A Bloodstained Mantle

"Ok, hold on buddy," you yell, your rider grasping for dear life onto his saddle as you drop into a dive and begin to rapidly reshape yourself.

"Get ready to jump off as we level out, then keep Fire off me until he goes monster, in the meantime I'll deal with the help."

You break out of the dive an instant before you crash into the dirt and your transformation completes itself, Ice-Pal following your commands to the letter and landing in a roll just as as Fire makes his move.

He twists through the air, cloaked in fire like a comet burning up as it enters the atmosphere and dives at literally breakneck speeds, blue-white flame erupting from his aura and striking the ground between you, which detonates with an ear piercing boom.

Even as it screamed down you were already moving, already twisting to yourself pull yourself beyond the blast's reach with four fresh wings, far more maneuverable than their predecessors. Far more maneuverable, but only halfway finished.

The blast flickers across your body in the blink of an eye, its screaming kiss repelled by armored plates and a thick layer of fire repellent mucus the color of snot.

Meanwhile your newfound companion doesn't even try to dodge, instead raising a half dome whose thick walls blunt the wave of flame with little more than a spray of ice.

With that reassurance that your new friend can handle himself you feel no trepidation as you leave Fire behind to deal with the mooks, the faster of whom are already aiming for you.

It's easy to pick out new and improved band of mooks from their peers, they sport black, glossy carapace-like armor and sport a sort of clearly fantastical rifle, their tips closing feintly with pale white light.

Most of all though, it's the way they move, each man's gate and posture nearly identical to the rest, with only the smallest difference between them.

You dive for the first one in the blink of an eye, a venomous tentacle whip lashing out at the first of them as you prepare to move on before it even connects. So certain are you that you almost don't believe your eyes when your first target ducks beneath the flashing whip, tracks your movements almost perfectly and blasts you right in the face.

The bolt of shining energy shatters on your face-plate like a snowball on a tank, but your first target is not alone, a storm of energy chases you as you dodge and weave through the air, one lucky (it must have been luck, right?) shot striking a small gap in your plated hide.

You hiss in pain as you duck through the rest of the barrage, it's not serious, but a death by a thousand cuts is a terrifyingly real possibility.

Then you hear it, a whistling tune, cold and sad. And with that the needles of wind begin to assail you with murderous frenzy, bouncing off your eyelids and clawing ineffectually against your armor as they seek the bleeding blast wound beneath your armpit.

Wind is here. Standing behind a protective wall of her super-mooks in a subtly armored coat, her pale, aquiline face showing not but calm and focus as she directs the winds against you with a gentle tune. Not a single hair of her short blonde ponytail out of place.

Once more you lash out at one of the super-mooks, this time slamming into their breastplate and sending them sprawling before they somehow recover, rolling to their feet just as Fire goes on the attack again, blasting at you with an arm thick beam of white hot flame when your shining friend leaps to your side, propelled by a pillar of ice.

The fire dies with a flick of the wrist and a spray of frost, "focus on me you ugly son of-" he starts, interrupted by Wind's cold command. "Shoot the new one."

A hailstorm of bullets eagerly obeys but Ice-Pal is already ducking away, barely dodging and deflecting his way through a small hailstorm of glowing bolts as bullets ping off his armor until one shining bolt finds a fault in his hastily grown ice shield, blasting it apart and forcing him to dive into a nearby ditch to find a short lived reprieve from the lucky shot's younger siblings.

Meanwhile you're still in a fight for your life, ducking and dodging and weaving through a dozen shots, another bolt cracking your carapace just the first wound closes itself.

A distant part of your mind notes in relief that the wind has ceased its endless assault on your scales before the rest of your brain catches up and your head whips to look for your ally as a tiny fracture in his armor expands before exploding in every direction.

At his scream the wind intensifies, ripping at the suddenly exposed flesh with impossible violence in the brief moment before it's reshielded, shielding flesh and stanching the blood flow within transparent blue ice.

You need to get out of this situation and fast, and so, you take a risk, lashing out with everything you have, trying to punch a hole in their lines and get to the leader behind them.

You catch the first of them in the side, a venomous barb at the end of the whip-limb slipping in through a gap in his armor near the thigh joint, the next falls when you knock them off their feet and huck them as hard as you can, the third is injected through their faceplate.

From there conscious thought fades as you press the advantage, another guard falls, then another, and another, then two more and finally you're in front of Wind, ready to pounce when her eyes flash with impossible light and she opens her mouth to shout.

A wave of air catches your wings, sending you sailing backwards, out of easy reach.

Your mind races in the silence which follows her shout, frantically trying to put things together. She couldn't do that three months ago, you know it for a fact, three months ago she'd have folded like laundry if you could catch her in melee.

"You've really been hitting the… whistling gym." You finish lamely, "Did you and your new flunkies learn at the same place? Because if so I'd just surrender now."

Wind laughs as Fire circles back around, his light more faded than ever, keeping her eyes trained both on you and on Ice-Pal, slinking around to flank her despite the wound. "Old minions actually, but regardless. I have to say, life just keeps on throwing good fortune my way, first your self righteous fool of a boss gets himself killed, and now you're here, on your own, with no help for miles around a sight lines so unobstructed I could kill a fly ten miles away. It will be oh so satisfying when i figure out just the right spot to hand your freakish little body from."

As she says that though, a second version of your voice whispers into your ear, "I wouldn't chase you if you tried to run and live to fight another day, as much as I might enjoy your death, it might prove… troublesome, to keep my men from running under control without STAR's looming presence to hold things together. Though it will of course have to look like a fight."

Some of her super mooks begin to pick themselves up as she speaks, even despite the broken bones and paralytic venoms you inflicted upon them, though you of course doubt they can fight as well as they might have before you taught them what happens to the sort of foul, back biting, conniving, dishonest- calming breaths, calming breaths.

O-O-O-O-O


Combat log: to be painfully sorted through and recorded here when I'm less tired.


[ ] Take the Deal and run

[ ] Stand your ground and fight her.
-[ ] New strategy?

Oh, also, you guys are down a hero point, it was used to turn that last attack of yours from a miss into a chain of takedowns.

You glare across the battlefield into the cold, seemingly indifferent eyes of a woman you've fought for as long as you can remember, your gaze flickers across the slowly rising forms of her minions and then to your new friend, quick thinking and a versatile power the only reason he hasn't been painted across the ditch.

In the end, the answer is easy, you barely have to think before you snap into motion, clearing the distance between you and your new ally in a moment before picking him up and twisting in the air to make your escape.

A bolt of fire, smaller and weaker than before, misses you by an absurd margin, almost like something threw off his aim. Meanwhile Wind's whistle still echoes across the wilderness, though each blade is suddenly much less forceful, no longer carefully probing for weaknesses.

Fire surges one more time, a dying rocket sending one last bolt of fire which spikes into the ground beneath you, this one finally so lackluster you doubt you'd have even felt it if it had connected.

Then the fire fades enough he can no longer keep up with you, and you leave the two of them behind.

After taking a moment to confirm his fire is fading with your own eyes you reshape yourself to place your rider back onto his old saddle of bone. "Are you ok? That looked like it hurt but I'm kinda bad at gauging that sort of thing, regeneration apparently makes my perception of that sort of thing a little screwy."

He groans, "I think I'll be fine so long as you stop bragging, I staunched the bleeding and I think I've frozen out the pain for however long that lasts, I think, I feel like I'll be fine." You open your mouth to keep questioning him when he interrupts.

"We're going to get your dog Preston, right?" You sigh, annoyed by the deflection, "Look, I don't want you to bleed out my back, and I definitely don't want to explain to your family that you bled out on my back, ok? That seems reasonable to me."

He grumpily accedes, "Fine, so long as you're sure we won't get jumped at the hospital." With a few assurances to that effect you slip him in through a window, make a heartfelt request to give him a look over and keep this quiet. Then fly over to collect the dog you hope you'll never forgive yourself for forgetting.

The house you land in front of is pretty, clean and large with a huge open yard in the back that a quick spot check reveals to be empty at the moment, forcing you to wait at the door for an agonizing ten or so seconds before the building's owner comes to greet you.

Miss Laurence is a lifesaver of a woman, always has been, so when she opens the door you greet her with a smile and almost hug her before the wave of furry flesh behind her pounces, the half dozen dogs at the door almost knocking you off your feet as they greet you. "Oh come oh you little rascals, get off me," you say as you scratch and snuggle with them before picking out Preston and picking up into a hug.

Preston is as big and as happy as ever, the huge golden retriever wagging his tail like his birthday has come early as he snuggles in closer to you to affectionately slobber all over your face. "Oh who's a good boy, you're a good boy aren't you, yes you are, yes you are." You coo over him, booping his nose as you walk inside and close the door.,

"He was actually a good boy, right?" He'd always been fine before, but you've never left his alone quite this long before.

Miss Laurence laughs, "Yes, he was a delight as always." She says as she continues to scratch the little guy's head, "And just as fearless as he always is."

"Who's a brave little guy?" You say to him as you set him down, still petting him as you turn to Miss Laurence "Sorry for, you know… taking longer than expected, I have the money, it… things got complicated. I wasn't really sure I could take care of him while things were still shifting." You lie.

She claps you on the shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up about it, anyone would need some room to breathe after that, I know he meant the world to you."

You give a small, thin smile, "Yeah, he did, not sure how I'm going to- ah nevermind. It's not your problem. Now, I've got to go, I'll send you the sum once I get back, alright?" You wait just long enough to get a quick nod before clipping a leash around Preston's collar and walking out the door.

Now for the difficult part, Preston is not scared of flying, he never has been. He looks forward to each and every moment in the air with utter glee and bottomless joy.

The problem is that he expresses that joy by jostling around in the air, which can be… distracting. Unfortunately you're also in a rush, so you can't just walk to the hospital like you usually would, and you're not trusting your Dog's life to the whims of the road. You've seen the aftermath of too many crashes to trust Preston to those screaming death wagons if you can help it.

So, you shift your shape into something more quadrupedal, grow a little crate on your back, coax him inside, shut it, make sure he's nice and snug in there, double check everything to make sure it's secure. And finally take off, reminding yourself to not get distracted by his happy little barks as you fly through the air.

You make good time, arriving back at the hospital, crawling in through a window, letting Preston out of his little crate, turning human again, picking him up, and finding Ice-Pal.

You open the door with your elbow and step inside to see your new acquaintance seated comfortably in a small, all but abandoned waiting room and ripping into some sort of meat pie.

"Good to see you're ok," you say as you sit down next to him, distracting Preston from his meal with superhumanly good ear scritches. "Have you thought about what you're going to do now?"

He leans back, chewing as he thinks, "Not sure," he answers as another hand wanders over to pet your darling dog.

"Have you considered just laying low for a while? It seems like the most reasonable thing to do, maybe take a drive or flight a few cities over? Seems like the most sensible option."

He chuckles, "I wish, but no, leaving isn't an option. See… uh, this is going to sound crazy."

You laugh, "Try me dude, I fought an angel made of volcanic stone less than a month ago, and a huge battlemech made of eyes six months ago. I've got a broad imagination."

He pauses for a moment, thinking, until after a moment Preston licks his hand and he continues petting the dog as he begins his story, "Ok, a while back… I woke up in the middle of the woods with no memory of how I got there, or who I was… all I remembered was that there was something around here I needed to do in this city or else something bad would happen, something really bad."

You shrug off the strange sense of déjà vu at that last part to focus on the much more serious fact that… where to even start, there's someone else like you, a possible link to your past and an ominous warning.

"Crazy, right?" He asks, pausing when you don't respond, "Chimera?"

"Yeah, crazy. Just, a little less than you might have expected."

"Wait really?" He asks, "Who else?"

"She'd point to herself right now, but she's a little busy appeasing the fluffy tyrant on her lap." You say, descending on your enthusiastic little guy with a barrage of bellyrubs. "I didn't get any premonitions of doom, but still."

"Huh. So do you kn-" he begins before you cut him off with a frustrated snort, "Absolutely nothing after two years of work. I'm just as disappointed as you."

He pauses, mulling that over "Nuts," he says simply before scratching Preston behind the ears, "So… are you taking recruits? I'd be happy to join up if you'll take me."


O-O-O-O-O-O-O


[ ] Absolutely! Right Now!

You could absolutely use another set of hands, you're hilarious outnumbered right now, even if it means bringing someone along without as much training as you'd like. You can manage it on the fly. Probably.


[ ] Absolutely!.. After I've trained you up a little bit,

Desperation is no excuse to let someone without at least giving them a basic introduction to the details of heroism first, you'd have made all sorts of blunders if you'd instantly dived in.

[ ] Let me think about it

Something fishy is going on here, you're not letting him get closer until you figure out what, your desperate need for another pair of hands pales in front of those unanswered questions. And besides, you're no mentor, you could barely train a dog, let alone another hero.

"Of course!" You say, "We can get started on your training soon enough, now come on, I've got to get this little goofball back home, and then I'll bring you along to check in on the commissioner and get the two of you introduced."

"Hang on, training? I thought Supers just sorta instinctively knew how to use their powers." He asks as you pick Preston and gently sling him over your shoulder.

"Eh, kinda," you tell him, "Everyone gets an instinct for how they work and such, I woke up knowing I could shapeshift for example and even some six year old kid just shaking off the lightning is going to notice that they can, I don't know, control water or fly or something. But knowing the basics of how you can use doesn't mean you can't-" you pause, "Right, sorry. That's all true but it's beside the point. Off the top of your head, can you tell me how you'd get someone out of a car crash if the things flipped and their dangling upside down by the seat belt?"

After he a moment of silence as the two you begin to make for the stairs he answers. "I… would… I have no idea. What should I do?"

You stop giving Preston ear scratches long enough to point at your new apprentice, "That," you say, "is a good question, and right now the answer for you is 'don't unless you think the car is about to explode or something' wait for the people who know what they're doing.
There's also a bunch of legal stuff you've got to know about… ok technically sorta not if you're not a STAR member and just go around punching rampaging supervillains, but in our cases, yeah, you need to know that sort of thing."

"Ok… That's more than I expected. I suppose it can't be too bad if y- ah nevermind. What are we going to see this Commissioner person about again?"

"I found this stuff in a warehouse that Fire owned, Nost, seems to be a new Drug, and if Fire had it then everybody else is already selling the stuff and making a killing, which is why I'm not sure why I haven't gotten more whispers about it." You answer, slowing as you reach the bottom floor.

Eventually before you reach the door you stop, turning to him with a serious expression on your face, "Ok I'm going to change my face a little bit and you're not going to mention anything about your power or call me Chimera, I might not have a secret identity, but i don't really want a scene with autographs or anything and I think you'd prefer to have the chance to make that decision for yourself."

He nods, waits for your face to switch around, and then the two of your walk out into the waiting room, "So who else should I be worrying about, aside from the Elements people I mean, I don't wanna get…" he pauses, thinking through his next words after an aborted glance at the people around the two of you, "I don't really want to get mugged again." He finishes.

You roll with the story as you lavish Preston with well deserved affection, "well, there's the Coven, bunch of thieves but they only go after big expensive stuff so they're not usually a problem, there are the Massacre Men, who named themselves after the original Massacre Man but really they're all talk on that account, they don't have the power to survive eating the mayor."

That brings him up short, "I'm sorry, someone ate the mayor?" he asks, his raised voice drawing a few glances before they go back to their own business.

"Years and years ago, sure. He got killed maybe a year after that by Adamant, apparently that fight, well, those fights, it was a pretty prolonged struggle, was what got his name on the map so to speak."

He stares at you, "Maybe not the best reassurance considering…" he pauses and thinks better of what you know he was going to say, wincing, "Sorry, that was out of line."

You wave it off, "It's fine, it's fine, no big deal, I wouldn't be able to be superhero if I couldn't grow a thick skin," you say, realizing a moment too late what you've said where you've said, glance at the nearest three people, one of whom is already pulling out their phone, grab Ice-Pal with your one free hand (you really need a better name for him) and start booking it, "Go go go go go go go go go go go go," you cry, running outside along the street as Preston woofs happily, sticking his tongue out into the wind.

Once you've left the building your strides lengthen, wings pulling themselves into being on your back as you kick off, carefully placing Preston in your ice-clad rider's arms once he stabilizes in his boney saddle. This time freezing himself to you to ensure he stays attached and in a show of forward thinking you can only appreciate, grows an icy mask over his face.

You arrive in front of the commissioner's office in minutes, well, on the building's roof anyway. With that done you walk down to his office, knock, and wait.

To his credit he doesn't take very long to welcome you at the door, "Ch- Chimera, how can I help y- you, oh, who is he?" He asks, inclining his head towards Ice-Pal who is still holding an energetic Preston.

You pat him on the shoulder, or try to at least, he pulls away as you raise your hand and you quickly twist the motion into a dramatic gesture in his direction, "This is my new recruit, met him while he was getting jumped by Fire and Wind and he decided he wanted to join up."

You'd almost expected him to panic at the idea of a clash with the Five but he takes it pretty well all things considered, "M- makes sense, my, my apologies sir-"

"Glad to have that out of the way," you cut in, "but we really need to get to the point," with that you pull the Nost out of your inner flesh pocket and proffer it to him, "Get this to your forensics people, I don't know what exactly this is beyond a drug but I found this in one of Fire's warehouses and if he's getting in on this then it's already proving itself."

He takes the offered box, opens it to glance inside, and closes it with a nod. "V- very good, I'll, I'll send that down as s- soon as I can."

You give him a gentle pat on the shoulder, "Thanks man, you're a lifesaver, let me know when you've got something, alright?"

He gives you a nod, "Of- of, yes of course, of course," with that said he shuts the door on you, leaving the two of you to walk back up to the roof and finally return home. With the three of you finally touching down on your front lawn in good order.

Upon landing, Ice-Pal is, for a moment, struck speechless, "I'm sorry, you live here? I thought we were going over for another meeting. This place is huge!"

You spin to face him as he cautiously sets Preston down, who begins to revisit his old stomping grounds as you give a sheepish smile, "My understanding is that it was basically a big bribe to get his HQ moved somewhere away from any neighborhoods or businesses or anything, it's why we're on one of the only islands in the bay."

He glances dubiously down at the water, "So our only protection between a round two with all five elements is just a bunch of water?"

"Yep," you answer as you steer him inside, doing your absolute best to keep any concern of your own off your face, "That and the building's defense systems and our sister branches in other cities. But regardless!" You exclaim, "You shouldn't be worrying about that, your training is about to begin."


O-O-O-O-O-O-O

(Please format all of this as a Plan)
What would you like to focus Ice-Pal's (Name absolutely not Ice-Pal approved) education on in the limited time you've got? Pick 2.

[ ] Law Stuff

[ ] Medical Stuff

[ ] Investigation Stuff

[ ] A really in depth who's who of the city's villains


Additionally, include as many questions as you'd like to be addressed to your new sidekick and any questions you'd like to ask STAR's database.

-[ ] Insert Question Here