"Ha, a race? Why not?" She puts her camera away, and affixes her goggles in place. "Why not indeed? Say when, then."

"Uh? What?" Danielle looks at Nova, surprised. "Uh..."

Don't tell her about the three-foot divot you left in the field when you 'tried' to 'land.' She'll think you're a total dork.

"I - sure, yeah, if you, you know... want to."

Nova adjusted her position slightly, enjoying the tactile feedback she got from the several places were she and Danielle were pressed together. She smiled slowly in a manner calculated to inspire confidence.

"I want to," she purred.

Aušrine smiles and waves as Ryusei brings Dr. Richardson floating up to join them and says, "welcome back". Then she turns and acknowledges Alexis as she floats towards them. At the suggestion of a race she looks a little excited and answers, "yes! I think that's a fantastic idea, and I would love to join you."

After she finishes speaking, Aušrine looks down at her outfit for a moment and it rapidly warps and shift itself into a sleek, form-fitting outfit. It is actually the same outfit that she wore as a member of T2M, except that there is no logo, and the colors ared different. Where the T2M outfit was blue it is instead a rich, ruby red, and where the outfit was white it is instead a sparkling iridescent material that gleams in the sun like fish scales, and where the outfit would have had gold trimming it is instead a soft violet in color. Actually, for those who follow such things, it is recognizably the outfit that she's worn whenever she's been filmed during one of her missions as a DeVries elite.

"There", she says, looking back up, "that's better. Much more suitable attire for a race through the sky.

"So", she says, looking around at the others, "when do we start?"

((OOC: for those who don't know, there is a picture of Aušrine in her T2M uniform in her profile. Just switch the colors out in your head with those described, and there you go.))

Ryusei looks to Roxanne and the others. "I believe we'll sit this one out. I've never flown at full speed carrying anyone. We can be the officials though, I have a trick or two that will facilitate that."

Kazuo feels a momentary flash of annoyance when Jael pulls back and starts talking about how she's not "legal", as if he gave a shit or something. He worries about issues of legality about as often as a shaheed worries about health benefits, which is to say, not often. Even if it did become an issue, the DeVries lawyers would handle it, no problems (or so he hopes).
When she looks over at the others hovering nearby and mentions the potential of someone "not liking" him and getting him into trouble, he wants to laugh. First off, it's better for someone like him to wonder if anyone in a given group does like him, because it's a fair bet that most of them don't, and second, any enemy stupid enough to go after Kazuo Kanai with nothing more than a charge that he got intimate with someone below the age of consent is clearly not the kind of enemy he needs to be concerned about. Tactically speaking, that's just a dumb-ass maneuver all around because: it won't discredit him (his reputation is nowhere near the level of wholesome needed for something like that to even so much as smudge it, let alone muddy it); it won't hurt his career (like DeVries would give a rat's ass, at worst they'd schedule a psych eval and then send him back out into the field); it won't even come close to sending him to prison (Kazuo is a warper. A warper who lives in Japan. With close personal ties to the Nakato Gumi. And Devries National Tactical Solutions. They'd be trying to arrest a guy who can be anywhere he wants to be instantly, and who has one of the three largest criminal syndicates on the planet, a major international coorporation, and a First World Power all of whom would take his side - albeit quietly, in the case of Japan and the Nakato - in a situation like that). So yeah, the legality of this situation isn't real high on Kazuo's priority list.

When Jael comes to her second point Kazuo has to smile. He wants a "clinging emotional attachment" about as much as Superman wants a kryptonite enema - less even, if that's possible. And as for the rest of what Jael has to say, that only makes Kazuo's smile broader and more eager.

When she's finished, Kazuo seems to consider for a moment, and then he says, "I have no problems with that. Any of it." He gets another look of consideration on his face and then pulls out his cellphone. He punches a button, puts it to his ear, and then starts talking rapid fire in Japanese at someone at the other end, glancing once at his watch while he speaks. He finishes in about a half a minute or so, and then he hangs up. Turning back to Jael, Kazuo just looks at her for a moment with a gleam in his eye that, under other circumstances, might be considered dangerous, and then he says simply, "c'mon." Then he starts moving towards one of his warp doors that's just opened in the air nearby.

Jael watched him start this thing, whatever it might turn out to be, with a phone call. She listened to the stream of Japanese words that were coming out of his mouth, but she didn't understand a word. I wish there were a nova power, like Tower of Babel, or something. Something that'd let you understand any language. That was a defiecency in her training, she knew; she lived in Arizona, but only spoke enough Spanish to get a "C" in the class. Frankly, she hated other languages, because they were hard to learn, often used only to communicating boring things even when you did know them and until now, hadn't mattered to her at all. Now she found that maybe it wouldn't be so hard, if she applied herself, that what Kazuo was saying probably wasn't boring in the least, and it did apply to her.

When he glanced back at her after his phone call, Jael lifted her chin and looked him in the eye, evidencing an abnormal lack of fear. Most seventeen-year-old girls who had found themselves faced with that gleam would have been terrified and rightly so. This wasn't some frat kid, or even a married man who liked them young; this was an Elite, which probably meant he was a killer, probably had killed more than once. So anyone checking her emotions would have found eager anticipation, but no fear.

Putting herself literally in the hands of a killer didn't scare her. The worst that he could do was kill her. And despite her earlier speech to Kazuo about not being suicidal, a part of her was convinced that death was the only way to escape Sakolove. He'd always been controlling, but lately, it had been getting worse, and that was just from what she did remember. There was so much more going on, that she only remotely had a clue of, that was far worse. She knew he'd be upset about this, but she didn't care. At this moment, she was free of his leash - she thought - and she was going to go with Kazuo and hopefully get fucked to within an inch of her life.

So when Kazuo entered the open warp gate, Jael was two steps behind him. She didn't look back at the assembled novas high above them; she didn't think about the stuff she was leaving behind at the site. She walked forward into that swirling gate, and into whatever Kazuo had planned.

Continued in Pecaminoso

Alexis nodded to Ryusei. "The best way to do this," she stated with authority, "is to line up and then let Ryusei call it." She thinks back to the map of Cleveland she saw on her way here. "Let's use interstates; they're easy to see and follow. I think that we should cut south over the downtown, then head south on 90, east on 480, turn north at 271 and come back west at the lake. The park will be the start and the finish. That's the long route. The shorter would be to come back north on 77 and make an oval instead of a rough square. It depends on how long we want to race." She glanced at Knockout and Flicker. "Is that about right, Flicker? Would you suggest those routes?"

[OOC: I think that everyone has agreed or declined the race, so I'm starting it. If I missed you, I'm sorry, but I'm not able to "see" you like Alexis can (unless you're invisible or something weird). So, if I missed you, you can state your intent to race later and join us. ]

"As good as any," Nova mused, feeling strangely out of her depth. "I'm not really up on this flying thing, so I hadn't scouted out any routes by air."

Ryusei nods. "Ok everyone line up and let's get this race started." As those participating in the race line up he shrugs. "Is this everyone?"

After waiting a few moments to be sure he raises his hands. "Ready!!!! Set!!!! GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" He brings his right hand down to signal the start of the race and almost seems to lean back afterwards, as if he were relaxing.

He looks to Roxanne. "Now we sit back and enjoy the race."

Alexis was caught flat-footed by Ryusei's start, staring as she was at the closing warp, lost in thought. In theory, she didn't have any problem with what was going on; if anything, she was glad she didn't have to see it any longer. But she recalled that Jael was in high school, and Kazuo was considerably older than that. She was worried, remembering when she had been preyed upon by an older man.

It never occurred to her that Jael might be the aggressor.

Ryusei's shout jarred her back to reality, and Alexis shot into motion. Her slow start put her about half-a-second behind everyone else, and at these speeds, that was a considerable amount of ground to cover. Gritting her teeth, she started to pour on the speed.

Miranda's wings begin to beat furiously, like a hummingbird's, as she propels herself forward, arms flat at her side and her face screwed up in concentration.

Knockout drifts up to the 'starting line' with Flicker in tow. Okay. I am gonna impress this girl. This... girl who is... getting... grabby... no no, no. Focus on the race. Be cool. Don't be a dork. Be awesome.

Ryusei shouts "GO!" and Knockout pours on the speed.

Like Alexis, Daniel was a little preoccupied by the sight of Jael and the elite disappearing into a warp. He recovered as quick as he could and put all thoughts of Jael aside for a more immediate concern. Despite the bad start he made up a little time quickly as he poured all his effort into catching up with the leaders. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to win this race, but it looked like there were others who were at about the same speed range as he was. He would at least make a good showing.

After a minute he decided this was a lot of fun. When he thought of all the people that would see these crazy novas flying around the city and what they would say on the news, he had to laugh out loud.

Alexis shot through the air, and slowly, the edge of competition faded into a fierce joy in the flight itself. She was pushing herself because she could, not because she had to win. Far from it actually.

She heard someone laughing, a whisper of noise barely caught over the wind. She glanced to her side and saw Daniel laughing. It was infectious; soon Alexis was giggling too as she cut through the Cleveland sky.

"Oh awesome," Nova thrilled. The wind caught her hair and whipped it around in her face, but she hardly minded. She was seeing her home town from a new and exciting perspective. The grid of streets made a new kind of sense to her, seen from above, and she adjusted her mental map as she saw the city from above.

"This is so cool!" Nova exclaimed to Danielle excitedly, giving her yet another firm squeeze. "You get to do this all the time! I'm so jealous!"

Praxis wasn't going to win, he knew he wasn't going to win. Underneath all the shininess and whatnot was actually a very small reserve of quantum power. He smiled a bit as he remembered the line 'It's not the size that counts it's how you use it'. Damn straight.

Praxis flew forward as fast as he could(which still wasn't all that fast) but at the same time he wasn't going to stress over it. It was a bunch of novas flying around. Wooo. That's excitement. Instead he simply made himself look as good as he could while he was doing it. Rolling, wrapping himself up in his wings ever briefly before unfurling them again. Flying up and over rather than on any real track, he rose up to a vantage point where he could see the majority of the participants and could be seen by the same.

One advantage of this view is that he had a direct line of sight to Alexis, Ausrine, and "Danielle"--who, while still a guy in a woman suit, was in a very attractive woman suit.

As he flew, he had an idea. Landing on the rooftop of one of the buildings, he hit the deck and started sprinting, his wings dissipating. He was faster on foot than he was in the air. And regardless of that, it allowed him to be the showman that he was born to be.

Leaping from building to building, interspersing leaps and sprints with twists, leaping to heights and performing flips that any natural gymnast would judge to be impossible. All with a wide smile on his face. As he caught up to the pack(well, most of it, he made what normally would have been a suicidal leap of faith, his quantum enhanced legs launching him into the air in a majestic swan dive towards the street.

Just as he was about to pass directly behind Alexis(as he was coming from above, and while he couldn't catch her in flight, he could easily keep up on foot) His wings exploded from his back in a brilliant show of white feathers.

"Sorry I'm late, did I miss anything?" Praxis's smile was wide and his mind was focused more on being the gallant that he truly was than actually winning anything.


((OOC: Q1, Flight 1, Dex 3, Mega-Dex 1 for the flying bit...
Athletics 5, Physical Prodigy, Str 5(MStr 1), Dex 3(M-Dex 1), Stam 5, Perform 5 () for the running on rooftops Parkour style...))

Daniel caught movement out of the corner of his eye and looked over just in time to see Praxis leap off the roof of a skyscrapper they were passing and explode into his winged self right next to Alexis. Damned show off. He couldn't help but admiring the show though. No wonder he was such a great performer. Someday he'd be just as good, but for now the race was the thing, and he was having too much fun to dwell on other mans antics. Seeing his chance for a little fun of his own he dove to the left rolling sideways in the air to half fall and half fly between Alexis and Praxis to end up below them facing up so that the three of them were flying facing each other. He grinned up at them and waved. He was just a little freaked by flying facing up at the sky not knowing where the ground was but they were high enough that he wasn't going to run into anything. Besides as long as he stayed the same distance away from them he wasn't getting any closer to the ground. He was just starting to feel pretty smug about his own stunt when the two flying above him suddenly jogged to the left and away from him at an angle. He frowned for a second and then rolled over in the air to see that he was no longer over the road that they were supposed to follow. It had curved off to the left on him and now he was off track and heading for a building. Cursing he corrected course just missing the corner of the building but getting a good look at some guy in a business suit spilling his coffee as he stared open mouthed a the kid flying past the window. Heh, it was worth it just to see that guys expression. Of course now he was behind again and had to catch up, but he was having fun and that counted for more than winning, at least it did here and now.

She would never admit it later, but she thought for a moment that she was dealing with yet another mentally unstable nova, and that he maybe wasn't going to open his wings. She was going to catch him.

Then she realized he was just showing off. Typical male, she thought in a huff. "Not exactly the way you're supposed to do that, Praxis," she pointed out, "though very well done. I suppose you get a nod for effort."

Daniel pulled his maneuver, and Alexis waved in reply to him, laughing again. She was having fun, but not so much that her competitive nature didn't surface, keeping her from notifying him of the turn. The smile grew bigger when she saw him go off course, though she did watch to make sure he wasn't going to be in danger.

And that left Praxis in their personal three-way race. With little to no effort on her part, Alexis began to pull away again. She did fly faster than he did.

As she flew away, he laughed a bit and nodded. "Guess the whole running thing's kinda against the spirit of the thing, isn't it. Ok then, no touching the ground it is."

No touching the ground in Praxis's mind in no way, shape, or form meant no using fixed structures to propel him. Reaching out for anything and everything he could get his hands on. Street lights, flagpoles, the sides of buildings, even the occasional power line (which, as a point of note, only bites you if you complete a circuit. hence the reason birds can just stand there) and launched himself forward with increasing speeds like something out of an anime clip, his wings were for the most part folded behind him, as he was still using flight to keep from losing too much altitude.

As he took the lead for a few seconds around a corner(physics were fun. Why turn when the laws of nature will turn for you?), he flew backwards, smiling at the two behind him, nudging up Alexis's happiness as soon as she came within line of sight. "Better?"

((OOC: If it means anything, M-Str Lifter . Creative use of power is fun. Instead of pushing up, he's pulling down. ))

"Yeah - I do have to admit it's pretty cool. In N.O. sometimes I'd just log on and fly ar-UHK!"

Danielle drifts to a halt, coughing. "Puh! *koh* Guh!" She spits out something that looks like a bumblebee. "Ugh. Sorry. Puh. Bee in my throat." Her eyes water slightly, on reflex.

Get the brand out. Stick 'dork' on my head in 20 point type. I am one. Jesus. I'm the only one who gets a bug in my throat.

Taken by the absurdity of her situation, Nova began to laugh hysterically, forgetting that she was high in the air for a moment as she and Danielle slowed to a hover.

"Ah-hahahahahahaha!" she laughed, trying not to slip from Danielle's grasp. Try as she could, she could not stop, and after a tremendous effort to calm herself she still continued to giggle but in a more subdued manner.

"Oh, Danielle," she gasped, wiping a tear from her eye and grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. "That's awesome. (Hee!) Are you okay?"

Danielle holds the giggling, slightly vibrating form of Nova aloft, feeling embarrassed and awkward. "Yeah, I'm all right. Ugh." She rubs her throat a bit. "Sorry, I've never flown when the bugs were out. How about you, are you okay? Any bugs hit you?"

As if summoned by some magic word of power, the twin scars on Nova's breastbone where she'd been shot twice began to itch. Nova resisted the urge to scratch at them, and squirmed instead.

"No, no bugs," Nova said quickly. "I don't think it'd hurt me even they had-- but it would be messy, eh?" Nova looked around at the rapidly receding pack of flying novas.

"Maybe we ought to get back in the race?"

"Oh! Race! Yeah. Hold on." Danielle adjusts her grip on Nova, and rejoins the race, zipping off.

Did I make her uncomfortable? She squirmed a bit. Am I holding her right? Just calm down, I'm sure she'll tell me if I'm doing this wrong.

She holds one arm out in front of her, to help the wind blow a bit more smoothly over their bodies.

"Yes," she said honestly, trying to figure out when was the last time she felt this content. But because she couldn't stay happy long, her mind questioned her joy. And uncharactistically, she thought, Just let it go, Lexy, just this once.

It wasn't easy; she wasn't very good at letting herself be happy.

"It is better, but let me show you how to do it," she said as her eufiber rippled into a tight-fitting, aerodynamic suit. Grinning, she reached into herself and asked for more power than she had been granted. Her blood began to boil, but it didn't hurt; her mind felt as it if were pricked by the claw of a beneficent god.

She began to draw away, and one could almost see the radient glow of the gift bestowed upon her.

As Alexis began to pull away, Praxis laughed out loud. "That's it!" He paused, his wings straight downward, bracing himself against the side of a building. "That's how it's done! Phenomenal! Cut loose!" Praxis's eyes lit up and any who were paying attention could see a change in his emotions as he actually started trying. Launching himself forward as hard as he could, he poured on the speed. Passing up performance ability for streamlined efficiency with a singular exception. As he caught up with Alexis, he launched himself forward in a slightly slower but safer arc. He saluted her (looked rather interesting coming from a winged man who was sideways) in passing and remarked "Love the suit"

((Might 5 Athletics 5 Str 5 Mega Str 1 for the leap))

The problem with letting go, is that sometimes, it's hard to return to the old way of doing things, to remember that some things are good and some bad. That was Alexis right now, and for a moment, she was giddy with freedom and Praxis' influence. She also was in full competative mode; she wanted to beat Praxis and Daniel, even if she couldn't beat anyone else. And the heat of her quantum boosted gift was burning hot in her, like a fiery sun.

So she darted toward Praxis, turning at the last minute so that she pushed him with her thinly covered feet, shortening his jumping arc by several hundred feet. Then, grinning, she returned to the race, continuing that roaring push in her node.

If it weren't for the fact that he was still using his flight, even if only to maintain altitude, that little brush of feet could have been very bad for the people below him. As it stood, it slowed him down considerably anyway. On the plus side, it provided him a perfect opportunity.

"Ah, you need a boost. Well why didn't you just say so?"

Twisting in air, he placed his hands directly on the soles of her lightly covered feet and, channeling some of his quantum reserves into his arms, launched her forward much like a flying winged ballista. This effort killed his forward momentum entirely, but he did get to see Alexis rocket forward, at least briefly holding speeds faster than most novas would ever travel.

After that little stunt, it would take him a little bit to get his speed going again, and he would be visibly working to do so, but it was just a matter of time before he was just right behind her again.

((OOC note: Spent 3 quantum into lifter and basically --unless there are objections-- threw Alexis forward. Effective lifting strength is 8,000 kg, so how far he can throw Alexis and how fast is pretty much up in the air as "very"))

Her node was still on fire, and it seemed to translate to everything. Her eyes began to burn from the wind friction, and without hesitation, Alexis erected her protective shield. It flared to life like an aurora borealis, color after color shimmering around her.

The next turn came fast, too fast, but she burned around it, cutting the power to her propulsion before twisting in midair and throwing herself back into motion, allowing her shield to eat most of the stresses of the motion. As it was, she saw stars for a moment, gulping for air. Then she was flying forward again, sliding through the air.

She was going too fast to stop now, though.

Alexis shot into the lead like a prismatic comet, unreal and glorious. Brow furrowed in concentration, she focused on holding that lead, on keeping it for the final stretch.

Daniel had thought he was out of the race. He was still new to flying afterall and didn't have much hope of besting the others, but then Alexis caused Praxis to lose speed and Daniel caught up some, then Praxis pulled his stunt and she was sent hurtling ahead beyond hope of catching, but physics being what they were Praxis was brought to a stand still. and Daniel didn't even bother to look as he went s