The Estate
Luckily for Sixgun, most of the guards were on the perimeter of the estate or inside the buildings. A two-man patrol had just passed by and he would likely have several minutes before they returned. Miraculously, the window was cracked open as Music and Marconi talked. Talked might have been too kind a word. Shouted was more accurate. Marconi roared, "I don't give a flying fuck about your caution!! They have my family!! My wife! My children!! My children, dammit! I know you don't have any to not care about Music but us regular humans-" Music coldly cut in, "I understand but this is exactly what they want. They want you to come at them angry and stupid so that they can kill us all so much easier."
Marconi bristled, "If it's a fight they want. It's a fight they'll get. We're getting boys from all around, even up North and down South. Every organized crime syndicate and mercenary worth the name from more than two-thirds of the country. They're all eager to bleed the Legion and the League. We'll fucking destroy them." Music laughed, a rare expression from him, "We may be getting more manpower and material yes but they have the same. Somebody is providing them with weapons and men, more than they should have. And they have the superhumans. Any one superhuman is worth ten regular men at least. And they have a monopoly on criminal superhumans on everywhere except the coasts."
"A good rifle and a good guy to hold it can put down almost any superhuman. And for the ones who'd be left... we've got bigger stuff."
"That may be true. But they know where we live. They know where to hit to make it hurt. Look how easy it was for them to take your family. They've consolidated their power while the crime families continue to squabble. If we keep going how we are, we'll all be wiped out. We need to do three things."
"And what would those be if you'd be so kind?"
"We need to find out more about them before we fight back. We need to get superhuman firepower of our own, as many independent operatives as we can get. And we need to get rid of all the bosses who won't fall in line. If we beat the Legion, after the dust settles we'll have control of one of the largest crime operations in American history. One that stretches all the way north and south and reaches as far west as Colorado and as far east as Ohio. Eventually the Cartels and the old Families in the east would get wiped out by us."
Marconi snorted, "And how would I be sure you'd be interested in partnering after?" Music's sardonic grin could almost be heard, "Well you don't. You'll just have to trust me won't you?" Marconi laughed, "No such thing in our line of work. But for the moment, I suppose I have no choice." Music said, "Then the first order of business is to put thte word out to anybody the Legion hasn't snapped up. Then we get our guys on information retrieval. And we call a meeting. We're going to have some.... cutbacks in the management positions among our friends. We should do it before the week is out. Tomorrow."
"I'll get the word out." Nearby Sixgun heard the crunch of footsteps as the patrol resumed their circle, perhaps a few hundred yards away from him and out of sight.
The Den
Binary cursed and she said, "Got them. I'm sending them to the Sorcery division. Hold on..." the technopath came back on the line, "Destiny is out but Madame Rosario says they're classic examples of enthrallment magic. They're drawn to help keep them unconscious as well as slowly and subtly altering their minds to come around to Legion's way of thinking. The drugs are probably potions that help with that as well. From my records... these are some of the civilian superhumans who have been going missing. But... there's dozens more where they came from. And that girl...."
Binary paused before saying, "She's registered as a metahuman but no mention of a specific power-set. Big guy's a bruiser, construction worker for the Barclay-Hoffmeyer outfit in town, one's a super-contortionist and acrobat for the Circus, the woman is a flyer with enhanced physical abilities and is a super-cop, and the last guy is a suspected mob hitman. But there's nothing on the girl. Average everyday little kid, nothing out of the ordinary that I can see."
"Rosario tells me the runes will warn the Sorcerer if the victims leave their trance or are removed from the bed. I recommend you try and gather more intel. There might be files or data you can look into. There's something about that girl..." In one room, the room with the girl there was a laptop computer perhaps left behind by whoever had been there last, "We need that computer. Rosario says that if you can keep from stepping directly on the runes you should be fine. They weren't designed to detect people coming in." The runes covered much of the floor but there were some bare patches of concrete floor including a five foot square area where the laptop sat on a desk.
The Hall
Anima smiled at St. Francis, "Here fill out these forms. We have files on you and the registration has lately been... streamlined. There's nobody to show you around right now but the League should be getting back soon. Pariah and his team just got back and perhaps you'll find somebody in the common room." Prudence giggled, "Oh Joe, you're so funny when you're murderously mad. You can just record your shows you know."
When he arrived in the Sorcery Circle, there were few mages around. It was mostly the apprentices and the sorcerers not suited for direct combat including Madame Rosario who sat in the corner talking into a screen. Prudence was a young waif of a woman, in her late teens with long brown hair and green eyes. She smiled at Joe and said, "You're in luck Joe. Thomas has been working on something so you and other more... appearance challenged members can walk around without scaring little kids. You're lucky he took the time off from working on those rings of his." Said rings were on Thomas's work table, one of them plain but of a suspiciously bright green color.
Prudence held up a chain with a simple brass locket on it, "Glamours. Just put an image or drawing of what you'd like too look like and you can change into that person as long as you keep it on and the charm isn't disrupted. You'll need to recharge every few days but it'll even hide the smell," She said this with a joking wrinkling of her nose, then she smiled, "Joe... we can make you look like you did when you were alive. Do you want to try it or what?"
The Prison
Sarin's eyes widened as the bat fell on her and her head snapped back into the concrete with a sickening crunch. Her eyes remained open as blood started pooling on the ground and her remaining organic fingers twitched for a few moments. Either she was dead or she was grievously hurt. There was no time to tell which as Sonja passed out on the floor next to her enemy.
Knightmare was about to exit when Light entered. Her attack confused Reaper and Xaxx, but the gas did not reach far enough to harm them simply making them back up as she came to punch them. Their armor protected them from the hits but Reaper managed to grab Light before she retreated, draining some of Light's power before she and Xaxx sprayed the corridor with assault rifle fire. Diluvian created a wet mist that concealed the villains as they began backpedaling towards the portal with rifles trained in front of them. Sarco snarled and decided he didn't want to be left behind, the Growth and the Behemoth falling back as the mist came up. The villains were about to leave.
Outside the prison the last enemy creature was crushed under Zenith's grip. The hero surveyed the battle and was pleased to see minimal casualties. The animalistic supernatural army had been no match for modern firepower and superhumans working together. He looked to the sky as their reinforcements came, Leaguers from long-distance missions who were finally coming to their aid. The tide was about to turn.
Binary said in his ear, "Zenith, maximum security prisoners are escaping! Pestilence, the Schizoid Man, Sanguine, Sickle, and Siren have escaped through a magic portal. They're all almost gone!" Zenith cursed, "And Damien?" Binary sighed, "He's out too." Zenith shook his head, and turned to the Founders near him looking Olympia in the eye, "It's Damien. He and the other villains in maximum security are escaping." All of the Founders turned grim. The last time they had fought Polaris, it had taken all eight of them plus Pariah, Savant, Destiny, and one other to fight him. Polaris was one of the most powerful superhumans alive. He was dangerous. He was smart. He was deadly. And he used to be their friend. He knew everything there was to know about them. If he escaped it would be a disaster.
Zenith grimly said, "We have to bring order to the prison. We can only spare myself, Olympia, and Raptor to fight him. I need the rest of you to help the members in the other wings of the prison." They all nodded their heads slowly, except for Olympia who said, "It'll just be the three of us? Against him? If we don't use lethal force.." Zenith shook his head, "He may be a villain now but once he was our friend. We give him a chance to surrender and we don't use lethal force unless we absolutely have to." Olympia snapped, "Remember what he did to-" Zenith held up a hand and stared, "I remember. But he does too. If there's anything left of the Damien we knew it won't come to that again." Olympia looked away without saying anything. Zenith wondered what she was thinking. Out of all them Ariadne knew Damien the best.
Zenith called out on the channel, "Chrome I need you with me. St. Michael too and everyone that can be spared. We're going to maximum security." Zenith, Olympia, Chrome, Michael and several others rushed off to subdue the worst of the worst while the others went to assist the League and the government in quelling the riot. Zenith flew towards the prison and memories came flooding back. Memories of a smiling blonde haired and blue eyed man. A happy and charming man. A friend. Now one of his greatest enemies. Zenith had hoped he never had to face him again. He just hoped that this time would not turn out like the last.
