Rift Hound - Maroni's Restaurant

Everything seemed to happen in an instant, but Joshua saw his opportunity the moment the guards looked away from him. There was no way to get the rest of the hostages out in time, but he could still take out the gunmen and maybe survive this. Quickly retrieving his physical form, Joshua closed his Pocket and opened a portal in the ceiling above him, a massive circle that loomed over him and as many of the gunmen and hostage-takers as possible, stopping short of trapping the two League members or any of the hostages.

Then he opened a portal the same size under their feet.

Anyone trapped in the ceaseless fall, Joshua included, would soon reach terminal velocity, meaning that when he closed the floor portal, the landing would be fatal. It would require equal measures of luck and skill to ensure Joshua's survival, as he was positioned in the very center of the portals.

C'mon, Valve... he thought, thinking back to the Portal games he had played, Don't fail me now!

"Hm.... If your immune to normal fires Hot Rod, then we wont have that many problems." Light said, thinking of a plan. While it didn't really agree with her, she figured that the 3 of them would just be outside the room while that pyro did whatever they wanted, so she'd have to be the spearhead if they wanted to get this done and over with. "I can handle magical fires way better than normal ones. So I'll go in first and rush them, giving you some breathing room to rush them from a different angle. I should put myself out if its a magic fire, if its a normal one, put me out." Light said continuing her plan. unlike the other two, she could regenerate from being lit on fire, although it still hurt a lot. Though if it was a magical fire like hot rot thought it was, her natural atrophy towards magic would drastically weaken its effectiveness.

"OK, ready?" Light said as she stood in front of the wall in a solid stance, reeling her fist back and bracing herself."I'd better be careful and restrain myself, don't wanna bring the building down." Light thought to herself as energy built in her fist, an odd black lightning could be seen charged around it as she began to chant "Fusion....". A few seconds later, when the energy had reached a critical punch, Light punched the wall yelling "PUNCH", causing an explosion of black light energy, also knocking the wall clear across the room. Not wanting to waste time, Light charged at the first person she saw, some lady on fire, and using the cover of the wall she had just blown across the room, approached her with only mild burns on her dress, using her boosted momentum to attempt to punch the girl clean in the chest, then pursue her with a flurry of punches. Light really didn't like being lit on fire.

---

"Fun story" MC said at the story of the break away man he had just heard. ",I should tell you mine about the electrician and the dragon turtle. It went...." MC began, but he was cut off by orders being barked out, apparently the hostage situation didn't go very well. While he couldn't see inside the bubble yet, apparently the others could. Being ordered to stand back, MC decided it would be fun to pretend to be a sniper, since he couldn't really do much else at this point. Holding his staff like a rifle, he charged Arcane energy at the tip of it, ready to shoot any aura that he wasn't familiar with that came out of the restaurant

Hi-Voltage

"Bet ya ain't ever seen that ane, Shade." As puns go that one was pretty thin, but it was the best he could do with what he was given, especially seeing as he had been shredded like Tony Hawk's half-pipe after that last scrap. Damn shame in all, thon was ma last good costume. Guess it's gonna be a patch job when ah get home. Apogee was back on her feet now.

"Younger generation!" he said with a half grin, a touch of put-upon incredulousness in his voice "Ah doubt ah'm that much older than ye lass!" He just couldn't get no respect these days. Then again, anyone who used puns as much as he did probably didn't deserve any. Apogee did a quick look around, before saying there was a hot spot in the wardens office.

"Asking me out to the dance huh? Cannae say ah'm surprised, eligible bachelor like me. Ah reckon Mr Flashbolt wouldn't mind stepping oot with us in all. Well, ladies first, ah'll be right on yer tail." As he waited for her to lead the way he began to drain electricity from the external local sources. His exertions had left him drained, and he imagined he would need to top up before facing whatever it was in the wardens office. It also had the added benefit of sealing up his wounds, the flesh knitting back together as his body absorbed the energy. Better than mothers milk.

"Silvertongue, we're gonna head towards the warden's office, apparently there's some sorta energy source there. Any light ye can shed on the situation?" Moments passed before the hacker responded, he was obviously being worked to the bone trying to co-ordinate the Leagues efforts.

"Give me a sec, blondie. I'll see what I can dig up for you."

Pain shot up Abaddon's arm as the supernatural parasites ate away at it. With the supernatural covering receding from it, he saw that the damned little things were all over his actual flesh too, and if he didn't do something about this quick they were bound to infest the rest of him and strip him down to the bone. Abaddon never planned on dying, but if he ever did, it certainly wouldn't be death by worms!

"That's just plain disgusting!" He snarled as he dodged blasts of magic alongside the gryphon's attacks. He quickly shot a tether of magic at the Summoner and made his mark, though it actually didn't hurt him. It would have just felt like a rather large needle being jabbed into you, or maybe it just tickled, but again, harming this guy with the magic wasn't his goal. Abaddon hissed a few words, causing the tether to flash brightly and...

The supernatural parasites appear on the man's body instead. They were no longer eating away at Abaddon, but even then he raised up his claws and allowed his deteriorative magic to course through his body to burn away any and all leftover worms and would be curses that the Summoner could have planted on him.

"You want me to use my magic? There you go!"

Abaddon waved his claws and summoned shadowy claws to hold the man in place, though this time Abaddon let one of them cover up his mouth and nose (both to keep him quiet and to stifle his ability to breathe). The parasites had time to do their dirty work, and now Abaddon had more time to deal with the now mutated monster that was attacking him again.

"Oh no, Gryphon has mega evolved into Mega Gryphon!"

He easily dodged the swipe of the monster's talons by springing backwards, and he repeated the same maneuver to avoid being caught in it's snapping beak. Now Abaddon shot out a hooked tendril which pierced its side, not to kill it but to use it as means to quickly zipline onto its back. Balanced, Abaddon raised his arms, an action which caused the ground beneath the monster to darken and shimmer with purplish energy as large, monstrous hands trapped the monster in place.

"You're mine now..."

A sharp and slithering tongue came out of Abaddon's second mouth and pierced the head of the monster. No blood or flying flesh though, because it had actually bypassed it material flesh to directly enter the mind of the gryphon. Another uttering of mysterious words, and Abaddon pulled the tongue out for his magic to do its work. The monster thrashed and screeched out in pain as mysterious, red glyphs began forming over its body. Slowly maybe, but each one caused that part of the monster's body to smoke and burn away.

"Did you think that your mutant freak there would be the first oh so scary monster I've faced before? Don't make me laugh!"

Abaddon hopped off of the gryphon to the ground below.

"The countdown for your pet's life has begun, though there's really nothing you can do about it. Realize, I could do the same thing to you and just let you die a slow and painful death like it's doing, but that just wouldn't be fun for me!"

Ahh fuck, there was a gun aimed at her head. Things had gotten out of hand faster than Shifter expected. The shapeshifter wanted to pace to calm her nerves, but that wasn't an option at the moment. Neither was diplomacy, and she was too far away from anyone to do any damage. Unless they got rid of the chick with the guns, she couldn't do anything, and Bishop was threatening to kill a civilian.

Best part was that they probably couldn't save her, Shifter thought as her leg and toes stretched and formed a hand, grasping at the last explosive blindly. She had done nothing wrong. No blood was on her hands, this could all be blamed on Killshade leaving her here and the moron who had tried to teleport the hostages out! She was left in the middle of this all, a single explosive at hand.

The moron had opened yet another group of portals, which worked as a distraction. Killshade was seemingly unable to help her. With a last attempt of saving her own life, the explosive was flicked towards Villa as the shapeshifter sank under the table, changing form as she went.

SONJA

Sonja groaned inwardly as Light decided to help Hot Rod doubleteam the pyro in there, leaving her to handle the robed figure. Which meant the only real backup she might have would be Clearly Insane Person, or whatever she called herself, if she ever arrived. Her weakened magic against this person, who judging from the way she levitated and gathered life energy from the dead guards, knew what she was about.

"Alright, let's take down the wall- holy shit!" Sonja said, diving out of the way of flying rubble as Light smashed the concrete wall to bits with one punch and dove straight through the flames, throwing punches at the burning woman like Sugar Ray. Sonja decided then and there that she wanted Light on her side at all times from now on.

While Light kept the pyrokinetic occupied, Sonja took the now unwatched door and made a beeline straight for the levitating acolyte. She could sense the raw magical power there, and Sonja knew the mysterious woman could sense hers as well. Both immediately knew what this meant: magical combat, a reality-warping chess game of life and death. Which was why Sonja's opening move was to rush straight at her and swing a baseball bat at her head. Sorcerers are an egotistical lot, always looking to impress one another with a larger and more complicated spell when they face off. They often don't expect to be physically struck by another sorcerer, at least not right away, and certainly not with something as humble as a baseball bat.

In other circumstances, Sonja would've been happy to duel her in the usual grandiose fashion. But no one was watching, her power was dampened, and the room was on fire. Better to just surprise her.

---

SIXGUN

"And once more Fletcher Ross finds himself in an un-yoo-za-wall situation," Sixgun quipped as the assistants ran forwards clutching knives and other weapons. He snapped the freshly loaded cylinder shut, fanned the hammer as he fired all six rounds into the oncoming mass of men. His gun clicked empty and there was no time to reload. Sixgun passed the revolver into his left hand, clutching it by the hot barrel. With his right, he dug out his pearl-handled switchblade, snapped it open, and threw himself at whoever was left of the Alchemist's men. He fought without any particular style or strategy, just a maniac lashing out with a knife in one hand and a blunt object in the other, trying to cleave a path to the Alchemist.

Emmanuel dodges around as the woman belches up more acid to screw up the floor he's on. He jumps up and latches on to the ceiling, chains coming out of the bottom of his feet and hands to support him there. He's just about to launch himself back down and slam his foot into the top of Rot's head when he feels a pulse of electricity surge through the room, knocking Rot out cold.

Emmanuel drops to the floor with a thud, and a rather altogether displeased look on his face. "Ah well. That was altogether slightly disappointing." He turns around to look at Voltage and Apogee, after they're done talking. "I probably should have stopped trying to look impressive and just gone for the finishing blows." Kneeling down, he puts his hand on Rot's forehead and begins siphoning out some of her residual energy, her breathing deepening, and sounds more like she fell into a deep sleep than passed out. Under the gauze, his wounds stop bleeding. "I expected her to take more than a punch and a shockwave though, I have to say" He mentions, as he stands up. "That was an impressive technique though Volt" He directs towards the Lightning Slinger.

"If that was an invitation to join you two in dispensing justice to some more criminals, I'm all for it. Though, I'd have to join anyway. I can't stand by while I know people are getting hurt and or killed." Walking over to the two heroes, Emmanuel holds out his hand to Apogee for a handshake. "There are better times for introductions I imagine, but I suppose I should do it before we walk into the face of danger again. My name is Emmanuel, the Flashbolt Acolyte. The pleasure is all mine." A genuine smile rests on Emmanuel's face. It takes a lot to throw him off his cool, and this ain't it just yet.

The Lab

The apprentices had managed to down quite a few of the dazed survivors in the chaos but Sixgun's counterattack downed two of them, bullets flashing against suddenly appearing light around their bodies before the light shattered and his rounds hit home. Sixgun's managed to catch another man with a knife and he went down gurgling. The next two dodged his hits and came at him in concord, one lunging with a knife to his face another to his gut. Behind them their master flung sickly yellow blasts at the hillside where the rest of the men were.

Maroni's

Upstairs Zaphkiel managed to momentarily break through the ward, his metaphysical weight too much for the barrier to hold out. However Zaphkiel felt a tangible flash of pain and undercurrent of weariness as soon as he breached the ward, not coming away unscathed. His opposition was completely blindsided however both literally and figuratively. Shrieker was still rubbing at his eyes when Zaphkiel came at him, but managed to scream loud enough to give Zaphkiel a solid hit to the face and chest before he was slammed across the room. Ghost and Stalker recovered along with their henchmen who began pouring on rounds, Ghost flying at Zaphkiel while intangible while Stalker let a trio of knives fly at his face.

Downstairs Rift Hound's plan worked and the six henchmen were caught in the freefall, screaming in surprise some firing their guns wildly in the air as they kept falling faster and faster, steadily approaching terminal velocity. Rift Hound was caught in his trap too and he'd have to think of something if he didn't want to end up a broken mass of bones and fur.

Villa shot the explosive in the air and stopped it from detonating at all, and then began firing rounds at her trying to tag her, but in the confusion one only grazed Shifter's leg. Villa reloaded and Bishop snarled holding Sheila in front of him while Belladonna continued drawing. Bishop nodded at Locust who shrieked and began charging at Shifter's last known position upending tables as he searched for his quarry.

Prison

Outside the man closed his eyes and concentrated as he was held in bondage. His gryphon shrieked as the fire burned it and then suddenly it went entirely aflame. The fire burned away its fur, feathers, and skin leaving a charred skeleton. The burning fire morphed and turned into a hellish flame copy of the gryphon who shrieked and swiped Abaddon with a fiery talon. On the ground the skeleton popped and cracked before rising on its feet and spreading bony wings before going at Abaddon from the other side of its fiery twin, bony arms lashing out at him.

The man himself did not panic as his own parasites infested him. Instead the worms changed and morphed, coming together and merging before long whip-like tendrils burst from his back and hands. One slashed Abaddon across the face while another freed the Summoner from Abaddon's shadowy grip. A tendril grasped Abaddon's neck and started to squeeze while the fiery and skeletal gryphon kept slashing and hacking at Abaddon. The man spoke, "I have been practicing the Art since before your grandparents were twinkles in their mothers eyes. You are no true practitioner. Simply an amateur with the help of a now irrelevant master. You have no training. No natural skill, no natural power. No idea about the real intricacies of magic. I doubt you have ever truly dueled any mage, any who were worth the name anyway. You are a mewling child where I am a master. Surrender now before I kill you and rid the world of your mediocre presence." The whip squeezed even harder while others snaked in the air and slashed and stabbed at him occasionally.

Inside the infirmary Light's assault didn't go well. She managed to enter well enough but her punches didn't really have the desired effect. This is because the woman controlled not spellfire but very real flame. The woman had heard the obvious collapsing of the wall and nimbly dodged each hit, whereas Light's hands were now on fire. Fire that stuck to her skin and burned her with pain beyond belief. The woman on fire raised her hand to give Light an enflamed backhand to the face.

Sonja had much more luck as her target was mostly focused on her working. She was caught completely by surprise when Sonja struck. The soul she had captured had formed something approaching a magical ward and it deflected most of the blow but the woman was rocked back in the air in surprise, letting out an oof of pain. She opened her eyes, those of a light blue that would have been beautiful if not for the complete lack of life in them. She snarled, "Ah. The amusement park caster. How quaint. You interrupted me. How rude." She dropped to the floor on her feet and her hands formed a black ball which she attempted to slam into Sonja's face.

In the cell block Apogee giggled, "Four years is pretty much ancient Volt." She rolled her eyes at the mention of a dance but if Volt was watching carefully he might have caught a quick flash of scarlet across her features. She seemed somewhat grateful when Emmanuel introduced himself, she smiled again, "Hi. I'm Apogee, you probably know my cousin. Thanks for the assist. But keep in mind I did get good hits on them first, so don't put them down too much. There's time to talk later though, we've got a job to do." She flew out of the room but slowed enough for Volt and Flashbolt to follow, mindful of the lesson she had learned form charging in by herself.

Silvertongue's cameras couldn't make out anything in the room itself save for the occasional flash of bright randomly colored light. However the cameras outside showed the door was closed and a squad of a dozen men stood around the door. Their gear looked like Special Forces as opposed to secondhand black market purchases. They wore the newest generation of body armor, ceramic plates covering most of their bodies with sleek helmets hiding their faces. All manner of tactical gear was on their vests and they carried the newest assault rifles, most of them modified with larger clips, bigger barrels, and bayonets. Where Legion had acquired such gear was a mystery but there was no doubt whatever was inside the Warden's office was important. By now the heroes were almost upon them.

Killshade grunted as he took the elbow to the face, and stumbled back, as he was about to make another move, his legs were literally frozen as well as his hands. The girl's skin was made of ice too, he should've realized that. He tried wiggling the ice away but all he did was look like a fish flopping around, he kept his head down for a moment as he felt the chaos go on all around him, lots of shouting and gunshots then Pariah hollering orders.

With a sigh he wiggled once more as he felt the bindings barely start to go as his allies were about to burst into the building. As they burst through the door he was still trapped by the ice. He tucked his head into the rest of his body to avoid being trampled in the chaos but still kept struggling against the ice. With enough of a fuss he would free himself but the ice was tough. He grunted and managed to roll himself over so that he could at least see the battle rage on.

Hot Rod was about to tell Light to wait a moment before going ahead with her plan but the heroine did so anyway and went after the fire-user. He now had to choose between assisting Sonja by fighting the cloaked figure or helping Light deal with the fiery woman. He decided that Light might need more assistance since she had charged in so quickly without seeing if they agreed with her course of action. He ran at supersonic speeds through the flames and to his relief he knew that the flames were normal and his aura kept him from being severely burned, but the flames were still very hot. Despite the flames, Hot Rod had his sunglasses use their digital imagery to lock onto to the pyromaniac through the smoke and he quickly charged at her with incredible speed.

Thanks to his aura, the woman's burning body didn't do as much as damage as it would have against a person without protection, and he attacked the woman by sending huge number supersonic punches to her upper torso in the hopes knocking her out or at least disorientate her.

---

Ocean Warrior almost immediately went into action when Pariah gave them the orders to inter the restaurant. He went straight for the lower entrance at very fast speeds and using his powerful strength, he burst through the entrance with a powerful crash. His sharp mutant eyes spotted several of the criminals in the dust and he quickly rushed them with his trident ready to dish out justice to the scumbags.

He gave the first man a whack to the leg and then spun a full 360 degrees to slam a second guy on the head, sending him crashing into a table. For the third and fourth criminal, Ocean Warrior quickly pointed his trident in their direction and a blast of glowing hot energy shot from his weapon and it hit the two men, causing them to fall to the ground in deep pain. Once they were incapacitated, Ocean Warrior made sure that they were all secure to be picked up by the authorities.

Zaphkiel

Mid flight, the archangel was flipped backwards by the sonic blast of Shrieker just before his body crashed into his form. One villain down, he assumed, quickly picking himself up from the ground. At the sound of the first shot of gunfire, Zaphkiel engaged his shield, expanded the protective surface it sported to a much greater surface area. He turned the shield in the direction of the greatest concentration of fire, dismissing the bullets impacting his shield easily. The others clanged upon his armor, bouncing off harmlessly for the most part. Still, the force of their fire agitated his stance a bit, hindering his ability to gain perfect footing.

The knives, on the other hand, presented absolutely zero danger to the armored angel. Regardless of the keen throwing arm they originated from, Zaphkiel would not be penetrated by such mundane bladed weapons; bullets at such a close range were one thing, but the common knives of humanity were but play toys to his fortitude. He simply ignored Stalker's attempts at harming him, stretching his wings out in preparation for a coming gale. With a grunt, he jerked his torso forward, followed by his wings to create a powerful gust knocking the firearm-carrying lackeys off their feet.

Zaphkiel turned his attention to Ghost, an unawares of his abilities, threw his elongated hand into a thrust at the villain, hoping to punch the evildoer right in the kisser.

Killjoy

As fiery and wonderful as it was, the screams of innocents was an utterly unfortunate tune amidst the crackling of flame. Killjoy might have been a pyromaniac, but she was no serial killer, and definitely wouldn't employ such terrible means to take another's life. Her own weapon was indeed flame, and for that reason she realized her skills were rendered practically useless in this situation. Her taser would likely burn up before reaching the alight villain, and her flamethrower would only... add fuel to the flame.

Killjoy barely stifled a laugh at the pun. What else could she have done then? It took a moment, but she gathered an idea. For the first time in her life, Killjoy considered doing something utterly contrary to her very being; she would try and put the flames out. Killjoy darted down the hallway for a nearby fire extinguisher, returning in a hurry to hopefully quell the ensuing inferno. With the magician and pyromancer occupied, Killjoy rushed about, dousing still-living innocents in her life-giving fire-deprivation device, as well as the fires that clung to the room's interior.

Rift Hound - Maroni's Restaurant

His plan had, thankfully, worked. Joshua steadily fell faster and faster, his mind kicked into overdrive, trying to think of a safe way out. He had considered opening portal in the ground outside the restaurant that would allow him to fall upwards and cancel his momentum, but some of the gunmen had fired in panic. If even one stray bullet shot into one of his portals he could be done for, not to mention that another hostage looked like she was going to be killed!
Even if they hadn't reached terminal velocity they were still well on their way. The gunmen would be knocked out from the fall, maybe with some fractures or broken bones. They'd at least hopefully have the wind knocked out of them for a while.

Then again, he thought to himself, I have my own human projectiles!

Joshua focused on the wall behind Bishop, straightened his body to fall feet first, relaxing slightly so he didn't land too rigidly and closed the ceiling portal while opening a portal behind Bishop aiming to kick him square in the back, hoping to take him out while the gunmen would ideally crash into their comrades.

"This is gonna hurt!" he cried, as he flew through the portal.

First wind, now fire. All Light needs is to fight a rock guy, a water girl, and some weird 5th guy and she'd have the whole set. At least thats the joke she made to herself as she backed off grunting at her hands being on fire, Hot Rod taking her place. There was a bright lining to this girl though, since she wasn't a magical fire user, just a normal one, all Light had to do was get some water or something. But first she had to put her hands out, because they hurt quite a lot while being lit on fire.

Looking around, making sure not to make the fire on her hands bigger, she saw a part of the room that wasn't on fire, with Killjoy extinguishing it with a fire extinguisher. Light rushed over to her, using some nearby foam that Killjoy had used to douse a room fire, to put her hands out. When she wasn't on fire anymore, she permitted herself the opportunity to finally act out the pain of having her hands lit on fire.by shaking them, patting them, and just other general things that conveyed pain, minus a scream. While she was relieving the pain, Light thought. "If its a natural fire, and this is a critical part of the prison, where are the sprinklers?" She then posed that question to Killjoy, who was right next to her,.

When the burning sensation resided, Light saw that her hands were pretty badly burnt, as well as other burn marks on her body. They'd heal in time, but since Hot Rod was a better match for the pyro, Light decided to help Sonja with the caster instead. While she wasn't able to charge the sorcerer like she did the pyro, the room wasn't very big, and the sorcerer had her back to her, so Light jumped towards the sorcerer, attempting to come down on both her shoulders with her hands, attempting to knock her to the ground.

It seemed like running away was the best plan she could come up with at this very moment. How Shifter wished that she had portals, she was pretty sure she'd found a way out within moments. At least she was better off than Killshade? Thinking positive seemed kind of difficult at the moment.

Something akin to a brown. spiked cheetah sprang out and slipped past Locust with incredible speed, spiked tail quickly slicing at the creature. The sting of the bullet graze didn't slow her down, but the harsh movement made it bleed more. Soon enough she'd start marking her position. Shifter ran towards two tables not too far from her in hopes of ducking between or under them and changing form once more. She hoped that the few tables that remained would block Villa's line of sight. The shapeshifter had no chance of taking her down without getting shot multiple times first.

If she were to make it, she'd at least kick down the stupid kid who hadn't reacted to much anything that had happened around her. Maybe she was the one holding that ward up. Maybe the drawing was an act and she was jut concentrating really hard. You needed to concentrate on magical... stuff, right? Shifter had nothing but blind guesses to work with, but that wasn't all too new for her.

Hi-Voltage

"Ancient!" Volt muttered under his breath with shake of his head, a ghost of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Suppose four years was a long time in this business, but damn if it didn't hurt to hear it. He was slightly mollified to see a quick blush colour Apogee's cheeks, probably feeling bad for effectively calling him an old man. Or could be yer ol' magic is in full swing, an she's gotta bit of a soft spot for ye Tommy-boy. After yer faux-pas with Bullseye I widna count on it though. Emmanuel approached them then, introducing himself to Apogee and complaining about the ease with which the would-be escapees went down. As complaints went though, Volt thought that was no a bad one. Wasn't like the Lightning-Slinger ever lay awake at night thinking to himself 'St George didn't put up much of a fight today, wish he tried harder to kill me.'

"In ma long and varied career risking ma life on a day tae day basis against header's like these, ah've found putting them doon quick an easy is usally preferable tae taking yer time but looking good while doing it." He replied to his fellow electrokinetic, handily brushing over the compliment Emmanuel had given him. Volt was always a bit bashful when it came to praise, probably stemming from the fact that he never felt he deserved it. Apogee headed off, Volt fast on her heels. Zenith's cousin was going at a markedly less rushed pace than before, obviously a near death experience at the hand's of Rot, the Surgeon, Shade and Freeze had taught her a valuable lesson in the values of teamwork. Ironic that she was only learning to trust her teammates now after her big speech that morning, but sometimes knowing a thing and doing it are two separate beasts altogether. Just like da always says, 'some folk only learn to fear the flame after getting burnt by it.'

"Blondie, I can't get any visual in the wardens office, there's some kinda weird interference. I can see the corridor outside though, and it isn't looking good. Dozen goons stationed outside the door, and they look like they mean business. Assault rifles, body armour, the works, and none of it cheap. Whatever it is that's going on in that office, seems like they really don't want you anywhere near it. . . Dammit Volt, there's a situation in the med-bay, I'll get back to you." The Lightning-Slinger didn't try to keep him, knowing that whatever Silvertongue was doing was obviously important. Instead he relayed what he had heard to Emmanuel and Apogee, being sure they understood the seriousness of the situation. He was starkly aware of no matter how powerful either were, he was about to charge what sounded like a special forces unit and God knows what else with two relatively inexperienced heroes. Sure, Apogee was as strong as her cousin, but she was still new to the job, and she had just nearly died, and Emmanuel was keen, but other than the fact he was an electrokinetic Volt didn't know a damn thing about him. Oh the joys of being me.

"Right, here's tha plan. Apogee, ye hit them hard and fast, yer a hammer and them lads are a nail. Flashbolt, ye seem keener on getting up close an personal than ah am, so ye follow in close tae her, let her soak up the shots an then dish oot the hurt. Ah'll take out anyone left standing." Simple and effective, taking into account everyone's strengths and weaknesses, or at least the ones he had so far observed. Hopefully they'd mop these guys up quick, and power on though to the warden's office relatively unscathed.

Hopefully.

---

Elsewhere, in a dark room illuminated by the warm light of a dozen desktop screens sat Szymon Glowski, better known as Silvertongue, hacker extraordinaire. His quick eyes darted across the screens in front of him, each showing a different scene of the devastation that was left in the wake of the prison riot. At the moment his attention was fixated on the fight in the med bay, particularly the form of Killjoy currently trying to fight the fires with a fire extinguisher.

He had kicked himself when he had seen her spraying foam over the raging blazes, cursing himself for not thinking along those lines himself. Facilities like the prison all had a set level of fire codes they had to meet, meaning that the more commonly used wings all had extensive sprinkler systems designed to combat blazes the type Killjoy was currently fighting, the kind of system Light had mentioned wasn't working. For whatever reason the sprinkler system in the med-bay hadn't automatically kicked in, but as a safety back up they all had an electronic start, the kind that could be remotely accessed and started.

The kind Silvertongue could hack.

If he could work his magic and get the sprinklers to work then not only would Killjoy's job be lessened, but it might also potentially help Hotrod in his fight against the pyrokinetic.

Morningstar

If Sixgun had been paying much attention he may have heard Morninstar make a silent 'oof' sound as he was struck by the mandrake. The output visuals and sounds from the former outlaws implant were so lifelike that it was sometimes difficult for Pariah's former apprentice to remember that it wasn't her in the driver's seat.

Despite that she was still impressed with Sixgun's performance as he picked himself back up, fired into the onrushing crush of apprentices, then charged. Although in a tight spot, Morningstar new better than to rush to his rescue now, as that would effectively ruin his cover. Besides, Pariah wouldn't have trusted Benjamin Brady with such a delicate mission if he hadn't trusted the cowboys skills. No, the best thing she could do was to update the double agent on the strengths and weaknesses of the foes he was facing, like the alchemist that had just strode out into the light, hurling green goo at the Outfit men. A quick facial scan was all Morningstar needed to identify the man, as he was well known with the White Council, and as such on the Leagues database of dangerous meta-humans.

"All right, Skinny with the staff there is one Hector Vasquez, calls himself Santana. Specialises in potions and the High Art of decay. He's not got much in the way of defensive magic though, so shouldn't be hard to overload his shield. So in short, avoid everything he throws at you, but throw a lot back. The Witchhunter should have some high explosives that will make short work of him."

"Take him down quick though cowboy, give him to much time and he'll cast a death curse, and that's about as nasty as it sounds."

SONJA

"You know what else is rude? Lighting people on fire," Sonja came back lamely. The quipping part had never come easily to her. Maybe the League offered classes in battlefield repartee. At any rate, she had bigger fish to fry- namely the acolyte's wrecking ball fists.

She managed to dodge the first blow, saw that the acolyte was knocked off balance by the heavy swing, knew she had to act quickly. With the dampening field in place, magical brute force wouldn't work- unorthodox tactics and the simple tricks she was used to doing would have to work. With that, Sonja plucked from the cuff of her blouse several silk handkerchiefs, knotted together into a short rope. Garden magic, so simple even the humblest novice could do it, beneath the notice of the dampening field.

The next part was a little more complicated. She grit her teeth, and feeling like she was swimming through molasses, gave the knotted handkerchiefs a twist before flinging them through the air to rest on the neck of the hooded woman. But at some point in the short flight through the air between Sonja's hands and the woman's neck, it turned into a very alive, very agitated, very poisonous asp. Hissing, it wrapped around the woman right as Light leaped for her.

---

SIXGUN

Rather than try to fight both men at once, Ben took a couple steps back, trying to line them up. He dashed the butt of his Colt across one's chin, grabbed the dazed man by the collar and pushed him heavily towards the other apprentice, hoping to knock both to the ground and buy a little time. He stepped backwards for breathing room, fumbling to reload his revolver as he listened to Morningstar's advice. Keep hammering at his shield until it fell apart? He could do that, especially if Witchfinder kept at it. Where was La Sombra, anyways? That man had clearly been through the mill, he shouldn't have any problems handling this.

After Pariah’s order Break Neck snapped her goggles into place and followed him and Ocean Warrior out the window to the ground below. Unlike Pariah, who had leapt back up after his roll, Break Neck continued to roll so that by the time she had reached the restaurants had picked up enough speed to shatter its icy bonds and blow the doors in.
Having broken into the shop via shattering the frosted door Break Neck had hurriedly plucked herself back up from the distant corner she had landed in, upside down no less, ready to brawl. She needn’t have done so though as during the few seconds of stunned silence everyone inside the restaurant had experience Ocean Warrior came flying and quickly dispatched the villains. But there were still a few more nearby and she could hear some more gun shots from somewhere upstairs.

Her eyes hurriedly roved over the scene before her taking in the multiple battles going on across the multiple tables and wreckage of chairs in the large room. She’d leave the battles to the others and focus on trying to find the hostages. No, she had to follow Pariah’s orders and help pick off some of the villains which would make it safer and easier for escorting the hostages out, as long as no one else got trigger happy. But first things first; stop that person from killing a hostage!

With her resolve hardened Break Neck tore ahead towards one of the men holding a near panicking woman in his tightening grasp. Then what appeared to be a very large hole appeared on the wall behind him whit many armed and flailing people flying as gracefully as chopped fruit towards them both. It’s raining men, Break Necks mind so joyfully sang.

“Oh shi-” Break Neck had begun, not as joyfully, before one of the flailing Hench people crashed into her abdomen.

The next thing she knew Break Neck was lying on the floor with a grinning henchperson standing over her bring a mean looking gun into view. Break Neck flung he leg upward to between the persons legs, a place that always hurt whenever hit no matter what your sex, before following up with a firm punch to the abdomen as the person bent over in pain. With that taken care of Break Neck leapt back up, leaving the Henchperson to groan weakly upon the floor in pain, she noticed that a few other Hench people had also begun to stand up with their own various weapons and powers. Break Neck decided that she was going to get her brawl after all.

The Lab

The two men fell to the ground, groaning in pain until Santana turned his hand on them. Suddenly the men screamed as their bodies turned a sickly green, their skin becoming hairless and ruddy, green liquid that sizzled the ground as it leaked from their mouths and noses. The men gurgled and rose before diving at Sixgun, shooting two streams of the sickly green fluid at him. Meanwhile Santana had managed to eliminate half of the assorted mooks, Witchfinder, Fontana, and the survivors pouring on the fire. Beads of sweat began to rain down his forehead as his decay field stopped the bullets. La Sombra was nowhere to be seen.

Maroni's

The henchmen and every hostage in their vicinity were thrown to the ground and groaned and the floor, some of them managing to level their weapons and keep firing on the angel. Ghost's immaterial form was completely unaffected by the angelic fist and the villain smirked as his ghostly hand passed through Zaphkiel's arm sending a wave of shocking agony up his arm. He kept the hand there as his other hand travelled closer and closer to Zaphkiel's chest. Stalker snarled as her knives had no effect on the angel. She reached into her belt and drew two more. These were different, pure iron blades. Iron was the bane of the Fae and many supernatural creatures including those of Heaven. As such she lifted them in her hands and flung them at Zaphkiel's stomach.

Downstairs the room was chaos. Ocean Warrior had managed to deal with the henchmen close at hand. The ones who flew through the portal collected themselves and seeing the new heroes all gripped weapons, several firing guns at Break Neck. Locust forgot about Shifter entirely and dove at Ocean Warrior in a hissing mass of insectoid muscle and fury. Permafrost turned her back on Killshade, who was slowly but surely wearing away at the ice. The ice villain instead refroze the doorway and began firing ice blasts at where she had seen Shifter last.

Villa was about to shoot Killshade before Pariah burst into the room and leveled his pistol at her. Villa dodged to the side right before he fired and dove behind a table. The hero and villain began an intense shootout, Villa's reflexes and accuracy an equal match for Pariah's skill and experience neither of them managing to hit the other as they ducked and fired. Bishop grunted and pitched forward dropping Sheila to the ground but not falling. He snarled and backhanded Rift Hound across the room and over a table before he began stalking over to him, footsteps cracking the floor.

Prison

Apogee nodded and smiled before rounding the corner and speeding up. She flew up near the ceiling before slamming down, cracking the floor and knocking the men back before she punched one in the chest, embedding him in the wall as a a kick did the same to another henchman. The men began pouring on the fire and the rounds bounced off of her skin as she stood her ground and was quite a distraction for the men.

Inside the infirmary the fire still raged, though one small section had been extinguished by Killjoy, saving the lives of most of the inmates and staffers closest to the ring of fire. The fire had been difficult to extinguish however and an inmate and staffer both succumbed to the flames, their life force drained out and began orbiting the robed woman. The woman snarled and struggled with the snake around her neck as Light leaped at her from behind. Her hands touched the magical construct and within a few moments it was still and dead. The woman was rocked to the floor by Light's attack, though her protective barrier of life force shed most of the attack's force. She flipped around and fired a black beam at the spot right above Light's stomach hole.

Hot Rod managed to land several solid hits on the woman, rocking her back before they passed right through her. The woman was no longer covered by flame but was pure fire. The human-shaped conflagration swirled around Hot Rod and enveloped him in a fiery cocoon, the flames not burning Hot Rod but the overwhelming heat working to dry out the hero and disorient him. Then the sprinkler systems came on and the room was doused in water. It contacted the flames and huge streaks of steam were created, the fire too hot and large to be completely washed out by the sprinklers though they were no much lower and the fire woman herself seemed to wane in the downpour.

KIllshade finally broke free of his bonds, he rolled over to his side, going behind a table. He peeked over and surveyed his surroundings as he tried to figure out where he would be able to assist most in the battle. His teammates had their hands full with the enemy, but Killshade would be able to help his side greatly if he could take out one or two of the enemies. His attention turned the the female with the ice powers who had caused him to get tangled in her ice, she had her back to him, perfect. Though he wouldn't be foolish again and try to attack her close range, he had the perfect angle to put a bullet or several into her.

So, Killshade drew his pistol, clicked off the safety and finally checked to see that it was loaded, which it was. He then carefully grasped it with both hands, aiming right into the midsection of Permafrost. Then with a soft inhale, he squeezed the trigger three times, firing off three bullets. With enough luck he would hit her and take her out of the battle and then he could switch his attention to another threat.

SIXGUN

He had been injudicious with his ammunition, spraying bullets without caution. That mistake was going to end here. He raised the nickel-plated revolver, wished Pariah would've let him have his own Rugers. Aiming carefully, he fired only twice- once for each of the possessed apprentices, straight into the head.

Ben didn't make the amateur mistake of waiting to see what effect his bullets had, instead immediately turning on Santana and firing his last four rounds directly against the man's shield, hoping to help Fontana and Witchfinder break down his defenses.

---

SONJA

Sonja winced as the woman tore the dead snake from her throat. A living construct had been a mistake. While the trick would have worked on most inexperienced sorcerers, the acolyte had clearly been prepared for it. Light's tackle, at least, seemed to catch her off guard for a moment, as did the sprinklers bursting into life and the room filling with steam as the water hit the pyro.

A desperate plan came to her as she ripped off her fogged sunglasses. Sonja took advantage of the momentary confusion as Light struggled with the acolyte. Quickly cupping her hands beneath the spray of water from the sprinkler, Sonja let sparkling water fill the bowl of her folded hands. She blew lightly on the water, rocked slightly. Theater, always theater.

"Abracadabra, bitch," she said as she stepped forwards and threw the water into the acolyte's face. But it didn't splash against the other woman's face like a liquid. Instead, it was suddenly a coarse white powder that clung to her skin.

Transmutation had always come easily to Sonja. Turning water to lye was difficult under the circumstances, but still relatively simple. When the water from the sprinkler hit the lye on her face, it would heat up to 200 degrees and become highly caustic. Brutal, yes. But under the circumstances, Sonja felt it was warranted. The acolyte clearly intended to kill every person in this room- if it took painful chemical burns to stop her, so be it. Sonja began scooping up another handful of water, intending to turn it to acidic vinegar to cancel out the basic lye once the acolyte was out of the fight. Thank God she had had a good high school chemistry teacher.