Fire Over Phoenix

Friday, Early Afternoon, the FrankenCorps secret base

IR talking to El Scorpio about losing their target, it was a were-gerbil, priceless. Oh great, IR is getting Scorpio to help him hunt and try to capture Fanak. 2 weeks from now Fanak is going to have trouble. And they caught a mage, these creeps are pure scum.

Friday Morning, November 25th, Phoenix

Going after a girl that young who is a mage with GSD like that, IR needs to be taken down permanently imo. A drone in the form of a large butterfly, too bad no one looks up because in a city that would stand out. Automatically assumes the girl stole the food she now has, talking like that, IR creeps me out. Tranq'd from that range, IR's power is OP with firearms. Poor girl never stood a chance. And IR's real first name is Mike, or at least an assumed one he goes by.

Friday, afternoon, Chandler, Phoenix

Faiza with her family eating lunch while they plan a big gathering for afterward. Oh, good, Faiza not going to it, though grounded even though she didn't lie yet they think she did sucks. Leaving her home alone and back before midnight, despite the grounding they trust her a lot more than they are saying out loud.

Her Babba gives Fai her phone back, she is going to need it soon.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he said, “No one is perfect, Fai. Learn from your mistakes, make amends and try do better next time. Don't wallow in the guilt.”

She touched his hand. “Thanks, Babba.”

Good advice in general. Thanksgiving alone, now that is a punishment. Now Faiza knows about Azar Lopez, I wonder if she will meet Azar's parents or the 'extended family' her family called upon for help. Ugh, not a white girl so automatically go with runaway and look for her, but not hard enough. Oh no, looking for El Scorpio's possible hideout, Faiza, you are getting in over your head.

Fanak suited up and ready to go, good computer program if it works as promised. And she is going to see Azar's parents herself, please don't let there be a misunderstanding.

Friday 25th November, Phoenix, Marriot Hotel, early evening.

Thulia, almost nothing is like on TV shows or movies. Age restricted mini-bar, rats.

She was starting to wonder about humans, why were so many things tied to how old you were rather than how competent?

Trust me, Thulia, a lot of us ask the same question about more dangerous things than those in the mini-bar.

Aww, Thulia would have looked cute in fuzzy slippers. =P Slow drying her hair for once, heh. Going to visit the Lopez family at night, how shocked will they be at her young age? For an experienced mage look always go with a fancy robe, it's a classic for a reason.

A little later, near the Lopez home

Changing outfits in an alley, are we sure Thulia's research of Earth didn't include reading any Marvel comics? Azar's father answers the door and Thulia shifts her form to make it obvious who she is and why she is there. So that is a sign she is with the Order, nice. Oh boy, those looks from the parents, Thulia might get dragged into doing more than she was sent to do.

Earlier that evening, a cell in the FrankenCorps secret base

Book, here is a new person, just how many people have they captured recently? Iron bolt through each hand with a nut on it, these sick f**ks need to be ended already. Azar is in the cell with Book and helps her stand up. An old leather book follows Book, huh.

“No. They told me if I was good and my parents did what they were told, I'd go home soon.”

Add lying to an innocent child to their long list of crimes.

They are trying to fatten up Azar, this is very bad. Book isn't a mutant, so somehow she came into possession of the old leather book and it gives her magic. A really, really disgusting healing spell and mouthwash afterward, yikes. Book's promises hold that much weight, don't tell me the old leather book effectively made her a magical being by bonding with it. Rip the bolts out of her hands, Book has a lot more guts than most.

Friday 25th November, Phoenix, The Lopez house, mid-evening.

Ouch, listening to parents who are deeply upset and emotional, at least you aren't a receptive empath, or can she sense their emotions? A message to the Order is a simple, straightforward spell according to Thulia, just how complex is it really? With a location spell using Azar's hair, now I know Thulia is going to go beyond her information-gathering orders. 6' across spell diagram in chalk and blood from both the parents as well, Thulia doesn't do things simply, does she?

Evening, Close to the Lopez home, Phoenix

Fanak, no, don't just hop the Lopez's fence and go into their backyard like that. Listening to them talk to Thulia, making assumptions, and looking for a way inside, she should have just gone to the front door and rang the bell, then told them of what she saw and how the police dismissed her story. And sneaking into Azar's second-story bedroom, this is going to end up with a fight at this rate.

And another assumption by Fanak, now she has to hide under Azar's bed or get caught. So Thulia has a scent like cinnamon to Fanak, interesting. She thinks Azar and her father have the same mutation, other-dimensional beings are not common knowledge.

It was also very smokey, not harsh smoke like from a car, but like cinnamon incense.

Oh boy, I wonder if students at Whateley with a strong sense of smell have picked this up as well? Taking one of Azar's dirty bras for the scent, Fanak sneaks out but leaves the window open, which is going to bite her in the butt.

Dimensional storage space is very handy. A vial full of blood, eep. A spell circle like that from memory, Hassan really doesn't know that much about magic, or Thulia is a prodigy or a bit of both. A computer pad with Google maps for part of the spell is ingenious. All that and she confirmed Azar is alive and somewhere in the city, but not her precise location, should have known those scum have magical protection against divination of any sort. Ooo, Thulia can triangulate the location with reading from different locations, good.

Dragonform with wings to fly around, yay. A love distraction spells when used for good.

Later that evening, Phoenix

Fanak has to lie to her mom by text to keep her from worrying, I hope she and Thulia end up working together before this is all over. Trying to track the scent down street by street, no luck so far, and picks up a scent of metal and happiness, IR! At least the scent is faint, how recently was he in the area. A lot of questions about IR and who he works for, the answers will come and you will be disgusted when they do. Trail only an hour or two old, yikes. No, Fanak, rescue and make sure they are safe and sound first, revenge is a sucker's game.

Later that evening, near the FrankenCorps building, Phoenix

Smart move, more rookie heroes could learn the one major rule, always scout out a location before heading in. And another smart move, leaving a message of where she went and why before heading in. And Thulia lands on the roof behind Fanak, I hope Fanak follows her advice and they can talk and find out they are both working on the same case.

Thulia flying over the city with 4 points marked on Google maps, she has missed flying like this and I understand why, such freedom.

A rooftop overlooking an innocuous building, some time later.

Thulia locates the villains' HQ and plans to cast a final location spell to gauge the shields covering the building, and accurately find Azar's precise location inside.

Thulia spots Fanak and decides to deal with her, Fanak is worried Thulia will turn her into a newt, good grief. Questions back and forth until Fanak reveals she smelled Thulia at the Lopez's house, uh oh.

More questions as to why Fanak was at the Lopez house and why she is here.

Feeling like she was being interrogated by the police again, she answered, “Fanak, I'm a superhero.”

The mage raised an eyebrow, with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Really? I was expecting someone taller..."

Bwahaha, nice Star Wars reference. Fanak explains how she tracked Azar, and why she thinks Azar is a mutant, oh boy. Oh, Fanak's plan was actually smart, get proof so she can call in local superheroes to rescue and take down the villains.

Thulia, most people on Earth have no experience with magic and spells thus finding anything to do with them fascinating.

She wasn't used to someone so close and paying such attention to her spellcasting, especially a small girl who was so full of curiosity that she was almost vibrating with excitement.

Be thankful Fanak hasn't had a lot of sugar lately. 100 feet underground, boy, they really went all out with the evil villain hidden underground base. Thulia needs to be taught more about the real world and learn things beyond anime, tv, and movies for these kinds of things.

Dang, Thulia still has nightmares over what happened to Morgana and blames herself for 'taking too long' despite doing her best, she needs counseling. And Fanak is right, after what happened with Forte on Monday the local heroes might not even listen to them about a kidnapping case. Thulia and Fanak to the rescue, it was inevitable.

Thulia is going to carry Fanak down as she flies, this will be fun. A crystal on a chain spelled for communication, magic comms! Thulia wasn't kidding, that was quick. Degrade the cameras and make a hole in the shield covering the building, Thulia doing all this as matter of fact not realizing how powerful she is by human standards. All that so quickly, during the Winter Combat Finals Thulia is going to show a lot of students never to underestimate her. Super-heated claws to melt through a door lock, whoa.

Inside the FrankenCorp base

I love Fanak and her musings, she doesn't get a lot of them right, but it is fun to watch her mentally guessing. Thulia, trust Fanak on this, her senses will pick up anyone coming a lot sooner than yours and keep you from getting caught. Hhm, I wonder if that scent is from Book. Split up and Thulia is ready for a fight if spotted, so much for sneaking around quietly.

FrankenCorps Base, Security Office

Crud, the security guards have noticed the problems and how the girls got inside. Laser cutter, if they only knew. Kill if they can't be sure of capture; rescue all the hostage/kidnap victims in this place, and burn it to the ground!

Thulia boxed in from both sides, surrender and you won't be hurt, yeah, right. Firebolt! A ball of greenish gas almost sounds like a Stinking Cloud spell from D&D. Alarms going off, they are going to regret doing that.

So many odd hallways in the building, a warren, I wonder if there is magic to disorient intruders in this place. Sliding walls to sneak around their own base, d'oh! Leaping to the ground and taking down one, but a baton on her neck is brutal. Fanak is getting beaten up badly, Injured but she won the fight and demands the last guard to know where the girl is.

IR in the FrakenCorp guest room wakes up and he and his team had plans to pick up a jogger, everyone working at this place needs to die. Darn it, now they have to deal with this creep.

*eyes bug out* Using one as a club against 3 others, then brutally beating them all up before they can react, Fanak isn't taking any chances anymore. Creeps talking about getting a bonus for bagging Fanak, no mercy on them all! Oh crap, a guy is dead and Fanak is having a panic attack about being a hero and not killing anyone. She is growling and doesn't even realize it at first, and uses the dead man's rifle for covering fire to force her attackers to avoid being hit or get short themselves as she bounds past them.

While Faiza watched, Fanak continued on her way, snarling like a wild animal.

This is the worst possible scenario right now.

FrankenCorps building, Holding Cells

Book and Azar taking the distraction as time for break out. So this is how they are getting the bolts out of Book's hands, *winces*

She didn't remember much of her past, not even her own name, but she was fairly certain the old her couldn't have done this. Wouldn't have even thought of it.

That is just plain wrong, power but at the cost of all memories of your old life, even your own name. *dry heaves* Medic!

Using her own blood to draw symbols on the floor, the promise she made forcing all this is terrifying. Okay, now I see why the healing spell is disgusting and she will need mouthwash, a vampirism-based healing spell, nasty.

Fanak used the door being blown apart as an opening to charge the guards, taking down one of the guards as she ignores what Book does to the other one. More guards and Fanak takes them down without killing them, with more mercy than they deserve imo. Book finished with her guard and IR has shown up, great.

Book had been out while feeding on the guard, that spell is scarier than it first appeared. Book thinks Fanak is attacking but is saved from being shot by IR by being thrown back in the cell, at least that is what it appears to be. IR can do that space warping trick with a knife as well! Fanak is in rough shape and IR is brutally beating her.

“An angry werewolf is getting its ass kicked by someone with superpowers. We don't know who they are, why they're here, or what they'll do to us,” she said, wishing she had shoes on, as her feet slid on the linoleum floor. “I am not sticking around to see what happens next.”

Darn, Book has a point.

IR sees Fanak mores as a wild beast now, she had better live through this.

He created a tunnel from the barrel to her chest. Pulling the trigger, he hoped he could end the fight quickly.

Somehow the Fox dodged it, while throwing the mage out of the way.

Yay, I was right. Missed with all his pistol shots and out of ammo, no wonder he switched to the knife. Trying to kill Fanak, goes for the heart and misses and then goes to stab her in the spine, please let Morgana show up soon.

Claws his hand so no stab to the spine, dodges a bullet aimed at her face but burns her cheek. Exchanging blows and messing each other up, how much more can Fanak take? Telling her what he is going to do to Fanak as IR has her held by the throat, is a foolish move. IR flees after Fanak wrecks his other hand, while Fanak rests a moment before going after the girls. Where is Morgana right now?

Deeper in the FrankenCorps base, Medical Section

El Scorpio spying on Thulia and her dealing with the guards, gauging her abilities before he takes her on. Guards firing from the end of a corridor at Thulia and she just takes them out with a lightning bolt.

She wasn't wearing any obvious sort of super-suit, so as long as he didn't give her the chance to throw spells at him, taking her by surprise with his usual anti-mage attack should work fine.

Foolish to think from observing one encounter you know everything your opponent might be capable of.

'Preparation', once Thulia figures out what they use this room for, and what all the equipment is designed for, she will want to burn this whole building to the ground. Part of a human teenage boy in one of the big cabinets.

She looked over the body again, noting the way parts of it seemed to have been carved away, then had to ram her hand against her mouth to stop herself vomiting. She'd seen this sort of surgery before, but not on a human. On a carcass. She stepped back, still fighting to keep her stomach under control. Surely they couldn't have...?

Yes, Thulia, they did. Next cabinet. *dry heaves*

Her face hardened into a mask as she decided on two things. First, to rescue Azar before they could do this to her. Second to do her best to destroy these scum. She'd not felt so angry since Morgana's rescue, and that had been personal. In some ways this was worse because it wasn't.

When the Order people show up tell them what they do and what they had planned for Azar, and let them burn the whole place and everyone inside to the ground. Good, records for the Order to see what these scum have been doing.

El Scorpio follows Thulia's trail to the record room planning to fight her in such a small, enclosed area.

Thulia takes in Scorpio's armor as he barges into the room and shuts the door behind him, he takes out the lights thinking Thulia is just a human, big mistake. Flashbangs, so he is a coward who likes to weaken his opponent as much as possible and fights with cheap shots. Dang, he took down her shield already. Tear gas grenades in an enclosed space, he is using all the cheap tricks.

Flames to take out the CS gas attack, nice. Iron filings, he made a big mistake not figuring out who and what his opponent was before going into this fight. She takes on her Dragonform and he thinks she is just a mutant shifter, idiot. Scorpio is going to regret all the mistakes he has made on intel for this fight.

Scorpio's blows going to leave Thulia bruised up, while her flaming talons are not able to do enough damage to take down his armor fast, darn. He Attacks Thulia with his armor's tail only to do no damage and she hits him back with her tail leaving a huge dent in Scorpio's armor, yay! Thulia calls her spear back and goads Scorpio on, he falls for it and goes for another tail attack only to miss and Thulia wrecks the tail with her spear.

More blows are traded and Thulia strikes with her spear through his leg armor finally drawing blood, only to get injured herself by one of his handspikes. Thulia wraps herself around him and plans to melt his armor around Scorpio, dang, she is brutal when needed. And I'm pretty sure Scorpio didn't survive that, not with the shape his armor is in and the rage Thulia channeled into those flames.

A few minutes earlier

A building like Daedalus' labyrinth, no wonder Fanak and Thulia had such a hard time finding Azar. I hope that is a door out that Book has found. And she found El Scorpio and Thulia locked in combat, and thinks Thulia is a threat as well, darn it.

Finally, Fanak can call out to Azar and tell them why she is there. And Fanak is in no more for Book's comments about her appearance.

“Tell me when you get outside, I'm going to make sure no one can use this place ever again.”

Unfortunately I think this is only one of many bases for FrakenCorp. Though I hope I'm wrong about that. And cleared up about Thulia being an ally.

Darn, IR escaped and knows the girls got out, and the guards and support staff still alive are escaping, this sucks, I wanted to see them all go down. Thulia is sending the place up in flames, good.

The supervillain was smoking, his body, not just his clothing, hair burnt away and some pretty terrible burns across his body. He was slowly crawling away from the building, his body seemed to shake and quiver with each breath.

El Scorpio survived that, how! Great, they get treatment from Doc Morris too.

Centre of the FrankenCorps building

Ah, so control her flames to burn down the building instead of taking it all out in one huge flame. A fire tornado! Never, ever make Thulia mad, you won't like her when she's mad.

Nice exit from the burning building. Azar needs a good hug and cry right now. Yeah, no need to give the girls worse nightmares than they will already have. Thulia heals up Fanak's injuries, good because there was no way she would be able to explain them to her parents.

Book has an artefact, yikes, more serious than I thought.

"Wonderful. Well, maybe a few words of warning might be of help. Never trust an artefact, they have their own agenda, and it doesn't necessarily work to your benefit. Always try and see what the price it asks of you really is. Personally I'd suggest dropping it down a deep hole and leaving it, but... well, its up to you. Just be careful."

And now I want to know where Book found her artefact.

Thulia, you set a large building in a city on fire, that is anything but low profile. Carrying them both with Fanak guiding Thulia with Google maps, at least Azar will get to say she has flown somewhere.

*wipes tears from eyes* So glad to see Azar home safe and sound.

Azar getting hounded by news people wouldn't be good, it would call attention to her, and FrakenCorp, if they have more branch offices out there, would know how to find her more easily next time.

Fanak's surprise and awe at finding out Thulia is a dragon, I just love her sense of wonder. Thulia shows off her flying prowess to Fanak, she has skills. And the usual warnings for someone after getting magic healing are to eat, drink, and get plenty of rest to replenish what was used and lost. Thulia asked for Fanak's number, get Fanak to Whateley already.

Getting in trouble for doing what's right is always worth it, Thulia, and you definitely did what was right.

She sighed, wondering if all good intentions came with so many problems?

You would be surprised, Thulia.

Fanak's Home, Phoenix

Faiza laughing about it all, how she survived, fought a supervillain, saved two girls, etc.

The blood had to come off, every bit of it. She was Faiza now, not Fanak.

Uh oh, don't go developing a split personality now. And with how she is thinking, pushing down the memories, this is not a healthy way of dealing with this, it is going to cause trouble later on.

Late Evening, Marriot Hotel

Thulia cleans herself up and watches the news, seeing reports of what happened.

Even though she knew that anyone involved richly deserved death, she hadn't wanted it to be at her hands. In the middle of her anger and all the violence, she'd forgotten what fire would do to anyone still inside the building.

Thulia needs counseling already, she is dealing with a lot of trauma. Oh crap, she is drinking to drown out the pain of what she did, someone help her!

Saturday, Afternoon, Doc Morris Surgery

IR got treated by Do Morris, great, that means his hand is going to be as good as new in the future.

He couldn't let the were-girl get away with maiming him, she would suffer before he killed her. He'd find her family and friends, destroy them one by one, not letting her know why it was happening or who was doing it. Then when she was emotionally broken, he'd come for her. He'd make her beg him for death.

He needs to die already, monsters like him need to be ended. FrankenCorp is still active, just upset about their losses, darn it!

If Doc Morris found out what the two of them had been up to, they wouldn't leave the clinic alive.

I hope he finds out before the next time they come in to be patched up.

Oh double crud, he is talking to Forte, sucking up to her, and wants to buy some of her devises, things just keep getting worse.

FrankenCorp, introducing them into the Whateley Academy universe has given us monsters of the highest order, scum who are so corrupt, so greedy at the expense of fellow humans and other sapients, that I feel no pity when any of them are killed. They deserve whatever fate is coming to them. And I hope we see then lose more and more bases, more and more victims rescued, and the eventual downfall of all of FrakenCorp and any supervillain who willingly works for them.

Faiza and her family are great to see, she wants to be a hero but keeps her identity a secret even from her family despite all the complications. It is a young teenager learning the hard way and it shows, yet she is smart, clever, and quick-witted. I only hope her trying to keep her Faiza self and Fanak self separate doesn't lead to heartbreak in the future.

Iron Rain and El Scorpio, are the worst scum ever for working for FrakenCorp. I wish at least one of them hadn't survived, though I have to wonder if the same stuff used to restore IR's hand can restore Scorpio's whole body. In future appearances, I can only hope to see them taken down hard, either permanently or locked up for good.

Thulia was brought in by the Order to help gather information for the rescue of Azar, you just knew she wouldn't leave it at that. I'm so glad she teamed up with Fanak and hope to see them meet again in the future. As for Azar and her family, I just wonder what they are going to do now that they know someone kidnapped her; move, change identities, find a special school for Azar to go to where she will be kept safe?

The rescue was great, going in with a plan and having to improvise anyways after a while, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Thulia's reaction to finding the files and what FrakenCorp does is spot on, the same thing I would do in her place.

As for Book, I hope this isn't the last we have seen of her.

- I really wanted to show the scene of the Were-Gerbil getting away, but ultimately it would have taken too much of the focus away from the story.

- Iron Rain is a very scary individual. He's patient, can strike from a distance and is a skilled fighter. His ego and anger can get the best of him however. And his name is not Mike. That's just part of the code.

-Faiza's family is a good one. They want her to learn her lesson and improve, not merely punish her for punishments sake.

-If Faiza didn't get in over her head, it wouldn't be an interesting story. Unfortunately, while calmer then Tink, she will have a habit of getting in even deeper over head and a lot more often, than the crazy fairy.

-Book is going to be a fun character. She was thought up in 2016, but I didn't really have a story for her, then I realized she'd be perfect for Phoenix. Her debut was supposed to come later, but sliding her into this story made sense, improved the story and helps smooth out things later on.

-Fanak knows about extra-dimensional entities, but mutants are far more common, so her first thought will be mutants. Also most of her knowledge of non-Earth entities involve soul eating demons.

-Fanak is smart, except when it comes to staying safe. Her first run in with Iron Rain, has made her a bit more cautious, so she isn't going to take stupid risks without a very good reason.

-The Star Wars reference was all Astro.

-Faiza disassociating herself from Fanak at that moment isn't necessarily bad. It kept her alive, and let her accomplish the mission. Like a lot of things, used in moderation, it can be useful. If she keeps doing it, then things could get very ugly.
I have so many fun plans for her.

-Book knew what she was doing when she made the promise, her survival instinct is extremely powerful. And her book gives her some really good spells, actually going through with a lot of them requires a strong stomach.
I wanted to put in one line where she mutters, "Stupid book, where am I supposed to get a baby?" Unfortunately I couldn't fit it in.
And Book didn't know if Fanak was going to attack or not. Hence her trying to not look like a threat and asking very quietly and politely to be ignored.

-When Book and Azar run into El Scorpio and Thulia, the flames are deadly hot, so Thulia is a threat.

-I thought it was funny having Fanak swear in English at Book, after only cursing in Arabic. She's had a bad night.

-When it comes to Fanak think of her as a mirror to Forte. Forte is a beginning supervillian, who thinks things through and plans fairly well, but makes stupid mistakes simply from lack of knowledge and anger. Fanak is a beginning superhero who thinks things through and does plan, but makes stupid mistakes from lack of knowledge and needing to see justice done.
Their story will be long and unexpected.

-When it comes to Iron Rain, you haven't seen anything yet. He's been playing nice so far.

We'll get to see more of Fanak and Iron Rain in Forte's upcoming story Outro.
Book may be there as well, but no promises.