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

[Krein]

Today was supposed to have been just another typical day for Abaddon. He'd go out, scout the city for trouble, stop a few crimes, and then deliver the perpetrators to the League like any good hero working for justice. Sort of... Not really. While Abaddon did turn in most of his subdued criminals, he actually had the habit of stashing the rest of them in inconspicuous places to be tried before him later. One of the most common places of storage was the slaughterhouse district, which was a perfect place to conduct any kind of questionable activities in secret. It was well removed from many populated areas, and it was even completely abandoned as an added bonus! In that place, Abaddon was free to deliver his own style of justice, one which removed the right to a "fair" trial by jury, the right to remain silent, and the right to a humane punishment when found guilty. Punishments included but were not limited to psychological terrorizing, dismemberment, vivisection, being eaten alive, and a simple execution by beheading. It seemed, as he'd tell the guilty, that the district was still in the business of putting down animals!

So yes, if you hadn't guess it already, the slaughterhouse district was the place where Abaddon would play the roles of judge, punisher, and executioner. He wasn't dumb about it though, and was in fact very meticulous about leaving no trace of himself and his actions behind. It wasn't hard to do that really, especially with his all consuming energy that easily vaporized any and all evidence. And of course, he kept all of this a secret, and really never had to be wary of anyone stumbling across the district by accident... at least until he arrived there to make sure that nothing strange was going on since he, like some of the mages back at the League, had been feeling a lot of ominous energy coming from the area. Either a rogue spirit had decided to haunt the place, or another group of amateur dark mages had tried a conjuring ritual that had gone horribly wrong. Much of the dark power seemed to be emanating from the main abattoir itself, but before Abaddon could actually investigate it he heard what sounded like a miniature airplane approach the area and quickly took cover in one of the empty buildings.

It was a VTOL sent by the League. In it were three notable League members: Furious, Arachnid, and Saint Michael. Well... Shit. Abaddon growled lowly as he readied himself for a fight. That's why those three were here right? Because the League had somehow become aware of Abaddon's activities and had decided they'd capture him like they would any other criminal or supervillain? That wouldn't be happening on Abaddon's watch anytime soon...

And it didn't. To his surprise none of them began to spread out and search for him but instead headed for the main slaughterhouse together. It seemed they were here for the same reason he was. That was a relief, it would have been a shame to subject his allies to the same treatment he'd give supercriminals. He waited a bit before following them until the three were at a safe distance, and when Abaddon finally did come out of his hiding place, he tailed them silently. Everything was eerily quiet at that, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Abaddon figured they could all use the stillness to get a drop on whoever or whatever was responsible for the malevolent energy-

NOPE. The sounds of wood being smashed apart echoed through the area as Michael decided that smashing the abattoir's door to bits was a much better alternative. Abaddon shook his head... but he guessed that kind of worked too? It certainly would have surprised anything in there... if there had been anything in there at least. Much to everyone's surprise, the building was about as empty as the others. Regardless Arachnid, Furious, and Michael all headed deeper in, Abaddon still following their progress by stealthily crawling across the walls and ceiling of the dark slaughterhouse. The dark presence was overwhelming now, so it must have been deeper inside. Abaddon thought he could actually hear a child crying though... what? Moments later Abaddon heard the loud sound of another door being smashed, this time by Furious, and that's when the chaos ensued. There actually was a child crying on an altar in the center of the next room, and the poor kid was surrounded by a group of cultists that were just about ready to sacrifice him. The League trio immediately sprung into action, but were seemingly met with some apt resistance. Abaddon could help them take care of them easily, and he would have joined the trio in their small struggle had it not been for another group of cultists entering the building to try and overwhelm his allies. Unfortunately for them though, Abaddon was just in the right place to hold them off. When the first of the new cultists tried to strike with a spell, Abaddon surprised him by dropping down on top of him to deliver a fatal bite to the neck. Blood gushed from the wound as he threw the cultist towards the others, who were already surprised enough as it was to dodge the body and avoid getting knocked down. They were quick however, levitating the fresh corpse off of themselves and lashing out at Abaddon with flying sickles of magic. Easily dodged, though some of them caught Abaddon in the sides, and they actually hurt! They seemed to have a different kind of black magic at their disposal unlike most wannabe demon summoners...

"Scythes are my game!" Abaddon hissed as he morphed his right arm into a serrated reaping tool. He lunged for the cultist closest to him, stabbing her through the neck for a swift decapitation. Another one held up his hand to send a power wave of magic at Abaddon, making him stumble and giving the cultist a chance to rush at him with an magically spawned weapon. Abaddon allowed himself to drop to miss the lunge, then swung his sickle arm at his enemy's legs. It was a gruesome tactic which left him legless, but Abaddon left it at that to let him bleed out. By this point the last few cultists were just rushing at him full force. Big mistake on their part really, since that gave Abaddon the opportunity to just impale them all with multiple tendrils coming from his body. One tendril for each, all through the stomach and out their back. He tossed them aside, their moments of defeat coming shortly before the trio took care of their own business. Abaddon tossed the bodies aside before he wordlessly began to watch the resulting carnage in the other room.

He was pleasantly surprised. There were actually DEAD cultists on the ground! DEAD! Shot in the head or with faces caved in! He knew that not all of the League members were dumb enough to just give threats a slap on the wrist! Things were going great now... until the dark presence returned. Out of nowhere an even larger group of cultists appeared before Arachnid, Furious, and Michael, all lead by a woman with scarlet robes. Now... that wasn't good for them. If Abaddon needed a time to make himself known to his allies and back them up, now was it. He flew into the room and above their heads, landing in between his allies and the cultists before spreading his sharp wings and readying his claws in warning.

"Let me guess... you need their strong and noble souls to summon a demon to do your bidding? Too bad that one's already here, but you'll soon find he's not too keen on following the orders of weak ritualists and has quite an insatiable hunger when angered..."

[LeeRoy]

The reactions between the two supers were wildly different, let's start with Doppler.

Benny looked about the room and realized that they were surrounded by a wide array of men and women, all of them were looking at him. And he realized pretty quickly that his anticipation to show of his superpower was proving to be pretty negative. How did they know, how did they know, can they read his mind? Can they read it exactly? Do they know he was nervous because he's anxious to show off his power? Or do they just know that he's nervous. Internally he was panicking, had he already ruined his chances to join up?! "I uh, yes, private rooms, uh. Sure, I would uh. Yes, let's go do that. Please don't kill me?"

His words were punctuated with a nervous and admittedly shrill chuckle. And damn it, he nearly threw up his heart when Khold started talking behind him. Benny wasn't expecting to hear someone's voice nearby. "I uh, you sh- Eheh." If he weren't trying to very hard to keep himself calm, Doppler might actually have started crying right about now.

Meanwhile, One's reaction was pretty calm. And in fact, she was starting to get frustrated.

The woman at the desk didn't answer her question, she just pushed a button to alarm the guards around the room. Who had been tasked at a previous time to surround anyone who's intent was suspect. "Doppler isn't evil, main desk woman. But you should answer One's question, please? One asked you how you could be of service, and you didn't answer. Please tell One, how you can help her." It's not that One is oblivious, in fact, quite the opposite. Empaths and psionics can weed around in people's heads, just like her. Though she can't quite read minds, she can talk to people. And she knows how that feels because she observed the feeling in first person. They had taken a few looks at her and felt around inside of her head.

This was evidenced by the empath's discomfort. Now, One didn't care that she was making the Empath uncomfortable. One had a question, and One wanted the answer. "Please tell One the answer to One's question?"

[Yog Sothoth]

"My name is Ocean Warrior" he said to Emmanuel in a slightly annoyed tone. Ocean Warrior did not know who this Aquaman was, but he had a guess that it was some other type of water themed superhero. He looked at Flashbolt, trying to get some idea of how the man would attack. He liked to talk a lot, that was for sure which meant that he could be easily distracted. When Flashbolt agreed to a power spar, Finn hoped that the hero knew what he was getting into. Just to be fair he would refrain from using the energy blasts that his trident could create and simply use the weapon as a basic fighting tool. When Mike came over and shook his hand, Finn knew that the fight started the moment the other hero raised his hand and dropped it to signal them to start.

"Just a word of caution, I can survive in deepest parts of the ocean where the pressure is strong enough to crush steel, and I also move around in water faster than people who move around on land, so I am very strong and fast" Ocean Warrior said to his opponent as he gripped his trident with both hands and waited for his opponent to make the first move.

[Luminous Beings]

Cordelia had seen quite a bit in her eighteen years of life. Junkies, narcs, gangbangers, cold-blooded killers, all sorts of things most people would prefer to turn away from.

Light, however, was not within Cordelia's realm of experience.

"What the actual fuck?" Cordelia said, surprise flashing across her face. Jesus. This thing didn't even look human. It took Cordelia's snark a moment or two to recover, after which she realized there were probably a fair amount of superhumans traipsing about that were more "super" than "human". "Uh, yeah, I have a vendetta against anyone who pulls out a detonator around me, Frankenstein. So unless you're going to help me avoid turning this place into ground zero, kindly fuck off."

Then some smartass threw a bear at her. She didn't see where it came from, but the gesture (while admittedly funny to Cordelia) was slightly annoying. Just to prove her point, she returned her focus to Agnes and ripped the bear's head off before throwing the torn pieces to the floor. Some guy with a piece on his belt and a rifle in a case came walking up to them-ah, he had that dog with him. You keep Lassie on a tight leash or you better have brought a shovel along with all those guns, Clint. Hot Rod had, mercifully, finally taken the hint no one (his blood relatives and God included) wanted him around, and seemed to be trying to leave-hopefully he'd the dog, the pacifistic Frankenstein chick, and whoever was throwing teddy bears around, with them. Thus far, the only person (well, only living thing-she didn't know if Light was even human) in this room she didn't immediately want to strangle was Volt, who was quickly garnering respect in her eyes, merely by virtue of NOT being like these other people. Seriously-and, she didn't have much room to talk, given her record-but did the League not even fuckin' try to screen this people? This bitch just walked in with a detonator. Cordelia didn't think, post-9/11, you could get away with that kind of shit. And unless she'd just started making bomb threats, that's the sort of thing you identify in a person pretty easily. Cordelia added "whoever was in charge of screening new people" to her list of League members to harass.

Ah, good, Volt had found his balls. He chewed Agnes out, and Cordelia figured the reaming from a legit member of the group would probably do more than her trash talk had. Fine with her, as long as Agnes moved the hell out of the way. (Wonder what superhero name is...shoulda gone with Bombshell. ) Agnes was clearly out of touch with reality-there's a world of difference between carrying heat on you and actually threatening it. What she was doing was in no way different from pointing a gun right at someone, but this cretin didn't even seem to get that. Cordelia privately felt that Agnes' life expectancy was going to run out here soon-sooner or later, she was going to encounter someone that just pulled out a gun and wasted the bitch when she tried something like that. You make threats like that, you better damned well be able to back it up.

Cord watched her carefully-and Agnes made the very, very foolish mistake of turning her eyes away from her. She could understand why-Volt was the more apparent threat, as a high-ranking member of the League, with a solid rep and more directly applicable powers. That suited Cordelia just fine-she had zero problems with stabbing someone in the back while they were looking the other way. Her voice began to rise in intensity and she rose the detonator up in the air.

Cordelia's hand darted into her jacket, closing around her switchblade.

Are you ready?

Whatever she does will not harm you.

Agnes raised the detonator, clicked it, and...nothing happened. She was expecting a wall of darkness to engulf her, shielding her from the force of the blast, any falling debris, but it was all some fucked up joke. Cordelia kept her hand on the knife, just to be sure-she was staring intently at Agnes, who had made the mistake of turning away from Cordelia. It was understandable-Volt was a high-ranking, damned good member of the League, and she was a street rat they'd just picked up. Absolutely fine with her-Cordelia had no problems fighting dirty, and she'd cut out this bitch's throat before she turned around if she tried something for real.

Then, the detonator went off. There was an explosion from behind Cordelia, who instinctively tucked her head down. Her reaction, however, was likely not as impressive as her shadow's. Splitting into two directions at once, her shade behind the chair cupped itself around the explosives with blinding speed, nearly an instant after they'd gone off. Then, it went for Agnes. Flat on the ground, her shadow whipped around and grabbed Agnes' shadow's throat with its hands, choking her out. It wouldn't suffocate her, not truly-but she'd feel it. The pain of her throat being crushed, voicebox and larynx splitting, the throbbing like her skull was about to shatter.

"Enough," Cordelia hissed, just under her breath. The suits had come in. She didn't recognize their faces, but she recognized the way they moved. They moved around the same way authority figures did-the same way the dusty old bitch that had run the orphanage moved, the same way the cops moved. Cordelia's shadow gave Agnes' shadow one last, good throttle before slinking back into the chair. "Pranks like that are unappreciated?" Cordelia laughed, her quoting of Emily entirely scathing. "Bitch, are you serious? She just threatened to blow us halfway to hell. You're damned lucky she's not dead." Cordelia stood up, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "You want us to settle this like reasonable adults? Yeah, I'm going to show the reason you dumbfucks clearly don't have and walk right out the front door. You people seriously operate this way? Holy hell. If she'd done that in a police station, army base, you'd be wiping off bits of her skull from the back wall over there. This how you people do things on a regular basis? I shit you not, I have seen gangbangers with more professionalism than you have. The hell does she have to do to get in serious trouble? Because if you're going to pussy out of delivering any punishments, I'll rob this place blind before I go." she cast a glance back at Volt, raising an eyebrow. Her expression said about all she'd need to say: You're seriously okay with this shit? This is how your people do things? she turned to leave, giving Emily a cold, hard glare that had absolutely no trace of fear. Behind her, Cordelia's shadow seemed larger than the thin girl's silhouette should've been, rolling its neck from one side to another. "Move."

Her first impressions of the League had been entirely accurate. Delusional, stuck-up, self-centered. They had all this money to burn on fancy food and a gym unlike any she'd ever seen (not that Cordelia had really seen any) but they handled threats like this? No security teams or anything? What, like a bomb threat was just some whiny child throwing a tantrum? Fuck that. Cordelia wasn't staying if these were the sorts of people she was going to have to be working with. Volt was the only one with an iota of sense. Maybe the guy with the dog had a little, because he was at least staying quiet-however, he had a dog, so she couldn't in good faith say he had sense. There was the ugly-ass chick reprimanding her for getting pissy at a lady with a detonator, the superfast asshole who probably got off to pictures of himself on the six o' clock news, and now this chick talking down to them. There was only one problem here, and that was Agnes. She'd pulled out a detonator, set off some explosives, and this bitch Emily was acting like everyone else was at fault, too. No. She'd put up with shit like this before and she wasn't doing it again. If Cordelia was going to do a job with other people, it wasn't going to be with people that fucked around like this. What Agnes had pulled would've gotten her killed if she'd been working with the cops, hell, even operating in a gang. The paycheck from this place was nowhere near good enough to merit hanging around people like that-and if the League employed legitimate psychos, there was no damned way they were managing to do any good in this world.

[Archmage MC]

MC watched as one person actually looked up and reprimanded him for tossing plushies, the first person in the room to actually do that, while that angry girl he tossed one at ripped it in half, the plushie shortly poofing into thin air afterwords. "Why are you so mad bros? Its just a plushie, it wants to loooooove you!" MC said, holding the world love with no discernible tone. He then heard the firecrackers go off and a girl cackling, claiming to have set them off, the orb next to him also going crazy for a second before stopping. "Aw, how'd it know I was going to spawn some firecrackers on that girl's head? boo...." he thought to himself, and instead decided to douse the girl in conjured water instead, complete with a bucket landing opening up on her head. "There, saved your lives. Fire can't work when its wet, or was that electricity?" he said with an eccentric flourish. He also noticed that at roughly the same time that girl's shade was choking the shadow of the girl as well for a few seconds until some league higher ups came in to investigate. MC floated down a little bit towards Light, who seemed to be talking to Volt, curious in what she was doing instead, while mentioning to her that apparently some league people were coming over here in her ear.

Light nodded at the girl, her tone still rude to her but not as much as it was to the other people. Of interest was her mentioning a detonator, then soon after a few firecrackers going off by her feet. It didn't take much for Light to put 2 and 2 together, and while Light did say not to be overly rude to people, she did agree with the girl on why she was justified in being rude to that one person, all while holding one of her ears and having one of her eyes closed. Light turned to the girl who had set off the mini explosives, and before she could do so much as take a step towards her, the girl had a bucket of water, including the plastic bucket, fall on her head, with MC being as eccentric as usual. This made Light laugh a little, and she turned to talk to another person instead.

"So your name is Volt? Interesting name, though I'm going to guess you use electricity, right?" Light said, listening to MC's whispers when she finished. "And apparently either we're going to get a mission or Ms. firecracker over there is going to get a black mark." She continued in a conversational tone.

[Polyphemus]

SIXGUN

In all of his years as an outlaw, and in his much shorter career as a superhero, there was one particular movement that Sixgun had trained himself to react to, one certain motion that he was able to reflexively meet with incredible speed and precision. That motion, of course, was the act of drawing a gun. If you drew on Sixgun, you were in trouble. If you were hurt and did it slow, there was no helping you.

Bender's sluggish draw seemed to occur in slow motion to Sixgun's trained reflexes. Even as he was trying to refill his lungs after the kick to the chest, Ben reacted almost without conscious thought. He hurled himself forwards, one hand moving in a flat blade and knocking aside the gun before it was fully pointed at him. The other hand balled into a fist, rocketing forwards into the soft unprotected flesh of the throat, the vulnerable trachea.

Even before he made contact he closed his eyes, not wanting to see it happen. Self defense. He's not giving me a choice. He tried to reassure himself, but his mind kept screaming protests.

Before the punch even landed, he heard himself yelling to Music, "Your man's going to need a doctor!"

---

SONJA

Suddenly, listening to the teenager denounce the League, Sonja understood the full extent of what had just transpired with the new woman- Agnes?- coming in and making some fairly thoughtless pranks. The girl looked underfed, perpetually angry- possibly homeless, from the way she was dressed. When she started to storm out of the common room, Sonja sighed, set down her coffee, followed after her into the corridor.

"Hey, honey," she called after the teenager. Sonja hated to think of anyone leaving this safe, welcoming place in favor of spending yet another night on the streets. Might as well give her another shot. "Hey, I don't blame you being pissed and wanting to leave. I'd be doing the same thing in your shoes. Look, can I at least give you a ride somewhere?"

[Arty Fox]

She had just said hello. Literally all she had said was hello and now all of a sudden there was a woman here with a detonator! Just like everyone else who had noticed the blue haired individual Chris had tensed up at the sight of the device, not even the reassuring presence of the cute doggy had helped calm her nerves. This was a bad situation and very, very bad situation. The thought of just grabbing the remote had crossed her mind momentarily but Chris quickly dismissed the idea as it carried far too much risk. She had just been mentally running through the procedure for possible terrorists attacks when Hot Rod calm brushed the situation off without a single ounce of worry. Chris glared very long and hard at him, honestly did that ego of his choke his mind of oxygen!?

Of course such a tense situation could never simply be the tense situation it was meant to be because of the amassing army of cuddly toys starting to gather around the place. Then the party Poppers went off, although Chris had only realised this from the other side of the hall where she had ever so speedily relocated herself to in her moment of panic. Deciding that it would be better for her health if she were to stay as far away from the blue haired woman as possible Chris took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves and wondered what to do next.

“Maybe a trip to the training are wouldn’t be so bad.” Chris muttered to herself in thought.

[An Outsider]

Agnes pushed the button. Volt felt time stop. Even he wasn't fast enough to get himself away from the blast, never mind anyone else. This is it then. Shank. Dr Whitechapel. St George. Obsidian. It ain't any of those lads that get me in the end, but just some nutcase that had wandered into the League. Figures. The last thing he thought was how Cord had been right to distrust the League, and as usual the feeling that he had failed Daniel. Needless to say he didn't even acknowledge MC, as plushies were no longer his prime concern.

And then. . . Nothing. He opened eyes he hadn't been aware he had clenched shut, to be met with the sight of the nutcase giggling like a hyena, obviously overjoyed to having tricked him. He wasn't ashamed, not at first, he was just glad that no one, primely himself, had been hurt. Agnes calmed down and tossed him the detonator, Volt catching it smoothly. He stared at the inert piece of metal dumbly, still in slight shock. He was shook out of his reverie at the sound of several snaps coming from around Cordelia, his whol attention shooting towards the sound. He could barely believe what he was seeing as several kiddies joke crackers went off. Who was this girl, could this actually be her idea of a joke? It was a sick prank, that could have very well ended in people being hurt or killed. Hell, it looked like Cord's shadow was in the process of killing Agnes's. Volt realised that must be the ex-gang members ability, a super powered and protective shadow. He knew he should make her stop, as Agnes was going red, but he felt the nutcase deserved it. IAh'll try an call aff Cord once thon bitch is purple. Though ah'm no gonna try all that hard. He was saved the trouble though, as Cord's shadow backed off as Apogee entered.

Apogee greeted him before turning her attention to Agnes, who for some reason was wearing a bucket over her head all of a sudden. Now Volt has nothing against Apogee, in fact he had a fair measure of respect for her, not half on account of how much she reminds him of Zenith. She had the same stately demeanour and slightly larger than life personality. Usually he'd be listen to what she has to say on a matter, find himself agreeing with her on a personal level then let her have her way. This time though, this time she was just full of shit. If this was a prank then it wasn't one he found funny. At all. He was getting mad, so mad he barely even glanced at Sonja, his face so clouded it was like thunder was forcast on his forehead. He heard light ask him his name, and all she got was a growl about frying everyone in the room, then she can guess if he used electricity or not.

The worst thing though was how Cord was proven right again. He'd been sent here to try and allay her fears about the League, and then everyone else in the League had gone out of their way to prove they were just as immature and stupid as she had thought. He'd known the League had it's problems, but he hadn't realised how bad they were. Had they gotten worse, or had he just failed to notice them? Who are ye kidding Tommy-boy? Ye only joined up fer the chance ta kill Obsidian, why should anyone else here be mair responsible than ye? Still, this was too much, Agnes had to be taken to course

"Apogee, pardon ma French, but are ye oot of yer fecking heid? Thon wasn't a fecking prank, thon was a goddamn act of terror! Christ alive woman, ah'm starting ta think Cord has the right idea. If ah wasnae sure ye's would let in even worse than thon heid-case if in ah left ah'd walk oot thon door right now!" Volt was getting angry now, his fathers famous temper starting to win through Volt's easy going demeanour, although who could blame him. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and spotted Sonja and Cord walking out the door. He followed to catch them up, turning to speak to the group of eejits one last time. "Ah ain't done with this one, nae by a long shot. Dinnae let her oot of yer sight Apogee, so help me God." A lot of people might get nervous ordering around a teenage girl with the powers of demi-God, and usually Volt would probably be one of them, but even he had his limits. Sometimes he was just to pissed to care.

"Cord! Sonja! Wait on me!" he called as he made it into the corridor, his body still stiff with pent up rage and frustration.

[MrDidact]

Entry Hall

Jennifer stared at Khobold and and nodded, "Anima can assist you with all the necessary forms and screening by an established member. You'll be scheduled for evaluation and interviewing soon enough." She turned her attention back to Doppler and One, "We're simply going to be having a meeting here. If I was going to kill you, I would have done so already." She turned her head toward Anima and nodded, suddenly Anima's discomfort faded her own empathic psyche being shielded from One's presence by Jennifer's strong mind though the Founder obviously took on a look of concentration.

Anima coughed and said, "We can do many things. Help people get a hold on their powers. Help those who need it with our powers, bringing a sense of purpose to many of our members. We protect our own and we protect those who can't protect themselves. That's what we're trying to do here, serve and protect." Jennifer nodded and gestured to four men and women who stepped up, "Let's get you into a meeting room. We'll enact the same process with you as anyone else. Next time try not to blindside us with a display."

Common Room

Emily rubbed at her face. She'd never had this kind of trouble with recruits before. She was going to have to start talking to Zenith about letting in all the strays. Emily sighed and stared down at Cordella, one of her friends moving to Agnes's side and pulling her up to her feet while not quite restraining her. She hovered in front of Sonja, Cordella, and Volt not letting them past. She nodded and Sonja and spoke, "Think about where you are right now. To get in you have to pass the latest in bleeding edge sensor technology and magical detection wards. There are sensors everywhere scanning for dangerous substances or spells. Agnes's psych eval showed that she was no longer a harm to society but that she would retain her... obsessions. Her antics were somewhat expected by the leadership and every member's personal profiles is already publicly available to all of you." She glared at Volt who she considered a friend, "Do you know how many dangerous superhumans, they are who aren't content being civilians? If we don't get a handle on them who will? Would you rather we put out everyone who had even the slightest criminal record or personal issue? Of would you rather we help everyone through those kinds of things?"

"The entire time you were here I was in the room. My senses are as good as Zenith's. I could smell that Agnes' toys weren't deadly. And Sonja you know Thomas doesn't do shoddy work, his spirit would have known if anything was coming. Why didn't I tell you? Well because I thought you could have trusted in us to ensure your protection and that you wouldn't have needed us to tell you everything that you needed to now. That you would have deduced on your own that there was no danger. Obviously I was wrong and I apologize for that, because I understand your concerns and my own mistakes in the matter. In the future I'll make certain to inform you of any and all important developments. Such as the fact that you were planning to assault your own members Cordella. I could hear your heart beating, I could see the heat coursing through you, I could practically taste your anticipation. And I trusted it wouldn't be a problem because I thought you could restrain yourself."

She nodded at her friend who held Agnes tightly and firmly, "We can't let this slide obviously and we'll have to confiscate Agnes' possessions, put her on probation, revoke her privileges and access until such time as we determine she's fit to be out and about." She looked down and realized she had made a mistake in not intervening sooner, letting poor Volt take all the responsibility, "I apologize for my failure to act sooner and distressing you in the process." Emily looked at Agnes again and her stare turned hard as her skin, "Don't try this kind of thing again Agnes. Next time you may not have me around to help you survive it." She was pushed out the door and Emily turned back to Cordella, "Now you may leave if you wish and take Sonja up on her offer, she's good for it. Take your severance pay, your possessions, and go. You'll continue to receive post-membership benefits. Or you can stay and let us both correct our mistakes and do something meaningful with your life besides stealing and robbing. We are far from perfect but we're the only thing standing between the supervillains and the general populace."

Emily's voice turned to granite, more akin to Pariah than her cousin, "Either way stop bitching and do what you have to do."

Marconi's Estate

Bender lost his gun and his eye's widened as Sixgun's fist closed up to him. The punch landed with a sickening crunch and Bender began choking grasping at his neck with his unbroken hand and trying to scream from the pain through his ruined neck. The once proud and strong gangster had been struck down low. There was no cheering or catcalls but a palpable sense of satisfaction seemed to emanate through the air. Music walked up to Sixgun and nodded at Bender, "He is useless to me now. Even if he survives he is broken. Congratulations Mr. Ross. There's just one last thing." Music stared at Bender's wracking body and looked Ross dead in the eyes, "Shoot him. Put him out of his misery."

Slaughterhouse

The woman cackled, "Ah. I see the low lord has gotten a new lease on life. I had thought the old has-been was put of his misery. And you've taken care of all the chaff apprentices, they were useless anyway but I could have profited more from their deaths. No matter, death comes to all sooner or later. But you and your lord shall go sooner than us." The supervillains all laughed and the three heroes formed in a circle, St. Michael still trying to batter his way through the circle that held him, holding back a flurry of blasphemous curses.

"I wonder why you're here? A zebra never changes its strips and pawns of demon lords are much the same. Could it be you're up to something less than heroic. Something the League doesn't know about?" Furious and Arachnid looked at him questioningly but didn't saw anything. She waved a hand, "No matter this does not concern you. Any of you really. Except for him." She pointed at Furious.

"You. Relinquish yourself and your comrades will be free to go. No harm will be brought to you and yours as long as you cooperate." Furious was about to say something but Arachnid cut him off with, "Fuck that." She raised her pistol and fired. The bullet bounced off of a shimmering field around the woman and she sighed, "Kill them save the boy hero." She waved her hands and streams of shadowy tentacles wrapped around Abaddon, constricting him and sending him to the floor.

The villains charged ahead at once and Arachnid fired a web at the circle over St. Michael. The web broke the circle's integrity and St. Michael was free. He yelled and a flash of brilliant light blew away half of the villains to their feet. St. Michael yelled, "Go!" He He severed the tentacles holding Abaddon and kicked at a monster who seemed to be living rock sending him to the ground. Michael backed off as the group ran towards the exit. Suddenly he screamed in pain when the robed woman sent a stream of brimstone-reeking fire at him. He crashed into the ground and the stone man raised his foot to stomp Michael. The hero grunted in pain and blood shot out of his mouth. Furious yelled, giving the child to Abaddon and charging. Arachnid cursed at fired her pistol at the rest of the villains fending them off but doing no visible damage to them as the rounds bounced off of other shimmering barriers.

The stone man was about to stomp St. Michael again when Furious barreled into him crashing him into a wall. Furious picked up St. Michael and said, "Get the hell out. I'll hold them off. Get the League." Michael was about to protest but Furious dove into the main group of villains, wildly lashing about and striking everywhere. He grabbed a villain by the neck and was pressed into a mob hands and feet trying to push the struggling hero to the ground. The woman turned towards Michael and fired another inferno. Michael blocked it with his sword and was forced back several feet sweating for once under the heat.

Furious punched a man in the head and his head snapped back with a crunch. He kicked a man in the stomach and it caved right in. An elbow smashed another face into a bloody pulp as a foot broke a leg sending a man sprawling to the ground before his neck was broken by the same foot. Furious snapped the neck of the man he was holding and then he was forced to the ground. The rest of the villains raised their hands and began blasting fire, lightning, ice, and all manner of projectiles and energy at the fleeing heroes.

St. Michael cursed and flew away yelling, "Fall back! To the flyer!" A man stepped up to pursue but the woman stopped him smiling, gesturing back to Furious who had been pressed to the ground by the recovered stone man, his foot squarely on his back. She cackled, "Don't bother. We have our prize." Furious yelled and it echoed in Arachnid and Michael's ears as they fled for their lives and away from their friend.

Cook County Jail

It started off as all big things did. Small. A young thin man walked up to a group of meta-prisoners laughing and cursing. One of them stepped up to face him as everyone else in the yard watched. The man got right in the bruiser's face and pushed him with absolutely no effect. The bruiser slugged him and he flew threw the air into a group of other inmates. It turned ugly instantly.

The inmates who had been toppled over rushed at the group of metas, pressing into them and being forced back. Bands covered their heads making them unable to use their powers except for passive abilities such as the bruiser's strength. The guards shouted and guns were pointed as the yard erupted into violence and shouts. One man hurriedly went to lock the gate when suddenly blood dripped out of his nose, ears, and mouth. He gurgled wetly and dropped to the floor, leading it wide open. The other guards did the same and every armed guard within fifty feet had blood running out of their noses and mouths dropping their guns.

The inmates broke up their fight and in unison they all shouted rushing through the doors and picking up guns as sirens began to wail the shouts and sounds of violence rising and rising. The young man who had been thrown to the ground got up and grinned, his features changing until suddenly he was a tall and reedy man in his mid-thirties, his eyes a blank grey. He whistled and began walking out the gate, nails sharpening to long claws. He kept whistling as he slit the throat of the guard by the gate and picked up his keys, the whole motion nonchalant as the guard began choking on his own blood.

Further on the outskirts of the prison guards were shouting and gates began locking as officers donned their armor and equipment preparing to fight back the riot. A man shouted and said, "What about all the freaks!" His younger subordinate said, "Everyone's inhibitors are still active!" The man sighed, "Thank god. Without those we're toast." The young man looked out the window leading into the outside world. His eyes widened, "OH MY GOD!" A massive fireball went right through the main gate and slammed into a wall sending up a pall of smoke. Suddenly another fireball appeared and both of the guards saw the fireball heading right towards them before it crashed into the tower.

A young dark skinned woman sashayed up to the entrance and began firing fireballs indiscriminately left and right, flanked on either side by several dozen plainclothes men and women. Her entire body turned into a flaming corona and she rocketed forward melting right through the entrance and into the prison as smoke started climbing up to the air and the screams started.

Maroni's

It was one of many fine establishments in downtown Chicago that catered to the upper class and their palettes. The difference was that it was owned and operated as a front for the Chicago Outfit. Marconi's young wife and their four children were having lunch along with a large part of more than a dozen of their family members, mostly women, seniors, teenagers, and young children. The children babbled happily as the teens joked and their elders gossiped under the watchful eyes of a veritable squadron of suited guards.

The restaurant was at it's busiest time and servers bustled around to accommodate the absolutely packed restaurant that occupied half a block and two stories. The kitchens and back areas were busy as well and a busboy went out into the alley entrance to dump some trash when he turned to see a young girl of no more than twelve. He smiled at her and asked, "Are you lost? Where's your mommy and daddy?"

The girl smiled, blue eyes sparkling and blonde curls framing her pale face as she said, "Six feet under." She giggled and then jumped on the man, making him shout in surprise, the girl smiled and kept smiling when she ripped out his throat with her teeth. She lapped up the gushing blood and held down the weakly struggling young man until he stopped moving. She got up and wiped off her mouth covering her mouth with her hands to soften a ladylike belch, "Excuse me that was a bit rude."

A large figure muttered his voice rumbled, "He could have been used as a hostage. That's one of the reasons we're here." She waved a hand said airily, "One mortal here of there is of no consequence." The insectoid monstrosity didn't argue and burst into the door, shrieking in a keening bug like howl and eliciting shouts and screams as the young girl followed on his tail with several others.

At the same time a boy was looking out the second story window bored out of his mind. Then he saw a shimmer and frowned. He leaned in closer in time for a ghostly figure to phase right through the window and next to the boy's table. The transparent shade of a human solidified until it turned into a tall and broad-shouldered and black haired Caucasian man. He smiled at the boy and winked before drawing a gun and firing in the air as a woman crashed through the window and a man suddenly appeared out of thin air with another man and woman at his side.

This happened at the same time the front entrance was taken off it's hinges and a high-pitched sound filled the air. The door slammed into a pair of restaurant staff and a thin and short man walked into followed by a dozen others. One of them, a young hispanic woman drew two guns and began firing her rounds striking all of the guards in quick succession and spraying blood and brain matter of the walls, patrons, and now unappetizing dishes. The tall blonde woman next to her fired off rapid spikes of ice that caught the ones she hadn't gotten in their necks or chest. It had all happened in perhaps ten seconds.

The last body his the floor as the last figure a tall and striking black man cleared his throat and said, "Sorry for interrupting your meals folks. But we are todays entertainment and we're going to be taking care of you for the moment. Be a good audience, turn off all cell phones, remain in your seats, and be quiet or we're going to have to burn the house down." The screams started, mostly those of feminine or young voices, and he smiled waving his hands and motioning for his comrades to move forward nonchalantly picking up a table and placing it where the doors had been.

The Hall

A constant blaring siren sounded as red lights began flashing, the voice of a young man the technopath Binary spoke, "Red Alert. Red Alert. Two Code Red Events. There is a riot and breakout in progress at Cook County Jail and a hostage situation in downtown Chicago. All available members this is not a drill. Zenith and Olympia have already departed to Cook County Jail, all active duty members with potent field abilities are to report to the transports. The rest shall assemble the atrium to meet for the hostage situation. Repeat this is not a drill all members report."

Mike shouted at the woman and she stopped the barrier as the audience members stood up, "Ok fellas we're going to have to settle this later. Get to the transports!" The heroes in the training center all shouted and suited up, some already speeding off or flying to the jail. In the sorcery circle Thomas held up his arms and was suddenly clad in golden armor, white cloak falling to the floor as the mages ran for the entrance. Henry's head snapped up at the alarm and he cursed running over to what looked like an exo-skeleton strapped on the wall mumbling as he hurried into it. He shouted at Ras, "Come on we have to go!" Jennifer cursed in the hall and pointed to Khobold, Doppler, and One, "We need you! Come on!" Emily cursed and pointed to Agnes and her escort, "Get her to the lock-up!" Emily flew out the room and past Sonja, Cordella, and Volt not bothering to check if she would be followed. They would either come of they wouldn't.

Most of the League had already begun leaving for the massive crisis on Cook County and any of the new members who could contribute where free to help them, the rest were headed for the atrium as the League began planning it's counter.

[Abysse]

Volt closed his eyes as Agnes pressed the button; mission accomplished. If she were a telepath as well Agnes would have gotten an even bigger kick out of comprehending Volt's life flashing before his eyes. Agnes held back a few more bouts of laughter, lips tightening as if they were a dam bracing against the tides. She giggled here and there, clenching her stomach in genuine entertainment, and pulled out a phew more bang-snaps from her pocket, rolling them in her hand.

"Man you really thought this thing was legit? I don't need a detonator to- GACK!" Agnes clenched her own throat as Cordelia's shadow grasped the incorporeal representation of herself. Agnes eyes clenched shut as she struggled to remove what wasn't there. Soon enough, however, the tension was released and Agnes gasped in relief, breathing heavily for a second before the salt was added to the wound. Agnes yelped as a bucket fell upon her head, hurting a tad but furthermore drenching her in water.

Her groans reverberated underneath the metal pail, and Agnes tipped the bucket off of her head with a flick of her fingers. She was clearly unamused, but in truth she had expected as much. Too bad she can't blow up shadows. That would mean killing Cordelia. The source of the bucket's appearance was unknown, but such a mild prank was the least of her worries; she cared little to enact revenge on the conjurer.

"...blow things up," Agnes finished her prior sentence. She'd broken the ice and introduced herself, so all was well in her eyes. The shadow had caused no true physical damage, and water was easily removed. The backlash she had received was negligible. Agnes pocketed her wettened bang-snaps and wiped her face of water. She returned to her normal demeanor, smiling devilishly. "I'll be tracking water around the place, not my problem," she claimed. Agnes shook each of her limbs in turn and kicked the bucket aside simply for fun, knocking it into some nameless super's heels.

Eventually Agnes time with company was cut short, as the super-chick Apogee had deemed it necessary to escort her off the premises, along with ground her. Punishment for this incident? It's not like she would learn anything from it; Agnes couldn't pull off the same trick again anyways!

"Really? Come on..." Agnes groaned, slightly resisting being pushed towards the exit. "What am I supposed to do for fun now? No toys to tinker with, no people to talk to! This is torture!" Agnes complained jokingly. She'd been on her lonesome for a good length of her life, and being shunned from the group wouldn't affect her much. Still, it was an inconvenience. She had only just gotten started getting to know people. Luckily, however, opportunity came knocking; a riot at the local prison. Agnes eyes lit up with adventure and eagerness. This could be her time to shine! The cackling crime-fighter known as Killjoy rushed at the opportunity until her recollection finally came through.

All of her equipment was being confiscated. Agnes dropped to her knees and pleaded to the ceiling. "Why!?" But wait, Agnes paused, mulling over in her active mind how to avert this boring situation. The girl seemed distraught upon the ground before the guard that had escorted her, but she in fact was devising a mischievous plot to escape. It'd frighten some people, sure, but Agnes needed that stuff if she was to maintain sanity during her probation.

Agnes focused on the contents of her guitar case, mulling through the countless objects that could considered "explosives". Truthfully, she didn't have anything substantial within; just a few firecrackers and... a smoke bomb. If it were something to be worried about, the tech in this Hall would have sent her straight to jail already, as Apogee pointed out earlier. What she had there was but child's play compared to the fun toys she had stashed around the city.

With the simple muttering of 'bang', her guitar case erupted in smoke, pushing out a cloud of opaqueness around the area. Agnes dashed for the security of the cloud and for her packages, salvaging a few items she could; a super-soaker outfitted to become a flamethrower (though was lacking in ammunition), a taser gun, a few other smoke grenades, and a pack of chewing gum. Best way to pass the time. It was, after all, blowing things up in a sense.

Agnes darted through the smoke after retrieving her stuff and for the exit, intending to reach the scene of the riot while the action was still hot.

"I can hear them now," Agnes spoke to herself, still in a full sprint, "Ow ow, don't tase me bro!" She laughed to herself and made for the Cook County Jail, hoping to show the League just what she was capable of. Of course, she'd make a few stop along the way...

[Archmage MC]

"Sheesh, whats his problem?" Light said as Volt angerly marched off towards what she assumed were some of his friends. "If that was a real bomb she had and it was of any threat to anyone in here, then that would mean that this place had such bad security as to let something like that happen. And considering most of the people here could level this building anyway, well whatever." Light muttered to herself, Emily saying roughly the same thing soon afterwords, much to Light's relief. "See? Water wasn't necessary." she muttered to MC, who only shrugged.

Then the alarm happened, causing MC to miscast the thing he was conjuring out of surprise, and what was supposed to be a pie turned into some sort of weird malformed looking cake that exploded into chocolate pudding. "Crap, what the..." Ms said as he listened to the two alerts. "Hostages would be easy, Riots would be fun. Hm...." MC thought to himself. He looked at Light for an answer, because he didn't care which he did, he was happy with whatever.

Light, unlike MC, wasn't as taken aback by the sudden noise and alarms, weighed her options. On one side, she'd be able to really flex her stuff in the breakout and she was great at her vs a bunch scenarios, while MC would probably be better off in the hostage situation due to his portals being able to grab everyone out easily enough. "Well MC... It might be better off if we split up on this one. I don't think anyone else here can make portals, and you'd be great at a hostage situation, considering how unpredictable you are. Just try to take it seriously til you get the hostages out, then go crazy. Meanwhile I'll be better off at the riot thing. You know how fast I get when there are ample bodies." Light said after MC looked in her direction as to what to do. He nodded, and with a flourish, he teleported towards the dispatch for the hostage situation, Light following the others for the jail break.

[An Outsider]

Emily followed them, and floating into his path. The arrogance of it enraged Volt even more, his fists clenching white in his gloves as arcs of electricity danced across his body. He was seriously considering frying the condescending brat and damning the whole League, after all, even she wouldn't be able to shrug off the power of an entire city block coursing through her body.

"Thats bullshit circumventory logic tae cover yer blunder lass!" he fumed "Ah've been at this job a lot longer than ye, and ah know a lapse in judgment when ah see one! Nae, I dinnae think 'Agnes' should be oot there troubling society, this is probably tha best place for her, but we shoulda been warned! It's nae us nae trusting ye thats the problem, its ye trusting everyone but us!" And then Emily had the gall to try and play Cord's desire to attack a 'team-mate' as some big crime. The girl had been scared for her life, hell knows Volt had been. Besides, the more he had to talk to them the more hewas beginning to see the attraction to attacking his comrades.

Be fair now Tommy-boy. It ain't Emily yer mad at. It's the League that fucked up. It's you that fucked up. You shoulda known. Shoulda handled the situatuon better. Even with that thought he still couldn't shake his building fury though.

The Lightning-Slinger had more to say though, but was cut off by a blaring alarm. He paled slightly as he realised what that was for, seconds before the message of two attacks were tannoyed across the halls. A double whammy. Just like on tha League's opening day. Why does that nae feel like a coincidence. His rant could wait, there was work to do now. He didn't even have to think about which one he would be going to. The prison break was the priority, and like it or not he had to go there. His power could tip the balance, and besides if all those villains got loose it would be a disaster of almost apocalyptic proportions.

"Sorry Cord, gotta cut this short. Duty calls!" he forced a cheer into his voice that he didn't feel, trying to sound like a man who was just going out to do a 9 to 5. He didn't expect the runaway to join them, she had seen the worst the League had to offer. In fact he reckoned she would be long gone by the time he returned. If ye return. . .

"Shall we, ma dear?" he posed to Sonja, with an elaborate bow, gesturing towards the transport bay. Without waiting for an answer he took of down the hallway after Emily, their earlier argument forgotten. It was more than likely they'd be fighting for their lives together soon, and you couldn't afford to take that kinda baggage with you into a fight. The Lightning-Slinger drained energy from the well maintained electrical currents that supplied the buildings power, figuring he would need it before the day was over.

Well, here ah go again. Hope yer watching Daniel, ah'm gonna need my guardian angel.

[Krein]

Abaddon stood ready for anything as the mysterious robed woman spoke to him. Most of her words were petty insults and attempts at getting his allies to question him instead of her, none of which worked. He did figure he should probably comment on why he was here to dissolve any lingering suspicions the three might have had, just to be safe. Abaddon shrugged and chuckled a bit.

"Are you new to this whole dark magic stuff? You should know that those like me are attracted to such power, and in my case my interest and concern was further piqued when I sensed it coming from a place that's been abandoned for years!"

He sounded truthful when he said that. He technically wasn't lying anyway, simply leaving out the facts the others didn't need to know about. This woman seemed more like a bluff in spite of the dark presence she and her lackeys exerted. It was likely that all they really had going from them was a powerful aura of oppression, something which he himself could exert. Abaddon stood straight and crossed his arms. They were no threat!

He grew impatient with the woman as she just kept on talking and was just about ready to tear her tongue untilshe mentioned wanting FFurious. He raised a metaphorical eyebrow and looked behind him.

"Furious? What the hell do you want him for? It'd make more sense if you wanted Mich-"

Abaddon's voice was cut off by the sound of Arachnid firing a pistol, and he soon found himself being dragged to the floor and constricted by tendrils of darkness. Ugh... that was twice today something he usually did to his foes had been jsed against him. He began emanating the energy of the Devourer's Wrath through his body to weaken the tendrils, careful not to use too much of its power to keep the trio safe from its effects. The villains charged forward, making Abaddon roll around to avoid getting stepped on. He saw that Michael was quickly freed from his imprisonment, after which he released a burst of brilliant light to knock their enemies backwards.

"Thanks," Abaddon said to him when the angel cut away the tendril. He quickly stood up and extended his claws to slash at a few of the villains coming for him, occasionally knocking them away from himself by stretching out his wings and lashing them across his body for a whipping effect.

"Man, these just won't quit will they?!"

They weren't letting up, they were trying their hardest to stay in the fight and to take the heroes down. Abaddoneven had to play it defensively! He snarled. He never played defensively against inferior scum! Maybe if he lashed out with the Devourer's Wrath he could take much of the pressure of himself and the others, but that would still be dangerous, especially with a child around. He resorted to simply firing concussive streams of the magic to blast some of them back and burn a smoking hole through others, but it apparently wasn't enough to make them hesitant in attacking. He, along with the others, attempted to get Furious away from the fiends, but the fool just rushed at them after telling them to run away.

"Are you fucking stupid?! You're really going to play into this scheme?!"

Michael and Arachnid spat a few words at him, and Michael quickly handed him the child that they had rescued prior to this mess. Abaddon hissed, not at the kid, but at the other villains that now seemed intent on snatching the hyperventilating kid away from him. Great. Now he was forced to retreat whether he liked it or not. He couldn't recklessly put a child's life in danger!

"Michael you motherless son of a bitch..."

Abaddon watched for one more second at Furious fighting off his attackers. This wasn't good, but Abaddon had no choice. He cradled the child and dashed backwards before taking off flying. The VTOL was already in the air and zooming away, so Abaddon made haste to follow it. Once he was at a close enough distance he shot out a few tendrils from his body to close the gap and ensure he stayed put on it. He looked over the kid and checked for any injuries. Some scrapes and bruises here and there, but nothing particularly threatening. Abaddon sighed.

*Nothing has gone as usual today, has it? Honestly, are you truly surprised Casimir? Even I know something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. I am curious though... who was that woman? That cult?...*

Drevenon was speaking up now. Abaddon understood his interest and concern, but had nothing to answer. He was just as confused as he was right now....

[Heat]

By the time Killshade was fully dressed, the alarms went off, signaling high priority scenarios which the League was to respond to. He mulled over which he would be most useful in, the hostage situation or the prison break. He figured his particular skills would be needed most to deal with the hostages, as he turned to the shapeshifter standing next to him.

"Duty calls." He said with a nod, then ran off, going through the hallways until he was back in his room. He pushed open the door, nearly popping it off the hinges as he grabbed the briefcase on his bed, then popped it open. As Killshade glanced over the contents, he quickly stripped out of his casual clothing, then got into his combat outfit, he tied his boots then slipped on his gloves. Once he was completely dressed for combat, he pulled the other briefcase from under the bed and placed it on top, opening it in the process.

He carefully pulled his sheathed sword out, then grasped the handle, carefully checking the blade. Satisfied with the weapon he tucked it onto his back, aligning it with the straps which would hold it in place. He then grasped the grenades he brought with him, grabbing each one by one as he strapped them to the belt. Then finally he grabbed his pistol, along with extra clips for it, sliding it into the holster on his hip.

Killshade ran out of his room, shutting the door behind him, his destination the atrium. Sure, he could have gone to assist with the prison outbreak, but his special set of skills would be better for this, he had been trained in hostage situations when he worked with the government, he knew how they went down. He arrived at the atrium, stopping in his tracks as he looked around for the others as they would have to carefully plan for this, one mistake could screw up the entire thing.

[Luminous Beings]

Holy shit. That was EXPECTED by these people? Yeah, Cordelia was gettin' while the gettin' was good. No use staying around if the leadership had also foreseen Hot Rod setting her room on fire, or maybe the guy with the gun going on a mass shooting. Apparently, these people had resources that the NSA had wet dreams about-which only diluted her confidence more. Okay, assuming that this hovering chick (walk like the rest of us, you look ridiculous) wasn't blowing smoke, these people had some serious resources...and were totally misusing them. Christ, woman, how many people could you feed with that money? How many kids could you pay to take off the streets for good? And instead they wasted it on security tech they didn't even bother using? Also, they needed to fire whatever shrink did that psych evaluation. Cordelia may not have had much in the way of formal education, but she knew one thing for sure: that chick was cray.

"Ah, yes," Cordelia said. "I'm sure you could taste my anticipation to defend myself against the chick with the explosives. Who you apparently knew about and yet didn't do anything. And I'm somehow in the wrong here. Okay." Cordelia continued walking out, idly listening to Emily's sermon as she did so. "Oh no! I would hate to not correct my mistakes. I'll somehow have to find a way to live with myself.." she turned, walking backwards, and blew a kiss to Emily. "Yeah, I'll stop bitching. Hey, if you're so fucking good at picking up on threats, why's there still crime in Chicago? Dontcha think you could be stopping a lot of rapes and murders if you got off your ass and left this place?" she shrugged. "Just a thought, I know you don't get those often." she turned and walked out into the hallway, fuming. These people were out of their damned minds. Emily was yelling at her? For what? Defending herself? What, did she reprimand people being raped after she stopped it, too? Christ. She'd buy whoever killed that bitch a drink.

Then, she came to a sudden realization with Sonja and Volt following after her. The League was bad-corrupt, worthless, and run by idiots like Emily (seriously, calling an 18 year old girl a bitch? Cordelia wasn't offended- she WAS a bitch and had no qualms admitting it- and carried out by psychos like Agnes. Yet, within that organization, there were people that were capable of genuine good. She came to realize that the League was akin to a police department-overall, it was a diseased tree that needed to be uprooted, but it had some good fruit on it. Man, I have really, really shitty analogies.

Cordelia, for a moment, almost lashed out at Sonja before she got a hold of herself. No sense in alienating potential allies-and Cordelia was pretty sure she saw a way to make money off the League, even now. She took a deep breath and tried her best at a smile. "I...I would really appreciate that. Thank you." She hadn't thanked a lot of people in the last few years, and it was rusty for her. Difficult for to her sound genuine, even when it was. Touchy feely crap like that always came off weird to Cordelia, she didn't know how you went about doing it. Best to take the car ride and get out of her life-and as long as Sonja was driving far away from this place, she was fine with wherever they went. Then Volt came bounding along after them-and, the normally unshakeable Cordelia felt a twinge of both fear and appreciation. First, he looked like a fuckin' hurricane, and Cordelia could feel a bit of her hair stand up on end as he drew nearer. Damn. Wonder if he had anything to do with Katrina. Second, she appreciated that he'd thrown down with an obvious superior (and who put Emily in charge?) for the sake of someone who was leaving the organization. Not a lot of political advantages to that, but it was something Cordelia could respect. She'd never had much in the way of family, so to her, standing up for your own was damned important.

Again, the words fumbled and refused to come, but she gave Volt a gracious nod of her head that hopefully said enough. "...you know, if the first day looks like that, can't imagine what a League Christmas party is like." as they left the building, Cordelia pulled out a cigarette from within her backpack and lit it, taking a few casual puffs. Helped calm her down after standoffs like that one. "So," she asked Sonja, her tone and demeanor returned to that of casual normalcy (even if she was still up for really, really ruining Agnes' and Emily's day). "Where we headed?" And please don't say church.

Then...sirens. Hm. The wheels began turning very, very quickly in Cordelia's head. Who did she know that was currently locked up? If she was going to be back on the streets, she was going to need a damned good bargaining chip to be offered open arms after joining up with the League...she didn't plan on staying in Chicago much longer, but she didn't want to get shot ten minutes after ditching the League. "So, if you want to drop me off after this prison break or whatever, that's cool." she added to Sonja and Volt. "Unless you guys need to go put on your spandex."

[Falconi]

Mason

Mason watched as the scene played out. No true danger yet. He made sure his holster was fully secured in the holster."I am going to have to agree with the girl," he said and pointed at Cordelia. "Y'all need a new psych evaluation. The detonator chick is psychotic. Makes her dangerous in a combat situation." He shook his head. "I thought I wanted to be part of this, but without better organization and leadership, I don't know if I can do this."

He started to follow Cordelia and whistled to his dog. "Chance come." Then the sirens went off and an announcement was made for immediate action. Mason did what he did best. He ran to the table and grabbed his M16 and then bolted for the transporter.

Nightshade

Nightshade watched, not amused. She didn't really pick sides. Whoever paid better usually got her attention, at least to talk to her anyway. She looked at Volt and was tempted to try and steal out of his pocket, but then the alarm went off. Shit! I'm in trouble now she thought.

She sighed when she heard the announcement. Nightshade looked around as everyone bolted and she smiled. "Fun," she whispered. She backed into a bark corner and turned invisible as she waited for everyone to leave.

[Yog Sothoth]

Hot Rod rolled his eyes when he saw the heroes getting angry at each other, honestly, why do heroes have to act so 90s and 80s in today's world? He couldn't really answer the question with an absolute truth but he guessed they thought the concept of anti heroes was cool. People sure like violence nowadays, no wonder the world was still screwed up when the heroes were no different the villains sometimes.

When the red alert sirens came on, he grinned and knew that there was some hero work to be done. He Rushed over to the group of people still around Cord and Volt and shouted, "Lets get a move on laddies! Y'all heard Binary, newbies head to the Atrium while you veterans go to the transports!"

He then took off towards the transports at supersonic speeds and arrived at the section of HQ in just a couple of seconds.

---

Ocean Warrior was waiting for Flashbolt to attack when the alarms went off and the sudden noise started him. He at first thought that the Hall of heroes had been breached and villains were attacking, but then he heard Binary's voice come on over the alarm. So there was a hostage situation and he would help deal with it since he a new member to the League.

"It looks like well have to hold our sparing match until later Flashbolt" Finn said to the hero and headed off in the direction of the atrium.

[LeeRoy]

Sorry, like, super sorry. I forgot that I could have just edited this post.

[LeeRoy]

With her question answered, her mouth just sort of hung open and she blinked real slow-like. One nodded and began walking towards the meeting room, or at least, she thinks it's a meeting room. It's got a lot of chairs. The girl wandered slowly, with a very slow gait that took very long steps. Like she was having difficulties remembering that she is in fact walking. Which is a very real possibility, but one can never be certain. "Thank you, One just wanted to know. Sorry for being so big. One don't want to be so big. One don't need to see so much, sometimes One sees too much. Sometimes. . ." Her words trailed off, but she continued muttering, sometimes half a word would come out properly but it's hard to tell. Without really bothering to confirm if it's the meeting room, she just walked right past Jennifer.

Doppler just sort of nodded and took a few quick steps towards Jennifer, trying to still his breathing and maybe have some composure. But a dozen or so supers, even to a power thief, is way too much to handle.

And then the alarm blared out, the voice crying something about a jail and an atrium. Doppler looked around frantically and then Jennifer dashed off. Without really thinking about why, or even remembering what the siren had said, Benny made chase after her. Maybe now would be perfect to show off, if this isn't a straight up end of the world scenario. "What's happening? Are we all going to die? Some of us? You? Me? Why am I asking questions when I'm not as fast as you are!?" Doppler followed, but sort of lagged behind as she flew through the rooms. Normal human body, the worst kind of human body.

As he pursued her, he ran into the room where there were a plethora of heroes. A common room full of supers? Oh man, Doppler may have drooled a bit, imagining all the things he could do with their abilities. He shook his head and made way through the door.

Meanwhile, One turned around and saw a flood of newbies- Like herself- and non-physical supers heading towards what she assumed was the atrium. Some had already gathered there, so she allowed herself into the middle of the pack and followed the flow to the Atrium. She's not really a fighter, and honestly she feels like she could be more useful in a place where she won't scare everyone with her presence.

[Polyphemus]

SIXGUN

Sixgun looked at the man writhing on the ground. He was obviously dying, slowly and in immense pain, fighting a losing battle to get air into his lungs. Bender was far from being the first man he had ever killed, but he always tried to do it quickly, cleanly, with a minimum of fuss. Not like this.

"You're really not callin' a sawbones, eh?" Ben asked of Music, already knowing what the response would be. With Music's sardonic glare washing over him, Sixgun picked up Bender's dropped pistol, trying to look and act more careless than he felt. He had to act like boisterous Fletcher Ross, not redemptive Ben Brady. "Sorry, hoss," he said as he fired one shot directly into Bender's head.

At least this way it was quick, he rationalized.

---

SONJA

Sonja smiled softly at Cord, hoping maybe she was getting through to the girl, when all of the sudden the blare of klaxons reverberated through the corridors of the Hall. Binary's voice echoed through the entire building, giving a terse appraisal of the situation and orders. "I'm sorry, honey, but we're going to have to talk later," she said apologetically to Cord as she whipped off her pinstriped suit jacket. To anyone watching, all Sonja did was spin the jacket around a couple times in her hand, but when it stopped moving it was now an armored vest. It had been a simple, expedient trick- just switching places, the jacket now on the wooden hanger in Sonja's closet the vest had previously occupied. Child's play, really. She shouldn't feel so out of breath.

"You can come along if you want, but you're under no obligation. Whatever you decide, just please promise me you'll be careful," she said to Cord as Volt peeled out down the hallway. "Pip-pip, tally-ho!" she yelled after Volt in a simply terrible attempt at his accent, never passing up an opportunity to gently tease him. Before headed off to face down a prison riot was no exception.

It was dangerous, of course, but something always felt good about rushing out to face whatever new danger loomed, whatever stood as a threat to the people of the world. The first line of defense between the regular person and the darkness and madness. Of course, Sonja figured these calls would be so much cooler if they had a pole to slide down, like firemen. But you can't have everything, she reflected as she beat feet towards the transports.