Insomnium Insomnium scowled at the tiny toon as she came to break up the fight, who the hell did she think she was?!?! 'Like I'm going to stop this fight just because she said so, she isn't the boss of me.' Insomnium looked back at the arena, ready to make the Tin-man eat his words, when he heard the his text alert ring out. "Dammit, this better be important!" He muttered to himself as he zipped through the tendrils, into the arena, then exited through one of the support pillars. Once he was out, he took one look up to see if the bot was still doing his laser tornado thing, which was admittedly rather awesome, before he pulled out his phone and checked his text. Apparently, his actual boss had a job for him, which meant one of two things, either he was going to do a boring mission involving stealth, or he was going to be the muscle in some kind of operation. Insomnium took a second to ponder what he should do, but decided in the end to just do the job. It could be fun, and he would wreck this city block fighting Tin-man and Toon girl. Still, before he left, he had to get the last shot in. And he was going to make it a good one. Placing his hand on the structure, he destabilized it in such a way so that the whole think would violently disperse into a cloud of shadow, something that would probably stop Tin-man little light show. The shadows were harmless, byt offered almost no visibility, and allowed Insomnium to make his escape into a nearby alleyway. Once in, he dispersed his armor and snapped his fingers, causing the shadows to near instantaneously contract on Overdrive, placing him in the center of a solid sphere of shadow. The outside was smooth and shiny, but it suddenly cracked and from the cracks, intense red energy could be seen. "Boom." The energy exploded violently, and was only barely contained by the outer layer of the sphere, keeping any of the energy from escaping outward and rebounding it back to the center till ut burnt itself out. If Overdrive had been caught inside of the sphere, he wouldn't be walking away from that without a scratch. Not staying to see if his attack had hit or not, he quickly left the scene through the alleyways, the remnants of his shadows fading into oblivion when he got far enough away. (Time-Skip) Insomnium walked into the room where Alto and his crew were, in his and Damien's usual casual wear of windbreaker jacket with a black tee shirt underneath, some worn blue jeans, and dark red sneakers. His black hair was messy and his blue eyes were mischievous. "So, what's the emergency. I assume since little Seffy's here, this isn't just a run of the mill mission, huh?" Insomnium gave a little stretch before he sat down on the couch, reclining slightly as he did so. "I was busy fightning some new Meta fighting Robo-cop when you called, if you were wondering, and it was just getting good when you called and your toon friend came out of nowhere to stop the fight, I decided to stop before I wreck something. I did manage to leave the bot a little parting gift before left." Insomnium chuckled tio himself a bit. "It should be fine, I didn't go full-out with it, so he should just be decently banged up, at the very least." Jaden "Thank you, keeping my speech elegant is actually quite important to my sanity, you see. Helps keep my. . . baser instincts from coming to the fore. As for the waitress, I must admit, she is a delectable little morsel, a feast for the eyes to be sure." Jaden took a sniffof the airas the girl approached, taking a small delight at the fear he could smell coming off her. "As for my mother, I do owe her and my father some credit. When faced with a child who could do what I did, I imagine most would abandon the child, forsaking them to be a monster. Mine, instead, moved to embrace me with tears, telling meof how they were going to make everything okay for me." Jaden motioned for the waitress to bring him a shot-glass, which she wasted little time in doing, and placed it infront of Eli, motioning for him to pour. "They tried their best, but it was a lost cause. One cannot fight who they are, and I was born to be a hunter of men. The last thing I did as a human was choose to leave my parents alive, instead of devouring them. They had earned that much for their years of faithful service." Jaden stared at Eli for a moment, his eyes searching for something that only he knew. After a while, he spoke up again, his tone and face strange and indecipherable. "I wonder, sometimes, if I'd havd the same beliefs I do now if the power I was born with was as easily hidden or controlled as yours. You can decide, from now untill you die, to never use your powers and ignore them. I have no such luxuries, for I'm but a slave to my hunger. It is nit hunger as you know it, but a psychological side effect of my abilities that, sooner or later, surfaces and drives me to devour human beings. I can't control, can't stop, can't even hold it back. It is my true master."

"A friend of mine, Nightmare once told me the same. I could walk away from all this and never hurt another soul again. Use more powers for the betterment of mankind and some other horse shit either of us really believed in. Ive fought since the day I was born and I'll die that way. I quite fighting the urge to beat and kill people not too long before I became Baba Yaga." Eli spoke as he poured the drink." He took a deep breath of the whiskey before speaking. "You know I never got wine or tequila or vodka. Bourbon, Bourbon I get, its like drinking a warm summer day. There is nothing quite like it." He took a small drink and held in his mouth for but a moment before slowing his drink. He smiled before continuing. "I never knew my real parents, one a junkie whore and the other was a no account. That's was much as I cared to figure out. Woman who raised me pick up from the side of the road and took me in. I was hers from then on. I gave that woman so much hell and she would beat the shit outta me. Still always cared and loved me like I was hers. Now I've always wondered if I could be that kind and decent. Must be why I got a soft spot for kids and single mothers." He thought for a second before speaking again. Things were about go south. "So the hunger, that's the reason for this tree baby nonsense? Hoping to cure or slake the hunger away? Does that make it your kid or a tool? I had a cow like that once. Raised it for two whole years before killing it so me and momma could eat. My Moo Cow I called her."

Adam was not too surprised to see Cedric, the metahuman had ties to the government as well and several years ago he didn't like the man, but times had changed. Adam was hardened by the loss of his wife and child and keeping the law and fighting those who were threats to his country were of the most importance to him now. If someone had met him five years ago and then see him today then he would have seemed like a very different person. Adam still supported the rights of metahumans, but after what had happened in the middle east, his view of them became more skeptical of his race ever being able to ensure the safety of normal people.

His interests perked up when he saw Cedric show them the holographic recording of Velocity Max death. He was happy when Cedric said that he wanted him to go to the capital of the Islamic State and kill Abu Bakr Al-Baghadi, this would be his chance to make a difference in the middle east and help stop the chaos and complete the mission unlike the last one he had failed.

"I gladly accept this mission and I will have Mountain Lion accompany me on this assignment. If any of you want to tag along then I am fine with that as long as you listen to my orders" he said to the others as he gave each of them look over to see if any of them would be useful on this mission.

----

Mountain Lion was glad to be getting a chance to sink his claws into terrorists again especially after he had watched them kill children and he had wanted to tear them apart so badly.

"If it's a chance to tear a bunch of terrorists to pieces then I am definitely not going to miss this chance" he said with a toothy smile that showed his very sharp teeth.

"Not even close, I'm glad to say. It was my lady's idea, and I was eager to oblige for more reasons than one." Jay chuckled, the man's accusation, or was it a suspicion, striking him as rather amusing. "Besides, even if the hunger could be cured now, which I doubt since it isn't a sickness that can be healed, its effects are already to engrained into who I am. The hunger is what defines me now, and that can't be swept away by some magic fruit. Though I must admit, selfishness does play a part in all of this. Believe it or not, I am a family man, or I've always wised to be. However, my abilities tend to scare away any possible interests, and even if someone wasn't frightened, then came the question of the child. If they were born, say, a normal person and not a meta."

Jay leaned back, taking the drink and pouring himself a small glass, which he downed in one gulp. "So excuse me if I say that I'd rather kill the lot of you before I let you take away my chance at having a family. However, I wish to ask you something, if by some miracle you do win. I ask you to make sure my on is well-cared for, provided for, and that he never knows who I was, or what I was if possible. The reason, because I'd rather not have my actions be explained to him by people who know nothing of why I do the things I do. I ask this as an expecting father who wants to make sure my son is properly cared for. Whether or not you can understand such sentiments, or understand why I have such sentiments, matters very little."

Jay poured himself another shot, but this time, eh kept the drink in his mouth for a bit before swallowing. "You know, I'm not much of a drinker, to be honest, so when it comes to alcoholic drinks, I don't really taste much. I does go down rather nicely, a good trickling burn, but no taste whatsoever for me. A sign of my inexperience, maybe?" Jay shrugged, stretching out a little before returning his attention to the man in front of him. "So, Mr.Craig, do you have anything else you wish to discuss, anything about me you find even remotely interesting or just dying to know? If not, then I guess we could talk about your plans for the attack, you coming in with some of your best men, and me and my lady coming to crush you. When that happens, I would like to face you in battle, as I must admit that it would be a fight like no other. Most likely?

Jackson

Jackson, after channel surfing for who knows how long, had decided to go for a walk around the place, see if there was anything to do. So imagine his surprise when he saw a freakin' Owl monster standing in the middle of the lobby. . . in a suit.

'Wow, that is a whole lot of freakish' Kuro said tiredly, waking up and getting a read on the situation through Jackson's eyes. Kuro took note, however, on something Jackson could not see. Next to the Owl thing was a girl and next the the girl was another girl, except this one was dead. How could he tell, because to him, dead people were a bit faded looking until he went into the 'zone' as he called it. He didn't tell Jackson about it, but he guessed that the dead girl was the living girls sister, since they looked identical. That meant they were twins, which would be awesome if they weren't just like poor Jackson here. He could see it in the living girl's posture and way of acting, she looked ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

'Jackson, go over and introduce yourself.'

'WHAT, to the giant owl thing, what if it eats my face off!?!?'

'I highly doubt that he's going to do that, given that he's been allowed into the building. Besides, you can protect yourself just fine, remember. So stop being a chump and just go talk to people. FIrst step in the rehabilitation process right?'

Jackson wasn't too sure about that, but he might as well try talking to people and. . . whatever the hell the owl thing was. Slowly, he made his way over, never taking an eye off of the nightmarish figure in front of him. ONce he got near enough, he'd give a small grunt to let them know he was there before introducing himself. "Uh, Hi, um , I'm Jackon Ducarthy and it's nice to meet you, um." Jackson was kinda stuck, as he didn't know what else to say and he couldn't stop giving fearful glances towards the owl figure.

Settling back into her chair, she rolled her eyes before placing her palm in Harper's. "Go on, get me out of here."

"A shit guardian? I can't help it that I gotta sleep sometime, dear. I'm late to bed early to rise every night and you've only slipped out a few times now. Besides, I can hardly help myself. After all this time, I tend to get a little curious about what's goin' on. As for the shittily dressed boy, I figured you could handle yourself." Harper smirked at her, his greenish-gray eyes shining less like a man and more like an animal up to no good. He did his best to conceal his grin as she went about chastising the poor naked shit that seemed more confused and scared than much else and when she turned back to him, he clicked his tongue at her demand. "Sure thing, master."

The pair simply ceased to be there. No sound of them being whooshed away at the speed of sound or anything like that. All the perks of being a teleporter without any of the downsides. The pair materialized some 5,500 miles away from where they were no more than a picosecond earlier, now standing inside the pair now both standing on one of the steel beams within Big Ben itself. Harper snapped his hand away from hers, jaunting to another beam before spinning on one foot to face her, arms crossed. "I let you run free out of the goodness of my heart, so now you're gonna fill me in on what your little adventure was all about. Just give me the truth and it stays between us. I've never ratted you out to the cunts back at the base and I don't really plan on doing so anytime soon."

Ruby actually had a mild level of trust in him - a mistake, she noted, that wouldn't be made again. "Harper!" She suddenly yelped, her arms swinging to balance herself on the steel beams. "You're a dickhead!" She complained loudly, groaning at the sight of the intricate clockwork innards of Big Ben - there was nothing Ruby hated more in this world than clockwork. Peeping over the edge, she took a heavy gulp of air. Brilliant; her third most hated thing - heights. "Harper jaunt down here and take me back to the base! Don't think I'm some damsel that you can just leave hanging about!" She warned, placing a cautionary foot inwards so as not to accidentally trip over it. She must have stood for another minute or so before she finally broke. "You're still a dickhead! I'm not talking to you ever again, I'll have you know!" Groaning at the height again, she looked up to him with a frustrated frown. "I was giving them some information because I don't particularly give a shit about the Underground Movement and that blubbering whore, Isabella. That ok with you, your highness?"

"It's a start." H said, stepping off of his beam, dropping down into the depths of the tower, before appearing by her side, hand on her wrist, "I'll spare you from your own personal hell while you give me a bit more of an explanation." Harper wrapped an arm around her and fell backward, dragging her along with him. He only allowed a second and some change worth of free fall before the appeared in a rainy Shanghai apartment, one which Harper had visited some years before. Its tenant had been long since dead, Harper having a hand in that, and it was still receiving rent payments from Demolition Detroit's derelict account. "Here," Harper said, fishing out his iPod which he shoved into her hands before stepping across the barren apartment to sit down on the floor. "I know how badly you need to be in touch with tech, so that and this city should help you get your head straight. Now, spill. What's the info you were giving those men, who are they, and why were they trying to kill you when I first got a hold of ya however many years ago?" Harper had to figure out if anything she told him he could use to tell the boss. He wouldn't give her anything that would hurt Ruby, but he couldn't say they were out on a Sunday stroll. Of course, he could always help her head for the hills, but that might not be all that much of an option. At least, not if either of them were planning on continuing to live in LA.

Great. Shanghai. The number one place to be. Right about now, she wanted to go back to the compound and go to bed, satisfied that she had pissed off Harper enough for one day. Unfortunately, he was being a massive douche about everything. Now that she was out of immediate danger, however, the cards where back in her hand. Sitting down opposite him, she easily got past his iPod's pin-lock and tapped into his music before scrolling down through it. "It seems your music taste is as dry as your humour. Fun." Yawning, she tossed the iPod to him before lying back and curling up into a tight ball. "I got all night, kiddo. I imagine Isabella and her cronies might start to notice my absence, however. I also know that you're not going to rat me out to Isabella so she won't ever interrogate me. Which leaves you in a rut. You're going to have to take me back soon or risk her wrath; it's your choice. Either way, I'm not telling you anything." She seemed to be firm on the topic as she closed her eyes, curling tighter into her ball and ignoring him.

Harper puffed air out of his nostrils as he snatched the iPod out of the air, swiping through the pin and putting on "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo, knocking the volume slider to max. "As much as I'd love to wait you out, you're not wrong about the boss lady and her little pets. The shape shifter was at the cafe. Not sure if he said anything to us, but he knows we're together which means she knows we're out and about... Though I can't say I ain't too worried about being late with that in mind. She's gonna be pissed regardless of what we do now." Harper fished through his pocket, pulling out his box of cigarettes and a lighter, taking his time to select the coffin nail that felt right. Placing the little stick of tobacco between his lips, he brought his lighter up and gave it a flick, the edge of the cigarette igniting. He had lost some of his usual restraint today, so why not cut back. It had been awhile anyway right? He took a long slow drag and let the smoke snake out of his nostrils as if he were a dragon sitting on a sea of gold. "You sure you ain't gonna spill the beans, Rubes?" Harper drummed his fingers on the floor, "I'm about as attached to the little group as you are."

It took about a minute before Ruby's patience ran thin once more. "I'm very certain, Harps." She yawned again, fixing her eyes on his cigarette and giving him a quick roll of her eyes before settling down again. "If you're trying to appear like the bad guy here, I don't think it'll really work. See, they kinda pay you to make sure no one lays a finger on me. I think it would be slightly self-destructive if you were the one to do so yourself." This time, she focused on his iPod once more. She didn't even need physical access - all she did was drain his battery completely. Granted, she also played around with the circuits a little, removing its ability to recharge. He'd just have to go and find a decent technician and if he lost his songs, he could always download them again. "Now how about you quiet down so I can get some sleep. Ok?"

"Never was a bad guy, never plan on being one. I'm just doing what it takes to get paid. Been that way all my life." Harper said, catching the low battery, warning out of the corner of his eye before the device shut down. Definitely Ruby's doing. "You always gotta be difficult," H groaned, stuffing the device into his pocket before pushing himself along the floor until there was a wall behind his back. His eyes locked onto her as he continued to puff away on his coffin nail, planning on waiting until it was no larger than his thumb before he would put it out. He hummed the song that Ruby had so rudely snuffed out, drumming his fingers to the beat. If he couldn't get he real thing, he would at least get to bug her while he polished off his stress relief.

"Well... are you going to take me back or not?" She questioned as she fixed him with a steely gaze, not even bothering to chastise him about his annoying humming and the fact that he was smoking. Sighing, she closed her eyes once more and settled down onto the cold ground. This had rapidly deteriorated into a rather bad night, she had to admit.

"Cool the jets, girl." Harper sighed, flicking his cigarette onto the space of floor between the two of them. "I'll get you back home." Harper pushed himself up off of the ground and shoved a hand into his pocket as he sauntered over to the cigarette and ground it beneath his heel. "Don't get too pissed at me when the boss does somethin' heinous to you now. You're the one that wanted to head back." Harper crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder and just like when they first met, he brought her to the room setup just for her and left her lying on the bed. "Welcome home, Ruby. Stay as long as you please." Harper threw a wave over his shoulder and walked through the dark room to the door, shaking his head.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee, NarcissisticPotato, and Marx))
A few moments after the duo went back to the Underground Movement's base, Isabella was notified of their mysterious return. Immidiately, the woman gathered a squad of her enforcers, Vampires formed from either normal humans who sought the power of Metahumanity, or Low-Level Metahumans who wanted to be more powerful. These Vampires, even the ones made from normal humans, all had enhanced strength, senses, and low-level telepathy, all of which increased when they fed on blood. Not merely that, but Isabella, in order to troll people, made them sparkle in the sunlight as well. This squad made their way to where Ruby and Harper were staying, and knocked on the doors; no use breaking down valuable property.

"Wakey, wakey, Ruby," said Isabella as she knocked on the Technopath's door, "time to account for your little treason..."
The door swung open before Isabella, Harper's hand on the doorknob. "Afternoon, boss-lady. Was just on my way out." Harper took a step back and gestured her in, "She just went to bed, but if you need I can wake her up." Harper put his arms behind his back, locking his hands onto his wrists, fingernails digging into his skin. It never hurt to be cautious. Especially here.

Ruby had just went to bed and now she was being disturbed, again! Groaning softly, she sat up in her comfortable bed and stared as the door opened to the whore herself. This is not going to be good. Flicking her eyes towards Isabella, she inspected the woman for a few seconds before moving away from her, shifting in the bed to get the right angle. She had a defence system if needed but she would only use that in an emergency. "Yes?"

"You were away from the compound for almost a full day," said Isabella. "Jaden also forwarded me a message that you were seen at Lattetude, at the latter end of your 'trip'." She then gave a fake smile. "Harper, Ruby, tell me, were you two on a date? Because that's the only reason that I'll accept that won't get you punished..." she trailed off.

Harper bit down onto the inside of his cheek, a habit born out of stress at Isabella's question. Either way things were going to get bad, but he had to make a choice and in the end he was going to make the one that was much worse for his personal well being. "You force two people to spend every day with one another for five years and that sorta thing is bound to happen, boss. I hope it's not too much of a problem. Just went out to get coffee. Nothing all that wrong with that, yeah?"

Ruby made a decision quicker than anyone in the room - it was best to keep Harper on her side, if possible. Isabella would target him for a punishment because she couldn't risk hurting Ruby. Listening to Harper, she realised that she needed to act quickly. Her cover was perfect as she blushed immediately, looking away from Isabella and crossing her arms before regarding Harper coldly. "It wasn't a date date! It was just a date! Jeez!"

"Hmm," Isabella spoke, "I need to make sure your stories line up." She then gestured to three female Artificial Vampires:
"You three, use your low-level telepathy to try and seduce Harper. If he fails to show any sign of arousal, then his story checks out." She then spoke to three male Artificial Vampires:

"You three, probe Ruby telepathically while she gazes at Harper; if she fails to show any sign of jealousy - genuine jealousy, not forced - then she's lying."

Harper could feel an inkling of a presence reaching out into his mind, the sensation being lost shortly after, likely much to the chargrin of the succubi. Harper always was and always would be immune to anyone's attempts to delve into his mind or anyone's attempts to fool around with what went on with his internat wiring. There was a reason he was such a good hunter. Not even telepaths could see him coming and just like those he use to deal with, these vampresses would've had better luck seducing a brick wall.

Harper only smiled and shook his head, reaching out to the nearest vampress, cradling her head in his hand. "I appreciate the effort dear, I truly do." He sighed, releasing her and patting her cheek, "But there ain't a single woman around here minus the little troublemaker over there that'll do much more than get me to give 'em a passing glance."

Ruby gave Isabella a scathing look as she looked to Harper before letting her dark thoughts for the woman fade away. Instead, she turned her attention towards Harper and willed herself to feel something. The truth was that she did feel something - there was nothing else she could do when he was the only real constant in her life. Of course she was going to attach herself onto him and of course she was going to feel a slight pang of jealousy when those buxom, sparkly vampire things started ogling up Harper. "This is a stupid test." She finally huffed, realising that Isabella would actually find out the truth and properly reveal it to Harper - this was not good.
Isabella laughed.

"So," she said, "you really do feel something for him. Well, if that isn't amusing." Then her face turned bitter and angry, and she continued:

"I just found out something: I still care for you - a little. It's a weakness I can't afford, so next time, in love or not in love, either you or him will be punished. But one day, even this one weakness will be eliminated, for the only truths in this world are power, pleasure, and respect for those who can provide both. And I will live by those truths," and with that, Isabella left, the Artificial Vampires with her.

Harper lifted up a hand and waved at the little troop with his fingers, rolling his eyes as the last one stepped out, Harper shutting the door behind them. He planted a hand on the door, making sure it was sealed tightly and jaunted across the room, stopping right by Ruby's bed. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Try not to get yourself killed, alright?" Harper said, his eyes going from her to the door. He reached out and ruffled her hair, jaunting the second he removed his hand from her, returning to his broom closet of a room that was directly adjactent to hers.

He didn't even seem to comment on the events that just transpired, even if it might have confirmed some of his suspicions. Frowning at him, she felt him ruffle her hair and a small part of her felt a little disappointed - friendzoned to the max, Ruby. She watched him jaunt away with a small sigh. "Well that was weirdly shit. At least I didn't have to tell him anything." Yawning, she fixed her hair before changing and climbing into bed. Ruby's antics that day had been taxing on herself so she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Insomnium

Insomnium scowled at the tiny toon as she came to break up the fight, who the hell did she think she was?!?! 'Like I'm going to stop this fight just because she said so, she isn't the boss of me.' Insomnium looked back at the arena, ready to make the Tin-man eat his words, when he heard the his text alert ring out.

"Dammit, this better be important!" He muttered to himself as he zipped through the tendrils, into the arena, then exited through one of the support pillars. Once he was out, he took one look up to see if the bot was still doing his laser tornado thing, which was admittedly rather awesome, before he pulled out his phone and checked his text. Apparently, his actual boss had a job for him, which meant one of two things, either he was going to do a boring mission involving stealth, or he was going to be the muscle in some kind of operation. Insomnium took a second to ponder what he should do, but decided in the end to just do the job. It could be fun, and he would wreck this city block fighting Tin-man and Toon girl. Still, before he left, he had to get the last shot in. And he was going to make it a good one.

Placing his hand on the structure, he destabilized it in such a way so that the whole think would violently disperse into a cloud of shadow, something that would probably stop Tin-man little light show. The shadows were harmless, byt offered almost no visibility, and allowed Insomnium to make his escape into a nearby alleyway. Once in, he dispersed his armor and snapped his fingers, causing the shadows to near instantaneously contract on Overdrive, placing him in the center of a solid sphere of shadow. The outside was smooth and shiny, but it suddenly cracked and from the cracks, intense red energy could be seen.

"Boom."

The energy exploded violently, and was only barely contained by the outer layer of the sphere, keeping any of the energy from escaping outward and rebounding it back to the center till ut burnt itself out. If Overdrive had been caught inside of the sphere, he wouldn't be walking away from that without a scratch. Not staying to see if his attack had hit or not, he quickly left the scene through the alleyways, the remnants of his shadows fading into oblivion when he got far enough away.

Another person stepped onto the arena and Overdrive immediately stopped himself, his red plasma tornado put itself out shortly after. She began to express worry over an attack that never happened, and then worry about people being harmed. That was the point of the arena right? So that people wouldn't get hurt. Insomnium vanished into one of his many tendrils again, a second later the ground suddenly turned into a dense cloud of shadow, dropping the android down onto the streets below. Overdrive took this as the end of their 'friendly battle' and promptly jumped high into the air, and onto the top of a nearby building. Turning around it seemed that he did this at the right moment, as demonstrated by the shadows becoming a dense ball, then exploding. It's good I didn't stick around, not sure the doctor would forgive me for taking a hit like that.

"Nice job keeping the battle onto the 'arena'. Though it didn't look to friendly to me." The doctor spoke through the radio. Now standing straight on top of a rooftop, Overdrive's visor began to change into a passive sky blue. "I don't think any of us could really have been hurt there. I certainly wasn't shooting to kill." "Well the helicopter is just now in the area, I want you back at base, I want to look at some of the data your Meta-hunter vision collected. Meta's are always interesting to look at." Just as the doctor said it would be, the company's specialized helicopter hovered into view. As it opened it's doors for him the android pushed himself into the sky again, and landed inside; the helicopter shook slightly from the landing but quickly leveled itself. The helicopter's doors slid closed, the vehicle quickly turned about in place, and began to fly upwards towards a fairly tall building; the Hannon Enterprises building.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee, and Alternax))

While Cedric Wessex waited for someone to respond to Adam Savage/Warpath, he decided to make a few calls himself; where Adam had John Morrison/Mountain Lion, he had contacts at various corporations, especially the friendlier ones. And, yes, that included Hannon Enterprises, where the International Heroes had taken an interest in any weapons specialized against Metas.

And Cedric needed an Anti-Metahuman weapon right about now; Isabella and New Sun Corporation would surely have an army of monstrosities at hand to defend against any assault, along with Underground Movement Metahumans.

Not to mention that you want to co-opt any potential threat to the Reformist movement. That, and you need someone immune to Meta-Dampening to watch over Bo. Another someone, that is.

Cedric didn't like his cynical side, but it would not be idealistic to deny valuable information from a part of himself just because he didn't like that part of himself. And, so, he began calling his contact at Hannon Enterprises - the CEO himself.

A ringtone sounded in the corporate office of Hannon Enterprises, a ringtone not often used, and compelled it's user to pick up. "Hannon speaking." The CEO responded, a hint of intrigue in his voice.

"Hello," spoke Cedric in his 'eager' tone, a tone that made people underestimate him and think him naive, when in fact, he was much more canny than he looked; he was the International Heroes head for a reason. "Anyway, Hannon, heard about your new employee's demonstration near the bank earlier today; that was very good, if I do say so myself." Cedric, thanks to his ability to use every tool, instrument, or weapon on the planet, managed to get a lot of information quickly.

Hannon listened, though the voice seemed to originate from a fairly young individual, it made him second guess his decision to continue the conversation. "You seem to be more than interested if you've heard about it so quickly. Would you be interested in 'borrowing' him?" Hannon replied, he was always looking to make money, and it would be even better if he finally put that droid to use.

"Of course I am; let's just say that I have the operation just in mind for Overdrive," said Cedric. "How's three million sound as a fee?" The price was low, but he expected some haggling from Hannon, and Cedric himself needed practice for that.

Hannon thought about the begining price, he then typed rapidly at his personal computer accessing multiple notes and statistics on Overdrive, and sifted through the relevant data. "Surely you know he cost more than a measly three million to build and equip. You'll have to think bigger if you want his assistance." Hannon answered.

"All right, then, five million," Cedric said. "I can go higher, but what would I be if I don't at least try to get the lowest price I could?"

"Give me eight million, and the deal is yours." Hannon said.

"Good," said Cedric, who was prepared to pay ten million, but was glad that he managed to bargain his way to a lower price. "It seems the deal is sealed."

I can't help but feel like I've been swindled somehow. "I've already sent word out to my head scientist, expect Overdrive to appear soon." The CEO said, and promptly hung up.

Adam was not too surprised to see Cedric, the metahuman had ties to the government as well and several years ago he didn't like the man, but times had changed. Adam was hardened by the loss of his wife and child and keeping the law and fighting those who were threats to his country were of the most importance to him now. If someone had met him five years ago and then see him today then he would have seemed like a very different person. Adam still supported the rights of metahumans, but after what had happened in the middle east, his view of them became more skeptical of his race ever being able to ensure the safety of normal people.

His interests perked up when he saw Cedric show them the holographic recording of Velocity Max death. He was happy when Cedric said that he wanted him to go to the capital of the Islamic State and kill Abu Bakr Al-Baghadi, this would be his chance to make a difference in the middle east and help stop the chaos and complete the mission unlike the last one he had failed.

"I gladly accept this mission and I will have Mountain Lion accompany me on this assignment. If any of you want to tag along then I am fine with that as long as you listen to my orders" he said to the others as he gave each of them look over to see if any of them would be useful on this mission.

----

Mountain Lion was glad to be getting a chance to sink his claws into terrorists again especially after he had watched them kill children and he had wanted to tear them apart so badly.

"If it's a chance to tear a bunch of terrorists to pieces then I am definitely not going to miss this chance" he said with a toothy smile that showed his very sharp teeth.

Mountain Lion went to the nearby Ontario, California Airport on a private plane. Adam also saw the plane it was a Learjet.
"Hey- Woah!" the pilot saw Mountain Lion. "Well I am your pilot Paul."
He held out a hand to shake.

"We will head to Jordan before you are shipped to Syria."

"Okay... Guess this was a wasted avenue. At least no one got hurt." Light said as both fighters listened to her and left. Since none of them stayed to be recruited, Light made sure the dispersion of the arena didn't do any damage before making her way to the rooftops. Unsure of what to do, as it felt futile to search endlessly for unknown metas, Light contacted Cedric to see if he had any leads or anything else to do. After all, he did sound worried when he told her about the death of Max Velocity.

"When I was a boy... I met a fellah, namah Jim Harper. Black boy. Small southern town in Tennessee. Now a place like that, everyone knows everyone, what you do, where you were, who you were with. Nothin private in a small town. I was the bastard boy, picked in the side of the road. Jim Harper was the black fellah no one wanted, him or his family. So we stuck together and helped each other. Soon we were like brother. Eli where's that new jacket I just got you? Jim has it momma he ain't got no jacket. Eli where those new shoes I bought you. Jim has em momma, his shoes done fell apart. Jim why's that white boy in my house? Cause his momma's working and he ain't no place to go." Eli was far past the point of hiding his accent.

"Before long our family were close. Spent the holidays and birthdays together. People around town found out, soon no one wanted my momma around either. She didn't care. She'd just say go on boy, go see your people son. Jim's momma said the same."_ Eli took another drink ot his Bourbon.

"I remember one time I got into a fight with some rich kids. Me and Jim got tore up pretty bad. We hung out heads in shame. By the time we got back to his house his momma had found was pissed. I mean she was a steaming." Eli let out a chuckle, he couldn't help it. "She beat us in top of the ass whippin we just took! Threw us in the car and drove us to the those rich kids home. The beauty fill, I never knew people could like that. That woman drug us out car marched us on the front steps of that house, knocked on the door and when they answered they never could have seen the hell coming. She let them have boy. She said you ever let those boys touch my kids I'll the sheriff and then imma come over here and break my foot off in your Jon Brown hind parts. Off we went back home not a word spoken. When she took me home that woman took her shoe off and beat us again, tears just a pour outta her. She said I ever see you bow your head in shame again I'll beat you to death. My boys don't bow down to no one you hear me!?"

"About ten years later, we off in the war and we get hit with an IED. Me and Jim get hit, my shoulder is shredded, his head is busted opened and there's blood, just blood everywhere. Now Jim is married and has a kid. Last week of our last tour. We were gonna get out and mead normal lives. Yet here I am hold my brothers skull together. Hold me close Eli he says, I'm scared, I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die like this. I'm bleeding out and can't feel anything on my left side. About as bad is it could get. Anyhow we get out alive and some months later we're back home and Jim is in a bad way, brain so fucked up he can hardly think. Starts doing stupid shit and his wife is raising a kid and she hates my ass. I don't say nothing but I keep helping all I can. Mans my brother, he's earned that much from me." Eli poured himself another drink and downed it one go.

"One day he just wants be a Dad. Nearly kills his own son by giving him a bath. It wasn't trmhe first time it. He's a just a mess for the next few days and it's killing me. I just wanna see my brother smile again, laugh like he used to." Eli took in a deep breath before going on. "A week or two later we camping, huntin out the hills. A day into our trip he says I almost killed my boy Eli. I just wanna hold him and take care of him but I can't. I can't do this no more he says to me. Wants to kill himself, too much a coward to do it he says. Asks me... To kill him. We cry and I try to talk him out of it but he won't have it... One night he comes at me with a knife... And I do it. I killed that poor bastard bless his heart. I killed him."

"I go back to town and look his wife and mother in the eyes and tell them what I'd done. His wife screamed at me so baddly I broke down and lost it. Tears rolling my down my eyes, my hung low." Eli stopped for a moment to compose himself. "His momma, our momma took her shoe off and started slapping me. Don't you hang that head low boy. I lost my baby but you lost your brother. I dun told once not hang your head low... Sometime soon I'm gonna have to tell Jim's son what happened, and your asking me to much the same and yeah I'll do it tree baby or whatever the hell you name it will be looked after just like Jim's boy. Gentlemen's agreement. But, I'm telling you now, I'm coming for you and Lancaster, and Hell's fire is coming with me."

Eli quickly drew his handgun and ejected a single round. Like a dart, Eli threw the round at Jaden, hitting him the chest. "This is were I tell I you the next one is coming faster, and the next time we have a conversation, ain't gonna be no talking. Savy?"

@Raijinslayer

((Collab post between Letter Bee and Lord Santa))

The Underground Movement had a mundane and cyber presence whenever there were a load of Metas or just disaffected Normal Humans; how else would Isabella get many supplicants for the power she was a master at providing? The mundane presence was in the derelict parts of the city, where low-class workers of all kinds were willing to listen to anyone who was willing to provide them a hope of power, a hope of striking back against real and imagined oppressors.

And, even now, the Underground recruiters, Vampires and Elves and physically appealing 'monsters', were talking to a group of enraptured Low-level Metas and Normal Humans, offering them more power than they can ever imagine. Isabella, in the five years since the Aperture battle, had learned to control her powers better, to create beings that, though still inhuman, were physically appealing, meaning that she can offer a better bargain...

The night was still young, but there were already people on the streets, drinking or attending social gatherings. Gatherings occur in places of leisure, such as restaurants or movies, or even dingy, low class bars. And it was in one of these bars, a dimly lit, somewhat smelly affair, that John Rivers found himself tonight. He took a sip of his vodka shot, but he wasn't in the mood for drinking tonight. His hood hid his unshaven face as he surveyed the people in the bar tonight. Drunkards, drug addicts, unemployed. A gathering of outcasts, it seemed. Outcasts like him. But he was here for a reason. There was something that might happen tonight, and if it did, it would be a dream come true. A way to get revenge...

The Vampires' and Elves' words were smooth, charismatic, and, to the desperate people who were their audience, able to cut through all reservation. John Rivers, however, won't need that. He was, in his heart, a member of the Underground movement already; he just didn't know it. And so, the Vampires began leading the people gathered to a secret tunnel leading to the Underground Labyrinth, established by whatever corporations weren't cowed into honest business.

This tunnel will lead to an antechamber, where, surrounded by more Vampires and Elves, Isabella Lancaster, War-Queen, Echidna, Mother of Monsters, and leader of the Underground Movement, sat on a high throne, proclaiming:

"I am Isabella Lancaster, the provider of power, of might, of beauty and handsomness. I can provide you with food, drugs, shelter, and, of course, revenge against those who oppressed you, revenge against the hypocrites in Government, revenge against all those who deny you what is your right!"

It didn't take much to set off that crowd of misfits. It would probably have taken half of it to reel them in, but regardless of what it took, the crowd of people cheered at Isabella's words. John lent his voice to the cry, a shout that carried the weight of their anger. These people were tired of being down-trodden. Of being stepped on and then thrown away. It didn't matter why they were there or how they got there, their minds were one. They wanted power, power enough to bite back. Power and money, and anything. To the lower-class mob, Isabella appeared as a glorious queen, guiding them to an age of glory and freedom.

"Then so be it!" shouted Isabella as she raised her hands, causing a cloud of spores to fly out, enveloping the crowd of willing supplicants. Said supplicants were instantly transformed into fair men and women, Vampires and Elves and Succubi and False Ophanim, as well as a couple of Serpentfolk. Only John was untouched, as he was not willing to be changed.

"What is this?" said Isabella curiously at John Rivers. "Has someone rejected my gift?" she questioned as her guards took out their arms in sudden paranoia.

"I want to take revenge." John said slowly, wary of the eyes around him. "But I want to do it as myself. I want... I want those bastards to see as I am as I kill them. I want them to know what they did. I want them to know that if they hurt my friends, if they hurt my family, if they mock me, then I'll be the one to finish them!"

"The rage is real...and pure," spoke Isabella as the others finished their change, and were given new clothing and armor by her guards. "Very well, I accept your service. What is your name, my new minion?"

"My name is John. John Rivers." He replied.

"I will find much use in you...Mr. Rivers. Call it...a hunch."

Jaden

Jaden, as he had transformed into his default look, caught the round as it bounced of his chest, chuckling a little as he gave it a glance before pocketing it. "I'll have to let you know, bullets aren't the most effective of tools to take me on, and I know a lot of dead men who can back me up on this." Jaden got up from his seat, moving to leave, but stopping when he was right next to Eli. "As for your hellfire, bring it on. Just because I ask this of you, don't think it means I'll go easy on you. I'll be coming at you with everything I can muster and more, so I suggest you do the same."

With that said, Jaden walked out of the Lattetude and made his way to the New Sun building. Taking the bullet from his pocket, Jaden smiled with a predatory grin. 'Two weeks, huh, I can't wait to see which one of us wins, Elijah Craig, but for know I have a Rabbit Run to prep for.'

Nate felt the presence of the woman behind him as she approached, years of training telling him to always be aware of his surroundings. "Watch your six" he heard a voice in his head say as he turned to see a woman approach. He didn't sense any danger from her but he was struck by her odd hair. She seemed too young to naturally have grey hair so he assumed it was either some strange fashion decision or she was a meta. A lot of metas seemed to have strange traits like that. Stranger than this womans hair though, was her question.

"I'm sorry to bother you sir but I'm pretty new here and I was wondering if this is like an everyday, large animal petting zoo." she asked. With an arched eyebrow, Nate looked from her, to the gorilla and back to the woman again.
Fighting his sarcastic nature and losing, he replied "Yes. That's exactly what it is. You should go pet the gorilla". He turned to see the those around give him a look. He even heard an internal voice tell him to stop being such an ass. "On second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea" he said as he shoved his phone into his pocket and wrapped an arm around the grey haired girls shoulder, beginning to lead her away. "These city gorillas can be dangerous with their baggy pants and bad attitudes" he informed her, channeling his grandpa, a man he had never really liked but was full of crackpot theories about modern civilization. He glanced back over his shoulder at the kid as he ushered the woman away. He knew some shit was about to go down here and felt bad about leaving the kid to deal with it alone. When he got far enough away though, he discreetly spawned a duplicate while casually pointing off in the other direction to distract the crazy lady from the process. "There are some nice amish rats over here we can pet if you like". He continued to lead her away as his duplicate made his way back down the alleyway to thoroughly annoy everyone.

@Sapphire

"Miss Delacroix, can I offer you some tea?" Came the soft yet chirpy voice of the air-hostess. "Yes please." She flashed the woman a smile, taking a small second to stare out of the window at the clouds parting under them, revealing the gentle California hills. She hadn't been in the States in years now but she couldn't help but feel that it wasn't actually for a good reason. She was being sent to ensure that Cedric Wessex didn't suffer a breakdown in leadership that he had experienced only a few years before-hand. She was also going there to make sure he wouldn't make a lot of stupid decisions. "Men and their wars." She mused softly as she peeked down at the file in her lap. Adam Savage. He had lost a lot in recent years but she felt that he was a bomb waiting to go off. Just from what she read, he seemed like the sort of person who classified anyone who didn't look mildly American as a terrorist - well, that was just her professional opinion. "Your tea, Miss Delacroix."

They touched down sometime later at a private military base and she was even slightly pleased to have earned a small salute from waiting military-personnel. Her mood lightened at that as she was escorted to a waiting helicopter. Her attire was refined, bordering on elegant but with a splash of modern. If she was being honest, she probably looked like a spolied daddy's girl - the Butler didn't help it. "Miss, I do urge you not to do what I know you're probably going to do." The man spoke through the microphone, his old-English accent cutting through his words. "Albert dear, I only intend to advise Mister Wessex. Granted, HQ said that if he needs a good scolding, I'm to apply it directly." Giving him a girlish smile that caused him to sigh, she turned and watched as rolling hills turned to apartment blocks and towers.

Once they landed at the International Heroes Bureau, she was informed that the session was in full-swing. Mannerly indeed. Olivia entered the room just as soon as Cedric began blubbering on about requiring the 'inner circle's approval' which was a whole pile of nonsense. However, she allowed him to finish speaking before she cut in upon taking her seat and organising her books in front of herself. "Mr Wessex, perhaps in the past that might have been true but now, the International Heroes are led by the Council of Member States. The Reformist Council may very well be our beginnings but our operation has expanded exponentially." Her accent was a curious mix of upper-class British, a slice of French and a smudge of Nordic - possibly Swedish. "We keep an eye on the US Government for obvious reasons but for you to ascertain that the International Heroes have been acting in a way that could endanger our founding principles is not only bordering on treason but angering me. Please refrain from it." With that, she flicked her eyes away from him and down towards her notebook as she began penning in various things.

It seemed that Cedric was just on a roll of annoying her and because she had Pyxis activated, she was beginning to feel a little confrontational. Cedric Wessex had little to no knowledge on the political landscape of the Middle East yet he thought that he could just throw in a Meta and hope for the best. Men and their wars. "Mr Wessex, it is only my duty to observe and advise but would it be overstepping of me to state that your plan is a poor one indeed. Islamic State have dulled in the past few years and yes they occasionally overstep their boundaries but we would like to keep them passive. Cutting the head off this snake will only result in another slithering into place before turning round and biting us in the behind. I quite like my behind so can you please refrain from waging war."

Olivia was beginning to feel more like an older sister than a political adviser now. "I am here on a peace mission, Sir, and I'm not going to have everything fall into chaos while I'm present. If you would like me to leave the meeting, I will do so but unfortunately, I'll be the angel on your shoulder for the next few weeks. Speaking of which, I would like all your information on the Underground Movement if you will gift me it. If we want to appear like the good guys, we need to try diplomacy before war. If that doesn't work, I'll let you set your hounds on them."

"Eh...heh heh heh," spoke Cedric, rubbing the back of his head, "yeah, I get ya, Olivia. Guess I shouldn't be presuming things about my own organization, at least not yet. Problem is, though, there's still reports of a mysterious force in the Middle East that require investigation," what was that silver flying object? "and we need a pretext for said investigation. The killing of Abu Bakr Al-Bagdhadi is not only that pretext, but will also take down one of the more powerful Rogue Metahumans in the planet."

"As for Diplomacy with the Underground Movement, all right, I'll concede. I personally think that it'll fail, but I would be doing you a disservice if I don't give you a chance." Despite Olivia's cutting words, he really liked the young woman, perhaps even that way, and he respected her formidable skills. While he knew that Isabella can't be negotiated with, perhaps Olivia can weaken the Underground.

After awhile of no reply from anyone, Light shrugged and went back to her recruit mission. She only needed to recruit a new member, so things wouldn't be so bad when she eventually found a friendly meta. Which was harder than she thought, considering most metas nowadays that showed themselves often did criminal things like rob banks or the like. Today wasn't one of those days though, besides the fight with the shadow armor guy and the robot, things were quite calm.

After getting some food and signing a few autographs, Light made her way back to her task. "I'll give this an hour more before I call again. This is boring, and I hate boring things." Light said, eating a burger as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Entering the shady part of town, Light found some unrest with an animal and a few people near an alleyway. She wasn't sure what was going on, but no one was fighting or anything so maybe at least one of those people were metas.

"Shady part of town sure, but people can be found at any place." Light said, hopping down to the street and saying hello to the pair. The human flirting with a girl with dyed hair.

@Subject Zero@Sapphire

"You know, I find it really hard to believe that you're 32," Alto said, "You act like you're 17."

Even as he said that, he tapped out a final combo to finish off Sefia's health bar.

"K! O!" the announcer voice said. Sefia looked like she was about to throw the controller, but she instead grudgingly put the controller down and went back to sipping her coffee which Theo had topped up. At that moment, Theo was preparing some dinner for the three, and Sal had taken Con somewhere to do something or other. He wasn't really sure, but it was probably fine.

"Our job's probably going to be a stealth mission," Alto said, also putting his controller down. "Someone asked me to bail them out of the underground movement."

"I'll take that as a compliment on my youthful aura, thank you very much." Insomnium replied flippantly, eyebrow raised as his employer told him the basics. "Normally, I'd tell you off for giving me a mission like this before accepting it begrudgingly, but like I said before, if you need all of us for it, it must be something big. So I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this one." He took a breath, closing his eyes for a second. Suddenly, his whole demeanor changed from playful and mischievous to serious and professional. Unknown to Alto and Sefia, Insomnium had switched places with Damien, as he'd likely be more help with this kind of mission.

"What can we expect to go up against, who are we extracting, where are we breaking into, and what's our exit strategy?" Damien asked in rapid-fire, sitting up staright with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together in front of his face.

Good. He's getting serious, Alto thought.

Alto turned off the games console and got up from the couch. He turned to face Sefia and Damien as he switched the TV to his briefing slide-show.

"First up, our target." He switched to a slide showing a picture of a young looking blonde girl. "One Ruby Greenfoot, 23, 5 foot 6, A class technopath, maybe S by now, and also our client." Next, he switched to a slide showing her in her power armor from 5 years back.

"She's very capable, she can manipulate pretty much any kind of technology to her will." He switched a slide to the picture of the ruined FBI building that Ruby had destroyed in the past. "You may remember her from the bombing of the LA FBI branch, and if you do, you'll realise how powerful she is, and how big of a deal it is that she needs us to bail her out."

Sefia looked up at him, mildly confused. She most certainly didn't know Ruby, but it hardly mattered, she got the picture.

"She can assist us from the inside, but communicating with her inside may or may not be a problem." He said, "If you don't have any questions, I'll move on to the plan."

Damien made a gesture for Alto to move on, having no questions at the moment. He did take a second to think about the person they were rescuing. 'Insomnium, you might get to play after all, as who ever can keep that powerhouse under house arrest in the middle of a city is definitely not someone you should take lightly.'

'Hmmmm, I can't wait. I wonder, should I complete wreck the place when you let me out, or just the area I'm in?'

'Neither, if we're lucky we won't have to use you.'

'But we're never lucky.'

'Don't remind me.'

"Alright then." Alto said, "The plan."

He moved on to the next slide, keeping an eye on Damien all the while. He looked fine, but he could see there was something behind his eyes. Judging by Damien's powers, it was probably another personality. Maybe it wasn't, but Alto had seen enough evidence for it to be more than likely. His power, for example, was pretty much S-class. And one of the defining characteristics about S-class heroes and above with his kind of powers was the tendency to become psychotic or form multiple personalities.

Still, as always, it didn't matter so much.

"In terms of planning," Alto said, "I've got a few options, but no definitive best plan." He switched to a slide showing a flow chart of their potential plans. "I only did get this job today, actually, and I had other stuff to do, and this slide show also took time." He switched to the next slide, which showed some important dot points.

"There are three main times which would be optimal for our attack; as soon as possible, in two weeks, or just after two weeks." Switching to the next slide, he told them the reason. "As soon as I found out we were dealing with the Underground movement, I immediately searched the Reformists' council database for anything they might be doing in the near future that concerned the Underground movement."

The next slide showed a few pictures of some important looking files. "I found out that the Reformists' Council is mounting an offensive to capture an asset from the Underground movement."

"Wait," Sefia suddenly said, "What are they after there? They wouldn't risk such a politically dangerous move unless it was something big."

Alto stopped to think for a second.

"If I were to summarise in three words, it would be tree baby Jesus." Sefia looked up at him, well and truly confused. "It doesn't affect us too much. All I need to know right now is whether or not you two will be available for the following two weeks."

"Well..." Sefia said, "All of my university classes are early on the weekdays. Friday night and the weekend would be good."

He mentally noted the information, also noting he actually didn't know much about Sefia. They didn't talk much outside of mercenary work, the only time they ever really did talk was when he was re-attaching her arm. He wasn't sure whether that was mainly his fault or hers.

"What about you, Damien?" He asked, "You got anything planned?"

"The only thing I have that's of any importance in the next couple of weeks is my weekly visit to my psychologist. I skip them almost all the time, so I'm basically free." Damien had been stuck with his shrink for the last 6 years, ever since he escaped from that terrorist cell in the middle east. Just thinking back to that time in his history made him shiver, he had been locked in complete darkness for 3 years and it had given him an intense of the dark for a while. He'd gotten over it, but he was still was uncomfortable in any type of darkness. "So, what kind of resistance should we expect to run into to, and is there any of of note we should steer clear of?"

"I didn't find much in terms of membership, but I do know they have a lot of A class metas." Alto said, "And one particularly annoying one which I'll have to deal with."

Sefia looked up at him yet again. She may as well have been staring at him the whole time, he was probably going to fill her in later.

"Well, you two won't have to worry about her." He said to them, "She won't bother us directly. Her troops however," He switched to a slide showing several varieties of monsters. "You will have to deal with those."

The slide showed all the creatures that were known from the Aperture battle, the Succubi, the Naga, the Ophanim, the Behemoth and a couple of other basic units.

"I'll send you both a file later listing their strengths and weaknesses." He said, switching to the next slide. "For now, I'll tell you about the only part I've really thought about, the exit strategy." The slide showed a small part of the compound. It was really only there because he felt awkward when he was briefing them without a slide behind him. "After we retrieve Ruby, I want us to come back separately. Sefia, you can leave one of your swords home and teleport back when we're done." He switched to a picture of one of the hallways. "I'll have Ruby turn up the lights in the facility and you can bust out the hard way if you want." He said to Damien. He turned off the presentation, having run out of slides. "I'll be carrying Ruby because Sefia can't teleport multiple people and you'll attract too much attention."

"Uh," Sefia said, "How are you getting out?"

"I'll probably be going out the front entrance." Alto said. "I've got something else to deal with first..."

He saw Sefia vaguely nod. She was still confused, but she trusted that Alto knew what he was doing.

"I'll send you an entry strategy when I have one, we'll be going in in two weeks," He said, "Any questions?"

Damien could feel Insomnium's excitement, and energy which showed in his thoughts. 'You bust in, deal with the annoying sneaky crap, Bossman gets the techno-chick boost the lights, and I get to wreak havoc on the way out. This is my kind of plan.' Damien gave a mental sigh, not looking forward to the coming weeks. The only thing worse then dealing with Insomnium, was dealing with him when he's excited about something. It was like having a kid hopped up on seven tons of sugar buzzing around in your head.

"Nope, exit strategy works for me and I can formulate my own ways of dealing with what we know. Just tell me where we're set to meet up and I'll be there."

"It's good on my end as well." Sefia said.

"Alright, I'll send out the info for when we'll meet when I send out the plan." Alto said. "Hey Theo! Is dinner ready!" He called over his shoulder.

Theo appeared from the kitchen.

"Yes, Emperor. Dinner has been prepared for mistress Sefia and master Damien as well."

"Ah, good." He turned towards the duo on the couch. "It's time for dinner."

"Don't mind if I do, what are we having?" Damien was never one to turn down a meal, especially a homemade one. He was the type who was so bad at cooking they could burn water, so he lived off of mostly microwave meals and canned goods. Not the healthiest of lifestyles, but it was better to do that then burn his apartment complex to the ground trying to make something himself.

The trio walked over to the dining room. Hopefully this all goes well. Alto thought.

((TL;DR Damien and Sefia are briefed on the plan, and then go and have dinner with Alto.))

Cer couldn't help but give him a funny look. He was obviously well trained since he noticed her approaching but his tongue was much sharper. However, not all of his sarcasm was lost on her. It was her fault, an odd question gets an equally odd answer. But as far as she could tell this guy's was fine, despite a snappy response, his aura actually a lighter shade than she had expected. The way he talked to her made Cer wonder what he thought she was, maybe she made the wrong first impression. Those were supposed to be pretty important and now she wasn't sure what to say, "Sorry, I got a little carried away, I'm sure you know the whole American stereotype. You know, 'go big or go home' or something like that. I though maybe someone decided to risk it with a deal in broad daylight. Sadly, that was not a petting zoo or any other type of illegal animal dealing I know of. Which is why I asked you but you seem to be on the same page as me, which seems to be zero. I don't even think the gorilla was real, that boy was using some type of ability..." Cer trailed off as she felt an almost unnoticeable spike in the other meta's power. She had a lot of questions to ask him and she was in a perfect position to ask them. Hopefully he was a resident of the city and knew more than she did, which really would be anything about LA at all, she had a question in mind and was about to fire away when a meta literally dropped down in front of them.

Cer gave the meta a once over, it would be a challenge not recognizing them. That face was plastered to various billboards around town, Light, the cartoon hero. Cer wasn't sure whether this was good luck or bad. Considering the fact that they were meeting for the first time and Cer had a stranger's arm wrapped around her, things were not looking great. Stupid first impressions again, they ruined everything. She was faced with another social challenge, she was usually so much more prepared than this. "You must be Light. I don't imagine every visitor gets to meet an idol their first day here." Cer smiled at Light and hoped the other meta would just let go of her shoulder out of shock or something because she wasn't sure how to politely ask him to get out of her personal space bubble.