Anomaly

---

Anomaly noted the sudden appearance of Sickle before all else, and immediately saw him as a target for her fists. A purple ghost fist appeared below Sickle and came up, aiming directly for his jaw before all else, the main goal of imparting a feeling of fear into his head. Specifically, a drive to get out of here and flee, hopefully quelling what's going on here.

[-1 FEAR EMOTION (if successful)]

With that, Anomaly turned back towards the battlefield and began looking for more things to punch and emotions to steal. Fear was good, infatuation was funny, but either would do. After all, how could someone fight someone they were infatuated with? Probably regretfully... yeah maybe she should just stick to grabbing fear.

"If you guys see anyone scared, let me know!"

@Sickle-cell@PlatinumSkink

just going to say Knight didn't see Anomaly's attempted attack, somehow



Knight’s eyes widened. She just saw the effect of Sickle-Cell’s power, and how he so easily murdered the nearest gang-members with lethal and brutal use of his power. His power was similar in application to her own, Knight observed, but far, FAR more powerful! Did she and him seriously have the same PRT ranking!? He was seriously scarier than some Slaughterhouse Nine members she had read about! She was going to have to recommend them to boost his ranking to at least Shaker 8…!

She stopped short as she saw Sickle-Cell make use of her stunning gang-members to murder them. Both her shields vanished into nothing as the air unfroze. It seriously looked like she was helping him murder, and that was unacceptable. Knight held out her hands to stop her team-mates from advancing, and when she was sure they stopped she drew her sword. Physical sword so she could have a weapon but still use her full actual powers for something else.

‘Okay. New plan. Disengage the gang-members. Focus all your efforts on not dying to Sickle-Cell.’ She stated. Even if gang-members might have fled by Sickle-Cell’s announcement, Knight stood firm, for it felt like something she should do. Count of five gave her brief seconds to say a plan. She spoke quickly. ‘Don’t provoke them. Stand your ground. My powers can freeze his blood and Gubbin’s bombs. When frozen, I want Septima’s portals to banish the frozen fields, removing their ammunition. Keep him on a distance, he likely has a range like mine where he can effectively control. Use my walls to block attacks. Anomaly, if they’re trying to attack and are distracted, having Sickle-Cell suddenly become depressed or terrified would be really nice.’ She took a breath. ... At least she thought she could freeze his blood? It didn't count as living, did it? Knight didn't know, she had never tried to freeze blood before!

‘But nobody do anything rash. This man’s a cold-hearted murderer… Stay defensive. Don’t let him do as he please, but don’t give him a reason to kill you if you can help it.’ That is, we’re horribly outmatched but we’re not going to leave anyways. Why, oh why, was she facing someone this scary already…!?

Regardless, Knight stood, despite Sickle-Cell’s order to have everyone flee for him to chase, glaring towards him with sword ready and staying ready to use her powers at moment's notice. Ready to attempt stopping him from murdering anyone else.

Now, because her eyes were fixed on the Covenant and Sickle-Cell, she wouldn't actively be looking for terrified people, but… ‘Anomaly, I'm feeling kind of terrified. Could you take that?’ … Now, revealing that she was frightened as a leader kind of felt like it was undermining her authority further, but her current fear for Sickle-Cell was kind of sub-optimal if they'd start fighting, so… ‘If you feel anything similar, give it to Anomaly.’ Now spoken to Gestalt and Septima.

immediately concerned: @Sickle-cell@Banana
locally concerned: @DracoLunaris@Kiddo@knifeman

Definitely precognition, or at least super reflexes. Mary watched Sidestep’s return to her earth-bending buddy, frowning slightly. Sidestep had attacked someone who looked rather innocent, after all. It was hard to tell if the proper response was to kill her, or just scare her off. Gladius was in a strange grey space: they weren’t chaotic like Wonderland, but they seemed to have the same disregard for normal lifeforms as all the rest of the big groups. And if Sidestep was willing to take a Gladius contract even though she didn’t like it, just because it paid, didn’t that mean she didn’t have that strong a moral backbone? What would stop her from taking a contract that endangered or directly harmed innocents?

Nothing. She should have killed the cape when she had the chance, not warned her away in a panic. That softness in her was a weakness. Someone would die because of it.

Dragon was obviously thinking along the same lines. Her eyes had narrowed to slits as she watched Sidestep escape, and now she slowly turned her attention to Mary. “I thought that was the one that you were shooting?”

“Yes. A mercenary, apparently.”

“Ah. An especially wholesome one, I assume. I took out my target.” They looked out over the battlefield, Mary miffed at Dragon’s attitude, but less so when they saw that Pipeline’s corpse had disappeared.

“Uh huh.”

“Hmmmm. Should I find and kill him again? Perhaps he was 2/9ths cat.”

“Do we know who he was? If he took down that VTOL, he could take you down, too.” Mary put a hand on Dragon’s still-hot armor, and Dragon shrugged. “We should find a new target, or leave. Nobody in the center of the fray.”

Said center of the fray had obviously become the newcomer in red, who methodically and brutally took down a half-dozen targets, regardless of alignment. Another crazy, killing for the sake of it. And, it looked like he was using blood powers, which meant his strength grew with each drop of blood spilt on the battlefield. This was his ground, now. There would be no facing him directly.

But neither of Maryland liked it. They had targeted Pipeline for the same reasons: strength, a crazy laugh, joy in the face of destruction. This was a dangerous individual, one that they should have been taking down. Dragon should have stayed and fought before he could create such an advantage.

But, he had arrived with allies. Perhaps they were more vulnerable, and taking out one of them would temper the damage that Blood Red could do. Shield Lady, Jester, and Hobo… none of them seemed especially strong, but looks could be deceiving. Was it wise to attack any of them? Likely not, together as they were. “Let us leave,” Dragon suggested, and Mary nodded, moving to strap in again.

But then the situation changed. A portal appeared, and two of the three disappeared. Now Shield Lady was alone. Mary paused, and shared a look with Dragon. “Yes, I will distract her,” Dragon accepted, stepping away again, dropping down from the roof to land in front of the shield. She paused, drew in a quiet breath, and then opened her jaws to release a torrent of fire, her most fearsome weapon, at the shield and the three people that it protected.

Mary quickly prepared herself, swapping a knife for the gun she had held all this time. It was a real blade, unlike her fake firearms, and deadly-sharp. She dashed across the rooftop, quickly, quietly hopping to the one across the way so that she could stand just over the shielder. As Dragon drew breath, becoming the obvious target, Mary stepped off of the roof, knife brandished and falling directly for the target while she was distracted. If she weren’t interrupted, her small weight would crash right into the woman, and her knife would end her life right afterward.

@knifeman @Sickle-cell

"Way ahead of you." Robin nodded, taking off at a fairly rapid pace.

Raven Street... yeah, she knew where that was - or was pretty sure she did, anyway. He'd probably tell her if she went in the wrong direction anyway, so it wouldn't be a big deal. If it was only a few streets away, the run wouldn't take her more than a few minutes at most, so that'd be fine. There'd be enough of a distraction that few would pay attention to the fleeing Automaton, even if she was carrying one of Wonderland's own across her shoulder. Then again, it didn't seem like he minded.

Of course, the revelation that people might be preparing to head out didn't imply that things were gonna cool down any time soon. Or it meant there'd be a whole load of people that might not be very happy to see her, but that concern didn't really top Robin's list of worries right now. They probably wouldn't kill her outright, which wasn't something she could say about the psychopaths back on that battlefield, so what was the worst that could happen?

As for Askaryan... "And at least try to keep your eyes up 'til we're outta here." She hadn't missed his commentary, though her concerns were more practical. "If I get blindsided because you're too busy staring at my ass to give a warning, then I'm making you hop to the safe-house."

With that, she took off in earnest. If she was right, it wouldn't take her long to reach Raven Street. As for what kind of welcome she could expect, well, she'd just have to find out.

Whetstone sat. “Welcome to Boston, my dear. There are no reputable establishments anywhere in this godforsaken rathole.” She noted the eye-colour changing with interest. Just what exactly did this girl do?

“Well, to business, then.” Placing Toxic’s letter on the table, she looked at her expectantly. “Correct me if I’m mistaken, but your power controls, what, bacteria? I might be in the market for a bioweapon - one designed to cause insufferable pain without killing, that uses blood as an infection vector. Is that something you can do?”

@Old Amsterdam

---

With a look full of scorn, Sickle watched as a ghostly hand stretched across the street to strike him. There was no sense in dodging it, the shards would shred it to pieces before it got anywhere near him. Knight had taken down her shields, the idiot. Admittedly, it was probably his fault for using them as a tool for ending the gangland scum she’d thrown skywards, but it was leaving her open.

And then she stood and pointed a sword at him, at which point he decided that she was utterly adorable.

Knight was giving orders to the Wards, although he couldn’t make out exactly what she was saying. However, the brief distraction served to allow Dragon to leap behind him and throw a gout of flame at Vegas. Spotting the beast bearing down on his underling, he turned to unleash his full might against her.

Except he couldn’t.

The ghost hand had passed through the shards as though they weren’t even there. Uppercutting him, the world shifted. Not just in terms of motion, but the colour drained, augmenting the shadows and highlighting the blood. For a brief second, Sickle simply stood at the heart of the destruction he’d caused in the last half a minute.

Concrete was streaked with blood, all around him. The bodies of several gang members had been entirely sliced to pieces; several more lay taking their last gasps. Suddenly, all his insecurities pushed to the forefront again. They highlighted the one thing in the world he was actually scared of.

Himself.

Of losing control.

Something he consistently did.

How many of these people did he actually remember killing? The answer was one. That single, unlucky sod who had been hit by the stray spear early on. Every other victim became a statistic on instinct. As an afterthought.

That was what stayed his hand, while watching Dragon. Goons ran for the hills, even in their drug-addled state, no-one was stupid enough to challenge him. Why would they? Inside of a year, he’d become an almost mythical figure. The embodiment of death himself. Yet all that suddenly meant nothing in the face of overwhelming fear.

@Banana@PlatinumSkink

---

Vegas had mere seconds to react when the metallic thing came back. As it unleashed a fearsome gout of flame, she dropped her shield, spinning in place. When she turned completely around, she refocused and the barrier reformed. This time, though, it wasn’t a faint pink dome but a crescent of ardent energy. The intensity was staggering, and held back the oncoming flood of fire.

Sweat began to bead on her forehead, from both the effort in holding her shield in place, and the torrent of heat washing over the area. This wasn’t something she could keep up for long. Had it only been her, turning and taking the offensive would be the obvious choice - but the two girls beside her would almost certainly become barbeque. Instead, she planted her feet and prayed to the Sky-Queen that Sickle, Gubbins, Backdoor or even the bloody heroes wouldn’t be long in doing something.

@knifeman@Kiddo

---

Alice giggled lightly at the rathole comment, her ears perking at what came next.

"Blood borne is an odd request, but possibly the simplest bacterial and viral ways to spread. Well, besides touch," she began showy, leaning forward. As she spoke, her words began to flow faster. "But pain without death, eh? Really needs to be viral, but taking it to a whole different level. Target the blood. Mutate. Target the nerves. Pain. Not necessarily an easy task. But possible."

"And in return?" If Whetstone was a personal space type, she'd find herself very uncomfortable at this point, as Alice would have closed her eyes at that last question, coming close enough to almost touch lips. "Because that's the real question here, luv," she practically purred.

The Covenant where, in a word, terrifying. Sickle-cell’s bloody murder was scary enough, but his two disappeared companions were even worse in Seth’s mind. If there's one thing worse than a lethal cape in front of you, it’s 2 capes who might pop out at any moment to stick a knife in your gut. Or whatever those two did. While Seth was wracked his brain for the stuff he’d read about the city on Parahumans Online and tried to formulate a plan to both perpetuate the conflict and get the hell out of dodge once this all wrapped up, events moved on without them.

Despite their dramatic entrance and devastatingly murderous start, things where not going well for the Covenant. With Sickle-cell seemingly stunned by the ghostly boop he had received and the dragon thing currently trying to toast Vegas and whoever she had with her under her shield it looked like the causers of the chaos Seth was here to take advantage of where about to go down. Now was the time to act.

”Alright, here's the plan, we bail out the Covenant so that their two roaming caps let us leave unmolested while those two fight the Protectorate for us. Got it?”

”Understood””Got it””uh huh”

At that Seth darted out the alleyway, heading away from the crashed transport and towards the beleaguered shielder. As he ran Avarice whipped up the now 200+ coins into a rapidly revolving localised maelstrom around them, to have the spinning disks act as both a defensive barrier and sight blocker to obscure what they were doing. Running past the stunned hemomancer, seth yelled at him in attempt to snap him out of whatever haze he was in.

”Hay! Blood bag! Quit standing around like a gormless idiot or the P.T.R’s attack bitches are gonna get ya”

Once they were past Sickle-cell, Avarice moved most of the defensive coins into a solid shield behind them while about 60 of them were sent flying the short distance distance between the pair and the fire breathing metal beast.

”Speaking of bothersome canines, let me deal with this one.”

Using the coins Avarice attempted to form a metallic collar and leash around the burning monster’s neck, which they then proceeded to try to use to yank her head to the side, away from the trio she was currently trying to barbecue.

”Bad Dog! Heel!”

"You son of a-"

The .45 cracked as he pulled the trigger. Blood and shattered skull fragments flew every which way, and the nondescript man reloaded his gun casually, blowing the light steam from the barrel before placing in a new magazine. Within the alleyway, three corpses lay rigid on the ground, two with bullet wounds and one horribly mangled from the hunter's surprise move. Snapping necks wasn't something he particularly enjoyed, but these fellas had joined the wrong side. Wonderland, Protectorate. Not his side.

It was a job.

In the distance, he could hear shouts. A light glow illuminated the streets along with the faint whoosh of flame, and the much louder crashing of metal on stone. Manny holstered his gun, flexing his free hand that held the titanium ring. It was time to move again, he thought to himself. "Do they pay me enough for this?" He asked into the dead alleyway. The silence that followed was as much of an answer as any he'd get. He strode out, his coat swaying. "We'll see."

Whatever he expected to find when he entered the scene, it wasn't what he saw. The tall fellow looking positively average compared to the parahumans that were ducking and dodging. He'd seen Sickle from a briefing before, and it was noteworthy to see the immensely powerful parahuman on the ground. He didn't know what would cause that...other than the great fire beast that was wrecking goons and doing its best to fillet the mostly woman group of would-be heroes.

He decided to step back and wait for a moment, his power at the forefront of his mind, ready to be called at a moment's notice. The Dragon hadn't seen him, and he didn't guess any of the others had as well. He'd wait and see an opportunity to strike. The former detective knew a thing or two about patience, and fighting the battles you were sure to win.

One thing was for certain. He wasn't leaving before he took down as many parahumans as he could. The Consortium would get its money's worth.

Anomaly

---

"Oh damn that worked," Anomaly thought as she had a hand near her lightly punch Knight's leg, absorbing the fear within Knight. Anomaly really felt that fear, too, it was so pungent. She'd need to get rid of it quickly, it would seem.

Back to Sickle, though. The teen didn't really think trying to terrify him was a great idea, hell, it might've caused him to be more brash about his decisions and begin to kill even more and more quickly. Seeing him just... freeze, was really nice to note, as even the mighty can fall to Anomaly's power of emotional punches. Speaking of those, the same hand that uppercutted Sickle pulled a u-turn in the air as it decided to come back down and punch Sickle again, aiming to drop the fear absorbed from Knight right into him. More fear was good in this situation, as it might just force Sickle to flee altogether. That's a best-case scenario for the PRT.

"I-I think I got him with fear, Knight! Going for another round!" Anomaly said as she focused on the punch landing.

[+1 FEAR]
[-1 FEAR, if successful second punch on Sickle]

@Sickle-cell@PlatinumSkink

Knight saw Sickle-Cell look towards her partly while she went through her plan and pointed her sword at him. While she couldn’t see it, it really felt like he was making fun of her with his gaze. The mere fact he just paused there a moment and stared at her without doing anything. “Yeah, I used your shields to murder. What’ya gonna do about it? Point your sword at me? Oooh, I am soooo frightened…” … She imagined in her head.

He turned to deal with the more fiery enemy. Knight really didn’t know what to think of that one, her focus was all on Sickle-Cell. When suddenly…

Huh? That shadowy hand… Anomaly hit? Sickle-Cell froze in place?

Knight hesitated, scared of the possibility it was a false opportunity, that if they attacked now they’d just be horribly massacred.

Then, with the feeling of a light punch to her leg from a shadowy hand, that fear disappeared.

‘ATTACK!’ Knight jumped forward, she could not waste this opportunity Anomaly had given her to possibly eliminate one of Boston’s worst criminals! She created two shields again, and threw both. One of them, somewhat larger than the other, she shaped as it flew so it bent somewhat inwards, as a trap or a fish-net. This shield flew into the field of Sickle-Cell’s blood shards, intent on catching them and gathering them inside the net so that Knight could then close the net and seal away Sickle-Cell’s weapons.

The other sailed straight forward, intent on colliding with Sickle-Cell’s legs, fell him if he was standing and then remain there. If the impact was successful, she was hoping to run closer so she could shape the field so it bound around his legs, to trap him so she could then fling him into one of Septima’s portals. That was the long-term plan.

Every step on the way she was prepared to freeze, let the shields she had thrown unfreeze so that she could create new defenses for herself and her team, if this attack turned out to be a mistake. She did not particularly bother to think about the person running by Sickle-Cell yelling at him, because said person wasn’t yet doing anything to stop her.

She left it to her team-members to decide for themselves what the best use of their powers were when she gave the command “Attack”. It wasn’t like they had long.

immediately concerned: @Sickle-cell@Banana
locally concerned: @DracoLunaris@Kiddo@knifeman@POOHEAD189

Holly found it hard to breathe through the intense heat. The shield was being assaulted with fire, but they were safe, right? Maybe not, given how the woman holding the shield seemed to be struggling. There had to be some way to get them out of this situation.

She turned her gaze up, looking for something, just something, she caught sight of a woman falling towards them. With a knife aimed towards Shield Lady. Bad news there. Very bad news.

“Look out!”

Holly focused all of her mental effort on making the knife stop in the air. She couldn’t use her telekinesis on living things, so stopping the knife was her best shot.

They slowly made their way, headed towards the place that could very well be the place Tony died... To be honest, he really didn't want to die... But Tony hadn't had this much fun in awhile. Robby was one of his only close friends, and despite his wining and attitude, he was a good guy. Tony just didn't like going to so many places that could trace him back to the Wonderland. If people found out he was a part of them, then things could end up pretty bad...

"Here it it!"

The place wasn't what Tony expected. He expected some rundown, crappy joint that with barely any customers, like the places from his youth. Instead, a place that could only be described as comfy and nice was in his view - the word's "Thinker Cup Cafe" could be seen in one of the windows. Tony raised his eyebrow at Robby, who either ignored him or simply didn't notice. Shrugging his shoulders, Tony followed his companion into the small cafe.

The scent of coffee and pastries assaulted his senses, and Tony quickly began to water in the mouth. He hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, and even if they had to wait awhile for this guy, Tony wouldn't mind that much. The pair found a booth and slid into it, before Tony began to look around.

"Dude, don't look around that much, you look suspicious! You look for a little bit-"

Robby scanned the front of the cafe, looking for Sickle as he did so.

"And then you stop looking."

20 seconds passed, and before Tony was able to ask anything, Robby continued.

"You look for a little bit-"

"Alright, I get it."

After around 5 minutes of this stupid method of searching, Tony quit. He honestly had no idea what to search for - after all, Sickle-cell wouldn't show up in a costume or anything, right? All Tony managed to see was the people, a woman with Brown hair and wearing a suit along with another girl who had black hair and green eyes. Well, people and the pastries - their irresistible nature forced the starving Tony to rise from his seat, and quickly move to buy some. As he did so, he examined the cafe itself - bland, barren of shocking colors or points of interest, and filled with people who could only be described as generic. Tony loved the place - it was the perfect blend of boring and average that he wanted, after a life filled with excitement and danger. Maybe he'd get a part time job here - not for the money, of course, but just to have some fun instead of sitting around all day.

Tony made his way back to his booth, 4 cinnamon rolls in the small brown paper bag he carried with him. He slid into his seat, before pulling out a napkin and placing two of the rolls in front of Robby.

"Ah man, you know I like bear claws more-"

"I bought you free food."

The pair began to eat their food, finishing after about 20 minutes thanks to chatting and searching for Sickle-cell. Still, the man was nowhere in sight - or at least, he wasn't obvious.

"So... Are you sure he's coming?"

"Probably."

Tony sat around for a minute or two, but then spoke out again.

"Yeah... If he doesn't show up in an hour, I'm gonna head home."

Robby nearly jumps, quickly interrogating Tony.

"W-what?! C'mon man, I can't be here alone, it's terrifying. Besides, we can't leave until we invite Sickle to the circus, or else Pipeline will be pissed."

"Correction: You can't leave until you invite Sickle. I'm not forced to do this, I just have to show up for the circus."

"Maaaaan... Alright, whatever. If he doesn't come soon, you can leave. Honestly, thanks for the help so far - it's been fun catching up."

Tony smiled at this. Even though he was kind of a prick, Robby had his heart in the right place. The pair sat in their booth waiting, with Tony occasionally looking around at the other patrons.

Well, this Toxic will definitely fit into Boston, Whetstone thought.

Weird, yet capable. Most importantly, able to pull off a stunt that would render the Covenant completely helpless and allow her ample leverage in future negotiations with her runaway upstart.

“Well,” she began, “what are you after? I control a large portion of the drugs trade in the city. Money isn’t an issue either, but you don’t strike me as the type of person particularly interested in either.”

Reclining in her chair to give some distance, she met the girl’s eyes. “Something I can offer is a parahuman capable of restoring humans back to… ‘factory settings’, for want of a better term. Find yourself a test subject, and I can provide the means to experiment on that subject indefinitely. At least until you kill them. She’s good, but she’s not God.”

Allowing an almost vulpine grin to spread across her lips beneath the scarf, she rested her chin on a knuckle. “Interested?”

@Old Amsterdam

---

A mobile rang while the engine of the car ticked over. Professional as always, the man answered before the third ring. “Line’s secure. What do you need?”

“It has come to my attention that someone is trying to get in touch with the Covenant. A Wonderland operative on behalf of Pipeline.” Another man’s voice on the other end of the line filled him in on the details. “Knowing we have to attend the Circus is only half the politics of this, you see. Not meeting their operative would be simply bad manners.”

Donovan’s eyes scanned the chaos happening in Dorchester from a safe distance. “What if they need me here?” he asked.

The voice held amusement. “With all the brutes running around, they won’t. You’ll be back before they need to run.”

“Where’s the drop?” While asking the question, he fished out his heavy revolver and thumbed open the cylinder, counting all six chambers loaded.

“The Thinker Cup Cafe. Downtown.”

“I know the place.”

“Good,” the voice replied. “Remember. Master-Stranger protocols. Just in case.”

Donovan grinned. “Always.”

---

The drive had only taken about ten minutes, although he carefully broke speed limits on the way over. With the authorities focused on Dorchester, it was easy to get away with minor crimes. Pulling up outside, he flicked on a pair of aviator shades and headed round to the boot. A heavy black bag took pride of place just inside, and he slung the bag over his shoulder.

Walking through the door, he grabbed a quick coffee before scanning the area, praying Sickle wouldn’t kill him for being absent when he found out. Eyes resting on two guys sitting - one being almost hilariously unsubtle about looking around - he took a seat across from them with his back to the window.

And then he took out his gun and placed the barrel against the knee of what looked like the more capable of the two.

“So, I hear you have something for me. Here’s how this is gonna work. Place it on the desk and sliiiiiide it over, nice and slow. Don’t try to make skin contact with me, or I pull the trigger. Don’t even think about pulling something funny, or I pull the trigger.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, so Master-Stranger protocols are in effect. If I don’t check in with my partner once this is done without any change in my usual speech patterns, code phrase or otherwise, then a 50. cal bullet will make one of you about a foot shorter.” The man reclined in his chair. “And since I take you for the leader,” he said, pressing the barrel a little harder against Tony’s knee. “That’ll make your friend the one holding the short straw.” He smiled at Robby.

@Duoya

---

The two made their way up the stairs to an old door,with paint mostly chipped off and battered. It reflected the state of the house itself, which also wasn’t much to look at. Askaryan handed Automaton a key and the lock opened with a heavy clunk.

Inside was a collection of the biggest, baddest murders in the city.

Standing closest to the door, in a mix of biker leathers and a gas mask, was Caustic. A kill order existed for him across the entire Protectorate because of a particularly vicious spree of assaults and murders around the bayous down south. The death toll had been in the hundreds. The order had originally only stood in the states where he had killed, until the PRT as a whole realised he wasn’t going to stop.

Next to him - and still wearing her federal jumpsuit from years ago, topped with a plain, faceless black mask - was Black Kaze. She was an almost legendary figure from her days spent murdering countless people after Japan’s destruction at the hands of Leviathan. Her hair was worn shoulder-length, and was heavily matted with something. It was best not to consider what.

And sitting on the desk at the far end of the room, swinging her legs and twirling an umbrella, was a young girl. 14, at the most. She looked like a circus ringleader, with a dress flowing down to below her knees, heavily accented with grays, dark blues and white. A large, baby-blue bow sat a few inches below her throat. Her hat resembled a top hat, but striped the same colour as her dress and tied round with a bow. The mask she wore only covered the top half of her face, curving around her mouth, and was decorated with swirling black and red designs.

Besides the three most notable characters, there was a good fifteen Wonderland mooks and a few other people, dressed in such eccentricity to mark themselves as parahumans.

Every single pair of eyes in the room fell on the two newcomers.

“Well, well, Askaryan found himself a girlfriend,” Kaze joked with a harsh, throaty laugh.

One of the mooks in the room spotted the blood. “What in the nine hells happened to you?”

The parahuman smiled beneath his hood. “Her. Turns out Gladius are hiring decent freelancers now.”

Caustic swiveled on Askaryan. “And you brought a Gladius operative here… why?”

“Look on the fucking news, you dope,” he hissed at him. “The entire area went to shit. Protectorate and the Covenant are there, and it was bad enough before.”

The goons turned several shades paler, as the room became quite silent. “There’s no way in hell I’m going up against that blood freak,” one said, as he moved towards the door.

Without missing a beat, the young girl hopped off the desk, looped his throat with the umbrella handle and smashed his head down on the desk she had just vacated. “Yes. Yes, you will, if we tell you to. That is the price you pay to live the way you do. We tell you to jump, you ask how high. We tell you to fight someone, you ask how many bullets you get. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y...yes,” he replied, sheepishly.

“Good.” The girl unhooked her umbrella and returned back to the desk, checking a notification on her phone. “As it is, you’re in luck. Pipeline’s pulling us out.” Placing her phone back in her pocket, she sighed. “Oh well, there will always be another day. You can all go.” Walking up the room, she stopped in front of Automaton and thrust out her hand, despite barely reaching 3/4ths of her height.

“I’m Planck,” she said with a giggle. “We appreciate you bailing Askaryan out, he’s too valuable for us to lose.” Pausing and looking behind you both, she cocked her head slightly. “Hey, you did bring Freakshow, too, right?”

@Lasrever

---

The pressure washing over the shield was causing enormous strain on Vegas, but it continued to grow brighter. One of the girls under her protection suddenly shouted to watch out, and she flicked her eyes upwards. There, several feet above her, was a small girl holding a knife.

Angled directly at her.

“Awww, it’s a pint-sized slasher,” Vegas joked, her voice struggling to keep her jolly tone. Between the fire crashing down upon the shield, and the would-be assassin bearing down on her, the stress became a little too much. “What the hell is your problem, you little shit?”

@knifeman@Kiddo

---

Watching the ghostly hand spin round for a second shot, Septima instinctively ran forward. “Anomaly! Don’t!” she cried.

But it was too late.

@Banana

---

The second strike cut through his defenses as quick as the first, the downward force knocking him to one knee. Colour drained almost entirely from the world, save for the red of the blood and the brilliant sparks of orange flame and pink neon colliding. Time seemed to slow, as Sickle knelt.

His eyes scanned the battlefield to take stock of exactly what was happening. Dragon was overwhelming Vegas. Her shield was strong, but not invincible - and he had no idea how long she would last. Time had lost all meaning. Had he been standing here for a few seconds, or a few minutes?

She’s going to die.

That much was clear. He didn’t need the voice to tell him that. But he couldn’t do anything about it. With his brain screaming not to move or the entire situation would get worse, he was literally frozen to inaction.

You’re going to be all alone.

I know! he told himself. But what am I meant to do? Someone ran past, warning him of the Protectorate’s advance on his location. They were coming for him. They would get him. But he didn’t care. Memories flash back of the nights after his trigger. Sleeping rough. Fending off the street trash. Finding the disused church to set up shop in. All the while being so incredibly alone, cutting ties with both lives at once. That couldn’t happen again.

He wouldn’t let it.

What are you supposed to do? cooed the voice, softly.

What you do best.

A callous laugh drifted up from his kneeling form as he looked at the blood on his hand. With a wet slap, he pressed it against his mask, leaving a bloody, gloved handprint alongside his regular dripping eyes. Standing at last, he noticed two light blue shields coming racing towards him. The first was already too far over and skimmed past, stealing most of his shard storm from the air. However, he’d spotted them now, and the second came low.

Leaping into the air, the shield slammed into the ground, puffing up a cloud of dust. Sickle exercised his power on the blood against his skin and inside his jacket, maneuvering himself in mid-air, landing on the top of a burned out car. He faced the Wards silently, and decided they had to be dealt with before they started something they couldn’t finish.

But first.

Turning to Dragon, he raised one hand and held it across his body. All at once, every drop of blood at the scene rose. It collected together and sped towards him, gathering in a ball behind him. Once it had grown to full size - roughly seven feet in diameter - he swiped his arm and cast the ball at the ground behind Dragon. It splashed and rolled along the floor, before he flicked two fingers towards the beast. The blood rose up in a wave beside Dragon before hardening and and driving towards her side.

Satisfied the move would give Vegas enough of an opening to figure something out, he looked at the collected heroes. Dragging back the blood that served as the foundation of the wave, it floated behind him in a kind of red cloud. Scooping some of the liquid out, he hurled it at Knight’s helmet before turning the rest into a solid bo-staff and charging for the group.

@Banana@PlatinumSkink@Kiddo

---

Alice's grin widened unnaturally, almost Cheshire-like, at the offer.

"Well, well, well... You know how to treat a woman, my dear W. Consider me very interested," she said as she leaned back. "When can I have her? She would assist in my research and development of my end of the bargain exponentially. So much fun could be had..." Her voice drifted off as she daydreamed momentarily, her eyes fluttering shut.

"And do I get to keep her?" she asked, get eyes snapping open and locking into Whetstone's with a fire behind them

Anomaly

---

"... fuck," Anomaly swore as she saw Sickle freak out and go insane, his dark expression angled towards the squad not indicative of any fear. Now, he was just crazy from the fear. Yeah... maybe the double fear wasn't the best idea... now she had to find a way to make up for her dumb actions. Keeping Sickle crippled might be a good idea for the long run, or at least to some extent. If your enemy was paralyzed, you were a lot faster than them, after all! Pokemon taught her that. Good ol' Pokemon.

Anomaly's ghost hand flew toward's Sickle's ankle, trying to land a grab on him. No emotions in it, and none trying to be absorbed either. She just wanted to grab his ankle and hold him back from approaching the group. If the grab landed, well, Anomaly would simply pull back with all of her might. Meanwhile, the teen began to kick the wall of the VTOL, trying to cause a panel to open up so she could run if she had to. "Guys! Try to immobilize Sickle!"

@Sickle-cell@PlatinumSkink

Knight didn’t understand exactly why Septima didn’t think hitting Sickle-Cell again was a good idea. However, what came after was definitely bad. She could but blink at the horrifying image of Sickle-Cell staining his mask with a bloody hand-print and then looking to them. He dodged the shield aimed at his feet, and Knight quickly made it vanish to release the space of her capacity to she could defend herself if needed. Oh, oh this was bad. He was frightened because of Anomaly’s attacks, but still able to act. A terrified beast was likely to do terrible things.

The fact he went after the one blasting at his ally first gave Knight some time to pull the net that had captured a bunch of Sickle-Cell’s shards back, closer towards Septima while not obscuring her vision. She could but hope the Ward would banish that barrier of frozen time quickly, because it was currently taking up a significant portion of her current mental capacity. Then, after having attacked the one attacking his comrade, Sickle-Cell turned to her.

‘… Ah.’

If Knight hadn’t been anticipating an attack at any time, she probably wouldn’t have been able to manifest a shield in front of her in time to block that shot to her head, but as it was she had been wary of exactly that. A thin round blue shield, one and a half meters in diameter, manifested to block the blood shot. With the assumption that it was actually blocked and didn't curve around to hit her…

It occurred to her that the spot of blood was probably still on the other side of the shield and he could probably control it, meaning simply dropping the shield would render her vulnerable to it. Instead she sent the shield flying at Sickle-Cell, intending to try hitting him as well as blocking his line of sight and sending the blood-spot away from her. She ensured some space under the shield so her team could still see his legs, so they could counter his movements. If she noted him trying to move to go around it, she’d telekinetically move it to attempt blocking his path, swinging it to hit him if he made any fancy moves.

… And that was it, until Septima could banish the net containing Sickle-Cell's blood-shards, that was the limit of what she could accomplish right now.

Regardless, Knight stepped into his way. There was no way he wouldn’t eventually get past her shield, and as such she prepared herself for blocking his way, intent on fighting him. She had trained to include her ability to manifest shields around her swiftly into her combat-style, and knew she had tricks to play. She was fairly confident in her close combat skills. Not take on fucking Sickle-Cell confident, but she surely was the most competent in her current team, and she’d have support.

Gripping her sword with both hands, she leveled it and glared in challenge.

immediately concerned: @Sickle-cell@Banana
locally concerned: @DracoLunaris@Kiddo@knifeman@POOHEAD189

Well, these guys were definitely a colourful collection. And also, if Robin was putting names to faces correctly, an incredibly dangerous one. What the total kill-count in this room was, she had no idea, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. It was kind of lucky, at least for her, that the Protectorate were all tied up with the brewing gang war - because there was more than one kill order in this room.

Maybe she should have looked more worried as she entered the room having wounded one of their own.

If you'd honestly asked Robin who she was expecting in the safe-house, she'd have said some low-level goons at most. Maybe some relatively tough capes, but certainly not the notorious mass-murderers she was confronted with. Thankfully, Askaryan was willing to do most of the talking, because antagonising them, accidentally or otherwise, didn't seem like the best idea.

Especially since he told them she was with Gladius, her response to the ensuing awkwardness a weak grin and a muttered, "It's more of a temp job." Because really, she had no reason to tell Whetstone, or anyone else, about this place. And she wasn't exactly happy about being dragged into this mess in the first place, so that was bonus points in the 'screw Gladius' category so far.

Thankfully enough, they appeared to decide against re-purposing any of her vital organs. It made sense for them to be pulling out, really, considering what had happened to Pipeline as things started going to hell. As Planck introduced herself, Robin accepted the handshake with a friendly grin. "Automaton. What can I say, I'm the giving type." While the girl was young, and much smaller than her, she was also ordering around a room full of notorious mass murderers. Putting two and two together brought her to the logical conclusion that this wasn't someone to pick a fight with.

"Freakshow?" Ah. The dude with the creatures. She shook her head. "Sorry, but it was tough enough shutting down Askaryan." She lifted her hand; the bloodied circuitry had mostly stopped sparking, but it still made her point. "I might be strong, but I'm not carrying more than one guy with a busted arm. Besides, I was working for Gladius until I figured out the place was a deathtrap." She frowned. "From what I can tell, they just hired a bunch of freelancers to take the fall - if any of their own capes were around, I didn't see 'em."

In retrospect, she should have been more suspicious of such a sudden call-up; a sure fire sign that things weren't going well. Of course, Robin was well aware that Gladius wouldn't appreciate her giving this info away - but what they didn't know couldn't hurt them. And she didn't appreciate being used as fodder, which was what this felt like. After all, a few dead freelancers wouldn't be much skin off of Gladius' back.

Glancing back down at Planck, Automaton waited to see her reaction.

“I do have one,” Taser replied. “How do you expect us to safeguard someone who is keeping us away from him? Anything could happen in the time it takes us to close the distance and intercept any threats.”

Maxwell sighed, taking a sip of his cocktail. “That, I’m afraid, is a matter for your quarry. He wouldn’t listen to me no matter what.”

Wonderful, she thought. “Make that two. What about transport?”

Producing a set of keys, the Consortium bigwig dangled them in front of the two parahumans. “I have something practical and discreet downstairs in the parking lot. Which one of you is driving?”

@ProPro@hagroden@FancyHats

---

Whetstone smiled. She had her right where she wanted her.

That might be about to change, though.

A fierce defensiveness rose up from inside her. “Most assuredly not. Let me make one thing perfectly clear. She is on loan to you. As such, I expect her to be well-treated and to come back in one piece. Although she can use her powers on herself, under no circumstances should she be the target of your experiments. Break any of these rules, my dear, and I have the power to make your life a living hell in this city.”

“That is something neither of us want.”

“Agree to my conditions, and I will have her send to the CDC later today via express courier.” She offered a hand to shake, a visual representation of her terms and conditions. “Do we have a deal?”

@Old Amsterdam

---

“Hmm,” Planck replied with a shrug. “He’ll show up sooner or later.”

Twirling the umbrella up to rest on her shoulder, she put her other hand on her hip and leant on the door frame. “That is exactly what they did. Gladius have this little superiority complex - they like to make people think they’re the ‘noblest’ lot in Boston. That’s complete codswallop.”

“Believe me, if any Gladius capes had actually been there, you wouldn’t have needed to look. None of their powers are especially subtle.” Staring at the ceiling, the girl’s shoulders relaxed in the way they do when recalling fond memories. “Wonderland is different. We don’t try to make out we’re something we’re not. People call us murderers. They’re right. But we’re all free. We act because we believe it’s for the best - just for ourselves, not others. It’s a liberating lifestyle.”

“Pipeline doesn’t care who he pisses off. But then, you knew that. He shot down a Protectorate VTOL,” she said, with a giggle. “I do hope they weren’t too badly hurt. There are so few people to talk to about hair and boys and ponies.”

@Lasrever

---

The Wards thought they were a match for him.

He couldn’t decide if that was cute or tragic.

Killing them all would be so easy, he thought. But that would defeat the purpose. Something they had done had terrified him. Ironic, then, that the fear was all that was keeping them alive. If he killed Wards, there would be no going back. The public didn’t despise the Covenant. Not yet, anyway. Ward-killing would leave a bad taste in their mouth.

And then there was her.

Nevertheless, their overly-headstrong natures would put them in jeopardy if he didn’t stop them, here and now. The new Hero was a relative unknown, and the new Ward’s power was certainly intricate, but although he could guess what it did, the specifics of both powers were still unknown to him. That worried him. Everything did, lately.

A ghostly hand shot towards him, with the obvious intent of restraining him further - be it through physical force, or otherwise.”You want me? Alright, then,” he called out, and let the arm grab his ankle.

As the force tried to trip him off his feet, he exercised his own in return, balancing the blood coating his skin and keeping him upright. At the same time, Knight defended his attempt to blind her with a shield. The blood splashed against the barrier, and he hardened it on contact, creating a sculpture of crystallized blood. Using her telekinesis, Knight kicked the shield towards him while still covered in the blood.

And then the fun began.

Sickle entered into a mental showdown with both capes at one, simultaneously battling Anomaly’s attempt to knock him over and holding Knight’s blood-covered shield at bay, all the while steadily advancing on their position. Septima did her bit by sealing off the storm of shards - none of which he was willing to use on the Wards, anyway. Too much potential for lethal force. Two more shields appeared, one on either side, and Sickle realised what they were doing.

Trying to box him in.

The walls moved to crush and restrain him in the middle, but he didn’t give them a chance. Picking up speed, he ran up the moving wall of frozen time, micromanaging his power to give him almost total control over his own body. Sailing over Knight’s shield, he returned the blood on it to liquid form and brought it over with him. Standing only a few feet from the would-be hero, he held his bo-staff towards her.

Meeting her gaze, eyeless mask to faceless helmet, he gave a single warning. “I’ve given up far too much, to fall here, to the likes of you. If you start this, be prepared.”

“Because I will end it.”

@Banana@PlatinumSkink

---

Alice's eyes narrowed at the threat. Did this bitch really just disrespect me? she thought with venom.

With a flick of her hair, Alice crossed her hands, bending them the wrong way while she thought.

The offer was amazing, she couldn't deny that. Even temporarily. She could do something new, do intense research in that short time.

But was it worth the disrespect?

There was a loud crack as the cup Alice had had was knocked from the table.

Several minutes had passed, and she hasn't blinked out broke eye contact with Whetstone.

Returning her hands to normal, she took the handshake, firmly and with pressure.

"Consider it a deal." she said as she stood up. "Have her tell my front desk she's the Phoenix."

After a few steps, she looked over her shoulder. "And next time, think about who you want to be rude with. I will not take it kindly next time," she said before walking out the door before Whetstone could reply.

Within a half hour she'd be back at her desk, claw marks on the walls behind her.

The pair were waiting for five minutes after Tony spoke, when a man in a suit entered through the door of the cafe. Normally, Tony would not even notice him, but considering he was one of the only people dressed formally, he was pretty distracting. The man searched around the room for a little bit, before quickly making his way to their booth. He slid in, back to the window, and Tony was relieved to finally have someone to accept this damn letter.

This relief immediately became fear as the cold metal pressed against his knee. Tony had woken up countless knights in the Wonderland to this same cold touch - the touch of metal, and judging from the shape, it was a fairly large pistol. The man spoke in a quiet, deep voice.

“So, I hear you have something for me. Here’s how this is gonna work. Place it on the desk and sliiiiiide it over, nice and slow. Don’t try to make skin contact with me, or I pull the trigger. Don’t even think about pulling something funny, or I pull the trigger.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, so Master-Stranger protocols are in effect. If I don’t check in with my partner once this is done without any change in my usual speech patterns, code phrase or otherwise, then a 50. cal bullet will make one of you about a foot shorter. And since I take you for the leader, that’ll make your friend the one holding the short straw.”

Robby opened his dumb face hole.

"Actually, I'm the leader."

Tony had barely managed to restrain the intense urge to strangle his companion, before grabbing the crimson red envelope in his hands. Tony immediately began to slide it over, not daring to open his mouth out of fear. He made absolutely sure he had his fingers on the very edge of the envelope and pushed it very slowly, minimizing the chance of skin contact. The thought of convincing the man to put down the gun was extremely tempting, but logic took control of Tony - these protocols most likely guarded against a parahuman simply convincing a man to stop threatening them, and Tony really didn't want to risk losing a leg, or worse, his life. It wasn't until the letter was most of the way across the table that Tony began to retract his hands. Finally he opened his mouth.

"This is an invite, though you most likely already know this. If that is all you need, our business is taken care of."

Tony was doing his best to remain discreet about the nature of the invite, as they were still in a public location. Thankfully, the years of being in shady bars and card games had conditioned Tony to have a fantastic poker face, which he prayed was enough to hide the fact he was nearly shitting his pants. Tony learned a long time ago that showing weakness made others more eager to demonstrate their strength. Tony just prayed that these weren't the kind of guys that killed their enemies as soon as they were done with them.