Gathering around in the city of wind. (Yuri, Lucas, Jake.)

Jake jumped down from a rooftop, memory's fresh in his mind, memory that drove him forward. Landing with a thud, three faces turned to the red leather clad boy, standing up right he was taller then two of them, small people running with bags of jewels. Big man in front to protect them. Walking towards them, the smaller men coward while the bigger man simply cracked his knuckles, a thick Russian accent. "Run home boy. It was a threat that oozed confidence, which meant meta, and from the size of him, a strong meta.

Some time ago.

"I'm just saying, you've been missing school, Anita called and said you've been missing practice. I'm calling you constantly and you never pick up. And now your here for the trip to Chicago and you don't even say a word... Are you even listening!" Scott's voice picked up and Jake turned to look at him, a flash of anger at his friend quickly changed to shame before he looked back out to the windy city, silent still but feeling the boring eyes of his friend deep into the back of his head.

"I'm listening Scott it's just... Personal stuff.." Jake concluded, refusing to go any further, he had gone home several times but everything else was put into his... other life. His fists. He still couldn't understand his mother, her changes, sometimes he passed by her and she just starred though him. It was like she was breaking, or was fighting a battle inside and he didn't know what to do. He didn't dare call the hospital, dare say it, they didn't have the money, but it wasn't something they could fix. This was something beyond science and when the time came for this trip, something he had paid for long ago, he took it. To get away.

He felt Scott's eyes leave him and continue to the reason this school trip was payed for but Jake stood still and stared out into the city, hands clutching his bag, his reason. And so he started to walk forward, away. To find a spot to change. The sound of police sirens close in the distance...

Now

Jake rushed forward, the bigger man swung a fist at him but Jake ducked under it, a fist to the mans side sent him stumbling back, gripping his side. He was strong and durable, but not durable enough. Following up in the attack, Jake shoulder charged the man into a nearby wall, causing him to go though it. With the bigger man gone, Jake looked for the other two but found that the two thieves had used the small fight to run away, cursing, Jake was about to jump when he felt a hand grip his shoulder quickly followed by a heavy force into his back right in the center. With a cry of pain, Jake felt his feet lift from the ground and quickly thrown back away, landing on the stone ground with a thud that did not even compare to the fire his spine felt, not broken, but flaming. The russian may have been a slow puncher but he knew where to punch and he hit like a truck.

Standing, Jake faced the closing in russian, fists raised and ready, finally, a good distraction, something he could sink his time and pain into.

It hadn't been long since Lucas met Yuri and Blake at that bowling alley up the street. It was a good thing too, because Lucas might have went crazy if it wasn't for the socialization his new friends provided. True, he was an introvert, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy company sometimes. Being alone charged his battery, but he still needed to talk to people like anyone else did. With all this running away business, that was more true then ever.

Lucas had paid the taxes on the old Knightwatch base, meaning he had grabbed up pseudo ownership of it. He had a place to stay, and he hoped Yuri and Blake would join him as well. After all, they were like him in a lot of ways. Alone, different, young. It only made sense to bunk up until Lucas was inevitably pulled back kicking and screaming into his father's life. But right now, right now that wasn't an issue. He was out, and ready to start his own journey.

Lucas typed the passcode into his phone, a complicated series of twenty numbers, and then sent a text to Yuri.

Lucas: I'm bored. Wanna hang out? I'm a block over from the hotel, near the comic shop.

The boy had typed out the message with impressive speed. Usually walking while having your face in a phone was a hazard, but for someone like Lucas it was not even an issue. His mind was capable of doing so much at once it was almost ridiculous. Not only did he walk, type, listen to music, and manage to avoid running into things, but he also picked up on the commotion happening in an alley he now neared.

Even with Bastile blaring in his ears, the words he heard were unmistakable. Some manner of fight was happening in that narrow passageway. Immediately, the boy moved to get a better look.

What he saw was a large man, and a kid a bit older then him, trading blows. It wasn't diffcult to discern who the bad guy was here, so Lucas moved to do something to help.

He had very little with him as far as weapons were concerned. In fact, all he could spare to throw in his bag was a green apple. Lucas simply shrugged, picked the fruit up, then lobbed it at the Russian's head.

"Hey! Why don't you......uh, pick on someone you-.......  Well that doesn't really work here, does it? Whatever. Stop punching him!" Lucas said, trying to be quipy but failing to do so. As quick as his mind was, social interaction wasn't his strong suit. Regardless, he just threw an apple at a Russian meta's head. Things were bound to get interesting.

Yuri rested his elbows on the back end of a park bench, watching a public fountain spew water into an endless loop of the placid pool below. Something about a thing as simple as a fountain always managed to grab his interest, even if it was not as great as the gardens from his childhood home. Something did rip him from his thoughts, which was his phone vibrating a couple of times. Part of him wondered why it hadn’t been shut off yet, but he wouldn’t argue with a blessing. Pulling it form his left pocket, Yuri gave the device a quick once over, narrowing his eyes at the text sent his way.

The location was a comic store near a hotel, something that he could easily find.

Yuri: Sure. I’ll be there soon.

He shot back the text, thinking over where that comic store would be and then going from there. Not like it would take too long and he wasn’t exactly scatter brained by any definition of the phrase. So there Yuri ran, eventually picking up a bus with a few bits of loose change and stopping off close enough that it only took a minute to run from there. His rather substandard stamina was something that became obvious, though he ignored that for now to follow what sounded like a rather loud fight going on.

Still, he would have rather just gone to the comic store than use his powers on something that would only add to the collateral damage. That was of course when he located Lucas, chucking an apple at what looked to be a man’s head. They were trading blows with someone else, and that did make sense for the whole mass damage thing.

”I don’t think throwing apples at him will do anything.” He spoke in Russian considering that Lucas proved he could also do that, and his English was just too awkward to use in this instance.

Both the Russians and Jake's head turned from where the apple came from, where Jake spotted one.. no two kids arrive, both in teens, the one who threw the apple being the youngest out of everyone here, smallest too. Turning back to the Russian who was muttering something in russian, Jake dashed towards him, stepping onto there leg before jumping backwards into a back flip, the heel of his boot striking the big mans chin, sending him back a few steps in a daze.  

Using this moment, Jake pushed forward and punched the man in the sternum, sending the big man flying back into a wall of a building, a distant surprised scream sounded off. Turning back to face the two intruders, Jake took a step towards them but stopped, hesitating. "Look. Thanks for the... help. But go. I don't need two kids getting in the way." Jake spoke firmly to them, hoping the mask muffled enough of his voice so that he didn't sound as young as he was. He didn't actually know what to do with these two, they could be meta's, or just normal people, but that didn't help that if they decided they didn't want to go, he wasn't sure he could stop them. After all, what were they doing? Exactly what he was doing. And if he had a problem with that, then he was just an Grade A cynical ass.

Meanwhile, the Russian who had been sent flying back into the house, stood from the hole, looking to the kid in red, he saw that they were distracted and took the opportunity to get out of the second hole he had been hit into and started running albeit slowly away from the three. Knowing that alone he maybe had a chance, but with the two new kids, he would need to prepare.

Yuri had showed up at the perfect time, making a Captain Obvious comment in Russian. Lucas turned to the other teen, a half smirk on his face. Of course Lucas knew it wouldn't do anything as far as damage was concerned, it was mostly just to get the pair's attention.

"You're right, Yuri. We need some oranges." Lucas said with a laugh in Russian. It was a rather harsh language, straining the throat at times, but he had gotten used to it by now.

The kid trading blows with the apparent bad guy said something about them getting in the way. Lucas simply scratched his head at the comment. Was this guy really suggesting that they were helpless?

"Hey, buddy, you're a kid too. Kinda, i guess. As much a kid as my friend here. Anyway, do you really think we would just bravely walk up to this fight if we were normal kids? This is 2023 bro, practically a third of people you meet have superpowers." Lucas said to the 'hero' as the Russian bad guy staggered away. The boy then took a moment to peak around the Jake, watching the man try to leave.

"He's rocked, and likely weary of fighting three people. Continuing at that pace he will make it thirteen point five feet before you catch him if you move as soon as I'm finished talking. Hit him with a one one two punch, and Yuri can freeze his legs in place while he's dealing with you." Lucas said. He was most certainly not distracted by speaking with Jake. Lucas' mind could handle several intricate processes at once. Unless this guy kicked it into high gear, it was doubtful he could just walk away from the fight.

Where one would get oranges flew right over his head, so all Yuri did was eye the odd person that this meta-human was at odds with. One of them said something about not needing kids help, though all Yuri did was scoff. While he was young, it wasn’t as if his powers left him incapable. Lucas was speaking, though his attention shifted to the guy trying to run away from them. Not the smartest idea. He thought to himself, gathering his power and with a motion unleashing a bolt of frost that spread rapidly over the ground ahead of the Russian. Any attempts to run over it would leave them slipping and sliding.

”I don’t see any kids in the way. Only a hero who thinks he knows what he’s doing.” Yuri added as a thick wall of ice began to form before the attempting to escape villain, removing what he thought to be any chance of escape. ”This is the part where we tie him up, right?” He said, continuing to speak in Russian.

Jake was... well. He was a little dumbfounded. The way this.. small kid was speaking. It was ether educated guesses or he was reading the situation as it was. Which would mean he was smart. His other friend, the russian, Yuri. Could do something along the lines of freezing, which would mean ice powers. Seems he was right, he didn't need the younger kid to throw it in his face but he didn't argue on the facts. It was true, you were more likely to meet people with powers then not, but it wasn't just that, it was around school time, so why were they not in school. To which he would fault himself if not for the fact that he had been to school, this was just a... vacation, a new place where he could just be this... hero and not think about his problems.

Holding up a hand, Jake would glance at the smaller kid for a second before turning his red vision on, his eyes glowing a bright red as he turned back towards the bad russian. Who had fallen flat on his face and was yelling out what could only be a curse in Russian. Looking to the ice wall that was growing ahead of the man, Jake realized how useful that ice power of Yuri's was. And with that, Jake ran forward and jumped at the wall opposite of the russian, hands and feet touching the wall Jake pounced off it towards the Russian, landing atop of him mid standing up and sending him back to the ground, sliding along the floor of ice till they hit the ice wall. Slowly moving from being bounced off the wall, Jake grabbed the back of the mans head and smashed it into the ice floor, once, twice. Each time, the ice would crack. Jake kept at it till the man stopped resisting. He was durable, so Jake was happy with the results.

Sitting on top of the downed man, Jake scanned the walls, his red sight able to let him see though them, but no matter how much he looked, he couldn't see the two smaller men, well he found some small people. He did, he saw a lot of people, in cars, in houses, it was hard to tell people apart, with how little he used this ability, something he should maybe do more often. "Crap." Was all Jake could say as he looked back to the smaller kid and Yuri, turning his red vision off as he got a hand inside his hood and scratched the side of his neck. "Well. Thanks. I guess. Don't you guys got school to go too or something?" Jake asked with a small sigh, not sure what to do now. He could head back to his group, he was okay to be gone for a while longer but... he didn't want to go back, not yet anyway. And these two, they could prove to be more interesting. Maybe.

Lucas crossed his arms. With the other two in motion, he easily calculated that he would not be needed to put this guy down. After all, Yuri was pretty powerful, and this other kid was giving the bad guy a run for his money on his own. Lucas didn't have to move, but he had at least been useful. It seemed he was quite right about the outcome of this so called fight.

After the rather brutal smashing of the guy's head into ice and concrete, the hero approached Lucas and Yuri, saying something about school. Lucas smirked and laughed a bit at the comment.

"I don't need school. I'm just too cool, ya know?" Lucas said. From anyone else those words would seem like a joke, but the boy was being serious. The attempt to impress or fit in would most likely be thought of as cringe worthy instead of how Lucas intended it.

"What's that guy's story? He speaks Russian, like Yuri. What'd he do? Are there more of them? He seemed pretty douchey, wouldn't want other douches walking around unchecked. Yuri, you know that guy?" Lucas said, peaking around the other teen to gesture to the downed man. He hadn't really planned to make this whole running away thing a crime fighting endeavour, but so far it had been pretty fun. He figured he might as well keep doing what he has been doing up until now.

As usual Yuri proved himself ignorant when it came to sayings, mostly those in English. Something told him Lucas was telling some manner of joke, though it didn’t mean too much beyond maybe cool meaning he was popular. His ploy to make escape impossible did work, leaving the man slipping and sliding around like one would expect, with the hero swooping in to take them down with beautiful violence. Then from there came questions of school, and he naturally already had an excuse for that one. ”No. I am….how you say home schooled.” he responded, wondering if the wording was proper in this instance. Trying to speak a language with so many clauses and exceptions made it tough, especially considering he only really learned to speak it less than a year ago.

A question came about if he knew the downed man, Yuri giving Lucas a look that seemed almost questioning. ”Are you asking if all Russians know each other, because that is...kind of wrong.” he spoke in Russian, finding reverting to his first language easier to express the thought. ”No, i’ve never seen this person.’ He then said in English, narrowing his eyes at the downed man that likely had some reasons for being in America. Maybe they did have some connection to his father, though if that was the case then it was best he didn’t have anything to do with this criminal, or even was in the same city.

Jake was at a lost on what to do, he wasn't use to meeting other powered people his age, so far it had been Lorelei but Lorelei was different, an under water sea princess and a sister to the Sinclair name. These were normal looking kids, one with extremely good thinking skills and the other with ice. However, they did boost Jake's spirit. Well, not Yuri, he was more focused on the now, no it was the younger one, who had asked questions.

And so he decided that if they were going to ask questions, they had already involved themselves, he might as well take them along for the fun. "All right. Hold on and Yuri. Don't freak out and freeze me half way." Jake said as he stepped forward in between the two boys, getting behind them, he would wrap his arms around the two boys by there waists, hefting them up easily so that he could carry them, Jake would jump into the sky before they could attempt to stop him. Clearing the buildings roofs, Jake let his wings out, the feathers brushing the silts in the back of his suit was still an odd feeling but he was getting use to it. Keeping still in the air, Jake turned his red vision back on and scanned the ground once more, looking for two small people... He spotted a close by car, two red blobs were seated in it so he flew closer in, and the closer he got, the more he could see and he could see two bags filled with goodies any bank robber would be happy to have. Flying higher into the air, Jake hovered far above the car.  

"Alright boys. The car below us has two bags full of jewels and men waiting for there unconscious russian friend. Or not." Jake stated as the car started up and began driving into the street, casual like. They must have thought they got away. "We. Are going to follow that car to wherever it goes. Be it a gang, there house or wherever. And seeing as you guys want to help. Sure you won't mind holding on for it bit longer. It's only a.. very. Not something I would like to fall from height." It was a partial lie, they were high up, yes. But he wouldn't let them fall, of course that was up to them. But ether way, Jake followed the car, able to keep up due to his speed matching theirs unless they started moving faster then eighty miles per hour.. Seems that was his limit.

Apparently all Russians don't know each other. Too bad, that would have been really useful.

Either way, it looked like this was a good and proper heist! Given that this other kid seemed to have trouble getting rid of just one of these Russians, perhaps Lucas and Yuri's help would prove essential. Regardless of whether Jake actually needed the help or not though, he ended up picking both Lucas and Yuri up off the ground. He showed them a car, told them about what these bad guys were doing, and they started to follow. Also, apparently Jake had wings.

That was so cool.

Lucas calculated the distance between him and the ground. He came to the conclusion that yes, he would die if dropped. That said, he wasn't too worried about it. If this wing boy wasn't confident he could hold them, he wouldn't have picked them up, right?

"So what's the plan? Yuri freezes the tires? We drop on the hood and crawl around like zombies? That'd be fun. We would be all like 'rawr rawr,' and they would be like 'Oh my Gurd, Zermbies.' Zombies save the day, yay!" Lucas said, rambling on about God knows what as the thought of his little idea moved through his head. Regardless of which plan was cooler, the first idea Lucas  suggested was probably the most practical......

Being lifted into the air was an odd sensation, but nothing that hew really fought against as the taller male lifted them both. There was the sudden sense of being removed from the ground, Yuri looking around and his legs dangling there as they flew after something. It took a few seconds for him to figure out that they were chasing after a vehicle, one that Lucas had suggested that he freeze the tires of. He furrowed his brows,  gathering cold within his hands as the idea of freezing the tired actually sounded pretty nice right about now. It would have been easy to cause it to stop, and so he considered doing just that.

However he did understand they were following it, so he did nothing. ”No, I think we are just...following?”

Jake had almost panicked when the smaller kid spoke a plan, that had ended with a childish rambling of zombies, afraid the russian one would follow it. Seeing as the two were friends. However, Jake calmed down almost immediately as soon as Yuri spoke. With no ice being shot or them acting like zombies, Jake considered what to do next, and decided he should maybe learn a thing about the smaller kid, also that he should explain his thoughts and the plan when the car they followed finished driving.

"So. I know Yuri by name. But I don't know your name kid which I guess also means I should share mine. And honestly, silly hero names aside. Names Jake." Jake stated, deciding that if he was going to do this with the kids, he might as yell say his name. Waiting to for the younger kid to introduce themselves or not before continuing. "Now. The idea is that these two had a russian strong man. They stole a lot of jewelry, which means they need a place to sell that stuff. So... I'm thinking a possible gang. Where, back to the russian friend they had, might mean there is more from where he came from." Jake finished before continuing after the car, which had taken to heading towards the sea, which could mean another warehouse. Great.


Some time later, Jake would stop at a building opposite of the docks, which had a suspicious number of cars similar to the one they had been following outside it. Letting the two teens down, Jake unstrapped his mask and took his hood off with it. Looking over to the warehouse, it seemed quiet, but the cars told a very different story. Still, some had spaces between each other, which could mean they had a poor sense of parking side by side.. or... "Alright. Now. I know Yuri has ice powers. I have okay strength and wings. What you have kid. Because based on the number of cars, I'm guessing they robbed multiple places so that they had a good chance of getting then losing... A lot of work means they are going to have quite the number of guards. Meta guards." Jake spoke his thoughts on what he assumed they were looking at and what was going to be inside that soon to be mess-hole. He didn't need to protect someone who couldn't do anything, plus if he couldn't do anything, then Yuri would be on the kids side most likely. So he needed to know now rather then later.

Lucas' ramblings weren't really serious. Of course, if the others had agreed with him, he might have went through with the odd plan, but they seemed to mostly ignore it.

As they kept going, the kid carrying them introduced himself. He called himself Jake. Whether that was a real name or not remained to be seen, but regardless, secret identities weren't that big of a deal to Lucas. It's not like someone could just Google him. His very existence was known by few, after all.

"Name's Lucas. I think and see fast....... and other stuff too, but it's like, one of those things i don't wanna use, ya know? Like in the comic books." Lucas explained as he was let down, along with Yuri. That's when the boy pulled his hood up, and placed his little collapsible mask on. The idea of facing metas wasn't all that intimating to Lucas, because after all, he spent more time with people who had abilities then with people who didn't.

"If they're as sucky as the last guy, this will be a cake walk. We should take different entrances, spread out the resistance. I'll take the fire escape up to the second floor. You guys use the door, or some other way." Lucas said, quickly making his way to the fire escape. He was pretty acrobatic, but it wasn't something that could be considered superhuman. Impressive for a boy his age, yes, but nothing beyond the ability of a good freerunner. He was at the door from the fire escape in no time, ready to make his grand entrance. He just hoped this wasn't more then he could handle.