Yellow Beauty Burns Gold.

[Yukika Inoue]

"Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one-sided and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark’s unseen beauty is greater than it’s would-be judgment."

She wondered when she would finally come down. The air became less dense as she rose and she swore that she had passed out momentarily. A white figure, like a reverse-colored Grimm in the shape of a man, appeared in front of her talking about some nonsense. Too lightheaded to even understand what he meant, the blonde beauty swore that the sky had also turned white. She noticed now that the air was beneath her. In other words, her descent had begun. Damn, Nora has one intense uppercut.

As she approached the glassy, white floor of the Nexus, her vision seemed to clear. The blurriness faded and her breathing eased. Black dots below her were bunched in a cluster like how a chessboard would look if you removed all the white pieces about halfway into the game. Closer and clearer she began to notice that they were, in fact, people. Familiar people to Miss Xiao Long too; familiar, but not friendly. Especially not friendly when the blonde beauty, a rocket from terminal velocity, crash-landed on one of their faces. They wore black suits, lined in a fancy color of red. It was too good to be true, did Nora really knock her this far?

“Hellooooo, boys!” Yang waves with a cheeky grin as they recover from the reeling of seeing a teenage girl fall on top of one of their friends at 200 miles per hour. “Bet you didn’t expect to see me again, huh?”

Her jokes fell on deaf ears, though. They all reached for their weapons: Axes, swords, maces. Yang stood up off of the man she had crushed and dusted herself off. She smirked at them.

“You wanna do this again?” The blonde chuckled. “Okay then! Let’s go!”

The mechanical bracelets buzzed eagerly into position. Following her motions, she cocked Ember Celica’s rounds into the chamber, ready to be fired at a moments notice. The group of men rushed her, as they did the last time they met her. She would have thought they were smarter than that, but goons are goons.

The similarly dressed men gained on her, first behind her. Her arms flew behind her and the glorious explosion of her gun got her blood pumping. The force blasts from her weapons propel her forward and her enemy backward in return. Her target was too slow to dodge the oncoming right hook, but even as she closed in, time seemed to slow down between the two of them. The last thing he sees before going black is Yang wink at him.

BANG, click-click

Another caught up with her with his sword raised. As it descended upon her, Ember Celica clanged beautifully. The red blade cried out when it collided with the yellow steel blocked it. With a smirk, her free hand jabbed him in the chest, then a repetition of punches followed up before a shot fired from the golden gauntlets. One-Two-Three...BANG! click-click. The body flew into three others behind him. Yang grinned at the carnage she’d caused, but even still, there were more idiots willing to get in front of her mean right hook.

[Belle]

Well, that was a bust.

Belle adjusted the weight slung over her shoulder, two fingers slipped through the loop of a cord that connected to a draw-string bag that bumped against her shoulder blade as she walked.

She had intended to get away from everything, enjoy a small vacation at Sabaody Archipelago, when the Dark Data 'incident' occurred. From there she had fled, barely managing to escape the island with her life. She, along with other refugees, had been temporarily transported to the Tangled Green for examinations and treatment, and Belle had enjoyed a brief friendship with a girl she had met there before that girl had, it seemed, grown bored, and left her company unannounced.

Now it was time, she supposed, to head home.

Home. Belle grimaced. Home, an apartment with just enough room to not be qualified as a closet, where the bed was placed as far away from the front door as possible, yet the foot was still three strides from it. Where cigara burns and stains of what she hoped wasn't blood turned the 'carpet' into something that resembled a child's fingerpainting canvas. Where the glow of the Midnight Rose's neon sign glared like a baleful beacon through the slats, and Tier Four's mechanical groaning occasionally drowned out the sounds of passing sirens. At least she hadn't had to deal with Primes down there.

Yet.

The white abyss stretched before her. Tangled Green gate at her back, Belle consulted the crudely drawn 'map' in her free hand. A passing traveler had offered it up as compensation for her assistance in scaring away a few overeager predators.

Speaking of kids, what kind of drawing is this, anyway? Belle thought, squinting at the blobs and uneven writing. She turned left, then right, looking from the paper to the nearly featureless void in front of her.

Black dots in the distance, just on the horizon... Those were the other gates. Counting them out, she determined that the third gate on her right was the way back to Coruscant.

Folding the paper back along the creases, she slipped it into her bag, readjusted it once more, then started to walk. With there being scarce little else in the way, she chose the direct path, cutting across the Nexus' blank disc, rather than following the edge. Ten minutes after leaving, she paused, checking over her shoulder, and looking about the Nexus' interior, checking to see if the coast was clear.

If she used some of her power now, she could probably get away with it. All she had to do was make sure to cut back before anyone at the Coruscant gate had the chance to notice her.

Taking a deep breath, Belle closed her eyes. Reaching inside of herself with her mind's grasp, she sought the welling heat that was at the core of her being. She fumbled for a moment, seeking in the dark, before she felt the flame, pulled towards it like an eager moth. She touched it, felt the flow, the heat feeling like it was spreading through every vein in her body as she became aware of it, inch by inch.

Skin tingling, she crouched, took another breath, and launched herself forward. Exhileration flooded her, air whipping against her face. She squinted, her eyes starting to water almost immediately. How fast was she going? It was hard to tell, especially here. Fifty, maybe sixty miles an hour? She tore across the distance; all the while her mind focused, fixated on the image of her running body.

She had to stop several times to recover. Although her muscles weren't actually contracting with the motions, she nevertheless had to keep them tensed to support her body weight. Her legs ached from the repeated impacts, and she felt the tightness that warned of an impending cramp.

Halfway home, she made another halt. Bent over, breathing hard, perspiration on her brow, she frowned. Come to think of it, in her training sessions with Yuki, it had always been brief bursts of motion, never an endurance test. Being discrete would have been difficult, after all, if someone saw her running down the Coruscant streets at speeds fast enough to star in a low-budget television adaptation of the Flash.

She made a mental note: convince the old woman to get a treadmill.

BANG.

Belle started upright, hands half raising. The sound reverberated through the air. A gunshot? Something close, at least. Definitely not a firework; when you lived on Tier Four, you tended to learn the difference pretty quickly.

BANG.

She looked to her left. Small figures silhouetted against the white canvas of the Nexus were moving back and forth, far enough away that, if she were to hold up a finger at arm's length, they'd resemble a small ant.

The mental image of the map popped into her head. If she was about halfway to Coruscant, cutting across the Nexus, that meant that, whoever they were, they were close to the Fountain.

And that meant a Prime.

Despite her experience, Belle swallowed and took a half step back. Sure, Heidi, Mickey, and Blues had been alright people, but the majority of Primes were reported to be practically psychopaths. No matter what flowery language they tried to use, there seemed to be at least one media report a month about a Prime going on a rampage and causing mass chaos and Secondary casualties.

As a Secondary herself, Belle preferred to not be included in those reports.

But then again, if she really felt that way, why did she even bother getting stronger in the first place?

Swallowing again, Belle took another breath, steadied herself, and lowered her stance.

~+~+~+~

One of the darkly-dressed men raised a long, curved blade over his head. After watching several of his friends get savaged by the blonde's firearm gauntlets, he was unable to stave off the feeling of simmering fear twisting in his gut. Drowning it in a cascade of defiance, letting out a yell from the depths of his belly, he started to charge.

Then stopped. A firm grip had tightened around his raised wrist. "Let me go!" he barked, trying to pull free. The hand refused to obey. "Didn't you hear me?! Let me at the bitch!"

Furious that his moment of bravado had been quashed, he whipped his head around to spit venom at whoever was responsible, only to find an unfamiliar pair of blue eyes staring at him, framed by blood-red hair.

"The fuck-" he started to say, then stopped, his words ending in a strangled yelp as the hand holding his wrist twisted ever so slightly. His fingers loosened, relaxing his muscles and trying desperately to ease the pressure. What the Hell was going on?! Did they make a mistake? There wasn't supposed to be anyone else here! "Oi, Bruno, do something!" he yelled out, calling to his closest comrade. "Waste this freak!

"...Bruno?!"

"If Bruno's the guy with the bald head that's wider than he is tall, he's taking a nap," the red-headed girl explained. She was breathing heavily, there were cuts on her cheek and arm, but her grip held fast. Behind her, the man spied the half dozen collapsed forms of his compatriots.

"Wh... who the Hell are you?" he demanded as another BANG shook the air. About twenty meters away, the Golden Terror was busy launching people into the air. "The Hell do you think you're doing?!"

"That's my line. Thirty on one?" The blue eyes narrowed. "Even if she is a Prime, that's pretty low. What, did she pull you into this place when she was brought over? I guess I'd be pissed, too."

Another tightening of the grip. He felt his bones creak. The Hell is this bitch going on about?! Whatever. Whatever, whatever! We'll just handle this one, too! His free hand flicked, the weight in his suit's sleeve transferring from its concealed holster to his palm. His fingers closed around the handle, and with a snap of spring-loaded action, the blade within locked into place. With another yell, he drove the gleaming steel towards his captor's belly.

He found only air. The pressure on his wrist was gone. And so was the girl. He stared at the space where she had been standing, blinking a few times, his sunglasses askew, his switchblade's outstretched edge trembling. What had just happened?

Even as he tried to collect himself, the voice came again, this time behind him. "Still," it said, almost in his ear. "It isn't right."

As he turned, he caught a brief flash of movement, a blur of red, before something small and hard smashed into his chin. Lights popped before his eyes, darkness swimming at the edges of his vision as he lost balance. He wasn't aware of falling - just that something wide and hard had slapped against his back. His eyes closed, and he joined Bruno in an extended nap.

[Alexander Blakesley]

The ornamental gate was titanic even from afar, the Pilot was not even quarter of the way to approaching the gate. For a moment, Alexander stopped his quick march to gawk at the sheer size of the doors. The Atlean remained calm if slightly apprehensive; he had no idea if using this transit system worked, or if not send him to oblivion. Nothing about this situation made any sense or more sense than the usual battle against the IMC.The more thought he applied to the situation the more question appeared than answers. He couldn’t contact Freya or the rest of his squad or his superiors, RC was nowhere in sight, and he wasn’t even sure if he could get back home. He looked at the gate, then the fountain and threw his head back in exasperation as he wasn't even near the damn doors.

A loud cracking noise in the area snapped Alexander back into focus. His sharp hearing registered it as gunfire coming from behind him at quite a distance away. In several seconds the Atlean captain raised his Flatline assault rifle, switched the safety catch off and spun around to a crouching position to face the source of the gunfire. Despite it being quite far off he could pick out the group of dark-clothed assailants attacking a young woman with bizarre shotgun gauntlets and a redheaded woman at the fountain. He assessed the situation, he flicked the safety catch on, secured the Flatline onto his armour and reached for his Longbow DMR. The Longbow was a rifle far more suited to pick off the targets from the range between them and his current position.

“Weapons free, going loud!” Alexander yelled, cautioning the girls before flicking the safeties off, looking through the rifle’s scope to aim. His crosshairs lined up on a sword-wielding attacker about to take a swing at the blonde-haired woman. Making the necessary calculations in his mind, Alexander adjusted his shot accordingly. With a pull of the trigger, a hypervelocity round zipped past her, smacking into the assailant’s face turning it into a fine pink mist, killing the attacker before his corpse could hit the ground. Alexander lined his sights up on the next target, a mace wielder charging at the redhead with all too eager enthusiasm to break her with it.

“Nice mace ya got; also there’s something on your face...” The Pilot muttered as he pulled the trigger. The shot connected to the target’s face, sending the attacker spinning into their death throes on the floor near the woman.

“No wait, that was your face. My bad.” Alexander mockingly apologised before turning his attention to the next target. Another sword-wielder in the leading group who was waiting for an opportunity to take a swing at the blonde. Alexander trained his sights upon the sword-wielder, finger on the trigger ready to deliver the kill shot before the blonde woman flew quite literally into his crosshairs.

“Come on Blondie move your arse out the way...” He growled in annoyance. He tried to pick off individuals in the group, but the shotgun-gauntleted woman thwarted the majority of his attempts. She jumped into his crosshairs to savage the hostiles, preventing him from taking shots at risk of friendly fire. Instead, he waited patiently for an opening each time this occurred; he attempted to predict her attack patterns and adjusted accordingly by timing his shots to her movements. While he admired the girl’s fiery spirit, he didn’t like her tendency to jump into his sights just as he was about to pull the trigger. He continued unloading deadly suppressive fire into the enemy group with machine-like precision, counting each shot before it was time to reload. Honed through military training and years of experience, he ejected the empty magazine placing it into a pocket in his bandolier, replacing it with a full magazine and returned to giving covering fire for the girls with speed and efficiency.

[Ms. Marvel]

Dandelion locks danced against slender shoulders, spandex clung to voluptuous fair skin, and thick long lashes harbored the sparkling blue eyes that peered back at Ms. Marvel. Staring at her distorted reflection, offered by the gate’s nebula of ionized gas, the heroine’s long legs had already carried her through an expanse of alabaster to her destination. She wasn’t certain where it would take her, but it wouldn’t be Camelot. Shang Tsung wouldn’t be there, and that was good enough for her. 

Before stepping through the gate and experiencing the vertigo that was portal traveling, she decided that, this time, she would conceal her identity. She hadn’t done this before, and she couldn’t help feeling a little silly, a little embarrassed, but she began to focus the summoning power granted to her as a prime.

“Let’s see…” the beauty pondered, as she placed a finger to a glossy lip, and tapped it a few times, “Daisy Dukes…”

With her eyes closed, Ms. Marvel’s mind became her sight, “Cowboy boots… White halter top.” After a few moments, she discovered the truth in Omni’s claims, “Oh my god! I can’t believe it!” A swirling orb of Omnilium had transformed itself into garments right in front of her! Being a little too excited to contain herself, the heroine squealed in ecstasy, “Yaaaaaasssss! Girl, forget the past! You are just going to looove it here!”

Ecstatic, she began to clothe herself, but before she could even get one boot on, she was interrupted by a deafening combustion of a firearm’s discharge. Watermelon lips curled into an expression of somber as the heroine abandoned dressing, took flight, and left the clothes discarded and sprawled out onto the Nexus floor. Heading straight for the gunshot, garbed in her hero’s best, she sighed, “A hero’s work is never done.”

Rocketing through the Nexus at a whooping speed of… twenty miles an hour… Jesus she was slow. Had she always been this slow in the Omniverse? She couldn’t remember, but it was definitely noticeable now. It made her homesick for Earth, for New York, hell, who was she kidding? It made her homesick for her luxury penthouse suite. What she wouldn’t give for a double mocha latte Frappuccino right now. (Later it would dawn on her that she could just summon one. At that point she will concede that life is complete. God bless Omnilium. Coffee is life.)

But why? Why was this happening to her? Why her? She’d been so upset about it, she would have cried, had it not been for the task at hand. On approach, she could make out several armed men, and they all appeared to be firing at a couple of women; cowards. She would just have to push her feelings off to the side for now, and besides, it wasn’t like it would be too hard to distract herself. If there was one thing Ms. Marvel loved to do, it was clobbering bad guys.

“Hey you,” the vigilante shouted as she careened across the white battlefield, slamming her fist into an unsuspecting marksmen, “put that sniper rifle down!”

Alright I'm in and...  I attacked Alexander, because confusion makes for great story! (I hope) Lol, sorry Alex! xD

[Alexander Blakesley]

Alexander continued firing into the group of hostiles, thinning them out for the shotgun-gauntleted girl too focused on the task at hand to realise a newcomer was outflanking him. He didn’t hear the newcomer’s demands. Instead, he was about to line up for another shot when he felt something hit his head. Something with enough force to send him not only flying a few metres away from the impact’s direction but send his sniper rifle flying too. It hurt, it felt like someone took a sledgehammer and swung it to the side of his head, repeatedly. His body slammed into the ground as gravity worked its magic, his vision swam, unable to catch whatever hit him and the impact winded him.

“What the hell hit m-” Alexander groaned. He cut himself off as his vision returned to see what, or better yet who hit him. A blonde-haired beauty of a woman clad in what could only be a form-fitting superhero outfit. This situation just kept getting more and more bizarre, it took a few seconds for Alexander to process, or try to process this new information. Superheros? Sharply dressed henchmen with a variety of nasty instruments of brutality? Shotgun-gauntlets? He either was transported to the Marvel universe, or this universe was laughing at his sensibilities through absurdity. Alexander swiftly began questioning his sanity at this point, if not abandoning examining it altogether.

“Superheros... First this place, now Superheroes? Ok sure of course…” Alexander muttered in disbelief as he picked himself back up. Drawing his bayonet in one hand, leaving his other hand free he assumed a combat ready position. While he was prepared to defend himself, he opted to de-escalate the situation first by talking to this woman. Trying to glean motive behind this newcomer’s actions, why she was helping the assailants in harassing these young girls if she was working with them. Or if she was just a bystander confused, thinking he was working with the assailants to which he intends on correcting and clarifying to her if that were the case. Either way, he was going to get answers even if he had to do it by force.

“Ok, who hired you to attack these girls? Why are you and your buddies over there after these girls? Who are you?” Alexander asked. His tone was calm, authoritative but slightly betrayed his anger at these people who were intent on harming kids. His eyes focused squarely on hers, delivering a fierce glare that cautioned her to chose her next words with exceptional care. In his mind what these people were doing went heavily against his moral code and made them little better than the IMC. He maintained his calm, professional demeanour despite the outrage he felt. He couldn’t allow his emotions to cloud his judgement and dictate his actions. Otherwise, mistakes would create opportunity, opportunities his enemies would no doubt capitalise on.

He sized up the Blonde bombshell of a woman, judging by her muscular build she could give and take punishment in equal measure. Capable of outspeeding and outmanoeuvring her, but lacked the force to deal a decisive blow, couldn’t take as much punishment as she could. His mind ran combat simulations but came to the same conclusion. Equally matched in their own right, a conflict was more or less a futile endeavour at best, and if she was a bystander, they could instead focus their attention on the assailants. Considering her superheroine nature, he chose to appeal to her more noble and well-meaning character.

“Listen, if you are just a bystander, I can assure you I was firing at the sharply dressed minions, not the girls. You mean well, and I can understand why you’d go after me. Considering it looked like I was aiming in their direction, I would have made the same conclusion myself.” Alexander stated reassuringly. Admittedly, if he were in her place, he would come to the same assumption and act accordingly.

“Although Shotgun-gauntlets over there kept jumping into my sights, a lot. I mean look at her, she’s bouncing around like a punch-crazy maniac. Several times I nearly caused friendly fire because she jumped in the way of my sights when I was picking off those goons. Besides the point, ask yourself this: What could I possibly gain from this act of cowardice by harming a child? Or teenager, but the question stands. Nothing, I just arrived in this place, and already people are trying to kill me. That’s record time in my books, an unfortunate and unwanted record but one nonetheless....” Alexander continued, applying logic with a dash of humour to his case. Posing a question for the superheroine to ponder over, he tried to sway her into helping him in aiding the shotgun-gauntleted girl fight back against her assailants.

[Yukika Inoue]

Bullets whirred by the golden beauty, but she was used to it with Ruby working her sniper from afar. She had assumed her sister’s insane speed had caught up with her. Twenty, or so, men couldn’t take down one girl, and now they were taking on two and a sniper. Hey wait… who’s this chick with pink hair? Nora...nope no hammer.

Realizing by now the goons were hopelessly outmatched, the amount of them left conscious began to make their retreat towards the Coruscant gate. Yang noted the direction and watched them leave to lick their wounds. Once they were out of earshot and no long an immediate threat, Goldilocks turned to her new friend and outstretch her hand. Ember Celica returned to their bracelet form as she did so with a satisfying click.

“Hellllooooo~” She waved, her voice soft, yet still somewhat firm. “Yang Xiao Long, nice to meet ya.”

She looked over at the sniper, only to realize that it was not Ruby at all. Another random person, a man and a very heroic-looking woman. She wondered if they were other hunters. Nevertheless, she continued to greet Belle while the other two made their way towards them.

[Belle]

Belle eyed the offered hand, hesitating. Then, against her better judgment, she extended her own, releasing the last goon from her headlock to shake hands. "Belle. Nice to, uh, meet you, too," she said, glancing aside as the man retreated to join his fellows. "So," she said after a moment's silence. "Was there a reason for all that, or do you just make friends that easily?"

The blonde chuckled, releasing Belle's hand after a short shake and squeeze that left Belle's fingers aching. She was strong, but that wasn't exactly a surprise for a Prime. "Oh, you know how it is with boys," she answered with a smirk, her tone matching Belle's sarcasm. One boot nudged a groaning goon sprawled across the blank ground. "Doesn't take much to have them falling all over you. Or just over."

"Right," Belle said, her eyes glancing at Yang's bracelets. Weird weapons. She hadn't been able to watch the girl fight much, but they seemed to shoot ... Something. Bullets? No, if that was the case, there'd be a lot more blood on the floor. Her eyes followed the speckled trail of red towards the retreating men's destination. "They're headed for Coruscant, too. Great."

"Coruscant?" Yang repeated the word, hands on her hips and giving Belle a quizzical cock of the head. "What's that? Or I guess a better question would be-" she lifted her hands, palms up, to gesture around. "Where am I?"

Belle's brow furrowed. Then, this was a newcomer? A so-called 'Fountain Fresh' Prime? "Didn't the big guy give you the spiel?" she asked. Belle hadn't encountered it herself, but Dataverse accounts were pretty clear on the fact that Primes were supposed to get a talking to. Something to lay it out for them, at least generally. But the way Yang was looking at her made her doubt her assumptions. "Anyway, you're in the Nexus..."

Belle explained the landscape as they walked, away from the scattered, stirring fallen and towards the other two that had joined in the battle. If this were home - her actual home, that is - Belle would have done something like call the cops. But while there were law-enforcement groups in each individual verse, the Nexus itself was sort of - as she'd heard it described - international waters.

Yang seemed to think Belle was making it up, pulling her leg, often snickering and offering a sarcastic remark. Belle didn't blame her; she had thought that someone was playing an elaborate prank on her, too, the first time she showed up. She allowed her guard to lower - just a little. It was hard not to be sympathetic.

As they got closer to the two figures, Belle's steps momentarily stilled. The man with the gun seemed pretty "standard," all told, for a 'future space marine' that you might see on the cover of some paperback in the sci-fi section of the book store. The other one, though... A superhero? Or at least someone with a spandex fetish. She looked the part. Of the former, not the latter. Not that the latter was bad or anything...

Wait, why was she stammering in her head?

Belle walked up with Yang. "Uhm," she started to say, then stopped. She looked at each in turn, then looked at and thumbed to Yang. They were all late-comers to this impromptu shindig-by-fist, so Yang should probably be the one to lead off.

"Thanks!" the golden-haired fighter said, and gave the two a cheerful thumbs up and a wide grin. "So, which one of you can tell me where the exit's at? This has been fun and all, but I was sort of in the middle of something."

[Ms. Marvel]

“Okay, okay,” the heroine stammered after accessing cybernetic soldier and the situation, “when this is over, I’ll have to buy you a beer, if you do that sort of thing.” Raising to the air with a giggle, several feet above the gunman, she addressed him a finale time before zipping off to battle, “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll stay out of your cross-hairs.”

Advancing into battle, Ms. Marvel felt the seconds before combat drone on. It was strange, not moving at the speed of a bullet, but, unfortunately for the nearest suit, she still hit like one. Gloved knuckles tore through his bottom right incisor and dislocated his jaw, all before the momentum caught up to his body, sending the gunman skipping and tumbling against the nexus floor, like a rock to water.

The heroine was true to her word, once the assailant’s face left Marvel’s fist, she soared upward, free of the danger from friendly fire. High above the fray of bullets, fists, and steel, the space around Carol Danvers began to tremble. A golden aura, charged with electric-photon properties, enveloped her body, and caused a volley of concussion blasts and energy beams to rain down upon the remaining suits.

With most of the enemy beaten or in retreat, Ms. Marvel lowered herself next to Alexander. “Nicely done,” she said as she used her thumb to indicate the women several yards away, “but let’s make sure they’re okay before we celebrate.”

With the futuristic soldier in tow, the pair of primes made their way towards the girls.

"Thanks!" the golden-haired fighter said, and gave the two a cheerful thumbs up and a wide grin. "So, which one of you can tell me where the exit's at? This has been fun and all, but I was sort of in the middle of something."

“Couldn’t tell you,” Ms. Marvel answered, “and I get the feeling we’re all in that boat.” Carol accessed the two ‘victims’ for injury. If you could call them that, they handled themselves as well as any Ms. Marvel had ever seen. Still, it was best to be vigilant. ”How did we make it out over here?” The blonde heroine asked, “Are you two hurt?” She reassured them with her smile, nodded to her new acquaintance, and gave her hero’s best, “We came as quickly as we could. How can we help?”

[Alexander Blakesley]

“Think I’ll need it after that freight train of a punch. Remind me to not piss you off next time.” Alexander joked, placing his bayonet carefully back in its sheath. Walking over to collect up his Longbow, he briefly assessed the rifle for damage and ejected the magazine, inspecting the munition contents within and placed it back into the rifle. Satisfied it was still combat effective, he rested the stock of the rifle against his shoulder in a idle lowered stance. Alexander drew a mental sigh of relief, he successfully persuaded the blonde-haired superheroine to focus their attention upon the sharply dressed adversaries instead of fighting each other. Once again his quick thinking and smooth talking had saved him from unpleasant circumstances.

“Wise and healthy advice. Now let’s get back in there, I’ve got you covered.” the Pilot remarked enthusiastically, nodding towards the ongoing brawl he crouched, rifle raised ready to engage the enemy. Despite the enemy’s initial numerical superiority the battle was swinging rapidly in Allied favour. The sharply dressed group’s numbers swifty nosedived under the Shotgun-gauntleted woman’s brutal assault and even further when Alexander engaged. His precise sniper fire forced the enemy to attempt to clear the large gap and engage the Shotgun-gauntleted woman or be picked off through his sights. The enemy was getting desperate and throwing everything they had against the Shotgun-gauntleted woman and the redhead civilian.

Waiting for the superheroine to advance, he began peeking through his scope he took the briefest moment to admire her feminine physique. “Yep, definitely a comic book superheroine.” He thought to himself, a small cheeky grin emerged on the Pilot’s face before vanishing into a neutral expression. With him and this superheroine newcomer pressing a counterattack against their flank, the enemy faltered leaving him and the women being capable of finishing them off. His crosshairs darted between target to target, with each pull of the trigger the enemy’s numbers slowly but surely dwindled. What happened next struck Alexander with awe and the smallest feeling of fear. After she delivered a deadly uppercut to an unfortunate, now airborne suited thug, the Superheroine leapt up in the air. Ascending high into the air, a brilliant golden aura enshrouded her, bolts of electricity whipped and darted around her immediate vicinity.

Moments later volleys of gold-coloured energy beams and concussive explosions coming from the woman’s aura decimated the enemy group. Men and weapons alike were sent high into the air from the barrage. He hesitated as he observed the spectacle, it didn’t take long for the survivors of the group to break into a complete rout. Alexander watched as the thugs ran, pitifully humiliated, leaving their wounded to their fates to save their own skin. Those who stayed thinking they could still win he put down with ruthless efficiency.

“You weren’t so bad yourself back there.” The Atlean replied with a playful tone. It was a small victory, yet the engagement drained his munition supplies with no way to replenish them. Once the battle was over, Alexander lowered the rifle’s barrel and followed the Superheroine towards the pair targeted by the thugs. Approaching the pair he wordlessly observed their surroundings as the conversation progressed. Fully expecting a counterattack to occur, his grip on the Longbow was solid, his finger while kept well away from the trigger was just one motion away.

Getting a good look at the pair uninterrupted by thugs, Alexander came to two startling discoveries; one was how young they looked, they appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties, the Atlean held no doubts that the thugs had nothing benevolent planned for these girls had they succeeded. The second, and the one that troubled Alexander the most. The redheaded woman bore an uncanny resemblance to Freya. The short, fiery red hair. The feminine physique although Freya’s physique was more well toned and, admittedly more well endowed, not to say this woman was small, far from it. But what freaked Alexander out of most, her eyes. One reason that drew Alexander to Freya was her beautiful, ocean blue eyes that reminded him of the clear blue skies of home. This woman had the similar shade of blue, it not more intense. He tried to avert his sight from her as much as he could, as if he needed further reminders that he had to return to his universe.

[Yukika Inoue]

"Hey, thanks for the help guys." Yang said with a wave as the two other closed into hearing range. "I totally could have handle them by myself though. Either way, I appreciate it."

The blonde offers a thumbs up with a smile. Her eyes moved to the woman that looked almost like blonde Pyrrha, if Pyrrha fought with her fists instead of that sword she uses.

"You can fly? That pretty cool." She says to Ms. Marvel.

"Yes, something of a special gift, to explain it quickly." The heroine responded. Judging by Yang's carefree expression, she seemed undetered.

"So, it was cool to meet you guys and fight with ya, but those guys are my only way out of this...weird place. Maybe they can tell me how to get back to Beacon from here." She says, offering a handshake to them all before turning her back to follow. "See ya!"

[Belle]

Belle reached out and snagged Yang's scarf, bringing the golden-haired boxer to an unceremonious halt. "Hold it."

Even if she didn't like Primes, she liked turning her back on someone who needed help even less. It was a bad habit, as Yuki - the old woman who was her "mentor" - would no doubt put it. She was always sticking her nose where it didn't belong. She couldn't help it; it was reflexive.

No, that wasn't quite accurate. If she wanted, she could run away. It's what the voice in the back of her head yelled at her whenever shit started to get really bad. It would be easy, the voice would coax; she could stop being afraid right now. All she had to do was run.

But then another voice, deeper inside, would remind her gently what it felt like to be alone and afraid. What it felt like when you knew that no one was coming. It would remind her of an outstretched hand, a warm pair of arms, that had pierced the darkness and lifted her from her utmost loneliness and into the light. And when she thought about that person, and those strong eyes, she couldn't bear the thought of seeing them cloud with disappointment.

"What?" Yang demanded. "They're getting away."

There was something about those purple eyes that reminded Belle of that day.

"Hello?" the gauntleted warrioress' voice rose, her brows furrowing. Yang's voice lowered, turning serious. "You're gonna wanna let go."

Belle let go. "I'll help you," she said simply.

"Thanks? But I've got it under control," Yang said, thumbing at herself before turning to leave once more.

"Do you know where to go? Coruscant's a big place," the floating superheroine asked, drifting up by Belle's side.

"There can't be too many places to hide a club like their's. Believe me, it's not going to be a problem," Yang said, waving a hand dismissively as she walked. "I mean, I'd ask these guys," she indicated the fallen that hadn't been rescued by their comrades, "but they're not going to wake up any time soon. So."

The man with the gun walked past them, and knelt by one of the dark suited men. Opening the man's coat, he checked inside, then stood, expression triumphant. In his fingers, he held a dark, rectangular piece of glossy, stiff paper. "Who needs to ask?" he said, waving his prize with a wry smile. "A business card's worth a thousand words."

Yang slowed to a stop, and turned her head to look over her shoulder at them. An expression of annoyance attempted to mask her interest. She stared long and hard at them, then sighed. "I can already tell," she muttered, then smirked. "You guys are as bad as Ruby."

Yang turned to them, one hand on her hip. "Alright, then. Fine. We'll be team... What's your names?"

"Belle," Belle said.

"Miss Marvel," the superheroine answered.

"Alex," said the man.

Yang's face screwed up. "Those really aren't any good. How am I supposed to make a color out of those letters?"

"Jeez, sorry," Alex muttered. "How inconsiderate of me."

"Well, what am I supposed to call us? YAMB? BAMY?" Yang slapped her forehead. "Ugh, forget it. For now, we're team MAYB! As in, maybe I'll come up with something better later. After we get these guys!

"Now, let's see that card..."

[Belle]

Thread continues in Golden Girls