A/N: Hello all, I divided my chapters in half and reposted them. I will keep this note for a month before removing it.

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-Winfield House, 11:50 pm-

Her eyes shot open as she sat up from her queen-sized royal oak bed at hearing something tap against the glass. She turned over and saw an interesting sight. An owl tapping against the window. Something she found strange and eerie.

"Interesting." Tanya got out of bed, grabbing a tennis racket while approaching the window. "Strange."

The owl stopped when it spotted her advancing. Standing in front of the closed window, with a racket and not taking her eyes off the bird. She was no fool. What kind of owl pecks on a window? Then, it did something that put her on edge. It spoke.

"Hello, darling."

She jumped back as it spoke and thought she saw it smirking.

"Wha?"

"Oh! I don't believe we met personally. You know me? Mistress M."

Her eyes widened, prompting her to transform. She immediately opened the window and grabbed the bird.

"The harlot witch infecting fowls?"

"Sweetie, I am not here. I'm using this owl to talk."

"And why should I be wasting time speaking to a woman with no shame."

"I saw you all as I was venturing. I saw how the girl made you feel. I sensed a bit of rage in you, girl, and in her."

The ice woman's eyes widened. "No... I won't join you."

"Unfortunately, I cannot control you due to you being a Radiant. Not as I am now. If I had the artifact, I could at least try and bend all of you to me."

The Radiant of Ice narrowed her eyes. "You control me? Why are we talking? You used that man to attack my father, then let's not forget the other deviant ploys you concocted."

"Just some past events... I am really, really curious if you want to join me?"

"Never." Tanya gazed at her with disdain. "I will never court your desires."

"Ohh... if only I had woken during your period of emotional despair. Too bad. The others may have something too... once I get the artifact. You, your friends, Earth, and Galvania will bend to me."

"No, we won't. Where are you? Who or what are you going to infect?"

"Little child, too many things give rise to rage. I do love it when people get angry at fiction, music, politics, a little game of passing the ball, anything. So many choices. Just getting mad at things and basing their life on it. OH! Such delight. Bye!"

Frost grimaced when the owl went limp for a moment before it woke up and tried to peck her. She let it go as it screeched at her, then flew away. Frost reverted to her normal self and collapsed to her knees.

"I will never bend to you." Tears started forming. "Daddy." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Okay, I can't go to him." She took a deep breath and turned to the closet. "Should I wait till morning?" She shook her head and stood up. "Who am I kidding? I have not gotten over it. In a few hours, I will tell them."

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-Sunday, July 10, 9 am. The Hub. The Meeting Room-

The six Radiant were in the Meeting Room. After talking with Pilot, they asked if they could use the room to talk. He allowed it. They entered the room and sat. They remained silent for a moment before Jake spoke up.

"Pilot believes she is flexing, but won't come after us until she gets what she wants."

"And now she wants to control us." grimaced the light warrior.

The wind warrior frowned. "There is no way Crazy Eyes is going to force me to join her, and if she does use some junk to control me. I will fight."

"Ditto." The lightning teen responded. "We need to be super hard-headed, super stubborn, and load up on a whole bunch of willpower points."

"Anything else other than using some owl?" Fire asked Ice.

"No, nothing else." She grimaced. "Just brought up baggage." She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't say sorry when it is not your fault." Christina frowned at her. "Whatever that pompous jackass did to you. You can't let her affect you anymore. 'Let no person break you.' You told us that line the first time."

"Yes."

The long-haired brunette smiled at her. "It may be hard for you to talk, but not one of us will think less of you." She sighed. "Want me to tell you something? Christina and Ryu know it, and I will not compare it to how bad your situation was."

"What exactly happened?" The braided girl asked.

"A guy named Robert was upset at me for not becoming his girlfriend." She sighed. "Then a guy named Derek asked me out." She closed her eyes. "Around that time, things started changing. Our friend Lily distanced herself from us just to be popular. She got it, being Marissa's underdog. I quit cheerleader due to Marissa and Lily constantly bullying me. Then Robert... made Derek break up with me. Then... there was a rumor spread about me being easy."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Jackass." growled the spiky-haired raven. "Was he mad you were not on his conquest list?"

"So they made that kind of play." growled the wind user. "All because some idiot had his pride broken?"

"Robert is high on himself." The redhead spoke up. "Super jock with little brain.

"But." Christina spoke up. "There were other things that went on."

"Like?"

Amy sighed. "Lily, Marissa, their friends. They wanted me to leave cheerleading... so along with the rumor they..." She closed her eyes. "They cut up my clothes and poured red paint on me. I thought it was blood at first, yet the impact it made on me left them satisfied."

"Robert." The water warrior scoffed. "A lot of them adored him like he was a king. Rejecting him was like some kind of blight that made her a target. Like it was her fault, they dumped paint on her."

The fire warrior narrowed his eyes. "That's stupid. What is so great about him that made these girls turn on you? Just because he can't have you means you have to pay for it?"

"She would not agree to go with him because she has a brain." The lightning warrior said.

"Still, it's just stupid." sighed Jake.

Amy smiled at him for a moment before frowning. "Robert did confront me later and basically mocked me." Amy sighed. "There were more events, but they were not centered on me specifically."

"So, there is more?" Sam grumbled. "You had more than one person cut ties?"

"Well..." Ryu scratched his head. "A guy named Kai flat-out walked away. Lance, Jamie, and I had a fight that would have put us on the verge of breaking the friendship before we found out there was foul play."

"Diana and I had a falling out." Christina lowered her head in shame. "Right before she moved, we got into a fight about Kai and other dumb things. We said... personal things." She whimpered. "I got hotheaded."

Amy smiled sadly. "That's what happened to us."

The ice warrior nodded. Hearing what happened gave her a little more understanding of how cruel people could be and why Mistress M could have used her and the others if they let rage consume them. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"The thing is." she twirled her hair. "I used to hang out with Rita and developed into a mean girl, as Ryu put it."

"Ah." The electric man nodded with understanding. "You were part of the clique."

"Yes... I wanted to be popular. I wanted to be the kind of person people look at and go ooh!" She sighed. "I acted like how they acted, betrayed friends of mine for that p-popularity." She started stuttering. "Even after my fallout with Rita, my old friends won't talk to me. I burnt those bridges for some frivolous attempt to have a higher level of social standing. At the time, my father was a partner at the firm for five years. Someone convinced me I was better than the others because my father was more important. It made me more obnoxious. Thinking back to how I acted during that time scares me."

"You aren't that cruel now." The water warrior pointed out. "Though, you still have that attitude and pride now."

"Some things are harder to drop. Now, I have to love myself. I have to believe in myself." She stared at the group. "It took me months to try and find myself after... what they did. What I experienced."

"What did they do?" Jake leaned forward.

She closed her eyes. "I was asked out by a boy Rita had a crush on. At that time, I did not know and accepted the date. A week later, there was a party I went to at a friend's mansion. My... friends." She stressed the word as she rubbed her arm. "And I, we went to a different room to have fun. That's when Rita slapped me. She yelled at me for stealing the boy she liked. I did not know she liked him. I didn't." She spoke in a high-pitched voice. "I wanted to s-spend time with t-them, have fun."

"Tanya." Amy muttered.

"They held me down while Rita yelled and beat me. She slapped and punched me while whining about me stealing that boy. She had this crazed look in her eye like no one should have what she wants. The others followed her either were afraid of her or were a little like her. Then they cut my hair and my clothes then dumped water on me. They recorded the ordeal and even had the nerve to tell me how worthless I was, even threatening to get my father disbarred if I ever told people. I ran and tripped down the stairs, where everyone saw me. They didn't help, they laughed." She covered her face. "I ran out of the house and never told daddy who did it."

"That is more hardcore." scowled the spiky red-haired teen. "You did not deserve that."

The junior boxer clenched the bridge of his nose. "They assaulted you, and you could not fight back. If they say, 'It's a prank bro' then it's not. Those crazy girls intentionally did that to you."

Christina was steamed. "And your father is an attorney. Did you talk to him?"

"Wait..." Jake spoke, equally as angry. "You ran out of the house? That's when you called home?"

The ice warrior grimaced. "They broke my phone. I ran until I came across a gas station where I called father."

"But why did you not tell your dad?" Christina glared.

"How would she get him disbarred? Her family has no authority like that right?" questioned Amy.

"I got scared alright." Tanya stood up. "Rita's mother is a VP of a cosmetic company. Rita threatened to get her mother to disbar him or share rumors about his name to the point I got scared he would lose his job or his potential to be on the Supreme Court."

"But..." The water warrior groaned. "But that won't happen."

"Too many conspiracies, Christina." The electric boy mumbled. "Tell someone what they want to hear, and it is game over."

"They assaulted her." The water warrior angrily reminded. "Damn the conspiracies."

Amy walked toward the ice warrior and then hugged her, an action that surprised Tanya as she took in the hug.

"Christina, whether or not she reports the crime, she is still hurting. There is still time if you want that."

"I..."

"People just do these things." The fire warrior rubbed the back of his head. "For reasons that seem like they don't make any sense. Spreading rumors, lies, just making people feel like they are nothing."

"Um... I remember Pilot saying there is a video." spoke the redhead

The spike raven grimaced, then side. "Take out your phones."

-one moment later-

"Normally, I would laugh at something like this," The redhead looked unamused. "But the emotional manipulation of this level is where I draw the line."

"So..." Christina turned away to look at the fire warrior. "It was a breakup video."

"It's mean-spirited." scowled Amy. "They did that to you just to get a laugh."

"A mean-spirited breakup video." The water warrior spoke up again. "You come into frame where the girl tells you she is breaking up with you."

"The harlot made it seem like it was his fault." The ice warrior grimaced. "Boorish wench and your arrogant ex-companion."

"Basically." snorted the wind user. "They taunted you as your heart was crushed, finished by pushing you into the trashcan and rolling you down that hill."

"At least it wasn't a long hill." Amy said with sympathy.

"It still hurts." Jake sighed. "Worse is that some people think it was staged."

"At times, you ignore those punks online." Sam crossed his arms. "They don't know. They think they know, but they don't. I was forced into a fight over the stupidest thing."

"Did you win?" Ryu asked.

"His 4 on my 2." He shook his head. "We ran. He thought I was talking about him behind his back when it was someone else." He stared at the video. "The world sucks, maybe that's why we got our powers. To not be idiots like them."

"Be responsible with great power." The light user nodded.

"We can't force the world to change." the water warrior nodded. "We just have to keep the supernatural chaos at bay."

"Gang." spoke the red warrior. "Mistress M wants to use us. If she gets the rage artifact, we have to resist."

"Right."

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-Evening-

Mistress M opened her eyes and hovered above a few buildings. She held out her hand as two purple coins hovered in her hand and flew toward the city below. One entered a comic store, and the other flew around until it entered an abandoned warehouse. She smiled deviously.

"Let's see how much I can get from this?"