---

Raising an eyebrow, Evelyn glanced at the reactions of the others in the circle, before she crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. While Lillian spoke, Evelyn listened intently, drinking her coffee with an almost eerie, detached calm. In her chest she felt a faint tightness and she couldn't help the muscles in her jaw flexing from time to time, but it wasn't like before.

At the admission of Sonar's betrayal, and how deep it was, she simply gripped her coffee cup more tightly and stopped drinking. Slowly, the action tightly controlled, she set the rumpled cup on the tabletop.

She took a deep breath and met Lillian's eyes before looking to Alessa, their team leader. Her eye twitched faintly, she swallowed, but ultimately still spoke.

There was no fire in her eyes, only something cold and controlled. She'd been seeing her therapist more often, but surely this wasn't what they would have wanted. "If you can set the bait, I can close the trap," she said, leaving the 'how' of it ambiguous. She turned back to her coffee, and drank some more letting the others pitch in.

Thus the Jacks entered DIA in the best way they could get in undetected: straight through the front doors. A purchased ticket with no intention of use would get them through just fine since their faces and identities were not known to law enforcement. Beyond that, the fifteen days of preparation had given them a great amount of preparation for the job, allowing Chatterbox to position thralls at key points to smuggle in their equipment and look the other way when necessary. It all went quite swimmingly, and soon all five members had gotten in without a hitch. Perhaps this was the most worrysome aspect. The airport had hired thinkers to be on the lookout for dangers, villains, and the like, ranging from generalized social thinkers to those with very specific detection abilities, yet as far as the Jacks were aware nothing was amiss. All of Chatterbox's thralls were able to do their jobs without so much as a confused eyebrow from another person.

As the first of the Jacks to enter, Jason and Sofia had been waiting in their terminal, terminal A, for some time. Time enough that the plane they had purchased tickets for had taken off, not that that was a problem for them, but it could wind up being a problem for security if they were seen loitering around for too long. Then again, airports were far too crowded and disorganized for that, right?

Mina had entered a separate terminal, terminal B,, only able to access the others by the handy-dandy train system DIA had in place, which left every minute on the minute. Her McDonald's, while tasty, might have proven redundant seeing as how she could have gotten food inside the terminal. A McDonald's smiled across the ways, next to a Burger King, Taco Bell, and of course a Pizza Hut alongside who knows how many more food places? Not much to do now except keep an eye and ear out looking for something suspicious. That, or meet up with the team, but maybe keeping themselves split would be better for reconnaissance?

Raymond found himself at terminal C, separated from the others, but not from his gear. As long as he followed the path laid out by the plan, he'd be able to gather his weapons and armor from a baggage storage straight off the tarmac, thanks to a brainwashed security officer ignoring the blatantly illegal property passing through his scanner. Moreso than any other of the Jacks, he relied on his equipment, so it was certainly paramount he reclaim it, then remain inconspicuous as they waited for, and sought out, the threat.

Lastly Drake found his way into terminal A as Jason and Sofia had earlier in the morning. His power had been integral in setting up their entering the airport unaccosted. It was no exaggeration to say that he was the most important individual in the operation. Setting up a network of spies to warn him of any strange business going on the airport was almost like a side perk, albeit a vital one. Why have five pairs of eyes when you could have five dozen? Or five hundred? It was difficult to tell exactly how many he had enthralled in the area, but somewhere between those two numbers.

Spotting Jason and Sofia in the distance, Drake felt the vibration of his phone alerting him to a text message from an unlisted number. One of his "fans." Blucifer has been blown up. All flights about to be grounded, pending a search and investigation.

The City

Claire snapped to attention as she saw something crashing down the street ahead of her, followed by two women stepped into view, talking loud enough for her to hear. She watched as one punched a car, the part where she punched seemed to disappear, before spilling into to two separate parts. Witnessing the other women throw the back half of the car, Claire decides she needs to speak up and prevent this mindless destruction before they draw attention to this area.

"You work for Patriarch?" Claire calls out to them, bringing her presence to their attention, taking a mental note of what they both look like, additionally noting that the second one seems is a very possible threat.

---

Reading the text, his smile fell, then quirked slightly at the corner of his lips, before vanishing again. All as planned.

Tap, tap tap tap, tap tap, tap. Pause. Tap tap.

He began relaying messages through his network of thralls. Investigate, keep an eye on the cameras and report. Report suspicious activity from staff or civilians. Report anyone paying too much attention to certain groups—those around the Jacks—and the Jacks themselves. Additionally he reinforced a set of directives set in place to never rat him or the Jacks out. These he'd programmed deepest into the psyche of his thralls. It would take a lot to out them. He'd even instructed them to lie about what comedians they went out to see, varrying things so even that was hard to connect to him. Anything to obscure the path, but enough of that, he had a job to do.

He activated his bluetooth.

"Blucifer's been blown up. Flights cancelled or grounded for search. Cause unknown. Trying to figure out what the fuss is." He didn't say it too seriously, no more seriously than someone having a casual conversation on the phone. His team would understand, but those around would think little of it, if anything.

Updates began coming in from his thralls. Flights truly were being cancelled and grounded. No one had been informed just yet. Clearly a security measure, something to reduce panic. With something like this, he wanted to know if they called in cape assistance or—....

Perhaps there were capes already on scene other than them?

"We might have some other brainiacs on scene. With security and the airport. Unsure."

He left the bluetooth connection open, but muted so they couldn't hear his surroundings. He began tapping again, sending messages to the highest ranking thralls in his bunch, trying to go up the chain of command to locate any thinkers on scene. He wanted to see of they could use them...even if he couldn't control them.

He wanted to know what their reads were. He wanted information and he wanted it yesterday.

"Besides you Hunter, stay packed up. You don't need anything in your carry-ons yet." He said it, implying they shouldn't gear up just yet. He took his own advice, making a note of the various drop off points he had his gear delivered to. He didn't have one, because he wasn't sure where the threat would come from, but he didn't want to have to make a huge detour just to arm himself. He wanted it to be on the way.

Hopefully his careful planning would pay off.

---

Jason had found himself a seat, having made sure Whimsy and himself had arrived just too late for their flight. They were, naturally, redirected to another flight with room for two extras that would take them to Atlanta.... That left in 5 hours. He patted the poor attendant who had had to deal with that, insisting it was quite alright. He must've been intimidated by Jason's size.

None the less, they'd found a place to wait casually by one of the tram entrances. Quick and easy access, even without his power. And, of course, it was right next to where their gear was stashed.

All according to plan.

At least until the Bluetooth spoke up with Chatterbox's information. "Noted. On standby," he said quietly, leaning back. "Ready?" he asked Whimsy.

Sofia found herself reasonably well armed with knowledge about what an A class threat entailed, as those sort of things tended to be surprisingly available. Whether or not that information would stick very well, much less be useful, was perhaps a different matter. Regardless, it seemed whatever the A class threat was coming was here? Sofia nodded in response to Jason's question, "Ready.", though for what was still unclear. Oh well, this mission should be a lot better than the last one, which Sofia still find herself thinking about with disturbing frequency.

Maddy walked through the front door of Sunny’s making sure to hold the door open for Visage. The place was quaint and rather cute little place, feeling like an old english tea house, which made the name Sunny’s kind of ironic. ”What a cute little place.” Maddy said as she looked around, ornate table cloths and fancy carved chairs somehow just felt like something Visage would like. Maddy led Visage to a table and took a seat ”Do you come here often? This place seems pretty posh.”

”Not often, no. I feel like that would lessen the experience. Like if eggnog was available all year long, it would. . . Make the experience cheap?” Visage said, adjusting her beanie as she sat down across from Mire. Flipping the coffee cup already on the table over, she leaned back slightly. Almost immediately a waitress walked over, filling the cup from a steaming coffee pot. Motioning a cut off point at three-fourths full, the waitress stopped and looked over at Maddy.

”Do you want some coffee?”

Maddy covered her mouth and took a moment to think, she’d never had coffee before and didn’t want to get something she might not like, but she also wanted to look semi proper in front of Visage. ”Do you make hot chocolate here?” she asked, her head tilting ever so slightly as she stopped covering her face.

The waitress nodded, ”Yes we do. I’ll just go fetch you some.” she then walked off back to behind the counter.

Maddy’s eyes followed the waitress as she walked off, one of her fingers scratching at the cloth on top of the table. ”What are your thoughts on Creep and her misfits?” Maddy’s tone was hushed and ever so slightly agitated.

Watching the exchange with a slight smile, Visage switched gears, and looked around the room. As the waitress walked away, Maddy spoke up, and Visage listened with slight interest. Work, of course. That’s fair. She thought, as she considered the question, and how the answer would affect Maddy. ”Creep will be Creep. She’ll huff and puff, but it’s better to have her around than to make her into an enemy. I had the choice before you joined of losing part of the gang and Creep, but I’d have become the leader of the Rockers. I decided that I’d rather work under her, and keep her around then make her into a blatant enemy.” Visage said, slightly hushed.. She started sipping her coffee when the waitress came back and poured the hot chocolate.

”I’ll give you a few minutes to decide what you want off the menu.” The waitress said, going over to serve the other few customers in the place. Visage thanked her before she left, and waited a bit before continuing.

”Salem is. . . He’s on a short leash with Creep, and he’ll be on a shorter one around me. I’m trying to be friendly of course, but he’s honestly too obvious of a threat. The press will be hard pressed to sell him as anything but lethal if they get a whiff of him. Pester just doesn’t seem useful right now, but I honestly don't have a strong opinion of him. Hell I doubt if he has a strong opinion that wasn’t given to him.”

Again Visage sipped her coffee, watching Maddy’s response to her words.

Maddy nodded to the waitress as she walked off, and paid close attention to what Visage was saying. It was interesting to hear that Visage had a chance for leadership over the rockers but decided against it to keep another parahuman as an ally, Visage was playing the long game. Personally Maddy thought Creep was alright, but she also couldn’t help but feel like they would end up at odds some times. Then it was to Salem, a short leash was indeed a good idea for that one, not just because of his power either. Maddy noticed how he reacted to a simple schoolyard joke, slurs thrown out during a confrontation may just set the baby off. Pester seemed exactly as Visage said, Maddy shared the lack of opinion on him.

”That sounds about right, though I’ve got a bad feeling Creep isn’t going to appreciate me. I don’t know what it is about her…” Maddy sipped her hot chocolate. ”But what about me? Any thoughts on yours truly?” Maddy said striking a pose briefly before going back to slowly sipping her hot chocolate.

A smile spread across Visage’s lips at the question, before she leaned forward so that her elbows were resting on the table. ”If it wasn’t obvious I like you, and like having you around then I think we both missed some social cues.” She sounded a bit teasing, but her expression communicated that it was all in good fun. ”If you mean as far as your power, with one so versatile as yours have I don’t know if I need to say much.” She hurried to finish speaking as the waitress came back.

”Are you ready?” She asked, looking between the two of them.

”We’re ready. Ladies first Maddy.” Visage said, smiling at her own joke.

Maddy put her hot chocolate down and leaned back into her chair, looking up as the waitress came over. Maddy wasn’t able to muster a smile at the moment so she opted to maintain a rather blank face. ”I’ll have a blueberry muffin please, can’t beat hot chocolate and muffins.” Maddy’s tone was a little absent, like her words were meant to have some emotion behind them but didn’t.

Watching Maddy carefully now, Visage almost didn’t notice it was her turn to order. After beat, she said ”I’ll have two eggs over easy and some hash browns” Before she picked up their menus and handed them to the waitress.

”That’ll be right out.” The waitress said before walking away.

Maddy looked Visage dead in the eyes, a sort of manic grin creeping its way onto her face. ”Now now. Don’t you fucking lie to me. There is a lot more on your mind that you’re not telling me. See I like you Visage, your smart, cunning and cute. I like being around you, I owe you a lot too, my home, my clothes. All of that is because of you.” Maddy looked back to see her muffin coming and took a sip from her hot chocolate as the waitress place the muffin down on the table.

Maddy nodded to her ”Thank you.” Maddy plucked a piece of the muffin off and chucked it into her mouth before continuing. ”Now while I’ve unimaginably grateful for all you’ve given me, I’m not just going to sit here and let you lie to me. I’ve seen your fear, there are thoughts you have about me that you’re not sharing. You spoke of keeping a leash on Salem and I’m going to go out on a whim and say that you’ve probably got one on me too. Or at least you think you have, you’ve been buttering me up quite nicely I have to admit.” Maddy took a sip from her hot chocolate to help wash the muffin down.

”Look I want this partnership to work, but if you’re going to keep so much information from me, then I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” Maddy’s tone wasn't at all aggressive instead being awfully calm.

Idly, Visage leaned back and listened to Maddy. The grin kind of creeped her out, but she kept a straight face. Despite the words used, she was calm, and Visage reciprocated that calmness, showing no fear on her face. When finished, it was clear that Maddy was at least aware of the game. Obviously just letting her have her fits wasn’t gonna work, how would Maddy respond to reciprocation though?

”You don’t know what you’re going to do with me?” She paused, looking over Maddy with almost invasively unimpressed eyes. ”What are you gonna do about your landlord?” The graying mid 40’s man who owned the apartment Maddy currently lived in was suddenly sitting in front of her, taking a sip of Visage’s coffee. ”Or that jogger who passes by your apartment almost every morning.” A tall blonde girl was sitting across from Maddy now, and leaned forward. ”You don’t know who I am, and more importantly who I could be.” Visage was herself again, and in her hand was a leash, leading to Maddy’s throat. Maddy wouldn’t feel a sensation there, but it was still an effective image for Visage to use.

You haven’t noticed the leash because I haven’t pulled on it yet. She jerked the leash, and took away Maddy’s vision at the same time. She enjoyed a comfortable three seconds looking through Maddy’s eyes before returning vision. ”You’ve got my attention though, you want to know what I think of you. You’re not a pawn, pawn’s are disposable. You’re not the king, king’s are essential. You’re my queen right now, and without any other queens on the board just yet, I’m going to keep putting you in places where you can clean up our opposition.”

Visage took a long drink of her coffee, and then spoke again, her voice playful again. ”And you’re not hard to look at.either.

The waitress brought Visage’s plate over as she finished speaking, and she started to eat slowly.

Maddy’s eye twitched as Visage spoke. The repeatedly switching of appearances obviously intended to intimidate Maddy only made her angry. Though it was kind of funny that Visage thought Maddy wouldn't just cut people down until she found the real Visage.

What caught Maddy off guard was the sudden loss of vision, her head darted from side to side until the effect ended. When it did Maddy's eyes turned back to Visage, pure rage covered her face. So Visage didn't fear her as much as she thought, and Visage saw Maddy as a chess piece, a queen. ”Don't do that. EVER, again… You may be able to blind me, but I can do much worse.” Maddy's hands trembled as she tried to hold herself back. ”I'll play your game, but not as a piece.” Maddy would pick up her muffin and nibble on the edges.

That answered the question at least, it seemed that Maddy was quite childish. She was all for threats, but when one was made at her she got mad and threw a temper tantrum. Wonderful. Visage was still perturbed though, she wanted to make sure the point was made, the guillotine over Maddy’s head clear. Threatening her outright wouldn’t be the best option though, clearly she wanted a monopoly on threats.”I won’t take away your eyesight anymore then. How would you like to play the game then? Have you decided?”

Maddy let out a sigh. ”I want to be a person. Not a piece, not an underling.” Maddy's hands were still shaking as she practically strangled her cup of hot chocolate. Visage better cherish this chance Maddy had given her.

”You asked me what I think of Creep and her goons in the context of the Rockers. If I described how I felt about them personality wise, you probably would’ve thought that didn’t answer the question. Then you asked for how I thought of you, and i answered it in the context of the Rockers. Of course I think of you as a person.” Visage said, seeming sympathetic.”If I don’t think of people strategically inside the gang then we end up with more casualties as a result.”

Maddy relaxed a lot after Visage finished speaking, god Maddy had almost lost her cool over some misunderstanding. Though at least she found out some more stuff about Visage, but there was one last thing she wanted to know. ”That makes sense… Though there is one other thing. What's your actual name?”

”Sarah,” Visage said, a slight smile still on her face. ”My name is Sarah.”

---

Ah, so that message had finally come at least, along with more information from Chatterbox. The metal-coated girl thought about the matter to herself as she was tossing away her still somewhat cold McDonalds bag with empty burger wrappers inside of it.

Sure there had been many places here, even a Pizza Hut to her delight, but at the same time she'd wanted to be ready and not stuck in a fast food line if things went down fast. Well, that had been another aspect to her idea that had been thought about after getting here....but still! She knew where her things had been dropped off according to her request, behind a trashcan near the women's and family restrooms close to the food court. No one was going to go near it, that much had been guaranteed. If a top-tier threat struck in this area, then, she'd be closest. If the others needed help, that would be more trouble due to this terminal only being accessible by train...a train which could be vulnerable depending on where the enemy struck.

In a sense, it was "easy peasy" on her end, save for getting to the others if needed once things began. That being said, she was proud of how the rest of the team had become in the time they had spent together thus far. Turned out they had some smart cookies, not that she was dumb, but her experience as a street hero had at least come into play as well it seemed. Regardless of her perception on things, though, Alloy's calm and casual facade hide a parahuman who was calmly breathing, steeled for whatever was to come and fight them in this place. Hopefully the civilians would be able to flee, with minimal casualties if any...heaven forbid that would haunt her slightly, though she'd seen terrible enough things in her life so far.

Ah! Perhaps if this took a bit longer, she could get a small Frosty at the nearby Wendy's! She'd eaten little the day before as she'd prepared herself physically and mentally, only taking in just enough sustenance to keep her going and not glut herself. Plus...she liked Frosty's, ok?

Gabriel glanced at the receptionist and replied with a wide grin, "We are looking for Creep. We've heard of the great lengths in which she has gone in order to make The Rocker's a respectable establishment. Is she available?" He continued to smile at the receptionist as if she was the only one in the room. For all they knew he could be there for a job. With those fine clothes an invester. Even an angry parahuman with a grudge. Anything was possible.

This time, Swarm would not be caught unawares. Slowly and steadily he lifted many dust particles in the air with telekinesis in a 15 foot radius around. Firefly was aware of this tactic from interactions with Swarm before. It would help to reveal any invisible figures who were hiding from view more easily. As dust was displaced unnaturally, spies could be found...

---

‘Wake up, people. On your guard. We have unknown guests. Send out a couple of yellow alerts, just in case,’ Creep said, walking among the grunts who were spread around doing who knows what in the HQ. Who knows what could be going on, after all. Yellow alerts were just text-messages which included the word “worry” or “worried” somewhere, meaning that something could be going down potentially but perhaps not, be wary if you approach the HQ. Just in case. Red alert contained the word “help”, and it meant get the heck over here right this moment. The word “thanks” meant green, the danger has passed. Then there was black alert, which meant the HQ was compromised so don’t return there. Phone calls were preferable, but sometimes that wasn’t possible. … For this moment, the right cause of action in case of a battle was immediate withdrawal, because they were not equipped for a possible cape fight with any kind of opponent, so that’s what the men prepared for. A retreating battle.

She was about to leave the room when the phone of one of her grunts rang. It was the “call meant for Creep because someone outside the Rockers wish to speak with her” phone, which obviously she didn’t carry on her person. After all, if it was Visage that was at the HQ she’d be the one to answer it. The trusted grunt picked out the phone and showed it to her, asking without a word if she wanted to take the call. Creep took the phone without a word and answered.

‘Creep here,’ she simply said, then listened to what the one on the other side said. Well, then. She intentionally waited a couple of seconds in order to leave the guests waiting.

‘Alright. Put me on speakers.’

---

@Spiffy

The receptionist gave Swarm an analytical stare over the professional smile, and then took out a phone.

’She’s not always available, but I’ll check for you. Who should I say is asking for her?’ the receptionist asked, before calling a number.

"An interested party." Swarm replied. _{(I asked @Spiffy what Swarm would say)} The receptionist nodded and a few seconds later someone picked up.

’This is the lobby. Someone calling themselves an interested party is here, wishing to speak with Creep.’

It took a couple seconds, but then the receptionist smiled and nodded.

’Alright, turning on loudspeakers.’ With that said, a button on the phone was pressed so a light turned on beneath it, and then the flip-phone as held forward towards Swarm and Firefly. From there, Creep’s voice sounded through the phone.

‘This is Creep. State the nature of your visit.’

On the other end of the phone call, Creep walked while clutching the phone as she made her way through the building. There was a degree of power in the other part not knowing where she was while they spoke. She cloaked herself and headed out through a back-door, intending on walking around the building while invisible to stand right behind them after. They had doors that Creep ensured could be opened silently exactly for that, as well as windows on the door so she could see what she entered into. While talking on the phone meant she couldn’t get right behind them yet without being heard when she talked, she still made ready.

Of course, at the moment she’s merely exiting the building and walking on the outside while unseen. Not enough time had passed for her to reach the front door.

---

@Gardevoiran@Spiffy
Chapter One: Lethal Force
"Francine is dead by your hands. Your power trickery won't work here," Sonika said coldly at the swap to Francine, sending a strong blast of air into Farce, sending her into the wall.

As Mantis unleashed his attack, however, things didn't go....quite how he wanted. Sonika's first reaction was to fill the room with turbulent, forceful air movement, which affected his aim. Xolotl, meanwhile, entered his breaker state with a thunderous, ear-splitting crack, moving faster than Mantis could shoot, before the TV exploded as he seemed to phase into and then out of it. Which was right when Sonika hit Mantis with a veritable wall of force.

---

@PlatinumSkink@Spiffy@BCTheEntity@solokolos@Lemonzest1337
Chapter Two: The Rockers
While the little meeting was going on down below, the two figures entered into the building proper. Inside they immediate ran into a guard who.... Waved to them?!

"It's about time."

"There's unknown people in the lobby," one said quietly.

"Creep is dealing. Everyone else but this new guy is away. He's in his room, don't think he's awake yet, like right below us."

The second figure nodded, disappearing after a few moments, before he reappeared moments later.

"Done?"

They nodded.

---

@Belladonna@Lemonzest1337@Yoshua171(Open invitation to Independents to get involved)
Chapter Three: The City
As Sylph crashed to the ground with a loud crunching sound, Eyeblight turned his attention to the fallen Case 53 hero, his eyes seeming to almost glow. He took one step towards her before being blindsided by Outsider. The kinetic blasts flattened him, literally, before he just popped back up good as new and turned angrily towards the newcomer... Just to have three tendrils come at him.

He evaded two of them, moving far faster than one might expect from a scarecrow, and opened up a hole in himself around the third before slipping away from the grasping appendages.

"No fair! No eyes! LOOK AT ME, DAMN YOU!" he screeched. One poor woman from Outsider's own office building screamed as she collapsed in a puddle of urine, the sound muffled by the windows.

Which was the call for more chaos as a car came speeding down and rammed into Eyeblight who cackled madly as they moved away from the two heroes. At least until the car smashed into a stoplight, sending Eyeblight flying further away from them.

In the distance they could hear a helicopter approaching...

---

Meanwhile, Claire had decided to approach the two women.

The one who had destroyed the car glanced at her sideways as the two came to a stop. The one who had thrown the car was slightly closer than the other and had seemingly instantly drawn a pistol.

"We were told to spread chaos, sister Celia."

"Likelihood of being a cape is high, approaching us."

"Go ahead, sis."

Celia pulled the trigger nearly instantly, aiming for the gut.

Before he could react, Judah was slammed against a barrier of lethal force. He flew backwards into the wall behind him still clutching his weapon with a death grip. A loud crunch echoed in the room as Judah's body bounced off the wall, making an indent in it. He fell forward onto his stomach gasping for air. His Kevlar vest offered some protection against the impact to his vitals and spine. Even still, he bled from his nose, head, left arm and leg.

Judah struggled to lift his head and good arm toward Sonika. Pain shot up through his bleeding leg and arm. Anger boiled up within him. It was either that or give into the despair of defeat. Judah would make them work for it.

He released emotions of blinding rage toward his opponents. The type that would make someone abandon all measures of self-preservation in primal aggression. Then Judah fired off the remaining rounds of his weapon at Sonika from his prone position. His hope was for her to abandon her defensive assault and be tagged with 9mm holopoint ammunition.

After the bullets had whizzed toward his opponent Judah struggled to his feet. He grunted in immense pain from the effort. His left arm hung uselessly to his side and his leg hardly held any weight. Blood trickled down from his wounds. Rage still swelled within him and all around.

Then Judah tossed his pistol to the side and ceased all emotional influence at once. He spat blood onto the ground and offered a challenge through labored breaths, "You're nothing...without your power...fight me..hand..to..hand..." Judah shifted most of his weight onto his good leg. Then he raised his right arm aggressively toward whichever opponent accepted his challenge.

"Pure blood sport. Like the gladiators of old. The only out being the death of enemy or yourself. What a way to go," Judah thought to himself.

Gaia flew backwards into the wall behind her before keeling over in pain, looking towards Sonika and Xolotl as soon as she could move. What the absolute hell was that?! She was willing to go with them in peace and they attacked

Well, look at that, the fucking dumbass is going to get you killed too now.

While normally, Gaia would slam Whip for saying such a terrible thing (though it was somewhat true), for the first time since she had been in Gaia's mind, Francine spoke... sadly. They... they would sooner treat me like petty trash than help me?

"Yeah, Francine. Sorry that you had to see this side in this way." There wasn't anything else that could be said. Francine's entire world had to be turned upside-down by that single action from Sonika. She... she didn't wanna stick around. She wanted to get out of here, and fast.

... I... I don't want to be here... Fran choked out her words in Gaia's mind. ... Farce, can you run?

"Probably, though not for too long..." Gaia whispered as she stood back up and raised her hands in the air. "Why...?"

I know the city like the back of my hand. We can run, I just need you to get out of there.

"On it, Fran." Gaia smiled softly. Finally, some cooperation was happening.

Now they just needed an opening... and Mantis being an idiot was the perfect opportunity. She just needed him to take the full attention of Sonika and Xolotl for a while.

So, she thought hard to try and speak to him. "Get their attention completely and hold it for me. I can get out of here if you do." Her best plan was running, and it was her only plan unless someone who could fuck up these two would show up quick. Dammit, where was Retcon when you needed them?

... a moment passed before Gaia looked at the window behind her, cracked slightly from the thunderclap that was in the room a moment ago. She stepped forward lightly, before running backwards towards the window with a jump, mustering up as much force as they could muster. If they made it through, either Whip or Francine would appear in her place due to how her power decided to act, and they'd have to take over for running. Axel would be following after, leaping out the window. If nothing worked and she just knocked herself out, then she'd follow the original plan of surrendering, though much less willing than normal.

---

Kendall listened intently to the developments of Sonar's betrayal to the PRT, and they... didn't know how to respond. Mastar would've obviously said something like "Sonar can meet the end of my boots for that heresy,", but this wasn't Mastar in control. It was Kendall, and even if it was Mastar in control, she couldn't help out here in this situation. Lillian's plan was really good, though. It was solid and sound, and it probably was the best chance of tricking Sonar. The only thing that made it terrifying was Evelyn's reaction to the idea. She was too calm, too collected about it. Maybe she was the mole all this time and nobody kn- nah that would be too obvious.

Regardless, Kendall stayed silent, not sure of what to say at this moment. They would take a sip of their green tea, but it was currently made gross by the murky black vomit now contained within the cup.

---

The tension going out of him as the villain escaped, and was then surreptitiously crashed into by a car, Outsider cast out his senses, then turned. That was Sylph, wasn’t it? That silhouette, cast by the mass of bioelectricity throughout her body, made dimmer all the more apparent by her metallic flesh.

“You alright,” he queried, his voice hollow, if still clearly concerned. He kept his attention split between her and Eyeblight, though he never lost awareness of their surroundings.

Sylph stumbled along still very disoriented from her crash landing, as she shambled along rubbing her shoulder she saw the massive form of Outsider. Her gaze followed him until he’d landed down and started doing battle with Eyeblight, but the moment Eyeblight was visible Silvia felt the fear take hold again and quickly averted her eyes.

What was she supposed to do? Just looking at this monster made her so terrified she couldn’t do anything except cower. It was then that Sylph would notice Eyeblight’s deranged cackling moving further away, she took this opportunity to look back around only seeing Outsider. ”I-II-I-I think so…” Silvia’s wind barrier finally kicked on as she took deep breaths to try and calm herself. ”What h-happened to the villain?” Silvia asked, looking around at the sky when she heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance.

He nodded his head, “That’s good.” Pausing he waited a moment and then responded, turning his head away from her and in Eyeblight’s direction, “Got distracted by my ambush and got blindsided by a speeding car.” He gestured with a finger, “He’s somewhere in that direction.”

Pausing a moment he frowned, “He’s more difficult to track than most people, what with his body being made from straw. The electricity where his body is is different from the ambient electrical energy in the air, but still. I mostly have to operate with my hearing, which isn’t bad...but, well.” He paused, charging additional kinetic energy, “It’s harder.”

Considering possibilities given the fact that Sylph couldn’t look at Eyeblight directly, Outsider fell silent.

Sylph looked in the direction Outsider pointed and shivered a little, how was she going to help if she’d just turn into a useless wreck whenever she saw Eyeblight? She could close her eyes but that would mean she’d not know where they were. She could just let Outsider take care of them because they seemed unfazed by their encounter. But the helicopter. If that thing flew too close and the pilot saw eyeblight, then they would crash just like she’d done. There was plenty of death and chaos going on at the moment, and a crashing helicopter would only server to increase the body count.

”You s-s-seem to be able to deal with him, but what a-about that helicopter that’s coming? You’ve got to divert it or ground it, if it flies too close to that thing, it’ll crash for s-sure. I doubt I-I could safely ground it...” Sylph’s was still obviously shaken.

“I doubt they’d react too well to my form either, but I can certainly guide them elsewhere. Will you be alright for a minute while I take care of that?” He shifted in the air, ‘swimming so he faced partially upwards, before turning back to ‘look’ in her direction.

”Y-yes I think I can.” Sylph knew she’d at least be able to distract the scarecrow to give Outsider time to deal with the helicopter, though she still didn’t know all the things this villain was capable of. Either way she’d be helping save more people even if she did get hurt, so it would be worth it.

“Alright, hang in there, I’ll keep an....” he trailed off, realizing the phrase wasn’t terribly applicable, “Yeah, I’ll be back.” That said he turned and flew, accelerating all at once and then gradually as he climbed towards the helicopter. All the while he kept his attention split, paying mind to Eyeblight and Sylph’s location in addition to the helicopter and its trajectory. It was high enough that buildings weren’t much of an issue if it dipped a little. He aimed to fly one hundred or so feet ahead of it, far enough that it would be able to slow down. He knew his voice--as loud as it could get--would be inaudible due to the propeller. He was going to have a hard time communicating anything particularly complex.

That in mind, he kept things simple, gesturing they redirect away from the area. Making it clear they should fly away. If they tried to move closer he’d stay in their way while avoiding the propeller. If needed he could easily move the helicopter independent of its own propeller and engine. If that’s what it took, he’d do it.

Sylph stood still briefly as she watched Outsider fly off before walking into the most open area she could, hoping that Eyeblight would come back and attack her. Hopefully she would be able to handle his attacks long enough, though she also needed to keep eye contact to a minimum. As far as she knew all this villain could do was terrify you just by you looking at him, that and that he was made of straw.

The City: @Old Amsterdam@LemonZest1337@yoshua171

At the sight of the pistol, she moves into a defensive stance looking at them confused as to why they would pull a gun so quickly. She stands there listening to the exchange, knowing the Claire is right in front of them, but talking as if she isn't.

"For your sakes, I wouldn't..." she starts before hearing her the complicit tell Celia to shoot.

Claire changes into her breaker form, expecting the worst, the explosion light making it hard to tell exactly where she is. The bullet ricochets off the side of her hip, chipping her slightly, embedding itself in the building to the side of the lane. She quickly contorts her hands, picking up the remaining half of the car sitting in the ally way and flinging it in the direction of the two sisters.

...Collin.

Collin was a mole for the Community.

She’d come up with the notion of using Ira’s abilities to save him from his powers’ negative effects to begin with.

‘Well, don’t I feel stupid,’ she murmured under her breath, frowning to herself. Her chest was tightening, with anxiety, with annoyance, with... anger even. How dare he. He... he’d led the Wards for a year before being incapacitated, how much of that was he feeding-

She exhaled, forcing herself to relax, straighten up, and think it over as she realised her body language mirrored Evelyn’s. If this was anything like with... with Dean... ugh, she didn’t need to remember the warehouse again, and Kendall throwing up into her drink at that exact moment didn’t help matters at all. The point was, Dean hadn’t been in his right mind, and there was a good chance Collin might not be either. Though, if that was so, he might be long gone as far as being an ally went... no, no “might”. That wouldn’t help any of them here. He was a threat, and for the sake of argument, his inability to be un-brainwashed had to be the presumption, no matter if it was true or not in the moment.

So. Evelyn could close the trap, so to speak, if they could just set the bait; she imagined that meant preventing him from using his power once he realised he was busted, and she imagined Evelyn would indeed have that in hand. They needed to see what they could come up with as far as tricking Sonar to begin with, then; the implication they were going after Patriarch directly might be a good idea, but it was too obvious, as if they were intentionally putting themselves in harm’s way.

Although... what if they pretended they’d be putting themselves in such a situation without realising? If a mission was announced, and it happened to put them in an easy position for the Community to capture them all in one fell swoop... and, of course, they’d need to find a way to scan for who Sonar was contacting as a result, though she imagined Decoy would have that handled. Yes, this could work well for them all.

‘I think,’ she began slowly, ‘that we should use ourselves as the bait, going off of Evelyn’s statement. We wouldn’t actually need to put ourselves in harm’s way, mind; we’d just need to make him think the Community could capture us as a group. Turning all of the Denver Wards into minions would be an irresistible prize for them, right?’ She looked to the other Wards, wondering whether they had anything to say about that. Plus, if it turned out Collin wasn’t the mole, he wouldn’t say anything at all, and that’d clear his name. She could only hope.

---

Hmph. Blucifer was down, eh? Of course a major threat would target the most obvious landmark in the area to announce themselves - though if nothing else, at least he’d avenged the creator’s death, if that thought gave the dead man any comfort. As he continued along his route, a couple more updates came in - the possibility of other Thinkers present, as one might expect considering a terrorist attack had just happened; and the announcement that the Jacks other than Raymond himself ought to keep their equipment packed. Not a problem for him, then.

‘I shouldn’t need to say this, but all of you stay vigilant,’ he quietly tacked on to Chatterbox’s instructions. ‘The last thing we need is for anyone to get caught out and killed.’ For now, he’d stick to his initial route, following his own advice by keeping a watchful, albeit subtle, eye open for anybody who wasn’t meant to be present - that is, non-thralls. He had his tools to collect from the assigned location, which he reckoned he’d reach very soon, and once those were in hand, it’d be a simple matter to find a place to get in uniform and prepare himself for the attacking Cape.

Raymond only had a short walk to reach where his equipment had been stashed. In the few minutes it would take him to slip out of sight and get ready, the situation evolved in a rather strange way. A number of people sitting or walking around, just happening to look out of the windows at the time, could spot a large explosion on the runway! An air traffic tower had been detonated, and was in the process of collapsing right in front of a plane in the middle of takeoff! Screams of concern and fear echoed throughout the various terminals as this sight was witnessed by Alloy and Whimsy as well. Yet although Thunderbolt had been looking in the same direction as Whimsy, he saw nothing to be concerned about. No exploding tower, no plane getting crushed in half by debris...

At this time Chatterbox began receiving a multitude of text messages, all of which appeared to be completely contradictory to one another. Some gave explicit mention of more bombs going off, while others reported that all was well. Some said security had been receiving false reports of damages, and that Blucifer was still up and standing as it had always been. If he were to look out the window, everything would appear to be normal... Save for several people running about in a panic.

Suddenly, as though someone flipped a switch, Allow and Whimsy no longer saw burning wreckage and death. The runway was normal. The tower was normal. People still ran about in a panic around them, but the damage was... Gone? As though it had never existed to begin with. That's when Headhunter clearly heard an explosion in his terminal, not too far away. If he were to look back out, he'd see where a bomb had detonated on the tram, blowing it right off the track, no doubt killing dozens and wounding several more. Yet half the citizens walking around simply ignored the sight?

That's when Chatterbox received another in a long line of conflicting text messages. My thinker power doesn't detect anything wrong.

Sofia jumped in alarm as waves of force and sound rippled through the airport. She turned to look outside to see a plume of flame and smoke wafting up from a runway. Part of the airport was collapsing onto one of the planes trying to take off. Sofia tugged on Thunderbolt's sleeve hurriedly, "Hey hey hey, there's a-, huh?" Sofia audibly let out a noise of perplexment as she continued staring at the now tranquil scene, not counting the screaming people around her that had seen what she saw. "But it exploded..." Sofia said softly, unsure what to make of the situation. Was this the A class threat? Had anything actually happened?

---

Jason sat, relaxed but ready, as he watched the people around him. At least, until half of them started freaking out.... Including Whimsy.

He looked down at her questioning, his brow furrowed in confusion, before something clicked into place.

He set a hand on her shoulder, speaking quietly to both her and the team.

"There's someone messing with senses or something. Whatever they're doing is creating a panic, even though I haven't seen anything change myself. Whimsy and I are gonna move towards the gear," he finished while pulling the girl to her feet. "Now would be a good time to know what the fuck is going on, C."

---

Alloy found herself blinking in confusion as she witnessed what seemed to be an attack, the torrent of burning wreckage and death not being comfortably easy to see despite her time on the streets. Honestly, she never wanted to be comfortable with it, even if she had done a lot of work in the past. Yet in a heartbeat the scene disappeared to a normal scene once more, as if nothing had happened. It was much like the flashbacks she had seen in TV shows, but....in the real world and in her face this time around. As the metallic girl looked about, mixed crowd reactions and confusion, fleeing, and some being utterly calm left a strange feeling in the member of the Jacks' gut. Her mind raced back to experiences, things she'd learned about parahumans in her practical experiences and such. Terms, words, descriptions and rumors among such things. Maybe she'd read a few books in the past as well after her initial "triggering"...

Regardless, Mina looked to her phone and listened to the group's comms as things progressed. At Thunderbolt's words a thought or two popped into her head.

"I am going to move to my gear location as well," the girl spoke where none of the people around her in the airport terminal could hear, "But if they are messing with our heads, a Master targeting the nervous system using a gas, maybe someone good with illusions even, could be trying to stir up chaos before they actually strike. A diversionary tactic. Gotta be pretty powerful to affect this many people though..."

Perhaps a basic guess at best on her part, but it was something she had thought about. If this was a Master, heaven forbid certain people she'd head about on the streets and such, then this would not be good for them. At all. This being said, at best she could only guess. Chatter hadn't said anything yet about it, it seemed, and in the meantime she began to calmly make her way towards where her gear was stashed. Albeit, she wouldn't change just yet. She didn't want to jump to a conclusion before the group overall decided on a move.

Because what if someone was trying to get them to gear up and expose themselves? Thought that'd be silly unless they had the reach, tactics, and power to know the Jacks were set up here ready to spring into action. How in the world could that even be possible in the first place?