((Collab between Letter Bee and Narcissistic Potato))

Cedric Wessex stared at a holographic diagram of Avalon, the impenetrable fortress. It had everything; Mine Fields, Anti-Air Guns, its own Nuclear Reactor, Anti-Meta Weapons, and its own Hydroponic Farm, making it self-sufficient. A self-contained world, it seemed. However, Cedric held that an invincible fortress was only invincible as long as it kept opponents from being too determined to take it; if enough people desired a fortress to fall strongly enough, then it will fall, and he, though only fifteen years old, had the desire to be the architect of said fall. And, in the end, the plan was simple: He and Constantine sneak aboard the FBI Helicopter, and use a combination of their powers to infiltrate; Constantine can decieve even Infrared Cameras, while Cedric, with the right tools, can 'tool' his way past the beams and the pressure sensors.

Now was the time to sneak down below...

"Ruby, can you give us a quick swing of your arms for a second just to calibrate the systems properly." Complying with the operator that was speaking into her headpiece, Ruby swung her arms and shrugged a little before the voice down the line seemed contempt. "Good. Welcome to your new Mk 1 Phoenix Suit. This bad boy should allow you to fall further distances, lift heavy objects without much stress and overall, make your life a little easier." Yawning, Ruby tapped into her helmet's display and fixed some features before she seemed content with everything. She was currently in the back of a helicopter, being flown out into the desert to make sure Gary Stuart wasn't planning any form of infiltration. "Oh and Ruby, try not to punch any of our guys with the gauntlets. The suit is called Phoenix for a particular reason, after all." Smirking behind the mask, she stared at the nervous looking technicians who resided with her in the back of the helicopter.

Within minutes, they were hovering over the super-fortress with some level of clearance, considering the fact that they hadn't been blown out of the sky yet. "Right Ruby, you're going to want to head down into the lower control room and we'll guide you from there. The FBI are currently residing in the upper one with the Colonel so try not to show your face. From there, we'll send you down a few levels to the place we think some guests might rally to. Overwatch out." With that, she stood and descended down the ramp of the helicopter. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to wash out the hair-dye so she wasn't her typical golden-blonde. Getting down to their room took her a few minutes and from there, she was completely bored while waiting for something to happen. The room itself was a strange one - it was large and seemed to look like some sort of set but the lights were down so she had the grace of staying to the shadows.

Constantine knew to walk only where other people walked, so as to avoid the pressure sensors. Cedric, meanwhile, knew how to find out just where people walked in the first place, thanks to his ability to use any tool in existence, including miniature hacker's computers. And, if necessary, he can disable said pressure sensors, as well as the infrared beams, himself. Constantine, meanwhile, deceived the visual and thermal cameras using the best way he knew how - simple invisibility. And so, they snuck down to the room, where, as anticipated, they found the very set where the Voice transmitted his message.

Cedric, despite his inexperience, was careful to scan every shadow for anyone hidden; he wore his own invisiblity suit in order to conserve Constantine's energies, just in case Avalon's vastness caused said energies to run out. Constantine began recording images of the set, while Cedric, Cedric began walking towards one of the shadows, the Shadow Ruby was in.

Things remained normal up until a small voice spoke into her headpiece. "Ruby, we've picked up on someone entering the room with some scanners. Sending information to your HUD now. Deal with them appropriately." The voice spoke and suddenly, her display pulsed with a change in view as the clear outline of a person was shown, the same person who was currently walking towards her. She was the cat though and until the mouse made a move, she was perfectly fine with staying where she was.

Cedric's keen eyes had adapted to the dark, and he can glimpse the feminine curves of the enemy's power armor, as well as took in the advanced schematics. But, the final clue was the luminescence in the eyes, a luminescense that was not hidden by a helmet.

"Hello, Ruby," he spoke, before lying: "I came alone."

Ruby was a lot more intelligent than this boy and the mere fact that he stated he was alone made various alarm bells ring in her head. There was no way he would even be able to get down there without someone else's help. Someone else she knew, of course; she had stuided the government database on the registered heroes in LA and the boy-soldier Cedric was one of the biggest. "And what exactly are you doing here? I thought I blew the whole lot of you up but it appears quite the opposite, really..." She murmured, little to no remorse playing in her voice - she wanted to make him angry, it would display his weaknesses.

"If you are as intelligent as they say you are, you can figure it out," spoke Cedric, contenting himself with a veiled insult. "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, attempted child murder, really? I never knew you can be so callous, but I think I'll take tha as flattery; I'm apparently that big of a threat - I've read my own FBI file. Anyway," he spoke, "so this is the set where the Voice filmed his appearance; was he a Meta himself, or just an actor? You're not in any obligation to answer me, of course, but come on, you have me in your power, why not give in to the urge to gloat?"

She tilted her head to the side, watching him as if he was a child that had discovered something she knew but he thought mysterious and wonderful. Ruby regarded him for a few moments before idly stepping past him, clearly not particularly bothered by any of this. "You can play a violin like Apollo himself and your skills with rifles are noteworthy but don't think you can bypass my mind, that ok, soldier?" She winked softly as her headpiece flicked up, exposing her smirk. "And the illusion of power is a tantalising one indeed but I'll leave that apple for another day." Padding past him, she stepped out onto the set before giving a small twirl, still smirking. "The Voice? You still chasing ghosts? The Voice was a pawn, really and even I have no idea what the next step is. So, are you going to reach for those fully-loaded guns or am I going to have to do that for you?" She murmured, not even looking at him as she stared at the large green-screen.

"I thought you'd never ask - psych!" Cedric shouted as he quickly drew two pistols, one armed with anti-armor bullets, the other armed with inciendaries.

"You know, I feel a lot better with guns pointed at me." Turning, she blinked softly at him before sighing and shaking her head. "I thought you were fortunate, kid, but it appears otherwise. You're a weapon, Cedric, like me and the idiot snooping about thinking he's undetectable. Unlike your friend though, we're intelligent. So, when the revolution comes and I assure you, it will, we'll be the first to go. Until then, they'll squeeze every ounce of use from you. Don't pretend otherwise, I've worked with them, after all. I've seen what they do to unwilling Metas."

"And you don't think what they did to me was bad? They beat up and tasered a little kid, just for being disobedient, before putting said kid through basic training. And, yet, it says somthing about how bad you are, not how idiotic I am, that I still serve them. More to the point, I and Constantine have something that you lack." He then smiled. "You're expecting something trite like Hope, aren't you? No, I have something more concrete; Moderation. As Cicero says: Never go to Excess, let Moderation be your guide."

Her smile faded as he spoke and was replaced by a weathered guise. "You have yet to see my file then? Last I heard, it was highly-classified so that would explain it. Do you know the terror a fourteen-year-old girl might experience when she's forced to work for men who fear her equally as much as they loath her? You're a smart boy, Cedric, think how the neanderthals must have felt like when man appeared? People fear what they can't undersrand and soon, they'll fear you and I. But, I beg you, if you're so desperate to pull those triggers, do try to kill me properly."

"Not everyone fears; not everyone is afraid. We've spent 10,000 years trying to crawl out of the abyss, and I'm not listening to any logic that involves us being thrown back to it. True, Humanity is inherently...flawed, but so are Metas." He then sighed, "I'm angry, you know that? Or rather, I used to be angry. I thought that when I confronted you, I'd be roaring at you, trying to kill you in any way I know how, trying my best to stomp your head in. I did not want you trying to blow me up; I don't want you trying to blow Elena and William up. I didn't even want you trying to blow up even those who beat me up and tasered me," Cedric's voice was going higher now. "I hate you; I want to tear you apart. But, at the same time, I don't want to be angry anymore; if I were to fight you, I want to do so not out of vengance, but rather, because I have to."

"I am not furthering the Cycle of Revenge; I'm not like you," the boy's voice was steely now. And then, he turned away to leave and return back to the helicopter; Constantine in tow.

END

Roze turned to Elijah, her back now on Lighthouse and the kid as she talked to him, volume turned down a notch.
"Elijah, I understand you have no preferences to do work for the Government. I don't either. But it's better than finding ourselves stuck in the pocket of some corporation." She said quietly, then smiled ever so slightly. "And if you're busting for another fight, it sounds like you're going to get one. From what I've heard, Avalon isn't the friendliest of places." She added, then turned back to the kid as he questioned Lighthouse's credibility.
"For all we know, you - or at the very least your employer - could be working for the 'Voice'. At this point, there's not really much room to doubt one another. I want this guy taking down as soon as possible, and this mess to be all cleared up. Metas had enough problems in the world before this TV asshole came out of nowhere." She said to him, then frowned slightly. "What's your name anyways?"

Apparently there were no more gang members, not even any guarding the slaves! While most of them looked scared to see Light, Bio Beast, and the others, Light understood how they felt, but she didn't care much for remissness as she and the others broke the locks and escorted the slaves back to base. It took a bit for Light to notice that one of the slaves was naked, and a couple more to notice that the person wasn't a slave, but apparently one of their allies. "Great... I really need to pay more attention. Either that or I'm getting high off stuff and seeing naked girls. Both are bad." light muttered to herself.

When she got back to base, Light went into a mood, considering where they were. Especially due to the loud sounds coming from above. "So.... Any chance we're going to do something else or something? All I know is you gave one slave special treatment, any reason why?" Light said, irritated.

Constantine, having got back to the base, spoke up:

"Oh, that? Oh, that's because she's related to the Magi, the group guarding the facility we just raided. Her name's Evelyn, and she's related to Hypnos, the S - or was it SS-class Meta who can put people into comas. Evelyn can do much the same, but only under stress, and that was probably why the slavers set so much value on her. As for doing something else, yes, we are going to do something else - seek out the Meta who massacred all those people in the Walt Disney Concert Hall."

Eli couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Avalon? You realize I have a better chance of getting to a non extradition country with my full bank account then getting out of Avalon? Nah... Nah I'm good. I'm much more interested in the employer then I am the government's word. At least this way I stand a fighting chance of getting out. Their half baked, bureaucratic bullshit will get us all killed."

There's was little doubt in in his mind that Light Bright was telling the truth. The kid on the other hand would be to take out if anything were to go wrong. Light Bright had shown his hand and told them all The voice was coming from Avalon. The government knew the voice was coming from Avalon.

the real question now was the Corporation. What did it know and what resources did it have? There were too many question to ask that he had no way of knowing. Eli heads was rampant with ideas of how this could go south. But being in the pocket of big businesses was better than being in Avalon or where the fuck the government could or would send him.

Once they were done with clearing out the club with gang members, John felt sore and wanted a rest a bit so that his healing powers would kick in when he absorbed biological material of an animal. He followed Light and helped escort some of the captives out. He saw the looks of fear that they gave him and for good reason, he was like a monster in many ways.

His eyes went wide with surprise when he saw Val come to meet them completely naked and his powers activated on sheer reaction. His skin grew rows of spikes like some porcupine and his skin turned an actual crimson red.

"Jesus Christ! Get some close you hippie!" he said as he looked away. Some of these heroes were really out there with their costumes or lack of a costume. After they were done with that he followed Light back to the base and heard her and Constantine talk.

"So there's a metahuman who can put people into comas, well I guess that means no more sleeping pills right you guys?" he said with a chuckle. Once he was done with his joke he asked a serious question.

"Do you want us to go and find this girl? Because I am perfectly fine with hunting down the metahuman at the concert hall and making him lose some parts" he said with a serious tone to his voice.

---

the night was very raining as Comrade Saw looked around for his victim who he had been sent to kill. with all of the craziness that has been going on, Nikolai has been very busy as a mercenary.

"Am I going to be the only famous mercenary with powers?" he asked once and he wondered how his mission job turn out.

Curiously looking at the walking cartoon break the lock, Val was just thankful that the would be slaves were walking out. She didn't really care if the girl who broke them out was cartoon looking but she was a touch curious on how that happened. Nevertheless she turned her attention back to making sure that all the people got out of the damned basement before hearing an exclamation of embarrassment. Turning around she found the other wannabe hero bright red and with porcupine spikes. She couldn't help but laughing at seeing this such obvious display of bashfulness.
She actually really needed that laugh and after feeling it come from her she felt herself lighter. She had helped these poor humans from a life of misery and now was a young man was so embarrassed at her that he had to look away.
"Clothes don't seem to like my transformations," She said smiling at him, "but if you're that embarrassed just looking at me, I'll slip into something else."
With simple ease she transformed into a german shepherd in front of Bio beast and Light. It was only with the curiousness of where the slaves were getting taken to did she follow them after. Pleased to see they were going to be taken care off, she found herself following the two to a brothel house. She couldn't help but give a little dog laugh when she saw that the poor embarrassed kid was heading towards somewhere were quite a lot of naked bodies would be. Nevertheless she followed them to a man, her curiousness getting the better of her as well as the fact that she didn't exactly have anywhere to go or do at the moment.

"Great... so I wasn't seeing things. Wonderful." Light mumbled to herself at the German Shepard girl in the room, knowing that said person could transform into much of anything, usually without cloths. That fact didn't bother Light all that much, instead she was more worried about the shape-shifting bits. Light then remembered Bio's reaction to seeing that girl naked and laughed to herself, thinking why he hasn't had such a reaction to herself as of yet.

Light heard Constantine mention the metas that could put people into comas, then heard bio Beast's joke, and laughed. "Well, send me after those enemies then. Stuff like that doesn't work on me for very long. Nothing does, really." She said with a smirk, then a sigh.

Wanting to get out of the base, Light also volunteered for the next mission along with Bio Beast. getting more expressive when the sounds above got louder and louder as the patrons came in for their pleasure time.

Loki got up in his bed and yawned, like he did every morning. However, he noticed as he looked over to his alarm clock that he had woken an hour earlier than he usually did. Curious, he looked around to see as to what had woken up from his nap. His phone had a message on it. Loki debated looking at the message but tossed it back on the bed and got up, stretching. Food before messages was Loki’s philosophy. And before food, he had to look presentable, and before that he had to take a shower.

A quick shower and change of clothes later, Loki looked in his pantry and took out the open box of lucky charms which was next to the other 2 unopened boxes of lucky charms. He set it down on his dining table and picked a banana out of the fruit bowl. Got to have some potassium. After all, if he didn’t he would probably die of malnutrition or something. Moving to the kitchen bench, he grabbed a bowl and a knife and chopped some bananas into it, humming the bananas in pyjamas theme song. That done, Loki left the knife in the sink and got the milk out of the fridge. He also grabbed the sugar from the bench and balanced a spoon on his nose, walking to the dining table.

He set down the milk and the bowl and took the spoon from his nose. He took his lucky charms and poured the sugary death-in-the-guise-of-cereal that was lucky charms outside of the cardboard packaging. That done, Loki added a spoon full of sugar and added the milk. Loki stirred the unholy mix thoughtfully. He walked to the pantry and came back with dried apricots which he dropped into the cereal mixture. He then sat down and began eating his ‘breakfast’ happily. Today was a free day for him after a successful movie recording. The movie was just about done and what better way to unwind than with a bowl of what resulted to pure sugar and diabetes? Loki would never get diabetes though, his metabolism ensured that.

Loki turned on the TV and flicked through the channels. Something about meta human terrorism at some park, meta terrorism in a square, normal people dying in Disney? Did Disney finally walk the dark path of live action realism? Whatever the case, Loki didn’t care. Finding nothing interesting in the afternoon television, Loki flicked to re-runs and a familiar song started playing. Loki smiled, chewing his breakfast as the smiling blue locomotive had an adventure involving other trains, some of which didn’t smile.

Loki finished the cereal as the episode ended and he began washing the dishes. He whistled peacefully as he went. It was a relaxing day without work, which was rare for an actor like Loki. But as peaceful as he was, he was forgetting something. Something that was probably important.

Loki finished washing up and wandered his apartment, trying to figure out what it was. He saw his phone. That was it! He’d stayed up last night to 3:00 AM playing angry birds before a combination of sleep deprivation and work exhaustion forced him to stay his hand from delivering his vengeance against those bastard pigs. Loki dived onto the bed and grabbed his phone, ready to resume his bloody campaign against the dastardly swine and noticed that he had 5 messages. Loki checked the messages. The first 2 were from the movie people he was working with about how they wanted to thank him.
“Whatever.” Loki said as he promptly closed his messages ignoring the other 3 and opened angry birds. He would enact his vengeance.

An hour later, Loki beat the game. Loki let out a whoop of victory, having finished all the levels to their best completion. He felt ridiculously proud for having achieved pretty much nothing. Nevertheless, he was happy about it. Happy enough to check his messages. He checked them again and this time, he had 10 unread messages. The first 7 were job offers for acting, the next 2 were ones he hadn’t read from his previous job thanking him and the last one was kind of weird.
“Meet me in the café facing your apartment in 2 hours. Job offer, large payout. –A friend.” Loki read aloud.
While the message was odd, there was only one part that worried Loki. It wasn’t really part of the message, but it worried Loki nonetheless. He really hoped it was some glitch but he was sure it wasn’t. At the bottom of the message, not a part of the message itself was some text in italics: received 2 hours ago. Loki stared at it for a while. Then he shrugged. Better late than never, after all.
“Looks like it’s time to change.” Loki said to himself.
He didn’t exactly want another job so soon, but it might be interesting.

20 minutes later, Loki emerged from the apartment block and crossed the road to the café. Who was he looking for, anyway? Not that it mattered. Loki waved to some people around the street he kind of knew as he went inside the café.
“Hey Lil!” Loki called to the first waitress he saw.
“Hello Loki.” Lily said, smiling as she put the customer’s drink down. “Will it be the usual?” She asked.
“You know it.” Loki grinned.
“Owner, Loki’s here!” Lily called as she walked into the kitchen.
“Hey Loki! You don’t come here as often as you used to!” A bearded man said, grinning as he emerged from the kitchen to the counter.
“I just had a job recently, but I finished it yesterday.” Loki said to him, walking up to the counter. “Gotta tell you, it was a lot of work.”
“Makes me glad I just own a coffee shop.” The bearded man said.
“I know, right?” Loki laughed.
“Here you go!” Lily said, walking out of the kitchen tray in hand.
On the tray was a cup of steaming hot chocolate, Loki style. Extra chocolate and sugar with a marshmallow.
“Thanks, Lil!” Loki said, taking the cup.
“So what’re you here for today? Just in the mood for a cup of hot chocolate?”
“Nope,” Loki said, taking a sip. “But it’s nice enough to make a trip for, as always.” Loki smiled.
“You flatter me.” The owner grinned.
Loki chuckled.
“In all seriousness, I’m here to meet someone. Probably a client.” He said.
“Hoping for a nice lady so you can hit it up with her?” The owner Joked.
“Maybe.” Loki laughed. “Thanks for the chocolate.” He said, giving him the $2.50.
“Come back more often! You’re my favourite customer!” Owner said.
“Will do.” Loki smiled as he walked out of the shop. He took a seat at a table near the entrance of the shop and waited, sipping his chocolate occasionally.

He shouldn’t have to wait long, as he was late. Well, he just had to wait. People who contacted him usually did the approaching, after all. Even though he should really be more concerned than he was considering that he didn’t know who wanted his services or how they got his number, but it wasn’t exactly like he intentionally hid his contact information, he just never really gave it out unless it mattered. So, assuming they got it, they would know what he looked like. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know what kind of job it was either. Did they want him as a mercenary or as an actor? Loki shrugged and sipped his hot chocolate. They would make their presence known soon.

Live Another Day

It took a surge of incoherent babbling, filled with a load of curse words for Alec to realize he no longer had any business being in that apartment. His initial idea was to get Nightingale back, kill Elijah and work his way from there. But after a careful study, he came to the conclusion the two had developed a type of closeness, not a romantic one per say but a close friendship, and it wasn't far fetched to assume that friendship would eventually metamorphose into something else. Even though they both followed different ideologies, Roze was willing to follow Vesuvius to hell and back. On the other hand, the former soldier wasn't quite sure which side Captain Hook Jr. would take, but bearing in mind that he was already doubting his words, he'd probably also turn against him. Three metas against one, two of them A ranked - that's nowhere near fair. The good news was he spared his MSP devices. They'd sure come in handy later.

"Well, I'm out of here", Alec spoke, making his way towards the door before stopping to throw a glance at the trio. "You guys are clearly too dense for your own good." As he descended down the stairs, he found it odd that Elijah couldn't make a connection. How come he didn't realize that whichever corporation employed Cap. Hook had ties with the government? That would be the only logical explanation as to how the government was notified of Avalon. Maybe he just held him too high, maybe the fire guy was a redneck after all. At this point, it didn't matter. He stepped in the car, but left the door open to deliver one last message. "Oh, and kid, if you doubt my words, you can ask your employer to check the registry. I'm pretty sure they have access to it."

"Hey, that was rude." Alto said to the retreating figure of black-ops guy. Well, I kinda get that though.

Alto was pretty sure any normal person would've left like he did. It was almost a bad drama or something But they were metas, and the point emphasized above all other points, was that metas were different. 'Metas aren't normal' was the message that had started all of this in the first place.

Well, I guess some of us are kinda normal. He thought, looking back at the remaining duo. Yeah.

Alto sighed a little. It was kind of nice having a super serious guy around to annoy, but the problem with them was they left sometimes.

"Well, don't know why that guy left but since he's gone, I may as well tell you what I was supposed to tell you." He said.

"As black-ops guy said, the broadcast signal originated from Avalon, and my employer needs some extra fire-power to help find him. My employer's StuCorp, that big electronics mega-corporation and they're working in tandem with the FBI."

He finally did what he had actually come here for, it'd taken some time but it showed some good results. The future promised to be interesting. Putting his hands behind his head and lacing his fingers together, he leaned back and sighed.

"Truth be told, there's still a minuscule chance that my employer really is working for the voice, and so is the FBI and the message is a massive government conspiracy but I don't care too much about that as long as it promises to be interesting." He said, a wistful look on his face. "My name's Alto, my alias is Bio-Weapon."

Eli watched Light Bright walk out the door. Knowing full well it was not over between them. That was his problem for down the road. His problem right now was Roze. He had to figure the right way to tell her he had a plan, without having a plan.

This was out of his wheel house, he wasn't a planner or a schemer. He was a doer, pure and simple. He always went with his gut and never thought twice about it. He was right more often than not and he knew with out a doubt he and Alec weren't done yet. His gut told him that the Stucorp or whatever was the right way to go. It was safer right now, smarter right now. Plus anything to get above the government was a good idea.

"Roze that guy his here for you and I get that truck he will at the least try to kill me. You might be fine, but my gut says this Stucorp deal is the way to go. After a few days, we can rethink things but right this is the safest bet. Plus that guy told is all we needed to know. Stuwhatever might more information, its worth looking into.... Shit... You don't like it I'll walk you to the nearest FBI safe house I know of." If nothing else he was being honest and sincere.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Mass City))

The encounter with Ruby, especially with his decision to let the latter go, had been exhausting for Cedric. But, he resisted the urge to sleep as he and Constantine made themselves comfortable in the helicopter. Instead, after he carefully swept himself for bugs, he handed Constantine's camera to Elena, and spoke:

"We discovered the set where the Voice came from. It is in Avalon, although we didn't discover the Voice himself. What shall we do with this information, Elena?" the boy implored in his tired voice.

"I will tell my bosses to get more agents to Avalon and possibly additional military forces there. Mister Taylor will be upset when he finds out the president has voted down his offer. But all I can do is report it came from Avalon and tell them that the facility needs closer attention." Replied the FBI woman.

Cedric nodded, and then went to sleep, he and Constantine leaning against one another, looking all the while like one of those cute Anime scenes.

Elena went to her laptop and began to write her report.

Several Hours Later

Cedric woke up at the landing site, and he allowed Elena to drive him and Constatine home to their apartment, where Constantine was now staying. Once they arrived, Cedric spoke:

"So, who gets to cook dinner? Me, you, or Constantine?" he asked Elena.

"I am, we are having a family recipe." Both Cedric and Constatine would pale; Reyes family recipes meant exteremly spicey.

Both shuddered, and Constantine almost thought about just eating his own dinner, but was shut up by a glare from Cedric, who, although he didn't like spicy foods, did not want to snub Elena for obvious reasons.

"That sounds great," Cedric smiled, while Constantine openly blanched, causing Cedric to stomp on the other guy's foot; he was protective of Elena's feelings.

Elena smiled, "Queso blanco for everyone!"

Elena ran off to get ingridents and to start prepatory measures.

Cedric's smile was now genuine; spicy or not, he loved cheese, while Constantine felt a little calmer now; cheese wasn't that bad. He then, out of impulse, ruffled Cedric's head again, causing the boy to speak:

"What was that for?!"

"That was for being a level-headed little trooper," answered Constantine. "I know it must have been hard for you, the mission and its conclusion, but, you managed it. Also, it's because you're acting like a normal child now, at least, as far as I can see it."

"Now who hid my secret spice jar!" questioned Elena.

"Consty did it!" spoke Cedric, coming to his conclusion due to the fact that Constantine was the only suspect.

"Oh, sure, blame the Illusionist," spoke Constantine, before his image vanished from the table; it was a little game they all played - Constantine hid the secret spice jar, and Cedric found it. But now, where was it hid?

"He can't hide it's smell, never has." Reyes smiled.

And, sure enough, Cedric found the jar in a few seconds; it was behind the cupboard. He then spoke, as he handed over the jar to Elena:

"You know, I've been cooking my own meals for a long time, even back...then," spoke Cedric. "Before my parents sold me to you guys, they shipped me off to music school, leaving me, well, alone for a long time. Not very healthy for a kid." He then sighed, why were these words coming out of his mouth? "Never wanted that, never needed it. That said, though, it seems that there are some upsides; I've never been disowned, so I still have access to my trust fund."

"Well in case you are "cured" they thought it was foolish to leave you to the elements."

Elena's phone rang but she hung up. Not answering the call.

"Another difference between me and them; I don't want to be cured, despite the trouble my powers caused me," spoke Cedric, "and what was that?"

"Don't know the number." Elena shrugged. "It's Virginia area but it can't be important."

"I think we should still answer it," spoke Constantine. "But if you don't want to, well, can you please give me the phone?"

"Sure." Elena handed Constantine the phone.

"Hello, who is this?" the veteran agent answered in a suspicious voice.

"This is Davis Lawton, who the hell is this?" replied the angry Presidential aide.

"Ah, Mr. Davis! This is Constantine Ramiel King, FBI Agent. I'll allow you to speak with Elena right now!" He then handed over the phone to Elena, who, having heard Constantine shout out 'Mr. Davis', would know where it's from.

Elena grabbed the phone from Constantine. "Mister Lawton?"

"Ah Miss Reyes. I have talked to your boss at the FBI and AG Milner. We both agree that you will head the investigation but the military will be in charge of law enforcement in LA. You will be working with General Clairmont. The President will be making a speech tonight stating that this response to the crisis is what the federal government must do. Now I want to ensure that you told Taylor he won't get his support from us in the White House for any PMC action."

"Yes sir." she told the chief of staff. She told his aides but not Taylor directly. "He can sit and sulk all he wants this is time for a military action. Not for a wall street wannabe."

"Exactly." replied the White House man.

"The President will ensure we are safe. But Agent Reyes. Fail, and I will remove you from the case and the FBI."

"Yes sir!." Elena shook nervously.

"Good bye Agent." with that the call ended. Elena sat down and put her head in her hands.

"What happened?!" shouted Cedric as he ran up to Elena, now concerned.

"I was warned failure is not an option by the right hand of the President."

"I see," spoke Cedric in a small voice. "Well, I'm doing my best, for you." Constantine made his own affirmation, saying:

"And I'm going to fight, too; there's a certain Light-using Meta who has to pay."

END

After being given some time to rest, new orders would come to Light and Bio-Beast, as well as Pamela, Abigail, and Dean (the German Shepherd they brought back was of no importance to the new mission). Either way, the new objectives would be this: To seek out information from three Mafia Families: the Gambinos, the Cohens, and the remains of the Los Angeles Crime Family. The reason for even attempting to attack these organized crime families was because Constantine had recieved a new tip: that the Light-Using Meta they were pursuing had links to organized crime. And so, the group had a few choices: split up and attack each family in teams of two (or, in Dean's case, a team of one)...

...Group themselves together and attack each Family one by one, or just select one Mafia Family and leave the others alone.

((Collab between NarcissisticPotato and LordSanta))

Tardiness was inefficient and as far as Ruby was concerned, it was a rather bad start for the Merc. Like it or not, however, there wasn't a lot of illusion Metas out there and she had snagged an experienced one, from the sounds of it. She already had read through his file so when he came sauntering through the door and placed his order, she already knew who he was. When he did finally shut up and take a seat, she rose slowly and padded over to his table before sitting down opposite him. "You're late." Was all she mentioned, folding her arms a little.

Scarlett, unlike the other recruit, had actually arrived on time. She was apparently going to be offered a lot of money so she made sure to keep some level of professionalism: for the first time in a while, she was wearing normal clothes outside of her house. It felt weird. When the brunette she had identified as the employer rose, Scarlett followed her lead and got up before sliding down beside Loki. "Y'ello!"

"Hi." Loki said casually to the girl who sat down next to him. Who was she? He didn't know. But hey, first impressions count for a lot. Granted, being late wasn't the best impression to an employer. Speaking of employers, his potential employer was apparently in front of him.
"Yeah, sorry I'm late." Loki told her with a stupid grin . He picked up his cup and sipped his drink while pulling out his phone.
"Stayed all night playing angry birds." He said, putting the phone down on the table. "And all morning, too."

Ruby quirked a small eyebrow - so far, this contact wasn't exactly the most professional person she had ever met. Scarlett was a little childish but she didn't let that get in the way of work. "Mr Ragnarok, maybe I didn't make myself awfully clear when I left that message for you. I will give you one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars now and another one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars when the job is completed. You will have all the time in the world to play Angry Birds, but now I need you to be a little professional and hear me out. Ok?"

"I already finished angry birds, you know." Loki said. "And that is an awful lot of money, I'm interested in what requires that much money."

Scarlett wanted to test the waters with her new partner though and, upon eyeing his hot-chocolate, she grinned softly before turning and analyzing him quickly. He seemed casual, even a little uncaring but there was definitely a way to break through that shell. Shifting a little closer to him in the seat, she made a small show of brushing her hair down over one shoulder before she turned to him, eyes shining and eyelashes blinking innocently. "Could I have your hot-chocolate?" She inquired, her voice small - she didn't want others overhearing and falling under the power of her words; she only wanted his drink.

"Oh, I forgot." Loki said. "I'm being rude to guests!"
This was a cafe, and he was meeting people. Prospective employers at that. The first thing he should do is treat them to something.
"Do you guys want cake? I kind of want some cake." He said to them.
"And here." Loki said, offering his cup to the girl next to him. "Have some. I can guarantee the taste."

"I'd love to, but with Aperture, I'm a little caked-out right about now but thank you for the offer." Ruby answered, pulling her phone out before she set it down on the table. "Listen, I need you two to help me with a very dangerous mission. Your safety is guaranteed but I cannot determine if in the eventuality of failure, you will not be caught by the authorities. If you do accept the job, you'll receive the money and an opportunity to become a mercenary for Aperture, which has too many benefits to list." She murmured, giving a shake of her head to Scarlett who was slurping on the hot chocolate and giggling. "This is Scarlett, she's a mercenary we've known for a while. Her abilities are to engineer dreams that she can use freely and to charm individuals of her choosing, typically males who find it very hard to resist her. She just gave you an example of her powers."

Scarlett giggled brightly and gave him an innocent wink as she curled her feet up onto the chair and drunk his hot chocolate. "Sorry! I just wanted to test you! No hard feelings, right?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Loki replied.
Giving Scarlett his hot chocolate was probably better for his health so it really was fine. He didn't want diabetes, after all. That said, he was here for a job.

The young girl in front of him had told him it was going to be dangerous, right? That was good, it made jobs fun. 1 point in the job's favour. She also said that his safety was guaranteed, and that if they failed, he wouldn't be caught by the authorities. Which was kind of a half point in its favour. Good you wouldn't get caught, but the risk of getting caught added thrill. And then there was something about money and the opportunity to become a mercenary for Aperture, which he didn't care about at all. It's not like he didn't have a lot of money lying around, because he did. He never spent it on anything other than spare clothes and lucky charms food, and acting was a high paying job. Well, he didn't have a job right now but that wasn't exactly important. In fact, a long term contract in acting had just ended, and it's not like he had anything better to do.

"Well, I'm kind of bored anyway so I'll accept the job." Loki said. His mind had been made a little while ago anyway. If this job didn't pop up, he would probably just go to disneyland or something. There was something else, however. Something important.
"One thing, though." Loki said. "In the text you sent me, you signed it off as a friend, but I'm pretty sure I've never met you before, so I'm really sorry if I actually have met you before and I forgot about you. That said, I think I would've remembered being friends with someone around 8 years younger than me... Anyway, you're either not really my friend or I forgot about you. Not that it matters, but it's kind of important. And sorry if I forgot."

Ruby smiled softly, turning elegantly in her seat before sliding to her feet. "We'll be in contact, Mr Ragnarok." His next question caught her off though and she involuntarily frowned before shrugging. "Well, I suppose strangers are just friends you have yet to meet, as the saying would have it. I have been watching you, Loki. You're very powerful and I am interested in seeing what you can do for us." While they were speaking, Scarlett had drained the rest of the hot chocolate and looked set for another. "You won't regret this, I assure you. There is quite a number of perks. Any girl you want, new tech or maybe even a change of housing? I'm not available but I'm pretty sure Scarlett wouldn't mind too much."

Scarlett frowned upon hearing her name and turned towards Ruby who was smirking brightly. "Huh?"

"Don't worry about it. Also, Loki, could you make sure she doesn't do something stupid. You two are partners now and like it or not, you are both responsible for your safety." Nodding to them quickly, Ruby turned and left the cosy little cafe.

"Hey, hold on." Loki said. "When are we supposed to be doing whatever it is? You haven't really told me much of anything about the job itself!"
Too late, she had already left the cafe.
Loki looked after her and shrugged. Oh well. He had a job now, and he was assuming they would contact him when necessary. With that done, all that was left was niceties.
"Well," Loki said, getting out of his chair. "Nice to meet you Scarlett. You can call me Loki." He said, offering his hand for a handshake.

"Hi Loki! It's Scarlett but you already know that so... yeah. My alias is Sweet Dream if you need to know." She added with a curt nod. "Also, this is probably a bit of a weird request but I need to get you home and asleep! If we're going to work together, you have to understand how my powers work and that extends to dreams.I know it's weird but trust me, I'll just be heading into your mind and taking a quick poke around!"

"Alright, that sounds... Kind of weird, actually. But a good kind of weird, not a bad weird." Loki said, picking up his phone.
"I don't really have anything to hide, though. My apartment is just over there." He said, pointing to the opposite side of the road. "But hold on a sec, let me grab some cookies."

Loki went back into the shop for to buy cookies and say some goodbyes.
"Hey owner, a bag of cookies to go please." Loki said, walking up to the counter.
"Hey, Loki. Done chatting up women?" The owner replied with a sly grin.
"I got a new Job." Loki said, returning the grin. "Don't think I'll be back for a while."
"That's a shame. You're our favourite customer!" The owner said.
"Does that mean you're giving me a discount?" Loki asked cheekily.
"Heh. Don't count on it." The owner said, giving him the bag of cookies.
"Thanks, old man." Loki said cheerfully, giving him the money and walking away.
"Come back soon, okay?" The owner replied.
"Will do." Loki said, waving goodbye as he walked away.

Exiting the shop, Loki felt as if he wouldn't be back for quite some time. A long, long time. Well, it didn't really matter in the end. If he got back one day that would be enough. He soon arrived to where Scarlett was waiting.
"Sorry for the wait." Loki said, mouth full of cookie. "Let's go."

Although still tempted to join Lighthouse, Roze didn't follow him outside, instead lingering within with Elijah and Alto.
"You don't like it I'll walk you to the nearest FBI safe house I know of." She couldn't help but grin at that offer, finally relaxing somewhat as she turned back to Elijah.
"Yeah, that won't be necessary, hot-stuff. There's no way I'm not taking part in this Avalon trip." She said, then her eyes darted towards the kid. She'd vaguely heard of Stucorp somewhere in the past, although couldn't recall what exactly it did. Whatever it was, it must have been gnarly enough to meddle with Metas.
So... not a cupcake distributor.
"However, if we happen to run into Lighthouse - or any other government friendly - at this place, I don't want fights breaking out. I, unlike you, are still on somewhat good terms with the government, which means I, unlike you, can still perhaps get us both home free without a prison sentence once this is all over." she said, placing one hand on her hip, smiling at Elijah. "So play nice, ardente."

After the Rapid Response Force were briefed on their mission, they would have some time to talk about it...before they were interrupted again; Constantine was calling a second time.

"Change of plans; apparently, StuCorp, as well as our remaining supporters, don't want you guys locked out of the loop. So, before you depart on your mission, I'm going to have to issue, and host, a web-conference to coordinate our efforts better. So, use your new smartphones and turn on the Webcams; we're going to talk to the other Heroes...and some Not-Heroes."

StuCorp

Now that Alto, Elijah, and Roze were safe in StuCorp, Gary Stuart was showing them, and Cypress, the Security Room where Ghost, Bloodrune, and Plantmaster usually met. The latter three were watching Elijah like a hawk, but made no hostile moves. Nevertheless, the point was that Gary was showing the group several new computers, each equipped with encryptors and a program that would mask their image, making them look like whatever they wanted.

"It's time to bring you guys, as well as some new people, into the loop." He then turned on the computers via remote, connecting them to the Rapid Response Force (Light, Bio-Beast, Abigail, Dean, and Pamela). Gary then continued:

"Rapid Response Force, this is StuCorp; StuCorp, this is the Rapid Response Force. The two groups of us are here today to make sure each other are in the loop, and that we would be able to fight back against the forces threatening us all. Now, to lay out what we know."

"The signal that sparked the riots came from Avalon, a prison 'outsourced' by the Government to Aperture Tech. This is further confirmed by the fact that, on the first successful infiltration of Avalon in, well, ever, the set where 'The Voice' spoke was found in that same prison. We also know that Ruby, a technopath captured by Aperture, was seen in that Prison, as a free woman. Also, how do I put this? She tried to infiltrate StuCorp, but, in order to spare my workers and prevent them from being collateral damage, I had to let her go; I can't risk another FBI Building."

"Either way," he continued, "the fact of the matter is that our various missions, as well as the Army's intervention, had bought us some time, time that we will need. Our agenda now is to focus on how best to spend that time."

Light listened to her new orders, dropping her perpetration for the previous missions, having stored a map and some other small tools into her hammer space under her dress. She listened intently as apparently things had gotten serious at another location, and a lot of weird names were said as if Light was supposed to know what thye meant. She assumed they were big names though, so she made a note to remember them.

She looked at the others on the screen, and didn't know any of them. Light gave a friendly wave at them as Constantine gave his report.

When a suggestion was asked, Light said."Well... if this Avalon thing is causing riots out in the streets due to telepaths, or technopaths or... whatever, why not just raid or blow it up? Problem solved." She then scratched her head and mentioned "Though I don't know what Avalon or Aperture are."

John paid attention to Gary's little briefing on their mission and wondered how much action they would get to see in this mission. He wondered how the government would play into this, with all of the anti metahuman feelings on the rise it would seem that the last thing that they would need would be to have the government against them because then it would only be a matter of time before they became wanted criminals and hunted down mercilessly.

"My question is, is the government on our side?" he asked Gary, wanting to hear his answer.

---

Nikolai had killed his targets and was now leaving the area before the authorities came. He wondered what his next job would be and he eventually reported to the boss that hired him for the assassination that he had just completed. He didn't know the man's name, but he had a good amount of money to offer Nikolai for his services. Once at the man's place of business, he talked to him about assigning him to another job and Nikolai was curious.

"What kind of job do you have in mind?" he asked the man curiously.

"There seem to be Metahumans who are working together and they may pose a threat to my line of business so I want you to find them and if my suspicions are true then I would like you to deal with them, can I count on you Comrade Saw?" the man said to Nikolai.

"Yes sir, but there is a matter of price since since our agreement only counted for the job that I just completed" Nikolai told him.

"Of course, if you do this job then I will pay you very handsomely Nikolai" he said to him with a calm and calculating voice.

"In that case I am yours just tell me where to go and I'll go do my job" Nikolai replied.

"Excellent, I do not know where you can find the metahumans, but you can start by looking somewhere in this city" the man said to him and Nikolai nodded understanding and left the office to go do his job. So now he was on the hunt for metahumans, this would be a good challenge for him and of course he would get to try out some of his new designs for his deadly sawblades.

"The Government is split," spoke Gary to Bio-Beast. "Some of it is for us, some of it is against us. Right now, we're at an impasse, and every wrong move we take can be our end. As for Aperture and Avalon, well, the first one is a major corporation, equal if not more powerful than mine, which specializes in technology, more specifically, high-end cybernetics, as well as weapons, many of them Anti-Metahuman. Avalon is a prison they run for the Anti-Metahuman factions in the Government, the largest and most fortified privatized prison in US History. It is equipped with AA Guns, Minefields, Shields, Lasers, and scanning equipment; the only reason we were able to infiltrate it was a combination of giving a favor to the President's Chief of Staff, and two powers that work in tandem."

Speaking of those two powers, Cedric was not part of the conference, and neither was Constantine after he begun it. Rather, the two were eating Elena's spicy food.

"Anyway," spoke Gary, "raiding it or blowing it up, it's something that requires a master plan, and that is where you guys, as well as my guys here, come in. We need to develop a plan."

---

Nikolai, if he chased rumors, would find two targets: One was StuCorp, which would be too high-profile, and the other was a whorehouse that the StuCorp Building was sending encrypted signals to.