Alice paused behind a stall, her urge to throw up had only intensified since the entire fair had gone to hell. People were running screaming and a sniper had taken potshots at Deborah Jauvant. All in all, it was not a good day. Her head was pounding and her vision shaky, the explosions and clouds of metahuman gas were not helping her hangover, and she pushed her back against the flimsy wood and canvas construction to try and regain her senses. Her glock was in her hands, clutched in a ready position, though she hardly felt ready. She hadn’t fired, there were too many civilians, and her hands were unsteady enough that even if there was no danger of friendly fire she probably wouldn’t hit anything helpful anyway.
Unusually, she’d brought along her helmet, mainly in case someone got close enough to question her bloodshot eyes. She’d clamped it on as soon the first telltale cloud of metahuman suppressant had erupted amidst the RAVEN agents. At least her internal compass had still been bang on she’d extracted a handful of kids and put down one assailant, though more through luck than anything else. Now she was just crouching behind cover and waiting for the chaos to stop, hoping that none of her colleagues saw her and realised the reason for her lack of action.
She’d definitely be court-martialled if she was reported. She was hungover, sleep-deprived, and had a flask of whiskey in her pocket. She dreaded to think what might happen to her career. There’d be no more drinking after this, she’d stop, throw away the whiskey, empty out her cupboards, she couldn’t be on duty hungover or drunk.
She pulled out the flask, cocking her arm back to hurl it away, then stopped, ashamed. It wouldn’t work. She’d tried to give up drinking three times since the Eco-Natura attack, and each time it had only ended up getting worse. She slipped it back into her pocket. She’d just have to make sure she didn’t get caught then, she’d be damned if some pencil pusher was going to take her life away.
Alice pushed herself to her feet, and, gun extended, advanced into the swirling red mist. Her coms seemed to be out, but she could hear gunfire not far away, and shouts. She began to move faster towards the sound, gun held before her, hardly steady, but enough to hopefully dissuade immediate hostilities. She was wrong, it turned out, as she barrelled out of the fog and into the centre of a squad of heavily armed men. They weren’t in RAVEN uniform, and the way the guns were instantly trained on her revealed their allegiance. Alice vanished as bullets pockmarked the smoke behind her. She appeared behind them stumbling slightly, and fired a spray of shots. Only two found their marks, one man crying out and going down clutching his leg, another stumbling back as a round ricocheted off the plate in his back armour.
Alice swore, then emptied the entire pistol in their direction. Holding down the trigger until nothing but a hollow click emanated from the small, evil looking device. She vanished again, pleased to see when she reappeared that now two men were down. She reloaded, or tried to, her fumbling hands, normally so practised and assured, were far from adept under the influence of alcohol, and she dropped her spare magazine.
“Crap.”
She bent down to pick it up and met a boot coming the other way…
Seraphine had been on a date tonight, well, a ‘date’, fully bought and paid for. She’d been on the arm of some rich guys kid, a brat about twenty years old who clearly had been looked after by Daddy’s money since he was born, and would be until the day his scrawny ass died. He’d run screaming at the first sign of trouble. Seraphine would have done as well if she’d managed to get more than ten feet. She’d been knocked down by a group of fleeing carnies, and was now covered in mud, her hair in disarray and clothes ruined. All in all, it hadn’t been a great date. Fortunately, the Society was not inclined to give refunds due to events outside of their control.
Now all she had to do was figure out how to get out of here alive. She was the Prime, and she had no desire to experience death again, second-hand was bad enough. Worse, if she died, that was it, the end, it was a terrifying, but sobering thought. There were explosions and screams all around her, but the red mist ahead of her seemed to be clearing, and she knew better than to try and make it through the thickest parts of it.
Holding her breath as best she could, she plunged through the smoke, grateful that the wind was picking up and beginning to clear the ground. What she hadn’t expected was to run into the middle of a fight, a spray of bullets shot past her, making her scream in shock as they carved contrails through the clearing smoke. There was a RAVEN agent, helmeted, but apparently out of action on the ground, and two men looming over her. One kicked her in the side, prompting a groan and a contraction from the prone woman. Apparently she was awake then, although not for much longer as a gun was lowered to her head. There was a click, and the man swore, apparently out of ammo. He began to reload his rifle, and Seraphine, unwilling to watch murder, charged, all four of her.
It was unclear whether the man were more effectively taken aback by the surprise attack, or by the fact that the four girls who attacked them were identical in every single way. One of them went down with a cry as two clawed at his eyes, the other grunted and doubled up at a knee to the groin. And then everything went wrong at once, the man on the ground kicked out, knocking one of the clones off him, he punched the other in the gut, then dragged a pistol from his holster. He levelled it at the nearest girl, and fired.
They all dropped, instantly. It was unnerving, as if they had all been the same person who had just been shot. “Fucking duplicator.”
He helped his comrade to his feet, then turned to finish off the women. Something was missing though, his rifle, and the black clad form of the RAVEN Agent.
The alcohol had saved Alice, even if it had put her in danger in the first place. It had helped to numb some of the pain, just enough to allow her to get back to her feet while the soldiers were distracted, and retrieve their discarded weapon. She levelled it at them now.
Written in collaboration with @Zombiedude101 Havenfield Market, Roseview.
Quentin cut a path through the market, dead-set on catching up with the Black Hound. By this point, most of the gunmen that had swarmed the festival were either dead, scattered or otherwise preoccupied, due in no small part to the efforts of BPD and the rest of RAVEN. Part of him wanted to hold back and offer some backup to them, but he knew from experience that someone as dangerous as the Hound needed to be put down.
As he rounded yet another corner, following the trail of bodies, shell casings and destruction, he bore witness to the sight of some kid going up against the Hound, getting knocked down for his troubles. Quentin hunkered down low, taking cover behind low lying debris in an effort to get up close, ready to put the man into a fight with someone his own size.
For all the pondering and attempts to edge at philosophy, he couldn't help but wonder why these kinds of people would never shut up. Before the kid could answer the Black Hound's next question, Quentin leaned forth, took aim and opened fire on the bastard without another word.
The bullet was enough to interrupt the Black Hound. It punched into his back, but it wasn't strong enough to pierce. The Hound was durable enough to shrug off the blow. He looked over his shoulder, seemingly distracted by Quentin, and his eyes flashed red. The scanners in his helmet scanned his face.
QUENTIN TAYLOR
RAVEN. Charger. Survivor of Verthaven disaster. Battled the Hands of Science, and Changeling Unit.
Threat: Moderate
He narrowed his eyes, and faced the RAVEN... From what the Hound was told, he was one of the people who helped bring down Luis - he would hesitate to kill him on that alone, but the Blessed Three would love to hear that he brought down someone on the list.
He leveled his assault rifle at him silently, and let loose a wild spray of bullets.
Quentin promptly dove back down into cover, scrabbling across the ground as the Hound's returning fire crackled overhead. Lying flat on his stomach, he quickly shuffled to the side until he'd found another spot, pushed himself back to his knees, then leaned out once again to put down another burst of fire.
The Black Hound was pushing in towards Quentin's position. He was practically bulletproof, so this was an uphill battle for Quentin. However, the Black Hound was already tired of fooling around... He looked over his shoulder again, and the man he injured was being pulled out of the fray... The Black Hound couldn't care at this point.
He reached down to his vest, and pulled another canister of the Meta-suppressant gas. He was going to end this quickly. He chucked the canister in Quentin's direction, and, in mid-air, he demonstrated god-like levels of marksmanship and shot it. The high-pressured gas exploded and clouded the area with red gas that would disable any and all Metahumans who breathed in enough of a dosage
Shit, Quentin monologued, recoiling at the sight of the canister and making a sudden beeline for another point of cover behind an abandoned car as the canister exploded, releasing the red cloud. He for a fact just what that gas was and had no intention of going down that way. More gunshots were following him from within the cloud and he could only figure that the bastard was equipped with some kind of IR.
Sucking down one last clean breath of air, he reached inside his jacket, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt and tearing away a piece, before tying it around his face as some sort of makeshift bandana. It wouldn't do much good, but a little was better than nothing.
The Black Hound didn't expect the gas to remove Quentin from the equation... merely to control his movements. The moment he founds him, the RAVEN is dead, as the red fog wouldn't impede the Hound even in the slightest. He had a mask, and his mask would allow him to see right through it.
With most of his options exhausted, Quentin got down flat behind the car, taking a prone position from behind one of the wheels, then leaned out slightly to the right and opened fire on the Hound's direction from beneath the undercarriage, hoping to take advantage of that while he could.
The barrage of bullets caught the Black Hound off guard. He was expecting the man to make a break for it, but he'd had to do. The first bullet grazed his armor in the shoulder, but the rest of the shots hit him directly. What was unfortunate was a stray shot hit the Black Hound in the last of his gas canisters. It exploded into a cloud of red gas right in front of his face... which was annoying. Since he wanted to use those.
The Black Hound quickly returned fire on Quentin with his assault rifle, taking steps forward... until, he used a burst of speed to get over to the car he was taking cover behind. The Black Hound grabbed the underside of the vehicle, and effortlessly flipped it over to force him out of cover.
Fuel spilled from where the Hound had managed to rupture the tank. In the confusion, Quentin had little time to react to that, only barely avoiding being crushed by its frame by practically rolling to the side, but before he could do anything else, the Black Hound's boot found itself firmly planted on the barrel of his rifle, warping it beyond use, before grabbing him by the leg while still disoriented, demonstrating some impressive reflexes.
"Just another one knocked off the list." The Hound's robotic monotone said.
He squeezed Quentin's leg, in an effort to snap the bone with a further demonstration of pure, brute strength. The RAVEN left off a sudden, agonised grunt as he felt the Hound's fingers tightening like a vice, primed to warp muscle and bone alike, but there were still a few things that he'd picked up a long time ago that had left him with some degree of resiliance that hadn't exactly been anticipated.
The Black Hound had drawn his own assault rifle to deliver the death blow...
Before he could pull the trigger, and emerald green glass shield had formed over the barrel of his weapon. He had widened his eyes at the display... and it wasn't long before a spear of glass had penetrated through the Black Hound's armor in the back. A massive lance that spun fast as lightning.
The Black Hound was forced to release his grasp of Quentin, who hit the dirt with a heavy thud.
"... Quentin!" Cindy shouted as she readied her weapon. "Get up and run!" Other RAVENS had taken Cindy's side as they all leveled their weapons at the Black Hound
"Gasoline!" Quentin rasped from behind the makeshift bandanna as he started dragging himself towards cover, gesturing to the puddle at the Hound's feet. "Fucker's got IR! Hit it!"
The Black Hound centered himself, and quickly raised his assault rifle against his opponents... He couldn't hear what Quentin said because he pulled the trigger and let loose a barrage of bullets before his gun went dry. He quickly reached for the next clip....
While he was shooting, Cindy quickly dipped down, and slammed her hand against the ground. Thankfully, her ability to create glass has certainly gotten much better over the years. Which allowed her to quickly erect a multilayered barrier of glass on the ground.
Quentin had shouted for the gasoline, which Cindy heard over all the gunfire. She looked at it... God, she was no RAVEN, but she'd experienced enough shit like this to have a clue as to what to do. Anyone else would have crapped themselves by now. Focusing on the puddle of gasoline, Cindy quickly dove from behind cover, and fired a shot at the gasoline on the ground.
The spark created from the bullet was enough to ignite the Black Hound in flames. The armored man looked down as his armor was being burned away. He groaned in irritation he focused on the RAVENS.
"Now! Open fire!"
Cindy shouted, and the line of RAVENs returned fire with the Black Hound. Utterly barraging him in a hail fire of bullets. He threw his arm up to cover as much of his body as possible. The Black Hound couldn't win this one. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet.
"Zenith."
He shouted, and a swirling blue portal opened behind him. The Black Hound dove backwards into the portal, tossing a net of grenades at the RAVENS as he made his escape. Quentin, still limping, barely managed to throw himself behind solid cover before shrapnel was thrown towards him at high speed, hitting the dirt with yet another thud and a grunt.
Cindy let out a sharp gasp as the grenades were thrown in her directions. Thinking quickly, she threw a pane of glass to push them away. The grenades exploded a distance away, and blew the shields of glass to nothing... But, Cindy was actually glad the bombs weren't in her face.
Then... the rest of the Hound's Intimidation Unit made their escape as well through the same type of portals, which opened for them as they had for him.
"Damn it." Cindy hissed underneath her breath. "He got away..."
"Cindy, the armed men have made their retreat!" She heard in the comms.
Letting out a sigh, Cindy couldn't help but feel relieved they're gone. "Affirmative, Green Bird out." There was something wrong here... and she couldn't put her finger on it.
Either way, she walked over to Quentin, and extended her hand.
"Quentin, are you okay?"
For a moment, he stared at her, then grasped her hand whilst driving his other palm into his knee to stand up, with a grunt. When he moved to put some weight on the other leg, he clenched his teeth and hissed. Though the Hound hadn't exactly broken anything, the vice-like grip on his leg had undoubtedly done some muscle damage that would take a little while to heal, so he leaned on a nearby fence for support. "Thanks." Quentin said, tugging the rag from around his mouth.
"Don't mention it." Cindy said. It was just common courtesy, after all. Though, she was hoping they could take out the Black Hound. "Deborah's heading back to HQ... she was his target... but, something doesn't seem right." She mulled about the details. "Eh... We'll discuss it back at Headquarters. We need to get you some medical attention, too."
"I'll manage for now." Quentin said, aware that there were greater things at stake. "Keep an eye on Deborah and the others, I get the feeling that we'll be seeing these assholes again."
Nodding her head, Cindy quickly turned around, and left Quentin to his own devices. She had to pick up the pieces of this disaster.
Jennifer Caspin, Veronica Davis, & Asuma Obokata.
(Written in collaboration with @Fat Boy Kyle) Greencrest Heights, White Coast.
Asuma's breathing was deep and rapid as he tried to regain some much needed oxygen. He was sat on a damp patch of dirt with his back up against the flat surface of a wooden stool. From where he was, it would be hard for him to be spotted without someone wandering right past him. However his loud breathing was likely to give away his position if people got too close. "What the hell happened to the others? he thought to himself as he tried to picture the scene before the explosion.
Could they have been blown to pieces by whatever that blast was? Maybe they were fine and had kept running? Maybe they were around him during the fight, but he just didn't see them? The possibilities swirled around in his head and made him feel sick. Asuma spent most of his life daydreaming about being a hero and stopping catastrophes like this - but here he was, hiding in a dark corner being completely useless. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and he felt tears forming around the edges of his light green eyes. He wasn't sad though, he was angry. His mouth twisted into a snarl as he pulled himself to his feet, grunting through the sharp pain that his broken ribs were causing. Now that he had managed to get a few moments to recover, he wasn't going to just sit around being a pussy.
The wound that was caused by the bullethole regenerating was a pain. She didn't know why her nerves were so sensitive, but it was probably all the terrible injuries she's been through over the years. The wound was closing itself shut, but it was agonizing. Jennifer didn't know why, but she had to dip into an alleyway. She pressed her back up against the wall, and panted - pressing a hand up against her gut. There was shooting in the distance... but, it didn't surprise the battle hardened Jennifer. What she was fixated on was getting out of here in one piece.
Though, she heard some breathing not too far away from her... she turned her head and saw Asuma. An employee of hers.
"... A-Akuma?" She butchered the pronunciation of his name due to the stress, and the fact that she was shot a mere couple seconds ago. "A-are you okay?" She hoped that she could make a good first impression... without all the blood on her hoodie.
Asuma turned and stood wide-eyed in shock as he was approached by the familiar sight. He had hoped to see Jennifer here, but certainly didn't expect to - espcially under the circumstances. "Jennifer? I'm fine, just a couple of broken ribs." his voice was little more than a whisper as he quickly creeped over to her. His eyes quickly fixated on the crimson pools staining her hoodie "Shit, are you ok?"
She grasped her wound, and only laughed at his concern - not out of any condescension, but because if she hasn't already died by now, then she's most likely not going to.
"I'm fine... just got a little injured," Jennifer said. "I'll be fine in a moment... what about you? Can you walk?" She asked him.
"Yeah I can walk. Hurts a little bit to... well... breathe. But I can push through the pain." he replied, his eyebrows raised at her nonchalantic attitude towards what looked like a serious injury. 'Clearly I can't push through the pain as well as you though...' he thought to himself. He suspected it had something to do with her being a meta.
Veronica and Makoto were chasing after Jennifer fast as they could.
No way in hell you're making me fail my assignment. Veronica thought to herself as she closed the distance the best she could. Trying her best to avoid contact with the Intimidation Unit... lest something obvious happens that gives away that Veronica's with them. Veronica could see her in the distance... and she's talking to someone. She was praying that it wasn't the guy that she met earlier at the cafe.
"Makoto," Veronica said, "Tell the Underakers to converge on us when I say "small world," and feign an attack."
"On it." Makoto said as she pressed her earpiece. "Nearby Undertakers, this is agent Onryō, on my cue, attack my position, feign an attack on us - open fire once Veronica opens her shield and only on the shield."
The nearby Undertakers nodded at Makoto, and quickly took position around the alleyway. While Veronica and Makoto ran up to them.
"There you are!" Veronica said. "Small world, we just-"
"Now." Makoto whispered, going unnoticed in all the chaos.
On cue, the nearby Undertakers appeared, rushing at them. Veronica quickly whipped around and put her hand out. A green shield appeared - shaped like a square, and thin. It was wide enough to protect them. The Undertakers raised their guns at the shield, and promptly opened fire.
And Veronica prepared for utter hell. The bullets bounced off the shield, but it was incredibly painful. She received a servere headache for every shot that hit the shield. To the point where blood was leaking from her nose at such a rate it pooled on the ground. She hissed in pain. She gave Makoto a look like she was about to tear the woman's throat out with her teeth if she didn't do anything.
That was Makoto's cue to kick some ass. Makoto quickly ran up, and threw her hands up in the air, her metal manipulating flowing through every movement, and threw the guns up into the air. Stripped of their weapons, the Undertakers quickly got their distance before Makoto could do anything else.
Dropping the shield, Veronica got down on her knee.
"Damn it..." She hissed in irritation. The pain was certainly something. "Are... are you two okay?"
"I..." Jennifer raised an eyebrow as she looked at the mysterious two tall women.
Asuma recognised the two from the café earlier and looked to Jennifer, "I'm glad your friends from San Diego turned up."
Veronica smiled.
"Yes, Jennifer, I'm Hailey Guinn" Veronica got up close to Makoto. "Don't you recognize us?"
"Actually, n-" Jennifer was about to say, until her head started feeling really bad. Like someone jammed a nail right into her fucking skull. Her vision distorted for a second as if she was a computer experiencing a graphics error. She grabbed her head and took a step back, before it ended.
She looked up, without remembering a thing about what just happened. Her eyes opened wide.
"Hailey!?" Jennifer said, excited. "We... we gotta go, now!"
"Agreed," Veronica looked at Asuma. "Shall we?"
Asuma couldn't help but get a gut feeling that something was off - you know, excluding the fact that they were in the midst of a terrorist attack and he was just forced to melt someones face with his light beams - but he just gave a nod. "Anywhere's better than here" he said, accutely aware of the choas that was still ongoing around them.
"You lead, I'll follow." Asuma added. Not only was he not in a great state to lead a charge of any sort, but if they got into trouble he'd rather be behind the others, out of their direct eyesight, so that he was less likely to blind them.
The three were hauling ass out of there.
Fortunately, by the time the three of them got together, the whole disaster at the market was coming to a close. The Black Hound had retreated, and so did the Intimidation Unit. Which was good enough for Veronica, because they entered an alleyway right outside the fairgrounds.
The group came to a stop, and Jennifer hugged Veronica from behind.
"Hailey!" Jennifer meekly said. "It was so great to meet you again, I thought we would never meet."
Veronica was shaking almost like Jennifer's affection was contagious... though, she was kind of cute.
Makoto laughed a little.
"Yeah, yeah... I thought we parted ways at San Diego... until we found you, of course." Veronica said. "How have you been doing?"
"Excellent, I got a job at...." Jennifer turned towards Asuma. "Oh, Asuma, these are two friend of mine that got me out of a pinch one time in San Diego."
"And we're glad to be of assistance." Veronica said. "And, thank you Asuma for your time."
She chuckled a little.
"Looks like we found her anyway, but still, thank you."
Keeping up this nice-girl bullshit was nauseating. What Veronica wanted this tall tool to do was go leave, so she can do what the Black Hound told her to do. Actually, she could still do it... she just has to be discreet.
"... I think we're going to leave now." Veronica grasped her head. "Keeping that shield up was one hell of a headache."
She took a few steps close to Jennifer, and reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, writing her number, motel room, and more on it. She handed it to Jennifer, and said,
"When you are ready, we can talk."
"Alright-"
Before Jennifer could get out the last word, Veronica moved in really quick, and whispered something into her ear. Which made Jennifer freeze up for a few moments. Until Veronica pulled away.
"I'll see you later."
Jennifer didn't say a word.
She just stared at her.
Cindy Keagan, Malik Jakane, Shizuka Takashiro, Quentin Taylor, Alice Barrett, Deborah Javuant, & Shannon Balore.
The whole festival - to the surprise of no one - went to absolute shit.
The fucking Black Hound showed up trying to kill Deborah, and tore the whole place apart. People are injured. Now Cindy could honestly see why Shannon was so worried about the whole thing going to hell. Because it totally went tits up in there. Well, there was nothing to do but pick up the pieces.... As always. Cindy was marching through the DOVE/RAVEN headquarters, and wanted to meet someone in the medical wing. She scanned each room that she had walked past, searching for the right one. Eventually, she came across the one that was reserved for the "hero" who threw himself in front of the Black Hound to buy time... Which Cindy personally thought was pretty dumb.
Since he got shot (with a bullet!) and Cindy had to drag his ass off. If it wasn't for Quentin, the Black Hound would have killed him.
... The Black Hound. She couldn't get what he did out of her head. This was the first up close encounter with him, and they barely even came close to hurting him. All they did was drive him off... He obviously was a Metahuman from the get-go. This just told Cindy that they'll have to think outside the box to defeat him.
Ah, she found the man's room, standing in front of the door was a woman. She immediately saw a fellow agent of hers... Agent Jade West. A Haitian woman that was openly the granddaughter of a Changeling... the Witch Mother. She didn't hold that against the woman, but she found the fact that she had the same exact ability as her rather chilling. She could become the same exact woman as her grandmother with one bad day, after all. She just hoped for a different outcome.
"Jade, hey," Cindy said as she walked up to her with a friendly smile.
"Cindy, it is great to see you," Jade answered with a similar friendly attitude. "I've been healing everyone with Scarlet... but Deborah asked me to heal the man in here first."
"Yeah, that'd be nice, I wanted to get a word in with him, too." Cindy replied, personally just wanting to ask him what the hell was he trying to accomplish.
Jade opened the door, before she walked in, holding the door for Cindy. The first sight Cindy saw in the room was Malik lying on his back, with the bed covers over him. Cindy knew that he was in stable condition. "Ladies, hey," Malik said with a wide smile on his face... almost like he wasn't shot. "I was wondering when I'd get a nurse."
"Well, I'm more of a doctor...." Jade said warmly as she walked up to Malik. She put her hands on his chest. "Hold still, this will only take a second."
Placing her hands on Malik, Jade had mentally melded with his immune system. She had a perfect outline of the man's body, and could do anything she pleased to it. Fortunately, all she wanted to do was fix that bullet wound, and those cracked bones that he received after falling. He was good as new in no time. No internal damage, or any busted bones.
"Okay, you should be fine now." Jade said.
And Malik could feel it. The pain was all gone. He was tired of sitting on that ass of his. He hopped up onto his feet, and stretched his legs.
"My legs were getting cramp, thank you."
Malik said.
"Your welcome." Jade said.
Now that's out of the way, it was Cindy's turn to question him. From what they gathered, this man was a visitor from another country. And obviously a Metahuman. Visitors were a grey area, but DOVE didn't bother them long as they didn't have do anything in their home country (If they do anything in America, it's a one way ticket out of here!). Cindy wondered why he would fight the god damn Black Hound when he was just a tourist. Was he suffering from some kind of hero complex?
"Now, there was a few things I wanted to ask you..." Cindy trailed off, waiting for him to share his name (She already knew, but it was a formal technique of hers).
"Malik Jakane... and ask away." Malik said. "I'm just wondering where all my clothes are... I hate these hospital gowns, by the way."
"Well, Malik, I'm Cindy Keagan, Captain of DOVE," Cindy answered "I was personally wondering why you threw yourself in between Deborah and the Black Hound..."
"Oh, that?" Malik said, throwing his arms behind his head, and looking at Cindy. "Well... I have a very good reason for that... you see, I'm from France - only visited America a few times for fun - but I'm here looking for a friend that went missing and... uh, I wanted to talk to a DOVE or a RAVEN about it, but so far I've been having trouble getting there attention. So I thought saving the boss lady from that lunatic was the best way to get it." Now that he worded it like that... it sounds like he just did it to get their attention - with no altruism at all.
"... Okay?" Cindy adjusted her glasses. "Well, I guess you got it then...." She blankly said.
Malik picked up on his terrible wording, and put his hands up. "Hey, now, I didn't just help for that reason alone - people like the Black Hound, they gotta be stopped, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, I ," Cindy said. "So, well, I might as well ask while I'm here... who are you looking for? Maybe I can help you."
"She's a member of the French DGMHS... you know, their metacop group?" Malik said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I know plenty about them," Cindy answered.
"A friend of mine that was on your foreign exchange program, Marelle Marrou and she went missing without a clue," Malik said as he stretched his arms. "I came all the way from my world-tour to go find 'er... so, do you have any leads?"
Marelle Marrou... Cindy knows of that name. The two of them were on a mission before the woman disappeared. She was pretty pleasant, but she wondered where she went. "Honestly, your guess is as good as mine at this point, because I tried my damn near hardest to find her." Cindy said, defeated, shaking her head after the last word left her lips.
"Well, yeah, I figured as much," Malik said, shrugging his shoulders. Almost like he didn't let his hopes get let down. "But, I came here is because she sent me a message a few days ago..." He wondered if he should tell her anything about that message - he decided in favor of doing so, because right now, he's not making any leads. "Don't remember it off the top of my head, but she said something about getting "found out" by these "Founding Father" or somethi-"
"Wait, what?" Cindy was honestly surprised to hear what Malik had to say. She had just crossed him off as a funny foreigner, but he knew something about the Founding Family. Her mouth went slack, and she froze up for a second. She looked at Jade for a moment "Ssssssh," Cindy said. "Don't mention them."
He got the reaction he was hoping for. Malik had to resist the urge to grin. He leaned in on Cindy, and whispered into her ear, "Ah... I guess that's a hush, hush, secret, right?"
"Yeah, can you play that message for me?" Cindy asked, hoping to get another lead on the Founding Family.
Malik pulled his phone out of his pocket, and quickly went through his messages until went to the last message he received from Marelle.
"Malik, c’est le dernier message que vous allez recevoir de moi pour un certain temps. Mais, permettez-moi de vous donner une explication. Je dois vous que beaucoup. J’ai été envoyé vers l’Amérique pour aller d’infiltration pour la Direction généralede la sécurité humaine méta, mais les gens qu'ils veulent savoir sur... la famille fondatrice... Ce sont des gens fous. J’ai soufflé ma couverture... et ils viennent après moi.C’est le meilleur que je pouvais aller à vous avant qu’ils me trouvent. Ne venez pasme chercher."
"... Okay, I don't know what any of that means." Cindy said.
"Hey now, you told me to play you the message." Malik said, and earned a scornful look from Cindy.
"That's not help-"
The door opened, and Cindy spun around, surprised.
"... To translate it word for word, it's; Malik, this is the last message you'll be getting from me for awhile. But, let me give you an explanation. I owe you that much. I was sent to America to go undercover for the DGMHS but the people they want to know about the Founding Family. They are insane people. I blew my cover and they are coming after me. This is the best I could get to you before they find me.... Don't come looking for me."
Shannon said as she entered the room at Deborah's side. She crossed her arms.
"I took a French class you know."
"Wait... how did you hear all of it?" Cindy said.
"Well," Deborah shrugged with a mocking smile on her face. "You didn't notice the door as ajar the whole time?" She asked.
"Oh." Cindy didn't realize it, since she was so focused on Malik. "Obviously not...."
"Well, I wanted to personally thank Malik for helping me back there." Deborah said.
"Thank you!"
"... But, unfortunately, we don't have too many leads on Marcelle."
"Oh." Malik shrugged. "Well, I'll be moving on then."
"Unfortunately, I'm going have to ask that you stay in Headquarters for a little bit," Deborah said. "Jade, would you mind escorting Malik over to waiting room?"
"Okay," Jade said, she waved for Malik to come along as she walked right on out the room. "Come along."
"Uuuuuuugh," Malik loudly said as he marched behind her. Not only did he get nothing out of this, he's going to be babysat by the Meta-police.
Deborah turned to Cindy and said...
"Now that he's gone... what do you know about the Founding Family?" Deborah asked, she grinned a little. "And you know you can't lie to me."
God damn it, the jig is up. Cindy might as well have told everyone in DOVE about it now. "... Honestly, I don't know much about them. All I know is that they're obsessed with "genetic perfection" and have an assload of contacts... and their main leg breaker is the Black Hound." Cindy said.
"Well...." Deborah said as she leaned up against the wall. "I've been suspicious because something has been going around the office lately. I honestly thought that you've gone traitor for a second... part of the reason why I wanted to keep my eye on you."
"Oh?" Cindy expressed concern.
"And... clearly, you're not apart of any of it," Deborah said as she moved over towards the door. "... But, I know somebody who is. Go get your friends, we have a mole to catch."
Cindy had no idea what Deborah was talking about, but Cindy was going to go along with it. She pressed her earpiece, and said,
"... Hey, guys, I have a job for ya'll."
Cindy had gathered her circle of friends in the office, and they had assembled outside another DOVE's office. They were prepared to breach in, with Cindy up against the door of... London Mendez? She was a good friend of Cindy, they talked a lot on the job, but if Deborah says to bring her in because she's a "mole," then she was going to trust the instincts of her boss. Everyone else should be ready by now, armed with cutting edge weaponry. She had her pistol ready, armed with taser rounds.
"Is everyone ready?" Cindy's soft voice spoke into the comms.
"Yeah." Quentin's voice was firm, a certain level of danger in his tone. Despite the opportunity to gear up, he'd chosen to rely on just a kevlar vest and his Remington 870 - anything high profile might've spooked their "mole" and he had no intention of letting this one escape.
"Mhmm." Following behind Quentin was Shizuka; however, he didn't have much time to gear up like the rest, only managing to grab his trusty Beretta 92FS with him, rushing here still in office wear right after he received Cindy's comm order. He hoped that he wouldn't need to use it at all - for one, it was loaded with real bullets instead of some pussy stun darts. Holly did give him a brief brief of some "Founding Family" things that she was helping him to keep tabs on while he was away - except for the incident at Havenfield hours ago. At the DOVE event that Holly had mentioned. Even his senior was surprised when she received a call to cancel her work leave and get to the mission control ASAP.
Well, he could ask Cindy to spit out the full story later after this little raid was over.
Alice nodded, "ready..."
She was still in her gear, not having had the time to change after the attack at the fair, it was probably fortunate, it had taken her three attempts to tighten the straps when she'd put the damn thing on this morning. She was helmet-less now though, nearly throwing up into her faceplate early had taught her a swift lesson, she didn't want to actually experience that for the first time. Somehow she was managing to hold her gun steady, holding it in the ready position, they were in a classic breaching formation, this many agents was probably overkill for one mole, but who knew how desperate they might be to escape when they found out that they had been discovered. She blinked, feeling the sweat beginning to bead on her brow. Being this close to Jauvant and her famed abilities was stressing her out, and she badly needed a drink. The flask was buried deep inside her suit, but she knew better than to pull it out and swing now, despite the temptation to.
"Alright, three, two, one..." Cindy said as she prepared the group. When she said one, she threw the door open with her pistol aimed right for the traitorous DOVE. She was just sitting at her desk, doing cases. Like nothing had happened. She had raised both hands in the air, surprised. "Hands in the air!" Cindy shouted. "London Mendez, you are under arrest for conspiracy."
Quentin stepped forth and firmly grasped her wrist, before twisting it behind her back with one hand and reaching for his cuffs with the other. Once they were on, the others let their guard down whilst he led her down towards a cell.
The scene was brief, fortunately, after London was arrested, she was immediately stripped of her titles, and hauled to the interrogation room. Cindy was standing through the two way glass mirror with the other RAVENS around here. Deborah was interrogating the woman herself. Casually, and calmly as possible, and drinking a swig of coffee. What Cindy wanted to know was her angle. She heard every word spoken in the conversation.
"So..." Deborah said as she sipped her coffee. "London... I wonder what lead to this. Just a few months ago, we were having lunch together - well, I wanted to see you at the office party we're throwing on Halloween." Deborah's wording almost sounded disappointed, but she was casual as always. Yet, she didn't take her eyes off London for a second. Her eyes were constantly scanning for information that she could use.
"You know, I always regarded you as a friend..." London trailed off.
"... And is that why you set the Black Hound up to kill me?" Deborah was quick to retort, that forced her into a corner. "Look, London, I don't hate you for what you did," And it was true. Deborah's ability gave her insight on people like no other. She could see motives... but, she found it hard to get the energy to get upset over things because she can now understand them. "I'm just disappointed that you would do such a thing... but, there is a way you can fix this. Fix it for everyone."
London raised an eyebrow.
"Tell me about the Founding Family... and I'll talk about getting your sentence reduced. I'm the big player in the government after all," Deborah said. "Because, otherwise, you're going to be in jail for a long, long, time... especially if they find out that you're working with a known multinational terrorist. Of course, this is off the books, not one record was changed."
Those words resonated within London, as she thought about it. "I mean... I was reluctant to join in the first place, I... loved being a DOVE. But, I needed some extra money."
"Because of your son that's in a coma?" Deborah already pieced together that motivation. It was common knowledge that London's son was gravely injured during the Verthaven Disaster seven years ago, and that's why she's a DOVE.
"Yes... even with my paycheck, I couldn't get enough money to pay medical bills. Then one of their representatives just comes in and tells me that he's here to help," London trailed off. "I just had to leak some files to them, and bam, I was drowning in money." She said.
"What kind of files?" Deborah asked.
"You know, they wanted information on the Metahumans of Baybridge. Like kids from the Academy..." London broke down as she put her hands over her face, and tears came streaming down her cheeks. "God damn it, I didn't mean for any of this to happen... I'm the reason for the damn Overload Crisis. I didn't know they feed the files to the sniper!"
"Come on now, it's not too late to make up for it... Just tell me everything you know...." Deborah trailed off.
Back behind the two way mirror, Cindy was reluctant to let London off the hook that easily... so, she's the mole that was (indirectly) feeding the Overload sniper information? God damn it. She was responsible for the whole damn thing. Cindy crossed her arms as she looked between the group, and asked,
"Okay, which one of you believes the water works?"
"I don't see the point of London lying to Deborah's face," Shizuka began in a quiet tone, still staring at London through the two-way mirror. "Tears aside, throwing all the small fries straight into prison isn't going to be enough to stop the Founding Bastards. They can always gather new moles to replace those who're captured." All they needed to do was to hit that person's greatest weakness, or amplify their inner greed...
Besides, whatever damages that had done had already been done. Taking out their anger at these insignificant traitors wouldn't change their current situation one bit.
He turned his head to look at Cindy before continuing, "...Or we can make good use of these small fishes to lure in the bigger ones instead."
"Okay, you have a point there..." And Cindy meant it. Shizuka's right, London's a small fry that probably doesn't have any real influence in the organization. Deborah probably realized that throwing her in prison wouldn't make any difference. "But, she definitely can't be the only mole; since we're dealing with someone like the Founding Family, they probably got a whole lot of people in RAVEN and DOVE... We need to keep our eyes open."
"Speaking of the Founding Bitches, you still owe me---" Before Shizuka could finish his sentence, Jade's voice appeared in their earpieces.
"Cindy, we have a problem."
"Son of a..." Cindy said off the comms. "What is it?"
"Malik, he got away."
They're going to the waiting room? Waiting for what? That was the question Malik was asking. He was honestly hoping they wouldn't pull a "Hail Hydra" on him and shoot because he knows too much. Honestly, this whole endeavor was a waste of his time, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Malik needed a lead... and he wasn't going to find it here. He was following this woman all the way to the waiting room, which lead them through the main lobby. Okay, he didn't know what the DOVES had in store for him, but he definitely couldn't stay here. Fortunately, the acrobatic Malik saw an opening. He saw the front door right there. Only one security guard and some metal detectors. Well, this isn't the first time he ran away from the law.
Except for that funny misunderstanding in Tokyo... but... that's a story for another day.
Jade was leading him along, which was enough for Malik to slowly walk off towards the door. He made it halfway across the room before Jade looked over her shoulder and saw Malik. Crap.
"Hey, wait!" Jade shouted.
Well, time for Malik to stop being subtle. He broke out into a full on sprint, and hopped over the metal detector like it was nothing. Shifting into his storm form, a raging boom that was comparable to a lightning strike boomed through the room as Malik turned into clouds. He threw the doors open before the security guard could lock them... and then he took to the skies. Flying away like an eagle.
Malik hoped they wouldn't be too mad that he left. Well, he wasn't under arrest, but he had work to do! There wasn't time to waste playing with the law.
Once he finds Marcelle, he'll be out of their hair
"Damn it." Cindy hissed underneath her breath. "Deborah wanted to keep an eye on him for his own protection...." Or before he screws up something.
With the state DOVE and RAVEN is in, they probably won't be finding him tonight.
"Order DOVES and RAVENS to keep an eye out for him... that's the best we can do right now," Cindy answered. "After all, we didn't arrest him...."
"Very well." Jade said.
After a long and grueling interrogation, Deborah merely retreated to her office with a cup of green tea to ease her mind. She sat down on the chair, and stirred the tea to blend in the sugar and honey that she added. It was still steaming hot. She merely sighed as she closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair.
When the phone began to ring, Deborah had a feeling of who it was. Opening her eyes, she saw:
MAXIMILIAN CORNELL
Oh boy...
She grabbed the phone, and put it up to her ear, pressing answer.
"Deborah Ja-"
"I can't believe you went through with it!" Maximilian's voice was booming. "Do you understand what you did!? I can't believe you!"
Deborah sighed.
"... Look, Max, I said this before," Deborah started off, "And I'll say it again - we can't get afford to sit on our behinds, and hope to find a lead against these people. We have to act."
"I'm against the Founding Family as much as you are...." Maximilian growled. "But, what you just did was lure a terrorist to an event full of people! Do you know how many people got hurt!?"
Deborah couldn't believe that she was having this conversation with Maximilian. Most people would think the roles would be reversed.
"I was so close to making the connection... putting this puzzle together," Deborah said. "I know what I did was wrong, but I had to... because now I... you know a lot more than what we did before."
"But-"
"And, we both know that the Founding Family are a threat...."
She got up off the chair, and walked to the massive window behind her.
"... Do you really want something like the Verthaven Disaster to ever happen again?"
There was silence.
Meifeng Zhao.
Singapore.
Wearing a stealth suit of her own creation (that she hastily put together, and plans of disposing of later), Meifeng staked out the shipping company's personal docks... Her plan was to simply sneak in, and out. Though, she knew things were never that simple, but at least she's staking out a dock rather than - say - a terrorist group's hideout. Singapore's gun laws are so strict that the only thing she really has to worry about is someone shouting mean things at her!
It won't come to that, because Meifeng knows what she's doing. The first problem would be cameras... those are going to be a huge pain in the ass. Fortunately, Meifeng has a good eye for the cameras. They probably aren't guarding every inch of the place, but the same time, they're probably guarding what's important.
Kneeling down on the rooftop of someone who'd be very pissed to find out that she was on their roof, Meifeng thought about all the ways she could get in. Sure, she could just go through the gates, get spotted, piss off a large multitude of people, and probably kicked out of this lovely country.
Or she could go the cool route and swim in!
Well, not actually swim, but close enough to it. Taking a simple leap down the building, Meifeng quickly moved towards the ocean-line, and fearlessly leaped in. She didn't splash into the ocean - but instead the water moved and quickly went back to where it needed to be. She formed a bubble underwater, and manipulated the waves to propel her quickly towards the boats as possible.
She knew which boat was bound for the US... Once she approached it, she stuck her head out, and looked around a bit. Upwards towards the deck, there's probably going to be quite a few people on deck to load, off-load, etc. However, they shouldn't be expecting anyone to sneak in. Not even the celebrated Meifeng Zhao.
She saw a guy walk on past, and she wait a few moments for him to leave before she used the water to fling her upwards, and she was quick enough to grab onto the railing. Though, she almost slipped. "Whoooa," Meifeng said as she pulled a little bit of water out of her pocket dimension, and used it as a makeshift ledge as she pulled herself onto the boat. She looked back down, and made it dissolve into water.
Just as she entered the deck, Meifeng slid her hand across towards the water. What happened was that she pushed the water right back on into the water. It'd be a dead giveaway if someone walks on past and sees all the water. Thankfully, Meifeng had also thrown all the water on herself off the edge of the boat. She moved closer towards the maze of shipping crates. She had her eyes on one that was really suspicious that she spotted on the shipping record.... But, the problem was that she would have to go find it.
On a giant ass boat.
With hundreds of crates that look just like it.
Shit.
Two men walked by talking to each other.
Unaware that Meifeng was waiting for them to pass. She went up and down this fucking boat for an hour now looking for the shipping container with the designation she was looking for. When the coast was clear, Meifeng was quick to run on out because it was finally time to find something. If there was nothing in here, Meifeng was going to be incredibly pissed off. Like she was going to punch somebody in the face. She walked up to the crate, and reached down towards her belt when she realized that - surprise! - it was locked. She could find some way to pick the lock, but she was going to be in and out, so it won't matter. She grabbed onto the massive padlock, and summoned water out of her pocket dimension, and channeled it into the lock. Once the water was well embedded inside, she snap-froze it, and BAM. She's inside. The lock was broken open, and Meifeng was quick to grab the chains before they fell and caused a mess, and then she gently put them on the ground. Grabbing both sides of the door, she pulled the doors open, and was immediately assaulted with a bright green light.
"Is this...?"
Meifeng saw something contained inside boxes, but it was glowing a bright green color. She grabbed onto the crowbar she brought along, and shoved it into the box... and what she saw was a large glass container with a flowing green energy inside. It was like a liquid. Meifeng opened up another crate with the same crowbar, and found the same exact thing. A large glass container with a glowing liquid. From Meifeng's experiences, it looked like the Metahuman energy. Oh, boy. She couldn't wait to show this to Cindy and the others. Just for reference... because there's no way in hell that she's going to be taking any of these back, she pulled out a camera she brought just in case and snapped a few pictures of all of this. That was the only thing she could do.
But what caught her attention was that one of these shipping crates weren't mysteriously glowing. Meifeng pondered for a second whether or not she should even open it or not. Eh. At this point, it couldn't hurt. What Meifeng wanted to do was find something that could be linked to these Founding motherfuckers - and that's what she was going to do. She pried open the dim crate with all of her might, and there was another box inside of it, with a metal padlock on it. Another simple job. Seriously, these bastards couldn't afford to get a heavy duty padlock? Well, heavier than normal.
Using the same trick as before, Meifeng injected water into the mechanics of the metal padlock, and froze it. Breaking it easily. She opened the metal box, and the only thing inside were those weird little things they put in shipping containers to keep them from moving around... curiosity caused Meifeng to dig inside of it, and pull out a giant metal briefcase... she was wondering if she could open this one as-
"Hey!" One of the dock workers said as Meifeng was spotted. "Who are you?!"
Aw, FUCK. Meifeng shouted to herself as she realized her cover was blown. She threw the briefcase in her armpit, and hauled ass! She ran out of the shipping container, and when one of the guys tried to grab her, she did a shoulder to shoulder roll and landed on her feet effortlessly, and continued her mad sprint.
"Hey! Stop her!" The man shouted as he chased after Meifeng.
She made it to the edge of the ship, and then hopped off the side like a complete god damn mad man as she descended towards the ocean. Before she hit, the ocean opened up, and closed, swallowing her.
The men ran to the edge, and watched her disappear... and they looked between each other.
"... Call the Foundation Woman, inform her of this." He grimly said.
Okay, Meifeng found herself in the downtown area of Singapore... Boat Quay? The place looked pretty nice, actually. Meifeng didn't think it was that much different than back home. But, she was not enjoying the scenery of the city. Because she was in an alleyway. She had stashed her clothes in some bushes not too far away, and quickly got dressed in the . She had already gotten dressed, and was leaving the alleyway. Okay, maybe an alleyway wasn't the best location... but, it was either here or the park. And that place was just as risky as the other... and there was no way in hell she was running back to the military base dressed like a god damn ninja.
She had the book bag with her stealth suit slung over her shoulder... she didn't want to leave it behind, she actually wanted to set it on fire somewhere in hopes that they won't find it and trace the dead skin cells to her or something. What she also had in the bag was that little case that she found. It wasn't so massive that she had to stuff it in there. What she wanted to do was keep it close to her until she gets back to America... Which should be really soon, since she made sure to get a flight back in the morning because she heard about what the Black Hound was doing, and she's needed there. Not here in Singapore, where there's only a handful of Metahumans.
It began to rain... Huh? She knows this place is in the tropics. It didn't bother her one bit, because Meifeng was always a rain person. The rain started coming down pretty hard, but Meifeng wasn't bothered, not even in the slightest. It almost made her feel child-like as she skipped through the puddles that were forming as people retreated for cover. As if it was training high-concentrated acid-
She heard a motorcycle getting louder and louder. That's awfully close... especially since she was on the sidewalk. The angry yells of civilians that turned into screams alerted Meifeng that something was wrong. She turned around...
...And only had one second to dodge before she came face to face with certain death.
Meifeng had to lean back far and fast as she could - because a blade came pretty close to her face. And it was a big one. She didn't even have time to get a good look at it. The man was riding a motorcycle that came to a stop, and it let Meifeng get a good look at him... and good lord he was a monstrosity. He was at least eight feet tall, and had a sickly looking skin. His right arm was covered in boils and lesions of the sort... but, his right? It was all machine. It almost looked like part of a motorcycle made half his body, but... it was molded into his flesh as if it was absorbed. His right arm was gigantic, easily the size of his torso. His right arm had a blade protruding from his wrist that retracted back into the mess of machinery. His face was hidden behind a metal mask that had a broad grin, of spiked metal tears, and black holes that hid his eyes. The rest of his body had machinery infused into his body, thick metal wires going in and out of his skin. He was definitely a Metahuman... and he certainly got the short end of the ugly stick. She hated to see what was behind his mask. His clothes were pretty simple... heavy ass work boots, some jeans, and a white tank top. But he was definitely threatening. That motorcycle of his was just as intimidating. It was custom built, and a giant monstrosity of metal and parts that were messily put together... with spikes, hooks, and chains that was obviously made to maim
He got off the motorcycle... at this point, everyone was running away to call the cops from safety. That's the best thing that Meifeng could could ask for because things were about to get messy. Meifeng quickly reached behind her, and stopped herself when she realized it wasn't there... Singapore has one of the roughest gun laws in the world. They took her other guns from her and locked it away unless she was on duty. She wasn't able to hide this one.
"Okay, I don't know what the hell you are, but you better stay back!" She warned him.
That made him stop for a second, and Meifeng was almost relieved... but, in a surprising burst of speed, the brute rushed her, and retracted his blade again. He raised it high up into the air, and brought it down, and all Meifeng could do was dodge leaping upwards. The blade split concrete... and while it was in the ground, Meifeng got a good look at it. It was sloppy, and brutal. If it hit her, she would surely bleed to death. This guy was no joke... she had no idea of who he was, but she had to bring him down.
It ripped the blade out of the ground, and swung his wild, metal weapon around and forced Meifeng to duck. It hit the wall of the building, and utterly knocked it down effortlessly. People screamed as they tried to get out of the way, while Meifeng was desperately crawling away. Damn it. He's powerful as hell... But, the situation is in his favor. He's strong enough to kill her with one blow, but she didn't have any of the tools that would even the odds for her. No containment foam, no gas, no taser darts... damn it.
She'll have to think outside the box now.
Meifeng raised her hand in the air and pulled all the water she could, and punched forward. Sending a devastating wave in the direction of the brute, and felt a wave of dryness fill her mouth. It... did jackshit to him, but it was enough to knock the monster over. He hit the ground, falling right on his back, and breaking the concrete of the sidewalk. He let out a yell as he hit the ground, and Meifeng took this opportunity to run like hell. She summoned two small pillars of water underneath her feet, and creating "water skates" that shifted back and forward as she hauled ass out of there. Her goal was to get him far away from other people. Before he could hurt them.
In response, her opponent merely got back on his motorcycle, and chased after her.
Meifeng made it to a intersection. A busy one. Okay, this was going against the "lure him away from civilians plan," Meifeng looked over her shoulder, and this bastard was flying right towards her like a god damn rocket. He was going to ram her... so Meifeng leaped high up into the air using her water to fling her upwards into the sky. The beast flew past her, and hopped off his motorcycle. The "Death-bike" (which Meifeng was going to call it from here on in) went careening right into a bus and knocked it over. The motorcycle exploded, and the bus fell on it's side. All Meifeng could hear was screaming... and all she could feel was guilt.
When she hit the ground, she was face to face with this killing machine, and she dropped into her karate stance - facing him sideways with her fist up near her face, and her other near her stomach.
Fuck it.
She was going to fight the bastard here and now. Giving it her all. Meifeng raised her hand into the air, and created a giant orb of ice. Her best bet was to hold out until authorities arrived. She was praying that those dudes she was training would show up... just so she could see her training in action. But, Meifeng was going to fight this bastard to the death. He had to be heavy as hell, so she had one advantage over him. The beast dropped the blade that he had in his arm, and replaced it with something worse.
Much, much, worse.
Just appearing out of god damn nowhere was two chainsaw blades, that spun violently, then caught on fire. Meifeng had to admit that was kind of cool. But, it was totally not-cool because the bastard was going to murder her with it. He let out a loud, and blood-crazed yell like he was feed three foot tall pile of cocaine before sending him on a rampage. He grabbed his chainsaw arm and ran like Meifeng at speeds that were amazing given his size. She jumped up into the air - leaping over him - as the beast ran past her and swung his chainsaw, disappointed that he missed.
Meifeng, in mid-air, shot a whip of water that hit him in the back and knocked him forward - but that wasn't all, when Meifeng hit the ground, and she shot a high powered whip of water that hit the brute in the leg with a swipe of her hand that knocked him forward. He let out a pained yell, and Meifeng wondered what she hit. She couldn't let up on the assault, however, Meifeng whipped out her pistol and unloaded the rest of the clip into his back. That barely stopped him, because he started getting back up. Meifeng was quick to fired a high-pressurized jet of water out of her pocket dimension and quickly froze it around the bastard's leg. She immediately hopped on his back, and raised her fist up into the air, and froze water in the shape of a lance. She slammed the spear right into his spine, and the man let out one of he most awful cries of pain that she has ever heard.
...But, through the pain, the beast had summoned hidden strength as he bucked his back so hard that Meifeng was sent flying off him. She hit the ground with a skid, and came to a rolling stop. The beast had gotten up... When Meifeng knocked him over, she made him fall on his own chainsaw. The blades were embedded in his flesh, and were torn. Fresh, and messy wounds were on his chest. The blades were fortunately broken, so he broke them off, and replaced them with a another sloppy blade.
Infusing himself with even more strength, the beast charged Meifeng head on with his blade. Meifeng ducked out of the way, and retaliated with a series of three punches that were infused with her hydrokinetic ability, and followed it up with two kicks that were also infused with water. The beast grunted as he used his other hand to grab Meifeng by the foot.
"Fuc-UCK!" Meifeng shouted as the beast raised her over his head, and slammed her into the ground. It hurt like all hell, as the rush of pain shot up her upper body. But, the bastard wasn't done with her yet, he raised his blade up into the air, and was planning on bringing it down right on her face. With him holding onto her god damn leg, her movement options were limited. All Meifeng could do was desperately roll her body over to the side... But, all she did was move the target slightly off to the side. The brutal blade hit her in the shoulder. Meifeng let out a scream of agony as the sloppy blade did it's job: it left a sloppy wound.
He pulled the blade back, brought it to his face, and a tongue came out of the mask and he licked it. He licked the blood right off the blade. Meifeng didn't know whether or not she should be disgusted or not. Well, she was more concerned with the giant ass wound put in her shoulder. She summoned all the water she could, and fired a sloppy spurt of water that was enough to get him off her. She hopped up to her feet... and tightly grasped her wound. It was just oozing blood right now, and she was going to bleed out pretty quickly. Damn it, she was shivering right now. She needed to get the hell away from this bastard.
Meifeng created a orb of water and jumped on it, and sped off away from the freak. He rushed after her, but Meifeng used it to propel herself up to the rooftops. In response, the brute "shed" the machinery he was wearing. The metal fell off his body with a loud thud... until it showed his bare body. It was horrific. Covered in lesions, and twisted flesh, he was the epitome of body horror. Along with huge pulsing veins that barely looked natural. The brute went back to his motorcycle, and pulled another jagged blade from the wreckage, and hopped up to the rooftops like it didn't matter.
Meifeng was running for her life... but, there wasn't much she could do... She was losing strength, and she had a blood trail leading right to her. That was probably the point of the blade, just leave a nice sloppy wound that he can use to track her. And sure enough, she heard the freak jump up to the rooftops and start chasing after her. He ran much faster now. He was quick as hell with the weird metal on, he's probably three times as fast now.
Maybe she could use that against him.
Meifeng pulled off to the side, and let the brute rush past her. He was barely able to stop before Meifeng kicked him off the roof. She got off the water orb and started running with her feet... She could hear sirens in the distance. With no other places to go, Meifeng hopped off the roof, and landed on a water bubble. She kept running, but she eventually fell to her knees.
"Damn it, get up." Meifeng said to herself. "...There's so many people counting on me... Too many."
The beast hit the ground, landing behind her. He was going to savor this moment, while all Meifeng could do was desperately crawl away. Meifeng looked up, and saw many vehicles roll up... Men came out of the vehicle, and immediately aimed their weapons at the monster. She recognized the uniforms, and their symbol... The Singaporean army.
"Halt!" The captain in charge shouted. "Take one more step, and we will shoot."
The beast wasn't bothered by the threat, because he was given an order. And he was met with a endless barrage of automatic fire. Each shot pushed into the brute, and made him bleed. He let out pained yells as he stumbled backwards. When the beast had enough, he spoke the words of his escape... but they were warbled and distorted.
"Z-za-neeth!"
A portal opened behind the brute, and he fell backwards into it.
Thank God... it's all over. Meifeng was almost relieved... but, she had lost too much blood, and everything went black...
...
???
On their hands and knees, the Black Hound and the Foundation Woman were groveling before the people they pissed off the most.
The Blessed Three.
With their failed assassination attempt only getting Undertakers killed, and the moles they implanted into DOVE and RAVEN were being exposed, they had a lot of explaining to do. They were standing right before the Blessed Three, who were sitting on tall chairs that were like thrones. Mighty, and majestic, only the elite can sit on chairs such as this. Each of them were obscured in shadows. However, parts of their appearance were partially shown due to the dim lighting of the room.
"I hope you realize what you've done," One of them said, annoyed and with a stern voice. He was the man sitting on the left. He was tall, blonde-haired, and had the physique of a Roman statue (Kind of looked like one, too). He had green eyes that pierced through them. "We now have her on high alert, only because you tried to kill her at the wrong time.... what were you thinking?"
"My lord Ezekiel," The Foundation Woman said in a sad tone. "We were attempting to make up for the failure of the last mission in Baybridge, and please you with knowing that another on the the list was taken off."
Ezekiel leaned forward, and couldn't believe what he was hearing. ""Please you?' You had already pleased us with a successful string of missions! You killed every target we have painted with surprising efficiency!" He said, his anger increasing. He had grasped the arms of the chair so tightly that they exploded. Electricity had arced off his hands... and that electricity spread to the rest of his body. "And suddenly! You start to get cocky! And through that arrogance you decide that you don't need clearance from the Blessed Three!" Ezekiel growled at them. "You must remember that you obey us above all else! You do not act without our permission!" He was leaned forward, and electricity had surrounded him from head to toe - reaching upwards towards the ceiling.
"Calm down, Ezekiel," The sole woman of the Blessed Three said. "It's obvious that they screwed up, only thing to do now is damage control." She was red-haired with blue eyes, and tall as well. Her body wasn't as muscular as the other two, but she was certainly fit. Her head of hair was long, and wavy, going past her shoulders.
Ezekiel leaned back in his chair, and the crackling electricity disappeared, but he had more to say, "We must punish them for their insolence, Julia. Don't tell me you're going to be spouting the same nonsense as Blake."
"I just don't want to be rid of two valuable resources," Julia was quick to snap back. "Just because of one error."
"She's right, Ezekiel," Blake... the last member of the Blessed Three, and the tallest of the group and having a similar build to Ezekiel, with broad shoulders, and incredibly muscular due to working out extensively. Blake had a goatee, and a well-slicked back hair of black hair. "The Black Hound and the Foundation Woman are valuable members of our Family... I don't know where we'd be without them."
He then stood up, and raised a fist up into the air.
"The Black Hound..." Blake said. "The symbol of the snarling dog is one to symbolize fear, and oppression amongst the genetically ungifted... and kill threats to the Family in the process. While his mission didn't go as planned, it was only because he wasn't under the guidance of the Blessed Three! He still spread fear. They now know that nowhere is safe from the Black Hound... and to hide their families out of fear..."
He leaned back in his chair.
"...However, any security risks don't matter at this point since we are nearing our great goal... so it's so close." Blake said with a wide smile on his face. "Once the "Promised Land" is complete, and successfully fueled, we will change the world with it's power..."
Both Julia and Ezekiel looked at Blake.
"...But, we require more people for it." Blake said. "As your direct order, I demand that you bring some willing volunteers... anyone that's over the age of eighteen, after all." Blake said.
The Black Hound was silent for a moment.
"...Yes, master."
He got up to his feet, and turned around and disappeared into the black hallways.
"You, too, Foundation Woman, you must mobilize our forces," Blake said. "Coordination is everything, after all."
"Thank you, Lord Blake."
The Foundation Woman skipped off into the darkness after the Hound.
She walked at his side.
"...Did it work?" The Hound asked.
"Yes..." The Foundation Woman said with a grin. "Oh, too, well."
Three Days Later... Tuesday, October 20th, 5:23 PM.
It's been three days since the Black Hound's attack on the Harvest Festival, and the city is still reeling from it. Security and RAVEN presence has been increased in hopes of preventing another incident like this from occurring, but there has been little luck. The city is on edge, as people live in fear of the symbol of terror that the Black Hound has been becoming. They lived in fear of who was the next target, and when.
It was a cloudy day... the clouds were pretty dark, and a sure sign that it was going to rain soon. And rain very hard.
Veronica Emily Davis, Makoto Koda, and The Black Hound.
Somewhere in Prince-Edfield.
In the hallways of one of the FF's lovely labs, Veronica was playing with some knives. Floating them around with her telekinesis, and just fiddling with them out of boredom. Only because she was soooooo bored waiting for the Black Hound's assignment. She let out a sigh as she looked down at her chest... she realized some of the buttons on her shirt had become undone, and she quickly changed them back just to be modest. She was wearing blue jeans, and a leather jacket over it all, because she had to forgo fashion for a bit of practicality. The black combat boots that she was wearing ensured that she wouldn't hurt her feet or anything while on the assignment.
Someone walked up to her, and it was the woman that constantly annoyed Veronica; Makoto.
"Somebody's bored." Makoto said, looking at Veronica's floating knives, then looked at her with her hands on her buttons, "What are you about to do? Flash me?"
She followed it up with some mocking laughter that made Veronica roll her eyes up into her head.
"Shut up, Makoto," Veronica said. "Where is the Black Hound? I am tired of standing around in this hallway waiting for him."
"I heard he screwed up big time back at the attack on the Harvest Festival," Makoto chuckled. "The Blessed Three probably killed him for his failures... you know, "you have failed me" cliche." She laughed some more, which made Veronica wonder how such a woman was such a cold assassin... Maybe that's how she copes with the killing (Well, knowing Makoto, she probably thinks annoying her is a good mechanism).
"Well, that would be swell-"
The Black Hound walked up, and they both went silent.
"... Veronica, Makoto, you have another assignment." The Black Hound said, his voice was robotic and monotone as ever. It was to the point where Veronica wondered just who is behind the mask. Honestly, it was coming down to a matter of what is behind it. She could only give him a look of contempt as she looked at him from aside. "The Foundation Woman has detected a potential recruit to the Intimidation Unit."
He handed her a file, and she opened it up. There was no picture... only a description of someone called Upgrade that deals with technology that may have a technology focused ability. Operated out of Old Raygate.
Veronica narrowed her eyes. Just another fetch quest for the Blessed Three? She had it to here with kissing ass to find people.
"I'm sorry, Black Hound," Veronica said. "Can't you get one of those other mooks from the Intimidation Unit to do it? This is beneath me-"
In a display of the Black Hound's reflexes, he grabbed onto Veronica's neck before she had a chance to react, and raised her in the air. Makoto took a few steps back, slack-jawed. Veronica was gasping for air, grabbing onto the Black Hound in a desperate attempt to pull him off.
"You were given an order," The Black Hound sternly said as he stared her in the eyes. "You are expected to follow it, Veronica."
He dropped her to the ground, and let her gasp for air.
"You are a subordinate, and nothing more, remember that, Veronica. Now get it down."
The Black Hound turned off, and started walking away.
She choked as Makoto came over to her and knelt down next to her.
"B-Bastard!" Veronica hissed as she grabbed onto her neck. The bastard almost caved her throat in
"Are you okay?" Makoto asked.
"Yeah," Veronica said, answering much kindly than she normally would. "I'm fine."
"Let's get the job done before he gets angrier," Makoto said as she helped Veronica to her feet, and they began walking out of here.
Just you wait, Hound... It's only a matter of time before your fall, and I want to be there to watch. No, I'm going to be the one that kills you. After I'm done with the Blessed Three.
Charlie sat in the courtyard on a bench staring at the clouds while his hands fiddled with a deck of cards. The breeze was calming, and he was in deep focus, not a distraction in sight. Ignoring his studies was Charlie's specialty and there was no better way to spend it. Since he had taken the beating and spent the night in the DOVE medbay, he hadn't mustered up the courage to really branch out to any of his classmates and he could feel himself slipping into a slump.
It's been a few days since the whole disaster at the festival. Lihua should have known better herself, but honestly, the whole thing wouldn't have gone to hell if Deborah hadn't put herself out there as a target... Which the older woman was debating in her head as to why Deborah would do so. A terrorist that is known for killing important people in the Metahuman world and out is out there and has the ability to strike at any given moment... and she decides to show up at the festival anyway? Even the woman was painfully naive, there would have to be a reason to do so. One that Lihua couldn't see off the top of her head, and honestly, it isn't her concern. She'll let the DOVE leader lead the whole organization into the ground.
While she cares for her own students. Speaking of which, she hasn't had a word with the Lucker girl or Rowan in awhile... she'll have to change that. However, she was certain that the two were independent enough to maintain things on their own end. Who she was really interested was Charlie, the Academy student that she had saved just a few days ago. She hauled him straight to the DOVE Headquarters so he could get patched up, and their top-tier medical care certainly came through.
He was released, and sent back to the Academy. Lihua herself wanted to check up on him. It was only out of formality, after all. He wasn't even one of her students. So, she casually strut to the courtyard, wearing the most modest black suit possible, with a suit skirt, and high heels that brought the towering matriarch even higher.... She had hoop earrings on that completed her appearance.
She saw Charlie sitting on a bench, defeated. Almost feeling sorry for the boy. He could use company of the Zhao Matriarch. She formally sat down next to him - with her legs together tight, and taking up as less room as possible - placing her clipboard on her lap. She was silent for a moment as she looked around the beautiful courtyard of the Academy.
"Hello, Charles," Lihua greeted him. Formally as she could. "I've been meaning to check up on you since what happened in Havenfield."
For an instant, she looked at the cards.
"Oh? You like cards?"
Charlie knew she was coming for him but he was really hoping his premonition was wrong. Solitude might not be the best thing for him, but it's what he wanted. Charlie continued looking at the clouds as he answered.
"Oh hi Ms.Zhao. Umm yeah I do, it's kinda my hobby." Charlie smiled and looked at the professor. "Thank you again for the other night. You really got me out of a pinch." He said not stopping the practice motions in his hands. "Sorry if I scared your daughter by the way. I didn't really know how bad it was until the next morning."
"That's excellent... it's far more interesting than playing video games, or something else... ah, such wastes of time," Lihua said, casually as always. She looked at Charlie for a moment. "No need to thank me, I was only doing the right thing." She said... she finally thought about the change that she went through. Even seven years ago, she would have helped Charlie. Well... she would have saved him from the men, but not drove him all the way to DOVE headquarters. That just demonstrates her humility. "After all, I may need you to save me some day." She smiled.
"And don't worry too much about Lijuan, I will handle her."
"Let's hope that day never comes," Charlie said, he was working through his anxiety the best he could keeping the conversation light. "With a mother like you I'm sure she'll be fine. Your powers though are pretty terrifying. I mean all elementals are but yours... Well maybe it's because I saw them up close but still. The things you can do? I can't imagine doing what you can do. Does that much power ever.. I don't know." Charlie paused he already knew the answer but he was feeling self-conscious about being so helpless the other night. "Scare you?"
It was quite surprising to be receiving this question from someone as young as Charlie. Most children go "Hell yes, I have superpowers!" or go into a fit of angst about it. But, Charlie... he asks the hard questions. However, to Lihua, it wasn't all that difficult. Because the woman had reached another level of personal understanding and awareness decades ago. "The power used to frighten me, yes...." Lihua started off. "I have the power cause so much destruction, so much death, if I were to lose myself and become a madwoman."
She thought about the likes of Luis... and the thought of becoming like him disgusted her. However, there was a special way to describe this.
"When I first got my power, when I was young, I feared the destruction I'd cause if I lost control - and obsessed with control to such a degree that I almost never considered the possibility of losing myself to the power. Then once I got control, I was dangerously close to straying off my path, and that became my fear for decades to come. With one thing keeping me on the straight and narrow. Years later... at this point, I don't fear my ability anymore because I have reached a new level of personal understanding."
She was getting a little wordy here, but she had a special message for Charlie.
"I realized that, despite all this power, I truly am no different from any other person. I have two children, I'm a teacher.... I bleed..." Lihua said. "I have nothing to truly fear from my ability, because I am what I am. I no longer have anything to fear."
" I guess that all makes sense." Charlie got the message but he just couldn't bring himself to be confident. All of these other meta-humans around him could leap tall buildings, or shake the earth however they please. He could merely just know who was going to what right before it happened. He had no control over others the way others did. No fear, no respect to strike into others. Just himself, just his personality to try and grip people. Card tricks, something to connect to people on a gimmicky level, but on a level sure enough.
"Not even others?" Charlie asked as he stopped his shuffling and sleight. The silence set in as he looked at her. "I know you have to be brave for your children and students but... What about the black hound, a guy like that. With so much control over himself. You don't fear you won't be able to do it on your own?"
"But, that is the thing, Charles," Lihua started off. "Don't misinterpret this; but I fear other Metahumans as much as everyone else does."
She started off.
"Many, many, people lack the discipline, and self-control I do... and lose themselves to their abilities, and build themselves up to be superior - only to sate their inability to control themselves," Lihua said. "I've seen men like Gods slaughter people, and use their powers in ways I've hoped to never see. That's what's truly frightening."
Still, there was one last thing she had to say.
"... However, like I said; no one man is superior over the others. No one is without weaknesses, and I've seen the most terrifying of men meet their end because of their... arrogance." Lihua said. "Even the weakest of people can kill the greatest of men in the right circumstances." Such as the death of Luis, the Changeling. He was the one she was referring to in most of her monologue.
Charlie nodded along and tried to understand as best he could. Maybe he wasn't so helpless after all, anybody caught off guard like that could've been victimized. He's only human. Charlie resumed his card work and watched the king change to a two, they were both made of the same material. In some cases the two is better, simple isn't always a bad thing. People underestimate you more, but sure overcoming that is a matter of persistence. However on the other hand, this was predictable coming from somebody as powerful as she was. Charlie began to question if the woman even knew what weakness felt like. What it feels like to have to be aware at all times in order for his meta-human abilities to even work.
"Ms. Zhao, what if it's not a man though. Where is the line drawn between meta-human and human. Once the power itself consumes you, like the devil of Verthaven or the Black Hound. Are they even human? Aren't we all just one step away from that level?"
"The line between Man and Meta is subjective, and always will be," Lihua was quick to answer... and that was the best answer she could honestly give him for that one. Charlie will have to decide that on his own. "When we get down to it, Charlie.... can you ask if that question if there was, say, no Metahumans? Anyone can be consumed by power if they can't handle it... in the case of the Devil of Verthaven, she was consumed by her own rage at losing a loved one and didn't know how to handle it. So she turned and took her anger out on the world."
Lihua paused for a moment.
"There are... so many people like that. Scorned by the world. The real problem was that she had gained a power like no other..." Lihua trailed. "So in a way, we all are, but at the same time, it's all down to circumstance. What kind of person we are... and what we have been subjected to..."
"Then why don't we try and help them? If they are just like us but confused, or went down the wrong path... It just seems like DOVE did nothing at the festival, there was so much happening and all the wanted to do was get themselves out of there. I heard a civilian even attempted to step in..." Charlie grew frustrated and he clenched the cards between his hands. They sprung to the other and he put them in his pocket trying to control himself.
"Because... We cannot save everyone. Some people are just too deluded to help, they can only be stopped before they cause anymore death." Lihua started off, as she took in a deep inhale. "And... I'm past the point of trying to help people like that. I've been on this earth for half a century now... there is a point where you have to say enough is enough."
There was still one more thing Lihua had to say.
"And besides... don't take this the wrong way... this is just my personal philosophy," Lihua started off. "But, we as people don't owe the world anything. We can have the greatest of abilities, but that doesn't mean we absolutely have to go out and be heroes. We have the freedom to as we please, after all."
"You just seem like you were the only person trying to help anybody... You could've helped people more important or powerful... People that make a difference." Charlie sighed and sunk back into the bench.
This was getting rather trite. Many students have had this issue. Some have gotten over it, some haven't.
"... Regardless of how you may feel," Lihua said. "You are still a life. It doesn't matter if you believe you aren't important now... but, that may most definitely change in the future. And I wouldn't deny you that chance just because you may not be the strongest." Her goal was not to go out and save the world, but merely live her life by the new personal code. She's not going out to be a hero, but Charlie was in danger, and she wasn't going to ignore him because "he wasn't important enough." What kind of person would that make her?
Well...
She'd be Lihua Zhao seven years ago.
"And plenty of people were helping," Lihua said. "You just didn't see them."
"I guess..." Charlie grew quiet, he felt exposed. More than just his open self but that he had shown a teacher out of all people a darker side. A side that he drowns typically in a drug binge, crime, and partying. "Sorry I went off ranting like that." Charlie grew morose, but he fought the urge to crumble in front of someone he barely knew. He had worked so hard to get to this point, he thought this would be the peak, but it turns out he was far from it. Back at the beginning, again. "Thank you... For everything." Charlie said in an apologetic tone.
"It is okay," Lihua was quick to reply. "You were just venting because you feel little in a large world... but, you must keep in mind that a man is defined more by what they can't do rather than what they can. You may feel weak, but you can turn your weaknesses into hidden strengths if you drive yourself." That was the last piece of advice that Lihua was going to give him. Lihua got up off the bench, and faced Charlie.
"It was great speaking with you," Lihua started off. "But, I must be going now."
For a while, Cindy was obsessing a little bit over the details of the Black Hound's attacks. Something didn't add up. She bent over her computer desk, and was watching a video on the internet titled, "Penelope Walker assassinated during speech!" Penelope Walker was a Labour MP who looked set to take party leadership after several years of campaigning for reform and, by extension, the Prime Minister's office... or would've been, if she hadn't been murdered by the Hound, literally his first kill. It had sent waves through the public, because she promised to improve the situation for Metahumans. But, that wasn't what Cindy was after.
She pressed play, and a reporter was recording the speech as the black haired British woman stood on a stage. With her bodyguards taking up flank to protect her.
"I'd like to thank you all for your attendance-"
Cindy skipped the video ahead so she could get to the parts she was looking for.
"...As part of the reforms that I have continuously proposed to my constituency, I intend to oversee a change in policy exhibited towards Metahumans by the MISW. In an age as the twenty-first century, it has become an embarrassment to our nation and the values that we have stood for, that our grandparents and their parents' generations stood for, that citizens of this country face discrimination on the basis of their birth. Unless we can push for this reform for the better, we would be no better than-"
At that point, a gunshot had rung out and Penelope had slumped back against the podium, lifeless - the bloody entrance wound in her chest a clear indicator of what had happened if nothing else had given the impression. The crowd had screamed in terror, fleeing in a panicked state, cursing aloud.
"Pete, look!" A woman could be heard shouting to the camera man, frantically pointing to the rooftops.
As the camera followed her movement, all who were watching saw the Black Hound in his armour, wielding his sniper as though he was posing for them. Before anything else could be said or done, a portal opened behind him and he turned and walked into it, the both of them disappearing shortly after. The video ended a few seconds later, and Cindy narrowed her eyes as she thought about it.
The same as the rest of the videos.
Cindy thought to herself.
A clean kill... then why did he miss Deborah two times?
It was a mystery to Cindy. Did he get too excited? Or was something else manipulating the field. Clearly, the Black Hound specializes in terror. Why did he miss?
What interrupted her line of thought was Meifeng barging into the room.
"Shit," Meifeng said, sounding very weak as she leaned up against the door frame. "Heeeeey, I'm finally back."
Cindy spied Meifeng, and saw the bandages on her shoulder, and the cast around her arm.
"Jesus Christ, Meifeng," Cindy said. "What happened to you?"
"Well..." Meifeng shouted. "I pulled the plan, but honestly, you should google it, because words don't begin to describe the bullshit I've been through in Singapore."
She walked up, and raised her hand up into the air.
"Google; Metahuman goes on rampage in Singapore!"
"Um, what?" Cindy said. "Know what I don't want to know. Did you find anything on the FF?"
"Look Cindy, I just want to hang out with the others right now. Let's go to the shooting alley, anywhere!" Meifeng said. "Go hit them up with a text message while I go ask Jade for another favor."
"You want her to heal you?" Cindy said. "You can just ask."
"...I know," Meifeng said, as she walked closer and closer to the door. "I think she also gets tired of everyone selfishly asking her to heal them over every boo-boo... and also I ask her to clear up my hangovers when I get shitfaced!" With the last word, Meifeng was right out the door.
A sigh escaped her lips, but maybe Meifeng was right. It was time to hang out with some friends. Cindy reached over towards her desk, and unlocked the phone with her code. Using her insane typing skills to write:
Hey, guys, sorry to bother you but can we meet up at headquarters real quick? Maybe we'll hit up the shooting range.
Sending it out to her old friends that she made back in Verthaven, and some new ones, as she laid back in her chair... maybe she should've tried to include the other people.
It was one thing to get caught up in a gunfight and a wholly different matter when it came to writing down the paperwork and statements for it afterwards. Reed had spent a good chunk of the last few days mopping up said paperwork for what had occurred on that day, along with assisting the subsequent investigation that had been raised by DOVE regarding the attack. With that in mind, he wondered whether or not it'd have been easier to take an extra couple of bullets to the chest than to have gone through that, though that itself was something else to irritate him - one of his favourite jackets had been ruined, if not by the blood stains then by the clear holes where the bullets had punched through.
So in a way, it was good to hear from Cindy regarding some time out. After reading her text, he'd just as quickly shot her back a response.
Sounds good, I'll see you there.
He was quite grateful to her for saving his brother's ass. From how it'd been told, Quent had gone after the bastard responsible for the attack with nothing more than a sidearm and body armour concealed under his jacket and, if it hadn't been for Cindy's intervention, would've been dicing with death. To show for it, when he'd seen him after the attack, Quent had been limping around the site of the disaster with a share of bruises and scratches to show for it, but had luckily avoided anything worse.
Mrew. A mewling sound caught his attention, prompting him to look down at his feet. "Cass," Reed muttered, before leaning down to give the cat a rub around the ears. She must've been coming up to what, three years now? In a line of work as his, there'd not exactly been a great deal of time to head out searching for a relationship or heading out partying, so she'd made good company, especially when he was up late at night trying to get some work done from home. With a soft purr, Cassie rubbed the corner of her mouth against his fingers, then nibbled on them lightly: An indication that she was hungry. "Fine, fine."
Departing from the comfort of the couch, Reed hit the TV remote and headed over to one of the cupboards in the kitchen, where he kept her tinned food and biscuits. In the corner across was a plastic bowl with two compartments, one for dry food and the other for meat. Seeing that Cass had eaten up the latter, whilst digging a little into the former, he grabbed both a can of tinned as well as the box of biscuits, then topped up her dried food and emptied half of the can into the bowl before sticking it in the fridge for use later on. Seemingly satisfied, the cat quietly padded over to her food and started digging in. Now with that done, Reed could get changed and leave, yet as he was slipping on another t-shirt it occurred to him that this evening would be even better if he brought along a certain family heirloom.
After retrieving that last thing, Reed set off back towards HQ.
Alice was relieved to find something else to do other than sit at her desk or drown her sorrows in a bar, she knocked back the last of the glass and slid it along the bar to the bartender, before standing and heading to the door with a remarkably confident gait considering the amount of booze she had thrown back. She typed rapidly into the keypad.
See you in a few.
She stepped out onto the street, glanced around quickly to check no one was watching, and was gone a half second later. She'd need to brush her teeth, or at the very least pick up some gum. It was the middle of the day, yeah it was her day off, but she was in no mood to answer questions about why she had a quarter bottle of whiskey on her breath to people who wouldn't understand.
Just as Cindy said, she went over to the shooting range. There were two shooting ranges in the headquarters; an indoors one, and an outdoors shooting range. Personally, Cindy preferred the outdoor shooting range, but it looked like it was about to rain. But, a little rain wouldn't bother the bullets, now would it? Cindy brought a weapon that she didn't really have too much experience with, but she liked to practice shooting it in her spare time. An ACR assault rifle that was nearly standard in the RAVEN ranks. While Cindy normally only used a pistol, she'd seen waaay too much shit that requires a bigger, and heavier, firearm. She just wanted to practice just in case. She politely asked for it, after all.
The shooting range was large, as you'd expect. And had many lanes (some were manned by Agents already!). Enough for Cindy and her friends to have a good time. There were several targets that were of any length, and could be adjusted. For now, Cindy waited for the others to show up.
Meanwhile...
The Barrett .50 was indeed a powerful sniper rifle, but it was still not Shizuka's favorite to work with. He had picked the M107 type instead of the more conventional models (the M82 or M95), but the recoil was almost as nasty as its predecessors - even after switching out the actual bullets for the much lighter practice darts.
Still, this was the signature gun of a late comrade. It was Sonya Mayfield's favorite sniper series.
He didn't have much interactions with her back at Verthaven - everyone was too busy trying to survive the disaster, to hold on to the last thread of their sanity in a world that had gone mad on them - but he had liked the froglady's chirpy voice over the comms. While most of them were on the verge of lunging for each other's neck, her contagious cheekiness had helped to keep them from crossing over that line. She was one of the very few people he actually wished he could have tried to talk to; someone he thought would be interesting to hang out with.
Another person whom he had met at the wrong time, wrong place... Just like with Jennifer Caspin.
Taking in a deep breath, he pushed the rising horrible images of his past back into the depth of his mind, focusing his senses on the gun and the air around him as he continued to fire, until he had completely emptied the load. He checked to make sure the rifle's pin was locked in place before he got up and pulled off his shooting protection gears. As he turned around, heading back to the counter to request for more magazines, he spotted someone he least expected to be here.
"Hey Cindy," he called out to the DOVE agent and friend, catching up to her easily in a few strides. "I did get your text alright, but it's really rare to see you giving the outdoor range a shot." His eyes fell onto the ACR she was carrying. Good choice, he thought - hardy, can be easily customized to fit personal handling or multi-purpose needs were just a couple of the many things why it was one of the more exciting assault rifles compared to the well-known M16s. This was also probably the first time he had seen her with anything longer than a handgun.
It was nice to see Shizuka here, and not off somewhere sulking. Cindy gave him a warm smile, and said, "Yo, Shizuka," She said. "I'm no RAVEN, but I decided to practice with this just in case we ever have another shitstorm and I need to start packing something bigger than my glock." She gestured down towards the assault rifle in her hands. "And why not the outdoor shooting range? I know it's about to open up, but I don't think water can weigh down bullets." She started laughing. She looked at the rifle that he was wielding... the Barrett M107, definitely a dangerous rifle. Cindy would probably never want to be on the receiving end of that.
"This rifle of mine still ain't nothing compared to that," She pointed at the sniper rifle Shizuka was holding. "So, how about we get a few shots in before the others show up? Meifeng's probably on the way as we speak."
"Yeah, before the drizzle turns into a raging shower," Shizuka coolly took up Cindy's offer. "I need to reload my gun first, though. You can go first if you want." He gave her a wave and walked past her towards the counter.
"Okay..." Cindy said, as she picked a lane with the target far away. "Get ready for the worst shooting you've ever seen in your life..." She quickly brought the gun shoulder level, and pressed the stock against her shoulder to stabilize it. She aimed down the sights, and tried her best to keep the gun steady. She held her breath, then pulled the trigger...
...And totally missed. It went so far off that it went into the next lane. Even better that Shizuka was back in time to see that. His face was kept expressionless, except for the amused glint in his eyes.
"...Hey, Shizuka, you see, I hit the target." Cindy tried to play it off. "I was totally aiming for that fly."
Shizuka frowned at her - or rather, he was trying hard to stop himself from laughing out loud (a snort of snicker did escape from his lips, and he hoped she didn't catch that). The last thing he wanted was Cindy to bitch him about her own failure plus that lame cover-up, and that would be really a pain in the ass to deal with (from past experiences, of course). "Yeeeeeah..." he tried to keep his tone even as he reloaded his rifle and set it down range in the next lane. "...You can loosen up a bit more, like try using a slightly squared instead of a rigid bladed stance. That might help you to deal with the recoil better."
"Uh, thanks for the advice," Cindy said as she adjusted her stand a little bit... this was probably the result of never being formally trained to use this damn thing. She wished that her pistol could solve all the problems, but she knows that this peashooter would only annoy the really tough ones. And in that situation, she either has to use a bigger gun, or throw her pistol at it and hope for the best. Though, she was going to watch Shizuka.
With that, Shizuka put on his protection gears and got down in a prone position. The weather seemed to be getting worse, and he probably could manage just about two more shots before he had to call it a day. Sucking in a deep breath, he peered through the eyescope with narrowed eyes to take aim before he pressed the trigger. The rifle went off with a deafening boom (thankfully he had the gears on) and rocked backwards even with the bipod, the dart cutting through the wind and raindrops before it pierced through the targeting board - through the shoulder-blade area of the silhouette man painted on it.
He checked through the scope before letting out a sigh. "...Seems like I'm a bit off also, huh." He wasn't aiming for any vital parts, but at the very least to shatter the shoulder joint with just one shot. He could check how much he was off his mark later.
"Hey," Cindy said. "That was still impressive." She winked at him.
The wind was getting stronger, tousling his rain-drenched hair wildly; the next shot was going to be quite a challenge... which, unfortunately, he wasn't going to get that chance. Not with such low visibility (he was using a normal scope not meant for this type of weather), and the rain was getting heavier with each passing second. Shizuka had no choice but to remove the magazine and pick up the wet rifle. "C'mon, let's go."
"Yeah, lead the way." Cindy said.
Quentin, as it happened, turned out to be the first - he'd already been in the building when he'd got her text and had just been wrapping some personal business up. His leg was still a little rough, judging by the way he put his weight on it, but he'd made a point not to make it obvious to the others. Slung over his shoulder was a Remington 870 Police issue, with the synthetic stock. It'd come in handy over the years and somehow, he couldn't see himself taking just a sidearm.
Squeaking into the indoor shooting range was Shizuka, leaving puddles of water on the concrete ground as he strolled towards Quentin. He still had the huge-ass Barrett with him, but he wasn't that retarded to shoot with this monster in here. Following behind Shizuka was Cindy... who was getting tired of carrying this damn gun around. It was heavier than it looked, and she forgot to bring a strap so she could just sling it over her shoulder instead. They walked towards the indoor shooting range because the rain was becoming a pain in the ass. Cindy's suit was coated in a thick layer of rain... she was going to bug Meifeng to get the rain out when her ass got over here. The indoor shooting range was the one she was more used to, but she wished that she could have at least shot a little bit more out there. Oh well. It is what it is. Cindy marched in, and looked over at Quentin, who was already here.
"Hey, Quentin!" Cindy said.
"Hey, Cindy." His response was a little muted in comparison to her warm greeting, though judging by the thin smile, he was glad to see her again. Shizuka simply greeted Quentin with a casual salute.
Alice appeared between the two of them with a faint pop of displaced air, "sorry, am I late?"
Cindy smiled.
She smirked, as though at a bad joke, and then made one, "I'm Alice anyway."
"Girl, I know who you are." Cindy said while a warming smile found it's way onto her face.
The doors to the shooting range were kicked open, as Meifeng Zhao made her grand entrance! "Heeeeey, you guys!" Meifeng shouted as she slung a Mossberg over her head. "I am back from Singapore, and ready to get back in the saddle."
"Looking good as always, you enjoy your vacation?" Quentin remarked, a hint of that golden sarcasm of his. He took a step toward her, doing as past as he could to hide his limp, throwing out a palm to firmly grasp hers in an affirming handshake. "It's good to have you back."
"It wasn't really a vacation, I had to teach some cops how to beat up Metahumans, but they were pretty nice." Meifeng sarcastically said as she stretched her shoulder a little bit, before shaking Quentin's hand. Despite Jade's healing, she could still feel a little bit of a phantom pain. "But, what happened to you, Quent?" Meifeng smirked.
"It's nothing," Quentin said, dismissively, before evading the question altogether. "Did you find anything useful whilst overseas?"
"Well, yeah," Meifeng said, peeking over Quentin's shoulder towards Alice. Last time she checked, Alice wasn't in on their secret battle with Founding Family. Back to the relevant issue, Meifeng still has the case - she was able to sneak it back from Singapore, and just tossed it in her locker in the meantime. She had no idea what's inside of it, but she knew that big dude was after it. "...I'll talk about that one later."
She stretched her arms a little.
"One thing I did run into while there was this big lunatic," Meifeng said... just itching to talk about it. "Who totally tried to ice me back there... I would be dead if it wasn't for their soldiers there."
Meifeng did notice that he had the same emblem as the Black Hound... the symbol of a snarling dog. So that definitely meant the bastard's with the Founding Family. What she wanted to know was... How in the hell did they connect the dots so damn fast? Or was it just a guess? Eh. No matter now.
"So, I heard the Black Hound attacked while I was gone... I hope everyone's okay."
"Yeah," Cindy said. "We stopped the Black Hound - at the cost of a few agents - but something doesn't feel right about this..." Cindy voiced her concern.
"How so?" Meifeng asked.
"He had the perfect opportunity to kill Deborah, but then blew it..." Cindy leaned up against the booth, and sighed. "...When he killed all those other people really quick."
"Put us into a false sense of security. Make us think we're in control." Quentin suggested, folding his arms.
"Still... but..." Cindy thought about London for a second. All he did was expose the Founding Family to the likes of RAVEN and DOVE. Along with all of the "Undertakers" that they arrested, all they did was give RAVEN and DOVE more information on the Founding Family at large. "Nevermind."
"...Or," Shizuka suddenly spoke up; he had left the group for a moment to return the sniper rifle, and then came back with a pistol - Ruger Mark III 22/45 - instead of a shotgun like most of the rest (he felt the need to spend more time with handguns, as opposed to Cindy's situation). He had also changed out of his wet suit for something dry. "An internal power struggle among themselves that've gone terribly wrong." He shrugged.
"Yeah, let's stop worrying about our jobs and shoot!!" Meifeng shouted as she pumped her shotgun. "Who's going to go first? I wanna see some impressive shit - everyone here can shoot a gun straight."
"Sure, I'll volunteer!" Reed's voice called out from behind them, lugging a sporting weapon's bag in one hand.
Alice nodded at the bag, "you bring a gun or an arsenal?"
"Just something personal," he answered, taking up a position at the side of the range and setting the bag on the table. Unzipping it, he parted the corners of the bag to reveal a glimpse of an Ithaca 37 DS Police Special, complete with the classic wooden furniture. Popping open a side pouch, Reed also retrieved a box of twelve-gauge shells and a pair of ear protectors, then grabbed the shotgun and headed over to one of the stands and started pushing some of the shells into the magazine tube.
Meifeng looked at it, and wondered if it was Reed's... or a special someone's. She wasn't going to prod at it for now.
The sight of the shotgun heralded an appreciative whistle from the petite blonde, "I haven't seen one of them in ages, not since I left the NYPD, mind if I call shotgun?"
"That what I think it is?" Quentin asked with a furrowed brow, memories of old times bubbling to the surface. Reed gave him a slow nod, "Old man would've hated seeing it gathering dust, I figured it'd be a good chance to put it to use."
Definitely Cass' shotgun. Meifeng thought to herself.
Realizing she had put her foot in it, Alice raised her hands in surrender, "Ah shit, sorry guys, I didn't realize it was family. Used to use my Dad's in the back yard, 'fore he retired..."
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Reed waved her concerns off with a relaxed tone, reaching for one of the paper targets to set up on a hook. "Say, I used to be a cop myself, VPD."
"You were there when the whole thing went down?"
"Only like the others here, yeah." He said, albeit with a markedly subdued tone. Reed had been able to put the past behind him, but he knew fully well that the others hadn't all exorcised themselves of their demons. Quent could be counted among them, that much he knew.
Meifeng leaned up against the wall... mention of the Verthaven disaster did make her a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't unbearable. "Yeah... we seen it all," Meifeng said. "From the start, to the very end, I guess... Glad to have made it out of there alive." That was all Meifeng was going to say. She didn't want to stir up anything for the others... or herself if she had to be honest.
Scratching at his jawline, Quentin kept quiet. Talking about what happened in Verthaven to those who weren't there was difficult, sometimes. It was hard to empathize with someone who had no idea what kind of losses there'd been, the rows and rows of body bags lined up in the aftermath of the disaster, the bastards who'd slipped through the cracks in the chaos... fuck it. This evening, he'd enjoy himself with the others at the range and save the pessimism for another night.
Shizuka also chose to stay silent - he had already paid his tribute with the Barrett just now, and he didn't want those memories to be brought up again here.
"I was there, too... but that's all in the past now," Cindy was quick to note, trying to calm anyone down. "Now, let's get back to our shooting - I need to practice."
Alice looked at her feet, she hadn't seen any of it, hadn't even been a police officer that long ago, let alone a RAVEN, or even a metahuman. Every one of the others who were here had experienced that horror though. She suddenly felt very isolated in the group. She tried to push the feeling away, after all, she'd been invited.
"Last to fifty buys the first round?"
"Sure. Now watch," Reed said, as eager as the others to push back the shitty feelings and make her feel welcome, before thumping the button to send the paper target downrange. Once it was a considerable distance away, he shouldered the Ithaca 37, racked it, then squeezed back on the trigger after a moment of lining up a shot. With a resonant boom that would've caused significant earache to anyone foolish enough not to wear hearing protection, the birdshot punched through the target without a problem, leaving it peppered holes. Reed cracked a smirk at that, then decided he'd have a little fun - racking it again, he squeezed back on the trigger, only this time he kept racking it without pause, emptying shell after shell with each slamfire. Not always helpful in the field, but boy was it a change from the slow pace of some shotguns. He flashed a grin after that.
"Smartass." Quentin muttered, before deciding he'd show his little brother up on this one. "Say Reed, grab another target and load up. Let's see who can empty these things out first." As he expected, the younger of the two Taylors quickly took up the challenge and started rigging up another target whilst the elder did the same, then the both of them started loading up again. "Someone count down from three?" Quentin asked.
Waving a hand in the air, Alice fished around inside her jacket, "Wait wait, got it," she produced a scrap of tissue, waving it elaborately, like a flag.
"On your marks. Three... Two... One..."
Cindy made sure that her protective earmuffs were on.
She let the tissue fall, "Race!"
Both of the Taylors fired almost simultaneously, both racking their weapons at the same time. Reed looked set to have the advantage, being able to slamfire the Ithaca, yet it was Quentin who could rack the pump action at a faster rate, almost negating the ability to slamfire it. As ejected shells hit the ground, both paper targets were practically shredded to pieces by the incoming lead pellets, yet in the end it was Quentin who won the race, if only by a narrow margin. Thing was, being able to slamfire was nice and all, except being strong enough to rack the pump action at such a rate as he did was even better. "C'mon, who else saw that?" He asked, to the watching crowd, as Reed looked on with a less than impressed look across his face.
"Awwwwwww, yeah!" Meifeng said excitedly, after the raging booms of each of the weapons had subsided, of course. Hopping up, "That's what I was talking about when I asked for the fancy shit."
Shizuka let out an approving whistle. "That's the ace of aces for you."
Cindy had to adjust her glasses a little bit, and take a double take. "Yeah, that was pretty badass... I hate to be on the receivin' end of that." She started laughing as she walked up to one of the booths. She thought that was badass, but she had to practice a little herself. She wasn't a RAVEN, or a former member of the Police... she was Cindy. And she feared that wasn't good enough.
Wait... Cindy knew she was having fun, letting off steam, but perhaps it was time they got down to business. What Cindy wanted to know was what Meifeng found in Singapore. "Guys, I hate to rain on the parade... but, I really think we should discuss what Meifeng found in Singapore," Cindy said.
Meifeng peered over towards Alice, and leaned in Cindy's ear, and asked, "Can we trust her?"
"Far as I can tell, yes." Cindy said. "The Founding Family is common knowledge in the agency at this point."
Well, that was good enough for Meifeng, but there was something she had to ask. Looking dead at Alice, Meifeng had to ask...
"...Hey, are you evil?"
Alice froze, looking guilty for a moment before raising a hand, clenched into a fist, to chin height. Then she extended her little finger.
"Just messing..."
She laughed, dropping her hand and waving away the proposition.
"Anyways, I was staking out that shipping company that Dr. Cross told you about for months, gathering information, and waiting for the right time to strike," Meifeng started her explanation, gently leaning her shotgun up against the stall. She herself leaned up right besides it and crossed her arms. "Just a few days ago, I finally snuck my way into one of their boats and found something mighty weird..."
She thought about how to explain it.
"Well, it was like a big glass canister of a glowing green liquid which looked awfully lot like Metahuman energy," Meifeng still wondered what the hell that was. It could have been superpower-infused anal lube for all she knows. She wished that there was some way to bring it, but oh well. "Those things were big as my torso, so there was no way in hell I could bring it back - but, I also found something else super suspect."
She put two hands up like she was holding a box in the air.
"This metal case, inside a metal box," Meifeng said. "I didn't know what it was, but it's the only thing I could bring back. I still have no idea of what's inside of it. Because, when I was getting the hell out of there, this giant dude just came out of fuckin' no where and tried to fucking murder me. Like it was the most random bullshit ever. He looked like a God damn cyborg because he had all this metal shit, and even pulled out a fuckin' chainsaw... I swore I saw the Black Hound's symbol on him..."
Meifeng reached into her pocket.
"...Actually, some kids caught it on their phones and put it on YouTube."
"Wait, wait, hold up, where is the case now?" Cindy had to stop Meifeng.
"In my locker," Meifeng said. "Are we going to watch me get my ass kicked or what."
"Both, actually." Shizuka smirked at Meifeng. "Besides, it's a good opportunity for you guys to fill me in with all the Black Hound dramas I'd missed while I was away."
"Well, what do you know so far?" Cindy asked him. "Because he's been raising hell in Britain lately."
"The assassination of Penelope Walker?" Shizuka frowned. That incident made quite an uproar even as far as Asia - stocks fell drastically, adding even more pressure on the government of the Asian countries trying to stabilize their respective economic market on top of the rising tension against Metahumans. Until it reached the breaking point - the devastating riot during the Asia-Pacific Metahuman Conference held in Taipei a few weeks ago. "...That also caused some hell in Asia."
"Yeah," Cindy said... that's definitely been making waves everywhere. But who hadn't heard of it. "Alright, here's what we know. The Black Hound definitely works for the Founding Family... we just don't know who the hell he is due to being really good at, you know, hiding it," Cindy was quick to explain. "We know that he's been taking out politicians that oppose the political party we know that the Founding Family controls, and they haven't been able to stop him."
"But, since that, he tried to kill Deborah in Havenfield, and oddly failed," Cindy said. "But, his little army... The Intimidation Unit attacked the Festival, and shot up the place. Civilian casualties were minimal because they were apparently under orders not to hurt people... as for RAVEN, that's a whole another discussion. All while the Black Hound went for Deborah, some tourist got in the middle of it, then took a bullet - but Quentin was able to hold him off and buy me some time to get the guy to safety, and scare the Black Hound off."
Cindy shrugged.
"Everything else, you should know. We arrested and interrogated some of the Intimidation Unit, but we haven't gotten any solid leads yet."
Shizuka let Cindy's words sink into his mind. He was starting to make some sense of the Havenfield attack a few days ago - from the way Deborah had interrogated London, he felt that the DOVE Head probably had some sort of plans of her own with regards to all this Founding bullshit. Even with her powers, he didn't think she was someone who would take such risk without any plans.
Still... "It's really weird for him to screw up so badly this time - completely opposite of the UK scenario," he agreed with Cindy. "Even if he's trying to give us a 'false sense of security', as Quent puts it, something just feels... off to me."
He ran a hand through his hair. The Hound missed his chance and Deborah was safe. Casualties were minimal and his little army was offered willingly to them with more information on the Founding Family.
...It was too perfect.
"Agreed." Quentin was inclined to agree with the both of them. If not to lull them into a false sense of security, then what? Whatever the masked bastard and his employers had in mind, he refused to take it as a good sign.
Reed, on the other hand, kept quiet about it. There was too much involved to make an immediate conclusion, not enough evidence or pieces of the puzzle pulled together. Best to wait a little while, he decided.
Meifeng just shrugged.
"...Everyone has some ulterior motive these days, or everything's gotta be a giant conspiracy," Meifeng said with total honesty. "Only problem is that we gotta bring an end to this before it spirals out of control... I don't know what the Founding Family is planning, or what they're capable of, but I have a feeling it's something big."
"Agreed." Cindy said.
"Now, I'm going to go grab that suitcase out my locker, just to show it to everyone," Meifeng got off the stall, and walked out the door. But, she poked her head back in to say, "Ya'll sit tight." She poked back in.
Cindy did just that, she crossed her arms and gave Meifeng some time to get her damn case.
About five minutes later, Meifeng returned with a large metal case, and slammed it on the stall that they came from. It was small, and black, and it also had a code lock that Meifeng could easily pop by breaking it. She looked between her group.
"Actually, should we open it here or go have one of the techs open it...?"
Cindy was about to go for the latter, when she thought about a very real possibility.
"Well..." Cindy trailed off. "We might as well because we have no god damn idea who's with the Founding Family, but..."
She peered over towards Shizuka.
"...Just in case, let's let Shizuka open it, shall we?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah, with his freaky phantom powers," Meifeng started laughing.
Shizuka rolled his eyes at Meifeng; he was tempted to walk through her to reach the case, but in the end he merely moved around the tall Chinese agent. Normally he would have used his ability to get a rough insight just to be safe, but this time it wasn't necessary. Not with how Meifeng had slammed the case onto the stall so carelessly.
He phased the code lock off the case and put it aside; without the lock to keep the lid shut, the case popped open to reveal its content before the anticipating group.
...And the yellow glow shined on the group.
Inside of the case were five glass syringes with black caps on. Each syringe had a glowing yellow liquid inside of them, similar to what Meifeng had found in the shipping container.
"Yooo..." Meifeng trailed off. "I get the feeling that, whatever this is, it's really bad."
"Shit..." Alice was in agreement with the Chinese agent, whatever it was, the liquid looked dangerous, somehow. And every chemical that seemed to be involved with metahuman energy possessed a strange energy, and positively radiated wrongness.
Cindy wanted to touch it, but she figured that it was best that they leave it alone. Because, they don't know what the hell it is. It could be volatile, or dangerous.
"I... don't know what this is... but I'm also not sure if we should just destroy it or not." Cindy mentioned.
"Well, we shouldn't improperly dispose of this," Meifeng said. "It could explode, or give everyone super AIDS." She chuckled a little bit.
"Yeah, you're right..." Cindy said. "How about this? A vote. What should we do with this?"
"Might be worth heading over to forensics to figure out what we're dealing with, before we do anything else." Reed cautioned against destroying it straight away. Evidence like this was too important to waste and, despite the potential volatility of this stuff, what damage could destroying it have done?
Quentin shook his head. "Are you sure? I get the feeling that we're standing on quicksand with this stuff. If those bastards got their hands on it again... fuck if I know what they'll do with it."
"...How about we find out what the hell this stuff is first and worry about the rest later?" Shizuka shrugged. He had a bad feeling about the syringes as much as the rest, but he could tell that these were extremely important to the Founding Family - so much so that they had sent someone to kill Meifeng just to get it back. "'Sides, I think we all want to know what exactly we're dealing with against F-F."
"I'm fine with finding out what it is, but..." Cindy trailed off. There was that lingering feeling that there were more moles in the agency than just London. She could just be paranoid, but she couldn't take any risks. "I'm just going to out and say it; I feel like there could be some more moles in the agency... I don't want to risk it."
"Oh!" Meifeng just got the most brilliant idea! "Stay here, I'll be right back."
Meifeng quickly ran out the room, and left everyone dumbfounded. She was gone for five minutes as she ran through the halls of the agency, and kicked the front doors of the shooting range open. She came back in, holding a tiny square device. No bigger than the tip of her thumb. She held it up in the air.
"Tracking device, bitches," Meifeng said with a playful smile. "It just popped up in my head; if the Founding Fuckers take it back; we can just tag it and get it back later - hell, it could lead us right to their doorstep."
"I have to say, that's a good idea," Cindy said... but, she had the feeling in her gut that something was going to go horribly wrong regardless. Still, she had no choice but to put up with it. "I'm going to take it to forensics now..."
Alice moved forward, "this shit creeps me out, but I'll come with you, the way things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised if the Black Hound just popped out of nowhere to take that case back. Seems just his speed."
"Why thank you." Cindy said, as she stepped over and grabbed the case. "I guess... the rest of you can do business as usual? We're kind of dead on leads right now, so I don't know. Go beat up some regular Meta-crook."
"Aye, aye, captain," Meifeng said as she saluted Cindy sarcastically. She raised her arm in the air, and stretched her midsection. "Actually, I want to check up on my mom and sister, so...."
"Yeah, yeah, I get you," Cindy said as she carried the brief case under her shoulder. There wasn't much left to say, so she bid them farewell. She turned towards Alice, and said, "Alright, let's go."
They stepped out the door.
Wendy Emily Lucker & Rowan Campbell.
Faircrest Woods, Roseview.
Not too far off from the Academy, the RV that belonged to Jessica Rosefey, parked out in an opening. The redhaired woman was leaning up against the massive vehicle, the rest of her group were on top of the RV. Waiting to see what the great big demonstration that Wendy had to show Diana.
Standing in the center of the clearing was Wendy, Rowan, and Diana. Diana was lighting a cigarette, and crossed her arms as she faced Wendy.
"Now that's out of the way," Diana stared down her sibling. "Mind showing me this trick you've been developing?"
"Oh yes!" Wendy chirped. For starters, she was glad that Diana was okay, she and her friends cleared the area when the shooting began. Second, she was dropped off by the weird taxi man back at the Academy with Rowan, so everything worked out fine for the two. Now, Wendy had something to show. After she had trained with Rowan, her ability to control electricity had be honed to a point where she could switch back. That wasn't the end of it. She had her own test subject! Wendy had practiced with Rowan with her paper manipulation because she had a theory of a technique she could do. Something that she thought that was possible for years now. She just couldn't get the partner.
Now, she pulled off the technique just yesterday.
She's so excited to show her sister her paper manipulation.
"Rowan," Wendy put out her hand. "Grab my hand so I can show her."
"Uh, wait- what?" He'd been playing the role of human guinea pig for a few days, yet he hadn't expected to be put on show. After a little hesitation, he figured that if anyone could do it and not turn him into a cardboard statue for the rest of his life, it was Wendy and at that, he reached out to reluctantly grasp her hand.
"Just trust me. Nothing will happen to you." Wendy said in response to his hesitation. Okay, maybe they only known each other for a few months, but Wendy wouldn't have let anything happen to Rowan. When he grabbed her hand, she concentrated. Just as we practiced. The girl thought to herself as she became paper. Slips of paper quickly started to come off her being, but that wasn't all. She extended her ability over to Rowan, and he too became one with the paper. Before long, the two of them were completely turned into paper. Just a beautiful storm of paper slips that flowed like the wind.
Rowan should've been able to see everything the way Wendy does... through the eyes of paper. She sometimes wonders how this power works. How a girl can turn from flesh to paper. It was a mystery to Wendy, but was it one she wanted solved? Truly, not. She just wanted to experience the freedom of flight, and being paper, and finally being able to extend that to Rowan.
Never had he felt so... free. It was hard to describe the sensations that he experienced. He was split into over a dozen pieces and knew what it was to be able to fly, to the point that it was only through Wendy's influence that he didn't completely wander off. To say that it was overwhelming would've been an understatement - it was as if his perspective and being had been flipped. For a moment, he knew something different, blissful.
Though, it wasn't long before Wendy began to run out of breath. She was forced to turn back into flesh. The paper was assembled back into the shape of Rowan and Wendy. It was quick, and eventually, the two were completely human again. They were in the same position as they were when they started, holding hands. Wendy was pleased with the results, but she couldn't feel a little bit of concern....
Rowan stumbled forward as his legs started bearing the full weight of his body again, disoriented at the sudden transition. He'd not gotten quite used to the feeling of gravity resuming its hold and the experience of being split into dozens of pieces, then reformed was overwhelming.
"... Rowan!" Wendy asked as she ran over to him. She put her hand on his head, and then quickly examined his face. She then looked at the rest of him. "Are you okay? Is any part of you missing?"
"Well, I think I saw a paper dick fly off in the breeze," Diana chuckled, taking steps towards the two.
"Oh no!" Wendy said, as she turned into paper yet again. "I'll go get-"
She was stopped by Diana putting her hand on her shoulder.
"I was just playing, Wen," Diana laughed.
"Oh." Wendy was embarrassed. She scratched the back of her neck. She overreacted. "Okay."
"But, you figured out a way to turn other people into paper?" Diana asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's funny, you copied the power from me, but yet you figure out more and more cool shit by the second," Diana said, honestly amazed. Her sister was certainly something else. She was the one who figured out how to turn weightless, control ink, and more, she was wondering what else she'll find out from Wendy. "Damn. You should show me how to do that."
"Yeah, sure," Wendy said. "I just figured I'd show you."
Rowan blinked a few times, before finally speaking up. "I'm okay." His answer was late, but it was there. It'd left him with a yearning to fly again, strange as it sounded. "Paper dick?!" He asked, this time with a hint of alarm, before a quick check over of himself indicated that he was all in one piece. More or less.
Both Wendy and Diana started laughing.
"Well, what's next?" Diana asked. "You said that you had something else to surprise me." She had to grin.
"Oh yeah," Wendy grabbed onto Rowan's arm. "Rowan, we also gotta show her what you can do - show her your masterpiece I helped make."
She winked at Rowan.
He got the cue pretty quickly. "You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Wendy said. The rest of Diana's friends started to approach them. That just made Wendy's grin grow even wider. "You guys will be the first to see it, I haven't even taken pictures of it, yet."
"Alright, up this way." Rowan gestured, taking a few steps towards the edge of the opening in the woods where the RV had been parked. It wouldn't have gotten past the perimeter fence at the resort, so walking was their best bet.
And so, before long, when they reached the edge of the "border" for the Eastgriffin Ruins they came across the aforementioned fence. Walking along it, the group soon came across a point where the metal had clearly been warped at an earlier point - a little "easy access" Rowan had opened up for Wendy's sake after numerous complaints of sore, callused hands at scaling the fence. "Under here." Rowan said, before tightening his fingers and waving upwards, pulling open a space big enough for them to duck under.
"Alright," Wendy stepped through the opening in the fence, and felt relieved that, for once, she doesn't have to paper her way around it, or climb it. She stood on the other side, looking over her shoulder as she waited for the rest of them to go on through.
"I hope your masterpiece isn't radiation poisoning," Diana said as she crawled through the opening. "Because it looks like we're about to walk into Chernobyl..."
"Hey, now," Jessica said with a cheerful smile as she went through the opening. "This place looks amazing, we should give it a full look later!"
The rain clouds above them began to pour down a steady stream of rain.
"... Eh, when it stops raining, of course," Jessica said.
"Let's go."
... They weren't the only people taking the path after all. A tall figure followed a close path behind them, and took a step in some mud. Leaving a visible footprint... He looked down, and groaned. His black armor, and glowing red eyes signaled that he was the terror known as the Black Hound. He stood there for a moment, before he followed behind them.
What was he aiming for?
The group followed along the same path that Rowan had lead Wendy, the first time she'd been here. He found that it was still peaceful as before, yet there was something strange to him about so many people being here it once. Not that it mattered, he sped up a little, hoping to get them out of the rain a little sooner.
Before long, they were outside the hotel that had once been the heart of the Eastgriffin Resort. With the sign bearing its illuminated name having been stripped for scrap electronics long ago, the facade had been left bare by the years, with vines and weeds having slowly begun creeping their way up across any surface that they could find. Windows were dotted across, some with glass, others without, but each a black pit which led into the unlit depths of the building.
That wasn't what caught their eye though, but rather what had been recently stencilled and painted across the lower facade, stretching several metres high. It was a depiction of a great phoenix rising from a pile of ashes at the bottom, only to transform into a hooded figure with light pulsing from their silhouette. At either side, neanderthalic men stood at either side chanting slurs and fighting downtrodden figures with metahuman abilities and masked gunmen pointed their weapons at the hooded figure. Then one could see the puppet strings that were drawn connected to all but the phoenix, leading up into several of the open windows across the first floor. Days of work had gone into it, but it had been worth it.
A pleased grin had formed on Wendy's face. Because she had a part in this! This had everything. It had style. It had a message. It had soul. All things that make art, art. Wendy had already taken her camera out when she was approaching. Now that they were showing it to people... it was social media ready! Wendy had snapped a quick picture of it.
"It looks better than the first time I've seen it!" Wendy said, passionate as always.
A smile had formed on Diana's face as she looked at it.
"It's certainly something," She said. "Did you do all of this? Or was it Rowan there?"
"Oh, I just laid out the stencils, Rowan did everything else," Wendy answered.
"Wait c'mon, you did as much work as me." He argued, of the consensus that she had given herself too little credit. "You gave me ideas."
"Well, I just watched... mostly..." Wendy said, twirling her fingers around nervously, until Diana put a hand on her shoulder.
"C'mon, Wen," Diana said. "This is badass... Even if you laid the groundwork, that's still great and all..."
The whole examination of the mural was cut painfully, painfully, short by a canister being quickly shot into the center of the group. It sprayed a red gas that Wendy was familiar with from the festival. Her eyes opened wide, as she quickly realized something was going horribly wrong. "Run!"
Rowan recognised the gas also and didn't even waste his breath to shout anything, instead bolting in the same direction as the others. Memories of the festival were echoing already.
Another canister was launched into the group as they all desperately tried to get away.
Kai, who was caught with one of the canisters in her face had no choice; she transformed. The area got really cold, almost like they stepped into a freezer. Her skin turned transparent and clear - almost like a statue made in her image - with her organs visible. She covered her mouth, and grew ice off her body to act as a shield. From the gas, and whatever else may be heading their way.
"Shit, shit, this way!" Rowan shouted to the others, gesturing to a detour around the side of the hotel, down an alley which would've lead to an escape...
... However, they were met with the glowing red eyes, and the intimidating armor donned with the snarling emblem of a dog. He stepped towards them, and they had no other option but to stop. He held a grenade launcher in his hand. He extended his free hand.
"Come with me..." The Black Hound said. "... Or I will commence hostilities."
Wendy was terrified, frozen in place with her jaw slacked open. What did the God damn Black Hound want with them? They were just a bunch of kids. No one knew the motives of such a large and dangerous man.
Rowan was in danger of locking up again, heart pounding, fingers trembling, almost forgetting what he could do and did at the festival a few days ago. But the sight of Wendy freezing up was salt poured into an old wound and he somehow found the courage to shout at the Hound. "L-... Leave us alone!"
The scanner in the Black Hound's helmet focused on Rowan's face, and gave information on him.
ROWAN CAMPBELL.
Academy 61 Student. Killed father in fit. Elemental: Energy. Specializing in electromagnetism.
Threat Level: High.
He was only a threat to the Black Hound in terms of raw power... there was no way this child could stand up against the might of the Founding Family's most dangerous enforcer. However, if he got cocky, he'd be dead in an instant. The Black Hound was eerily silent, as he leveled the grenade launcher towards Rowan's face, and fired a canister of the gas at him.... Merely as a test of his ability.
Charlie went off the edge, after the conversation with Zhao he couldn't control himself. He began debating whether he should start slinging drugs, or just work things out through a party binge. Either way that long and dark journey began with him seeing his old dealer. They were the same age but his dealer hasn't been a kid since he was 14. As the years went on he got involved deeper and deeper in the drug rings and slowly lost his morality.
Charlie knocked on the door of hotel room number 401, it opened and he stepped in. He saw his old friend Michael. He sat on the couch in the back of the room smirking as disgruntled Charlie entered.
"Long time no see brother." Michael said as he looked Charlie up and down. "You filled out a bit, thought you got out, why you back?"
"Desperate times." Charlie said with a nervous laugh, his nerves were on end. He didn't know whether to trust his senses or not but this room felt the same way that alley did.
"Yeah, desperate times." Michael lit up a cigarette and gestured Charlie to sit across from him in a wood chair. "Listen man, you really fucked with the wrong motherfuckers. I'm sorry."
Charlie would receive a psychic warning... a powerful one.
Someone kicked down the door so hard that it went flying until it hit the wall. The towering frame of the monstrous Founding Family warrior stepped in - the same one that went on a rampage trying to kill Meifeng, and went viral. Seven feet tall, arm covered in hideous lesions, and had on a metal mask that had a wide grin. Unlike his earlier appearance, he didn't have a hint of metal infused with him. Instead, he had a machete that was obviously put together by himself. It was long, and brutal.
He turned towards Charlie and Michael and lunged towards them with his hand outstretched.
Charlie tumbled out of the chair and backed against the wall.
"What the fuck michael!" He shouted as he watched the man walk casually out of the room. Charlie watched the behemoth of a man regain his balance. He readied for a fight, though it probably wouldn't end in his favor.
The brute merely laughed. He moved towards Charlie, swinging his arm towards him using all of his brutal strength.
He knocked straight through Charlie's block forcing him off of his feet into the cheap drywall. The man picked up Charlie by the throat and tossed him across the room through the wooden chair. Charlie laid there in excruciating pain, his previous wounds still sore. He pushed himself up and just before the man could pick him up by the back of his shirt Charlie swiped up a broken piece of the chair.
Which didn't intimidate the man even in the slightest. He opened up his palm for one big slap to Charlie's chest, and swung it hard as he could. There was little the boy could do to even block it.
It surely broke a few ribs and it sent him back towards the ground, Charlie was able to slash at the man's leg as it hit but it was doubtful the slash did any real damage. Charlie has no breath and was seeing stars at this point as he lay there waiting for the next blow.
However, instead of taking Charlie out, the brute merely bent forward and grabbed Charlie by the neck. It looked like he was about to kill him for a moment, before he threw the boy over his shoulder, and pressed his earpiece. His voice was distorted, and warbled as he said,
"Za-neeeeeeth..."
A blue swirling portal opened up in front of the brute, and before he stepped in, he heard the voice of the Foundation Woman.
"Good work, Bonecrusher," The Foundation Woman said, "That drug dealer was useful after all, the boy will be more useful than him in the long run."
Nodding his head, Bonecrusher stepped into the portal....
Old Raygate, Prince Ed-Field, An Abandoned Warehouse
Sam slipped in through the loading docks, carefully replacing the lock on the side door before taking stock of the interior. The lights were still off, which meant no intruders...she hoped. Her camera baffler served in this environment, not to conceal her identity, but to light her way. She shed her hood, arranging the rim around her neck like a mantle, and killed the brightness on her phone. With a penlight, shielded against external view by her messenger bag, she briefly worked to reconnect the camera. She held the phone in landscape orientation, across her field of vision, and let the infrared LEDs in her hood light the way for her. It wasn't as easy as a flashlight, but she wouldn't be detected by eye.
Havenfield market had been attacked. The thought of it plagued her as she picked her way through broken machinery and discarded inventory. Full-fledged, broad-daylight, honest-to-god terrorist attack. On civilians, no less. Naturally, the first reports were confused and failed to let slip any information of substance, but now that they were being allowed to cover the incident, Sam knew enough to come to the conclusion that her base of operations might be compromised. She had come here to collect what little she had, and could carry, knowing the place was burned and that she probably wouldn't be able to come back.
"I hate finding a new place," she grumbled internally. It wasn't just obstinacy and sloth that brought about this feeling; it was scouting locations, searching for surveillance and security which might still be in place, and it was trying to secure the location without drawing attention to her activities. Abandoned warehouses were perfect for that purpose, but Baybridge hadn't been gracious enough to provide many areas in which they were available. It would have to be an abandoned subway tunnel, or an off-the-books basement and some under-the-table cash. Sam shuddered at that last thought.
"Yeah, like I wanna trust some local spare to keep my secrets..."
She had just finished her sweep when her phone vibrated. One eyebrow climbed as she flicked on the interior lighting and disconnected the phone's camera again. Who would be sending her messages now? Another would-be terrorist looking to shoot up...what...a bake sale this time? A Bingo hall? Ah, Sam knew what it was; it was a rock concert. That had to be it. Bon Jovi was returning to the stage, after all these years, and they'd picked Baybridge, of all places, to make their comeback. The Hollywood-style miniature explosions of gunfire ripped apart the stands in her mini-fantasy before her conscious mind decided to remind her of more pressing matters.
Got another for you Upgrade, some chick with a locked briefcase, wants it open asap with no questions asked. You good for it?
Sam's brow furrowed. Part of it was confusion. Her services were not exactly on-par with international spies, or the crack team of experts working tirelessly to prevent intrusions into the servers at the Pentagon, but she did a bit more than the occasional smash-and-grab. A locked briefcase was not standard fare. Part of it was annoyance. Here she was, collecting her bugout bag, convinced that the attack on Havenfield Market would be blamed at least in part on her, and she had been comparatively reduced to the importance of a set of lockpicks. But all of that got pushed to the back of her mind, leaving just one thought echoing. If it was important enough to require black market connections, even at her low level, there was more to it than a locked briefcase.
She whispered "fuck it" under her breath and began typing her response.
Acknowledged. DD at delta. Standard fee, plus expenses. Blue and red not invited.
Ellen had lucked out, seriously lucked out, in as much as she deserved some good luck after what had happened. She'd tried to be sparing with the serum Mannequin had given her, but it had been difficult. It gave her a freedom she'd craved for so long. She wasn't totally free of her ability, but even the small semblance of control she had now was enough to turn her view on life around. She'd even fought in the Academy sparring sessions, which she'd usually avoided before meeting him. Then she'd gone and fucked it up. She wasn't even sure what had happened, something about this weeks ability, a timer set in the case, she didn't know, it hadn't let her back in, and then it had announced a fail-safe lock, with only a master code opening it again. She'd tried to break her way in, but her current power wasn't conducive to slicing it open, at least not without breaking the precious vials inside. So she'd gone online, trawled the forums for someone who could open it up for her, and on the dark web, she'd found them. Well, at least someone who said they could find out for her. Now she was sat awkwardly on a bench, the case cradled awkwardly on her lap, waiting for him to come back with an answer. He'd said it would be quick, but it felt like she had already waited a lifetime, and she was ready to cut and run, regardless of the money she had already paid him.
Her phone registered a new message. That had been quick. There must have been at least some form of real-time communication between Ellen's contact and the heretofore un-named third party. It was all very cloak-and-dagger, which was in itself worrisome, but one did what one needed in cases like this. Had it been an insulin syringe, it could have been replaced at a drug store. This was slightly more complicated, and required a light touch.
Green light for Jade Dragon delivery. No crashers. Will reply when finished.
How very cryptic of them. A "delivery" could be anything from a bag of drugs to a box of new crab crackers. There could be plausible deniability if anyone discovered what she was doing. At least she could claim somebody had paid her to deliver the case, if the cops got involved. For once, paranoia seemed to protect the client equally well.
The Jade Dragon buffet was a run-down Chinese place a few blocks from the border of New Raygate. Rumors about the kind of thing that went on there were rampant, but no one ever seemed able to prove anything illegal was happening on the premises. The cops would raid it, now and then, but the family-owned business always failed to turn up evidence of any crimes. The occasional customer got caught carrying, or holding an ounce or two, but that couldn't be linked to the owners. It was almost as if somebody were warning them in advance. That, or the place was actually clean. Yeah, right.
The man had insisted on money up front, and she'd paid him without asking questions, she probably could have paid less, but she was too worried about getting back into the case to quibble over cost. It didn't take long to get a response, she'd expected to have to wait a while at least, but obviously whoever this Upgrade was, they were quick on the uptake. He'd come back and given her instructions for what to do, she'd argued briefly.
"I'm not just leaving it there!"
He'd shrugged, "up to you, that's the deal, take it or leave it."
He looked like he couldn't care less about it, and, pocketing his fresh earnings, he wandered off down the street as though nothing had happened. She stayed sat for a moment, then stood and headed off in the opposite direction, towards the Jade Dragon. It wasn't far, perhaps a five minute walk, although her 'contact's' directions had been far from clear. It ended up taking her ten minutes as she got lost multiple times on the way.
A few twists and turns brought Ellen to the correct street, if a bit late. The Jade Dragon sat nestled between a shady-looking tattoo parlor and a marijuana dispensary; not exactly a location which inspired the greatest confidence or respect. A trio of unfriendly-looking Asians loitered near the entrance, clad in suspicious clothing, even if no provable gang affiliation leapt immediately to mind. Aside of the occasional beggar, the rest of the street appeared barren; lined with abandoned shops and disused apartments. As she approached, a particularly nervous-looking man bobbed his head dutifully to the three as he headed for the door. They did not return the gesture, but their eyes followed him in before they returned to their intermittent conversation. Their cautious tone mattered little to anyone who did not speak Chinese, however.
The restaurant itself made incredible economy on the small space it had to work with. It looked to be about a thousand square feet, if that; likely seating less than forty patrons at a time. It was divided down the middle by a cracked, faded wood partition, topped with what must have once been a very nice frosted glass pane. Some of the designs were still visible, even if scratched and abraded beyond positive identification. The walls still bore some of the original decorations; war fans, framed symbols of popular Chinese proverbs, artwork of the homeland, and other curiosities. It looked like they hadn't been dusted in years. The entrance opened into a small welcoming area, featuring uncomfortable benches -which sported plenty of holes, tears and rips- magazines and pamphlets from about a decade ago, and a fish tank completely devoid of any actual living things. The register sat at the back of this area, restricting access to the restaurant to a small point of entry to the left of the counter, above which guests could get a look at the day's specials and some of the standard menu items while waiting to be seated. Past the counter, the partition ended, opening up the floor to modest, round wooden tables and chairs, booths lining the walls. On the opposite side of the partition, the buffet actually made a complete circuit around the wall, creating a u-shaped line of heated and cold stations, drink dispensers, and the like. A few tables had been negotiated into this area, between the two arms of the "u", almost choking the flow of traffic during peak hours...but peak hours seemed like a rare hope. The place was dingy, dimly lit, and had the distinct feeling of the place you'd visit for business, rather than pleasure.
At least the staff were friendly. A little too friendly, actually. The hostess had the sort of saccharine sweetness which begged to be mistaken for two-faced malice, but offered no solid proof of an ulterior motive. She looked like a spider welcoming new flies to her web.
"Welcome! Welcome!" The hostess grinned. That was way too many teeth for this part of town. "How many today?"
Ellen was a little taken aback by the sickly sweetness of the hostess' honeyed tones, and the enthusiasm with which she had been approached in what was, by all accounts, a fairly depressing looking institution. This subterfuge and espionage wasn't quite what she had expected, but this certainly looked like the right kind of place for it, she could imagine super spies from the movies meeting in a place that looked a little like this. She wouldn't have been all that surprised if the Jade Dragon buffet had been the inspiration for half of those scenes. The men outside had glared at her as she entered, but made no hostile movements. Maybe it was the heavy metal briefcase. It hardly seemed the right accessory for a sixteen year old, maybe they thought she worked for a drug dealer or something. This looked like the right kind of place for a shady deal, which she guessed she was involved in now. She was concentrating hard on being noticeable, not conspicuous, simply being visible to anyone who wasn't aware of who they were looking for.
She realised she hadn't responded to the hostess, the woman had frozen as though paused, clearly waiting for a response, "uh... just me... I'm here for a delivery..."
The woman's smile unfroze and she suddenly animated again, like a cheap toy with the batteries replaced.
"Ah right this way, I have the perfect table for you."
She led Ellen further into the restaurant, sitting the uncomfortable teen at a small table towards the back, out of sight of the front window and placed immediately to the left of a door that appeared to lead to the kitchen. The appearance of a portly man with a steaming tray of food only confirmed this assumption. She placed the case between her feet, wrapping her legs tight about it, and looked around, looking for the mysterious 'Upgrade'. There was a bespectacled Chinese man who glanced curiously in her direction over a cup of tea. She realised that his look was directed at her chest and not the case between her feet however, and immediately looked away, focusing hard on not fading out of visibility.
"Your green tea."
The hostess had reappeared with a small teapot and cup.
"What, I didn't..."
But the woman had already bustled back to the front of the shop, leaving Ellen with the teapot, the cup, and a bill.
The bill was a lot higher than any cup of tea could possibly be worth, and she recalled her instructions, leave the money and the case. She pulled out a thick envelope, containing a sizeable portion of her savings, and slipped it under the teacup, then stood up, moving towards the door of the restaurant. As she did Ellen felt herself begin to fade out of focus, not disappearing from vision, simply from the foreground. The man who was now staring at her butt suddenly lost interest, as though he had been staring into space all along, while the hostess simply ignored her entirely. She moved back into the restaurant, settling into a shadowy booth even more out of sight. She could see the table from here, and the abandoned case.
Sam finished fastening the buckles on her bugout bag, satisfied that everything was still in place, and still good. She had rations, supplies, a little water, but most importantly, she had some of her most often-used tools and equipment, plus the materials for a few more jobs down the road. There were also a few surprises for would-be muggers installed within the framework of the bag itself, like her messenger bag. When that memory touched her thoughts, it forced a smile to her lips which could only be described as malicious joy.
She stood, hoisting the bag over one shoulder, and made one final check of the factory floor before taking the lift down from the balcony. The foreman's office had been her office for the last year or so, and she had definitely made her mark. That mark would have to be erased. It was a bittersweet time for Sam, who wished to stay, but wished even more potently to remain free. She muttered a sequence of words into one of her burn phones, which connected wirelessly to the factory's power control system and began a countdown. She tried to ignore her moistening eyes as the door clanged shut behind her.
As she made her way along the side streets and alleys, a thin piece of highly conductive foil dropped into place, bridging the contacts of the main power transformer. Its conductivity and material composition produced a stable arc, vaporizing the metal, and all evidence of the reason for the electrical fire along with it. She would be long gone by the time emergency crews responded to the blaze, and would have plausible deniability against accusations of arson due to her absence from the scene.
The Jade Dragon slowly crept into Sam's field of vision. She could not figure out whether to smile, smirk, frown or scowl. The place definitely had memories for her, and not all of them positive. She'd been well-compensated for many of her jobs, stiffed for some, outright threatened by some of the locals who decided she was infringing on their turf...it had been a rocky couple of years. But she was established; that was what mattered. The local family had allowed her into their home, which meant that they respected her; at least, on some level.
The three thugs at the entrance acknowledged her as she approached, but it wasn't the same quasi-threatening leer they seemed to give others. It was familiar, yet with a detachment which suggested not subordination, but...some level of caution, perhaps. They were not small men, in terms of physical ability; it wouldn't have been fear. There was something else.
"Hey, guys." Sam grunted, breezing past them. "Miss me?" As the door closed, one of the men muttered something in Chinese. It sounded...impolite.
Inside, the hostess pretended not to know why Sam was there. She acknowledged, instead, a visit from one of their regular customers, and asked if she would like her usual seat. Sam simply nodded and followed the woman into the back, amusing herself yet again with the absurd concept that this woman was not a woman at all, but a sophisticated android made for the food service industry. It had been her favorite internal insult for the fake persona she commonly employed. It was like talking to a character comedian...who never broke character.
"Groucho Marx," Sam thought to herself. "She's Groucho Marx, but without the mustache. And the cigar."
The noise of the kitchen broke her out of it, and her senses returned to her in full force. She smelled fresh orange chicken, which made her wrinkle her nose. It always overpowered everything else, unless you had your nose right over what you wanted to smell, and the flavor was far too intense. Besides...it had been like putting marmalade on chicken, which was just unnatural. Her eyes darted to the buffet and slid down the left bank, around the corner, and along the opposite wall. There were five empty trays, seven which registered about half full, and at least three which needed to be thrown out. They were also out of chopsticks. The staff were clearly busy with metal tools, but there was no sizzling at the moment, which meant a prep cycle.
"No special orders for a half hour, then." Sam noted.
There were a couple of patrons, but nothing notable about them. Mr. Ogawa was here again, which meant another meal spent trying not to notice him undressing her with his eyes. Sam felt grateful for her small chest size; it meant only the hardcore perverts took the time to notice her that way, which really filtered down the list. She felt her backside touch a hard wooden surface and suddenly came back to reality again.
In her booth, Ellen perked up as someone was led to the table she had previously occupied. It was a slim girl, perhaps a little taller than Ellen, but about the same age. A girl, really?
"Any tea or drinks?" The hostess inquired.
"House tea." Sam replied automatically. She took a menu and buried her face in it. No conversation today.
Her foot bumped something hard, and she surreptitiously traced its outline with the side of her boot. There was no tactile feedback through the thick leather, but she could detect resistance in her leg muscles. That meant it was heavy, hard to tip over. This had to be the drop. Without allowing her balance to shift, she did her best to slide the case between her feet, keeping it secure from theft.
The hostess returned with her tea, and carefully poured for her. Typically, the job would have been done by a waitress, but the place hadn't exactly been bustling. She had the time, and was obviously pulling double duty. Sam wagered they'd even had her doing some kitchen work at some point.
"Probably dishes," she decided. "Sucks to be her."
"Have you decided?"
"Shit," Sam inwardly cursed her wandering attention. "Um...No. 16, I guess. Haven't had it in a while. Bring a go box?"
"As you wish."
The meal was brief. Sam just nibbled at it, really. It had all the appearance of someone trying to maintain an appearance. It was as if the food had been ordered as a way to throw off suspicion of her true purpose at the restaurant. She picked at it for a few minutes, then boxed it up herself. One of the compartments on her bugout bag had been set aside for hard storage. She flipped open the flap, hinged the lid on the metal box inside, and packed away her leftovers. Before securing the flap, she clicked on the miniature refrigeration device and checked its battery. It would be good for at least six hours.
Ellen was growing impatient, she was sure that the strange teenager had noticed the metal case beneath the table, yet she had done nothing. At least the hostess hadn't noticed her presence in the shadows of the booth. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed as if the girl had ordered food, Ellen was beginning to feel restless, and was wishing she'd developed some ability other than the talent to fade into the background. Did she know she was here? She glanced around, her lazy, hooded eyes scanning the other patrons. Even the man who had been staring at her chest earlier was looking elsewhere, at the girl it seemed. It wasn't as if they were the only two females in here, the pervert obviously just had younger tastes. No, no one was even glancing in her direction. She resisted the urge to move from where she was, and stared at the girl instead.
Was she really 'Upgrade'? Maybe she just worked for him, surely it couldn't just be some kid who looked like they lived out of a subway tunnel. Although, Ellen considered herself and her own saviour, stranger things had happened in the world of metahumans.
As Sam finished packing up, the hostess returned with her "bill". Sam noted a negative amount and nodded, then handed the hostess a card and a slip of faded, worn paper. The hostess smiled brightly (as if there were any other way, for her), and took off to run the card. Sam checked her belongings and got up, making somewhat of a show of searching for something. She eventually "found" what she was looking for and faked a smile, then crouched and reached for the case. When she touched it, all hell broke loose.
"Ah, shi-" Sam could not even finish the words before her eyes rolled back and she slumped over. It wasn't instantaneous; she looked like she was fighting something, as if trying not to succumb to alcohol poisoning. She dragged the case a good foot, then lost her traction and hit her backside. She tried using her palm to brace herself, and dug at the ground with her heels to gain another few inches before she lost the battle.
At first, it seemed like she had just passed out, but then came the convulsions. Her arms and legs began shaking, as if from hypothermic shock, and her mouth began making shapes which almost seemed like words. Her eyes, still refusing to shut, rolled around in her head like dice.
Ellen bolted to her feet as soon as the girl collapsed. Was that the case? Some sort of fail safe security device Mannequin had left in place to ensure no one tampered with it? She swore, this was not how this was supposed to go. She'd expected to follow whoever came for the case until they took it to this 'Upgrade' but either this girl was epileptic or she was a meta, and it didn't look like an epileptic fit.
Ellen wasn't the only one in the restaurant who had reacted to the sudden event. Almost all of the customers were looking towards the jerking girl, and one of them began to push his chair out, as though to come over and help, though he looked in no hurry. Ellen swore, this place looked like somewhere you came to do 'business' the kind of business you'd rather the cops weren't involved in. Would anyone here actually give a shit about the girl or the case she had just tried to pick up? Ellen didn't care that much about the girl, but she cared a great deal about that case.
It took some time for the hostess to realize what was happening, but once she did, she barked something sharply in Chinese. It had been the pervert who started toward Sam, and he froze at the hostess' outburst. His expression did not match with a scolded customer. He carefully sat back down and averted his eyes. More barking from the hostess, through the kitchen order window, and two burly Chinese men emerged. They...did not look like cooks.
"I am so sorry," The hostess addressed the customers. "She is allergic to peanuts. We tell the cooks all the time, no peanuts, but they do not listen. We have epinephrine in the back. We will take care of her. No worries! Go back to your meals, please!"
She whispered something to the two men, as they laid hands on Sam, then forced Sam's eyelids open with a forefinger and thumb. She nodded grimly, then sent the men back.
"Like hell she's allergic," Ellen muttered to herself, edging around the side of the restaurant. She didn't have the faith in this ability to simply walk through the middle, it only really seemed to work if there was no real reason for her not to be somewhere, they'd definitely notice. The hostess had taken her money, and the girl had gone to take the case, then this had happened. No one had noticed her yet, and at that point she become overconfident, brushing a little too close to one studiously disinterested diner's table, jarring his elbow and sending his tray tumbling to the floor. She froze, but it was too late, the hostess' eyes had already fixed her in place like a rabbit in headlights. She must have an unusually sharp mind, because she could definitely see her now. The hostess said nothing, but started through the kitchen doors and made deliberate eye contact with Ellen. There was a very subtle "come" gesture as she went through.
Ellen swore, then, as she watched her salvation vanish through the kitchen door, realised she had no option but to follow.
She burst through the door after the hostess, "what the hell was that?"
"First," the hostess replied evenly. She had lost all illusion of fakery and passivity. "I need you to lower your voice. Some of these people aren't 'friends of the family'."
"Shit, shit..."
Worried though she was, Ellen still dropped her voice, although part of that was due to the sudden change in the hostess' demeanour, she seemed a lot more intimidating out of the public eye.
"What's happened to her? You aren't telling me she's really allergic to peanuts?"
"No." The hostess admitted. "That was for the customers. We have seen this happen to our friend before. There's really nothing we can do but wait for it to pass. And it will pass. Don't worry about that."
Ellen snatched the case back, clutching it to her chest like a teddy bear. "And how long does that take?"
The hostess looked back at Sam, wearing an expression of complete helplessness. "It depends."
At that moment, there was an exchange of Chinese between the two men who helped carry Sam back. They looked...not worried, but concerned. One of them took the hostess' ear for a moment, after which she fired off a couple of commands and turned back to Ellen.
"We're having company. You and Upgrade must leave now. Your deal will be honored, but we will deny all knowledge of it if you are still here when they arrive. There are still a few buildings nearby where you can hide, while this passes. One of my men will take you."
"Jesus..."
So the girl was Upgrade.
"OK OK..."
The man who was definitely not a cook slung the lanky teen over his shoulder with only a faint grunt, then led the way out the back of a restaurant into an alleyway that definitely looked like it was the scene of a crime at least twice a week. Every building along the street had been abandoned it seemed, and he didn't even think twice about striding across the road with an unconscious girl over his shoulder. Even if someone had noticed, it was doubtful they'd have said anything. Snitching in this neighborhood was bad for one's health.
Sam was slowly starting to vocalize the words that she had been silently mouthing the whole time. They seemed nonsensical at first, until Ellen picked up a few key words. Words like "failsafe", "secure code lockout", and "intrusion countermeasures". She was reciting the technical specifications of the case...word for word.
The man left, presumably in a hurry to get back to the restaurant before 'company' showed up. Ellen wondered what that was a code word for, she watched him go, then hunkered down to try and divine the meaning of the girl's mutterings.
It meant nothing to her, the case had been a gift, she didn't understand anything about it, and had only the barest of understandings of the vials contained within. She propped it up on her knees, and settled down to wait for her to wake up.
A casual examination of the interior revealed the main lobby of what used to be an apartment building. It had been gutted and stripped of any valuables long ago, presumably by crackheads and common criminals, so even the hope of electricity was a vain one. Extensive damage to the walls revealed that the copper plumbing had been stolen ages ago, and even some of the flooring had been ripped up. The place stunk of mold and the leavings of drug addicts. No sane person would want to stay here. But these were not sane conditions.
Naoki sat cross-legged on his bed, the contents in the brown envelope spilled out next to him. Yang Jun - owner of Haitang Pharmaceutics, the leading medical research company in Asia-Pacific. One of the top ten richest men in the region, with his total assets already over billions of billions - and still counting. Married; his wife a famed actress in China, and a daughter who had inherited all of her mother's good looks (they even shared an equally horrible personality, according to some rumors).
Not to mention, this guy had blood ties with one of the high-ranking personnel within the Chinese government.
No matter how seemingly successful this man might seem, like any other humans he still feared failure. No, he probably couldn't allow any flaws to preserve the perfection in his luxurious life.
Because of that very fear, this man would do anything to continue keeping up his expensive lifestyle, even if he had to resort to dirty tricks. Whether they were blackmail or assassination, he was willing to do anything he could to get and keep whatever he wanted.
Even if he had to devote himself to Polaris.
To Yang Jun, money ruled everything in the world. To hell with moral rights - money was the new power in the current era, and no one could possibly live without any money, which was what he had always believed in. The only reason why his black company could be kept off the government's corruption radar was all because of his kin within the People's Liberation Army.
However, as the Chinese saying would say: "paper could never keep the fire wrapped up forever". That was the reason why this request came - the man himself could feel it. That someone was already hot on his tails.
He finally decided to plea for help from Polaris, to use Naoki's ability to give him a hint on how he could escape the bad omen that was haunting him.
Naoki could only let out a frustrated sigh at the thought of using his foresight to save such a scumbag from the looming karma he so deserved. No matter how much he hated to do this, he knew that right now he had no power to defy the cult - not with his parents' fate in their hands.
He kicked the documents off his bed and lay down on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He then closed his eyes, pushing the dark thoughts to the back of his mind as his consciousness began to fade out, sinking into the fluid world of dreams.
Yang Jun had been briefed about the "fortune-telling in a dream" thing before this session, but he still felt weirded out. At least with Shui Xian there was her beautiful body to feast on, but dream? Something intangible, something that had no logic or form...
Even the scene before him felt too surreal for him to comprehend. He could remember that he had fallen asleep in a designated hotel room prepared by this mysterious organization that called themselves 'Polaris', and now he was trapped in this dream... but what's this feeling? Everything around him felt as if they were real: it was no different from a scene in a cafe, except that there it was empty sans the one table in the middle, flanked by two armchairs - where opposite of Yang Jun was a masked man cladded in a black longcoat.
This was pushing his understanding of Metahumans to a whole new level. People like Shui Xian, he could still figure out how her freaky powers worked (weather manipulation - that could easily put the entire Chinese agricultural economy at her mercy). But in here, nothing was real. He could bet the person sitting across him was another illusion trick - he could be those stereotypical gypsy granny, or even some otherworldly being of questionable origin, who would know that?
Even if he was the one who went to them for help, and he knew this had made him in debt to them, he still didn't like how he had absolutely no control over his current situation.
"Let me get this straight," Yang Jun decided to be the first one to break the awkward silence. "I'll only be told of my immediate future? Nothing further than that?"
"To be precise, only a hint. Nothing more," the masked man replied with a deep, digitally altered voice. He clasped his gloved hands together, placing them on the table. "That is what you have agreed on prior to this meeting."
Still, Yang Jun just had to try his luck. "I'm really hoping that---"
The masked man raised a hand to silence him. "My job here is to fulfill your request within the terms that have already been established beforehand. Now, shall we begin the session? Whenever you are ready."
"...No room to bargain? At all?"
"Even the underworld has their own rules, Mr. Yang," Yang Jun could feel a chill running down his spine as the masked man spoke. "And they are the kind of rules you definitely don't want to mess around with."
"...V-Very well then. Let's do this."
The "fortune-telling" session was already over hours ago, but the agonizing headache simply refuse to subdue - instead, the pain was spreading down his neck, his arms, his back... torturing his senses mercilessly. Naoki remained curled up on his bed and clutched his head, his breathing harsh and erratic as he tried to fight down the pain.
The vision he saw in that man... the very thought of it made him feel nauseous all over again.
A black dragon tattoo just like his own. The sound of gunshot. And a cryptic line: "...It's too much for your own good."
Yang Jun was destined to die in five days.
... ...
Dragon's breath Leaves rustling in the wind And never looked back
Rowan stood there, half-frozen in fear in the wake of the Black Hound's sudden arrival, when the canister was fired off at him. Instinct must've kicked in at this point, because before it could touch him he flinched with his arm, freezing it mid-air, then quickly threw it back when he realized what it was. Wendy was still stood there behind him, though, and to her he simply yelled.
"... Run!"
And that's what Wendy and the others did. They all turned tail and started running. Diana had a different idea, she turned into paper, and practically flew into one of the open windows up top. She was going to call for some help.
Everything was going as expected. The canister exploded in the Black Hound's face, and, because of that mask of his, didn't do anything to him. It merely was a minor annoyance. He now knew that Rowan would simply just deflect the canisters, which means he'll have to think outside the box here. The kids were getting away, and the last thing he wanted was for someone to crawl off and contact DOVE. Fortunately he planned in advance. The Black Hound reached into his vest, and pulled out a large device that had many buttons, a counter on the front that apparently detected radio waves, and an antennae on top. He turned the dial a little bit, and a hoarse sound came from the machine as it began to jam all cellphone and electromagnetic-based communication. That would make it impossible for them to call for help.
Which meant the hunt was on. The Black Hound's only interest would be capturing as many people for the Founding Family's machine as he could. Just to appease the Blessed Three. The Black Hound looked up towards the window that Diana ducked into, and reloaded another canister into his grenade launcher. He pressed a button on his helmet, and turned on the thermal scanner, and was able to see through the wall. Diana was desperately trying to type a number in on her phone. He aimed it right into the room that Diana was desperately trying to call for help in, and fired a grenade straight into it.
It bounced off the ceiling, and sprayed the room with red gas that Diana coughed on almost instantly and fell unconscious.
One down.
He wanted to be sure that one was out of the picture, her mobility would've been a pain in the ass. His next priority was the other paper-sister - No, the power-replicator. Even at a young age, the Founding Family took power-replicators very seriously.
The Black Hound began following after them - going from a march into a full on sprint. Even for a man of his size, he was surprisingly fast.
They'd only barely hit the fence by the time he was on their tail, except this wasn't where Rowan had pulled open a gap. Their backs were to the wall, literally.
"Shit!" Wendy hissed through her teeth. Wendy could get away using her paper powers, but there's no way she can leave the others behind.
The Black Hound was quick to approach.
Wendy knew that she could try something to scare this bastard off. She reached into her satchel, and pulled out some batteries that she had brought along - just in case - and clenched them tightly, they were drained of the electricity, and activated her electrical ability. The electricity danced up her arm like it was nothing, and then she pointed both hands at the Black Hound, and fired a bolt at the armored man that struck him at speeds even he couldn't react to. The Black Hound put his hand up after the electricity hit him in the chest... but, was otherwise unfazed. It just left a black scorch mark on his armor.
His helmet scanner focused on Wendy's face.
WENDY LUCKER.
Academy 61 Student. Arrested for vandalism and reckless use of ability. Power Replicator - restricted to elemental types only. Has paper, fire, and electricity at her disposal.
Threat Level: High.
There was no way that the Black Hound wasn't going to take that threat level seriously as he could. With a Metahuman like herself... with three abilities at her disposal, he would have to give it his all to take her down. The Black Hound quickly charged Wendy, and swiped his arm out towards her chest. Wendy attempted to turn into paper - Fuck, I just switched. However, there was someone else in the way that was capable of tanking the Black Hound's barbaric blow.
It was Jessica Rosefey, catching the Black Hound by his arm.
"Now partner," Jessica said, grinning. "You oughta keep your hands to yourself."
Using her own strength, Jessica pulled the Black Hound like it was nothing, and then slammed him into the ground like it was nothing. Which, once again, had no effect on the Black Hound. He was laying down on his back... annoyed. He grabbed onto Jessica's ankle and held on tightly as he got back up to his feet.
"Let me go-"
... And Jessica got her wish when the Black Hound threw her hard as he could into a brick wall of a destroyed building. She went right through it, and created a cloud of dust.
Meanwhile, Rowan had pulled apart a gap in the fence, large enough for one of them to fit through. "Wendy, c'mon!" He urged her. "You gotta get outta here!"
"I..." Wendy thought about it for a moment, just running away. But... she can't. She couldn't leave Rowan and the others behind, especially since she has no idea where Diana was in all of this, and... she just couldn't in her right mind leave her behind. "I can't Rowan! I need to get Diana and the others to safety!"
He was stubborn, but so was she. And she made a point, Wendy was one of the fee people who Rowan had come to trust and scree anything that would've messed with friends of his.
"Well I'm not leaving my friends behind, either."
".... Such selflessness." The Black Hound said, the voice changer in his mask made it difficult to tell whether or not he was mocking them.
In seconds, large portions of the metal fence were stripped away from its temporary foundations, crumpling into a cylindrical mass as Rowan crudely exerted his will upon it with clenched palms and rough gestures. In truth he could barely conceal how terrifying the situation was, but he had to do something.
While Rowan was doing his thing, Wendy figured that she'd try to distract the Black Hound. Her first attack did literally nothing but tickle him, but maybe it could have diverted attention from Rowan. She made sure to fire another bolt of electricity - but this time in the Black Hound's face. It hit his helmet, and the man was forced to stumble backwards. He grabbed his mask... as all the systems inside of it began to reboot. Damn electrokinetis.... He was going to get her back for that one.
The Black Hound quickly reached for his belt, and whipped out a flashbang and tossed it in the center of the group.
He had nothing to worry about with this helmet.
It exploded in a violent flash that left them all screaming, that was when the Black Hound charged the group, and his first action was to swipe at Kai with a powerful, closed fist that shattered the ice around her chest. She was thankfully able to regenerate in time, but the Black Hound had grabbed her by the neck. He held her up in the air, dangling by her feet.
By the time everyone had recovered, it was already too late
"Zenith."
The Black Hound said, and a portal opened behind him. He tossed Kai into the portal, and it closed behind him.
Two down.
That left Wendy and Jessica.
The ominous man turned his attention to one of the last person standing: Wendy Lucker. She was terrified, and she had little help. The Black Hound quickly charged her and she yelped as she jumped out of the way. She hit the ground with a thud, and tried to crawl away, but the Black Hound grabbed onto her leg. Desperate, Wendy started excreting as much electricity as she could - but it didn't work. The Black Hound didn't slow down even in the slightest. He lifted her up off the ground....
"Get the fuck away from her!" A chunk of crumpled metal caught the Hound by surprise as it slammed into his midsection.
It merely sent him skidding backwards slightly, and dropping Wendy. Rowan was regarded as a high threat by the Family - but to the Hound, he was still a child. That didn' mean the Black Hound was going to go easy on him. He lunged forward, and knocked him to the ground, foot pinning him in place, yet the scrawny kid managed to pry him off by exerting his will upon the metallics worn by the Hound. "Leave them alone." He spat, tightening his grip until the hound could feel himself being constricted by his own armour.
The Black Hound groaned... until an idea just popped in his head. He reached down towards one of the canisters of Metahuman Suppressant Gas and grasped it so tightly that he crushed it like a can. The gas exploded outwards and filled the area with a crimson red. Rowan didn't stand a chance; he dropped the Hound like a doll as the thick gas choked and blinded him, forcing its way into his lungs. Coughing and spluttering, he lost consciousness.
"Rowan!" Wendy shouted, putting her hand out. She didn't know what happened, but there was no way Rowan could have gotten out in time.
The Black Hound walked out of the red smoke with Rowan held by his neck... Rowan was useless to him as the Blessed Three explicitly made it clear that they want no children. He was just getting him out of the way. He threw Rowan over his shoulder and left him there. Two targets left... he wondered who was going to go down next.
Jessica got next to Wendy, and put her fists up, taking a boxing stance.
"Wen, barely know you, but..." Jessica said, facing the Black Hound. "I'm gonna have to take 'im alone. He got Kiri and Diana... and it's the best I can do for Diana."
Jessica somberly said, as the Black Hound took steps forward, and put his grenade launcher up behind him. It was clear he was getting ready for a physical confrontation. It looked like the end for the two of them, and Jessica was at least going to buy time for Diana's sister.
There was one thing Wendy wasn't going to do, and that was leave. She didn't know what the Black Hound wants, but she couldn't in her right mind leave Diana and Rowan behind like this. Her hands started a brilliant spark of electricity.
"... If I leave, I have no idea of what will happen to Diana and the others.... I just can't leave them behind."
"Alright, works for me, I'll draw his attention!" Jessica said as she quickly closed in with her fist cocked back. She threw a punch at the Black Hound that would normally devastate any other person due to her raw strength, but the Black Hound caught it. Merely sending him skidding backwards a few feet. The Black Hound punched her with his other hand so hard that it sent spit flying.
All while Wendy was getting around him, and channeled her electrical ability to manipulating anything metal she could get her hands on. Trash, and pieces of the building that was broken off due to the attack, or due to decay. They rose up into the air, and she sent them flying at the Black Hound at high speeds... and did nothing but distract him from Jessica. That was enough to allow the redhaired girl to get her hand free and punch the Black Hound in the chest so hard that he was sent skidding backwards, and wasn't about to let him. She clocked him again with another haymaker that knocked the Black Hound back.
"C'mon," Jessica said, honestly surprised. "Why won't you go down?"
The Black Hound collected himself, and stood straight up, Jessica charged him yet again - but this time got the Black Hound's boot straight to her gut. That knocked the wind out of her, and she was forced to kneel forward, and that just left her open for the Black Hound's own uppercut that sent her flying backwards with a stream of blood coming out of her face.
"Jessica!" Wendy said, as she shot electricity at the Black Hound... and was ignored as he marched towards Jessica.
"Damn it!" Wendy said. Nothing they do can even hurt him. Maybe they should have just ran.... but it was stupid stubbornness keeping her here. She couldn't just stand here and watch... she needed to plan her next course of action. Wendy reached into her satchel, and touched a piece of paper, and her hand turned into paper as she adapted paper manipulation. Wendy dipped behind a wall.
The Black Hound picked up Jessica by the neck, and stared her straight in the eye. She spit blood straight into his helmet.
"Go to hell, you bastard."
Jessica hissed.
Normally, the Black Hound would have ignored such a comment, but....
"Hell is where I belong... but, some day, I hope that some day you'll forgive me...."
This was the first time he showed emotion... and even though his helmet made all of his speech robotic, and monotone, it sounded like genuine emotion. He pressed a button at the side of his helmet, and said,
"Zenith."
A portal opened behind him, and he placed Jessica inside, and it closed behind him
That meant there was only one left.
The last one standing... Wendy... had disappeared while he was distracted. No matter. He had methods of finding her. The Black Hound pressed another button on his helmet, and various scanners thoroughly combed the area. It focused on a footprint in the dirt. Then with another press of the button, the Black Hound switched his sensors to thermal. He saw the frame of Wendy hiding behind a wall, and he marched towards her. While he marched after her, he pulled his grenade launcher out, and loaded up another canister.
Wendy could hear his footsteps... A terror had crept up Wendy's spine as she found her legs shaking. She put her head up against the wall, and said to herself, "This can't be happening... this can't be happening..." Wendy just wanted to show off her art, not get hunted down by what amounted to be the god damn Terminator. She has to do something. He has to have a weakness. Wendy knew that she couldn't muscle through this.
Then again, she never had much in the way of strength to begin with.
She could hear the footsteps getting closer she had to move. She just darted forward, and ran as fast as she could. She used that running start to turn into paper... her skin turned plain white as she separated into paper slips that traveled faster than Wendy could on foot. She was only able to barely miss the Black Hound. Who stopped and looked up... trying to scan where she was heading. It was the building where he took out Diana.
The Black Hound marched inside....
Wendy turned back into paper in the building. She didn't know what happened to Diana, but she went up here. Applying knowledge to this situation, there was no way that the Black Hound could have ran up here, captured Diana, and then start up on their trail. In two minutes. Wendy quickly scanned each of the rooms... she shouldn't have let Diana run off like that. Until she finally found her older sister lying down on her back, unconscious.
Running towards her was just first instinct, Wendy knelt down and started shaking Diana.
"Come on, Diana," Wendy said as he heard the Black Hound approaching.... How did he find me? Wendy thought to herself as she thought about whether or not she should fight, or she should-
The Black Hound ran through the wall, giving Wendy little room to react. Wendy screamed, and had to think fast. She pulled paper sheets out of her bag and threw it into the Black Hound's face. Attaching itself to his helmet and blocking his vision. Wendy quickly ran out the front door, as the Black Hound perused her, and came up to the grand lobby of the hotel. She looked over her shoulder and saw the Black Hound peruse her, and panicked a little. She hopped off the railing, and used her power to cancel her weight, and allowing herself to flutter like a piece of paper, gently to the ground floor.
Her pursuer didn't stop for a second, and merely aimed his grenade launcher at her, and shot it... displaying his killer aim as he shot Wendy right outside the head with it. She let out a cry of pain as she lost concentration, and hit the ground with a thud. She rubbed her sore head, and all she could hear was ringing. But, it wasn't long before a red gas filled the area, and she realized what was going on. She yipped as she turned into paper, and tried to teleport her way outside of it.
The paper gathered itself, and then reformed into Wendy's shape... and there was an ominous black shadow over her.
The Black Hound had cut her off, and was standing in front of her. Before she could react, the Black Hound punched her square in the gut (fortunately holding back his full strength), and left the girl crying in pain. She fell down to her knees with her hands over her gut, but she had one last desperate attempt... she was trying into paper, her skin turned white, but with the pain, she found it hard to transform. The Black Hound whacked her with the butt of his grenade launcher in the face, which knocked her on her back, and left her own face bloody.
She covered her face... barely conscious, but she was going to make it work, she pushed herself to her feet. In a last desperate attempt, to take out the Black Hound, she threw all of her books out of her satchel at him.. Every book hit him
The Black Hound just stood there, like a statue, and let the books bounce his body doing nothing more than tickle him.
Stopping that soon enough, he turned that standstill into an all out march. Wendy tried to limp away, but the Black Hound caught her, and grabbed her by the neck, and held her up into the air. Motionless for a few seconds as he stared at Wendy... in contrast to Wendy who was using all of her strength to wiggle free of the Black Hound's iron grasp.
"... On two separate occasions, you had the opportunity to flee," The Black Hound started off. "Yet... you stay behind and face off against an opponent that you couldn't hope to defeat when you could be back at the Academy by now.... I want to know..."
Oh great... he's going to monologue now... Wendy thought to herself, rolling her eyes.
"... Why?" He asked. "Why not save yourself?"
Wendy grinned... she was going to die here, so she might as well....
"Because..." Wendy trailed off. "I'm not some bastard like yourself! That just kills, and destroys, and ruin everything in sight! Unlike you, I know how it feels to feel. I stayed behind because I have people I care about, and don't want to see get murdered by sub-human filth like yourself. I'd rather die than just run away and let them die..."
With one last breath, Wendy spat blood right into the Black Hound's helmet.
It was supposed to be an act of defiance, but it elected a different response....
"You are correct... I cannot feel the same way you can. But, your selflessness... you can say I admire it. I admire you," The Black Hound said, earning a look from Wendy. "Which is why I am electing to spare you from capture... my superiors will not complain if I bring in three Metahumans."
With his other hand, the Black Hound grabbed the last canister of Metahuman suppressant gas, and held it tightly in his hand. Which made Wendy look at him confused.
"But... mark my words, while I am sparing you...." The Black Hound began his warning. "... The organization I work for is powerful. Far more powerful than you'd ever imagine. If you stick your nose in our business looking for your friends...."
The Black Hound crushed the canister, and gas came flying out with an audible hiss.
"... I'll have no choice but to kill you."
"Wait-" Before Wendy could say anything, the gas entered her lungs, and her already weakened body didn't have that much to go before she passed out completely.
Despite all of her strength, she couldn't save the people she cared about... there was an overwhelming power standing in her way.
Lifeless faces. Eyes open without seeing. Bodies fallen, left in the stained grass without ceremony. And hovering over it all, a masked face. Silent, menacing. The sky transformed to a deep, bloody red...
Rhea bolted awake, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. She looked over at the clock, reading 5:09am. She sighed, hiding her face with two palms. Having woken up six times through the night, Rhea had perhaps an hour of restful sleep. It was the same as the previous nights after the festival. When the shit went down, Rhea stayed calm. But as the threat waned she beheld the loss of life in the clearing, and wept bitterly.
Fresh tears escaped her eyes. That damn festival... Rhea dragged herself from bed, had a sponge bath, and pulled open a metal dresser. She donned a tank top, crocheted sweater and sweats, casting her eyes around her house. The inside of a train container was converted into her safe house, with mostly everything made of steel. Even her laptop on the table had a metal casing.
From a drawer she pulled out a new phone from the many spares. The kids from — God damn that festival — ran to safety with her other phone, which held one contact: Charlie. She had memorized the number and plugged it in as a new contact, also sending a text:
This is Rhea. Are you doing okay? After we said bye, the night went to shit.
Rhea quickly created another contact. April and her had exchanged information, mostly so if April needed any statements or information, Rhea would be easy to get ahold of. From their encounter, Rhea was grateful to know the RAVEN force had such a talented, good-natured person.
Slipping the phone in her bag, along with her wallet, baton and a few cartons of 9V batteries, she slung the bag on her shoulder and pressed the wall button near the door. It slid open, she walked through, and it shut automatically behind her. From the outside, her house looked like an abandoned, rusted container. She gave it a tired glance, then headed out of the power plant. She asked for three days off from work, and Hallmark gave her a week. Time for healing, mending. Rhea decided to walk the streets of Baybridge until she felt more herself. Shake off the doom and whatnot.
It's amazing how Jennifer could get shot, then try to carry on like it was nothing. That could be an analogy for her life.
Life deals her the most hellish of wounds, but she carried on like it was nothing, at the cost of her mental state.
She waited for the moment when she'd finally snap and go on a rampage. For now, she would just go on like it was nothing, and hoped that someday she'd find a "cure" for all her problems. It was just silly idealism that she held onto just so she wouldn't come any closer to losing it. She was working at the front counter of Thanks-A-Latte, and did business as usual. People walked up, asked for some coffee, she gave it to them, and then the process repeats itself for several hours. It was a droll monotony that Jennifer kind of found charming. Most other people would beg for another, more exciting job, while Jennifer wanted this job to be boring as possible. Because the girl had her fair share of excitement, and honestly had enough.
What Jennifer was beating herself up about was whether or not she wanted to call Hailey and Akane. She was surprised they found her, but because of what happened in San Diego... she'd rather distance herself from her time as Missy Baroness. Still, they went all this way to find her? She should still be a little courteous for all their efforts, after all.
Only thing Jennifer could do for now was merely finish her shift, then consider it later.
Coffee. That was what Haruka needed most after a gruesome three-hour lecture on Python Programming. Part-time college wasn't that easy, contrary to popular belief.
He looked around the street - Thanks-A-Latte was the only cafe he could spot within this area. He locked up his bicycle near a lamppost before the shop, picked up his bag and books from the front basket, walking up the door and pushing it open, greeted by the pleasant chime of a small bell stuck at the top of the door.
Jennifer looked up, and her heart sank. Not now. She thought to herself. It was the last thing that she wanted to face right now.
"Hot Cappuccino, extra shot," he said when he reached the counter, not looking at whoever was taking his order, his attention on his wallet instead. "Ah, I guess I'll have it here---"
He froze when he finally looked up. Someone he certainly wasn't expecting to meet right now, in this place. "...Jennifer?" He had so many things he wanted to ask her, but a name was all he could manage to utter in the end.
Jennifer gulped, and realized that she would have to talk to him. She didn't want to face Haruka just yet... She gritted her teeth tightly. God DAMN it. Everything was getting so overwhelming. With ghosts of her own past catching up, and she wasn't even ready to face them. All because she's still getting used to being Jennifer again. What didn't help... she felt a massive headache coming on, and clenched the side of her head. It's been the same headaches that have been plaguing her ever since the night of the Festival. Her vision started distorting as she started wild color as if her optic nerves were malfunctioning. It finally faded, and Jennifer realized that she was standing here silently for a few seconds.
She stared at Haruka for a moment, into the concerned yet complicated look on his face.
Awkward.
"Um... are you okay?"
"Oh, sorry," Jennifer said, trying to force a smile. "I've been having... headaches lately. But, hey, I haven't seen you around lately."
"Uh, yeah," he replied, still looking at Jennifer with an expression of muted worry. "I have been busy..." He raised the set of programming resources for her to see. "I'm sorry for not coming to meet you sooner - I didn't know you are working here."
She was coming off as awkward as all hell, but she was going have to make it work.
"I'll get your coffee for you right now," Jennifer used that as an excuse to go towards the brewers, and grab a cup for Haruka. She flipped the switch, and hot coffee came straight out the brewer for Haruka. She came back a minute later, and handed it to Haruka. "That'll be three-sixty-five." She said.
Haruka passed her the exact change, but he was hesitant. He felt like Jennifer was trying to avoid him, to push him away - was it because of the Oakdell incident? This time, he didn't want to go with her feelings and let her go, repeating the same mistake he had made back in Verthaven. He contemplated about how he could get her to open up to him, but she had beat him first.
"So, uh, can we talk after this?" Jennifer asked. "Well, I can take a break for a little bit - my shift's going to be over in two hours, so I can afford to take like five minutes off."
"Sure." Haruka felt a little relieved that she was willing to talk to him, even if it was just for a few minutes. "I'll be staying in the cafe to study for a bit, anyway."
As Jennifer spoke the front door swung open with another customer walking in. She wore a lacy sweater and sweats with a bag strung on her shoulder, and looked as though she hadn't slept for several nights. The messy hair and dark circles under her worried eyes were clearly visible. Rhea remained disturbed by the festival, shaky fingers tossing out her old traveller's coffee.
"Could I sneak in another order before your break?" Rhea asked. As she took in the Asian customer and blonde counter-attendant, she noticed a tension in the air. The pair appeared to be in a difficult conversation. "Um, unless I'm interrupting something..."
"Oh," Jennifer said. Obviously interrupted. She looked over Haruka's shoulder, and looked at the girl with brown hair. She was as tall as Jennifer, and she could notice the muscles curving her figure. She did look like the rough type... but in a cafe like this? Eh. Jennifer didn't question it because it's all a part of her job. "Yeah, yeah, you can."
Haruka grabbed his cup and turned around. A lady with dark hair and blueish eyes, but what really caught his attention was her athletic build that gave off the vibe of a trained fighter, the kind of person one shouldn't try to mess around with. He shook his head. "I should get going. Sorry for holding up the counter."
"All good, friend." Rhea responded with a casual shrug.
Jennifer politely waved goodbye as she acknowledged his decision, and focused on the new girl.
A smile flashed across Rhea's face. "Small coffee with two espressos, to go." As she fished in her bag for her wallet, she eyed the blonde at the counter. From her tone, Rhea knew her timing, to them, was awful. But trying to have a heart-to-heart over the counter, especially in a quick-service cafe was no easy task.
"I'm sorry," She said, "The coffee in this joint is hard to pass up when you're running on fumes."
She didn't really hold it against the woman - in fact she was forced to serve much ruder customers before - and instead focused at the task at hand. "No, no, it's cool, I'll get your coffee right now." Jennifer cordially said as she ran towards the brewers. She held her hand on the brewer, and watched as the coffee came out. She needed to focus, lest she ruins it, and has another customer screaming at the manager. Jennifer prepared the coffee to the best of her ability, and came back to the counter, handing it right back to the black haired woman.
"Here you go," Jennifer said. "That'll be two-forty-five."
Rhea pulled out a card, "Debit, please." She pressed it flat against the machine, had it beep with a successful Tap, and scooped up her coffee. Giving the attendant a nod, Rhea walked away from the counter. She'd rest her feet here a couple minutes, then continue her brooding walk along the city streets.
After leaving the counter, Haruka had found a nice table to sit down - allowing him to watch his bike through the glass facing the street, and also keeping the counter area in view. Taking a small sip of his coffee, he watched the auburn-haired lady trying to strike up a conversation with Jennifer before his eyes shifted down to the opened books before him.
...It's hard to study when you're not in the mood - when your mind is still stuck on something else.
Once she had given the girl her coffee, Jennifer didn't waste a second in going over to the manager, and then was quick to move out towards Haruka. She wished that she had something better to wear than this stupid uniform (how can they afford to buy them for everyone?) but she was going to make the most of it. She sat down at his table, and was silent for a moment as she was hoping that Haruka would initiate the conversation.
Haruka spun the mechanical pencil in his hand absentmindedly as he looked up, in time to see Jennifer walking towards his table. His mind began to formulate the things he could ask her about...
"H-How have you been lately?" He felt like stabbing himself with the pencil when those words blurted out of his mouth - of all the things he could say, that had to come out first. "Are you alright? You looked pale just now," he quickly added, attempting to hide his blunter.
And Jennifer felt like stabbing him with the pencil for saying that. Because she couldn't say "oh God I'm going to go crazy," so she had to come up with something. "...You know, I'm just... readjusting to, you know, being Jennifer again." She awkwardly smiled. "I've been meaning to catch up with everyone, but with Meifeng in Singapore, Cindy busy with DOVE, and... yeah, you get the picture, I just think it's great that I managed to get to talk to you, at least."
Okay, this was going better than expected.
"So, what have you been doing...? I mean, I want to catch up with all the little things I missed while I was gone," Jennifer was quick to backtrack.
"I haven't got the chance to catch up with Shizu, either," Haruka replied. "He's away most of the time. I'm also busy with studies and all..." He pointed down at his books with the pencil.
"Oh, um, studies?" Jennifer asked. "You're attending college now?"
"Part-time," Haruka said, putting down the pencil. He looked at Jennifer unblinkingly - they only had a few minutes. He should stop being so polite with her and get himself sucked into her pace, going around in circles.
"Actually... I just want to say that I hope you can be honest with me. I'm not trying pry into your personal business, but I really want to help you." He sighed. "I... don't want to lose you again."
Those words touched Jennifer. She didn't know how to interpret it, whether it's romantic, or as genuine friendship. Still, she was wondering if she should tell him or not... after all, he didn't "want to lose her again." With a sigh, she resigned, "Yeah... from here on... I'll start to be honest." Jennifer said. "What do you really want to know? What I was doing as Missy? Or..." She stumbled a little bit.
Haruka nodded, encouraging her to continue. He was definitely curious about her time as 'Missy', the period he was certain that had changed her to become the girl he had met at Oakdell.
To see that murderous light in her eyes.
"I have nothing to hide..." Jennifer said. "...But plenty to show."
Haruka raised his eyebrows. "...Do you mean the bone spear? What happened to your body?" Then he frowned. "What has really happened to you?"
"Um..." Jennifer was going to stick to her word, but she had to find the best way to explain what happened. How she became this way. It's funny, she's not telling this to Meifeng or Cindy, but Haruka. "It's a long story... it started after Verthaven, where everyone thought I was, you know, dead."
Jennifer started off.
"I chose to distance myself from Jennifer... and that's when I became Missy Baroness. I wondered the world, searching for meaning, purpose... and it was hard in a world like this one. Especially since I was consumed by... hatred. I wandered from Verthaven, and settled in San Diego for a little while," Jennifer scratched the back of her neck, this was where it was getting a little hazy. Like, every time she thought of the word "San Diego," a painful ass headache. She clenched the sides of her head for a moment. "It's where I met a Metahuman named Lily Santo, who was also living on the streets. We got along... but, then it became obvious that people were after her. We got away, and then I asked questions... and she has this like really powerful ability, like she could turn humans into Metahumans, and charge the abilities of existing Metas..."
She scratched the back of her neck.
"I offered to help her, only because I had no purpose, and then it got more complicated as more people came after us," Jennifer said. "Eventually, we got cornered, and I learned about what happens when she charges someone too much... It was the worst experience of my life. I can't go into words about what happened."
Jennifer was visibly shaking.
"My regeneration went into overdrive... to the point where I was freakishly growing and ate everything! I literally ate the people that were coming after us. I was like a blob-" She had to stop for a moment as she realized that she was sweating right now. "S-sorry, um, it happened for a good solid five minutes, before some people came to help and pulled me out of it... that's when I passed out."
"When I woke up, I was in a hotel room... and the two people that saved me introduced themselves as Hailey, and Akane... I didn't have much to talk about with them... because they took Lily, and left..." Jennifer scratched the side of her head, still confused as hell about that. "...They only briefly mentioned they were with a... with a... Coven?"
She shrugged.
"Afterwards, I... left... and realized that there was something stronger about me," Jennifer started off, and stared at her palm. She was tempted to make a bone spear erupt just as a demonstration, but, she honestly didn't want to scare the patrons. "I could control my bones... make weapons out of them, then I learned that I could control my own flesh as well."
"For the first time ever, I felt like I had power... and..." Jennifer wondered if she should tell Haruka what she did with that power. It would be shameful, and it would probably kill their relationship altogether. Maybe another time.
"...I don't think I can tell you anymore right now... too damn stressful, but... maybe another time." Jennifer tried to cut the conversation short. "...Phew... I got a little wordy there, didn't I?"
As Jennifer recounted her past, Haruka kept quiet and listened attentively. While most of them, the survivors, were trying to integrate themselves into Baybridge and live a normal life after the disaster, the nightmare still went on for Jennifer - battling against all odds trying to live on... hardening the kind girl he met back then into a fierce woman "consumed by hatred". He knew he would never truly understand the trauma of her tragic past, but he was glad that she was honest with him.
He should be honest to her, too. "I know I'll probably never fully understand the pain you have been through, and I won't try to make sweeping words pretending to comfort you," he began. "But I hope that one day you'll be able to find your true self. Not about going back to the old Jennifer your friends know, not running away from the Missy persona born from hatred and loss... but someone who will learn to embrace them both."
"Embrace both...?" Jennifer didn't know how to take it. For ages now, this hatred was fueled by loss. That turned sadness into pure anger. An anger that she had to take out on something. That was probably the reason why she felt like she was going insane. One more loss, and she'll literally become Luis. But, at the same time, she felt awkward as hell because she's in a state of duality. A state that sure as hell wasn't working. She's trying to revert back to the old Jennifer... but, that blonde-haired girl was dead. "I... think that's going to be a challenge," She started off, before she raised her head. "But, if it means I get to be with you, Meifeng, Cindy, and all the others, then I'll go to any length..."
"I'm happy to hear that you still think highly of us - your friends - and see us as the light guiding you through the darkness inside you." Haruka paused, and gave her a small smile. "Both the old Jennifer and your other self, Missy, are you. Together they form the you of your past, bringing you here, to where you are now."
He dropped his gaze, pulling his coffee cup towards himself. "Even though this is an internal battle you have to fight on your own, I'll try my best to give you the support you need. It's the least I can do for you... as a friend."
He had held his tongue from prodding further when Jennifer choose not to go on with her story - she didn't look well after telling such an agonizing tale (worse, she sounded like she had kept it to herself for a long time), and it was more information than what he had expected. However, there was one thing that was stuck in his mind: the mention of a 'Coven'. They also took away the Meta-charger whom Jennifer tried to protect---
His thought was interrupted by the entrance of an African-American man. While most in the cafe were staring at him busting in dramatically, Haruka was more focused on something else about that man. Something unseen, but he could feel it from the man.
It was as if a literal storm had just swept itself into the store.
Haruka started staring at this tall guy that stepped into the cafe... it was odd, but Jennifer would rather rather not delve deeper into her broken psyche.
The stale, air-conditioned air suddenly felt wild around him as the man began to talk to the auburn-haired lady, and it seemed like only Haruka himself could feel the strange turbulence, because of his power. Haruka tried to quell the haphazard air current with his mere will, to quietly bring it under control. He didn't want the Oakdell episode to repeat itself here, before Jennifer, of all places.
...He didn't want to break the fragile, conflicted Jennifer any further.
The conversation came to a close... and Jennifer realized there wasn't much else to go over, if she had to be honest with herself. And she really needed to get back to work. Even know she's making barista money, it's better than lazing around in Cindy and Meifeng's apartment all day. She got up off the table, and said,
"Yeah, it was great talking to you, but I have to get back to work," Jennifer said. "But... I'll definitely keep in touch."
She walked back towards the counter.
Rhea flexed her toes as she sat facing the window, coffee to her lips. The caffeine gave her the shakes as opposed to actually waking her up, but what could she expect from five hours of sleep in three nights? Rhea sipped her drink until it was half full, setting it down to rub her eyes. In her peripherals she saw the attendant and her friend sit in the cafe to chat, but Rhea was far enough that she couldn't pick up their discussion. It was for the best; she had her own issues. There would be other opportunities to eavesdrop when she was back in the game.
Rhea yawned, swinging her legs out to stand. She stretched, picked up her coffee, and walked to the front door.
...And got a jolt when the African man she encountered burst through the door with a sudden burst of energy. Like it was all his dramatic entrance that he put all of his energy into. It's been a lot of work, because he's been looking for leads on the Founding Family forever, and didn't find anything. Well, a secretive organization like that would be hard to find, right? And Malik was just one man. Not only that, he was dodging DOVE and RAVEN. Ehhh, he doubted they would be too happy that he escaped custody, but they don't seem to be making an effort to look for him. Which was good? Either way, Malik's taking a break. Time to try some American coffee! He tried coffee from all over the world, but the name "Thanks-A-Latte" was too good to pass up. Malik stopped, when he looked down and saw the woman that he saw a few nights ago. Yeah, at the festival that went to hell.
"Heeeeey, you're that woman I saw a few nights ago," Malik said, his African-accent getting very thick. "At that celebration that was ruined by, you know, supervillains."
Rhea's startled hands dropped her coffee, and she juggled it a moment before it hit the floor. Thankfully the lid remained sealed, and she snatched it up with a minimal amount of spilling. She raised her eyebrows at the customer's energetic entrance, not immediately recognizing him.
"Do you do that with every door?" She chuckled. "Oh! You're the guy that helped with Charlie's invisible deck."
"Charlie?" Malik scratched his head... before realizing who she was talking about. "Oh, you mean that kid?"
Tossing her own coffee in the trash, she gave the African a devious grin. "Yeah, the magician. Speaking of which, I've got a funny story to tell you about Charlie and I, after the show. Do you have a moment?"
"Oh, of course," Malik shrugged, but kept that smile on his face. "Came in here to try some coffee, but it's not like it's about to be swept away in a storm or something."
He stretched his arm. He was about to go have a conversation with a complete stranger. An American woman... That made it exciting. Americans were so loud compared to the rest of the world. Malik could always tell an American, and now he's in the land of Americans! That was so exciting. But, above all else, there was one thing Malik couldn't resist...
"...I love a great story, maybe I can tell you a few."
Rhea pretended to check the time on her bare wrist, "Yeah... Yeah, I think I got time," She said. "I'm Rhea, by the way. Lemme buy you a coffee."
"Malik," He said dramatically. "...Jakane."
They ordered a couple drinks at the counter, with Rhea footing the bill, and sat down in a quiet area of the cafe. Rhea held another small double espresso coffee in her hands, while Malik had a Crema. What a pleasant distraction. Rhea thought, an amused grin on her face. Perhaps some social interaction would help her relax.
"So, I did take Charlie for that drink and bribed the bouncer to forget about him being underage. But not ten minutes later there was a shift change, and this new tough guy comes stomping over and gives Charlie utter hell. Like, making a scene out of it. I throw down money for the drinks so we can leave, but it escalates to the point where Charlie is pounded and thrown from the patio. Had to rush his ass myself to the First Aide tent." Rhea said, enthusiastically playing out the story with her hands.
Malik had leaned back in his chair, casually as he could get with his arms behind his head, and was on the verge of putting his feet on the table - but he was no asshole. He listened to Rhea's story, and laughed a little. "That guy sounds like an asshole, yeah," Malik said as he took a sip of his coffee. "Back in my home country, the kid wouldn't have gotten that much of a problem - but back home, the kids are strong, too. He would have just rubbed some dirt on it, as you'd say. Ha!" Malik laughed a little, before he took another sip.
Not bad.
The coffee's not bad.
"I would love to tell you about my night at the festival... it's a little bit more... exciting, as you'd say."
Rhea nodded, taking a long draw from her cup. "I can imagine."
The moment Malik mentioned 'festival', it was as though a dark curtain fell on Rhea's face. All the fatigue and stress of the past days came back, and Rhea stiffly leaned back in her seat. A hand instinctively went to the circles under her eyes.
"I think everyone attending had an exciting night," She said quietly. "I'm gonna be honest with you, Malik, the rest of that festival, for me, was really messed up. I saved some kids and tag-teamed with a RAVEN, but I wasn't prepared to see the... The bodies."
"Yeah..." Malik awkwardly looked off to the side. It was an awful event, for sure... but, at least they took out some of those crazy ass gunmen. "...You know Deborah? That DOVE lady?" He asked, trying to divert the conversation.
"Sorry," She said, waving her hand dismissively. "Yeah, I know who she is. I heard she got away safely."
"Well..." Malik grinned, and pointed at her laughing. "...That wouldn't have been for me. I fearlessly charged the Black Hound and distracted him so she could get away... the boss lady was kind enough to take me back and thank me in person!" He started laughing. "But... they kinda wanted to hold me for my protection and I maaaay have pissed them off a little when I left - I have a mission, after all."
Rhea had both hands flat on the table, leaning forward with her eyes wide. "Whoa. You're like, a freaking hero. It's sweet that you got thanked by the lady herself. I will say, however, if they do track you here I'm gonna sit back and watch. Although, because you're in this cafe I don't think they're too concerned about nailing you to a wall."
"Just don't worry about me," Malik said, as he put his hands behind his head. "I'm really good at escapes as I am entrances... Besiiides, I don't really think they're really searchin' for me." He grinned wide. "They probably got better things to do with all the evil out there!"
She finished the rest of her coffee, setting the cup aside. "Must be a very important mission for you to leave without ceremony."
Malik also finished his cup, while considering whether or not he should tell her. Well, there's probably a long list of people who want to murder him now, might as well add another! "Yeeah... I'm looking for a very close friend of mine. Came here to work with RAVEN, then she disappeared - poof - just like that..." He shrugged. "All she left was a message for me talking about a "Founding Family." Weird, huh?"
"Hmm." Rhea put a hand on her chin, brows knitted. She did fancy herself an amateur spy, especially with her line of work. But 'Founding Family' didn't ring any bells. It was strange, and rather foreboding. If she or Hallmark weren't aware of a big player, ten to one they were super dangerous.
"I'm sorry she disappeared like that. In my experience I've never come across a Founding Family, but I can ask around." She offered. "How long have you been looking, if I may?"
"Like four days... since I got here from France," Malik shrugged. "And you're probably better off not, especially with the way the boss lady and her friends were actin' surprised. They sound like the real deal, and I rather not get someone else dragged into it."
"So it's recent, mm?" She tilted her head curiously. "I completely understand where you're coming from. But I am not without my own level of caution. Here, how about this..."
Rhea pulled out a pen and recipt from her bag. On the back she scribbled a phone number, offering it to Malik. "I'm gonna turn over a couple stones in the next several days, and if you're curious, send me a text. Whether or not I find anything, there's no pressure on you."
A mischievous smile. "I'm quite interested, Malik. There's something big here."
Honestly, Malik was caught off guard. His cool demeanor turned into a more surprised one with his eyes wide with a look in them like he didn't know how to respond. He put his hands up, and shook them from left to right. Malik had to put his foot down. "You really don't have to! I can handle this on my own!" Right now Malik was making a scene... he was being awfully loud, and people were staring. He collected himself, and loudly cleared his throat before they went back to business.
Rhea drew in a breath, releasing it slowly while maintaining a steady gaze with Malik. A few moments passed in silence.
"...Maybe you're right. I can see how stressful all this is for you." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I certainly had no intention of upsetting you."
"Oh no, it's not that I'm upset," Malik said. "...I just don't want someone else getting hurt because I ran my big mouth." He shrugged. He doesn't even know this woman, but he still was responsible enough to know when his actions would cause other people problems.
"All good people wish that." She smiled, gesturing to the receipt. "Consider it a token of friendship, or something."
He smiled in relief. Thank God this girl won't get herself into trouble on his behalf. Honestly, he better learn to keep that big mouth of his shut, or else he's going to dig that deep hole of his even deeper! The thought terrified him, too! Malik was going to take the receipt out of kindness. He reached over and grabbed it.
"Yeah, yeah," Malik said, his cheerful and excitable demeanor returned, "I'll definitely keep in touch with ya'."
Malik looked at her (not in that way).
"Oh," Malik started off. "I've been meaning to ask ya'; do you freerun?"
She snorted, "Do I look like I freerun?" Rhea glanced down at herself, and shrugged. "Ah, I guess I do. Almost every day I'm out there, parkouring and whatnot. You too?"
Malik leaned back in his seat, and grinned. "Well, you see... Remember when I said I was from France?"
"Mhmm, I do." She raised a brow. "You learn from the masters there?"
"Yeeeeeah!" Malik loudly said. "I got top of the line training - the very best! But, yeah, you can say I'm an expert." He grinned cockily. "Would love to go freerunning with you sometimes, but like I said - important mission, friend in need, friend indeed, you know the deal."
Rhea grinned back. "I'd really enjoy that. But yes, let me know. You've got my number."
She yawned contently in her seat, bringing her arms up to stretch. She felt better. Something in their conversation helped ease Rhea's mind. Maybe it was Malik's heroic story, or the good company in general. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, then gave the man a nod.
"I wish you all the best, Malik Jakane. But I'd like to go home and pass out." She chuckled. "Thanks for the hangout."
"Of course," Malik said as he got up himself. "I need to get back to work, it was a pleasure meeting you."
I'm a damn liar. Rhea scuffed the dirt with her shoe, wandering into the abandoned parts of Old Raygate. She was evasive with Malik, only because he became frantic at her insisting to help. Her mind was set the moment he said 'Founding Family', partly for curiosity's sake. Not that she knew what close bonds were like, but if Malik was crossing the world in search of his friend, he was serious. How could she be idle?
Hallmark, her boss, had access to all kinds of gadgets exactly for data-mining. About 15% of the jobs in the workplace were from their own spies, and that stuff sold for millions. If anyone knew where to start, he would. Rhea pulled out her phone and manually dialed the company headquarters.
As she put the phone to her ear, Rhea's heart froze. What am i thinking? Immediately, she quit the call. If this was as dangerous as Malik alluded, she couldn't risk Hallmark knowing. If she was discovered, she needed an unassociated third-party to help cover her ass.
Stopping by the train container, Rhea tapped in the code from a hidden flap and snuck through the sliding door. She fetched her watering can, filling it at the sink, and headed back out. Her path went by several abandoned warehouses and through a large field of dead grass. At the end, a small patch of dirt bloomed with plant life. Her little garden.
"Hey fella's." She cooed, pouring water over them.
As she inspected each of the beans, tomatoes and flowers, she found the strawberry plant. The one she thought died a week or so ago had, incredulously, grown a baby shoot from the dirt. It hung on to dear life, withering in the sun.
Rhea gave it a confused look, then started to laugh. "Well! A chance to redeem myself."
She tore out the old plant, plucked the fresh shoot, and pressed the stem an inch into the dirt. Squatting in front of it, she held her hands as if in prayer. Charlie, you're right. It's not good of me to stand idly by.
As she slowly pulled her hands apart, transparent, glimmering energy appeared suspended in the space. She offered this to the shoot, and it immediately began to wriggle. The leaves grew in size, hissing as water collected like dew at the tips. From new shoots, buds turned into small flowers.
Rhea stood, figuring the plant would be twice it's size by tomorrow. For smaller bodies to utilize all the energy she could augment, it took time. She turned and walked the length of the field back, entering her safe house once more. Leaving the watering can and her bag near the door, she collapsed into a metal chair by the table.
"...I'm exhausted." She mumbled, leaning her head back.
There was one thing she wanted to start before going to bed. Her laptop worked exclusively with *Tor, meaning all her signals tunneled through other computers before being completed. Perfect for anonymous work. She flipped the lid, pressed the power button, and the moment it was connected, she brought up a search program and typed in the following keywords:
Founding Family_
Rhea set it to crawl through the surface and dark web, which would take a few hours. She sighed, pushing up from the table. She rinsed her face with a damp cloth and laid down on the bed, not bothering to undress. With a clap of her hands, the ceiling lights went out.
Written in collaboration with @BlessedWrath Old Raygate, Prince Ed-Field, An Abandoned Apartment Complex Some Time Later...
Sam floated over a carbon fantasy, the glass-smooth surface of which seemed etched with countless metal pathways. As she watched, spark-blue pulses of energy whizzed past at unthinkable speeds. She looked out to the horizon; a city constructed with integrated circuits, capacitors, relays and diodes. The pulses entered and left this metropolis in some greater pattern she could not decipher. As she observed the energy pulses, something compelled her to reach out for one. Before she could think better of it, she caught one in her palm and was instantly accelerated toward the city at speeds which should have broken her neck.
She jolted awake, drenched in a cold sweat, still clutching the little ball of energy from her dream. When she managed to open her fist, she found nothing in it, as she should have expected. It took some time for her to regain her composure, during which she shivered as if suffering mild hypothermia.
"It happened again..."
The following moments consisted of Sam's typical information gathering exercises. She did not acquire much more than the fact they had been moved to an old apartment building, but even that told her something. It told her the drop had gone south, and it told her the family hadn't been able to look after her this time. Why that was would have to wait for later inquiry. Sam was more focused on her immediate situation.
"What happened?"
Ellen did not look happy, she was still clutching the case, making a conscious effort not to simply fade into the background.
Sam had seen the other girl during the first few moments of consciousness, but it hadn't registered as important until she spoke. Then it all came back to her: The case had triggered her ability, and Sam, who had never needed to confirm a client's identity in the past, now shared the lobby with a completely unknown entity. For all she knew, the whole drop had been a trap.
She scrabbled backward, somehow finding her feet, and clapped her wrists together with purpose. There was a high-pitched whine, increasing in frequency over the next few seconds, similar to an old-style camera flash. The way she was holding her arms out did not suggest a friendly use for whatever it was she'd just activated.
"Who are you?!" she demanded, though the tone of her voice failed to mask her worry with intimidation. She looked like a panicked animal.
"The fuck?"
Ellen was startled by the sudden movement of the slight teen, tightening her grip on the metal case before her. This girl had just blacked out in the restaurant, with her case and money, and now she was the one who was the bad guy? She felt a heat in her chest.
"I'm the girl you tried to rob, I'm not sure what that act was in the buffet, but I'm still here, and you're going to open my case now!"
"Shit." Sam realized what had happened. Not only had the drop gone south, but the client had violated their agreement and stayed on, possibly to ID her. This had to be handled carefully, or she'd never be able to operate under that alias again. She tried to word herself carefully, but the anger still showed through.
"You were supposed to leave the item behind. That's why it's called a dead drop. You don't see me, I don't see you. If either of us gets nabbed, we just deny ever having met. Now we've lost that layer of protection."
The girl had accused Sam of theft. Either she did not understand dead drops, or she really did not trust anyone. Not that it mattered now. They were in the shit, and Sam still had yet to figure out why the hostess would have bothered to move her to another location. The first priority was to determine whether her client was a sting, or just legitimately naive.
"If I find out you're working for the cops..." she warned.
"I'm sixteen, pretty sure the cops wouldn't use me as a snitch. Now you have my money, where's my service?"
Ellen was getting agitated now, the case was here, as was Upgrade, but she seemed no closer now to getting access to her solution.
Sam arched an eyebrow, almost amused at her insistence. She must not be familiar with the concept of deal gone bad. The Jade Dragon had always been a safe place in the past, but if they'd been moved, it must have been because of unfriendlies in the area. They would have to improvise.
"Right. The case." Sam put a finger to her lips while she thought. "You're...not exactly familiar with the tech, are you? What's in that thing, anyway?"
"Nothing!"
Even Ellen realised that her response had been too fast. She flushed hotly, muttering, "it's none of your business..."
For the first time in recent memory, Sam actually laughed. It wasn't even her typical caustic, derisive laugh. It was light and bubbly; the kind of laughter you'd expect after hearing a joke take an unexpected turn right before the punchline.
"Buuuuuuuuuuuuull shit." she replied, wiping a tear from her left eye. "That thing has six million possible combinations, a rotating code failsafe to prevent war-dialing, and even the outer shell is impregnated with a wire grid to detect drilling. You don't put your nana's pearls in a case like that. Try again."
The younger girl was furious, "I was told no questions, sounds like a question to me."
"Well, that's when I thought it was just some random spare with a locked case. This is military grade. I need to know whose pants I have my hand in."
Ellen looked shamefaced, her anger fading and being replaced by embarrassment. "It's... it's mine..."
"Fine. Keep your secrets for now. The first thing we have to do is get out of here." Sam peeked out the window at the Jade Dragon. For a moment, she could not help wondering how the Cooks-That-Weren't-Cooks thought it was safe to dump them across the street; especially with a lot of unmarked cars and suits milling about outside. "Yep. Definitely have to get out of here. Take a look."
She deactivated her gloves with another clap of the wrists and took stock of her gear. Aside from some jostling, it seemed in order. She hoisted up the bugout bag again and straightened everything out, then started nosing about.
Ellen peered out of the window, allowing herself to fade out of focus, confident that as long as she wasn't too conspicuous she would be left alone. A black-suited man's gaze passed right over her, she shivered, she knew she wasn't invisible, that wasn't how this power worked. She was just somehow totally unimportant. It was chilling to realise that you didn't matter at all.
"Who are they? They look like the CIA or something..."
"Suits. Doesn't really matter who. You check the ear buds they're wearing? Standard issue for government spooks and personal security." Sam paused for a moment, unsure if it was the dumbwaiter or the laundry access she needed to find, before adding: "Don't forget the cut of their jackets. Extra room in the chest, so the butts of their guns don't stick out so much."
Ellen shrugged awkwardly, she was way out of her depth here, and trying to hide how desperately she was treading water.
"So how do we get out of here?"
Ellen's question was answered by a loud 'thunk' as the dumbwaiter's false floor gave way under Sam's boot. She gestured, expressionless, toward the short ladder leading down.
The Hostess
Old Raygate, Prince Ed-Field, Jade Dragon Buffet
The two men who entered the Jade Dragon looked no more like customers than the two men who dragged Sam off to the safehouse looked like cooks. They were similarly dressed, wearing no distinctive features which might set them apart from any other Suit in play, which meant they were either CIA or personal security. The ear buds trailing from their left ears seemed to confirm this theory, as did their physical builds. The hostess often saw this type rolling with some of her high-priority clients, but she did not see one of those clients today.
They approached the counter and, presenting an old photo of Sam (taken from the behavioral health center's patient files) and an artist's rendering of what she might look like today, drowned out the hostess' standard greeting. "We're looking for this young woman, and a reliable anonymous tip pointed us in this direction. We were told a girl matching this description left here not long ago. Have you seen her?"
She did not take long to adopt her plastic persona again, taking the time to layer it with an effected Chinese accent purposely engineered to be so infuriatingly dense as to frustrate them out of any further inquiry. The goal here was to evade and deflect, and she was the undisputed master of this particular neighborhood.
"I am so sorry," she replied brightly, beaming that artificial grin as widely as she could manage. "We get so many customer today. I do not remember all of them." She even took the time to study the photograph, still smiling stupidly as she did so. "No, I think I remember her if she come here! Beside...look how many teenager wear dark clothing today. Maybe you have wrong girl? She not in some kind of trouble, is she?"
"That's confidential." the man on the right answered automatically, as if rehearsed. He turned to his companion and muttered: "Go for search and seizure. Anything that might link us to her whereabouts."
"I don't see warrant." The hostess warned politely. It would have sounded like a threat, were it not for the candy coating. The man who'd ordered the illegal search turned sharply and composed his thoughts carefully.
"My employer wishes you to know that this is not a request. Our organization does not answer to the federal government, and there will be no paperwork or warrants authorizing this search. You can either comply, or you can find yourself out of business and behind bars." He produced a rather official-looking document, several pages long, and slid it across the counter with his fingertips. On first glance, it appeared to be a gag order. "Naturally, you are ordered to keep silent about this investigation. Any inquiry you make is subject to charges of obstruction of justice, revealing state secrets, and treason."
She knew they were lying, but could not afford to jeopardize the family. If she resisted, they'd know there was more going on in her kitchen than just the shrimp platter. With little other choice, she stood and smiled, allowing the suits to do their masters' bidding. Naturally, that did not prevent her pressing the silent alarm under the counter.
The door swung open...more suits. Within minutes, they were crawling all over the Jade Dragon. But there was no evidence to find...she hoped.
Samantha Cole & Ellen Nile
[i][u]Old Raygate, Prince Ed-Field, The Old Tunnels[/i][/u]
"Prohibition was the best thing to ever happen to crooks." Sam observed quietly, breaking the silence. She'd led the two down into the old smuggling tunnels, all but forgotten since the late '20s. Some sections still had power, but most had simply fallen into disrepair. It was not exactly the safest route, but certainly safer than a double-stack magazine of .40 caliber hollowpoints in her chest. "They used to use these tunnels to cart their booze back and forth between businesses and manufacturing sites. Now we use 'em."
Ellen looked around the old and dusty tunnels. They clearly weren't a main thoroughfare, but even in those tunnels thick with dust there were trails of footprints. Even if it wasn't frequent, they were clearly still in use. Ellen wondered who could possibly still be using these tunnels, and what might happen if they ran into someone who didn't appreciate their presence in this buried labyrinth. They twisted and turned, clearly not modern in construction or sensible in design. They could stretch for miles, or only a dozen yards, it was hard to tell in the dim light. Some tunnels were simply black, not dark, that would suggest the presence of light, simply empty of all colour and definition, as if they were some gaping maw that absorbed anything that dared to penetrate it. She looked back to Upgrade, concerned, "we?"
Sam nodded curtly, opting to retrieve a powerful LED torch from her messenger bag. The original casing had been gutted, and its internals replaced with a custom lithium ion pack. The original LED had been upgraded to use the main diode from a set of vehicle headlights. Naturally, it carved through the darkness. She twisted the head of the torch, widening the throw of the light to reach either side of the tunnel.
"Yep. 'We'." She left it at that. Ellen hadn't exactly been welcomed into the family, and it wouldn't do for Sam to start blabbing about the internal affairs of the local branch. Even Sam was not considered a member; more like an associate or affiliate. But she'd parleyed that into regular employment, using their distribution network to fix her up with clients who needed her services, which suited her fine. Using another's infrastructure was much easier than establishing her own, after all. That it gave her plausible deniability, if she had to split, definitely did little to change that mindset.
Sensing the concern in Ellen's voice, however, Sam did eventually add: "Not much to worry about down here. The only people we'd run into are on our side. We can lay low in the distribution point up ahead. It's not much farther. If we're lucky, it'll still have power and I can take a look at that case."
Ellen wasn't entirely reassured by the notion that whoever they might meet were on 'their side' after all, what the girl must mean was 'her side', that didn't bode well if someone turned up who took issue with her presence in the tunnels. She could barely defend herself, and her current ability seemed to be relatively ineffective on her companion, was she running out of juice? That had never happened to her before, and she inspected her skin, worried that perhaps she might see the early effects of ashing. It was irrational, but in the darkness, even lit by the powerful beam from Upgrade's torch, it was all too easy to grow paranoid. She hung back, following the other girl, but ready to swing the case like a weapon or turn and run. Her fight or flight instinct was keyed in, and she could feel every tendon in her body on edge, ready to strike. Her anger had vanished as soon as it had appeared, and she nervously acquiesced to the suggestion.
"OK, I'm following."
The aforementioned distribution point was little more than a reinforced rotunda, held up by old wooden beams which showed evidence of recent repair. There were shelving units, a few closets, a couple of desks and a lot of old crates scattered about. Somebody was using it. Sam plopped down next to a rickety-looking gasoline generator and gave the ripcord a tug. By all appearances, it should have resisted a one-pull start, but it grumbled to life and the string lighting which hung around the perimeter of the ceiling slowly brightened. She clicked off the torch and stuffed it back in her bag.
"Well, this is it." She offered, motioning for Ellen to bring the case. "Let's see what all this hype is about."
The case was heavy, and though it was clearly solid, probably armoured enough to resist bullets if not a bomb blast, Ellen set it down as though it were her child. She edged back a little, but continued to watch Upgrade nervously, glaring about her as if expecting besuited gangsters toting tommy guns to emerge from the shadows demanding payment for safe passage. The case was large, a little larger perhaps, than a briefcase, with thick hinges and a bulky panel on the front with a plain glass panel set into it. It was sealed around the edges, air-tight, and was cool to the touch, surprisingly so.
"I need to be able to get back into it."
Ellen glanced at her watch, "I only have a few hours, it just locked down and stopped me getting in two days ago... I haven't gotten anything out of it since."
"Putting curiosity about its contents aside for a second," Sam began, poking the keypad with an index finger. "I feel compelled to point out that the buttons aren't doing anything. I feel pretty confident that a digital keypad needs power. When was the last time you charged this thing?"
"Charged..."
Ellen looked puzzled, "I've never charged it, it was... it was a gift... he never said anything about charging it..."
She shrugged, "sealed things was kinda his speciality..."
"I've never charged it..."
The words struck Sam like a sack full of old trout. There was the eyebrow again, slowly gaining altitude, and she could have sworn she heard crickets. All electronic devices needed power. Did this mysterious man never think about long-term storage? There had to be some contingency in place.
"Ok. So he never gave you any charging solutions. Fine. We can work around that. First thing is to figure out where the charging port is. Then we figure out how to give it power."
"Well it was sort of a last-minute gift... I guess he must have been in a rush..."
Mannequin had been arrested before she'd found the case. He'd left it in his temporary lab for her, she'd gone looking after the Eco-Natura attack and his highly publicised arrest. His trial must be due soon, after all, RAVEN had made a big thing about capturing him. She'd stopped watching after that. not interested in what they were saying about him. He'd helped her, wanted to make things better for metahumans like her, who's powers made their lives worse, not better.
"Well," Sam replied with uncharacteristic optimism. She stood, brushing off her pants. "After seeing the tech that went into this thing, I can tell you this much: There's no way somebody could engineer something on this level without at least thinking about power solutions. Whoever you got it from, the guy knows his stuff."
She wore a pained look then, staring down at the case, and wrung her hands. "This is gonna suck."
She hefted the case onto a nearby desk and focused in on it. She shed both her gloves and placed her palms flat on the exterior. Her eyes shut tightly under the strain of concentration. She'd gotten a pretty good look at the internals when her ability triggered the first time, but a second inspection was necessary to determine her next course of action. The information was there, just...disjointed and disorganized. Scanning the device a second time was not often necessary, but often beneficial in devices this complex.
"If I black out again, you'll have to stand guard."
"Alright, no pressure then."
Ellen stood awkwardly a little way from the strange scene, glancing around. A tunnel led away in either direction, one lit by haphazardly strung lights, one of the bulbs a little way along flickered irregularly. She kept glancing back, making sure that the case wasn't being hustled away down some other passageway that she hadn't noticed yet. Though her suspicions bore no fruit, she still didn't trust the other girl.
"Heh." Sam tried to stifle a chuckle as she felt her conscious mind slip away, but Ellen was beginning to grow on her. Paranoid, unsure, and hiding a secret so important that it required black market connections to preserve...yeah, Sam knew no one that fit that description. But it hardly mattered in the following seconds, as she plunged beneath the surface of the case, wires and circuits whizzing by as she mapped the device a second time.
It was hard to believe she could have missed it. The device did have long-term power storage, but like any other device, it needed replenishing. First inspections had failed to turn up any kind of charging port or electrical contacts on the exterior of the case, but there had been a very specific reason for that. It used a variation of Tesla's resonant, non-radiative energy transfer technology; that is to say, an electromagnetic coil meant to accept induced current from a sister coil in the case's charging dock.
Armed with that information, Sam mentally pushed away from the device. Shutting down her power was always rough, and the transition back to conscious thought left her at less than her best. Her head swam, and she had to steady herself on the desk, looking for the world as though she was about to empty her stomach all over the floor.
Ellen was growing impatient, Upgrade was still simply staring at the case, sure her hands were on it, but it didn't seem to be having much effect.
"Good news, bad news," Sam started, slightly out of breath. "It's definitely out of power, and we can charge it. Trouble is...if I don't get it exactly right, the failsafe will blow out the charging relay and we'll see peace in the Middle East before we ever get into it."
"Oh god..."
Ellen looked distraught. "You mean..? Oh shit..."
She walked towards the case with half a mind to simply take it and leave, there must be some other way, maybe something in Mannequin's lab would charge it. If there was anything left of it, somehow she doubted it was all still there.
"Oh god..."
She walked away, caught in a loop by indecision.
"I need... you need..."
She got a grip on herself. It was harder than it should have been.
"Do it."
Sam was already casting her eyes over the interior of the rotunda, noting every resource at their disposal. Her mind had already engaged. Ellen's words came through the grinding of those gears as a distant hail. She absently turned back to Ellen, needing to process her miniature freakout before formulating an answer for it.
"Oh, yeah," she replied brightly. "We were always gonna do it. I mean, how else are you gonna get in? I just wanted you to know the risks."
She retrieved her torch again, and one of her thermos bottles from her bugout bag. Much of the water ended up going down her throat, but she did offer some to Ellen. The gesture seemed devoid of altruism, somehow; there was a sense of urgency there which did not quite fit with a friend trying to stave off dehydration. It seemed more like she just wanted to get rid of the liquid.
Ellen took the bottle, more because she didn't know what else to do right now, and downed what was left of the water, finding some calm in the sensation of the liquid sliding down her throat.
"Thanks."
"Sure." Sam answered automatically, miles away as she took the bottle back. She worked briefly to unscrew the lid, then pried out the internals and set them aside. She retrieved a small insulated lunch box from her bugout bag and, dumping the contents onto the desk, set to work cutting out the insulation from the interior. In minutes, she worked the translucent white material into the outer casing of the clear plastic thermos, removed the retaining ring from her torch, and screwed the thermos into the emitter assembly. When she clicked it on, the makeshift light diffuser transformed that torch into a 360 degree lantern, brightly illuminating the entire room.
"That's out of the way," Sam muttered, making instantly for the string lights around the ceiling. She unapologetically ripped them down and set to work stripping the wires. The bulbs themselves were packaged in the remains of her lunchbox, 'just in case', and she began nosing about for some new material.
"Look for something round...maybe a couple inches in diameter. Table leg, pole, something."
There was a table in the corner of the small storage room, something that in another life might have held a lamp or a few cups of coffee. Ellen smashed it without remorse, prying the leg from it.
"This do?"
She handed it over, before retrieving another, it wouldn't do much good, but she felt better to have a 'weapon' in her hands.
Sam paused her wire stripping long enough to heft the leg. Her brow furrowed, and she dove into her bugout bag again.
"Diameter's off, but we can fix that. It's the shape I really need." She hated the cliche she was about to commit, but duct tape would serve admirably for bulking up the leg's diameter to the correct size. It took a few minutes, and she kept going back to the case as she worked. It wasn't altogether clear whether it was some kind of superstition, or if there was something greater at work.
"I think I got it. Now comes the pain." Sam shrugged; a 'what are you gonna do' gesture. "What kinda tech you got on you? Phones, tablets, anything with a circuit board."
Ellen patted her pockets, producing a small plastic rectangle.
"I've got a phone?"
Sam frowned, but accepted the phone. The components were terribly small, and she no longer had access to her full workshop...such as it was. But, without challenge, victory lost its flavor; so she told herself. She dug around in her bag for a moment and dragged out an assortment of old circuit boards, AC wall transformers, and other electronic odds and ends.
"Hate working with SMD..." she complained, trying her best to set up a decent arrangement for her soldering iron. The wall plug had been replaced with a DC barrel plug and a fist-sized roll of lithium ion batteries. She clicked it on and set to work, testing the circuit once in a while with a device meant for the task.
Sam made one final check of the case, now comfortable and confident with the technology it employed, and gave Ellen the 'thumbs up'.
"Green light, if you wanna risk it. No guarantees."
Ellen stared at the strange contraption she had rigged up, "shit..."
It hardly looked like it might be the answer.
"Fine... I guess I've got no other choice."
Sam tried to look hurt. "A cook's only as good as her ingredients, you know." She threw the switch, completing the circuit to the generator, and put a palm on the case again. Ellen once again saw her 'check out'. Sam detected no overloads, and the case's many failsafes refused to engage. It was fascinating to see the inner workings of such a complex device as they functioned, and it occurred to Sam that she hadn't had occasion to witness it before.
"It's working," she advised, her eyes slowly opening again. "But it's gonna take a while. The power flow is just a little under, because I had to include a capacitor to level out surges. Judging from the size of the power pack, it could take hours."
She took a moment to reflect, and added: "You know...it's lucky you found me when you did. Did you know this thing has a low-pressure airlock with phosphorus-ignited thermite as a self-destruct failsafe? Anybody tries to crack the seal, the air rushes in and distributes the thermite through the whole thing...right before the phosphorus torches it. Whole thing is toast. It really is an impressive little lockbox. I...I kinda want one."
The relief in the air was palpable, and Ellen sank to a sitting position against the wall, almost crying with relief.
"Thank you..."
Not that what might have happened otherwise was reassuring. She smiled, the first time she had since meeting Upgrade.
"I don't even know your real name..."
"That's true." Sam replied simply. She grabbed a couple of snack bars from the pile on the desk and tossed one to Ellen. "We have the time, right now. We might not later. Keep your strength up."
Clearly Upgrade wasn't interested in sharing that information. She kept quiet, resisting the urge to blurt out her own name. She wasn't cut out for all of this cloak and dagger bullshit. It seemed like way too much work. She caught the snack bar easily, tearing the wrapper open with her teeth and biting off about a third. It felt good on her empty stomach, and she realised how long it had been since she had last eaten.
"I needed this."
The two passed the time with small talk, though it seemed more like a verbal skirmish. Ellen would probe, Sam would evade or deflect the question, and neither seemed very compatible with the idea of actual trust. Still...in their exchange, they were able to learn a few minor details about one another. For one thing, Sam seemed utterly disinterested in movies and television, which left a rift of its own. 'Friends' was too strong a word for what they became, while 'associates' barely seemed adequate. Thankfully, the tension broke when the backlit security panel on the case came to life.
"Pizza's here," Sam announced. She hopped off of one of the abandoned tables and strode over to the desk with the case on it. "You wanna try your code again?"
Ellen stood eagerly, perhaps a little too eagerly, and moved swiftly to the case, trying to avoid the temptation to simply shove the other girl out of the way in her haste. She laid her thumb against the glass plate, there was a brief, frozen moment, where nothing seemed to be happening, then a click. With a sigh of relieved tension, she opened the lid and it's contents bathed her in a faint purple light. She took a vial from the insulated interior, forgetting that Upgrade was watching her, and slotted it into a syringe gun. It only took a moment, and a sharp pain, to relieve her worries for at least another week.
"Thanks..."
Sam's eyebrow lifted again, but she knew better than to ask. She'd never seen any street drugs matching the description of these vials, nor had she ever seen a junkie with enough cash to afford a case like that, which led her to push for prescription drugs as a possible explanation...though for what ailment, she could not say. She decided that discretion was the better part of valor and left that mystery exactly what it was.
"If we're all closed up, here...?" She urged Ellen, nodding her head toward the far tunnel.
"Yeah, sorry."
Ellen closed the case and hefted it from the table. With the weight of her shoulders she felt more able to relax and joke. "I guess the guide out is free of charge then?"
Sam sniffed. "What guide? I'm headed for the junkyard. I can't really help it if you follow me."
Ellen shrugged, her phone had long since gone, contributed to the strange device that had recharged the case. Although it was unlikely that google maps covered this strange network of tunnels. Feeling light again, she began to head after Upgrade.
"I guess not. Lead the way."
Sam shrugged and gathered what she could of the growing pile on the desk. With her lunchbox compromised, anything cold had to be left behind. She wolfed down what she could and stuffed the rest into the box, and the box back into her bag. In seconds, she was ready to go. There hadn't been much time to stabilize the improvised charging device, but she wrapped it up anyway and handed it to Ellen.
"Keep track of that. It should work on any 120v circuit, as long as it has a 20 amp breaker. I might try to streamline it later, if you're still around."
It didn't take long to get to the junkyard, not really, not after they'd already spent hours down here. It would be good just to get out of the claustrophobic conditions. Ellen perked up as the tunnel began to grow lighter, this time with sunlight rather than cheap bulbs. She picked up her pace at the prospect of freedom from the confines of the underground.
“Foxtrot Six, this is Sunray. Radio check, over,” came a male voice in the earpiece.
“Sunray, this is Foxtrot Six. Reading you five, over,” Samina acknowledged the procedure. She looked once more the documents delivered to her prior the mission. Details about a former marine now doing freelance jobs in need to be "questioned" about possible links to the Black Hound.
“We have tango in our radars—Sierra fower-tree-niner, break-,” there was a pause, “expect two bandits and a bugey. The house number is wun-fower-zeerow. Over.”
“Foxtrot Six copies and is Oscar Mike. Over.”
“Sunray, out.”
The streets were empty and the traffic lights flashing its intermittently yellow warning signal. Nobody in miles around. And the noise was made by barking dogs, frightened by the van in its way through suburban streets at early hours.
The black van turned left on 419th and stopped in front of an old house.
“Gentlemen, please synchronize your watches. We have seven minutes to extract any information we can.” Samina said, pulling the slide of her USP. She was dressed in a navy blue suit, tatical vest underneath her shit, and the others wore the standard SCAR uniform, hiding their face with balaclava.
"Hang on!" The driver shouted as he drove through the fence parking the van in the yard—even before it made a completely stop the doors were opened and four SCAR agents jumped.
"Red Team, back door! Blue, with me!” the leader shouted as he ran toward the house. One of the agents threw a flashbang through the front window, there was a big bang inside the house—then a louder, as the door was put down using explosive.
Two men with blue armbands broke into the front door, closely followed by Samina. "Drop your weapons!" One of the SCAR agents shouted to a man who was lying asleep on the couch. The man in despair jumped over the couch and I was hit midair as one agent shot a burst of three shots on his back. Shots came from the kitchen and bedroom, it was a combat zone, shots everywhere. One SCAR was hit in the crossfire by gunshots from the bedroom and Samina and the two SCARS with her retreated, booth seeking cover.
"Red?" Samina shouted at the receiver, cowering behind a column while shots were fired in all directions.
The answer was direct, "We are under fire! We need a distraction!"
One SCAR who was with Samina was quick on the communicator. "Grenade out!" he said, pulling one HE of his vest, removed the safety pin and threwing it toward the kitchen.
The sounds coming from the kitchen stopped.
Someone yelled and part of the kitchen exploded, making space for the two agents trapped in the backyard to enter the kitchen. "NOW!" Their leader shouted, gesturing with his fingers to move toward the room wheretargetwas. He gave a hail of bullets with his UMP toward the bedroom, walking with long, measured steps.
"I SURRENDER! DON’T SHOOT!" The man inside the bedroom cried, holding his AK-74 into the air with one hand. Behind him was a woman crying and hiding. “PLEASE, DON’T SHOOT!”
When the confusion cleared, the blue armband agent seized the guy’s weapon and tied him to a chair. The other two—red armbands— and their leaders were examining the house and helping the other wounded agent.
“Sunray, this is Foxtrot Six. Over,” the operation leader pressed his fingers on his earpiece.
“Foxtrot Six, this is Sunray. Go ahead. Over.”
“Tango is secured and ready for interrogation. Keep us updated. Foxtrot Six is out.” The agent ended the conversation with Sunray and nodded to Samina, “we have less than five minutes.”
Samina pulled up a chair and sat next to the guy, relaxing the USP on top of her crossed-leggs, still with the finger on the trigger and pointing to him. "I'm sorry about the door and windows," she grinned, "how about we do the following: you talk about what the people you’re in touch is up to and you live.”
"Man, I'm just a merc!" He cried, "they tell me when and where they need my people. Shit... I even don’t know any name!”
Samina looked at her watch. Four minutes. "Where and when?" Her patience was exhausted.
"Fuck... they said they'd get in touch next week, something big... fat money... that's all I know, I swear!"
Before Samina could reply the man, the receiver beeped again. “Foxtrot Six, we just confirmed a police dispatch to your location. Northbound. ETA two minutes. I suggest redirecting the escape route to Little Seapond, do you copy?, over.”
“Affirmative, Sunray. Thanks for the heads up, Foxtrot is out.” Samina answered Sunray and raised an artificial smile toward the guy all tied up in the chair next to her. “Looks like we done here. Thanks for your precious time and collaboration—America is grateful for your service in the army.” And then she shot him at the chest.
“James, wrap up and let's go.” She shouted at the SCAR team leader. In the distance, she could hear sirens, “did you find anything?”
“No,” James replied, “nothing that could connect the guy to him. What now? Blank information isn’t leading us to anything.”
“I guess we stay under the radar and wait for Sunray,” she began writing the report in the documents as the van made its way to Little Seapond.
Rori was just a tiny bit nervous about today. Well, maybe a bit more than that. They'd organised to meet with Haruka at the same cafe that they were meeting their brother, but about half an hour earlier.
They stood outside a small cafe in Rosemaple Lake. They were earning a few weird looks from passers by, probably normal people, but for once Rori was able to ignore it as they concentrated on checking their phone every few seconds. They didn't know what to expect from their brother.
They also sincerely hoped he didn't somehow turn up earlier than Haruka - and fortunately, Haruka had showed up before Conor. he was dressed in a peacock-blue checkered dress shirt and a pair of dark jeans. It wasn't particularly crowded today, so he was able to find a decent spot to park his bike before jogging to the cafe.
"Hey," he breathed when he finally stopped before Rori. "You left your house before I could go and fetch you."
"Hi," Rori grinned with a slight wave. "Yeah, sorry, I kind of felt like flying... It's a bit relaxing, you know?" They shrugged, clearly a bit more nervous than they normally where. After all they hadn't seen their brother in years. "Want to go get a table? I told Conor that we'd meet him inside."
"Sure," Haruka gestured after Rori with a smile, noticing the girl's apparent nervousness. "Mind if you can tell me a bit about your brother - Conor - while we wait for him?"
Rori nodded and headed in, quickly finding a table with enough seats for three. "Well, I haven't talked to him in years. I got on with him most out of all of my siblings; the three older ones were like my parents." They shrugged. "None of them liked metahumans. I haven't talked to Conor since I got all the feathers so I don't really know what he thinks about that. He's probably fine with it if he's contacting me. He was nice five years ago, quite quiet... so not like me." They smiled slightly. Of all of Rori's siblings Conor had been the best. They were sure he hadn't changed too much. "We used to skip church together. Our parents were never too happy with that."
As Haruka listened to Rori, he was reminded of his relationship with his twin, whom he hadn't seen for quite some time. "That's good to hear," he said, refraining himself from the urge to give her a pat on the head. "But... any idea why your brother suddenly wants to meet up with you?" Then he added, "Well... I'm wondering if it's something urgent that he has to tell you, face to face?"
"No idea," Rori shrugged. "He said it was because he was in Baybridge and had just moved here. There's probably a reason but I don't know it-" Rori stopped talking as they looked over at the door, and noticed a short teenage boy standing there. He'd grown a lot (and was taller than Rori), but they recognised him.
He obviously recognised Rori too, even with the completely different hair colour and style - and the whole wing thing.
"Hi, Rori, it's been a long time," Conor smiled slightly as he reached the table, before politely nodding to Haruka. "I'm Conor, nice to meet you."
"It's been a long time, hi, Conor," Rori mumbled. A long enough time to make it difficult for her to figure out how to talk to him.
Haruka gave Conor a smile before introducing himself, "Haruka. Nice to meet you too." Then he stood up. "I'll go get some drinks while you guys can catch up with each other first. What would you two like to have, by the way?"
"I'll have a coffee, thanks," Conor responded first.
"A diet coke for me," Rori smiled, slowly going back to their more vibrant and less nervous self as they got used to the fact that Conor was here and alive.
"Alright." Haruka nodded, acknowledging their orders. "It's my treat, so don't worry about the bill." With a quick wave, he left for the counter.
"So why are you in Baybridge?" Rori waited until Haruka had gone to get the drinks before asking - not because they didn't want him to hear, but because they assumed that Conor was more likely to say if Haru wasn't around.
"Well Saiorse's moved here with work, and mum and dad thought it would be good for me to come with her," Conor responded, though he didn't seem quite sure with his answer. "It's through the church, you know, so it was easy enough for me to move."
"Does Saiorse know you're meeting me?" Rori remembered that their oldest sister had never particularly liked Rori, even before the gender and powers shit had surfaced.
"Oh, yeah, she suggested it actually."
"Really... why?" Rori was a bit confused. They had thought, and mostly hoped, that Conor's reason for texting them was because he had wanted to spend time with them - or become more friendly. They hadn't even considered that other family was involved.
"She says that she wants you to be a part of our family again," Conor shrugged with a smile. "Also..."
Just then, Haruka was back with the drinks, causing Conor to stop mid sentence. He passed the diet coke to Rori, the standard coffee to Conor, and he had hot latte for himself (he had decided against drinking alcohol in front of them, who were clearly underaged).
"Thanks, Haru," Rori smiled as they took the diet coke. "What where you saying, Conor?"
"It's nothing important," Conor responded awkwardly before thanking Haruka for the coffee.
"Conor was just saying that my older sister is also in Baybridge," Rori spoke to Haruka now. "She's way older than me, but it'll be nice if I get to meet her too!"
Haruka would have said something encouraging to the (seemingly) cheery Rori... if it wasn't for the expression on Conor's face. Something didn't feel right, and he realized that he actually knew little to nothing about Rori's background or family, even after months of interaction with her. "Oh, I see," he responded, uncertain. "Um, so... are you here together with your family just to visit Rori and Max?" he asked Conor, hoping the boy would warm up to him. "Or...?"
Conor shook his head. "Me and our older sister, Saiorse, have moved here - it's for our work. I thought it would be nice to meet Rori again."
"Max wants to meet you again too," Rori put in with a smile. Well, Max did because she was suspicious (as per normal). But she wasn't going to tell him that.
"Oh, that's nice," Conor didn't look all too thrilled at the idea of that. "So, uh, how do you two know each other? You're friends, yeah?"
Haruka turned and gave Rori a wink. "Well... you can say that our friendship didn't quite start off the 'normal' way." The memory of their first meeting easily put a smile on his face. "I met Rori when she - sorry, they - were in bird form. A kestrel, actually."
"Oh, really, so you don't just have... wings...?" Conor's eyes widened as he look at Rori. Rori hadn't actually told their family the full extent of their powers - after all they hadn't exactly been accepting of it. "That's certainly a new way to meet people, I guess."
"Yeah, I can change into birds, it's no biggie," Rori shrugged, grinning at Haruka. It had been a pretty awesome meeting. "Thing was he didn't even realise I was a person till later - was still super nice to me!"
"That's good."
Haruka scratched the back of his head, sheepish. "It's kind of embarrassing that I thought Rori was just a really smart kestrel that could understand human language, and has a strange liking for cheese." He laughed. "Sh-- They have great musical sense too. It's quite an experience to be able to perform duets with them in public, a partner whom I can harmonize well with." His friendship with Rori had been great; it was still complicated with Jennifer, there was a bit of improvement now that she was beginning to open up to him. However, he hadn't been in touch with Wendy ever since the last time he met her at the Academy library months ago.
That aside, he was under the impression that there was a lot more to Rori's family than whatever the teens had told him. Haruka gave Conor a sideways glance; he couldn't blame the boy for his apparent awkwardness, obviously wanted to say something but was forced to hold his tongue because a stranger - an outsider - was around. He might be getting along well with Rori, but that didn't mean Conor would be as willing to put his trust in him. Still...
Haruka took a sip of coffee, then he sighed. With Jennifer, he had to stop being overly polite to her because he knew he would be running away from her as much as the girl was from him, but with the Ahernes? He didn't want to jeopardize his relationship with Rori, but this conversation was going nowhere.
"I have been wondering..." Haruka began slowly. "Not that I want to poke my nose into your family situation, but I can't help feeling it's something that is weighing you two down." He leaned forward, staring into their eyes. "It's like... there's a wall between the two of you." Then he dropped his gaze. "...And it's a really thick wall."
"Uh, well, it's nothing really-" Conor began, trying to awkwardly walk away from the subject and not respond to Haruka's questions.
"My parents hate metahumans," Rori cut off Conor to respond bluntly. "That's why I don't live with them 'cause they were going to sell me off to some group for experimentation, I think. Conor was only eleven at the time so he didn't really contribute to that. We have three other siblings, though, and they were becoming like our parents in that way. Also our parents brought us up very religiously. That's probably why there's a wall..." They tilted their head slightly, turning it to look at Conor. "I doubt our parents, or other siblings, like metas anymore than they did five years ago?"
"They don't," Conor didn't look particularly happy that Rori had put it all out - not necessarily because he didn't want it known, but he just would have rather the topic had been avoided.
"They're still part of the same church?"
"Yes."
"Are you part of it now, Conor?" Rori was less cheerful than they'd been before, almost serious. While on the outside the church their parents had gone to had seemed nice, it was more of a cult than anything.
"I am- but, Rori, not like them. I wanted to talk to you anyway and I really don't know why Saiorse pushed for it."
Rori shrugged and turned back to explain to Haruka. "Our parent's church is massively anti-meta, but it's small so it hasn't done much harm... yet. But it preaches bad stuff."
Haruka watched the tense exchange between Rori and Conor quietly. He thought about what Rori had said, and he couldn't help being concerned for her. With the heightened anti-Meta tension around the world, which was getting worse due to the assassination of political figures by a mysterious person who called himself the 'Black Hound', Rori's relationship with her family might have gotten worse than before.
"This church that you are talking about... can you tell me more about it?"
"I don't know much about it, apart from some of the things it said - when I got old enough to know I started trying to skip going," Rori shrugged, turning to look at Conor.
It took Conor a moment to respond. "Well, they're like a normal church. But they're more anti-metahuman than most and... the church believes that all metahumans should be 'purified.' I don't really believe that," he looked increasingly nervous as he talked, "but I didn't get a choice about joining. A branch was only recently set up in Baybridge."
Haruka stared at Conor - they had already set up a branch here? Even though this church didn't seem like the Pure to resort to terrorism, he felt that spreading such extreme belief in Baybridge with high Metahuman population would worsen the anti-Meta tension in this city... which meant that it would bring more trouble to Shizuka and Rori's cousin Max, who were working for RAVEN.
"Why are you still with them, then?" Rori frowned at their brother. They didn't like the idea of the church having set up in Baybridge - it had been bad enough in their small hometown. "You can always come stay with me and Max."
Conor shook his head. "I can't. That's why I wanted to talk to you."
"You have something you want to say." Rori stated. Conor nodded, glancing at Haruka. "Haruka's a close friend of mine, Conor, you can trust him."
Conor hesitated before finally speaking. "I just wanted to tell you to be careful, Rori. The church has found a way to make metahumans normal again, and our parents want that to happen to you."
It had been thirty minutes... Consciousness slowly began to return to Wendy Lucker, and all she could feel was the pain in her face. From the brutal blow dealt to her by the Black Hound's grenade launcher. To her, that sensation was stronger than the blinding light that was overcoming her. She was face down on a dirty floor, in a building that was as much of a health hazard as it got. Her memory was hazy... she looked off to her side, and saw the crushed canister of the gas that only RAVEN should have access to. Then the vivid image of the Black Hound holding her by the neck flashed in the back of her head. She still didn't understand what happened, why the Black Hound - a known ruthless terrorist - had decided to spare her.
Diana.
The thoughts of her blonde-haired sister had appeared in her head, and Wendy was filled with a new invigoration as she pushed herself up to her feet. Her ears were still ringing, and her vision was blurry as shit - because of the damn Black Hound. He seemed to be gone - if he wasn't, then she was in for one hell of a fight because if she barely had the strength to take him at her best, then she most certainly couldn't take him now. Wendy limped her way right up the stairs, and went back into the room where she found Diana... she nearly fell forward, and had to brace herself on the doorframe. She looked down, and wiped some blood off her face with her sleeve.
After raising her head, Wendy scanned the room - but couldn't find Diana anywhere. Did she limp off? Wait, how long have I been out? Wendy asked herself, and she reached into her satchel, pulling out her cellphone. It's been thirty minutes since she last checked, which was a little while. Did the Black Hound take Diana like he took the others? God damn. She... she didn't know what to do...
"...Rowan!"
Wendy loudly said to herself. She had to find Rowan, last she recalled, Rowan wasn't taken. She used all of her strength to climb down the stairs (the last thing the injured Wendy wanted to do was overexert herself, and kill herself). She left the building, and climbed down the stairs. Wendy stepped out the door, and was realized that a rainstorm had begun. It utterly soaked the ground, but Wendy didn't mind one bit, she stepped out into the soothing rain, and ran through it. Now all Wendy had to do was find... she saw Rowan on the ground, the same place. She immediately knelt down, and started shaking Rowan.
"C'mon, Rowan!" Wendy shouted. "Get up!"
The rain should be getting him back to consciousness by now. She hoped the Black Hound didn't kill him. Damn it! There was something that Wendy could do. She reached into her satchel, and desperately clawed for her cellphone, and called Cindy's number. She launched the phone against her ear, and said,
"Come on, pick up... pick up..."
"...And where did you get this from?"
A curious forensics worker said, raising an eyebrow at Cindy, and she awkwardly smiled. Before she nervously peered over at Alice.
The other agent shrugged, giving Cindy a 'you're the senior agent here' look.
"...Found it." Cindy said. "Can you just get it to a lab? It's a dangerous, and possibly explosive, substance made with the Metahuman energy."
"Right..." He said, as he took the suitcase, and carried it off.
Well that was easy," Alice spoke as the tech moved out of earshot.
So, they've managed to avoid running into any trouble, and they got rid of this troublesome ass suitcase. Cindy shrugged. What now? Cindy thought to herself. Perhaps it was time to catch up on some paperwork. Even though her focus on taking out the Founding Family, that doesn't mean she has to drop everything. She has cases that she needs to work on, people she needs to help... and so on. Honestly, Cindy was hoping that the rest of the day goes uneventfully as possibl-
Cindy's phone rang, and she was quick to give the caller ID a peek...
WENDY LUCKER.
"Oh boy," Cindy said to herself as she stared at the phone. She just couldn't wait to hear what this girl did this time. Cindy put the phone up to her ear. "Cindy Keagan, spe-"
"Cindy!" Wendy shouted into her phone. "Rowan... he n-needs help! We're at Eastgriffin, and - and..."
"Yo, Wendy, you gotta calm down," Cindy said to her. "Slow down, and explain to me what happen."
"It was the Black Hound, he attacked us-"
"Wait, what?!" Cindy shouted almost immediately. "The Black Hound? What..."
Alice began reaching for her own phone. "Shit..."
"I was trying to show my sister and her friends a mural I helped work on..." Wendy trailed off. "When the Black Hound came out of nowhere and attacked us - he took my sister and all of her friends - but he left Rowan and me... and Rowan was gassed and I don't think he's getting back up!"
When Wendy spoke, Cindy was wondering what in the hell had happened. Why did the Black Hound attack them of all people? That made little sen- Honestly, Cindy stopped herself there, and just decided to do what she joined DOVE to do.
"...Wendy, stay right there, I'm coming right to you with some help."
"Okay." Wendy said, nodding her head.
Cindy pressed her earpiece, and made an effort to contact all of her friends.
"Guys, we got a problem," Cindy said. "One of my cases was attacked by the Black Hound in Eastgriffin, apparently a friend of hers has been gassed and needs medical attention."
"Son of a bitch," Meifeng said, angered that the Black Hound was attacking kids now. "Alright, I guess you want us to suit up and head straight there?"
"Yes, I'm heading there," Cindy said. "But, I definitely need some back up, we don't know what the Black Hound is after, and with that teleporter, he can appear from anywhere."
"I'm not as powerful as whoever they are, but I can at least get you close." Alice obviously had a more limited range than whichever mysterious portal metahuman was assisting the Founding Family, but if she could get a heavy hitter like Meifeng or Cindy close enough quickly enough, then they might stand a chance.
And that was the one thing that pissed Cindy off the most. He has a very powerful teleporter working for him, basically allowing him to make a surprise entrance anywhere, then disappear just as fast. And worst of all, they had no way of countering it.
"Everyone gear up."
The sight of Quentin's pickup pulling up at the end of the road leading into Eastgriffin signalled the arrival of DOVE and RAVEN. Once Cindy had hailed them over the radio, he'd turned the truck around and made a straight course for the ruined community, knowing fully well what kind of backup she'd have needed if the Hound was there. That bastard had done enough damage, he knew.
In this case, he'd quickly slipped a tactical vest on , grabbed his Remington 870 from the storage compartment and loaded up on slugs for good measure. As he quickly surveyed just what was going on ahead, he caught a glimpse of what looked like the two kids that Cindy had spoken of - one looked to be down for the count while the other was just barely walking. Another scan of the perimeter caught a gap in the fence where the metal had been viciously torn away - and that was enough to prompt him to head in first, consequences be damned.
Cindy arrived via car with Meifeng, she wore a tactical vest, and brought her pistol with her. Now she really wished that she had practiced with an assault rifle - from the reports, nothing short would do anymore than tickle the Black Hound. Meifeng had come armed with an assault rifle, and immediately followed Quentin's lead.
"I just hope they're okay..." Cindy said to herself as she followed behind Meifeng.
A quick hand gesture from Quentin was enough to indicate where he'd spotted the teens. He glanced back over his shoulder for a moment, hesitant to startle them. "Cindy, you know these kids? Might be better if they see your face before mine." Tact was not entirely lost to the veteran RAVEN.
"Yeah, yeah, got you," Cindy said as she ran on past Quentin through the rain. She shouted, "Hey! Help's here!"
"I'll keep you covered," Meifeng spoke into the comms. "Just in case the Black Hound shows up again." It's raining balls right now, so Meifeng wouldn't be short of any ammo in case anything goes wrong. She knew her usual attacks would only tickle him... but perhaps she could slow him down.
Quentin slowly followed up behind her, keeping his wits about him. His gaze constantly darted back and forth across the ruins, scanning buildings for any sign of someone watching them.
Wendy raised her head, and looked up at Cindy. "Heeeeeey!" Wendy said. "Rowan's not getting back up!"
"Shit," Cindy said as she knelt down and grabbed his wrist, she checked for a pulse - and thank God he was still breathing. Still, she couldn't do shit out here. She pressed her earpiece, and said, "We need a medical team at Eastgriffin-" Then she thought of something, "-Wait, Wendy?" She looked up at the girl. "Do you know what the gas looked like?"
"It was the red gas that RAVEN uses... it knocked him out."
"Shit, he might be having a bad reaction to it," This just makes the fact that the Black Hound is using the Meta-suppressant gas more disturbing. Cindy hoped that they could save Rowan, but the time the medical team gets here, his condition could have gotten worse. "Quentin, Meifeng, give me a hand!" She shouted into the comms.
"On it, boss," Meifeng shouted as she ran over to Cindy, she knelt down, and grabbed onto Rowan.
"Get him to my car, we're going have to get him to Headquarters ourselves."
From the looks of it, he'd taken a full dose of the gas, enough to take down one of the strongest metas, let alone a teenager. Quentin had seen it enough times, but still...
Slinging the shotgun, he took a knee beside the scrawny teen and helped lift and carry him back to Cindy's car, laying him to rest in the backseat. With that done, he glanced back towards the other teen, Wendy.
"Cindy and Mei will get him back before us. He's in safe hands. As for you, I can take you back."
Wendy nodded her head, and got up. She wordlessly followed behind Quentin as he climbed into the pickup.
RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters.
It was a long and terrible way to spend Wendy's evening. Getting her ass handed to her by an international super terrorist, then realizing that one of her friends could die... yeah, not the best way to spend her day. Worst of all, she was terrified for Diana. Something inside the girl was driving her to get up and go find Diana. Yet, she didn't even know where to look, and, more importantly, should she? She had already lost one fight, could she afford to challenge him again? Or what if there were more of them? Honestly, Wendy didn't know what to do. Except...
She looked around, and she was in a interrogation room by the entrance of the headquarters. The doctors fixed up her nose and face - which was happily bandaged - and asked her to wait here on the request of someone named... Reed Taylor? That name was familiar to her... yet, she couldn't piece it together. She couldn't have done anything wrong (other than go into Eastgriffin Ruins... a known no-go zone), she knew that they wanted to prod her about what happened in hopes that they could find a lead on the Black Hound. Wendy herself couldn't honestly think of what they could do to stop him. But, why did he attack her? What did he want from them?
These were questions that she could only get out of the Black Hound... and she wondered if she should even try.
The door to the interview room let off a slow creak as the handle twisted and it opened. Inside stepped a Reed, wearing his typical jacket, shirt and pants - a DOVE badge displayed on his belt. "Miss Lucker, is it?" His tone was relaxed, though the professional demeanor was still there. Gripped in his palm was a notepad.
"Y-yeah," Wendy affirmed his question with a nod, and remembered just who this man was. Reed... he helped her way back at Havenfield during the very first overload incident.
"Look," Reed had picked up on her nervous tone and wanted to defuse it quickly. "For the record, this isn't an interrogation. You're not under arrest, you're not being detained and you're not in trouble. I'm just here to ask a few questions, okay?"
Nodding her head, Wendy said, "Okay ask away." She knew that this part was coming, so it came as no surprise as Wendy. Maybe they could help get Diana back. Which was why Wendy's going to be cooperative as possible.
"Alright, good. I'm Agent Reed Taylor; you're familiar with a couple of my colleagues." He unclipped the badge from his belt and pushed it towards her, to show her his identity.
Awkwardly peering over, Wendy saw that he was in fact Reed Taylor. She was wondering where Cindy was - since the woman was her case worker - but she was going have to trust her. She nodded her head. "Yeah, I remember you... you're from Havenfield."
"Do you prefer Wendy, or Miss Lucker?"
"Wendy." She briefly said.
"Alright, Wendy - call me Reed, if you want. I'm gonna start by asking, what actually happened? I need your perspective of the events that happened at Eastgriffin."
"Okay, it started when I took my sisters and her friends to Eastgriffin to show her the mural I worked on..."
Shizuka watched Wendy through the one-way mirror - he had chosen to stay at the Headquarters instead of going out just to bring two injured kids back here. Unlike Cindy's paranoia, he felt that these teenagers were left behind on purpose, but he couldn't understand why the Black Hound would do that: attacking a bunch of Meta-kids to kidnap them for who-knows-what, but leaving Wendy and Rowan to inform DOVE and RAVEN about this?
What the hell was that guy - or the Founding Family - planning?
It wasn't long before Cindy and Meifeng joined Shizuka behind the two way glass. Meifeng was quick to cross her arms and lean up against the wall, having a red apple in hand, but Cindy walked up to the glass. Like Shizuka, she was trying to make sense of all this. However, she couldn't find a reason why he kidnapped only a handful, but left the rest.
"...I know what you two are thinking," Meifeng chimed in, winking at them. "And my theory is that Rowan and Wendy here didn't meet a criteria of theirs." Meifeng took a bite out of her apple after shrugging.
Shizuka raised an eyebrow at Meifeng. Here it was - one of those rare occasions that she could actually say something intelligent for a change.
Max silently joined the other three behind the glass, just after Cindy and Meifeng. She'd stayed in Headquarters like Shizuka because she was in the middle of moving her shit back to her desk. Still, with that sorted it was a good idea for her to know whatever the hell was going on.
"Still... something doesn't add up," Cindy said in response. "The Black Hound goes from assassinating British politicians out the ass, terrorism, and dealing illegal superdrugs to other terrorists to kidnapping kids?"
Meifeng couldn't help but shrug again. "Honestly, we're better off looking to the Black Hound's employers for the answer to that question... after all..." Meifeng smiled slyly, "...He's just a cog."
"But..." Cindy said. "What's also throwing me off is his failed assassination a few days ago."
"...What if that 'failure' is a staged fail?" Shizuka shrugged. "Even with Deborah's ability, the whole incident felt like everything had been planned beforehand - within their own calculations, completely under their control."
"That's what I was thinking, heh," Meifeng said as she chomped her apple again. "They must really gearing up towards some really evil shit." She shrugged as she threw the apple into the trash.
"But, why...?" Cindy thought to herself. "All I can think of is that they're misdirecting us out the ass."
"Possibly just fooling us into thinking we're making progress against them, while they're working on something else," Meifeng coolly said. "Besides, we only got the grunts, and it's obvious that the Black Hound, being the Founding Family's favorite bulldog, knows they're expendable compared to - well - the Black Hound himself."
"Mei's right," Shizuka sighed, turning his attention back to Wendy. "Let's see if these kids can give us the answer to some of our burning questions..."
"...And the last thing he said to me was "while I'm sparing you, my people are powerful, if you come after me, I will kill you..."" She awkwardly finished her explanation. Folding her hands together. "...Then he crushed the canister, and I blacked out."
Reed had sat there, attentively, taking note of every detail and nodding along with her. "You're certain who it was, who attacked you?"
"It... had..." Wendy trailed off as she recounted what happened. "It had to be. He had the same armor... you know, the one with the snarling dog? And he had that same strange voice... and..." She trailed off as she scratched the back of her neck. With the big craze the Black Hound had caused in Britain, who wouldn't have? She honestly wondered why he of all people would target them.
"It's fine." Reed said, with a soothing tone. He felt bad for the girl; the Hound was one tough bastard, if the reports were anything to go by. Hell, the man had almost gotten the better of Quentin of all people and it was only due to Cindy's intervention that he was still standing. It was no surprise to him that there were shitty odds when it was just bunch of kids going up against such an opponent.
"Your friends - I'll need descriptions of them." No doubt there was something on file there, but it was worth checking.
"Oh!" The thought immediately popped up in Wendy's head as she reached down into her satchel, and pulled out her camera. She fiddled with the screen in the back until she had the picture that she took with Diana and the others the first night. The big selfie they took in front of Jessica's RV. Kiri, being the tallest, was holding it above the group, and everyone was posing and smiling. She slid the camera across the table to Reed.
"The one holding the camera is Kai Anaru... she's Polynesian. The red-haired girl is Jessica Rosefey, I think she mentioned she's from Texas? And finally, the blond-haired girl is my sister, Diana Lucker. They're all from Academy 2-1-8, so I can't imagine it'd be too difficult looking her up."
"That's helpful, thanks." Again, Reed made another mental note to check into that lead, see if there were any files that could've helped find or ID them. "I'll put out a notice to keep an eye out for anyone matching their descriptions. If we or BPD find anything, we'll know."
Reed scribbled a few more notes down and continued. "Have you, your sister or any of your friends had any encounters like this before? Anything that might be connected, anything you know would be helpful to us."
"N-no...." Wendy said. "This is literally the first time something like this has happened to me before... but, I'm not super sure about Diana or her friends."
"I see. Cindy mentioned that you took a photo of the suspect a while ago? Did he see you then, at all?"
"I'm... not sure..." Wendy said to herself. "He could have, but he was focused on Cindy... and... I'm just not sure." She shrugged.
Another idea buzzed in his head. "Do they have cellphones? Have you got their numbers?" Reed leaned forward. If they could put a trace on them, there was a slim chance of finding just where the girls had been taken to. Hell, even if they were switched off now, if they had GPS enabled they might've been able to send out a signal, giving away their last position.
"Unfortunately, I only got Diana's number," Wendy shrugged. "I guess I just don't know them well enough..."
"Sure, go ahead." He gave a subtle nod to the mirror in the room, hoping it'd prompt the others to work on it ASAP.
Wendy reached into her satchel again, and pulled out her cellphone, and quickly looked up Diana in her phonebook. After she found her sister's number, she slid the phone across the table.
Afterwards, she had a question,
"What about Rowan? Is he okay?"
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. We've got him resting in the infirmary." Reed had checked up on the other kid before paying Wendy a visit, just to get a picture of the situation. It looked to be a case of just a really strong dose of suppressant gas, aggravated by the fact that he'd already been through some rough handling from the bastard responsible.
"Can I go see him?" Wendy asked.
Reed paused for a minute, before giving his answer. "I'll have to check first, but it should be fine."
Nodding her head, Wendy said nothing.
Pressing his palms into the table, Reed stood up and headed over to the door. "You want anything in the meantime?"
"In fact, I do," Wendy still felt like shit when she was bitchslapped across the face with the Black Hound's grenade launcher - plus all the other times she was hurt by him. Fortunately, she had a regenerative ability. "Can you get me paper? Lots of paper?"
She pointed both fingers to her face - specifically the bandages.
"I can regenerate using paper. It'll really help me get back on my feet."
Wendy explained.
That raised an eyebrow for a moment, before Reed finally shrugged, tore a couple empty pages off his notebook and passed them over to her. "Anything else?"
"i'll need more..." Wendy said as she put her hand out, and willed the paper over to her hand. Her hand turned paper white as the slips were absorbed into her body. Her nose quickly turned into paper, and flipped and shifted as it was replaced with fresh paper. Before it was turned back into flesh. The wound was mostly regenerated, but she still needed more.
"We'll get you some on the way," Reed said, "C'mon."
"Alright, I'll get started," Cindy said into the comms, immediately picking up on Reed's cue. It should be easy enough to find Wendy's sister and her friends on the DOVE databases because of all the information that Wendy gave her. Cindy walked towards the door, and right before she left, she said, "Keep me posted on anything else."
"Sure thing, boss," Meifeng said as she saluted Cindy casually. Earning an eyeroll from her longtime friend. She faced back into the two way mirror, and shrugged. "We should probably cut her loose, soon. I'm going to be honest here when I say we've probably gotten everything we can out of her."
"Yeah," Shizuka turned away from the glass and moved towards the door. "Storytime's over - I doubt the other kid would've anything new to add on - and I can get the info to Holly to assist DOVE." That was only half true - he had one more thing he needed to discuss with her about. Something personal. With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Meifeng and Max on their own.
"...That's good to hear," Holly said after Shizuka passed her the file and gave her a brief about the teens assaulted by the Black Hound. "I'll contact Cindy if I've found anything useful that might help the DOVE side."
Shizuka set down his coffee, reclining back into the hard and uncomfortable chair in the mission control's pantry. "I think you know that this isn't the only reason why I'm dropping by here - in person."
"Ah, yes, of course." Holly nodded, and pushed the other folder towards her junior across the table. "I do understand your concern for Haruka's safety, but it would've been easier if he's the one working on this case." She shook her head. "If there's one thing your older brother has inherited from Mrs. Takashiro, I'd say it's their flair with poetry. Your translation notes are really helpful since I don't understand much Japanese at all, but meanings are often easily lost in translation - especially between English and Asian languages - due to cultural differences."
She took a sip of coffee before she went on, "That aside, the mysterious Asian cult mentioned in your mother's poetic diary is certainly interesting."
"Hokuto Shichisei - Beidou Qixing, or 'Polaris'," Shizuka muttered, skimming through the folder. "Records about them are scarce, but it's believed that the organization was founded as early as during the Chinese Civil War, secretly assisting the Chinese Communist Party to overthrow and exile Kuomintang to Taiwan. It's possible that some of the top government officers in the communist party today may be descendants of Polaris."
"Since then, their influence has spread beyond China to the other parts of Asia," Holly continued after Shizuka. "The identity of the cult leaders remain unknown till this day, but it's rumored that the structure of this shadowy group goes by some form of feng shui principle - Yin and Yang at the top, followed by Wu Xing. They are said to worship Metahumans as heavenly beings, and perform 'rituals' - possibly inhuman experiments - producing powerful Metahumans that have effectively put the Asian underworld under their absolute control."
"While the West has the Founding Faggots, the East has the Polar-shit," Shizuka scowled, then drained his coffee. He recalled the Chinese lady he had saved back at Havenfield during the overload incident. Polaris might be looking to expand beyond Asia, to sink their claws into the Western community.
Holly was thinking along the same line as him. "I'll try to dig further, to see if we can find a way to use this information to our advanta---"
"Or," Shizuka cut her short, narrowing his eyes. "They might be working together towards something far worse than whatever we can imagine."
He was also curious about his mother's connection with Polaris: how - and why - did she know about them?
Also...
Where the hell is she now?
As the light filled Rowan's sight, he found himself coughing up what traces of the gas had left inside his lungs, the taste of it still lingering in his mouth. When he blinked again, he realised he was on a bed in a place that held little familiarity for him, with an older man in uniform stood nearby. Still disoriented, he lurched forward, words forming on his tongue.
"W... what.. where am I?" He rasped, his throat feeling tight and swollen, as though someone had grasped it like a vice. The uniformed man's gaze snapped towards him, a muted calmness in his tone. "Relax, you're okay, it's safe here-"
But a look of abject horror formed across Rowan's face when he finally recalled what had happened; the mural, the Black Hound and what had happened to Wendy and her friends... Wendy! Maybe this was where they'd been taken, why the Hound had attacked them.
"Wh.. where's Wendy?! What did you do?!" He lurched further forward, rolling off the bed in his disorientation and when he hit the ground he felt his chest as though it were being set alight. "Don't-.. she's safe! You're at the DOVE Central Headquarters... Rowan, is it?" It was only when he saw the badge pinned to the man's chest that he realised he was telling the truth. When he was finally offered a hand up, Rowan reluctantly took it, pulling himself to his feet. "Now please, take a seat. There are a few things that you should know..."
The doctor gave him a rundown of what had happened; Wendy had woken up, called the cops, they'd been picked up and taken back here. Rowan, for his part, had been in for a rough ride - there'd been swelling in his throat from both the gas and from where the Hound had grabbed him, then there was the bruising along his torso from where he'd been shoved to the ground with such intense force. Compared to some of the old man's beatings, it was nothing, but it still felt like being dragged behind a train, even after the doctor's injection to reduce the swelling in his throat.
It wasn't too long after that another face walked in; a dark skinned agent wearing a DOVE badge on his belt. "Say, Nick, he good for visitors?"
"Should be.." The doctor glanced over his shoulder, as if looking for Rowan's approval. A hesitant nod affirmed him. "Need him back afterwards, just to check up a couple other things."
"I'll bear that in mind." The agent headed back out for a couple moments, before returning with a face that was familiar.
"Rowan..." Wendy trailed off as she stepped into the room. She was glad that he was okay, but she felt awful that he got hurt while trying to protect her. "I'm so glad you're okay..."
"A..are you.. y'know, okay?" His attention was drawn to Wendy's own bruised and battered appearance.
"Yeah, I'm fine... perfectly fine." Wendy lied badly, as she looked off to the side with both of her hands together. "Are you okay?"
"Me?" Rowan asked, rhetorically, his voice still a little rasping, "I'm okay. Thanks for pulling me out of there." He gave a shy smile. "I guess... it kinda makes you a hero I guess."
"A... hero?" Wendy didn't know how to think of the word. While she was all about doing the right thing, she would never call herself a hero. In her heart, she is Wendy Lucker. A student. A book lover... She's going on about rhetoric. "Um, nevermind. You're welcome. I just did what was the right thing to do, I guess."
"What? That's full of shit," Rowan interjected with a harsher rasp, "I got my ass beat whilst you saved me, that's some pretty heavy stuff. Seriously, thanks..." He leaned forward for a second, as though he were going to say something else, before hesitating and reclining backwards.
"Don't mention it, I guess." Wendy said, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "I'm just glad you're okay..." She was seconds away from tears, but she had to stay strong. Stay strong for Diana.
"I..." Wendy was about to say something herself, but she kept her mouth shut. "I... think I'll go back to the Academy now... I just don't know anymore."
She turned back to Reed.
"Are you taking me back to the Academy?"
"If you're ready to go, I can take you." He nodded. Part of him was curious why he hadn't asked if Cindy could take her, but he figured it was best to drop the mater.
"Yeah..." Wendy replied, awkwardly.
"Alright, guess we'll head off now, then."
"Save some paint for me, Wendy." Rowan said with a wry grin, one last time before she left.
That almost brought Wendy to tears as she walked out.
Academy 61, Roseview.
Today was awful, but Wendy was feeling awful for Diana. She wondered if it was going to look up for her. Wendy leaned up against the wall of her dorm, and slumped down on the floor. Rowan's injured. Diana's been kidnapped. And right now, Wendy couldn't feel any worse than she does right now. Tears started running down her face... as she thought of the inhuman frame of the Black Hound. Why wasn't she strong enough to stop him? And it sounded like RAVEN and DOVE had no means to stop the Hound.
Her phone ranged, and Wendy wondered who it was. Possibly Rori? She hadn't talked to her that much. Flipping open her phone, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow,
I know you've been crossed by the Black Hound, but I can help you. I can help you get your sister back.
The last part of the text message was what caught Wendy's attention, she was quick to reply.
Who are you? How did you get this number?
Doesn't matter. What matters is that I can help you. I know where they're storing everyone they've kidnapped. And I know an easy way for you to get in. You can trust me or not, but you definitely want to get her out of there soon as possible.
This made Wendy reluctant... how did this person know so much about the Black Hound? However, her current options were approximately jack and shit.
How can I trust you?
Of course, you can't really, honestly. To you, I'm just a bunch of letters directing you to the right location. You have every reason not to trust me. And let me ask you this: would the Black Hound spare you just to capture you again? If you really don't trust me, just delete this text thread and never send me anything again.
She had a point... but, still...
Alright, then. Tell me who I'm up against.
It was a few moments before the mysterious stranger responded again.
I'm glad that you're listening to me. I heavily advise that you keep this to yourself, but the Black Hound's a pawn in a greater scheme. He isn't the disease, but say, the side-effect. He works for an enigmatic organization known as the Founding Family, with his goons being a paramilitary group known as the Intimidation Unit... they're out of your league, but if you can sneak past them...
Okay, where do I go?
One of the Founding Family's bases in New Raygate, on the edge of Courtbridge... but, if you go now, you'll get your ass handed to you. The Black Hound is preparing for a big... "event." Where he, and a majority of the forces will be out of the base. This is a perfect time for you to sneak in, and retrieve your sister. And I'll be honest here, I also have a favor to ask of you. That's why I was so willing to give you information that would get me killed.
That worried Wendy... she answered with.
What is it?
Get everyone out of there.
Wendy didn't even think twice.
I'll do it.
Good, I need you in New Raygate by eight o'clock. I'll give you the signal.
I'll be ready.
And one last thing: I advise that you keep your RAVEN friends in the dark. If the Family gets a whiff of law enforcement, they'll blow the whole place to hell before you even get a chance to save her. That is all. Delete these messages immediately.
Complying, Wendy nodded her head. She deleted all of the text messages, and sighed. Was it the best idea to trust a complete stranger? No. It definitely wasn't. She was going to get herself killed, but for Diana, she was going to do anything.
Even risk her own life.
Malik Jakane.
Greencrest Heights, White Coast.
Aaaah, what a great day.
It was raining outside, but Malik didn't care. Right above him, the rain had suddenly stopped right where he was walking. Just a simple use of his ability! Though, the rain wasn't lifting his spirits that much. He was pretty bummed that he had absolutely zero leads. He wondered if he should contact that RAVEN lady... or if he should have employed the help of that woman in the cafe. In the case of the latter, Malik just doesn't want anyone getting hurt, and in the case of the former... well, the RAVEN/DOVE agencies arrrrren't really helpful. Oh well. Malik will find something. Hey, maybe I'll trip and fall on a lead! Malik thought to himself. Haha... that's unlikely-
Hello, Malik. You're going to find this hard to believe, but I have a lead on Marcelle. If you're willing to trust me, then I'm willing to help you.
Malik looked at the text message with a raised eyebrow. Okay, this sounds too good to be true. He replied in the text.
heeeey, who is thiis?
A friend.
But, how friendly?
Look, all you need to know is that I'm an employee of the Founding Family that thinks they've gone too far, and wish to get help from all sorts of people... you seem reputable enough.
The Founding Family... He was wondering if they were trying to lure him into a trap, but, even if it's a trap, it's the only thing Malik has. And he was willing to do anything for the sake of helping Marcelle... so...
Alright, I'm game.
This could end horribly, or greatly. Only one way to find out.
Good. I need you in New Raygate by eight o'cock, I'm going to direct you to a base where you can get a lead, and tell you where you can find a lead.
Malik read the text messages with a raised eyebrow.
Afterwards, you're on your own - but, I have a favor to ask... it's selfish, and you don't even have to do it.
Malik narrowed his eyes. Here comes the catch. Malik thought to himself.
I need you to rescue everyone you can there. Just get them out of the base. I'll cover for you.
I do fancy myself a hero.
Malik responded.
I know may sound hard to trust me, but I have the same interests as you. I want to see these tyrants destroyed....
Malik read the text for a second. "Yeah." He said to himself sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "The same interests."
I have no choice but to trust you.
I wish it was different, but that's how it's going to be..
You have your instructions. Arrive at New Raygate by eight o'clock. Delete this text thread, and I'll contact you when the coast is clear.
Malik stared at his phone, and read for it for a little while.
Contemplating trusting it.
He deleted the text messages.
Tuesday, October 20th, 8:00 PM.
The rest of the day went on by into night time. The rainfall came to a stop, and left several puddles all over Baybridge. The night went by with few knowing of what happened in Eastgriffin, and everyone going about their day. However, the nightsky hid new threats that were going to become a terror in Baybridge.
Wendy Emily Lucker,
New Raygate, Prince Edfield.
Just as the Foundation Woman said, head to New Raygate by eight. Wendy left the Academy an hour ago, and managed to arrive in New Raygate in an hour. She was stressed, terrified, but through that fear she reached a new level of determination. If she was going to save Diana, she was going to need it. She brought everything she could, all stored in her brown satchel. Inside of it were several stacks of paper, a few packs of batteries, and a lighter. She had to make an emergency trip to Walmart and spend what little money she has on this. She really wished that she had some hard hitting powers other than her electricity - which only tickled the Black Hound at best. She had to keep her mind on the task at hand, and wait for the information from her mysterious benefactor.
It was obvious that the contact didn't want Wendy charging in before the coast was clear, that's why she only told her to arrive at New Raygate at this specific hour. Whatever it takes, really. Wendy was willing to wait. However, one thing that she did was go it alone. She figured that there was no point in dragging anyone into this. Not Ellen, not Rori, and especially not Rowan, who was already beaten enough. Wendy parked her scooter in front of a greasy pizza restaurant, and pulled out her cellphone.
Just to pass time, she merely looked at her phone.
After being taken into the portal, Charlie was promptly sedated, and transported into his holding chambers. Which consisted of a cell (with a bed, toilet, and sink), and bars. Charlie was placed on the uncomfortable metal floor of his cell, and was left there. It wasn't long before the sedatives would start to wear off, however...
Charlie's body didn't react typically to the sedatives and he woke naseous and confused. He scrambled to the toilet and vomited, voiding a majority of the chemicals from his system. After heaving he turned and observed his surroundings. At least he wasn't dead... yet.
"Boy," A voice from beyond the bars spoke.
Charlie turned to the bars quickly and quietly moved over to the bars, he peered through looking for the source.
"Don't waste your energy," The man said, crossing his arms. He was very tall, had neat blond hair, and wore a black pinstriped suit, and had a blonde-haired secretary at his side, holding a tray. This man held a very important place within the Founding Family.
No one is more important than the Blessed Three, after all.
"I want to test something...." The man said, grabbing onto his chin. "Would you politely put your hand out?"
The wave hit him, he didn't need to concentrate, sticking his hands through was not going to be good. He looked up at the man. Why would he get such a shock to his system? Maybe it was because he just woke. The pukiness in his mouth made him shut out taste for awhile, maybe that was it. Charlie looked in the man's eyes and realized this wasn't a choice he was going to be making if he refused. They would force whatever they want. He weezed and carefully using his remaining strength sat up and leaned on the bars being careful not to hit his ribs. He reached precariously through the bars shaking as his hand passed out.
The sense hit him again it was coming from Ezekiel and he knew what he was going to do in that very moment.
Ezekiel nodded to his secretary, who presented the tray out to him, and he grabbed a scalpel, he tightly grabbed onto Charlie's wrist, and used the scalpel to scrap a layer of skin and flesh off his arm. He placed the extracted flesh into a dish, and sealed it before it could be contaminated. He placed everything back onto the tray.
"Good... I've been meaning to register the DNA of some of our volunteers." Ezekiel said, as he put his hands behind his back. "However, for being so cooperative, I believe I can reward you by answering some of your burning questions."
Ezekiel laughed as he clenched his fist.
"Mostly pertaining to where you are, and why."
Charlie felt sweat bead down his forehead as his skin was scraped off. He tensed up and decided struggling from the man's grip would only make matters worse, so he clenched his jaw and took the pain.
"Those would be a good start." He said furrowing his brow and at the man. He scowled and held his wrist trying not to show the man he was in pain.
"Well... you've been selected for a special program by... a third-party-science organization," Ezekiel said, as he paced back and fourth. "Your Metahuman energy is needed for... a project. Currently, you are in our holding cells. Once we are ready for you, we will take what we need."
Ezekiel looked at him from an aside glance.
"Is that satisfactory?" He asked.
The man's eyes seemed to pierce him, true weakness is how Charlie felt as he looked at him. Not regret, or lack of confidence, but genuine lack of hope. Charlie was too terrified to speak his mind anymore.
"Yes." Is all he could muster, this wasn't the time to play mind games or began planning escape. He needed information and this man clearly wasn't about to tell all. But if he did want to make any progress and not waste this oppurtunity he needed some kind of start.
"What do I call you?" Charlie said in a monotone voice. The gravity of the situation was slowly beginning to set in more and more.
"...Your master, commoner." Ezekiel said, saying the last word as if it was an insult. "All you need to do is sit tight, and wait for your turn on the machine."
With that, Ezekiel walked off with his secretary in tow.
Veronica Emily Davis, Makoto Koda,The Black Hound, and....
Strongriver Plaza, Hedgemount.
The Foundation Woman put out a mark, and It seemed that the Black Hound was currently busy. So they had to send in Veronica.
What a pity, she wanted to take another bath to ease her mind.
She was stationed on this rooftop in Strongriver against the nightsky. Fortunately, she was normally dressed, but was wearing her black, form-fitting Intimidation Unit armor. It was enough to hide her appearance perfectly. Though, it was boring as all hell waiting for the target to show up. She even pulled out her phone, and started playing a game. It's not like anyone's going to be climbing to the top of a shitty Chinese restaurant. Or the pawn-shop besides it. Or the insurance building... Personally, she wanted to kill her mark, and get a move on soon as possible, but the bastard is taking his sweet ass time-
"Your mark's in position." The Foundation Woman spoke, alerting Veronica.
Veronica grabbed her sniper rifle - a H-S Precision Pro Series 2000 HTR. Since it was a simple kill, she didn't grab anything fancy. She got to the edge of the building, and put the kickstands down on the side, and peered through the scope. She scanned the area - there was a limousine, with an overweight man stepping out of it, with an uncomfortable girl in his arms. Obviously just some callgirl - they were in front of one of the Society's clubs, after all. A filthy society of European whores, and Veronica couldn't help but loathe the organization as a whole. However, there are certainly some cute guys and gals in their employ... maybe she'd employ one when she starts to feel particularly lonely.
For now, Veronica had to focus on the task at hand. From what her briefing told her, this man was a big wig in some local mafia in Baybridge. The Founding Family extended him a lucrative offer, and he accepted... only to take advantage of the Family's kindness. So, that meant he had to die. It didn't bother Veronica, because this man was an over-gorged scumbag that couldn't even look at his own dick, and she still has to appear like an obedient little pup.
She centered the sights right on his chest, and grinned as he was getting ready for a nice long night of hookers, and cocaine.
When Veronica pulled the trigger, the bullet blew a nice hole through his chest and sprayed blood all over the sidewalk. The woman screamed (She's mentally scarred for life now!), as the rest of his goons looked for the shooter. Veronica was tempted to take another shot at his bodyguards, but she was given orders to kill one person. And in an instant, a major player was taken out of the crime game. There will surely be a power vacuum. A single death can change everything.
All because his greedy ass couldn't keep his hand out the cookie jar.
"Zenith." Veronica said, and a swirling blue portal opened behind her - right when the men noticed that she was up here.
She stepped into the portal, right before a hail of gunfire could even reach her.
Somewhere in Prince-Edfield...
Back at base, Veronica was taking off this uncomfortable ass armor after getting debriefed by the Foundation Woman. She was in the locker room, taking off her boot she was wearing nothing but a bra, and some pants, and slid the boot clean off. She heard someone walking up, and Veronica lifted her head up and narrowed her eyes.
"...Makoto." Veronica said, voice alight with anger.
"Oh, sweetheart," Makoto said with a cheeky grin growing on her face that made Veronica want to punch it off. "Don't let me stop you." She said suggestively as she could, as she put her hand on her hip, and winked. That infuriated Veronica, because she was filled with rage whenever the woman made a pass at her.
"Makoto," Veronica said. "Get lost."
"I just came in here to tell you that the Black Hound wanted to have a word for you," Makoto clapped her hands together. "It's another job... he's working on something big tonight."
"It better not be another annoying fetch quest," Veronica huffed in irritation as she sat straight up. "Especially after how the last one went."
"C'mon, sweetheart," Makoto laughed a little bit. "Remember, you're not a mook like the rest of them... You're a spy." She leaned in very close to Veronica's face, keeping that cocky grin. For once, Veronica didn't defy her, and let her get close.
"You know, you would look really good in one of those spy catsuits," Makoto said, laughing. "You have the perfect bod, and face for it..."
For a moment, their contact was almost intimate - before Veronica pushed her away without a word, and took her boots off, and proceeded to remove the rest of her battle-dress. She walked over to her locker, and put on her clothes, which were blue jeans, and a white blouse, and some black high-heels. After she finished buttoning up her blouse, she walked out the door... before poking her head back in to say.
"What are you standing around for?" Veronica said. "Let's get a move on already."
The pair walked into the garage of the building, where several large delivery vehicles, and vans were being loaded up with armed members of the Undertakers. They were bringing in the big guns... the Black Hound definitely has something big planned. The Black Hound was standing in the center of the room, with a FN Minimi slung over his shoulder. It was clear he was overseeing this whole operation. That's what scared Veronica the most... the Black Hound was as much as a symbol of fear to the nations of the world as he was to the Founding Family. His intimidating presence was enough to motivate even the worst soldiers. He scared Veronica - for different reasons, however. It was the fact that he was the perfect soldier... light gunfire only annoyed him, and heavier firearms only staggered him. Veronica stared at him with her green eyes trying to pierce through him... yet nothing could.
The Black Hound faced them. "Veronica, Makoto," That was another thing that was "scary" about the Hound, his voice... and the fact that he was never seen outside his armor. "You have an assignment."
"Lay it on us," Veronica said, putting her hand on her hip.
"I need you to investigate something that popped up on our blimps," The Black Hound said. "The Foundation Woman noticed someone was searching the Founding Family on the deep web... and we are curious as to who would know about us."
"Are you sure it wasn't an accident?" Veronica shrugged.
"We can't afford to take that risk," The Black Hound said. "The Foundation Woman has managed to snatch up enough information to track her in Old Raygate... Get to it."
Veronica crossed her arms, and looked off to the side.
"... Will we have another insubordination incident, Veronica?"
A sigh left her lips as she reluctantly answered,
"... No, sir."
"Good."
Makoto gave Veronica a pat on the back.
"... I hope everything is ready," A voice spoke... one that Veronica immediately recognized. She turned around towards the man, and immediately bowed down - as did the rest of the Intimidation Unit. As this man was more important in the Founding Family than any one of them.
Ezekiel Anagos.
Wearing a black pinstriped suit, and having his blonde-haired secretary at his side. He walked up to the Black Hound, and clapped his hands.
"All rise," Ezekiel said. "We can't afford to lose time - we have the operation."
"The operation...?" Veronica said underneath her breath
"Yes..." Ezekiel said. "We're going to get Dr. Cross back tonight, while also gaining us more... resources, shall we say, for our machine."
Veronica had no idea what he was talking about. She heard whispers about a doomsday weapon, or something crazy, and apparently they needed people for it. Which was why they're ramping up kidnapping... What it was terrified Veronica. Almost enough into compliance. Almost.
"The Black Hound is going to take a building full of people hostage in exchange for Dr. Cross.... which will ideally force us into a situation where all outcomes are beneficial." He continued.
"I could be of assistance..." Veronica said, trying to get out of this.
"No, no, no..." Ezekiel said, shaking his head. "Unlike the Black Hound, you are not a front line agent... you're our subtle agent that keeps the organization afloat from the shadows."
Veronica sighed. Might as well deal with it.
"Now, get to work."
Makoto got close to Veronica, who was annoyed she was doing the boring work befitting a drone. Makoto grabbed onto her arm like they were a couple.
"...At least we get to spend more time together!"
All Veronica could say in response was,
"...Kill me."
Lihua Zhao, & Meifeng.
Greencrest Heights, White Coast.
Fortunately for Meifeng, after her shift was over, she took some time off to spend with Lihua and Lijuan. She hasn't seen them in soooo long, and when she does come back to Baybridge, she gets shipped right back off a few weeks later for a good four months! Meifeng knew that, in the end, there won't be no friends or jobs, but family. So, instead of heading straight back to her apartment, she went to Greencrest Heights. Her motorcycle came to a stop in Lihua's driveway, and she climbed off. She locked her helmet on the bike, and walked up to the Zhao household... Every time she comes here, it always feels like it's been years. All because she was out helping the world, making it a better place... for them, she keeps telling herself.
She walked up to the door, and knocked on it. Leaning up against the porch as she waited for Lihua to answer. It wasn't long before her freakishly tall mother, the Zhao matriarch, answered the door. Wearing a T-shirt, and sweat pants. She looked at Meifeng, and smiled,
"Hello, Meifeng," Lihua said in Chinese as she grabbed Meifeng for a hug. "It is great to see you."
"Same." Meifeng said. "How's Lijuan doing?"
"She is doing fine...." Lihua said.
"I heard you got caught up in the whole festival shitstorm," Meifeng said, putting her hand on her hip.
"Yes... but, both of us got out without injury." Lihua said. "Now that you're here... can you do me a favor?" Lihua said. "It's... a little selfish to ask of you."
Meifeng now put both hands on her hips, and leaned forward. "Oh.... Ms. Zhao being selfish?" She teased. "I can't believe it!" She laughed.
Prompting an eyeroll from Lihua, "There's a PTA meeting tonight, and I need to be there... only problem is that Lijuan's usual babysitter is busy, and I don't know who else is trustworthy."
"Ah, it's not a problem of babysitters," Meifeng said, putting a hand up in the air. "But a matter of the cold-hearted Ms. Zhao trusting someone." She shrugged.
"Will you watch Lijuan, smartass?" Lihua said, finding it hard not to hiss out.
"You know it," Meifeng smiled. "You know I'd do anything for Lijuan."
"Good, Lihua said as she walked inside. "... And another thing... Jiao-Long is hosting a party for Honghui... it's his birthday next week."
"Oh yeah... I totally forgot..." Meifeng said in a more somber tone. "... About Honghui. I was just so busy that I totally forgot about my newest cousin..."
"It's forgivable..." Lihua said. "I'm going to attend it, of course, and Jiao-Long really wants you there."
"Remind me to bring a counter."
"For what?"
A toothy grin formed on Meifeng's face as she threw her arms behind her back. "Oh to countdown until you and Jiao-Long start bickering like twelve year olds. Heh." Meifeng walked into the house.
It was a little hard lying to Meifeng after all these years, but it was nothing but a little white lie.
While Lihua was not going to the Academy, she was heading to Courtbridge to go on a date. One of her co-workers set her up on a blind date, and Lihua only accepted it because - hell - the fifty-year-old woman had nothing better to do. Either she went for it, or it'd be another lonely night where she drinks herself to sleep. Maybe she'd meet a nice guy. Between working hard, and making sure Lijuan didn't grow up to be a psychopath, she didn't really have a lot of time to dedicate to meeting guys. And, of course, she also didn't have the energy to do so with all of her stress caused by her various mental problems. The only reason why she didn't tell Meifeng because she didn't want to hear Meifeng teasing her about it.
Lihua finally zipped up her navy blue dress. She was a little hesitant to wear this because it showed a little bit too much cleavage. That was probably the fault of her impressive bust than the dress. She would wear her qipao, but the last thing she wanted to do was to look like a giant stereotype. After getting ready, Lihua grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and drank a little bit of it raw, before storing it inside of her purse. She would make sure that she kept her eye on her drink. While she wasn't a young pretty girl, she wasn't going to get cocky, and let her guard down. Everyone's into something these days. Though, she has a fully-loaded pistol and an itchy trigger finger to go with it.
Afterwards, Lihua stepped out the door and walked down her stairs, and peeked into the living room. Meifeng was playing a game with Lijuan on their tablet, one of the things that Lihua got for her to keep her busy. Good, long as Meifeng didn't see her wearing this dress (and by that, she meant her cleavage, and immediately figured something out). "Alright, I'm leaving, make sure to get Lijuan in bed by ten," Lihua said as she stepped out the door.
Ever since the Eco-Natura attack on Prince Edfield, Lihua had to drive a rental - because her insurance actually didn't cover her car being crushed by a tree. God damn it. Lihua got into the car, and began driving. It wouldn't be that long of a drive, since it's a Tuesday night, and everyone was indoors.
Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_
Just as Lihua had predicted, she arrived in around twenty minutes. She grabbed her purse, and then got out the car, taking slow steps towards the Orchestra Mall. It wasn't anything special: it was mostly just a mall that had all manner of shops - clothing, food courts, etc - but, it was known for it's music stores. Such as... Well, Lihua didn't know about for the life of her. Music was never her thing. Except for listening to classy music, with loads of violins... that would be the only instrument Lihua would ever be interested in, but she's getting off topic. Lihua walked inside of the mall with her purse in hand... she felt like she's stunning. Like a finely aged wine.
There was a restaurant in here where she's supposed to meet her date... Nirvana. It wasn't a posh or high-class place, but it was known for its seafood. One thing that Lihua loved the most! She stepped inside, and could smell the great food. Now... all she had to do was find her date. They had a table reserved by the window. Lihua walked up to the front counter.
"Oh, I have a reservation... David Piers. He isn't here yet," Lihua said, nodding her head. She hoped that she wouldn't be left with the bill.
"Oh? Right this way, then." The waitress lead Lihua all the way to her table... and he wasn't even there.
He said he'd be here at this hour. It's rude to make a woman wait.
Jennifer usually spent a little bit of her time after getting off work to head over to the Orchestra Mall... only because she wanted to try out their extensive arcade that was known all over Baybridge. Usually she would spend an hour here, and then head back to the apartment... but that hour quickly turned into three. She was just helping herself to the classic games... and the fighting games they had there. All while still wearing this awkward uniform. It wasn't out of any addiction - but it was a distraction from what had happened earlier today with Haruka. She wasn't ready to show her past, yet she did, only because she was pressured. She felt ashamed of her past, but every time she tried to move on, she just got dragged right back in...
It was a sad, and vicious cycle, but it was one that she was condemned to long as she drew breath.
For now, Jennifer was just content with distracting herself with a game of Street Fighter IV on this arcade machine. She was always drawn towards Cammy, and Chun-Li, so she picked the former.
"You know how much it costed me to cover up that article?" Randall's eyes blazed furiously. "My boss wants me dead for covering the attack without his permission!"
Samina took a sip of her Turkish coffee. "No one has a clue about what happened. For all matters it was---"
"Terrorism!" he cut her with a voice loud enough to be heard at the next table. He continued in a low voice, after noticing the confused gazes from a couple sitting at the table, "I mean... soon the media will know it wasn't gang war and will start asking questions. Especially why we knew firsthand. They’ll question me, Samina. ME! It's my ass on the line." Randall raised his hands to his temples.
"You're really nervous, Randall." She cracked a smile as she took another sip. "Have you ever thought in trying out the Turkish coffee from here? It's wonderful. A few years ago I was in Greece, we had to smuggle a ton of missiles to the Middle East. Anyway, we found this little bar in Thessaloniki. I think the name of the owner was Nikolas - he taught me how to made the coffee. Did you know that the coffee is unfiltered, and is made with finely ground roasted beans? Most importantly: the coffee isn't boiled, they prepare it below the boiling point---"
"Samina, focus."
"What I mean is that its position in the newspaper is safe. No one will fire you because of the New York Times, much less connect you to SCAR. I'll have to see what they can do in the office, okay...? What's wrong with you? Is something on my hair?"
Samina waited for a response but Randall only tilted his head to the side as far as he could, continued staring with wide eyes and stamped fear on his face.
"What's it?" She turned around to see what he was seeing. "Looks like you saw death hims--- MOTHERFUCKER!" In a blink of an eye her hands were searching for the phone in her purse. Then she began writing a message and by the time one of the Intimidation Unit approached her, the message read:
MOM I LOVED THE DINNER.
To Samina's misfortune, he took the phone from her hand before she could send the message thus preventing her from starting any SCAR protocol. It would take time until SCAR found out what was going on with her.
Haruka Takashiro.
Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_
It had really been a long day for Haruka: first, with Jennifer and the reveal of the past she had kept for seven long years... then with Rori and Conor about a church claiming to be able to make Metahumans become normal people.
He wasn't really in a mood to hang out with his college mates right now. He wouldn't have bothered to show up if he didn't have to drop off Rori here... and for free alcohol.
"---Haru." He was jolted out of his thoughts when his elbows suddenly slipped off the table - the girl sitting beside him, Angela, was shaking him by the shoulder to get his attention. "You okay? I can't believe you're spacing out while we're talking about a road trip over the sem break. A road trip, for all of us here!"
"Sorry," Haruka mumbled, taking a sip of his beer. "Just... I'm a bit tired, that's all." All the caffeine earlier in the day didn't help, not one bit. He looked up at the ceiling - made up of glass that gave him a great view of the blue sky above. Angela worked part-time in this German-esque restaurant bar, situated at the topmost level in this mall; today was her treat, which was a great relief since the food here wasn't that affordable for a bunch of mere college kids like them.
"But you're definitely coming with us, yeah?" Sitting across him was a blond dude named Marcus who had his usual lopsided grin on his face, but that smile didn't reach his stormy-grey eyes. "Your brother is always out of town, so shouldn't be a problem to bring that bike of yours along for a couple of weeks."
"Yeah, you should," Angela perked up, nudging Haruka's arm with her elbow playfully. "And make me feel like I'm flying again."
Marcus' face seemed to darken a little. "...Almost like he's got some sort of superpower to control his bike." His unblinking eyes shifted from Angela to Haruka. "You're not a Meta, are you?"
Haruka held the blond's gaze, then he laughed. "...No way." He couldn't tell them the truth - most of the people in his course were normies, and he was aware that at least half of them harbored either fear or hatred towards Metahumans. Besides, his ability had nothing to do with his driving skill - okay, maybe just a little, but nowhere enough to fly the heavy bike into the air literally.
"Marc, stop teasing him." Ryan, who was seated next to Marcus, rolled his eyes. "If it wasn't for Haru's notes we would've bombed our papers. It's all thanks to him that we can chill out here and talk about a group vacation without worrying about having to repeat another semester."
Haruka shut them off his mind again while the three were chatting about the trip - there was something more important than their idle conversation (which he had no interest in, anyway).
Something... bad.
Just when he felt the strange churning air around him, the sound of terrified screams suddenly filled the mall.
A normal night at the mall was cut painfully short when they arrived.
Seemingly out of nowhere, portals appeared in the mall, and armed men donned in black armor appeared. It was obvious they were the Founding Family's Intimidation Unit, because they had the logo of the snarling dog on their armor. Dirty and faceless, they immediately began shooting violently in the air, causing a rain of stone and glass to fall down. Everyone was terrified, but before the natural reaction to run kicked in, they heard the strict order to "Get on the ground!" as the men went through every store. Checking every nook and cranny for people. Before they outright dragged people out of the stores and restaurants and into the main hall of the mall. Each of the members closed the doors to each store, as they literally dragged everyone to the eastmost end of the mall, and lined everyone up against the walls, and storefronts. With their hands tied up behind their backs with plastic handcuffs.
It wasn't long before one last portal appeared, and the Black Hound stepped out slowly. Holding his light-machine gun over his shoulder, his eyes glowed bright red as he surveyed the area... and everyone gasped whenever he looked at them.
"Listen up," the Black Hound said, putting the massive weapon in his hand. He spoke as he took steps along his hostages. "If anyone forces my hand... I'll kill them. Simple as that. I don't plan on turning this into a bloodbath anytime soon. So, if you stay still, everything will go well. No one dies, and you can all go home..."
He stopped, and looked at everyone.
"...If RAVEN doesn't believe their prisoners are more valuable than your lives, that is."
That spelled bad news for the hostages, and worst of all, the Black Hound apparently didn't care for their lives.
"RAVEN and Negotiators should be on their way..." The Black Hound began walking off. "Just keep calm... your life may depend on it."
While they were arriving, however, it was about time that the Black Hound locked down the area. He knew that there had to be some Metahumans in their midst, and the last thing he wanted was for their to be an... accident, because someone got cocky.
The Black Hound's mask scanned faces for the Founding Family's little database...
Cindy Gabrielle Keagan.
(@Mr Allen J) DOVE/RAVEN Joint West Coast Headquarters_
Cindy was hoping that she could get some cases done before she would head back home... maybe she'd take the day off. She hadn't had a real day off in ages. She should go check on Wendy, but Reed had that downpacked... actually, she should do that. Just in case the girl would do anything stupid---
"Cindy!" Scarlet slammed open the door, and got Cindy's attention almost instantly. "We have a situation!"
Aw damn it. Why couldn't she have one damn night to do some cases? The way Scarlet was acting, it had to be serious. Cindy made sure to grab her badge off the desk, and ran out. "What is it?"
"The Black Hound is holding the Orchestra Mall hostage," Scarlet said. "There has to be over a hundred hostages!"
...And it was always the Black Hound now. Cindy was longing for the days when other super-criminals would start to cause problems. Worst of all... he was holding a mall full of people hostage. That's what made the situation worse. She was going have to head straight there, since the Black Hound's a known Metahuman threat, and he's currently the only person who has a Kill-on-Sight order on them.
He's that serious of a threat.
Cindy pressed her earpiece. "Everyone, I need you in Courtbridge immediately," she spoke into the comms. "...It's the Hound."
While Jennifer was hoping to get away from it all... of course she had to have another run in with danger.
A barrage of bullets outside gave Jennifer a jolt like no other. Her hand slipped - unfortunately that was the move that cost her the game as she was defeated with one light attack, not that she cared that much at the moment - and her body darted towards the door as she saw armed men rush into the arcade, shooting in the air. Usual intimidation tactics. Jennifer was about to fight... but, she quickly dipped behind some machines. She would rather not fight at the moment, especially when she coukd just hide. She was going to slip out and...
"Freeze!" Men aimed guns at her and Jennifer was immediately forced to raise her hands... but, to be honest, what the hell were they expecting Jennifer to do? She was one-hundred-and-twenty-six pounds... wet.
But everyone was waving around a Metahuman ability these days, and Jennifer was no exception. The men grabbed onto Jennifer, violently yanking her up to her feet (she felt one of them copped a feel... disgusting) as she was carried out of the arcade, and was quickly cuffed and shoved to the ground... then the Black Hound appeared. There was something horribly unnerving about the man, and she only heard about him. Like... what was his goals? Was he out to inflict as much pain and suffering as Luis?
She was praying that she could get out of this alive... but, he was clearly aiming for something big.
Haruka Takashiro.
Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_
The Intimidation Unit rounded up every single person in the restaurant bar with quick efficiency. Everyone was handcuffed and gathered together outside the bar; nobody tried - or even feel daring enough - to go against them, not when these men had their guns trained on them in all directions.
"What the hell's going on?" Ryan asked in a low voice, and Angela shook her head slightly in response.
"Fucking Metas," Marcus hissed under his breath. "Why do they always get us normal people dragged into their shit?"
The terrified murmuring that was growing louder was immediately silenced when one of the men made a clicking sound on his gun - the sound of the pin being unlocked.
Out of all the hostages around him, Haruka was probably the only one who could manage to suppress his fear - of course he was scared like the rest of them, but he had to control his emotions. The last thing he wanted was for his power to go berserk in this situation... and get everyone killed, again.
Taking in a deep breath, he tried to assess his current situation logically to calm himself down: the men were intimidating them with guns, but so far none of them got shot at - which meant that as long as they behave themselves, their lives would be spared... for now.
He remembered hearing some gunshots just now - probably on the other levels. He hoped that no one got hurt, and that meant they were being held hostage for a reason. Probably to use them to negotiate with someone - and that someone was obviously DOVE and RAVEN, which any terrorist organization in Baybridge would have an obvious grudge against. (And Shizuka would likely end up getting involved... if he was still in town.)
But what were they going to negotiate for?
His train of thought was interrupted by... Angela, again. "You're oddly calm about this," she whispered.
"...What do you mean?" Haruka tried to fake a nervous look, but he couldn't do it - he felt that Angela's stare could easily break his half-assed mask.
"Sometimes you have that expression on your face... like you've actually seen hell before."
Wendy was just waiting... waiting for the signal to sneak in. She was just passing time by looking at her phone... and doing her best not to remind herself of Diana.
When her phone buzzed with who she was hoping was her contact. She looked up, and saw.
The Black Hound and the chunk of the Intimidation Unit is gone. Head straight to 1731 Minoma Vale, and sneak over the fence. I'll be guiding you through the cameras.
That was Wendy's cue... and she was quick to rev up her moped and start flying towards that address after putting it into her phone's GPS. It wasn't long before she made it to a big fenced off complex that was pretty damn big. She personally wondered what the hell was even in this place. Wendy didn't want to know. If it belongs to the Founding Family - who employs the fucking Black Hound - then it must be bad.
She didn't know what she would find in this hell lab, but the first thing she did was make sure that she park far away from the lab. Just in case anyone finds it... and they have to make a quick getaway, and she might have to come back to get it later.
... If she even gets out.
A gulp escaped her lips as Wendy parked the moped in an alleyway, as she got off, locked her helmet on, and stepped off. Wendy took slow steps through the wet streets of Baybridge until she made it back to the laboratory's fence. She stared at the building in the distance, and noticed that there were several guards patrolling the perimeter.
I can see you on the camera. Don't worry, I got you covered. Keep moving until you see a garage in the building.
That just unnerved Wendy... all of her moments were being tracked by this stranger. She sincerely hoped that this person was on her side, but she was going have to take a chance since she had no idea how else to find Diana. Well, this place looks like a evil villain lair, so she might be on the right track. So she had no choice but to push on forward with her phone in her hand, lapping around the building until she made it to the garage. In which the garage doors were wide open, but she could see a little bit of activity. Almost like these guys were the unlucky souls left behind to close the doors.
Use your paper powers to sneak in. Be careful because they can smell a Metahuman.
Sneaking was easy... Wendy was good with snooping around in places she doesn't belong.
Just that this time was a matter of life or death, and she couldn't afford to mess around.
Just as the text messages said, Wendy converted herself into paper, and flew over the fence as one giant mass of paper. She gracefully flew over to the garage - but leaned up against the wall, and peeked into the room. A group of three armed goons were having a conversation. They weren't paying attention to her, but even the slightest moment appearing in someone peripheral is bound to catch the attention of anyone that isn't blind.
Maybe evil organizations were equal opportunity employers these days?
Regardless, Wendy spotted some boxes that she could hide behind. She focused as her skin turned paper white yet again, and she slid across the ground behind the crate. She took a moment to catch her breath, but made sure not to be too loud.
"Alright, man, close the damn door already!" One of the Undertakers playfully said. "Do you want the Black Hound to come back and push your shit in for leaving the door wide open?! I can hear it now, "anyone can just march on in and discover the Blessed Three's secrets!" Ha!"
Yeah, like me. Wendy said to herself as she listened to them... Who are the Blessed Three? She was tempted to contact her source, but she had to remain focused.
"Alright, shut up man." The Undertaker said as he walked over to the door controls, and slammed his hand on the button. The doors came closing, and the men began walking off. Which was Wendy's cue to get moving. Before she stepped out from cover... someone else made their entrance.
A tall African-American man rolled through the gates right before they closed, and Wendy was quick to dip back behind cover. She didn't know this man, and the last thing she wanted to do was get careless. He looked around, before saying something to himself, and proceeding out of the garage.
A sigh escape Wendy's lips as she got out of cover, and looked at her phone.
Take the door on the left... Good luck Ms. Lucker.
"... And I'll need it." Wendy said to herself as she began marching inside.
Into the labyrinth of evil I go....
Malik Jakane.
New Raygate, Prince Edfield.
Malik would be on the rooftops exploring the city, but Malik didn't want to waste any energy.
Tanya dropped him off here, and he was determined to find out more about Marcelle. Even if it was the last thing he does, he was going to find her. Though, he was a little concerned... the Black Hound works for the Founding Family? That guy was an international lunatic! And if they were willing to hire a lunatic, wouldn't that make them the bigger lunatic? These questions are what worried Malik at times - but he gotta remain confident! If he messes up now, he'll never see Marcelle again.
His phone got that golden text message.
You need to get to 1731 Minoma Vale, look for the garage.
"Showtime...." Malik trailed off, as he turned on his phone's GPS, and put in that address. He didn't know this city for the life of him, so he was going have to rely on good old technology. It pointed him west, and Malik turned his body that way. He looked around, and saw that there was nothing but hookers and prostitutes. Well, Malik could afford to take a risk.
It sounded like a tornado overcame the street as his body puffed up and turned white like a cloud. Spinning around as he quickly took to the skies. It was risky, but this was the best way to get there quickly. Following the GPS until he came across a giant compound.
Looks like a villain's headquarters.
Then he got a text message.
For the love of God; come down before someone sees you.
Oh. Malik could just sense his contact facepalming. Maybe he didn't think this through that well. Malik descended and quickly reverted back to his human form right above the ground. Upon landing Malik rolled, and landed on his knee. Fortunately, the garage was in his sight. Unfortunately, it was closing. "Damn it." Malik said as he broke out into an all-out sprint for the door.
Years of parkour made Malik fast as a cheetah.
He made it to the gate, and rolled through at the last second. Then he realized that he literally just rolled into danger. He looked around... and fortunately, he wasn't even seen. Then he got another text message.
Move straight ahead towards the information database. Don't worry about the cameras. Good luck, Malik.
Malik nodded his head... it was time to move on.
Meifeng Zhao.
Greencrest Heights, White Coast.
Phew!
It wasn't long before Lijuan was all tuckered out. Meifeng was feeling a little tired herself, but she figured that the night was still young, and it'd be a little while before Lihua gets back. So, Meifeng carried her younger sister to her bed, and neatly wrapped her in the covers. While Meifeng quickly glided her way back to her old room. While Meifeng lives with Cindy, she still keeps plenty of her old sentimental items with Lihua. She went into her closet, and started digging through it, quickly looking for an item....
Aha!
Meifeng pulled out her old bo staff. She can't believe all the great times that she had with this thing. She hasn't practiced Karate in soooo long. She would pick up Karate again, but honestly, American Military-Hand-to-Hand suits her just fine (And the matter of not having the time). Regardless, Meifeng was going to see how much she remembers. She held the bo-staff in her hand, and skipped down the steps, and stepped out the front door. The last thing that Meifeng wants to do is practice indoors, and then break something... and then hear Lihua give her the riot-act. No. Oh no.
Meifeng merely stepped out to the rather spacy front-porch, and began practicing. She put the bo-staff over her shoulder, and took a step and swung it, putting the opposite end under her shoulder with her swing. She still got it. It's been seven years, but she still has it. She stabbed forward, getting into a lower position with her knees bent, but equal length-
A glowing purple substance appeared at the corner of her eye, and Meifeng was quick to hop over and look.
Just like a giant raindrop, a giant purple drop of an unidentified liquid appeared from the sky. Meifeng put her bo-staff on the ground right at her side, and watched. She had no idea what it was, but it was definitely trouble. It was obviously a Metahuman, as the purple liquid took shape into a man. She got into position as she grabbed the staff with both hands, and got ready. Was it another killer sent by the Founding Family?
"My, my, my..." The glowing drop of shit said as it took shape into a short Chinese man with glasses, and a slasher smile that reminded her of a Changeling. Wearing a labcoat and a proper business suit underneath it. "... You look familiar, are you Qiaolian?"
That name made Meifeng's jaw drop.
Is this...?
"Or... should I use her American name? Li-hua."
"I get the feeling you're Jiang Song," Meifeng said, quickly dispersing water out of her pocket dimension, putting it on each end of her staff.
Jiang put a finger up, and surrounded it with a dragon made out of his purple acid. It coiled around his finger.
"That is correct." Jiang Song answered.
"Good, because I've just been itching to put my foot up your ass for what you did to Lihua." Meifeng said as she cracked her neck.
"Oh?" Jiang said. "Oh! You must be the bastard she produced with Bohai! I knew you looked familiar!"
He started laughing.
"Good, I was hoping to kill you and her other bastard before her... it'll make the fall of the tyrant so much more satisfying!" Jiang said.
"You're a little cocky, yeah?" Meifeng said. "I wonder if it's because you're fuckin' crazy, or something else...."
"Let me ask you this: why do you defend such a woman?" Jiang said, raising an eyebrow. "For decades, this woman oppressed Chinese Metahumans. Killing thousands of innocent people with glee all because it made her feel powerful. And you just want her to walk away from all of it without even answering for it? Pathetic."
Meifeng closed her eyes and shook her head.
"I know that my mom did lots of bad things... but it just ain't like that anymore." Meifeng started off in a low tone. "She changed... she wants to be better."
Then a firey anger awakened inside of Meifeng.
"... And more importantly, she deserves much better than a bastard like you making her life hell!" Meifeng shouted, and narrowed her eyes at him as she dropped into stance. "And how about you look at what you did before you start pointing fingers?"
Jiang tilted his head, almost like he was curious as to what Meifeng was going to say.
"A friend of mine phoned up some of his boys in China, and he told me of your little track record, Jiang," Meifeng hissed his name like an insult. "Kidnapping, murder, terrorism, human experimentation, treason... You're God damn public enemy number one there. They don't even want you back alive..."
"True, it was all because-" Jiang was about to begin, before he was cut off by Meifeng.
"So how about I cut the middle man and put you down here and now?" Meifeng spun her bo-staff over her head, and held up one hand, with her opposite hand holding the staff behind her. "Just so you can leave my mother alone!"
Jiang started laughing maliciously as he produced snakes made of acid. They wrapped and coiled around him - then all stared at Meifeng with glowing red eyes. He put his hand up - the back of his hand facing Meifeng - and one of his acidic serpents coiled up his hand.
"You are valiant, I'll give you that. Like a tiger..." Jiang started off. "... But, you fail to realize that even the mightiest tigers fall to the venom of the serpent."
That meant their little pre-battle banter was over. Meifeng's phone rung... and all she did was pull it out her back pocket and left it on the stairs. She saw Cindy's name... but, Cindy's going have to do without her.
Written in collaboration with @Mr Allen J Old Raygate, Prince Ed-Field
The dead haunted Rhea's dreams again. Glassy eyes, half-submerged corpses, pools of crimson. This time, the horror did not take her. Walking through red water, she placed a white rose on each of the dead. A brilliant light escaped their bodies as the souls broke free, and the scene evaporated.
A blue sky with clouds materialised above her, and beneath her feet lay flat sand. A light breeze caressed her skin. The Black Hound stood 15 feet from her, hands clasped at its back. Its suit was in perfect order, a rifle strapped in between the shoulders. They eyed each other, unmoving.
"I'm not afraid," Rhea said. The Black Hound gazed at her silently, unflinching. The sand shifted, dissolving as the dream faded.
~*~
Sitting with a protein shake and a banana, Rhea stared blankly at her laptop as the search reached 98%. She was dressed in her gray track gear, hat and all. Sure, she didn't actually courier for a couple more days, but spy work put her on edge. It was best to dress appropriately, she figured.
In a proper state of mind, Rhea shook her head at her actions earlier. When do I ever sit at a cafe? She normally considered it boring, but after her traumatic experience and a lack of sleep, she must have felt out of character. Enough so that she'd sit and idly chat.
Well no, it wasn't entirely small talk with Malik.
The screen flashed as it completed its search. Results from the surface web came up with nothing more than Did you mean Founding Fathers? With the dark web results, however, Rhea found a lead. The page was plastered with ‘Founding Family’ and filled with cryptic messages. Rhea snapped a screenshot and printed it, mulling over the paper with a pencil.
She sighed. No, it doesn’t make any sense. There must be some kind of code…
Rhea stuck the page to her whiteboard, scribbling notes beside it with a felt marker. Having also caught up with the news, images of the Black Hound and the masked, grotesque behemoth were also tacked to the board. From the stories, both had used some kind of teleportation. Both mainly targeted Metahumans. As Malik told her, the DGMHS girl who disappeared was likely also a meta. If she pretended they were all connected, she assumed the ‘Founding Family’ had some deadly fascination with Metas. Or it was just an ‘instill fear in the masses’ tactic.
Rhea made an annoyed face. For now, we treat them as separate entities. There’s not enough evidence to say otherwise. She leaned back and stared up at the whiteboard, idly sipping her drink.
The two assassins made it to the general area of their mark. They got out of a simple sedan that was supplied to them by the Black Hound. It had no tags, nor anything to track it to anyone.
"Old Raygate..." Makoto said as she stepped out and put a mask on to complete her outfit. "Ain't this place full of nothing but druggies and hookers?"
"That's what concerns me," Veronica said as she got out of the vehicle herself, her sharp green eyes went left to right as she searched for any possible threats. There was a homeless man that looked a little eager until Veronica shot him a gaze so sharp that he was forced to retreat. "What sort of gutter-trash knows about our boss?" She said as she slid on her own mask.
"Ooooh, gutter-trash," Makoto playfully teased. "You sound like a British woman!"
Veronica rolled her eyes.
"Just shut up and grab the bag," Veronica said, and Makoto reached into the backseat and pulled out a black gym bag that wouldn't be suspicious if it wasn't being carted around in the dead of night.
"Sure that we even need this?" Makoto asked. "With my chains, and your knives... Anyone would have trouble fighting us."
"I don't like to take risks... especially when the other side may be packing a handgun at least," Veronica said.
Shrugging, Makoto just grabbed the gym bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Let's get a move on."
The two were brought to the middle of a field... and that's when Veronica started to get a little concerned. She approached the fence, and quickly glanced at her phone, and was tracking whoever was tracking them here... Okay. This place looked like a hold-out by some gang or something. Which lead Veronica to assume they're packing heat.
"Makoto," Veronica said, gesturing for the bag. "I think we're going to need our little help."
"Oh yes," Makoto smiled as she knelt down and put the bag there, too. She unzipped it, and pulled out a metal case - taking that case out, she opened it to reveal their "help." A fully loaded MP5SD3. With an attachable stock, and silencer. Both of which Makoto were quick to attach. Makoto held the submachine gun in both hands.
Veronica was wrapped in a green aura as she pulled throwing knives out of her secret compartment hidden in her sleeves. "Let's hope we don't have to use this...." Veronica said.
Makoto waved her hand and tore the fence open with her metal manipulation. Nodding their heads, they approached the train car with their heads down. Proceeding towards it quickly as they could, but crouched down. When they were within a few meters of it, Veronica gestured towards Makoto and said....
"We don't know how many people we're up against," Veronica said. "Or who... I personally want to scout around a little bit, but I don't think we can have a peak in there without attracting some attention."
"How about we roll a flashbang in there?" Makoto suggested. "Run in, tell them to put their hands up, then get some information."
"That could work... I honestly don't see more than five people being in there," Veronica said as she reached into her pants and pulled out a flashbang... she keeps one on her at all times just in case she needs a quick getaway. She'll just have to rely on her smarts from here on in.
She made the flashbang float in her hand.
"You open the door, I throw it in, then you hold it shut," Veronica ordered.
"Aye, aye, sweetheart," Makoto cheerfully said as she got in position.
Veronica groaned as the flashbang fell right into her hand, and she started walking over towards the door, ready to toss it in with telekinesis.
Makoto extended her will to the door, subtly pulling the door open with her metal manipulation.
"On three," Veronica said. "One... two..."
Makoto nodded her head when Veronica looked at her.
"...Three!"
Makoto pried the door open swiftly, and Veronica tossed the flashbang in at blinding speeds with her telekinesis. Right when the grenade went in, Makoto slammed the door shut and sealed it tightly so their target can't escape.
The grenade exploded loudly and brightly inside the train car. It would be sensory hell on everyone in such a close area.
A cocky grin formed on Veronica's face as she pulled the knives out of her sleeves again.
"Let's go," Veronica said as she quickly moved in before the effects would wear off.
Low voices interrupted Rhea’s thoughts. Normally she didn’t pay much attention to what happened outside the paper-thin walls of her safe house, so she wrote it off as some kids finding a place to get high. Moments passed, then she heard two sets of footsteps crunch on the dry dirt outside and pause. Murmurings.
What the hell? Rhea crept to the wall, pressing her ear to the metal.
"On three," She heard a voice say. A countdown. Nothing good ever happens with a countdown.
"One... two…”
“Shit!” Rhea ran from the wall, scooping up her bug-out bag in the corner as she crawled up a ladder to the emergency hatch.
An alarm went off as the sliding door was ripped open. She heard an object clatter against metal as her hand punched the ceiling hatch. Rhea scrambled out with her body half on the roof as the flashbang exploded. She laid there a moment on the hot metal, absolutely deaf. Slowly, wincing in pain, she got to her feet and evacuated the train container. Tapping into the batteries within her backpack, Rhea empowered her run, aiming to hide in the warehouses. There was just an empty field to cross first...
"Hmph," Veronica said as their target made a break for it. Turns out there's only one person. That makes this much easier... but, she apparently has bloody superhearing or something, because how else did she notice them in that metal box of death? Doesn't matter how, but they had to stop her. She brought these throwing knives out for a reason. They glowed with a green aura, as she cocked them back to throw. Veronica made sure to use her deadeye to line this up perfectly.
With one toss, she threw five knives at Rhea's legs... fully intending to injure her legs enough to catch up with her bony ass. Or leave a trail of blood.
"... You know I can just, you know..." Makoto got really close to Veronica and whispered. "... Teleport over to her... you just gotta give me a second."
"Oh..."
Rhea was roughly 20 feet from the warehouses when a searing pain ripped through the back of her legs. She collapsed, looking down to find small knives embedded in the muscle. The two footsteps she heard earlier were standing outside the container, staring at her. Two women, armed and dangerous. With gritted teeth, she tore the knives out and stumbled into the nearest warehouse.
Who the hell are they? She wondered, limping up a ramp to the highest level in the building. Her healing abilities had scabbed over the wounds, but the muscles within were still quite torn. She wouldn’t be running for a while. Her options were limited to hiding or an ambush. Maybe both.
Finding a dark spot within the warehouse that had a full view of the door, Rhea pulled out a pistol from her backpack. She aimed it at the ground floor, then at the broken windows, and stayed very quiet.
Tracking the blood trail was easy, Veronica and Makoto merely followed it as they chased her into the building.
"Perhaps it's time for me to flaunt my teleportation?" Makoto said. "Just to see what she's packing."
"Very well, then," Veronica said as she leaned up against the wall. "I have an idea before you go charging in."
Veronica focused on a random rock, and lifted it up into the air... she focused on one of the windows off to the side of the building that wasn't quite broken.
"On my signal, you go in through the other side," Veronica said.
Makoto nodded her head as she focused on the past, and the memories that came with it. Until she was able to channel a power using past memories. She was surrounded with a black smoke, and she focused on the building.
"Ready."
Veronica tossed the rock through the window, causing a violent cacophony as it shattered what was left of the window. It would be enough to give the already jittery Rhea a spook, but that was to cover Makoto's entrance.
She disappeared into a slight "pop" of black smoke, and appeared inside the warehouse. She leaned up against a warehouse crate and peaked around cover. She had no idea of where Rhea is....
Rhea's pistol snapped to the sound of shattered glass. A stone skittered across the floor, rolling to a stop. She breathed, loosening her grip. It wasn't a person. A distraction, perhaps. Rhea slowly shifted her weight, creeping across the metal ledge. Her eyes squinted in an effort to penetrate the darkness. A distraction for what?
Her foot snagged a rusted piece of metal and it snapped, tumbling down to the ground. The sound held a faint echo. Rhea sweated, frozen in place. Shit. Grimacing, she continued to move stealthily, tempted to just run.
That was enough for Makoto to pin her location. She looked right at the girl - her gun reflected a light that Makoto was able to track. She grinned... tempted to just start shooting, but she needed this mark alive long enough to question her. She was engulfed in the black smoke yet again, before appearing again behind her.
"Hello there..." Makoto said, trying to startle her even more.
A single gunshot split the air as Rhea spun around, firing at the shadowed figure. She didn't take the time to line up her shot, so she had no idea where exactly she was aiming. And if she didn't reveal her location before, she definitely had now.
Makoto had quickly teleported in front of her when Rhea spun. Knowing exactly what she was going to do next. "Don't telegraph yourself so much, sweetie," She said as she shoved the MP5 in Rhea's face, pressing it against her skull. "Now honey... you're going want to drop that little peashooter there."
The cold metal against her forehead sent chills up Rhea's spine. Even in the darkness, she knew how much lethal force was pointed at her. God dammit... they got me. Growling through clenched teeth, Rhea tossed her pistol to the side. It made a satisfying clatter as it fell to the ground floor.
"Thank you," Makoto said in a cutesy, mocking, tone. "You can come in now, Ver- Terror!" Makoto shouted as a signal for Veronica to come in.
"... Amazing," Veronica sarcastically said as she strut her way in, twirling her knife around her fingers. "You apprehended her without even needing my help... I guess there's a reason I keep you around."
"Other than my pretty face, of course. Haha!" Makoto laughed.
Veronica rolled her eyes as she walked up. She pressed the flat of the blade against Rhea's throat in a threatening display. Just to keep her compliant.
"Makoto, search her for anything else," Veronica said as she kept Rhea's head firm with one hand, and the knife against her throat with the other. "Stand up." She said as she pulled Rhea to her feet.
Makoto slung the machinegun over her shoulder as she cracked her knuckles. She patted Rhea down starting with her pants, then moved upwards before her hands hovering over her chest.
"... What a pancake." Makoto mocked before she continued to pat Rhea down. Before she reached around and pulled that backpack off. She quickly searched it and found all sorts of things. Such as a baton, batteries, a phone, and some food. If Makoto were to take a guess, this broad was a hacker or some kind of street rat hired to get some information.
And ooooh boy she kicked the hornet's nest with this one.
"She's clean," Makoto said, prompting Veronica to begin.
"We're with... ah..." Veronica trailed off for a moment. "Ah, doesn't matter does it?"
Veronica grinned.
"What we're interested in is your suspect search history..." Veronica trailed off again, narrowing her eyes. "Mostly, this nonsense about a Founding Family? Funny, ain't it. Ah, what do you know?"
The sugar-coated mockery was somewhat disarming. It relaxed Rhea's nerves enough that she began to breathe normally, despite having a knife to her throat. Rhea remained compliant as she was searched, silently studying the two women. The 'Makoto' dressed in an oriental mask and cloak, while the 'Terror' boasted a long coat and metal mask. Both appeared athletic, and both seemed at ease with their... job? If kicking her ass was a job, who ordered it? Who's toes did she step on?
I've run packages for White Spider, a couple low-key gangs, and DOVE, but Hallmark is on good terms with all of them... Unless... Unless this isn't about work. She briefly saw Malik's frantic face in her mind, how he demanded she not get involved. These women... they're connected to the Founding Family, I'll bet.
The Terror spoke in her ear, confirming Rhea's suspicions. "...Mostly, this nonsense about a Founding Family?..."
Rhea supposed these 'investigators' weren't complete assholes, although she was royally pissed about being at their mercy. Her options were severely limited, and if Malik told her anything useful, it was that the Founding Family made people disappear. The less she said, the better.
“I don't know anything,” She spoke her words carefully. “I was just tipped off.”
"Tipped off?" Veronica said, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, right, like we are going to believe that." She started laughing. "You better start talking, because if not, I'll just slash your throat and move on - for wasting my time." She pressed the blade against her throat a little harder.
Rhea trembled, attempting to shrink away from the razor. There was no wiggle room, just the muscled arm of Veronica keeping her pinned.
“Terror, if I may,” She used the name Makoto called Veronica, “No one knows about the Founding Family. I only heard about it earlier today, and it’s my job to know shit.”
My job? Well great, let’s just tell her all about that, mm? Rhea gritted her teeth. Her fear was making her mouth run. Evidently, the last thing she wanted was to waste The Terror's time.
"It's my job to kill people who "know shit," sweetheart." Veronica said with a cocky smile from underneath her mask. "From whom did you hear about the Founding Family?" She hissed. "Don't make me ask again."
Within her power, Rhea refused to sell out Malik. If she could spin a story in a way they would believe it, she’d be able to keep him anonymous. He’d be free to find that girl, which was the least she could do. Rhea had to pull herself together, just this once.
“I swear I never got his name, we were just two strangers having coffee. He told me his friend went missing and he dropped the ‘Founding Family’. I was curious.”
"Well, you better start telling me when, where, and what-"
Veronica was interrupted by the sounds of sirens approaching... She turned her head and saw police lights approaching the field. It was that damn flashbang. Probably sounded like an explosion.
"Oh," Makoto said. "What are the odds of them stumbling up here, Terror?"
"Enough for us to move, damn it," Veronica hissed, she pressed her earpiece with her other hand. "Foundation Woman, we're bringing that target of yours back to base for further interrogation," Veronica started off. "Have Zenith extract us."
"Oooooh," Makoto excitedly said. "We get to have more fun with her - and she's actually kind of cute."
A blue swirling portal opened up behind them, and Veronica took a step back, putting her knife away. However, Makoto pulled that MP5 out, and aimed it at Rhea.
"... It's in your best interests to step inside, girl." Veronica said.
Rhea’s mouth hung agape at the swirling blue energy. This is the portal. The one the Black Hound uses. But that means… She eyed the gun pointed at her. I’m really not gonna like where we’re going.
“Not every day I walk through freaky energy...” Rhea said, putting her hands in a gesture of surrender. She held her breath and entered the portal.
"That's a good doggie..." Veronica mockingly said as she followed in after Rhea, then Makoto stepped in.
After they were gone, the portal closed, and other than the discarded gun, there were little signs they were even here.
Today was one of those rare occasions Naoki was allowed to step out of his prison room; however, it didn't mean that he could stroll out of the cage freely. Flanked by the usual towering guards on either side, he was dragged down the dim hallway by the chain of the cold metal cuffs around his wrists. He couldn't walk as fast as the two burly men, not with another set of chained cuffs weighing down his ankles.
This was his 'reward' for the smooth session with Yang Jun a couple of days ago - a chance to meet his parents again. Although he had been relatively obedient to the cult, that old hag felt the need to give him a little more motivation... or rather, to remind him of his position.
To know his own place.
The guard on Naoki's right stepped forward to a blinking red light ahead (which he could barely make out a card reader-like device in the dim lighting), leaving the guy on the left to keep the boy on the metal leash. The Right Guard pulled out a badge from the breast pocket of his black business suit and held it in front of the reader-device. The red light turned green and a groan echoed down the corridor as the door opened slowly before the trio.
Beyond this door, behind the metal bars that split the room into half, the thin, ghastly figures of Reiji and Yui Yagami scrambled forward - teary-eyed at the sight of their son, who had lost some weight since they last saw him, but still alive.
"Naoki..." Yui stretched out a trembling hand through the gap between the bars. "I'm sorry... So sorry..."
"You have only one minute," the Left Guard released the wrist shackles and kicked Naoki on his back, causing the boy to trip over the chain around his ankle cuffs and fall flat on his face. Both men then left the room, leaving the Yagami family on their own.
Naoki got up and rushed to his mother, grabbing her outstretched hand - and he was shocked that her fingers were covered with blisters. "M...Mum? What have they done to you?" Yui's lips were pale, and there were blood stains all over the white gown she was wearing.
"Don't worry too much about us," Reiji spoke as he placed a bandaged hand on Yui's shoulder. "They won't kill us - they still need your power."
"But---"
"Son," Reiji's deep, bass-like voice was hoarse, but firm. "Stay strong. Remember, 'every cloud has a silver lining'."
"Well said," a raspy voice suddenly spoke from behind Naoki. The boy quickly turned his head around - and he narrowed his eyes.
Yui looked up, the gentle face she gave to her son was immediately replaced by an expression of pure loathing. "...Lee Hwee-Suan."
The old woman called Hwee-Suan shook her head, disappointed. "I do not remember bringing you up with such impudentness, You-Hwee."
"'You-Hwee' had already died long ago," Yui said coldly. "And I don't remember having a bitch for mother."
Reiji tightened his grip on Yui's shoulder; Yui understood his silent warning and swallowed the rising anger inside her. "I'm grateful that you went through the trouble to bring Naoki here to visit us," Reiji began, his tone still calm and well-controlled even as he faced his evil mother-in-law. "But I can't help wondering the... true purpose of this little 'reunion'."
"...Sharp as usual," Hwee-Suan commented, directing her attention to Reiji. "I can see how you are able to capture the pure heart of my poor daughter, and use her to point her sword at us."
Reiji said nothing - he merely regarded Hwee-Suan with a look of muted pity. However, his wife didn't share the same sentiment as him. "Leave Reiji - and Naoki - out of this," Yui said through gritted teeth. "Let them go. They don't belong in this damned cult."
"No, no - I cannot do that," Hwee-Suan wagged a finger at them. "'Meng You' has the potential to become an even more powerful seer than you, You-Hwee." Then she narrowed her eyes at Reiji. "And it would be a problem if we let go of such a dangerous liability to roam around freely, hmm?"
Satisfied with the silent rage from the family of three, Hwee-Suan clapped her hands together, and the two guards who brought Naoki here entered the room. "It seems that I will still have to educate all of you further... to know your place."
Reiji's face went even paler than it already was. "Wait... get Naoki out of here first."
"You did ask about why I brought this failure here just now, didn't you?" A sadistic smile appeared on Hwee-Suan's wrinkled face. "It is to give him a lesson he will never forget."
"You---!" Before Yui could spat out a curse, the horrified couple was forced to watch Hwee-Suan torturing her own grandson with a whip.
Of course, Reiji and Yui weren't spared from the physical agony, either.
Naoki raised his head in time to see the guards entered his parents' cell, and they were given the same treatment... with a flaming whip.
The men threw a sobbing Naoki - all beaten-up and chained - onto the hard floor of his prison bedroom, before Hwee-Suan strolled in after him. "I should be giving you a good rest after such a, ah, difficult lesson, but unfortunately we do not have much time to deal with your little tantrums." She placed a similar A4-sized brown envelope as before on his calligraphy-littered table. "Another work for you - and this one is even more important than the previous vermin." With that, Hwee-Suan left the room, ignoring the seething look Naoki was throwing at her.
Naoki wobbled to his feet, inching slowly towards the table. He poured out the envelope's content with one hand.
Meifeng came to a sliding stop in the middle of street, and had to jump backwards to avoid a barrage of snakes made out of acid. She looked down, and saw the purple fumes caused by the asphalt and concrete melting. She made a mental note to avoid that at all costs. Meifeng landed right up against a car, and it wasn't long before Jiang shot a giant blob of acid at her. She had to slid off, and let the acid dissolve the car in minutes. They're gonna be pissed.
Jiang was just pacing at her with that deranged smile on his face.
She was going to be sure that she wipes it off his face. Jiang raised his hand up into the air, and his acidic snakes came flying at her again. Meifeng grabbed her bo-staff and quickly spun it around and a spire of water came by and blocked the acid. She was quick to push both her hands forward, and a blast of water followed that knocked Jiang off balance. She quickly skated on water over to his, swiping her staff towards his leg followed by a sharp whip of water, and utterly cutting his leg off.
That was when Meifeng pulled her hand, and drew all the water she could out of the area into her palm as she shot it forward as hard as she could. Hit with the force of a tidal wave, Jiang was launch backwards screaming. Meifeng was curious as to how she was able to hit him, when everything else passed through him. Well, it's a liquid hitting another liquid! That made enough sense in her head. Knocked back into his human form as well as he crashed into someone's fence.
"... You're a pain in the ass." Jiang said as he got up, turning back into his glowing purple acid. "Just like your father."
"Hmph," Meifeng said as she approached, gathering water around her bo-staff. "Never knew him, but heard great things about him."
She didn't even give Jiang a reprieve before she froze the water into a spear, then threw it at Jiang. The acidic man's ability made it easy to dodge as he formed a giant hole in his body that the spear went right through. He quickly glided over towards Meifeng and stretched his hand right for her chest. Meifeng had a second to react, but surrounded her hands with orbs of water.
With precise hand-movements, she deflected his hand, and threw a water-pressure powered punch that knocked Jiang backwards. However, Jiang shot another snake made out of acid for her, and she had only a moment to dodge... and the snake grazed against her shoulder and Meifeng let out a hoarse scream as the acid burned her shoulder badly. It wasn't dissolved but - Oh dear God it looked awful, too. She clenched her shoulder.
"Ah, not as invincible as you think...." Jiang teased as he created more snakes that lunged towards Meifeng.
She waved her hand across and swiped them all away, before she rushed Jiang and punched him yet again. He managed to dodge, moving fast as a, well, snake. Meifeng could barely dodge in time as Jiang stabbed her in the ribs with his acid nails. He started laughing maniacally as he tried to fill her with acid, but the valiant Meifeng wasn't going to go down like this. She caused an explosion of water that knocked Jiang back.
And now she's pissed. Meifeng surrounded her fist in arctic-cold water, and jammed it hard as she could into his chest, before she made it explode right out his back. Sending pieces of him all over the place. That threw Jiang off, as Meifeng started punching him with a barrage of water infused blows that was finished off with a kick that blasted the wounded Jiang back.
He had no choice but to assemble, but Meifeng was already on top of him. Meifeng rushed him as he put himself back together, and try to revert back to his human form. Meifeng swiped her hand across and a violent whip of water came by and struck Jiang like a sharp knife... but, had a different effect than what was intended.
Jiang screamed loudly as his arm (Perfectly human mind you) hit the ground.
"You bastard..." Jiang said, hoarsely, as he clenched his arm.
"What? Can't handle "her bastard"?"
"... Is what I would say." Jiang said as he grew another arm made out of acid. He swapped right back to his human form, and he was completely human.
Meifeng created a massive arrowhead made out of ice, before she propelled it forward at high-speeds with a mighty burst of water. Jiang was stabbed right in the stomach with it, and he let out a shrill shriek as he grabbed his stomach tightly. Meifeng surrounded both of her hands with ice as she rushed Jiang and punched him across the cheek once, before using her other fist to punch him across the other.
Jiang was sent stumbling backwards, the pain was too much for him to consider turning back into acid. Meifeng walked up, but stopped and put her hand on her hip. "Give up, old man," Meifeng said. "The "Tiger" not only withstood the poison, but it also crushed the snake."
"Old man?!" Jiang growled, before realizing that he was beaten. He was injured, and exhausted from a very brief fight... with someone who's got to be in their physical prime. He tried to turn back into acid, but Meifeng hopped high up into the air with a massive orb of water overhead and slammed it down on him. Utterly overtaking him... and Meifeng lost Jiang in the attack.
"Where did he go?!" Meifeng said as she desperately looked around for him.
"... Here," Jiang said, as he stood over a sewer grate. "It seems I have underestimated your youth... tiger."
"Yeah, and my ability to kick your ass." Meifeng pointed at him. "You better be ready to finish this, Jiang. Because if you're gonna kill Lihua, you're gonna have to kill me first!" Meifeng said with pride and determination in her voice.
"I simply didn't account for you having his ability." Jiang hissed, and Meifeng knew exactly who he was talking about. "As if it wasn't shameful enough to be defeated by him after all these years, he had the audacity to spare me out of pity - and then his bastard of a daughter de-"
That look of defeat was wiped off Jiang's face as he grinned.
"... Nope! Killed him!"
Jiang turned into acid, as he began to disappear into the sewer grate.
"Until we meet again, bastard!" Jiang shouted.
"Get back here!" Meifeng shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran after him, getting down on her hands and knees. Looking into the sewer grate. She balled her hand up into a fist, and pounded it against the ground.
Bohai's... alive? Meifeng couldn't believe her ears when Jiang let that defeat slip. Meifeng would be delighted to know this fact if Jiang wasn't so painfully vague. If that's true, and Bohai's alive, she was going to find him. Ugh. She's going have to worry about this another time.
For now, she had someone to worry about.
Meifeng ran back into the house, and went straight into Lijuan's room. Thank God that Jiang didn't touch her. The girl was sound asleep... Meifeng pulled the covers off her little sister and picked her up.
"Big... sis...?" Lijuan groggily said.
"Heeeeeeeeey," Meifeng said with a wide smile. "Who wants to spend the night at Big Sis' workplace?!" She tried to make this exciting as possible.
