Our stories are entwined, Illya. -Invite only.-

Illya Vanko, once a homeless girl in the wastes of the Russian, a tireless worker as a prostitute for a nameless Russian mob boss, a nobody. No one in the world would have guessed that this small girl would be the former lover of the World's Greatest Hero, the mother of the Destroyer of New York and Killer of Heroes, not even her herself. The real Illya Vanko died long ago, long before the events of Doctor Necrodium and even before Pain became the incredibly famous superhero that he was. The current one was nothing more than a homunculus, an artificial human made in the likeness of Illya along with the memories, an improvised way for Illya to be born again, and given a new life. When she had first awoken, she couldn't believe what had happened. Last thing she remembered, she had just finished sending another client off home before going to bed. Next thing she knew, she woke up in the Statue of Liberty as the Americans called it, bearing witness to the destruction of New York City. To her dismay, she learned that she had died several years ago and was reborn in a new body by her apparent son John Vanko. Furthermore, she learned she was the lover of Pain, who stood before her as a man in his forties. It was for Illya that John destroyed all of New York, killed Pain's daughter Rebecca and ruined the lives of millions, all for the mother he failed to save.

Now Illya was alone and confused in a world that had forgotten her existence, in a place that was more advanced than her own, a place that was destroyed by her unknown family. Provided for wherever she went, Illya's life was made easy by her dead son, as well as a group that had named her the Sorceress Supreme, in order to take precedence over the fact that Illya was important to the fate of the world. From a girl living without wealth of mercy to a future world where she was protected from all that around her, Illya was very confused, and very alone. So she traveled, without an idea of where to begin or where to end, she traveled.

For some reason, something told her to return to New York City, the place where her son had created so much destruction. It was also the place where her former lover had made guard over, the place where he would risk his life to protect, the place that was destroyed in Illya's name. Illya and Brock never really maintained contact after her resurrection, whether it was because of their combined shock or Brock's bitterness over the death of his children was unclear, but the two never regained their connection, most likely due to the fact that Illya felt that he didn't need her anymore.

Walking along the streets of New York's Manhattan Borough, Illya could understand the experiences that had taken place during Doctor Necrodium's (Illya's son John Vanko) attack on the city. The streets still bore wounds of John's attacks, the resistance of the heroes that dared to face him, the remnants of the explosion that shook the entire city. Amazingly, Manhattan's Central Park had learned to cope with the damages and moved around them, providing the people of New York a hope that they too could get over the tragedy that cost them the lives of many men, women and children. Among the crowd Illya stuck out like a sore thumb, her small sweater and scarf couldn't hide her ivory skin and snow white hair, along with her innocent, but striking red eyes. Her shape was beautiful, like a porcelain doll among a crowd of imperfect humans. Illya knew that her son was important to her and vice versa, honoring the relationship by keeping a piece of his metal shell, the only remnant of the child she would never remember. John had removed any memory of himself or Brock, anything after she had turned 16, all to keep her safe.

Shaking away the sad thoughts, Illya returned her attention towards Central Park, John gave her a new life, so it was best that she didn't waste it. Even Illya marveled the park and its tenacity, a couple of months before it was barren from the destruction that Doctor Necrodium's flagship, The Olympus, had caused when it crashed. Now the park looked as if it had never suffered an injury, a testament to how greatly unaffected Nature can be. As she walked Illya noticed that barely anyone was around, teenagers and children likely still in school, so there was hardly enough people to notice Illya once she slipped into the confines of the overgrowing forest. Once out of sight, Illya allowed the planet to embrace her, the air practically glowing around her as her essence enriched the natural world around her. Despite the lack of evidence, Illya was an embodiment of the Earth itself, her very presence caused the plants to grow healthy with abundance and animals to raise their young without fear of defect. However such a thing did not extend to humans, who were a blight on the natural world. Were she to allow her presence to run wild, the very air around Illya could kill the average man, and the plants hidden within the confines of man's concrete and metal buildings would obliterate the artificial structure as if it were a mere inconvenience.

Needless to say, Illya was a risk to those around her, which led to her eventually shunning human contact. Whenever she could, Illya tried to be away from humans around her, the act of her cutting off her powers was like losing a piece of herself. Despite this, no one could tell that Illya had powers unless she revealed them herself, no computer or magic could detect anything from her, it was as if she were invisible. It didn't change the fact that Illya was dangerous however, many suspected that she might be the key to the World's salvation or its destruction. However, now all one could see was a young girl enjoying her life among the plants that seemed to enjoy her company.

Continuing along the unmarked paths of the forest, Illya tiptoed and danced along to the beats inside her head, ridding herself of her shoes, closing her eyes to let the clean air clear her mind of negatives thoughts and just enjoy the fact that she was alive and well. As she spun and bounded along the flowers and trees, Illya let the wind guide her movements, trusting that the world around her wouldn't betray her presence to the humans and risk their lives by being near the unfiltered Illya. Breaching what seemed to be a barrier of leaves, Illya's eyes sprang open when she noticed that her feet had touched cold concrete. Looking straight ahead, Illya's eyes widened further when she noticed that there was only one person directly in front of her. That person was Scarletta, the Inferno, member of the Tough Guys, and Brock O'Day's current lover. Instantly, Illya cut off her connection to the Earth in a vain attempt to avoid being noticed too much by the distracted woman.

"Derʹmo... (Shit...)" Illya cursed under her breath, scolding herself for not being too careful.

Illya averted her gaze away from Scarletta when she realized she had brought attention to herself again. Bad enough that she managed to jump out of a bush and into a clearing, that she had an appearance that could show up in the middle of night, and that she was wearing a schoolgirl outfit during school hours. Now she was swearing in Russian in front of an American, one that she never wanted to meet for the risk of an awkward conversation. Illya straightened herself out, but her lack of experience in skillful distraction was evident as she slowly began to back away. Obviously Brock hadn't told her girlfriend about her, so she wouldn't know why Illya was so reluctant to see her. As she backed away, Illya raised her arm in a form of surrender and gave her best smile. If she played it off differently, she'd be able to pretend like she just didn't want to get caught skipping school. Maybe if she did it well enough, Scarletta wouldn't ask any questions because she was foreign.

"Da sorry very much! Not skipping school. Just looking" Illya jabbered and stammered, trying to play off as one that had broken English. John had given her knowledge of how to speak English, as it would help her integrate into society, but didn't manage to remove her accent, which was thick coupled with her tiny voice. As she continued to back away, Illya didn't bother looking back, moving dangerously close to the very top of the hill she was standing on. "Sorry. I go away no-aaah!"

As she backed away, Illya suddenly stumbled back as she walked down a sudden change in elevation. As a result of her surprise, Illya lost her balance and began to fall down the hill. As she continued to fall, the ground around Illya began to glow as the plants cushioned Illya's decent, making sure she didn't hurt herself. When her fall finally came to a stop, the grass below grew to massive amounts in order to cushion Illya's fall, feeling like the world's fluffiest bed when she landed upon it. Dizzy from her tumble, refocused her vision, holding her head to steady herself. As soon as she realized what she had done, Illya's eyes widened. Stammering, Illya tried to look for a way to explain what she had just done, trying to find a way of escape. Despite her efforts, the evidence was clear, Illya had just tapped into a Ley Line in order to unconsciously protect herself from harm. Finding nothing that could get her out of the situation, Illya sighed.

"Ochen' tonkiĭ Illya (Very subtle Illya)" Illya said scolding herself, looking up at her bed, Illya's crimson eyes met Scarletta's. "I don't suppose you can forget you saw that?"

Scarletta raised her slim eyebrow very slowly when the girl began to speak in broken English. She doubted a girl 'going to school' as she appeared to be dressed for, could not speak proper English. Now Scar didn't think American's could speak proper English but that was mainly due to the fact she was FROM England and studied English to a Masters degree level. Even then, Scar assumed she could at least speak at an American level to be in one of their schools. Unless of course she was on an exchange but somehow scar doubted that... She began to back away from her, spurting she wasn't skipping school. If she was telling the truth Scar was going to get her back to school, or find her tour group. It wasn't safe for a kid to be wondering around alone in New York. Couldn't she see the destruction around her? That was life. Flittering around the flowers like a humming bird was not exactly safe.

"I can walk yo--" she cut off as she tripped. She had been taking her time in getting up due o the growing bump which indicated life, hidden by her top whilst sitting down, but instincts kicked in and Scar was on her feet and by the hill in seconds. She was in time to see her pull matter around her as carelessly as Scar produced fire, and cushion her fall. Scar was definitely impressed but curiosity did not curb her worry for the girl. Sometimes magic failed. Skidding down the dew-wet embankment a little she offered the girl a hand to help her up. Her lips curved up into a smile making her eyes twinkle some what with amusement and pity. She probably didn't want her powers broadcast to the world.

"I can pretend no to have if it makes you feel better?" She tilted her head some what to the side. She seemed to be using English perfectly fine right now at least and not attempting to sound like a foreigner who was lost in a big city. If the girl took her hand she'd then pull her to her feet and run her eyes quickly over her to see if there was in fact any damage. It seemed the manipulation had done its trick. Curiosity stirred in Scar's stomach now worry had been dispersed. She wasn't going to ask, she vowed to herself. She probably felt weird enough as it was.

"So do you actually have school or was that a lie too?" an amused raise of the eyebrow. "How about we start again and you don't lie to me this time? My name's Scarlet, what's yours?" she folded her arms over her chest.

Illya looked up at the older woman with a less nervous smile, taking her hand and hauling herself back onto her feet. Realizing that she was staring into the woman's eyes, Illya averted her gaze, trying not to reveal anymore than she already did. It was bad enough that she was found in the first place, now she was letting her powers run free, it was only a matter of time before more information slipped out. If Scarletta knew about her former life, what would she do to her? Would she get angry? They didn't know each other well enough for that, but there was also the fact that she was Doctor Necrodium's mother, the one who gave birth to the monster that destroyed New York.

In her mind, the negatives outweighed the positives, if there were even any. As a result, Illya clamped her mouth shut. But when Scarletta asked for the truth, Illya was conflicted. She always promised herself that she would always be honest, that it was because she wasn't before that the entire series of events happened the way they did, it was because of her lying that John and Rebecca were gone, that Brock was in so much pain. But on the other hand, if she told the truth, she could be killed, or worse. What if she demanded that she see Brock? Illya couldn't face him now after all the pain that she caused him, all the chances he could have had but lost because of her.

The pressure of even saying something as simple as her name was so hard now, it was unbearable for such a pure little girl. Gripping tight to Scarletta's hand, Illya began to let tears fall down her cheeks. It was a tough decision for her, but despite the possible consequences, it would only get worse as time went on. Sooner or later Scarletta was going to figure it out on her own, and it would be even harder to deal with. So through her tears, Illya formed the words.

"Illya... my name is Illya Vanko..."

Illya froze up when Scarletta touched her face, her eyes closed wondering what the woman would do to her. To her surprise, instead of getting angry, or at least being somewhat upset at her, Scarletta let her cry, wiped her tears and even comforted her. The act of kindness set off another wave of tears from Illya's eyes, she was getting so worked up over such little things, while Scarletta was giving her comfort and telling her that everything wasn't her fault. It was like she was reading her mind, Illya's loose barriers just fell and she began to spout gibberish through her sobs.

"I know it isn't my fault, everyone tells me that, everyone tells me that it was his choice that he did the things he did. But if it wasn't for my lies everything could have been avoided. John would still be alive, he might have been happy. Rebecca, I didn't know her, but I knew she was important, even to John. The fact that I caused him to choose between me and his sister! And Brock! Oh Brock! I hurt him so much, I lied to him. If I didn't he'd still have his kids, he'd still be happy here in a America, he'd still have you" Illya said as she sobbed, her words jumbled, taking several times to get right before she could get her complete sentence out. Even she could tell that she was a mess, but even that couldn't stop her tears from flowing. All the repressed time came gushing out, finally letting Illya vent with a complete stranger."I just wish I could turn back time, stop myself from making that mistake, maybe then I wouldn't have made all that despair happen"

Soon Illya returned to her quiet crying, gripping onto Scarletta's hand. She was never jealous over Brock, she knew he was important to her past self, but to her, Brock was just another person. She could feel the connection with him, but Illya knew that she had let him go, what he did from then was his business. To add to her woes, Scarletta revealed that she and Brock were no longer together. Illya held onto Scarletta's hand and pulled her close, making some sort of makeshift embrace. Compared to her, Scarletta was strong, someone who had a foundation compared to Illya's flimsy morale.

"I'm sorry...I won't lie ever again... it won't ever happen again..."