She Wants the World to Burn...

Suna took the necklace and Niala was glad: anything she could do to help she would. If it gave him an advantage then awesome, all the better for it. On the monitors it seemed like the situation between Artemis, Junior, and what had been a Destiny clone seemed to be coming to a close. Thankfully, there was very minimal damage, damage that Artemis and Junior really couldn’t be held accountable for should the leader of Soubi Shigai come calling about the situation.

”I’m glad to be able to help. I wish I could do more, but I doubt my power would work against Zephyr, those of us with this power tend to block others in some kind of way from being able to use it against us. Most often to try and use Imagination Manifestation against someone else who has it is an instant death sentence.”

Her gaze would remain on the monitors, continuing to quickly shift through one feed to another, keeping an eye on Edge City, while also looking for any more clones of Destiny shooting off anywhere to try and cause more trouble. She couldn’t help but wonder if Zephyr would give up and try another angle, something told her they weren’t done hearing from her, yet…

The funnel that they were pulled into opened again in the office, causing himself and Artemis to emerge. Jr started breathing harder once he had his sister out of a potentially dangerous situation. He was fluent in all of his other abilities, but manipulating time almost always took its toll on him. Most of the time, he'd feel like he just ran 80 miles. Too much, and his nose would bleed. More than that, he'd pass out and be in a coma-like state for weeks. The longest lasted just over a month...

"...On second thought," Jr said, patting his sister's shoulder before sinking back into the large leather seat behind the high-tech desk, sighing. "Stick around. You're involved now, she attacked you. As much as I don't want to, i'm gonna have to warn your sister. She's gotta be wondering what the hell is up by now."

Jr pulled out his cellphone and put in a call to Destiny. Assuming that she answered, Jr said "Dez. I know you see this weird shit going on, and you gotta be wondering what's up by now. I'd rather tell you straight up rather than you find out some other way and you going off into one of your infamous temper tantrums... not like I can talk with some of the stuff i've done, but this involves family, including Amaranth, Artemis, Ghost, me and you. Come over to the office when you get the chance..."

He opened a bottom drawer on the desk where there was a container. Opening that next he pulled out a Company Pendant connected to a chain, handing it towards Suna. "I'm gonna need you, man. Let me hire you, come work for me. Dad said you were a cool dude over in the other world, be loyal to us and we'll be loyal to you, we'll treat you the same as family. This Pendant lets you come and go in the Tower freely and allows you to do things around the city ordinary people can't. I'll arrange you a suite downstairs if you don't have anywhere else to go. I can help you out with some of your powers too, we'll talk about that later though."

Jr waited to see if he would come on board. If this chick was going to attack again, a psychic would be valuable. He didn't see Niala and Zephyr facing off against each other since these kinds of powers didn't work against someone else who had them, and he didn't want Niala out there getting into a street fight with some random broad anyway. Would he also have to inform his father, wherever he was? He was hoping not.

Back to Junior’s office they went just like she’d assumed they would. That whole situation had been crazy; why this lady was going around pretending to be Dez was beyond her, but it didn’t sit right. If she wanted to kill people and cause trouble why couldn’t she just do it as herself? Why Dez of all people?

She didn’t dwell on her thoughts for long, a frown appearing on her face at the way her brother was breathing. It seemed like using time manipulation took its toll, and that concerned her a bit. However, before she could comment on it he was patting her shoulder and telling her to stick around. She was involved now since this Zephyr woman had attacked her personally. While she’d been excited before when she didn’t know exactly what was going on, this time around the frown stuck in place. She was calm, focused, and a bit pissed off but nothing like how she was expecting Dez to be when Junior called her.

Artemis had a feeling all hell might break loose soon, so she found herself a comfortable chair and waited for Dez to arrive, meanwhile watching as Junior offered Suna a permanent job, and explaining about the pendant he was giving him.

Destiny had been off training in a sort of side realm she’d created a few years back. The place was teeming with monsters of varying degrees of difficulty, and the deeper into the realm one got the harder the enemies became - almost like a video game. It was created as a place where Dez could go all out without having to worry about any consequences: no matter how much damage she caused or how many bodies stacked up, the realm would simply reset when she left. It was perfect to allow her to do what she wanted, especially considering her brand of fighting was destructive. However, signal wasn’t the greatest, but with her gut telling her that something didn’t feel right she’d just arrived back in the normal world when her phone rang and she had answered Junior’s call. Hearing that something was going on, something that involved family, had Destiny not hesitating.

The smell of gunpowder and explosives preceded Destiny’s appearance as she flew immediately to Junior’s office, taking advantage of her pure speed to have her damn near instantaneously to the office after the phone call from Junior and in through the usual window: clad in a crop top that revealed enough of her stomach to make the phoenix feather still glowing at her side visible - a gift from Sunny, which had helped against the fire beast she’d been battling thus why it was still activated - along with a pair of black baggy pants, combat boots, and a black jacket. Her hair was longer than ever as she hadn’t got around to cutting it, braided in twin braids, her halo casting an almost bluish glow to it. Something was going on, and whatever it was Junior felt she needed to be involved. The fact that her daughter and baby sister were involved had her already pissed off even if she didn’t know the details, but she was holding her composure at least - her eye wasn’t twitching yet.

Glancing around the office with silver colored eyes, her gaze would rest first on Artemis, taking in her appearance and checking her over to make sure nothing was wrong - which, she couldn’t see that anything was. From there she’d look toward Niala and Suna, giving them both a nod of hello, before finally focusing her attention on her brother. An eyebrow would raise in silent question as her wings folded and vanished into her back. Yet, it was off in the distance her gaze would suddenly dart, out the window and at Amaranth’s island, just as her phone started to ping as all of the updates caught up: it looked like some kind of macabre winter wonderland which meant something had triggered not only the natural protections put in place, but whatever was going on had Ghost involved too. ”.......” As her hands clenched into fists and her blood immediately began to boil she forced herself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly, attempting to keep a check on her temper - easier said than done when something was threatening her kid, and likely her little sister too along with the rest of her family. "That's the last time I go off training in another world... fucking hell. What's going on?"

Jr and his sister came out of something in thin air. A tunnel?... It seemed to bend the very air and environment. Whatever it was, it had to be powerful, since Jr looked tired. Doing that must have taken a lot out of him. He told Artemis to stick around and the put in a call to Dez, saying he didn't really want to. If this was any indication n how strong he was, then Dez had to be something else herself.

The next think he knew, he was being hired. Jr was handing him another chain with a pendant on it. He could live here if he wanted, and he'd be allowed to do things around the city no one else could. For the most part, Suna had just been wandering around, squatting, hiding in plain sight by means of telepathy so that people didn't freak out over his appearance. Nobody was like that here. These people treated him cool in the other world too, so why not?

He took this chain too with Telepathy, attaching it to the sash on his gourd next to the Malk chain. "Alright, sure thing. I'm in," he replied to Jr. He'd even said he'd help him with his powers. As he didn't really get to train several of his jutsu with masters in the other world, he was eager to learn whatever he could.

Then Dez appeared, and immediately he could see the resemblance. This was the first time he could remember seeing this sister after hearing so much about her, and her bad temper. Suna didn't really care to see it, aiming to stay on everyone's good side. Suna nodded his head back to her when he saw the greeting, surprised. She quickly caught on to what was happening and could sense the same rage building within her similar to Jr. What would her reaction be when she really found out what was going on? Suna prepared for the worst...

Junior and Artemis returned to the office, and Niala was quite surprised that Zephyr hadn’t put up more of a fight, but it made her wonder if the Malkavian was simply testing the waters for now. Junior sounded out of breath, time manipulation was likely harder to use than it was made to look. Niala had never bothered messing with time herself, even though she was sure she could with her power, but she imagined it was likely difficult to do.

Keeping her eyes on the monitors she listened as Junior decided to involve Artemis with what was going on, it made sense since she’d been directly attacked. As Artemis sprawled in a chair, seeming to take this more seriously than before, she listened as Junior offered Suna a job, Suna adding the company pendant to the gourd he carried like he’d done with the Malkavian pendant she’d given him.

Junior decided to call Destiny and it didn’t take her any time at all to arrive. Returning the nod to Dez, she watched as the female’s demeanor quickly changed as she looked off toward her daughter’s island. Niala could see the struggle of Destiny trying to control her temper, and having seeing what Destiny could do Niala couldn’t help but wonder what’d end up exploding first if she lost control. Destiny seemed to be trying to keep it in check, but there was no telling if that’d last once she found out everything that was going on.

Leaving Junior to explain things, figuring he’d know how to handle his sister better than she could, she kept her focus on her computer screens, her fingers rapidly moving over the keyboard as she continued to switch feeds, her focus mainly on Edge City, Sunset Island, and Makkura, though she kept checking other parts of the world as well. Meanwhile, her eyes would return to flickering to black every so often as she continued looking into the future, watching and waiting for something to trigger another vision.

Jr was leaning forward in his seat, frowning, still trying to catch his breath. "...Looks like you were out of the way somewhere, I guess you don't know what's up after all," he said after Dez appeared. "I wasn't gonna involve you or dad in this, but when it comes to you I guess I got no choice now. What you're gonna see and hear is gonna piss you off, rightly so, but if you tear up this tower its YOU who's gonna have to deal with grand dad, not ME. Alright? So whatever you do, hold your head."

Jr leaned back in the leather chair. "Some chick is behind the scenes trying to cause another episode, calls herself Zephyr. She took control of Cala, made her attack Devon. She's fine, by the way. She's alive. Mostly due to those nano-joints that Vigilante gave her that one time. Niala worked her magic and tracked her back to the source. She fooled the chick and got Cala out of her control. Niala saw a future where something like a nuke goes off on Sunset, opens a portal allowing armies of monsters to come here, and then, think Pacific City, except the whole world. That's why your security system over there is going off, and Ghost is out there. I warned him."

Jr opened some screens and brought up recordings, even the 'future vision' that Niala devised showing a copy Destiny entering Amaranth's lab and shooting her. He also showed her the incident in Soubi with Artemis in which he had to intervene and manipulate time, thus why he was breathing so hard as he spoke. "Said she's 'bored' as you could see. Certainly taken a liking to copying you for some reason. There's more to come..."

Destiny arrived almost immediately after Junior called her, coming in through the window like everyone else seemed to do from what Artemis had seen. The way Destiny looked at her told her she was trying to see if she was okay, and Artemis for once didn’t act like a brat or come up with a witty comment, simply saying, ”I’m cool, no harm done.”, in a hope to appease her sister's curiosity. She knew better than to poke the sleeping bear in this situation, after all.

She was quite glad she did too, because after her sister nodded to Niala and the newly hired Suna, she had looked at Junior just to immediately focus on the island she’d created for her daughter. Artemis had never bothered asking why Destiny created a paradise, nor why Amaranth lived there, but she had a feeling with the way Destiny’s temper was immediately beginning to flare that this was more than just a pretty place. There was a reason behind its existence.

Rather than commenting, Artemis remained quiet, listening and watching as what was going on was explained to the both of them after Junior warned Dez not to lose her shit and tear up the tower. It seemed that in her attempt to avoid the drama Junior didn’t want her in she had made herself a target. This lady had already tried to kill one person by using another, and now she was trying to do the same again. All that was shown seemed to reveal that Zephyr liked to work behind the scenes, using clones or treating people like they were human puppets. It just wasn’t sitting right with her.

Junior mentioned there was more, and while she had questions burning, she forced herself to stay silent, wondering what on earth could be added to this pile of crap on their doorstep. Why hadn’t someone just gone and dealt with this chick if Niala knew where she was? Couldn’t Niala just make her disappear? She was all powerful and all that.

Junior mentioned that he hadn’t planned on involving her or dad which told her that chances were it would’ve pissed both of them off, whatever it was that was going on. She couldn’t quite blame him for that decision, both her and dad had a tendency of quite literally blowing shit up when they got pissed off, and causing widespread destruction. However, whatever was going on seemed to involve her daughter, and that meant she was going to be involved regardless, making her quite glad she’d come back in time like she did. When Junior mentioned keeping her temper in check, and that if she tore up the tower she’d have to deal with grandad herself, she knew whatever this was was going to be bad.

The fact that she noticed Junior out of breath meant chances were something had already gone down, but rather than asking questions she stayed quiet, giving him a chance to explain. There was some chick named Zephyr who’d taken control of Cala and had her attack Devon. Devon was alright thanks to what V had given her. Niala herself had stepped in, which didn’t happen often since Niala didn’t seem to like to use her Imagination Manifestation abilities, and had rescued Cala from Zephyr’s clutches. However, it was the next part that got Dez’s eye twitching: this woman was going to target Sunset Island. The reason Ghost’s smoke covered the whole island already is because Junior had warned him about what was about to go down, and she could just picture Ghost waiting and anticipating being able to eat this broad.

However, it wasn’t until Junior began to show what had happened that Destiny found the thin hold she had on her temper slipping. This woman was masquerading as Destiny herself, what’s more is she planned on having some kind of clone of herself try and kill Amaranth: a shotgun point blank to the head. This was triggering. Memories flooded Destiny’s mind like a dam breaking and for once her mental shields slipped as she was mentally sucked back in time: her time as a little girl, five years old and having to fight for her life. Being taken in by Alec, taught to fight, then finding out her own mother, Raquel, was behind all of it. She could hear Raquel’s voice like it was yesterday, trying to convince Alec to kill Destiny because she would “turn evil one day”. Emotions she had felt as a child came flooding back to her: confusion, anger, sadness, but ultimately a thick fear that permeated like a bad egg that had been left to rot. This bitch had tried to make her daughter feel the same, she had tried to do what Destiny had worked hard to prevent. She hadn’t wanted her daughter growing up in constant fear. She had wanted Amaranth to have a life of peace. Sure, her daughter knew how to fight, and carried weapons like the majority of them, but her life was full of laughter, sunshine, happiness. Not fear. Not what Destiny’s childhood was like. Zephyr was trying to destroy that… she would suffer.

Destiny snapped back to the present, her mental shields suddenly slamming back into place as the memories and emotions were locked down once again: she didn’t honestly care if anyone in the room had picked up on it all, her childhood wasn’t something she kept a secret. Rather than worrying about that, she focused back on Junior, returning to listening and watching.

To add to this bullshit Zephyr had done the same to Artemis and Junior had intervened, which explained why he was out of breath. All of this… because this woman was bored? Yet, it seemed Junior wasn’t finished, but the thin hold Destiny had was beginning to fray, and she found herself pacing as she forced her power to lock down, causing the usual smell of gunpowder and explosives to vanish - even her shinobi power was locked down, leaving Destiny no access to explosion release, at least for a few minutes. ”I see why you warned me ahead of time about my temper…”, was all Destiny managed to get out, talking through gritted teeth. She was waiting for the ball to drop, there had to be a reason why this woman wasn’t dead yet. Though, if Destiny had her way it’d be at her own hands, slowly and very fucking painfully. It wasn’t Destiny’s normal style: she was quick, precise. Like a machine when it came to taking a life, all action and no need to think. This time though, she’d make an exception.

Jr laid down the whole story. He said if she did something to the tower, she would have to deal with granddad. Suna wondered who that was. Maybe he'd get to see this guy someday; he had to be bad ass if he was the grandfather of these Kanes. Dez would begin to increasingly become angry, and being psychic, Suna could pick up on this anger even without using his abilities.

For some reason he could see Dez's, or Destiny past as clear as day. A kid having to fight for her life at such a young age. Suna knew all about that. All he'd known was killing, blood and death. Something like this was the closest he had to being 'family.' He could see Alec taking her in, training her how to fight, and Destiny killing each of them one by one until she was face to face with a wicked looking female, maybe her mother? She was next to die.

Everything she'd done was to prevent her daughter Amaranth from having to go through something similar. But then, like a TV being shut off, the visions were gone. Suna could still feel the boiling anger between Dez and Jr. He felt like he was being squashed, and for a second he had to put both of his sleeved hands on the sides of his head.

"Whew, this is heavy," he mumbled beneath his mask. His small form began to wobble somewhat in mid-air. "First day on the job, and already a big one..."

Junior laid everything down for Artemis and Destiny, the whole story of what they’d been dealing with. He also showed them videos of not only the images Niala herself had conjured, but the other stuff that’d gone down. Artemis seemed to be taking this a lot more seriously than the last time she was in the office. Meanwhile, Destiny looked very very close to losing her temper. Would the warning about having to deal with their grandad be enough to keep her from losing it?

Niala was pretty sure the tipping point was going to be when she saw how Amaranth was going to die, how Zephyr was going to make it look like Destiny had killed her own daughter. When Destiny’s mental defenses fell, Niala could feel it all even though she didn’t want to - mainly out of respect for Destiny’s privacy. She’d seen this all before, just through the eyes of another. But witnessing it first hand she could totally understand where Dez’ anger was coming from. She’d gone through a lot as a little kid, which is why she was so protective of Amaranth, and why the island existed in the first place. Dez didn’t seem to regret her life, but she certainly didn’t want her daughter going through the same stuff.

Suddenly, Destiny’s mental shields were back in place, and her powers were locked down - the smell of gunpowder and explosions that normally followed her was gone from the air. She was kind of glad Dez hadn’t run half cocked out the window to go hunt Zephyr down, but she didn’t know how long that was going to last before she tried. A glance at Suna made Niala wonder how much all of this heatedness was getting to him, tempers were definitely high for Junior and Destiny.

”I know you’re wondering why she isn’t dead, I don’t have to read anyone’s mind to know that. Zephyr has the same ability that I do: Imagination Manifestation. She’s also a Malkavian, what’s more is she was the right hand of the clan leader himself, Malkav. His ‘hand maiden’ was her title. I learned it all the day I helped Demi and got to peer into her mind. To answer your question before you even ask: I can only get involved in this to a degree. I can’t use my power against her, not that way at least. Anyone who has the ability like I do have safety measures in place from others using it against them. Take me for example, if someone were to target me with that ability, try and take my power, or erase me from existence, they’d suffer exactly that fate. They’d cease to exist on a level to where they couldn’t be brought back. No body, no spirit, no soul, not even a memory except for the strongest of psychics. Since Zephyr is easily a few thousand years old she likely has all of these protections in place too to some varying degree. Considering that she’s insane, and a trouble maker, chances are it’d be a long, suffering death.”

Jr gave a long sigh, finally having caught his breath. Niala told Dez what they were up against and the reason she really couldn't get involved. Jr could see that she was pissed off, even feel it too. She'd put a lot of work into that island, now someone was threatening it, Amaranth, and surrounding area all while impersonating Dez.

"Look... I woulda just impaled her then and there, but using time always wipes me out. I coulda played it different, but I had to get a look at this broad close up," Jr explained, loosening his tie somewhat. "Not to mention how we just got back cool with Soubi, and I didn't wanna soil that by fighting in the middle of their city. It was just bad timing... If at all possible, i'd like to leave dad out of this. If she attacks Edge, we'll be ready for her. It's not helping that we still have that glowing alien dude around here somewhere, so be on the lookout for him too."

Jr started opening several screens with cameras pointed in many directions, looking for anything unusual. "So Suna, your secrets are safe here. I remember hearing you had control over sand, and that you could make glass, but what else can you do? What all can you do with your psychic powers?"

-Miss post-

Dez wasn’t taking this well at all, and as her mental shields dropped she could see exactly why: it was giving her flashbacks to when she was a kid and had to fight for survival. She hadn’t wanted that for Amaranth, so Sunset Island had been made. It was supposed to be a peaceful place, which is why most magic couldn’t be used on it to begin with. But, someone was now trying to mess that all up.

Eyebrows raised in surprise as Niala chimed in, adding that this woman had power like she did. Niala herself couldn’t combat it though due to protections in place. No one wanted Niala to die of course, so trying was out of the question. This lady was crazy, one of those Malkavian’s she had heard about from time to time. She knew Demi used to be one, which is how Niala knew so much about them. It all just sounded like too much. How did you kill someone with that kind of power?

It made Artemis grateful that the woman had just created a clone and tried to shoot her, considering what else she probably could’ve done had she wanted to. When Junior mentioned keeping Alec out of everything, she thought about her mom and how she’d handle hearing that Artemis had been attacked if she found out. “So, I think now that I’m all caught up I’mma head home to Makkura. I won’t say anything about what’s going on, but I want to be there in case something does happen and I do have to tell dad and them what’s going on. I’d rather not have to, either, especially since I’m pretty sure my mom is going to lose her shit if she finds out too.”

Artemis would wait to see if anyone had anything else to say before she’d bail out the window unless someone wanted her to stick around, closing it behind herself before darting off towards the darkness, ever watchful of her back as she went…

[Exit]

So to top everything else off this bitch had power like Niala, which meant she was deadly if she wanted to be. Destiny couldn’t help but think that the only reason this woman hadn’t done something worse at this point was because like all Malkavian’s she had come across, they liked fucking with people. That was probably the reason this woman was taking the form of Destiny and going after her own family members doing it.

Artemis wanted to leave, agreeing not to say anything, and saying she wanted to head back home in case something did happen, so at that point she could tell everyone what was going on. It seemed like a solid plan to Dez. Her sister would be in a position to be helpful, like she was sure she wanted to be, while staying out of harm's way. Dez however… she still wanted blood. But, she wouldn’t be stupid. If this woman had that kind of power then she could likely make it to where Dez never existed or some shit. This was going to take some finesing.

Junior seemed interested in getting to know the new guy, but as far as her she wanted to go have a heart to heart with Amaranth. She knew her daughter had seen the vision, and she was worried how she felt about it. Besides, she’d be just as useful on Sunset as she would be here. “I’m going to go check on Amaranth and have a talk with her, and see what else I can do to add extra protections everywhere. I’ll probably stick to Sunset unless needed elsewhere. Don't worry, I'm not going to go find this chick... power like that is going to take some brains going up against, but if she comes looking for trouble she'll get it."

With that Dez too would exit out the window, heading straight for Sunset Island.

In the other world Shizuka had been closer to three people above all others she’d met: Alec, Konran her teammate who like her had been held captive and experimented on by the headband morons, and Jr. It was Jr. she considered herself closest with. They’d done a lot together back in that other world, from killing some Halloween looking serial killer, they’d acted together as guards for Alec when traveling to what was supposed to be the original Kage Summit, only for it to end up back in Kurayami and Shizuka pinning some moron named Munnin to the wall by his throat for insulting Jr. and acting like a general asshole, to traveling together to the desert to see Holeman with Demi after she’d found herself suddenly blind during her attempt at learning about bat sages, along with a lot of other traveling together. It was all thanks to Alec’s suggestion of Shizuka helping to keep Jr.’s temper in check that one day on his ship. It had seemed like from that very day and forward anytime they’d been together they were getting ‘cozy’ and Shizuka had rather enjoyed that, being as attracted to Jr. as she was.

However, in this world she wasn’t quite sure where they stood; how separate was the world they were in from this one? Junior looked a bit older here than he did there, but then again so she did. But, she knew nothing of his relationships to the people in Darkman Tower. Did he have a girlfriend? She didn’t speak, so she couldn’t necessarily ask. Even still, after arriving in this world she hadn’t gone far. Just like she had done back in Kurayami, she had found a fairly high building nearby Darkman Tower and perched herself there more often than not. She could’ve gone to Alec’s village, sure, but since it was Jr. she was closest to she had stuck around Edge City, never really traveling far from the building.

As she had done back in Kurayami, her earpiece was still in her ear, though it’d been silent. She was trained as a patient sniper though, so sitting around, waiting for something, wasn’t out of her norm. Normally, she was humming a soft and calming tune, easily picked up by the ear piece. But, not today. That’d stopped when she noticed all the traffic in and out of the tower, and the presence of Jr.’s anger and the sharp anger of another. Having spent so much time around him in the other world with them keeping one another’s tempers in check, she felt attuned to it in a way she couldn’t explain. Perhaps it had something to do with how much stronger powers here seemed to be.

Jumping from the rooftop she’d spent the past twelve hours on she made her way carefully downward, parkouring her way to the ground and landing in a quiet, empty nearby alleyway. She made her way toward Darkman Tower, her symbiotic suit changing her attire to that of a black crop top, black leggings, and boots - something she’d noticed a lot of the women in this world sporting. Her long brownish black hair was pulled up in a ponytail at the top of the back of her head. As per usual there was a belt at her waist, clipped to it her gunscythe. However, she also carried a backpack with her. Having come across a few dollars - not that she needed food considering her photosynthesis - she had bought herself a notebook and a few pens and pencils as a way to communicate so they were held in the back with nothing else but a bottle of fresh spring water.

Arriving to the tower she’d head to the front door, hoping someone would meet her and let her in to Jr. so she could try and figure out what was going on and perhaps help calm him down.

A tall man wearing a suit was in the downstairs lobby. He stood and walked to the front doors, opening them to allow the female inside.

"Hello ma'am," he said. "While I do not remember your name, I remember who you are. You've arrived at a pivotal time, there seems to be some sort of crisis. Perhaps you would be willing to contribute your help. The young master should be surprised to see you, please take one of the turbo elevators to floor 1,000."

The butler gestured toward the elevators at the rear of the lobby.

His sisters were really pretty, but scary. Destiny Moreso than Artemis, but Suna didn't doubt that she was also capable of some deadly abilities herself. All of the Kanes were dangerous. Lucky for him, he was on their side. The 2 sisters were leaving, and Jr was asking him what he could do. As the tension in the office was now dying down, he found that he could now think a little clearer.

"Hmm, well, I can read thoughts, and talk to people in their heads," he responded. "I can move stuff, I can teleport anywhere i've been already. I can teleport to a place i've seen a picture of, but... that can go sideways sometimes. As long as it isn't too many people, I can take the with me too. I know how to track people, even if they're on the other side of the world. I can look into the future sorta like Niala here, but I use it in fights. It's hard to explain... I can copy stuff used on me. I can move through solid objects if I have to. If I really wanted, and if I have enough time, I can take over somebody else's mind. I'm not the greatest, i'm still learning..."

He was hoping his skillset didn't suck. Some of the people who came and went through this tower were like Gods. Suna still considered himself small fry.

Artemis left saying she wouldn't say anything unless needed. Otherwise she was just going to chill at home and keep an eye on things. Destiny also left, heading over to Sunset Isle. Niala returned her focus onto the camera feeds as she listened to Suna explain what he could do. She was surprised to hear he could look into the future but moreso that he could use such as ability in the middle of a fight. He was definitely strong in his own right and likely would become stronger still the longer he was in this world.

Niala watched as a young woman she'd seen once before approached the tower. She remembered the woman didn't speak, and Niala had seen her just sort of chilling nearby on one rooftop or another, often watching people through the scope of her weapon. She never fired it though. She just watched. Now she was here and being shown in. Niala couldn't help but wonder if she'd caught notice of everything going on.

Jr listened as Suna gave him the run down on what he could do. All sounded like useful abilities to have, especially how to see into the future. Suna remarked that he could use this to fight with, sort of like how he could himself. He didn't know if Niala was capable of something like that, since she'd said that she had to be completely calm for them to work.

"Young Master, a lady friend of yours is on her way up," Jr heard over his desk intercom. "She has a strange firearm and isn't one for too many words. You may recognize her from the other world that you and your family once visited."

A lady with a gun who didn't talk? Could he be talking about Shizuka, aka Quiet? Several other ninjas came back here that he knew of, Suna, the guy with the crows, Kuro, another girl with tattoos who helped Vigilante fight the glowing alien, along with Quiet. There may have been others as well. He'd been curious as to what had happened to her. Had she gone back to that other world by some means? Or did she stick around here? That question had been answered.

...Which posed another question. They had gotten pretty close in the other word. Here, he'd once gotten quite cozy with Niala. Jr didn't really know if either of them still felt any kind of way about him, and he wasn't once to choose someone over someone else. This was hardly the time to be thinking about romance issues anyways, with what was currently going on.

"Thanks Butler, appreciated..." Jr responded.

A tall man approached her who looked very much like a butler - not that she’d seen one in anything beyond a few movies she’d witnessed others watching. He knew who she was, though he didn’t know her name. She couldn’t exactly clue him in, but perhaps her quietness would answer that question in due time. She was allowed inside, and instructed to head up to the 1,000th floor via an elevator. She had rode an elevator a time or two when she had explored the local mall, and it wasn’t an experience she particularly liked; maybe like so many people she’d seen one day she’d learn how to fly and be able to skip this process altogether.

Either way, she assumed this would be a much nicer experience than any mall. So up to the 1,000th floor she went, quite surprised with how little time it took to go so far; all the while wondering how many people worked here, and how someone scored a job at a place like this. She’d tried to find a few jobs herself, but her lack of communication skills had greatly affected that outcome. After making her way to Jr.’s office she would knock, and if allowed to enter do so.

Upon seeing Jr. her trademark grin would spread across her face; even though he looked older than he had in the other world she still found him very attractive. However, that wasn’t her primary reason for being here. There were two other individuals within the office too, a girl who she had seen the last time she’d been here, and a masked individual who had a gourd on him like the one she’d seen a few of the other shinobi wearing.

Something was clearly going on, there was a lot of anger lingering in the air, and she wanted to help out - even if it was to take a load off of some other issue going on. A whistle, curious in its sounding, would pose the question if something was wrong as she focused her attention back onto Jr. Figuring she could communicate better, and not having had the funds for a cellphone quite yet, she’d shift her backpack off enough to gain access to it, before pulling out a pencil and a notebook. She’d hold up a finger, asking for a moment, before flipping halfway through the notebook to the next blank page; the majority of what she flipped past being practice pages of the various letters of the alphabet. Pencil in hand she’d begin to write, tongue poking out between her lips as she did so. This took a lot of focus, she had self taught herself to read easily enough, but actually writing the letters and making words in a way that was legible was a bit more difficult of a task.

Finally finished, she’d slide the notebook over to Jr., on it written only a few simple, and small sentences, “I felt your anger. Is something wrong? Can I do anything to help?” There were other questions burning in her mind, those that related to the two of them, and how close they'd been back in the other world, but that hardly seemed appropriate if something was happening.

Suna wanted to see what Jr was going to say, and also how he would help expand his powers, but someone from downstairs said a 'female friend' was on her way up. How many girls did Jr know? Would this one be as pretty as all the other ones? Suna couldn't help but to feel a little jealous. He figured no one would be interested in a floating freak in a mask that totally hid his identity. Slowly he was becoming content with that.

The female came into the office. It took Suna a minute to recognize her, but he remembered her from the other world. Her clothes were a lot more showy there. It looked like she was adjusting to living here. Shizuka, that was her name? She never said a word, he remembered that. Since she was so mysterious, he didn't know much about her. He didn't want to violate her privacy because he didn't want someone looking through his dirty laundry either. So he didn't bother reading her mind.

Well, Jr didn't complain or say anything negative, so he assumed that he was alright. Shizuka wrote some words in a notepad, asking if Jr was alright and if she could help. Suna figured, in a situation like this, the more the better...

Niala glanced away from her computer screens and towards Shizuka as she entered into the office, a soft smile spreading across her face in greeting before her gaze darted back to the camera feeds, not wanting to miss anything. The girl never seemed to speak, and Niala wondered if it was because she couldn’t, or if she could and just didn’t. She wasn’t about to pry without permission though, and it really wasn’t her business honestly.

She listened as Shizuka gave a whistle, but it was when she heard the sound of pencill on paper that Niala glanced back to Shizuka to see her writing. It seemed a slow process, and looked like it took a lot of focus for Shizuka to do so, making Niala think that perhaps she didn’t do it often, or perhaps it was something new? However, something on her screen caught her attention: a rip in the sky opening up. From it was suspended a teenager looking female dressed in the same strange clothing she’d seen other shinobi wearing. The girl was suspended in the air for a few seconds before it looked like the hole just spit her in the direction of Makkura.

The girl fell for a few seconds, her body being coated briefly in what appeared to be ice, before a platform appeared beneath her feet and she slowed down. The girl disappeared into the darkness of Makkura. ”Looks like another ninja appeared… she looks powerful, and her eyes are really weird.”, Niala would comment softly. ”Looks like one of those advanced sharingan, but there’s something different about it, her eyes are a dusty purple and have a lot of circles in them..”, she’d add, sending the image of a close up of the girl’s face over to Junior’s computer with a swipe of her hand.

The alien kid had been gone for a bit, and so far Ka’lara hadn’t been asked to do any other jobs - though she still helped Demi out at her club when not needed at Darkman Tower. However, that didn’t mean she’d been idle. She was always looking out for any threat to The Company, including those clowns looking for powerful artifacts, on top of that she’d been training. She still didn’t understand how she’d healed from that nearly fatal blow the alien had hit her with the last time they fought, or who it was who’d healed her. One moment she had been about to lose consciousness and the next she was on her feet and feeling like she had when the fight had just begun - better in fact. She didn’t want to repeat that moment.

Training was intense, a daily occurrence, and she was thankful that there were special rooms she could use that she didn’t have to worry about destroying since she couldn’t. She still kept the weights on that she’d been given by Spook, only she’d increased the weight of them. It had been horrible the first few days she got used to them, but she hadn’t let that stop her. Taking them off was another experience altogether. It had taken even longer to get used to being able to see when she moved that fast, and even still the headache afterwards was horrible. Better to deal with that, though, then having her ass handed to her again.

Ka’lara had changed a bit throughout the time. The black celtic-styled intricate tattoo still covered her from head to toe, but her hair was now pink and blue. She’d taken up wearing even more modern clothes; today a pair of blue jean shorts, a pink crop top hoodie with patches all of it, knee length pink socks, and a beanie on her head, pink in color, that had two cat ears, one of which was pierced with several hoops: a sort of cute-edgy vibe. Shinobi sandals had long ago been traded for a pair of sneakers that skates could be attached to. Weighs were in place on her wrists and ankles as per usual.

Ka’lara had finished training a few hours ago, and had taken to sitting on the rooftop as she so often did, keeping an eye out for the alien kid should he return. She was still hoping he would come back, and that Vigilante and her could go for another round with the kid and maybe actually manage to beat some sense in him. Because of her position on the roof, at the edge above Junior’s office, legs dangling over the edge, she’d heard snatches of the conversations going on, enough to know what was going on. It sounded like something she shouldn’t get involved with, she didn’t have power like that, however that didn’t mean she couldn’t offer a suggestion, and after having sat there for a while an idea popped into her head. Making her way down to Junior’s office was easy enough, chakra letting her stick so she could walk down the outer wall of the building. Reaching Jr’s office, she’d step inside through the window.

Sure, this crazy lady had power, right? But everyone had a weakness. “Uh, boss-man, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I was up on the roof watching out for the alien and overheard what’s going on… why doesn’t someone make something like what those freaks wearing the crosses tried putting on your niece and used on Cala? The thing that locks up your power and abilities and stuff? Or like… make a power like that? I mean, shinobi create their own jutsu all the time, I’d imagine y’all magical people can do the same, right? Beat her at her own game, yeah? I can’t help but to imagine that she’s probably not very fast or strong since she has power like that. Maybe she’s not used to getting her hands dirty, ya know? So if that big scary power of hers can be taken down a few notches, maybe she’ll be easier to get rid of.”

Ka’lara hoped she could help with her suggestion - also hoped the Boss wouldn’t be upset she overheard things. If she could help though, she’d be happy to do so, even if it was just a suggestion. Even still, it seemed like something was already going on, a girl appearing and landing in Makkura...

He hadn't seen her in a while, but memories of her helping to cool him down came back to memory seeing her walk into the office. Memories of cowards who talked big but never backed their words, opting to run away in the end. That was also a stressful time. Whatever the case was, it was nice to see another friendly face.

However, this was a whole other matter entirely. "Appreciate the offer Quiet, but we're up against a chick who can imagine things," he said, pointing an index finger to the side of his head. "And make them real. Its like we're up against a God. We also got this alien dude flying around, and--"

Jr saw another screen upon which a portal opened in the sky, and someone came out of it. Ninjas? Could they still cross over like they did years ago? Whoever this ninja was, they had eyes only rumored and talked about in hushed tones in that other world. She dropped into Makkura... Jr didn't have to worry about that, his father was over there, somewhere... probably drunk, and wondering what the hell was going on here.

This was turning into a weird time. "This chick is after me and my family," Jr continued. "I don't wanna get anyone else involved in this that doesn't have to be. Now it seems we got girls falling out of the sky, what's next?"

Then there was Ka'lara, who'd been living here for the longest. Jr didn't care at all. She was another he couldn't let get involved in this; at the same time, he wondered if she and Vigilante were still going back and forth with that alien. She did offer up a really good idea though.

"Hmmm... I could do both of those," he responded. "The device, though, that means somebody'd have to get up close. In point blank range of a sadistic imagination. I could do it, but I shouldn't do anything else too drastic for a while. Wipes me out... Good call, Ka'lara. I'd forgotten about that..."