"Admirable guy, if only for the power he has over his lieutenants." Dunn glanced over at the clock before he continued explaining the situation. Any minute now, Gaia would swoop in and replace Dunn, and while she didn't have the fear of being embarrassed like Dunn did, it would still be quite distracting for the two to switch then. "Yeah Zach. And even though this city is being hurt by his influence, we can try and stage our own system to bring him down, going after each one of his subordinates until he falls from the mighty throne of crime that he sits on." Dunn paused before continuing his train of thought, possibly to add suspense to his speech. "Gaia and I uncovered some tasty information about the whereabouts of one of Patriarch's lieutenants, and wouldn't you know it, they're in town tonight. We couldn't find any info on who they are, and it was unspecified, but we do know they'll be hanging out in an abandoned apartment complex at the southwestern side of Denver."

After Dunn finished his statement, a bright glow encompassed his figure as the Twins swapped, leaving Gaia there to speak with the two men in the room... only wearing a pair of short athletic shorts aside from her underwear. Regardless, Gaia seemed alright with being in her pajamas near the two other men. "Wanna go take down a patriarch?"

Heartless shook his head as Thunderbolt offered to straight up kill Gamble. "Nah dude, no need to break the unspoken rules for this piece of shit. I'm sure we can convince him to keep his mouth shut, hell we can just sew his lips together if it really cones down to it. Chop off his fingers, sew his lips shut, no way for him to talk if he can't talk." He chuckled upon seeing the terrified expression on Gamble's face. He was probably wishing he was on his way to the Birdcage now.

Chatterbox spoke up a few moments after with a much less gruesome solution in mind. Heartless shrugged and turned to Chatterbox. "That works a lot better in the long term I'll admit. I still like my idea though." Admittedly it would work a lot better than his, instead of giving the PRT nothing he could give them false leads instead. "Could you make him say something funny? Like that we're in an abandoned amusement park or something? I feel like everyone here could get a kick outta that."

Headhunter walked over and grabbed Gamble, setting him down right in front of Chatterbox. Cut straight through the bullshit, just sit the idiot down and get down to business. Heartless could appreciate Headhunter's thinking. Good stuff. "Am I gonna have to cover my ears or something? I don't relish the idea of becoming a mental slave just cause I listened to you talk about TV or something for half an hour."

As attentive as could be, Elliot parsed all the incoming information. Participating in the interrogation himself hadn't been something he bargained on, but it took but a few seconds for an idea to pop into his head concerning how to contribute. His powers did not permit him an easy read of an enemy's knowledge or abilities, but in terms of persuasion, he envisioned a cunning use. The scheme appealed to him on all levels—clever, simple, and morally gray. Doing what must be done, no matter the cost, suited an antihero to a T. For the moment, Elliot just watched. As much as he loved the works of a certain H.P. Lovecraft, this metahuman appeared less 'cosmic horror' and more 'deranged pervert'. The sentences that dribbled out of its mouth were the most banal chatroom cliches, the very stuff of little Zoey's first fan-fiction, and they irritated Elliot enough to banish all lingering reservations he held for enacting his plan.

The other wards, of course, didn't wait for him to have his say. Tulpa's suggestion worked well enough with his own, and while she chimed in with her request for a restraint, Elliot moved over to a nearby desk. He laid his hand on the chair and held firm, his power rushing through. In a mere moment, the life-size piece of furniture was a minuscule model in the palm of his hand, only a few centimeters tall. With it, he returned to his alleged allies, and remarked, “I shall partake as well. Charisma and perception may very well be the spheres of these others, but my endeavor will be applying the pressure necessary to extract answers to whatever my compeers inquire.”

There she was, standing in most of her glory. Judah couldn't help but wonder if this power of theirs' would turn out to be a liability instead of an asset. He blinked slowly several times then rubbed his eyes, remarking dryly,"That's quite an ability you two have. Perhaps instead of tracking down criminals and bringing them to justice you could join a carnival as a sideshow."

He paused for a moment, letting it sink in and continued,"And yes, I'm ready..in all seriousness you guys did a good job." He took a bite of his pizza. A few awkward seconds went by while he chewed, Farce still mostly naked. After finishing it he said,"Are you getting dressed..or?"

Alessa listened attentively to Director Kens' description of the apprehended cape and their actions, apparently known as Love Craft. She was also the sort of person to turn her head as the villainous Cape began stripping, though forced herself to look for the sake of security, and promptly finding herself a bit less embarassed at Love Craft's currently-genderless state. Moreso for how openly flirtatious they were with the guard, but that was more shame for them, where they seemed to lack it. And other than that, they seemed... somewhat normal. Protean instructed the Wards to see about interrogating them, and in mere moments, every other member had offered to interrogate them - first Ira, quite eagerly at that; then Evelyn, who made a comment that reminded Alessa to bring something up; and finally Elliot, suggesting that he provide the pressure where the other two girls provided the skill.

'Well, it'd hardly reflect well on me to not join my teammates,' Alessa shrugged casually, 'and I'm sure Love Craft will be more intimidated the more people are there to, ah, persuade them to talk. I'm honestly not sure of how good I am at interrogating people,' she admitted, 'but I can at least be the good cop, if nothing else. Speaking of persuasion, we ought to make sure we're safe. Ira, do you still have your power nullifier around?' That thing would be worth its weight in gold - not only would it switch the playing field from potential all-out Cape combat to a simple 4-on-1 fight if things got nasty, but the eerie sensation of losing one's powers would surely upset Love Craft as well, putting them off their game and setting them up to talk far more readily. And she was sure this sort of thinking might help appease Protean, after his jab about needing to better manage the Wards- she'd promised herself she wouldn't think about that, hadn't she.

"If it'd make you happy." Gaia sarcastically said as she moseyed her way over to the bedroom, rummaging around through her clothes before pulling out a lightweight charcoal hoodie, throwing it on over her torso as she walked back out into the living room. In all honesty, Gaia wasn't phased by having no shirt on, as she really didn't have anything to hide. If anything, there was only a slight bump in the hoodie over her chest, and while she didn't exactly like having it acknowledged, she wasn't going to be triggered by it. Speaking of triggers...

"Letting you guys know this small detail. If Dunn gets shot at all and we don't switch, please ask him how we became what we are. You'll see what I mean when it happens."

Seeing the eagerness of Epsilon to get in and get things underway, Protean smiled, though it was more of a nervous and unsure smile. The Decoy hologram provided a more sincere, genuine smile to the young Japanese girl. Despite being a machine generated image, it felt warm, not just a contraction of various facial muscles. "I believe you will do splendid, Riese-kun."

Then Tulpa eagerly stepped in, insisting that she accompany Ira in the interrogation. Protean nodded with a bit more confidence than what he had previously displayed. "Yes, best to come in from a stronger position. More people will give that image, right? Yeah. Let's do that."

Never to be outdone, Margrave was next, insisting that he "apply the pressure," and the two senior heroes couldn't help but stare at one another for a moment, brows raised. "I am not certain if we should be concerned about this or not."

"I get lost in your eyes so easily..."

"These aren't my eyes, Reece," Decoy spoke with a mild irritation.

Protean shrugged. "Same thing."

"Focus. You're senior and in charge."

"Oh, right right. Sorry, heh." The shapeshifter scratched the back of his head awkwardly, turning his attention to the Wards once more. "Yeah, pressure. Sounds good, Margrave. Just don't go overboard, ok? We're the good guys, after all."

Then it was Messiah's turn to volunteer, offering her services as the "good cop." Both heroes nodded in approval, and once the Ward's leader suggested that Epsilon procure her power nullifier for the interrogation it was clear Protean was impressed. He whistled his appreciation. "That the latest project you been working on? That's really impressive!"

"She's an inspired tinker," Decoy assured, "And like all tinkers, she'll go far once she has had the right time to prepare, and the inspiration to kick into drive. Unlike other tinkers, I believe her abilities will outweigh a good many of us. Myself included."

"Damn fine praise, babe. Well it looks like you're all roarin' and ready to go. So why don't I just open the flood gates and let you at'em? Her? It? Whatever. Just get what you can. Remember, we need to know about the rest of that team. Who they are, what they're after, where they're based at, anything you can get." Protean gestured for the Wards to follow, and began leading them around the corner where they would inevitably come upon the sealed door to the room in which their captive currently sat. As they walked, the hologram of Decoy flickered out of existence, but more holograms projected themselves from the walls, following the Wards. As the walked out of the range of one, it too would vanish and be replaced by a closer one.

"Do your best to get what you can, and let my software do the rest. I'll communicate in your earpieces if they're telling the truth, or a lie."

"Just be awesome. There's nothing you can't accomplish as long as you're awesome enough." With that Protean placed his hand on a palm scanner placed within a depression on the wall. A second later and the large mechanical door whirred and clicked, depressurizing and opening up, allowing the Wards to enter the cell...

---

---

Th Broker was nearly out the door when suddenly a new individual walked in: a cape calling himself Thunderbolt. Further, Thunderbolt addressed the Broker as "boss," apologizing for his tardiness, then immediately began taking part in the Gamble-related festivities, suggesting some rather unsavory actions against the now powerless thinker.

"Ah, Thunderbolt. I am pleased to have our paths cross like this. I had not expected you until tomorrow. Capital." The well dressed Brit turned round to face everyone, standing in the doorway as Gamble was in the process of getting his ass handed to him. Arsenal, notably, gave their boss a nod and tipped his sombrero. "I have a confession to make, lady and gentlemen. One of your own has been a plant the entire time. While I had handpicked each of your for your specific skill sets, there was no telling how well you would function together as a team until you were together, so..."

"So the boss got me to come on the scene and watch how y'all worked together. Hanging out with you hombres was a good time an' all, but I got a feelin' my next job is taking me back to the dusty trail." Arsenal lifted his sombrero and gave the rest of the Jacks a wink. He stood from his chair, holstering one of his guns, and approached the Broker. "That the case?"

"Indeed," the Broker confirmed, nodding his head. "My next assignment for you is on the East coast, in the city of Brockton Bay."

"Do I at least get the opportunity to shoot somebody this time?"

"Sadly, no. The dead make for poor business, but at least you'll have the opportunity to cause a ruckus for the Protectorate."

"Least I got that." Arsenal sighed, then headed out the door without so much as a goodbye for his old team. Like a stranger drifting from one trail to another, it was almost as if they were just a pit stop in his own journey.

"Splendid. Well then, my favorite employees, I really do have to make myself scarce. Please enjoy rehabilitating Anthony Murdock. He certainly does not deserve to be called 'Gamble' anymore. Tata." Then their boss also made his way out the door, a jaunt in his step and a whistle at his lips. The man certainly seemed pleased. More pleased than Anthony Murdock was at the time.

Murdock's face was bruised and bloodied, his leg broken, and he moaned in pain, barely able to put up a resistance as he was forcibly sat in a chair by Headhunter. Swaying from the concussion, he managed to lock eyes with Chatterbox. "I will have my revenge."

---

---

Celia received no reply from Decoy after her rude remark. Either the famous tinker did not care, or was planning something subtle. Regardless, there was nothing the android could do about it now, so it would be better to focus on the situation at hand.

"Oh, joking. Right. I knew that." He definitely did not. "Well we've got to come up with something fast, or else we'll lose the element of surp-"

"Hey you! Get the hell off of our building, you costumed dipsticks!" The voice came from a man way down at the far end of the rooftop, about five foot ten, well built, Hispanic, wearing a hard hat and holding a pickaxe in his hand. The two signs of being connected to the Rockers.

"Well, nevermind. Still, that guy is either dumb as bricks or brave as a lion." G4M3R shook his head, somewhat disappointed.

"You really shouldn't mess with us!" Artificer called out, hopping back onto his giant fly. "Or you'll be arrested by the Minutemen!"

"The who?" called back the punk, completely clueless.

Jason flipped a leg over a chair, settling into it with an ease of relaxation. "Later, boss," he said as Broker made his way out.

" I will have my revenge," the man being held hostage proclaimed. Murdock, Broker has called him.

"See, I don't think you will," Jason said lazily. " For one, you ain't got a way out. For two, I'm sure our friend's suggestion is a great answer. Even if it's not my style. For three, Broker doesn't seem like the type you'd be able to hang with. Comprende, comrade?

Jason chuckled, tipping his chair back.

" So, mind if I get names? Maybe a brief idea of what you can do? Not one to pry, but it would make it easier in the future to know in advance. 'Cool I'm sure the boss won't wait very long before the next mission. And I accept any mission that pays. "

Sofia watched as just about everybody took turns laying into Murdok. Once again, Sofia didn't terribly care what happened to him, he seemed like he was pretty annoying. They had lost Weapons Dude and Lovely, but they'd gotten Thunderbird and Heartloss out of it so it wasn't all bad. Sofia piped up at Thunderbird's question. "Sofia Stien, when I close my eyes I can make myself and things I'm touching ignore whatever I want." Her voice was chipper but nothing else about her was. Thunderbird had mass reduction eh? Well that was kind of vague. Oh well, if it was important he would tell them. Heartloss was apparently a shadow, which was kinda weird. Sofia wondered what would happen if she used a flashlight on him.

Broker practically skipped out the door seeming pleased about something. They had just done a successful mission after all so that was a good thing. How did she check her bank account again? Broker had given her a piece of paper with a bunch of information on it. Sofia riffled through her pockets and retrieved a paper with instruction on how to access her bank account and spend her money on it. Broker was a nice guy. Sofia would get to that after she waited to see what they were during with Murdok. After all she was kind of curious to see what Chatterhead was going to do to him. She knew he did stuff when he talked but that was about it. Sofia liked it when Chatterhead talked a lot more than when Murdok did.

"G4M3R, want me to go and cheese this chump?" Kyoshi asked as she got into a fighting stance, raising a few chunks of the roof out of the ceiling and holding them above her hand. She was ready to throw some concrete at some heads, and while it may not be the best reaction to this situation, she wasn't going to proceed without any approval from their leader.

Jackson had directed Ruben where to go in order to watch the interrogation, and before the two departed from eachother's company, Ruben requested for a small dog to keep him company next time he went into his room. He'd have to name it something cool, though. Maybe Buster. Or Pete. Or Clancy. Clancy sounded nice.

That was besides the point, however. Ruben wasn't here to just be a deadbeat Thinker, he was here to help out in any way he could, dammit! Even if he couldn't get into the interrogation, maybe he'd be able to provide some sort of help on the other side of the one-way window. If anything, it may at least provide some answers to what his power could unveil.

After staggering to the interrogation room (getting used to the magnetic leg would take some serious time), Ruben finally stood behind the wall in his hoodie, watching the interrogation begin to unfold. "Just gonna hope that they get the message if I see something go awry..."

A wave of relaxation slowly washed over Chris as they talked naturally back and forth to each other and to her. They had known each other for long enough that the conversation flowed smoothly, as well as the little jabs they threw. Lance offered an out, and Chris definitely appreciated that. The explanation by Lance of what a mark was made enough sense that she didn't bother furthering that line of questioning.

She smiled despite herself when James (the burlier one) called the people Lance spent time with strange, and she accepted that she was being a bit of a troublemaker just by being here. The waitress returned once again, and placed a drink in front of James, as well as a second of the same in front of Chris.

James explained what was in the drink, and Chris nodded while eying it carefully. This is supposed to be my reward for sneaking in, I suppose, She thought. An idea formed as she watched Jaunt have his first sip of his drink. She leaned across the table, plucking it out of his hands and sliding her drink across the table to him. As she leaned across the table, her sweatshirt down around the neckline, revealing a blue t-shirt that clung non too tightly to her underdeveloped breasts. The sight couldn't really be considered sexual.

It felt like something a secret agent would do, and a smile formed as Chris confidently tasted from the newly acquired drink. It was. . . surprisingly good, the kind of drink that seemed deceptive in its alcohol content. Two glasses of this would probably see her tipsy, though it'd be a little difficult to convince either of them to buy her another she'd guess.

Remembering what James said about being impressed by her entrance, she smiled as a story formed in her mind. "That bouncer must be half blind, I just slipped in behind him as he was checking someone else’s ID." Her tone had gone from suspicious, to confident and a bit sassy. Chris's voice was nice to listen to, and she had an almost rhythmic way of speaking, though she sometimes enunciated words poorly.


A voice called up at the caped crusaders gathered on the rooftop, and Celia smiled a bit. No more planning then, just action. "I'll take the ground floor," She said as she started running towards the edge that the voice had come up from. She jumped at what her processor told her was the best moment, going for distance rather than height.

She cut deftly through the air, landing the couple stories below with a calculated roll, finishing her roll, by closing the distance by sprinting. Once she was close enough she launched herself at him in a improptu tackle. If she succeeded, Celia would lean back off of him, and use her hands to shove his head at the asphalt just hard enough to knock him out without leaving him concussed. That was wishful thinking at best, as concussions were hard to predict and prevent when injuring someone's head.

If he had prepared an overhead pickaxe swing while she was sprinting at him, she would instead launch herself off to the left side in a defensive maneuver. While he recovered, she would rush back in to deliver a swift kick to the head, hoping to knock him out in one.

If he avoided the tackle, she would try her best to recover with a roll and prepare for any counterattack he could offer. She devoted one of her secondary processors to listen for any backups approaching her regardless of the outcome. It was best to keep the fights one-on-one, but the android could certainly defeat two people at the same time if push came to shove.

Originally, the plan had been to go in alone, but her teammates quickly volunteered to join her. As one after another volunteered, Ira looked more than a little confused. This was going to be hard to keep civilized, more a lynching then a interrogation in all but the literal sense. At the mention of her nullification device Ira nodded, smiling a bit. At Decoy’s compliment Ira reddened slightly, and stopped meeting her leader’s eyes. She had grabbed the suitcase sized device without thinking when they were being led through the halls and had left it outside of the observation room. Decoy and Protean led the Wards out of the room and towards the Para’s prison, and Ira picked the black box off the ground. She popped it open slightly as they walked, and adjusted a dial within before closing it again.

Protean pressed his hand against the hand scanner, and Ira adjusted her ear piece, turning it on momentarily to speak to her teammates in a hushed tone. "Intimidation will come later, but for now lets go for diplomacy,” She said, and secured her mask fully before leading the way into the small room. Ira-No, Epsilon. Epsilon stride forward confidently, keeping her eyes on Lovecraft with a gaze that spoke of cautious confidence. She pressed the start button, and the field radiated outward. Her small adjustment to the dial had made it not spread quite as far. Her first demonstration had been at it’s maximum distance, but now it barely reached the corners of the room they were in.

”Two heroes almost died at the hand of your fellow thugs, who abandoned you the moment you became any semblance of a liability. I think we’d all appreciate it if you cooperated,” She said, her voice steady. Epsilon didn’t even mention the device, though she hoped the fear associated with losing access to his power would be helpful in convincing him.


After explaining what they had found out, a bright light shone out of their body as they switched places. Suddenly, the young woman they had met first present, but this time with substantially less clothes. A flush spread across Zach’s face, and he lowered his eyes momentarily before he realized she didn’t care.

Judah asked if Gaia could put on more layers, and Zach went finished his pizza happily. Gaia then made a cryptic statement relating to Dunn getting shot, which seemed pretty morbid. Zach nodded, before speaking up. ”Are we going to head out tonight then?” He seemed unsure, but would definitely be down for a good frontal assault on a villain’s hideout.

"I imagined so. There's no time like the present to get the jump on a Denver crime lord, is there?" Gaia stated as she fished her bag out from her room, finally pulling it out from behind the door and putting on a pair of her generic sneakers. They were cheap, but very well made, and Gaia appreciated those two things very much. She walked out of the apartment, standing by the doorway with the keys in her hands, waiting for the other two members of her team to leave so they can get on to finding and taking down Patriarch.

---

Watching as the others positioned the man formerly known as Gamble in a chair and kept him restrained. He smiled at the declawed parahuman with a sort of smug arrogance, he was going to enjoy this. When the fool spoke of revenge, before he could even speak up, the new addition to their team did so. The man’s presence reminded him of Arsenal’s departure and he thought a moment, considering how intelligent Broker had been to have a plant among them, to test things out properly.

It was good that he’d had someone to replace the man although, he had to admit that it annoyed him slightly that they’d had to go ‘recruit’ Arsenal when it had been a ploy all along. After a moment of contemplation, which hadn’t shown on his face in the least, he laughed, his gaze still locked with Murdock’s.

“It really is quite funny that you think you’ll be getting anything. After all, when I’m done with you, you won’t even have a will to do anything by yourself, but enough of that, let’s talk.” He said, his grin still present, each word almost mocking. All he needed was to speak and for Murdock to hear him, he didn’t even need to talk to their captive.

“So, Thunderbolt was it? Interesting choice for a name I must say. I’m Chatterbox,” as he introduced himself he did a flourish with his hand, reached over, and then tapped Thunderbolt on his shoulder.

“Master, Trump” he began, “…power works through my voice, I can slowly induce a highly suggestive hypnotic state in people who listen to me. Don’t worry, touched you to make you immune, boss said I wasn’t allowed to use my power on you lot. A shame really, I could make our teamwork perfect and leave all of you otherwise unaffected, but oh well.” He didn’t mention that he could also make them do almost anything he wanted them to without them ever knowing he’d made them do it, or them even remembering they had done anything at all and that was really just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

He continued, “I can tune my power to make people less affected than normal, or outright immune, oh…and once people are fully hypnotized I can gift a weaker version of my power to them if I want to. Sadly though, not nearly as useful in a fight, but I’m good with planning, so there’s that.” He shrugged a bit, still smiling, before he turned his attention to Murdock.

“So friend,” he said, his power having been working on him every time he’d spoken, “…I’m going to tell you, not ask, for you to relax. Oh yeah, and drop the scowl, no reason to feel so frustrated with us. After all, who got you captured to begin with?” He smiled at the idiot, a measure of arrogance and self-assurance in his eyes as he did so, he was clearly enjoying this.

He let Murdock get to the point of realizing what he was implying, then spoke again, driving the dagger in and twisting it, “Oh, that’s right, it was you, because you did something stupid just to see if you could. Guess you didn’t have luck good enough to win that particular Gamble did you. Of course, you won’t have any luck from here on out, not really.”

When he finished hypnotizing the fool he was going to make him totally aware of his actions, but totally unable to control them and man, he was going to enjoy it. Once he’d had his fun he would probably make Murdock think he was mute, and then implant a series of suggestions to help him remember false memories, or to create them by thinking they were things that had actually happening.

After all, it wasn’t that Chatterbox didn’t want Murdock to talk, exactly, it was that he wanted Murdock to say only what they wanted. He wanted to make him mislead the PRT, feed them lies about their powers and perhaps about their numbers. Any leg up would do really, and he planned to take all of them.

---

---

He wondered why G4M3R was being so hesitant about picking a plan, they’d suggested some good ones already. Then, before he could speak up, a stranger interrupted them…a stranger equipped in the garb of someone associated with the Rockers. He narrowed his eyes as he turned bodily towards the individual.

Then Celia sprung into action, charging the man. He braced himself, just in case he needed to activate his power—though he really doubted it.

“Well, it looks like we’re about running out of time to plan. So I say you guys go in, try to get them out of the building, and I can ambush them out here or deal with anyone who heads out.” He said it with confidence, fairly sure that the plan would work.

A Denver Nightclub

@Nattook@solokolos

Lance was a little surprised when little red actually accepted the drink, he figured actually alcohol would scare her off. Heh, what a fun kid. She blamed the bouncer for being blind and Lance laughed a little, "He'd have to be to let you in here." James didn't believe her. But that wasn't really relevant. He took a sip from his drink and fished a card out of his pocket and handed it to James, "You're lucky, I came by for a light drink before I go out on a job. That should be everything you need though." Intentionally vague for obvious reasons. He leaned closer to Chris and whispered mischievously "You seem like a pretty cool kid and I bet you could use some easy cash, so... You wanna join a gang?"

'Just be awesome. There's nothing you can't accomplish as long as you're awesome enough.' Well, aside from far too many things for Alessa to consider for the time being, but right now, she had an interrogation to work at. Diplomacy, as Ira put it, was the present name of the game, and she could certainly do her best to get on the prisoner's good side.

The bizarre sensation of something vanishing within her overtook her again, indicating that her powers were nullified, and presumably affected both Lyn and Elliot as well. And Love Craft, of course. Other than that, the interrogation was on; Ira started the proceedings by telling the prisoner what had happened, and how they'd appreciate it if they cooperated, and Alessa promptly gave her own input: 'If you tell us everything you know about your allies, we might be able to see about getting your sentence reduced somewhat from what is otherwise inevitable. No hurry, of course, but we're trying to save lives here.'

---

Hmph. Of course there were more setbacks. And he'd rather been looking forward to seeing what Arsenal could do, at that. Moreover, this meant he had to introduce himself to more people, and in the presence of somebody who might later prove a reliable source of information at that.

'I'm a marksman,' he offered, back at his usual level of quietude, by way of introduction to... what had he called himself, Thunderbolt? And Heartless too, he supposed. 'I'll save further discussion until after the threat is neutralised.'

@yoshua171@BCTheEntity@Eklispe@floodtalon@ProPro

---

Jason listened as everyone's else decided the best course of action and talked about their abilities.

" Pretty solid group, I think. And understandable, " he added in response to the final speaker. " But given our associate's ability, I'm not particularly worried. I'm slightly notorious already, I expect. I actually wouldn't mind giving a demonstration after we're done here. Assuming we have something we don't mind having broken, " Jason added with a slight chuckle.

Moving his chair closer to Murdock, Jason tapped the back of the chair he was sitting in. " Now, friend, I think it's pretty obvious you're going to sit here and enjoy yourself. You get to live! Kinda. At least there's that. Many others don't get that benefit. Look at the Slaughterhouse Nine. Jack Slash probably would have tortured you to death. The Siberian would've ate you alive. The Endbringers, too, really. Or that...I can never remember her name. Stealing souls or some shit....Glaistig Uaine, I think she called herself. Heard she killed Gray Boy. We're letting you live, just without the ability to harm us. Isn't that nice of us? Jason said calmly.

Maybe that would help Chatterbox a bit. Maybe it made no difference. But it was fun, at least, since Jason couldn't just beat him into a smear somewhere.

---

Oh. Seemed like more was going on. Wisp was still feeling a little out of it, so she hoped that there was nothing going on that she needed to involve herself in. But, to respond to Shatterpoints statement before he went off somewhere…



Displayed for his eyes only, the light directed so only he would see it. Then… she drifted backwards. Hm, something was going on. It was probably related to the guy they just knocked out, it was too much of a coincidence that three unannounced visits to the Rocker Warehouse were to come at the same time, her own included. It was somewhat relevant to her if Shatterpoint were to be taken out. So…

She was going to stalk him. On what she wagered to be a safe distance, Wisp stalked Shatterpoint, just in case. The result of this attack was relevant to her due to her new alliance with the Rockers, after all. Where he went, she’d follow, without him knowing. The intruders couldn’t know she was there, so she should be safe. But, if it turned dangerous for her in any way, she’d evacuate. She’d stick to walls as she walked unseen, to avoid sudden shots or whatever. Yepp.

_{@Eklispe@Banana@Nattook@yoshua171@Spiffy@ProPro}

The grunt looked unimpressed by Celia's burst of acrobatics, still readying himself for her attack, raising his pickaxe aggresivly. "I don't care who you are I'll smash yer skull in!" Predictably enough as soon as Celia launched herself he slammed the pick downwards as hard as he could, not even bothering to see if she completed the move. Celia of course easily had moved to the side, the man however experienced something that only someone stupid enough to swing something so solid full force at the ground could.

An incredibly jarring jolt of pain that shot up his arms to affect his whole body. Celia was easily able to take advantage of him vulnerability with a brutal kick to the head that caused man to let out a yelp of pain and send him crashing to the pavement, a little bit of red evident on the ground. He wasn't gushing blood but there was definitely something leaking from his head. Shouldn't be too life-threatening. Probably.

G4M3R sighed, "Well there goes the element of surprise." He gathered himself quickly and gave out commands, "Okay Outsider make sure no one gets out of the building, everyone else we follow Celia and force our way through the nearest door, Artificer take us down."

Artificer nodded and those still on the fly were brought down to ground level just outside one of the eight foot tall push-in double doors, a few feet from Celia and her victim. "Celia you lead, we'll follow and give you support." His wrench was held in one hand in a vaguely threatening manner.

Meanwhile Artificer had a hold on his necklace of explosive beads, looking a little excited at the chance to use them, perhaps too much so for someone holding rather dangerous explosives. Regardless...

Given that they opened the door to charge the building they would find themselves facing a group of ten men very similar to the one Calia had just taken down. Large, Hispanic, wearing hard hats and holding pickaxes in his hand. Given anyone other than Outsider in his Endbringer form arrived at the door they would find the incoming force less than impressive and engage, three of them immediately charging to swing at the first one who entered, the rest spreading out around the doorway to provide a second wave if those went down. Meanwhile...

Shatterpoint barely nodded in acknowledgment of Wisp's message. Then he was off, getting away as fast as possible, slipping through a few alleyways before getting into a plain looking car, dumping Swarm in the backseat and driving away. It was unfortunate that they'd be unable to use that place anymore, but he'd gotten out and recruited Creep as well. Perhaps between the two of them they could get something done. Of course there was also the question of what to do with Swarm. Ugh...