What Happens in Boarding School... Stays at Boarding School (Zell, Glint, Bliss)

PROLOGUE - Los Angeles.


A bespectacled British man carrying an umbrella on one arm and a suitcase in the other hand, strolled through the dark grounds of the supposedly abandoned aviary outside of town. He took his time to examine the entries on the various avian species of America, mouthing a 'fascinating' or a 'delightful' at each, even taking pictures with his mobile device.

He reaches the main research building, stops and stands at attention right as a man-bird mutant is hurled bodily through the window, sprawled on the ground before the British gentleman. Despite covered in glass and heavily bruised, the man bird slowly got up, and got a good look at the Brit.

"The Aviary... I see the good doctor has had new guinea pigs." The Londoner said calmly, examining the mutant. He tsked audibly, making a comment about poor slicing and poorer choice of test subjects.

"Who da heck are you, James Bond muthafucka?" The mutant bird man bad mouthed from the ground, and decided the suit would make a good hostage. Claws outstretched and bird making strange squawking noises, The hostage objected heavily with well time blows from his umbrella.

"Language! Grammar! Manners!" The British gentleman  delivered three well placed blows that put the man bird in his place, knocking him unconscious. "Ugh, Hooligans like yourself give humanity a bad name. Now..." The man fixed his suit after that beating caused it to wrinkle.

He looked into the laboratory's large Atrium, where a righteous battle between teen superheroes and giant mutant bird men was taking place. On the ground was a young asian lady in a Miko outfit no less, was putting another mutant in a head lock, trying to choke him out. The creature was making the most inhuman sounds from the pain.  "...Diana Mendoza... and Prodigy? I presume?"

"BWISIT ANG LAKAS NILA (FUCK THESE GUYS ARE TOUGH)!" "I'M KINDA BUSY HERE!" Diana shouted, when the bird man scratched Diana's arm, and more cursing escaped from her mouth, as salty as a dutch sailor now at this point. The bird man flew up in the Atrium to get away, but the Brit suddenly pointed his umbrella and fired a hidden grapple, which caught the mutant by the bare foot. With leverage and surprise he grounds the bird man, allowing Diana to retrieve her sheathe and knock him out with a blow across the bird face.

"And what strategy, pray tell, was implemented to take down the Aviary?" The man asked, seeing how messy the situation had

"Strategy? Beat everyone up!" as more on-foot goons appeared, Diana engaged them in melee, dodging gunfire and using a kick to deliver a knife into someone's teeth, causing them horrific and nonlethal pain.

"Quaint... Is there anyone around I could speak to? no?" The Brit asked, knocking out a goon trying to escape with a casual back fist.

The epic battle continued between the bird men and the other present members of Prodigy... It would soon reach its conclusion tonight, as the scientist had decided not to run but instead morph himself into a giant monstrous condor, trying to open the Atrium's glass ceiling so they could escape.

Silus was on call...again, and this time it was apparently a bunch of goons and a strange avian-genous opponents. Silus came in to the party a tad late to be sure, but it was always better late than never, especially when Silus was the only member of prodigy that had in any way, shape, or form planned everything. Danny just punched things until they went away...including the tax collectors, Dragon girl was retired-and when she wasn't retired she was busy crushing things or sneezing out fire in restaurants! His closest friends weren't even the planning sort! Ryan trying to plan something was akin to a sloth competing a marathon, and in total honesty Diana trying to plan always ended up with a happy demon-sword and unforeseen consequences. When Silus planned things they worked....they might involve summoning reality ending horrors to plague a single person, but they worked!  

  Yeah.... Silus being the one with the plans definitely means that this group doesn't have a long-lived future ahead of them...

  Literally appearing at the scene Silus began to draw a net, floating up tot the roof as if gravity had no meaning to him at all. As he traced with his hands he left streaks of paint and oil-pastel behind, until finally he had a beautiful and well detailed net in a very, very short amount of time. There were perks to being an art-prodigy it would seem! Quickly Silus flew the net to the other end of the room and attached it, cutting off roughly half the flying area the bird man would have been able to utilize. Next, Silus anticipated claws and weapons to try and slice it, so to protect that a little bit more than usual, he drew a small mechanical device with batteries and a regulator overdrive. Meaning that if the bird man flew into the net, or touched the net it was going to have a very, very bad time. In the next room he just continued to fly around, whisking paints on everything, but not just any paint. This paint was a unique form of electroluminescent paint, which would be important a little bit later.

 Silus then vanished into thin area and reappeared just behind Diana and the rather posh man in the other room.

 "Birds sight is more acute than ours, their hearing too! I wanna make a high-pitched noise and put their resposne to stimuli through the roof and drive them a bit crazy. Once that happens they'll fly and get knocked out, or they'll go into the other room we can trap them in a photo-tribu-Photosomo-tribu....The Light thingy I set up." He offered, hoping that someone would be willing to take him up on his offer. Just then his cell-phone went off and he reached down to take it while easily dodging and evading incoming enemies from all angles.

 "Hey dad! Uh-no. no I didn't. Nope. That's Mike, not me. No. No. Please don't do that. That's kinda...illegal? Oh me? No that's just an Aviansapien trying to hit me. Well no, there's a few of them, they won't be able to. Yeah...okay- OH waitwaitwait! Daddy, what's the name of that light contraption that traps birds? Phototribulation trap? Oooooh. Yeah, okay. Yeah....Daaaaaaad.....fine....love you too... bye." Silus mumbled as he obviously became embarrassed by having to say he loved his dad in front of his friends. Well actually it was more about the fact he was in the middle of a combat situation.  Silus quickly then turned to his phone and went to Youtube, looking for "high pitched frequency that will drive birds crazy". Of course he didn't find exactly what he was looking for, but he found the one thing he knew drove Lourishna crazy, and so he began to play the noise on max volume. Hopefully that would work.

There was an Aviary right outside LA?! Shard had been living here for some time now and she had never noticed a giant bird cage filled with terrifyingly ugly bird man people things.  She had received an anonymous tip about strange sightings at an abandoned aviary and had decided to check on things.  When she arrived and saw Ronin, Shard quickly realized that this was going to be an horrifying experience.

Shard had fashioned the broken glass around into a circular disk with no sharp edges and was using said disk to bludgeon birds that attempted to attack her.  She raised her disk to intercept an attack and was promptly forced onto the ground by the sheer weight of the screeching bird abomination.  And while she laid there pinned to the ground, Shard made a note to give whoever the hell said that birds were hollow boned a piece of her mind... or maybe she just didn't understand what hollow boned meant.  Shard made another note to look up what that meant.

With but a thought, Shard directed four glass shards to break off from her glass disk and pierce the unholy bird demon's body.  Once the creature had flown off in pain, Shard fired off another volley to ground the creature.  She made sure that the bird thing was down for the count and retrieved her expended shards.

"This shit isn't working," She panted as she ran for cover before more man bird freaks could attack her. Shard shattered her disk with her powers and lifted each shard into the air where they remain suspended. Unlike her disk these shards had an edge and anything that flew through them at the speed that she noticed the bird people were flying at would suffer some serious injuries.  Each glass shard was shaped in a foot long diamond so that they were sharp in either direction.  Shard kept the larger shards closer to her while the smaller pieces remained in her outer perimeter.  This way Shard would be able to protect herself from the worst of the damages that the bird freaks could do while still maximizing her offensive capabilities.

Two more glass pieces flew out and two more birds dropped from the sky, their wings wounded too badly to be able to carry them.  Shard smiled as watched them plummet from the skies.  A benefit of her psychokinesis over silicate was that she rarely ever missed with her projectiles.

When she finally noticed Ronin and a strange older looking man, Shard jogged over to join them.  

"Holy shit," She breathed when she caught up to them, "What the fuck are these things? I mean I know they're bird people but... at the same time they're fucking bird people! Like... this kind of stuff doesn't happen everyday."  The girl wearing a stained glass mask stopped talking as a person she had never seen before materialized behind Ronin and began explaining his plan to take care of the bird people.

"You're seriously thinking that your phone can take out an entire aviary of man bird love babies?" The dark haired girl asked incredulously while firing off more shards at freaks of nature. "Not saying that it's a bad idea, but we would need a larger speaker... like a lot bigger than your pho-oh shit,"   Shard stopped talking and craned her head upwards. "They're trying to open up the roof," She explained.  

Her brows furrowed as she began concentrating on the entire ceiling above them.  Using her telekinetic power over silicate, Shard was now fighting to keep the glass above them closed.

"I can keep this thing shut but you guys will need to cover me. Oh my god this is harder than I thought it would be," She grunted as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Bliss Fukuyama, fresh off of her win in the first annual most beautiful person award from the magazine company she just purchased, simply glowed in the black and white of her combat suit. The skirt frolicked with her leg as the downward gusting air ran streamlined across her boots. The would be sailor scout slammed into the top of the LA aviary, taking the shock of her descent from helicopter, but still letting her knees know she would pay for it tomorrow.

A man became a bird, but not just any bird- a condor. The state bird of California. Maybe. Or at least an endangered- listen, Bliss grew up in Nebraska and did not major in bird watching, so she may be hazing on this, but what she is not hazy on, is what her fist are about to do. Telekinetic energy surged through her lower arm, letting Bliss shatter the glass ceiling and give herself a clear shot to try and take down the condor. Each shard of glass falling through the air would again burst into even more shards, creating a flak field in the air. If the birds wanted to escape, they would do so at great risk to themselves.

A weightlessness came over Bliss as she plummeted through the air. Even though Bliss could not fly, she knew others who could. Particularly a certain condor who needed some taming. A telekinetic pull would grab the big bird in flight and pull him towards her, allowing Bliss to climb aboard and save herself the trouble of falling to a very grim end. "Looks like I got a new pet." Bliss felt comfortable enough out of her element to gloat over the specimen she worked to wrangle, keeping her mind off the possibility the scientist could be strong enough to turn the tables on her.

The rest of the aviary looked in disarray as Bliss unleashed her reckless attack, but the calamity ensuing would hopefully do enough damage to shock the mutants into giving up. At least, that is what Bliss' plan was as she thought it through on her way down from the BlissCo helicopter piloted by her muscle, Sara.

"Less exposition! more hitting!" Diana said, wondering how Silus talked so fast in the middle of gunfire and crazy, wrench wielding bird men. She demonstrates her life philosophy on anyone who remained on the ground... In a non-lethal way of course. This was greatly helped by her new, 100% demon free, 100% Prodigy approved, reverse-edge sword. Diana still complemented it will fists, elbows, knees and feet.

One enterprising avian, larger than his fellows, decided he would be the one to end Diana. Taking advantage of the chaos he charges in, swats aside Diana's sword as she re-arranged a fellow's nose, and snatches up her small frame in a bear hug, rushing to bring her outside and slamming her down bodily in the grass and glass. Diana feels the wind forcibly leaving her lungs, her vision nearly going black.

"I LOVE BEATING TEEN GIRLS LIKE YOU!" He growled, lifting a big mutant fist to smash Diana's teeth in, while the other hand tore up Diana's shrine priestess outfit. Rather than panic, Diana gave the tackler tonight's grand prize for idiotic misogyny. She instinctively reaches up close, too close to get punched, and slams both palms into the man's ears so hard to make his eardrums explode, taking his hearing. A split second later, Diana takes a firm grip of the head, pushing it back to make the man bend his spine and drives her thumbs into the man's eye sockets, in a motion to dig out the little white orbs.

Intending to help, the flippant and cool Brit at that point had instead winced and averted his eyes from the truly inelegant solution. "He'll feel that in the morning!"

"AAAAAHHHH! AAHHAHAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! BITCH I CAN'T SEE! I CAN'T HEAAAR!!!" Enraged by the pain the man lashed out and swiped furiously. Diana is swatted aside, trying to roll with the blow, feeling the claws dig into her side. She stands up and walks to the crippled mess, a fist to his throat sending blood up his filthy mouth hole.

"Asshole." Diana rasped, then spat at the much larger mutant she floored, gurgling on his own blood.

ZELL

Once the sound began to be emitted, the mutant bird men below Zell's net would finally be in ear splitting pain, filling the chamber with screeching, then falling to the ground one by one. Their eye sockets were safe and sound from an angry feminist's thumbs though, and would just have some internal hemmoraging from a blunt edged sword doing them in. Diana had little trouble playing "Whack A Lab Grown Freak".

SHARD

"Mutant bird men of course." Diana pointed out the obvious, as men- mostly criminals off the street- had been volunteered for the outlandish scientist's process. If Shard so fancied to study one of them, these average Joe Chills were subject to some radical flesh-shaping. For one, virtually all of them were wiry and muscular, all the body fat carved off their bodies. Then the wings of various colors, biomechanical in nature, were grafted onto the shoulders; shoulders made extremely muscular. It was left to Shard's imagination, but their bones were indeed hollow, stripped of marrow.

The leader and the birds still above Zell's net manage to tolerate the pain of the brown note he played. The scientist managed to undo the metal lock, but found the glass immensely uncooperative due to Shard's influence. It would not need to rebel long, as it held just long enough for the rare fourth player to arrive.  

BLISS

Flying pieces of glass proved a most uncomfortable form of precipitation for the avians, and the remaining were sent into the net, their combined weight causing the clump of mutants to fall to the ground. The entire aviary was finally beaten, or beaten to a pulp, or electrocuted.

Turning into a condor did not in fact, give the evil British Scientist villain an edge in combat. If anything, he was not practiced in using the wing grafts himself, and Bliss's attack from a higher position caught him offguard. He bucked and struggled with the full weight of a heavy woman on his back.
"Get off me this instant, you FAT COW!" With no ability to escape, he would plummet into the net with his other creations.

The British agent on the ground offered his large umbrella to protect Zell and Shard from the worst of the broken atrium's canopy. The fabric of his rain inhibiting device proved as resilient against sharp glass. "Jolly good show." was all he could say as the situation resolved itself.

AFTER THE BATTLE

The Metahuman Response Division had arrived at the scene, many minutes after the battle had concluded. Decked out in power armor and packing their shiny laser weapons, they provided a strong authoritarian presence... once all the mutant bird men were well and properly put in their place.

Diana lingered awhile, tended to by paramedics. She had bruises and lacerations, but silk proved to be a most comfortable and durable material to keep objects from lodging into the skin.

"Children? Beaten by... children? One of them a savage sword swinging brute, beating my beautiful avian minions..." The scientist said, bewildered and hysterical as he was taken into a holding van.

"Brute? I resent that. I'm a master swordsman!" Diana retorted with what little sass she had left.

"Oh? really? May your days as a master swordsman play out like Jaime Lannister, child." The doors close and the bird men are taken away. The paramedics finish bandaging Diana and depart as well.

Diana looked at her Prodigy companions, as well as the late comer who had offered an assist. "Who's Jaime Lannister?"

MUCH LATER

The British man had realized most of his company were minors and would not be allowed at the nearest pub, so instead had to settle for a nearby Grill and BBQ house. They found a booth where neither the country music nor the locals were not so loud. It was late, but never too late for a celebratory meal, anything the team wished, especially one paid for by the Queen of England... or so the Englishman said.

Diana decided to accept his generosity and have herself a nice T-bone steak, with mashed potatoes swimming in gravy. She struggled with sore muscles and back pain, but ate in full Shinto priestess attire nonetheless.

"So... my apologies for the short notice, I had wished to contact you sooner but the circumstances required expedience."

"I am Agent River. I serve Her Majesty's Ministry of Metahuman Affairs; we handle the identification and upbringing of metahumans. We was wondering, if there were... hmm.. superheroes... available to stay at and watch special students at a Boarding school. It will be for a duration of two weeks, when we feel confident our staffing difficulties will be resolved."

Diana chewed her steak slowly. Steak demanded respect.

"Where's the Boarding school? Britain? We going to learn about having tea and Yorkshire pudding?" Diana asked after awhile, once her steak was well and properly masticated.

"Quaint stereotypes miss Mendoza, but the Crown would not be so desperate to understaff its local schools. No, I approached you and your group specifically... because a school in the Philippines requires temporary staff. The children need temporary guardians." He explained coolly.

The mention of Diana's home country almost made Diana cough up a piece of steak. "I'm there!.... wait, what about the Metahuman... superheroes there?" she asked, suddenly realizing why they'd had to come to America when there were a few... colorful characters on the Islands.

"Like I said. There was a difficulty in the staffing arrangement. A last minute cancellation. I was going to ask if there were any... questions before considering the offer?" He turned to the other three present at the table.

"Well...Danny is our leader and she isn't here...." Silus said meekly in protest to Diana's immediate signing up for the whole British boarding school thing. Silus himself was in fact interested in going, even if it was just to visit...however knowing this guy probably did his research... they were probably actually trying to get to his dad. To this Silus simply waited for Diana to do her typical thing and say "screw the rules, I do what I want!". She didn't really say it, but Diana did what Diana wanted, and unless you were her friend you got stomped on.

"Buuut...Prodigy has a mentor... they uh...they run the American boarding school for metahumans. I know them and I bet they'd be willing to go help. They're a professor, and they are a superhero!" Silus offered enthusiastically, hoping that his information could be of some use. Then again he was just a kid that tended to waste time. He would openly admit that actually.

"I think I can speak for myself buddy." Zell said as he walked through the door, his traditional business attire as he strode forward with confidence and looked to Agent River. He had come to pick up Silus, but given the current situation his eyes scanned over a bit before smiling and extending a hand with his driving glove on. As he offered his hand for the polite shake he spoke. "My questions are rather simple. What kind of guardians do you need, and how long do we have to pack?"

For the second time since she's met Ronin, Shard found herself eating a meal paid for by someone else.  Not that she was complaining, but she was beginning to see a trend in this super hero gig.

So while the Englishman paid for everyone's meal and the talk about business commenced, Shard sat silently on the wayside.  She didn't belong here at this table. Sure she was a metahuman but she wasn't Prodigy. She had only been in this super hero business for less than a month before all of... this went down.

Shard suddenly realized that the conversation had progressed and tried to remember what had been said.  Something about a school? In England? A school for powered kids?  Jade wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.  She was quite sure that she would like to have a nice bed to sleep in but she wasn't sure how she'd get along with the other- wait did he say that they were going to be staff members? Hold up the school is going to be in the Philippines? Wait, what was the UK doing with a school in the Philippines?

Suffice to say Shard was very confused right now. Slowly she raised a hand.

"Um..." Suddenly she wasn't sure that this was a good idea, "I don't really think that this is for me. I mean, I'm not even a part of Prodigy and... and well I'm pretty sure that I'm almost as young as most of the kids you're going to have at your super school..."

Bliss took a moment to gloat in her victory. It was a power so strong it almost required a weakness. "Not so strong now are you. Maybe you think a little bit about making me mad next time. Maybe you'll use that science background to realize how stupid all of your dumb bird endeavors really are."

"Say birdbrained!" The voice of Ashley sounded off in Bliss' ear. The helicopter hovered above the aviary, no longer needed as Bliss proved just reckless enough to contain the area.

"I'm going to pass on that, but thanks for the ride and back up. I won't be needing it anymore." Bliss stuck her heel in the back of the condor's neck. "And as for you. It's off to the bird cage with you." Bliss walked off patting Diana on the shoulder. "Jaime Lannister is the guy who dies in Black Hawk Down. Let's have a better outing this time than we did at the fashion show, okay?"

Professionals came to take care of the situation while Bliss took her own time to get to the location for her business proposal. This guy must be tired of pub food if he chose this setting. Bliss could not really complain, but she did anyways. "What's with the slob in a bucket restaurant?" Bliss lifted a rib to her mouth and tore off the meat before chasing it down with baked beans. "Danny is undergoing special training right now in the art of espionage and escape." A few days ago Danny called Bliss out on a business decision that was actually insider trading, so Bliss locked Danny in a prototype cell and called it espionage training to avoid the label 'kidnapping'. "I guess I'll be making all of the Prodigy decisions in that case, so- wait, the Philippines? How can there be special interests in the Philippines when nothing in the Philippines is 'special' or 'interesting'? "

Bliss tossed the bone in her basket before taking the next one out. "I'll do it, but-" Bliss pointed a knife she did not need for ribs towards the gentlemen. "I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart. I'll need to bring my power armor. And a computer lab needs to be there before I get there. Also, beach access is important. I need a bar too. I don't know what language the Philippines speak, but fucking 'South Side' better be in it."

ZELL

Agent Rivers stood from his seat to accept Zell with a proper greeting and a handshake. Like a true English gentleman would. "Hello... Oh I see, you are the mentor Silus spoke of. Well, we need persons willing and capable of watching after superpowered children. That, or adaptable heroes of fair moral conduct."

Rivers returned to his seat and made room for Zell. He paused to catch his breath and sip the... American draft, which he did not quite approve of. "We've been given leave to take one of the Royal Airforce's special operations craft to a city in the southern Islands of the country. Two days from now, we will fly to the country. Once there you will take a car ride, then a boat ride to the Island, than another car ride to the school in question. I believe the locals call it... Is... Isla... Encantadia..." The Agent explained the route they'd take, which did not surprise the local on the team. He did butcher the name though.

"Enchanted Island." Diana simplified, recognizing the place he mentioned. She was plenty grateful for the private plane as well.

"Yes, I suppose that is a more easily remembered name."

SHARD

"Actually, the oldest child there is only 12." He assured Shard that she was dealing with a much younger crowd.

"We feel having a mix of young staff with adult supervision will allow the children to more readily warm up than to complete strangers. You'll be given a London teacher's rate as compensation, plus any expense incurred for the needs of the school. Besides, what better mentors than the voice of experience."

BLISS

Rivers listened to Bliss. He thought it was some ethnocentric thinking, but America did have a skewed population of metahumans. Or perhaps other countries decided being quiet about the powered population would be beneficial.

"Well, the population is concentrated in Manila, but there is one school in the province- understaffed, since no one wanted the post."


Pausing for another drink, Rivers continued. " I'm afraid there's much belt tightening in the Ministry, though, madame. A computer lab will be out of the question but there will at least be electricity... And *one* laptop with satellite connection for roughly... two hours a day. As for your other requests, you'll find the place to be... to your liking."

Rivers finished his drink, and looked at the time. He had heard what he wanted from the Americans. "Very well. All who wish to come on this endeavor, report to the Airport at 5 AM. We will be taking a Royal Craft to the southern Island, where upon I shall turn you over to a local agent." With that, Rivers headed to the cashier to pay for dinner.

OUTSIDE

"Goodnight ladies and gentlemen. I look forward to our expedition, and good luck." The British disappeared into the night, leaving the american heroes outside the Grill house.

Diana was more enthusiastic than she'd been in a long while. A chance to visit one's home country... even if it wasn't the right part of the country... was always at the back of her mind. The opportunity never came up until now. "Well... Guess we're packing for the tropics. Don't forget your sunscreen and mosquito repellent!"

"I'll see you and you back at base..." Diana pointed to her teammates, summoning an Uber car.

"And you at the airport. Ciao!" she said to Bliss, acting like she didn't remember her as one of the last clients she had as Blood Sword.


2 DAYS LATER

During the two day waiting period before departing, Diana vanished for a whole day from the base. The training rooms where she usually stayed in now empty, devoid of punching bags swaying by their chains. By nightfall, she had brought home two large cardboard boxes, large enough to fit Dragon Girl.  Then she goes back to the Uber car and brought in a veritable mountain of gifts- sports apparel, a soccer ball, a basketball, electronics, shoes, and enough chocolate and candy to remake the sets of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She then proceeds to attempt to cram all the goods into the boxes, then wraps it up in packaging tape.

"Yessir, kids from those parts of the Island love this stuff." She'd explain simply. Of course who didn't like being lavished with gifts?

For those who needed some advice, Diana would be enlightening about her home country. The weather channel provided most of the info, and Diana shuddered, as the place they were going had just passed the 40 degree Celsius mark and would get hotter this week. Also, it was Lent- which was a big deal in a predominantly Catholic country.

AIRPORT

The Airport was busy with people as ever, going to and fro. However they wouldn't be going into the departure lounge like normal people today.
Rivers sat at a bench, wearing a slightly different colored suit and reading the newspaper. He spots Diana, pushing a large trolley with large designer luggage bags and the boxes of treats. The swords lady was not in her usual chic street wear, and was in short shorts, wearing a under-armor tank top, and a loose, white cotton blouse that only reached her rib line. She had the latest Louis Vitton handbag for her things, as well as the big art tube for her sword. Tropical attire indeed.

"Well I see someone is aiming to make a good first impression with the students. Are we all ready then?" Rivers folded up his newspaper and tucked in under his armpit.

It was then Diana broke into a very rare, happy smile.

Packing was no big deal, though truthfully the hardest thing for Zell was going to be keeping himself away from his family. Leaving his family was no minor thing, especially with the level of enemies that Zell had, and Sean...and Silus...and Michael. Actually between Michael and Silus there wasn't a single Hero or Villain that didn't want to crush the Atterrius familia unit. OF course there were those seldom "friends" that Sean had. Like Phoenix, though judgement upon that upstanding young man would be held. In the end, Zell would rather have simply made a vacation of it, however it would seem as though it was too "inconvenient" on his other family members to join him.

"No more puns. Seriously, I can't take it anymore." Zell groaned as he rolled his eyes from behind his shades. His attire today was fairly simplistic. Business suit with a royal green tie dangling loose around his neck. He held the phone to his ear as he picked up his luggage at baggage claim. "Just keep doing what you're doing. Huh? No, I landed, I told you that. N-No Sean. Sea-sean you need to stop. No sto-stop. Sean stop saying bomb!" Zell snapped, finally his voice elevated loud enough that several officers began to look at him. Zell growled a little bit as the laughter roared through the phone with the several voices in the background asking "did he do it?" and "Did he really shout it?"

"Oh no, now I'm going to get arrested. Thanks babe, just what I needed. Another mistake to haunt me for as long as I shall live." He said with a sigh. After a few more comments were exchanged he hung up the phone and continued on his way. Apparently he was to be meeting someone here, the same gentleman as before, if he remembered correctly. After finding the man he smiled and noticed Diana.

"Hello one and all. Agent River, Sacred Swordswoman." Zell said politely as possible before awaiting the others. Hopefully the car ride wouldn't be long.

(Skip my post: Reason: Shard will just be following along wherever the team goes. Plus I'm really busy :\)

Bliss was not ethnocentric because she was an American. Thinking that made other people ethnocentric. Bliss simply wanted the world to pan out in her favor. A favor she would not be seeing when she got off a plane in Manila. Or, at least others told her the favor would not land with her.

When Bliss arrived home she immediately went to work making her travel plans and cargo movements ready. Danny broke out some time ago and drank all of Bliss' orange juice. It was fine. Danny was fat and Bliss knew it. None of her accounts with kids prepared her for this event, mainly because Bliss had next to none experience with kids other than babysitting as a teenager back when Bliss lacked her abrasive personality.

With beach access so close, Bliss made sure to bring an assortment of beach gear with tropical designs, solid designs, and striped designs. Most of her clothing fit to the side of the blender and mixer she stuffed in the middle of the suit case. "Perfect fit." She forced a pair of boots for her hero display in there and sat on the suitcase to zip it up. "Perfect..." The zipper needed a little more nudging to make its way to the destination. "...Fit."

A cargo ship left the day Bliss made her way to the airport. It would arrive a few days after Bliss landed in Manila, but Bliss could spend a few days hanging out on the beach with a drink while other people did- well, Bliss forgot what the goal of this trip would- oh yeah, kids. Bliss would provide for the children. "How long is this flight supposed to be? We have cabins right? And a bar."

PLANE

Once on the plane, the quartet would see that British secret agents flew in style. large, reclining leather seats with individual entertainment systems awaited them, Rivers taking a seat to read a good book. The plane was carpeted, the interior giving the feel of a well air-conditioned hotel lobby. A secured buffet table had assorted pies and custards for in-flight nourishment, accompanied by many assorted British teas and bottled alcohol at the bar. A female British Barrista stood by to pour or mix drinks, agent Rivers taking a Vodka Martini, stirred, not shaken, as he spent the flight reading Hemingway.

Each seat even had chargers, personal utensils, some reading material, and a folder with files on the children. Each one present would have the opportunity to skim over or thoroughly read on the children of the school, though the information was sparse at best, containing names, what part of the country they came from, and their manifested powers. Their ranks included shapeshifters, plant manipulators, half-breeds, healers, technopaths and merefolk.


"So... any of you have any experience with kids?" Diana asked her teammates as she glanecd at the inside of the files. She placed her luggage in the overhead compartment and found herself a nice seat. She only very quickly skimmed the files, before looking up the Star Wars movies on the screen and stuffing a Yorkshire pudding in her mouth.

Hours later...

"Princess? We're nearly there. As the team native..." Rivers slowly nudged Diana awake, the swordsman having fallen asleep in the dimmed cabin, the lights only now coming back on.

"Zzzz.... Huh wha? Diana's fine. And actually, I'm from the northern end of the country, not the south." She clarified.

"Princess Diana is a wonderful name of a wonderful human being. Don't be ashamed of it." Rivers went on a tangent, seeing the swordsman named after a figure from England.

"So what kind of trouble are these kids in? Is it the meta-terrorists? slavers? communists? or the Moors?" Diana listed the possible antagonists of their task, in a country she thought she'd left behind. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, putting on a thin tropical jacket and zipping it up. The plane was cold.

"I'm afraid this is one enemy you cannot use your martial skills on. You can't stab it, shoot it or blast it with energy." Rivers said with a less than amicable expression.

"That's some enemy. High tech aliens maybe?" Diana threw out another wild guess.

"Their ... trouble, miss Mendoza; mister Atterius, miss... Shard... and Miss Fukoyama, is simply, themselves. As you would know, Manifesting metahuman abilities in young children often cause immense personal difficulties, especially so in a ... superstitious culture." Rivers briefed them all on the root problem at the Boarding School.

"Oh... Okay, I get it." Diana understood what he meant.

They would arrive at the airport in the Southern Isles' main gateway city. By convenience there were a ton of sign-holding hawkers for exclusive guided tours to the Island. They were all very eager to get a hold of these foreign looking people who came through the arrival lounge. Diana coughs up the local currency for the group's behalf.

"Not coming?" She looked at Agent Rivers.

"Oh, this is where we part ways. Good luck all of you." Rivers parts from the group, leaving each with folders containing all the information they needed.

They get on the mini bus with about twenty other foreigners, those polite older white male types who ask for their seatmates' life stories while introducing themselves as either American or Canadian looking for good times in the country. Diana entertained the nice ones, but the ones looking for an young Asian lady date got a peek at the knife in her jacket. These rejected souls would then try their luck on Bliss, or ask Zell if these girls were his "new family" he had "generously" adopted.

TRANSIT

The Philippine experience of travel was one of crowded... everywhere. The highway was crowded with speeding, overtaking cars, and people and animals crossing haphazardly, and even an odd power line jutting from out of the concrete. The ferry terminal was crowded, the waiting lines long, the sun unforgiving. A one hour wait to get on the ferry stretched out to two when smoke emerged from the barge where it wasn't supposed to. Kids drenched in seawater sprinted through the crowds, and Diana made sure to return Zell's wallet when an enterprising pickpocket grabbed it.

Once on the boat it was common to cram into the airconditioned compartments. After a 45 minute ordeal, seated to some noisy native kids or perhaps a snoring man with a thyroid and odor problem, they arrived finally at The Island of Camiguin, or better known by its touristy name, the Enchanted Island. Enchanted with white tourists with their Asian arm candy sure, but there were also native families... eight or nine kids on average each, or backpackers.

The bus drove into town to drop off the tourists, then continued on the road up to the plateau, the last sign of civilization disappearing and replaced by narrow, winding mountain roads and breathtaking views of the sea.

SCHOOL

And so here they were, at long last. A grand total of three normal looking kids welcomed their substitute guardians once they hopped off the bus. Rivers handed each of them nine files on the plane, and Diana looked around for the other kids. "Maybe this is a ninja boarding school." She remarked to her fellows jokingly.

Diana knew how simple things got when speaking of her native country, but this was definitely as rural as South East Asia gets. The 'boarding school' turned out to be no more than a few bamboo and thatch huts built on larger wooden stilts, arranged around a larger, long hut that doubled as the dining hall and the lecture hall. The dwellings had a view of the thick woods, with the sound of waterfalls deeper in the wood. The lecture hall meanwhile had a breathtaking view of the nighttime sea, a large expanse of inky black lit by the lights of fishing boats and distant city lights. The night breeze was cold, crisp and refreshing, a welcome change from the baking 44 degree Celsius heat of the day time. The beach below was accessible by a cliff side stairway hidden by cliff shrubbery, so cooling off was never far away, as was the Beachs ide Bar and Resort.

The grounds of the clearing was covered in grass and slightly uneven, and a treacherous rock might trip a careless walker. And was that a hand pump and a few plastic buckets? You actually had to work for your water? Diana sighed, but understood. A heatwave was happening here, and it came during the peak of the dry season to boot.

"So um...Hi?" A young lady stepped forward from the trio. She was dressed much like Diana, that is, comfortably in shorts and a loose shirt.

"Heya. The name's Princess Diana Lucia Pentheselea Rossini Y Mendoza, and yeah, tagrito ako, taas ng pangalan ko no?." Diana broke the ice for her team, and she got a laugh out of the kids with the long name that'd only come from around here.

Diana managed a slight smile, then she introduced her fellows one by one. "And these are my co-workers from America. Mister Zell, Miss Shard, and Miss Bliss. We're here to look out for you for the next couple of weeks."

"Hi Princess. I'm Jill Aikawa, I'm the eldest here." The top girl spoke with a fairly good English accent, adjusting her glasses. She was educated, sharp and looked them in the eye when she did greet each of them.

Then they were was approached by a small, thin and shy boy wearing shorts and a faded shirt with his superhero's face on it. Probably one of the local superheroes. "H...hello... ma'ams, sir... my name is... Nathaniel Ruiz...." he spoke with a slow, halting accent, emphasizing his name with a -t rather than -th, typical of a Spanish influence.

Then they was approached by the most interesting of the lot, some self-assured young man dressed in the finery of a young Moorish prince. He wore silken white tunic and loose pants, then wore a more resplendid blue overcoat. He spoke in a loud projecting voice, and he carried a scimitar. Though a full head shorter than adolescent Jill, he talked like he was the biggest kid on the island.

"I am Prince Suleiman Ibn Selim Al-Abayyah!" He took a hold of Bliss's hand and shook, showing none of the other childrens' courtesy. "I welcome our new guardians to our home. Please, you must all be hungry, yes? You like sea food? Nathaniel and Jill prepared lots of good food! join us." Then he turns to the two aforementioned, clapping his hands.

Young Nathaniel shook Zell's hand once more, before heading to the main hut to prepare dinner, while Jill stared at Suleiman with a 'We know we have guests you idiot' look. She sighs and follows behind Nate. The inside of the main hut had a wooden table filled with grilled fish, sauteed squid, a brisk clam soup and boiled crabs and prawns aplenty. And of course, this being Asia, rice was the staple, though in consideration of their guests they prepared sliced bread. In place of plates, large banana leaves were provided. Utensils were optional.

A glint of murder flashed in Diana's eyes for an instant. Did she just hear a little twat boss an older girl around to get into the kitchen? She was visibly tempted to draw her sword out of her tube in ire. There was an important question hanging in the air though. Nine files, only three kids. where were the rest? Diana followed into the hut, beckoning her team to come along.

Zell could honestly say he was surprised to see the diversity present here at the moment. Granted this was a rather strange place. Culture-flux was to be expected. Of course the initial children made quite an impact on him. Of course it was only all to predictable that Zell found himself relating to the shy child more quickly. It was a familiar feeling to see someone like that. The shirt he wore was that of a local hero. Despite his attempts to meet heroes on a global level, Zell could honestly (to his shame) say he didn't know more than one from around these parts.

The intellectual girl with glasses and the soothing accent was the first one Zell responded to with a smile and a bow of the head before moving onto Nathaniel, and finally to the prince. The Prince made a very bold move in shaking Bliss' hand. Actually it was a very dumb move. Zell could honestly say that there were few people he couldn't stand. Bliss was one of them. Not that she wasn't a wonderful woman.... She wasn't, but that's not why he couldn't stand her. He couldn't stand her because for some reason she continually attempted to sue him for being "A good person and a disgrace to businessmen". Apparently somehow she linked him being a good person and a philanthropist to slander and defamation of her character.

...Unfortunately he actually almost lost that suit....

Seriously though. Her given name is misleading and her surname makes it sound like she's doing bad things to your mama. Okay, maybe not so much. But her mother must have been The Joker or some shit, because this girl's name was the most misleading thing since Caitlyn Jenner's boobs. Oh shut up, it's not too soon. It's 2021 for God's sake. Zell's attention snapped back when he heard Diana's comment and he shook his head and smiled. Real funny.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Aikawa, and it's nice to meet you as well Mr.Ruiz." Zell said with a rather enthusiastic chuckle as he flashed a kind smile. Of course the prince clapped his hands and Zell's eyes snapped to him, narrowing a little. Zell actually had to bite his tongue, forgetting himself. In this reality he wasn't king, he had to remember that. Though little kids like this one had no place as heir to anything...from what he could tell so far. But it was just something about him that didn't sit well with Zell. It didn't sit well at all. His smile was still kind, but his eyes seemed questioning. "A pleasure to meet you as well." he said before ending up shaking his charge's hand one more time.

Zell did as he always did when he got his meal. He excused himself a moment to pray before looking for his eating equipment. He took a bite of the fish and rice before smirking. The texture was good, though perhaps just a little sticky. The fish was good as well, though as inclined as he was to critique and offer advice from his own experience...he had to admit these children were far more impressive than he was at their age.

"Napakabuti. Salamat sa inyo!" Zell said, trying his best to call the language to mind. The only problem was that Zell knew a rather decent number of languages, and one of them was Spanish. He may have slipped up, though he was sure he had it. Of course he may have said it awkwardly or wrong... the possibilities were endless. He generally actually remembered and jogged his memory on languages by remembering how they said Merry Christmas. Wait...Maligayang Pasko was their Christmas, right? Yeah...it was. He was sure of it.

The flight and everything succeeding that was a blur to Jade.  She had no idea what was going on or where she was going- but she was promised a free living arrangement and food so she figured that she had nothing to lose... even if the members of Prodigy were ignoring her.

Jade shouldered a cloth bag over one shoulder and wheeled a ragged suitcase behind her as she and the three Prodigy members maneuvered her way through the Philippines.  Suffice to say Jade already regretted her decision.  Not only did Jade not expect there to be so MANY PEOPLE on an island, but she felt so lonely. Even more-so than when she was on her own.

Bliss looked... and well sounded like a grade A b-usiness woman so Jade was sure to give her a WIDE berth.  Zell was... something else so that was a no go either.  And Ronin seemed to be lost in a world of her own so that left Jade on her own.   Jade glanced around at the other three as they departed on the island and the group came up on the thatched huts that would be their residency for the next... however long.

"The fuck..." She whispered under her breath as she saw the conditions that she would be staying in. Immediately she began to miss the air conditioned motel that she had been staying at.   The buildings reminded her of her parent's own history of living, but Jade would never in a million years imagine that she would end up somewhere like that.

She was so caught up in her jarring fall into reality that Jade did not hear anything that the three children who had come to greet them were saying.  When her brain finally finished absorbing her situation, she opened her mouth as if to ask a question but realized that she could formulate nothing.  Was she really about to complain about living in a situation that her parents had spent nearly half their lives in? She hated those who floundered in privilege so she held her tongue... but... Jade was very disappointed and she was already starting to miss California.