[IC] The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)

[CommissarRanden]

Chicago

"Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen." Chrislann mumbled this under his breath as he wandered around Chicago, having no idea where to go. "For all that is holy, please show the way lord!" He huffed in frustration as he passed the same street sign for the umpteenth time. His car broke down and had to walk from the edge of the city.

Chrislann is currently in in his normal attire but with sunglasses as he doesn't want anybody to know it was him. Coming to Chicago, he thought that it was going to be pretty similar to his hometown San Angeles. Oh was he wrong. "Your holiness, give me thy way or I will die walking" Sitting down to rest in an alleyway, Chrislann opened up a cross for his bags and belongings. Rummaging through the bag, he got his packet of fries and started eating.

"Thank *Munch, Munch* you France". He started to walk down a more dodgy place than uptown and saw a pale demon monster standing in front of a small rundown bar. Stuffing all his fries in his mouth and taking off his sunglasses, he conjured his coat and rapier with a quick Our Father. Walking towards them, he tied his bandana on his mouth. As he swallowed his fries, he eyed the demon. The thing was not looking his way. He saw a ghost come out of the bar. He saw what the thing was doing. He was making other Demons from the rundown bar! The League can come later. "I AM SALVATION, SMITER OF GODS ENEMIES AND YOUR DEATH, SATAN MINION!". He charged, rapier readied for a quick stab and a long prayer on the go as a huge cross formed over the monster demon.

Chrislann smiled, the League will appreciate this.

[Archmage MC]

"Bloody hell. being a zombie and all, I'm sure Japanese tentacles just love you. So many holes." MC said at Joe, who was left outside just like he was. "I'm chipper and all, but chaos magic does weird things. And being on the receiving end of it is bad. Just eat some cake." MC said, conjuring a cake made out of what looked to be chocolate meat, still holding his staff out much like a rifle.

Bored charging his spell, MC was ecstatic when someone flew out of the barrier that he didn't recognize. "FINALLY!" He exclaimed as he fired his blast at Ghost, making sure to track his flying arc, while simultaneously swiping at him with his floating hand, causing a very faint echo of the man to be sucked into MC, MC now knowing the man's ability to phase shift for a little while.

"Sucks to be him. Arcane Magic don't care if your ethereal or not, at least I think... come to think of it, this is a really meh ability." MC said as he absently conjured a bunch of bowling balls that, when they fell onto Ghost, exploded into spiders that started to reenact Shakespeare. "But hey, maybe I can head on into that restaurant with this. Phase shifting and wards act weird together sometimes..."

Testing his theory, he cast the now newly learned phase shift, and flew at the ward. Sadly he bounced right off as was expected, but it was worth a shot. "Damnit..."He said, flying above the restaurant and shot a ball of chaos magic at it, causing the restaurant roof underneath to turn into blue magma that smelled oddly like garlic and tickled whatever it got on. "Thats new." MC commented, watching over the ghost man.

---

"Whatever they wanna do. I honestly don't care. worse come to worse, I just tie you to my back. Personal time with me like that for a week does weird things to you." Light said, bored with the necromancer. "You guys decide what you wanna do with this one. worse come to worse, we chain her up and run at the wardens office I'm sure something is there."

[Heat]

Killshade groaned as the huge insect smacked him, sending him into the wall with a bang. A surge of pain went through his body as he hit the wall, he didn't break any bones, but probably bruised something. Just another reason to be thankful for the healing ability. He slowly rose back to his feet, regaining his composure. He was about to charge back at Locust to take back his blade, when he turned to see Shifter and Break Neck getting surrounded by several armed henchmen. No matter how much Killshade wanted to retreive his weapon, he needed to help out Shifter. She was in more trouble, the powerless grunts would not be a problem for him anyway.

He dashed, appearing behind the group, then threw a very hard fist into the back of the head of the first one he appeared near. He was about to make another move when Rift Hound appeared through a portal and fell on one of the henchmen, well, help was always a good thing. Killshade blinked as he pulled a smoke grenade from his belt, removing the pin. He rolled it in front of Shifter and Break Neck, his intent to shroud them in the smoke so that the henchmen would have to focus on him. As soon as the smoke grenade hit the floor, Killshade threw a right and left hook into the gut of another man.

[Lookie]

Oh thank you, strong, reliable limbs. Even when everything hurt, she could trust them to do their job. She'd been able to pull the woman out. If only she hadn't gotten herself surrounded while doing such a marvelous, heroic thing.

Raising her hands, the shapeshifter shrugged. There wasn't much they could do, not without help... which promptly arrived as one of their allies fell through a portal, another striking down another goon with a swift punch. How sweet, their knights in shining armor were here, Shifter thought as her and the other woman were shrouded by smoke.

It would be so easy to just let the men take care of it, but Shifter wasn't a damsel. They were still surrounded. Why not help out, even if only a bit.
”Help if you can,” she said to Break Neck before her body changed, healthy body parts stretching and growing, others shrinking in size before she was unrecognizable as a human. The only parts that stayed the same were her torso and arm. She didn't want to cause herself any unnecessary pain.

Without warning, a single grotesque, strong arm sprung out and wrapped around a single gunman's leg. In a blink of an eye, the man was pulled inside the smoke, Shifter wrapping her body around him, crushing, choking. The hand holding the gun was held in place with a tight, bone breaking grip. She wouldn't hesitate to break his fingers if she needed to.

[An Outsider]

Mr Joe Black

"Fuck me, no one cares about your chaos magic!" Joe threw his arms into the air in exasperation. "This is like the twentieth time in ten minutes you've bragged about you 'chaos magic', but I'm starting to think it just means 'of no fucking use whatsoever magic'." Even for a mage this one was full of himself. Arrogant and ugly, not a good combination. Thankfully fishbowl head decided to leave without forcing anymore of his crazy bullshit down Joe's throat.

The zombie took another long drag of his smoke and watched MC charge Ghost with a detached boredom. Of Couse instead of the usual fireworks a powerful mage should be able to conjure all Gandalf the crazy did was cover Casper with spiders. Even if it was a joke spell, it was still shit. "Christ, so useless. . . " Joe muttered under his breath as MC flew headfirst at the magical ward, just to bounce of into space.

"I AM SALVATION, SMITER OF GODS ENEMIES AND YOUR DEATH, SATAN MINION!"

"What the hell?" Joe was used to religious nutjobs losing their shit around him, it was something you just had to get used to when you looked like an extra in a Romero movie. Still, he didn't quite expect it when he was on League business. He spun towards the direction of the voice, just to catch sight of the smiter of God's enemies charging at him with a sword. The rapier made a soft squelching sound as it sank into Joe's chest. Mr Black dipped his rayban's a little as he looked at Salvation with genuine surprise.

He took another slow drag, the marlboro near smoked down to the butt now. He held the smoke in, all the while glaring at Salvation, who's rapier blade was still lodged in Joe's chest. Then, with a glacier like lack of haste he exhaled the smoke in the religious nut's face. By this point a few of the officers from the police cordon around Maroni's had turned, pointing at the strange scene unfolding in front of them.

"I GOT ONE, HE WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE AND I, JOE BLACK, LONGTIME ACCOMPLICE OF DESTINY AND RECENTLY ELEVATED LEAGUE MEMBER, GOT HIM. HOWEVER HE STABBED ME WHILE I TRIED TO APPREHEND HIM, AND NOW WE ARE AT A STALEMATE. I SUGGEST ANY AND ALL AVAILABLE LAW OFFICERS INTERVENE, AND I RECOMMEND USING LETHAL FORCE!" Joe began to yell to the cops, gesturing wildly at Salvation and the rapier lodged in his chest.

[Yog Sothoth]

Hot Rod was interested when he heard the woman talk about the Legion after Sonja questioned her, he didn't know who they were but they sounded like an ominous group of villains from a kids cartoon. When Light said that they could decide what to do with the necromancer, Hot Rod thought for a moment and wondered what would be the best course of action.

"I think we should ask the wardens if we can take her back to HQ and question her. I am pretty sure Pariah will be able to give us some information about this Legion. But please try and refrain from torture, it wouldn't look good for our image if the people found out about that" Hot Rod replied to his teammates. He didn't mind beating up criminals in the line of duty, God knows he's done countless times, but torturing someone in custody would be going to far in his opinion.

---

Ocean was grunted in great pain when Locust spat on him with acidic like saliva and then the beast slashed him across the arm which made him release Locust's arm from his powerful shark jaws. He expected the creature to continue with its assault but then Killshade intervened and slashed at the creature with his swords. This distracted Locust which gave Ocean Warrior the chance to go and quickly retrieve his trident from where Locust had knocked it to. Once he had the weapon in his hands, Locust was turning his attention back on him and Ocean Warrior glared at the beast.

"Feel the power of my trident foul beast!" he shouted and fired an extremely hot beam of energy straight at Locust's chest and would burn through his flesh if it hit.

[Arty Fox]

With a deep gasp of wonderful lovely air the darkness that had been creeping across Break Necks vision was banished to where it came and relief flooded through her. But of course the feeling of relief wasn’t to last as before she could even start to stand up, pushing past the waves of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her, they were surrounded once again by henchmen.

“Didn’t I just finish you guys off?” Break Neck muttered in disappointment when she looked up.

Just how many of these guys were there!? Why the heck were they targeting a restaurant? If they were hungry they could’ve just gotten something the MacDonald’s down the road! Heck there was even a bank near there why weren’t they there!? Her rambling internal complaint would’ve continued, teeth grinding away almost audibly, but she was then promptly distracted with the request to start fighting.

While Break Neck happily obliged with the request the shifters sudden grotesque changes had initially caused her some alarm and a deafening bang nearby accompanied the explosion of pain around her arm. With a cry and ringing in her ears Break Neck returned the favour slamming her palm into the nearest henchmen’s shoulder after a quick dash resulting in a satisfying pop and the Henchmen scream with a now useless arm as smoke began to swirl around them, a few of the other henchmen being taken down by her teammates. Dropping down under the incoming fire, and her left hand went down ready to take her weight, and struck out a leg towards another henchmen’s knee caps but ultimately missed.

Break Neck swore loudly from the shards of pain ripping through her arm and it gave out under her dropping her to the ground, a quick glance confirmed her fears and blood dribbled happily from a small hole through her jacket near the middle of her upper arm where the bullet had gone in. Break Neck didn’t want to think about the exit wound right now.

“We’re out numbered.” She shouted through gritted teeth at the others. “We need the others in here.”

[Asuras]

Zaphkiel

She was quick, but he suspected that even with her little iron toothpicks, Stalker would ultimately fail to severely harm him. Zaphkiel's leg was pushed to the ground after the woman used it as a springboard, actually helping him return it to a standing position quicker than normal. The two daggers scratched across his golden armor, leaving ugly grey marks on their surface but failing to penetrate past its thickness. Zaphkiel maintained a complete aura of calmness even as Stalker stood atop his shoulders, awaiting a strike by the woman before bursting into action. As soon as the daggers sunk centimeters into his armor, leaving clear fissures in it but still failing to go the whole mile, the bladed weapons were left embedded in his body painlessly.

Zaphkiel reached up behind himself just as Stalker stabbed him, attempting to latch onto her wrists with massive hands and a titanic grip. His coming move would be devastating, quick, and reminiscent of some fantastical world wrestling match... if he was able to intercept her hands before they could go anywhere else. With a quick jump upwards using his wings to gain extra distance from the floor, he would boost into the ceiling, knocking Stalker's body slightly if only to stun her. As Zaphkiel fell, he would pull Stalker from over his head, fall into a kneeling position and bring the villain headfirst into the floor with a slam.

Might she escape before all this, Zaphkiel would simply resort to pulling the daggers from his armor, being the only one even remotely strong enough on that floor to do so. Hopefully Stalker would also realize the fruitlessness of her little game, and surrender.

[CommissarRanden]

Salvation

When Chrislann completely miss the demon, he was expecting the demon to bonk him on the head. Much to his surprise it didn't. He also wasn't expecting this "I GOT ONE, HE WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE AND I, JOE BLACK, LONGTIME ACCOMPLICE OF DESTINY AND RECENTLY ELEVATED LEAGUE MEMBER, GOT HIM. HOWEVER HE STABBED ME WHILE I TRIED TO APPREHEND HIM, AND NOW WE ARE AT A STALEMATE. I SUGGEST ANY AND ALL AVAILABLE LAW OFFICERS INTERVENE, AND I RECOMMEND USING LETHAL FORCE!".

Chrislann looked around, bewildered. 'A liar and a demon, such filth to walk the planes of mortals' with a quick turn of sword, Chrislann pulled his rapier from the air next to Black's face and ran backwards. He started praying.

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

The cross over John or whatever the demons name was became bigger. And conjured a truck filled with bricks above the demon. Chrislann looked back to see the demon dodge the truck. "Fuck". Then he noticed the police force pointing at him. And shooting their guns. "Double Fuck". Chrislann conjured a cross in front of him, transporting the bullets behind him.

"POLICE FORCE OF CHICAGO, HOW YOU DARE SHOOT AT GODS WARRIOR ETERNAL. I HAVE tried to DEFEAT A THORN IN YOUR SIDE. A DEMON FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL ITSELF! I PRAY FOR YOU. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS AND LET YOU REST IN ETERNAL PEACE!". Clutching his crosses in his hands, he stepped into the cross in front of him. He blinked out of existence and onto the roofs of the apartment above. He saw the demon. He pointed his cross at the Satan Minion. "LET THE DEMONS SOUL BEGONE FROM THIS PLANE, I SHALL MAKE YOU FEEL ALL THE PAIN YOU GAVE TO THE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF CHICAGO FOR THE NEXT-" Chrislann checks his watch "24 HOURS!"

Chrislann smiled, today would be a good day. The league can come later. He powered his shot, a burning light coming from his body. His eyes burned with hatred. No mercy for demons today. For eternal.

"My Queen, My Mother, I offer
myself entirely to thee.
And to show my devotion to thee,
I offer thee this day, my eyes,
my ears, my mouth, my heart,
my whole being without reserve.
Wherefore, good Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me as thy property and possession.
Amen."

Chrislann noticed something. The demon smoked in his face. Oh that thing is going to be so dead afterwards. Chrislann wipes his face and coughs. Wait a moment. If they were demons, he would've fainted.

Shit. "I am tired, hopefully I dont get to jai-" Chrislann drops, sounds coming from his mouth. It looked pretty pathetic. He had a thumb in his mouth and cuddled up with fries in his hands.

[Polyphemus]

SIXGUN

"Well, I don't know what that 'suffer' thing was about."

"Alright, Fontana, take some men over that vacant there," Sixgun ordered, waving towards where he had fired at the start of the battle. "I seen some kinda wolf on two legs, it was huge. Be careful, yeah?"

"La Sombra, good work," he said, giving the man a pat on the shoulder. "Fletcher Ross wants you in his corner any time from now on. We've gotta work fast, police will be a-comin' soon, gunfire attracts attention even in this part of town. Let's see if we can find some papers or documents, anything that might tell us something useful, yeah?"

---

SONJA

Sonja shook her head. "Alright, listen, if you give us good and actionable information about Legion, we'll talk to a judge about getting you into witness protection, maybe a new identity. We'll talk to the White Fellowship and Magus on your behalf as well. At any rate, you'd have to renounce dark magic, and probably perform some penance for your sins. But this is only if what you tell us helps us out, you understand?"

Sonja turned around to address the others. "I'm going to escort her out of the combat zone and get her on a VTOL out of here. We'll debrief her back at League HQ. In the meantime, there's still plenty to be done here. I'll come back to help with the fighting."

Sonja starting pulling the woman along by the arm, casting a minor illusory spell on her- no one would quite be able to remember who exactly was being walked out. "So what's your name, anyway?" Sonja asked her.

[MrDidact]

The Lab

Fontana nodded and drew a knife, motioning his men to follow them. La Sombra nodded at Sixgun, "Your assistance is appreciated Ross. No doubt I would have killed the brujo anyway but it is appreciated." La Sombra entered the building leaving Sixgun to rifle through Santana's corpse. All he found was a vial filled with gold liquid labeled "Apex" and a modern day smart phone. Sixgun heard Binary say, "Give me a sec to copy all the data." Using Sixgun's implant as a wireless booster and hacking device, the technopath speedily downloaded all of the phone's files and immediately began reading through them.

La Sombra exited the building and held up a paper, "It's a note about a place called the Den. It's in the Red Light district, but its not any place I ever heard of. It talks about "experiments" and I believe its where we should make our next stop. Perhaps do some surveillance yes?"

Maroni's

Upstairs, Stalker found her hands caught by Zaphkiel. However at that moment Shrieker fired a sonic scream at Zaphkiel, causing his grip to loosen. Stalker took advantage and wiggled out before she would have been slammed into the roof. Shrieker who had been dazed but not knocked out continued to shatter wood and glass while screaming at the angel. Stalker knew when the situation was hopeless and flipped on a table before jumping up the ceiling and out of the very hole Zaphkiel had made.

Outside the police blinked collectively and shrugged to themselves before one officer cuffed Salvation. His partner stared at Joe, "Are you alright sir?" Meanwhile Ghost grunted in pain when MC blasted him, spinning in the air while the conjured spiders fell through his body. He reoriented himself and snarled, "Fuck you!" Before diving at MC and punching through his chest in rapid succession, making MC feel sharp stabs of pain.

That's when Stalker appeared and found the building surrounded. A helicopter flew above her with the door open and a man with a rifle pointed at her. The helicopter's PA said, "Stop or we will fire." Stalker threw her knife right when he finished and caught the marksman in the chest before leaping at the open door. Bullets pounded the space she just vacated as she landed inside the helicopter and stared at the pilots who were in shock. Blood splattered the windshield as the helicopter temporarily lost control before righting itself and the amateur pilot began flying away.

Inside the restaurant, the trio of heroes managed to off-balance the henchmen opposing them. The counterattacks took them by surprise and they could barely react as the heroes attacked them. Across the room, Pariah flicked an object out behind cover. Villa shot it in mid-air, allowing Pariah to swing around and put a bullet in her chest. She fell to the floor and Pariah turned, firing at the henchmen around his team. Anyone that wasn't already disabled by them was taken down in rapid succession.

Locust snarled and was pushed back against the wall as the trident hit him. It cracked his front chest plates and blood poured from the wounds. Locust shrieked and pulled out Killshade's sword before throwing it at Ocean Warrior's face, the swing aided by Locust's mutant strength. Bishop cried out as the Bat embedded itself in his shoulder a few inches, "Motherfucker!"

He pulled it out with a wet squelch sending blood pouring down his now ruined suit. He snarled and shouted out, "Belladonna! We're leaving! Give us cover!" Belladonna nodded and threw her tablecloth at Killshade, Shifter, and Break Neck. If they were caught they'd find themselves suffering an electric shock courtesy of the runes Belladonna had been drawing on it. Pariah leveled his pistols at Belladonna but Bishop stepped in front of her and his rounds impacted the man with no effect. Bishop easily picked up Belladonna and ran over to the Marconi table where Flasher reappeared. Bishop nodded and Flasher touched the two of them and a few more of Marconi's family before they all disappeared.

Prison

In the infirmary the nercomancer bristled under Sonja's touch, "I suppose probable death is better than certain death." She said nothing until she was asked about her name and then she laughed, "Ha. As if I would give another practitioner my own name from my own lips. I know better. But you may call me Styx." Styx smiled grimly and said, "And seeing how our new relationship is progressing I feel obliged to tell you that your teammates may want to hurry themselves to the maximum security wing."

Volt's aim was perfect and the three men fell to the ground in spasms as his electric attacks shocked them into submission. The last man however, drew his pistol and shot at Volt, his aim steady and measured as he pumped three bullets at his torso. Apogee cried out, "NOOOOO!!" Before launching forward and punching the man in the face. Hard. His head didn't just snap back. It flew off his neck and impacted itself in the wall. She barely paid any mind to her first kill, as she flew over to Volt and looked down at him, "Oh my god! Volt!" She frantically ripped off Volt's uniform to assess his injuries.

[QuietThinker]

Wire

There was no mistaking it: the trail led here. Right to a manhole cover. Why anyone would consider this a safe haven was beyond him.

The job came to him like all of his others: with an appearance at his office. Of course, the only thing in his office were the words "Private Invesitgations" and a camera. The appearance this time, like so many others, was from the handler too afraid of consequences from above. They were all the same: men in suits with an air of pride and an almost implied demand of respect. Their reactions to the empty office had usually been a mix of contempt and superiority, but as word began to spread, they now knew what it meant to walk into that office and smile for the camera. It meant that you were about to be subject to hours upon hours of scrutiny and investigation, and if you were lucky, a visit.

A visit from Wire.

The walking stereotype that gave him this job was a veteran thug. Multiple counts of assault, theft, and a long history of bribery and blackmail. And with a surprisingly strong legal team. He was the same. Well it had turned out that one of his charges had messed up: they had recently gotten a bit angry at a lack of service in a nice coffee shop and had smashed a table, a few ribs, and at least one kneecap. And they were a low tier meta. There weren't any potential homicides attached to this case, but the police were still pissed. And rightly so, with a madman like him wrecking such a nice coffee shop. And for the aggravated assault of course. Of course. Its just that he had seen so many now, and helped keep those creeps out of prison that he rarely thought he deserved to sleep so soundly at night. No matter. It would all be worth it in the end.

Anyway, mask on, Wire approached the man and listened to the details. Howard Phillips wrecked the nice coffee shop, and then promptly left. He had been off the grid since. The League didn't get involved because this guy fell under the umbrella that can keep the media at bay. His favourite coffee shop got no coverage when this barbarian demolished it. How unfair. And now he was being asked to track him down before an unapologetically incorruptible group of police officers manage to, and work hard to open up pandora's box. Not that he cared about pandora's box.

He accepted the job, and made his way to the usual haunts of his new mark. None of them had seen him since before the incident, and seeing as this was 3 days after the fact, it was distinctly unusual. The meatheads were always at a place they thought was 'safe', whether it was a bar, some club or their mum's house, which meant only one thing: no place seemed safe to this guy. He was going to be a problem. And with a quick search of the manhole covers in the surrounding area which were usually welded into the concrete, his suspicions were proved correct. One had been pried off, with indents of fingers on both sides. The fingers were the right size, and once again, Wire was happy to declare that memorising everything was still good practice. He lifted the cover with ease, and strapped on his gloves. With a slight groan of annoyance, he prepared to climb down the hole.

[Asuras]

Zaphkiel

Zaphkiel's wings beat before with a single, fierce swing, disrupting the sonic waves that assailed him for a moment. "Enough!" he shouted, not one to speak often, much less yell so loudly. His body vibrated with an unseen energy, causing the armor to clang about even as he stood still. The sound waves were of no effect to his mechanical senses and hardened body, only serving as a physical nuisance that prevented him from carrying out his mission; the sanctity of the hostages. How many ears were already damaged by this villan's careless usage?

Zaphkiel stomped across the distance between himself and Shrieker, his metal feet pounding cracks into the floorboards that barely held his weight. The angel closed the distance rather quickly, charging through sound waves like they were but dense vegetation in a jungle environment. As he got closer, the sound became more intense, and thus the force, and so Zaphkiel brought his shield to bare, blocking much of the sonic waves from ever impacting his true body. Within seconds he was upon the villain, sword-like arm raised to bring heavenly fury upon Shrieker. With an overhead swing, he sought to knock their very upper body into the wooden ground.

Hye Su

Outside of Maroni's, the newly joined, former police officer Hye Sun had made her way to the scene, accompanied by a few extra hands to help with the situation. Being "unaffiliated" with the CPD meant little to her, and she gladly took the opportunity to hitch a ride in a police vehicle for Maroni's. The officer, now called Neon by her League compatriots, stepped out of the vehicle with her gun cocked and ready to go, though her stance indicated patience and restraint; as far as she could tell, things had already begun to stir within Maroni's, likely taken care of by the League.

A particular moment of frantic movement in the air, however, caught her eye. Hye Sun gestured to the helicopter that had so suddenly been painted with clear blood, indicating to the CPD that it had in fact been hijacked. Neon herself had nothing in the way of an aerial presence, and simply left it to the police organization to take care of the escaping piece of property. It wouldn't get far, she though, considering how obvious a blood-stained helicopter in broad daylight was.

Instead, she resolved to aid someone familiar; an individual not unlike herself. One who had also joined the superhero band recently as well. Hye Sun dashed over the hoods of police vehicles to MC's aid, holstering her tangible pistol as soon as she recognized that Ghost was punching through MC. Bullets would have no effect, she concluded. Neon nevertheless feigned a gun with her fingers, a burst of light collecting at the tip of her index finger into the shape of a bullet. With a flick of her thumb, the light bullet made its way for Ghost's chest, unlikely to be at all lethal, but hopefully of a nature that could still harm him.

[CommissarRanden]

Salvation

Opening his eyes, Chrislann was not surprised that he was locked in a car in a chair and is bare chested. "My oh my am I unlucky today!" Chrislann looked around the car and saw nothing to use to escape. Crap. 'If the demon wasn't a demon and he wasn't fake....' His eyes flew wide open. 'He is God's true Chosen! The Start of the beginning of God's Resurrection. He is immortal! He is God's Promise! I shall protect him to the end! To preach him eternally!'. The League can come later

Chrislann looked around and glared at the glass window. He came up to the glass and summoned his rapier. He stabbed at the glass and shattered it. He stepped outside and found that no one noticed him escaoe with all the chaos. "Hm, pathetic." Chrislann powered up a cross in front of him making the text on his body and eyes flare up in white lightning.

"O Mary, recall the solemn moment when Jesus,
your divine Son, dying on the Cross,
confided us to your maternal care.
You are our Mother, we desire ever to remain your devout children.
Let us therefore feel the effects of your powerful intercession with Jesus Christ.
make your Name again glorious in the shrine once renowned throughout England by your visits, favours, and many miracles.
Pray, O holy Mother of God, for the conversion of England, restoration of the sick, consolation for the afflicted, repentance of sinners, peace to the departed.
O blessed Mary, Mother of God, our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for us.
Amen."

Chrislann summoned his jacket and put it on. He pushed and shoved through the crowd and saw the now Salvation (heh) of humanity standing with an avian lifeform "OH GREY ONE, I ACCEPT YOU AS THE EXAMPLE THAT GOD GAVE US, PLEASE FORGIVE MY ASSAULT!". Chrislann kneeled down before Joe "Mr.Black accept me as your eternal servant. God has pointed his finger at you. What is your bidding, My Lord?

[Archmage MC]

MC was only vaguely aware of Ghost stabbing him in the 'gut', causing a ticklish sensation. MC Released an explosion of arcane energy around himself when his attention finally swapped to Ghost and away from the restaurant, blowing Ghost away. "Wow. I didn't give this power enough credit. No distabalization, Weird." MC said as he poked where he was just 'stabbed', the intangibility he had stolen from Ghost still active, Although Ghost did annoy him, and MC was restless due to all that had happened in the past few minutes, and lack there of before that.

MC attached his floating hand onto the left stump of his wrist, causing the fingers to snap into a star pattern as the hand began to spin robotically. A low humming could be heard as it reached extreme speeds. "Arcane Barrage!" MC said in a low voice, his left hand being shot like a mini gun, showering Ghost in a bunch of small arcane pellets. He then noticed another person below he didn't know much about, but who had also fired a much larger energy pellet at Ghost's back. "Thanks hun! This guy wants to go for lethal. If he pushes it, I'll go for lethal, and my lethal is deadly!" MC said in a cheery voice, snapping to a manical laughter as his bullet storm pushed Ghost back. Although he wasn't going for lethal just yet.

---

Light shrugged at the necromancer. She gave in way too easy, but at least she gave them a direction. "C'mon people. Maximum security we go! I should be all fine and dandy once we reach it." Light said, her burnt flesh visibly mending. "Maybe we'll have some fun there! though I don't know where it is. Do any of you?" Light continued, not finding a map of the building in the burnt up room. When Sonja said she'd escort the girl out, Light waved her good luck.

[Dingo]

Rift Hound - Maroni's Restaurant

Joshua's vision was much clearer now. Somehow he'd been able to catch the henchman off guard just enough that the cornered duo had managed to retaliate and take them out. Not only that, but he was pretty sure that the leader of the hostage takers had fled and Throat Ripper Girl had thrown a tablecloth at them. Fortunately for Joshua, he was still on the floor of the restaurant, rolling away from the crumpled form of the henchman he had fallen on and had just rolled out of the tablecloth's reach.

"Well holy shit... We did it." He said, his voice weary. Opening his Pocket, he dropped the gun he had wrestled from the henchman inside as well as any other nearby discarded firearms that he could see. There was no point in a random henchman getting ideas and going for a revenge kill.
Rising to his feet, a fresh wave of nausea washed over Joshua, but he was pretty sure he'd heard a gunshot in that scuffle. Well, a gunshot that was closer than the gun battle that had already been going on, anyway! Walking over to Break Neck and Shifter, Joshua noticed the blood seeping from Break Neck's wound.

"Shit." He muttered, looking over woman and what appeared to be a creature from John Carpenter's 'The Thing', "We need to get you out of here. Is there an ambulance outside?"

---

E-Vyle - Outside Maroni's Restaurant

E-Vyle was confused to say the least. He'd been watching over the League and their entry into Maroni's to deal with the apparent hostage situation in the form of a black Newfoundland from the street below, the police not paying any particular attention to dogs. For the most part, the League had conducted themselves quite professionally. After eavesdropping with the help of several insects from his swarm, E-Vyle could tell that the League was efficient and organized, taking into consideration the best strategies required to breach the restaurant and combat the criminal's that dwelled within. They saw their opportunity to breach the premises and took it with the intention of breaking down the magical ward preventing their magic-user from entering the building.

And then it all went wrong, somehow.

Their magic-user was unable to access the premises, apparently turning the restaurant rooftop into vibrant blue lave out of boredom before being accompanied by a moody zombie. Then, when an assailant almost literally fell from the sky, the magic-user covered him with spiders. And then flew into the magical barrier surrounding the building. E-Vyle was getting the feeling that the energy-being wasn't fully in control of their powers.
The zombie, on the other hand, seemed to have been attacked by a random religious zealot that happened to be passing by. Christian, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist or Westboro picketer, E-Vyle couldn't tell. All he knew was that the fanatic had a sword that he used to stab the zombie, clearly having never read up on any zombie lore, before conjuring a truck of bricks out of seemingly nowhere and then realizing that the zombie that wasn't being shot at by the police probably wasn't the bad guy, promptly curling into a fetal position and allowing himself to be arrested.

Up until this point, E-Vyle had refrained from entering the restaurant out of the belief that the League didn't need an inexperienced newcomer playing hero, but he was beginning to wonder if the League couldn't use all the help that they could get. Shrugging to himself, a bizarre gesture for a dog to those observing him, E-Vyle shifted his form to that of a giant raven, flying over to perch next to the zombie, faintly aware of the helicopter gunfire and the ongoing battle between MC and Ghost.

"So," E-Vyle said, his avian form almost half the height of the zombie's, "Is this sort of thing common for members of the League, or is today just an off day?"

[Lookie]

The henchman Shifter had been holding was forcefully pushed towards the tablecloth as she quickly yet gracelessly moved as far away as she could. The shapeshifter was pretty sure that anything the kid touched was deadly now. Even if they weren't, she wouldn't take any unnecessary risks with her.

She didn't spare a single glance towards the fur covered man as he spoke, instead concentrating on the transformation. She had trouble choosing a form, not knowing what she needed to be. Maybe she'd hit her head harder than she'd thought.

Moments later a familiar androgynous body took the shapeless forms place. A moan of pain escaped the shapeshifter as she touched at her side. The bullet graze on her leg bled copiously, making it look worse than it actually was. Everything ached. Petya took in a shaky breath, slumping towards the wall before sliding down with a sharp exhale.

She was done, thank you very much. No more unnecessary movement for now.

[An Outsider]

Hi-Voltage

Three shots. Three targets. Three gunmen sent spasming uncontrollably to the floor. It was the moments like these that all his hours at the firing range in the League building really paid their due. Then the gunshots rang out, thunderous and terrifying, and he knew, just knew in the depths of his being that those shots had his number. Even his speed and reactions didn't add up to much here, wasn't like he was faster than a speeding bullet, that was Hotrod's domain. He coulda tried to dodge, but he knew it was a doomed endeavour. Instead he did something he's never tried before, something he didn't really think about before attempting.

He tried to catch a bullet.

Not with his hands of course, that would have been crazy, even for someone like him. Instead he exerted his influence over electromagnetism, throwing a magnetic screen up in front of him. It was more due to instinctive survival mechanisms than conscious thought, but it happened none the less. The bullets whizzed through the air and when they struck his shield there was an audible 'boom'. For a half second they hung in the air, motionless. Ye can dae this Tommy-Boy! But then Apogee screamed, and his concentration wavered, the small distraction all that was required for the bullets to shatter his shield. Aww shite. The projectiles hammered into his chest, staggering him for several steps. Then Apogee was on top of him, forcing him to the floor and tearing the top half of his jumpsuit off.

His first thoughts were of his slow horror at the fact that was his last uniform. Bad enough it was blood-stained and torn before, now it was little more than rags. Then he realised what had happened, his hands and gaze quickly going to survey his chest. Three flattened bullets lay on the floor, and the beginnings of three big bruises were already starting to spread across his torso. He touched the marked flesh tenderly, pain flaring out at the slightest pressure. Still, nae the worst that couldae happened.

It took him a second to realise that the shield must have robbed the bullets of the force needed to pierce his toughened skin, instead they had hit him like shots from a sling. Painful, but not fatal. Still alive.

"Haven't failed ye yet Danny." he whispered under his breath, wonder and relief mingling together. He looked at Apogee. "If ye were that desperate tae see me withoot ma shirt all ye had tae dae was. . . " He petered out as he caught a glimpse of the head of the gunman over her shoulder, nothing but a bloody mess now. The humour and relief fled from him at the sick image. Some heroes were all to ready to kill their foes, but Volt wasn't one of them, and he was willing to bet that Apogee wasn't either. Something told him that act would haunt her "Ask."

Not the time to fixate on that now though. Despite what had happened there was still something going on in the warden's office, and time was of the essence. There'd be time to thank Emily, and see if she was alright, later. He pushed himself painfully to his feet, and gestured at Emmanuel.

"Help him oot of thon gunk, we gotta press on." He took a few staggering steps towards the office, wrapped his hand around the door handle, and opened. Onto what, ah dinnae ken, but ah reckon ah'm nae gonna like it.

Mr Joe Black

Well. . . That was weird. First the nut stabbed him, then he ran off, screaming mad prayers like it was the end of the world. Then a truck appeared out of the sky, and came crashing down about five feet from were Joe stood, the zombie giving it no more concession than anyone else would give a pile of dog shit on the street. Strange, but still gratifying when he seen the cops start firing their weapons at the nut, before handcuffing him. Finally, his tax money at work. Well, not Joes taxes, he didn't even pay them when he was alive.

An officer asked him if he was alright.

"All thanks to you brave boys in blue." he replied, before shooing him away to better watch MC battle Ghost. Now some chink lady cop was getting involved. As long as they didn't try to force Joe to join in.

"So, is this sort of thing common for members of the League, or is today just an off day?" Joe cast around for the source of the voice for a moment, before realising it was coming from an ugly bird perched next to him. He briefly considered telling the bug-bird to fuck off, but seeing the way his luck was going today if he did that someone else would just show up to piss him off.

"Buddy, you don't know the half of it. It's enough to drive a man to suicide that's if. . . " Then the Spanish Inquisitor returned, now declaring himself Joe's faithful servant. Any other day Joe would be all for having his own servant, but these guys seemed a few sermons short of a Sunday service, and he was obnoxious to boot. Like Hell Joe wanted him around. He called to the nearby police.

"Officers, he got out. Please re-apprehend him!"

[Krein]

As opposed to what the Summoner might have expected, Abaddon didn't fall to his knees or become overwhelmed with pain and fatigue when he attempted to reabsorb the essence of the fiery gryphon. Abaddon wasn't dumb, he knew quite well how risky taking in another magical being's power could be, but having done that many times before he had a passive ability of filtering out foreign influence as it became overtaken by his magic.

That didn't mean ALL of the Summoner's magic was "purified" though, especially since he had taken it back from Abaddon mere moments after it had entered his second mouth. Unfortunately for the Summoner though, nothing Abaddon had affected with his magic was "healthy" to others.

"Run away you arrogant babbler, and be cursed with an affliction that will remind you of your futility against me until the time comes for me to kill you for sure!"

The Summoner was filled with energy, sure, but it would flee from him quicker than ever. Using his own magic would gradually hurt and weaken him, noticeably at that. Abaddon hoped his new foe wouldn't die before their next reunion, it'd be a same not to get to tear into his flesh!

Within a split second, the Summoner was gone. Abaddon growled, and now that most of the fighting was over, pain began to set into his body. The Summoner's last attempt to damage him hadn't hurt him, but some of the attacks from the battle woth him and the other creatures took their toll... particularly that damned fire gryphon's.

"Feed."

There were enough corpses and fleeing creatures to help him restore himself. He had to wonder what was going on deeper inside...

[Polyphemus]

SIXGUN

"We should definitely assign someone to have a good look-see, for sure," Sixgun agreed. "I don't think we should try another attack, not tonight. They'd be expecting us and we already done got ourselves a bloody nose here." He waved the smartphone in the air, having already slipped the vial into his pocket. "Found this doohickey on our friend there. Might be something worth seeing on there. I'm thinkin' we'd best git while the gittin's good." He craned his neck, listening for the inevitable sirens. Back in his day a posse just stole up on you and the first you knew of them was the crack of a Winchester. Nowadays, you could hear the law coming from miles away. No wonder he had so much crime to fight.

In the meantime, maybe Morningstar could get him up to speed on Apex, whatever that was, not to mention the smartphone's contents.

---

SONJA

"Styx? Domo arigato, Mrs. Roboto," she said as she pulled the necromancer towards a VTOL. Her brow furrowed as Styx told her about the maximum security wing. "If this is some kind of trick, Lorelei, you're going to deeply regret it." Sonja tapped on her headset, casting a wide communications net- every League member listening should be able to hear her. "This is the Spirit of St. Louis, we're going to need anyone avaliable at the maximum security wing. I'll meet you there." She thought of the voice who had been giving them running updates on the situation. "Mysterious British man, if you're listening, I could use an eye in the sky right about now. Max wing."

She shoved Styx into the VTOL, glad to see it was surrounded by armed National Guard troopers- that'd delay a breakout, at least. Numbers, tactics, and properly applied firepower worked on most metahumans, and she was banking that Styx wasn't in much shape to do anything. "Alright, take this back to HQ for debrief," she called to the waiting pilot as she manacled Styx to the interior wall of the craft. "Pariah or one of his kids should question her. And have Medical standing by for her burns." She gave Styx a stern look. "Okay, Renegade, I'm leaving you here. Behave or you and I will have some words later, got it?"

With that Sonja sighed wearily as she pulled out the Stan Musial bat once more and headed for the maximum block. "Once more into the breach, dear friends."