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Family dinners had become something of a weekly event for the Finch family. They had started up after Axton had moved into the DCU dorms. Sporadic at best, they seemed fairly dependent on the mood of the elder son and whether or not he missed his family and his mother's home cooking enough to outweigh his desire for independence. Eventually that had evened out, and one night out of the week had been designated for family night, and only the most pressing of conflicting plans were accepted for absence.

Tonight had been much the same as any other. Axton had arrived early enough to play a few rounds of Call of Duty with his brother before dinner had been served. Dinner itself had been well made and of the quality reserved only for the sort of home cooking that devoted mothers managed to achieve.

It was afterwards that was different. A movie had come out that Ax knew Victor would want to see. The newest release in a spiderweb of intermingled series. There was a convenient show time at the closest theater, so Axton had offered to take him. The movie itself has been pretty good. There had been a lot of action, a lot of story driven conflict, and a lot of super heros.

Ax knew enough of the Marvel universe to follow along with what was happening. He'd seen the movies leading up to it, well, most of them. Victor, however, read the comics, he owned the dvds.

"So what'd you think?" He asked it as they were funneled out of the theater with the rest of the crowd. Separating only once they had reached the doors that spilled them out into the warm evening air.

"You think so?" Axton chuckled at his brother's enthusiasm, but not in a way that suggested he was mocking him. If the kid wanted to think he could grow up to be a super hero, it wasn't his place to disillusion him. Besides, there were people out there with powers and abilities outside the scope of mere human. Axton knew this fact intimately.

A hand shot out automatically as the planter Victor had jumped on started to collapse, ready to catch his kid brother, but the younger Finch had it handled. A little scrambling, and he was free of it, leaving dirty footprints on the sidewalk as they continued to walk down it. Apparently unphased by having just taken a tumble.

Too excited, Axton guessed.

"So are you team Captain, or team Iron man?" Caught up in his younger brother's excitement, the older failed to hear the soft, barely audible growling that echoed off the brick walls of an ally as they passed it.

He heard it now that he was listening for it. Axton slowed to a stop as well, smile slipping from her face as he turned his head to listen. That wasn't a stray or an cat, it was much to large. Youma.

Could it have had any worst timing?

Lips set in a hard line, the older Finch lay a hand on Victor's shoulder to get him moving again. "Yes, let's get home quick." Maybe it hadn't heard them, and they could just slip around a corner unseen and it'd never notice they were there.

It wasn't a bad plan, really, but it also didn't work. There was another growl, louder this time, and the sound of claws on the pavement as the youma cleared the alley and turned towards them. Ax looked back, once, and that seemed to be enough to prompt the thing to attack. It charged them, snarling loudly, and Axton really didn't have any choice now.

He wrapped his arm around Victor's waist, scooping his brother up, and called his magic around him. Baikal jumped, bringing the both of them to a low hanging balcony, and then once again to get them to the roof.

"Not the time, Victor!" It came out sharp, commanding. Baikal falling easily into the authoritative role of big brother as the younger protested having been picked up.

Then Victor was scrambling out of his arms, pointing an accusing finger at him, and shouting about super heros. It earned him a puzzled blink, a blank look, and the flick pale eyes towards the pursuing youma before snapping back at his little brother shouted and...changed as well.

Into the little scarecrow senshi that had helped him out last winter.

Irony.

"Hey, I didn't exactly chose this, so don't get all indignant on me. This is so not the time or place." His little brother. Was a senshi. God damnit. Not enough time to process that either.

"We've got bigger things to worry about." A claw appeared above the edge of the roof, talons digging into the concrete as muscles rippled and the rest of the youma came into view as it hauled itself up.

It might be comforting for the younger Finch to know that he'd been a hero longer than his big brother, but that was a conversation for later, when they weren't being stalked by a big a** monster with claws like ******** knives.

"Heros," he mused, staring a bit wide eyed up at the youma. "Yeah." He didn't feel like a hero, never really did. He was too conflicted in his views, two grey. Youma, at least, were easier. There was no moral dilemma here, no wondering if what he was doing was good, bad, or didn't matter. Youma were straight forward. Kill it, before it killed you, or anyone else.

"What's your magic, again?" Maybe the Chibi had an ace in the hole. The page sure as hell didn't. He had a snowball.

But that didn't stop him from going on the offensive. He wanted to catch the youma before it had a chance to get it's bearings on the roof, when it was still trying to drag itself up completely. Wary of the arms, keen to keep out of immediate range, he throw a heavy kick at the side of the youma's head.

In hindsight, he should have waited for an answer before jumping into action, but how was he to know his little brother's magic revolved around spreading fear?

The majority of the attack hit the youma in the face, causing it to reel back with a high, panicked scram, but a small part hit a different target, too close at this point to avoid it.

He felt it tingle across the skin of his face, and a split second later, a wave of fear strong enough to make him freeze in his tracks, eyes going much too wide and hands closing into tight fists at his side. "Jesus Christ." It came out a horse whisper.

"Cygnus, what the hell?" It was taking everything he had not to just run screaming across the roof tops, but the presence of the chibi kept him rooted. Too scared to act, but too naturally protective to simply flee, even as the youma let out another awful howl, flailing clawed limbs inches from where the page stood.

At the very least, it wasn't a long lasting attack. The fear spike lessened, then faded completely. Just in time for Baikal to realize his little brother was charging in to the rescue. "Cygnus, no!" And then being knocked backward by a powerful swipe to the abdomen that sent the little scarecrow chibi sprawling.

That was enough to wipe away the last of the fear, and the page summoned a snowball, throwing it as hard as he could at the youma's face and eyes as he sprinted back to scoop up his brother, pulling him back and away from the youma as his howled in fury and started to claw it's way all the way up onto the roof, chasing them.

"You alright?" It was shouted down at his kid brother as he ran, but his attention was directed over his shoulder. He needed his hands free to fight, but he wasn't going to put Cygnus down until he was sure he was alright.

Continuing running indefinitely really wasn't a viable option.

The initial shock and fear for his younger brother ebbed slightly as the smaller finch answered the question, and Baikal gave him a subtle squeeze of a hug before tearing around an industrial air conditioning unit and sprinting down the length of the roof. He wanted to keep obstacles in the way, anything hat would slow the youma, but not hinder his own speed.

When he reached the edge he slid to a halt, setting Cygnus down beside him. "We'll go home real soon, buddy. Just hold on." He hoped, at least. This youma was bigger than the others he'd had to face, quicker. More of a challenge, and more dangerous.

He summoned his weapon again, fingers tightening around the snowball to compress it tighter, make it harder, so when he threw it this time it didn't just explode against the pursuing beast, but smashed into the things face with force enough to make it stagger before howling in rage.

Taking advantage, the page rushed forward again, closing the gap between himself and the youma before it had the chance to recover, so when it lowered it's head, the blonde was there, arm cocked back, so he could throw a closed fist in a strong uppercut against the base of beast's jaws.