[center][h1][color=dodgerblue]Wards - Drainpipe Battle[/color][/h1]
[@BCTheEntity][@yoshua171][@solokolos][@Kafka Komedy][@Lugubrious][/center]

Tulpa's decision to move the hostages out with her manifested projection was a fantastic move. The creature retrieved the bound and sacked group of eight, then trampled through the drain pipe to the exit, knocking aside the few remaining thugs in the process. Epsilon, Sonar, and the various Martyrs thankfully were not trampled by the tulpa, and had the prime opportunity to restrain and/or knock the remaining gang members on their side unconscious. Of course, that still left a total of seven thugs, not counting Eyeblight himself. 

The horrific scarecrow carried forward even as Messiah blasted another glare of light directly at him and radiated herself in glorious illumination. Every shot of condensed heat energy missed as he expertly danced around it all. Almost as though he ignored physics entirely, Eyeblight appeared not to give even a single shit that flames came oh so close to igniting his straw body. Then Margrave performed in a completely unpredictable manner, reverting a toy machine gun into its true original form. Spouting another dramatic speech, the troubled teen opened fire upon the scarecrow villain with abandon. Eyeblight was fast, faster than any normal human even at their peak, but even he wasn't faster than automatic fire.

Many of the projectiles perforated Eyeblight's body. Most passed right through, blowing tiny slivers out of his form. Whether they struck true or missed the bullets kept right on going down the drain off, striking those still standing. Of the seven thugs remaining, two immediately went down as rubber bullets struck them with such repeated force that the pain alone was unbearable. Another collapsed thanks to a broken collar bone. The remaining four turned tail and ran, having absolutely no desire to stay in the literal line of fire. That put them at odds with Epsilon, the Martyrs, and Sonar, who also had a little problem with stray rubber shots coming their way.

As for the villain himself? Eyeblight ignored the assault for the most part. That is until he had reached Margrave with an outstretched knife-wielding hand, and the fire just happened to concentrate well enough that the scarecrow's arm severed at the shoulder. Instead of howling in pain or appearing worried Eyeblight merely ducked down and swept at Margrave's legs with a low kick, knocking the Ward on his ass. In the same motion Eyeblight grabbed his missing arm, then reattached it. A half second later he had both arms again, good as new.

[color=goldenrod]"Little pissant! Now I'm going to need to stitch up this costume again!"[/color]

[color=lightblue]"Team, we have a problem,"[/color] Sonar's voice was heard by all of the Wards, but nobody else. [color=lightblue]"Something happened the moment the hostages were moved. I'm hearing something new. Tick tick tick tick."[/color] The Ward leader smacked a goon across the face with his baton, dropping the total of mooks to three, then turned round to get to the hostages on the outside. 

[color=goldenrod]"Eeny meenie minie YOU!"[/color] With expert skill Eyeblight hurled his combat knife straight for Messiah's heart. [color=goldenrod]HAHAHAHAHA! GAZE UPON ME AND TREMBLE!"[/color]

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[center][h1][color=red]The Gang - Icehouse Hideout[/color][/h1]
[@BCTheEntity][@yoshua171][@Kafka Komedy][@Eklispe][/center]

The manila envelope did indeed contain a set of specs for a mission. Sofia pulled from it a few photographs, a detailed schedule, and a set of typed instructions. According to all of the information there was to be a prison transport through the city, escorting a captured villain to the classified location of the Birdcage somewhere in the Rockies. According to the schedule, the transport would be heading north on Interstate 25 through the suburb of Lone Tree at around 2:00 PM. The transport truck would be escorted by two PRT combat vans, one in front and one in back, and would also be hosting one of the Protectorate heroes. Unfortunately which Protectorate hero was unknown, so the team would have to plan for any of them. The target was the prisoner being transported, one recently captured and sentenced villain cape [url=http://pre01.deviantart.net/b30c/th/pre/f/2016/279/6/a/kaito_kid_by_loneold-d9ozmjt.jpg]known as Gamble.[/url] Gamble's power, as far as it was understood by the public, was as a thinker. The bigger and more audacious the risk he took, the more likely he was to manipulate the situation to coming out on top. The mission itself was stated quite clearly. Stop the prison transport, retrieve Gamble, and deliver him to The Broker alive and unharmed, if at all possible. As always they were not to kill anybody unless it became an absolute necessity, but of course they shouldn't allow themselves to be followed or tracked.

[hr][hr]

[center][h3][b][color=1b1464]Overlook's Bunker[/color][/b][/h3]
[@Banana][/center]

[color=cyan]"Oh, I wish to speak with you about a great many things,"[/color] the hologram replied, looking perhaps a little put off by Ruben's attitude. Decoy had, after all, given respect and bowed while the host only spoke back while holding water. Western or Eastern in culture, that could be seen as rude. Decoy paid no attention to the folder that had fallen from the desk. Either they simply did not care, or perhaps the machine projecting the hologram couldn't see it. [color=cyan]"You know, this all could have been avoided if you had communicated with us through legal channels. We have a hotline, or there was the front door. Hmhmhmhmhm."[/color] Well that was an unusual sounding laugh.

[color=cyan]"But I digress, I can tell that you are no real threat. You could be an ally and friend, though. Here is what I propose. I will file a formal report with the PRT director that I detected an unusual computer signature and investigated it, something these soldiers will corroborate. This report will state that we located a parahuman, but no illicit activities have been discovered. In return, you can fly your little drone to the front door and request a meeting with the director himself and see what he can do for you. Or perhaps he can arrange coming to see you in your home, who knows?"[/color] The hologram gave a shrug, its large belly of fat jiggling in the process.

[hr][hr]

[center][h3][color=brown]Denver Alley[/color][/h3]
[@solokolos][@Sophrus][@The Wild West][/center]

Sirens could be heard approaching fast, from every direction. Cops no doubt were about to show up, but more than that those still around could hear the unique sirens of the PRT mixed in with the hulabaloo. Anybody with an arrest order or considered a danger had best flee, fast...