---

Travis breathed heavily as he pointed the sound gun (Sonic Rifle? Yeah, that sounded cooler) at the Chainsawyer, ready to unload on him the second he started to get up. Unlike Blitz, Travis seemed to lean towards the more merciful option of not brutally killing the pirates, or else he would have already been shooting the downed villain.

"...me... -Sawyer? ...The vermin... Still connect..."

His hearing wasn't getting any better - he could barely make out what Pandora was saying, despite only being a dozen or two feet away at most. Though the low whine of the Rifle and the sounds of the last few Rocketeers dying weren't exactly quiet. There almost seemed to be a light jolt through the room. Unbeknownst to Travis, this was Pandora reconnecting the train cars.

It was around this point that Travis finally noticed that the Chainsawyer was rapidly being frozen to the ground. When the villain realized this, he quickly attempted to pull away, but had already been safely neutralized. Travis lowered the rifle, looking over to Marcie as he did so. She responded by looking over at the few pirates who remained, most of whom were pretending to be dead or unconscious.

Before Travis could act on this and restrain the pirates, however, a red light beamed through the wall of the train car, a third massive hole in the vehicle. Travis quickly raised the rifle up again, ready to retaliate against whatever new villain was arriving this time, but no one came through the new entrance. Instead, a pair of cables shot through the hole, latched onto the Thorium, and whisked it away with ease.

For the immediate few seconds after this, Travis was left in stunned silence. Shortly after that, he finally realized that they had been unsuccessful.

Adrenaline pumped throughout Travis' body like lightning, and the pounding of his heart sounded louder than anything else right now. If the Thorium got stolen, then Director Steel and Blums would be super disappointed. All the funny emails, late-night voicemails, and formal requests for 'Free Ice Cream Fridays' would go to waste!

Of course, that might already be the case. While Travis didn't seem to care about the mass murder of these criminals, the Director and anyone responsible for PR might be a little upset.

Shit, shit, fuck, shit!. The Thorium was being taken away - Travis had to do something. Time almost seemed to slow down as his brain pulled at whatever options were around.

Needed to fly after the Thorium somehow. Growing wings? No, even if Travis' power could do that, he had no clue what kind of injury he'd need to take to facilitate it - the best he could do reliably was extra legs.

Shoot the ship with the Sonic Rifle? No, wouldn't be strong enough and could damage the Thorium. Best case, it gets dropped and is unusable. Worst case, it explodes... Well, maybe. Travis really wasn't sure what Thorium was, but the 'Weapon-Grade' title made him think it probably exploded.

Hold the living pirates ransom? That was a stupid idea. The leader clearly didn't give a shit about her team if she was just abandoning them here with the guy that killed most of them.

Stealing one of the dead Rocketeers' Jetpacks? Didn't have a clue how to operate it, might just go headfirst into a building at 100 miles per hour, and even if it goes well, there's no real guarantee that Travis could help against the flying ship.

Better than nothing, but still pretty dumb.

As Pandora and the new guy (Dawnmaker? Couldn't hear him very well...) both left the Train, Travis began to rifle through the equipment on the dead bodies. Most of the jetpacks were broken beyond repair - pierced along with the flesh and bones of their wearer when Blitz turned them into donuts.

When Travis finally found an intact pack, it seemed even more complex than he initially expected. Maybe the HUDs in the helmets made them easier to operate somehow? Didn't matter too much - none of the undamaged helmets would fit Travis' now deformed jaw. He slung the pack over his shoulder as the huge vape man spoke to him and Marcie.

"Well... shit... I think we're fucked, roach-boy and ice-chick. Hmm, ah, so wind-snob is going after it, I guess that makes sense."

"You guys probably can't keep up, so watch the place. I'll see if I can't go help."

"Whai fo me!"

Travis quickly chased after Blitz, stopping just short of the third hole in the train car. The train was at least 4 stories off the ground and the wind was blowing hard, Blitz running at ludicrous speeds along the roofline.

Yeah, fuck that.

"Fock tat."

It was now that Travis admitted that this wasn't really his fight anymore. His power didn't facilitate chasing down a vehicle very well, and he didn't know how to use the jetpack reliably. He'd almost certainly do more harm to himself and the buildings nearby than he would help to regain the Thorium. The other heroes would do better without having to worry about Travis messing things up for them.

More importantly, they were really high up, and Travis was not the biggest fan of heights.

He quickly began removing the rifles and jetpacks from the corpses and few remaining Pirates that were still alive, tossing them into a bloody pile the next car over. HERO probably wanted to take that stuff... and maybe they'd let Travis keep a badass souvenir. He refrained from knocking them out, however.

No real need to harm them anymore. The survivors surely preferred prison to dealing with Blitz again.

Travis gently rubbed his jaw, feeling the tooth blocks clack together every time he opened and closed his mouth. Might heal in an hour or two? That kind of sucked, but there wasn't really much left to do - wouldn't be too big of a problem.

"Cahn you freec-"

Yeah, this wasn't going to work. Travis paused, before pulling out his phone and opening a text-to-speech program. After typing his message out, a robotic voice quickly began playing from the device.

"Can you restrain these guys? I didn't bring any cuffs."

Travis continued typing, thankful that his hands didn't get injured during the fight. Typing with weird roach fingers was not an enjoyable experience.

"Do you know if Hero pays for the food here? That'd be ducking awesome."

Travis sighed, a noise that sounded more like a fusion of a whistle and a groan from his mutated throat.

"Fucking awesome."

It was a little disturbing that Travis was hungry despite the gory scene around them.

---

---

Location: "Innocuous" Warehouse

---

---

Where the hell did this wannabe hero get off talking like that? He even tried playing into their exaggerated theatrics, and all he got was being called a dumbass? His attempts at being patient were breaking steadily. Surely HERO wouldn't mind if SSV was...Lightly disabled? It was evident on his face that his irritation at the situation was growing, with a scowl beginning to curl onto it. Luckily, it was dark enough to be relatively unnoticeable.

"Y'know, I wouldn't bring it up unless it was more of a 'you' concern than a 'me' concern. If things go up in flames, I'll manage, but you? I wonder..." He shouted out to the smart-ass vigilante, the malice clearly coming through in his voice. It was slowly becoming less of an act and more real ill intent towards this shadow-stalking sycophant.

That line of thought was thankfully cut into by Sparkles right next to him, chiming in on his choice to vocalize with their target. Before he speaks up, Leon consciously reminds himself to lighten his tone again; it wouldn't do him any good being this way around the only vaguely competent individual around him. Where were the others?! "Sorry to say it, but direct conflict isn't really my forte. But, trust me, I'm doing plenty just being here." His scowl had shifted into a smirk, and he gave a quick wink to his glittery companion mainly because looking at her for too long literally burned his eyes. And, luckily for her, he completely misses her own attempt at returning the wink.

However, in that glorious moment as Beth is going to light up the warehouse, strike down the vigilante, and let them go on with their damn lives....

White.

Leon's field of vision is suddenly covered in stark white. A partially muffled "Fuck!" is audible as he stumbles in blindness, luckily catching himself on one of the nearby lab tables and, in an odd coincidence of movements, slides on his mysterious assailant....Which is to say, a white lab coat. Classic comic-book level stuff. As his eyes adjusted back to the relative darkness of their surroundings, he looked down on himself with a deep sigh. He could definitely rock anything, but this was pushing it...

However, what he found caught his attention more was how this happened. He hadn't seen anyone throw it at him, and as he gave a cursory glance around, it was clear they had lost track of Shadow Scythe Vengeance. That, and his 'competent individual' floundering around in a similar coat. "Sheesh, just...Just hold still for a moment!" Grabbing ahold of her as best he could, Leon worked Beth out of her own white prison, tossing her coat to the side. "Alright, get yourself together Sparkles, we lost that smartass again...Looks like we might have more than one problem crawling about here." Even if his irritated expression wasn't clear in the shadows around them, it was evident in his tone of voice. However, before he continued, he shifted a bit and felt a weight in one of the pockets.

Curious, he put a small bit of distance between himself and his disco-ball of a partner, digging into it...And finding a wallet, which when leafed briefly through produced a few hundred dollar bills. 'Huh. Silver linings, I suppose. If I remember, Vance brought up a new fancy restaurant uptown...' He thought to himself, a bit of his composure returning as he pocketed the hard cash and tossed the wallet to the wayside. Perhaps things weren't all terrible. And to be honest, while it was a bit garish, the coat could serve as a bit of protection in a pinch. It's all about the bright side, y'know?

Before Leon could launch into a new plan with Beth, a familiar but notably absent face emerged, and asked a simple question.

"Are you two alright?"

He couldn't help it. His face twitched in annoyance. What about any of this was alright?! The stupid vigilante kept slipping away, there was obviously some kind of conspirator that could even catch him unaware, and now said stupid vigilante was nowhere to be seen! Before he fully snapped on her though, he took a deep breath, clenching a fist in one of the coat's pockets. See, it was already paying off!

"Physically? Yes! We're all too fine! But the overall situation? It could..." He takes in a sharp inhalation of breath before eventually continuing. ....Be better. And where have you been, exactly? Sparkles and I have actually been trying to handle this, and we haven't seen a glimpse of you until now..." He stood in front of Render, menacing over here with a glint of anger in his eyes. There was heavy tension in the air....Until, as casually as possible, he brought up his XL cup of cherry Coke, took a long sip, and with a sigh of contentment, backed off as if nothing had happened.

"Doesn't really matter, I s'pose. You're here now, so you can help. I know Sparkles here is packing firepower, but..." With a raised eyebrow, Leon looks appraisingly at Nilin. "What is it you do, exactly? I'm hoping for tracking, because as is, that smartass glorified crook is outta sight and outta mind." As if to sell his point, he gave a cursory scan of the area with his light. He didn't catch much, although he swore he saw one of the vigilante's legs kick into the air, as if struggling with something on the floor, but that didn't make any sense to Leon; he must be seeing things. So, with a shrug and another quick drink, he awaited the good news from their new ally who decided to show up and fuckin' do something. With any luck, at least...

---

RENDER

---

---

The annoyance was clear on his face before he even spoke which already had her on edge, ready for a fight but she tried to keep herself calm on the outside because the last thing they needed was to be against each other or go into an all out brawl. She already wasn’t completely on their side as it was and she didn’t want to have them both set the blame in her lap if…when Shadow Scythe Vengeance got away. Nilin didn’t even have a moment to help Sparkles with her lab coat situation before he set in. She listened to what he had to say, relieved that they were physically fine while she was somewhat distracted in clearing out the unarmed civilians but then he turned on her in an accusing tone with anger clearly bubbling under the surface which had her bristling. It didn’t matter that he was bigger than her, making her feel tiny as he menacingly stood directly in front of her and in her space. She stepped closer to meet fire with fire, little care for the distance or lack thereof as she wouldn’t be intimidated. ”And what exactly are you implying?”, she asked in a chilling tone with a harsh glare, ready to defend her side with words or otherwise if need be but for now calling what she hoped was his bluff on the subject.

The tension was so thick in the air that it could have been cut with a knife, neither yielding for a moment before what seemed almost a moment of comedic relief...he took a sip of his drink from earlier, seeming more content and backing off at least for now as well as dropping the issue as to ‘why’ she wasn’t up front and center. Nilin stopped glaring, trying to relax again after such an intense moment. If he was going to drop it then it was only fair she didn’t poke the bear too much and let it lie as well. She raised an eyebrow at the next question, an amused smile curling at the corner of her lips before she gave an animated shrug since at the moment she didn’t actually know what she could do. ”The better question is, what are you packing?”, she questioned teasingly in return with a slight playful smirk. Sure, she could just say she copies the powers of others but at this moment, him not knowing was much more of an advantage to her. Honestly, this guy had done nothing but throw her through a loop since the moment he arrived. She just didn’t seem to get him but at least he was intriguing, she would give him that.

”Anyways, I might not be a tracker but if you had given me two seconds instead of jumping me like a suspect, I would have told you the direction SSV went. You know, seeing as I didn’t have a lab coat jettisoned at my face.”, she answered with a sigh before pointing in the opposite direction of where she was sure Sol had SSV. ”It looked like SSV headed in that direction. My guess is to get out of the spotlight and probably ambush us. We should stay close and watch each other’s backs. I already cleared out a good portion of the civilians, just in case Sparky here ignites something and so SSV can’t use one of them as a shield. Should be safer for everyone this way.”, Nilin stated calmly before continuing, ”Unless one of you has a better idea?”, she asked, trying to give an olive branch so to speak and hear at least what her teammates had to say even if she really needed them to follow along.

"You know what? I think I might." Jeremy said with a grin. "It's probably about time we had a big get together with the whole CREW again. It's been far too long since I got a chance to call someone the wrong name..."

He raised a brow when he started hearing shouting however, and that along with Lee's words had him turning to see what was going on in the courtyard, his left eye almost appearing to spin in it's socket as he did.

"Barbara, I'm going to assume the idea of our orchestra teachers holding those kids at gunpoint makes sense to you for some reason, but I'm fairly certain that's not them. I checked back up on the staff on my way down here, and none of them have wings. Considering the fact that one of those men do, I think it's safe to say this may be a little more serious than you think."

He rolled his shoulder, placing his bag on the ground and opening it. His left eye swiveled around again, darting to four specific points as the iris flashed an unearthly yellow-orange.

"Luckily, I believe in a rather unformal method of teaching compared to other teachers, so even though you probably set this up for the kids to use somehow, I think I might crash the party myself. Seek."

And with his command, a large cloud of runic paper tags flew from the bag, separating outwards until they reached their targets, converging around them in four distinct groups. However, despite how much easier it might have been to just take them all out properly, Jeremy still felt like it could be a good learning opportunity. That was why, rather than targeting the gunmen, the tags simply attached themselves to their guns, wrapping around them until there was nearly no metal left unexposed.

"Burst." Stray commanded, bringing his left hand up in front of his face and making a small sign with his fingers. With his spell, the guns that had formerly been pointed at the terrified teens crumpled and bent in the hostage takers hands, becoming little more than twisted metal.

"Alright!" He shouted out to the chaperone team, his voice booming out surprisingly far across the campus. "I've done my part to even the odds a little for you! Now it's in your hands, so show those brats what you heroes've got, ya hear me?!"

Graham, hearing his teachers words, didn't even hesitate in following his instruction.

"Got it Mr Stray Sir!" He shouted, before launching himself at the winged man with a vicious clawed kick.

Gematria fired a grappling line with a claw hand, getting a firm grip on a handhold. Just when she was about to reel in the line, though, something struck her on the head. The additional electrical effect caused her body to short circuit. Megumi found that she could no longer move Gematria. She gave off a sighing noise, then proceeded to eject herself from Gematria to examine the damage.

Regaining her human senses, she blinked a few times, trying to regain her bearings, then sighed again as she began to inspect the damage caused by the electrical attack. Megumi pulled Gematria toward her, removing a panel from the forehead to examine the circuitry inside. Some components had been fried, rendering them unusable, but it was a minor issue. Megumi had come prepared for such an occasion.

Opening another compartment in Gematria's stomach area, she pulled out a small metal box containing various small tools and spare circuitry. She removed the damaged pieces and was in the middle of inserting the new replacements when the attackers appeared to hold everyone at gunpoint. Her hands paused as she stared at them, unsure of what to do in her current state. Looking down at her hands, she knew she had one more piece to install, but she was worried she couldn't place it in quick enough.

Fortunately, it seemed Stray was on the job, quickly disarming the men. Megumi was impressed as always with Stray's work, then realized that she was free to finally fix up Gematria. A second later, Megumi finished her work and placed all her tools back inside Gematria's storage. She then crackled with electricity, electro-surfing back into the android. She leapt back onto her feet, exclaiming, "Gematria, back in action!" Two panels opened up at her hips, firing a pair of cables with pointed tips, driving themselves into the ground and anchoring them towards the direction of one of the men. Wheels popped out from her feet, and the cables began to rapidly reel themselves in, propelling Gematria towards that man as she readied a punch aimed at his face.

---

---

Blaze smirked at Strain’s offer to pay off the winning kids, tilting her head at him knowingly. “Yea, won’t get a better deal then that, let’s go!” whooping, she dashed off to the wall, not bothering to use her powers. Just on sheer physicality alone, she could easily beat most of these. The gravity kid might be an exception – as she’d expected, he easily floated up, stopping halfway to trade some barbs with a companion of his.

Blaze didn’t let the opportunity slip away, and while the four bickered briefly, she launched herself from handhold to handhold, muscles working smoothly and easily, straining only lightly. The climbing area was made for inexperienced adolescents, after all, and wasn’t that high all in all.

When the last of the kids made their way to the climb, and one even kicked the other down, Blaze laughed heartily. “That’s the spirit,” she shouted in encouragement without looking down, continuing the climb.

Unsurprisingly, the gravity kid – Drew – was on top first. “Good job!” Blaze complimented him. She was the second behind him, and didn’t think anyone other youngin would overtake her. Yet, she quickened the pace, wanting to go up and give the winner a pat on the head – literally.

However, just as she was about to move from the last handhold to the lip of the platform up top, a voice resounded in the area. “Crap,” she muttered, swiftly looking around. As soon as the threat started, Blaze had also kicked up her power – her body warmed instantly, and was ready to burn skin. The cliff remained unaffected; if she wanted to melt it, she’d need minutes rather than seconds to generate enough heat to do so.

“I’m kinda busy hangin' in here,” she shouted at the attackers, lying her ass of, though she also couldn’t resist a minor joke. Of course, she could easily jump off and roll, but her position to the target was optimal. Hopefully, the eyepatch guy would make the mistake of getting closer to her to kick her down. Even if he was smarter and just pointed the weapon at her instead of keeping it on the kid, she could manage.

Then, another minor distraction made itself known. Old man stray had sent some paper scraps flying, which wrapped around the weapons of the assailants. Grinning madly, Blaze launched herself the last few centimeters up, landing besides the hostage and the surprised criminal. Chuckling, she grabbed his arm – the one which still held the weapon. Flesh sizzled, and eyepatch man dropped it with a scream.

Rather than let him do his teleporting trick, she punched him in the face. Blaze didn’t stop at the one hit either, continuing the pounding. Besides the mundane force of the swing, there was also the heat to consider. By now, it’d damage him even through the armor, though it’d still take a while for him to really feel it. As she engaged the opponent in melee, she also made sure to angle her body so that Drew was behind her. If he was smart, he’d get to safety – or even help out where he could, if he was feeling recklessly brave. Not that Blaze would mind or accuse him if he went for the latter.

“No no NO!”

Pandora’s trick had worked. The nuclear weapon went careening to the ground, taking Pandora with it. The jet jolted as its heavy load was unsteadily released, sending the cockpit (and possibly the person clinging onto it) rolling. Meanwhile, the bomb was aimed squarely at the clearing. Much to everyone’s surprise, however, a racing bullet of a man- Blitz- came running and caught the bomb in his hands. The heft of it would be enough to send any man to the ground.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Sam raged. She banged on the dashboard, screaming in frustration. “God DAMNIT! Fuck you! Fuck you all! I’m going to fucking kill you bastards!” Her face was red as she turned some switches and armed the jet. “Angela! Kill every other fucking hero you can find on that goddamn train. We’re sending a message.”

“Message received. On route now.”

“And for these guys…” Sam smiled wickedly. “They’re getting a mouthful of bullets. Starting with this fuckboy on my windshield.” Then, casually, Sam pulled out a machine gun, rested it on the dashboard, and began to shoot at Dawnbreaker through the glass of the cockpit with one hand. All the while, she used her other hand to aim her mounted guns at Pandora and Blitz and started to shoot, rapid-fire at them.

“Can’t hear you, shitrooster, but you’re about to die.”

---

The train car was a mess. There were bits of blood and gore streaked over everything, including Marcie, and the few pirates who were alive were struggling helplessly on the floor. They made miserable moaning noises, curled around their gory wounds. Marcie winced, her stomach turning. She needed a shower and a ginger ale ASAP.

Just when she thought the battle was over, though, there was a shrill rending sound. A red laser sliced a hole in the wall and, before Marcie could react, the bomb was gone, along with the man who she had encased in her ice. She blinked, stunned. That was fast. In her head, the tired girl resigned herself to failure, but then Dawnbreaker, Pandora, and Blitz leaped out of the hole in the train car in pursuit. The train rocked, sending Marcie’s stomach roiling again. She approached the hole with Travis, wondering if she should go after them. She gulped, staring at the long drop. Hell no.

For now, the two of them seemed to be on clean-up duty. As Travis requested, Marcie started to freeze the bodies of the alive pirates, although she quietly wondered at the point of it as they were horrifically maimed. She also went around reinforcing the frozen-over holes in the wall, just in case any came back.

“I think they do…” she replied, frowning in thought. “Or we get a 20% discount. Get me some chocolate milk if you’re going.”

---

On the train, a woman stalked the halls. This menacing figure, unlike Sam, seemed to be taking things completely in stride. She was tall, with dark skin and black, curly hair. Without a sound, she wiped and cleaned her bloody dual katanas. The two on the floor had put up a fight, but they hadn’t been a challenge. Amplify and Dhampir laid on the floor, both unmoving. Amplify looked very dead, having been split open sternum to navel, but Dhampir at least still seemed to be breathing.

With a sigh, “Angela” sheathed her blades. That fight had been a bit messy for her liking. Dhampir and Amplify had put up a good fight, but she had prevailed. Perhaps the heroes towards the back of the train would be as much fun.

---

Only moments after Marcie announced her intent to chug down a glass of chocolate milk, “Angela”, with bated breath, hid herself behind the doorway into the storage room. As soon as Travis would walk out to buy food, she would ambush them- and hopefully succeed in carrying out her mission of ending their lives.

---

---

The men outside of the warehouse seemed to be having a bit of trouble. They had taken out the lookouts, but they couldn’t find their target. If a hero looked out the window, they’d notice men in suits casing the area, murmuring amongst themselves.

Finally, one seemed to decide to stop looking around and start actually being useful, and he headed into the warehouse. He set down his heavy-looking briefcase as he walked in, brushing dust off his suit. This guy was a towering blonde white man wearing a suit. “Yo, guys,” he said to Beth, Leon, and Nilin. “I can’t find her. Any idea where she is? I’m, uh, Sam, by the way. You could call me… Strong Boy, too, if you wanted.” ‘Sam’ scratched his head, looking around, bewildered. If one looked close enough, they could see at least three visible guns on him. Strange for someone named ‘Strong Boy’...

---

Location | Innocuous Warehouse |
Missions | A Dish Best Served Cold |
Mentions | @Akayaofthemoon, @Hitman, @Mintz, @Sassy1085, @Zoey Boey |

---

Solomon kept hold of Shadow Scythe Vengeance, trying to keep her down and listen in on what was happening with the heroes looking for them. The diversion for the two searchers seemed to work well enough with Beth’s chirped expletive. Peering briefly over the counter that he managed to duck behind, he took note of Nilin walking up to the group afterwards.

With her running a sort of interference, Sol’s thinking process could swap from another diversion to potential escape routes instead. His eyes went to the windows. Not so good, too much noise, and depending on where they exited from, the heroes could spot him which would allow them to send in a description. The door wouldn’t work, too many hero affiliated people just exited and are likely still around the premises.

That’s when the blue haired recruit’s flashlight started panning about again, to which Sol ducked back down. SSV in the meantime had been kicking his leg, trying to get free. He had endured worse and ultimately wasn’t much injured by it, but this was starting to get annoying. He hoped he wouldn’t have to do this, but her stubborn nature wouldn’t let her listen. Not on the scene, at least.

Thus, he let her arm go.

The vigilante, assuming her kicks had worked, took the advantage. She rolled backwards and into a three point pose. She reached for her chain and prepared to wrap it around her enemy, but when she looked up, he was gone. She paused for hardly a moment, before refocusing on her escape, but she felt an impact between her shoulders. Shadow Scythe went to whirl around and counter attack, but instead she lost her balance, limbs not responding. Her entire body was full of static, and felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. With a heavy thud the vigilante landed awkwardly on her side.

Sol released a smooth exhale that felt more like a sigh as it was coming out. With her now in a more manageable state, he took a glance at the anti-hero’s utility belt. Taking a guess at which held the smoke pellets she used, he pulled one out. Picking the girl up, he made sure to relocate behind inventory shelves stocked with what was likely more drugs. He still couldn’t quite believe the carelessness put into HERO’s plan.

The Hare kept his ears wary and eyes on a swivel, throwing her over his shoulder to climb up the shelves. He was sure that the maneuver made some noise, so he laid on his stomach when up at the top. Listening in again, he took note of another voice. Someone new had entered the fray, but his manner of speaking sounded off, and ‘Strong Boy’ didn’t roll off the man’s tongue well enough for that to be his name. It made Sol suspect if this ‘Sam’ was part of HERO’s plan.

Regardless, there wouldn’t be much time to ponder the pretender’s purpose right now. Instead, Solomon took note of a particular vent that had been left open, likely from her earlier entrance. Not a good escape route, given the tight squeeze, but a good enough point of interest.

While up there, he took note of a green light from a small second floor area of the warehouse, likely the office where the ones in charge would typically do computer work. The green light, despite the power being out, was an indicator of an emergency exit. Given that there was no real work going on here, it meant that no civilians were evacuated from there.

Shadow Scythe Vengeance’s mind was racing. For a moment, she had been afraid that her career as a vigilante was over. The jig was up. But her captor hadn’t delivered her to HERO. Instead, he seemed to have his own agenda. Being flung and carried around by luggage wasn’t ideal, and her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Still, was this guy...Blur Rabbit? Was she being rescued right now? That kind of sucked, considering she felt like she was about to escape herself. But also, if it was, that would be kind of cool. It was weird to see him out of costume.

SSV couldn’t move, so she couldn’t get the full picture. The two of them were up on some shelves, and she was over his shoulder. He had stolen one of her pellets earlier. Now he used them as a diversion, throwing it into the vent. It exploded, making it look like she might be going there. Which was, y’know, smart. Did he have another exit? They were on the move again, her arms trailing limply behind, like the worst cape ever. Penny cringed under her mask. He must think she’s so lame.

With noise and visual cues going to the vent, hopefully the distraction would last them long enough for the heroes to believe either: A, she had already escaped and was on the roof, or B, SSV was trying to distract them and was still lurking around. Either option left no idea to check the office. Vaulting over the railing to the platform just in front of the office door, Sol went for the handle. Which, of course, was locked.

Placing SSV down to a sitting position between the stairs and the door, he looked at the window. Bad idea to simply smash through the window to get inside, too noisy, and trying the metal outer door would be much worse. Not to mention, he’d need to generate more force to burst through. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he thought of what to do.

Studying the door itself, specifically the handle, he took note of the small space between the door and the doorway. Given how old this warehouse was, along with how infrequently used, the door’s lock hadn’t been updated. He looked around for something flat, yet flexible enough to fit through.

His eyes first trailed to SSV, but most of her equipment was likely metal, and he didn’t have the time to search her for something more useful. Solomon hadn’t brought any of his own equipment on this mission per se, given that he wanted to ensure there was nothing that could connect him to the mission site.

That was…except his mask. It had a straight edge at the top, and was made of flexible enough materials. His glance went back to SSV. He weighed the chances of them encountering each other in the times Sol would be out of costume. It was only a moment though, as surely their followers would be searching more thoroughly now. Deciding the long term risk was outweighed by the immediate one, he unstrapped it and placed the straight edge of his mask through the door slit.

Quickly fiddling it behind the bolt of the door, he used the mask in tandem with pulling at the handle to open it. Not wasting the time to try putting his mask back on, he scooped the girl back up and dipped out of the emergency exit in the office…

Mission Assignment: On Cloud Nine
Location: Clearing some distance from the N-Train
Interactions: None
Mentions: Dawnbreaker (@Jumbus)

Crack. Shatter. Groaaan.

Blitz was hauling ass as best he could after the hovercraft and his fellow heroes, all the way breaking concrete, shattering panes of old warehouse glass, and bending steel girders under the force of his pulsing leg muscles. At this point he had probably reached his top speed given he kept having to adjust his altitude and move slightly to avoid a few old smokestacks and randomly taller buildings, but the beastly man couldn’t help but scream in his mind, Come on, baby! Come on, baby! Faster! HELL YEAH!

A section of brick wall was blown out by Quinton’s shoulder as his ability to direct himself began to decay, but the bricks might as well have been styrofoam to him, though they might’ve found their way to some unlucky people below…

Not far in the distance, Blitz could make out the woman making a swiping motion, and then both she and the bomb began to fall at an accelerating pace towards the ground.

As the wind whipped past his ears, Quinton clenched his teeth a bit, Uh… shit, she can catch herself, right? Actually, she’s close enough, I bet I could... But she might get splattered... Fuck it, here we go, baby! His heart beat like a turbine as the precious few seconds ticked by, his speed being pushed to the max. Instinctively planning his trajectory to drop just enough near the edge of a warehouse, Blitz brought his knees to his chest, put an enormous amount of tension on his tendons, and then practically obliterated all of the building within a few feet of where his feet met, and then continued through, the warehouse.

Pandora was in a free fall. She and the bomb were set to land in a clearing. Considering her options, Pandora decided to just dunk herself and the bomb under ‘water’ liquifying the pavement just before she and it made contact. The old veteran turned her fall into a dive, extending her arms out in front of her. At that moment, some immense force came crashing through a wall that she recognized as Blitz. He meant to catch her! Sputtering in frustration and surprise, Pandora ceased her liquifying intent as fast as possible so the brute didn’t turn into a star spangled splatter on the concrete. He would have to catch her now.

In Blitz’s mind, time seemed to slow to a crawl as the distance between them shortened. Mentally he could hear an audience cheering, lights burning the ‘field’ of the match he was playing. His left arm swung outwards, turning his body with it until the arm found itself Pandora’s waist, whilst his right hand found its way to the bomb. The crowd cheered even louder! He had made the catch of the season, truly a highlight for the ages! Lights and stars exploded in the man’s mind as he relished the achievement with an enormous smug grin.

And then within that same instant, the bomb failed to stay put in his hand, sliding rapidly out of it. ”Shi-!” rumbled the giant, whose smug grin was partially replaced with a look of panic. Quinton compressed his grip just in time for the end of the bomb to squeal to a stop. Whew, he was successful, and showed it once more in a I’m-such-a-bad-ass look that he gave Pandora as he growled, “Hi there,” failing to pay any attention to the fact that they were still moving incredibly quickly either into the ground or a building.

Pandora was disheveled, gritting her teeth. ”Watch out!” She shouted, bracing for impact.

”Oh yeah,” Quinton murmured, remembering their situation. He brought the bomb and Pandora against his chest to shield them as they sailed across the clearing rapidly, slamming Blitz’s back into an old warehouse wall. And then another wall, followed by yet one more wall past a small group of screaming people, sailing out of the warehouse and then into the street. Finally, they came to a sudden stop as his body drilled a small crater into the asphalt. Coughing from the dust, wood, and pulverized bricks they had just gone through, Blitz muttered, ”Gotcha... Gotta rest… a moment…”

Pandora pushed herself out of the American’s relaxed grasp. She spat onto the street. ”No time!” She shouted, maneuvering behind the tank to use him as cover. The battle was still on. Even if they had busted through a wall or two or three, they were still within the line of sight of the mounted guns. Squinting, she saw Dawnbreaker had taken some kind of fighting pose on the roof of the aeroplane.

At that moment, Sam began firing her machine gun at the flyboy and the mounted guns at the pair on the ground. ”For fuck’s sake, these fuckers don’t give up!” roared Blitz as the rounds hit him hard and repeatedly. While he wasn’t getting blown to smithereens, the rounds were starting to chip bones and cause minor fractures, and that shit hurt. Thankfully, flyboy’s wind antics started seriously fucking with Sam’s ability to aim given the rapid and random movements of the hovercraft, so Blitz grumbled, ”Fuck, man, let’s take some cover,” as he hauled himself to his feet and trundled over against a warehouse to hide from view and take a moment to breath.

Pandora followed behind, using him as cover still. She still was putting him between her and the aeroplane, even through the wall they were now both hiding behind. ”I thought you were supposed to be bulletproof.” Pandora said.

”You see any blood, honey? Shit still hurts when the bullets are big enough, and those were big boys. Thankfully that wasn’t a straight up cannon…” said Quinton as he sank down against the wall, taking a deep breath, muttering, ”Shoulda brought my damn vape, I could use a hit…” as a few stray bullets impacted buildings around them.

Pandora rolled her eyes, scoffing. ”What good are you?” She ran a hand down her face. ”I had the situation with the bomb under control, by the way.” She said, pacing back and forth as she tried to think of a plan. ”Hmm. Maybe we just let Dawnbreaker handle the aeroplane.”

Quinton laughed deeply at her insult, finding it legitimately funny, ”Maybe so, but that was damn cool anyway! One of the best catches I’ve made in years!” As she paced back and forth, his breath was restored and he started actually paying attention to her, realizing, ”Ah, shit. I don’t know your name. What do you do, exactly?”

Pandora squinted at Quinton. ”Pandora. Absolute matter alteration. We can discuss your ignorance later.” Pandora peaked around the corner, staring at the plane as Dawnbreaker enacted his plan. ”Between the two of us, we could take it out from here. But it might crash into a building and end up causing more damage, or killing a civilian who’s currently hiding safely inside. Or exploding that idiot Dawnbreaker.” The machine gun fire sent a bullet towards her head, but it’s path changed a few feet in front of her and buried into the ground. Pandora ducked her head back behind the wall.

”Hmm, I’m down with discussing my ignorance later,” teased Blitz with another smug grin. When the bullet changed course, he whistled lightly, ”Impressive. You’ve got a lotta potential in there. As for the hovercraft,” he shrugged his shoulders, ”Flyboy might have it under control. I think I need to keep a nice grip on this bomb in case they try any more bull shit. Maybe you can do something with your ‘absolute matter alteration’ to bring it down safely, since you seem pretty capable.”

”I’ve more potential than you do talent.” Pandora said absent-mindedly, trying to focus on the task at hand. Thirty years ago she might have just tried to needle at this man’s ego instead, but she’s gotten a little better about priorities again.

”As for what I can do...maybe. I’ve always been able to protect myself. It’s protecting others at the same time that I’ve always had to be clever about. Here.” She turned and approached Quinton.

”You see what you can do about getting in position in case Dawnbreaker needs help. I’ll take a moment to stick this bomb in the ground and then join you. Just so that this pirate scum have failed, for sure.” She gestured for Quinton to set the bomb down.

Quinton laughed again at her wit, ”Ha, you’ve got some bite. If you can really do that, I can’t see those pricks finding it, so sure.” He rested the bomb on the ground and then got to his feet, dusting himself off lightly, ”See you in a sec, stunner.” With that, he launched himself across the street onto the edge of a roof and peered towards the hovercraft and Dawnbreaker, estimating how far and fast he’d have to leap off the building to catch them. Though, maybe Dawnbreaker had everything under control.

Pandora waved him off dismissively before setting her foot on the bomb. Concentrating, she pushed it down, submerging it into the concrete. Some of the concrete was displaced around it, forced out of the hole. It took a few moments, Pandora concentrating her will power on the delicate process. Once the device was fully in the hole she created, she kicked the concrete over it and reformed it. The patch was discolored. She knew where to find it, but to an outside observer it wouldn’t be much of a hint at all. Then she turned and went to begin finding her way to the fight.

@Mintz@DClassified@Zoey Boey@canaryrose@Akayaofthemoon

Mission: A Dish Best Served Cold
Location: ”Innocuous” Warehouse

---

Beth can finally see after Leon takes the coat off her head "Ugh! I just got my hair done..." Beth say to herself and then rolls her eyes after Leon say there may be more than one problem "I have to say that I'm surprise, she doesn't look like the type of person who can smart to have backup plans" As much she want to joke around, Beth feel like this is not a good time, since the two have been humiliated in front of Shadow Scythe Vengeance (But it more of Beth being humiliated in front of Leon)

Before Leon can lay down the next plan to Beth, another voice enters the scene, It's Nilin. Who has been missing since she arrived here, along with that samurai guy, who has been missing in action as well, who else is missing right now? "Guys, guys, Let's just focus on the mission at hand" Beth says to the group when it looks like they are ready to fight each other "Well, since it's three against one, right? Sounds pretty easy enough" Beth say to the group full of confidence, but still have doubt in her mind, Beth still doesn't know what else that shadow girl have up in her sleeves.

Before the hero trio head out to find SSV, another "hero" came in to the picture, calling himself Strong Boy "Umm....Hey Strong Boy..." Beth say to the newcomer while giving Leon and Nilin a look that says 'I don't trust this guy, he looks fishy' Beth takes back on what she says, her first mission is weird and the worst.

---

“I think they do… Or we get a 20% discount. Get me some chocolate milk if you’re going.”

Travis flashed the smaller girl a thumbs up and nodded, before turning to the entrance to the next car. He was more of a strawberry milk kind of guy, but his mouth wasn’t really in the condition to talk about pointless nonsense like he usually did. Now that Marcie had made sure the maimed pirates wouldn't be able to escape, he was eager to leave. The smell was getting pretty bad, and Travis had experience with blood and gore (even if it was mostly his own). The stench of death was a bitch and a half to get out of clothes.

Clothes… Travis grumbled slightly as he noticed the damage to his ‘costume’. The damage to the chest of his hoodie seemed salvageable enough - until he saw that the entire left shoulder was barely connected with a few scant threads. He didn’t even try to assess his shoes - the blood and other bodily substances made them unusable. Angry flesh poked out proudly from beneath the ruined fabric of his hoodie, blood slowly oozing out and staining the surrounding white fabric. Travis grimaced at the sight, rubbing his jaw as the pain slowly came at him now that the adrenaline was fading. Thankfully, getting shot with noise was nowhere near as bad as getting shot with lead.

‘This was one of my nicer hoodies…’

Travis carefully made his way to the door of the next car, doing his best to avoid the various pieces of debris and viscera that littered the floor. Unfortunately, with all his attention on the ground, Travis failed to notice his and Marcie's would-be-assassin until it was too late.

Before Travis could make his way over to the snack counter, however, a woman seemed to materialize from the shadows. She drew her swords, blocking his way, and attacked. Her twin katanas swung out at him, barely missing but forcing him back into the storage room. No words were spoken, no sounds made- only a look that could bring the best of men to their knees and a blinding speed with her swords. This woman was out for blood, and her strikes showed it.

Marcie, meanwhile, had sat down and pulled out her phone in the corner of the room, taking care to avoid the viscera. At the sounds of startled yelling, she looked up. Her eyes widened at the sight of the swinging katanas. “Woah! Jesus!” She hopped to her feet, and the air started to chill around her. She wanted to freeze the woman in place, but she was moving too fast, so she’d have to settle for throwing snowballs. Or, ice balls. One began to coagulate in her hand.

Travis continued to backpedal, sidestepping and jumping away blindly to avoid the woman’s strikes. Her sudden arrival and murderous glare scared the younger man, forcing him back and scrambling to avoid the woman. Not to mention the badass katanas. If it wasn’t for the gore and body fluids that slicked the floor, then the assailant would have found her mark - but she had managed to barely miss 3 blows before Travis was backed against the wall of the car.
”Shit!”

Travis instantly turned to Marcie, who was forming a ball of ice in her hand to pelt at the woman. He didn’t know why Marcie wasn’t freezing the woman in place, but the fact that she wasn’t probably meant there was a good reason why she couldn’t. If he survived, he really needed to read the mission briefings from now on…

Ducking down, Travis swept his leg out towards the assassin, hoping that the quick movement and slick floor would be enough to trip the woman over and give Marcie time to throw her ice ball. It worked well enough in the cage matches that Travis participated in… but then again, there was a big gap between half-drunk thugs and a trained mercenary.

Unfortunately for Travis, ‘sweep the leg’ was not a technique that worked on highly trained assassins. She leapt over it smoothly. Angela did, however, find her footing a bit compromised among the blood and ice shards. Upon coming down, her foot got caught in the slickness and she slid off her balance a little.

That left Marcie a chance to pelt her with ice balls. They smashed into Angela’s face and shoulder with surprising accuracy, sending her stumbling into a box.

As Angela stumbled Travis quickly moved forwards towards her, attempting to capitalize on the loss of balance that Marcie’s blow afforded them. He nearly slipped on the fresh ice shards that littered the ground in the process, but the important part was that he was close. In Travis’ mind, this left only two options - the killer could either retreat to deal a lethal strike, or be limited to only light cuts.

The fear and surprise was fading now that he was on the offensive, and Travis lunged for one of Angela’s blades, attempting to wretch it from her grip.

As Travis’s hand latched onto the katana, Angela rotated it outwards and thrust it into the meat of his hand, creating a deep wound. Then, using his shock at the pain, she dragged the blade out of his fist and rolled to her left, away from Travis and closer to the train car entrance.

“Did you seriously just try to grab a sword?” she said, almost looking stunned. “No wonder I killed your two coworkers so easily. Jesus.”

Meanwhile, Marcie was hiding behind a box, trying to lay down slick ice traps for their new companion. She planted several behind the woman, near doors, and in places where Travis could clearly see them. She was also forming some sort of a handle-less ice spear.

As the blade was wretched from his grip, Travis briefly paused his assault to check his hand. The skin was already turning brown and hardening, spreading quickly up his arm to coat the rest of his body. The flow of blood from the wound was slowing, hissing slightly as it began to clot. This was good - it’d be a lot harder for this woman to bisect him now.

More importantly, the blade only cut his palm. A deep wound to be sure - that hand would be out of commision for a day or two. But it was nothing he couldn’t heal off. Losing the fingers would be a much bigger deal.

That wasn’t the only reason he paused, however. This woman had already killed two other heroes…

The news was upsetting, but not because Travis cared about the two dead heroes. Other than Pandora and Marcie, he didn’t know anyone else here. No, it was bad because that meant 3 heroes died in this single mission. The director was sure to be dissapointed.

Travis went back on the defensive as he noticed Marcie’s traps. Dodging and taking small hits when he could, slowly leading the attacker until she was close enough to the trap to push. Travis wasn’t fast enough to reliably hit the Assassin - and even if he was, his blows wouldn’t have enough force behind them in this condition. He didn’t need to though. Travis couldn’t see the ice spear that Marcie was forming, but from the ease with which she took out the other pirates, he knew that all she needed was a chance to hit their new enemy.

Angela continued to back up while she tried to catch her breath. Eventually, she ended up warily circling Travis, waiting for an opening. She sheathed the katana in her left hand. Narrowing her eyes, she watched his body start to harden. Then, with seemingly no warning but a tensing of her shoulders, she sprung forward to get another slice at Travis’s throat.

Right before the assassin could slit Travis’s throat, however, Marcie aimed her ice-spear and fired at the woman’s right shoulder- somewhere to disable, but not to kill. Killing was bad, right? Right. Even bad guys. The spear impaled her quite neatly. It passed through and shattered on the wall of the train car. Angela staggered back as it hit her just as she was about to bring her blade down on Travis’s throat. She hissed in pain. Red was already coming through her jacket.

“Aborting mission. Meet you at drop site,” she said as she touched something in her ear.

“But before I go… I have a gift.” Angela staggered back and pulled something out of her jacket, dropping it onto the floor. She was against the melting ice now, and with a kick, it fell away, and she jumped out of the moving train into the urban landscape below.

As soon as she left, Angela’s “gift” began to exude a horrible smell. Marcie emerged from behind the boxes cautiously to investigate. The “gift” was shaped like a grenade, and it was starting to emit a quickly-spreading yellow gas... Oh, shit. She jumped back. “Fuck, that’s a gas bomb. We need to get out of here.”

Travis didn’t need to be told twice - almost as soon as the acrid fumes had been released, the young hero was already scrambling. Fucking vape smoke rendered him into a coughing mess, let alone weapon-grade gas.

Travis quickly buried his face into his arm and began running to the next car, nearly tripping over one of the dozen bodies in the train car. He paused at the door to the next car, turning back to look at the few surviving pirates as Marcie caught up. When the bomb goes off, they’d surely die - maybe Travis could try to kick the bomb out of the train, or Marcie could cover it in ice-

Travis was nearly blinded as the yellow gas lightly touched him, his vision clouded by a sudden burning sensation. Travis turned and continued running.

Their group was responsible for three hero deaths, and who knows how much damage they’d have done with the Plutonium? Besides, there was nothing they could do - they were all covered in ice already!

Excuses. He just didn’t care if they died. Fuck them.

Travis didn’t stop running for several cars, only pausing to violently rub the tears and mucus that had formed from the brief encounter with the gas. Thank god he didn’t try touching the device...

A vibration went out throughout the train. An explosion. Or, as close to an explosion as you can get with a gas bomb. Travis had no clue how far it would spread, so they’d have to keep moving. Maybe he should have grabbed one of the jetpacks while he was leaving…

They'd have to evacuate the civilians as quickly as possible. Travis turned to Marcie and pulled out his phone, typing out a message with a deadpan look.

The robotic voice spoke out.

“Ready to get that Chocolate Milk?”

Marcie bolted after Travis as the acrid yellow gas began its spread across the train cars. She wasn’t about to get caught up in this, even if it meant saving a few pirates’ lives. She felt terrible, sure- leaving them to die a terrible death- but there was no way in hell she was fucking with that gas.

Just as she was running to the next car, however, something shot out and grabbed her ankle with a snake-like grip. She screeched in terror as her body hit the floor, and she started to be dragged back into the storage car. “Jesus- FUCK! Let me go! Let me go!”

“Fuck… you…” The voice of a man, probably one of the pirates, sounded from behind her. Marcie struggled even more, freezing the man’s hand. But before she could finish, the gas enveloped her and him. She futilely held her breath, clawing at the pirate’s hand with ice, but she gasped anyway and breathed it in.

Finally, she freed herself, staggered to her feet, and started to run again- out of the cloud of yellow gas and towards Travis. She was gasping and spitting up, her eyes watering as they burned. Her lungs felt like they were on fire as she took in every breath of fresh air. Pirates were such assholes!

She looked up at Travis as he hit ‘play’, hacking up spit, and she pulled the fire alarm. “Maybe later,” she choked out. The alarm started to ring out with a deafening noise, and she pulled her headphones over her ears again. The train screeched to a halt. Time to look for an emergency exit… Conveniently, there was one nearby, and she swung it open to reveal them being an easy 100 feet off of the ground. Marcie glared, focusing, and a sort of ice slide began to coalesce out of thin air. It was hot out, which made the progress slow, but when it was finally fully formed she slid down it on two feet.

The other passengers were evacuating via a few inflatable slides on the side of the train car, which Marcie belatedly realized would’ve been easier… but still. She sat herself on the grass, gasping and coughing and crying, and realized just how much they had fucked up.

‘What am I implying? Sheesh, I wonder…’ Was the first thought to run through Leon’s head as he chose to defuse the situation on his own terms. Seriously, the girl’s just been running around helping all these drama dropouts instead of doing the actual mission? Either she seriously thought they were in danger, or she’s an idiot. Surprisingly, Leon felt inclined to believe neither of these feelings.

When she teased him by reflecting his statement, Leon couldn’t help but give a derisive snort and a smirk. “Deflection’s not the best look on you, sweet stuff.” He gave her with a small wink. “But if you have to know, then…” Giving a small tilt of the head, a mischievous look crossed his face. “Think of me as the good luck charm here. I’m around, so you can be certain things’ll end up how we want.”

However, when Nilin went straight into a cutting retort on his haste to accuse her, his ego was a tad bruised. She might have a point on that...So Leon decided he’d keep his mouth shut and let her explain. For now. However, when she began pointing out where she supposedly saw SSV heading and gave her plan for how they should proceed, it left a nagging doubt in Leon’s head.

He ended up getting distracted in his train of thought when Sparkles finally spoke up again, having sorted themselves out after he freed them from the cruel grip of science fashion. “You have a point, they don’t seem wise enough to have backup. Much less the sort of backup that’d get the drop on me…” A bite of resentment reaches through his statement, no doubt bitter about the embarrassment of being blinded by a lab coat. “Also, for the record, Sparkles, I’m very focused on the mission, though I’m not sure we can say the same about some others…” He says, giving a sideways glance at Nilin….Before he takes another swig of his soda. Yes, very focused.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that count. At best, it’s two versus….Four?” Leon was going to say three, until a blondie built like a brick wall but dressed for a fuckin’ press conference walks onto the scene, starts asking about SSV (at least, he assumed. That dumbass vigilante is a GIRL?...Pretty impressive voice modulator then, Leon’d have to admit), and introduces himself rather unconvincingly as ‘Strong Boy’, or Sam, if they so preferred.

Leon knows he’s not the most aware guy all the time, but this rank of something foul. It didn’t help when he spared a glance back to the way he came in, seeing a bunch of equally crisply dressed Men in Black looking assholes casing the joint. Not suspicious at all.

He spared his two companions a glance, catching Beth’s skeptical look. But...Actually, Leon could make this work, as his neutral expression shifted into a grin. “Glad to have you on board, Strong Boy! You came just in time for my plan. No offense to yours, uh…” He suddenly realized he didn’t know this girl’s name. Awkward...Well, without a name to give, he just nods towards her so that the point is made.

“Here’s what I’m-” To his annoyance, a new distraction hit the scene as the ‘pop’ of a smoke bomb was heard, and he whipped around to find the source, flicking back on his phone’s flashlight. It was....The same place she’d popped out of? That feels a bit stupid, no matter which way he cut it. He tried to puzzle together the purpose of that move, but shrugging it off, continued. “Yes. Plan. Sparkles!” He points to her, then over to the smoke clouding the open ventilation. “Fire off some shots into the vent. At best, you hit the target and put her out of commission for us to nab up, and at worst, well...You’ll make sure she definitely isn’t there.”

Oh, he liked giving out orders like this. Maybe he should try being some team leader? Eh, having to boss around all the weirdo heroes that could show up sounds like a pain though. But moving on....”Strong Boy, you can go check out that area.” He points off through the warehouse to...Exactly where Nilin had pointed out. “If ya find nothing, then secure the back entrance of this place to make sure we don’t end up hoodwinked here.”

“And last but not least…” Leon turns his attention back to Nilin, and surprisingly, grinned. “...I think we can both agree that we haven’t seen eye to eye here so far, so why don’t you come with me, and we can make sure neither of us are pulling something, mmm? In fact, I think I have an idea where we can check out…” Between Beth and…’Strong Boy’, the ground floor was pretty covered, but there was a second floor that was currently unexplored. It’d be a safe bet to check up there too.

Her eyes narrowed, biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from speaking up and causing another verbal altercation. She would let the small digs at her go when it came to focus because while she appeared to be out of it or unconcerned, she was just focused on a different side of the same mission. Unfortunately, Nilin was now left to wonder where this had gone so wrong for her. She had been so close to keeping everything in her control and now it slipped through her fingers like sand. It was clear that the multiple distractions had left it open for her to lose the reins on the situation, no doubt luck was involved in some way for him, not her this round. Mister Fortunate over here having a strong willed personality didn’t help either since he seemed to be enjoying being in charge and yanking the reins from her.

She wasn’t sure if they were passing luck back and forth at this point or just cancelling each other out which was a possibility. If that was the case, she was more than a bit nervous on how that would affect someone who always had luck on their side to suddenly not be able to have it work as usually intended. Honestly, she didn’t want to have to explain her powers but it seemed as though she might not have a choice. If not for letting him know the possible ramifications to sharing then to inform him that ‘Strong Boy’ wasn’t all that much of a threat in the power department. They all seemed to be reading the room and giving silent signals that this new ‘hero’ wasn’t to be trusted easily enough, spotting a rat a mile away but how the other two went about handling it would change if they or at least one of them were aware of the truth.

In all honesty, it was clear he didn’t think she herself was being truthful or trustworthy with the direction he had sent Sam on which meant he might not even believe her if she spoke the truth but at least he couldn’t blame her later for not speaking up. She was still nervous about Beth using her powers in here but at least the vent was high enough away from the chemical mess that it shouldn’t be an issue, plus luck was on their side right? She could only hope Sol was working on another way out of here for their new friend. Her eyebrow raised as he turned to her to give instructions, the grin throwing her off a bit until he spoke and she found herself wanting to sigh in annoyance. ’Ah, so that’s how it is…’, she thought, realizing he was going to stick to her like glue and limit her as a problem. The keep your friends close and enemies closer kind of deal. It meant anything she tried would have to be sneakier or a fight would be the only way to assist should they find Sol or SSV. ”Fine by me. Lead the way, pretty boy.”, Nilin stated, showing that she was willing to join him in his plan. She could let him know about her powers and Sam once they were a bit further from listening ears.

Wow. She took that better than Leon expected. His grin softened into a smile, honestly pleased. “Grand. In that case,” As he begins to step away to the nearest way up a level, he turns back to Beth and Sam. “You two be sure to hold the fort down, eh?” Giving a cheesy grin and a wink to Sparkles, they head up a flight of stairs...And as soon as they’re out of eye and earshot of their good friend Strong Boy, Leon whips around to Nilin.

“Alright, first of all, yeah, Strong Boy’s probably here to….I don’t know, murder Scythe or something, but he’s definitely untrustworthy. I also saw some fellow goons outside giving a look-over of the warehouse. So yeah, we’re probably getting deep into shit….More than we already are.”

Before she responded, however, he gave one interjection before he flipped his phone open to proceed with the next step. “Also, name’s Leon. Be sure to remember it.” Opening his Phone app, he quickly dialed in a number seemingly at random, and sent them a message...Which, it turned out, was Beth’s phone.

‘hey its Leon’

After a short pause in his texting, Leon suddenly realizes he never introduced himself to Sparkles either. Though who can blame him? Most people he meets already know him, his hero biz is new territory, and also very annoying territory. Regardless, he pushed on.

‘Guy you’ve been fighting the dumbass vigilante with. Need you to keep an eye on our new stranger bud. He’s got friends outside, but clearly he has a brick for brains. Just make sure he doesn’t actually find anything, and if he pulls some shit, blow him up. Also maybe check up on the fish guy, he might be a decent extra set of hands. Think he’s still on the floor after getting bola’d.’

Another pause, this time for Leon to check the silence of the warehouse. After he was sure nothing horrible had happened after the message, he gave his last one.

‘if things get ugly call’

With that, he closed his messages, returning his full attention to Nilin (and readying his flashlight once more; shit was dark, man).”Just finished giving Sparkles a heads up, so we should be good to go.”

Nilin gave a backwards wave to the other two as she followed him up the stairs, seemingly relaxed with one of her hands in her pocket but she was gently grasping one of her daggers hidden there. They had just made it out of view and hearing range when suddenly, he whipped around causing her to tense and her grip to tighten, almost yanking out her dagger as she thought he might have noticed something she hadn’t. His next words made her relax, thanking her luck that she hadn’t pulled her knife on him because of that sudden movement. This guy was determined to give her some kind of heart attack or something. She had about to speak up to agree with him on his assessment and give her warnings when he cut her off before she had even started. Nilin literally found herself blinking with a slightly slacked jaw, completely startled to have a name to go with him but also….really? Now? Now was the right time for that? At least he was right, that was certainly memorable but she wanted to facepalm.

Leon’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she nodded softly, ”Good, I’m glad she is updated but we needed to talk about ‘Strong Boy’ and something else concerning my powers since it might end up affecting you.” She stepped forward, snagging his phone and opening the contacts before placing her name and information in it just in case they needed to split up. She shoved it back into his hands as she passed by him, glancing over her shoulder once she got a few steps away. She gave a sweet smile and with a soft tone that didn’t seem to match her words as she spoke up once more, ”Also, Leon, don’t tell me what to do.”

Leon, for his part in the matter, was left stunned as she snagged away his precious device, shoved it back with her contact info (sweet!), and most jarringly of all...Told him off. It was all he could manage to blink a few times, and only give a nod, the vaguest confirmation that her words reached his head.

‘Strong Boy’ gave Leon a confident thumbs-up as he walked off to the back room. The heroes had totally given him a shit job, but whatever. At least he’d be able to watch them from here. He could see if they had made any progress.

He performed a cursory check of the backroom and then stood by the doorframe. Beth didn’t seem to be having any luck with the vent. SSV had clearly vacated already. And upon looking, no one could find their target. It was like she had simply vanished into thin air. It seemed that the heroes had failed.

Sam snuck out the back door, trying his best to get away before the heroes came asking any questions. His team had called him back, unable to find her either, and he wasn’t eager to go to prison. He used one of the emergency fire escapes, careful not to make any loud noises. His boss wouldn’t be happy, either, but at least he got to go home and have a nice cold can of beer.

---

“Haha, look, this guy has paper powers- WHAT THE FUCK?!” The goons yelled and dropped their guns as the metal folded in on itself, crumpling and breaking within their hands. A few of them clearly didn’t know what to do, cursing and panicking. One drew a taser from his utility belt, clearly grasping for straws.

Now that Drew didn’t have an assault rifle pressed to his head, he scrambled away from the armed, dangerous man and practically vaulted over the side of the climbing wall. Eyepatch Man didn’t seem to care too much- instead, he flickered out of existence and made for Michelle, trying to grab her. “Forget the heroes! The girl!”

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t see Jenna coming before too late. The young girl who had previously gushed over her favorite mentor flew at him like a bullet, her face grim and focused. She didn’t barrel into him, however. Before she could, she reached out with her powers and flung him off the island with incredible telekinetic force. He had no chance to teleport before he fell into the river with a crash inaudible from the Academy.

His lackeys weren’t having much luck with the heroes either. Graham flung himself at the winged man, who flew upwards at the first sign of provocation. “Holy shit, the hell is that thing- AAAAAAAA!” A surprisingly girlish scream came out of his mouth as he wrestled with the clawed Graham mid-air, trying to pull him off of him. He lashed out with razor-sharp wing feathers, trying to pierce Graham’s skin.

The force of Gematria’s punch threw the tall, skinny man to the ground. He looked very confused to be attacked by a human-sized mech, but he tried his best anyway. He hopped up and attempted to bring her to the ground from her back, clinging to her neck and trying to push her to the ground.

Meanwhile, the other one was handling Strain, Polaris, and Cadenza, having a difficult time. Cadenza had begun to use her flute, attempting to bring down the men, but was shocked shortly before she could do so. Polaris and Strain were wrestling up close with him, but the two were quickly beating him with a combination of powerful electricity and density manipulation powers.

---

Early the next morning, Assistant Director Blum stood in front of the surviving heroes, looking ill at ease in a suit and tie. This was an uncomfortable situation for him, and it showed on his usually jovial, tough-looking face. Raymond hated failure but hated a pyrrhic victory even more. Three of the heroes under his charge were either dead or close to it. He had a right to be upset, and he certainly looked it. The heroes before him, however, looked even more so. He had given them the night to recover rather than barraging them with a debrief so soon after a difficult fight. Some had stayed in the hospital, others had gotten to go home, but most of them were here

His office was a simple affair. It didn’t look like Blum spent much time there. The walls were a light beige color, adorned mostly with pictures of HEROes, past and current. Most notable were photos of himself and Director Steel accepting their respective positions and a newspaper clipping about his defection. The clipping showed a picture of him shaking hands with then-Director Hugo Powers. He had a standing desk with a sleek laptop and holo-projector. Three yellow-cushioned chairs sat before the desk, facing a giant window covering the entire back wall. It had a view of the Castelberg skyline, slowly changing as HERO Three drifted through the sky. The double doors were glass, too, but the curtains were drawn shut now to obscure their conversation from any nosy observers.

He cleared his throat. “I’m very sorry for calling you here so early in the morning, but I really need to talk to you all.” He fiddled with a remote in his hands and pulled up a holograph of the picture of the N Train as it appeared last night- halted in its tracks, evacuated people clustered around the tracks. “Your mission on the N Train yesterday was a success in that you did get the nuke, which we currently have under lock and key in a secure location. But it was a raging disaster in every other way.

“Thirteen people are dead, including two of our own heroes, two civilians, and nine enemy combatants- five of whom died by your hand personally-” he stared directly at Blitz as he said this, gaze unflinchingly critical- “and you made no arrests, which means we can’t find out why any of this happened in the first place,” he said, all in a gruff, dissatisfied voice.

“Samantha Everett and your mysterious assailant both got away. Sam’s plane touched down in a field near Utica last night, but by the time the local cops reached the plane she was long gone. She’s gone to ground. We can’t find her in any of her usual places. And the woman who set off the gas bomb on the train disappeared without a trace. We don’t have any records of her in any of our files, so keep an eye out. We’re going to make finding them a top priority.” He switched the screen to a picture of the downed plane, devoid of any passengers.

“But, at the end of the day, missions go wrong. It’s always a tragedy but people die. Be glad you’re alive. You’ll have a ton of paperwork in the coming days, but take the time to rest. Director Steel is giving you all an optional month-long paid leave, so do with that what you will. We’re keeping this quiet. Don’t tell anyone that you wouldn’t trust with your jobs any details. And, hopefully, this will all blow over in a few…”

Raymond’s phone dinged. Then dinged again. And again. It was a cacophony of noise, and he pulled it out, looking slightly peeved. “Who…” His lips went slack, his eyes widening. “Oh,” he whispered. “Oh. Oh, shit.”

---

Location | Innocuous Warehouse |
Missions | A Dish Best Served Cold |
Mentions | @Zoey Boey |

---

It was a bumpy road. Or rather, rooftop. They were moving fast, and Shadow Scythe Vengeance could barely make out the ground they were covering beneath them. She was set down on a roof, probably a block away from the warehouse.

”Hey…” She said. ”Blur Rabbit? That’s you, right?” The girl asked, still laying on the ground. ”...Did HERO set me up?” She asked, and even though her voice was modulated to be deep and intimidating, one could make out that she would be hurt by the idea.

”You should have people keeping tabs on the tips you receive…” Solomon answered over his shoulder, peering back over to the facility through his mask, spotting vehicles outside. He didn’t recognize them, which made the appearance of the strange “strong boy” more concerning. Looking over at SSV more directly, he walked closer.

”And, yes, they did. Went to some strange lengths to do it as well…” Was his reply. He heard her question about his alias, and he debated on whether he should confirm or deny. Though, from the few encounters they’ve had in the past, she was likely to recognize the strike, if nothing else. Still, he’d rather not have her calling him that left and right. There was always bound to be someone listening.

”You can call me Ronin.”

”Cool.” Shadow Scythe said, understanding what he meant. But then the previously mounting anger that had been briefly undercut by Ronin’s cool new nickname bubbled to the surface.

”But for real, fucking seriously?! Me!” She exclaimed, her voice going high pitched with indignation. It sounded pretty weird being filtered through her mask. ”Out of all the shit in this town! They leave us to fend for ourselves and then step on our fucking hands the second we try to climb even a little bit higher! I- I DO have people check it’s just- I didn’t think they’d- Oh God damn it- can you unparalyze me, please? I can’t move!” SSV wanted to throw her arms around in protest but was just a useless sack of potatoes on the ground.

”Answer me this first; HERO has you in their sights now. What is your first move?” Sol asked, crouching down.

The vigilante was silent for a moment. ”...I guess I’ll need to get some volunteer moderators for my website. Vet the tips that come in more extensively. Or maybe I could use donated money to pay them. Once I tell the public about this, they’re sure to be outraged on my behalf, so that might get me more attention.” She said.

”You’re likely going to need a new site or perhaps ditch the idea of a website altogether. Being that they already have the information to this one, it’s already too late, and will only be a matter of time before they track you down. Burner accounts and devices are likely your best bet on posting any information related to your missions on social media.” Was Solomon’s response, swift and blunt. The vigilante didn’t say anything, but her jaw was set underneath her mask.

Being that some sort of interference should be clear to the ones inside by now, it’d likely be in both of their best interests if he set her back in motion. He lifted her up from where she lay on the ground and bent her over his knee. Setting fingers along the back of her suit to try and feel for the correct bones, he warned; ”This is likely going to hurt.”

”I wouldn’t worry about that.” SSV responded quietly. Taking her words as a prompt, Sol sharply jammed his fingers into the central area of her spinal cord. It was a trying process. Too far to any direction other than dead center would likely just cause damage, pain, or even extend the period in which the paralysis would last. Several small crackling sounds later, he raised his hands.

”Give it a few moments before you go running or jumping. Your limbs are not fully awake yet.”

Shadow Scythe Vengeance rolled calmly to her feet. She didn’t visibly react to the sensation of being unparalyzed. Brushing off her pants, she adjusted her mask on her face to make sure it was still firmly in place. She gathered her composure. Then she pointed a finger at Ronin defiantly. ”You don’t know a lot about how I work. Vengeance(dot)net is a public site. Anyone can go on it. I need the website if I’m going to help Castleburg. They don’t have shit on me, they just tricked me one time. The only reason I would shut down the sight would be if I was done...doing this.” She clenched her fists by her side. ”And that’s not happening.”

”Honorably stubborn as you may be, I am warning you from the perspective of an ally. Many Villains have power, few have structure, and fewer have resources. HERO has all three. I may not always be around to warn and pull you out.” The young man admonished before standing up straighter to head back towards the warehouse.

”From the looks of things here, now there is a problem going on in the warehouse. I’m going back to keep up the facade.” Solomon started walking, but paused to look back at her again briefly.

”I have a measure of trust in your ability to look after yourself. However, don’t let your confidence become arrogance. Be careful…For now, go get a head start and I’ll take care of what I can from the inside.” Were his last words. Raising his hands to chest level, Sol extended two fingers from each hand and flapped them before vaulting from the roof’s edge.

Caught between being a huge fan and being sick of being talked down to, Shadow Scythe Vengeance took a few pointless steps forward after him. She had more questions. But he was gone, with an exit so cool it sent chills down her spine.

”Damn it.” She punched the air, and was left alone on the roof. Sighing, she cast a longing look towards the warehouse in the distance.

@Mintz@DClassified@Zoey Boey@canaryrose@Akayaofthemoon

Mission: A Dish Best Served Cold
Location: ”Innocuous” Warehouse

---

Beth sighs in disappointment, she try everything that she could but she couldn't find the shadow brat. She probably got away, but how? Did she had a friend with her? If Beth was completely honest, that girl doesn't look like the type that has friends. It doesn't matter now, that "strong boy" guy wasn't good help at all, other heroes didn't help either. And speaking of other heroes, where the hell was the samurai guy?! He was nowhere to be seen! He could have use his powers to catch that brat and this mission would be over!

But it doesn't matter now, this was her first hero mission and she mess up. She couldn't use her fireworks cause everyone would blow up, she was humiliated in front of everyone (including her new crush) and the bad guy got away! UGH!....But this was only beginning, this was her first mission after all, and just like any first day of the job, there has to be hiccups. But after tonight, there will be no hiccups! Spark Girl will not be laughing stock of H.E.R.O.! She'll become the greatest hero the city- no, the world have ever seen! And nothing, not even that shadowy brat, can stop her!.....Beth then feel her phone vibrate, she got a text message from a unknown phone number

With one enemy out of the way, Gematria turned to look around, trying to determine who to attack next. She looked up when she heard a girly-sounding scream from above, spotting the winged goon in the air with Graham on him. Gematria aimed her arms at them and was about to fire her hands at them in an attempt to bring them down. "Just a little..." Gematria muttered to herself. But all of a sudden, she was tackled. She stumbled a couple steps before dropping to the ground. Glancing back, she saw the man she thought she had knocked out was now on her. It seemed a high-speed punch wasn't enough to knock him out, after all.

Fortunately, she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Gematria swiveled her arms around so they faced backwards. One of the nice perks about being an android was that the human body's limits were not an android's limits. "Get off me!" Gematria yelled at the goon as she proceeded to swing madly, attempting to beat the ever-living crap out the guy if he still decided to cling to her. She was swinging blind, but she was certain a few hits would land.