Old Habits... by Domoviye

Ferret working on a project for The Good Old Boys, ugh. Wanting to release an unfinished movie for test audiences online to hurt Phase and Marvel, this isn't a game, if you are caught doing this you are in serious trouble. Great, in contact with his old mentor, Arnold. Huh, why does Arnold care about Counterpoint? Yikes, Jobe did a number on Counterpoint.

Now he is asking about the attack and Just Me, what is going on? Is Arnold working for her old enemy? Oh brother, do something great and he gets a set-up like Arnold, just what the world needs, another criminal hacker with high-paying backers.

So far he'd managed to keep his crimes limited mostly to stealing corporate info, and he did that so cleanly no one knew he'd done it. Most of his victims didn't even know anything had happened.

Oh, Ferret, you are either overconfident, naive or those you have hit just don't want to admit being victims.

Important files on potential recruits from Whateley, is Arnold nuts!?! Hack the combat finals, as if he could get that past Hartford. Why do I get the feeling Arnold might be connected to the New Olympians somehow? Counterpoint and Just Me as opponents in the combat finals, bad idea, very bad idea.

You got into Whateley's systems because Hartford let you. After all, you weren't going too far yet. Let's see if this is too far for Hartford. Ugh, you think you can cover all your bases. If a student is hurt severely enough or killed, Mrs. Carson will have Fubar read your mind to find out the truth of the matter, she will not let another murder or murder by proxy go unpunished.

Whateley Library
After Class
December 3rd, 2007

Shaun mentions combat finals and Jane knows about them, hoping they had stopped since 1989. Smile, you shouldn't be this excited. Cooper has the right attitude, it may be to prepare them for the dangerous world, but it still doesn't seem right. Aella, if anyone laughs at you they will be punished by so many different groups at Whateley, Team Kimba, and Outcasts to say the least. Don't taunt those who are different.

Dang, Shaun had the perfect gift for Aella, such a good friend. Ouch, Jane is upset at Mille for not being there for his family. Shaun's clothing creations are works of wonder. Oof, afraid of losing control and hurting someone or worse, Jane needs to open up more to her counselor.

Lillian Dennon's Residence,
December 5th, 2007

Psychic combat teacher Harry Junzo, and the other combat teachers and ranger instructors. Time for the combat finals planning. Ouch, do you have to call it that, Lillian? A Crash for the Capes will be interesting. I don't like it when Bardue smiles like that, those poor students are going to be put through the wringer.

Sergeant-Major Sean Burlington-Smythe smirked. “We should throw the Vindicators or Goobers into the Crash. That'd be a good laugh.”

“We want a Crash, not a funeral,” Bardue said.

Burlington-Smythe has a bit of a sadist in him. Tink, oh, this is going to be the fight no one is going to want to miss. Wakanda in a crash, oh boy, more fun. High Beams, good thing she has that sense of humor or she would be depressed due to her CTA. Good, they took every precaution to make sure her devise wouldn't be broken during the combat final.

Delarose has orders to give Just Me an easy combat final, to make it boring. Ferret is so screwed if this works out the way I think it will. Up against Glass, so they will know something is up the second it shows Counterpoint as her opponent.

Tunnels
December 8th, 2007

Ferret, you did all this and I hope you get caught, this isn't just risky, it is stupid and at the expense of a classmate. Ah ha! So once Hartford finds this code she will know you set this up on purpose, you had better hope expulsion is all you get. A test screening on Thursday in Dunwich for Spider-Man 3, if the FSA vs Tink Crash is that day I will be upset, hard choice of which to see. And making sure Just Me will be trapped with Counterpoint longer because of this, you are a true scumbag, Ferret.

Combat Finals
Arena 99
December 13th, 2007

Second last day of the Combat Finals and everyone leaving, only going to stay for a Crash. Only for Just Me and Counterpoint to be called up for their combat final, everyone staring and knowing this is a huge mismatch. Great, Counterpoint has been made worse by what Jobe did to him. Darn it, Jane, listen to your friends and talk to Bardue or one of the other combat instructors about this before just heading down to accept your fate.

Tink snuck into the announcers' booth and dragged poor Broken along with her, that girl needs something to restrain her at times like this.

“Where's my flyswatter.”

You would need a devisor flyswatter at least to make your point with Tink. Ranked 50 and used to be top 5, ouch, Counterpoint needs someone like Jimmy T for his opponent to keep him from maiming anyone. Tink calls Just Me spacy, pot meets kettle.

Arena Control Room

Tempest and Ash are the last for the day, and Gunny doesn't know Just Me's opponent has been switched to Counterpoint yet. Locked in the control room, Ferret, you will be lucky to not visit Doyle after this. Faking Gunny's voice and now the ANTs are set the hardest challenge level due to Counterpoint, Ferret, you colossal blockhead!

Tunnels

Thud going to bet on Jane for the match because of his last encounter with her, one of the few who know what a true threat she really is when forced into a corner or those she cares about are threatened or harmed. Lies and says he just has a feeling that Jane will win, good cover, if he outed the truth about Jane she would come after him to cover her secret. Thud, lying to yourself isn't good.

Arena Gate

Great, the faked Gunny call tricked the security officer easily. Nice disguise, I hope Counterpoint doesn't see right through it. Studying the ANTs, smart. A spear and it landed that close, Counterpoint is trying to kill her! Crud, faking an injury and pain being worse than they are and Counterpoint complains about her being a weak opponent.

Demands the teachers give him a real challenge, then spears an ANT cop for daring to aim a gun at him, psycho. Only two self-defense canisters left, darn. Threats to gut and skin Just Me if Gunny doesn't give him a real opponent, he needs to be expelled and handed over to the authorities to lock up in a special prison for the super-powered criminally insane. Double self-defense sprays and knocked him off his feet, now run!

Tink and Broken do make good announcers.

Shit, blending in with the ANTs running from the zombie ANTs isn't as safe as it seems with Counterpoint on a rampage. Just Me, leading those two poor ANTs along like that, I hope she has a plan. A dirty brick, but that won't hurt Counterpoint, please don't say she is going to "kill" those ANTs and use their electronics for something.

Broken guesses Just Me is using two of the ANTs as meat shields, and she "killed" them with the brick, I'm with Tink, why? Stealing their clothes and shifting to look like a guy, well, this is a fight for life right now and she knows they are just ANTS.

Crud, Just Me gets to a phone and finds out the shit that Ferret has gotten her trapped in. Working on the system, and a response team standing by. Then get some of the Gadgeteer and Devisor students to help out or this could take too long. Darn, still hesitant to use the plasma knife. Counterpoint has caught up, slicing her leg and arm, torturing her so they will send him a real challenge, they need to expel him after this.

Nice dodge, and use of the zombies to distract Counterpoint. Darn, slowed down and the fastest zombies catch up. Surrounded by dozens of zombies, how to get out of this alive. More injuries, shrinking down to move and squeeze through the crowd, she finally escapes, but she can't just keep shapeshifting her injuries away like this. Counterpoint is distracted by fighting the zombies for now, she needs a different plan to survive this nightmare.

Oh boy, Broken thinks the teachers made the zombies that dangerous on purpose, not knowing that Counterpoint triggered them to be this dangerous. Just Me is smiling, what has she thought up now?

4th floor of the apartment building, and enters an apartment to head towards the kitchen. Tries to turn on the gas, but it is all just for show. A knife in hand, the 'woman' who lives there shows up with a baseball bat and goes to attack Just Me, but is taken out easily, another ANT down.

Smile is freaking out, the look on Jane's face reminded her of her parents when they tortured their victims, yikes. Shaun whispers that can't be Jane, Cooper asks if Smile wants to leave, but she wishes to stay, trying to understand what is going on with Jane. Ouch, she is going to need extra sessions with her counselor by the time this is all done.

Yikes, that made Tink queasy, they think Just Me's ranking is wrong. Water bottle with top cut off, in a measuring cup, and in the microwave. Crud, she is going to create some nasty chemical weapon to deal with Counterpoint, the zombies, or both.

Bleach and other harsh chemicals in a mix, she is setting up some brutal traps is my guess. Zombies have found her, Counterpoint is following them, and Just Me needs more knives. I knew this fight was a very bad idea.

Control Room

Delarose is pissed, Gunny has to explain they got hacked and everything is a mess. Wyatt and Lanie are on a date in Berlin, Team Kimba is at the movie screening, and Hartford and Everhart are on their way, but they need Carson to get the forcefield down by force.

Delarose grinned, but there was no humour in it. “It's not her I'm worried about.”

Hey, if she kills Counterpoint it is in self-defense, he is trying to murder her. He dies because of this he has brought it upon himself, even if Ferret made the fight happen.

Arena

Well, the audience just got a show they never expected. Great, bigger breasts and she is using them to distract Counterpoint, desperate times call for desperate measures. Boiling water right in the face, even he has to feel that.

Counterpoint could handle pain, if he was prepared for it. Given a few seconds of preparation and he could laugh as acid melted the flesh off his face. But when it was unexpected, he felt it just as badly as anyone else.

That is good to know, more students should have this information. Bleach and cleaner mix right in the eyes, slippery floor, and down on his hands and knees. Fight dirty, do anything to survive, Ito would be proud of a student using such lessons when they are needed.

Darn it! Grabbed by the leg and yanked, the air is knocked out of her and Counterpoint is back up and glaring at her. Thank you, PFG, twice now for saving her life. Crud, trying to strangle her and the PFG draining a lot of power to stop him. Brutal knife attack, if he wasn't a high-level Exemplar with some regen that could kill him. Just Me can flee once more, how much longer can she keep this up without resorting to lethal force to survive?

Thinking she is just a pathetic mutant, idiot, you were once a god, you are just a mutant yourself now. And some mutants know not to rely on just their powers in a fight.

She'd had the chance to kill him and had chickened out. She was a coward with a little talent.

Just as arrogant and foolish as you were as a god, I see. Mistaking mercy for cowardness. Thank you, Jobe, for crippling his faster regeneration.

Tink wants Just to get out there, scared for her life. And Broken wonders why no one has stopped it yet.

The Stands

Smile, Shaun, and the others having to watch all this, Shaun left wondering where Jane got a PFG. Cooper thinks they should ask her to protect them, not if you know what is good for everyone involved.

Arena

Just fleeing towards a window and wondering how Counterpoint is still able to fight in his condition. Darn it, going to climb up to the next story of the building, but Counterpoint grabs her ankle. Oh crap, he knows that PFGs have the same weakest as PF supers, their joints can still be moved even in the wrong direction. He broke her knee! This psycho needs to be locked up already!

Arena Gate

Tink, Just Me isn't dead yet. Smile, Shaun, and Cooper run to the arena entrance only to find the Wild Pack, a full security squad in full armor, and several healers. Two techs working on the lock to the gate, but Shaun asks why they won't help her and gets an answer only to hear a shriek over the speakers. I think Counterpoint has messed up for the last time, perhaps.

Arena

Popped some ribs, shoulder and upper arm snapped, Counterpoint is a sadistic monster. Shifting to fix up the injuries as best she can, hoping she is too busted up for Counterpoint to torture her anymore, and zombies on the way, it can't get any worse. Great, she is seeing double of Counterpoint. Kicking her leg while she is down, if Carson doesn't have him removed from Whateley after this then she protects the true monsters of the school too much. Breaking her fingers, make it stop already.

“You've hurt me more than almost anyone at this school.” Electric blue lines danced across his red eyes. “You should feel honoured at what I'm about to do.”

Now torturing her with electricity, at this point, I hope she kills him and if Carson tries to say it wasn't self-defense I will be ticked.

He is making sure not to kill her, loves torturing her, and thinks the school doesn't care about her because no one has come to stop him yet. Crucify her, now I want him dead even if it is by the zombie horde. Just Me is trying to reach for his face, and Counterpoint thinks there are no proper warriors anymore. Please let her give him a lesson he will never forget.

Shifting that fast and stabbing his eyes out with nails turned into talons, dang. Only to get thrown and hurt badly, distorted vision, and now a seizure. At least she can stand up and run, please let her actually escape without him grabbing her again.

Silence in the stadium at how brutal the fight has become, Tink being told by Broken how Just Me fixed her knee, but thinking you have to be on Jimmy T's level to do stuff like that. And still wondering why the teachers haven't put a stop to this.

Tigers Dojo

N'Dizi cheering on Just Me for maiming Counterpoint, cheering on a white girl and he is making an exception because she is hurting Counterpoint. They know she is holding back, not killing Counterpoint is just pissing him off with all the injuries and risks getting her killed. N'Dizi is right on that one, unfortunately.

Arena

Zombies moving faster, groups of ANTs forming up to defend themselves, and Just Me on the run with only one kitchen knife left. Avoids a large horde only to run into several zombies in an alley. Two down, but the third one bites her hand, PFG saves her once more. Bulking up muscle in her free arm and shoulder, pain for doing so, she is going to need to eat a lot after all this. Pummels the zombie's head until it breaks, whoa.

Having to flee once more from the zombies, she finds a group of ANTs including a cop firing at the zombies, but being ineffective. Subdues the ANT and takes the gun, "kills" him, and takes his extra magazines before running off again.

Capes Club Room

Great, Iron Star is certain he is watching a sociopath because how Just Me's expression as she killed the ANT cop. Less than spectacular group Crash, ooo, I hope this means Tink gave them a stomping and we will get to read about it. Gambler has met Jane and says she is shy and scared, but what she did in the match has gotten Iron Star's attention and he wants to know all about her.

Arena Gate

Crap, Smile not seeing a trace of her friend Jane in how Just Me is acting now. Yes, Smile, Jane is desperately hiding from memories she wishes had never resurfaced once she became Jane. Great, even with her friends coming to her defense the leader of the Wild Pack wants to know why Jane can fight like a trained killer.

Arena

Just Me takes down a zombie cook and replenishes her knives. Leaving and taking a black coat to disguise herself, she wonders if she gets the MacGuffin and delivers it to the checkpoint if it would get past the hack. Planning to find another place to hide and set up traps, but some sixth sense of hers warned about Counterpoint leaping from a rooftop with his spear intent on killing her this time.

Nice use of gunfire to knock him off-balance, but darn it about the thrown spear hitting the gun and injuring her once more. An epi-pen full of some poison and Just Me injects it right into Counterpoint's neck. In pain, he lashes out by grabbing her and slams her on the ground. Please let the techs get that door open in the next minute, please. A hard swing and slam into the ground again, she can't take much more of this.

The poison did that, I hope Just Me is right and it killed the psycho, it was the only way for her to survive this. She thinks she has destroyed herself, what Jane Fisher is supposed to be, by doing this. Zombies coming, in too much pain, and she just wants to die and get it over with, no! Counterpoint is still alive, Exemplar 5s are hardy.

Just Me patching up what she can, thinking it is the coward forcing her to live instead of just die. An injector, a stimulant to block the pain, and exhaustion, and allow her to move a little longer. Using her plasma knife she cuts up Counterpoint's spear, and just runs off again, not wishing to kill him when she doesn't have to. And that is the difference between you and Mille.

Bad Seeds Table,
Crystal Hall

Watches the fight from their tablets, and Jobe is amused by her humiliating Counterpoint. Jobe didn't give her the poison.

Jadis gave a small nod. “She's best friends with the gadgeteer who was beaten for supposedly being Mille's son.”

“Could she be related to him instead?”

“The Canadian government says she's an orphan suffering from amnesia,” Jadis replied, letting them come to the obvious conclusion.

Darn it, now she has multiple groups interested in who she is and her history.

Control Room

The staff watching the fight, Bardue wants to know who Jane is and how trained her, but Delarose doesn't know the answer to those questions himself. The techs have control over the ANTs, good, one threat towards Just Me eliminated. Great, Counterpoint has shaken off the worst of the poison and is killing zombies and other ANTs around him. Good plan, lead him away from Just Me, get her a car, preferably one with tinted windows if possible.

Arena 99

PFG is out of juice and she is in bad shape, Just Me needs all the help she can get until they get her out of there. Offered a ride, so of course she took the ANT's shirt and car for herself. Whoa, she is really out of it from blood loss to be thinking like that. Oh crap, in her state of mind, she is thinking like Mille again, that Counterpoint will go after friends unless he got her first.

That is an insane move to pull with a car just to ensure it hits Counterpoint, she could have killed herself even with the seatbelt on. Lost his helmet and the car bent around his body, Counterpoint is in bad shape. A knife driven through his hand and the body of the car, yikes.

She rapidly shifted her face, making herself look like Majestic, then Cytheria, Judicator, Feral, and finally ended on his own face. Only her eyes stayed the same icy blue, without any trace of mercy in them. “If you come after me or my friends, I will kill you. Anyone you meet could be me, you'll never know when you'll get a knife in the back, a bullet in the head, poison in your food, or a bomb slipped into your book bag. Don't push me again.”

He better pray that Carson sees the match and realizes he pushed Just Me too far, and expels him for taking things too far to start with.

Arena doors open and Wild Pack is finally inside, Mindbird sensing intense anger, but also despair beneath it all from Just Me, and then the pain, yikes. Eep, aiming the gun at Stormwolf, not registering what he told her for several long seconds, she is in shock. Mindbird is going to fly her to the entrance where her friends are, but Just Me won't put down the gun. Smart girl, Mindbird, just keep her calm.

The Tunnels

Ferret watched the whole thing and never once thought to remove the lock on the doors, to let help in. You are a cowardly little weasel! You aren't worthy of being called a Ferret, you are a weasel. Destroying the secret lab and all evidence of your connection to the crime, darn it, he can't get away with this.

Arena 99, Briefing Room

Jane is healed of the immediate damage but is now being interrogated by Gunny, Delarose, and Ito. Asked where she was trained, she says she doesn't remember. Asked why she took off her mask, and it is because she can look like any girl or woman so doesn't see the point of a mask. Asked why she was holding back, her dark side came out for a moment in her eyes but dropped away.

“If you want your problem child dead, do it yourself.”

Ouch, she thinks they wanted her to kill Counterpoint.

Kane Hall,
Evening

Delarose brings in Imp to help find out who hacked Just Me's combat final.

“I need you to find out something about the assassin Mille. Use any connections you have, this is important. Did he have a child, his own or someone he was training?”

There were two reasonable answers for Just Me's skill and the reason she had killed Fusco, either she was closely connected to Mille, or she was Mille himself. If it was the first one, it would make his job a lot easier.

Oh crud, Delarose suspects the truth or at least part of the truth. Information on the favor called in in November, oh boy, I knew that would come back to bite Jane in the butt. It is all starting to fall apart.

Dickinson Cottage
After Midnight
December 14th, 2007

Crud, nightmares of Jane's bloody and expressionless face after the fight, Smile needs a session with her counselor soon. The 2nd time she sees Jane's blue eyes and now she is questioning what she really knows about her roommate and friend. Seeing Jane do all those things in the combat finals was a shock for everyone. Thinks Jane might be faking her amnesia now, what if everything she has said and done is a lie, no, she does want a quiet, normal life. It is just her old enemies won't let her.

Trying to figure out what Jane has been through to leave her so broken is going to leave you confused or very upset, Smile. All those worries now, darn it, why couldn't they just leave Jane alone. Trying to figure out if her amnesia is real, or how she can fight like that without an answer from Jane is going to leave you worried and afraid, talk to someone about it.

Crystal Hall
Breakfast
December 14th, 2007

Great, looks, whispers, and stares all because of the combat final. And Jane doesn't even look at her friends when she sits down to eat, probably afraid to see how they look at her now. Worried and nervous looks, Smile shaking a little, darn it, they ruined her life at Whateley now.

Crap, the combat final did its job, revealing a hint of who Jane was in the past to everyone she knows and cares about. Crap, contemplating suicide to end it all and stop them from coming after Shaun again.

“I don't know what you've been through, or why you learned everything you did in the finals,” Smile said. “But I know that look you have. You've been through hell and it seems like you're still there. Don't stop walking. You're my friend, if you need help, you can ask me. I'll help you keep going, you just have to let me.”

Smile has me tearing up, I wish more people could have true friends like her. Being hugged by Smile, crying decades worth of tears while hugging her back. This proves you aren't Mille, he would have never shed a tear over all this. You are Jane now, you have his memories but he was a different person despite what you might think. This confirms it, at least for me.

A great story and a hard lesson for Jane and Counterpoint. It was rough reading it at some points, all the pain and injuries just building up with only patchwork shapeshifted healing to blunt them. But a great story with a wonderful ending I was hoping for and finally needed emotional release by Jane.

Ferret, please let him slip up somehow so he is found out to be behind the hack. I don't like seeing creeps like this get away with their crimes unpunished. He had multiple chances to override his own hack, release the lock on the doors, and let the staff and Wild Pack in to save Jane, but never once did. He is a coward who allows others to suffer for his own potential benefit.

Jane, I was happy to see her back with her friends, hanging out and enjoying herself once more. Then Ferret came in and ruined all that thanks to Arnold mentioning certain things to lead him along to do what he did. I've watched some brutal fights in anime, and even Invincible didn't hit as hard emotionally as this fight and seeing Jane fighting to survive. I just hope her enemies from the past don't get cocky and decide to hit Whateley now that they know what "Mille" is.

Counterpoint, I knew after he recovered from what Jobe did to him it would be bad, But he has gotten so much worse than before, a total psycho who was torturing her even before she started to fight back. Please say we get to see the fallout and Carson's judgment on his actions somehow, even if just in a short.

I'm so glad even after watching the whole fight, seeing Jane at her worst, that Smile is still her friend and there to help her work through her troubles. After dealing with parents like hers, she has so much compassion even for someone who was reminding her of them as she fought.

I hope we see more of Just Me, Shaun, Smile, and Cooper in the future. And that Jane will be able to start truly healing from her inherited past now.

Ferret working on a project for The Good Old Boys, ugh. Wanting to release an unfinished movie for test audiences online to hurt Phase and Marvel, this isn't a game, if you are caught doing this you are in serious trouble. Great, in contact with his old mentor, Arnold. Huh, why does Arnold care about Counterpoint? Yikes, Jobe did a number on Counterpoint.

Now he is asking about the attack and Just Me, what is going on? Is Arnold working for her old enemy? Oh brother, do something great and he gets a set-up like Arnold, just what the world needs, another criminal hacker with high-paying backers.

So far he'd managed to keep his crimes limited mostly to stealing corporate info, and he did that so cleanly no one knew he'd done it. Most of his victims didn't even know anything had happened.

Oh, Ferret, you are either overconfident, naive or those you have hit just don't want to admit being victims.

It was fun digging into some of the older characters who haven't shown up in a while. And Ferret is supposed to be really good at getting into places he shouldn't to find stuff people would prefer to be hidden. Just because he's a bad guy doesn't mean he's incompetent.

Dang, Shaun had the perfect gift for Aella, such a good friend. Ouch, Jane is upset at Mille for not being there for his family. Shaun's clothing creations are works of wonder. Oof, afraid of losing control and hurting someone or worse, Jane needs to open up more to her counselor.

Who said she has a counsellor?
She actually does, but only in the last week or so. I can reveal there were long stretches of silence in between inane talk of classes and fellow students. Jane is not an open book, more like a chained up safe sealed in a vault and buried in cement. People know she's damaged, but that's about it.

And Aella's outfit is pretty cool. We'll see more of it fairly soon.

Psychic combat teacher Harry Junzo, and the other combat teachers and ranger instructors. Time for the combat finals planning. Ouch, do you have to call it that, Lillian? A Crash for the Capes will be interesting. I don't like it when Bardue smiles like that, those poor students are going to be put through the wringer.
...
Delarose has orders to give Just Me an easy combat final, to make it boring. Ferret is so screwed if this works out the way I think it will. Up against Glass, so they will know something is up the second it shows Counterpoint as her opponent.

Writing up this scene was interesting. It was originally going to be for a different story, but Just Me's combat final called for it's own individual story. Working out who should be in the crash was... fun.
If we see the actual Capes group Crash is up for debate. Mostly to decide who would write it. There's something worked out for it, but it would be a fairly big one, and none of us have any Capes as a POV character.

I mostly needed to do this scene, so that people could see that Delarose is trying to keep Just Me safe and out of the way. He really doesn't know enough about her, or if she'd be a danger to the school and students if set off. So keeping things easy and boring for her is killing two birds with one stone.

you are a true scumbag, Ferret.

No argument here.
Although he is one of the less violent scumbags. Things really did get out of his control, and his options after things went to hell were essentially admit everything, which would have helped get Just Me out a few minutes earlier, but still with all or most of the fight happening as it did. Or save his own ass.
He went with self preservation.

Tink snuck into the announcers' booth and dragged poor Broken along with her, that girl needs something to restrain her at times like this.

“Where's my flyswatter.”

You would need a devisor flyswatter at least to make your point with Tink. Ranked 50 and used to be top 5, ouch, Counterpoint needs someone like Jimmy T for his opponent to keep him from maiming anyone. Tink calls Just Me spacy, pot meets kettle.

This was fun to write. Her other appearances in the combat final are going to be, mostly, just as fun. Dragging Broken (Mary) along was icing on the cake.

Faking Gunny's voice and now the ANTs are set the hardest challenge level due to Counterpoint, Ferret, you colossal blockhead!

At first I was going to have him take the safeties off the ANTs, but that really wouldn't have worked. Ferret needed to make the whole thing look like a prank/challenge gone wrong. Making the ANTs deadly would have blown up his excuses. Having him screw up and miss a 'minor' problem, that was much more in character and realistic.

Great, the faked Gunny call tricked the security officer easily. Nice disguise, I hope Counterpoint doesn't see right through it. Studying the ANTs, smart. A spear and it landed that close, Counterpoint is trying to kill her! Crud, faking an injury and pain being worse than they are and Counterpoint complains about her being a weak opponent.

Counterpoint wasn't trying to kill her with his spear. He wanted to frighten her and show off his skill. If he'd wanted her dead, she'd have gotten the spear in her ear and been dead without even realizing it.
It takes a bit to make him really go off the rails into homicide.
I also wanted to show that Just Me is physically outclassed by Counterpoint. She's smarter, more creative, and ruthless than he is, but I made a rule that every time they got within reach of each other, Just was going to get hurt. When it comes to fighting and sheer power, Counterpoint has her soundly beat.

Just Me, leading those two poor ANTs along like that, I hope she has a plan. A dirty brick, but that won't hurt Counterpoint, please don't say she is going to "kill" those ANTs and use their electronics for something.

Broken guesses Just Me is using two of the ANTs as meat shields, and she "killed" them with the brick, I'm with Tink, why? Stealing their clothes and shifting to look like a guy, well, this is a fight for life right now and she knows they are just ANTS.

This was an early thing I had planned. In fact it was one of the first things I wrote with Tink and B as announcers, which I made to help control the flow of the combat final. And I was laughing when I did it.
Harmless scared girl, just wanting to run away, and then she 'murders' two people in cold blood to steal their clothes.
I'm evil.

4th floor of the apartment building, and enters an apartment to head towards the kitchen. Tries to turn on the gas, but it is all just for show. A knife in hand, the 'woman' who lives there shows up with a baseball bat and goes to attack Just Me, but is taken out easily, another ANT down.

The ANT woman didn't attack Just. Just ran at her, stabbing her in the stomach, much like Counterpoint did to the ANT police. I was very careful with this part, to show that Jane and Counterpoint aren't that different when she is pushed into her old habits. Two years ago, Mille was even worse than Counterpoint, just more under control.

Yikes, that made Tink queasy, they think Just Me's ranking is wrong. Water bottle with top cut off, in a measuring cup, and in the microwave. Crud, she is going to create some nasty chemical weapon to deal with Counterpoint, the zombies, or both.

Bleach and other harsh chemicals in a mix, she is setting up some brutal traps is my guess. Zombies have found her, Counterpoint is following them, and Just Me needs more knives. I knew this fight was a very bad idea.

I could only go so far with having Counterpoint out of practice and with weakened regeneration. I had to think of how Just Me could actually go, mostly, toe to toe with him and not end up dead or permanently injured, or simply killing him. Going for the eyes and using lots of tricks was the only way it would work.

Well, the audience just got a show they never expected. Great, bigger breasts and she is using them to distract Counterpoint, desperate times call for desperate measures. Boiling water right in the face, even he has to feel that.

Counterpoint could handle pain, if he was prepared for it. Given a few seconds of preparation and he could laugh as acid melted the flesh off his face. But when it was unexpected, he felt it just as badly as anyone else.

That is good to know, more students should have this information. Bleach and cleaner mix right in the eyes, slippery floor, and down on his hands and knees. Fight dirty, do anything to survive, Ito would be proud of a student using such lessons when they are needed.

The topless part came late in the writing. I needed some way to distract Counterpoint, and then I remembered boobies. And Just Me can give herself some really nice ones.
About Counterpoint being able to ignore pain if he concentrates came about from trying to fit the way he's been shown in different stories. Against Eldritch, he was put down by having his shoulder, elbow and wrist dislocated. When dealing with The Tigers, he intentionally drank dragon spit, which melted his face and laughed. So I came up with a way for both to fit. Against Eldritch, it was a complete surprise, with the acid and in fights, he expected it and psyched himself up.
And this whole part shows Just Me's fighting style, vicious, go for weak spots, and disable or kill the person as quickly as possible.
Considering how she went after Counterpoint's eyes, put a knife to Thud's eye, and stabbed the cyborgs eye, I call her fighting style, "Your Eyes Offend Me, Let's Remove Them." It needs work, because it doesn't roll off the tongue very well, but it's extremely accurate.

Thank you, Jobe, for crippling his faster regeneration.

Finding the right character to fight Just was hard. I needed someone who was nasty enough to actually push her to her limits, but not kill her out of hand.
Counterpoint being recently and mostly healed from the genetic sabotage Jobe did in Spring, let me weaken him just enough, and make him angry at what had happened so he'd slip off his leash more easily.

Smile, Shaun, and the others having to watch all this, Shaun left wondering where Jane got a PFG. Cooper thinks they should ask her to protect them, not if you know what is good for everyone involved.

I needed something to lighten the mood a little. Cooper making the weak joke worked well for the job. The Winter Term is going to be interesting for them.

Just fleeing towards a window and wondering how Counterpoint is still able to fight in his condition. Darn it, going to climb up to the next story of the building, but Counterpoint grabs her ankle. Oh crap, he knows that PFGs have the same weakest as PF supers, their joints can still be moved even in the wrong direction. He broke her knee! This psycho needs to be locked up already!

Counterpoint learned that from Eldritch, when he and Imperious tried to enslave her. Despite his PK field, Eldritch popped his arm like it was nothing. He learned his lesson well and decided to use it once Just REALLY pissed him off.
And this was one of the earliest scenes I'd planned. Although I'd been thinking he'd just drop her and her shin would snap with the bone very noticeably popping out of her skin and pants. But the PFG would stop a break that bad. So torture was the best way to do the nearest equivalent.

Popped some ribs, shoulder and upper arm snapped, Counterpoint is a sadistic monster. Shifting to fix up the injuries as best she can, hoping she is too busted up for Counterpoint to torture her anymore, and zombies on the way, it can't get any worse. Great, she is seeing double of Counterpoint.

PFG's in general, and her model in particular can't do much against concussions and hard falls. They don't stop the body from getting injured by the sudden stop, and when she landed badly on her shoulder and arm, the PFG just kept her bones from snapping too badly.

Shifting that fast and stabbing his eyes out with nails turned into talons, dang. Only to get thrown and hurt badly, distorted vision, and now a seizure. At least she can stand up and run, please let her actually escape without him grabbing her again.

Silence in the stadium at how brutal the fight has become, Tink being told by Broken how Just Me fixed her knee, but thinking you have to be on Jimmy T's level to do stuff like that. And still wondering why the teachers haven't put a stop to this.

Having to suffer through torture, waiting for the perfect moment to strike because anything else would fail, that's pretty much Just Me's MO at this point. And following my self imposed rules, it was the only way for her to win.
The majority of Whateley students wouldn't expect anyone to do it, and they certainly wouldn't expect a fairly regular shifter without regeneration to be able to 'heal' themselves that quickly. Most would expect shifters to be able to cover up cuts, fix a dislocation, and maybe a minor broken bone. Everything all at once, followed by gouging out Counterpoint's eyes, that's well beyond what most ordinary people would do. Even street fighters tend to avoid purposefully popping eyes.

Zombies moving faster, groups of ANTs forming up to defend themselves, and Just Me on the run with only one kitchen knife left. Avoids a large horde only to run into several zombies in an alley. Two down, but the third one bites her hand, PFG saves her once more. Bulking up muscle in her free arm and shoulder, pain for doing so, she is going to need to eat a lot after all this. Pummels the zombie's head until it breaks, whoa.

Having to flee once more from the zombies, she finds a group of ANTs including a cop firing at the zombies, but being ineffective. Subdues the ANT and takes the gun, "kills" him, and takes his extra magazines before running off again.

And this pretty much sealed Just Me's fate.
Throwing chemicals in eyes, even popping them, and stabbing an ANT, they're all something a normal person could do without much training. Just need a bloody mind and be willing to hurt people.
Quickly taking out two zombies with a kitchen knife, and cracking a skull without superstrength, followed by taking down a cop with two punches, then shooting him, and expertly handling a gun, yeah, no one is going to believe she's mostly harmless after that.

Great, Iron Star is certain he is watching a sociopath because how Just Me's expression as she killed the ANT cop. Less than spectacular group Crash, ooo, I hope this means Tink gave them a stomping and we will get to read about it. Gambler has met Jane and says she is shy and scared, but what she did in the match has gotten Iron Star's attention and he wants to know all about her.

Arena Gate

Crap, Smile not seeing a trace of her friend Jane in how Just Me is acting now. Yes, Smile, Jane is desperately hiding from memories she wishes had never resurfaced once she became Jane. Great, even with her friends coming to her defense the leader of the Wild Pack wants to know why Jane can fight like a trained killer.

For heroes in training, learning why and how a seemingly harmless girl is a cold blooded fighter is pretty important. Especially when she seemingly came out of nowhere and is holding her own against one of the best fighters on campus, while risking seizures.

Nice use of gunfire to knock him off-balance, but darn it about the thrown spear hitting the gun and injuring her once more. An epi-pen full of some poison and Just Me injects it right into Counterpoint's neck. In pain, he lashes out by grabbing her and slams her on the ground. Please let the techs get that door open in the next minute, please. A hard swing and slam into the ground again, she can't take much more of this.

The poison did that, I hope Just Me is right and it killed the psycho, it was the only way for her to survive this. She thinks she has destroyed herself, what Jane Fisher is supposed to be, by doing this. Zombies coming, in too much pain, and she just wants to die and get it over with, no! Counterpoint is still alive, Exemplar 5s are hardy.

The poison was used in the assault on Fusco's mansion to take out one of the guards at the gate. Anyone who saw the autopsy reports, or watches the video will spot the similarity between poisons. And using a very lethal poison that she just happened to be carrying in her belt, yeah, that's going to go down well with her fellow students.
Counterpoint slamming her into the ground twice while having a heart attack was something I couldn't leave out. He's really focused when fighting.
Also he's an Exemplar 3. His exemplar status helped him stay alive long enough for his regeneration to stabilize things. It was still a very near thing.

Just Me patching up what she can, thinking it is the coward forcing her to live instead of just die. An injector, a stimulant to block the pain, and exhaustion, and allow her to move a little longer. Using her plasma knife she cuts up Counterpoint's spear, and just runs off again, not wishing to kill him when she doesn't have to. And that is the difference between you and Mille.

This was important, she couldn't kill Counterpoint. The poison was done out of reflex, but actually slitting his throat with a knife that she knows would kill him, it would break her. She is only a murderer when she has no other choice. And saving her own life isn't something she considers a 'no choice option'.
She really is right on the edge of suicidal most of the time.

PFG is out of juice and she is in bad shape, Just Me needs all the help she can get until they get her out of there. Offered a ride, so of course she took the ANT's shirt and car for herself. Whoa, she is really out of it from blood loss to be thinking like that. Oh crap, in her state of mind, she is thinking like Mille again, that Counterpoint will go after friends unless he got her first.

I'd been thinking that she would grab the driver, slit his throat and throw him at the zombies. But decided that was too harsh, he wasn't threatening her and just throwing him away was enough to get what she needed.
And yeah, the damage is really taking a toll on her.

That is an insane move to pull with a car just to ensure it hits Counterpoint, she could have killed herself even with the seatbelt on. Lost his helmet and the car bent around his body, Counterpoint is in bad shape. A knife driven through his hand and the body of the car, yikes.

She rapidly shifted her face, making herself look like Majestic, then Cytheria, Judicator, Feral, and finally ended on his own face. Only her eyes stayed the same icy blue, without any trace of mercy in them. “If you come after me or my friends, I will kill you. Anyone you meet could be me, you'll never know when you'll get a knife in the back, a bullet in the head, poison in your food, or a bomb slipped into your book bag. Don't push me again.”

I always planned on her hitting him with a car. There really was no other way for Just to stop him, outside of killing him. The threat was her best way to make sure he would leave her alone in the future, and she does have a thing for pinning people to things with knives when she really has to make a point.

Arena doors open and Wild Pack is finally inside, Mindbird sensing intense anger, but also despair beneath it all from Just Me, and then the pain, yikes. Eep, aiming the gun at Stormwolf, not registering what he told her for several long seconds, she is in shock. Mindbird is going to fly her to the entrance where her friends are, but Just Me won't put down the gun. Smart girl, Mindbird, just keep her calm.

Another thing I hadn't planned at first. I was just going to go from threatening to Counterpoint to the Ferret scene, but I needed something to show her state of mind. Having Mindbird let me do it. I particularly liked this part:
"As they got closer, she felt despair beneath the anger, muted by the rage, but coating everything like oil. It wasn't the sharp despair of someone about to break down in tears or commit suicide, it was older, deep and omnipresent."
It just gave the whole thing a dirty feeling to it, letting us see what's within her and what she feels every minute of the day.
And showing the Wild Pack as competent, without being overbearing is a nice change.

Ferret watched the whole thing and never once thought to remove the lock on the doors, to let help in. You are a cowardly little weasel! You aren't worthy of being called a Ferret, you are a weasel. Destroying the secret lab and all evidence of your connection to the crime, darn it, he can't get away with this.

I have some plans for him. I don't think they're what anyone suspects.

Jane is healed of the immediate damage but is now being interrogated by Gunny, Delarose, and Ito. Asked where she was trained, she says she doesn't remember. Asked why she took off her mask, and it is because she can look like any girl or woman so doesn't see the point of a mask. Asked why she was holding back, her dark side came out for a moment in her eyes but dropped away.

“If you want your problem child dead, do it yourself.”

Ouch, she thinks they wanted her to kill Counterpoint.

Nah, she doesn't think that.
She realizes it was done by her enemies. She's just pissed because if she hadn't held back, Counterpoint would have died in the kitchen with a knife in his throat and a second one in his eye to make sure he stayed down.
She is a murderer, but she only does it to protect her son. And for that, she'll show absolutely no mercy.

Oh crud, Delarose suspects the truth or at least part of the truth. Information on the favor called in in November, oh boy, I knew that would come back to bite Jane in the butt. It is all starting to fall apart.

Actually it worked out as well as Jane could have hoped.
Delarose, while still suspicious that she's Mille, is likely confirming his suspicions that she's Mille's daughter or protege and was put through very brutal training as a child until it became ingrained in her. It fits her style, her emotional issues, knowledge, and gives a reason why she can't shift as well as Mille could.

Crud, nightmares of Jane's bloody and expressionless face after the fight, Smile needs a session with her counselor soon. The 2nd time she sees Jane's blue eyes and now she is questioning what she really knows about her roommate and friend. Seeing Jane do all those things in the combat finals was a shock for everyone. Thinks Jane might be faking her amnesia now, what if everything she has said and done is a lie, no, she does want a quiet, normal life. It is just her old enemies won't let her.

The very last scene I wrote.
When I finished everything, I realized I needed to show why Smile was willing to hug Jane the next morning. Everything the girl has experienced and then seeing Jane, she should run the other way screaming. But she forced herself think things through and to give Jane a chance.

Great, looks, whispers, and stares all because of the combat final. And Jane doesn't even look at her friends when she sits down to eat, probably afraid to see how they look at her now. Worried and nervous looks, Smile shaking a little, darn it, they ruined her life at Whateley now.

Crap, the combat final did its job, revealing a hint of who Jane was in the past to everyone she knows and cares about. Crap, contemplating suicide to end it all and stop them from coming after Shaun again.

“I don't know what you've been through, or why you learned everything you did in the finals,” Smile said. “But I know that look you have. You've been through hell and it seems like you're still there. Don't stop walking. You're my friend, if you need help, you can ask me. I'll help you keep going, you just have to let me.”

Smile has me tearing up, I wish more people could have true friends like her. Being hugged by Smile, crying decades worth of tears while hugging her back. This proves you aren't Mille, he would have never shed a tear over all this. You are Jane now, you have his memories but he was a different person despite what you might think. This confirms it, at least for me.

Things are going to be very different for Jane in the next term. Should be fun for her.
And she wasn't contemplating suicide, she'd decided to end it all. If Smile hadn't hugged her, Jane would have written out everything she did, leaving out the part about her family, and ended her life that night. She was on the edge with her foot raised to take that last step.

And Smile saw that.
If Jane had come to breakfast blue eyed, angry and distant, Smile would have run away, her fears wouldn't have let her stay. But this was the sad, broken Jane that Smile knows. She now knows that Jane has another side to her, that is dangerous and terrifying, but it's not Jane's core (at least Smile doesn't think it is).
So Smile stayed and then offered her help, letting Jane step back from the edge. Thus Smile gets MVP for the story.

A great story and a hard lesson for Jane and Counterpoint. It was rough reading it at some points, all the pain and injuries just building up with only patchwork shapeshifted healing to blunt them. But a great story with a wonderful ending I was hoping for and finally needed emotional release by Jane.

Thank you.
Without the ending, the story wouldn't have worked out nearly as well. And it leads really nicely into the Christmas story, where things get really interesting.

I've watched some brutal fights in anime, and even Invincible didn't hit as hard emotionally as this fight and seeing Jane fighting to survive.

Wow, that's really high praise. THANK YOU!

Counterpoint, I knew after he recovered from what Jobe did to him it would be bad, But he has gotten so much worse than before, a total psycho who was torturing her even before she started to fight back. Please say we get to see the fallout and Carson's judgment on his actions somehow, even if just in a short.

Counterpoint will be appearing relatively soon, and we'll see what happens to him. No spoilers.

I hope we see more of Just Me, Shaun, Smile, and Cooper in the future. And that Jane will be able to start truly healing from her inherited past now.

We'll see a lot more of them.
Smile 2 will be coming out sometime in the next few months. I'm working on getting all my characters to Whateley, where things can really start to move. And once Smile is at Whateley, I can do a few slice of life stories, showing the entire gang in a bit more detail. And probably within 2024, we'll get the Christmas story when Jane and ex-wife Katherine get a HAPPY, totally NOT disastrous meeting, that DOESN'T end in tears, blood and pain.