ic Darkest Day (IC)

[Thevshi]

Sunday February 18, 2024

Late afternoon

 

After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus.

 

As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy.

 

Bernadette O'Connell, Neko Musume, Owain Celliwig, Rosalinda Sommaripa, Jonah Janse, Carmen Alvarez Arrache and Iris and Daniel Evans found themselves along the waterfront of the Boardwalk, just near the Paradise casino. Around them were several people, all of whom acted very surprised at the sudden appearance of the teens, some screaming in panic and running, while others just began moving away quickly. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. The sun was just coming into view off to the east, but the weather was far warmer than it should have been for an early morning in February for Freedom City.

 

"What ta bloody hell." Bernadette stated as she reoriented herself to the unexpected location the group found themselves in. Glancing around, she scowled. "Where are the others?" The Irish redhead was wearing a pair of torn black jeans and a grey hoodie, in anticipation of ending up back up in the winter weather back in Freedom City. But her scowl was quickly replaced by a look of surprise as she looked out at the skyline of downtown Freedom City.

 

It was clearly Freedom City, only the skyline was very different than the teens were used to. Several prominent more modern buildings were not there. And glancing down the east, the massive Sentry Statute was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, bugger us." Bernadette muttered as she looked out at the very different city skyline.

 

[Avenger Assembled]

The murmur from the two who were already temporally displaced went up almost immediately. "Time travel..." Neko and Owain exchanged looks when they realized what had happened, a moment of silent communication passing between them before Owain shook his head sorrowfully. "No. This is later." Of the two of them, he was the only one who had actually been to Freedom City in their own era, having passed through there with his father on the way to the Pacific and war. Speaking of war... Deprived of his sword, Owain murmured "Blaidd" under his breath and transformed, his outline collapsing downward as he reshaped himself from a tall young man into a muscular, sturdily-built wolf, almost waist-height as it stood among the young heroes and growled uncertainly, Owain sniffing the air with his keen wolf senses. 

 

For her part, Neko knelt on the ground, placing her fingernails against the concrete. She closed her eyes; and then opened them as a faint sound of a chorus of distant meowing came from her. All over the city, in dark alleys and safe places, white and brown cats suddenly looked upwards and outwards, peering at everything they could see and hear with intent. Where were they - and what was happening to this place? 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

The twins looked around in confusion. They were not at Claremont Academy, nor were their bags with them! The two did not recognise this place per say. They did know they were in Freedom City, just not where. Thank goodness they weren't in their swimsuits, instead they both wore jeans, running shoes and a t-shirt (black for Iris and white for Daniel) as they had expected to be home at this point. 

 

Yeah, something was clearly up.

 

Iris would look around and see who was with them, and it was indeed their friends...though not all of them. Where were the others?

"What's going on?" Daniel asked as his sister moved forwards and paused as she overheard Neko and Owain. Time Travel?!

She glanced back at Daniel whom seemed to hear it too. He was prepared now, maybe they could ask around and see what was going on. The young man would move over to the others.

 

"Is everyone alright?" He asked. "How do you feel?"

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah was playing with his molars with his tongue, his expression wry. Sure this wasn't a common occurrence, but at this rate he'd have tent cents over this happening. "I feel fine. Everyone else good?" He pressed a hand on the opposite shoulder and he started to roll it slowly. He was not sure what was happening, so he would just get ready for something, and he dropped down into a crouch, and rocked his weight, twisting to loosen up things.

Even if everything was normal in the end he'd rather be ready, his own survey reading this prior.

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Carmen was just about to hold on to Michael's hand when they all went through the portal to go home, but suddenly, out of nowhere they were... somewhere. It was all of a sudden and fast, shaking up Carmen's senses but not too much. Whatever it was it didn't take them back to Claremont, Carmen stumbling partially as she realized this. Michael was no longer there next to her, along with any bags that she was holding as well. They were completely missing altogether along with many other fellow students and their belongings. Both of these things combined made her own edge and on guard.

 

Wherever they all were, it was hard to see where any one was, not feeling like any of this was right at all. The big statue of whomever it was, as Carmen only knew it by its appearance, was utterly gone, and the skyline was similar if not different. Many of the more modern buildings were gone, as if they had leaped through time. It wasn't right, it didn't feel right, keeping herself on guard as she readied herself of what would come next.

 

"This isn't good."

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

There was a time last year when Rosalind had bemoaned a quiet year, almost no adventures or shenanigans whatsoever! Now in a be careful what you ask for she had, it seemed, been displaced in time and space twice already in only a few months.

 

 

Still, she couldn’t help but be the sensible one, thinking of what they should be doing right now. Not quite taking charge, more just nudging things in the right direction. Taking charge was not something she’d ever thought about, less panic attacks that way,

 

 

“We should probably get off the streets, then find out when we are. The League must have protocols for this kind of thing right?”

 

 

Figured that the time travel lessons wasn’t until later in the semester. On the plus side maybe this could count as extra credit?

 

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Reaching out towards the city beyond, Neko saw it filled with people, as one would expect, going about their daily lives. It seemed, in every respect, a typical morning in Freedom City, but as she looked over the area, she noted several things. The cars she saw crowding the city’s streets were not the one she was used to seeing. They were certainly more modern than her and Owain's era, but certainly older than 2023/2024. She saw business with computers, but they were all larger boxes, sitting on or under desks, and the monitors they used were large, bulky things, not the current flat screens that were everywhere. And there were no smart phones, or even older cellphones in sight.

 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Bernadette stated with a small scowl as she heard Neko and Owain mention likely time travel, which certainly seemed to fit with the changed skyline of the city. "Yeah, probably a good idea, everyone stick together, we are already missin' half o' us, don’ want ta get further separated." She said in response to Rosalind's suggestion.

 

But then the teens heard the faint sounds of police sirens that seemed to be drawing closer. Suddenly, the cause seemed to appear, as they heard gunfire from inside the nearby casino. Turning towards it, they saw several masked men running out, a few carrying assault style rifles, the others carrying large bags of what appeared to be money. A van came pulling up to a nearby curb, another man with a gun stepping out and waiving the others towards the van.

"You have got ta be bloody kiddin' me." Bernadette muttered as she took in the scene. The redhead then took a couple of running steps and leapt over one hundred feet to land just to one side of one of the men carrying an assault rifle as he turned back to aim it at the entrance to the casino. As she stood back up, Bernadette pulled her elbow back to her side to strike the gunman in the head, sending him flying backward several dozen feet until he slammed into the side of the van and fell to the pavement unconscious.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

It seemed as if Owain and Neko were already on the case. Due to the fact that the twins had seen Owain transform before, they were not surprised when he turned into a giant wolf. They both then turned to the others and nodded their heads. They would speak at the same time. "Rosalind is right, we should get off the streets-." Before either twin could finish however they would both hear the sirens and quickly move away to one of the sidewalks...only to see Bernadette go in to deal with these armed robbers. 

 

Iris would facepalm, she was about to call out to her friend to keep a low profile...but then she paused and looked to her side, Daniel was not there...she then saw him rushing to help the senior! The sister blinked then realized something, they were heroes, this is what they do! Though in her case she was going to be a bit more careful about it. 

 

As Daniel saw the armed men, he rushed towards them. This is what heroes were made for after all! As he activated his powers, one of the mugger's guns would glow faintly, purple, and then be yanked from his hands before rising up above him and driving down into his head, with the butt, knocking him out.

Iris, meanwhile, did take a more stealthy approach the fighting, making sure to keep tabs on her brother while doing this, before focusing on one of the robbers with a Mind Blast. He would drop his weapon and grip his head in pain as faint purple energy shot towards his head from Iris, after crying out in pain he would collapse on the ground.

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

“So much for not being conspicuous!” Rosalind bemoaned mostly to herself as she pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, hopefully enough to cover her face, as the bracelet anticipating her need began to glow softly

 

 

“Oh well, here we go!”

 

 

Taking to the air, surrounded by the normal glow, she got a sensible distance from the goons before shooting a burst of hard light to take down one of them.

[Avenger Assembled]

The Copper Knight simply backed one of the thugs up against a car, growling and snapping, trusting his friends to take the frightened man into custody. Maybe he couldn't do much to solve this problem for his friends, but he could certainly keep these bad guys from getting away. "Lo!" he added for the would-be robber's benefit. "Set aside your life of crime! Embrace the Church!" 

 

Neko rose to her feet, shaking her head, her tail lashing uneasily behind her. She was wearing her red and white kimono over her t-shirt and jeans, and found herself wishing for her Claremont uniform. "I don't know!" she called to the others. "This is not World War II," she added for the benefit of the other teens as much as herself. "The cars are small, and things are cleaner, and people have computers. But I don't - I don't know!" she added, frustration and her accent creeping into her voice. 

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Growing increasingly upset that her vacation was being ruined, even if it had technically ended already since they were traveling home, Carmen decided that the best medicine was to use the criminals robbing the bank to let out all that pent up anger on them. Without even blinking she had dashed out towards them, aiming for two of them with that were standing rather close to one another. It'd be a massive surprise for the two of them as she dashed right in, smashing one in the face with a fist aimed true and the other getting a kick to the legs to sweep them right off their feet. Another would follow with a knee to the stomach on the standing one. It was the usual with her, incorporating much of the gymnastic skill that she had learned in school. Not that it mattered, as she roared out a bit in anger.

 

"Come on. ¡Vete pa’l cará!"

[TheAbsurdist]

Jotunn was... Less upset. More bewildered, which showed in him being back half a step. Now he hadn't foiled any robberies prior, he was one of the least superheroically active in the school so he was trying to figure out what was the best tactic. As the other teens rushed in.

 

He pulled his mask that covered the lower half of his face and slipped it on, and with his other hand, he snapped his fingers, which signalled his power and chill white-blue aura around the hand and the front of van happened, as frost formed on the hood as he froze the engine block suddenly, enough to make the fluids expand and things crack.

 

All while trying to keep at eye out around them for... Who knows what.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

The armed thugs went down easily at the hands of the super powered teens (or in the case of the one cornered by Owain, dropped their weapon and surrendered). Just as the Claremont students stopped the last of the thugs, several police cars pulled up along the nearby sidewalk, two of them blocking the now disabled van on either side of it.

 

The police quickly exited their vehicles, but rather than move to start arresting the downed gunmen, they took up positions behind their squad cars and pulled out their pistols, aiming them at the group of teens. "Freeze! You all are under arrest for violations of the Moore Act!"

 

Bernadette had been a bit surprised at how the police had arrived with a seeming show of force but was even more surprised when they pulled their guns on her and her classmates. She froze a moment uncertain what to do.

 

Suddenly, two arrows imbedded themselves into the hoods of two of the police cars with audible *thunks* as they did. Immediately the arrows began emitting smoke that quickly filled the area around the police cars, clouding the police and obstructing their view.

The Claremont students then heard someone call from one of the doors to the casino. "Hey, this way. That smoke won't last forever." It was a woman dressed in a full-body black jumpsuit, with short black hair and sunglasses. She held a pistol in one hand (aimed at the ground) and was gesturing for the teens to come into the casino with her free hand. It seemed likely that she had been the one the gunmen had been shotting at as they had fled the casino.

 

Bernadette looked over at her fellow students, particularly focusing on Neko, Owain and Roslinda. The redhead gave a small shrug as if she seemed to feel it might be the best choice for the moment.

[Avenger Assembled]

Owain had been planning to change back into his normal form - and only a moment's hesitation had spared him from charging directly into what would surely have been gunfire. Not knowing what the Moore Act was, he declared boldly from his lupine form - "Fear not, friends! We are but-awp!" 

 

Neko had grabbed him by the ear and given him a hard tug, pointing towards the woman in the doorway who was trying to get them to safety. She had nothing to go on but instinct here, but she'd seen the faces of those cops and they were not like the men and women she'd seen Owain strive to be. They had eyes like the Katana's men. 

 

She snapped the fingers of her free hand and something appeared behind the police; a gigantic white and brown cat that gave a loud hiss as it swiped harmlessly at them with a huge paw. With that temporary distraction added to what they already had, she bolted for the shelter offered by the mystery woman, murmuring loud enough to be heard by all her friends "What is the Moore Act!?" 

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

As she looked down at the defeated thugs, she felt like she could take on a whole army, obviously not happy with the change of direction that their vacation had ended up. Naturally, this led to her being somewhat caught off guard when a dozen police showed aiming guns not just at the criminals but also at them as well. This was something that Carmen wasn't used to, immediately going out of her feral like state to be replaces with a rather confused look as she calmed down. It was a sort of strange feeling, utter confusion, suddenly realizing what sort of situation she was in right now. This wasn't some false Quirk reality but the real thing. The sights, the smells, nothing felt staged. Carmen was in actual danger.

 

It was fortunate that Neko's illusion and a smoke screen came to be, letting her run off in the direction of this stranger that was helping them escape from the police. Carmen has never been a casino before and now here she was entering one to flee from the police. Not what she thought her vacation would end on.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

Poor Daniel was so confused! They had taken out the bad guys, shouldn't the police be thanking them?! Everything happened so quickly, they were about to be arrested and now some random woman was calling on them all to follow her. Thanks fo Neko's destractions, he managed to slip away and rush off after everyone else. He looked behind as he did so however to make sure his sister was safe. 

 

Iris was indeed safe, she had taken a low profile when taking out the bad guys, so her slipping away was a lot more easily, she rushed in behind everyone else, she managed to keep up with everything. They were either someplace else in time or another dimension. This Moore Act was a clue, but they needed to get in a calmer place for the woman to collect her thoughts. Only then would she figure it out, or at least that was the hope.

 

"Damn it..."

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

“The Moore Act was like well back in the 1900s, right? Erm the 90s I think, technically I’m still not allowed in Shamong City limits even now… Or I guess in the future? Can I say how I really hate time travel!”

 

 

Whilst she’d been assured that the glowing field made her bulletproof, she wasn’t looking to test that theory any time soon. So she quickly floated back down to the rest of her teen friends.

 

 

“We should probably listen to them and get into cover! We’re in a dark age of no internet or wi-fi!”

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah knew he was tough, so he growled out an, "Everyone move I'll bring up the rear." He could turn into mist, so he could get away, period. And everyone else was his concern. Plus he was big, so he could always block the path as well, not that he was intending to get away. He was also keeping pace behind the rest as they were fleeing the scene of the crime. 

Yeah, he thought, think I need to do some reading up on stuff.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette had looked at Owain a bit incredulously as he initially tried to talk reason with the police who were aiming their pistols at them. When the smoke screen was in place and Neko added an illusion, the redhead started toward the exit offered by the mystery woman, taking a moment to make sure everyone was heading that way.
 

At Neko's question, the Irish teen respond, adding to what Roslind has already said. "Yeah, it was a law passed in the 80's that outlawed costumed heroes in Freedom City until the early 90's." Based on what Neko had been able to see, it was sounding like they were in the early 90's, which was still a problem, especially if it was when the Moore Act was still in place.

 

Once the teens had all ducked into the door, the woman let it shut behind them and started running through large open entrance to the casino. The Claremont students found it was something of a chaotic scene, with several other gunmen lying unconscious and scattered around the room.

 

A short ways in, the space opened up to a three-story ceiling, with an upper balcony ringing around a massive room filled with slot machines, poker, blackjack, roulette and craps tables. Two sets of stairs led from the front entrance up to the balcony above, one to the left, one to the right. Crouched on the railing of the stairs to the right was a female figure with feline features and covered in brown fur and wearing a yellow leotard. She looked over at the group, a slight snarl escaping her lips. "Who are they?" She asked in heavily accented English indicative of someone that was a native Spanish speaker.

 

"Metas that took care of the rest of the mobsters." The dark-haired woman replied before she glanced back to the Claremont students. "Not sure who you all are, but we have to move before the SWAT team arrives and this entire place gets cordoned off. There is an underground tunnel in the basement that can get us out and away from here, but we need to move."

 

The feline woman leapt off the railing and started bounding through the casino towards the far side of the large area.

 

Bernadette looked at the others. "Sounds like the best option." She stated before turning to follow.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 
 

“So it is time travel!” Iris whispered to herself. She was quietly listening at the back of the crowd. If she remembered what was discussed about Lawrence at Fiji was anything to go by, this might be restated to him sometime.
 

Daniel was curious, as he followed after Bernadette, he couldn’t help but ask the two women…”who are you two?!” He was around the front of the group while his sister stayed around the back, however she would follow if everyone else did. 

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

A voice, a figure, a scent in the air, up upon the stair's railing. Carmen's eyes were drawn to the woman and her distinctive features, as if she was looking in a mirror that she couldn't get away from. It was a trance. It was as if all her current thoughts and energy had been sapped out of her. There was only one sort of thing that was on her mind and yet, as she stood there in a rather aggressive stance from running into the casino, her body was trembling. Clawed fingers twitching as couldn't think forward beyond the point where she was looking at the woman above them on the stair, telling them to take the exit underground. Instead, her mind could only process to that point, hitting the roadblock that was that exact thought. 

 

Carmen had run in, scan the area, see the woman, stop. Run in, scan the building with her senses, see the same woman and stopped. It was that same thing again and again and again that it was only her losing her balance that broke her out of this sort of stupor. Carmen's aggression was now gone, tripping partially forward before she caught herself. Replaced with a face that appeared more confused if not terrified.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

"Hey, Carmen, let's move." Bernadette said quietly as she stepped up next to the cat girl, who seemed frozen in place with what appeared to be surprise at something. Given what the redhead had seen between Carmen and Neko, it could have to do with this other catgirl that had taken the lead in directing them towards the way out of the casino that would get them past any police. Once she was sure Carmen was following, the Irish teen began to run after as well, making sure all of the others were following along.

 

The dark-haired woman with the sunglasses glanced over at Daniel as she ran alongside him. "I'm Kismet and that's El Gato." She indicated the feline woman bounding ahead of them as they ran. "We are with Force Ops, but let's focus on getting out of here, then we can all deal with whatever questions we have."

 

Kismet and El Gato led the teens through the main part of the casino and then into a side door to the staff area. In there they took a stairway down to a basement area that was filled storage and staff areas and back in one corner was an old tunnel that went along with various utility lines away from the building.

 

The two women led the teens down the tunnel, which led to a basement in what turned out to be a parking building a little over a block away from the casino. As Kismet and El Gato led them down an alleyway, the Claremont students could hear the sounds of dozens of sirens behind them, in what sounded like the police surrounding the casino.

 

After traveling a few blocks, the two women made their way into an old warehouse that had most of its windows boarded up. El Gato jumped up on to a stack of boxes, sniffing at the air slightly as she looked over the teens, her gaze fixing on La Puma Negra. Kismet took a few deep breaths as she looked over at the Claremont students. But before she could speak, another voice called out.

"Who the hell are all of you?" The voice came from a man who stepped out of the shadows further into the warehouse. He was a black man about six feet tall with an athletic muscular build dressed in a red and white costume holding a bow in one hand. His belt had several large pouches on it and on his back was a quiver of arrows. "And what made you do something so stupid as to use powers in broad daylight?"

 

"And that's Archer." Kismet stated with a small smirk as the man drew closer to the group, looking at each of the Claremont students in turn with a cold, hard stare.

 

Bernadette glanced at the others a moment before she stepped forward. "That would be my fault, I sorta acted on impulse." She responded. "I'm Multi-Girl, my friends an' I, we are not really from here." She added.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko and Owain, used to being time-tossed refugees, had been silent for a little while, taking in the scene with wide eyes. When the teen heroes were confronted by Archer, Owain spoke up, still in his canine form. "Greetings, fellow heroes!" he declared, padding forward. "I am Owain Celliwig, also known as the Copper Knight-Enchanter. We have been displaced to your era by - well, we are not sure," he admitted, scratching his ear. "We will be 'out of your hair', if you will pardon the pun, ha-ha, as soon as you But I am sure we can come to some arrangement. Say, could you tell us the year?" 

 

"...Archer," said Neko out loud. Suddenly she remembered Archer, because she remembered the time Arrow had tangled with the younger members of the Black Dragon Society die Jungeubersoldaten, and how she had followed the adventures of that family line once she had awakened in the distant future. This gave her a greater understanding of where they were, and when. He wouldn't remember me, she thought. This Archer had lived fifty years after her war, and his mentor would have had no reason to tell him of such things. We are there still, frozen on that island. But what would be the point of awakening us now, in another alien world. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 
 

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Cerebellum and my sister at the back is Cerebral." Daniel spoke to Kismet before glancing back towards Iris. He made sure to use their superhero names, with time travel one could never be too careful. He may not be as book smart as his sister was but he was not stupid. Best to keep one's wit's about them. 

 

As they move through tunnel and up into the parking lot, then down an alleyway, Iris made sure to stay at the back, allowing Carmen to move in front of her should she desire to. This was mostly to make sure everyone made it out alright, as well as allowing the female twin to clock their area, making sure there were some escape routes they could use should they need to.

 

Soon they would run into Archer, his gaze was intimiating to Daniel who stepped forward next to Owain and Bernadetta. "Apologies Sir, we could not just stand by and let those criminals get away. We are heroes after all haha.." He rubbed the back of his neck. This was indeed rather awkward for him, they were in the past or some alternate timeline and he had no idea what to do.

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

”Thought I recognized them, sure I’ve seen them on a book cover somewhere!” she half mumbled to herself before adding a little more loudly “We’re all more or less from out of town, I’m from Shamong just down the road.”

 

 

Hoping that this was enough not to raise any more suspicion she turned to the others and whispered to them.

 

 

”I think we need to have a team meeting, away from prying ears, and work out what we’re going to do next.”