[b] Rainmaker's Team [/b] 

Blast Girl's move worked and Twister was yanked forward toward's the heroine's fist. The tentacled villain knew what came next and gritted his teeth as he was hit full in the face by Blast Girl's gauntlet. The villain was knocked back on his feet until his tentacle pulled him taut against Blast Girl and he was down for the count. Meanwhile, Locust continued to screech and slash at Gabriel with an animal blood lust. Suddenly Blast Girl felt a hand slip around her waist and an invisible pressure clench against her neck. A voice whispered to her, "You're getting me out of here Hero, otherwise they'll have to mop your blood off the floor after I open an artery." 

[b] Olympia's Team [/b] 

Olympia twisted to the side to dodge Volt's lightning bolt and arched her eyebrow at the hero but she followed Volt to the door and kicked it open. The pair ran up the stairs and found Bouncer slamming her body against a heavy door again and again, Shank groaning next to her while propped up against a wall. The previously cold and collected Bouncer now looked quite flustered as she struggled to ignore Sonja's mental message. She turned back to face the pair of heroes and Olympia raised her sword, "Stop right there Bouncer. There's no escape." 

Bouncer let her hands fall to the side and she seemed to lose all will to fight. She didn't say anything as she slowly raised her hands. Until suddenly her eyes widened and she screamed in pain and fell to the floor. Olympia rushed forward to her before she stopped short at the sight of Bouncer's eyes now glowing red. Bouncer spoke but in a voice that was distinctly male with a slight rasp. The voice even reached across to Sonja through her mental link and projected itself into her mind, "Heroes. You may have won this day with your new League of self-declared protectors. But you have not won the war. For make no mistake, you and all your self-righteous cohorts are at war. You are at war with us. The ones who will rid the world of your kind. All of our enemies will fall before our might. It is inevitable." 

Shank opened his eyes and they were the same deep shade of red as Bouncers. He stood and the two raised their hands at Olympia and Volt. Olympia slid in front of Volt with her shield raised as the villains fired twin beams of red energy at them. The beams struck the shield and Olympia gritted her teeth as she blocked them. The beams stopped and Olympia lowered her shield as Shank touched Bouncer's arm and the two popped out of the Bank, Olympia stowed her shield and said, "Well, you don't see that everyday." 

Olympia strode forward and started kicking in each door, her demigod strength opening each one. She found several hostages huddled in different rooms as Sonata radioed that they had found another group inside the vault. Olympia kicked in the last door and grimaced. She gestured at Volt and strode inside. Inside was one man who was barely alive. The remains of his formerly well-tailored suit had been burnt to a crisp along with much of his torso. The rest of his body was a ruin of cuts and bruises, obviously the work of Shank and Bouncer. On the wall behind him one word had been burned clearly into the wall. It read, Legion. 

Olympia stood next to the man and said, "I think I recognize him. Money man for the Outfit here in Chicago. Damn, let's get him out of here. Zenith is not going to like this." She touched her commlink and said over the line, "Let's get the rest of the villains wrapped up for the boys in blue and let's head back to the Hall. Pariah is going to have a field day." Olympia gently picked up the man and carried him out the door, her mind racing as the implications of what just occurred. 

[b] Pariah's victims [/b] 

The heroes all confirmed Strix's orders and they sprung into action. Redeye began firing her lasers to melt weapons or throw henchmen back with low-level bursts. Bullseye fired arrows with multiple special properties, some stunning with electricity, others exploding with concussive force, and one that exploded into a large ball of foam that covered the flamethrower and temporarily extinguished her flames. Ember, the pyrokinetic would overcome the fire-retardant foam in quick order but the heroes had a few moments to take advantage of her temporary weakness. 

Magnetar raised his hands and the steel villain was picked up off his feet, Magnetar flung him around and at the lightning controller. Several lightning strikes were absorbed into the man of steel which saved a few heroes from being shocked into unconsciousness though one hero had already been brought down by foam bullets and another by flung debris. Shocker planted his feet and suddenly Chrome stopped flying around the air, surrounded by a flickering sphere of electricity. Shocker's minor electromagnetic control began struggling against Magnetar's power. Suddenly the struggle ceased as Chrome reverted to organic flesh and he hit the ground. Shocker flung a bolt at Magnetar which he barely dodged and pinned the hero down, not allowing him to regain his concentration as Chrome turned back to steel and he locked eyes with Strix and started sprinting to Strix's position, intent on taking out the enemy leader. 

Bulwark, the man holding the hammer and Adamant the diamond woman worked their way into the main group and closed to hand-to-hand range, aiming to knock out their opposition. Rolling Girl had managed to stun Aquamarine with her assault and knocked down rows of henchmen but the hydrokinetic sent out a stream of water in front of the speedster with the intent of causing Rolling Girl to lose control and slam into the wall of a building. Morph advanced on Aquamarine and the hydrokinetic's water attacks only seemed to increase Morph's size but suddenly the blob's movement was stopped as Frost began freezing his body, and the amorphous hero had only moments before he was fully encased. Suddenly Plasmus fired a stream of blue energy at Frost. Frost erected an ice sphere around him but it was melted by Plasmus's attack. Plasmus fired another blast which knocked Frost to the ground. Morph slithered out of his icy trap and fired a blob of goo at Aquamarine which stuck her to a wall and nearly unable to move. Phantasm the invisible man was still unaccounted for. 

Apogee flew forward at Colossus and dodged a giant fist and punched him in the gut. The giant only staggered a little but it allowed Apogee a second to use her freeze-breath on Extrusion whose elastic form became more rigid as he struggled to reform himself. Colossus increased his size even more and lashed out catching Apogee in the back and eliciting a grunt of pain as the two began a titanic clash. They were equal in strength but Apogee was much faster and landed several hits on Colossus, who began to falter. Until Apogee's movement was arrested by the telekinetic Sentinel who held the struggling heroine in place as Colossus swung her into the ground with a massive fist. Colossus turned his attention back to guarding his position but he was obviously in pain. Apogee struggled to get out of a crater in the ground as Sentinel raised a car above her and was about to fling it downward into her. The attack was faltering and quick coordination between the heroes was needed.