[hr][h1][i][color=dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color], [b]Henry olin[/b], [color=lawngreen]Sonya Mayfield[/color], [color=Maroon]Mark Emerson[/color], & The Agents of NEST.[/i][/h1][hr]


"Alright, everybody," Maximilian said as he stood over his assembled group, with his arms crossed. It consisted of Agent Dragonfly, Supersonic, All-Seer, Inkshade, Merryday, and a variety of rank & file agents. They were grouped in the viewing room, standing row by row. In Henry's case, because he had smashed the only chair on accident by trying to sit in it. "This is the first official operation against the Changeling Unit."

Lihua, who still felt quite underdressed, wearing the same casual outfit as before, leaned up against the wall with her arms crossed. [i]Just get it on already.[/i] Lihua thought to herself. She already knew what was going to happen.

"Mark has given us the exact location where the Changeling Unit has been hiding out-"

"So essentially the plan is go in, attempt to take a shit on the Changeling Unit on their own home turf without any information as to who they are, how they operate, and their abilities should they have them." Henry stated, not at all impressed by the small amount of information that they had. Which was probably to be expected considering that he had been in the gunfight literally earlier that day.

"... If it bothers you so much, I'll-" Lihua didn't waste any time in hissing at Henry, but was cut off again.

"No, no, Agent Vuhong, he has valid criticisms." Maximilian said, before Lihua got a chance to say the... obvious. "We're not going to attempt to head in [i]blind[/i] Agent Dragonfly." Max said. "Agent Merryday, and Agent All-Seer are going to go ahead and preform some advance scouting. If possible, Agent Merryday will extract any infants taken by the Changeling."

"Okay, minor error there. We know Heartbreaker is a changeling right? Well, REAPER is the HoS's personal army and today Sonya and Henry found out first hand that REAPER has teleporters now. Who's to say that the Changelings dont? That kinda fucks the whole strategy man." Helena pointed out. Henry nodded his approval of the point.

"True." Maximilian said. "It's also possible that the teleporter they encountered was working with the Changeling Unit."

"We know they have a marksman. Which makes things interested because it makes it way harder to get Leon in." Henry said, sighing. This was going to be harder than previously expected. Almost as hard as getting that small group of people out of the multiverse helmet thing that one crazy blob made. THAT had been a brain teaser.

"A sniper always has the home advantage." Sonya noted, her long tongue lazily falling out of her mouth. This might be one of the most difficult missions that Sonya ever been on. Usually, her missions consisted of her sneaking in, getting a clear shot, and blowing her target's head off. [i]Then[/i] came the part where she hauls ass. Here? She'll be fighting a group of unknown psychos, and they only know about one of them. 

"Perhaps it's time that we have a word with Mark." Maximilian said.  He put his finger on his ear-piece and said, "Bring in Mark for us."

Lihua let out a low growl.

Henry raised and eyeridge, and Helena elbowed him in the side. Despite her attitude of keeping herself out of trouble, she and Henry got along well on one thing more than any other. They both loved a good show.

The door was opened, and Mark walked out. His arms and legs were chained and cuffed, but loosely enough that he wasn't unable to walk. He also wore a power-nullification He was unexpectedly [i]calm[/i] for a man who was surrounded by a group of people who could legally kill him.

"Warmer in here than in the cell." Mark said, cracking a half-smile. The response was lackluster.

"Well, uh, higher quality air conditioning is a thing." Henry commented, crossing his arms. He didn't know why Mark was here, but at least the video recording would give whoever played it back a more fun job.

"Now, I need to ask you what you know about the current members of the Changeling Unit." Max said.

Mark took a seat. "If you've recovered any Changeling documents, I'm 'Blackbird'. My boss is Heartbreaker, who I've been told you already know."


Mark cleared his throat, continuing "They have this doll-thing. I don't know if it's a metahuman or something they made, but it's called The Mannequin. It knows about biology, and how to treat things. And has a lot of retractable blades. It always kinda creeped me out, so I never asked that much about it."

"Great. Wonderful. Blades. Anything you know about him? He's obviously not fully... human with retractible blades." Helena questioned, crossing her arms.

Mark shrugged. "I should mention, you're not talking to the head of The Changeling Unit here. I wasn't ever told that much because they didn't really trust me. I guess I can see why." He said jokingly, gesturing towards one of the agents taking notes. A few agents gave a quiet chuckle, though Lihua's grumbling cut them short. "It knew about medical things, but it wasn't the healer or anything. That was this one chick."

He paused, trying to recollect his memories. "Witch-Doctor? No, no.." He paused for a moment longer, before snapping his fingers as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head. "Witch-Mother. This black chick, I think she was Dominican or Haitian or something. She was another outlier of the group like me. There was another I definitely remember, Leech Man. He's easy to find."

[i]First target's going to be Witch Mother....[/i] Lihua thought to herself. She quickly grabbed a notepad, and attempted to write all of this down. [i]At lightning speeds.[/i]

Mark cleared his throat, coughing dryly. He considered asking for water, but figured he was already pushing his luck. "So, Leech Man was this really big guy, made out of leeches. Like, imagine a bunch of leeches in a man-shaped cookie cutter, and you get the picture. Super strength, and a power-copier. Though, I figure you guys have a more technical term for that power."

Henry whistled lowly. "Power copier. Hear that all? Probably going to want to pack some explosives for that one. We dont want a repeat of the Goodwin incident."

Mark blinked once, as if he were a schoolboy listening to an inside joke he wasn't part of.

"There's a few more. Want me to just, y'know, list 'em off?" Mark asked.

"Sure. But we'll probably have you write them all down for later consideration." Henry answered, having noticed Lihua writing things down. He nodded to Helena, who left the room and returned a moment later with a note pad and a pen for Mark to use.

Mark began jotting names and descriptions down on the piece of paper, in a distinctive chicken-scratch handwriting. Moments later, he put down his pen, cracking his tired knuckles. He stared at the list for a moment, as if he were lost in thought.

"It's weird. I don't feel guilty for ratting 'em out, but it's still a [i]strange[/i] feeling, y'know? One day, I'm working with them, and the next," He chuckled to himself, handing the paper to Max. "And the next, I'm writing down what they look like to the feds."

"It's them or your daughter. You got yourself and her into this shit. Time to get yourself out, man."

When Henry said that, Lihua looked up at Mark with a narrow glare. 

Mark smiled for the first time at Henry. "Like I said. Not an issue of guilt, just definitely a surreal feeling. Here you go, names and addresses."

[u][b]The Changeling Unit[/b][/u]

[list][*]Bloodsucker - Luis/The Boss. Spanish, like from Spain. Looks like he's in his twenties. Regenerator/Super-system/Blood Manipulation. Salt and Pepper hair, doesn't catch that much attention. Strong but not meta strong. Not in the city.

[*]Heartbreaker - Natalie. Second in command. You know her. Out of town but returning.

[*]Mannequin - The doll. Third in command, somehow. Doesn't talk. Not sure of location.

[*]Witch-Mother - Black lady in her 70's. Healer. Never spoke to her. Not dangerous. In Verthaven. Drives a beat up black Acura from the 90's.

[*]Fig - Spanish maybe Arab girl with green hair in her early 20's. Makes gas she can turn into things, gas also burns.  Lives somewhere in Chinatown.

[*]Wild Fang - Giant werewolf. [i]Dangerous[/i]. I don't think he actually has a house but he's made references to seeing me in Eastover Woods. Not worth questioning him.

[*]Pretender - Skinny white dude in his late 20's. Makes illusions. Dead ringer for Pee-Wee Herman. Smokes like a chimney. He told me his name was Jamie, but I heard Fig call him Peter. Has mentioned living near University Row. Drives a white saturn.

[*]Leech Man - Leech man. Kind of similar to The Mannequin because neither talks.

[*]Ironsides - Creed. White guy in his 20's. Can turn into metal. I think he's a nazi or something like that. Shaved head and everything. He's in a gang, I don't know which one. I think he does meth or heroin or one of those hard drugs. [i]Dangerous.[/i]

[*]Gravedigger - Lemuel. Super skinny guy in his 20's. Dirt brown skin. Freakish.  Dirt manipulation on a large scale. Like, islands. Drives a black van. [i]Dangerous.[/i]

[*]Smoke -  Javior von Abasta. White guy in his teens. Turns into smoke, also manipulates it. Smokes, but not as much as Fig. Will surrender without a fight. Not sure about his exact address, but I could point it out. Red house on a corner in Knightdale Rows. He invited me over once. 

[*]Wasp - Victor Carrol. Insectoid wings. Fast, but not faster than me. Homeless, but lives somewhere in The Iron District. Poison barbs on his skin.

[*] Dr. J - Not a Changeling. Hands of Science member. [i]Old[/i] Old. Like 90. Made my suit and mask and makes basically all of The Changeling's tech. Makes Marigold's medicine. [i]Please[/i] do not kill him unless you can figure out how to make it. He lives somewhere in Eureka Harbor.

[*]Satyr - Half-Goat meta. 136 Huron Drive. Into kids. Keeps a gun in his house. Creepy guy.

[*]Colossus - A giant creature that's covered in a bio-armor that'll make bullets bounce off of it. It's humanoid in shape, but robotic looking. Possesses immense strength. [i]Dangerous.[/i]

[/list]

"We need Heartbreaker, and the Mannequin alive." Lihua noted. All the information they could get out of them would great. Lihua made a note to also go murder Dr. J soon as possible.

"I call Wild Fang!" Henry commented as he picked up and read the list with a little bit too much excitement. He cracking his knuckles. This prompted a chuckle from a few people in the room- those who knew Henry. Henry had a fetish for beating on other animal metas or just... big metas in general. Something something dominance. It was his thing to square up on the big guy. He had fun with it.

Lihua gave Henry a glare that practically screamed death. She arched her head back, and grit her teeth. [i]This isn't a game, you moron.[/i] She thought to herself as she started tapping her nails on the table. [i]My daughter's life is on the line.[/i]

Henry gave Lihua a shit eating grin in response, but otherwise said nothing. If he didn't have fun with it, he'd probably go insane at some point. He looked down at the list again. "Heey... We're dealing with a neo-nazi here. Neat."

"This is all useful information, Mark." Max said. "I think we're done with you for today."

"Glad I could help." Mark said, getting out of his seat. "If you need me, I'm in the cell." He said with another half-smile as he was escorted out of the room.

"And who's to say that they're even still [i]there?[/i]" Helena noted. "They might already know that one of their members have been captured, and are on their way out right now. Or setting up a trap."

"Maria, you might be our best bet." Henry stated, turning his head to face his partner's wife. "If anything, you'll be able to get in in ways we wont. I'm too big and Heartbreaker might see Sonya somehow. But ink in the night? Fat chance. No thermals either. If anything you could give us an idea as to what we're up against." Henry pitched, bringing his hand to his chin in thought.

"I could slip in." Maria said.

"... If you all are done shoving your heads up your own asses, I have a suggestion." Lihua noted.

"Another saying that's synonymous with 'living another day'..."

"It's a simple one... if Mark really wants to redeem himself, perhaps [i]he[/i] goes in and does the scouting for us." Lihua suggested. "It'll run on a chance that they aren't already alerted. We could have Maria ride in on him."

"This guy stole your kid Lihua. This mission is your idea so you get the say, but are you 
sure you want to trust him?"

"... I have something to keep him in line." Lihua noted, and got a vile look from Leon. [i]He knows[/i] Lihua thought to herself.

Henry nodded. Not really wanting to know more. Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to. First rule of Black Ops.

Helena Page, who was fiddling with her bun, raised a finger with a stoic look on her face. "Do we know how many babies the Changeling Unit have stolen?" She asked.

"Uh, Eli, could you run some missing baby statistics in the Verthaven Area?" Henry questioned out loud, his finger pressed to his ear. He was silent for a moment before he frowned. He seemed to think again for a moment and then frowned [i]harder[/i].

"Codemonkey says that the number of Amber Alerts for small children and babies in the past year is around six or seven. All still have still not be rescued or... recovered." Henry said. Then came the other part that wasn't as fun. "Groups like these tend to move a lot. Could've taken more before. We could find a whole... market. If they're selling them at all."

Good grief... Most of those kids must be long sold by now. All that was on Lihua's mind was getting there before they sell Lijuan to god knows whoever. She tried to think happy thoughts. For now, she kept quiet. She had a plan. A plan that she wasn't going to share with anyone else.

"Six babies. I don't know how many we'll find in their hideout, but we can only hope we can get there in time." Max said. "We'll raid the place at midnight."

"So, lets talk getting in then. We want to go in the dark, as Max said, and we want to keep it stealthy. So that means I'm probably out for the initially phase. We should probably send a drone overhead to get an arial view of the place. Sonya and I can talk about where to position people from there. We can also talk about where Heartbreaker will be most and least likely to see us." Henry said, looking over to Sonya with a smirk. They had the experience in that side of the playing field. She'd give first hand stuff about difficult shots and he could help her choose tactical locations for insertion and movement. Last thing they want is someone getting shot in the face- something Heartbreaker is very capable of.

"Do we happen to have any illusionists in NEST we can call on if things get hairy? Stuff to confuse the lookout?"

"There's a few..." Max said, letting out a sigh. "... But they're all out of town. We might be able to call them in... but it'll be a stretch."

"Well, our lives are on the line tonight. I'd sure as hell like to pull the whole 'lol hologram' thing if I need to." Helena commented with a wry smile.

"I'll make the call."

"Max, Echo is a big fucking attention magnet that only metahumans can see, right?"

"Right." Max confirmed, giving Henry a strange look.

"Well, if there's anything I learned from Death Valley, it's that there's the principle of 'Pick on the new kid'. Except this new kid is as big as I am, glowy-glowy, only visible to metahumans and isn't going to die after being shot into submission like we would. Dont be afraid to make that bitch sparkle like a god damn firework."

"Of course." Maximilian said. "Me and Echo have been taking out Tyrants for years."

"I dont have have any dates, so I'm game."