---

Lillian flashed Noble a winning smile for the assistance, before popping over the flipped table with ease. Things had really gone to hell fast, she noted to herself.

"Watch the tail," she warned Messiah before transforming. Bigger. Larger. She could feel the muscles growing, bones shifting, teeth becoming daggers, before she reached the point where she couldn't stretch anymore. But, no, not inside. She halted the change at twenty feet in height, rising up in challenge.

This....

She heard the warning from Overlook, turning faster than one might expect for her size, her tail catching Messiah and moving her to safety from the incoming slab. She slowed, giving Messiah a chance to get off, before she turned back to Ceramix. She stepped between Ceramix and Alessa, a low growl escaping her jaw. Mine!

She wanted to charge forward, but she knew she wasn't exactly a match against rocks without going bigger.... But with Outsider, the Golem, and herself there just wasn't enough room to push to her limits.

She could help protect people and make sure Alessa stayed safe, at least.

---

---

Jason remained impassive as he watched the meeting change, a focus turned on to those power granting vials. Had Broker worked through a middleman to them? Or was this a ploy? A decoy? There weren't enough answers, and he couldn't just punch his way to them.

Of course, the power phenomena was passed of as Tinker Tech, but Jason knew that was a blatant lie. Could this 'Broker' be harboring abilities too?

And then that mobster lackey took a vial and -

Jason stood up as he regained his consciousness, his control, reaching out to Whimsy. His eyes were narrowed beneath the helmet and he was tense. But... For now he'd continue watching.

Whip, on the other hand, had gone perfectly still as her eyes drilled into 'Broker'.

Her mouth moved as though she was trying to speak, but not a single sound came forth. Her knuckles were white where they gripped her seat, the glass gotten for her by Healer long forgotten.

She stood up, holding the chair in a death grip before she slammed it against the wall, breaking it and jarring her arms numb.

"Fucking fucked fuckers fucking with me. No no no no no. Bad. Bad bad bad bad bad," she muttered furiously, walking backwards towards the door. "Can't trust. Manipulate, control, stealing what's mine. No. No. Kill the King, free the slaves."

And with that, she slipped outside and ran.

The web had been filled with the vaguely sinister, the openly cringey, and the occasionally profane, leaving Christopher to resign himself before the inevitable prospect of delving into the outer-sphere. It was early, and perhaps not prime-time for an aspiring vigilante. On the other hand, he may as well indulge in an activity that was neither leisurely nor particularly productive; the procuring of a coffee drink. Some menial task that camouflaged in cafe-ambience as enjoyment, with the prospect of invigorating caffeine serving as some excuse for productivity, accomplishment.

Some caffeine, he thought, and he could do anything in the whole wide world. Huzzah!
Some caffeine, he thought, and he’d still be the same never-was. Why bother?

In the end, optimism prevailed, and ‘Psychomachia’ took to treating his coffee-run as an ad-hoc patrol. Might as well work the proverbial ‘muscle’ a little, the novice parahuman mused.

Two squashed gremlins, like compressed, low-res renderings of a particularly unflattering photo, frooped into existence. As the very beginning, he had believed he could only control these less-than-delights from within a certain range. Intuitively enough, he had stumbled onto the knowledge that he could ‘shunt’ himself into one of them, and - astonishingly - take flight.

And so he had, taken by the wondrous fear of ascent, buoyed and combated by the winds in equal measure.

Enthralling.
Glorious.

Screaming?

His half-assed patrol, apparently, had paid surprising dividends. He eyed the ‘other’ in the area and, uncomfortably, he explored something else he could do. Uncomfortable quaking pervaded his body, soreness like each constituent joint of his limbs being twisted and unravelled like a nailed screw. From his impish bodice his true self emerged.

Alright, big guy, nice and friendly introduction, firm handshake.
Alright, big guy, give up and retire already.

“... what’s the duh-damage?” He stuttered to the other, foregoing the handshake.

---

… So, the man she had previously fought made a claim for the vials. He really was a man of action. Dangerous and bold, seeing him gain any form of power would be horrifying. Thankfully, he didn’t have that kind of power yet, but Sheila could imagine him getting it. That was a scary thought. He did clarify that he had gained a new group, Reflections. Seems he had aimed and succeeded elsewhere after failing his takeover of the Rockers. Nice to know he wasn’t the kind to try the same thing twice. Still, his partner or whatever speaking with him implied neither was the subordinate of the other, it was somewhat difficult to figure out the dynamics there.

As Sheila used her power to keep tabs on every person in the room, she definitely noted the unknown man who had made the helpful suggestion (CB) move. What, was he uncomfortable where he was? And he was… humming? … Sheila chalked it up to a weird habit of his. Still, her innate suspicious nature ensured that she kept a part of her eyes looking at him, because she couldn’t shake the feeling he was potentially setting up for an attack. But, as long as he was just over there humming… That was fine, she supposed.

The Broker supplied the name of one of those present, Whipstitch. Who… wasn’t really hiding, huh. Of course, Sheila had watched her along with everyone else through her power, but it was nice to have a name to attach to the figure. She did seem odd. … But what the Broker said next was a hundred times more worrying. They had one of Epsilon’s power-nullification fields? Didn’t that breach the rules of neutrality? Was that just how things went? They could so easily have a squad of grunts waiting just outside with guns, prepared to move in and take them all out when they were without powers. … That… must have been what Visage felt, coming in. Who’s to say they couldn’t at any moment dial the power of the field up?

Still, Sheila kept quiet, as scared as she was. The price came up. Ten thousand dollars per vial, maximum of one per group. And then… Benito was picked to demonstrate. This was huge. If they could show that what they were speaking of to be real, then… then it changed everything. He drank it, and… A vision. A vision that Sheila’d soon forget, but she remembered a sliver of something similar happening when Viola triggered. She’d been dazed from something, unable to process enough to even recognize that Viola had ran and that she had to stop them.

While Whipstitch up and left, a thought wandered Sheila’s mind. He’s… showing an awful lot, isn’t he? He must be aware of that little detail. There’s no way he isn’t. Sheila took advantage of the pause to speak up, something she dared do only because the thing on her mind, a powerful worry she wanted to share.

‘You realize…’ she paused, only to ensure her voice was in fact the voice from the voice-changer, and that it was working fine. Indeed it did, it was the creepy and hoarse but decidedly female voice she wanted it to be, might even disguise her internal insecurity from her voice, good. Creep was still sitting, her head only slightly turned towards where the Broker and Benito were, having needed to lift her head from the table after the vision.

‘… Anyone here could be a spy made by the Patriarch, and I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t at least one. The Patriarch hence knows this meeting is taking place. Even if he doesn’t intend to do anything but spy, he’s still going to want those vials, and he’s going to want to lay claim to you, Broker, to hear how you got them,’ Creep rasped at him, while her heart was beating in overdrive because of actually pulling attention to herself. She suppressed a deep inhale of breath from the effort of speaking, before saying a bit more.

‘… The Rockers will be interested in laying claim to one vial, albeit the means to pay wasn’t brought and as such would have to be delivered at a later time,’ she finished, and then sat back in her seat, tense. She felt that if she didn’t make a claim for one of the vials, then she wasn’t a true villain. She was pretty sure that’s what Shatterpoint and Ceramix would have wanted, now she just has to hope they had the means to pay. That said, speaking up for one had been an effort, because… villains. Villains everywhere. Sheila felt so small, hidden behind her blindfold and mask. And now there was the possibility of her power stopping to work at any point, which would be when she was completely helpless. Her heart was beating way too hard, her chest felt tight, her muscles rigid. Oooogh…

Creep still sat there, with minimal movement, using her power to watch everyone around her through the blindfold. The thought that she might have made a mistake and had shown everyone just how oblivious she was did cross her mind.

Really Sylph? Shame you're so timid and unsure of yourself, though it does make you all the more adorable...

Snap out of it.

Mastar flew back away from the stomping and stumbling of Ceramix before she realized where she was. She was quite close to a few Rocker thugs, three to be exact, approaching her quickly with their pickaxes swinging wildly. Mastar could only once them each over before she had to react to the closest one bringing his pickaxe at her head.

Speaking of the closest one, he had a large scar across his beefy arm. Let's call him Scar.

The one right behind him was a girl, but she was coated in tattoos everywhere below her neck. Tats.

Then there was the last one, a guy with shades that really made him seem like an asshole. Specs.

The pickaxe wielded by Scar sunk directly into the tarry mass that was Mastar's head, simply making a gushing sound before Mastar snickered. Scar wasn't having fun. "Wha? What're you supposed to be?"

"Your master, or should I say... MASTAR!" A tarry mass shot out of Mastar's neck as it completely coated Scar's mouth, Mastar maniacally laughing as the pick in her head simply fell down to the ground with Scar coughing up as much tar as he had ingested. Unfortunately for him, Mastar was in control now, and his pupils dilated to full blacks as he turned to his allies and he simply stared them down.

"Bring the built girl, and leave the Spectacles out of the equation, luv." Scar did as he was told, grabbing Tats by the neck and tossing her behind him to Mastar, who proceeded to dump a bit more tar from her body into her mouth. Right before Specs realized what was going on, Scar had already ran up to him and beelined his fist towards Specs' jaw, causing him to fall over unconscious.

Mastar addressed her two temporary subordinates with their commands as she morphed to regain her freshly lost hands. Unfortunately, her horns would have to become fodder for her new form, but she'd be okay with that. The pale pigmentation of her hands slowly began to reform as she spoke. "Thank you lovelies, the tar should be gone soon. Before it is, though, think you kind sweethearts could launch me onto that hand?"

Tats and Scar, of course, did not respond, but they did get into a position to catch and throw Mastar towards the hulking mass that was Ceramix's left hand. With a good running start, Mastar ran forward and took a step onto the hands of Scar and Tats, who proceeded to toss her up towards the goliath's hand. If she could make it, she'd be ecstatic! If not, she'd need to ask for some assistance, which wasn't thw worst thing in the world.

---

It was time to move. Considering the details of Ceramix's power (or, at least, what she knew about it), Kyoshi knew she was one of the best answers to crippling the large threat that was set in front of her and the rest of the heroes. Of course she couldn't leave this gosh-forsaken city without a good final boss fight. That'd be too easy. She had to give it her all for this city one last time before she could leave.

Still, she was glad to do it.

"Here goes." She moved quickly, running straight to the side of Ceramix's new location (thank you, Outsider, for bringing him a little closer) where she stopped and took a deep breath. Concentrating on nothing but the leg of the mighty Rocker Golem, Kyoshi took a stance and proceeded to stomp before bringing both her arms together. Her intent was to cause the leg to compress, giving it less integrity as less area could support the leg, hopefully causing the leg to crumble and Ceramix to panic.

---

Farce raised her hand to try and keep Whip in the restaurant, but she was already gone before Farce even had a chance to react to keep her there. Well shit, now it's down to just her, considering Healer was busy mingling and whatever. Then again, she was the co-leader, sharing the position with her brother.

Farce, did you feel that? Sparce inquired, seemingly feeling it himself. Odd.

"Obi-Wan said something about a situation like this, yeah? A disturbance in the force?" Farce joked as she looked at Benito standing beside Broker. She hadn't been around many triggers before, but she could only assume it was that. "... this is legit. That guy just triggered I think."

This left Farce thinking as Sparce stayed silent in his head. Neither had much to add, but the idea was pondering Farce's mind.

Could she or Sparce trigger again?

"...what?" Genevieve cocked her head to one side, not sure she'd heard the Broker correctly. But as he went on with his speech, her question was answered. He had, without any form of consent, stripped her abilities as well as everyone else's. Or so he claimed. Genevieve then acted without thinking, grabbing the glass of water from earlier and smashing it against the side of the table. In her hand, she held the jagged edge that remained, the point sharp enough to easily break through any layer not sturdy enough. She held her breath as she slowly but deliberately cut the skin on the inside of her palm, the blood that slowly started to ooze out making her a bit light-headed. Even though the mere sight of it almost always made her uncomfortable, at that moment, the feeling intensified due to the fact that she was the one inflicting the damage onto herself.

This hurts a lot more than it should...

Genevieve then dropped what remained of the glass as she experienced her first trigger event without so much as a warning. For someone who'd never been through one, like herself, it was every bit mind-blowing as one could imagine. When she eventually came to, the expression on her face was unmistakably one of fear mixed with confusion. Genevieve looked up in a daze just in time to see Whipstitch run out. She was unsure what to do as she placed her bloodied hand on her head, her legs doing their best to keep her from dropping to the ground when she eventually decided to get up.

"What the hell have you done?"

Her patrol had finally amounted to something interesting happening, it seemed, when some screaming and an explosion came from nearby as she was going about from rooftop to rooftop. The set of powers she had currently would most definitely suffice for this, though the question of "if" they would ever remain the same if she "died" again always haunted the very back of her mind. Pushing aside the less than savory thoughts about the matter, Phantom made her way over to the scene and found herself staring in the face of another supposed "hero" who had made his way to the scene as well. Apparently, in a rather.....odd manner of speaking, as compared to the parahumans she knew of at least.

At least breakfast back at the hotel had been nice, scrambled eggs with biscuits and a sausage gravy done in a rather fancy manner.

On the other hand, this (to her mind) new guy was asking perhaps the most obvious question she had heard today.

"Well, the entire front of this bar has been destroyed," she said, trying to be cordial enough as her words came out rather bluntly to the fact of things, "Let's go inside and see if the civilians are ok, before asking to see what happened. Though if you have any way of checking the perimeter to see if the perpetrator is still near, that could help as well."

Nailed it.

And with that, Phantom sprinted to make her way inside of the destroyed bar, to see if she could help anyone first...before trying to ask for what information might be available. To be honest, she was more concerned with the people right now first of all. Not everyone, she supposed, got a second chance at life when it came down to it.

With calculating eyes the Margrave watched as the heroes and villains began their fight. Around him the chaotic tumult roared, but he remained firm, standing like a lone bastion upon a mountain peak until an invader threatened his domain. How exactly the Rocker mistook his new fan for himself when he himself stood not only near but also in front of her, the Margrave could not imagine, but it was hardly the cur's last mistake. The vagabond stretched his arms out to the side like a child pretended to be a helicopter, his unwieldy, top-heavy weapon -dual wielded like an absolute tool- straining his arms to even be kept at such an angle, then executed a pincer attack from either side aimed at the little girl.

The pickaxes' metal heads never struck their intended target. A grin of dark delight upon his face, the Margrave lobbed his baseball bat upward, then took a quick step forward with his forearms held out and up like goalposts to block. He intercepted the pickaxes' harmless shafts with those forearms, and the instant he made contact the crude weapons began to shrink. Baffled as to where this dashing interloper had appeared from, and what exactly he did to his weapons, the Rocker reeled back for a brutal headbutt, but the Margrave was at the ready. "You FOOL!" Though his arms ached from the initial impact of the former pickaxes' wooden grips, he had no trouble popping the thug in the face with his fists, one after another. Stunned for a split second—it was more than enough.

Slipping his scarf off, the antihero strafed behind his adversary, made a loop, then wound it around the Rocker's neck. The next moment he recovered and began to struggle, threatening to hurl the smaller, more fascinating man to the stone-strewn floor, but the Margrave's talent was already at work. "Wriggle if you like!" he sneered. "You are already done for." His scarf began to tighten and harden, squeezing the man's throat as it tried to turn toy, and after only a few seconds the hapless goon blacked out.

The Margrave yanked his scarf off and replaced it around his neck, then like a showman offered a bow to the slack-jawed child who'd just witnessed her hero at work. “Have no fear, little miss; much more dire enemies have tried. Let's get you out of here. As much as he wanted to reduce Ceramix's golem to a collectible figurine, there were other heroes on the case, and the civilians needed shepherding. With a parting glance at the action, he placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and began to escort her out. Any other people he met on the way to the main exit, hiding or trapped, he hurried to help.

Oh, someone was getting powers right away. Well it only made sense to demonstrate the product didn't it. Sofia watched Benito intensely, curious to see just how-

...

...

...

Huh? It seemed like not even a second had passed but everyone was looking around with dazed, worried, and angry looks. What had happened? One lady stormed out. The shadow figure seemed relatively non-effected, though perhaps that was because Sofia couldn't really see her face or anything, and she started talking right away about how the Community might be here already and how the Rockers would make a purchase later. Sofia's starting would be hard to ignore, but perhaps even harder to interpret past the obvious curiosity. Oh the guy that drank the vial should have super powers right? Sofia's gaze shifted to him, curious to see what his own response to it would be. These meeting had turned out to be more interesting than she thought, but also a little bit more scary.

Sylph was looking a little panicked as event's continued to unfold. She was taken by surprise as a huge sea leviathan monster thing busted into the building and started grappling with the massive golem, it was quite the spectacle watching two giant beings fight it out. And it wasn't long before a... A dinosaur, showed up though it seemed to be more concerned with protecting the civilians. She was kicked back into reality when her com turned on, Inkscape's voice dishing out orders to everyone. Sylph eagerly awaited her turn as she continued watching the two titans brawl.

When it was her turn for orders her wings dropped. Sylph, it's your time to shine! You're the toughest and most mobile, so I need to to get in his blind spot and try to knock out Ceramix from inside his golem armor. He wanted her to fly up and kick Ceramix out of a giant stone golem? Why did everyone want her to fly around inside? Of coarse she wasn't going to question the Squid leader, but then there was also the problem of getting onto a giant stone golem while it was still fighting a giant leviathan monster. She felt like today was going to be painful. "A-alright. I'll try." That being said Silvia took a deep breath and started to focus, she'd need to build up some power if she wanted to even hope to scratch Ceramix's massive golem. So her barrier fell as she closed here eyes and concentrated.

That was until she was interrupted by a pickaxe to the stomach. The excavation tool bounced off her metal carapace with a jarring clang, doing absolutely no damage to Silvia. But the sudden shock of the attack snapped Sylph out of her trance, being well and truly spooked she lashed out with a punch to the gut. The blow connected, but she managed to hold herself back. The Grunt keeled over as the wind had been knocked from him, Silvia gasped and backed up. She hadn't wished to hit him so hard. Why did he have to sneak up on her? "Sorry!" She said looking awfully worried for a moment, but she quickly collected herself and took a deep breath again. This time she was able to focus uninterrupted.

Her barrier fired back up, far stronger than last time. She gave her wings a flap before splaying them out fully. You can do this Silvia. Just think aeronautical thoughts and you'll be fine. Sylph nervously chuckled to herself and got ready to get her feet off the ground, crouching down and counting closing her eyes. Then she was off, jumping high into the air with the help of a flap from her wings. She then proceeded to hover and get her bearings, making sure to keep her eyes open for any giant monster limbs that might come her way. Of coarse her first major task had to be to dive into a fight between two titans, not only that but she was also an integral piece in taking down the stone behemoth. For now she was just hovering around the two battling giants, looking not only for an opening, but a safe blind spot in which to land on.

Seemingly largely ignored, the intent of the Rockers to harm was made all the more clear as the goons jumped off the statue and started attacking. It had been too much to gope that things wouldn't go this way. As other heroes began to make their move Angel flew into action. There was no way she could throw something so large even if she could scale her strength properly. Her small surface area against the ground alone would just cause what she was standing on to buckle. Though on some level that could be to their advantage. Using what space their was the woman flew above the statues head and dropped down. Density swinging drastically she went from being lighter than air to a 15 ton human shaped wrecking ball.

Now dropping the equivalent to a double decker bus on something so large or sound would be more like crushing a can on its head. But the angel wouldn't crumple like something hollow or spread the impact out over the dome head. Heels pointed down she was more like a dart rushing down, putting all the kinetic force into the space of her own two feet. And if that didn't crack the helm of the giant she was going to continue become more dense to make the entire thing more top heavy. Assuming she didn't outright smash her way through Angel intended to slowly topple or compress the Rockers' tank until it couldn't move.

Igneous-? Damn, he was smarter than she’d given him credit for! Or he'd gotten help. Speaking of smarts, she needed to do some materials research so something like this didn’t happen again - she didn’t generally try for specific temperatures from her beams, instead just shooting out what felt right at the time. Even so, she knew it had a melting point, something over a thousand degrees if she recalled correctly. She just needed to crank her own heat high enough.

After avoiding his thrown attack. ‘Thanks, Overlook!’ she exclaimed as the Rocker’s leader scooped up a surprisingly large chunk of rock. But a relatively slow-moving chunk, nonetheless - the moment he chucked it, she would leap out of its path and strike back before the statue could act again.

Or, alternatively, the massive dinosaur that was Lillian could shunt her out of its path instead. Just a touch winded, Alessa gave a quiet thumbs up to her new girlfriend, then shifted off of her tail and called ‘Whatever you do, don’t get between me and the statue when I attack!’ This was less an order, and more a warning to anyone in earshot - if her heat expulsion was hot enough to melt igneous rock, it was more than sufficient to practically vaporise flesh on contact or even in its general vicinity, even if she directed it in a way that minimised heat loss from the ray.

That said, she had a perfect opportunity now. The statue, it seemed, was being mobbed by heroes: the new hero Mastar had leapt onto the golem, another character looked like they had smashed right into the titan’s skull, and that one member of that one group, what was her name, Kyoshi? Yes, that sounded right, was seemingly doing something to the statue’s other leg. And with Lillian circling, she had cover until... now! She charged out from behind Lillian, moving the opposite direction to the twenty-foot reptile girl, and aimed at the leg she’d been trying to melt before. This time, rather than merely being bright, the ray was practically incandescent, as the air itself energised and glowed in its wake. She’d put in at least two and a half times as much power behind her beam as before, beginning to dig into her stored power rapidly; if that didn’t melt the rock in short order, she rather wondered if she’d run out before the day’s end.

Like in the warehouse...

Alessa, no. It won’t be like that again.

Swarm listened to The Broker's response. 10,000 per vial for each group. Not bad considering Swarm had not technically joined an "official villain group" yet. Reflections could purchase one and Swarm another. That would put two vials in their hands.

Damien stared down Broker for a few moments, exhaling his cigarette slowly when his alter ego Gabriel took over. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and his demeanor completely changed. What was arrogant and brash before became calm and soothing."My apologies, in your timing we will purchase a vial." His voice had no air of superiority, but that of an oily businessman. He returned to his seat and gave Affliction a nod as he sat down.

When Benito took the vial, Swarm blacked out along with the others. When he came to he thought, "Those vials are legitimate. We have to acquire them."

---

Listening attentively, Chatterbox kept his silence until Benito dropped the glass. In an instant he was out of his chair, but he didn't move further. His humming ceased, he felt at the thrumming threads of his power, connecting him to most everyone in the room 'cept the Jacks, Broker, and faux Broker. So it was that he knew Benito wasn't dying before everyone else. He relaxed, but only momentarily as the man recovered and the glass vanished Drake found himself unsurreptitiously perceiving something vast and terrible.



Like a rubber-band let go he fell into his body, or rather his body fell, his mind totally disoriented. He barely managed to catch himself before hitting his tailbone on the hard floor. He sat there a long moment, shaken and grasping at straws as he tried to, at first, parse what he had seen, and then after several seconds, remember what it had been at all. Several more seconds and suddenly he was even confused as to why exactly he had fallen. He frowned and, his balance back, pulled himself to his feet. Brushing himself off, he sat down

"Well, I don't know exactly what that was, but I don't see the cup anymore so I presume Benito has been endowed with powers," his tone was matter-of-fact, but there was a bitter taste in his mouth. He did not like that the man had just received powers free of charge. "Might I suggest that any other buyers not drink the potions here? I've had quite enough blacking out for one day."

Though he made it sound as if he were merely annoyed, he was actually incredibly off kilter. Only his years of stand up and acting practice kept it from his face and posture. Yet, despite his ability, the muscles of his jaw stood out each time he stopped talking. He was grinding his teeth.

He didn't start humming again, but when he'd spoken a moment ago his power had been on, if only faintly.

---

---

Connecting, the golem stumbled, and as Outsider recovered from the impact he felt the shift of posture in the stone giant. Its arm began to move, and his tendrils latched onto the golem, kinetic energy being created rapidly as the back of the stone hand came to bear. As it struck however, Ceramix found he'd underestimated the hero. He flew, shifting his orientation slightly, and rather than strike his 'head' it hit the armored plates of his chest, or rather it would have if there wasn't a barrier between the attack and his body. Instead a powerful shockwave dampened the blow's momentum and he only barely managed to shatter the barrier. Jostled, but not disoriented, Outsider used his flight and the purchase with his various limbs to slither around the golem's arm. Then, using the anchor points, his flight, and the prodigious strength of his Second Vessel, Outsider attempted to hold Ceramix in place.

Three seconds passed as he positioned himself, avoiding the thermal beam. In that time his barrier reformed. Immediately, he moved, slithering his body around the torso of the golem, his tails remaining tightly coiled around its arm even as he used his arms to grab at the legs. Bio-electric and bio-chemical energy converting rapidly in his body, Outsider prepared for a tremendous point-blank shockwave.

He wasn't playing around, this was his element.

---

There was a helluva lot going on, she thought as her eyes darted back and forth to keep track of anything. Ink gave his orders and she moved to comply, shifting out of cover, only to pause, glancing at Ira. She gave a nod and a small smile of acknowledgement, going to Ira's booth with haste to don the piece of tech. By the time she was properly equipped her projection had gathered several hundred material samples, accruing sufficient physical traits for her to begin the more difficult work. She took refuge further back, near the crowd, with Tiger Lily between herself and their adversaries. She watched as each hero put their various talents to use to the best of their abilities, some taking orders, others taking initiative. Her eyes lingered for a moment on Outsider's titantic, alien form, and she shivered. The forum posts hadn't been kidding, he really was like a mini-Endbringer. Good thing he was a hero.

Taking in a deep breath she pulled her projection to her, its silver light glowing more brightly than usual with stored power. She looked like she had some kind of aura, her skin and costume cast in a silver light, refracting it, making her almost seem to glow. She took one more steadying breath, having calmed her heart rate once more, and then closed her eyes.

Ink had told her to try to immobalize Ceramix, but Outsider and co seemed to be doing that fairly well already and the longer civilians were in the hall, the more likely one of them was to get hurt. She wanted to follow orders, but her own internal compass was just louder than Inkscape's order. It felt like less an order and more of a suggestion, one that was out of date with current events.

She made her decision.

The aura shrunk, rapidly, doing so until her projection's silver 'shadow' was inside her body and impossible to observe. However, with it there she found she could sense the changes to its physical shape and constitution more clearly. She could control it better. It was something she'd done entirely without thought, but it seemed she was onto something.

A smile curved her lips and she opened her eyes. Again she took in the positions of everyone in the room, her mind racing through possibilities. Since she was trying new things and the situation had so many capes on scene, she decided not to list materials like she usually did, but instead create a framework in her mind, considering the bigger picture, rather than the microcosm of things.

'I want something fast. There's not a lot of room in here, so something small. Manueverability. Most small things are fragile though, so that's a problem. I can't make it fragile. I want it to get hit and when it is hit, I want the aggressor to stop in surprise when it doesn't move. I need something small, fast, durable, and deadly. I want to evacuate the citizens and I want to punish the villains for ruining this for everyone,' she found a fiery passion build in her chest and spread through her as she thought things through. Then, with her goals set firmly in mind, she willed the projection to fall into the mold of her wishes.

Within her body, the silver light shrunk, suddenly the size of a small child, maybe four feet tall, no longer taking up the space of her whole body. She felt each shift of its form, she noticed it form hands and feet, a total of six limbs, two pairs of arms and two legs...and a tail, no two tails. A subtle shift in its digits notified her of complex mechanisms involved, retractable claws maybe? Its limbs were all thin, though its tails less so.

Slowly she added embellishments, feeling the shift in density on the various levels of her projection's shadows. It was kind of like feeling the texture of something with your fingers, but she was doing it with every part of her body. It was a strange feeling, but not altogether unpleasant.

Changing her focus she considered its internal structure and sensory capabilities. Suddenly she knew it would see and hear and smell and feel. The density shifted as she considered the durability of her projection and she started calling on specific materials, linking them in a mental diagram.

'Crystal and glass, linked and interwoven | Stone below that layer, combined with flesh and rubber . | Metal and rubber, interwoven. Bone.'

Then she noticed something, her mind shifting through the list of materials at her disposal. There among the other materials were strange outliers that, for some reason, she hadn't properly taken account of before. Things like 'air', 'water' and 'fire' and, even more bizzare... 'light'. Not feeling confident enough to mess around with the sheer scope of the possibilities those traits opened up, Evelyn instead wove them into the structure of the body, using them as slight modifiers, rather than core elements. Light with crystal, air infused into everything, implying a low weight despite the intended density of the projection. She put water in it, like a circulatory system, but she altered the material adding traces of fire and metal to the mix. Adjusting everything minutely.

Finally, satisfied, she took stock of the situation in the hall, and then knelt behind cover, closing her eyes and shutting the world out completely. It was time to sift through powers...and she needed 100% of her focus dedicated to the task if she wanted to get something workable and not also take too long to do it. As a result she propped herself against an upended table and then...let go. The sensations of her body drifted away as she poured her awareness into her projection, into her thinker power.

First general awareness, her hearing, and the sense of vibrations as things moved around nearby. Then the movement of air against her skin, then the deeper motions of her muscles and pumping blood, and then, more swiftly, everything else. She tried to take a deep breath, and knew she was doing so, but she couldn't feel it. It was like being trapped in the between when she'd triggered, and for a moment it was more than she could handle. She felt some of the sensation of her body return and made an effort to steady her breath, before—calm now—sinking back in. This time she had the trance right and didn't lose her cool.

This time she could work.



Shaking herself, Evelyn rose to her feet and noticed that the 'shadow's' size had swelled. It was now roughly 6 feet tall. She could accept that. After all, when she reached out, trying to condense it, she found that it wouldn't. Apparently making it any smaller caused issues. Not a concern. She turned from the projection and hurried to ferry civilians out of the room, then when their focus was turned away, she turned towards the conflict and willed her projection into being.

Oddly, there was a delay, but it wasn't long, as the silver light suddenly took on a solid quality and then, all at once, a breeze swept outwards from the projection's location, air being displaced violently by its appearance.

This time her projection was roughly 6 feet tall at the head, with four arms of medium thickness, and two legs like that of a raptor, perhaps reminiscent of one of Tiger Lily's smaller forms. It had two tails, which individually weren't very thick, but together—entwined as they were—looked thick enough to act as an effective club. By and large it was humanoid and bipedal, not even stooping forwards despite its tails.Its entire body, its skin, was composed of a substance similar to quartz, but clearer and without any impurities. Looking at it, one might find it difficult to take in, as within its dense layers of crystalline dermis their ran a mixture of light and electrical energy, flowing over its entire form, distracting the eye and slightly obfuscating its movements. The projection turned its head, surveilling the area with all its senses. On and moving back from its head was a large tangle of elongated scales. They twitched and vibrated faintly, detecting vibrations in the creature's surroundings. Individually they looked almost like quills, but together they looked like hair, flowing down from its head and short neck.

The Tulpa flexed its fingers, and wicked talons extended, before it relaxed. It crouched and then sprang into motion, but before it had even covered eight feet, it vanished in a flash of light. Another flash of light and static signalled its reappearing high above where it clung to the ceiling. Focusing, Evelyn willed it to speak with her voice, but it came out sounding hollow and faintly distorted, if otherwise crystal clear.

"Use the stage and side exits. Stay calm and follow the instructions of capes and authorities on scene. We are here to ensure your safety. The glowing creature is on your side. Anyone with injuries or children should group together. The projection can get you outside faster." The projection then fell silent and pushed off the ceiling with tremendous force, dislodging dust and dirt, but doing no other damage. There was a flash and it vanished. However, this time when it reappeared, a blast of wind burst forth from its body and it was directly in front of the golem's chest. The flash of light and static was more intense this time and as it appeared it did something else, propelling its own body in a spin, its tails lashing out with centripetal force, augmented by a focused eruption of kinetic energy as it—hopefully—struck the chest of the golem, without hitting the coiling form of Outsider.

Not a second wasted, the projection teleported again as its move completed, reappearing about 12 feet above the ground. It released a wave of light, static, and wind, as before, and then—as if light as air—fell to the ground without making any sound except that of its passing through the air.

It crossed the distance between itself and a group of children and injured people in the space of not even two seconds. Again Evelyn spoke through it, walking up to the group as she did. "Not to worry. This one's under my control. If you'll let us, I can get you out of this room and somewhere safe. Sound good?" She said the words from her own lips and the easily projected words of the Tulpa. Some of the civilians looked to her, but some couldn't take their eyes off the projection. She smiled at them warmly, despite the direness of the situation, looking comforting...even if she was only 17 years old.

Discarding that errant thought, she noticed some of the civilians nod or give their consent, at which point she signalled her projection with a wave of her hand—entirely for the effect, rather than the necessity. Instantly the projection lowered itself and gathered the group around itself. Evelyn had already turned to walk away, her attention on the fight. She paused and smirked back at the group, "Safe travels," she said, winking. The very moment after the projection vanished, this time with naught but a gentle breeze to mark its passing.

Four seconds passed and it was back.

Evelyn activated her comms, "Inkscape, get mad at me later if you must. I'm alternating my projection between evacuating civilians and harrying Ceramix. Prioritizing the safety of civilians so we can fight without hurting anyone." That said, she ended the communication even as her projection dashed forwards, teleporting three times—towards the conflict—with each reappearance a small shockwave of air and light was released. The effect was growing more intense as it continued to teleport.

Moving at speed, and with teleports, it was headed right for Ceramix, ready to strike. Evelyn wasn't going to hold back, but she also wasn't about to lose control like she had before. This was serious. Lives were on the line and this might very well be her first successful capture of villains. Even if she did have help, she wanted this and she wanted it bad.

Seeing the figure of the Ward Epsilon rising above the crowd, Nora turned her camera towards her. She was scanning the crowd with something on her head. It looked like welding goggles, but with an extra bit on the top. Very strange. It wasn't actually digital or anything like that though, as Nora's power notified her of the possibility of activating it. Looking at her through the camera, Epsilon's eyes were on her now. Raising her head above the camera, she activated her power. Thinking quickly, she chose to look like how she had last seen Protean. In her place, a bulky Minotaur now stood above the crowd. Gross. Now it was time to leave though, she couldn't keep this up forever.

Moving to the side, she joined a group of civilians who were taking cover behind some of the PRT soldiers. After a bit, they allowed them to exit, and Nora smiled as she left the hall. This was a productive event.


Epsilon shook her head, practically face palming. The person she had thought was the stranger was just Protean. They were still out there, but she couldn't see them. "I don't see the Stranger Tulpa. They might've left. Moving to evacuate civilians." She said into her comm, before pushing herself off the ceiling, back towards the entrance.

Quickly she drifted back to the ground, taking a few steps before deactivating her flight pack. Epsilon had landed just past the protectorate soldiers, and started talking to some civilians. "We're gonna get you out of here don't worry. I can take people one at a time." She said, her voice confident. Being given orders had definitely helped. In the midst of her speaking, she heard Protean respond in the comms saying he was enroute. But she had just seen him. . . "I have been affected by the Stranger, I think. What do I do?"


Always the same orders. He loved it, it was simple to do. Activating his power, he pushed himself back into the group of Rockers, grabbing two of the thugs, and leaving instantly. As floated, suspended in his power, his thoughts raced. This distance was too far, he might suffer permanent injuries if forced to do this another time. Arriving, he dropped them and teleported just beyond the door of the cell.

"This distance is too far. Anywhere else I can bring them?" Hermes asked into his communicator. An intern had dropped some papers in surprise, and Hermes did his best to not embarrass the man.

'With all due respect,' Raymond proffered as Benito chugged his vial of serum, the gaze of his mask matching that of the badly-scarred villain who had suggested violence was not the way, 'there is a reason the saying goes "to cut off the head of the snake". One does not collapse an organisation by eliminating its peons, for there are always more peons. You have to remove the head - that is, you have to ensure the organisation does not reform, and the best way of doing so is to remove those that organise it to begin with. And when all rests on a single lynchpin...'

He didn't get to say more than that, as the man who had drunk the vial exhibited what appeared to be a new power outright, shortly before blacking out and taking the others in the room with him into unconsciousness.

---

Raymond came to about the same time as everyone else in the room. Scenes of death, destruction if one would, on a cosmic scale continued to roll through his mind, planet after planet vanishing as he played back the scene in his mind again and again. No wonder, then, that everyone was as affected as he was - to the extent that one villain, the one hailed as Whipstitch by the Broker, even fled the bar entirely, muttering something to herself about manipulation.

Forcing his breathing rate to slow, feeling his heartbeat steady as he calmed himself, Headhunter paid attention to each of the speakers that followed. One villain made the obvious point: Patriarch likely already had a spy within their ranks. He’d be interested to receive those vials, and he’d want to have a chat with the Broker to determine how he got them. Another simply asked what the Broker had done, as if none of what had happened was already obvious. And a third, the same man in fact who had so aggressively demanded a vial, completely changed tack and agreed to purchase a single vial the same way everyone else was. Had the trigger event affected the man so intensely? Perhaps. Or perhaps not.

One last speaker. This time, Chatterbox opened his mouth, simply to confirm his belief that the aforementioned Benito had, indeed, been granted his own set of abilities, as well as asking just a tad comically that any others interested in a vial didn’t take one in the bar again. And on that note, Raymond felt it might be appropriate to determine what exactly Benito had done to make that glass vanish.

‘Benito, was it?’ he asked, raising his voice just enough to catch the man’s attention. No need to suggest he’d just triggered - because of course he had. Instead, he wanted to clarify precisely how, and so uttered ‘If you wouldn’t mind doing us a favour, perhaps you could try to take another glass of water?’

@Spiffy

Affliction would have responded to the individual whom he disregarded his violent reasoning, if not for the fact that he blacked out with the others.

In any normal circumstance, someone might have been terrified at the idea of seeing visions of death, cosmic horror, annihilation of the world. Though it had become a familiarity to dream about the abnormal these days.



When he came around, his head felt a bit fuzzy. He couldn’t tell if it were from the trigger event or the fact that a wall of meat was calling him quietly. He took a second. Before switching his attention to Swarm. Something had bothered him about the earlier interactions.

“Do you always make decisions impulsively?” Affliction ask him, slowly recalling what a response even sounds like.

This was a strange dive this event. Normally Affliction would be spending the time with his cats at home. Gaining a following. Or find some way to further his invest in the people. It would be the people who would create an uprise. Not a lone vigilante. People need an image to aspire to, like a Buddha or a God. He hadn’t yet found the Buddha or the God he could persuade others to. Not quite yet that is. But chaos only caused scattering, they needed a unification. Or that is the way he saw it.

Sure you could cut the snake’s head off and that certainly would destroy an organization. However, what that man failed to realize was that an organization was more like a tree. The leader was the base, and the branches the organization. Go ahead and cut the tree, a tree lays a seed in the ground and rejuvenates over time. Instead you took the tree, you took whatever was heading it and you find a way to stimulate yourself into the group. Take down their highest structural pillars. Become those pillars replacements and have the leader under your thumb.

Sometimes the best course of action was one so subtle you’d barely knew it was an action. So many people want these spectacular displays of their power. Vials. And the inability to see that random chaos had no end goal. You would not erect or change the course of society that way.

Thanks to the work of the PRT soldiers that had been stationed nearby, and the speedy work of the various heroes, the last of the civilians had been evacuated outside the concert hall with the group escorted by Margrave. As his little fangirl was rushed to a relatively safe distance, she cried out, "Thank you, you're amazing!" A sentiment that was echoed by the other civilians. Still, they weren't out of danger yet. Ceramix could do a lot of damage with that large stone suit of his. The soldiers kept them all moving along further from the danger zone, but for the moment everyone was safe and the heroes could now put 100% of their focus on containing the threat.

"Hermes, this is Decoy," the tinker spoke through the teleporter's comm device. "There are some PRT holding vehicles that were brought in today just in case. I've uploaded their locations to your holographic interface. It should help you save travel distance."

By now most of the Rockers thugs had been taken care of. Only about five remained, not including those brainwashed by Mastar, but it would still be a good idea to get the unconscious criminals out of harm's way. A titanic battle was going down, and if things failed to go perfectly the collateral would be horrible.

"Epsilon, disengage from any contact with the stranger. We have more pressing matters. If you feel confident you can neutralize Ceramix's power, take the chance. Otherwise, see about helping Hermes clear out these bad guys." Inkscape took the opportunity himself to disengage from the golem, seeing as how it was under heavy assault from multiple big sources, in order to focus on telekinetically lifting numerous thugs off the ground and out of danger.

Meanwhile, Ceramix had engaged with no less than six different heroes at once. Outsider was in the process of grappling the stone giant, while Mastar had successfully managed to mount his huge arm. Messiah and Kyoshi were double-teaming the giant's legs with their own abilities, while Angel was content to bring him crashing down from the top. It was difficult for the tar-breaker to maintain a grip on the rock-suit as it struggled against Outsider, but against all odds she managed to keep ahold of it. On the ground-level side of things, the double-team of Kyoshi and Messiah was causing serious damage to the rock-suit's legs. The titanic fighter buckled down onto its knees, while Furnace came running back inside. Seeing the situation, he immediately dove next to Messiah's heat beam and dialed down the temperature drastically. The ambient heat, which would have caused everyone to dehydrate and receive minor burns, was now being taken care of while the searing ray still had its intended effect on the target.

Now on his knees, Ceramix lost his ground in the grapple with Outsider. Now completely unable to fight back, the stone suit went immobile, leading to the perfect opportunity for Angel to come crashing down on the suit's head. Stone cracked beneath the breaker's weight, and within the suit itself Ceramix was knocked for a loop as well. Everything appeared to be perfectly posed for Outsider's charging kinetic blast...

BOOM!

Rocks exploded out from the stone giant's chest. Something inside was getting out! The dust prevented most from being able to properly see what had happened, but Outsider felt a strong blow against his kinetic barrier, strong enough to completely shatter it in an instant. The force knocked him back a bit, releasing the tentacles on one of the stone giant's arms. Ceramix immediately followed up the opportunity by slamming his fist right into Outsider's would-be-face, knocking the bizarre alien-like hero across the concert hall and into the wall. The impact caused the whole building to shake violently. Outsider's kinetic blast had been interrupted, and fizzled out.

Bouncing up from the dust and into view was the answer everyone was looking for, the cause of this sudden turn of events: Shatterpoint, the Rockers second in command and far far more dangerous than his boss. A split second before Tulpa's projection teleported in with a shockwave, Shatterpoint flipped back behind the stone giant's head, avoiding the shockwave. He took the opportunity to jab a quick blow into Angel's side, then slid down the giant to safety. He applied every ounce of his brute power strength to that blow, and targeted it for maximum damage. If Angel hasn't been in her dense form at the time, it was likely all her bones would have shattered.

"Shatterpoint has been located!" shouted Inkscape. "He is now priority number one! Converge, everyone! Inkscape moved to intercept the Rockers' second, as did Noble and Furnace, but Shatterpoint slipped through their formation before it had even tightened around him. His thinker ability was a great deal of trouble.

"I've got him!" G4M3R cried out, taking aim with his blaster and firing. In response Shatterpoint threw his own stone helmet, blocking the blaster bolt and destroying G4M3R's ray gun in a single move.

"I'm here!" Protean announced through the comms. The shapeshifter arrived through the front doors held aloft on wings, having taken the form of a gryphon.

"As a reminder," Decoy began speaking, "Shatterpoint is registered as a brute 4, and thinker 7. According to what we know, his power allows him to see the weakest point in anything from a large structure to the human body, up to and including military formations. He will constantly adapt and move to avoid being in a disadvantageous position, and is fully capable of taking out nearly anybody present in a single strike. Use extreme caution."

---

---

Benito stood silently still, not addressing Headhunter's question. The man was concentrating, highly deep in thought to the point of blocking out all outside stimuli. He grasped at the air where the glass once was, but felt nothing. It was simply gone. Closing his eyes, the Italian took a deep breath in, then slowly exhaled. He grabbed the air once again, only this time he felt solid glass against his flesh. When Benito opened his eyes, he held the glass of water once again like it hadn't gone anywhere. "Fascinating..." he mumbled.

Meanwhile, the man calling himself Broker continued to address everyone who remained in the room. He barely bat an eye when Whipstitch hurried out in a fit. Honestly it was to be expected that someone wouldn't take the situation very well. He was willing to work with the hand dealt. "Healer, yes? Of Lethal Force? I have only done exactly what I already stated: Powers designed to affect anybody outside of yourself have been temporarily neutralized. Please, do learn to pay attention." He then turned his attention to the representative of the Rockers.

"Creep, was it? You raise some good points. A very astute young..." He gave pause, trying to measure her up in order to assume her gender. "Woman," he eventually concluded, going off of her body size. The voice modulator did not help matters. "Such risks have been taken into consideration and I have the utmost faith that Patriarch does have at least one spy present. However they will not be learning anything they do not already know. After Patriarch's power was leaked to the public they have already been preparing to be assaulted on all fronts. Suffice it to say, this coalition never had the chance of a sneak attack. As for wanting to claim the vials for himself, that goes without saying, which is why I will be ensuring you all have your purchases today, well in advance of payment if necessary. Once they've been split up amongst your groups, you will be able to give them to your people immediately, and Patriarch will be unable to steal them back."

"Steal them back?" Sabotage interjected, rising up a bit from her seat. "You mean to tell me these used to belong to The Community? And you stole them from Patriarch?" Her voice was more inquisitive than accusatory.

The man in the suit nodded affirmative. "Truth be told I can sell powers all day, but these vials specifically were, shall we say, liberated from The Community. I did not like the idea of what Patriarch would do with my product, so I issued a recall." He gave a rather smarmy and self-indulgent grin.

"Then you are already on Patriarch's hit list," mused Purge, folding his fingers together, musing in thought. "Which means your attendance here has more to do with pitting the rest of us against your enemy, to secure your own safety. I am more than willing to work with anybody as an equal, but I do not appreciate being used."

The man shook his head. "Not at all. Truthfully, I'm not worried about Patriarch coming after me whatsoever. The personal damage he can do to me is nil. It is the misuse of my product and his overgrown influence in this city that I am concerned with. Nothing more."

Purge nodded his head, apparently placated for the moment, though the featureless white mask he wore admittedly made that sort of gauge difficult to measure.

"Now then, six vials and two have already been claimed by the Rockers and Reflections. That leaves Lethal Force, the mafia, Sabotage, Retcon, and the Jacks. Who will miss on the opportunity to take one?" He feigned bewilderment, holding his index finger to the forehead in a faux-thinking gesture. "Since I didn't receive my invitation, I'll have to deny the Jacks any rights to my vials. Now the basics that you will need to understand is that these vials do not function on anybody who already has powers. If anybody in this room drinks one, it will be a complete and utter waste, so don't think that you can double up on abilities. It will never happen. Second, there is a chance of mutation, so these vials do not come without risk. The imbiber might become a monstrous parahuman in appearance. This is a risk. Third, make certain they drink the entire vial. Incomplete ingestion can lead to some... Very nasty results. Fourth, there is no way of knowing for certain what powers will result from these vials. It is a gamble, but one with very high rewards. We can discuss payment after the fact. Is everyone understanding and accepting of the potential risks and rewards?"

---

Everything was.....

Complicated. Extremely complicated. Benito had gained some kind of phasing ability, maybe? Touch based, hopefully. Making stuff just vanish and reappear at will was.... Interesting. Useful.

All the local groups were being offered a vial, minus the Jacks. Over a snub that didn't matter.

Idly he wondered if anyone would make the connection that they'd stolen the vials.

And the mole. Brought up and basically confirmed.

Who it could be, though.... Jason didn't know enough about any of these people to make anything beyond guesses at.

Jason glanced at his team. He... He wasn't equipped to control this situation. He talked better with his fists instead of his mouth.

---

---

There was so much going on, so many noises. So much action.

She'd guarded Messiah for her attack, and Furnace had showed up to help control the heat. She wanted to snort at him, but she knew it was silly.

Things were going great. Civilians evacuated, most of the goons home, Ceramix was falling.

She gave a baby goon a swift thunk to his head with her tail, just enough to make him see stars before scooting him towards Noble for proper restraining.

This was amazing. She'd felt so... Alive.

Ceramix was immobile, about to be dealt with when the most ridiculous crash exploded from the golem's chest area place, causing Lillian to wince at the noise and the flying debris.

There he was. Shatterpoint.

"Shatterpoint has been located!" shouted Inkscape. "He is now priority number one! Converge, everyone!"

Lillian shank, returning to human form, and ran towards Alessa.

"I can't react fast enough transformed to combat Shatterpoint," she said quietly as she drew near, keeping a safe distance from her girlfriend so she didn't have to worry. "I...I don't know what to do."

She could probably handle the remaining thugs in human form, but she didn't feel very useful against the rock Golem or Shatterpoint.

But then a thought occurred to her.
"Inkscape, what if we removed visual sight? I could get close enough to rely on sounds to pinpoint him and try to foam him!" she said into the comms excitedly.

---

So, watching everything around her using her power, Sheila had been able to stay calm around most things. Even when Whipstitch had thrown that chair into the wall, she had managed to keep herself stiff and not reacting. However, over there, this one lady cracked a glass and then cut her own hand. THAT made Sheila flinch, her hands closing from involuntarily imagining the pain. Why would she do that…!? … Something with her power, Sheila figured, but then her power did something to someone else when she cut herself? What kind of terrible power was that!? … Well, fortunately, it didn’t work in here. Phew, honestly. Sheila made herself calm down.

The man who had tried to take over the Rockers backed down from his earlier boldness and politely requested one vial. … Sheila silently prayed said new recruit he’d be getting would be the traitorous sort and they’d split, because she didn’t want him to get more lackeys. Humming guy spoke, but it was just a joke. Nobody here was going to drink and show off their new powers. It was nice of Benito to show off the vague outlines of his. Banishing and returning objects? Didn’t sound too bad… unless he could do it to miniguns or enemies, that is.

Broker spoke. That girl that cut herself was “Healer”? Healer of Lethal Force. … With that much black, she didn’t look the part. Why would a healer cut herself? Powers are mysterious things, Sheila concluded for not close to the first time. Then, Broker spoke to Creep.

Creep kept quiet and tried to keep her posture straight. She wasn’t exactly flattered by the praise, he felt too much like a sleazy businessman trying to get on the good side of a customer. Still, he provided the answers. Patriarch knew already. The vials had been stolen from the Community. Issued a recall, so the powers came from Broker but made a round-trip by the Community. Those were some odd circumstances, but alright.

Nicely enough of him, Broker listed all the parties that were present in the room. The Jacks, the Rockers, Reflections, Lethal Force, Purge’s Mafia, Sabotage and Retcon. … What kind of group names themselves after a violation of the unspoken rules? Someone intending to get into serious trouble, Sheila supposed. In any case, satisfied that she had a relatively good idea of where everyone around her belonged now, Sheila felt considerably safer. That was probably a bad thing. Still. It was something. She had a decent view of the villain scene of Denver from here. Broker listed some rules about drinking vials, and they were all good to know.

‘… Understood,’ Creep simply stated. Came with risks, of course. Drink the whole thing. … So, if she poured out half a vial and then left it lying around for the Community to find, could she screw them up from the inside? Worth considering.

She did not miss the fact that, with the Jacks unable to buy one, for the rest to be bought all remaining ones had to be bought by the available parties. If one opted not to, couldn’t afford or so, what would the Broker do? Just keep it? … Hm. Also, the mafia already got one, seemingly for free. She could argue they already had gotten one, but speaking out against this fact would require speaking out against Purge, and she wasn’t entirely at a level of self-confidence where she could do that, even if she felt a bit braver now. Huah. Okay. She could do this.

… Naturally, as a Stranger Sheila considered if she could steal a vial from the others if they bought one. Purge was out, and she wasn’t sure stealing from a group named “Lethal Force” was a particularly good idea. Sabotage was a thief and probably good at covering her tracks, and Retcon… was a complete question mark. Reflections? She couldn’t imagine that guy had amassed a particularly large team yet, it could be safe. But also dangerous. Using knowledge from a meeting like this… it broke the rules, didn’t it? … Sheila kept quiet and safe, though she kept thinking…