[b] The Meet [/b] 

The movers and shakers kept talking while Fontana whispered at them, his hands beginning to hover near the inside of his jacket, "Yeah, and there's a lot of guys to walk out. I need you two to get some guys and-" suddenly the fragile and tense atmosphere was shattered into a million pieces. The first round, fired by a red-faced and cursing Russian thug splattered his rivals brains all over the back wall. It wouldn't be the first. Those with faster draws drew their weapons as the room burst into chaos and noise. 

Fontana cursed and pulled Marconi under the table while La Sombra and music drew pistols. Dozer shoved Donovan behind his massive back, Maine ducked under the table, and El Rey smiled as he drew his own weapons. Sides were chosen instantly, mainly based on prior alliances or rivalries. The room was rent by the sound of gunfire as rounds were pumped in all directions. Blood flew everywhere. It spattered the walls, the table, other gangsters. Men dropped like flies as every grudge between every gang suddenly burst to the surface.

Fontana shouted and the Outfit began firing while their high-powered allies did the same, the coalition of leaders banding together against the random violence. There had been hundreds of men in this room and already dozens were dead. Over the thunder of gunfire, outside other gangsters took up a fight, the Witchfinder making his presence known with his fifty caliber rifle. Several of Argus's men had been killed but the rest maintained discipline and fired back at the aggressors around them while the man himself kept his head down. 

The Dungeon Master's Elf had been ventilated and the Archer had managed to down several men before choking from a bullet in his neck. The man himself was under a shield cast by the Mage along with his Knight. The Iranians turned on everyone and they flashed through t crowd, tearing and ripping with inhuman strength and speed. Hailstorm shoved the frozen statue of a man into the ground and kept firing torrents of ice while Dozer wrapped Christian in his arms and shielded her against the rounds, charging through the hole in the wall he'd made to safety.

And it seemed there had been more metas present than previously thought. Several of the street gangs had a super or two with them and soon enough fireballs, lightning bolts, ice spikes, and more flew through the air along with bullets. One such Meta spotted Marconi and jumped on the table and flashed towards him in blinding speed. He was no Nitrous but he was faster than any normal man could have followed, a knife flashed in his hand and several men were choking on blood as he slashed throats while running at Marconi. Another man took off his sunglasses and his eyes gleamed red before scything through a whole swatch of Yakuza gangsters. He then turned his gaze towards Argus and his men. 

[b] The Hall [/b] 

Apogee hugged Volt back and squeezed. Though she did so lightly, he would definitely feel the world's strongest girl wrapping her arms around him. Her sobs continued for several minutes, her tears flowing freely down her face. Gradually the tears decreased in intensity and volume until finally she only sniffled and before long those abated as well. She still held him however. She was much much stronger than Volt but shorter and her wet eyes looked up at his, "Thank You." Her eyes flashed red and they were suddenly dry. After a few more moments she withdrew the hug, leaving Volt somewhat sore. She looked at the ruined punching bags and said, "I want to get away from her for a little. I don't care where, just away for a bit. Will you join me?" 
You
Styx smiled and leaned back in her chair, "We all serve a master. A dark warlock of extreme power. I know not what his name is or even what he truly looks like. But I have felt his power. He is one of the most powerful mages alive. He calls himself the Ascendant. His base of operations is not truly known to us. The way to it is forever changing and the location itself is warded like noting else I have ever seen. We see him when he wishes it and no doubt he knows now that I am captured. You met him before when you stopped that silly Sarin and her gang in the bank." No doubt Sonja still remembered Bouncer's voice changing to that of some demonic monstrosity while her eyes gleamed blood red, no doubt she remembered the mental presence of something that was dark and powerful like nothing she had ever quite felt in a mortal. 

Styx smiled, "Your pet Magus would be no match for him. Indeed even your Elder Mages would be hard-pressed against him. But there is another. A woman in red who is almost always by his side. An enchantress and a witch you may know as Desdemona." Desdemona was an infamous witch among the magic community. She seemed to be a young and beautiful pale brunette in her twenties but she had been alive since the mid 1600s. Mages were commonly long-lived but they still age visibly. Not so with Desdemona.

Desdemona had once been a respected Mage and member of the Fellowship of Sorcery, a member with promise whose achievements and work made great leaps and bounds in arcane theory and study. However as the centuries passed Desdemona's beauty began to slowly fade as wrinkles grey hair started to appear more and more. The vain Desdemona in the later years had become obsessed with remaining eternally young. She shunned every other pursuit to follow her obsession and it ostracized her from her fellow Sorcerers until finally in the 1970s she found the answer. 

She drained the life force of young, beautiful girls until they were withered husks. She shared the secret with several others and they began abducting scores of young women for their purpose. Finally they had been discovered by the Magus after they went so far as to enslave an entire remote village in the English country side. Every single member of her little following soon lost their head save their leader who lead the Magus on a case across the sea and through the vastness of America, costing a half-dozen Magus their lives along with several innocents as she "feed". 

She had run into South America and there she had been lost by the Magus. It was assumed she had died there, the victim of either a mundane crime boss, the jungle, or even another supernatural predator. Her work remained influential but she was never spoken of again except as a cautionary tale to acolytes of the dangers of forbidden research. And now she has resurfaced. Styx said, "Desdemona is his right hand. She is the one who gives us most of our instructions. And I know where to find her. She found a lair in the Spirit Realm where she conducts her research and gathers strength to the Ascendant's cause. Ogres, ghouls, vampires, and darker things. To enter you need to find the link in the mortal plane and open a rift," she smiled again, "The link is at the bottom of Lake Michigan."

Villa finally broke. She gritted her teeth and said, "Fine. I want to cut a deal. Keep me out of the damn box." Vigilance said, "Depends on what you give us." Villa spit and stared at Morningstar, "What do you want to know?"