticing the plume of flame expanding from the gaping hole in the bank, Lady Nova would race towards the source, fearing she was too late to stop an additional explosion. Reaching the maw of fire, she would allow her enhanced senses to take over for a moment, gauging the situation. She would peer further, her eyes first highlighting the figure of Melody, one of the two girl's she shielded...but where was the other...

Straining to peruse through the tempest of flame, she would finally see the prone and lifeless form of Sam against the wall...her next thoughts materialized as tears of anger and desperation racing down her face.

SHE was supposed to protect them until help arrived, yet she left them to pursue mindless steampunk IDIOTS. She didn't see what was important, and someone died because of it...just like her mother, just like that poor girl SHE should have helped....but someone else needed that now...

Erecting a shield over herself against the fires of heat and rage, she approached it's summoner, and shouted in her own grief ridden words...

"Listen, I know how you feel, I felt what you feel now, and I know I failed to protect you both, and I am sorry..I am so sorry...but you need to calm down...!"

The pain in her voice despite the circumstances had nothing to do with her shoulder wound...her emotions were genuine...

Noticing how Melody is effectively tuning her out via headphones, and after dodging a nice gust of fire, would calmly yank them from her ears, emotion still visible on her face and soaking through the words that follow...

"Listen to me, I know how you feel, and I have felt that before when my mother was murdered right in front of me, and I am sorry I didn't protect you.....I failed you both...but you need to calm down...please!"

((Same here.))
He felt another surge of emotions during his fun with the Aethers, this one of anger, regret, and fear.. mmm.. there it was again, more of the delectable fear... He couldn't wait for later and sent out a message to Melody, speaking in her head with a soothing voice.

"It's all their fault, isn't it? The Aethers.. and the ones who failed to protect her.. They need to pay, don't they.."

Tyrian opened his eyes. The unmistakable sound of explosions could be heard echoing in the cathedral. Gunfire, screams, sirens, and horns all blaring awoke that fuel inside his chest. He ran outside just in time to see the last explosion in the bank, and the flames starting to creep out the windows. A giant airship was slowly moving away as several energy bolts blasted into its side and he could see someone climbing towards the airship on strands of energy.

A second later he saw something blast into the side of the ship which sent the person beneath the ship falling for a second before he could regain his anchor on the ship. The energy in his chest became uncontrollable. With all his might he leaped high into the air on the nearest building then charged the ship bounding from building top to building top getting higher each time and closer to the ship.

Finally, one more jump, and he would be on the ship. He could see as he got closer the man hanging below the ship getting closer and closer, then finally securing himself on the hull.

He jumped! Time seemed to slow as he drew his sword and shield midair. He slammed down on the aft deck, cracking the deck as he hit. He rose slowly ready for battle.

The wind tempest raged around Melody as one of her earbuds was torn from her ear by the heroine.
Snarling at the interruption Mel clenched her fist and drew it down while popping into a crouch. "Sink!"
Melody only had one element to control at the moment. The fires around raged freely but earth was hers to control. A five foot deep hole sprang into existence under the bubbled hero. At the same time the ceiling above caved down. A calm Melody would be rather assured that Nova wouldn't be hurt due to her field and overall durable nature, but this wasn't a calm Melody.

Now that she was separated from her immediate danger (Nova). She quickly jammed the other earbud back in. Earth and water... It would work...

Twirling as she rose she brought her hands up her hips grazing her fingers along her lines as she raised them above her. "I WILL END YOU!" Her words in stark contrast the the overly sensual movement she just finished. The ground beneath Mel shooting her into the air like a rocket after the escaping pirate.

Spinning in a graceful arc her arms came together in front of her chest. She shot her hands forwards towards the pirate supporting Theodore. A bowling ball sized piece of hail shot from the sky caving the unnamed pirates head in.

As Theodore went into free fall Melody tucked into a ball preparing to change tracks based on how Theo ... or anyone trying to stop her from killing him, moved. Her survival didn't matter, so long as this pirate didn't make it either.

*While Theo was being whisked away*
"Yes they do need to pay."
Mel addressed the voice that had spoken in her head. She had heard the words, but didn't really register them till now.

*As Nova returned*
"Get me out of this bubble, I have something to finish." Mel spoke aloud, but not directing the comment towards Nova.

Mel began to hum, a complex noise from her throat, something her father had taught her. Her body making tiny slow adjustments... almost like a person standing idle, but something was off. The bubble began to fog on the inside and frost over on the outside... leaving the two blind to anything that might happen. Mel simmered as the fog built.
"Count again lady, I DID get one of them. You can get out of my way or be their accomplice. Why don't you go after that airship... or better yet drop me on it."

Mels rage had settled into something dark, something broken, something primal. It was fresh, she was young, and her best friend of twelve years was dead....

Sea walked away just in time to see Theodore being dropped amidst a crowd of furious former hostages and law enforcement officers, all vying for his head. "That's one problem out of the way," she mused and noticed the wreckage of the burning bank. Shaking her head, she noticed one of the pirates with a jetpack on him made a freefall, presumably after being a victim of whoever had called in the inferno, judging from the bloody chunk of hail nesting on his head.

Once he hit the ground, Sea wasted no time and ran towards the man, pretending to check him. In reality, however, she was taking away his jetpack and, noticing it was still functional, chuckled and turned to him. "I'll take this, thank you very much," she said and took flight straight for the drifting ship. Not too far, she noticed a foggy sphere up in the sky, but couldn't be bothered to find out what it was. Her focus was now put on the Aether Pirates' ship and she was dead set on raiding the raiders. Turning the jetpack's thrust to its maximum speed, she made a beeline for the ship and landed on the deck where the battle was already raging. With the pirates already occupied and a few more people she didn't recognize jumping into the fray, she tried to sneak her way into the ship, this time with the intent to kill and loot.

Nightmare landed on the deck, and gave a low growl as his head turned to scan the pirates aboard. He was clearly pissed, both hands squeezing at the air while he stood there in silence before barking his next orders.

"Captain... Where is your captain, you incompetent swine?!"

He didn't waver at all as the ship rumbled upon firing the cannons, the weight of the suit covering any balance issues. He heard the response of Mel and grinned a bit to himself as he responded to her, reeling in the fish.

"Yes.. they do. What should happen to them? Arrests? No.. they'll just escape. You know they will. They've lost their privilege to live. End them. And anyone trying to stop you from what is right is just as bad.. but don't focus on them, focus only on the true targets."

As her bubble briefly dissolved, Lady Nova began to soar after the rapidly plummeting Melody, determined not to let someone else die on her watch, but relented as she saw her somewhat safe descent. Turning her attention back to the Airship, the source of the infestation of the pirates, she would then utter five words that dictates it's fate...

"No one else dies today!"

With that, Lady Nova's radiant form would burst alight, gathering power, as she soars into the deck of the vessel with titanic force, presumably knocking it out of it's intended path into numerous swathes of skyscrapers. Rising quickly, she would have landed before Lord Nightmare himself, and without hesitation would gather her energy in her hands, her eyes blazing with golden, unearthly fury...she would be a sight to behold...

Turning to the reaper of terror, she would utter cold words with no fear and no doubt, only power and conviction...

"Whatever game you playing, or angle your plotting ends now Nightmare!"

And then she would charge, leaping into the fray with a cosmic punch, following with discs of explosive energy....Nightmare's world just got a lot brighter..

Another shake of the airship and Sea found herself walking on eggshells. Between the pirates, the incoming and audibly furious Lady Nova and a threatening 'Nightmare', from what Nova called him, she found herself regretting every minute she had spent being involved with the superheroine in the first place. "I don't have time to deal with them," she told herself and was about to move on when a brief flash interrupted her train of thought, followed by a faded voices of Lady Nova and what sounded like that of her own echoing inside her head.

[i]"I'm Lady Nova, by the way. Welcome to Titan City."[/i]

[i]"I would like to be a heroine like you..."[/i]

Stunned into silence, Sea looked back at Lady Nova's figure and noticed a pirate with a fusion weapon that looked like a steampunk saw. Her mind told her to ignore her, knowing that Lady Nova would most likely be able to handle herself just fine. However, she felt a nagging feeling in her gut, one that was being persistent and was slowly grating on her nerves. She wanted to ignore it, but the longer she let it persist, the more she became unwilling to leave Nova on her own. She couldn't explain it, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with the 'other personality' she previously talked about.

Groaning and shaking her head, she took a stealth detour and muttered,

"Sea, since when did you grow a conscience?"

Sneaking up to the pirate that was sneaking up on Lady Nova, she grabbed him with a choke hold and, no longer bothering to play nice now that she knew what situation she was in, stabbed her dagger into his chest and pulled it out, letting him die a painful death.

"I know you don't have eyes at the back of your head, heroine," she said to her, "but try to stay on your toes if you want to live and be a hero for another day." One hand on the hilt of the compact assassin dagger, she looked at Lady Nova and Nightmare from under her own helmet, her face all but obscured. The only piece of her appearance would be cuts on her body suit that would reveal a shade of light peach skin, bruised and burned after escaping the bank inferno.

The pirates where startled by Tyrians entrance, but quickly regained their composure and rushed forward to attack. Tyrian met the rush with his own. Putting his full weight behind his shield and slamming into to first line of his foes. The distinctive CLANG of shield on there metal armor was ear piercing and sent the three flying back. They are not as foolish as they look, Tyrian thought and the pirates attempted to flank him.

Armed with an assortment of weapons, the pirates to the front were firing their steam powered guns in attempt to keep the focus of this unwanted intruder. He had his shield raised deflecting their fire, but they knew this would keep him opened for the others. The pirates on the flanks were bearing cutlasses of heated iron glowing red, and rushed in to overwhelm him.

Surrounded on three sides, with open air to his back, there was only one option. Tyrian was no fool either. He knew when you are surrounded you look for the weakest man, and there he was! His right flank reached him first. They attacked with clumsiness and committed to much of their power in their swing. Tyrian spun left, now putting the wall to his back and his right flank attackers masking the fire of their guns. His heavy sword came around to meet his off-balance opponents incapacitating two of them.

The left flank closed the distance to now form one line. They swung their cutlasses down at Tyrian with the same clumsiness and over commitment of power. The gunners yelled at the line to move out of the way.

Despite his size, Tyrians movements were lightning fast. The swings of the pirates met his shield and were deflected. Though clumsy, their attacks were furious and quick, but not quick enough. Their every mistake was exploited, and here comes another one. To quick for their own good their swords would meet before their target setting the attack off balance. Tyrian spun into the air using his shield to clear his path and brought his sword around again. He landed with shield raised against attack and he lept again, only his targets this time were the two gunners.

The last two pirates turned and ran for help.

He could hear fighting and voices on another part of the ship. Who else is up here? Where is the man that was clinging to the side of the hull?

Nightmare is put off balance but catches himself after a few steps, turning to face Impact with a not-too-happy look.

"What you did was an error.."

He simply turns back around and grabs the closest pirate to him by the neck, staring right into the man's eyes.

"Bring. Him. Out. Now. Or should I drop you over the side?"

Hearing a massive blast, Tyrian decided that he need to move towards the upper deck of the ship. As he drew closer he heard someone yell "Ya Land Lubbers are Wrecking my Ship!" followed by the sound of steam being released and a thud.
Tyrian burst on the deck and saw four characters in front of him. Two were men and had very ominous looks about them and one was regaining his composure, he guessed from a hit. It seemed a match between old and new tech. Maybe there was some bad blood he thought.
The other two were women on guard for the fight. They both had a certain fury in their eyes, which seemed to be directed at the steampunk captain.
Tyrian raised his sword and pointed it at the captain. "Sir, you will surrender yourself and this ship immediately!"

Watching Lord Nightmare and the Captain square off, Lady Nova would turn to Impact and Tyrian, shouting....

"Time to disable the engines, and their weapons, if you two can handle that, I'll take care of of our cyber rejects here!"

With that, she would launch a localized flashbang towards that two villains in question, before leaping in with an equally blinding flash, before she begins to engage them both using while not expert, but extremely competent martial skills, notably Savate, further served by her considerable strength and durability...

Impact shook his head as he climbed to his feet woozily.

"What the hell are you made of, big blue? I hit you with the force of a wrecking ball. How the hell are you still standing?!" he hollered as he turned to face Nightmare, only to see the mech-suited man now fighting what could only be the captain of the vessel, judging by the fancy garb over his brass shell.

"Oh, maybe he is on our side..."

Seeing several Aethers closing on Lady Nova, he moved to attack them, then reckoned she could handle them. Scratching his head, he looked around for a second and spotted some lightly armored Aethers working on the engines.

"Engineers. Ain't happening, boys!"

With that, he shot an energy strand up to the mast and kicked off from the rail, swinging towards the rear of the airship.

Tyrian moved without hesitation. The starboard cannons were being controller remotely, but from where? His eyes traced the piping and wiring running to the guns and backtracked them to the hatch the captain just cam through. The cannons were firing on all the boarders now. He dove into the hatch.

There was a large command room inside. Monitors showing the action on the different decks were on one side of the room, gauges and indicators were on the other side. Technicians were scrambling at each of their stations as Theodore barked orders to the different stations.

"Your not leading your targets men!" He slapped on of the techs on the back of the head. "Engineering, I need those engines running at 110%! Ballast, Get us more altitude!" He stopped when Tyrian barged in. "Seriously!! You worthless swill need to get off our ship!" Drawing his swords and lunging at Tyrian, he wasted no time in his attack.

Surprised at the speed of his new enemy, Tyrian was caught off guard for a moment and barely managed to avoid rapiers swinging by his head. The room made it more difficult to maneuver as he stepped back to regain his footing and parry each attack. His shield became invaluable as he slammed himself into Theodore pressing him into the wall.

"Get back to firing!" he yelled at the gunners. "GET THIS SHIP MOVING TOWARDS SAFE HAVEN NOW!!" He yelled as he pushed Tyrian off him.

Tyrian followed with several powerful swings each leading into the next. He covered each opening he presented with his shield and pressed his attack. As he gained ground with his flurry of attacks he bashed techs, monitors, and gauges wherever he could.

Wasting no time, after hearing the Captain's orders, Lady Nova would appear as a golden blur as she reaches the deck, using her Paragon communicator, patching into the police radio....

"This is Lady Nova, the Aether Pirates are preparing to fire upon the Whitehold Apartment building, order emergency evacuations and prepare medical personnel!"

With that, Lady Nova would streak along the sides of the airship, blasting and hopefully destroying any gun preparing to fire that happen to be exposed...

Melody would continue her walk towards the district Sam and her lived in. The rain of fire seeming to stay in place keeping TCPD from following her. Melody would remain out of jail at least long enough to bring her friend home..

Meanwhile.......

Three kids ran up to him. "Sticks! Sticks! Downtown is in trouble! Don't you walk Downtown?" The kids hammered on Arch until he paid attention to what they were saying. Arch bent down to listen again. His giant frame wider than the three kids if they had been touching fingertip to fingertip. "Stickers, Downtown, they are destroying it!" The natives knew, The construct would protect the young, and the property of the neighborhoods he patrolled. It had always been this way.

Arch let out a small burst of electrical energy and stood up. Arch must stop the destruction of Titan City......

Slowly and very lightly Arch patted the three on the head. A small crafting arm depositing a sticker onto the face of each, their reward. Arch lightly pushed the three back. He was not fast, but he had power. Gears clanking Arches knees bent. Hatches on the side of his thighs and shins opening to allow pistons to cycle further in his legs.

Arch sprang up and forward. Each leap roughly 10 stories up and 2 blocks forward. His landings lacked grace but were cushioned enough not to damage the pavement. Arch would come back later and make sure.

Arch saw the airship ahead. They had been around for a few years, normally only removing things that didn't originate in Titan City, so he tended to leave them alone. This one was smoking, with fire pouring out of several locations, organics flying into and out of it. So much chaos. Its weapons were training on a complex of buildings.

If Arch could have gritted his teeth he would have. Arches legs bent low. The gears screaming as they locked. Coils deep in his core wound tight, the pistons in his legs all preparing to fire at once. Arch released............. With an audible Boom he lept. 1200 lbs of metal rocketed at the airship.

Arch had no issues demolishing non organics that did not belong to Titan City. ((which includes anything not from the older areas of Titan City)) Instead of landing on the deck Arch had aimed for the cannons themselves. His weight momentarily causing the ship to tilt as he gripped the over sized gun. Hanging from one arm he swung the other up. The dent nearly buckling the barrel in half.

One cannon down, and Arch on the scene. The lumbering hero had been awoken from his endless patrol.