She felt a boost of confidence and accomplishment at the fact she had managed to make Leon flabbergasted or at least speechless if even for a moment. Something about his attitude just irked her and made her want to fight or compete with the attractive male now behind her. He hadn’t really done anything wrong and most of his arguments had been pretty valid but still that is how she felt. It sucked getting off on the wrong foot but that was the nature of things when sabotaging a first mission, it didn’t really make for easy friendships. ”Now, about ‘Strong Boy’… I’m sure you noticed multiple things…off about him. It was pretty obvious he was lying from the beginning but I just thought I would ease any worry you might have and say that he doesn’t have any powers. A part of my ability is to sense others with power.”, Nilin stated, glancing at her companion and feeling a bit nervous talking about herself or showing how weak she was to others. It was something she was probably going to have to get used to.

She sighed before continuing to speak while they continued their search.”I have the power to mentally link with another person and copy their powers and make them my own. For example, right now I have your power which I am assuming has to do with luck. I am not sure if this makes us both lucky or if we are passing it back and forth so to speak. It’s why I wanted to warn you just in case it fails you since I’m not sure how this works. I don’t obtain skill when a power is copied and I’m not always in control. Yours is one of the very few that has been a relief to handle and use effectively without training.”

Leon was still left a tad staggered from Nilin’s sudden backbone, but was mostly recovered, his saunter back in his steps as they made their way upstairs. Before she spoke up, however, something caught his eye; it looked like Strong Boy was ditching them, if his view from upstairs through a window had anything to say about it...Not to mention the gaggle of goons he was approaching, clearly eager to make a getaway. Without so much as a word, Leon pulled his phone out and snapped a quick photo of Sam and his cohorts. Luckily enough, he had the flash turned off too, though he can’t remember why, but it kept those below from being none the wiser.

His attention was dragged from the situation down there as Nilin began to talk of ‘Strong Boy’, and more interestingly to him, her power. ”...Wow, that’s a lot to take in. One hell of a power, if you ask me.” He seemed almost...Impressed? Or at the very least, intrigued. However, he gave a shrug when she began discussing how the shared use of the power might work. ”Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine. But it shouldn’t matter too much; if we’re both lucky, and we’re both trying to do the same thing, the result’ll be the same. Right?” He had a smile on his face, but the look of his eyes gave way to his true feelings. Were we really working towards the same thing? But the gaze didn’t linger for long. ”Oh, and I’m all too happy to be of service. If we really can double up on my luck, we’ll be quite the power couple, huh?” His smile shifted to a smirk, imagining what two of himself would be capable of. Oooh, this could be great…

She was actually surprised to find he sounded impressed or at least his tone suggested as such when he commented on her powers. It was only for a fleeting moment though before he continued speaking, sharing his thoughts on how both using luck at the same time would work if they had the same goal. His words made her feel heavy with guilt though, even more so when their eyes met. The smile he held was so very different from his eyes which spoke questions he didn’t bother to utter from his lips or maybe deep down he didn’t really want to know. Nilin really had no clue what to say to Leon about it. However, he ended up making everything shift and seem lighter instantaneously with that smirk and off the wall comment about being a power couple. ”Oh yes, I can see the headlines now. Fortune and his Lady Luck.”, she teased playfully before giving a soft smile. ”Honestly, I can’t imagine what double the luck would look like during a fight. You might not be wrong on that being a winning combination.”

Moving on, they kept their trek through the second floor, mainly finding a whole lot of nothing….Until they came across the office, the old-fashioned bolt-lock having been tampered with and leaving the door wide open, showing off the emergency exit. For a moment, there’s a tense pause between the two of them, as Leon could easily head towards the exit, or even just point out how strange it was that the office was broken into…

But then, all he did was shrug.

”I’m not sure about you, Nilin, but I’m pretty sick of tonight, and there hasn’t been any real sign of the vigilante girl up on this floor.” He said, as if blatantly ignoring the evidence before him. “If you’re up for it…Once we’ve finished calling off our hunt and handling the debriefing crap, I was planning to visit a restaurant that opened this week. I’d be all too happy to have you along.”

She almost felt her jaw drop, not only because of all the evidence before them being practically ignored which meant no pursuit would take place but had he just…asked her on a date? Nilin found herself staring at Leon far longer than she should have, opening her mouth a few times before bailing and biting her lip instead. This…was not something she had expected since they had been somewhat hostile with each other downstairs and it seemed like him and sparkles were getting along so well. Maybe he was just offering to her first? Perhaps it was actually a group thing and it just sounded like a date? That made more sense right? ”It does seem like a bust. I doubt we could catch up now even if we tried and SSV could be out of costume by now. As for dinner….I, um, I’m technically free after this so I guess getting a bite to eat wouldn’t hurt, if I’m really welcome that is.”

It was really that easy. He honestly wasn’t sure she’d agree to it (one of the few times in his life he’s felt some uncertainty), but her acceptance was a very pleasant surprise. ”Of course you are. In that case….It’s a date.”

And thus, without missing a beat, he gave her a wink and began his way back the way they came; time to skip town on this miserable first mission.

The tall man grunted in surprise as her wild limbs pummeled into him. Even with his enhanced strength, her strikes were wild and heavy. As he prepared to escape, his arms were pulled down, and Gematria landed a solid punch right to his jaw. The tall assassin spiralled and fell to the floor, unconscious. Gematria would notice Jenny had reached out and pulled the man’s arms to his sides, letting Gematria finish the fight. Jenny nodded at the mechanical hero and smiled, shrugging.

The electrokinetic prepared a blast, but Polaris tore a chunk of metal railing out of the ground and held it in front of the pair. All of the electricity began to ripple harmlessly through the metal. Strain made the railing immensely heavy and Polaris lobbed it at the assassin. It crushed him against the ground, pinning him against the concrete with his arms at his sides.

Meanwhile, the winged man was quickly overwhelmed by Graham’s assault. Before long he plummeted through the air. “I give up, I give up!” He shrieked, desperately wanting to avoid being gouged. He fell to the ground and curled up into a ball, surrendering.

Eyepatch man surface, spitting out water. He considered getting back into the fight, but he also knew it was already lost. “Fucking idiots.” He swore. Marching boots echoed throughout lighthouse island as security forces mobilized. “Can’t believe how impossible this job was. I’m outta here.” With that he teleported into the water, splashing and swimming to the mainland. A few more teleports later and he was long gone, vanishing back into Castleburg.

Armed guards swarmed the area, including a particularly stressed out looking Principal Lee.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God-” She murmured, running a hand through her hair as she jogged into the outside area. Quickly as possible she organized the capture effort. Superpowers or not, it was pretty difficult to escape when cuffed and surrounded by guards armed with guns and powerful tasers.

“Okay well...ignoring whatever the hell that was.” Drew Reedsworth said, sitting on the top of the platform. “I get the ten dollars, still. So. Let’s not forget that.” He began floating down, still feeling tingles from where an assault rifle had been pointed at his head.

Michelle Lewis slowly lowered her hands. “Yo...those guys, like, totally wanted to kill me. Was that real?”

Four underpaid orchestra teachers were found on the roof and quickly put back into regular clothes. None of them would speak of this day again.

Jenny assessed the damage, lifting a few pieces of rubble back into place. “Well, whoever they were, they clearly got a little cocky. I’m pretty sure I would have made a better supervillain, and I wasn’t even a real one.”

Principal Lee tried to use her superpower of bureaucratic damage control, and she did somewhat succeed. Needless to say this entire incident would be a demerit on her career, but the coincidence of the attack on the school with her fake villain attack couldn't be blamed on her. As long as she didn't do it again. After all, she was a teacher at a school for superpowered students, so any temporary lapses of judgement or bouts of insanity were to be expected and corrected for within the budget.

Michelle Lewis breathed a sigh of relief. The consequences of her actions were graver than she had anticipated. HERO took her in for questioning. Several questions had to be raised within HERO intelligence. Why target Michelle Lewis? What reason could these assassins have to kill a girl in the middle of a populated HERO compound? Of course the assassins knew nothing- they were hired guns and nothing more.

Nonetheless, a plan of counter-action would be devised. Soon, HERO would make their play and start putting their many enemies on the defensive for once.