New York: New York City

Much of the North-East has managed to keep a relative calm, and most meta-humans that are active in the area seem to be using their powers for good, more or less. At the very least, they aren't making things worse.

New York in particular has experienced an increase in traffic to the city with people trying to find some haven, since a continent exploded and shit. If the trend continues, the city could metaphorically (or literally? I don't know.) burst. Then again, anyone who's been to manhattan knows traffic, believe you me.

Also Adrian Sable lives here and his walls are plastered with posters of naked buff guys, hurr durr.

Most of the people would find it dandy if you didn't fucking nuke the place.

Well, Compactor had to agree. She really would prefer if New York City DIDN'T get nuked. I mean, that'd make her life hell of a lot harder than it already was. Of course, now it wasn't bad. The female superhero was sitting on top of one of the many tall, rundown buildings in Brooklyn. Her feet hang over the edge of the roof, swaying slightly.

Of course, as she waits, she's fully costumed. Can't have people knowing more, no. There she was, in that green and blue armored suit that blended nicely with her vibrant red hair, waiting for her partner to arrive. God damnit, he better not have gotten himself in trouble again.

Virtue debated on agreeing. A nuclear bomb wouldn't really do much for his love affair with the rooftops of the city; I mean, really, he just couldn't keep off of th-"Fuck you, voice in my head." Thinking about moving over to where Compactor was, he shoved his hands onto his hips and frowned behind his mask, before just walking over to her-his nimble footsteps make no noise at all, and he brings his hands forward to lay over her shoulders, placing his chin on top of her head.

"Man, you really love brooding on top of buildings, don't you?"

Dear friggin' god. The 21 year old hero nearly jumped out of her skin when the other suddenly touched her, body immediately tensing.

Christ, he was lucky that his voice was so familiar to her at this point. Otherwise, she would've spun around and tried to attack him in some way. Good thing that. didn't happen.

Instead, Compactor scowled, rolling those bright green eyes before shifting slightly, arms folded over her chest as she looked up at him.

"Haha, funny. I was waiting for you. You're late."

Pushing his head to the side and laying it on top of her hair, he shrugs, hands trailing over her arms with the motion. "I know I'm hilarious, and it's absolutely impossible to go for long without seeing me, but don't yell at me just because you happened to get here before me. You don't know, Pen; maybe I had to save a schoolbus of children from getting mugged. I'm a busy man, with many heroic things to do."

He had stopped to get an icecream cone and stare at himself in a mirror.

She couldn't help but laugh at his little comment, eyes closing as she took in a deep breath through her nose. After a moment, she exhaled, shifting to try and shove the other hero lightly back.

"Uh huh, I'm sure you were helping lots of old ladies cross the street. God forbid I scold you for that."

A slight smirk played across her lips as she pushed herself up, brushing off whatever dirt had gotten onto her costume. Compactor would turn around again to peer over the city, arms folded across her chest.

"Should we start some patrolling, then, Ed?"

Having looked up all she needed to learn about whatever it was she needed to learn, Signal stepped out of the café with coffee in hand and began to aimlessly fly around. New York City was definitely more her style than Vegas: it was still a party center, but at the same time it was serious when it needed to be (and sometimes too serious; Signal looks at the signpost denoting Wall St. with a touch of contempt) and there were businesses of all kinds. But then, NYC is one of the world's cultural central points. Hell, if cultures could be leylines, this city would be one of the places where they all meet!

Passing by what seems to be a more derelict section of the city, she senses two people nearby. The thoughts are faint from this distance, but they're definitely not negative; at least here she can rule out the "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD"-type villains. She lands on one of the nearby buildings and slips on her teashades, hoping that they'd either make her look cooler or somehow make her unnoticeable, and focused her sense of hearing to eavesdrop on the two.

Just in case.

Closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around her as she tries to push him off, he begins lifting her up with his radioactive ogre-spider gained strength.

"I know, right? It's so hard to criticize me. I'm just so amazing; one might even say...spectacular." Shut the fuck up, Virtue.

"Yeah, though, patrolling sounds pretty good. I love, uh...patrolling. Y'know, getting shot at and stuff. Always great."

She couldn't help but scowl again as he picked her up, rolling her eyes as she remained limp for a moment. Dear god, he was clingy today. Not a great mix with that kinda power.

"Oh, yes, so spectacular. Now put me down, Ed. You're gonna squeeze the god damn life outta me."

The newcomer wasn't noticed, even if the hero had a view of her from here. Compactor was much too distracted by the arrogant spider hero clinging to her.

"It's not like you ever get hit by the bullets, anyway. Come on."

Worried about clinging to Compactor too hard and making the walls of New York City jealous, Virtue puts her down onto the rooftop and looks out over the area, putting his hands on his hips and smiling beneath the mask.

"I couldn't squeeze the life out of you if I wanted to. Well, probably not. I don't know. Maybe? You're too adorable to squeeze to death, anyway." Patting her on the head and walking to the nearby ledge, he looks out over it.

Kicking gently at the top of the ledge, he walks down it, balance utterly, inhumanly perfect. Turning back to her before pushing his hands out and falling backwards off the ledge, he shoots a web to a nearby building from his wrist and begins swinging on it.

The woman let out a sigh of relief when she was put down, hands moving to massage her poor ribs. They did ache a tiny bit. His strength really was insane. God damn spider. When that little comment about being 'adorable' came up, her mouth thinned to a line, head snapping around to glare daggers at him.

"I am not adorable."

She hissed, hands balling into fists as she glared at his retreating form. Compactor shook her head as he made his way to the next building, letting out an irritated sigh before moving to the building edge and stepping off it, the air practically catching her as she floated after him. What a day.

The two certainly knew each other, it seems, although it may be just because the guy was a little... touchy-feely? It was a bit hard to tell from here what with the general noise of the city and all. Signal wanted to know more, just in case they were liars. If she could get close enough, maybe she could even sweep their mind for any ulterior thoughts on the surface!

She steps a little closer, focusing her sight and seeing that the guy in the full-white bodysuit is... web-slinging! This somehow doesn't surprise Signal much but she can't pinpoint the exact reason for it. No matter. He doesn't seem to be a villain at all, so you can relax around him. 'And the lady...?' What about her?

Signal steps off of the building she's standing on as well, though instead of simply walking along the walls you decide to quietly one-up him by walking on air; you're still flying, of course, but Vegas tends to teach you to be flashy in everything you do. Old habits die hard. She casually "walks" towards the two, confident that they won't kill her or anything.

"Nnnggwha?" the girl rubs her eyes as she wakes and blearily takes in her surroundings. A heart monitor beeps, an IV drips, and other hospital sounds are made.

"My lady! You are awake!" a nurse enters the room and looks at the girl with awe.

"Haha what?" She replies, confused at being addressed so formally. "What's going on? Do I have brain damage, I can't remember anything...Where am I?"

The nurse looks nervous, as though she doesn't know where to start.

"I don't want to shock you. You are in New York City, in the hospital and... you are an angel of our lord."

"...Come again??"

"It's true! Every patient who has shared a room with you has made at least some sort of recovery, praise be to God!"

"...God? Ma'am I don't know anything about any god."

"Please just look at yourself, it's a miracle!"

Seraphim unhooks what medical devices she can from herself and carts her IV to the bathroom, shyly trying to hold the back of her hospital gown shut.

"We've kept your existence secret, my lady. We do not know if it is the will of God to-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" the girl interrupts the nurse with a scream.

Looking back at her from the mirror is a young woman with pure white hair, glowing white eyes, and WINGS! The feathers on the wings seem to flare up as she screams.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" she turns to the nurse, still freaking out.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" The nurse responds by freaking out as well.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" The angelic girl continues to scream as instinct takes over. She jumps out of the window, flaps her wings, and soars high into the sky.

Continuing to swing forward, he moves back slightly and loops around into a U-turn to meet her, beginning to speak to her as they go next to eachother.

"You are too adorable. I think so, at least. Isn't that the persona you're trying to give off?"

Swinging into a building and pressing himself against it-much to the dismay of some of the people who live inside of that building and to the delight of some of the ones under five, he begins to climb up, talking to her as he goes.

"Or would you rather be pretty? Hot? Nothing at all? C'mon, what compliments do you want me to give you so I don't get stuff thrown at me again, here?"

Grabbing onto the ledge and flipping himself over onto it, he now observes the new roof of the buil-this is exactly the same thing as the last one. Man, fuck New York City's samey rooftop design.

And then she hears it. It's barely noticeable, especially with all of the unique noises NYC has to offer, but there it is: the sound of glass breaking. Signal was so familiar with it, what with the shenanigans in Eagleopolis and all, that it was a familiar chime even in this noise. The most likely possibility was that either someone had been thrown out the window or they had jumped ('Why didn't they open it first, though?'). Wanting to investigate, and maybe even help out the police, Signal ditches the walking on air trick and flies off towards the sound of the noise... which became harder to track as she entered the denser parts of the city.

Her concentration is completely thrown off as a horrid stench fills her nose, causing her to lose her flying balance and force herself to "hold herself" with telekinesis.

It was one she... vaguely recognized and vaguely feared, but why?

Against all good intuition, Signal regained her focus and kept flying now not towards the sound, but the smell.

"Boss, how do we know that we can trust this guy, he just shows up outta nowheres and expects us to believe that he's a professional. What kind a malarky is dat?"

"Give the kid a break, johnny, I've seen dis kid in action out by da wharf, no press, no investigation, no nuttin', kid got off scott-free."

"I still wouldn't trust dis guy, boss, he might be one a dem undacover cops or sometin'."

"Are You doubtin' me Johnny? I could put da kid's first hit out on you if ya so desire.". Chuckled big pastrami, mob boss

I smiled, relishing the thought of all this. My first job as a human and I'm doing what I love, I can finally make a name for myself, AND I'm getting praised by the most wanted non-mutant man in the whole city. What an honor.

"So kid, even dough I saw what happened at de wharf, you need to prove dat you can murder consistently, we got a deal?

"I wouldn't have it any other way boss," I said, patting myself - mentally of course - on the back

"Good. Here's your first hit, we'll discuss pay later."

Grabbing the manilla envelope, I walked out knowing that A)I am now an accomplice and B)I couldn't be any happier.

Well, she couldn't argue with him there. She was trying to give off that persona of a small, helpless little girl. Except he wasn't one of the ones she was trying to trick, so it was a bit frustrating. The pressure hero merely gave the other a grunt of irritation in response, arms folded over her chest as she floated after him.

Upon arrival to the next building, she alighted, glancing around. Green eyes narrowed as she caught two things. One was the other woman walking-- no, flying, just a magic trick-- towards them. The other was a strange, large winged shape bursting from a window. Well. Honestly, the former got her attention first.

Compactor's mouth thinned to a line, eyes narrowed as she stepped closer to Virtue, nudging the other with her elbow before jerking her head towards the oncoming girl.

"We've got company."

Looking over at the rapidly approaching girl with screaming and wings first, Virtue decides that her...screaming meant that she could probably use more help. Jumping into the air and webbing up to a taller building, he flips back and begins moving after her.

"Hey, jaybird! Hold it a second!"

Moving over and back before attempting flip himself and move onto Seraphim's back without disrupting the flapping of her wings, he looks down into...well, the back of her head.

"So, uh. Nice night for flying, isn't it?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" The angelic girl does a flip and freaks out even more. Good thing spiders can hold on to stuff.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she continues with the aaaing and crashes into a figure floating in the air, sending them all tumbling towards a large building's roof.
She makes a horrible landing on a rooftop, getting a few cuts and scrapes that instantly heal. She turns her back to the wall, blushing furiously, only to discover that her hospital gown has become some sort of robe with glowing symbols on it.

"Who..who are you?" She asks, still blushing and scared.

Signal gets closer and closer to what's causing the smell. She sees the spider dude on her back ('How does she even stay up with all that weight?') and... suddenly gets a really good look at what's flying towards her. Snow white hair with matching eyes and wings...

...oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, they can't possibly exis—

It's at this precise moment of stalling that the girl who may or may not be some sort of angelic being crashes into Signal. For all of her skepticism involving mythic beings, she sure did easily accept the existence of vampires.

Signal would like to answer the winged girl's questions, but alas she's been KO'd.

A gentle tingling overcomes his head, and he realizes-oh god fucking damn it, something...sense, whatever; why didn't you tell him about this before? Unable to do much now that didn't involve clinging onto the winged girl, he holds onto her tight and begins screaming with her.

"Agh-fuck, what the fu-"

Falling with her as they go to the ground due to himself being...well, unable to fly outside of swinging along, he lands on the rooftop with her. Continuing to cling to her even as she stands up and turns around, he lays his chin on her neck and replies to the query as though nothing were out of order.

"Virtue! Hero. I'd say the greatest hero, but other people have to love you for you to be the greatest-and I don't care enough about what other people think for that. So, for right now, I'm just pretty amazing. How are you, Wingnut?"

Honestly, Compactor simply stared as all this went down. Wow. In a way, she wasn't surprised. That was something she'd expect from Virtue. Then, however, the angelic girl crashed into the fourth unknown party, sending them all tumbling onto a large roof.

The pressure hero let out a sigh as she once more walked off the edge of the building, floating over to the large rooftop which the other had landed on. She'd float up to the two, shaking her head.

"Jesus christ, Virtue. Don't need to give the poor girl a heart attack. Sorry about him."

The possible angel takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she seems to still be in a panic. "I don't know what's going on I can't remember anything and I have wings and my eyes glow and this nurse thinks I'm an angel and I don't even believe in god I don't think I can't remember!!"

"Jesus Christ? To an angel? Great form, Commie. D'aw; don't worry."

Patting her head gently with one hand while continuing to stay on her back with his other, he just shrugs.

"Don't panic. Everything is okay. You'll be fine. I'm on your back! You're...probably not an angel, I don't know. You have wings, but that's alright. Don't be sorry; I mean, I'm definitely not."

Compactor rolled her eyes at Virtue, mouth thinning more as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, you're the one still clinging to the poor girl's back. Give her some space. She doesn't need an egotistical spider man clinging to her."

With that, she'd focus on the poor angelic girl, frowning a bit as she moved forward.

"People are religious and superstitious. First off, you need to try and remember who you are and what happened to you. Do you remember your name?"