It had been 2 days ago when the Underground Movement had attacked and the Reformists intervened. While lives were lost, due to the actions of Light and the Reformists, the damage was less than it could've been. Of course since it was a meta who had attacked innocent people, the Reformists were the ones blamed for the tragedy, even though the LAPD had shown greater levels of incompetence. After all, it wasn't like the Reformists could be everywhere at once with how few resources they had in comparison or anything of the sort.

In order to try to calm the public outrage, the mayor of LA invited Light and other reformist metas to a public press conference and dinner party, prominently advertising Light's return to LA to try to calm the public. The mayor hoped that this would work as Light had been abroad previously and having one of the most well known meta heroes back and protecting the streets of LA would hopefully calm everyone down.

Light herself wasn't too thrilled by this when she had gotten the invitation. "Great. Now I wont be able to grab a burger without getting swarmed again." She said as she was getting ready for the gathering, still a bit irritated. While the invitation was extended to other reformist metas as a whole, they all seemed to be doing their own things at the moment. In fact, Light didn't recognize a great deal of the new metas the reformists had gotten while she was away. It was unfortunate that she couldn't get to know many of them as the office was very busy after the attack from the Underground movement.

When she was ready, she made her way to the limo that was waiting for her outside. She wondered who else would come to the conference with her.

Lucas, being the one who, despite his well-hidden spazziness, did cut off the head of IS' first Caliph, was among the invitees to the Mayor's office in LA. Approaching Light, the man, who, despite his drinking habits, was still handsome when sober, smiled at the Toon lady, saying:

"Mind having me as your beau for the night, milady?" If Light said yes, he would sit beside her in the limo, where Lizzie would then call them:

"Hey, guys," the sixteen year old would say through the smartphone, "Guess what?! The mayor invited me too; says I can create cloud art above City Hall for the feast! Isn't that great?"

Lucas smiled.

------

Lizzie, having arrived in City Hall in advance, was busy creating a gigantic cloud shaped like a double-headed eagle, one whose wings and talons spread protectively above the building. Once she was done scuplting, she then took out a special, metahuman-made powder that, when scattered on the cloud, caused it to glow, so one now had a luminescent cloud above the building.

Sitting lazily on the back of the cloud-eagle, the girl smiled in pride at her creation. Let's also just say that if the Underground came calling, well, they'd better not be in the open...

------

When Lucas and Light finally approached the building, the former smiled like a kid, saying:

"Good going, Lizzie." He then further explained:

"The giant cloud can be made to hail, snow, or shoot lighting as long as Lizzie touches it. If the Underground came calling, they'd have to stay underground, lest they get blasted. Bits of that cloud can also be used for the same thing, but Liz' hates taking apart her art pieces." He then looked at Light.

"It's not much, but it denies the UGM an avenue of attack."

------

(Invalid: A mysterious voice would ask Alto through the phone to attack JanusCorp and retrieve a Metahuman imprisoned there named Mu, as well as any other Metas that were being used as test subjects. Said mysterious voice promised payment of five million dollars for Mu, and one million for any other Meta.

Oh, and the voice also asked them to put the retrieved Metas in a special Monastery dedicated to helping abused Metas, made up of excommunicated Catholics.)

-Deleted-

"Hey guys, we got a job." Alto said, a little uncertainly, putting his phone down. He'd gotten a call from some guy saying he had to rescue some metas, he hadn't really been paying attention. Mostly he was wondering why Con liked movies so much. Even now her eyes were fixed on the screen, and as far as he knew she'd been there all night.

"What is it, emperor?" Theo said from behind him. He was wearing an apron and chef's hat, he was actually cooking breakfast. He handed Alto the plate heaped with pancakes. "You sound uncertain."

"It's just..." He said, cutting off a sizeable chunk, "It's not illegal enough. I need to make it like, 1000% more illegal."

Sure maybe breaking out a company's experiments was illegal, but Janus corp's experiments were illegal in the first place. Yeah, it was nice he could probably get rid of a competitor and also finally push his bank account into the billions in one shot but still. He didn't really need money and he sort of had really loose morals if he was honest so the job just wasn't very exciting for him.

Well whatever, I should probably just think about how to get in, He thought dismissively while chewing his pancakes. I guess I could hack my way in, but there's been a big rise in anti-meta digital security lately.

Actually, thinking about hacking made him think about the good old days. 5 years ago when he'd been working for Aperture and he'd found out he could hack just about anything. He'd kept that a secret obviously, and later when LA was in martial law and he'd taken down Aperture a little bit after that...

"Hey wait a sec," He said suddenly. He thought over it for a few seconds, and a smile came onto his face, creeping up to his ears. "That's a great idea."

No one took the bait, and it made the zombie feel bad deep down inside. But she kept an upbeat smile, superficial sure, but it seemed impervious to any external influences. When the massive abomination known as Isaac inquired to the Zombie of the underground, the petite female simply tilted her head before showering the man with the cheetos she was using to poison everyone else. She didn't give a verbal response to him, as she knew her zombies were all killed at this point and the leader was coming back. Call it a bad mood, she wasn't the most coherent person in the organization, which added to the creepiness of her abilities. Her power evidently scared most people who knew of it, even if they'd conceal it behind pride, but luck would have it that Nancy was simply too much of an inept dummy to actually be actively threatening.

Out of the blue, she quickly hugged the big Isaac for reasons even she didn't even bother to fish out and simply did it. All that before passing the monster and heading to the morgue Sebastian had his fun time in. She had completely forgotten she had loaned her hand, seemingly uncaring whether she got it back or not. In fact, a wave of laziness got to her as she opened one of the caskets containing a body. All she did was tap the protruding foot of the body and the flesh going up to the ankle would decompose and attract itself to Jewels' stump like it was magnetized to it. It quickly reformed her arm and strangely her clothes were restored as well (via forces beyond SS ranks obviously). Her hand was back to normal and for a small period she simply stared at the body she had just mutilated in order to fix herself.

---

With the leader's return and the Underground still enthusiastic after it's recent massacre which riled up the Reformists more than anything else. Needless to say, the news went haywire about it too. Nancy was mostly happy by the fact that the truck she had sent to gather bodies came back safe and sound while avoiding any tails, bringing her a good batch of bodies to resurrect. This would be of great use given the mission that would take place, a task only Jewels could exact with with almost complete impunity. She was going to target Disneyland, a place infested with people and a great way to stock up on fodder zombies while attracting attention. This would mean police forces and SWAT teams would intervene, in turn giving free weapons to the underground. By the time they'd realize this situation was actually orchestrated by a Metahuman, most people would be zombies. It was an excellent plan.

Her little army was already set as she was informed of the mission a while back so she could prepare for it. Sebastian did what he did best, bring helpless victims to torture but spare them so they could be fresh. He was a good worker after all, despite the frown he brought upon Nancy, and left with with a commando of about thirty living Heralds while she had a good hundred accumulated corpses she could utilize as canon fodder during the whole raid. This was going to be a blast. He strange attention span would however make hr oblivious to other missions going on, hence why she didn't know what the heck the others were doing. All she knew was that the overpriced theme park was going to go down and she was going to love it.

"ELLEN! ... Good luck."

She slowly rose her thump up in the air in an awkward fashion, as if she had heard of the thumbs up but didn't actually know how to do it. It was silly, and it made so sense when she saluted Ellen of all people. But she did it, and which a warming smile too. She'd then turn to head to the Underground Garage thing where they stored most stolen vehicles. There were multiple vans but there's a black Mercedes she'd hop in on the passenger's side before it'd start, followed by a set of eight vans filled with God knows what. It was obvious she was quite prepared for this, but considering the potential of her power, it wouldn't be ridiculous to think that she could amass the highest quality of weapons without anyone batting an eye.

---

The vehicles were parked in various, concealed areas where they would ring little to no suspicion. The Mercedes stopped and three individuals came out with big bags. Two were women, one was a man. They all seemed pretty normal while Nancy came out the last with nothing on her. Strangely enough she was the shortest of the group. They all walked in line to enter the theme park and Nancy clenched on the reservation ticket for the hotel, ready to present it without sounding the least but awkward. Like normal vacationers, the people with her which were just living Heralds did typical chitchat to appear as inconspicuous as possible. All the while Nancy recited the simple line she had to say to the register.

"Hello! I have a reservation for room 483 at the haote- Dang it!"

She screwed up, but as she showed the ticket, the man at the register understood perfectly and let the four in without any problem, wishing them a nice stay in the process. They were in, and everything seemed pretty normal, the place was crowded and people were having fun. As much as Nancy would want it, they didn't go on rides and immediately went onward to their hotel room. When safely inside, the Heralds went stiff, as if they were in sleep mode. Nancy was about to execute her plan, but it wasn't time yet. She'd sit on the balcony of the hotel, giving her a decent view of the area. It was... Boring. She wanted the rides, but it was against the rules. So she whipped up he cell phone and decided to bother someone instead.

Sebastian, Got the girl yet?! Bring her to Disney before it gets hot!

She waited, ordering room service in the meantime for a nice meal. Soon her army was going to reach a new milestone. She was just so damn excited.

Mosul, 2016

Lucas looked over the ruins of the city, filled to the brim with corpses, both Muslim and Christian, and saw that whatever the differences in faith, their killers were the same - people who presented themselves as the public face of their religion, yet killed more of their co-religionists than people of other faiths. So many people he couldn't save, so many people dead because of him, because he wasn't good enough, because he wasn't strong enough, because he didn't have the right set of powers. What good was it to have power if one cannot use it to protect innocents? With a series of gestures, he gathered the nearby rainclouds, and made it rain on his city block. The water would wash the blood away, at the very least.

Remember this, Lucas remembered his father saying, Absolute, Objective Good does exist. However, human sight of that Good is with flawed eyes, meaning that our attempts to promote said good must be fraught with caution; do not trust even our Church blindly; use reason and love in conjunction. Lucas had ignored those lessons; still ignored them now.

"I know what is right; why isn't that enough?!" shouted the man into the rain. "Why, if Absolute Good exists, can't it be promoted?!" The memories of his father's words continued to sound out inside the Meta's head, insisting on being heard.

Because we, our faith, though we deem our words sufficient for salvation, have left out certain alternate perspectives, ones that are good, just, well, above the minimum for 'sufficiency'. Do you know that in the Jewish Mishna, they say that 'whosoever saves a single life saves the entire universe'? Our faith forgets that sometimes, we just have to settle for just one life saved, that if you try to save everyone and everything, you wind up saving none.

"I can't!" Lucas said, weeping in the rain, "I have to save everyone!"

Then you'll never be happy, the memory reprimanded.

"All or nothing, dad," the man said as the rain kept falling, "all or nothing." He'd had this discussion many times before.

Lucas, the Meta remembered his father sighing in exasperation, we've had this discussion many times before. So I'm going to say this: We are the Light of the World, not the flame that sets it on fire. Even if you believe that the Revelation of John isn't an allegory, it still doesn't mean that we should destroy both ourselves and the people we are trying to save. Because that's what happens when we try and save everyone, we destroy them instead.

"I'm not listening to you! You're just a memory!"

Present Day

Lucas was watching for intruders, but his eyes had glazed over from the weight of his thoughts. He then looked up and around, to where the people were partying.

You can't stop it, bad things are going to happen; you cannot stop the world from growing worse.

"Then there's nothing to live for," he whispered to himself. "Lizzie would probably be better off without me - she'll cry, but she's strong enough emotionally, stronger than me." He shuddered, his military conditioning being the only thing that held back the tears this time. "We've seen a glimpse of good only to know that it will never be fully realized in this world. Oh, God, why am I alive in this day and age? Why do I have to witness so much pain and suffering?"

"Is there really a better world, Lord? A better world in this life? All is futile, futile, all is dust and all is despair."

Sebastian smiled as he felt his phone vibrating, but ignored it since he currently had his prey in his sights. He was currently posing for photographs with kids dressed up in a Mickey Mouse outfit he had stolen moments after his arrival, the previous owner floating somewhere within the depths of the small world ride. The man, Elijah Craigh, and the target, Aiko Fujiwara, where so close he could almost taste it. But he didn’t dare to strike yet, knowing that the man guarding his prey was more than capable of killing him on the spot. He had a plan that, in all honesty, should be flawless and foolproof. However, you could never be to sure, especially with other Metas. They had a way of throwing the monkey wrench into things that few humans can hope to match, especially the powerful ones.

After he’d finished posing for the pictures with the normal families, he made a slight dip with his head, the signal for the heralds to begin the plan. A gaggle of children came from around the corner, laughing and playing with each other, while a ragged looking group of chaperones tried their best to keep up. The kids, about 20 in total, ran into Aiko and Eli, with the two being caught in the middle of the herd. One of the kids would grab Aiko and pull her along with them, the rest pushing her forward. The chaperones would stop by Eli shortly after, turning towards him as if they were going to apologize for the children’s unruly behavior. And then all hell broke loose when Mickey snapped his fingers.

Strapped around each of the 5 chaperones was a multitude of blood packs that he had stolen on various occasions, and as he snapped his fingers, the blood inside rapidly shot out in the blink of an eye to impale Eli in several places, focusing mainly on his elbows, knees, and gut. Not only that, but the blood had been made acidic as well, so that meant that the pain and injuries would be severe if they hit. The chaperones would quickly move in to dog pile on Eli, several of them taking to beating the man over the head with their fists while one tried to knock him out with a chloroform towel.

While this was happenings, the kids would suddenly turn on Aiko, one of them punching her square in the face as hard as he could, followed by the others until she was unconscious. Sebastian had gotten the files on her powers and wasn’t taking any chances. The kids would then hightail it out of the area with Aiko held in between them, while Sebastian played the part of a frighten employee and ran as far away from the chaos as possible, secretly keeping close to the kids as well. Once he was well enough away, he’d shuffle around in the suit until he could get his phone out, quickly typing out a text for Nancy.

Girl has been got. Knocked her out to keep her from messing with my head. Also, I hope you don’t mind if I had some of your toys go boom. K bye, going to feed the girl some shrooms later, lol jk ;) . . . or am I?

After sending the message, he put the suit back on and followed the group of kids from a distance with under the pretense of fleeing in terror with the rest of the crowd. They were making their way to the parking lot to get in the black van awaiting them. Their were several for them to choose from as well, due to the amount of people they had transported. Meanwhile, in others parts of the park, the five remaining adult heralds were armed and dangerous, going to several heavily populated areas to cause a ruckus and open fire on the inhabitants before they reached their destinations. All of them had positioned themselves at and climbed several rides and high traffic areas within the park, reaching into their pockets to pull out a detonator before pressing the button. The explosive jacket they were wearing, made a quick beep before they were consumed by the intense explosion. 3 rides, with the sudden loss of several support beams, tumbled under their own weight, and 2 highly populated areas were now littered with the dead and dying.

Sebastian could hear the screams and chaos even from where he was, and couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. It was like music to his ears, a deep throbbing bass of terror, the subtle staccato of fear, it was an orchestra of misery that resonated deep within his soul. The L.A. Centre was nothing but a quick hi note to get the audience’s attention, this was the crowd pleasing main event to let the people know that the Underground MOvement had arrived, and woe to anyone who stands in our way.

@AcerRo
@Savato
@Mass City

Two full days of preparation had led up to this point. Diligent, perhaps excessively so, Isaac studied his mission briefing as if it were a final to a semester. Janus Corporation, according to the mission intelligence that EDGE had provided, was said to be highly advanced and the compound being well protected with guards and automated defenses. It certainly didn’t appear to be some casual recruitment mission. Isaac couldn’t help but feel very expendable. All for some yahoo with split personality disorder but to his, or their, credit it was quite an extensive list. Yet despite his great powers seems to be finicky and unreliable according to the dossier. It seemed like a horrible gamble, but Isaac couldn’t help but feel a tinge of envy as he was never “gifted” with his powers. He suffered for them. His partner in crime was certainly a good example of being gifted.

Ellen had certainly given about half of an effort these past few days. Isaac was such a tryhard that he would know the details, but he never was bright. Without there ever being a second thought, Ellen knew she was going to lead Isaac around on this mission, like a dog on a leash, but she was fine with that. Ellen wasn’t stupid, a second, maybe even a third, would be needed as Janus Corp was no laughing matter. They were tryhards, too.

Ellen stood there listening to EDGE sign off on all them. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at EDGE’s sign off to her and Isaac. She hated the way he talked. “Fft.. Let’s go, Isaac.” Ellen muttered with a mild annoyance being evident in her tone. Thinking that nobody here was the “goodbye” type, the two made their way to the door only to have hear a screech behind them. Ellen very impatiently turned around and stared down the little screecher with her eyes open wider and mouthed the word “What?” But Ellen had already guessed what was going to happen before she even finished mouthing those words. “Pfft” Ellen scoffed and threw a hand up and gently shook her head. “Yea, great. Thanks.” She replied with almost zero appreciation in her tone.

---
Janus Corp had a pretty interesting exterior that would catch your eye if you were driving past it. The building was designed to be that Art Deco Modern style with sharp edges and a bleached, sterile coloring. Now it is important to note that Janus didn’t just specialize in the capture and experimentation of Metas because it would be dumb to broadcast where you are. Instead, they specialized in popular products such as advanced computer programs or shampoo.

Security to enter the building was pretty standard. A security gate must be cleared to get into the parking lot but you could walk right into the lobby of the building from the road. This route seemed to offered a lot more in terms of approach, such as subterfuge. For Isaac and Ellen’s approach, Isaac would pose as a possible candidate to sell to Janus Corp, who on the very down-low would buy captured mutants from individuals. Ellen would pose as the seller but she would need a very convincing sell. Thankfully, she has had a little practice. To support the illusion, Nancy provided the duo two of the burliest Heralds she could offer. They were ordered to follow Ellen’s command.

Entering the building the four of them approached the reception desk, which was quite a walk from the main doors. Security was tight but that was just for show. They were standard “rent-a-cops” to pose for the people. The real security was further in. “Ah good morning, miss!” The receptionist said with a gleeful smile. Ellen, who was still wearing her sunglasses and a large sun hat, strode up confidently to the counter. “Good morning.” She returned with a very plain smile. It was funny that the receptionist hadn’t noticed the freakishly tall mutant being man-handled by twiddledee and twiddledumb. The other staff and patrons in the building surely noticed it, however.

It took a moment but the receptionist finally spotted it and her smile dropped immediately. Ellen faked a cough to get the receptionists attention back. “Oh sorry, miss, how can I help you?” The receptionist asked rather nervously while occasionally sneaking a glance to Isaac. “I have an offer that I’m sure you would all love to hear. May I speak to.. Mr. Reynad?” Ellen inquired politely as she drew a card from her handbag and handed it to the receptionist. It was a simple business card with Reynad’s contact information. Arnold Reynad was listed as Branch Manager but he really was the back dealer scum that bought and sold Metas. It was likely the receptionist had seen this pattern before but either she was too stupid to realize or didn’t care. She made the call, talked to someone on the other line and hung up. Ellen listened to ever word despite some being whispered. The receptionist was clueless and there seemed to be no threat to their discovery. Yet.

A few minutes later, Mr. Reynad, looking played the part of a manager trying to contain his panic. Escorting a Meta through the main doors of the building would be a huge red flag to their discovery so Ellen could only imagine how worried this man must have been. “Ah miss, would you please come with me. I’m sure we can discuss business in my office.” The man sputtered quickly in a polite manner. Ellen merely nodded and followed Reynad to an electronic door. A glint shimmered in Ellen’s eye as she saw the man quickly swipe his keycard and pull open the door. Their ticket in and this idiot had no idea.

---

"You remember the plan right?" The man beside her growled. His voice was like a gravel path on her ears. Harsh and imposing. Clementine nodded complacently and smiled as much as she dared without drawing more of his ire. Being the new gal in the group wasn't exactly easy. Especially when that group was an organized cadre of burglars and thieves. In the back of the delivery truck, they waited as they drove to their destination. Clementine's breath was caught in her throat every time they slowed down. Every moment was spent looking at the door and waiting for it to fly open and reveal the police just waiting for her. Waiting to take her away to jail. She shook every now and then, and her tongue felt heavy. Her skin was crawling with goosebumps and her heart beat hard. Her chest felt like it was going to collapse with how hard her heart was beating. The impatient snapping of the man beside her brought her back into the moment and away from her fears.

"Okay, well if you remember, then tell me your part, Snow." Snow. The callsign she had picked for her. Because she was very pale. And because she was 'fragile'. She thought nothing of it at first, but now she could feel the bite that the name had intended to have. She stammered for a moment, brushing some of her ghostly-white hair out of her face and cuffing it behind her ear. "I... uh, I am running bags. That is all. I am a bagman. I don't talk. I don't act. I follow, I stay low and I carry the bags." The man looked at her as she read all this off, like a practiced speech. He was nodded slowly. She was right. Keep calm, keep quiet, carry bags. That was all she had to do. They had drilled that into her enough by now that she could remember. That and she had worked hard to get into this crew so quickly, on such short notice, that she would lose her mind if she forgot.

"Good. You've remembered well. It'll be over before you know it and then we'll all be sitting pretty back by ourselves. Just a little bit richer." He smiled at that and looked to the others. They were smiling too. She didn't recognize them, they had already pulled on their masks, but there were six of them including herself and the man beside her. Small team for a small part of a bigger scheme. "We're not far out now," The man beside her, Woody, with the cowboy hat and ski-mask on, said with that same impatient tone, "We'll be there in just a bit longer, so make your last preparations." He stood for a moment to check his outfit and look over the others, holding an object out to Clementine without even looking at her. It was a handgun. What kind, she wasn't sure. It was boxy and black. That was all she knew. She had seen something like it in gangster and crime movies. She knew how to use a gun. Don't touch the trigger unless you want to shoot, point the loud end at the bad people. Simple enough.

She took it slow and put it in the shoulder holster she was provided with, along with the two magazines that were already there strapped to her chest. Clementine sat in silence for most of the trip there, fiddling with her mask out of anxiousness. Her heart was in her throat and going strong when Woody came back and clasped a hand on her shoulder. "Stay low and stay close, Snow. We've just got to get in and get out. No troubles if we stick to the plan." She nodded once more and pulled her plain black ski-mask over her head. It was going to happen and it was going to happen soon. She was ready.

Disneyland, here she comes.

Aya

Aya had floated through the past two days in a fog. She went to classes, did her work, clocked in at the bookstore, but not matter what she did or where she went, all she could see were her stars, dancing just past her eyes. She'd managed to not use her power for over a year before that incident with the knight. She'd been content to tiptoe around this city like a minefield, keeping her secret. But now someone knew. But he'd seemed like a good sort… the kind who would respect her secret. Besides, who was to say they'd ever meet again? As noticeable as he was in that armor, he wouldn't be difficult to avoid if she needed to.

Empty reassurances circled her mind for two days straight, but she still jumped at every sound, still saw blood-splattered churches with lifeless bodies resting on the pews. She hadn't used her power once since the incident, but Aya still saw her stars.

She was walking from the campus to the metro station so she could cross the city to her work. The street was oddly quiet today, the crowd thinner than usual, and Aya glanced around, nervous. Something had to be going on. But then she heard an odd, metallic-tinged voice echoing through the city. Someone was speaking into microphone, too far away for Aya to properly make out the words. At least, until she heard one word in particular: Metas.

Despite her better judgement, Aya found herself moving towards the voice, and the closer she got the thicker the crowds became. She'd forgotten that Mayor Martinez was holding some sort of press conference on Metas after the massacre. Light, some big name Reformist was back in town, and people needed to feel secure. She saw what looked like a glowing cloud-bird before she saw the mayor's building, and the blatant display of power almost made her hesitate. It seemed to be putting the people around her on edge too, but Aya pushed on, beaconed by a morbid sort of curiosity. A giant projector screen was propped up before the steps of the office, showing the mayor inside, flanked by Light and who Aya assumed to be other Reformists.

"And I have full faith," he went on, "That General Smoak and the Reformists, along with the Los Angeles Police Department, are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of this city and its people." A lukewarm applause sounded throughout the crowd, as reporters inside pushed forward to ask their questions. Aya just sunk further away, telling herself she needed to hurry up and get to work, but unable to move her feet.

Sebastian Lyone

Time for Panic [+]

Sebastian smiled as he felt his phone vibrating, but ignored it since he currently had his prey in his sights. He was currently posing for photographs with kids dressed up in a Mickey Mouse outfit he had stolen moments after his arrival, the previous owner floating somewhere within the depths of the small world ride. The man, Elijah Craigh, and the target, Aiko Fujiwara, where so close he could almost taste it. But he didn’t dare to strike yet, knowing that the man guarding his prey was more than capable of killing him on the spot. He had a plan that, in all honesty, should be flawless and foolproof. However, you could never be to sure, especially with other Metas. They had a way of throwing the monkey wrench into things that few humans can hope to match, especially the powerful ones.

After he’d finished posing for the pictures with the normal families, he made a slight dip with his head, the signal for the heralds to begin the plan. A gaggle of children came from around the corner, laughing and playing with each other, while a ragged looking group of chaperones tried their best to keep up. The kids, about 20 in total, ran into Aiko and Eli, with the two being caught in the middle of the herd. One of the kids would grab Aiko and pull her along with them, the rest pushing her forward. The chaperones would stop by Eli shortly after, turning towards him as if they were going to apologize for the children’s unruly behavior. And then all hell broke loose when Mickey snapped his fingers.

Strapped around each of the 5 chaperones was a multitude of blood packs that he had stolen on various occasions, and as he snapped his fingers, the blood inside rapidly shot out in the blink of an eye to impale Eli in several places, focusing mainly on his elbows, knees, and gut. Not only that, but the blood had been made acidic as well, so that meant that the pain and injuries would be severe if they hit. The chaperones would quickly move in to dog pile on Eli, several of them taking to beating the man over the head with their fists while one tried to knock him out with a chloroform towel.

While this was happenings, the kids would suddenly turn on Aiko, one of them punching her square in the face as hard as he could, followed by the others until she was unconscious. Sebastian had gotten the files on her powers and wasn’t taking any chances. The kids would then hightail it out of the area with Aiko held in between them, while Sebastian played the part of a frighten employee and ran as far away from the chaos as possible, secretly keeping close to the kids as well. Once he was well enough away, he’d shuffle around in the suit until he could get his phone out, quickly typing out a text for Nancy.

Aiko yelled at Eli as she was pulled away. The kids were okay but she wanted to be with Eli.

"Hey Eli-san!. Eli!" She yelled over the roar of the crowsds having fun. She was suspecting something as the kids took her around the corner. But what would happen this is Disneyland, with first class security and attentive security people. What would happen?

It was Aiko was thinking that she was punched in the face. At first she could not beleive it. Then another punch, and another. Aiko began to fight back she grabbed a girl near her and broke her left arm. A boy neaby had his knee kicked and turned the other direction with a sickening snap. Aiko bit one girl's ear, clawed at another boy, knocked out one girl. But these kids kept punhing her she fought as hard as she could but even the kids with broken limbs kept punching her there was one final punch.

Aiko fell back and the world fell black. She had been able to try and take the memories of the kids. One would not even know who she was.

Lucas, one of the new metas to the Reformists, sorta made Light feel a bit uneasy with his constant flirting. She had only known him for the past couple days, but apparently his amorous knew no bounds if it related to anyone of the opposite gender. It was flattering in a way, due to Light looking cartoonish yet threatening due to her proportions and thus not really hit upon by many people. She would've found it charming, if Lucas didn't flirt with everyone constantly, plus his age didn't help much either.

This lead to a pretty awkward limo ride with Lucas sitting next to Light, trying to hit on her on occasion, and her trying to push his attention elsewhere. When they got to the press conference near city hall, Light was happy to get out of the limo and made her way into the building much faster than was necessary, noticing the cloud above them and making a note to keep an eye on it.

When she got inside the building, a greeter got her attention and lead her to the mayor, who shook her rather large hand vigorously with a smile on his face. "Glad you could make it Light. These past few days haven't been very good for public morale, so I hope the fact that having you back in the city should help matters." He said, guiding her to a seat.

Pixel

Pixel had spent the past two days trying to decide that if he was ready to take the side of the reformists in this conflict. He had hoped to stay independent, but the massacre that had happened things had changed and now it was becoming more complicated in staying away from the troubles that this struggle was bringing. After a while of thinking things out, Sam decided that he would join the Reformists and help bring an end to Underground movement's terror. He had received word of some of the Reformist metahumans meeting at the place where the Mayer.

Quickly traveling to the area by the use of a pixel airplane construct, Sam made the object disappear upon arrival and some of the people in the crowd made whispers to one another at his sudden appearance. He ignored them and went over to the other metas.

"Hi my name is Pixel, I want to help the Reformists in this fight with the Underground Movement" he told them hoping that his introductions were good and he didn't seem suspicious.

@Archmage MC

---

Green Bullet

Marcus had been following the news on the massacre and wondered how this whole mess would play out. But not too long afterward the whole incident, he received a strange letter from an anonymous source that told him something was going to happen at Disneyland and that there would be money in it if killed Underground Movement members. The letter also explicitly told him not to alert the Reformists and to keep a low profile. Not really having any serious suspicion of the latter, Marcus decided to make a trip to place where dreams come true.

When he got to the park he had to use his stealth skills to sneak into the heavily secured area especially since he had three very dangerous firearms. He made sure to watch the park for any signs of the Underground Movement's presence and now he just had to wait for something to happen and then he would start shooting.

Eli was happy. How has it been since was this happy? It didn't make any sense to him.  Getting drunk and blowing shit up was ten times more fun this but he was just happy. There was something to this whole happiest place on earth thing. More likely it was the girl.

A lovely day turned south pretty quick when a group of kids pulled Aiko out of his hands. His first instinct was to burn them all. Make an example of what happens when take what's precious to him, but that was extreme. Even for him.

Maybe this was a great time to see what the girl was made of. No better time to see what she had than now. Then she yelled, there was fear in that voice. He wasn't gonna be able to stop himself.

Just as he took a step forward, he found himself surrounded. Without thinking he elbowed one and drew his weapon on another. He fired two shots into the chest of whoever front of him. "Fuck, I hope I got tha-" was all he could get out before being stabbed. He didn't know how many or how bad he was stabbed and it didn't matter. Just as soon as he even move he was gang tackled.

He could feel all the wait piling on top of him. Who planned this was smart but didn't take into account his rage. That was gonna ruin everything for them. He'd burn this town to the ground to get that girl back.

With loud roar Eli erupted his body into flames and blasted upward. He incinerated anything that was touching him.

He tried to pick himself up but the pain was agonizing. He knew better than most that pain was a message, just like hunger. It could be ignored but he was hurt bad.

He got to his feet after what seemed like forever. He screamed for Aiko but all he could hear were the screams from the crowd.

He staggered to the last place he saw her. But there was nothing to find. No clues or hints of where she might be. She was taken from hum, that poor girl,  who had done no wrong.

He wasn't a detective and he wasn't that kinda smart. He needed something to go on but he couldn't anything. Nothing but blood pouring out of him. If he didn't do something soon ye was gonna die. He cauterized them but that still leaves the blood loss to deal.

Pushed the the thought from his head. He had to find something, a clue, something that could lead him to Aiko.

He looked around, until he finally saw the security cameras. This was of the most watched places on earth. He laughed at it figuring it out sooner.

Just as he finished laughing he what he waiting for. The armed security guards, he was gonna get to the camera or kill everyone that wanted to stop him.

"Put your hands up!" The guard shouted, leveling a gun at his head.

Eli put one hand up and suppressed the urge to tell them to get fucked. "My name is John Marston. I'm with the reformist council. There's a twelve year old girl named Aiko that been taken. If we don't get her back, this whole country is gonna burn." Eli said through heavy breaths and groans of pain.

"I SAID-" Eli snapped his fingers and burned a hole the guards head. He watched as the rest of the dropped their guns in fear as the leaders body hit the ground. "You... Your... Your Elijah Craigh!" One shouted.

"I'd see this whole place burn and everyone in it dead. If you don't help me find that girl. Now get me there!" Eli said with anger murderous intent in his voice.

"My lovely brother and sister team. Kill thee fucking mayor. Let thee world know, no one is safer from us."

Both of them passed a look between each other and their thoughts went unspoken - Edge was an idiot sometimes and a tactical genius at others. Nevertheless, they would follow out his orders to a tee and not once question the ethics of killing every single person that got in their way. Edge was an idiot, they both agreed, but his words inspired power and his power inspired fear; a potent combination. So as Alex lazily scratched his head, Acacia gave a curt nod to their leader and gripped her twin's arm, dragging him from the conference room that had been set up to brief everyone on their missions. They had indefinitely drew the short straw - the Town Hall would be crawling with guards, Meta and human alike, and getting past that thick shield of meat wouldn't be an easy task but they were more than willing to give it a go.

A short while later, they had changed into what could best be described as 'civilian clothes' and borrowed one of the cars from the garage. The journey through the afternoon traffic into the centre of the city was arduous but Alex spent his time honing his blade (even though it was completely unnecessary as it would never get sharp unless he killed with it). Finally, they parked and made the short journey to where crowds had gathered to hear the Mayor deliver his oh-so-hopeful speech. Acacia silently rolled her eyes as it his inspiring words that would be meaningless if they had their way - the murder of such a great bastion of peace would ruin every attempt at it in the future. Once the speech was finished, Acacia looped her arm into Alex's and exited the crowd, making directly for a side entrance that she had noted on her way there. It didn't take much to get through it and security on the door made an exception for the rather frail looking Alex.

The next barrier was a little more difficult to bypass - a metal detector and three armed guards. At this, Acacia left her brother's side, passing through the metal detector which gave her the all-clear. Standing off to the side, she silently activated her Farsight ability and made a direct connection with Alex. The red of his mask suddenly shifted to blue as the metal detector blurred furiously but as the guards reached for their weapons, three quick swipes from a blade faster than they could perceive left them falling to the floor, trying to hold back the tides of blood gushing from their bodies. "Well that just wasn't fun at all! They didn't even try there!" Acacia rolled her eyes.

Keeping Farsight active, Acacia no longer felt the need to guide him and instead allowed him to trail behind her as Alex grabbed a smoke bomb from his belt. The sound of excited chatter drew them closer to the room where Acacia presumed the party was being held. There would be Metas present - Light being a primary figure that had been beside the Mayor during his speech. They didn't care though, if anyone got in their way, they'd tear them to shreds. "I'll deal with the Mayor. Make sure no one gets close to me."

Alex returned with a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up that did not inspire a drop of trust whatsoever. "Got it, sis!" Acacia rolled her eyes. Watching as her brother took the lead, they made their way round to another entrance that wasn't as heavily trafficked as the main one. Turning, Alex gave her a nod of encouragement before dragging the pin from the smoke bomb and rolling it into the large room. It popped with a muffled bang and smoke suddenly began to flood that side of the room. Taking advantage of the smoke cover, Alex strode forward, drawing a single katana and moving into a defensive stance. Acacia was directly behind him and not wanting to waste their advantage, she activated Psychic Breakdown.

The room fell into a deadly silence as lighter objects suddenly drifted upwards for a moment before gravity regained control and slammed them back down to their original place. A few objects remained in the air, however. Sharp knifes that had been dedicated to carving up various roasts or cakes kept their place before slowly turning towards one fixed point - the Mayor who was at the centre of the proceedings.

As the smoke began to clear, two figures emerged from it. One was gripping a mean looking katana, his legs firmly spread as his mask shifted like there was ink under the surface; an ethereal blue ink that seemed much too alive. The girl behind him was a bit more interesting. Levitating a foot above the air, her arms were raised towards the heavens with her head falling forwards, a mess of ginger hair splaying around her and hiding her face. Weird symbols danced around her, forming in the air before evaporating without any particular motive. The blades in the air suddenly began to move, converging on a single point in the room as the girl's hands seemingly conducted a ghostly orchestra. Although she seemed to be the controller of the blades, the male in front of her looked just as dangerous as he took up a defensive position. Their intents, if not already clear, became increasingly so as the blades glided towards the Mayor, picking up speed.

Deleted.

Lucas was snapped out of his despair by the smoke that emanated out from the eastern side of the room; the enemy had arrived. Rushing towards the highest-priority target, the Mayor, the man conjured up six globes of water, saying:

"Evacuate, everyone, evacuate!" before leaping up to the stage, where the bodyguards, if they knew anything, would be pushing the mayor on the ground in order to lower his profile and lessen the chances he got hit by projectiles, allowing the hydrokinetic to turn two of his water globes into ice shields, which would hopefully block any assault. Turning a section of one of said shields transparent, like glass, Lucas looked upon the two UGM Metas, feeling resentment, but not moving to close in; rather, he would intercept them once they arrived at the Mayor's position.

------

Lizzie rushed inside a convinently open window, a piece of a thundercloud in her hands. She then shouted:

"UNDERGROUND JERKS! WHICH OF YOU MADE ME TEAR UP MY ART?!"

Pixel

Pixel didn't have too much of chance to continue with introductions when the Underground Movement made their attack on the mayor. Sam had to act quickly and created four Pac-man ghost as well as well titular character himself as pixel constructs that were twice the size of cars.

"What's the order boss?" Pac-man asked.

"You go after that sword chick, and you ghost take care of that samurai wannabee. Make him your bitch!" he commanded the constructs and they went into action. Pac-man charged straight at the sword woman intending to chomp down on and eat her, while the ghost were moving at an incredible speed intending to sandwich Alex.

"Here we come Sword Boy!" the red ghost shouted with a grin as they were only a few feet from smashing into Alex.

@NarcissisticPotato

Light, being busy with talking and dealing with the mayor, didn't notice Pixel as he introduced himself as she walked by. So far things had been going fairly well, and the mayor was a good ways into his speech when a smokebomb erupted at the end of the hall. Light, expecting something bad to go down and being one of the closest people to the mayor, got into a defensive stance to guard him. As the smoke cleared two metas appeared from it, once levitating and apparently controlling the brass cutlery while the other had drawn a katana and had an eerie blue glow around his mask.

"I figured something was going to happen, but I didn't think they'd have this amount of backbone." Light said, catching one of the knives another meta had not blocked with his ice walls and putting it in her pocket space. At least there were some other metas around to deal with the assassins, Light didn't fancy a 5 v 1 while she had to protect a fragile hostage. Either way, while the other 3 metas kept psycho girl and katana boy, Light escorted and protected the Mayor and anyone else nearby out of the building / into a safe room, depending on who it was, the security of the building attempting the same thing.

Since the target of the two metas was the mayor, Light was sure she'd have to defend the mayor from something else before he reached the saferoom in his office, making sure to stick close to him until he was safe.

The chaos on the streets took a moment to really take hold – people couldn't be sure that what was happening was real, that it was urgent, that the smoke bomb going off inside was their only warning for the bloodshed that came whenever the Underground was involved. But when they did realize, the panic was fervent and inescapable. Some people ran, the memory of the massacre fresh in their minds. Others jumped back a short distance and then pulled out their phones, eager to capture the chaos on film. Aya stood frozen, heart in her throat as the sounds from inside the mayor's building reverberated down the street.

"Mom!" A cry snapped her to attention. Aya turned just in time to see a boy no older than twelve dart towards the mayor’s office. On instinct her body unfroze and she took a step after him.

"Hey!" Aya faltered though when she had to take another step towards the office. The boy was already gone, having darted through the crowds and over the threshold. A sickening thought shot through her. He was going to die in there. Aya looked around but no one else seemed to notice the stray child charging into the lion's den. After a moment of hesitation, she ran in after him, the only thought in her head that this was the dumbest thing she'd ever done.

Inside was oddly calm compared to the pandemonium of the street. But Aya supposed that was because the action was happening deeper inside. She crept through the hall, looking for the boy, but the building was deceptively big, with winding hallways. Aya knew what she could do to make this faster – and safer. But her heart seemed to skip a beat at the thought.

Hiding what she was here would do no good. She'd already exposed her powers once and this was the second Meta spectacle she'd been at this week. What was the point job hiding any more if her power could be of some use?

After only a moment more of hesitation, Aya closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was looking at the astral plane. She darted through the walls, searching for the little boy. Growing more frantic by the moment, she passed through the chaos that was the press room, not letting herself stop and witness the madness. Finally she found the boy, running through a hall near the back of the building. Snapping back into her body, Aya dashed in that direction, hoping she could avoid any mess as she did so.