When the gang of them arrived in the city, Leo wasn’t shocked to find the government’s operatives waiting for them. Polaris didn’t give them the okay to go until mid-morning, not giving them the head start they needed. The girl leading the trio of agents smirked as she stepped forward with one of the Starred. Leo gritted his teeth and his team behind him gasped.

“We knew you’d be coming,” she smiled, tightening her grip on the Starred boy. Leo took a deep breath.

“So you took a hostage?” he asked bitterly. She laughed in return.

“Something like that.” The glint in her eyes was positively evil and it was making Leo nervous. One of the men in her unit came up behind the boy she was holding onto and drew his two blades.

“Don’t!” Leo cried at the same time she ordered, “Do it.” In an instant, the boy’s head rolled off his shoulders.

“No!” Pisces yelped. Sensing movement behind him, Leo threw out his arms, catching Pisces and Sirius rushing forward.

“Stop!” he commanded. “We cannot retaliate. Remember Polaris’s orders!”

“She just killed one of our brothers! We can’t just stand by and do nothing!” Pisces argued frantically.

“We have to do something! That was murder!” Sirius chimed in. Leo sighed.

“We cannot engage in any kind of battle. So far, the public has not seen us react violently to any threats. They didn’t directly attack us, so if we retaliate, the first blow is ours,” he hissed to his comrades. Sirius grit his teeth, resigning himself to defeat.

“But they assassinated him! He was just a kid!” Pisces cried, still fighting. Vega came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“We still have two more Stars to pick up. Choose a different battle, sister,” she whispered. Pisces reluctantly shut her mouth. Leo nodded to Vega in thanks before turning to the government’s troop in front of them.

“Please,” he began, raising his hands in peace, “we’re just passing through. We don’t want to fight.” The girl sneered, knowing there was nothing they could do.

“Fine,” she spat, “but we’ll be watching you.”

[omg sorry this took so long. regular updates to follow.]

This was the worst. 

Ayame was maybe two weeks into her training with Kodoku and Toushi. She still wasn’t even sure that she was holding her katana properly. Unfortunately, Toushi had been called back to the S.T.A.R. Forces to give a report and Kodoku was…well…knocked out.

Mokushi’s soldiers were skilled, to say the least. The fact that they got the one-up on Kodoku surprised Ayame. These two swore to protect her, but where were they now. Ayame gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the sword. There were three opponents. Ayame could barely get a whisper of wind out of her blade. She had no idea how she was going to do this.

“Alright, you cronies are here for me, right?” Ayame announced, surprising herself with how steady her voice was. “Well then…come and get me!!” She lifted her blade and swallowed nervously. She took a deep breath and thought ‘focus.’ The three soldiers were charging at her, closing in fast. Ayame brought back her arm and swung out the sword around her body. Her enemies were knocked off their feet. Ayame gasped, surprising even herself. They got back up wearily, but now they were angry.

Gearing up for another attack, more confident now, Ayame drew back her blade and swung it around her, ending by piercing it into the ground. Toushi once mentioned that piercing the earth after using an elemental attack would make it stronger. It seemed to be true as the wind from her blade pierced her opponents like tiny razors. They fell. Ayame stood tall and proud. Maybe she could do this Savior thing after all.

“What?! Kate, you’re crazy!” Emily shouted at her friend. Kate sighed.

“Well then, explain to me again why you won’t attend the ball tonight,” Kate asked, putting up her hair. Emily huffed.

“Because I’m tired. I had to fire one of the maids today because I caught her trying to steal a vase,” she nodded. Kate rolled her eyes.

“I know for a fact that’s a lie because your doorman was praising you for keeping the staff the same for a whole year.” Kate smirked, very proud of herself. Emily wouldn’t look at her. “Just admit that you’re jealous. It will make you feel better.”

“I am not jealous,” Emily frowned. 

“Denial~” Kate mocked in a sing-song voice. Emily turned a fierce glare on her friend.

“I am absolutely not in denial. I couldn’t care less about how many mistresses my husband has. I don’t care who he sleeps with. I don’t want to go to the ball because I would rather not have to act under the pretenses that we are so happy and in love while he goes and flirts with some gentry whores,” she seethed, face red with anger. Kate at least had the decency to look surprised.

“Look, buddy, we’re closing,” Elle began, approaching a strange man wearing a top hat and monocle. He’d been stopping in every day for the last two weeks, coming in late and staying just before closing. He never ordered anything. At the sound of her voice, the strange man looked up.

“Oh, good! And it’s about time, too!” He sprung up out of his chair. “Now then, let’s take care of this ghost, shall we?” The man, speaking in an English accent, turned his goofy grin to Elle. She stared at him like he was crazy.

“Are you stoned or something? Ghost?” She was incredulous. I mean, if he was tripping on something, maybe that explained why he never ordered anything.

“What? No, I’m in my right mind…Anyway, yes, ghost. You can’t honestly tell me you haven’t noticed.” Elle hesitated because she had seen some weird stuff lately. There were the chairs she knew she put up on the tables ending up back on the floor, the mysterious moving glasses, and the creaking of the floorboards upstairs. 

“Well…okay, I’m not saying I believe you, but what the hell would you know about it?” The strange man looked oddly offended.

“Well, everything, of course,” he stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Elle just stared at him. He shrugged and started walking toward the staircase leading to the abandoned apartment upstairs. “Ghosts are easy, don’t worry. This one isn’t malicious, just a little bit of a troublemaker. Probably the ghost of a young’n, I hate to say. But, it won’t be a problem at all. Just a quick wave of the wand and he’ll be out of your hair.”

Only following him because she didn’t trust him in this place alone, Elle said, “How do you even know that? Not like I believe you, but you’re talking crazy.” The man glanced back at her, pulling a small stick out of his jacket pocket.

“I have this knowledge because I am a Sorcerer. Obviously,” he told her. Pointing the stick at the door, he said, “Marcus Sebastian of the Merlin bloodline,” he waved the stick across the door and is unlocked audibly. “A pleasure to meet you, Elle Chastel,” he smiled and pushed open the door.

Tonight was the night. Elizabeth looked to her cellmate, Susanne. She nodded. They had everything they needed to break out. Elizabeth put her ear to the cell wall. “Are you guys ready yet?” she called softly.

“Pip’s just starting to take out the bricks we’ve loosened,” Erick replied through the wall. “Oh, and our pirate friend next door is coming through our wall right now.”

“Great,” Elizabeth nodded. Stepping away from the wall, she asked Susanne if she knew where the rope was.

“It’s here,” she said, pulling it out from under her bed. “Want me to triple check it’s the right length?”

“Yes please. If we don’t have that, there’s no way we’ll be able to scale the outer wall.” Susanne nodded and began pulling it out of its coil. This escape had to be perfect.

“Pip’s got some more bricks out. You two might want to start coming over here soon,” Erick called from the other cell. Elizabeth took a deep breath. This would work. They were prepared. Why would be the first successful break-out this asylum had ever seen.

To Victoria, robbing banks was easy. Breaking into vaults were no problem. But sometimes, banks surprised her. This was the first bank she was hitting since taking in Max. So far, he’s been pretty useless with this “superpower” of his. But he is a pretty decent lookout. 

Victoria had already gotten into the cash vault, but she noticed another hallway in the back of the bank. Curious, she followed it. This vault was more difficult to break into that the other one, which surprised her. Finally, she got it open, swinging the large door out. She peered inside and her eyes lit up with what she saw. Silver. So much silver. It was a vault completely filled with silver. And it was everything she didn’t know she wanted. 

She dragged her canvas bag inside with her and stuffed it full with as much as she could carry. Heaving it over her shoulder she rounded the corner back to the front of the bank. “Come on, Max. We’ve got everything we came here for and more. Let’s get out of here before those annoying cops show up.”

Fay hates being ambushed (who doesn’t?). This gang of five came out of nowhere and clearly had it out for them. Luckily, they weren’t outnumbered, but they were pretty evenly matched. He was fighting who seemed to be their leader. He noticed Gwen going toe to toe with another girl wielding a knife. Gwen was totally going to outdo her, he smirked. Scarlet and Blaze were fighting back to back against twins. They looked like they were having a time of it, but he was sure they’d be fine. Kaiyo was doing alright for herself, surprisingly. Fay couldn’t help but be impressed. But the guy she was up against was skilled. He wanted to finish this guy so he could help their new friend. 

Blaze knocked one of the twins across the park they were fighting in. The leader of their gang heard her cry out and was distracted. Fay saw this as an opening. He cocked both of his guns, taking aim…

“Don’t move!” he froze and looked over his shoulder. The girl Gwen was fighting had a gun on him, but her eyes were fixed on her knife-wielding opponent. Fay let out an aggravated breath and turned one of his guns on her, his enemy now alerted to his plan of attack.

Gwen was stopped in her tracks. She hated it when there were guns involved in her knife fights. “Take another step closer,” Ling started, “and he gets a bullet in his head.” Gwen just stared at her opponent in horror. Her eyes flickered over to Fay.

“Don’t listen to her! Take your chance!” he moved to step forward, but instantly Ling turned her attention to him.

“I said don’t move! That goes for you, too!” She cocked the gun. Fay gritted his teeth. Suddenly things didn’t look so great for them…

“So, you’ve come all the way from Japan?” Amie asked in awe. The nameless noble nodded.

“That’s right! And I’m gonna find the Fountain of Youth. No doubt about it.” Amie looked at her twin. Aaron looked impressed.

“How are you planning on doing that?” he inquired. The nameless girl grinned.

“Easy! Look everywhere in the whole world until I find it!” Aaron laughed.

“Well that’s just brilliant,” he smiled. Amie nodded.

“But won’t that be hard to do all by yourself?” she asked. The noble nodded her head.

“Yeah, but that’s why I keep talking to other kids. Maybe someone will come with me eventually.” Amie and Aaron shared another look.

“Well, mum’s so sick she can barely keep track of us…” Aaron began.

“And dad’s so busy working he’d hardly notice if we’d gone…” Amie finished. The noble’s eyes widened in hope. The twins nodded.

“We’ll help you!” they announced in unison. The Japanese girl grinned and threw her arms around them.

“This is great! You have no idea how great! The greatest!” She was overjoyed.

“Now, what did you say your name was?” Amie asked. The other girl smirked.

“Call me whatever you’d like!” she said.

“I think you look like a Lizzie,” Aaron said. Amie scoffed.

“She does not! She looks like a Florence!” Aaron grimaced.

“She does not!” The nameless girl shook her head in amusement.

“You can each call me different things! I don’t mind!” she told them with a smile. The twins looked unsure at first, but decided to go along with it.

“Fine by me,” Aaron shrugged. Florence/Lizzie looked to either side of her, at each of her new companions. She’s never felt happier.

Eve pulled at the sweater-vest that was part of Alex’s school’s uniform. She sighed. It was made from such uncomfortable material. But she couldn’t help but be grateful. This human was making her blend in with the rest of them while Anya repaired the ship. And she had to admit, she’d always been the tiniest bit curious about the mutants. 

Alex reappeared in his room from the bathroom after getting ready. Eve stood and bowed her head in respect. She may be the crown princess, but this planet was not in her jurisdiction. She had to be respectful of her host. Alex sighed and rolled his eyes.

“What are you doing now? You’re so weird,” he chuckled. “If you keep doing all these weird things, Sarah’s gonna figure you out. She’s young, not stupid.” Eve straightened up, her posture perfect.

“Of course. My apologies,” she replied. Alex sighed and approached her. Cautiously, he reached forward and grasped her arm.

“Look, Eve, you’ve got to relax. There’s no need for you to be so formal here. You can slouch, say whatever you want, do whatever you want. It’s not a big deal. You’re not a princess here, princess,” he grinned. Eve took a deep breath. When she exhaled, her shoulders slumped a little.

“If you insist…”

[design for Alex is not final AT ALL]