This was not a good day for the Minutemen. First an evil and time-wasting ruse by Sabotage, then the attack on their apartment, the loss of all of their valuable tinkertech, the wound received by G4M3R - at least with all the bad luck and disasters that took place the situation couldn't get any worse, right?

That is a loaded question, we all know that. Let's skip right ahead to the part where it gets worse!

Mere moments after the brave up-and-coming freelancer heroes have taken in the ruin and damages wrought upon their livelihood and their comrade by the hand of a dastardly villain, the wall of their bedroom exploded. It was a beautiful explosion, precisely engineered and impeccably performed, flawless in all things but one - nobody was around to witness it, which was a great shame since if the eyes of a man well-versed in the arts of demolition fell on it, the hypothetical man in question would describe the detonation as nigh-on perfect, measured precisely to breach the wall without destroying the insides of the apartment or its inhabitants with the shockwave or collapsing the building itself.

On the other hand, hearing the explosion was not a problem at all! Everyone with an unruptured eardrum or two within the vicinity of a district or two could register a sound like a mighty roll of thunder, but with something considerably off about it, resonating through the air yet not accompanied by any lightning. Those inside the apartment especially could enjoy the accoustics of the bomb in all of its minute, deafening and concussive details. The bedroom wall bursted inwards, with shattered brickwork, plaster and glass dust of the utterly pulverized windows demolishing the rest of the chamber like payload of an unusually big claymore mine. A particularly resilient brick that was previously situated right next to the explosion’s metaphorical “ground” zero burst through the bedroom's door and flew further into the flat, sturdily lodging itself in the ceiling of the living room. The Minutemen, miraculously - or maybe actually unsurprisingly - were mostly unhurt by this curious turn of events. Permanently, at very least. Safe for some minor lacerations of exposed skin by the splintering brickwork and a terrible mess made by the reddish-orange brick dust settling on their things and clothes, the biggest inconvenience they've experienced is a painful ringing in their ears and a considerably painful headache - a big stroke of luck where it could've been hearing loss and overpressure-induced rupture of internal organs!

However unlikely, within the minute during which the heroes could partially recover their bearings and prepare to defend themselves, things got even worse! Apparently, the explosion was not meant to maim or kill them - it was meant to attract their attention! As the tinnitus slowly, partially subsided, the Minutemen could make out a voice calling out for them! It was a giddy, high-pitched and childish, interlaced with hearty, shameless laughter like tinkling of silver bells. If one or several of the Minutemen were to make their way to the devastated bedroom, they would be able to see the source of the jolly voice adressing them, clear as a day. A wonderfully neatly dressed boy of eight or maybe nine years in a claw-hammer coat and a large domino mask was peering at the havoc wrought upon the Minutemen's base from the open window of a flat in a house across the street, waving and shouting in hopes that the heroes would notice him, his words still not exactly easily understood by the heroes' explosion-damaged ears.

"~ey! M...men! ..'s me! I ...nt to talk!"

@Spiffy



Affliction watched the man, certainly he probably believed he did things because he was easy to push around. He certainly believed there had to be a level of mutual respect among people. Why ask and receive if you are not to give either?

He promptly asked him where he came from, wasn’t that question a little rhetorical considering he was in a mask right now? It was obvious in the way he was dressed he was not going to tell people his origin.

Beside where he was from was left behind. Past him. So Affliction smiled underneath the mask before replying with a little joke, “Hell” he stated with a mild laugh. It seemed Hemo’s sense of humor had rubbed off on him just a bit. Anyone who would start to understand HemoGoblin would probably recognize it in that answer, luckily this stranger did not.

Before the man had time to respond, he was distracted by the sound of lasers. It sounded like a war in Battlestar Galactica going on in a building close by. Then there was the sound of an explosion and shattering glass. Affliction turned his head to the side and looked at the man he had just met.

“Seems the kids know how to party around here,” Affliction said, oh gross he really is starting to sound more and more like HemoGoblin.

Heartless chuckled as Chatterbox began working his magic, following him a little just in case someone went for an attack on their showman. Then shit went wrong. He felt his body coalesce into a solid form and he recoiled in horror, that wasn't supposed to happen. Heartless quickly backed up and felt everything return to normal, looking at everyone as they felt similar effects to what he had. This scenario just got a lot more dangerous. Chatterbox commented on what everyone was thinking and fired on the drone, with Thunderbolt throwing a large box at it as well.

‘Heartless, there’s somebody upstairs. Take them out, and get to us when you’re done. Everyone else, we’re taking the back way out of here,’ Heartless turned to Headhunter and nodded, melting into the floor and making his way up to the roof via the inside walls. One of the windows up top was just slightly cracked open, which made his job very easy. A shadow slinked towards Tiger Lily, with Heartless emerging behind her from her very own shadow. He grew bolder as Chatterbox spoke to the team, his earlier nervousness practically gone as he leaned near her shoulder.

"I can't believe this, is the PRT really so desperate that they're sending in 8 year olds now? Pathetic." When she inevitably turned towards him she would find nothing, he had already sunk back into her shadow and was continuing his monologue. "What's have you got kid? Can you throw temper tantrums at the speed of sound? Oh, let me guess. You can cry so hard that your tears can shoot through metal. You're out of your league kid, go home and stop trying to play hero." He was trying to add onto what Chatterbox was doing, if the kid was weak enough she might just run without a fight.

@Spiffy@AngelofOctober



First order of business would to cleanup Denver, especially the more shit looking neighbors. When their efforts were met and their merit paid off, he’d make every city look decent. Chicago would stop looking like a wretched mess because some shit with extra money decided the neighborhood didn’t need nice things. Everything would look architecturally beautiful. Leave it up to Art, and he’d have every city be enviro friendly.

Turn the lights off by 8pm, if you’re taking a shower it shouldn’t run more than 5 to 6 minutes. No one in their goddamn right mind takes a 5 to 6 minute shower. He ignored his odd carbon footprint rules, sometimes, if he could escape them.

But he bet Art’s future had gardens on the rooftops, and buildings that allowed wind to pass through. More aerodynamic. Sun powered cars and so and so forth. Not that he had a problem with any of those ideas. He had a problem when it haunted him and his way of life.

Yes, this is what he was thinking about walking the beat. Because he wasn't the one with big elaborate plans. Sure he threw in his thoughts and two cents. But Art was better at the big planning, while he was good at the marketing side of things.

As he continued to walk the block without much interaction, he was beginning to realize that if he went any further the damn radios wouldn’t work. No the first thing they needed was better tech once they started getting the connections they needed.

A sudden explosion distracted him from his thoughts. Shit. Well at least their first day out was going to be eventful. Quickly doubling back and running, he found the alleyway marked with the Meat Space that they had split off from. He continued running till he took the corner Art had taken.

Finally he found Art standing to another individual and the sounds of pew pew lasers in a building close by. Running to the two of them and catching his breath for a second, “What a run.” he said “I just love taking long runs through the ghetto.”

He turns to Affliction.

“Who’s the new friend?” he asked, then turns to the man smoking, “HemoGoblin, Master of the Fabulous.” he says with a bit of a laugh.

"FUCK!" Overlook shouted as Headhunter blasted the Eye out of the air, it landing in a cracked heap on the floor a few meters away from everything going on there. The sudden noise disturbed Clancy, too, and that partially unnerved Overlook to a hefty extent. First the Eye, then the disturbance of Clancy the Goodest Boy? Blasphemy!

As the feed from the Eye cut out, Overlook stood from his desk with his metal leg attached as he stormed out of his room, grabbing the singular magnum revolver he requested in case someone hostile came to kill him. "Fuck hiding behind walls, I'm getting involved!" he mumbled as he rushed, a ping on his headset getting the attention of someone willing to give him a ride with no questions asked.

---

"Kirb!" Kyoshi shouted as she rushed into the headquarters and lifted the tinker off the ground, sitting him in a chair as she looked all around. "The... the place is ruined..." Everything was destroyed. Her own things were trashed. All of Kirb's and Artie's tech was trashed. Everything was a wreck.

Well... not everything was a wreck, anyway. Kyoshi's own bag sat where she left it, untouched save from the debris from the prior events. Additionally, it was buzzing with a vibration. Someone was calling Kyoshi, it would seem.

Kyoshi pulled her phone out of her bag as she spoke into it. "H-hello?" her voice waved due to the stress and nervousness she had been feeling about this situation.

"Chosei."

"D-Dad? Dad listen."

"We need to talk. Soon. Come home when you're done with your 'friends'."

Click.

The stress from the situation was almost enough to drain out the explosion behind her. Not enough though.

As her ears rang from the noise and her eyes leaked tears from the stress, Kyoshi turned around towards the sudden intruder and stomped, raising a large amount of debris from behind her as she spoke. "You have ten seconds to explain why I shouldn't end you right now."

She was pissed.

---

Jason laughed, a soulless sound reverberating in the lull between Chatterbox's speech and Heartless moving to the roof. He felt his powers leave him, and he laughed. As if that would stop him!

The drone was destroyed, the were effectively taking care of these kids... It really was a blast.

"Poor children. You have no idea what you're dealing with. You can't beat us. You can't beat me. This field of yours? It means nothing. Nothing!" Jason added his voice, continuing with the destruction of their moral. "Leave now, while you're still in one piece. I don't want to have to break children."

With a grin and a grunt, Jason lifted one of the lighter crates, maybe 150 pounds at most, and heaved it in the direction Chatterbox at shot at.

"I can do this all day, kiddos."

Then the wall practically exploded inside, with a... Thing coming through with it.
"What the fuck is that?"

---

---

Lillian hesitated after Messiah's orders as the man started talking again. It was almost like... He was talking to her. But, he couldn't be? Could he?

"I can't believe this, is the PRT really so desperate that they're sending in 8 year olds now? Pathetic."

Lillian spun around, her heart racing, releasing a shuddering breath when there was nothing there. A Stranger? Or maybe... Gah, she had no idea anymore.

"What's have you got kid? Can you throw temper tantrums at the speed of sound? Oh, let me guess. You can cry so hard that your tears can shoot through metal. You're out of your league kid, go home and stop trying to play hero."

Lillian sank to the ground, overwhelmed as more and more talking, berating, rubble, crashing...

Tears ran down her face as she held her head in her hands, shaking it back and forth while stuttering "No... No... No..." repeatedly under her breath. She drew in a hitching breath as her world began collapsing around her. Again.

Worthless. Not a hero. Waste of space. She should just die. Ugly. Stupid. Idiotic.

Just disappear. Go away. Better off dead.

She should just die. She was worthless alive. Just...

"JUST DIE!" she screamed, running off of the side of the roof. With a thunk she landed on a stack of shipping containers before continuing her path down. Jump, roll on landing, run. She skidded around the corner of the building before she let out a strangled yell. "I'M DONE! DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE!" she yelled, her voice gaining strength. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE AWAY WHAT MATTERS! NEVER AGAIN. NEVER... AGAIN... I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!"

Lillian ran to the backdoor of the warehouse, standing there with a crazed look in her eyes as she took in the Jacks.

"Do you know what happens when you corner an animal?" she asked just loud enough to be heard, her voice eerily calm. "They go RAWRRRRRRR!"

In the midst of the roar, Lillian transformed. In her place stood a 12 foot tall dinosaur that looked like a mix between a Trex and a Velociraptor, her roar becoming an overriding sound that drowned out all speech going on.

With another roar she charged forward, straight through the room with her tail flinging around as she tried to hit any of them by any means necessary.

Alice adjusted her mask tentatively and looked in the mirror. It wasn't like it fit her character or her powers, but it didn't need to. All was for was obscuring her face. Her upper body was covered by a mostly featureless black jacket, her hands had knife-resistant gloves(Only 15$!) and her pants were simple blue jeans followed by boring white tennis shoes. Not much of a hero outfit. But her clothing could hold up to a weapon other than a gun in a pinch alright, her form was partially obscured and her face was hidden. Perhaps the only thing that stood out was the tool belt she was wearing. The various pockets were closed and nothing was unsecured, but within them lay a variety of pieces of scrap metal. Furthermore, there were at least five knives on her person. Everissa spoke from the doorway to the bathroom, "Looks good, you all set?"

Alice took a deep breath and turned to Everissa "Yes, I'm all set."

"Alright then, let's get going Magna Carta." Everissa said, and slipped her own mask over her face. The two of them had worked together to get Alice ready to venture out as soon as possible. That entailed getting something of a superhero wear together, working out a name, and most importantly, determining exactly what Alice could do. Thankfully, as with most capes, Alice had a fairly good intrinsic sense of how her power functioned. After a bit of testing they were able to fine-tune it more and think of ways she could effectively use it in combat. A few sparring matches, some bruises, and a bit of cash; and Magna was ready to start looking for trouble. They had little information on either the community or Lethal Force and frankly, Bladedancer would prefer for them to deal with normal crooks before going up against anyone with powers. Bladedancer had only been in a fight after getting her powers once or twice and they had been over in a matter of moments. But they had been adrenaline inducing, mind-numbing, fast-paced affairs, and jumping into something like that unprepared was asking for something bad to happen. For that matter jumping into it prepared was asking for something bad to happen, but there was no way around that now was there?

The two of them carefully left her apartment and split, travelling across from each other, splitting further and travelling through alleyways and such. Their intention was to patrol a route they had set out beforehand, looking for any criminal acts, or any sort of information they could find about either Lethal Force or the Community whilst in 'cape mode' so to speak. It was a vague plan and perhaps not the best one, but that was the nature of things since they really didn't have much of an idea for how to start. They had gone several blocks when they heard gunshots echo through the air. They both immediately headed towards each other and a terse discussion led to them heading off, following the further gunshots. It seemed they would get some excitement on their first outing. Whether that was a bad or good thing, was yet to be seen.

---

Sofia naturally was still holding onto Chatterhead with her eyes closed and carefully stepping after him. However she was not entirely free of audio input and found that to be a very poor sense for getting a sense of what was going on. There was a bit of gunfire from Chatterbox, her power thankfully making it far more quiet than it had been before. The splintering of wood was doubtless Thunderbird throwing more boxes. Sofia wondered what the boxes had in them. After all they didn't know just what kind of warehouse this was. Maybe it had something like stuffed animals in it. Or bombs. The horrible screeching sound as a large amount of things crashed to the ground she had no idea, maybe it had been bombs after all? It also sounded like... there was some sort of super loud roaring? If Sofia hadn't known better she would've said it sounded like something from out of a Jurrasic Park movie. But that couldn't be right, that would mean there was a dinosaur here. And those were all dead. The temptation to open her eyes for just a second to look around was tantalizing. But Chatterhead was relying on her to keep him safe so she couldn't. She would keep them safe. Come to think of it she was kind of like a safe. She was used to protect things. Her eyes were like the lock and her power was the walls.

Mantis listened anxiously as his partner's weapon loudly clattered on the ground down below. There was nothing he could do but keep an eye on the people inside and hope they payed the sound no mind. Genevieve scaled down, retrieving her weapon as the guards turned toward the fire escape. Mantis was almost positive he would have to put them down. "Unfortunate." he thought to himself. Genevieve's insistence that it would not happen again was not very reassuring.

Just then, Zach made his way through the front door. The sounds of confusion and ensuing gunfire below made the guards above look down in surprise. The flashes from the gunpowder lit up the otherwise dark warehouse. The sounds echoed throughout the building and throughout the neighborhood. Then a woman's voice yelled out from outside. Mantis turned and saw a woman launch toward the top of the roof and inside with ease. "Parahuman?!" That was not good. He'd better get in there before Zach was overwhelmed, powers or not.

Mantis motioned for Genevieve to follow him through the window as he ran as quietly as he could toward the closest guard. The gunfire helped to mask the sound of his boots. On his way there he imparted in her mind, "That was a parahuman, we'd better be careful." As he reached the man, Mantis shoved him with his weapon hard. The man flipped over the railing due to the force; yelling loudly as he fell below. He wouldn't die.."Probably." As Mantis approached the second guard, now in a full on sprint; he released feelings of terror. The man turned in shock toward Mantis with his rifle, shaking in horror. The emotion had already done its work.. Before he even had a chance to turn the safety off, Mantis jabbed him in the face with his Mp5. His nose broke with a loud crunch as he crumpled to the floor.

Mantis then looked over the railing with his weapon pointed directly at the unknown woman. He held his fire, but was very careful to keep it trained on her. No telling what she was capable of or whose side she was on..

---

---

Damien listened to the masked man with more interest then he usually gave off. That's when the sound of lazers with an accompanying explosion shattered the building in front of them. Damien activated his power without thinking lifting multiple objects with his telekinesis. "Now I've done it," he thought to himself. There was no hiding it now.

Then he took another long drag of his cigarette and exhaled in the air as the objects clattered at their feet. That's when another person ran towards them introducing himself as Hemogoblin. Damien cocked his head to the side and replied, "I'm making all kinds of friends today," he said with a malicious grin.

He turned to see a a kid no older then nine trying to speak over the noise. "I'm either in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the right time," he commented chuckling. "The name's Swarm," he emphasized it while lifting a nearby car with his telekinesis and donning his mask. The cigarette remained lit in his mouth. The car began to drift over toward them and remained motionless. If that kid was here to cause them trouble he would get an appropriate response. As he looked closer, Swarm put the pieces together. It was the one who blew up Chimney Rock..

Farce watched on as she noticed Mantis cracking his gun against some guy's nose, ruining his face and more for a long time to come. Then there were the gunshots that erupted from Zach's presence getting involved. So much for being sneaky beaky.

There were two guys under Farce's vantage point, though. She could take them out so the heat would be taken off of Judah. With a swift kick, Farce dislocated the vent cover from the vent and slipped down onto the catwalk, where she brought her nightstick around for a hit immediately on the guy she was closest to, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

Axel leaped onto the other guy, acting as a viable distraction for Farce to kick out his legs and follow up with a knee to his head, which knocked him out cold too. Axel let out a soft bark before Farce quickly raised her finger to her mouth and uttered a "Shhh," which silenced the doggo quickly. He was definitely a good boy, if not a smart one.

"Grab one of their guns. It might be useful to you later," Dunn's voice echoed in the mind of his sister as she sighed and grabbed the revolver off of the guy she beat first. It was fully loaded, and though she had no revolver ammo, she did have six loaded shots in it. Better than nothing.

Farce and Axel sprinted towards Mantis' location, making an effort to run without much noise before she stopped and raised the newly-obtained revolver at the unknown woman. "Excuse me for dropping in."

No sooner had she stopped because Angel wanted her to, Sarah's head snapped up. She'd been staring at the sidewalk hoping nothing would happen. Any allusion that she might have been able to go on shattered with the sounds that rang out. Gunfire was an all too familiar sound to her. Something of an enthusiast herself she could have recognized it pretty easily even if she wasn't practically next to the firefight.

As if to compound on the already obvious altercation a cape had arrived, spoke to her, and scampered onto the roof. Even if she wanted to dwell on what she'd been told Sarah's attention was elsewhere. The tingle that was at the base of her skull had rushed down her spine. It was difficult to explain the sensation as her other persona began to take over. If there was an idealistic self that the woman could imagine, Guardian Angel was it. Not unlike what she might imagine a holy being looking and acting like as a child. Get in there!

Transforming in sight of the streets would be a sure fire way to blow any kind of anonymity she had. At least one person was on the roof and she couldn't be sure they wouldn't see. There wasn't enough time to worry about that as she sprinted into the alley. Unless the prompt for action was gradual, and it rarely was, her breaker self had a way of surfacing with unnerving swiftness. The change was almost instant, the woman's body glowing a pale blue before her body mass dissolved into a wispy smoke of the same color. Any semblance of Sarah was gone and in her place was a woman with glowing eyes. Her frame was smaller, features softer and clothes more like robes than it's former casual wear. She brushed her lighter hair back from her shoulders as it had tripled in length. "I'm sorry, duty calls." The blue smoke coalesced to form her wings just as quickly as it had dissolved.

There wasn't time to dwell on the changes. Angel had a singular focus that stifled any confusion or protest Sarah had. There was still gun fire inside and she intended to put an end to it. Bullets meant that going in light was probably a bad idea. The door in the back looked to be bolted shut but that wasn't an issue. With her strength and increased density she shoved the door, rending the hinges off and causing it to swing in the wrong way before falling loose and sliding across the floor. Those inside were already on alert so before they could even see what was coming in they opened fire. Two handguns, a shotgun, and rifle fire were unloaded on her. The rounds met their mark but either deflected off at an angle or flattened on impact with her body.

Unimpressed the parahuman stepped inside and swept her gaze across the faces of everyone that she had the attention of. None of the five moved for a moment. It could have been shock that an angel just stepped in from the back door, that their attack seemingly did nothing, her Master ability or some combination of the three. Snapping in the direction of the nearest Highlander with a gun she wrenched away the rifle with ease and dashed it to pieces against the ground. "Surrender and you won't be harmed." Her actions and abilities raised conflicting feelings. On one hand she had demonstrated that at least conventional weapons wouldn't work and also she likely had the strength to put them through a wall, but she also had a calming presence.

The three there were inclined to comply before another Highlander arrived from dealing with the front. "What are you doing? Shoot her!" The call to action resonating they opened fire. Angel sighed and there were several crashes and yelps of pain before she stepped out into the open where a majority of the gang and Lethal Force present could see her. "Hm, there are a lot of you. I'll extend the same offer to you lot. Surrender and you won't be harmed." She surveyed everyone with a confident smile. Admittedly this part of being a cape could be fun.

There was a certain amount of dissonance, that now even Chatterbox's power couldn't overcome. Thinking over sentences again, they were worded specifically, but they sometimes were contradicted by knowledge already gained. Chatterbox made the claim his team was prestigious, but at the same time Epsilon, one of the biggest cape nerds present, didn't know any of them off hand. His power would push back, covering odd phrasings like that just enough to still affect her, but still. It was a strange mix of emotions for Epsilon, and she was tempted to report it.

She suddenly leaped out of cover again, sprinting to help intercept the villains who had moved further into the building, her gun almost slipping out of her hands at one point. The soldier followed her dutifully, his automatic rifle at the ready, armed with nonlethal rounds. Epsilon glanced back, meeting his eyes again with a quick timid glance. Refocusing, she narrowly avoided running into a forklift. Her face flushed under her mask, as she continued in the flanking direction.


The victim Zach had been assaulting had gone limp, and he looked around. The numbers had dwindled. He heard yelling overhead, and couldn't quite care enough to look up. He tucked away his baton onto his belt, before picking up a gun the man had dropped. It was a glock variant, loaded with actual rounds. They intended to kill or maim it seemed. He raised the gun, firing into the air above three times before it clicked with dissatisfaction matching his own. The catharsis was interrupted by a lack of bullets.

”It's over. You lost." He said in the moments of silence following. Another gunshot sounded, and pinged off his shield, before creating a cloud of dust beneath him. Another barrage of gunshots were fired at not Zach. He glanced in the direction some of the guns were pointed to see a quite intimidating figure. Pristine, an angelic figure in the most literal sense. Yellow hair floated around her, an unseen wind supporting strands just enough to make her seem all the more holy. Next time I should listen to the mission briefing. Didn't expect to fight literal Angels.


He readied his elbow, throwing it backwards with some force before teleporting up onto the catwalk. He reappeared, and a moment later his elbow had broken a Community member's nose. Hermes reached out to grab the man's shirt, and teleported him down to the ground floor. He let him collapse onto the hard floor, the still conscious man trying to stifle the heavy blood flow as he got used to his new surroundings. Hermes pulled back the hammer on his empty revolver, standing straight up and pointing it at the goon. "Lets keep it nice and quiet. I don't want to give you a concussion." The man opened his mouth to speak, and Hermes by tightening his grip on his gun. Instantly the goon raised his hands, letting blood splash over his clothes and drip down his chin. His lips quivered, detaching more droplets of blood from his bruised lip. "We don't need this anymore, so lets just talk." The mover said, tucking the gun away in his holster. In response the criminal yelled out, and Jaunted kicked out. The second his foot touched the man, he teleported them to the nearest police station.

A long breath escaped his lips as they arrived, the screaming continuing throughout the void he was sure. He threw his handcuffs attached to his belt to the nearest officer, motioning towards the very silly man. Focusing on the previous location, he teleported back to the warehouse. He arrived amidst Protean and Inkscape, the two heroes treating him the same way they always did. A caution surrounded the orders they gave him, always something they could double check later. It would be so much simpler if he could just do 99% of the work. "He didn't cooperate. Next one coming up." He eyed the man on the cat walk far above, gauging the speed at which he was walking. Raising his foot, he kicked out at about chest level, midway through tripping the little trigger in his mind. He appeared out of thin air, a couple feet off the ground as his foot connected with the man's face. He reached out to keep his balance with the handrails, before moving forward to grab the man's leg.

They appeared at the top of a twelve story building, the man struggling backwards as the world reformed around him. "Now for fucks sake, just talk-" The man wasted no time screaming out. How stupid are these fucking-GAH He grabbed the man's leg, and teleported them to the police station again, right next to the man he'd already teleported here. "Another." He said, teleporting away almost instantly.

The hero appeared again, his body language screaming of agitation. "Why do the gangs hire such dumb pricks?" He mumbled, looking between the two heroes. His costume choice hadn't been much of that. He wore black, tight clothing over various bits of body armor. A PRT communicator was inside his right ear, barely visible underneath the thick helmet he wore. It covered the back of his head better than the front, covering only his eyes with a dark blue visor. A thick belt sat on his waist, tightly pressing against his skin, in the places it didn't dig in. A holster sat there, with an empty revolver present more for intimidation than anything else. Two flash grenades hung on the left side, along with a small medical pouch filling out the back.

"Wait-yeah, they also hired me at one point." He admitted, a long breath escaping his lips, holding back a laugh.

@TheRedWatcher@Spiffy



He turns his head to his close friend. Of course he had to make a spectacle out of his introduction, but he quickly moved his observation to the stranger with a nasty habit of not picking up after himself. Telekenisis, interesting. Swarm, he went by the name Swarm. Even more interesting considering Swarm was lifting a car and had brought his attention to a child on the other side.

Curious. Exploding buildings. Children. A man lifting a car with a name that felt out of place. A part of him was curious with all these events. Though tonight was not the night they were suppose to be getting involved without all the pieces. If they joined in on this circumstance who could they ultimately be making enemies with and allies with.

Narrowing his eyes behind the mask for a second. What should they do in this circumstance? Stepping forward would maybe put him in harm's way. Stepping back would show possible weakness to Swarm. And he did want to see where this way going.

He warranted the car might be because of a potential threat this individual might be. Though he did walk up to a potential threat and threw away their cigarette butt.

“Perhaps,” Affliction paused, “Instead of brandishing cars we could see if they need something from us. Unless they explode people as well for fun, though I doubt that likely.” He takes a second, “It may not seem like an appropriate time, but you may call me Affliction.”

He only plants a single foot forward to see if either would take his lead.

---

Inkscape surveyed the surrounding warehouse, from the boxes of illegal materials, mostly drugs and guns from what he'd seen so far, to the walkways. The entrance had been smooth, but Intel suggested much more resistance further in.

Behind him was a splash of color, deep dark colors from the boxes and guards' outfits outside. It seemed like it had been recently painted and rain had ran the colors into the building's interior where he had removed the guards just inside.

So far, so quiet.

"Keep an eye open for any known Parahumans. Troll is known to frequent this facility," he said quietly. Their mission was simple. While the Wards were out raiding a relatively unguarded warehouse, the Protectorate were to raid one of the larger storage facilities while the Community was busy. Hit then in multiple places where they could feel the effect, and gain any Intel they could find. Make some arrests. Push.

"I like having you around, Hermes. It's like watching an interactive movie," Protean spoke to, his form a mix between an eagle, a lion, and a snake. He made a fairly impressive gryphon.

"Hermes, stick close. We're going to briefly split up to enter the adminstrative offices. I want you with Protean, understand?"

---

The next administrative offices had two separate entrance, one set of double doors on each side of the walled off area. The area covered nearly half of the warehouse floor, seemingly a place for meetings or exchanges of the illegal goods staged here.

Inside was a short hallway that opened into a conference room, which was filled with nigh on twenty guards taking a 'much needed break' from the dull night.

From Inkscape's entrance was a similar hallway, flanked with doors into like offices.

A slight melody could be heard over the speakers, almost like elevator music...

Genevieve quickly nodded upon receiving Judah's order that she follow him into the building. With her adrenaline flowing, she quietly stepped inside, sliding on her glasses and being instantly drawn to one of the guards who was perceived to be the biggest threat to team at the moment. The job wasn't hard as she swiftly moved up behind the ridiculously tall man. Genevieve kicked the back of his knee and as he went down, she grabbed him to put him on a choke hold. The man tried his best to break free, but eventually his body went limp and she let him go as his unconscious body toppled to the ground.

"Good boy, stay down..." Genevieve whispered, seriously impressed she had managed to pull that off. As she knelt down to reach for the guard's weapon, she was alerted of someone else approaching from her left. Genevieve turned her head just in time to see another guard taking a swing at her, and actually following through. She fell onto her back, feeling quite concussed and with a bloodied lip. No sooner was she attempting to shake off the attack when she found herself pinned. It was then that her opponent realized he had made the terrible mistake of going after her. Genevieve maintained a tight grip on his wrists as her cut disappeared and transferred over to him. When he fell onto his side a bit shaken up, Genevieve got up and kicked him in the jaw, more than likely killing him.

She then walked off to meet with the others, not bothering to look back.

Parenthesis used for explanations of events.

---

Looking around at all the noises, her eyes twitched.

Men going down. Trash. Beaten.
... Good.

Woman up high, with man, guns.
... Meh.

An... Angel? That was... Interesting.

Being told to surrender... Not so interesting.

With a laugh, Whipstitch raised her arms up high before string erupted out of the front of her body, her hands, her legs...creating a solid wall of blinding neon green thread in moments. Nearly an inch thick, several feet wide, and only as tall as she was... It was an impressive display as she continued adding string, severing it as it moved into place, and continuing to laugh. (Super dense / durable string, laid brick style)

She backed away slowly, keeping most everyone in view (minus Angel, because of the wall, and Genevieve / Zach because of positioning).

"You can have these scum. They're in my territory anyways. Go, go, go, beyond the wind and stars. Remove the dirty bastards," she called over at the Angel. "Bad men need punished."

With a flick of her wrist another string shot out and up towards the catwalk the guy (Mantis) with the gun was. And the girl. Stabbing the end of the string down, Whipstitch started running up the line before disembarking some ten feet away from the duo (trio?).

"You were naughty. Pointing a gun at a lady. Did you mother not teach you manners?" She asked in a low voice.

---

Having opted to fly the others most of the way back to HQ for the sake of expedience, he swapped forms and entered the building with the others, the surge of emotions and clarity from using his powers still quite potent. Despite the devastating loss of tinkertech, one side of Outsider's lips remained perked upwards slightly. Just experiencing the world clearly brought him a certain joy that was almost impossible to dampen.

Then there was a loud concussive explosion and debris flew everywhere. Still standing by the entrance to the apartment, he shielded himself, though it proved largely unnecessary. When the dust cleared he looked to his teammates, to find them relatively unharmed. Kyoshi's mouth moved, in reply to yelled words from...somewhere? He couldn't entirely understand her words, but he acted nonetheless.

Jaw tight he spoke, yelling so his teammates could hear him over the ringing left over from the explosion, "I'M GOING TO CHECK THIS OUT," he said, giving them a meaningful look before he jogged through the apartment to the blasted hole in the wall. He shot a glare across the gap between buildings to where he saw...a kid in a costume. Eyes narrowing he did something that in his normal mindstate he might not have, he ran towards the gaping hole in the wall and leapt out into the open air. Curling into a ball midair Outsider activated his power.

Air was violently displaced as his Second Vessel manifested into being, his senses shifting into place along with a distinct nausea, both from hurtling downwards, and from swapping bodies. It lasted only seconds, and then he swooped upwards through the air and shot directly towards the other cape's location. However, thinking somewhat better of it he stopped halfway across the distance and swam through the air lazily, his senses tuned to the kid.

He could hear the sound of other voices in the building, specifically the room, where the cape was standing. Either teammates or hostages...and given that none of them were moving much or making intelligible noises, he'd guess that they were hostages.

Not good. He also couldn't barrel through a building. It seemed the cape had actually planned fairly well for assaulting them. He was offsetting the rest of the Minutemen by keeping a distance, while neutralizing his own effectiveness by being both inside a structure and near what he was fairly certain were civilians. A low dissonant growl vibrated through the area, emanating from nowhere in particular. The sound didn't stop like a normal growl might, instead becoming more intense, vibrating through things. It wasn't harmful at all, but it was disconcerting to say the least.

"You've got one minute to give us a good reason not to retaliate," Outsider intoned in his hollow voice, the growl continuing throughout. It was clear that he was not at all pleased by the current situation.

---

Everything was going to hell for the Minutemen. Being raided, set up, exploded....

G4M3R was far from in a good mood.

And Rend was in an even fouler mood.

"Fuck!" he growled, shaking his head. Teleporting onto the roof as soon as the explosion began as a reflexive action, he watched things unfold momentarily before drawing an arrow.

Taking aim at the kid, he paused for a moment before firing.

"Know what, fuck this. I'm done." he called out before disappearing. He didn't sign up to be with fools and be set back years.

G4M3R punched a wall as Rend disappeared. Nothing was going right, everything was falling apart. Picking up some scraps from his destroyed tech he glanced around. Their HQ was in shambles, inside and out.

"... You better have a hell of an explanation, kid," he called out over the ringing in his ears and the mounting headache as he stood in the hole in their wall. "I hope this isn't your application, because that's a really bad way to do it!"

Bladedancer and Magna Carta made their way towards the source of the gunshots, using the people they found on the way for directions, either verbally or by the scared glances behind them as they hurriedly moved away. Their own costumes weren't exactly inconspicuous, but in a place like this they were nothing worth paying much attention to. More gunshots rang out, louder now that they were closer. Bladedancer glanced at Manga Carta somewhat apprehensively. That was a lot of gunfire, maybe this wasn't a good idea. Neither of them had a brute rating so all it took was one lousy person with a gun to... You know. Even through the mask and bodywear, Bladedancer could tell that she seemed excited by the prospect. Bladedancer grimaced. Well it was too late to turn back now. The sound of rapid footsteps came around the corner and Bladedancer and Magna Carta flattened against the wall. A man sprinted past them, not bothering to look around in his blind panic. Confirmation they were close. After pausing for a moment they hurried along and found themselves looking at the sound of some sort of warehouse, shouting from inside encouragement that this was the right place. The pair quickly made their way to the side of the building.

"How do you want to get in, just find a door?"

"Can't you just cut through the wall?"

"Well... Yeah, but should I?"

"No one's gonna expect us to come through a wall are they?"

"Ok, you have a point. We go in when I say go."

Bladedancer took out her attuned knife and carefully stuck it through the relatively thin wall of the warehouse and quickly created a rectangle about 2 feet wide and tall enough for both of them to fit under comfortably.

"Go!"

Magna Carta pushed forward, shoving the rectangle of metal forward and holding it in front of her like a shield for a moment or two before moving it to the side so she could assess the situation. Several people on the floor, in various states of damage. A wall of neon something was just standing in the middle of the floor. A wire of some sort lead from the floor to the catwalk where several other people where. Another person was standing on the ground floor along with what appeared to be an angel. But Magna Carta's eyes focused on Zach immediately. The lack of costume made his face easy to recognize. That and the fact that it was a face that had been burned into her mind. The moment the TV had screen shifted its view for a close up on Zach's face before it was broken and she'd nearly died. Alice ripped off the mask and the hoodie was pulled back, revealing her face and her blonde hair, amber eyes practically aflame with rage.

"HEY Lethal Force, you remember the faces of the people you leave for dead!?"

Bladedancer stuck a blade outside, just in case, before running in after her, her eyes eye purviewing the same scene: though without the same recognition that Magna Carta had, expressing surprise at hearing that this group was Lethal Force. To think they would met them on their first outing! Though... This was probably more of bad thing than a good thing.

This was turning absolutely nuts. Multiple unidentified parahumans in a single building with dangerous abilities. The angelic being caught Mantis' gaze for a moment. It was hard to look away from that bright light in the dark. The woman took the bullets like they were only mildly irritating.

As for the spider woman, Mantis felt how erratic her emotions really were. She was all over the place and her words made little sense, "Unstable at best, dangerous at worst." he thought. Axel barked loudly as she approached and growled. She wasn't on the thugs side at least. Mantis lowered his weapon as she approached. Maybe she could be useful to their team. Their masked leader then released feelings of calm into the air directed at the spider woman as well as his nearby team. They would help to eliminate any tension. Axel began to calm down. Then he replied to her, "I apologize. I couldn't be sure if you were working with them. We would like to help you take care of the rest." Hopefully she would listen to reason. Mantis would be ready to raise his weapon if she turned hostile.

Just then, another group made their way into the building yelling about Lethal Force. "Just great." he thought to himself.

"What he said. We're here to help, not cause you any trouble," Farce quickly agreed before she and Sparce both heard a faintly familiar voice. "Gaia, you heard that voice right?" "Loud and clear." It was similar to the shouts of that one lady on the television that Zach destroyed. That asshole. Still, if she was really here and she was really a parahuman, maybe letting her take out her frustrations on Zach was a decent idea considering he was the parahuman that he was. He needed a real alias, though.

Analyzing the situation, Sparce went over what was going on in the warehouse in Farce's head.

"The Angel seems interesting. Maybe Mantis could recruit her later..."

"The girl a bit away from us is definitely threatening. I don't want to know what the hell she can do with those strings."

"Zach has his own problems. Hopefully our newest could take them o- Gaia, look down and to the right."

A thug ran into the room with Whipstitch, Mantis, and the Twins, shouting something about how he wasn't about to lose his pay because of the meddling affairs of parahumans. Farce's hand snapped over to the thug and, with almost deadly accuracy, fired and killed him. Five bullets left. "He should've knocked," she quipped before she lowered the revolver back down to her side.