Destabilizing the portal and holding her ground did make one villain unwillingly pass through it. What happens to them, Light had no idea. However after that things didn't go as planned, being knocked away from the portal, shot at by rifles, and having various different projectiles hit her in the head, did leave Light in a state of unconsciousness. She'd be fine in a little while, but for now she was slumped over in a corner, making it look like she was dead to those who didn't know about her regeneration.

---

"Drinks? I'm giving you drinks! Or is this some sort of fleshling slang?" MC said, pointing at the cups of tea she(he) had conjured. "If its slang, is it dirty slang or what? Honestly I can't tell sometimes between the two. So curious." she continued, laughing at the possibilities. He wasn't in much of a state to understand what the internal bleeding meant for one of the people there, but he did laugh at Ocean Warrior's story about the first time he was spotted.

A new member of the league ,one which MC had no diea who their name was, approached the group soon after, offering a static phrased hello. "Jeez mate, being politically correct doesn't mean much here. Relax." MC said after St. Francis greeted himself at the group, conjuring a biscut for him.

Rift Hound

Joshua followed the wounded girl as she was carted off, the words 'internal bleeding' mentioned in the flurry of movement that accompanied her departure. He suddenly found himself feeling very awkward at the entire situation and not knowing how to react, the wounded girl, previous mission and current situation having left him at a loss. The other girl seemed to be suggesting a trek, and Joshua's kleptomaniac mind was quick to pick up the slack.

"Well, uh... I guess she coul'n't really benefit from alco'ol thinning 'er blood much, ey? Maybe we shoul' 'it a bo'le-o? I mean, I 'aven't got much dosh on me righ' now, but I reckon I could 'it us up witha five-pordal discount if need be? 'ell, maybe Energy McShapshifter over 'ere could make it a party!" Joshua was babbling and he knew it. He had a bad habit of slipping back into Aussie when he was stressed, which was typically associated with talking at a million-miles-an-hour, making him completely legible to any Australia, but to American he may as well have been speaking Kilngon.
It was at that point a monk spoke up, "Or... ya know, drink Chartreuse and play Monopoly. Whadevah tickles ya pickle."

The Estate

Music didn't say anything but he kept staring at Wire, while Marconi chuckled, "A man who knows his own worth. Good. You did good work, I thought I was going to have to send somebody more... direct after Howard," there was a flash of teeth but no mirth in the expression. Marconi continued, "I like your moxie. But remember who you're working for now. Remember who pays you. As for a challenge well..."

Music stared at Marconi who grinned, "We could arrange a little something to prove yourself. We had another new guy just like you. Out-of-towner but he did quite a number on Legion when he went out. You'll go with him on his next mission and we'll see how you do. We've got rooms for all the hires and I'd like you to stay with us for the duration of our little war. If you survive it you'll get a nice lump sum and lifelong association with us. Follow these gentleman please." He gestured to two guards who would lead Wire to the same guesthouse were Sixgun stayed. Howard was ushered away by another pair of mobsters.

The Den

Binary sighed, "All the League is still tied up at the Prison. The only ones left in play are a bunch of rookies, me, and.... Pariah and a few of his guys." The wince could almost be heard over the line. Everybody knew about the standoff between Pariah and his former apprentice. Binary said, "I can't leave the chair, Zenith still needs me on overwatch. But I'll task the rookies still walking and ask Pariah to lead the team. He'll probably bring along Vigilance."

Vigilance, otherwise known as Michael Jones, was one of Pariah's star pupils. The younger man was basically a less experienced and more aggressive Pariah, they even looked alike, and he was one of the most effective normal operatives the League had. He'd been with Pariah since Morningstar was his apprentice as well. And the two did not get along, Vigilance had always tried to prove himself the better of the two. It was to be seen if that rivalry would reignite.

Binary said, "I can have them scrambled within five minutes. Hold tight and get ready for things to blow out."

The Hall

Prudence covered a laugh with her mouth and put the lock of hair in the pendant along with a small photo that Joe didn't see. She locked the pendant and gave it to him. Almost instantly he changed. A green flash appeared over his body and a different man stood there. A big, flabby, balding, sweaty man who looked nothing like Thomas Syed. The apprentice conjured and held up a mirror before she belted out in laughter, "Loo-look-looking good Thomas..... nice hair...." She laughed again, so long and hard tears started to form.

Every other spellcaster looked over at them and stared before getting back to work. Prudence eventually recovered, "My sides." She coughed and smiled, "Thomas Greene. My weird landlord. I feel kinda bad for taking a little bit of what was left. But this.... this is worth it." She grinned, "I'm not completely stupid Joe. But there's that form for consideration. I got one from a bum, don't ask. And that's about it right now unless you find something out there. Wanna just make a new look for yourself?" She removed the locket and Joe returned to his normal undead self.

The intercom in the Hall sounded, Binary speaking, "Priority alert. League member in need of assistance. All available, fully combat-ready members report to the airfield for departure. Pariah is tasked as Field Team Leader. Confirmed Legion outpost, prepare for combat and assemble in the airfield. Non-injured personnel only." Prudence winked at Joe, "Ah duty calls. Have fun Joe, be good. I'll get working on something for ya." She turned back to the work-table and hummed while she tinkered.

When the available League members assembled, Pariah stood in front of two VTOLs with Vigilance at his side. Pariah spoke, "No time for a full brief. Outpost is a three-story complex in the red light district. Morningstar is already on site and has identified multiple normal and superhumans in need of extraction. Unknown amount of Legionnaires. The main priority is to rescue the hostages, especially this girl," He holographically displayed a photo of Chelsea Wayne, the Conduit, "No matter what, this girl comes with us. Deadly force is authorized to protect the hostages and yourselves. Let's get this done."

He and the team boarded one VTOL while the other remained empty to receive the hostages. Both of them lifted and flew towards the Den. After a few minutes the VTOLs were over the Den, the hoodlums out front gaping at the aircraft. The door opened and Pariah jumped onto the roof with Vigilance right behind them before the VTOLs even set down. The two of them loitered on the roof while Pariah and Vigilance took point. Pariah saw Morningstar and gestured to the team, "Get the hostages up and out of those beds. We got a couple dozen to go and no time. Move! Morningstar, take the girl!" Pariah pointed his pistols at the stairs where the commotion was getting louder by the second, "Hurry!" Any minute now the Legion would be on them.

The Prison

Sarco reeled back and snarled and began choking on the sand. Then the Growth reeled up and his slime form flew at Sarco's head. His dissolving blob form would have to take a day or more to absorb Sarco in his current state. But he could have handled Azar's sand form in moments. Azar had moments to act as the absorbing blob-like metahuman tried to enclose him in his slimy and deadly embrace.

Polaris's corona intensified and the fire simply boiled over the shield of light he had formed around his already luminous form. The fire would have burned Copycat, Xaxx, Reaper, and Diluvian to a crisp if the latter hadn't formed a large barrier of water that turned into a cloud of steam. The four then took their leave and went through the portal, leaving Polaris with the three monster men. The portal remained open.

As fast as Polaris was, he didn't see Flashbolt enter. He was taken off guard as the hero tried to strike him with his fingers. Each hit made Polaris grunt in pain but they only hit his barrier of light and no more. Polaris's fist turned into a glowing sun as he punched at speeds that matched Flashbolt. If it connected it would send the hero flying back but even if it didn't, Polaris's eyes turned into golden stars before they fired twin beams of pinpoint heat and light at the hero. Afterwards he would just engage Flashbolt in high-speed fisticuffs. Chrome's hand-to-hand training made his every move brutal, quick, and efficient while carrying extra punch due to his shield, blinding light, and searing heat. Every few hits he'd launch an offhand beam of light at Hot Rod, focusing on taking down the lightning hero.

Zenith and company rushed through the prison and they'd be on them within a minute. Zenith just hoped it wasn't too late.

Rift Hound

"...Aaand nevermind." Joshua sighed as the announcement came across the intercom, looking down at his arm, still in it's sling. "Guess I'll just follow Bulletdodger then, shall I?" he said, as he followed after the wounded girl. If he was being honest he was just scared of being alone. He'd much rather be drunk or talking than letting his thoughts of the previous mission consume him.
"If you lot get out of it alive, I'll have ta' try to snag some tequila!" He said, waving back to the others as he walked away.

---

E-Vyle

E-Vyle heard the announcement loud and clear, but it was difficult to hide his disdain. Even on a face that was little more than an insect swarm, his subconscious still held free reign. Begrudgingly, E-Vyle memorized his page number and retuned the book to it's shelf. He'd never be the kind of person to commit the high heresy associated with dog-earing a page in a book and he had no intention of starting now.
Making his way to the VTOL, he paid close attention to the mission parameters. Another hostage situation from the sounds of things and a flash of a photograph as well as a gouging of people he barely recognized. Boarding the VTOL, E-Vyle took a seat and lost himself amongst his thoughts and daydreams for the duration of the flight until they'd landed, upon which more orders were issued.

"I've got the primary exit!" E-Vyle declared, eager to please, fragmenting himself into his swarm and pressing against the nearest doorframe, blending into the surrounding material. He sent a handful of his swarm into the den to survey the area whilst also placing a single member of his swarm, or a 'bug', on the ear each member of the Response Team to act as a linked form of communication, to provide updates on all he observed.

"Test, test. Do not swat me, I'm just your friendly neighborhood listening device." He declared to each member. He tried to keep buzzing to a minimum but there was no accounting for habit. E-Vayle was quietly surprised with the level of calm he was handling the situation and current mission. But then again, having grown up in the home of a renowned horror author,it was hardly surprising. Many of the things he found common place would be considered terrifying those he was seeking to protect.
Nevertheless, E-Vyle steadied his resolve and prepared himself to provide support to his new team.

Wire

He looked at the mob boss for a second, before giving a curt nod. A short wave was given to Howard, who seemed to have tensed up like a brick in an oven. He gave a slight tilt of his head in recognition, and lowered his shoulders by an inch. A wry smile etched it's way across Wire's lips. He did not envy him.

On the way to his assigned bed, and he pulled out a curious looking device mixed between a calculator and a smartphone which had no display. The guards knew who he was so didn't stop him. The simply raised their eyebrows at the mishmash of tech he had in his possession. He typed something into it with alarming speed, paused for a second, and then began to type again. Sensing a question, he spoke.

"I'm just typing up what the boss offered. I don't hire an accountant." He lied.

They seemed to accept that, barely, as he continued to type up everything that had just transpired, and proceeded to save that last conversation with the mob boss. It was a good little function his gadget had: it could be left to record everything it heard for the last hour, and save individual clips to a server at home. It didn't have a screen, because for Wire, refresh rates only slowed him down. Which is what he was doing now, along with typing up some context: documenting potentially important events always helped him out in the long run. He finished typing, and continued walking. A short 'tick' came from the device as they reached the guesthouse, as a sign that it had successfully uploaded.

He put it back into the duffel bag, and bid his guards a goodbye. He thought on the "out of towner" and conducted some protocols based on what allegiance he may serve: his own, or something greater. He would not know until he spent some time with him, so he instead decided to get some sleep. His stomache growled, but he ignored it.

Food is overrated. Sleep on the other hand...

Petya shrugged at Ocean Warrior as Break Neck was taken separated from the rest of the group. No reason to stress over the woman. It would be kind of interesting if she were to die though, considering what the zombie-guy had said earlier. It would be an interesting coincidence if nothing else.

”We found your clothes lying in the hallway, Petya,” Lan told the shapeshifter with a low voice as the others talked. ”They're in my room. How about dropping your clothes there from now on?”
Yet another gentleman joined their group, all polite words and even a bow. Petya didn't pay him much attention, instead reaching for her friends pocket and pulling her keys out.
”Sure, sure. I'll go get them,” Petya slid off the bed and jingled the keys in front of an exasperated yet smiling Lan.

Puppy was rambling anxiously, most of his words nothing but gibberish to the shapeshifter. Petya was about to tell him as much, but the intercom interrupted her. Weird, she'd never thought to be happy about having a concussion before. No-one could stop her from getting that drink now.
”Poor me. I wish I didn't have this horrible concussion,”she bemoaned her 'bad luck' with a heavy sigh before sending a bright smile towards those who would need to leave. ”Well then. Good luck! I'll talk to you later, Lan.”

”So, Puppy,” she turned towards Joshua, looking expectant. ”How about those drinks? I know a nice place not too far from here.”

Hot Rod was surprised by the sudden assistance from the Flashbolt Acolyte, and hoped that by teaming up, they would be able to put up a good fight against Polaris. But he sooned noticed that Polaris was stronger than he had anticipated and his light shield was absorbing Hot Rod's attacks. It also appeared that Flashbolt wasn't doing much good either, and now they had to find some other way to counter attack the villain.

Unfortunantly, Polaris had sent a blast of light right in Hot Rod's direction and it had happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to avoid it. It hit him direction in the chest, luckily, his aura and suit took most of the hit, but the sheer force of the beam made Hot Rod flying across the room and crashed into the wall. His head smacked against the wall very hard and Hot Rod slump to the ground as he was on the verge of losing consciousness. His last thoughts before he blacked out were, Damn it! Thank God almighty that the camera's weren't here to see this.

---

Ocean Warrior didn't respond to anyone comments because of Pariah calling them to go on another mission. So soon? he thought to himself, this Pariah guy sure did love pushing his teams to their limits. He didn't mind going back out into the field, but he was concerned that his teammates may have a problem with it. When the mission was given and they boarded the aircraft to go to their destination, Ocean Warrior was curious to see what type of situation they were dealing with. When they were there, he heard Pariah's instructions and began to enter the building.

---

St Francis did not fly in the aircraft with the other heroes, he instead flew on his griffon and followed close behind the vehicle. Once they got to their destination, he landed swiftly and decided to follow Ocean Warrior into the place where the hostages were..

Morningstar

Morninstar's grinding teeth could probably be heard over the comms. Pariah she could handle. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. But Pariah AND Vigiliance? That was just asking for trouble. She made a silent promise to herself to be the bigger person this time, and not let Vigilance's bullshit bother her. . . Unless he was gonna really be an ass, then she'd knock his teeth out.

She took the short time between Binary scrambling the troops, and the troops actually arriving, to place tracer tags on all the hostages. Sure, she was hoping they got them all out safely, but if hopes were fishes then the homeless wouldn't go hungry. Pariah used to always preach 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst.' At least this way if anything went wrong they'd still be able to find them later.

The VTOLs touched down and the cavalry poured out, Pariah taking point and directing the recruits with the usual iron command she'd come to expect for him. A wave of conflicting emotions crashed into her at the sight of him, but she bottled them up for now. Deal with the mission first, she told herself. A bug began to buzz around her head, but it turned out to be some bizarre form of communication. Weird, but hardly the weirdest thing that had happened since the Awakening. She was about to comply with her orders when she was barged aside by a smelly, bald, greyish-blue guy she recognised as the zombie who worked for Destiny.

"I got the kid, toots." grunted the dead man as he picked up the child with a tenderness Morningstar wouldn't have expected from him. Instead of arguing with the zombie she returned to the hallway, settling herself next to Pariah and un-holstering her Trident and the Sig Sauer P226 and training both pistols down the hallway towards the approaching Legion goons.

"I've got charges and flashbangs set all down the hallway. Thought it would be a nice way to get the party started." She said to Pariah, her tone conversational yet strained. If this was because of the situation they were in, or because of the person she was speaking to even she wasn't sure.

Mr Joe Black

Being unceremoniously shifted into a balding, ugly, fat man wasn't the proudest moment of Joe's second life. Not the worst, sure, but certainly far from the best. The other mages in the workshop began to look around for whatever the commotion was, a few of them catching site of Joe, cracking sly grins. He gave them his best dead eyed glare, slightly offset by the fact he no longer had a dead eyed glare. Fucking mages.

Just as he was formulating a suitably verbose reply to Pru's little prank the high priority alert went off again, Binary this time. Prudence winked at him, telling him to have fun while taking the locket back. While not technically and order, it was close enough to set of the impulse in Joe's head.

"Ah, for fuck sake! She asked for non-injured personnel Pru, and I'm fucking dead! How much more injured can you get!" With a scowl he sloped out towards the airfield.

The zombie sulked his way through Pariah's briefing, until the picture of Chelsea Wayne was flashed up. Mr Black came to attention at that, his eyes widening a little. A little girl. No more than ten years old, and these scumbags were trying to hurt her. Even Joe wouldn't stoop that low, and if it's something he wouldn't do then you know it's low. A slow anger built in his chest. This time, just this once, he'd work with the League. These Legion punks were gonna get hurt.

"Heh he he. Deadly force is my specialty" he chuckled darkly, the same stone-grating-on-stone sound that rasped from the hollow places in his torso he used to intimidate easy marks. The VTOL ride was all too long, Joe chomping at the bit to tear himself of a piece of these dick wads. He followed Pariah and Vigilance out the VTOL and into the building, making a quick sweep of the place to find the girl. He found her just as the Dare Devil looking chick that used to work Pariah entered the room, but Joe shouldered her aside.

"I got the kid, toots." He grunted, picking up Chelsea as tenderly as he could managed. He hoped she wouldn't come to as he was carrying her out of there, girl would be scared enough without having to be face to face with a extra from the Evil Dead. As he got out a fly began to buzz around his ear. Nothing new for Joe, he was carrion after all. But this one spoke to him.

"Don't give me a reason to swat you then." He stalked out towards the near empty VTOL and handed the over.

"Be gentle with her bozo, or I'll redevise my policy on being a vegetarian, just for you." He growled at the EMT on the VTOL.

"Well fine, if you don't want tea, you could've just said so." MC said, trying to pout. Hearing the voice over the intercom, MC made her way with the other undamaged league members onto the jet for their next mission.

The ride there was pretty uneventful, much to MC's annoyance. No one really seemed to talk, and while one of the members rode in on an animal, it was pretty bland on the way there. MC vaguely nodded at the mention of who they were supposed to rescue, and was more joyed with the fact that there wasn't some stupid barrier to stop her this time. She waited for someone else to go in as point before following.

It wasn’t long till the nurse returned with a companion in tow with that same reassuring smile all medical people wore when something bad was happening. Lying down upon the bunk, her head pounding away in protest of movement, Chris looked on in foggy fascination as the man’s fingers each split apart above her belly.

“What!?” Chris decided that that was a truly horrifying thing to see.

“Don’t worry.” The man with split fingers said as he moved them around just above her skin. “I’m just repairing the ruptured blood vessels. You might feel a slight tingling sensation around the affected area.”

After about a minute of strange tingling the healing person was satisfied with their work and mercifully put their fingers back together, Chris knew she was going have nightmares about that tonight.

“Is that it then?” Chris asked with a tentative smile. “All done and I can go?”

“Not quite.” The nurse spoke as the healing person left. “We’ll need to keep you in for a while and monitor you condition for a little while but we should be able to discharge you shortly. The swelling should go down by tomorrow evening as the body absorbs the blood back into your system, and the bruising will disappear in about 2 weeks.”

Chris nodded as the nurse explained feeling relieved that she hadn’t needed surgery or anything, although it did mean she wouldn’t be able to go out and help tackle the situation that had just arisen. Now left alone in her little curtained off area Chris wondered how long it would take for them to let her go. She really wanted a shower. Also clean clothes.

Abaddon had been busy sinking his teeth into the flesh of some random beastie when one of the League's reinforcement metas called out to him from above. The poor guy was obviously a bit disgusted by the grisly scene below him, but he did his best to deliver his message while Abaddon settled to swallow the dead creature whole without savoring it. Quicker that way and all, though it made the hovering superhero lose his lunch.

"Ugh, now that's just nasty," Abaddon hissed as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever! I got the gist of what you were trying to say anyway!"

the semi-ethereal body Abaddon had shifted as he began to "shed" it, dropping wisps of shadows that evaporated into nothingness when they hit the ground. He wasn't growing though, not even healing. He was simply cleaning himself up.

"Huh... though maybe charging into battle covered in gore would unsettle the four guys beating on our poor friends..."

"#Except perhaps, Sarco," Drevenon said. "I would wager he looked like that everyday before he got imprisoned here."

"Yeah probably."

Abaddon took a bounding start before he jumped into the air, spreading his strange looking wings to catch up with Zenith and company. The famous hero was clearly concerned about the well-being of the other League members, but Abaddon figured they couldn't be in TOO bad of shape. He could be wrong though, so he only sped up his flight to more quickly reach his destination. He had to tear through a few doors and walls, but he made it to the area before the others (and he'd probably hear all about his recklessness when they got back to League Headquarters too!).

"Surprise surpri-! Oh come on really?!"

The scene was pretty much as bad as the sickened messenger had described it. Three of the League's primary heroes were down with Desert Vampire fighting off three of the four villains alone. The only one he wasn't fighting was Polaris.

Polaris. Oh, well shit. Now this was really bad. Abaddon hadn't been around in the League when they had brought him down, but this guy was all over the news regardless. He was insanely powerful with his photokinetic abilities, powerful enough to take down a swath of metahumans before finally being brought down. And right now, poor Flashbolt Acolyte might as well be fighting three villains on his own, because fighting Polaris alone was just as bad... if not worse.

"Meh... too bad..."

Abaddon's confidence was a bit on the low side after he had been matched and nearly bested by the Dark Summoner a while ago... but then he remembered he had been holding back throughout most of the fight. He'd likely have to hold back here too unless he wanted his downed allies to get obliterated, but if he played his cards right he could help his team get the upper hand again.

The first thing to do was help out Desert Vampire. Poor guy was about to get killed in the worst way possible, and he doubted he wanted to be remembered for getting swallowed alive by some reject slime effect from "The Thing". Still being in the air, Abaddon flew over above Desert Vampire to snag him up out of the ground with shadowy extensions from his body.

"I remember reading about this in some Goosebumps book. Nasty way to die, I'll tell ya," Abaddon nonchalantly told Desert Vampire as he tossed a sizeable spiked ball of shadows in the spot the vampire used to be in.

"Hey Blob, that won't go down well!"

Upon being swallowed, the shadowy ball would not only extend its spikes within the Growth but also explode with magic energy. Abaddon dropped Desert Vampire away from his opponents before he dove towards the struggling Sarco. Catching him in the waist, Abaddon used his strength to lift him up into the air before flipping him around and making him crash down head first into the floor below. Too bad this guy wouldn't immediately die like that one mole-ape thing he killed earlier like this, but it hopefully hurt and had enough force to stun him for the time being. Abaddon flew away from him to rejoin Desert Vampire...

Killshade was geared up and fully ready for the mission by the time everyone else had arrived at the VTOL. He had taken a seat in the back, as the vehicle fly threw the air he shut his eyes, relaxing his mind and resting his eyes for a moment. The ride was mostly silent except for the sound of the VTOL itself, he figured many of the people were nervous, or they just had nothing to say, which was usually his excuse in moments like this.

Emmanuel cries out in pain as the beams of light pierce his shoulders, carrying on through to hit the ground. There was no way that he'd be able to avoid the punches AND the beams. That's just too much to go with right now. And there's no time to deal with it right now either. He's got a HARD time limit, and it's rapidly shortening. Thankfully, the wounds don't start bleeding too badly, the heat from the light must have helped cauterize them a bit. As his power stabs hit Polaris's light shield, Emmanuel rapidly tries to think of a new plan, cause there's not too much time left before his body gives out, and with Polaris's sheer power and skill, there aren't many options.

In fact, there's really only one option that Emmanuel can think of in the *short* amount of time he has, in between the punching and dodging, trying to mitigate all the damage he can, and honestly failing at it. He's really got no choice but to use a super risky move at this point. One minute, that's all he had, and he's used about 45 seconds of that. He doesn't know how long Zenith will be, but he knows exactly how long he can hold Polaris off without grievously injuring himself.

So, he's going to employ something he hopes will be enough to take care of Polaris for even a minute longer than normal. See, the problem with Polaris is his defense. He takes little damage from all of Emmanuel's hits, which means a bunch of one damage hits do almost nothing. So, the solution? Make one hit do a horrendous amount of damage. Or at least try to.

The electricity in Emmanuel's veins begins to rapidly recede, all of it, every last drop of power in him, condensing into his foot. The power inside the prison room gets sucked out too as that happens, the lights going out, only the light from Polaris and Emmanuel illuminating it. Enough power for New York City is now stored in Emmanuel's foot, and he makes a desperate move, dropping his guard, he takes Polaris's punches and trades his kick. Not just any kick though. Emmanuel brings his lightning foot straight up into Polaris's crotch. If it connects, there's no telling what it will do.

There is telling what those punches did to Emmanuel though. Connecting kick or not, there are some broken bones. Couple ribs, left shoulder, and others. He's gonna need a visit to the ICU after this, unless there's an onsite magic healer of somekind.

The Den

The EMT gulped and gingerly took the girl into the VTOL. Vigilance started carrying the civilians out, one at a time over his shoulder. There were over a dozen women being held along with the superhumans. The big seven footer was too much for Vigilance who said to Ocean Warrior, "Get this guy out!" He shouted at the other team members, "Quit dragging your feet and get to work!" He muttered something about lazy superhumans under his breath and he threw another woman over his shoulder and put her in the VTOL. It was going too slowly. Legion would be on them soon.

Pariah only nodded at Morningstar, as if all that happened between them didn't matter. He simply said, "Good. They'll probably try and overwhelm us so the flasbangs will help us with the first wave. Don't detonate the charges until we can get a good number of them bottled up." Pariah assumed the same tone that he had used on all their missions together. Businesslike and to the point, betraying no emotion while conveying absolute belief in his authority. He didn't seem to acknowledge the strain in her tone.

Finally after a few seconds, Pariah grunted in clear discomfort and inclined his head, "Its... fortunate you're on this op. Can't trust most of these rooks to get it right." Afterwards he just focused back on the hall in front of them, obviously infinitely more comfortable with impending violence. They could hear the frantic stopping of Legion trying to get at them and then a cluster of thugs with guns rounded the corner. They charged up and sighted the pair with their weapons right when the flashbangs went off.

Pariah's visor protected him from the effects of the flashbang but the thugs weren't so lucky, crying out and clutching ringing ears or blinded eyes. Pariah dispassionately began opening fire with his automatic pistols and cutting them down while saying, "Speed it up. Get the civvies out now." Already he could hear more men working their way up to them. Who knew when they would start throwing superhumans at them? Pariah kept firing. Already half of the goons were down, holes peppering their chests or heads as remnants of Pariah's no-nonsense and effective style.

The Prison

The Growth swallowed the ball of energy and his blob form ballooned before splattering his goo all over the walls and ceiling in a messy explosion. However the goop already started to run together again and start to reform. Sarco screeched in pain as his head created a hole in the concrete and he fell to the ground in a titanic fall. However his hide took most of the force away from the hit and he already got back to his feet. The Behemoth grabbed Abaddon by the leg and slammed him into a wall before throwing him at Sarco who punched the hero (for a given definition of hero) into the ground with his massive right fist. Sarco snarled, "Ant." Before lifting his massive reptilian foot to stomp down on Abaddon.

Polaris grinned as he sensed the hero about to falter but then frowned when the lights turned out in the Prison, his own and Flashbolt's glows the only light in the room long with the purplish haze of the portal. Polaris knew his opponent to be an electrokinetic so he put two and two together and figured he would try an attack to overwhelm him. He presses in and his fists keep bashing into Flashbolt's face and torso, trying to knock him out before he can try anything.

As close as he is he sees the energy start to gather in his opponent's foot, static electricity popping out from it. He sees the kick aimed at his crouch, telegraphed by Flashbolt's movements. As the foot came up he knew in that close distance he wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it cleanly. He slapped the foot down with a hand, away from his crotch, and the world seemed to explode. Flashbolt's electric reserve and Polaris's light conflicted. Unstoppable force met immovable object.

The electricity poured and collided against his light and Polaris was thrown back down the length of the room as a massive blast opened up and sent pieces of wall flying off outside the prison. Sunlight poured in to the rubble that was the midway point of the maximum-security wing and Flashbolt was blessedly knocked out as he was thrown back as well. The conflagration of energy sent shockwaves rippling down both sides of the room and actually picked up the limp forms of the League heroes and sent them flying several yards away and causing the portal to collapse from the sudden overload. Even Behemoth and Sarco were rocked off their feet as the Growth's goop was all blown away but closer to each seperate piece. The Growth quickly reformed and went after Abandon and Desert Vampire.

Polaris' shield had collapsed in the explosion and his clothes were torn up with cuts and bruises peppering his body. But he was alive. And worse yet still able to fight. He unsteadily got to his feet and his aurora slowly reformed. Unlike his opponent his reserves weren't drained. Polaris leaned on a wall for support and grinned, "Good hit. But you won't do that again." He groaned and was about to move when Zenith, Raptor, and Olympia flew in followed by Chrome and Michael.

Chrome and Michael immediately started beating down on Sarco and Behemoth who were caught off guard. Michael's sword made Sarco's hide glow with fiery slashes while Chrome brutally punched away at Behemoth. Raptor began evacuating the downed members, picking up Light and Sonja both before flying them as far as he could before going back for Hot Rod and Flashbolt. Zenith yelled out, "Freeze Damien!". Olympia screamed in rage at the sight of him and overtook Zenith who barely caught up, as the two heroes caused the wind to whirl in their wake. Polaris grinned and finally got his footing and his shield up before Olympia slammed into his mid-section and wrapped her arms around him with Zenith flying fists forward into his chest.

Polaris' shield flashed with the simultaneous impacts and wavered but remained intact as the trio slammed into the back wall. Zenith wrapped a hand around his neck and pinned him there where his form was embedded into the concrete with Olympia standing and holding his chest down. Polaris groaned in pain but gritted his teeth in a pained smile, "Nice to see you guys. You don't call. You don't write. You don't visit. Been too long since I've seen either of you. Who knew I had to commit a crime to get your attention?" Olympia snarled, "Shut up Damien before I stick my sword through you." Damien laughed, "What a reversal." Olympia was about to say something when Zenith cut her off, "Shut up Damien. We're taking you in. Come quietly or this time we won't try to bring you in alive."

Olympia grunted, "It's more than you deserve." For a moment, despair and pain flashed through Polaris' eyes but were soon replaced by his easy confidence, "Tempting. But no thanks." Zenith said, "Don't do this Damien." Polaris said, "I have to. And I'll never stop. For her." His body suddenly burned as bright as the sun and Olympia and Zenith were thrown back by a massive burst of heat and energy. Zenith rolled in the air before checking himself and Olympia landed on her feet, turning the fall into a backwards somersault. Zenith shook his head and flew forward with twin beams of red energy flashing from his eyes while Olympia drew her sword and shield and charged.

Polaris lifted a hand and blocked Zenith's heat vision and grunted as it flared against him and pulsed against his shield. He escaped the wall and sent a long stream of light with his other hand at Olympia who blocked it with her shield and kept advancing. Polaris kept trying to stall Olympia as Zenith flew at him. Polaris ducked his head to the side as Zenith punched at him, and twisted his head to fire his own eye beams into his side. Zenith yelled in pain and Polaris used his now free hand to blast Zenith away. But now Olympia was upon him and her shield bashed into him, knocking him to the ground and taking the wind out of him as Olympia raised her sword and stabbed down. Polaris flashed to the side and his leg blurred as it swept Olympia's own feet from under her.

Olympia fell down and ditched her shield and sword to grab Polaris' foot and swing him into the ground in a super-powered overhead swing. He was rocked into the concrete before Olympia pulled on his leg to grab with her arms and wrap her legs around it in a classic kneebar. She used her iron hold and strength to twist his leg away from him and make him scream in pain. Zenith flew back in and kicked his shielded head before grabbing him by the neck and raining down punches while squeezing. Each titanic hit made his light shield flash and shudder and Polaris felt every hit. But then he tried something out of desperation.

Suddenly Polaris' foot flashed next to Olympia's face and she screamed as it burned her, loosening her grip enough to allow his light-hardened leg to smack into her face. He broke the hold and his own fist of light flashed into Zenith's face. The hero grunted and Polaris had enough time to concentrate and blast him with another pair of eyebeams. Zenith screamed and fell to his knees before an uppercut from Polaris knocked him back.

Polaris got to his feet and fired a beam at Olympia who managed to grab her shield and deflect it right back at him. He grunted as his own energy hit him and Olympia flew at him with her sword arm raised. He dodged the first slash and grazed Olympia with a beam, but didn't dodge the knee to his gut which made him double over allowing Olympia to slam the hilt on his back and use her shield to bash him into the air. Zenith flew into his stomach, grabbed him and threw him at Olympia while blasting him with heat vision. Olympia slashed him to the ground with her sword and the blade managed to pierce his shield and draw a long shallow slash along his stomach.

Polaris lifted both his hands and fired two beams of light faster than either could react and knocked Olympia to the ground and Zenith into a wall. He sped forward and rapidly punched Olympia in the gut before grabbing her and blasting her into the recovering Zenith. Polaris lifted both of his hands to blast them but Zenith flipped their positions to protect Olympia and screamed in pain as the beams struck him. He gritted his teeth and blocked the beams with his arms and advanced.

Olympia jumped above the struggling Zenith and extended her feet to stomp on Polaris. Polaris managed to dodge but was backhanded and his beams failed. Olympia grabbed his arm and locked it behind him while wrapping her arm around his neck and twisting. She held him down and allowed Zenith to knock the wind out of him with a flurry of punches. Without his shield he would have been paste by now, as it was, his body would be a mass of bruises and cracked bones.

Zenith punched him twice in the face, "Give it up Damien." Polaris coughed and said, "Never." He turned into a corona of light and pressed his weight against Olympia, giving him leverage to kick Zenith in the chest with both feet. Zenith was shoved back and Polaris flew up towards the ceiling and Olympia tried to squeeze the air out of him, the shield denying her the chance and allowing him to keep flying. Polaris' protected by his shield, flew through the ceiling, and flew into the open air. Olympia was durable but not protected from slamming into the concrete ceiling.

Her grip on Polaris was loosened enough to allow him to break free, knocking her back with a starburst of light. She fell through the air and Zenith flew up to catch her in his arms. She grunted and they both stared at Polaris who extended his arms and seemed to breath in the sunlight, "Ah. It's been too long." Polaris was bloodied but unbroken and despite the wounds inflicted on him he smiled, "You can't beat me. And I can't beat you. Yet. We can settle this another time. But for right now. I'm back. And I've got things to do. Take care of yourselves, tell the guys I said hi."

Olympia flew out of Zenith's arms but Polaris turned bright white and then zoomed away in blinding speed, a star in the middle of the day. Zenith cursed as Olympia roared in frustration. Zenith tapped his communicator, "Zenith to all points, be advised. Polaris is loose. Repeat, Polaris is loose."

He didn't know how, but Abaddon was caught off guard (probably because he was too busy congratulating himself and laughing at Growth's splattered mass) by Behemoth's simple maneuver of grabbing his leg and smashing him into the ground, creating a body sized crater. Abaddon groaned in pain and attempted to blast back the giant meta with a burst of the Devourer's Wrath, but in his pain disoriented state he couldn't muster up the energy in time and was then picked up and launched at Sarco by Behemoth.

"Fuck..."

Sarco's well placed punch also smashed him into the ground, and Abaddon's body was once again racked with pain. He let out a screech of pain, mixed with anger. These petty attacks shouldn't be hurting this much! He had been able to take worse and more than this before! He should have been smarter about his offensive actions. As much as he hated to acknowledge it, the fight with the Dark Summoner had worn on him. Abaddon may have been able to recover quickly by feeding, but he was still in a "frail" state.

"DO IT FAGGOT!" Abaddon shouted angrily as Sarco prepared to bring his foot down on him. A bad position to be in, but Abaddon saw it as a perfect opportunity to perform a surprise counter attack. As soon as Sarco brought his force down, Abaddon would shift his body into its liquid shadow state, slither up his leg, and reform on top of his massive back. Then it would be a simple matter to dig his sharp claws into Sarco's eyes, and then extending them to pierce the brain behind them...

At least, those would have been Abaddon's actions had the entire area not been affected by the force of a giant explosion. Sarco was knocked away from Abaddon, along with Behemoth. Lying on the ground, Abaddon was also lifted up by the force of the explosion and was tossed through the air, though fortunately for him, he only had to extend tendrils from his body towards the floor to keep himself from landing anywhere near the two bruisers.

Now, what had landed next to him was a large part of The Growth's slimy mass. The thing attacked him and Desert Vampire with extensions, catching Abaddon. The slime began to thicken and tighten around his body in an attempt to begin consuming him, but Abaddon just sneered.

"Really? I just get stuck with you? R.L Stine's bastard child? I still wanted a challenge."

Growth's attempt to consume his body would be fruitless. Being fully enveloped by a supernatural entity, Abaddon's "outer body" wasn't technically organic. Getting constricted wasn't exactly painless though, and Abaddon was pretty sure this thing had more constricting power than the Dark Summoner's two serpents. Abaddon made his body course with the Devourer's Wrath to burn off part of the Growth's body that was squeezing him. Abaddon dropped to the floor, ash falling off his body.

"See that you worthless sewage? That's how easy you are to kill! You're pathetic, I'm surprised you were actually considered a threat by anyone! You bore me!"

Abaddon whipped out his arms and created to small ripples of his destructive energy on both side of the Growth. It was extremely "diluted" though, meaning the slimeball wouldn't be incinerated. The energy tugged at the blob until it managed to rip off two good chunks off its amorphous body as the energy now mainly functioned as painful "telekinetic" force.

"Desert Vamp, keep the blob busy!"

Abaddon turned to where he could hear Chrome, Michael, and the two bruisers engaged in combat. Sarco and Behemoth were being relentlessly attacked, and taking advantage of their preoccupation, Abaddon tried something. He brought the floating pieces of the Growth towards Sarco and Behemoth, right up to their faces, and began trying to shove them into their mouths and down their throats

"SWALLOW IT! SWALLOW IT!!!" He screamed out in some strange, gleeful manner. He wanted to see this work, he wanted to see those two scumbags get eaten alive from the inside. It would be absolutely hilarious too!

Morningstar

Morningstar never replied to Pariah at all, at first because he congratulated her prep like she was a trainee who'd surprised him by getting something right and she didn't think calling him a condescending bastard was good form, then because he gave her an extremely tense genuine compliment, and that was so out of character for him that she was so shocked she felt words would fail her. Silently though she was furious at him. It was bad enough working with him again after what had happened last time, but he had to go an make it worse by acting so strange for him that she couldn't help but start to second guess him and herself. Dammit, this was neither the time or the place for that.

It was a kind of blessing when the Legion men stormed into sight, the onset of violence being a welcome distraction for her. Before the thugs could even sight her weapons she set of the flashbangs, sowing chaos in their ranks. Pariah opened fire with that same cool detachment that she had already admired so, Morningstar following suit a microsecond later, hundreds of hours of practice making the manoeuvre more reflex than conscious action, she finishing off any goons Pariah left standing in short order, their economy of movement and unspoken teamwork meaning their bullets never overlapped and their field of fire was all consuming, and just like that it almost felt like the two were team again, just like the good ol' days.

It was almost like stepping back in time. Shame it took a half dozen dead or dying men to accomplish it.

Mr Joe Black

Joe went back in for another hostage without thinking, some strange feeling overriding his usual laziness. Maybe it was concern for his fellow man? Maybe it was a desire to dress Legion down a little? Maybe it was shame at how little he had done to help earlier at Maroni's? Maybe it was a combination of all those things, but it was far more likely that he thought the winged woman was a bit of a babe, wings not withstanding, and reckoned him lifting her out while she was unconscious was the best time to cop a feel of her pert breasts, which he promptly did, giggling like a school boy afterwards. Then he squeezed them again, just for good luck, before hiking her over her shoulder and heading out. As he did he heard Vigilance mutter something about superhumans. Joe wasn't entirely certain if he qualified as a superhuman, not as if being dead was considered a superpower after all, but he was suitably insulted either way.

"Ah, blow it out your ass, ya poor man's Pariah, who incidentally is just a poor man's Punisher. Keep that kinda bullshit to yourself if you don't want my superpowered boot making a superpowered mess of your all to regular powered ass. Just cause everyone else is to frightened to say anything to ya in case you go running to your boss to tattle doesn't mean I am." Joe continued on to the VTOL to hand the winged chick to the EMT, heaving her on board just as the shooting started inside. He looked behind him like a man who's just heard he has to work overtime on the day of his kids birthday, and with a sigh he stripped of his jacket, shirt and raybans, handing them to the EMT also.

"What I said about the girl? That goes double for my stuff. If you lose them I'll eat your family to. And don't bother trying to sneak one of my smokes, I know how many is left, I counted!" With one last stern look he headed back in towards the Den.

The Desert Vampire - The Maximum Security Wing

"Desert Vamp, keep the blob busy!"

That, coincidentally, was the most difficult task he could've been assigned. Azar fired off several pistol shots that rang loudly through the entire wing, echoing against the strong concrete walls. The bullets were aimed at the bottom of the Growth's amorphous form, not to really damage him, but testing to see how much slime, if any, would burst off.

Not wasting any time after taking his shot, the Desert Vampire went running. A blast of wind pulled him into the air and threw him upwards, against the ceiling His abilities were pathetically mismatched against the thing from a combat standpoint. So he went off, flying through the hole that Polaris had created minutes before, seemingly retreating. Seemingly.

But then a massive amount of sand came back in through the ceiling, spilling in like an hourglass. Being blown in from the prison yard, several truckloads of sand came. In just a moment, an immensely powerful gust heaped the sand onto the Growth, smothering him. Not letting up, Azar kept pouring the sand onto the Growth, then commanding another wind to hammer against Sarco and the Behemoth, momentarily aiding Abaddon and the others. It was quite a strain, and in order to stay awake he had to let up on the two titanic fighters. Hidden within the pile of sand, he devoted all his strength to smothering The Growth.

Hot Rod didn't open his eyes at first, but he felt someone picking him up and carrying him away from where he had been knocked out. He felt a sharp pain in his head and he tried to open his eyes, but the task was hard. Despite his bodies reluctance, Hot Rod managed to open his eyes and found himself being carried by Chrome. He tried to speak, but his head was spinning too much to make proper sentencing. He did eventually find his voice and weakly spoke to his fellow Leager.

"How are the others? are they safe? are Light and Sonja okay?!" he asked, becoming a little more frantic. He was starting to panic out of confusion and was having trouble calming himself. He hoped that they were all okay and that his panic was just do to his concussion.

---

Ocean Warrior didn't need to be told twice about getting the hostages out of the place, and he quickly got to work, trying to get as many as he could to VTOL. After he was getting his fifth hostege to the VTOL, he noticed the little disagreement between Mr Black and Vigilence, and Ocean Warrior spoke them sternly.

"Enough trash talk you two! focus on the mission." he wasn't really in the mood for internal conflict within the League, and if they wanted this operation to be a success then they would need to stay focused. He noticed Pariah attack on coming thugs and after Ocean Warrior had gotten another hostage onto VTOL, he turned to go and stand next to Pariah.

"What's the plan? Because if you need muscle then I'm your man" he told the League founder, and tightly held his trident in both hands.

---

St Francis had also been assisting with the evacuation of hostages, but he was less incline to engage in direct combat, but he would if he had to. Unlike Ocean Warrior, St Francis wasn't stronger than an average human and had to take less hostages to the VTOL, but he wasn't any less determined. This was his first time doing these kinds of heroics in civilization, and despite his discomfort with being in the thrall of modern society again, he was determined to make his first mission with the League, a good one. He waited not too far away from Pariah and the others, for instruction on how they may need to engage the villain.

"Oh Lord, please give me the strength to do this task that has been given to me, well" he said out loud in a prayer.

"Why are hostages a problem again? Portals solve everything! Well, almost everything..." MC said, staying at the VTOL and casting portals at the hostages she could see, preferring the ones that were out of the reach of the other heroes, the portals forming under the hostages, and thus, causing them to fall from a modest height into safety. MC didn't really care much for the bickering of Black and Vigilance, but she did notice Black was pretty pervy. "If only Light were here... It would be entertaining. MC thought to herself.

Watching Ocean Warrior talk to Pariah, MC chimed in. "If hes my meat shield, I can do a lot of damage. Magic beats magic, usually." she said, waving her staff in eagerness.

---

As her injuries healed, Light regained consciousness. the first thing she noticed is that she was in a totally different location. She then heard hot Rod being concerned about her and Sonja. "I'm fine hot Rod. Apparently they thought I was dead. Dunno how long I was out, but its really not smart for them to just leave me there to heal." Light said. "Anyway... what happened?"

Thankfully it seemed the Chris didn’t have to wait long. About half an hour of mind numbing boredom later, interrupted only the bandage letting out a small chirp as it finished its job, and a different doctor appeared with a clipboard in hand and after a few quick checks and questions Chris was allowed to hop down off the bunk.

Fully dressed again, the shirt smelt revolting but Chris would be damned if she was going to step out in just a sports bra, Chris stepped out of the little curtained area and in the spinning world that was now the medical bay. Doctors and nurses ran about with equipment and papers quickly transferring patients either out of the way or completely out of the bay in the case of many recruits who, like Chris, could be safely discharged.

Evidently they were all preparing for another influx of wounded, probably those who had just gone on the mission. Not wanting to get in the way Chris hurriedly made her way back to her room with the growls of her stomach following her every step of the way. Chris absolutely loved her shower and felt so much better for it even with the various bruises and scrapes that dotted her limbs. After donning some comfortable clothing, a simple pair of jeans and t shirt from the Download Festival many years ago, Chris took a moment to admire the magical bandages work. Where a large bleeding hole had been was now simply a small red indent and on the other side was a much larger in dent in her flesh. Flexing the arm Chris felt her muscles strain and ache slightly as if she’d just done a very long work out.

Much to Chris’ disappointment the large buffet in the main hall had been cleared away leaving nothing but empty tables. With a wondering glance around the place Chris wondered if the League had a small café or something nearby. She was starving and was desperate for something to eat. Where had the others gone for that drink they were so looking forward to?