Final -V- IC


The whole reality freezing thing was beginning to get all too familiar to Runa, and she wasn’t particularly happy to feel that way. It’d all started soon after they fought that Abyssal, and she was still as clueless as ever. She was...happier about being clueless, but only because being in over her head had been her state of being for most of her life at this point.

Already safely cocooned within a mass of her own flesh far above the rest of the Five’s battle, she still felt the strange warmth of the others. With the softness of the embrace of a mother she never knew, sheer righteousness flowed through Runa, and she was certain, God, Providence, whatever it was, something had given The Five their blessing, while Thremont had received no such aid. This was it, then.

When time returned to her and black holes began to tear the ship apart, she immediately knew something was...different. Not wrong, just not under her control. Ah, shit, didn’t mean to do that, she thought. A little more focused attention and the additional destruction winked out. Where before there were spheres of light forever trapped on an event horizon, there were simply gaps in whatever structure they had consumed.

She didn’t feel like she really needed the massive support structure she’d grown to keep going, so she abandoned it. The dark-skinned girl stepped out of her fleshy prison, strips of it peeling off of her body as she did. Her clothes had been pretty thoroughly destroyed by now, not that she paid any mind to it at the moment. It was time to rejoin the rest of the Five, who were a fair distance below her. Rather than jump down after them, she instead focused on...bridging the space across. It wasn’t as easy as just altering gravity, but she certainly felt like she could do anything. Runa stepped into a shimmering portal in the air, and arrived deep within the bowels of the beastly mecha, near the others. And Thremont. Who was looking awfully familiar.

“Everyone been carrying on ok without me,” she asked immediately. “‘Cause I think I missed all the fun.” There was no doubt she wasn’t alone in her current state. Something had happened, and no just for her. Tian was blazing in his full glory, a titan armored in flamestone that could even consume the same rage they’d seen on Mars.

“FINAL RED!”

“Eh?” Runa perked up, though she looked flustered. “What color was I again? Final White, moving out!” She took off at a run, bare feet pattering on the floor and plowing right over any debris. It was time to go back to basics, no funny tricks with gravity or black hole guns or whatever. Just invincible flesh. Thremont wasn't difficult to find.

Runa's hair extended itself into multiple tentacles which launched themselves toward the cybernetic patriarch. Even as she tried to evade, the web began to close in, splitting but losing no strength or sense of purpose as Runa closed in on hm. "This," she shouted once she'd gotten close, "is for when we first met!" An uppercut slammed into Thremont's skeletal jaw, easily lifting him bodily off the ground and launching him upward. As more tentacles launched after him, Runa looked up with a monstrous grin. "Have fun up there!"
 
Iphie didn’t question her renewed, newfound energy. She knew it was pointless to over-rationalize now.

She’d already done the impossible and brought back to life what was once dead.

There was nothing but to win, now. If there were consequences, she would save it for later.

She pulled herself away from the now ruined console, returning to the vicinity of her fellow allies. Reaching for her inner breast pocket, the purple-haired girl chuckled dryly. She’d gone thus far being so cautious, yet in the moment of truth, she had already thrown caution to the wind. Producing a heavy, pen-sized rod, she rolled the ferrous metal object in her hands like it was an expensive cigar. Flipping the rod between her fingers, she scanned the battle zone.

Her blue eyes tracked the battered Thremont as Runa and her tentacles had their way with his body, his abyssal attack unceremoniously felled by Tian-Gui’s act. Seeing him launched into the air by Runa’s superhuman uppercut, Iphie licked her lips as tossed her pointed weapon into the air, eyeballing the trajectory of the still ascending man.

A scary grin stretched itself across Iphie’s face as the rod caught itself in the air, magnetically levitating for a moment before shooting off with an explosive bang. At this range, there was no chance for her attack to miss; within moments, her electromagnetically accelerated mass driver connected with Thremont’s armored body. Another crack and boom filled the space as he took the full force, slamming him into an opposing wall on the other side of the room. The smell of ozone filled the area as cracks webbed out from around him.

Dropping her arms, Iphie let out a sigh before turning to her allies. “I’ve done my fill. Jin-Sun… He’s all yours.”
 
Kyouko couldn't pay all too much attention to what was going on around her. With a power that allowed her to rewind ti- to alter reality, it would have only been logical if the brunette could apply this to herself, no? Wrong. Rapid use of her power, over and over again, had taken its toll. Headache, dizziness, exhaustion, nausea. Even her adrenaline pumped body could barely hold back the symptoms anymore as she searched through endless realities that had the promising outcome. Focusing only one the single aspect at hand.

With each passing moment, Kyouko felt her conscious fading. Losing. Stopping.

No.
Not quite.
This wasn't how it'd end.

"GOOOOO!!!!!" Kyouko cried out instinctively with the sudden refresh in power. The otherworldly experience inside her otherworldly adventure. It hadn't been THAT long since she became a Hero, since she stopped being an ordinary girl.

Together with Iphie's help, who slowed down the fall of the Titan, Kyouko managed. She managed. They did. All together. Across the ocean. Hopefully, the Tsunami wouldn't screw things up but... they had the technology, right?

"Nani?!" Not able to question the happenings just now, the brunette had no time to slack as their enemy apparently charged his final attack. She could- no. Somehow, like a miracle, Tian managed to ...absorb it? Leaving Thremont apparently defenseless as everybody unleashed their attack - cracking his armor.

Watching Iphie close beside her, Kyouko got an idea. "Hyper Kyouko...." Grabbing a Flamestone Fragment from the ground, the girl simply threw it. No, not quite.

It was more akin to watching a glitch happen. Something weird. As the Flamestone bended to Kyouko's will, her power. Not making it past the girls hands more than half a meter, the stone, herself - everything reset. Repeat. Reset. Repeat. Reset. Repeat. Accelerate. Over and over. Until it became just as much of a deadly projectile.

"...FINAL PINK!" Red was taken, hmpf. So it'd be pink. The Flamestone shattered into their armored enemy, breaking the unbreakable shell even further. "GOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Kyouko called out, once more.
 
This was it. The critical moment. Whether it be by divine providence or simple luck, fate smiled down upon them this day. Something was giving them power, and in this desperate hour, Jin-Sun wouldn't question such. All that mattered was taking down the Thremont patriarch. Above all, this man represented everything he despised. His beliefs, passed down to his daughters, had ruined Jin-Sun, as well as all those cyborgs and others experimented on so horridly.

Jin-Sun laughed slightly as Tian-Gui screamed out the name Final Red, Runa and Kyouko following after with their own monikers. Well, if everyone was setting things up so well, it certainly fell to him to deliver the final blow. A cyborg finishing off a cyborg was only appropriate, after all.

"Thanks, Iphie. I'll be sure to end this." He smirked beneath his facemask, extending his right hand. Whatever power it was that infused him obeyed his will, coalescing in the form of a sword of light in his hand. As Thremont's armored shell began to shatter, Jin-Sun leapt up, lunging towards his enemy.

"FINAL BLACK!" He screamed, plunging the sword of light through the last of Thremont's armor, piercing his chest through.
 



Defeated. Defeated by the very thing he had resolved to defend against. These children chipping away at his body were not the greatest insult to his life. It was not their fervor or strength, nor their youth or luck. It was that everything he had come to know, come to prepare for, and defied, was in essence the thing that led to his defeat here. The Final Five were merely the medium with which it had sunk its fangs into his body.

Mystery. The unknowable. The enemy of order.

Whatever conspired against him in those moments had won out, and now he was left ruined by irony itself. His greatest attack dismissed, and his limbs torn, his chest caved, and his torso severed. Thremont laid upon the charred ground as the havoc settled, the Final Five's burst of obscene power now fading away all too late. He could not rise again. He could not himself dismiss the miraculous triumph they'd wrought, holding out against the tide of some mystery force and prove that all he'd achieved was the right path. The right decision.

He was proven wrong, but no epiphany would come to him. He would not suddenly see the error of his ways, or that these heroes were what he'd wanted to be all along. No. The only thing that was for certain, was that his daughter was correct.

They were, as she she'd said, monsters. Perhaps not born, but made. And he'd lost to them. Were there a soul he could put trust in, Thremont would not feel so damned, or his hope for humanity so dim. But there was not. He knew of no others that could stand to what he'd witnessed and felt. To him...

...society was doomed to chaos.

Immobilized, Thremont could only speak out in the dust-choked room. "S-so grzzt-e it." His voice erred and faltered, electronic sounds interrupting his words periodically. "It seems I've f-zzzzt-led to a-grrrt-nt for true chaos to rea-zzzt this Earth so soon. I see now th-ah-ah-ah-ah-t fate has been d-eeerrrrttt-ided already. I c-a-a-n only hope that... bzzzzt you are n-n-ot-t-t-t-t-t the ones to bring ruin up-rtttttzzzz the world. I would... I would ask 'please' b-zzzzz-ut I do not imagine it is y-your-tt-t-t-t decision..." A small chuckled escaped Thremont, dotted by increasingly more corrupted sounds.

"At l-least l-eeeeeeeeeeee-ve my d-da-zzzzzzt." The light faded from Thremont's visor, and he spoke no more. The ship rocked once again, but with the relief of knowing it was once again over the ocean from whence it arose, the Final Five could at least rest easy that it was not going to collapse upon a city. With the leftover overcharge from Iphie's prior state, it had the energy to float nigh-harmlessly down. The swell would no doubt be astounding, but would not result in a particularly destructive wave. For all tends and purposes, they were in the clear.

Personnel evacuated and the fleet landed haphazardly, sinking into the black depths of the open Pacific Ocean. Valentine was retrieved from the bowels of the flagship, and the Final Five returned to terrestrial ground after what seemed like days on end.



With the temporal shield gone and the fleet clearly out of commission, the world at large breathed a sigh of relief. Whilst the shield was raised, those countries that had come into possession of an anti-invasion cannon, a relic of the aftermath of the olde alien encounter, had brought them back to life and tested them against Thremont's fleet to no avail. Even the catastrophically immense power of the last-resort weapons could do nothing to the shield, and all hope seemed lost. Though Thremont loosened no arrows of his own, the threatening nature of the fleet's looming presence sent ripples of panic throughout the world. With its speedy demise, the Final Five disrupted not only the fleet itself, but any further panic that had begun to take root. The extent to which they had relieved the world's governments and corporate superpowers could only be felt once they had made it back to true civilization.

They were first welcomed by their comrades, John and Limov, once they touched ground in Japan. The two men congratulated the team for their exceptional work, not knowing just how egregious their battles had been on Mars and within the fleet's shield. There were stories to tell, to be sure. Taking their leave back home for some well-earned rest and relaxation, the storm of messages from news outlets and local governments would come soon enough. Within a mere day it had seemed as if they would be featured on every device that had a transistor across the globe.

Interviews, awards, fans. The notoriety that the original Five had amassed seemed, then, to have finally come to them in turn. Their world saving moment had been made, and they'd be forever emblazoned into the halls of heroic history. For weeks on end their names were paraded across media, sparking debates not merely on their vigilante nature, but of their powers as well. Fan clubs sprouted instantaneously, pitting the Final Five against their former superiors, and against what had seemed to be a rising society of instigated villainy. For the time being, they needn't work; the forces of evil that yet arose were not of a stature requiring their attention. They earned their rest. And their comrades stressed that they use it.

To the public, they were the heroes of the world, and they would maintain that title even as others followed in their footsteps. A true culture of vigilantism had been sparked by their deeds, and the world was unsure of how to deal with it. The supernatural or simply superpowered citizens of Earth were not merely limited to their five, and so it seemed that measures were needed to keep things mellow.

John eventually notified the Final Five of the oncoming slew of regulations that Shanhu's larger political body would be discussing with them. He assured them many times that they would be truly free to act as they would -no organization would dare shackle the power they had to right wrongs- but that surveillance would nonetheless be paramount so as to ease the worries of other groups, and even the citizenry itself; not everyone saw the Final Five's unbridled power as welcoming. The specifics of it he did not yet know.

Soon after their victory, a grand celebration was planned by Shanhu's elite, both to celebrate Thremont's tyrannical demise and the official "return" of the Final Five as an organization. No longer to be talked about in mere suppository newspaper articles, they'd be brought into the light of the world at large. To be hosted in two weeks time, there was ample time to prepare and enjoy the fruits of their labor.



The party was immense, especially considering the lavishness of everyone that had attended. No mere streetside celebration, the gathering for the Final Five was one of pomp and extravagance. Hotel Cobalt was one of the most decorated in Shanhu, known even to the elite as one that required care in attendance; one was to put on their best and be their best from the moment they checked into the moment they departed. No expense was spared, to say the least, and the Final Five, save perhaps Iphigenia, knew of such things.

Not a single attendee appeared less than the wealthiest of moguls, so much so that it was nearly uncomfortable to the uninitiated. A certain air of ridiculous stature saturated the entire hotel, and choked the convention hall where most had gathered. The welcoming for the Final Five had already died down, with attendees now offering them winks and nods of approval as they passed, rather than the standing ovations when they had first arrived.

Taken aside to speak individually, they were inundated with questions and praise, even bodyguard job offers at times, to say nothing of the arranged marriage proposals for sons and daughters, some in jest, others in absolute sincerity. Over time, the Final Five had come together once more, the elite now conversing amongst another around them as servers and photographers slipped between. The assault by interested parties wasn't truly over, however.

From within the sea of black and gold approached a tall girl of proud but sincere appearance. Her eyes were drawn to Iphie as she came, and the girl would immediately recognize her as Camille Illendaught, heiress to the Retra Company; as the most massive pharmaceutical and medical technology business in the world, it held similar standings to Courtlandt Holdings.




"Iphigenia. It has been a long time, though we've not made friends much," Camille greeted, extending a hand, "Congratulations to your doubly-greater standings, both as a member of the Final Five and a lucky recipient of many of Thremont's assets. You must be feeling a good amount of petty revenge," she smiled. The young woman turned to the rest of the Final Five in turn, a smile of subtle respect glowing from her expression. "Each of you must be feeling quite overwhelmed by all this notoriety. I hope it's not turned any of you off to heroism," she laughed.
 
Monster, hero, mysterious child. Runa was all of these things. But most important of all, she was still a high school student, and not even a very good one, at that. She didn't even know how to handle the sudden upsurge of popularity, so it was met with bewilderment at first, followed by mounting annoyance. At least it didn't take much effort to convince her teachers that, savior of the world or not, she still needed to learn trigonometry and proper English. Not like her grades were stellar to begin with, anyway. Sure, she hadn't missed too much time in saving the world, but she still had to keep attending classes. And, once she'd fought past everyone pestering her about things, it wasn't even that bad to just keep going to school, compared to being some official superhero on an official superhero team.

When it did come to interviews and things like it, she tended to insist she was an ordinary high school girl despite all evidence to the contrary, and usually didn't have anything really interesting or insightful to say about the rest of the Five, either. For a full member, she wasn't particularly in the know for any major plans or the sort to go talking about them, either. She was honestly glad when things died down, because it was way too hard to actually go out and do anything with all the sudden celebrity.



At the party, Runa looked awkward and out of place in her little black dress and heels. The food was way too fancy and expensive, not that it stopped someone with adventurous tastes and an ability to digest far worse than haute cuisine. It just felt weird to be at some legendary hotel, and try to behave. Back straight, no slouching, can't actually act like yourself.

She survived most of the reception b trying to hide or just smiling, nodding, and trying not to commit to anything. It was a relief to be back chatting with the rest of the Five, if only because they were people she knew. The elegant lady who approached them wasn't someone she knew, but she seemed to at least know Iphie. Runa sighed at the notoriety comment. "No kidding. I need a break from being on break from stuff."
 
In the days following their triumph, Iphie was anything but triumphant.

In fact, she was thoroughly displeased. After all, her former carefully crafted agenda of staying out of the public spotlight was utterly shattered in the days following the defeat of the Thremonts and their nigh undefeatable armada of airships. As the most identifiable of the Final Five, a bona-fide British aristocrat and majority owner of one of the larger companies in the world, Iphie took a greater share of the attention.

For the first few days, the purple-haired girl was swamped. After the news broke, it didn’t take too long for droves of phone calls from acquaintances to inundate her cell phone as she received surprised, congratulatory praises, expressions of thanks, and the odd insult, which was actually quite refreshing. In the following days, the elephant in the room was the handling of Heavyware Corporation; through circumstances, her assets had more or less doubled overnight when the Thremont enterprise came under her control.

After all, she had a heavy conflict of interest now that she owned the remnants of a hostile heavy weapons industrial empire. It was nothing that several board meetings would resolve, and she was contemplating divesting herself of the enterprise after thoroughly auditing the company’s assets.

It was around this time that some shitter had leaked her cell phone number on a message board, and Iphie was forced to ditch her phone. While she still kept a modest public face, increasing annoyance from the public sphere forced her to temporarily abandon her Shanhu apartment, flying back on a supersonic flight to her estate in cloudy England where she could sit by a warm fireplace, read a book, and have a glass of scotch while the whole thing blew over.

-

In the end, the so-called grand celebration forced Iphie back into society.

While Iphigenia had no love for these sorts of parties, she was still at home with the arrangements. Wearing a slim, dark-blue A-line dress and her hair let down, she played the part of the cute high-society heiress well. It wasn’t her first time at a function like this. Still, unlike her younger counterpart, the purple-haired girl refused heels, wearing comfortable flat sole shoes in their stead. Mingling through the crowd with a well-needed drink in her hand, she entertained and pleased as she socialized with the guests and offered fake smiles.

By the time the Final Five had come back together, by chance, she was alright slightly buzzed. Iphie was still alert enough though, and immediately identified the familiar face of Camille Illendaught, a peer of equal standing in the pharmaceutical industry.

“Camille, fancy that you’d be here too,” she greeted, her eyes lighting up in recognition, accepting the hand from the silver-haired maiden. “It’s bittersweet,” she offered, with a wry smile. “It’s cathartic to have my satisfaction, but having to strike down old childhood friends is really quite unenviable, no matter how it really is.”

Nodding at Runa, her somber mood was brief. “Believe me, I think all of us have had our fill…” Closing an eye, she glanced at Camille. “But it almost sounds like you’ve a request.”
 
Disappointingly, the colossal figure that once called himself the Shield of Shanhu did in fact need a long, long break. Easily the most bloodied individual out of all the rest within the Final Five, Tian Gui had barely managed to keep himself together before he crawled into Limov’s vehicle and promptly crashed, his final request being to inform the driver that, no matter the peril, he still had an image to uphold amongst his junior heroes.

Naturally, that meant a hell of a lecture awaited his bullheaded stupidity in refusing Kyouko’s miracle-heals from Anfisa, but with his entire skeleton filled with fractures, his organs an almost unsalvageable mess, his left arm naught but a cauterized stump, and a good decade shaven off his lifespan from all the ‘deaths’ he had predicted in the span of a day, the Shanhu native slept through most of it. Avoiding the initial flurry of media coverage solely due to sleeping three whole days, Tian woke up to countless gifts from well-wishers and even more slaps on the back when he (much to Anfisa’s disgust/disappointment/shock) went out for his morning jog. It certainly was a shock, but once that faded, Tian Gui quickly became the most media-prolific member of the Final Five. With his model-esque stature, his winning smile, and his strong ideals, the Flamestone guardian was invited onto everything from talk shows to photoshoots to handshake events to community patrols. There were sportswear sponsorships, supplements sponsorships, car advertisements, and even a porn deal that wanted to Rule 34 the Final Five vs the Thremont sisters fight (which was quickly obliterated). And once some nosy reporter dug out Tian Gui’s bachelor status?

All the proposals came in.

Once a friendly neighborhood hero, the protector of Shanhu had been propelled to levels of fame that he’d have never asked for, and now, he couldn’t even walk outside without putting on a disguise, lest he be mobbed by the six dozen fanclubs that popped up. Ah, if only his master was here to join in on the celebrations. Gigakill wouldn’t have to deal with people lusting over his genes. Citadel will probably have loved the attention to bits. Black Star’s basically gonna be Jin-Sunning this whole deal, while he could totally imagine Majorana holing up in her little study and not even realizing that the world exploded in their affection for the Five. And Lotte…well, he’d have no doubt that someone like her would be getting even more proposals than he was!

Well, all this mental damage he was incurring from his packed schedule was still just a love tap compared to her punches. Though it was a bit sketchy at times, Tian grew accustomed to stardom fairly easily, and paid little attention to protocol and the government surveillance that the others were worried about. Whether or not eyes were on him, a hero did what a hero did, after all.

And if that meant heading into a fancy party meant to celebrate their achievements, well, he could do that too. He could even do that in his Flamestone suit, crystalline fibers forming a dark gold suit resilient enough to shrug off rocket propelled grenades and armor piercing rounds. It was a touch ostentatious, but his own control over the strange golden substance had improved recently, and Tian felt like showing off, just a little bit.

Unbothered by the pomp and circumstance, Tian Gui offered the same treatment to all that came face to face, a handshake and a greeting and perhaps a short conversation, before the next person invaded. Making no attempt to shy away from all the wealthy and powerful individuals currying favour with the Final Five, it almost looked as if he was working to draw attention away from his less social comrades. A tank even off the battlefield, the raven haired man swivelled from one speech to another, occasionally sipping a fizzy beverage or chewing on some fine cheese, until finally, thankfully, the marriage proposals and the bodyguard offers and the sponsorship deals stopped.

Extracting himself from the latest ‘challenger’, Tian Gui strode back to the others as a woman with hair of ice approached, striking up conversation with the group. Another one? Gee, it never ended, huh? Offering a smile, he said to Camille, “I only wish that my predecessors have received the same recognition that we have. The smiles of the citizenry are our power source though, so I can’t say I’m wholly displeased with this.”

Iphie, of course, cut to the chase and would probably receive the most attention in this particular conversation, so he turned his attention to Jin-Sun instead, tapping the cyborg on the chest.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, Jin. Got some new kicks?”
 
In truth, Jin-Sun hadn't been around to witness the first few days of the world's reaction. After they'd landed back in Japan, Jin-Sun had immediately shipped himself off for repairs to his cyborg chassis, considering the damage he'd suffered from fighting Thremont and removing his safety limiters. With Iphie's permission, he and Anfisa had gone over the cyborg research retrieved from Heavyware, copying the Liquid Aurorum muscle fuel that had been used into his systems. Even with Anfisa's expertise, there hadn't been much time to copy the system besides using it to give Jin-Sun a temporary boost whenever it was activated. And there was the matter of reconstructing his sword that Runa had somehow broken. Fortunately, the blueprints to his sword had been in Heavyware's servers, and reconstructing it was only a matter of using enough Aurorum.

Once he was finished with being repaired and upgraded, Jin-Sun took full advantage of his hologram projector to completely dodge the media, allowing him to go through Shanhu without being noticed. He wasn't exactly comfortable with all this media attention, especially considering he was mainly a stealth specialist. Still, he leveraged his fame for a single interview in which he emphasized the amount of innocents Heavyware had kidnapped and experimented on, calling attention to the need to find these people and aid them. If he was going to be famous regardless, he might as well make use of it.

Without anything resembling a 9-to-5 job or schooling to deal with, Jin-Sun largely spent his time off watching wrestling and having to explain to his friends and family from his old life exactly what had happened to him after he'd signed up to be a PMC, considering Heavyware had listed him as KIA after they'd taken him in for experimentation.

He hadn't thought this through.

In the years since he'd broken out, he'd never tried to contact his parents or his previously close friends out of fear that Heavyware would have found out and tracked them down. Meeting his parents again had been...awkward. Still, at least he'd departed on relatively good terms, explaining exactly what had happened to him and why he'd never gotten in contact.

___

He actually bothered to put on a suit for this. A literal suit, tailored to fit over his cyborg chassis. God damn, it was weird to wear actual clothing again. Why Iphie had an Armani suit tailored for his measurements, he wouldn't ask.

And what the hell was with all these marriage proposals? He'd expected everything else so far, but this? Completely ridiculous. Considering he'd tracked his media coverage and they'd made no mention of his hologram projector (thank God), he doubted his ability to take on any face he wanted was a factor. Jin-Sun privately wondered if there were just a bunch of robosexuals in attendance, all things considered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jin-Sun said sardonically to this acquaintance of Iphie's. "The media only finds me when I want them to."

He nodded to Tian-Gui as the man rapped him on the chest.

"Yeah, Anfisa does good work. Should have some more once they finish going through all the data from Heavyware."
 
Being a Hero had been fun. At least the kicking ass and doing good part. But after that? It would have been exactly what Kyouko wanted, no? Millions of kids were glued to the TV, looking up to her! Just how she looked up to the Final Five. Kyouko was supposed to be happy! She got fan-clubs. They made her awesome costumes. Guest-character in a video game. Show meetings. Television series. The entire package. Heck, she was now even a popular pop-idol practicing dancing, singing, and all that! The brunette was so busy she couldn't even attend school. Which was... good, right?

No. Not at all.

Never, ever, had Kyouko thought she'd miss going to school. Miss hanging out with Runa(@R-9 Pilot) there. Miss the nagging teachers. And never would she have thought she'd slowly grow to hate her father. Her awesome dad who brought her to all the places. Bought her all the things. Showed her to all his friends how super-great her super-strength is. Now, the girl doubted her own childhood memories.

It wasn't even two days after their return that Kyouko's father, Goto, publicly known as Mr. T, got back into her life. It was when he kind-of forcefully became the girl's 'Manager' that Kyouko started to doubt his intentions. 'Leave everything to me, sweetie!', 'I know what's best for you!', 'Just do what I tell you~', 'Remember! Always smile in the camera!' and many similar lines was stuff she could hear from day to day. The only blessing was that nobody knew about her true power. Including her father. Whatever deity had watched over her when she explained her super-strength but not her 'reset' power to Mr. T, it must have been her Guardian Angel.

Either way, here she was, in a very pretty dress and a forced smile that lost all its sparkle. Reuniting with her 'old team' had been something she looked forward to. Not having Mr. T, who was busy in some backstage room, watch over her every move was something she yearned for so long. But everything was ruined as her father had another surprise for her: 'You're going to meet your future spouse! Who is it gonna be? Don't worry, sweetie, it's not just anyone but SOMEONE! Really. Trust me. I only want the best-' God she HATED HIM. She absolutely hated her father. No... that wasn't right. She still loved him. He was her dad! Family... just like Miku.

Either way, weren't pop idol supposed to be single anyway? Oh well. Maybe he was actually just joking. He had to be joking. Actually, Kyouko was super sure he was just joking. Who married off their own kids!? Was that still even legal anymore? Marriage was something Kyouko did not want to think about. At. All. Anyway, after giving hand-shakes, empty words, having her hand kissed by 200 different individuals, and smiling so hard that her lips started to hurt it was finally time to reunite with her old friends!

"Hey..." It was a weak greeting from a semi-broken girl. Only now she realized that Kyouko in a weird dress was strange. That these fellow heroes, people she found herself kinda close to, would see her like this, was way more awkward. Right now, the girl simply wished to disappear. BUT! The words of the lady that gathered them, it sounded like... they'd do more ass-kicking? "Are we gonna do more hero stuff? PLEASE tell me we're gonna do more hero stuff!"

With those words, Kyouko moved closer to Runa and gave her a hug. "Hey Runa! I'm so sorry that I didn't have any time for you!"
 



"The original Five disappeared so suddenly, their fame was similarly fleeting, I believe," Camille said to Tian Gui. "As for a request? No, nothing so bold. Anything I could request might come off as corporate subterfuge. And I have no intentions of shattering the luck I've already managed to see thanks to Heavyware's liquidation," Camille said. "Perhaps if something comes up the ails me and isn't nefarious I'll ask. Though I imagine soon enough you'll find something to be busy with again."

"Not quite so soon," came a voice from aside. A young man approached the group, face apparently displeased, or perhaps he was just normally cheerless. Something about his hair color seemed familiar.





"The Final Five are, after their exceptional victory, unfortunately not as free as they were before," he explained, "Though the first Five were a sudden surprise, novel, even, these five are not, and it seems after the recent crisis appeared a global one, the world at large isn't so readily accepting."





"Representative Jameson," Camille greeted, turning to meet him, "Here to spoil the good fun?" she smiled.







"Mhm," Jameson flatly replied. "Until Shanhu's governing body sets up some more monitoring capabilities, they'll not be crashing city-sized ships into the ocean, to say the least. And good riddance as well. Two of their members desperately need to catch up on their schoolwork, no?"





"I'll leave you to nag them, then," Camille said with a flirtatious wave to the Final Five in general. The heiress began for the background of the party, but not before passing by Iphigenia. She stopped, briefly, at a very close distance, and spoke in a hushed, dire tone.

"When they contact you, do not fall for them." The cryptic message was all that was left for Iphigenia before Camille disappeared.
 
Tian Gui chuckled at Jamieson's little jab at Runa and Kyouko's struggles with their academics. Tapping the two girls on the head, the raven haired youth said, "You heard the man. Stay in school, you two, and make sure you don't fall behind your peers. Us Final Five gotta be role models scholastically as well, or every kid on the block would be dropping school to chase dreams of heroism."

A bit ironic, considering how he never got more than a high school degree, but hey, the predecessors had to ensure that their successors were better than them, no?

"Any idea of when the council will come to a decision though?"
 
Runa pulled Kyouko into quite a firm hug, probably with enough force to crush the brunette a little bit. "What've you even been up to? Haven't even seen you at school." Kyouko had hit the public eye hard, and Runa wasn't sure how she managed to not go completely nuts. Going MIA in school wasn't good either, but it left Runa more alone. Maybe it was a ploy to split anyone trying to harass them up and the other girl had switched schools.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at either man. "Yeah, I'm not exactly trying to get further behind. At least I don't usually have to beat reporters away with a stick at school or anything. And it's not like I was absent for very long," she couldn't help but give Kyouko a sidelong look, "I'm just kinda dumb, you know?" Not like she was lying about it.

"You're going to class somewhere or doing something too, right, Kyouko?"
 
“Everything is such a political minefield these days.” Giving a casual reply, she gave the glass of scotch in her off hand a light swirl, clinking the cube of ice inside. The purple-haired girl took a figurative step back as the silver-haired man made his arrival, bringing the glass up to her mouth, and keeping it there.

It didn’t take too long for the man’s words to make her dislike him. Especially not when he furthered the rhetoric of monitoring the Final Five—her. Iphie valued her privacy –and her secrets—far too much.

Having drawn a healthy sip of the strong spirit, she made an amused smile as she rejoined the conversation. “Hey, how about this. If you two get a proper 4.0, then I’ll make a scholarship just for you two with my name on it.” Challenging them, she gave them a wink.

Glancing at the departing Camille, she kept up the banter between her fellow comrades, giving a nod to her counterpart before she passed her. Her eyes narrowed imperceptibly at the ominous message.

“After all, you’re going to need a proper base to fall back on when you burn out of that idol phase, Kyouko~”
 
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Oh, he didn't like what was being said here at all. Further scrutiny? Monitoring capabilities? No thank you. Jin-Sun liked staying under the radar, damn it. The cyborg afforded the representative a muted nod for the moment before glancing at his school-aged companions in amusement.

"Don't listen to Iphie, C's get degrees. I scraped by high school with minimal work and maximum sleep." He said. "Besides, if there's anything good about all this media attention, it's that you'll probably get into whatever school you want, as long as you don't flunk out." Jin-Sun shrugged, glancing at Kyouko in particular.

"Been meaning to ask, by the way. What's with all the idol crap? You've already got ads popping up in between me catching up on wrestling."
 
"Eh...?" Suddenly, everybody, like, literally EVERYBODY talked about school! Including the new dude that just appeared and pretty much said: No fun allowed. Follow the rules!

"I..." The brunette was more busy with trying to breathe rather than think, however, until Runa finally released her. "I..." She gazed downwards. 'Tell them to speak with your manager.' Were her father's words if anyone was to bother her about the idol business. At least they didn't seem to mind Kyouko's pretty dress!

"..." Giving Jin a big, false, smile, the girl finally spoke. "What do you mean Idol business? I ALWAYS wanted to be an idol! And now I am! A heroic hero idol! Hmpf. Buuut I should probably study more... if I have the time." A bit. fat. lie. Heroe's weren't supposed to lie. Clearly, her father was a really bad influence on her.
 
"As luck would have it, there aren't many idols that can also claim to be superheroes out there," Jameson said flatly, "Which gives you a leg up into the spotlight regardless of... any lack of singing talent you may have..." he muttered. The dismissive man turned to Tian-Gui and adjusted his spectacles, tone shifting up a minute amount into that of professionalism, rather than outright displeasure.

"I've been told that there will be a decision by the week's end. I'm also obligated to tell you, as the designated liaison between the city council and Final Five organization, that despite my brother being an aid of yours, I won't be offering any sort of special treatment." That was it. There was the connection they'd been looking for.

John. John Cornell. Jameson must have been his brother. Besides the silvery hair, they had similar complexions, perhaps even the same general demeanor of professionalism. John was nicer, of course.

"I hope you all can play nicely until then. A better deal for you can be met if things go smoothly during the week," Jameson explained. A jovial, loud voice suddenly came from behind Kyouko; another interested party, this time with far more energy and... certainly anyone perceptive of all the cards in play could tell: a certain insidious air.

The young, blonde, and gazing young man that approached from Kyouko's rear rose up a sense that he was the boy who'd always played by the rules, but nevertheless always got a deal as good as any cheater.

"Soon enough, you'll not need to study anyways! I wouldn't worry too much about it, miss idol-hero," he said, waving a two dismissive hands. She had no name to him, but she did have the face; her father had definitely shown her a picture of him, alongside many others, in his forays into arranging... things. The boy stood at Kyouko's side rather closely, as if welcoming himself into their very inner circle.

"Good eve, heroes," he greeted.
 
"I don't plan on getting into any trouble. Better to let people sort everything out first. I mean, I'd be happy if I could be left alone to be an ordinary high school student for a while." Leaving the mess to Jameson and the others was much easier. Not that she wanted to abdicate all responsibility in favor of being a kid. She was a superhero, like it or not, and had to set a good example. "If there's anything I can actually do to help, let me know. Can't just pretend I'm not a superhero, chances are. And, well, gotta set a good example for everyone and stuff."

Runa looked the new arrival over, with a bit of consideration, for how close he'd placed himself to her friend. "Sorry, I don't believe we've met?"

She didn't recognize him. Must be some high-society guy or something. Though that was just about everyone present. nobody was really from the sort of circles she usually wandered in. She didn't even face many questions from curious scientists this time around.
 
Well, no wonder this guy looked so familiar. John was his brother. Still, this Jameson guy was a bit more of a prick. Just a little. Probably came with the business of being a politician. What he was saying wasn't exactly wrong, but the tone? What an ass. Jin-Sun merely gave the man a curt nod as he left, already glancing towards their next socialite to deal with.

Pretty boy type, it seemed like. And seemingly interested in Kyouko's idol thing. Great. Hopefully this guy wasn't just looking to try and score. It probably wasn't any of Jin-Sun's business if he was, but they were teammates, and Kyouko really didn't seem like the type to be decent with romantic encounters. Well, not that he was either, given that most of his flesh was a damn wreck. Still, it'd probably do to keep an eye on this one.

"Evening." He stuck out his hand for the blonde to shake. "Jin-Sun. Lemme guess, big fan of idols?"
 
“Really?”

Iphie made raised her eyebrow in skepticism at Kyouko’s reply. Not being particularly interested however, she didn’t press further as she continued to indulge herself in her dwindling drink. Shedding her over-exaggerated expression, she glanced back at the silver-haired man as he connected the dots for them.

They certainly don’t act the same.

The purple-haired girl offered up a mundane farewell as John’s brother was rotated out for another man. This one, even with her being slightly buzzed, put Iphie subconsciously on her guard. She took a brief pause as he approached, before she resumed her light-hearted admonishment of Kyouko.

“Don’t listen to them. Education and studying gives you a proper base if all else fails, you know.” Turning around, she caught the blond-haired man as he spoke, catching his gaze. “Good evening. You are?”