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

Near the drainpipe exit, the three Wards ran out to deal with whatever problem the hostages were experiencing thanks to Sonar's warning. Inside Martyr left two of his doppelgangers to deal with the remaining mooks that had decided they were just [i]done[/i] with this fight after getting shot at. It was an understandable reaction to be sure, but they were criminals all the same and had to be stopped. Four gangbangers, two Martyrs. How would they match up? Well it was definitely good that the area was enclosed so tightly, else the Martyrs would have been flanked and surrounded. As it was, they could deal with two at a time directly in front of them. The Community members fought with all the skill of someone press-ganged against their will, completely unsuccessfully. Meanwhile the Martyrs summoned actually had some legitimate battle experience, real training, and genuine skill. The four gang members traded blows for only a small amount of time before they were knocked back on their asses, but it was long enough for the two doppelgangers to run out of time.

Outside the pipe, the hostages were still tied together in a train formation by the neck, burlap sacks around their heads. Sonar, Martyr, and Epsilon rushed out to assist with whatever problem Sonar had found with his hearing, something implied to go boom if left unchecked. Hoo boy, this was a problem. While Epsilon caught on to the implications, Martyr did not and so he asked Sonar just what was going on. The Ward leader was about to answer, just as the team tinker discovered something. Beneath the burlap sacks, collared around the hostages' necks were bombs. Home made by the look of them, shoddy in design, but they got the job done. A cursory inspection told the young tinker that these were set to detonate both by remote, and by proximity. By the looks of things, Tulpa's manifestation had moved the hostages just far enough to activate the explosives, but not quite enough to send the detonation signal. Well this was bad news bears.

Meanwhile back inside the drainpipe, Eyeblight continued his battle against the other half of the Wards. Margrave managed to get a little distance between himself and the villain while the straw being shifted his focus, and fortunate that was too. Tulpa stepped in to deflect Eyeblight's combat knife, but to no avail. The villain laughed and whipped his hand upward and the knife did the same. In that instant, through the darkness of the tunnel, through the bright light emanating from Messiah, Tulpa sensed something she had missed before. The sensory input allowed by her manifestation's shadow told her the knife was connected to something. A long line of some kind of fibrous material. Straw. Eyeblight had wrapped a line of straw around the handle, turning the knife into a long ranged whip! The knife came back down, from up above the heat barrier Messiah had created to protect herself. The weapon itself had passed by her defense, but the line of straw controlling it burnt to a crisp, severing the connection. In response Eyeblight recoiled back letting out a small gasp of pain. So he [i]was[/i] flammable. That didn't stop the knife from slicing down neatly on its target, however. Thankfully the loss of control from severing the line meant that the knife didn't pierce too deeply. It only created a tear in her robe, and a small flesh wound on her left arm.

Then came the Wards' counterattack. Messiah took Tulpa's advice, firing pinprick sized beams intended to restrain the scarecrow man's movements. As before, the Community lieutenant appeared to have little trouble dodging, weaving, and ducking out of the way. What did it take to stop this guy?! In a particularly graceful spin, Eyeblight noticed Margrave's new attack from behind. A wall of cinderblocks came flying toward him, something that clearly gave the man alarm. [color=goldenrod]"Oh [i]fuck[/i] you!"[/color] Rather than attempt to avoid the avalanche of heavy material, the notorious villain charged directly for it. As the wall curved and space opened up between cinderblocks Eyeblight jumped right for it. In the same motion his arms and legs kept themselves pressed as close to the main body as possible. The villain compressed himself right before everyone's eyes. The amount of space he took up was not just a fraction of what it had been before, allowing him to fit, albeit just barely, through a gap in the blocks. That is until the blocks reached the portion of his body that represented his feet. At that point the blocks closed the gap and caught him, forcing the villain to tumble down onto the ground. Eyeblight was fortunate to be practically immune to blunt physical trauma, else his ankle bones would have been shattered and his cranium fractured from the force of the fall.

That moment was all Messiah needed. Her pinpricks found their targets, pinning Eyeblight to the ground. If the straw man attempted to move around, he'd no doubt be set alight and surely burn to death. As dying was most certainly not on the man's agenda today, he dared not try to escape. The Wards had won! One of the five leaders of The Community, taken down in an impromptu surprise mission, from a fresh and brand new team! [color=goldenrod]"You haven't won, little pissants![/color] Really Eyeblight? What could he possible have up his sleeve for this? Dude had to be bluffing. Still, he was unnerving enough to look at normally. Seeing him twist his head 180 degrees to face up at the Wards while the rest of his body was still face down? Freaky. [color=goldenrod]"Ever heard of The Anarchist's Cookbook? The internet is fucking awesome. So full of information you'd never have found even ten years ago. Those hostages have got bombs on 'em. Move 'em too far from me, they go boom. Don't let me go? They go boom. I've got the detonator inside my body and I can control individual strands of straw. The way I see it, you can try to go [i]fishing[/i] inside me, or you can let me go. Hahahahaha, what will you do? I HAVE ALREADY WON, KIDS! LOOK AT ME! HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK AT YOUR BETTER!"[/color]

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

Decoy seemed to be at least a little relieved once Ruben had apologized and given a bow back. The hologram gave a small smile before speaking again. [color=cyan]"It can be that easy. I wonder just how long you've been down here and what little you remember to have no idea the proper protocols and manners. Hrm. Well it's of no matter. I am a reasonable hero, I hope you can see. Be thankful it was me that detected your infiltration and not Noble or Captain Morales. They would be less... Understanding."[/color] The hologram of Decoy stroked his hairless chin for a moment pondering something. [color=cyan]"I will see if I can arrange vehicle transportation to PRT HQ. In the meantime, please do your best not to cause any trouble? I would find myself most conflicted if I had to arrest you."[/color]