[h1][i]8:53 Am, The next day.[/i][/h1][hr]


The Devil had dropped her ice-shield after she fully regenerated... but she's, so far, done nothing but lie stationary. Her terrible shadow caused an aura of fear and paranoia.

As no one knew when she was going to finally end them.


[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Vuhong[/color], & [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color].[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Oliver Tank - Past, Present, Future][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZgDtSDNJhg[/youtube][/hider][hr]


All the good times... everything Meifeng has done to keep her alive.

Only to lose her.

For good this time.

It was hard to even give a shit anymore. The second Meifeng was brought back to Headquarters, she immediately went into hiding. She needed somewhere she can be alone. Somewhere she can be herself. Meifeng dragged her feet as she walked outside the Headquarters. She walked the wet streets of the safezone... as people were in fear of the Devil. Meifeng was aching because someone she loved like a sister is dead.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

She thought about all the things she could have done to help her... how she could have [i]saved[/i] her. But it all came down to Meifeng being a shitty friend for not paying attention to all the signs (That were right in front of her) that something was wrong with Jen, and she could have saved her. They were tracking Heartbreaker... maybe they could have done something to save her family. They could have raided the place and killed the whole lot of the Changelings. Come back out with Cody, Kate, and the others... but there wasn't anything anyone could do. Because by the time they realized what had happened, it was over.

More tears had run down Meifeng's eyes as she walked by through the gates of the NEST Headquarters. Before she walked up to the tall building, she looked off to the side. There was a hill not too far away. Meifeng walked up that hill, grabbing two sticks that were thick enough for her purpose.

Meifeng had jammed one stick into the ground, and pulled out her knife. She used her blade to cut a piece of her shirt off - enough to use as a wrap. She grabbed the other stick, kneeling down as she carved, [i]"JENNIFER"[/i] into the wood. She used the cloth she cut from her shirt to bind the two pieces of wood together, and gathered rocks around it.

In a few minutes, Meifeng had created the tribute to a fallen friend.

Not even caring anymore, Meifeng merely knelt down in front of it. Sitting there for what had to be hours. She didn't care if the Devil came by and killed them all. Not anymore.

"Meifeng..." The very stern and sorrowful voice of her mother spoke from behind her. Meifeng didn't even move or react. Lihua on the other stepped to the side of Meifeng, and sat down on her knees. All prim and proper. She sat there alongside Meifeng.

"...It hurts." Meifeng said, breaking the silence induced by rainfall. "It hurts [i]so[/i] much."

"Ms. Caspin... she'll be missed. Not by you and your friends, but by me as well." Lihua meant what she said. She couldn't help but feel remorse for what happened to Jen. It must be killing Meifeng inside. She can't ever find someone to replace Jennifer. "...Nothing I say will make it better - but it's okay to be sad. It's okay to be longing for her. You have the right to grieve for your friend, and you can take as long as you need."

Lihua turned her head towards Meifeng. "I'll be right here." She answered.

"...I want to stop them." Meifeng simply said, with a growing anger in her voice. "I want to stop the Changeling Unit... I want to stop them from ever hurting anyone ever again..." She answered.

Lihua sighed. "We'll bring them to justice."

"No... you don't understand," Meifeng quickly answered. She sighed herself, as she prepared herself to explain the Changeling's biggest atrocity. "...They killed her family. Justin, Cody, Kate... all of them. All because she wouldn't pay ball in whatever insane scheme they were up to." Tears started welling down Meifeng's eyes as she clenched her fists very tightly. "...How can someone be so [i]fucking[/i] cruel?!"

"Power corrupts." Lihua answered, trying to find the best way to phrase this without making the grieving Meifeng worse. "Some people - for whatever reason - delude themselves, and let their moral compass go astray. Which leads to spiral more and more out of control until they are nothing more than sadistic animals - who use silly "ends" to justify their actions. The Changelings... there's just no reasoning with them."

"...I'm [i]done[/i] losing people," Meifeng said, with a growing determination. "Not to them, not to the Devil, not to anybody... today is the day I get stronger." Meifeng clenched her pants.

Lihua smiled... it felt like years since she's legitimately done so. "Now that's my Meifeng..." She said. "But, there's something I need to talk to you about... given how dire things are, I figure that now's the best time to tell you."

Meifeng nodded her head.

"But, let's gather materials so we can make graves for the rest of the Caspins, first." Lihua said as she stood straight up. "We'll discuss it after we're done." The Vuhong Matriach began scouring the area looking for materials.

Meifeng pushed herself to her feet and followed after her. After they were done, they were able to craft identical memoria for the rest of the Caspins.

"Agent Vuhong," Maximilian's voice spoke into the comms. "We need you on the roof."

Lihua sighed. She hated separating from her daughter now of all times, but duty calls. They won't be able to get out of here if they laze about.

"I have to go... how about you go find your friends? They probably want to talk to you."

Meifeng nodded her head as the two girls stood straight up.

Then they went their separate ways for the time being.


[hr][i][h1][color=plum]Trevor Obott[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], & [color=red]Meifeng Vuhong[/color].[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Audioslave - Shadow on the Sun][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfF4t9-wpCM[/youtube][/hider][hr]


"Ugh...argh... what the fuck?" Cindy muttered as she came back to consciousness. She didn't know where the hell she was. All she knew was that she was on a bed of some sort - given the soft, fluffy, surface she pushed herself off of. She opened her eyes, reflexively closing them when she realized that the lights were painfully bright. She put her hand up in the way of the lights, and groaned as she adjusted to the different light levels.

It wasn't long before she could see everything just fine. The first thing she did was check her back - and it was perfectly healed. She didn't feel a thing. Thanks to Trevor, she presumed. Jesus Christ... she doesn't remember a thing of what happened. All she remembers is that [i]something[/i] got her, then she passed out. Missing everything that lead up to finding herself here... where ever that was.

Okay, now Cindy had to figure out where the hell she ended up. Maybe a NEST hospital. Going off the white tiled floor and ceiling... and rather comfy looking funiture, wallpaper, and etc. She looked around, and saw Trevor in the room. Sitting in a chair with his hands neatly folded. He looked like he was moping, he didn't have that cheery white-boy look on his face. He looked... sad. Scarlet was across the room from him - leaning up against the wall with a foot pressed up against it - with the same look.

"Yo..." Cindy said to catch their attention. "What happened...? I zoned out for a bit there."

Both of the Obotts were silent for a moment. Which made Cindy even more confused.

"...Jen's dead, that's what happened." Trevor said, there was a great anger in his voice that even Cindy could feel. It was a power in his voice that Cindy never knew he was capable of. "She got yanked right off - Mei tried to save her... but..." Tears started running down Trevor's face. "She didn't want to be saved, and just let that thing drag her into the streets!"

Trevor planted his face in his hands as he started crying. Scarlet walked across the room and put her hand on Trevor's shoulder, whispering some reassurance to him.

"Yo - whoa, what..." Cindy was confused. Jen can't be dead. She's stronger than that. "Trevor... I... what the hell happened, why...?" Cindy was confused, she couldn't mouth out random words as she came to terms. She didn't know Jen all that much personally, but the news was enough to hit the teen hard.

"...It was those damn Changelings." Trevor sobbed. "They... they pushed 'er over the edge."

Cindy knew of when they forced Jen to... spy on the group. Cindy would never use the word betray - since it was never Jen's choice. They made her do it under threats... Oh no. Cindy quickly said. "What happened to Jen's-"

"Dead." Trevor bluntly responded. "The Changelings killed 'em... then had the [i]nerve[/i] to mock Jen by showin' 'er the bodies... I can't believe [i]this[/i]." Trevor said.

Even from over here, Cindy could feel Trevor's loss. "That's so fucked up..." She trailed off looking off to the side as she finally got off from the cot. "I'll be here for you if you need me... but I think we should go find Meifeng..." She scratched the side of her neck. "I bet she's just breaking up inside."

"Yeah..." Cindy trailed off. She looked out the window, and got a good view of the Devil's towering new form and her heart stopped. "Whoa, she's not doing anything?"

"No." Scarlet chimed in. "She hasn't done anything since she finished healing... The head RAVENs are coming up with a plan to take her out now." She looked off to the side. "But it's only a matter of time...." She shook her head.

It was an ugly truth everyone had to deal with, yeah.

Cindy knew that more than anyone. For now...

The door opened up, and all eyes fell on Meifeng as she stepped inside.

"Oh, hey..." Cindy said. "How you holdin' up?" She asked. "Know everything's been hard..."

"Yeah..." Meifeng agreed. "I just feel terrible that I let it happen... I just feel like there was more I could have done..." She leaned up against the wall, then put a hand to her other arm.

"Look, we all feel that way." Trevor was quick to say. "I just feel like I missed the chance to really get to know 'er." He shrugged.

"She didn't deserve any of that, that's for sure." Cindy said. She felt a growing hatred for the Changeling Unit herself. She looked out the window. "I just hope we can take out that thing... she the only thing keeping us in here."

"I know we can do it." Meifeng said. "...I never fought something like that before... but there has to be something we can do."

"Hey, maybe we can blow it up again?" Trevor suggested. "Those missiles tore it up. What if we shoot more of that at it?"

"I don't think it'll fall for that one again." Cindy said... trailing off and letting the words hang in the air. She realized something, "But, let's not worry about her right now... How about we all head outside and get some fresh air?"

"Anything's better than sitting around in 'ere mopin'." Trevor shrugged as he agreed with her.


[hr][i][h1][color=salmon]Haruka[/color] & [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka[/color] [color=fa8072]T[/color][color=e78381]a[/color][color=d58591]k[/color][color=c288a0]a[/color][color=af8bb0]s[/color][color=9c8dbf]h[/color][color=8a90ce]i[/color][color=7792de]r[/color][color=6495ed]o[/color].[/h1][/i]
[hr][hider=God Eater 2: Rage Burst OST - God and Man ~Resolution~][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiy_OadsoUI[/youtube][/hider][hr]

"[i]Jennifer![/i]"

Haruka's eyes opened with a start. He was vaguely aware that he was lying down on a bed; it didn't take him long to realize he was back in the temporary room assigned to the twins in the NEST Headquarters.

"Seriously?" Shizuka's mocking voice loomed closer to the older counterpart before his head appeared before him. "Is that all you've been thinking about even when you're napping?"

That made Haruka sat upright, almost giving his white-haired twin a headbump. "[i]Nap[/i], you say? You knocked me out cold! Why did you do that?" He rolled off the bed, walked over to Shizuka and grabbed him by the collar. "What happened to Jennifer?"

Shizuka looked straight into his twin's eyes. "...She's dead."

Those words hit Haruka with a surge of anger; he tightened his grip around his brother's neck and forced him down onto the ground. "What do you mean by 'she's dead'? It's not possible! [i]Why?[/i]" He finally let go of Shizuka. "Why..."

The younger twin coughed and pushed himself off the floor. "It's unfortunate. Yeah."

"Right... [i]Unfortunate.[/i]" The logical side in Haruka told him that his brother wasn't to be blamed, but the emotional side felt the same way as the other Verthaven teens and RAVENs - that Shizuka was truly an insufferable jerkass.

Before he could stop himself, he threw out the hardest punch he could muster into his twin's face. "I hate you! Always trying to act cool and tough, but you are just a heartless, sadistic bastard! I bet you are laughing inside while watching the rest of us drowning in the hell of despair! [i]You are no different from those psychopathic Changelings![/i]" As he shouted at his brother, he was completely oblivious to a strange wind current that was picking up speed in the room.

Shizuka merely kept quiet and continued to stare at his furious twin, his bruised face impassive.

"Jennifer wouldn't have died if it wasn't for you! You kept stopping me and let her walked to her death! [i]You killed her![/i]" By then, a tornado had already formed in the room, sweeping up everything around the boys into the vortex and spinning around them. "If only I had my own superpower, I would be able to take care of myself, and even save her! I wouldn't need to rely on an asshole like you!" As the last word left Haruka's lips, the whirlwind burst outwards, blasting the furniture out of the room - even blowing the door off its hinges and the windows out of their frames.

Sounds of running footsteps approached the room; only two NEST agents came to the scene. "Hey, are you kids alright? What's going on here?" One of them asked, raising her eyebrows at the ruined state.

"Nothing," Shizuka was the first to react. He walked up to the agents, pushing them away. "Just a family squabble that got [i]a little[/i] out of hand." Glancing at Haruka (who seemed to be in shock), he said more firmly, "It's fine now. Just leave us alone, please."

Once the agents were gone, Haruka spoke again - his tone was more or less back to normal, though a little hoarse from all the yelling just now, "How ironic...that I am granted a power only at this moment..."

Shizuka sighed. "Reality [i]is[/i] ironic; nothing dandy like those retarded superhero comics." He combed a hand through his hair. "You can hate me all you want, but I've never once regretted the choice I made - to save you instead of that blond girl. In fact, we're both doing the exact same thing: all for the sake of our own family. Threatened or not, she did sell us out to the Changelings so as to keep her family alive.

"It's impossible to save everyone - saving one life means giving up on another."

Haruka let out a sarcastic snort. "It is really unnerving to hear you spitting out such [i]deep[/i] philosophy." He put his arms around himself. "...She was the first person I thought I could be friends with in Verthaven."

This was one of the few rare occasions Shizuka dropped the brutal bluntness (the real him wasn't as rude as he usually appeared to be). Instead of joking about his twin's possible crush on the dead girl, he simply said, "I dunno much about her compared to you - we barely talked to each other at all - but if we had met under better circumstances, Jennifer seemed like a decent person."

Haruka nodded. "Yeah, if it wasn't for the Devil..." He then looked down at his palm, and slowly closed it into a fist. "I have enough of all this - running around blindly, playing hide-and-seek with that monster; I have enough of being a weak and useless person, a dead weight to you and everyone else. Now that I have a power, I want to fight back." He thrust out a hand and concentrated...

Only to send his younger twin flying out of the room.

Thanks to Shizuka's quick reflexes from all the sports he had played in his life, he was able to quickly turn into ghost mode and pass through the wall unscathed, landing on his two feet at the corridor outside. "Hey, watch it," he said irritably as he walked back to Haruka. "Before you get too excited about the awakening of your oh-so-awesome air manipulation, you better do some spartan training to improve your shitty control first." He gripped onto the elder twin's shoulders. "Until then, do not tell anyone about this - I'll also keep your ability a secret from the others. You must promise me this."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's not about trust," Shizuka explained, seeing the disappointed look on his brother's face. "This is to protect you - the last thing you'd want to happen is the power to backfire on you when you need it most.

"Which comes to my second advice: [i]control that power, and don't let it control you[/i]." With that, Shizuka released his twin. "I'll help you train, but not today - let's go out and get some fresh air first. We all need a good break." He couldn't help rolling his eyes as he recalled the series of events that had happened so far. "If this Devil madness becomes an epic movie, we'd definitely win an Oscar for the 'Worst Motion Picture of the Century' category."


[hr][i][h1][color=Lawngreen]Sonya Mayfield[/color], [color=Gray]Quentin Taylor[/color], [color=Dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color], Task Force RAVEN, and...[/h1][/i][hr]


"...Alright, I'm here." Lihua said as she walked up the stairs to the NEST headquarter rooftops. She opened the door, and got a good view of Maximilian, Sonya, Leon, and Dana staring down in the direction of the Devil. From up here, they were able to see the Devil in her truest, towering form. Lihua walked up to the side of these RAVENs, and crossed her arms.

"How has the situation been?" Lihua asked.

"Gettin' shittier by the second. Ha." Leon said as he crossed his arms. "She's probably comin' up with a way to fuck everyone over."

Sonya herself was about to answer Lihua's question - but that dastardly Leon beat her to it. She went back to looking at the Devil through her binoculars.

Lihua shook her head at Leon's comments. "So, do we have a plan?" Lihua asked.

"Well," Dana shrugged. "It's going to be really hard for us to combat a Metahuman of that level of strength. She's [i]beyond[/i] anything NEST has ever battled before." Dana stated. "Worst of all, after all the events, we are incredibly undermanned - with reinforcements looking impossible. I don't think any of our secret weapons would do much against her - and the missile array won't do anything long as she's on guard."

"So basically we have no chances of defeating her." Lihua said as she raised a hand to her chin. Thinking intensely. "We're all waiting for her to wipe us out..."

"There [i]must[/i] be something we can do, a [i]weakness[/i] we can exploit." Maximilian said. 

"We just can't risk it until we have something solid, Maximilian." Lihua replied to him.

"Damn it..." He groaned.

"Might be something." Quentin mused, before he shifted his gaze towards Mayfield.

Sonya was scanning the Devil... and at the corner of her eyes, she saw a bright red light that looked an awful lot like a flare. She quickly turned her eyes towards it.

"What is it, Mayfield?" Maximilian asked. 

Right when Sonya saw it, it looked like a giant flare... and she immediately looked down and saw the most curious sight on the planet.

Standing on top of the building were the three members of the Hands that were the biggest pain in the ass. Ignatius, Revenant, and Dr. Cross. Revenant was holding the flare gun... while Dr. Cross was waving a white flag.

"Uhhh..." Sonya raised an eyebrow as she looked between the RAVENS.

"Come on, Mayfield, out with it." Lihua said as she leaned in, trying to get a good look, but it was impossible at this distance. "Just [i]who[/i] is down there."

She wasn't sure if it was real, or she's actually just high off Trevor's drug. "It's the Hands... Dr. Cross is there and everything, and she's wavin' that White flag."

"White flag..." Quentin's face flared with disgust the moment he heard the word 'Hands'. Those experiments would never fade from memory.

Lihua crossed her arms even tighter. "Either they're giving up, or they want to talk." She turned towards Mayfield.

"Yeah," Quentin firmly pumped the action of his 870, "They'll talk. Doesn't mean we should listen. You know what they've done, Vuhong - what they did to your daughter and Jen - and what they'll do again if we let them."

"You're right." Lihua said. "Mayfield, take the shot and put one through Dr. Cross' eyes." She ordered.

"Wait," Maximilian said as he put his hand out in front of Lihua. Earning the scathing glare he earned from her. "I know they are... our sworn enemies... but I'm suggesting that we at least hear them out."

"They're monsters." Lihua hissed through her teeth. "They threw PR-1 and the Changeling Unit at us - we're [i]past[/i] the point of listening."

"Then [i]I'm[/i] going," Maximilian said, shooting a sharp glare at Lihua that nearly matched hers. "You said it yourself, we're pushed up against the wall. As it stands - we have no chance at beating the Devil." Maximilian said.

"Maximilian," Lihua sternly said. "You're making a mistake."

"Fuck... you're not going near those fuckers alone," Quentin seethed, clearly objected to the idea. "But regardless of what you say, [i]one[/I] wrong move and I'll finish the job you started." A chance to hit back at those bastards had been his motivation for joining NEST. That, and the alternative had potentially been jailtime. A lot had changed since then, he'd changed, but he still wanted to see them all put down.

"Sonya should be able to cover us." Maximilian pressed his earpiece. "Alright, RAVEN assemble, we're going to investigate something..."

Lihua shook her head. She might as well go along with them to make sure they at [i]least[/i] last five more minutes than they normally would.

[hr]

RAVEN had fully assembled, and quickly went out towards Dr. Cross.

Sonya took position on a rooftop in perfect view of the Hands of Science. Her sights were put right on Revenant. If they take [i]her[/i] out, and the primary pain in the ass would be gone. They can easily mob Ignatius. By her side was Maria, who was scanning the horizon for any other REAPERS. However, if the REAPERS are using this as a desperate attempt to take out NEST, then they aren't as smart as they present themselves. Sonya knew that Leon was also taking position in another part of the area.

Nikki was also in position out of sight - using her swarm of insects to scan for the threats that Sonya couldn't have seen. Fortunately, she couldn't detect anyone. They were alone at last.

They gave Maximilian and the others the thumbs up.

Upon hearing that it was safe. Maximilian floated to the top of the building the respective leaders of the Hands and REAPERS decided to meet them on top of. With Adam and Helena by his side. Lihua also floated on top of the building on a concrete block. She stood on the corner of the building... right on the edge. Waiting to see what these bastards want. Quentin had gone up with her on the same block, shotgun held close with eight slugs loaded in.

"Good, you're here." Dr. Cross said as she walked up to them. "I was afraid that you wouldn't come."

Maximilian crossed his arms and deployed his Echo. The shining golden copy floated behind her with a similiar pose. Which made Ignatius drop into a stance - only to be stopped by Dr. Cross (Who couldn't see Echo, but she knew what he was capable of).

"What are you after, Cross?" Maximilian asked.

"The situation is... dire." Dr. Cross said. "The Devil of Verthaven is a threat to every man, woman, and child in this city. There's no way anyone can beat her alone... which is why I'm proposing an... alliance."

"Hmph." Lihua knew this was coming... but she also knows that the Hands were after something. They always are.

"Alliance?" Maximilian asked, as he rubbed his hand on his chin. "Between NEST and the Hands of Science?"

"Not just them..."  Dr. Cross said.

Lihua really hoped that Dr. Cross wouldn't mention the Changelings. Quentin shared her sentiment just the same.

"... But every person in this city who wants to survive." Dr. Cross said. "I've been rallying every organization in the city for this one goal." Dr. Cross adjusted her stance. "I have been successful, thus far. But I wanted to save you for last."

"For last? That so you can try and finish the job if we refuse? What happens after we're done with the Devil?" Quentin was skeptical of their intentions at best. At worst... part of him felt an urge to put a slug in Cross' skull here and now. It was hard to trust the same people responsible for what he'd seen.

Dr. Cross (and the rest of RAVEN for that matter) turned to Quentin. Her facial expression was unchanging. "...If NEST refuses... then very well. We'll respect your decision." Dr. Cross answered. "But I know it is in your best interest to eliminate the Devil of Verthaven."

To address the other question, Dr. Cross simply stated, "If you accept our terms, there will be a one-week cease-fire between all factions... we have no interest in continuing this conflict. Only leaving Verthaven."

Maximilian was skeptical as Quentin was - but he knew that NEST was undermanned, and an alliance would be just the thing they needed to take out the Devil. But, he was stuck in between a rock and a hard place. He knew that it'd be hard to trust the Hands, and the gangs. On the other hand, they were pushed up against the wall. He hung his head, and tightened his arms around his chest. 

"...Very well, we accept the terms of the alliance." Maximilian answered.

"Very good." Dr. Cross said. "That's not all, however."

Everyone perked up.

"We have a grand meeting between all the leaders of their respective factions in a [i]neutral[/i]-" Dr. Cross made sure to empathize that. "-zone. I'll give you the location, send your representatives and we'll all come up with a plan how to eliminate the Devil once and for all."

"Very well," Maximilian said, looking in between his RAVENS. "...We'll be there."

Dr. Cross took a few steps back, holding her hand out. Revenant handed her a card, before Dr. Cross took steps towards Maximilian and held it out for him. He sent Echo ahead, who grabbed the card, then handed it back to his master - who stared at the card.

"I'll see you there." Dr. Cross said as Revenant grabbed onto her - and Ignatius. The three disappeared in a flash of light as they returned to whatever base they had left.

"...Do you think this is the best idea, Maximilian?" Lihua asked, raising an eyebrow at the turn of events. "The only [i]"factions"[/i] I can think of that'll be able to fight are the gangs, the Pure, the Changelings, and so on. We'll basically be surrounded by our enemies."

"It'll be an opportunity to take us out," Quentin pointed out, having firsthand experience of how some of these people thought. "And after what those bastards did to Jen's family, to Vuhong's kid, what makes you think they'll play ball?"

"Even if we work with them, we're going to need [i]insurance[/i] to make sure they don't betray us..." Lihua said.

"Like a slug to the skull." Quentin made his thoughts on the matter very clear.

"...We have no choice."  Maximilian said. "We've expended all our options."

"I see that you're hell bent on this [i]foolish[/i] alliance. Very well..." Lihua snarled at him. She didn't like this idea, but Max had a point. Both sides have a point. Quentin and Lihua believes it's stupid to trust them. Maximilian knows they're low on Agents. If they're going to work with them... maybe they need to come up with a plan that puts them on top at the end.

"...If you want my honest opinion, then once the Devil is dead, we quickly take out as many major members of the Hands and the Changelings as possible... focusing on their damn teleporters so we removed their mobility."

"Luis is the head of that snake." Quentin added, "If I could get close whilst someone keeps that fucker pinned down, maybe I could pull away whatever lets him heal so fast. I'd like to see him survive a slug to the face after that."

"We should target the Changelings above all else," Lihua noted... since, due to how prone to violence they are, the Changelings are the biggest threats to Verthaven. "... And if you're going this meeting," Lihua said to Maximilian. "I'm going as well. It'd be foolish to go without me, after all."

"And I'll recognize a few faces there, no doubt." Quentin offered. "Knowing who we're dealing with will help."

"I want a few RAVENS there... everyone else should be on standby just in case they try to pull something." Maximilian noted.

"I'll just wait outside with a sniper!" Sonya loudly shouted into the comms. "You, know, the usual."

"Vuhong, there's one other thing..."

"Yes?" Lihua asked.

"This goes for everyone as well, but.. I wanted to ask if I could store your abilities. I'll understand if you're not comfortable with it, but..."

"Yes." Lihua just simply answered. "If it'll help us get out of here - I don't care."

"Alright. Pass me your hand," Quentin slipped off one of his gloves.

Letting out a sigh, Lihua put her hand out for Quentin to grab. [i]Here goes nothing...[/i] She said to herself.

Quentin reached out and grasped his hand in hers. Concentrating, he focused on drawing out a sliver of Lihua's ability until he opened his eyes to find his hand briefly taking on a concrete appearance. Drawing it back, the stony hand reverted to its original form and Quentin slipped the glove back on over it.

Lihua raised her eyebrow at Quentin's hand taking a stone-like appearance for a moment. So this is what Quentin's ability looks like. And she's placed so much faith in him, at least he hasn't disappointed her.

"That's done with." He said, closing his palm into a fist. Whatever the case, it'd take some time to figure this one out - but he'd at least try. "Anyone else, the same goes for you - but I'll understand if you're not comfortable with it."

"My Echo could be of use." Maximilian said as he stepped up.

"Eh, maybe my All-Seeing Eye can help." Leon said over the comms. "But, I'll have to come down."

"You too?" Quentin shifted his gaze towards Max, ready to slip off the gloves when it occurred to him where they were.

"Mr. Taylor," Lihua interrupted him, putting her hand up. "Perhaps we should save this for when we get back to Headquarters?"

"Good point," Quentin shifted his gaze back towards the edge of the rooftop.

They all nodded, before they flew off the roof (Lihua using the same block of stone as before to fly down).


[hr][i][h1][color=Gray]Quentin Taylor[/color],[color=Lawngreen]Sonya Mayfield[/color], [color=Dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color], Task Force RAVEN, The Hands of Science, REAPER, The Changeling Unit, and the Gangs of Verthaven.[/h1][/i][hr]


A black NEST Hummer with the logo on the side rolled up to the building the Hands of Science had re-purposed into the "neutral zone" for their meeting. It was a building that Lihua was familiar with; a big convention hall in the downtown district that she dropped Meifeng off to a few times with her friends. It was a large building, with a glass entrance with high windows. Built on a stone frame. The front doors were guarded by some REAPERS, who threw some disgusted glances in the direction of the newly arriving NEST Agents. Lihua swore that she saw them press their earpieces and mutter something. And scattered around the area were various gang members... Lihua could recognize them by their colors.

The first to step out of the hummer was Maximilian. Who sneered at the REAPERS... he couldn't adjust to "working" with them. Even in desperate times like this. He closed the door behind him.

"Don't worry, Maxi!" Sonya cheerfully said into the comms. "Me and the others are in position!" She flopped her tongue out of her mouth and it rolled down and touched the carpet of the apartment she, Maria, Adam, and Nikki were occupying. She winced as she sucked it back up into her mouth.

They looked at her all funny.

"...That was [i]not[/i] a good idea." Sonya muttered to herself, cringing. The rest of the RAVENS shook their heads. After that awkward moment, Sonya just knelt down, and focused on the building through the scope of her sniper. She nodded towards Maria for a moment. They had the perfect vantage point - a full view of the convention center through the windows! A sniper's wet dream! "...[i]Anywho![/i] I gotta clear view of [i]everything[/i] goin' on in there - looks like Ms. Cross wasn't lying. We got some big names in there! Red Crowns, Pure, what's left of the Fiends... including our [i]buddy[/i] Ignatius! You better be careful in there..."

"Understood, Mayfield." Maximilian said as he pressed his earpiece. He had to speak under his breath because he didn't want the Hands to know he was watching this.

"But, if anything goes wrong, you know I'll start shooting!"

"I'll also have to add that your personal bullshit detector is, too, in position." Leon said with a chuckle as he pressed his earpiece as he stood on top on the building with Helena on his side. The perfect position to see into the minds of everyone. Just in case Maximilian sensed bullshit.

"Good, good." Maximilian said. He took in a deep breath and faced the building.

Lihua was the next to get out the vehicle, and stepped to Maximilian's side, and took in a deep sigh. "...Let's get this over with." She said to the group. It felt like they were walking into the mouth of evil... but with the rest of RAVEN on standby, they had little to worry about. Daphne and two masked NEST Agents followed.

The chloropath had closed her eyes briefly, tuning herself with the floras inside the center. She had cut off from her network completely due to the ongoing Devil rampage (and also the Changelings' surprise assaults on the Headquarters) - if she didn't, the pain and hatred all her green friends felt from the destruction would be sent back to her, frying her brain from the agonizing feedback.

Quentin disembarked last, keeping his shotgun close to hand. Of them all, he liked it the least and knew full well what kind of lion's den they were about to walk into. It comforted him a little to know he'd a few extra tricks up his sleeve. It was a curiosity to know just who he'd find here.

The group walked up to the entrance, and "greeted" the REAPERS.

"You can go in," The big bulky male REAPER said, as he threw a thumb over his shoulder.

Not even saying a word, the group walked in, lead by Maximilian. They walked down the hall of the convention center, feeling just like they were about to fight. Hopefully, everyone else will play nice. After a short walk down the hallway, they made it into the grand hall, and were met with a rather nice room... well, it was destroyed somewhat by the rain (Which was rotting the ceiling), and the monsters (Claw marks, and smashed walls, were also present throughout the building). But, otherwise, it looked like there was a convention going on before the Devil launched her attack. There were stands, and chairs, and signs everywhere.

Though, taking position at these stands were various gang members that NEST would otherwise consider their enemy. There were Pure, Iron Cross, Red Crowns, Fiends, and more... or, what was left of those organizations. They all took a look at NEST when they walked in, and threw various dirty looks at them.

However, the Changeling Unit was no where to be seen.

Lihua walked up, all proud, then put her hands on her hips.

Quentin recognized one of the people standing in for the Red Crowns; a lanky Hispanic in his late-thirties, wearing a jacket over a wifebeater. Once, Quentin had worked the security detail on the guy's nightclub. After all these years, he found it unsurprising that a manipulative bastard like Bermuda had managed to claw their way to the top.

"Oh," Dr. Cross said, with a glass of red wine in hand that made it look like she was at a party. "You're here?" She said as she took a sip of her red wine. "Shall we begin?"

Lihua crossed her arms. "Let's." She answered.

Dr. Cross nodded her head as she started walking. "Gather around everyone, I'm only going to say this once." She said, as Stephanie took her side, rolling up alongside her as they met in the center of the convention room. All the chairs were placed to form a circle around a scifi-like projector.

Everyone gathered around in the chairs and whatnot.

"...Oh, sorry, we were late!" A blue portal suddenly opened, and Luis walked out with his hands folded behind his back. Heartbreaker walked alongside him twirling a revolver, before sliding it into her holster. The Mannequin walked in on all fours like a beast. "We had some loose ends to close, so to speak." Luis said as he clapped his hands after the portal closed.

Lihua couldn't help but grimace when they walked on by. However, she contained her negative emotions by merely sighing, before adapting her usual demeanor. Soon enough, they'll be [i]right[/i] where they belong.

It took all of Quentin's willpower to avoid training his sights on any of them, knowing what they'd done - what they would do again if they got a chance.

What didn't help was the fact that they [i]specifically[/i] walked right past them. Heartbreaker threw Quentin a rather cocky grin that screams, "try and stop me."

The Changeling Unit found themselves a spot not too far away from NEST. Luis sat down on the chair, politely folding his hands and resting them on his lap - as Heartbreaker and the Mannequin stood on each side of Luis.

"Alright," Dr. Cross shook her head. now that everyone is here. The lights in the room began to dim, then a holographic projection of the street. "As you all are aware, we are all pushed to the point of utter desperation by the Devil of Verthaven. She wants nothing more than the death of all of us. Which is why I've assembled you all here. The worst of enemies have aligned with each other for this common goal; defeating the Devil once and for all."

Lihua merely uncrossed her arms, and finger quoted, "Yes, this [i]Alliance[/i] you've assembled." She wondered what stake the Changeling Unit had in this... They were definitely up to something.

"We seek to devise a way to kill the Devil from this meeting. We have some methods... but we'll have to share information, and discuss who's going to be placed where." Dr. Cross started off... Lihua could sense a bit in awkwardness in her voice.

"Now, allow me to address the elephant in the room - Stephanie." Dr. Cross stepped aside, and her wheelchair bound assistant pressed a few buttons on her laptop. Then the projection changed.

It changed to a large, scifi-styled, cannon with a large barrel, and had several wires going throughout it. It was attached to several large canisters that Lihua could only assume was full of Metahuman energy. It was mounted on the back of a flatbed truck.

"[i]...This[/i] is Project Scythe. A secret weapon we've been developing for use against NEST...." Dr. Cross explained, and looked at NEST - who gave her less than impressed looks. "... Which we'll be using when we battle the Devil."

Lihua tilted her head, twisting her head in one direction somewhat. "And what does it do?"

[I]Against NEST.[/I] Quentin's skepticism remained unmoved.

"It fires a blast of weaponized Metahuman energy which we created by studying Metahumans with such abilities." Dr. Cross first explained. "This blast creates a massive explosion of the energy that'll wipe out everything alive. We believe that it'll eliminate the Devil in one blast."

"Created by vivisecting them, you mean." Quentin spat under his breath, contemptuously. 

"... You are [i]aware[/i] you basically created a weapon of mass destruction in your little labs?" Lihua was quick to note, almost snarling.

Dr. Cross ignored that statement and kept talking. "However, there are a few problems..."

Maximilian crossed his arms, sharing the same disgust as the rest of the RAVENS. "...Which are?"

Dr. Cross raised one finger. "First, we need to prepare it... on the field. It's range is impressive, but we'll have to make [i]sure[/i] that the Devil stays within range until it's ready."

She raised another finger. "The Devil is attracted to Metahuman energy - we've discovered... which means there's a high chance she'll head towards it the moment we activate it. Which can prove [i]disastrous[/i] if she breaks it."

"...Also we haven't field tested it." Ignatius chimed in with a foolish smile on his face. "Which means it might not work at all." He started laughing.

"...We tested it enough." Dr. Cross said.

Lihua crossed her arms. "So, from what I'm gleaning from this," Lihua raised a finger up into the air. "You want us to defend your superweapon that [i]might[/i] not even work in the first place? Or, better yet, misfire and kill all the wrong people?"

"We've tested it, and we've eliminated that possibility." Dr. Cross answered. "It [i]will[/i] work."

"Or so you say," Lihua replied. "All I ask is that [i]you're[/i] right there, in the perfect place to be caught in the blast." She seethed.

"How about ya'll shut up already?" Heartbreaker chimed in. "I don't trust this stupid ass weapon as much as the next guy - which is [i]why[/i] I suggest we make a fucking plan that doesn't revolve around this dipshit strategy Cross is setting up - [i]to fail.[/i]" Heartbreaker rolled her eyes.

Which earned a seething look from Dr. Cross.

"Like... if it's gonna [i]draw[/i] her somewhere, why don't we just [i]lure[/i] her right into our hands?" Heartbreaker added, condescending as always. "Because going to [i]her[/i] is a [i]brilliant[/i] battle plan on par with invading Soviet Russia in the winter." She crossed her arms and rolled her arms.

"If we have enough firepower on our side, we can knock the bitch over no matter how strong she is. No stupid-ass SCYTHES or any other stupid contraption required." Heartbreaker shrugged. "Because, believe me, I'm [i]done[/i] relying on the Hands to get things done." She stuck her tongue out at Dr. Cross.

"Enough, Heartbreaker." Luis said. "We don't want to alienate our [i]fine[/i] employer."

"Fuck her." Heartbreaker said, rude as ever. "She's the whole reason why this shitshow happened in the first place." She noted - trying to get the group to gang up on Dr. Cross. Holding a resentment towards the Hand of Science for getting her arrested by NEST in the first place.

"Natalie..." Dr. Cross said, before stopping herself when she remembered just [i]who[/i] she was dealing with. 

"Now... allow me to get down to business." Luis said with a smug grin on his face. "If the Devil [i]is[/i] attracted by the device, then, by all means, use that to our advantage." He explained. "I suggest deploying it in the Downtown district - as there's plenty of tall building there to take position in. [i]If[/i] we can get her down the street, we can rain fire on her from both sides while you prepare your weapon."

Heartbreaker put her hands on her hips.

"...We have to use [i]every[/i] tool in our disposal, after all." Luis noted as he raised a finger up into the air. "Nonetheless, the Changeling Unit will be contributing to any and all plans." Luis put his hand on his chest. "... We [i]do,[/i] from the bottom of our hearts, want to see everyone get out of this alive." He started laughing.

"The Iron Cross are gonna be in this fight." The Iron Cross representative said.

"So will the Pure." The Pure Representative said.

Lihua didn't buy any of this crap. The Hands, and the Changelings, were up to something, and NEST couldn't trust them. They needed some insurance. She leaned in towards Maximilian, and whispered a few things into his ear. He nodded, before whispering a few things back.

At the end of their exchange, Lihua stepped up, and raised a finger up into the air. "Excuse everyone, I have a few terms for NEST's involvement."

Everyone looked at Lihua - and the woman didn't even flinch. She folded her hands behind her back, and began, "Though, this address is directed more towards our [i]lovely[/i] Hands of Science, and Changeling friends."

Ignatius scoffed. Merely rolling his eyes. He wasn't going to say anything - it was best that he lets the [i]genius[/i] do the talking.

"And what could that be?"

Almost mocking Dr. Cross, Lihua raised one finger in the air, "[i]First,[/i] as assurance you won't betray NEST, or anyone else - we want [i]one[/i] Hands Chairmen within custody. So, in case any of you try anything, we have a major member of your organization."

"...Oh boy." Ignatius said to himself as he rolled his eyes.

She raised the second finger up into the air. "[i]Two,[/i] for your project to fall under NEST hands during the battle... I'm sure you can loan a few scientists to help operate it."

This was a test to see if they were [i]really[/i] dedicated to saving the city, and weren't simply just trying to betray NEST.

Lihua stared Dr. Cross down... and the woman was silent. As she was contemplating something.

"...Very well, we accept your terms."

Dr. Cross said, surprising everyone here. "We'll give you custody of both project SCYTHE, and a Chairmen."

Even then, Lihua could sense that there was something wrong here. She'd play along for now (There was no reason to raise a fuss over a suspicion). "Now, we'd like to know just who will be coming back to headquarters with us in cuffs?"

"Eliza." Dr. Cross almost immediately volunteered her rival within the organization.

"Hey, wait-" Eliza tried to object, before Ignatius grabbed her by the arm, and pushed her forward towards the Hands.

"You heard the lady!" Ignatius said with a cocky grin on his face. "Don't you want this alliance to go through? It's this, or put that power of yours to good use."

Choosing to avoid fighting to her death, Eliza merely nodded, and walked over to the NEST Agents. Put her hands behind her back, then turned around. It was Maximilian who put cuffs on her.

Lihua crossed her arms. "Now, we need a solid plan of attack."

"As Luis and Heartbreaker suggested..." Dr. Cross said as she leaned over to Stephanie, and started typing on the laptop for a few moments. The projection changed to a Downtown street with several story tall buildings, tall as the Devil herself. "... We'll take position in these buildings. Once the Devil is in range, we'll begin to barrage her with everything we have."

"We're going to need all hands on deck for this one... even if you aren't a soldier, or a Metahuman - we'll need people to handle the monsters the Devil creates." Stephanie said.

"Eh, give the boys a few minutes." Heartbreaker confidently said as she twirled her revolver around at high speeds. "We'll have that bitch dead [i]long[/i] before you need a weapon."

"NEST will also be contributing." Maximilian said as he walked up, with his arms crossed.

One by one, the gang leaders also said that they're putting their support into the plan.

"That's it, then. We have ourselves an alliance." Dr. Cross said. "Everyone prepare, we're going to launch our plan a few hours. We'll need everyone at their finest if we're going to win this."

"...That's it for your closing speech?" Luis said, bored. "Then again, when you're sitting in the seat of the Evil Madman - or Mad woman - it's really hard to come up with the grandiose heroic speech full of courage and resolve!" Luis flagged off Dr. Cross as he stood up. He tapped his earpiece and signaled for Flashbang, before a portal opened up.

Ominously looking over his shoulder, Luis said, "...The Changelings will be there, and we'll be bringing [i]all sorts[/i] of trinkets!" He said.

"In short; lots of fuckin' bombs." Heartbreaker said. "Luis was going to wire the city to explode! So we got enough to kill the bitch."

"Oh, that justification leaves me [i]so[/i] reassured." Lihua rolled her eyes.

"You bet your ass it does." Heartbreaker answered. Before she stepped into the portal.

"Hugs and kisses!" Luis said as he jumped into the portal.

The Mannequin followed behind them.

Everyone began scattering from the meeting.


[hr][i][h1][color=dodgerblue]Lihua[/color], [color=red]Meifeng[/color], [color=lawngreen]Sonya[/color], [color=plum]Trevor[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy[/color], [color=gray]Quentin[/color], [color=darkslateblue]Cass, Reed[/color], [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka[/color], & Task Force RAVEN.[/h1][/i][hr]


After the RAVENs returned from the [i]pleasant[/i] meeting they had, they hauled Eliza into a cell, before assembling all the RAVENs together for a meeting. They had all taken seats on the round table, and were all facing their glorious leader.

Once again, it fell on Maximilian to explain what happened at the meeting. He took in a deep sigh, "...I [i]know[/i] times have been rough, especially concerning the death of one of your friends... and what I'm going to announce is going to be met with... [i]mixed opinions.[/i]"

Lihua merely turned her head. It was Maximilian from here on in - she did all the talking at the meeting.

"But, desperate times call for desperate measures..." Maximilian stood straight up, putting his hands on the table - certainly catching the attention of everyone now. "...At the meeting we've discussed the terms of an alliance to take down the Devil. We agreed to those terms - which is why we came back with a prisoner - and came up with a plan to go about our mission..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa - with [i]who?[/i]" Cindy quickly asked, putting. "...If you're [i]saying[/i]." 

"...Yes." Maximilian bluntly injected. "This alliance includes the Gangs of Verthaven, the Pure..." He sighed. "...And the Hands of Science and the Changeling Unit."

"No, no, no..." Meifeng slammed her fist on the table, her voice booming with anger. "Fuck [i]that.[/i] After what they did to Jen... what they did to her family... they can all find the hottest part of hell and [i]burn[/i] in it!" She clenched her fists tightly. Meifeng considered the Changeling Unit responsible for what happened to Jen. They [i]did[/i] push Jen over the edge, after all.

"Sorry, gotta agree with 'er." Trevor said, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Ain't gonna happen, either." Cindy conceded with the rest of them.

There was nothing that Quentin wanted more than to throw in his support alongside the kids, yet he knew division in NEST's ranks would do more harm than good right now. Instead, he kept his silence and folded his arms.

Reed, on the other hand...

"You're working with [i]them[/i]? Want us to work with them? Cass, this goes against every-" Cass planted a hand on his shoulder to cut him off. "None of us like it. Me, the least - but I know a pit when we're stuck in one. If we could, I'd have all of those bastards put in a cell or body bags and we still can, but not till this is done with first."

"We've got no other choice," Maximilian tried to plead with them. To him, the three were an essential part of the group - who had bright futures in NEST. "As is, if we go at the Devil alone, we'll only get [i]more[/i] people killed."

"I don't like the alliance either - and if it was up to me, I'd [i]love[/i] to see the whole lot of them slaughtered..." Lihua injected, intending to support Maximilian's point. Before she shrugged, and said, "But, we just don't have the manpower... besides, they'll make a great meatshield." She politely folded her hands on the table.

Shizuka sighed. He could see where the two sides were coming from, but if this went on the meeting's going nowhere. "I'm with NEST on this," he finally spoke from the corner. "I do feel sorry about whatever's happened to Jennifer, but even if you guys want revenge, how can you do that if you all die first?"

None of them could argue against the points.

"We'll bring them to justice at some point..." Lihua noted. "...But, [i]I[/i] suggest, that the moment the Devil is down, we take out Heartbreaker and Flashbang - the latter would deprive them of teleportation, which would remove their one main edge against us..." Lihua trailed off. "...And Heartbreaker because I specifically don't like her."

"That bitch is Luis' right hand. We kill her, we take off one of his hands - at least for a time." Quentin made no argument here.

Lihua and Quentin's comments made Shizuka raised his eyebrows at them. "Personal grudges aside, it's true that the Changelings seem like the most dangerous out of all the allied super villain teams. However, it's best if we focus on getting rid of the Devil first, and not rushing to nail the Changelings down until we're sure the Devil is [i]dead as she should be[/i]."

He raised a hand to his chin...but went a bit higher to the corner of his mouth, rubbing the bruise that Haruka gave him moments ago. "Haven't you guys all forgotten what my bro' said about the leader wanting to use the Devil to obtain some sort of god-like power? He's probably using us to weaken the Devil enough for him to initiate that experiment or ritual...or whatever the hell it is."

"Yes..." Sonya noted from the ceiling yet again. "[i]And[/i] because of my [i]expert[/i] reconnaissance allowed me to glean a [i]lot[/i] more than what your brother was told..."

Maximilian and Lihua threw Sonya some looks that weren't really friendly.

Just their way of saying "shut up."

"...But, that's all I'll say on the matter." Sonya said.

"Regardless, it's clear he just wants to weaken her. If we're quick enough, we can just kill her before his teleporter gets to work... which is why I [i]continue[/i] to suggest that we kill her soon as possible." Lihua agreed. It would just be [i]stupid[/i] to assume that Luis wants to kill the Devil all the sudden. "But, I suggest we keep Luis, Mannequin, and Heartbreaker in our sights at all times. They're the heads of this snake, after all... the rest are just expendable muscle."

Cindy could only sigh and share her irritation with the others. That was a point they couldn't argue against, but that doesn't she likes it. She knew that she was just a [i]volunteer,[/i] so she didn't have too much ground to stand on in terms of decisions.

"So, what's the plan then, [i]chief?[/i]" Cindy said to Maximilian with a hint of venom that almost caused a fight if the chief RAVEN didn't drop it.

Maximilian sighed. He knew they wouldn't like this - but that's the price they have to pay. "...We're going to attempt to lure the Devil across to the Downtown district, where we, and everyone else, will be waiting, then we'll hit her with everything we've got."

Raising a finger, Lihua had to note. "...Don't forget about the Hand's [i]superweapon[/i]." She had to note, rolling her eyes.

"Whoa, what?" Cindy noted again.

"Apparently they've been working on a weapon to use against [i]us[/i]... only to be re-purposed to battle the Devil, naturally." Lihua groaned in irritation. "It's apparently a cannon that'll fire an explosive blast of Metahuman energy. Which should kill the Devil... according to them."

"...And you're [i]sure[/i] we can trust them?" Meifeng asked.

"Well," Lihua leaned back and crossed her arms. "We have two Chairmen in custody, and we have given their ultimate weapon... we don't really [i]need[/i] to trust them." She leaned in and neatly folded her hands on the table, and shrugged, calmly saying, "We already have everything we need to keep them in line - short of a gun to their head, of course."

"...[i]Fine.[/i]" Meifeng finally conceded with a defeated sigh. They had points she couldn't argue against, so why try, honestly? However, she stood up, and placed her hands on the table. "...But, if you think I'll let them get off with what they did to Jen, then all of ya'll can kiss the yellowest part of my ass." She hissed as she turned around. Walking out of the room in anger.

"Meifeng-" Lihua called out to her, putting her hand out.

"...Her ass gets even more yellow?" Cindy asked, raising a doubtful eyebrow. Shizuka was equally amused, but he made no comment.

"Hey, who knew?" Trevor coolly said as he put his hands behind his head.

"...She a little firecracker, ain't she?" Leon noted, crossing his arms.

Sighing, Lihua said, "She's a bit rough around the edges...." And that came from the bottom of Lihua's heart. "Either way, I don't see much more to go over... other than gather [i]everyone[/i] who is capable of putting up a fight. Metahuman, soldier, whoever, we need them if we're going to have a [i]hope[/i] of winning this."

"And be ready." Maximilian said. "It doesn't matter [i]who[/i] we bring if no one is ready. We've got a few hours to prepare...." He looked in between his RAVENs, "... I suggest each and every one of you use that time well. We're giving you access to [i]everything[/i] you might need."

Maximilian stood straight up. "Meeting adjourned." He said, and the RAVENs stepped out of the room.


[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Vuhong[/color], & [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color].[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Armored Core ost - Lament over a Howling Age][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDMDDJYiQ0w[/youtube][/hider][hr]


Lihua had stepped out of the meeting room, specifically looking for Meifeng. Her eyes were scanning the hallways as everyone else was walking away. She took a few more steps forward, before she looked down the first hallway, and spotted Meifeng leaned up against the wall with one hand pressed up against it.

"...Meifeng?" Lihua asked as she took steps forward. "Are you okay?"

"...It's nothing." Meifeng's voice betrayed that response as she was obviously sobbing. "I... just... need a moment."

"What is it?" Lihua asked, taking steps forward, and putting a hand on Meifeng's shoulder.

"I... just can't let those people get away with what they did to Jen." Meifeng continued to sob as tears began to run down her cheeks. "...I just can't!"

"And we won't." Lihua said. "No matter what it takes, we'll bring them to justice."

"You keep saying that..." Meifeng trailed off.

"The Changelings hurt [i]all[/i] of us..." Lihua said. "They've crossed the line into irredeemable, they're nothing but animals... they have to stopped at all costs - deal or not." Lihua sighed. "...But, for now, we're going to need their firepower. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Okay..." Meifeng trailed off.

"And..." Lihua thought about it as she took Meifeng by the wrist. "I think it's time to finally tell you, come with me."

Lihua dragged Meifeng off.

[hr]

After they were done, the two women went to Lihua's office.

Lihua was the first to step through the doors, and she walked around to the desk and sat down. "Lock the door." It wasn't like she particularly cared if anyone found out about this bit of knowledge... but she doesn't want to be interrupted once she starts. Meifeng turned back around and locked the door.

"Good, have a seat." Lihua commanded - and Meifeng did just as ordered. Lihua still had a hot cup of green tea on the desk (She asked Mika to make her some). She grabbed onto it, and started stirring it around. Before she began, she sighed, closing her eyes. "...I was hoping to save this until you're much older... but given how the situation has deteriorated, I feel like either of us can die at any given moment."

It was dark, and not the best thing to say to a grieving teenager, but it was true as it got. "So, there's a high chance that I won't make it out of this battle, I know that." Lihua trailed off, she knew it was best not to mention the possibility of Meifeng dying. Which was [i]never[/i] going to happen long as she drew breath. "...If I die, I want [i]you[/i] to hold my deepest and darkest secrets above all else, and judge them." Lihua continued.

"...But my question is; are you ready?"

Meifeng stood up a little bit, and nodded her head.

"I will tell you the past I dared not speak for years. Paranoid that it'll chase me to the grave... The past that molded me into the woman I am today." Lihua trailed off, somewhat depressed. "What exactly happened in China, why we had to leave there and never come back, why I was never there for you... who your father is."

"Okay, I'm ready... lay it on me." Meifeng said in a somber tone. These were the questions that she so [i]desperately[/i] wanted answered that she had began to resent Lihua.

"It all started when I was younger... your age in fact. My power had long developed, and I had learned how to use it enough so that I wouldn't destroy anything..." Lihua left the sentence in the air, before thinking to herself; [i]So much power in the hands of someone who just finished puberty... it should be a testament of my skill that I learned how to use such an ability.[/i] She shook her head, and continued. "Men came for me... men from the government. They had found out about my ability, and placed me on such a high pedestal... An elite military unit comprised of Metahumans gathered from all over China, and given military training."

Lihua shrugged. "[i]Hei Long Bu Dui[/i], or alternatively, the Black Dragon Unit. This unit was to be China's ultimate Black Ops group. Responsible for the kind of things that'd cause [i]wars[/i] if it got out. I, in fact, was the one who'd eventually become the leader of the Hei Long. Through ruthless determination, and skill. I earned myself favor within China's leadership, and was appointed the head of this organization... the success rate went up by [i]thousands[/i]." Lihua boasted.

"But... it wasn't the [i]"honorable"[/i] work you expect from NEST. We did all sorts of nasty things... war crimes, murder, assassination... espionage. Along with hunting down Metahumans that were a threat to China, and killing them. I'm not proud of [i]any[/i] of it." Lihua somberly said. "The things I've done were irredeemable. I've ended [i]hundreds[/i] of lives, and nearly died more times than I could count... but it was in the name of China, and I was proud of where I landed - even if I had no choice in the matter."

"Some time into my... tenure, I got into a romantic relationship with a man who served under me. It was a secret love." Lihua said, rather fondly. "[i]Zhou Bohai[/i]... The man who would eventually become your father."

"That's..." Meifeng was unsure of what to say. She had no idea of who this man was.

"...You are the one who inherited [i]his[/i] ability."

"What?"

"You have his exact ability. He could control water and ice in the same way you could... a splitting image of him." Lihua said. "He was a strong... proud man... that wanted things to be different. He was an excellent soldier - but all he wanted was you, and me... living a peaceful life somewhere as a family..." Lihua looked off to the side, almost like she regretted. "...I could honestly never see myself living that kind of life. Because, back then-" [i]Even now[/i] "-I believed there was no place for me other than the battlefield."

Lihua took a long sip of her tea.

"...That's where I lived, that's where I'll [i]die[/i]." She said as she put the tea cup back down. "So, I left you with my father while I continued my work... as dark as it sounded, I would have been more than content if I had never met you..."

That line made Meifeng [i]very[/i] uncomfortable. She started looking off to the side.

"...And that was because I was such a morally reprehensible human being that no child should ever be near me." Lihua answered. "It would just be irresponsible." She shrugged as she took another sip of her tea.

It was calming in the face of such dire odds.

"Of course, you must have figured out by now that things had changed for me to be here..." Lihua trailed off as she leaned back in her chair, and held her cup of tea tightly in her hand. "One day, it was the same as usual... but it turns out that the Hei Long were working with an American organization... Who I now believe were the Hands of Science now that I'm fully aware of their modus operandi."

"They had a deal of some sort... a deal I couldn't allow..." Lihua trailed off - a silent fury had welled up in her voice as she put the cup down. She closed her eyes, and exhaled. "...They wanted to infuse children with an experimental serum that would grant them superpowers... if successful, that is. Apparently, this version of the serum only has a chance of working on young people... otherwise, it'd leave them hideously deformed, or dead." She let the sentence hang up in the air again.

"...You were one of the volunteers." Lihua dropped the bomb.

"Wait, me?" Meifeng put her hand on her chest. "They wanted to infuse me with [i]that[/i] shit?"

"Since you were the daughter of two Black Dragons... they thought it was permission enough to do the procedure on you." Lihua said, and sighed. "Even though I had never met you... you were never that far away from my thoughts. Even on the slimmest chance you'd get abilities... I couldn't risk losing you."

"So me and Bohai turned against them... I killed a great deal of their officials in one attack, while Bohai handled the rest... But this had created a problem for both of us." Lihua trailed off, and wondered how she was going to explain this. "An entire country was going to be after us... we had no choice but to leave. Bohai said that he would lead them away if I get out of here with you... Thanks to him, and Jiao-Long, we escaped China and arrived in America with you."

The cup of tea was pressed down on the table.

"Jiao-Long was able to use his wealth and influence to get us [i]everything[/i] we needed... a change of name... an [i]identity[/i]..." She empathized on this particular statement as she looked Meifeng down. "The rest you should know."

Meifeng was just sitting there... astonished at what she had just heard. All of this had been heavy. Her best friend died... and it turns out that her mother was a super spy. But, there were no more questions. Everything she wanted to know was answered, she felt great knowing that an innate doubt for all of her life was finally fulfilled.

...There was still one more thing she had to ask.

"So, wait, if you're this big super spy that "changed her identity"... Lihua's not your real name, right?" Meifeng had asked.

"[i]Qiaolian Baozai.[/i]" Lihua finally answered. "My [i]true[/i] name is [i]Qiaolian.[/i] Skillful, and clever... I changed my name to Lihua because it was always a name I was fond of, really."

"I... I wasn't aware of any of that." Meifeng answered as she slumped forward in her chair. "I had no idea... for most of my life, that you were ashamed of me or something. That you didn't care enough to tell me what I wanted..." She scratched the side of her head.

"I never ashamed of [i]you.[/i]" Lihua answered. "It was me I was ashamed of... all the thing I've done. I felt like no one should inherit my sins. I only withheld this from you because I was waiting until you were old enough... when you were ready." Lihua explained.  "And here you are, ready as you'll ever be."

Meifeng took in a deep sigh.

"Thank you." Meifeng answered. "That clears things up."

"Now... if I were to fall, then it's up to you to pass this knowledge to Lijuan." Lihua said. "She... possibly ever need to know about my secret past. Other than the cutesy little name I gave her, she'll probably be one-hundred percent America..."

"I promise we'll get out of this." Meifeng said. "All of us."

Lihua smiled. Despite the death of her best friend, Meifeng remains optimistic as always.


[hr][i][h1][color=plum]Trevor Obott[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], & [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color].[/h1][/i][hr]


Since Maximilian said to get ready, Trevor and Cindy decided to get ready in their own ways.

By paying respects to Jennifer, of course.

The two walked up to Jennifer's "grave"... the grave for the entire Caspin family. It was a shame how they couldn't recover the bodies. They were probably all rotting by now... what a shame. It was all just one big tragedy.

Trevor would say the [i]true[/i] tragedy was when Jennifer let go. Damn girl didn't even get a chance. Trevor's sexual attraction for the girl had pretty much vanished, replaced by sorrow for her. He never even got the chance to get to know her. He had legitimate attraction for her... only for it to go to waste. Maybe he should just let it go.

Cindy, on the other hand, only known her as Meifeng's friend. The blonde nerd girl. Cindy stood there with her hands in her pockets, as she paid silent tribute Jen's grave. She was no hero, but she wanted to bring an end to the Changeling Unit for this. They just killed her entire family like it was nothing... looks like they just wiped out an entire bloodline. She wondered just who would cry out for them. Because... this was one big disaster. The world should be feeling sympathy for Verthaven as a whole - yet, they'll never know about the individual tragedies that went down in this city.

They'll never know the people [i]Cindy[/i] knew.

They just stood there, in the rain. Wordlessly looking down at the sticks and stones that were a tribute to a fallen friend.

Shizuka had been following the two of them quietly (which wasn't hard - after all, stealth was his [i]specialty[/i]). He could make a good guess where they were going - he thought of bringing Haruka over also - but there was one other thing he wanted to get it out of the way before the big event.

He watched Cindy and Trevor mourning before the makeshift memorial from behind them. To him, the blonde was just a stranger, a passer-by in his life - someone he didn't feel much connections with compared to everyone else - but he did feel some regret for what the Changelings did to her family (it was [i]brutal[/i]), and also her death. He finally walked up next to them and put his palms together, raising them to eye-level. "I am sorry about Jennifer... That I couldn't save her the second time." He bent forward, giving a full bow at the 'grave', before he straightened up and stared at the grey sky, his hands disappeared into his jeans pockets.

"It's..." Cindy trailed off... and for once, she wasn't disgusted by Shizuka's presence. Either she bought his apology, or she was just past the point of giving a shit. "...Not your fault - I mean, no need to really apologize." Cindy quickly corrected herself as she shifted her weight aside.

"It won't change the fact that I chose my brother's life over your friend's," Shizuka murmured, turning his head slowly to Cindy, staring straight into her eyes. "If all of this hadn't happened and we just met each other on a normal, boring day...we might've become actual friends. Well, at least for Haru, yeah." He then shrugged awkwardly and looked away. "Not just her - none of all those innocent lives would have...died."

Cindy shifted her weight to one side of her body and looked at Shizuka. He seemed like he was genuinely remorseful of what he did. She couldn't hate him for his decision to choose his own brother over Jennifer... that just wouldn't be fair for the logical and reasonable Cindy Keagan. "Yeah... you probably would have liked her..." Cindy scratched her other arm. "But, I honestly wished that each of us could have gotten to know her. It just feels like a missed opportunity." She shrugged.

"It's a missed opportunity to know anyone that died 'ere." Trevor said, remorseful.

"Yeah, that, too." Cindy noted. Honestly, she couldn't bring herself to dislike either of the boys right now. Jen's death made Cindy realize that there were more important things than her silly and petty grudges.

"Then we better take this opportunity to know those who are still alive - and fighting," Shizuka turned back to the two teens and said, his voice firm. "I know that you guys all hate my guts as much as I don't trust any of you, but I think it's time we cross over that personal barrier and work together, if we don't want to end up like Jen...and her sacrifice to become a waste."

Shizuka's phrasing when speaking of Jen came off as a tad... insensitive, but Cindy honestly didn't care. Whatever goes on in that boy's head is a mystery - it's best not to even get mad anymore. She sighed.

"...You're right." Cindy said, letting out a sigh of admission. "I've been startin' shit with you, to be honest. And, at this point, I don't think any of it matters anymore." Cindy sighed. "...I just think it's best that we don't bring our little drama into that fight."

Trevor agreed with both of them, but he had something on his mind. How Shizuka didn't [i]trust[/i] them, when they did [i]everything[/i] to earn his trust and more. It was bullshit, that's what it was. Trevor might be being petty... but like he was the pinnacle of maturity.

"Before we start apologizin' and stuff," Trevor said as he crossed his arms, and looked at Shizuka. "I just got somethin' I wanna take my chest, Shizu... but what the hell have we done that made you distrust us so much...?" He raised an eyebrow.

"To protect Haru," Shizuka replied curtly. "Haru is too nice to everyone and anyone - [i]he trusts people too readily[/i], only see the good in people, never want to suspect the bad. They'd take his kindness for guaranteed, see him as a weak, easy target, a convenient sacrifice... Then they use him for their own selfish gain - betraying him, hurting him...[i]breaking him inside out[/i]." He clenched his fists as he recalled the various bully incidents back in their childhood days; those memories pained him, especially how their own mother simply shunned them aside, depriving them the emotional support a family should have.

Cindy intently listened with her hands in her pockets. It looked like they had it a little rough in the social department. So did Cindy - but that was due to her own childishness in the first place. She's no therapist, but this seemed like a deep-rooted problem. She had something to say - but looked like Shizuka wasn't done talking.

He let out a sarcastic laugh. "You think that I want to be like this: a jerkass to you and everyone else? After seeing how people tossed my poor brother's goodwill aside and almost destroying him with their vile deeds, can I still lie to his face not to lose faith in this despicable world, effectively pushing him over the edge into dark despair? That would make me worse than those bastards - [i]because he is my own brother[/i]. I can't stand seeing people having their ways with him... He's all that I have, and I cannot afford to lose him."

His usual hard demeanor was breaking down; he buried his face into his palms. "I'd sworn to myself that I would become strong enough to be his shield; no matter what people would think of me, as long as Haru's safe, I don't care.

"But... I feel like I'm losing my own self, I've forgotten how to feel for others... I've closed my heart for so long that I can no longer trust anyone else, only Haru and myself. It's frightening to be alone, yet I'm afraid to let people in...afraid that they'll harm us, kill us." He paused and raised his head, putting his arms around himself, slowly regaining his composure. "Haru always says that I have to be nice to others first, then people are more willing to accept us... I know he's right, but it's easier said than done."

He turned his attention to the crudely-made memorial for Jennifer and her family. "I don't expect any forgiveness for what I've said to you all, and whatever I've done I only wanted to protect Haru, my own family..."

This was an insight into Shizuka that neither Cindy nor Trevor ever thought they'd get out of him. There was something definitely wrong with the two of them - but that didn't warrant outright hatred. That didn't excuse everything Shizuka had said and done, however. Both of them knew that much.

Trevor gave no reply at all.

But, there was a few things that Cindy had to say. She took a few steps forward towards him, and stared at him from behind her glasses. "Look, I understand where you're coming from - you want to protect your brother," Cindy started off, looking at Shizuka closely. "But you gotta understand that not everyone's like that. Yeah, I know there's some coldblooded people out there..."

Both she and Trevor exchanged glances.

"...I used to be one of them." Cindy sighed in remorse, hanging her head. "But, all you're really doing is pushing away the people who really want to be friends with the two of ya'll. You can't [i]assume[/i] that everyone is out to get the two of ya'. Especially since all [i]we[/i] did was trying to be your friend the whole time."

She shrugged. Shizuka frowned at her; he opened his mouth to say something, but closed it immediately when Cindy continued on.

"And maybe you'll be right. I was wrong about people in the past - but that's just life." Cindy shrugged. "There's good people, there's bad people, yeah. I ain't dumb enough to say [i]that's[/i] something that'll ever change." She said, scoffing. "But, you just gotta live and learn. Learn just [i]who's[/i] your friend, and who isn't." She explained.

"But, you're just hurting yourself and others by closing yourself off like this." Cindy agreed. "The two of you don't have to stand alone, you don't [i]have[/i] to live like this. We want to help you, too, ya' know?"

Cindy shrugged. "And maybe you need to stop being so protective of him... and let him learn how to handle himself. Let him learn, experience things for [i]himself[/i]." This might be a little hard for Shizuka to swallow, he might even outright reject the idea. "You won't be there for him... no matter what you say, you'll have to let him handle things himself."

"I know you might not like some of the things I'm suggesting..." Cindy looked off to the side. "But.. I've been around for a while. Seen a lot of different people - you, Trevor, Lihua... and a lot of others. You can say that I know about people, and how things go."

Shizuka went quiet as he considered Cindy's words, studying the two teens closely. After a long silence, he simply shrugged and said, "But it's time we set our petty differences aside. Vuhong warned us not to let the Changelings out of our sight; at the same time we can't give them any openings to strike us from behind, either." He narrowed his eyes at the grave. "I don't know much about those meta-terrorists compared to you two, but I can tell they're good at inducing psychological traumas into people, incapacitating them and turning the situation to their advantage." It worked on Jennifer, and wiped out her entire family just like that.

"...We don't know that much either, to tell ya the truth. They're crazy, and enemies of ours." Cindy said, looking around. "But they're the most fucked up group of people I ever came across..." She sighed as she turned towards the makeshift graves Meifeng had set up for the Caspins. "...What happened to them is proof."

"That bastard Luis..." Trevor scratched the back of his neck as he looked around. "He tried to kill me before all of this happened... Thank God there was a gun-toting maniac running 'round that day that just so happened to be [i]friendly[/i]." Trevor said.

"Oh shit, really?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah." Trevor said. "I knew he was a psycho... but it takes something else to kill a family like this." He said, also looking off to Jennifer's grave. "I wonder what Henry's spin on it would be... wonder where that scaly bastard ran off to." He wondered out loud... realizing he was going off track a little bit, then corrected himself.

"Hope he wasn't another casualty." Cindy added, shrugging.

"Anyway, back at the meeting I sided with the agents' plan, but I do mean what I've said: if we truly want to avenge Jennifer's death and take out the Changelings, [i]we cannot die first[/i]. I'll lend you guys a hand... Uh, only if you're willing to accept my help." Shizuka finished awkwardly, sticking out a hand at Cindy and Trevor.

"Well... like our good friend Cindy said, let bygones be bygones." Trevor said as he extended his hand, putting it on top of Shizuka's hand, with his fingers outstretched. "But, let's forget about this gay handshake nonsense and make ourselves a good ol' hand stack." Trevor chuckled, as he invited Cindy on it.

"Yeah." Cindy said as she stepped up. "Like I said, this passive-aggressive bullshit isn't something we want to bring into this fight." She put her hand on top of Trevor's "friend hand stack" and nearly snickered as she looked between her friends.

"If only we had Mei and the others, and we could show 'em the power of friendship!" Trevor said, his accent was getting incredibly thick. "But, seriously, [i]don't die.[/i]"

A small, genuine smile appeared on Shizuka's face. "Ain't that what I've been saying the whole time?"

"Yeah." Trevor said. "I was just agreein' with ya' when I say that dying is [i]bad.[/i]"

"I got your backs - and I won't let you two die," Shizuka said, his tone grim. "Not on my watch."

[hr][h1][i][color=Dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color], [color=Red]Meifeng Vuhong[/color], & [color=Yellow]Mika Baozai[/color][/i][/h1][hr]


It wasn't long before Mika had joined the Vuhongs within Lihua's office. Standing in the middle of the room, holding the infant Lijuan in arms. She took a few steps forward, and then nodded.

Meifeng merely pushed herself aside in Lihua's chair, just so her mother can get a clear view of Mika. Lihua sighed, before neatly folding her hands on the table.

"Mika, it's great you're here." Lihua said, noting that Mika had basically become Lijuan's caregiver while they were out fighting the Hands of Science (Since Cindy was unreliable, and joining them in their missions). "Times are tough, yes." Lihua said, remorsefully. She adjusted her glasses, before saying, "Me and Meifeng are going into battle against the Devil..."

Meifeng crossed her arms as she faced Mika.

"...I can understand if you don't want to fight." Lihua said.

"I don't see there being a place for me in that battlefield." Mika said, shrugging. "I'm sorry."

"That's good in fact." Lihua said. "I'm... not even going to sugarcoat this; there's a high chance that neither of us will survive that fight." She hated those words so much that she forced her eyes shut and sighed.

"Which is why I'm asking [i]you[/i] to be the person who gets Lijuan out of here in case we fall..." Lihua trailed off. "You may be the only person who can..."

She let out a sigh.

Mika looked down at the infant.

"But what if the Devil-"

"No, none of that." Lihua answered. She closed her eyes briefly for a moment. "...Just do whatever it takes to stay alive. Promise me that."

Mikia nodded her head.

"...I understand, auntie."

"Now..." Lihua said as she got up from the chair. "We're going to get ready, you stay here and... stay safe."

The two got up from their respective chairs and started walking.


[hr][i][h1]The Hands of Science.[/h1][/i][hr]


"...Are you sure we should let them have Eliza like that?" Nathaniel said, with his hands on top of the table. They were all within the Hands of Science's lab - their personal meeting room.

"It doesn't matter." Dr. Cross said, the confidence in her voice showed that she wasn't worried in the slightest. "They're too concerned with the Devil to worry about her until after she's dead - once she's out of the picture, then we can just have Revenant or the Changeling Unit bust her out of prison, then we lost literally nothing."

"I wouldn't count on that." Suan-Ni injected from behind his mask. "Anything could happen in this fight... how can we be so sure the Changelings, or Revenant will come out alive?" He noted, he sounded quite condescending. "We'll lose one of our major members on a bet."

Dr. Cross sighed. "If it's what it takes." She said. "We're as desperate as NEST is at the moment..." She sighed, shrugging with her eyes half-open. "We'll cut our loses afterwards." 

Dr. Cross' wheelchair bound assistant, Stephanie Hayvok, rolled on into the room. "NEST has project SCYTHE within their possession... along with a few scientists to operate it."

"Good," Dr. Cross said. "Once this is over, I expect you to detonate it so NEST can't get their hands on it... we can always create another one."

Stephanie nodded her head and turned around, rolling off. "I'm going to get everything ready..."

There wasn't much more to discuss at the meeting... Until Suan-Ni raised his hand in the air saying, "Revenant," He caught the teleporter's attention when he said this. He reached into his suit, then pulled out a photo. "While the battle is raging on, I want you to sneak into NEST headquarters and recover this girl, and this child."

Suan-Ni slid the photo across the table, and Revenant grabbed it, nodding her head.

"...I'll do it boss."

Dr. Cross' phone rang, before she pulled it out, looking at the caller ID... It's [i]them[/i]. Dr. Cross realized that this is something that she best takes out of the room. "One moment," She raised a finger as she turned and walked out.

Stepping into the hallway, she pressed the phone against her ear and scoffed, "Oh, you picked [i]now[/i] of all times to contact us?" Dr. Cross asked. "After years of ignoring us, the [i]Founding Family[/i] decides to rear their head?"

The person on the other end said a few words.

"...You want... that?" Dr. Cross asked, finding it hard to believe. "That's going to be a challenge, but what do I get out of it?"

The person said a few more things.

She narrowed her eyes as she thought about it. Was it worth the risk? But the reward was too good to pass up."Hm... okay, then." Dr. Cross said. "...I'll get it for you." 

The person on the other end said a few more things, before hanging up. 

"...This is stupid." Dr. Cross said as she shook her head. She turned around and stepped back into the meeting room.

"Hello my fellow men and women of science..." She trailed off. Each and every member of the Hands of Science gave her a perticular look. She merely keep that cold demeanor up the whole time.

"...There's been a change of plans."


[hr][h1][i]2:00 Pm, Hours later.[/i][/h1][hr]


[hr][i][h1][color=dodgerblue]Lihua[/color], [color=red]Meifeng[/color], [color=lawngreen]Sonya[/color], [color=plum]Trevor[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy[/color], [color=gray]Quentin[/color], [color=darkslateblue]Cass, Reed[/color], [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka[/color], & Task Force RAVEN.[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Zack Hemsey - Vengeance][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhv_yFMuwxs[/youtube][/hider][hr]


Lihua grabbed a Mossberg 500 tactical off the gun rack, and quickly checked if it was loaded.

She shook her head as she quickly took a step towards the ammo box and loaded the deadly firearm with thick rounds. For that matter, she grabbed a whole box, before placing a few rounds in her utility belt. While she was going to mostly use her power for this fight, - the shotgun was only going to piss the Devil off at this point - she was going to need something to weed out all the smaller ones. She grabbed the strap, then slung it over her shoulder and started walking with upright posture.

She gazed before her fellow "RAVEN."

Everyone was in the armory, getting suited up for the mission. Hopes weren't exactly high for this operation... many of them knew that there was no way that [i]everyone[/i] would make it out against a threat that powerful. It was just that lingering doubt that made everyone wonder just who would make it out. [i]Who[/i] would be the person they never see again. And they were hoping it was no one they were close to.

Loudly clearing his throat, Maximilian caught everyone's attention as he crossed his arms. "I know this goes without saying," Maximilian said as he sighed, hanging his head. "...But, I can't guarantee that everyone will get out of this confrontation alive." He regretfully said. "However... it was an honor serving with you - RAVENs, and non-RAVENs alike."

Maximilian took a step forward, taking confident steps as he flipped his palms upwards into the air. "I mean... I never thought I'd get a team with such exemplary people. And I am glad to have met you."

"Aw shucks." Trevor said with a cool smile on his face.

"Don't worry, Maxi!" Sonya said, before she cheerfully smiled - forcing herself to do so - and threw up double peace signs. "I promise that I'll make sure that nobody dies here... but, y'know, I'd love to start talking to the wifey about having kids once we get out of here."

Maria, from across the room, playfully giggled like a schoolgirl.

"What? We gotta continue that Mayfield name." Sonya said. "...And don't ask questions as to how."

At that, Cass shifted his gaze towards Mayfield and shook his head with a faint smile. "You want kids now, but try having a couple then balancing them with work. Trust me, I know from exper-" and at that moment he shut up as both of his nephews shot him a look, Reed seemingly more offended than Quentin - who seemed more amused than anything as he planted slugs into a number of pouches along his gear.

"I feel honored." Lihua said as she leaned up against the locker. She didn't smile, or do anything of the sorts. Though, she couldn't stop herself from smirking just a little bit. "We're Task Force RAVEN."

"Task Force RAVEN." Maximilian cooly said. 

"You know, I still need to find that scaly bastard Henry." Trevor raised his hand up into the air. "He still owes me some favors... gonna hunt him down later." He was tense as everyone else... but he was trying to lighten the mood a bit here. "Hey, speaking of which, how about we all go out to Applebees after this? My treat."

Only problem was that Trevor had no money.

"No, it'll be on me." Maximilian said with a confident smile. He looked at the time, and nodded his head. "I hope everyone's ready - we're heading out now."

He said as he started walking out the door, everyone else finished what they were doing and followed after him.

They ended up in the garage which had APCs prepped for them. The various NEST Agents got inside the APCs, and it wasn't long until they drove off with a small convoy that carried any weapons that the NEST Agents could use.

Heading towards zero.


[hr][h1][i]3:00 Pm, An hour later.[/i][/h1][hr]


The groups had arrived in the buildings they were supposed to fight the Devil on. It was a long street that were lined with rows and rows and rows of office buildings. They were several stories, and each building were lined with cubicles, offices, and whatnot - destroyed during the storms. Now they were the bunkers for the various gangs and organizations of Verthaven. Not just the organizations, NEST had gathered whoever was willing to fight in this battle. Metahuman or not. They lined up by the windows. If the plan went successfully, then they would be able to hit the Devil from both sides.

The gentle rain poured down... which would get much more intense much shortly. 

Maximilian clenched his fists as he stood in the rain. Helena, armed with a M24 grenade launcher, and Adam, unarmed - but had full access to an arsenal of firearms - stood at each of his sides. He stood on the roof of the building, with explosives strapped onto his body. Ready to be tossed at the Devil by Echo. The rest of RAVEN was spread out throughout the rooftops, ready for this last stand.

Lihua stood on the center of the roof, with concrete lances behind her - that got suspiciously thicker towards the center - embedded into the ground. Because these concrete constructs were armed with explosives. A quick way to deal some damage to the Devil. Meifeng was at her side.

The two women exchanged glances before they look forward.

Quentin had chosen to place himself not too far from them; using his newly-gained ability to crudely pull up a few concrete barrier as cover. Unlike the refined nature of Lihua's constructs, this was clearly the work of a rookie - someone who hadn't had much experience with this ability beyond basic motions. For now, it would suffice - Quentin had [i]other[/i] talents that would come in handy soon.

Cindy had created some glass panes that floated around herself. They had been reinforced, and were flat enough to outright deflect a vast majority of attacks directed at her. Trevor and Scarlet stood at her side. Trevor had switched to a bow and arrow, despite the rifle hanging off his back. He was going to save [i]that[/i] puppy for later. Scarlet was using a heavy revolver that she picked up out of the NEST armory. When using her super strength, it should eliminate the recoil.

Shizuka was right behind the three, his sharp eyes scanning around, pausing longer when his sight fell on the Changelings. The agents wanted Heartbreaker to be taken down first, but to him, Flashbang was his (personal) top priority - without the teleporter, the Changelings would lose their annoying edge and convenient escape route, which in turn would make taking them down a tad easier...maybe.

For weapons, he had opted for blades instead of firearms - as much as he loved guns, he had never handled them before, and he couldn't risk his inexperience in the middle of a decisive battle. The pair of survival knives were safely kept in their respective sheaths at each side of his thighs - hopefully he wouldn't have to use them at all, that Cindy's glass would be enough for offense while he'd concentrate on covering their backs.

Sonya was, of course, out of the way of the real battle. Armed with a gigantic Barrett 50. cal. The usual for these impossible odds situations. She aimed down the sights as a test... aiming for the Changeling Unit who were standing on the roof across from NEST. Well, the Vuhong matriarch did say to keep an eye on them.

Cass and Reed stood apart from the others, with a few of VPD's surviving SWAT members stood not too far from him. Whilst they weren't planning on sitting this one out, [i]someone[/i] had to hang back to deal with any stragglers and watch RAVEN's flank.

"Alright, SCYTHE is in position," Dr. Cross spoke into everyone's collective comms - for this operation, Dr. Cross and NEST armed everyone with comm pieces, and gave them a frequency to tap into for information and feedback... or if someone is breaking the little truce they have here.

"...Is everyone ready?" Dr. Cross asked. "I will [i]not[/i] activate it unless I know everyone is ready." She shifted her weight aside. "So, are you?"

Maximilian looked among his group, before letting out a sigh, and hesitantly going. "...NEST is ready."

When the roll call came down to the Changelings, Heartbreaker had to answer it because Luis was too busy playing mock-golf with his giant meat cleaver. "Yeah, let's settle this bitch." Heartbreaker said, irritated. The Berserker pounded her chest as she awaited the coming bloodbath, she was holding onto a massive chain with a wrecking ball covered in jagged looking spikes.

"The Pure are ready!" The Pure leader said.

Ignatius was standing on the roof with his hands folded behind his back, Revenant on his left, and Snowblind on his right. Behind them was a squad of REAPERS in a box formation. Interestingly enough, the Changeling Primitive Light was standing in front of them.

"The REAPERs are ready for action." Ignatius said.

...And so on.

Once every gang was fully announced, Dr. Cross turned back around, and looked at the cannon they called Project SCYTHE for so long. It wasn't that different from the hologram she displayed at the meeting. SCYTHE was mounted in a down-town park on a hill. The Devil would have to get through a large group of people to get to this point. Hopefully they can hold her off until they manage to get the weapon prepped.

It was guarded by some NEST Agents, as Stephanie was adjusting some devices - nodes and wires and whatnot - on the cannon. The second she saw Dr. Cross, she gave her mentor a look implying that she was searching for her guidance. Once Dr. Cross gave her the thumbs up, Stephanie rolled over to the main computer panel and started typing some instructions in.

With one affirmative hit of the enter key, the containers attached to SCYTHE started glowing brightly with a red metahuman energy. The weapon was charging, so they still had time.

Now, they had to wait and see whether or not it'd work.

"...It's just as Dr. Cross predicted." Dana said, very nervously into the comms.

The group could see the Purple light in the distance shining brightly as it began moving towards them.

 "...The Devil is heading your way!"