[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], & [color=Springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color].[/h1][/i][hr]
[U][I]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast.[/I][/u]

A door into a cold room was opened, and Cindy Keagan stepped inside.

The first thing she was hit with was the cold air of this room... Literally the last place she wants to be in while in Headquarters. This place just screamed [i]depression[/i]. All the bad parts about her job in one place.

And that place was the morgue.

Every step she took, she passed a refrigeration cell, each with a tag ([i]and a story[/i]). It was something that Cindy didn't take time to really bother with. Since they're usually either Metahumans killed by the Pure, or criminal Metahumans killed by RAVEN (which was surprisingly common). She was looking for someone killed by the former.

There was a cold silence as she moved through the various storage cells. No one really liked this side of the job. It was a dirty business, but someone had to do. RAVEN had to put down the Metahumans that were too violent to be reasoned with... While it was up to DOVE to handle the other end of things.

She stopped when she saw a familiar name on a tag, and she immediately grabbed it. After she received her confirmation, she let out a sigh.

[i]Jade Martel.

Academy 61 Student. Killed by the Pure while out with some friends. Shot five times in the chest, and long bled out before anyone could even help her.[/i]

Cindy clenched her fists.

...Sometimes she had to be reminded why she was a DOVE. 

[hr]

After making a few phone calls, the Martel family were gathered in a comfortable sitting room. Cindy made [i]sure[/i] that anything that could offend the Martel family were far away from here as possible. It was a comfortable sitting room, with pleasant music playing. Cindy herself was sitting down, with a clipboard held with both hands (pushed onto her lap). The moment the Martel family sat down, there was a silence for a brief moment. It was hard to beat around the bush, when the family probably had assumed as much at this point.

"Hello Ms. Keagan," Father Martel said, he was a tall man, that had a very wide frame - not due to muscles, but due to sheer body fat accumulated over the years. "You've... called us here?"

It was hard not to sigh when Cindy said. "Yes, Mr. Martel, I have." She's done this plenty of times, why was it so hard to hand this man a photo of his dead daughter. "We have possibly found information on your daughter..." She sighed again. "...We need confirmation from the two of you - but, I'll be here for you the entire time."

The two looked at Cindy, disheartened... but, like Cindy thought, she could just [i]feel[/i] how much they've expected this. "First... I have to explain to you that it's a picture of whom we believe is Jade Martel... it's a photo of her face with a blue sheet covering her lower body. There isn't anything done to her face, so..."

Reaching to her clipboard, Cindy produced a picture of the deceased - placing it face down on the coffee table in between herself, and the Martel family. After it was placed, she slowly retracted her hand, and waited for them to muster the strength to look at it.

Only thing Cindy could do was watch as father Martel grabbed the photograph, and looked at it. His wife at his side covered her mouth, and let out a gasp of sorrow as both of them immediately recognized the person.

"Yeah, that's... our little girl." Martin Martel said, almost crying.

Cindy couldn't help but feel his pain.

This was just the start of a loooong day.

[hr]

Some time after that, the Martel family were handed off to other DOVES while Cindy got some work done... Which was basically head over to the Wright Institute with some RAVENS, and hear them talk some scientist mumbo jumbo. Nothing that she was looking forward to. [i]Ugh.[/i] Today was so stressful.

The only thing she could do was press on. She marched down the hall to her office, just to grab something before she was going to head off to Prince Ed-Field. However, she was cut off by Meifeng jogging her way to her side. Well, seeing her friend was certainly something to cheer her up, at least slightly.

"Heeeey," Meifeng said as she greeted Cindy. "Why do you look all glum?" She asked. 

"It's just..." Cindy stopped, and shook her head with her hand on it. "God damn, ever since that shit at the mall, everything's been flarin' up." She exhaled. "The Pure are being assholes, the Allegiance are being assholes, and everyone's getting caught in between."

"Yeah..." Meifeng said. "I've been working my ass off, too, to keep them from bothering people..."

"And I've been working nonstop since then," Cindy groaned. "Two of the kids under my care are dead - both were killed by the Pure. No one has any idea . I feel so God damn stressed, and pent up..."

Meifeng crossed her arms, and looked at Cindy. "Sounds like [i]somebody[/i] could use a break." Meifeng said. "Is there a bar 'round here we can head off to at night?"

"Actually," A lightbulb turned on in Cindy's head. "I have to go to the Wright Institute... We can probably stop at a bar I know for a few before we head there."

"Sure, let's gather some of the guys..." Meifeng said, before she was cut off by Cindy.

"For once, let's just try to get the old group back together." Cindy voiced. It was surprising for her, and Meifeng. "You know... Quentin, Reed, Shizuka.... Just to have a chat, since we're all in town."

"Ooooooh..." It didn't take long for Meifeng to catch on. The ol' Verthaven group. She didn't want to exclude anybody, but she knew what Cindy meant. "Sure."

Cindy reached into her phone, and typed in a text that she sent to Reed, Quentin, Lihua, and Shizuka:

[quote][code]Hey guys... wanna meet up for some drinks rn? Just for old time's sake. We're gonna be at the Sugarbush Tavern, at 8199 Carriage Drive.[/code][/quote]

After sending the text, she nodded at Meifeng.

"We'll take my car."


[hr][i][h1][color=dodgerblue]Lihua Zhao[/color].[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Toro y Moi - High Living][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlD-2Dx5868[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[U][I]Oakdell Harbor, White Coast.[/I][/u]

It was a less than expected turn of events for the day.

Lihua went from teaching in the classrooms of Academy 61, to lying on a lounging chair on a patio with a pool, which overlooked a nice private beach. Wearing a black bikini, and having a straw hat over her head to block out the sun. It was interesting how Jiao-Long wanted to meet after work with Lijuan. After she picked up her daughter, and slipped into something more appropriate, the two Zhaos enjoyed their time on this nice beach.

She looked down at the beach, and spotted Lijuan playing in the water with Honghui... her new nephew. It's great to see that Lijuan and Honghui are getting along quite fine. Splashing water on each other, and playing various games with the waves.

Only thing that ruined this perfect day was the fact that she had to share it with Jiao-Long and his annoying business partners.

"...My personal belief is that peace between man and Metahuman is possible if the two sides reach a new understanding and remove the perceived differences between each other."

That made Lihua tilt her glasses and look at him. It's not that easy. Or else it would have been done by now. Understanding what you perceive as an enemy was the hardest thing in the world.

"Oh, how will the Liu pharmaceutical company help others understand?" One of Jiao-Long's business associates said.

"We will be funding and assisting the DOVE organization whenever we can. It's the best we can do. We're scientists, after all."

Then why even suggest it...? Lihua thought to herself. It was a test of her patience to lie here and listen to her brother and his business partners rhetoric. However, she had plenty of patience, but that didn't mean she liked it.

She merely took a sip of her drink, and drowned them out to the best of her ability. Then the thought occurred to simply go down to the shore with Lijuan and the others. However, a text popped up on her phone. Reaching for the small table at her side, she read a text from Cindy:

[quote][code]Hey guys... wanna meet up for some drinks rn? Just for old time's sake. We're gonna be at the Sugarbush Tavern, at 8199 Carriage Drive.[/code][/quote]

[i]Well, it's better than lying here.[/i] Lihua thought to herself, as she looked over to her brother again. She can take a little bit of time off, she trusts Jiao-Long with Lijuan, after all. Though... this black bikink of hers, which showed plenty of skin, was not appropriate for such an occasion. She got up off the lounging chair, and faced Jiao-Long.

She would have to come up with a convincing fib.

"... [i]Jiao-Long, I have to go back to my job in Roseview for a second,[/i]" Lihua started off in Chinese. "[i]Can you watch Lijuan for a few?[/i]"

"[i]Of course, of course, sister,[/i]" Jiao-Long started off. "[i]She's having a great time with Honghui. She'll be perfectly fine by the time you get back.[/i]"

Nodding her head, Lihua walked over to the dressing room, and didn't even bother taking off her bikini. She didn't get in any water, nor did she even step on any sand. If she's planning on coming back here, she's best to simply put back on her modest black dress, and step out. She moved over to the parking lot, where she got into her vehicle, and drove off towards the bar.


[hr][i][h1][color=dodgerblue]Wendy Emily Lucker[/color].[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Com Truise - Brokendate][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qFl3agiBMI[/youtube][/hider]
[U][I]Academy 61, Roseview.[/I][/u]


Wendy's hand was sparking with electricity as she aimed it at a training dummy.

Despite her best ability, she couldn't channel electricity into a blast. She let out a hiss of sheer frustration as she couldn't shoot even a small blast of electricity! Wendy slammed her foot onto the ground, and ran her hands through her hair in some sort of tic... Wendy herself wondered if she could even shoot electricity. She didn't even [i]know[/i] what the guy was capable of before he perished. For all she knew, this was all he could do.

Clenching her fists Wendy looked off to the side in irritation as she gave this metal room a look. The training room was a massive square room made out of a smooth metal. One that's capable of taking some pretty major blows. All around the room were various training dummies that ranged from targets, to dummies that looked more like humans. Wendy herself was practicing on the latter.... sort of. She was angrily trying to figure out this power.

The problem wasn't that she wanted to learn how to use this power... [i]It was that she couldn't switch out of it until she does.[/i] Which meant that, for a week, she was using a power that she had no idea how to use. Accidentally activating her power, and frying electronics (She's not going anywhere [i]near[/i] her camera until she figures it out).

Yet, all she's accomplish was learn that she could absorb electricity.

There was probably a lot of wonders she could do just by learning this powerful, powerful, element, but she wanted to use her paper manipulation. Just once. Yet, she couldn't. All she could do was hope she could figure it out in time. Which was a challenge. 

Maybe... Maybe... She isn't coming at it the right way. Maybe she's just trying it the direct way.

The electricity vanished, as she channeled something deep inside herself. Wendy's right arm started glowing with electricity again, as she slowly raised it up. She concentrated, inhaling... a stream of electricity finally shot out of her hand, and struck the training dummy. A blue light brightly flashed, before disappearing.

There was a black scorch mark on the dummy. Wendy didn't realize what she did, until it was over. Once she did, a smile appeared on Wendy's face as she did. She hopped up and down. "I did it!" She triumphantly said.

Afterwards, her hand started crackling with electricity again, as she practiced her miniature lightning strikes.