"Alright guys, you need to go and...do whatever it is you need to do. Mystic, Duke I need you to go the infirmary, and I don't want to hear it. I know you think that you're fine, but you aren't. I don't know exactly what that guy was shooting at us but it certainly wasn't nothing." Storm Seeker looks over at the team, many having cuts or bruises and sighs heavily. Storm Seeker was most definitely on edge, this wasn't a fight that should have been difficult for them, but for some reason cough Lil cough they just couldn't seem to get it done.

"I have already alerted the medics to let them know to expect at least some team members, and I gave them the description that Lil was able to send me regarding the acid sir." Jas meets the team in the lobby of the compound, handing each of them a bottle of water and a towel to clean off a little bit before they head to their individual floors. This is hardly the first time that the team had come back a little beaten up, and he knew that there would be accusations flying before anyone knew what was happening, it ain't his first rodeo so to speak.

"You had a description of the acid? And you didn't think that I, as the team leader would have a need for that information?" Storm Seeker glares at Lil, attempting to soften his glare slightly when he realizes just how rough he sounded in that moment. Lil is a difficult subject with Storm Seeker, he knows that she is on their side, and he knows that he should trust her. But he just... doesn't. There isn't a good reason except that she's a villain and he knows better than to trust a villain. That was actually first thing that he was taught.

"I didn't know who we were up against until we were actually there. And you weren't particularly interested in what I had to say by the time I did figure out who it was. Remember you told me that my chatter wasn't needed on official channels." Lil scoffs and starts to clean the dust off her hands while glaring right back at Storm Seeker. He should know better than to attack her after a fight but before she has a chance to shower and cleanse her aura. This is when she is closest to her villain side, when she has used her powers for violence and hasn't had a chance to wash that off herself.

"Okay all I think that we might need to take a break, take a breather, and remember that we are all on the same team here. We now know that Lil's 'Chatter' is absolutely needed on the official channels if she knows who we are fighting." Diamond always tries to keep the peace and reminds everyone before turning to Lil. "Since I don't think you need the medics you might want to head to your floor, get back in the right head space don't you think?" Diamond smiles softly at Lil, knowing that her patience is hanging on by a very thin thread. Diamond and Lil have an understanding, they are two sides of the same coin, Lil's darkness to Diamonds inherent light. The old adage of opposites attract might be a cliche, but things become cliche for a reason.

"That's probably a good idea, thanks Dia." Lil doesn't exactly smile, because that isn't really something she does these days but she nods her head gratefully and starts to head towards the elevator to her floor. If we are being technical she does in fact smile, but not while doing anything that the heroes would have approved of.

"Wait.. Lil I'm sorry. We just were all blindsided with this fight, I know in the field I can trust you totally. I will do my best to remember that in the moment... deal?" Storm Seeker extends an olive branch. He may have a lot of issues with her, but he recognizes that it comes from a place of prejudice, judging her entirely because of her parents. Technically there is also the judging her for her own actions, but they were only because of how she was raised.

"Deal." Lil nods and heads to her floor. Lil takes the time on the elevator to think about everything that happened during that fight. There is something about it that does not sit well with her but she can't see straight enough to figure out what the problem is right now. It is something she will have to revisit later, as she recognizes that she is not in the best head space right now as Diamond pointed out.

The first thing that Lil does when the elevator opens on her floor is to strip off her blood soaked, dust covered jumpsuit, leaving it in the specific hamper for her battle clothing and turn the shower on to extremely hot temperatures, like would burn a mortals skin level hot. But of course she is a Fire Princess, and the Princess of the Shadowland, and the Princess of All Evil so... a little hot water won't kill her. She turns on her meditation and prayer playlist and lets the soft sounds and relaxing words fill her as she steps into the steam filled shower. She spends far too much time just standing there before going through her routine ensuring that she shampoos her hair twice before conditioner, and of course using a sugar scrub before washing her body off entirely. These moments of self care are what help keep her sanity in this crazy world sometimes. If it hadn't been such a long battle she probably would have also done a face mask. But those take a long time and she is not even halfway through her post battle routine. When she finally feels like she is ready to leave the shower she turns it off, putting on her fluffiest robe (not that she would let anyone on the team know that she in fact has a fluffy robe, she has a reputation to protect thank you very much) and heads to her ritual room where she sees Jas has already set up her Cedar incense and Sage ready for her to burn. She shakes her head softly, knowing that he is the only person who is allowed in this room. She also knows that she should be annoyed that he presumed to know what she needs, but he always manages to do that, and he has yet to be wrong. So she lets it go in that moment and gets ready to start the most emotionally difficult part of her post battle routine, attempting to understand the darkness in her soul is bad and attempting to clean it.

Lil takes a seat on her cushion and closes her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening her eyes and lighting her Cedar and Sage. Lil takes in the smell of her burning incense before saying softly "I call to thee, pure witches fire, through vortex flow the heavenly mire, cleanse blackish aura of debris from dark to light sweep history". She repeats this spell 4 times, towards each corner of her room before sitting back on the cushion further.

What no one realizes or knows is that after she has cleansed her aura with the Sage, Cedar and spell she talks, who she talks to isn't clear even to her. But she feels like she can't be truly open with her team but here, in the darkness and safety of her room she feels as though she can, so she is. There is always something troubling to her about this part of her routine. She knows that the cleansing is what keeps her on the path of not murdering literally everyone she meets but she feels like she is saying there is something inherently wrong about herself, and that doesn't sit well with her.

"I know many mortals would open with "Are you there G-d, it's me Margaret" as some great cosmic joke that I don't totally understand but I think I'll just open with hey. So... hey. Today was rough. We got a tip that there was a villain causing trouble in the city centre so of course we head that way, because that is what we do right? But we didn't know who it was, and I was being my usual self and giving Storm Seeker some shit for having us go into a battle with no information. He does this all the time. He hears a call on the hero tip line or whatever and just sends us out there with no preparation. And I let him know exactly how messed up that really is, and that villains will often plan down to the tiniest detail before they attack. Which is why he made that comment about my chatter not being needed. I didn't realize that we would be going up against Acid Breath. and no, that is not their actual name but if I am being totally honest... I don't remember their name. That is probably terrible of me but honestly they were just coming up the ranks as I was on my way out. And they weren't making a particularly great impression. They were more of an annoyance than anything else, probably would never have made it on my radar on a normal day. I only knew about them because my second in command had a run in and we needed to learn how to treat the wound. Which is exactly what I told Jas when I saw that Mystic and Duke were both hit. And I would have warned Storm Seeker, but he was being a dick and I wasn't in the mood to help him. And I know that I need to move past that, that I can't afford to be that petty but I am doing a pretty good job ignoring my every instinct so who cares if every once in a while I am not perfect. I mean I am really only aiming for 51% here most of the time. Anyways that isn't really what I wanted to talk to you about. It's almost my birthday. I haven't told the team, because well I had a pretty macabre tradition with my parents and I am not entirely sure the team would understand why I don't want to celebrate. Well that isn't entirely true. I would love to celebrate, just with blood and killing and stuff not exactly fit for heroes you know? I feel like the team doesn't understand exactly how much of myself I am always keeping under wraps being here, working and living with them. I feel like I could maybe tell Jas but he would want to do something. And I can't have my birthday ruined with all this "Goodness." Anyways, they are probably all waiting for me to start pizza night, because Jas won't let them start dinner without me. Till next time I guess. Thanks... for listening" Lil makes sure there aren't any open flames before heading back to her room and getting dressed. Her rooms are of course fireproofed, but she still won't take a chance and get blamed for something else. She puts on a pair of dark grey sweat pants that say Shadowland along the pant leg, and a dark red tank top that with her little Princess insignia in the bottom corner (of course she has all custom made clothing, what did you expect from a princess with three separate titles?) before taking the elevator back to the main floor where the team is waiting for her for pizza night.

"Finally! I thought we were going to have to wait FOREVER for you to get here." Duke laughs as soon as he sees that Lil is in the kitchen, immediately stuffing his face with multiple slices of pizza. Duke might not get along with Lil in the traditional sense, but he will if it means that he gets to eat.

"You are acting like I made you wait 15 hours for food instead of 15 minutes, you were literally just released from the infirmary you know." Jas rolls his eyes and hands Lil a plate with her specific pizza, as she is still not used to the rich food of Topside, even after almost a year of being there exclusively. So she has a very specific diet given to her by the doctors in the medical bay, even if she would be very likely to ignore it if Jas didn't keep her to it, most of the time.

"Thanks." Lil nods her head and sips the bottle of water in front of her. Lil isn't actually hungry yet, but she knows that Jas will watch her until she starts to eat, something he has started doing when the doctors noted that she wasn't really gaining weight.

"Your aura feels better, you were able to shed whatever you were carrying around with you?" Mystic looks Lil over, always able to have a sense of someone's aura is a side effect of her magic powers. Mystic and Lil have an understanding. Mystic has never told the rest of the team all the secrets she knows from being able to read Lil's aura, and Lil doesn't attempt any of the dangerous aura shielding spells.

"As much as I ever can. You know me, you can see the aura, there is no hiding just how black my soul still is." Lil rolls her eyes slightly as she takes a bite of her pizza. Something Lil has started doing is subtle reminders that she is not a good person. She refuses to become some lap dog for The Elite even if she is part of the team, she won't let herself lose herself completely.

"You don't have to remind us that you are a villain Lil, we are all acutely aware of that fact at all times." Storm Seeker in his very smug way reminds her. Now that the fog of the battle has started to fade, he is acutely aware of how uncomfortable Lil still makes him.

"Storm! Enough. I think you have done enough today don't you. If it wasn't for your attitude Mystic and Duke might not have had to visit the infirmary tonight. Have you taken a moment to process that yet?" Diamond hates how quick Storm Seeker is to judge Lil when Diamond is very aware that the light needs the dark, that balance is what keeps them all going. Diamond, Mystic, Lil and Jas often feel like they are battling against Duke and Storm Seeker when it comes to Lil's place on the team even though Duke was the one who told them all to let her join up that fateful day almost a year ago.

"I'm pretty sure she can take the heat, after all she is a fire handler or whatever it is she calls herself. If she can't take the heat, why is she even on the team?" Storm Seeker knows that he should be keeping the peace, but he can't right now. The more time he had to think about it, the more he realized that Lil didn't warn them just to spite him, and he doesn't have room for spite on his team, especially not from her. He gets that as a villain she probably is just full of spite but he isn't about that life, and probably never would be.

"First of all... It is Fire Princess if we are talking about my fire capabilities. Second of all, seriously dude. You need to get over yourself. The world doesn't revolve around Storm Seeker and neither does this team." Lil drops her pizza back on her plate and finds herself having to take a deep breath as to not set him on fire. She is still a little too close to the battle, even after the shower and ritual meaning her last nerve is a lot more frayed than anyone probably realizes.

"Well we all know it doesn't revolve around you, I doubt they even notice you are gone, and have been for so long. After all, you aren't the only Princess down there, now are you." In for a penny in for a pound, isn't that how the saying goes. Storm Seeker probably should have known that he went too far, but in that moment he was just happy that he managed to leave her speechless.

The entire team stares at him in shock, before looking over at Lil, seeing the fire grow in her eyes before she turns on her heel and walks out. It took every single bit of restraint in her body not to set him on fire, or stab him deeply and painfully, somewhere no one ever wants to get stabbed.

Lil turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen. But once she got into the hallway she realized that just out of the kitchen is not enough space between her and Storm Seeker. So she heads to the front door of the compound where she keeps a spare pair of her favourite heeled boots. She slips them on and heads out, knowing that there is a place in the middle of the forest that she can go to without being chased by anyone. It is typically where she goes when she wants to be alone with no fear of anyone trying to talk to her, well except Jas but he is the exception to pretty much every single one of her rules.

Once she gets to the centre of this wooded area she lets out a guttural scream, something that she could never release anywhere in the compound. It sounded entirely... villainous and raw. Something so truthful, as if it just shows her entire soul in one tone and volume that no one could ever hear. All of the frustrations that she has for how Storm Seeker has been treating her, mixed with her conflicted emotions surrounding her upcoming birthday it is all just too much for her. She needs to just let go and feel like herself.

Except she can't feel like herself. Because if she lets go and just allows herself to be herself, people would die. And a lot of them. Not for particularly good reasons, she has never needed a good reason to kill someone. She spent 25 years being able to give into every impulse, every wish, every thought. But she is playing for team good now, so she can't just set fire to a building to watch it burn. No matter how much the flames would make her smile. She can't cause havoc or mischief just because she is having a bad day. Even though doing so would make her a much nicer person to be around because she wouldn't feel so high strung all the time. And she gets it. But sometimes it is really hard not being allowed to be herself. The feeling that there is inherently something wrong with her, for just being who she is, it is such a burden to carry around and something she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy, she wouldn't even wish it on Storm Seeker.

She sinks to her knees and lets herself cry, just for the moment, alone in the forest she is allowed to grieve for the choices that she made. It isn't that she would take the choices back, she knows why she made them and she doesn't regret them. But she grieves for the loss of who she was, and the knowledge that she will probably never be able to be that person again.

Meanwhile, back at the compound

"Seriously Storm Seeker, again? Did you think for even two seconds that pissing off the person who could turn you into a flambe, and wouldn't even feel bad about it is a bad idea. I mean seriously. How dense are you? She is here, every single day. She does everything that you all do, but she does it backwards and in heels because it doesn't come naturally to her. And you just keep picking at her, like a scab. Of course she is going to break at some point. Wouldn't you?" Jas throws the towel that he was using to dry a couple dishes before putting them away onto the counter and glares at Storm Seeker. Jas knows that Lil can fight her own battles, but he also knows that she shouldn't have to, and that the team should have her back, even though no one seemed quick to defend her in that moment.

"She can't just act like she is better than us. She isn't." Storm Seeker knows that he has lost control of the situation, but he can't help it. Having her at the compound feels like living right next to a volcano. You have no idea when it is going to erupt and it isn't the volcano's fault. It is supposed to explode. But he would rather it not happen in his home if he can avoid it. He knows that she has been helpful to the team, he knows that she has saved their lives countless times, his included, but sometimes he regrets the decision to have her join up, it just seems like too much of a risk.

"Storm, come on. She wasn't acting better than us. She was acting a little defensive, but wouldn't you? For her, she probably feels like she is surrounded by the enemy all the time. And she puts up with it. Every single day. Not with a smile on her face, but honestly I don't think that she is capable of smiling, but with a smirk on her face at least." Diamond puts a hand on Storm Seeker's arm with a soft smile on her face. Diamond loves Storm, she does, has for most of her life. He has always understood her in a way the others don't but he is wrong in this, and she just wishes that she could get through to him somehow.

"I know, I don't know what happens. I just... I'm going to go punch the bag in the gym, maybe that'll make me feel better. I think I just don't like being caught off guard." Storm Seeker knows he has to do something. All this conflict isn't good for the team, and it is his job to put the team first. Somewhere in the back of his mind there is a question about whether or not this is how Lil feels, this internal struggle but he pushes that aside, he doesn't want to understand her, that is a slippery slope to understanding the rest of the villains.

"Why don't we spar? The docs in the infirmary said I am totally good to go and I think we both could do something with all this extra energy. We haven't had a good spar in awhile." Duke stands up and hands his plate to Jas before heading for the elevator, seeing Storm Seeker nod at his idea of sparring it out in the gym.

"I'm going to go and check on Lil, I'll make sure she's okay and then I will head to the office to check on the after action reports. You ladies get some rest. I was listening on the comms... didn't sound like the best fight y'all have ever had." Jas smiles softly at Diamond and Mystic before heading to the woods in the back of the compound. He knows that he can count on them to be on Lil's side which makes him feel a little better, that he isn't alone in protecting her. And yes Jas is aware that out of the two of them Lil is more likely to protect him than he is her, but he is allowed to try.

Diamond and Mystic both finish cleaning up the kitchen before going their separate ways. It has been a long day and they need to get their rest as Jas said... it wasn't any easy fight, and the tension in the compound really isn't making any of that better.

Jas finds Lil exactly where he expected to, wandering the clearing in the woods, pacing back and forth as if she is an anxious father waiting outside the delivery room. "You wore a hole in the forest? What pacing a carpet wasn't good enough for the Shadowland Princess?" Jas asked with a smirk on his face once he saw that she was paying attention. He knows the last thing he should do is sneak up on her or surprise her. He likes his head attached to his body, and not you know, on fire. He isn't an idiot. Well he is, but not about that... most of the time.

"Haha, what are you doing here? Going to tell me that I should know better than to show off my titles with Storm Seeker because he is deeply insecure that he is not qualified to run our team? Technically I didn't even use all my titles, and I could have if I really wanted to. Because right now I am wondering if he is actually fit to run the team." Lil glares at Jas and then continues to pace the clearing, creating a fireball in one hand and then extinguishing it, an old trick she uses to keep herself calm. Something about the feeling of the flame in her hand is comforting, and the part of her brain that handles the creation and extinguishing being busy is meditative in some way for her. In the other hand she is flipping her favourite dagger back and forth, she will often pull this dagger out of its shadow pocket, and people rarely even notice. She will even do it under the table during team meetings just so she doesn't rip someones head off cough Storm Seeker cough. This was the first dagger her father ever gave her. She was five years old and he wanted to start training her. It was way too big for her at the time, but now, 20 years later it is the perfect size, if not actually a little bit too small, not that this would stop her from using it on a daily basis. Lil felt like such an important person that day. Before that day her parents barely looked in her direction. She was just a burden before that day. Someone they had to keep alive and who couldn't take care of herself. But from that moment she became useful to them, she had a purpose. She was their best soldier, their best weapon. Princess of All Evil and all that this entailed, and she was good at it. In fact she was the best at it. Now she wonders if she threw all that away for nothing, some stupid idea of balance and necessity, who was she kidding?

"No. I think that he is kicking himself enough, and is letting Duke kick his ass in the ring so I think that you're okay, you've gotten your point across, but Lil why do you think he isn't fit to lead?" Jas leans against a tree, knowing that Lil has to voice her opinions to him first, because he doesn't judge her and knows that she often just needs to get the emotion out. After they talk, it isn't that she changes her mind, it's just that she is better at getting her point across without coming off like a mad lady, and the team is more likely to actually listen to her.

"Because he still doesn't trust me. I have intense and real understanding of the people we go up against every single day, but he never wants to listen to me. Every time I try and tell the team about whoever it is we are up against, I am literally betraying the very people I swore to protect and defend. But I do it because I know that I need to. And I don't hold back, I tell them everything I think they would need in order to not only fight them, but to win. Once I realized we were going up against Acid Breath I tried to tell him, warn him, and even after on the way back. I didn't Shadow Travel back because I wanted to explain that I think there is something more going on here. But he wouldn't hear it. Because I'm still the big bad villain. It has been almost a year Jas. I know I am not a good person, but I have done good deeds, why doesn't that count with him?" Lil has been feeling more and more... not guilty because she doesn't really feel guilt but the burden of basically selling her people out to the heroes. She does it, and she will continue to do it, but it isn't something she does on a whim.

"Because he doesn't understand why you aren't good. Why you fully admit to still being evil, even though you haven't done anything wicked in months. He keeps waiting for you to explode from what I understand. But what do you mean you think that there is something more going on here?" If Lil thinks that there is something more happening chances are there is. She understands the politics of the Underworld fully since she is you know, the child of the ruler. The tension with her and Storm Seeker is probably always going to be there, this isn't something that will be solved in one night. But if there is a more nefarious plot happening out there, that needs to be dealt with first, and then they can deal with everything else.

"Acid Breath... he doesn't work alone. He doesn't even really try and cause havoc without someone holding his hand. He has always been rather... pathetic for a villain, even when you consider how destructive his power is. So for him to be Topside, by himself, it can't mean anything good, someone is using him as a weapon. Someone has to be pulling his strings and there aren't many people in the Underworld who have the power to do that." Lil continues to pace, trying to figure out what the end game is going to be here, because it won't be good that is for sure. And she doesn't mean that in the sense that it wouldn't be good for the Heroes, she means that it won't be good for the world, at all.

"Well if he is always a puppet wouldn't pretty much anyone have the power over him?" Jas watches as Lil gets more and more worked up, knowing that she wants to figure this out, and fast. She only goes to the team when she has solid Intel. Jas enjoys watching Lil work things out in real time. She has the brain for the politics of both worlds, she is naturally better at the Underworld politics but she has a mind for all of it.

"Technically yes, but before you can cause a disturbance Topside you either need to clear it with my father, or be powerful enough that you are granted permission to run your own schemes. Father has had one too many plans foiled because some villain got it in the way by implementing their own plan. So he keeps a tight leash on pretty much everyone. All of these fights, they don't seem right. I didn't notice it until tonight because technically any of the other villains we have been fighting recently could have their own plans. It would be unlikely but technically possible." Lil keeps flipping her blade, having completely abandoned her fireball right now, not having the brain power to focus on it and what she is doing.

"But not Acid Breath." Jas makes a note to add the info that Lil is telling him to the dossier that he is keeping on Acid Breath, the same way he has a dossier on every villain they have faced.

"No way, he doesn't have the klout down there to do anything like this on his own." Lil might not have spent a lot of time down there since she switched sides, a little spying notwithstanding, but there is no way that he could have gained so much power, or influence, he didn't have the stomach for what you need to do to gain power down there. He doesn't have the patience to gain any actual political power down there. He is a good weapon, he is a good soldier but he needs someone to give him those orders.

"Could your father have ordered it?" Jas wishes that he had a better understanding of Lil's father, he is someone that the team should have a lot of information about but Lil has been very tight lipped about both of her parents, even though he knows they have a bad relationship.

"I mean it's possible, but not likely." Lil knows that technically this could be happening under her mother's orders but she can't offer up that information. If asked about it directly she would have to say something, but for all her faults, for all her hatred of Lil and Ozul, she is still her mother, and Lil won't betray her like that without specifically being asked a question. You don't lose 25 years of a bond, no matter how messed up that bond is overnight, or even over a year.

"And why is that?" Jas would think any amount of mischief and havoc would be welcomed by the King of the Shadowland and Leader of the Underworld. Even after a year, he still doesn't understand all the ins and outs of the Underworld, and he is not sure he ever will.

"It's too small potatoes for him. He tends to focus on big, bring down the entire Topside world, not spit some acid at a few heroes. It wasn't a big enough disaster for it to have his name all over it." Lil slips her knife back into the Shadow Pocket that she keeps it in before walking towards Jas, knowing that they need to get back to the compound, and that she needs some sleep. This has felt like a day that refuses to end, and she has training bright and early in the morning.

"So something is happening, something bad but we have no clue what it is." Jas rolls his eyes and throws an arm around Lil's shoulders while they start to walk back towards the compound.

"Basically." Lil shrugs off his arm and turns to face him quickly smirking before Shadow Traveling right to her room.

"Wonderful." Jas looks up to the sky for some divine intervention before walking alone back to the compound, making sure everyone is where they are supposed to be before heading to the office. Their day might be over, but his has barely even started. He has an after action report to read, and notes on who he has to call in the morning to make. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of structural damage after this fight which means that the clean up crew shouldn't have too hard of a time.

Pathfinder

Meeting in the Middle... of the story

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