Jake was not expecting the girl, Aya he learned, to be able to hear that. He took a step back in surprise when she responded to him. What the hell was this place? He took two steps back when Aya wandered off, straight through a wall. There was not one part of this that made sense to him but then he was a dog now, so little made sense in his life anymore. Realising that he was supposed to be going with Aya, he ran towards the wall she had passed through, stopping for a moment to test it with a paw. He didn't want to run straight into it and smash his skull. Fortunately his paw seemed to pass straight through. It seemed that whatever Aya had done to him, the basic laws of physics didn't seem to apply anymore.

With a reluctance, he pushed himself through the wall and then another after Aya until they came to what looked to be some kind of meeting room. There was a large table in the middle surrounded by chairs and on top of that table was another girl. This one crying. But while Jake could see Aya perfectly, this girl seemed to be obscured somehow. The dog blinked for a moment, thinking that maybe there was something wrong with his eyes. It didn't seem to work though.

The crying girl turned to them both and asked what they wanted. "So many things" Jake responded "Something to chew on would be good. A warm blanket too...Maybe some cake" It was then that he realised that he was speaking out loud again. He was so used to people not being able to hear him. This was going to take a lot of getting used to. Slightly embarrassed, the dog looked from Aya to the crying girl and said "Um...I mean...Why so sad, little lady?"

@c3p-0h
@Pirouette

Kuro

Kuro had been following Adriane for a bit, but quickly decided against it. She was wrecking a lot of shit in her quest to find her sister, and Kuro didn't want to be any where near her, lest she accidentally decks him with a chair she sends flying in her anger. He was pretty sure that would kill him. Instead he went searching on his own for a bit, not having much luck, and till he enter a meeting room where she was, along with two others. Considering how she was talking to-wait was that a dog?!?!?

In a flag of movement, Jake would find himself being tackled by the boy as he hugged the canine with all of his might.

"Holyshit!Anactualdog,I'veneverseenadogbefore,thisissocoool.Iwanthim,canIhavehim,isheaghostdog,whocaresifheis,thsiisthebestdayofmylife!!!!!!" Kuro spoke in rapidfire as he began to pet Jake, though having never being taught the proper etiquette of pet ownership, was petting him a lot harder than was probably comfortable. HE continued this for a few seconds, Jackson not saying anything because he was excited as well, before he seemed to remember that their were other people present.

"Oh, ummmmm, Hi," He said to Aya, before turning to Ann, his excited smile turning into an apologetic look of shame. "Uh, I'm really sorry about laughing, I swear I didn't mean to offend you, I've just never had that reaction before to my ability, and have a funny sense of humor and a horrible sense of timing. I do hope you can forgive me. . . . also, you might want to stop your sister from trashing the entree building looking for you."

@Pirouette
@Subject Zero
@c3p-0h

Jake was momentarily stunned when he was attacked by Kuro. He wasn't the first kid that was super excited to meet Jake but his reaction took "excited" to a whole new level. There was roughhousing and then there was just plain assault. To Jake, this felt like the latter. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for Kuro, Jake was far stronger than a normal dog and after a second or two he wrestled free of Kuro's grip. A second later he was ramming the kid to the ground with his head where he proceeded to pin him to the ground with two front paws on his chest. After growling menacingly, Jake grumbled at the boy "Take your stinkin' paws off me you damn dirty ape"

It may have seemed extreme, and probably did to the girls, but Jake knew that if he didn't show this boy that there were repercussions to attacking him like that, he'd probably do it again. Jake wasn't overly fond of being touched at all, let alone manhandled like he had just been. He wasn't going to hurt this kid. Maybe if he had been a few years older but Jake had a rule about never hurting kids. Of course Kuro wouldn't know that and Jake was fine with scaring him a little.

@Raijinslayer
@C3p-0h
@Pirouette

Camille was full-on incognito from there on, going as far as grabbing a thrown away newspaper and holding it as she leaned against a brick wall while waiting for Vince's signal. Yes she took herself that seriously. She'd only move closer to the edge of the construct when she started to hear familiar voices echo from the alley it led to. Lowering her paper just a bit, she peeked at the crowd Vince seemed to interact with, the fiery red haired individual standing out more than the others. She gritted her teeth in mindless anger as she contemplated the idea of just kicking his ass from the get go, but her loyalty to Isabella stood higher than her violent impulses.

She'd then drop her newspaper as she noticed the third individual, a girl who barely seemed younger than Camille's form. Now she was more curious than irritated, asking herself why such a young girl would hang out with a creep like Sebastian of all people. She was still quite annoyed, one of the rare people nearing her mental age that she could interact with would be affiliated with someone she couldn't bare the sight of for more than a minute. Once Vince gave the a-ok, the young girl stepped out of her hiding spot and slowly walked in a regular gait toward the crowd.

"Is the rat resisting, Vince?! Do you want me to handle the girly girl là?"

She asked her colleague while keeping a fixed stare at the couple of metas who were evidently not the most welcoming of people. As she slowly walked to reach her friend's side, she'd come across some of the bodies which wouldn't surprise her even if Vince hadn't warned her. After all, death was a recurring theme in the Underground. One body was simply too much in the way, which prompted the girl to kick its head hard enough to push it aside without it halting her advancement.

"Hey!" Aya exclaimed when the dog pounced on top of the boy. She ran over to him and tried to pull the dog away (she really had to learn his name). "Off, or no more steaks!" That was a lie. There would always be steaks. Aya couldn't punish anyone for the life of her. She was confident the dog couldn't hurt this new boy while in this form, but still…

"I'm really sorry," she said to the boy, "but he's not really fond of so much… attention." Actually, he probably wasn't fond of being attacked by strangers, but Aya kept her mouth shut on the boy's non-pet-friendly behavior. "We're not ghosts," she said to answer his earlier question. "…Are you?" She looked between the crying girl and him. They seemed harmless enough, but you never knew. It seemed like the two knew each other, and he was the reason for her distress.

@subject zero
@pirouette
@raijinslayer

"Oh, hey, it's Light!" Loki said, appearing from behind a doorway.
He walked out from the back room with a bundle of flowers that he'd taken to restock the shelves. He was taking a break from spying today, and so was pretty much everyone else; which reminded him that he should probably tell Cedric about the movement's move, but he'd do that later.

He'd been away for a couple of days, so he had to put in some work. Good thing Tom and Claire weren't here right now, they probably would've had a mini heart attack if they saw Light. After all, he did tell them about Scarlett's situation and how she worked with Aperture for a while, and so did he for like 3 days. At any rate, Light shouldn't know about that so it should've been fine. Probably.

"What's up, Light?" Loki said casually, setting the flowers down on a shelf. "I haven't seen you since the movie. Well, I saw you on TV, but that hardly counts."

"Hello you two. I'm just here to order some flowers for the people who lost their lives today. Ya know, good citizen stuff and all that." Light said, remembering Loki but not Scarlett. "I think in a few hours the news will tell you a bit of what I've been up to today. But basically my team and I fought some monster making cult or whatever, I don't really respect them enough to remember their actual name. Stick me in vaccuum..." Light continued, trailing off in a rabble as she dug through her pocket space for a credit card.

"So what are you up to? Haven't seen you for awhile Loki. Didn't think you were the type to work at a flower shop after that acting job. Or is this lady your girlfriend? It would explain a lot." Light said, snapping out of her rabbling when she found the card and put it on the counter, telling Scarlett to use it in a few minutes when it stopped being cartoony as she picked out the flowers she thought would work well, buying a good chunk of the store in the process.

@lord santa

Kuro

Kuro was not the least bit scared as the dog pounced on him, his eyes going wide with an even wider smile. "You can talk to, that is fucking awesome, you are fucking awesome, everything is fucking awesome, We met a dog!!!!" Kuro got up as Aya puled the dog off, barely keeping his distance. Anyone paying attention would notices that his voice seemed to have taken a strange duality to it, making it sound like to people were talking at once. "This day couldn't get any better, seriously, it could not." Kuro's eyes then flicked over to Aya, finally taking the time to notice her, then to Ann, who he had come to apologize to, an apology that probably didn't seem half as genuine as it truly was after he had gotten so excited about the dog. Why does my timing suck so badly, I couldn't apologize first, wait for response, then faun over the fact that there's a talking dog in front of me. Actually, I'm convinced the universe set me up to fail this time, there was no way I would be able to do that. It's a freaking dog that can talk, that's the epitome of cool.

Shaking himself out of his head, Kuro decided to take a seat on one of the chairs and wait to hear Ann's response to his apology. He was afraid that he'd make things worse by opening his big mouth again, if he hadn't already. He also resisted the urge to pet the dog again, as it had made it very clear that it was a bad idea. If the dog had a normal body, then Kuro could do so without it knowing later, but as off now, it was a bad idea.

@Pirouette
@Subject Zero
@c3p-0h

Sebastian

"I was thinking more of killing you, then using your body in some sort of puppet show for a captive audience. That would be very fun, especially if I had Cassie make your body dance with some jolts of electricity. But in all seriousness, don't use that power on me, I will not hesitate to end you if I feel the need." Sebastian walked to the car, resisting the childish temptation to douse it in blood just to see how violently Vince would react. He might've killed Cassie, a pity but not something he really cared for. He picked her up on a whim to have a protege to train up in his own image.

He turned to Camille with a grin as he got in the back seat, Cassandra following behind and giving the girl a shocked look. Cassandra hadn't thought that their would be other people around her age in the movement. "Sorry Camille, but I've no real reason to not come to the movement, and I'd much rather avoid a run in with the Lancaster Monster. I'd say I'm glad to see you're not dead, but that would be a lie. So, either of you have any idea why Isabella wants me back?"

@Sapphire
@Savato

Although Ann had expected a response, she did not expect it a masculine voice coming from the dog. She sat there, stunned with a confused expression plastered on her face, and did not immediately answer the dog. Once the realization that a dog had actually asked how she was feeling, she began to lighten up a bit because... who honestly would expect a dog to visit her. Obviously these two were more people like herself and they had their own powers because nobody other than the dead could really exist where they were at right now. These two were probably much like herself... or that Kuro-boy.

Speaking of which, Ann was surprised to see him enter the room as she had just presumed he might not cared, but she didn't appear happy to see him. Kuro immediately charged the dog and yelped a mouthful that Ann would compare to a cartoon rabbit bouncing up and down, spazzing ecstatically. The dog obviously did not like that and as soon as it broke free, toppled Kuro. A very small part of her thought he kind of deserved that, but the rest of her hoped he wasn't going to be actually hurt.

The woman pulled the dog off and as Kuro got up, he broke some very bad news that easily overshadowed Kuro's apology and the lady's question asked immediately afterwards. "Oh no! Ariadne!" She expressed with guilt and immediately sprang to her transparent feet. She leapt from the table but did not fall as she flew across the room, feet tailing behind her, and went through the wall without hesitation.

It didn't take long to find Ariadne as she had just kicked in a door on the second floor that had been presumably locked, startling the inhabitants inside. "Oh Ariadne!" Ann exclaimed as she flew straight at her sister and immediately wrapped her up in tight hug. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to worry you!" She quickly spat out as the two switched existence planes, allowing Ann to return to mortality and Ariadne to vanish from view. Ann quickly released her sister, less they transform again. "I didn't know where the room was... could you..?" Ann inquired and Ariadne nodded, her face expressing anger but with a noticeable depression of worry. Ariadne lead Ann back down to their room and Ann returned to watching cartoons in silence and in the darkness.

"The amount of work you're willing to put in my death, flatters me." Vince chuckled darkly, "I don't use my power unless I need something, don't put yourself in that position and we won't have any issues. I feel like I'm repeating my self, I get the feeling that neither of us likes to do that." Vince didn't like the look in Sebastian's eyes as they approached the car, Sebastian was the type to ruin his car out of spite. He turned his attention to Camille and tried to soften his expression, "Not right now but keep an eye on her, she's new so she's maybe even less trustworthy than Sebastian, if that's even possible." Vince wondered how much this girl had actually wanted to join Sebastian and how much of it was survival instincts.

Vince's glare didn't change much as he climbed in he assumed the others would follow suit, "I don't ask a lot of questions, I don't know anything. If I did do you think I'd tell an asshole like you?" Vince waited until they we're all in the car and shot Sebastian a warning look, "Next stop Isabella and company." As he was diving he tried to loosen up his face, he was going to end up with worry lines at this rate.
To his relief the drive was as short as he'd hoped. "We're here and before you ask, yes we are going to escort you in, Isabella would have our heads if we let you find your way."

"We're just friends and stuff." Loki said, arranging around with flowers. "This isn't our flower shop, but Tom and Claire are out right now, so I gotta put in some hours."
He got up and stretched, catching some stray sunlight. He actually appreciated taking the day off to work in the flower shop, because he didn't really feel like doing anything more stressful than heavy lifting. He'd had enough hectic stuff from yesterday, not that he could say that.
"So yeah, I haven't really done that much recently." Loki said. "Though I did see that thing with the monsters. It was on the news. Sometimes it just feels like real life is more like a movie than a movie is. Good thing real life isn't transformers, though."

Loki counted the flowers that Light picked out, which was a whole lot. It was fine, because flowers grew back, but still a ton. It was good for the store, but also kind of worrying considering they were for condolences. It made Loki wonder just how many had died. Well, if he added the Hydra to the equation, he could get a pretty big number, but still. Also, the flowers were becoming 'cartoony', probably from contact with Light.
"You're going to need a big bag for all of these." Loki said, taking them out of her hands and putting them on the counter. "So, how'd the fight go?"

Aya watched as the sad girl ran off to find her sister. She turned to the boy and opened her mouth to say something when suddenly she swayed on her feet, feeling faint. The world around her tipped and it was all she could do to not pass out then and there. In this world she couldn't feel the effects of her injuries or exhaustion, but she could only stay here for so long. Without another word, she bent down to touch the dog. It wouldn't do to leave him stranded as a spirit. Snapping them both back into their bodies, Aya could no longer fight her body and fell asleep, still sitting on the floor and leaning against her bed.

Jake allowed Aya to pull him off of the boy, stepping back a few paces as she tried to pull. In truth he was glad of the opportunity to back up while still looking menacing. Not that the kid seemed to get the whole 'Dog can eat you' vibe he was trying to get across. Kuro's smile kind of bothered Jake. He didn't seem intimidated in the least. Maybe he was losing his touch.

The weird crying girl ran off without any kind of explanation as to why she was crying, which only annoyed Jake even more. But from what the overly friendly kid had said, it seemed like he was responsible. Jake could fully understand that. He was pretty annoying. He just hoped he hadn't assaulted her like he had assaulted Jake.

Jake quickly lost interest in that situation though when Aya started to sway on her feet. He leaned in towards her legs in an ultimately futile attempt to steady her. He knew it wouldn't work but he had to try anyway. Fortunately she didn't collapse in a heap and instead put a hand to his head. It was then that Jake found himself incredibly disoriented as he was snapped out of the room and back to his body. He felt slightly nauseated as the world around him shifted again. But this time the world regained it's color and he was finally back in his own body. His relief that he wasn't dead dead was quickly replaced by worry as he noted Aya's head droop. He sat up and nuzzled her head with her nose to check on her. After a moment he realised that she was simply asleep and he calmed. He'd let her sleep. She had had a long day. Hell, so had he.

With a small yawn, Jake dropped his front paws over Aya's lap and lay his head down. Maybe he would try to get some sleep too.

After deciding to trust Ruby Greenfoot and willingly accept any information she gave to him, Reformist leader Cedric Wessex learned of weaknesses and gaps in the infamous Underground Movement - a group which was nearly impenetrable. Cedric didn't react to this information until the Reformists later learned that the leader of the Underground Movement, Isabella Lancaster had successfully created a child and planted it in a surrogate mother, Cindy Wade. The twist was that the pregnancy would only last for two weeks before the baby was born and began to rapidly grow. Eden, as he would be called, had the powers to turn into a tree whose fruit could heal and grant powers to normal humans. Isabella desired to use this promise of power as a pawn so that she could subjugate the 'unnecessary' and highlight the intelligent and powerful.

Cedric, desiring to seek some form of action, organised a board meeting of major Reformist metas including a one Olivia Delacroix, a delegate of the International Heroes. It was decided that they would attempt a process of peace before moving to an all-out assault if peace failed. The next day, Miss Delacroix secretly left the Reformist headquarters and made for the New Sun building, home of the Underground Movement. Once in, she began talks with Isabella Lancaster and although they appeared to be going good, she was shot and had to be rescued by Elijah Craigh. In the process, they smoked out a whole army of genetically engineered monsters.

The Reformists, being led by an angry Cedric, had no choice but to meet this sudden appearance of an army with their own. A battle broke out in the surrounding streets and in the tunnels under the New Sun building. Cedric Wessex battled with a young meta and unfortunately lost the battle and an eye. With backup from Light, however, he made it out alive and enemy forces were pushed back. After a few more battles between the two forces, the assault was suddenly cut short by the strategic removal of Cindy Wade and demolition of the New Sun building by Ruby Greenfoot, who had lured Cedric in with information before surprising both the group that held her hostage and the group that had actually forgiven her.

Thankfully, most of the Reformists made it out alive and casualties, although high, weren't as high as they should have been. The Underground Movement were forced to retreat with their tail between their legs as they lost two very powerful pawns in their war. The Movement were forced to take up residence in the old Avalon prison facility that had been abandoned by the government.

Both groups are in the dark about the location of Ruby and Cindy but during recent days, the Reformists have sent out Scarlett Evermore to find Cindy and remove her from Ruby's custody. The Underground Movement, although wanting Cindy back, have other plans and intend to launch a counterattack to drive their enemy back so that they no longer become a problem. Unbeknownst to the Reformists, Lancaster has a card that she has yet to play that could change the very fate of the war. Only the higher echelons of the Movement know of this metaphorical card and the lower ranked just follow along with Isabella anyways.

The attack is scheduled for precisely a week after the Reformist attack and as of yet, no intelligence has been leaked to suggest that an attack will even take place. According to most Reformist strategists, the Movement have retreated to try and recover their strength but they won't be back for a long time. They are very wrong.



This was probably Cedric's fault! He was a damn idiot and probably thought she was a liability so he had Elijah take up quarters only a few rooms down from Olivia. If that wasn't bad enough, the bastard seemed to have constant access to her room, not requiring the key that she thought only she had - another piece of evidence pointing towards Cedric. Anytime she would even get up to greet the morning, the pyromancer would be there with a snarky comment and breakfast. It all looked disgusting, anyways, like it had been plucked out of some shitty American diner in the middle of nowhere.

As usual, on that morning as soon as Olivia left her bedroom, Elijah was waiting for her. Sighing softly, she did what she normally did and simply ignored him, brushing past his large stature and making her way to the coffee machine. She had found a way to piss him off in recent days - she simply hooked her iPod up to the speakers and played some pop music. Elijah was a classical sort of guy so whenever he heard the breath-taking beauty of songs such as 'Anaconda', he was more than likely pissed off.

Of course, just to add a pinch of salt and then a whole bottle of vodka to his wound, she hummed along to the entire thing and even sang a few bits in broken French. Elijah hated that as well - there was never a translator on hand so technically, she could say whatever she wanted about him (or his mother) and he wouldn't know a thing about it. "Petite merde!" Her voice even threw him off a little - she sounded chirpy and almost affectionate. Olivia very much enjoyed pissing off Elijah Craigh.

Cedric prepared to depart for his meeting with the President's council, packing his suitcase with the barest essentials. At the same time, he left instructions via messenger that Olivia and Light were to be kept in charge of the base, while at the same time that Jackson, as well as Ann, would continue their training. Aya and Jake, meanwhile, would be given free run of the base for today, although Maxwell was instructed not to let them out of his sight.

Edit: Spectrum and Owlman, meanwhile, would be allowed to do whatever they wanted, although there was a strong recommendation that they either do sentry duty where they can interact with each other, or guard the kids.

The vampire leaned back in his crappy little folding chair as The Owlman leaned in to face him, eye to enormous black eye. He wanted to look to the others, the rest of the former underground mutants that were arranged in a circle in this empty gymnasium, but some primal part of his brain was afraid that if he broke eye contact with the beast in front of him he would be coming away from the encounter with one less face.

He was so focused on what was in front of him that he jumped when the other man put a hand on his shoulder. The other guy, the blond with the earrings and the lazy little smile, was at least a less stressful sight. "He wants to know why you're so afraid." Max informed him. The vampire quickly flicked his eyes from Max to the inscrutable Owlman and back, as though asking if this were some sort of trick question.

The Owlman and Max stood back up, in the center of the circle. "Oookay, related question." The Owlman said through Max. "What's your name?"

The young vampire looked uncomfortable for a second, and timidly said, "Noctis."

The pair of them sighed, which from the Owlman came out as a sort of hiss. They had asked that question every day since they'd organized these sessions three days ago and never once had they been given the answer they wanted. Tristipan, Elrona, Alucard, Nightwisp, Kaldorei, these were what they called themselves."That's not your name." They said. "What's your real name?"

But apparently three days of mandatory Owlman time had gotten Noctis in a tiff, and he decided the throw out some defiance. "What's your real name, then?"

Max looked over at Owlman, giving him a look as though asking if her were sure. The Owlman just nods and max just smiles, putting just hands on his hips and puffing out his chest proudly. "First name: 'The.'" The Owlman raised one hand and applies the palm directly to his face as he saw where Max was taking this. "Middle name: 'Owl.' Last name: 'Man'"

"Then how's that any different from us?" Noctis shouted, and received affirmations from the rest of the group.

"Because Owlman isn't a name he should be ashamed of." Max answered quicker than The Owlman could think, visibly surprised. "The Owlman is the name he took when he dedicated himself to being a better human being. It's not some power fantasy bullshit he uses to pretend he's not! What has Noctis got to be proud of? What has he ever done? Get conned by a megalomaniac sociopath? Hang out in parking lots to freak out the 'normals?' Scoop people off the street so that he and his sick friends could hunt them for sport? What, huh, what?!"

The Owlman put one hand on Max's shoulder and they just looked at one another in silence for a few seconds and the assembled mutants simply look away from one another. Max opens his mouth a few times, but no words come out as he's seemingly cut off before he can speak. Then The Owlman narrows his eyes, and Max rolls his eyes and retakes his position behind and to the left of him.

When he speaks to Noctis again, his voice is level. As he speaks, The Owlman bobs his head to the rhythm of his words. "As much as a disagree with my partners tone, he's correct. You can use a transformation like this as an opportunity to transform yourself, but you've each transformed yourselves into monsters. I'm not talking about what you look like. Monster is a state of mind. Monsters have no responsibilities to the human race. Monsters do not have to bear the burden of being human. Becoming a monster is ultimately an act of cowardice, because it is the act of fleeing from humanity. So, we return to the point." He leans back in to Noctis. "Why are you afraid? What is so terrifying about being human that you chose to run away?"

Noctis looks around nervously, trying to get some cue from everyone else, but like before The Owlman's enormous face took up his entire view. The Owlman could hear fear this close, in the beating of his heart, in every breath he took. He'd been afraid the last time The Owlman had leaned in close, but it was nothing on this level. It made sense. Last time he'd just been facing a man, but now here he was staring down a monster. The vampire took a deep breath, then said quickly "College."

There was an immediate steadying of the young mans heartrate. "I flunked out of college, but I couldn't bear to tell my parents so I faked it. I'd just catch the bus, hang out in a library all day, hoping that if I ignored it the grant people would lose my grades and give me another shot or something. But they never replied and my parents kept asking how school was going and I just felt like a leech. I just...I just wanted to be something less pathetic. Oh god, what have I done?"

The young man felt the talons of The Owlman gripping his gently by the shoulders. "You've lost your way. What's your name?"

"Simon." He breaths out, shakily. "My name is Simon."

The Owlman gives him two gentle claps on the shoulder. "Welcome back, Simon." The he stands up, and turns to address the entire group. "You're all trapped in the dark, like Simon was, and there's a monster looking to make sure you never rejoin the human race. Acceptance is the only sword you can use to slay that monster. Acceptance of your mistakes, acceptance of your responsibilities, acceptance of your beautiful, fallible humanity. You've all seen it done now. Sooner or later, I expect to know the name of everyone in this room."

-----
The Owlman felt satisfied as the group filed out. Some talked lowly to one another, some strode forward in contemplative though. Simon was helped out of the room by two elves. Max walked up beside him and waited for the lot of them to be well and truly gone before turning to The Owlman and expressing his disgust. "Man, you've gooot to get someone else for this because I seriously want to strangle every last one of them."

The Owlman shot him a thought about his off-script bad cop routine actually helped in a weird way. "What routine?" he replied. "I hate them. How many lives do you think that Simon kid has ruined because he wanted to feel oh so special?"

The Owlman understood that Simon had made a decision at a low point in his life. That's how cults got their followers, after all, but Max shook his head and gave a derisive laugh. "Come on, those guys weren't indoctrinated. They switched sides because Cedric made them a better offer. They're just selfish."

Most of them were desperate for any sort of help. "And you can get any sort of help from places other than a cult. I've worked at a lot of them. People will give you real help if you just make the effort."

They were just going to have to agree to disagree. "Fine. But I'm going to need a better incentive if you want me to keep being your voice for this."

Lunch? "That would be acceptable. You can treat me after you get done babysitting. There's this place called Lattetude that has this super cute waitress I want to introduce you to."

With that, The Owlman made a crude fist and bumped knuckles with his oldest friend before they parted ways. Max to his desk, The Owlman to watch over Ann.

Aya (if she was in the Astral Plane) and Ann, though in comfortable quarters, would sense...something; something dangerous. They would sense a set of ethereal, pale white and transluscent tendrils extending throughout the base, touching and probing the masonry. This presence would feel foreboding, malicious, and overwhelming. Perhaps they should warn Cedric about it?

------

In the depths of the old Aperture Tower, a green pulse of killing energy came from Gia's stasis chamber, killing everyone (Edit: in the room) above A-Class, which meant that Constantine's Fiery Guardians had been destroyed almost before their mission began.

"AUGH!" Constantine Ramiel King screamed into the heavens.

(Collab Between a Misogynistic Sandwich, Sapphire McButt(erfly) and God Savato)

After taking in the repulsive Sebastian back to the new Underground Movement base, Camille kept a subtle grin on her angelic face as she anticipated the horrors that Patel would inflict on the redhead if he were to pull off one of his stunts. Things were going... Smoothly for the passing week as nothing occurred other than henchmen renovating the new base to make it as operational as possible and Isabella plotting her next move. Camille herself felt a bit passive, after all she did have the duty of caretaker of the base during the attack which left her quite exhausted in the end.

Now the wait was over and new objectives were fixed. Isabella gave the young warrior the duty of supervising what she and many others were anticipating the past few days. A few minutes before the grand opening of a new facet of this war, Camille was sitting all so casually on a sofa which so happened to be placed on the roof of a building about a block away from the Reformist HQ. Camille was wearing a red plaid shirt with a pair of pale blue jeans and converse shoes, her usually beret being replaced with a dark blue fedora she so happened to have stolen from one of the obese mutants under her mother's command. She was holding binoculars and was staring directly at the HQ's entrance.

"HEY VINCE! WHERE IS THE FOOD?! THE SHOW WILL START SOON!"

She shouted in random anger, her belly had began to growl simultaneously to her fit of rage. She turned her head in order to find her colleague who was supposed to be with her.

Vince held in a groan, "You're the French person why am I the one handling food?" Despite his act he was pretty happy to be in charge of the food because he loved to cook and the past months in the city had given him the chance to learn where the authentic Italian food was and where the American shit versions were. "Hope you like Italian food because I still do." It was a little bit ridiculous that he cared so much since he hadn't been in Italy in a long time.

"Italian? Mussolini you're always welcome chez moi~"

Camille also appeared to be quite happy, her little fit aside, as her nerves were quenched by the soothing aroma released from the basket her colleague had brought for this very special occasion. Her eyes glittered in excitement as she impatiently waited for the grand reveal.

"]I hope you have some goo-.. erm... Gucci spaghetti for me!" she added with a pinch of an overdone italian accent on the Gucci. She even added the stereotypical gesture with her gloved hand to imitate an italian man.

"No Spaghetti because I got pizza. Spaghetti i what the Italians stole from the Chinese. Gucci is a designer by the way, you uncultured swine. Don't worry there's also Bruschetta which I'm sure you know of as little pieces of toast with tomatoes on them, not to mention muscles which I assure you are a type of shellfish." He smiled and pulled out the containers of various Italian foods, other than the food her had mentioned there were breadsticks and tomato soup that Vince would likely use as a sauce, a small dish of olives and the pizza of course. "I don't know if you drink but I brought a nice bottle of red wine I thought would go nicely with this. Though on second thought a white wine might have been a better choice. I convinced the building owner to supply us with a table and chairs. He should be here in a moment." As if on cue a rather portly man came on to the roof breathing rather hard, he had carried up the table by himself.

"I'm sorry for the wait Sir, I dropped it a couple times and had to go get it. I'll have the chairs in just a moment." The man was huffing to Vince's amusement. He waved the man away to go get the chairs. Taking the fold out table he set it up and when the chairs arrived he did the same. "Nothing fancy but I'd rather watch a building explode in style."

"Huh? Wait... SWINE?! Pffff, says the Fascho proposing alcohol and sharp objects for cooking to a little girl. Go... Ugh... Drop dead." She replied to her colleague as their newfound servant was doing his thing, but she didn't give a single care about style. All she needed was something to sit on and binoculars. She stuffed her hand, which would be enveloped in a black combat glove, in one of the baskets in order to extract a slice of pizza. "Chorizo Pizza?" she asked curiously as she examined the piece of food, but before her partner could answer, she'd bite off half of it, consuming it whole after only three sets of chews.

"Oh ze shzow iz aboooot to starht!" she'd say with her mouth full, one hand holding the small remains of the pizza she had taken another bite out of and the other holding the binoculars that enabled a specific view over a specific thing that triggered her alertness.

"You're not 3, just because you're stuck in a child's body doesn't mean you have to act like it. If you continue to act like this you'll miss out on a lot." Vince scowled but declined to comment on her other antics, it was likely the more annoyed he seemed the more she was encouraged to act childish. "I hope we can salvage a database, that would be fun but Patel isn't a very careful thing is he?" He felt a twinge of guilt as he remembered that Cer was likely to be there, at least her powers would allow her a chance to escape. He helped himself to a slice of pizza and sat back to wait for the fire works.

"I dunno, he's always so absent~ You should've asked him before the mission had started!" she made herself comfortable on the sofa while helping herself with some more italian delights. She'd peek from time to time through the set of binoculars to keep track on Patel. It was going to happen, any minute now that monster would be at the base's doorstep. Camille was a bit excited, not by the idea of lots of people dying, but the possibilities of salvaging fallen Metas who could potentially be future allies. She wanted a young, female meta to join the troupe, so she could at least have someone to share similar interests with. After all the team was male dominated and Isabella was way too serious to be considered as a potential gal pal. "Soooo, when he's in, you take the West and I take the back? Or do we just go freestyle?" she referred to the areas they would cover once the inevitable evacuation protocol would occur.

"You think I want to talk to him? That guy gives me the creeps and I control people on a regular basis." He sighed and shook his head. "Yeah I'll take the west part but be careful, if you find any metas it would be best to bring them to me and let me do the talking. You know why, Isabella would proabaly agree." Vince hadn't eaten much, he wasn't feeling particularly hungry anymore. The idea of all the work he was going to do to convince these metas was putting him off.

Camille nodded, but she didn't have the intention of letting one of her prey become tainted by his powers. This was beyond just gaining new tools, her naive and difficult needs would inevitably gain priority over pretty much anything. All they could do now is wait for the monster's entrance into the scene and commence this modern day Kristallnacht.

Aya sat on her bed in the Reformist building, typing away at her laptop resting in front of her. Textbooks lay open on either side, and every now and then she'd glance over at one for reference. Sadly, the life of a student didn't stop for something as trivial as witnessing a murder and going into hiding. Her teachers had been appraised of the situation and were of course understanding, allowing Aya to miss class and just study and turn in assignments on her own. She was just thankful that she wasn't enrolled in any lab courses this semester. When exam time came around though, Aya wasn't sure what she was going to do. She just had to make it through the rest of this semester, and then she'd… what, withdraw from college and move back to Hawaii?

Aya sighed, leaning away from her laptop and running a hand over her face. It was bad enough she'd had to quit her job at the flower shop. She supposed she'd just have to figure things out.

A shudder ran through her.

That was… odd

Suddenly she was feeling very uneasy. At least, more uneasy than usual since this had all started. Aya looked around, rubbing her arms, but she was still in her same luxurious guest room. There was nothing amiss. No one was here. Why did it feel like there was, then?

On an impulse, Aya closed her eyes and jumped to the astral plane – and immediately muffled a yelp when she saw thick white tendrils slithering through her room. They turned and twisted, probing through the walls. Aya floated up, careful not to touch them. This was not normal. The air was thick with promises of death and destruction. Aya darted through walls and floors, finding the white tendrils everywhere, invading every crevice and corner. Flying up, she stopped when she cleared the roof of the building and watched the scene before her in horror.

Every inch of the Reformist HQ was being probed, analyzed, and invaded.

Snapping back to her body, Aya scrambled off the bed, almost tumbling to the floor in her haste. She had to go tell someone. She had to tell Cedric. Running out the door and through the halls, she ran towards his office (she may have used her powers to… explore the building when she'd had moments to herself).

Aya pounded her fist on the door when she arrived, panting. After a moment, urgency won out over propriety and she opened the door without waiting for permission.

"Mr. Wessex!" she shouted. "There's… there's something wrong. There's something… I don't know, looking at the building." Aya paused when she realized how inadequate that sounded. "It's something dangerous, and it's everywhere, like it's probing." Aya ran a hand through her hair, trying to find some way to make him understand. She paused then, when she realized she could help him understand.

Aya wasn't actually sure if word had gotten around that she was a meta, yet. The only person who really knew was Jake the dog, and likely those other two, Ann and Kuro, had figured it out when they'd met. She knew it was silly, especially in a building full of Metas, but Aya was still hesitant about people knowing about her. Aya bit back her reluctance, knowing that this had priority over her own insecurities.

Holding out a hand for him to take, she said, "I can show you."

Syria

It had been a week since Adam and Mountain Lion arrived in the Syrian village the Russian VIP had left but the soldiers remained. They were patrolling the area around the off limits area. The waiting was getting to Adam and Mountain Lion both had a feeling of suspicion on them.

Washington DC

The special committee that the president had selected was going to get ready in the next few hours. the Vice President would chair the meeting, and the Chief of Staff would be Vice Chair. Also in attendance where the Secretaries of Defense and State, directors of various intelligence agencies, and several members of congress.

LA

Chiller was busy at the Reformist HQ. She was writing detailed reports for Abernathy.