Lex Luthor's gaze of displeasure was far less than subtle, for no reason other than the fact that Schezo has become an expert at detecting those. The only major difference between this and the many he's received in his lifetime is that the one delivering it is bald. Nevertheless, it didn't sit well. What could he possibly be upset over this time? It's a simple question!

"If you're incapable of finding him, say that! I couldn't care less about why your technology has proven inadequate."

Whirling around and marching toward the window, the dark mage grunts something under his breath. Whatever it was, it likely wasn't the most flattering thing to say about the one that's gathered them all here.

"He'll find me... Hmph! I welcome the opportunity for a strong man to catch me off guard!"

The moment that left his mouth, he gasped. He didn't mean for it to sound like--

BOOM

Another gasp. That explosion! It was so... spontaneous and unexpected! In his brief period of surprise, he catches a glimpse of someone flying, and with a red cape as well. That can only be their target. Attire that tacky has to match an equally tacky name, after all.

Not wasting a moment more, he promptly elbows the window before him, stepping back and preparing to leap out. It was then that he saw something else: Cloud. He seemed somewhat hesitant. Was he looking for something? A way to get there, perhaps? There's only one practical way to find out.

"You there, with the strange sword!" Schezo calls out, offering an open hand to Cloud. "If you're looking for a swift way to that building, or any building at this point, take my hand! Either way, you can't just stand there."

@Thatguyinastore @ratKing

--Zi-O Wizard Armor--
Interaction:@Thatguyinastore@Attesa@Second2Last

"Woah, a ghost!" Sougo yelped, seeing Lilith follow the group. "You must be with us then...You almost scared me there." He sighed, advancing through the building until...

"Well that's not right. Did we make a wrong turn somewhere?" Sougo asked as they reached what seems to be a luxurious looking hall, completely different from what would be the very place that Superman had destroyed. What is this?

As he pondered this, a manic laughter erupted out of nowhere, echoing through this lone, long hallway. This voice was rather scratchy, almost insane. Regardless, it explained that they're somewhere else entirely.



Sougo materiliazed what seems to be a sword with a clockhand as its main motif. It has a large guard which seems to resemble a gun's hammer with a large slot as big as one of the watches in Sougo's belt.

"Everyone, be careful." Sougo says, advancing slowly after Joel. "Somehow, I've got a bad feeling about this."

...

He jinxed it, didn't he?

--Penny Polendina--
Interaction: @Thatguyinastore@Crow@SomeMekBoy

"...!" Penny gasped upon inspecting the situation through her infrared vision--it seems that there's a hostage situation at the same time as Superman's attack! There seems to be some gas seeping in where she detected these signatures. It was then that Amazo offered his services. "There seems to be a hostage situation occurring in this building." She turned to what seems to be a featureless humanoid robot, whom she thought she saw turn into a copy of herself before it smoothened itself out. Like clay being rolled back into a ball after it molded into something...That's a thought for another time. "We must free them posthaste!" She said, flying in front of the blocked window. From her back sprouted blades that seem to float. To the keen eye, there seems to be tiny strings attached to them, connecting the swords to its user.

The swords formed tiny groups as which beams of green Dust shot out, carving a hole large enough for the hostages to run through. The swords then shot towards the sides of the hole before pulling her arms back, pulling the wall off of the building, allowing the smoke the seep out and hopefully, no longer affect the hostages.

Sephiroth didn't care about anything that was going on. Simply turning into a bundle of feathers and re-appearing shortly after if any 'danger' somehow managed to make its way towards him. Infact, Sephiroth just smirked while watching everybody go out on their own. .. The fools. All of them. All were worms under the Chosen Ones feet. But of course, one caught his interest, it was a no-brainer that he would follow Cloud.. but he also wanted to make sure Cloud knew he wasn't going to help at all unless he truly needed to. Why this was not his battle, he was just a spectator! Why should a spectator get involved? He had no reason to, so he just wouldn't. Simple as that.

"Fight your own battles, Cloud. Show me what your power can do."

Sephiroth just smirked, starting to fly on his one wing. He showed little to no interest in the entire situation, why, it was almost like he was already bored of it all. The Greatest Hero of All Time had dealt with much worse than this, effortlessly defeating dragons, impaling a gigantic snake on a wooden stake.. there was not much that could really surprise him. The worst part might as well be his silence..

Sephiroth talked a lot. That was a no brainer, or at least, to Cloud it was. Infact in his current state, he would speak to nobody but Cloud. As nobody else peaked his interest or deserved to be noticed. Which explained his general silence, infact, he only reacted with facial expressions when not speaking with Cloud, but that was irrelevant for now.

@ratKing

Condition: Healthy
Status: Concerned
Inventory: Mysterious Watch
Interactions: Cloud @ratKing, Hershel @RirisStride1, Schezo @Mav, Penny @Kagebaka, A.M.A.Z.O @Crow
Mentions: Lex Luthor @Thatguyinastore, Sephiroth @TheRealMonaMona, Otto @SomeMekBoy

---

When Cloud cast a bolt of lightning on Cole, the electricity was promptly absorbed. In fact, it made him feel a little bit more charged- compensating for the fact he'd used up some electricity on his Shockwave earlier. The Demon of Empire City's expression shifted from contemplation to a small smirk on his own face, complementing Cloud's own grin.

"Yeah. That answers my question well enough. If you've got any bigger bolts than that at your disposal, I think we can get along just fine." So he had more than that giant sword on his back; someone wielding more electricity could very well synergize with him, although he wasn't sure how he could help Cloud out in return.

Not that he'd get to contemplate that; the rumbling threw him off his feet, as did Lex's shouts that their target was outside blasting up a building. Right as Luthor was screaming at the others to take care of Superman, Cole had already opened up a nearby window, climbing out before dropping straight down.



And yet, for anyone who was remotely concerned about Cole, the unmistakable Electric Man looked completely fine when the others got outside; better than fine, actually, considering he was running amok and helping seriously-wounded civilians who were incapacitated, using his Pulse Heal ability accordingly.



"Hold still now." Though his voice was still gruff, the concern was more than audible in his tone; only the audible sound of an entire floor collapsing caused him to pause, glancing over to the others who were now catching up. Seeing (and hearing, through his phone- which apparently was now linked to his watch) "Hershel" begin relief aid, the Conduit promptly pointed the injured people he'd healed over to the camp site as soon as they were getting up and able to walk.

"Head over there, a medic will do a more thorough job." Once the general mass of people had dispersed, he noticed Cloud visibly balking... and two other people loitering nearby. The teleporter, and the winged psychopath. Surprisingly, the former was actually offering to help Cloud out, whilst the latter was (unsurprisingly) doing nothing but sitting around, telling the other spiky-haired guy to pick his own fight or something like that.

"We need to stop Superman and minimize the casualties. You two go find Superman, I'm going to get as many people as I can out of that building!" And though it looked like he was still pissed-off as always, Cole shot Schezo a grateful look- almost like an apology for being an ass earlier- before running off. It was at this point that he spotted the others flying or climbing up rapidly; although Cole could certainly parkour, he wasn't remotely as quick as someone like the flying redhead girl, or the spandex leader. He needed to move quick- and that was when he spotted a very long wire protruding from the exterior of the building- spanning the height of a couple stories, at least.

Maybe if I juice that up, I can get a bit more height... Use it like a power line. With this thought in mind, Cole immediately zapped the metal wire repeatedly, waiting until it thoroughly coursed with electricity, before leaping up and...



..."Grinding" on the vertical rail, letting go at the top to gain significant air! The jump was more than enough to get him up to Penny's level as she investigated the coughing sounds. When he grabbed onto a window ledge and peered in to see Penny and Luthor's robot thing mentioning hostages inside. This was enough to prompt him to open the window and clamber inside, immediately coughing a storm at the thick smoke. Using an Electrical Pulse to try and "sense" bioelectricity through the walls, he rapidly confirmed what Penny had mentioned; there were people inside, but some of them seemed to be purposefully towering over others. He turned to the redhead girl to say something, but she was already starting to cut out a hole.

"Wait, we need to-" Before he could stop her, Penny had already torn the hole out of the building. Cole cursed as he ducked out of sight from the hole; unlike Penny, he could only sense the people's general locations and not which ones were hostile (yet, at least). He needed a better line of sight, preferably away from the hostage-takers' view at first, yet with an easy shot that wouldn't threaten the civilians.

"Damn it! Make sure they don't start shooting anyone. When I make my move, follow suit and take any of the goons I don't see out." Whether or not Penny cared that Cole was bossing her around didn't matter; he already clambered out the window he entered within moments. With the potential risk that the hostage-takers would just start shooting looming over his head, Cole leapt from footing to footing on the side of the building, parkouring over to one of the other windows that'd give him a better look at the hostage holders- preferably a line of sight where he could see all of them at once. Otherwise, he just hoped Penny- and the robot, and anyone else- would be smart enough not to scare the gunmen into beginning a massacre. They were losing precious time on finding Superman as it was; they couldn't afford to waste both time and lives simultaneously.

"Hey, spooky! What're you, some kind of Joker?" Ben's new form said, electricity sparking in his plug-like fingers, "the only smile here will be yours - upside down!"

@Second2Last @Attesa @Kagebaka @davefromdiscord @Thatguyinastore

--Penny Polendina--
Interaction:@Thatguyinastore@Crow@SomeMekBoy@FactionGuerilla

"Salutations, gentlemen!" Penny greeted right after hearing the gruff sounding superior's orders. She floated towards the ledge, and touched down on it with a slow grace. Penny hoped to gain the attention of the masked thugs--a distraction, as Cole would've put it, and make sure they don't hurt anyone. "Would you be kind enough to let these people go?" She asked, motioning to the hostages with a somewhat kind and warm smile. Which would seem scary, considering she was the one who carved the hole in the wall.