---

_@Eklispe

That was about what she expected. Third-in-command of a villainous group. It was possible that she’d obtain a fair amount of money from such a deal. The prospect was actually more attractive than she wanted it to be. … But. Protection from the likes of the Rockers was not protection Wisp would put her faith in. The only one she trusted to protect Viola was herself. In addition, attracting attention to herself through partaking actively in a villainous group was undesirable.

What did she even know about the Rockers, anyways? She had read about them briefly on PHO, as part of researching the local threats. They could potentially all be wiped out tomorrow. If they were, she didn’t want to be part of them. But, if Ceramix had words specifically for her, that meant they had intentionally found her. How? She briefly considered if Shatterpoint’s power would be able to see her. … Dangerously possible. Investigating how they found this out was a priority.

She’d have to consider this carefully. They knew where to find her, to act favorably for now was likely a good choice. Maybe she could even have use of them. If only for a bit. She’d have to be cautious, but if she played correctly, she could get things the way she wanted them. Wisp was already a thief, a little dealing might not be too bad. As long as she wasn’t openly villainous, as long as she was hidden, a little might be fine. And being hidden was her specialty.

She left them hanging staring at empty space for a few seconds while she considered her reply. Then, one line appearing at a time…



… That’d do. Then she’d move out of the way so they didn’t accidentally step into her if they actually started leaving. If they did, she had in mind that she would quickly get in and debrief Viola, before trying to pursue them. If they didn’t… Well, then she’d have to react to that.

@solokolos

It took a few solid moments, but eventually Decoy responded to Ira. His voice sounded a bit rushed, like he was busy with something else. "I do not expect you to fix Collin's situation, no. However I would encourage you to try if possible. I do not have the authority to grant you access to his old files, but Inkscape does. I will ask him to provide you access. Together, maybe our collaboration can provide a solution."

Furnace's reluctance to strike at the nearing Sonika presented a much bigger problem for her strategy than the climbing temperature. Sure, it was getting hot and Sonika wasn't impervious to the heat. But more importantly it meant he had some experience with combating proficient enemies. He seemed to know that if he swung first she would be able to counter-attack, or at the very least he was banking on exploiting a strike from Sonika for a counter-attack of his own. He had the upper-hand and he knew it. To make matters worse, Sonika felt the air being disturbed behind her as someone opened the rooftop access door. She wasn't about to take her eyes off Furnace to see who it was but she could tell it was only one, likely meaning this was another parahuman vigilante or perhaps one of the PRT capes.

"I will have to decline that offer," she spoke up again, this time taking a step back away from Furnace rather than closer. It seemed he was the source of heat as the air felt ever-so-slightly cooler. As well she could feel the air that was farther from Furnace was less effected by the updraft the heat created. Sonika was already able to deduce that he could make the air significantly hotter than it is right now, being that he was able to affect her earlier without being close enough for her to detect him. This was also a sign that he was genuinely trying not to harm her, as opposed to using that same amount of heat earlier at this closer range to cook her alive. Whether it was kindness or weakness it still provided insight for Sonika's next move.

The supervillain leaped backwards, using a controlled burst of air from underneath both her feet to make the jump achieve a superhuman distance. She landed near the rooftop access door, very close to Celia (whom Sonika still had not identified). As soon as she landed there was a powerful rush of air from the stairwell leading up to the access door behind Celia, with enough force to take an average human being off their feet and send them sprawling onto the floor of the roof at Sonika's feet. If Furnace, or Celia, hadn't figured it out immediately it was going to become very clear that Sonika was taking a hostage. She briefly glanced down at Celia, finally identifying the intruder as a young woman who was wearing a mask. Likely parahuman but it wouldn't matter at this point.

"Nobody move or I kill the girl."

Only now, with this new upper-hand achieved, did Sonika take a moment to become less tense and more calm. She could take in details better, such that this new parahuman girl she was threatening didn't seem to be breathing. This opened many questions about what her powers were, but indicated that she would not be susceptible to suffocating. To make good on her threat she would have to crush the girl, though if she was some kind of Brute classification then that would be unlikely to work. Alternatively she could throw the girl off the rooftop, but if she would be strong enough to survive Sonika's power then a fall wouldn't kill her either. It could, however, trick Furnace into going after her to save her. After all he may not know who this girl is either. If they were allies surely she would've engaged Sonika at her first chance when her back was to her. Instead she chose to spectate. The options were limited at this point but with Furnace constantly raising the heat it wouldn't give Sonika a chance to attack him directly. If he were to keep the temperature constant she could adjust to the new airflow and attack him at full power, but the alternating temperatures created updrafts that would reduce her power.

At the very least this could give her an opportunity if Furnace dialed back his power in light of the hostage situation. If he stopped increasing the temperature, just for a few seconds, Sonika knew she could send him off the roof with a few broken bones as a souvenir. But Sonika wasn't about to place all her bets on two possible good outcomes. The girl had a revolver holstered on her hip. Sonika moved the air around the holster, releasing the weapon from its restraints, before attempting to send it upward with a vertical gust. It would be a simple maneuver to catch the weapon with her right hand without taking her attention away from Furnace and would give her a good out on the possibility of her powers being ineffective at handling either of the other two on the roof. Something like a magnum round would possibly go through Furnace's armor, or at the very least make the shot to the chin fatal, and if the girl was a Brute perhaps it would be powerful enough to break her skin and damage. Only a maybe on that end though.



The intricate, lengthy, and complicated steps at first seemed silly to Cassidy. There was no way he couldn't just be joking. But as the process of entering his safe house continued it began to dawn upon the girl that the thief was serious as could be. Once he made the grand reveal of the safe house, which was much more akin to a "safe mansion" in Cassidy's eyes, this only opened the floodgates for more questions. "Wh-... how? How did you get all this set up? How much did it cost? Just how much money do you have? How does nobody know about this? Did you do all this yourself?" Perhaps Macavity was hoping that he wouldn't be bombarded with more questions but the young girl's amazement had started a brand new inquisition. "Does the city know about this? What about the power and utilities? How..." She began to trail off as she walked around the room to examine some of the goodies that Macavity had stolen over the years. Her eye was particularly drawn to the literal pile of gold bars next to the bed.

Despite just being told not to touch anything she immediately picked up one of the bars of gold. She had never believed people actually kept bars of gold, believing it was just a movie trope. The weight of it surprised her, as well as how the gold wasn't particularly shiny. But something about it felt like it was real gold and not some kind of prop. "When did you... But... How long have you been doing this?" The final question of her barrage, as Cassidy turned to face Macavity with the gold still in hand. "There's no way you could've done all this yourself. You're only..." Cassidy was going to say "human" but immediately realized that she would've been wrong. He wasn't human. He was superhuman. And so was she. The gravity of the situation seemed to increase in her mind as she realized just what could be accomplished with superpowers. She had never really practiced her power and sparsely used it, only enough to figure out how it works and then recently to escape her captors. Were these the kinds of things she could do? Would she be able to obtain riches? Perform incredible feats that no human could hope to replicate?

The young girl sat down on the edge of the bed, setting the gold bar on her lap and looking down at it while she still held it. She had to remind herself that these things weren't his. He was a thief. He broke the law. A criminal that stole to obtain everything in this room. But at the same time he wasn't a bad guy. He was just using his powers to their full potential for his own good. And he was equipped enough to be able to thrive this much all by himself, if he wasn't lying. Being able to defend himself and being able to provide for himself, in this unfair world of superpowers, showed Cassidy a prime example of the parahuman life she had been avoiding until this point. She could do all this too if she wanted. "... Why did you start stealing things?" Cassidy finally asked, her voice much more calm and sincere for this question as opposed to the flustered and excited tone she had earlier.

The arrangement of the building seemed acceptable, even though it wasn't as fancy as his old house this secluded warehouse would be his new house of operations for his many creations. From his previous battle, Arsenal knew that he needed to up the firepower of his weapons as they could barely get through that zombie man's defenses of mere bone and metal. He would need to place a higher caliber weapon somewhere on his body but where? Well, that would come later as he also needed to plan his escapes as well since the entire alleyway fiasco resulted in him barely getting away from those PRT bastards. Smoke emitters? It would provide ample cover if there was none to be found near him, and he could fill the area other than just smoke. Well, these things would have to explored later as it seemed that the absent planner of the group wanted the mismatch of villains to break someone out of their imprisonment before they would even arrive to their forever home.

'The Jacks', honestly Arsenal hated their team name, found themselves near the target location being an interstate highway just a few miles off of Denver. The mechanical man scanned his gathered teammates yet again, working with groups was something that he wanted but Arsenal was expecting a more serious group of villains. The big man, the one that was breathing down his neck the entire trip to their hideout, seemed to be the leader of the group which was a problem that Arsenal would need to bring up with the group after the mission was complete. The androgynous... Thing? Was the quirkiest out of the four, their act for sure was hiding something but that would need to be something to explore later during their time as a group. The talkative man, the most annoying out of the four seemed to be useless for the group as he did nothing else but chatter nonsense. Lastly... There was the, teenager that barely left a presence at all, honestly Arsenal had nothing good or bad to say about them other than that they just exist within his world. Though, enough thinking as the group needed a plan to get this 'Gamble' out of the van and into their care.

"Ok, so with that guy setting up his equipment somewhere else around here, that will leave four of us to figure out something for ourselves. Honestly, if the reports on Gamble are true, he shouldn't even have been captured in the first place but it seems that the course of action seems pretty simple. We just need to cause a situation in the highway that would put his life in danger on multiple levels, that should boost his powers up exponentially for him to escape and survive. The main problem is that Cape escorting carrying the target, we have to incapacitate them somehow, something maybe our sniper friend would be able to achieve with their unknown presence. All I'm saying is, we need to wreak the transports as quickly and dangerously as possible and book it the hell out of the scene of crime while covering our asses from the unknown escort of our target. Anyone got any better ideas for this bareback plan?"


You know, it sure is a good feeling bringing some poor rundown orphan somewhere safe from the mean mafia hunting them down, but did you know there is an even greater feeling than saving a little orphan girl from the mafia? That is... FINALLY SHOWING YOUR KICK-ASS HIDDEN SECRET BUNKER THAT YOU SPENT A SHIT TON OF MONEY ON TO SOMEONE! It felt amazing, the look on the little girl's face when they entered the room combined with the surge of questions was just awesome. What is the point of creating such a kick-ass hidden room if you couldn't show it off to anyone? Well, Macavity was pretty sure that this little girl can be trusted with one of his hideouts, but it would suck tremendous balls if this place was raided as Macavity had spent a pretty penny to make a room not look like it was an underground bunker. Still, he would have to worry about the future later as he needed to be present to enjoy the feeling of showing off the cool shit to other people and brag about said cool shit.

"It wasn't easy, had to hire this shady organization to even manage to make plans on this underground hideout and... Well, it did cost quite a bit of money hiring that Tinker to construct the... Wait, can- can you let me finish? Thank you, I spent a lot of money constructing this area without anyone the wiser. I had to hire this Tinker, specialized in creating liars, can you imagine that? Paid him a hefty amount with the added bonus to not steal from him keeping that he never discusses this deal to anyone. I'm also like, one-hundred percent sure that he has created secret areas for other heroes and villains but that ain't my business. To anwser the money question, I haven't counted all my goods for quite some time, but I think I have enough money to live comfortably for the next century. Plus, this hideout is completely unknown to everyone including the PRT, another huge sum of money to get that but I'm sure that this place is unknown to everyone including villains and heroes."

The barrage of questions was something to be expected from the awed little girl, but it was still quite tiring trying to answer them as rapidly as they were being asked to the thief. He pulled up a seat from one of the nearby tables in the small room, he watched the girl immediately grab one of the bars of gold like some little kid at a museum. He allowed that one to slide, bars of gold are harmless to his knowledge but Macavity honestly had no idea what half of the stolen objects in the decorated room could actually do, so he preferred to leave them alone. Anyway, it seemed that the last question was uttered from her thought patterns as things from her end started to get quiet as she sat on the bed. She was thinking of something, the look on her face said that, but Macavity was no mind reader so he just crossed his legs and waited for the girl to break out of her haze.

She spoke up after a few moments of self-thought, and asked a rather large question from him regarding something that he would normally never give away... His past. He moved his jaw around for a moment or two, wondering to himself what he should reveal to the girl before speaking up to answer the final question. "Well, I guess I can kill two birds with one stone from the last two questions. I started when I was young, maybe no older than fourteen when I did my first heist. Why I started stealing though? That is a tough cookie right there... I could easily say to you that I did it for my dying family, needed to take care of the bunch from the ruthless powers that put me and my loved ones to the bottom. Or, I could say that I came from a master family of thieves and it is just expected from me. Honestly, the list could go on and on, but I wont spout that drivel to you. I'll just get to the point, I just simply wanted more from life. The world is unfair to everyone, I was born in a position that would have ruled me to die in the streets as collateral from a drive-by shooting or a drug overdose to escape my bleak future, and did you know not a single person would have gave two-shits about me if that happened to me? I simply didn't want that in my life, so, I broke out of the chains holding me back and found myself in a position to be something greater than I was supposed to be. I wanted more from life, so I simply clawed with all of my might to reach a place that I could find acceptable. So, that is why I steal. Do you have any other questions?"

Sofia waited passively as Headhunter made his way to a vantage point and Arsenal attempted to make a team plan. He had lots of guns: he seemed kind of excitable too. Headhunter liked his guns as well or was it just scopes? She wondered if Love Craft liked using guns. Probably not, it seemed to like getting physical. Chatterbox probably used a stylish gun of some sort since he seemed so gentlemanly. Maybe a dueling pistol or something. Sofia raised her hand as though she were in a classroom and spoke, "Hm, well I can walk in the road and see if they stop. If they don't I might be able to time it so I land in the transport. Um, I don't think I can beat anyone in a fight though." She needed a taser or something. Maybe she should've tried to get some equipment from the Icehouse to be better prepared for this. Well she did still have her pepper spray in a backpocket, as well as her pocket knife, but the knife probably wouldn't amount for much. Sofia wondered what Gamble was like. Probably like one of those shady guys they hung out in back alleys. Or maybe a suave and charming gambler sort of fellow. Hm.

The seconds dragged on as Ira waited for a response. When he finally spoke he seemed preoccupied, though his response was helpful. She turned off her earpiece completely, and carefully stood up. She walked around the chair, and out of the room. She ignored the various people walking about, and anyone who attempted to talk to her. She dragged her mind away from nothing, and instead considered Tulpa. Her power was versatile, amazing for recon, and apparently combat as well. It could even be used to directly solve problems, such as the bomb collars. That analysis aspect was very interesting, and if they were collaborating then Ira could definitely ascertain more information.

Ira came back to reality in her workshop, and looked around the familiar space. A thick wood top workshop sat in the corner to her left, the drawers labeled neatly with their contents. Everything was perfectly organized in the room, with even the small TV perfectly level. She sat down at her workbench, pulling a small radio in front of her. She turned the transistor on, and adjusted the volume to a steady background hum. Ira stood up, and moved past a large red button affixed on the wall. She curiously inspected an exposed circuit board, trying to remind herself what she had been doing.

Her vision shifted, the kaleidoscope resolving itself into a clear picture again. She walked back to her desk, removing a soldering iron from the drawer, before moving back across the room to plug it in. As she waited for it to warm up, she considered the next step in the project. Her power activated again, showing her vaguely what she had to do to achieve her goal. Ira picked up the iron, and began connecting the loose wires. She went back to her desk and picked out a completed circuit board as well as a small motor. She returned to the first circuit board, and connected the two using the solder. She carefully positioning the motor behind the first board, before putting down the solder, and pressing the button. The light above flickered momentarily as a steady hum filled the air. She glanced around, confused, before her vision shifted again. It wasn't going to affect Tinkers, that was. . . Odd. Useful, but still the exception seemed awfully arbitrary. Her power didn't offer an explanation.

Now that she knew how to build this, she could definitely show someone in the PRT who could put it to good use. Dangerous incarcerated parahumans could be transported without fear of them using their powers, the birdcage didn't have to be the be all end all! Ira smiled, feeling accomplished. She would just have to build a couple more of the prototype, and refine the creation in the process. As Ira moved to grab another circuit board, the motor that had been humming away suddenly came to a screeching halt. Ira mumbled an uncharacteristic curse under her breath.

Dean: PRT HQ

Dean nodded and followed his now superior, a bit confused and worried at her sudden formalities. She was always friendly and agreeable to a fault, this sudden lack of casualness didn't bode well. Could the pressures of leadership already be getting to here? No obviously it was Sonar's head trauma. Which Dean had created. Was he about to get chewed out by her? Kicked off the team, even? Walking seemingly aimlessly around the building, being guided by Alessa, Dean's thoughts began to wander to darker and darker places. Luckily, finally reaching their destination snapped Dean out of his downward spiral.

Dean sat next to his ally, as motioned, and cringed internally at her sentence, walking around the issue, he was done for...

"-yes, I'm considering you for the role of second-in-command"

Dean was befuddled for a slight second, before giving a sigh of relief. He was so wrapped up in his own head he had failed to realize the position of co-captain was needing to be filled. Listening to Alessa's points, he found himself agreeing on all her thoughts on the others, but disagreed about with how she saw him. If he had been more 'reckless' Sonar would have been fine. But still, he wasn't going to press the issue.

"No, I don't have any particular thoughts on myself or others, how they relate to leadership positions anyways. I did have a thought while you were going over your reasoning though, with Elliot and Ira. Any inventions she makes that don't need to be on a person at all times could easily be carried by him, in toy form. That way more equipment can be carried at once, if we're out in the field or something like that... Oh, I didn't bother agreeing to being second in command yet, did I? Sorry about that, yes, I'd be happy to take up the position." Dean rambled. After this, assumably, the two would introduce the team to his new position after this.

Minutes stretched into hours, drifting by while Elliot tried to lose himself in another world. His morose mood affected his focus, preventing him from doing particularly well, but it wasn't the only reason why in the end he saved his game, shut the system off, and lay on his bed to stare at the ceiling. The matter of Collin weighed too heavily on his mind to allow any sort of relaxation and alleviation. Even the absolute confidence that the horrific injury had not been his fault failed to set him at ease. There was nothing he could have done, after all, to prevent the fearsome interloper from appearing when he did, executing his brutality on the Ward, and then vanishing. With pronounced clarity he remember the feeling of his submachine gun appearing in his hand as he readied it fast as he could, but he was physically unable to intervene. Perhaps one of his teammates could with one of their powers, but Elliot mused that if they could, they would have. None of them could be rightfully blamed. If it had happened to him, Elliot reasoned, his teammates would have been just as blameless. All these thoughts filtered through his head, but Elliot felt no better.

Elliot did not relish seeing his teammates again, but anything would do to distract him from the nothingness in his room that threatened to smother him. When the time to meet with them drew near, he considered it a mercy, and picked himself up to leave. He left his usual overcoat behind, though he knew that without it he looked ordinary beyond measure, and took leave of his usual bravado to boot. He did not feel as if he could muster the energy to assume his usual persona, and in addition, doing so would be sure to provoke the remaining Wards. Hands in his pockets, Elliot traipsed through the halls to the meeting room.

---

Having brought their newest member back to base and informed him of their mission, Drake had separated from the group briefly and made a point of using some of his funds. He bought a set of expensive communication devices...in the form of phones. He coerced several of his more thoroughly indoctrinated audience members to sign up for repaid plans and then bid them to forget he had asked them at all and instead that a relative had asked them to help out financially. He made each of their stories as plausible as possible before returning with bluetooth devices and smart phones in tow. He had also acquired walkie talkies. He gave both to his teammates, explaining them and then handing over the coordination to Headhunter and anyone else who wanted to. This way even if they got separated they could communicate and if their mobile devices were ever to be tracked, they could shut them off , crush them, and throw them away, using the walkie-talkies instead.

After that and another read through the mission briefing folder, he'd went and gotten two vehicles and set up another plausible story with his audience that had lended them to him. He'd made sure to put false plates on, though they were registered to someone's name that wasn't his own.

Bringing them back near the hideout, he had left them several blocks away and each time he'd left the given vehicle he had been wearing different clothes and gotten a taxi to his next destination. Eventually he'd returned to the hideout, asked Headhunter for a spare gun—having also acquired a taser and a knife from audience members to add to his arsenal—and then set about eating and sleeping.

He'd gotten up early the next day and had gone home, then called someone to bring him a holster of a particular sort. He ended up with a strap that went over his shoulder and wrapped around his stomach above his under shirt, the weapon resting beneath his crimson dress shirt, largely hidden unless one paid close attention. He kept one clip of extra ammo in a pocket, with his taser on the opposite side of his body, affixed to the same strap. The knife he affixed to a sheath in his left sleeve, just out of sight within the wide berth of cloth unless he moved just so or you paid very close attention. He made a note to order some kind of tailored overcoat for future operations, especially given the addition of a tinker to their little troupe.

Later he explained to them why he'd gotten two vehicles. Simply put it was to confuse anyone who might want to track them once they got off of Interstate 25. It would allow them to split into two groups and throw off the trail, before abandoning the vehicles for two others he'd set up in select locations—if they became necessary, and heading back to base. It was good to have contingencies, he'd said to anyone giving him looks.

They'd headed out soon after that and upon arriving he'd gotten out of the car—both appeared to be fairly common vehicles, but they'd been custom, and were quite the beasts when necessary. They had enough room for some supplies and of course their passengers.

Rising to his feet and stretching, his costume on already, though he was wearing a hoodie to conceal the goggles and much of his face to anyone nearby. He'd do so until the mission started in earnest.

Regarding their location he noted the flow of traffic, the hills surrounding, and then once he'd taken it all in he glanced at his teammates. Lovely was quick to begin their quirky banter, while Headhunter headed off to position himself properly. Then Arsenal started speaking and he listened, faintly amused, and pleased, at their newest member's intention to take control of the situation and lead where Headhunter had apparently decided not to. Before Arsenal opened his mouth, he'd activated his bluetooth channel, specifically the one connecting him to Headhunter, so that their marksman could hear the plan too and contribute.

Once Arsenal finished he glanced to Sofia as she raised her hand, and then attempted to contribute. The poor dear seemed so out of place, he had to admit, but she was as useful as she was out of place and that certainly made up for it.

"Well, Sofia, I think what would be most useful, personally, is if you let Headhunter shoot the engines, and in that moment you 'ignore' the wheels, causing their vehicles to sink into the ground. We wouldn't want the damage to flip them and harm our target." he glanced at Arsenal, "Or we could make the situation massively dangerous, thus over-complicating things with his power, and also possibly putting us at a severe disadvantage." He shrugged slightly, his expression serious the whole time. It appeared he wasn't putting on a show for them. There was no need, he'd figured, and it also appeared that they didn't appreciate the theatre like he did.

"Besides, once those convoys stop," he began, glancing at them and flashing a smile, "...it will really only take a brief time for me to lull them into an obedient stupor."

The detective left, and Zach counted his blessing. He expected worse treatment, being a dangerous parahuman and all. Plan, that's right, plan plan plan. He could. . . Punch the wall? His power had never protected him from himself so that was out of the question. He could fake a seizure or something, but he'd have to get past every guard in the facility to actually escape. It was doubtless at least one of them would have containment foam so that was kind of out of the question. The legal route then: He'd need an attorney, and a way to pay them, probably. Having the judge volunteer any random lawyer they had on hand didn't seem very sensible, but did he have any other options?

Zach considered this carefully, slowly standing up and looking around the room in an attempt to find a task to distract himself with. His uncle was a lawyer, but he was pretty anti-parahuman. Well discriminatory or not, he seemed to be the only option that wasn't a complete stranger. It'll have to do He thought to himself, and at that a voice spoke up. This time the light level in the cell didn't change. He asked the question Zach had been considering, and Zach answered a bit too quickly. "Yeah, but I'll have to contact them. Can I get my phone call?" His voice cracked at the word call, and his face turned red as well. I'm way too anxious. He thought despairingly.

She'd seen Dean's rather negative reaction to her initial chatter, but relaxed along with him, and even managed to smile when he accepted the offer to become her second. 'Well, that's excellent!' she exclaimed. 'I'll announce the proposal to the others in the meeting, and if they have their qualms, I'll explain why. And you can pass along your idea as well, whilst we're at it. We need all the ideas we can get, what w...'

And like that, she'd saddened herself once again. She grimaced to herself, glancing down for a moment before returning her gaze to Dean. 'Well, considering our present turmoil,' she finished lamely, before standing up and holding a hand out for Dean to shake. 'So I'll see you and the others in a couple of hours. I'm going to go ahead and meditate until then. Good talk, and if you come up with any other ideas, do talk about them at the meeting.' With the end of that sentence, she turned and exited the room, heading toward her personal room in the HQ, complete with roaring fireplace. After how she'd been expending energy on trapping Eyeblight, and given her own state of mind, she needed some time to recharge, in both senses of the word.

---

With a few minutes left before the meeting's scheduled start, Alessa finally left the comfort of her room and headed towards the meeting hall. She'd gotten a fair amount of energy back to attack opponents, but not so much any particular peace of mind. Meditation is rather difficult when one can't shake the thought of somebody being as badly injured as Sonar was, and in turn crippled beyond functionality as he inevitably would be. Nevertheless, the impression of being wholly composed was rather important, she felt: as the new leader of the Wards, she had to set an example, to make a point that even though they grieved, the rest of the world would not stop for them, and they in turn could not stop, or else they'd be left behind.

She entered the meeting room designated for the Wards, not dissimilar to the setup in the larger conference room where the Wards met with the Director and the Protectorate, save for its reduced size and modified colouration, and was pleased to see the others had already arrived. She frowned at the presence of six seats, not five, just a further reminder that where they'd gained one member today, they'd lost another. But, the meeting was being led by her, so she took the empty seat at the head of the table, feeling that perhaps she didn't derserve the spot, shouldn't be sitting in that position. Somebody had to fill it.

'I'm happy to see you've all made it to the meeting, team,' she began, placing her hands in her lap and schooling her tone to the same formal designation as she'd used with Dean two hours before. 'As we are all acutely aware, Sonar is no longer able to fight alongside us. I, as much as anybody else, am saddened to see his loss, but it is perhaps an inevitability of the position we hold. I trust we've all accepted the risks associated with being a Ward, and with being an active parahuman in general, thus our presence in this building; Sonar, I think, would want us to continue on as soon as possible, and many others certainly do, be they the civilians we protect, or the people in charge of us.

'That said, Director Kens has set a tight deadline for my selection of a new second in command for the Wards, that being part of the reason I've called this meeting in. I have considered the matter, and firmly believe Dean would be the best possible choice for my second, by virtue of his extensive experience in fighting crime. If anybody has any reason to dispute this judgement, now is the time to say so. Additionally, I'd also like us to use this time to discuss any ideas that might help the team to integrate more thoroughly with itself, to function more effectively if you will. Dean has already intimated such an idea in private; if you'd like to discuss it further, I'm sure we'd all be willing to hear it.' She had nothing particular to say on the matter herself, but since Dean's idea involved Elliot and Ira, they at least would need to hear it to put it into effect.

Furnace's face betrayed nothing upon seeing Celia, however upon Sonika leaping backwards inhumanly far he took two steps to chase before he realized there was no way to beat her to the person that had happened upon them and halted. Upon hearing Sonika's threat he was unable to resist a expression of slight distaste and worry briefly passing over his face before it returned to neutral. "Alright, no one's moving. What now?" He asked calmly. The heat stopped increasing, decreasing to an hardly noticeable level from Sonika's current position. One could assume he wanted to keep the hostage safe but he seemed equally determined to catch Sonika, what happened next could be quite interesting.

---

For a response a small flip phone as pushed through a slot in the door. It looked to be a disposable phone, doubtlessly bugged, and to be gotten rid of as soon as he was done using it. Beyond that there was no response, he'd be able to place one phone call with the prior mentioned item before he'd find it useless for anything.

---

The Director waved his hand as he waved the concern aside, "Overlook isn't registered yet so you're free to keep it. If you step outside, if you step outside Eva will take you to where you'll be staying temporarily until we get you better situated. You'll have access to a computer, write up a list of whatever you think you need and it'll go under review. You'll also be able to set up appointments with a therapist, if you want we can also get someone to start determining the extent of your para-humanism. If you have any further question you can lodge them in the system or ask Eva on the way over." The Director stood up and walked towards the door, opening it and holding it open for Ruben, indicating that he should exit now. Eva would be waiting to lead him through the building to a room the size of an average bedroom, with a small bathroom area including a shower, some furnishings such as a bed, as well as a computer, with access to programs that would let Ruben view information relative to him as well as log any requests he had.

---

---

Retcon laughed and drove towards the described place, "Why? Oh I get asked that question more than you'd believe." Retcon left it at that for a while as they drove at a speed that was only a little illegal until they arrived. "You're lucky I'm not driving my cab or I'd charge you, end of the line for you two. As for why. It was fun!" With that Retcon would drive off as soon as the twin exited, the roar of the engine still audible for several seconds before it raced off too far.

---

The group of Rockers nodded like a bunch of bobble-heads, "You got it Wisp." and hurriedly made their way to the a street not far away, then they all piled into a beat-up looking car and started driving away. If Wisp was unable to secure some method of transportation she would be unable to follow.

The team began creating something of a plan, but they would have to move fast. According to police chatter on the radio, a secure transport was on its way. At best they would have another three minutes to get any final planning, strategies, or other communications out in preparation for the job. Yet none of their intelligence and none of the current chatter provided any clue as to which member of the Protectorate was helping to escort the dangerous criminal Gamble. That's when they heard it.

"-just glad we've got extra insurance in case this guy breaks out."

"Copy that. Think you can get an autograph from both of them? For my daughter, I mean."

"Cut the chatter, men."

Both of them. Broker's intelligence... Was wrong. Gamble had the escort of two Protectorate capes. They had to decide right then and there if the mission, a major gamble already, was worth sticking to knowing they'd be facing two career superheroes that had been well trained an in the business of kicking ass for years. Fight or flight, the time was now. The transport was moving in, now visible just over the hill, though still quite small in the distance. It was closing in.

Overlook nodded as he exited the room, saying thank you as he wheeled through the closed door. He soon entered his room, again thanking Eva for the help getting to the room and helping him out earlier. Immediately, Overlook laid down his bag on the bed and he began to do something completely sane...

"...OK so I gotta do it. The Eye is a bit limited in what it could do... I mean I could upgrade it and make it better... no you have to do this Ruben. The Eye needs a bit of retirement... we can upgrade it. We can do it you know. I know I can but I just need the motivation... No we need a way to fight. A way to strike back and keep ourselves from being defenseless... the Eye can fulfill that role. What would it think if you were to abandon it... We wouldn't be abandoning it. We would be incorporating it in the new robot. Good idea? Yep. Thanks for agreeing me. No problem me. Ok I need paper, pencils, and robot parts... time to attempt requesting."

And with that rather quick session of talking to himself, summarized for the reader so they wouldn't be confused as badly by the whole thing, Ruben went to the computer nearby and requested pencils, paper, and stuff to build robots with. From the tools to the parts to the oil, he needed it all if he was gonna try and build this thing.

---

Farce's Apartment

"Be seeing you, ya clown!" yelled Gaia as the lambo drove away. Despite everything weird that just happened, Gaia was home safely and she had a surprising amount of fun with it all when you look past the near death experiences she had witnessed. There was still the best part of it all, Gaia thought when she was stepping into her apartment... "We got some more intel on the trafficking here in Denver!" "This was a surprising haul too. We just gotta figure out how it connects."

The apartment of the twins was surprisingly well-furnished. It had an office where copious amounts of intel was pinned to the wall with multicolor lines of yarn being extended between the various different pieces. It had a few amenities, including a computer and TV, as well as a table with 4 chairs surrounding it. It was rather modest, but it suited the twins, and each of the two had a bedroom with a certain essence of them to each. Dunn's room had a bunch of smaller trinkets and police-like items around it, and Gaia's room was incredibly messy with underwear everywhere it seemed. It suited them.

Currently though, after eating a good bit of food, Gaia (and Dunn) stood in front of the intel wall and began thinking about what was exactly going on in Denver...

---

_^@Eklispe

Furnace hardly reacted to Celia's presence, his expression an unwavering mask, which only served to convince the android that she had been seen. Celia took a second to search for any strong wireless signals emanating from either of the two, but they were clean. Not even encrypted signals from Furnace, surprisingly enough. Celia began her next thought as Sonika shifted back slightly, responding to a question that had been asked before Celia's arrival in the form of (apparently) declining an offer. Sonika hadn't reacted to Celia at all so far, so it seemed to be going well. Celia made the mistake of shifting out a bit more, while her latent thought process returned an answer from the web. Furnace was actually pretty well know, a very strong cape who could control his own body temperature without self harm. A good guy, with ample support from the Protectorate and PRT alike. There was even a forum devoted to him. Endearing and creepy had a fine line.

Sonika tensed her legs, and jumped backwards fearlessly. The force she put in and the momentum she gained were clearly unbalanced. She had definitely refined her power extensively, which was admirable. At that thought a strong gust of wind threw Celia forward, pulling off her feet immediately. For about a second, maybe a second and a half, Celia was completely helpless. When you got sent into the air when you weren't prepared it was very hard to recover. Sonika didn't throw Celia at the ground luckily. Celia ran four trajectory calculations, and none of them helped her recover. Without knowing what Sonika had done to the air, she couldn't predict her fall. Celia hit the ground hard, rolling on impact, before gracefully righting herself. She was unharmed, though her shoulder had a bit of dirt on it. The recovery was a bit odd, and anyone who was particularly observant would be very confused. Celia was often too graceful, recovering far too quickly.

The android glanced between Furnace and Sonika, carefully weighing her options; She made an effort to seem more scared than she was. Sonika announced her attentions clearly, and Celia frowned at the thought that she was now a hostage. Air brushed Celia's fingertips, and she could feel her holster shifting. The clasp came undone, and the gun started pulling upward. She won't shoot a hostage, she's not stupid. Besides I can recover from a .44 shot Celia thought to herself, and stopped her hand from interrupting the guns trajectory. Sonika caught the gun thrown by her passenger, and Celia expected no less. Celia hadn't noticed the heat subsiding a bit, and that slow reaction time surprised her. She had been to distracted by the gun apparently, even though one of her processors had been unoccupied. Furnace conceded a bit, asking Sonika what she wanted now. Celia nodded, glancing back at Sonika.

---

Wisp stood as they nodded and then left, and she kept looking after them, not moving until they had turned the corridor… before she quickly swung the door open, stopping it before it slammed into something and then went in. She found that Viola’s game-system was still on, but she had paused it and was nowhere to be seen. She was… hiding in the old closet that had been here when they first moved into this place. Wisp sighed out, before turning to her.

‘Speedrunner.’ Referring to her by her cape-name, just in case someone was eavesdropping. ‘This place has been compromised. Pack the essentials, and anything that might give us away. Get dressed in your costume. Don’t leave unless you get visitors, then run.’

‘But my-’

‘One console.’ Had to put a limit there. ‘... But take as many memory-cards as you like. Remove the memory of the computer and bring it. Use your powers to pack faster. I’ll be back. We leave as soon as I return.’ Wisp then dashed, because she couldn’t allow the Rocker thugs to get too far away.



Assuming they too weren’t running, Wisp would quickly catch up to the thirty-second head-start they had on her, intending on silently stalking them. But then they headed into a car. Wisp blinked in alarm where she stood, invisible.

Damn.

What kind of criminals use cars, nowadays!? … Okay, maybe she felt a little silly not even thinking of the possibility.

As the car took off, so too did Wisp, in a desperate run to try to keep up with it. This was a city, after all, midst of Denver, during the day, they wouldn’t NECESSARILY be able to drive away from her THAT fast. Damn it, maybe she should have brought Speedrunner. She’d have been able to follow the car, then. … Too late for that. With what she had, she’d attempt to follow at least far enough to get a general idea of where it was heading, before she inevitably got tired and was left invisible yet breathing heavily on the sidewalk, having had to dodge civilians like normal in addition to following the car.

Having failed to follow the Rockers to their den, Wisp cursed somewhat internally as she headed back. Assuming nothing terrible had happened, she then helped Speedrunner pack, ensuring nothing incriminating had been left behind. Fortunately, Wisp had ensured Speedrunner never used her real name or cape-name in any game-systems, just a pseudonym, so they couldn’t use that to track them down. She’d have to change pseudonym from now on. Then, when they were sufficiently done, Wisp cloaked them both within her sphere of redirected light, guiding Speedrunner as she was blind inside it while Wisp led them on while dodging other people.

Then it was off to find somewhere new to crash. Preferably an abandoned apartment or house somewhere, shouldn’t be… too hard… to find, maybe…

Zach picked up the phone hesitantly, surprised at the promptness. He flipped it open, and dialed the number from memory. A gruff voiced older man picked up on the third ring, though the man paused before saying a greeting. "Hey there uncle. It's me- Zach. I'm in some legal trouble, and I could really use your help." Zach said hesitantly, careful to be vague.

"It's been a while. Heard about your parents. Where are you?" Zach's uncle's voice didn't change as he spoke, the tempo and tone unchanged.

Zach waited a beat or two before responding. I'm in a cell at the local PRT building, but I don't know much more than-

"Yeah got it. Be there soon." He interrupted.

The line went dead, and Zach looked helplessly at the phone. A long breath escaped his lips as he looked around the room. That's it then. Now we wait. He resigned himself to laying down and getting comfortable, as he didn't know how long his uncle would take. Though Zach didn't think he could, the long tendrils of sleep started to draw him in as he lay there.

Arsenal glanced over to the common girl, walking in front of any vehicle with any half-moral driver would cause some sort of disturbance in the highway, especially if the drivers are some bleeding heart heroes of the Protectorate. He liked that idea, but the annoying one called Chatterbox started divulge their own way of taking on the convoy of two heavily armored vans. It was reasonable, rather than try out his rambunctious plan it was more of a slow methodical way of taking down the escorts. Still, Chatterbox said it in an irritating way so Arsenal furrowed his brow at the young adult. "Sure, all the while we are the ones dodging bullets and bombshells with you in the back trying to yell at them to stop?" Arsenal knew that the plan had less faults than his previous bareback plan, but still Chatterbox's smile just irritated him at all times. However, before anything else could happen it seemed that something of note was going on between the group's police radio. It seemed that instead of fighting one Protectorate cape and a few grunts, they were going to be battling two of these professionals and some grunts. This put a wrench in their plans, he could only hope that Headhunter had heard that call as Arsenal knew that the armored vans would be coming any minute. Exhaling deeply, Arsenal looked at the current members and judged that if all of them tried to do their best and with a smidgen of teamwork they would be able to do something right in the new situation."Well... guess we ain't got no better plan than what Chatterbox said, immobilize the transports and try to protect our little non-combat fella against these mystery threats until we've got them under our control," Arsenal said with a bit of disdain in his words, " And we better start getting ready now, transports can't be too far and we've gotta hit them fast and hard once they come to that halting stop." Arsenal started to prep his equipment, loud whirring sounds starting to appear from his poncho with a slight fluttering underneath, even though he had stocked them with non-lethal bullets, it was still going to provide decent covering fire and later on let him use his more explosive weapons with them hiding from his barrage of bullets.


Two months have passed by for Pete, those previous two months he has been spending his time hanging out with G4M3R and the Minutemen to stop some crime for money. Artificer thought it was fun just hanging around and doing neat stuff with his newly found powers, he knew that studying for college right now would be so boring compared to fighting crime with his friends, but it seemed that the hero business hasn't really been picking up lately for the group. It was true that the Protectorate had a sort of monopoly on the hero business, but he knew that these vast businesses would have tiny cracks laying around their foundation and that was what the Minutemen were going to try to pry their way into the business of saving some people. One of the many ways that the Minutemen could pry their way into becoming real heroes was to patrol around the area, the Protectorate couldn't be everywhere at once handling every small crime, so that means the Minutemen would be able to fill that role and possibly get some renown and money for their services. Still, it was kind of hard to see down below for crime while flying up in the air.

Artificer was currently riding upon his Ebony Fly, a pony-sized wooden construct that could somehow fly, with his passenger G4M3R riding behind him due to his limited mobility compared to the other two members of the Minutemen. Kyoshi was below them following their general flight path, she could be able to get to most places with her powers to bend the earth around her, so she was probably fine in most cases. Anyway, Artificer was looking for some trouble to help solve, looking at the streets was a bit harder due to everyone looking like small blobs and usually the roofs didn't have much trouble to solve... Oh wait, what is that? Artificer squinted at the roof of a fairly tall office building and noticed something going on between some people. The fly rider reached inside his costume for his walkie-takie, he pressed the talk button and talked loud enough for G4M3R to hear as well, "Kyoshi, I think I see something on top of some office building around 200 feet tall. Try to get there as fast as you can, me and G4M3R are heading towards there now."

While Ebony Fly was starting to get closer to the roof, he started to see the figures on the roof top with a bit more clarity and was surprised to actually recognize one of the people. "Holy shit, G4M3R! I think that is Furnace on the roof right there," Artificer said, nudging his friend slightly with Ebony Fly flying at a faster speed towards the roof. He noted the other two figures on the roof, it was another costumed person but this one had a gun pointed closely at some woman which could only mean that this lady was some type of villain. Artificer maneuvered Ebony Fly to flank the costumed villain, he ushered G4M3R to be ready with his weapons and hoped that Kyoshi would come soon to further outnumber the enemy. It didn't take long before Ebony Fly was positioned to flank Sonkia, it was hovering a few feet above the ground with the two heroes joining in on the confrontation. "Lady, you're outnumbered, let the woman go and we can talk this out," Artificer stated, his fingers fidgeting with one of the beads attached to his dull looking necklace.

-Posted Twice-

Running around underneath a giant wooden fly is rather tiresome for the normal person, but to Kyoshi it was a whole different ordeal. The cape launched around through the air in quick succession using the concrete beneath her feet, quickly dropping that concrete once she was able to in order to minimize property damage. It was a burden to have the ability to move the ground to your will when you lived in a city, as you had to deal with property damages, and if you so much as caused any damage, the local hero tyrants would come down on you hard. Kyoshi thankfully stayed under the radar most of the time, leaving minimal damage when she had to. It'd been a while since she could really let loose with her powers though, and she had an itch to do so. She was mid-launch when she heard from Artificer over the walkie-talkies the team had. He said that she needed to get on top of one of the nearby buildings as fast as she could, and with a confident tone, she responded to the fly guy while running into an alley with "Copy that. Launching up there soon!"

Once Kyoshi was in a good position to launch up to the top of the building, she stomped and sent a softball-sized chunk of pavement into the air and she caught it quickly after, feeling like she would need it in the long run. Once Kyoshi had placed them into her bag, she stared up into the sky as she took a deep breath. "Welp. Time to cause a ton of property damage." Kyoshi proceeded to stomp, causing a slab of concrete to shoot into the air and propel her through the sky with incredible speed, with the slab falling back into place immediately after. It wouldn't be too bad of property damage, as she only really broke the concrete there and caused it to crack while it was still there. Either way she had already done it, and was en route to the top of the building. Kyoshi was almost at the top when she connected to the wall and worked it in a way where she couldn't fall, but she could eavesdrop over the scene. Worst case scenario, she could pop up and ambush the situation with force. As she clung to the wall, she dug around through her bag and pulled out one of the chunks of pavement she had gotten prior and she held it in the air beside her, waiting for the right time to pop up and strike.

@Kafka Komedy@The Wild West@Nattook@Eklispe@j8cob@ProPro(Pro mention for plot convenience)