[IC] MetaOps - Project: God Complex

[The Irish Tree]

Hopper began walking towards the nuclear reactor with the bottle in tow, cradling the Akvavit between his elbow and shoulder as he rested his left arm. "I have come here to speak to you personally. Not as a member of MetaOps, but as a man who understands what loss feels like. I ask you as a man to simply speak, and decide what you desire to do afterwards. And, to sweeten the deal..." Hopper brandished the bottle, holding the neck of the bottle in his right hand. "Why not a drink?"

This was it. This was his big plan. And by god did he hope that someone else had a better one, or that he was going to be one lucky grasshopper. He had no doubt that the Immortal man had little chance of actually getting drunk, and an ever littler chance of hearing a word he was saying as being more than rambling. All he could really do...was buy time. He hadn't the strength or maneuverability to counter a Meta as powerful as Immortal, and he knew it. Standing there, Hopper's scarf ceased its motion as the dust kicked up from his landing settled. With great care to make sure that no one could hear outside the comm channel, Hopper whispered: "I'll try and buy time..."

The Immortal looked at Hopper suspiciously at first, but decided that letting the man have a few words before his impending doom was the least he could do. "Fine," he said, before
reaching out his hand for the beverage.

Hopper wasted no time in handing over the Akvavit, before honestly being surprised that the Immortal even listened. Made sense to him though...he was still a human at heart, so someone trying to talk to him about his problem would seem interesting. That or he was just humoring him. Once the bottle was in the Immortal's grasp, Hopper said: "I apologize for not having a glass for you. I was called here without the time to prepare properly."

The Immortal grasped the bottle and took the cap off with no effort. "It is quite alright," he said before taking a sip and handing it back to Hopper. "So, what specifically do you wish to talk about?"

Hopper removed his helmet and carried it in his right armpit, taking a swig of the Akvavit before wiping his mouth on his bracer. "I'm more curious about why you're doing this than why you think this will work out for you. Tell me...what happened?"

"I was brought on by a strange man to help him steal some device from the military. The man promised that the weapon could end this cursed life of mine. He lied. Instead he kept it to himself. This weapon... it... it has absolutley unimaginable power and I have no idea where he took it. I fear what he would do with such a device and decided that this was better than what he has in store for the world," The Immortal responded, only leaving any listeners with more questions.

Taking another sip of the booze, Hopper simply said: "Well, you're wrong about one thing there. This certainly isn't better than anything I can imagine. Destroying this plant would kill...I don't even know how many people. I can't see that as being a better solution than leaving this man with the weapon." Hopper handed the bottle back.

The Immortal took another sip, this one much larger than his last. "You do not know what this... thing does though. Death is much preferable to what will happen to you if he gets what he wants. I am sorry that I cannot tell where he is or where he keeps the weapon, only that, if you wish to continue living, you have to stop him. There were three others on the team when we stole the weapon, one of them might know more." The Immortal turned back to the direction of the Reactor Room. "If you have nothing else to say, then I am sorry, for you have not convinced me to end my mission."

Hopper hummed for a moment before putting his helmet back on. "You could always join MetaOps you know...The resources they have combined with your abilities would make finding this man easy. Maybe you could even find a reason to be..." he said, already expecting a definite 'no' and a punch to the face.

The Immortal actually paused in his advance to the Reactor Room and gave the idea some thought. Working with a group of metas to save the world? Seemed like something from a comic book. He turned to Hopper to give an answer, but was suddenly interrupted.

Evil Eyes stood in the doorway that The Immortal had come through earlier and shouted, "No! This bastard dies now!" He launched himself at The Immortal, using his powers of kinetic manipulation to strengthen his attack tenfold. His fist impacted with the jaw of The Immortal
and the sound of a Evil Eyes' arm breaking echoed through the room.

The Immortal looked down at Evil Eyes, bent over in pain and holding his broken arm. He turned to look back up at Hopper and finished his answer, "I do not believe that will happen." The Immortal turned his back on Hopper and Evil Eyes and proceeded to the Reactor Room, where Revel and Specter lied waiting to enact their plan.

Hopper stared horrified at Evil Eyes, contemplating the fact that the man might have literally just ruined the best chance he had to put a stop to all of this. Running after The Immortal, Hopper looked over his shoulder. "Crosscut, get him out of here. We need to pull out all the stops to end this. You remember that trick we pulled back in Iran? We need that now..."

After teleporting around the facility, trying to keep track of who on his team was still up and who was down for the count, Crosscut arrived just in time to see Evil Eyes' failed attack and the disasturous results after. Before Hopper finished his suggestion, Crosscut was already going in to get Evil Eyes to safety. He'd be damned if he let another teammate die. He couldn't teleport back to base though, he didn't know if he would materailize inside someone after this much time had passed. Instead, Crosscut teleported him to Freyja and the others. Quickly coming back, Crosscut gave a thumbs up to Hopper as a signal to start their cooperative attack.

Hopper nodded once Crosscut gave him the thumbs up, and removed his scarf, tying it around his waist like a belt, which Crosscut would hold onto. Once he was holding on, Hopper would immediately jump, carrying Crosscut along with him on the surprisingly sturdy scarf. Extending his leg, he waited for Crosscut to work his magic.Within a moment, the two teleported directly in front of the Immortal, surprising The Immortal enough to land a boot to his head. Before The Immortal could react, Crosscut teleported them away in an instant, only to have Hopper launch another kick directed at the small of the back. The blows were insignificant, not even managing to damage the invincible man, but they were forceful enough to push him around. Annoying enough that he couldn't truly ignore them. Attempting to swat them away as they kept pushing him, The Immortal took a deep breath before he caught Hopper's next kick, catching both him and Crosscut off guard.

"Out of my way." was all he said before with just a single twist of his wrist, he sent the two spiraling towards a wall as he kept walking into the reactor room.

Crosscut managed to get them out in one piece, teleporting them back where they started, but Hopper'd been disabled; His right leg was absolutely mangled just from the Immortal getting a good wring in on it. Clutching his mechanical leg, Hopper said: "There's...there's no way..."

[Ciphra]

Angelina was now irritated! Her own teammates had ruined her chance to talk to the Imortal, and on top of that the guy looked like he wasn't going to give her the time of day! Come on now! She was an attractive 17 year old girl. The guy was only God knows how old! He should have better manners than to ignore a lady! She crossed her arms defiantly and let people fight again just leaning on the wall watching.

What really irked Angelina was when Hopper had the audacity to try and talk to the Immortal, then on top of that, the guy actually talked to him! Hopper was just a human! On top of that he wore a freaking helmet half the damn apparently! This Immortal had some nerve doing that! Honestly! Clearly no one here was very good in science class! Maybe the Wiz guy was, since he seemed to be using a little bit, but everyone else was just some wanna be jarhead! Well except Michelle...She kinda was one already...But seriously! Mix diplomacy and science! Or not even science really! Anatomy! Technically her plan required a substance that is for science use so that part is science...But that's not the point! This guy might not seem to age, he might not need to eat, but in the end his body still requires certain things to live just like any other living thing!

Once Hopper and Crosscut had epically failed she'd had it with this team. "Okay that's it!" She pushed off the wall and started walking right at the Immortal. In the end her power broke down the link between atoms taking in all matter like a black hole within a limited area on her palm which limited the amount she could take in at once, and the speed. Sadly this meant that she couldn't just take in objects immediately, but energy, liquids, solids, gasses, they were all the same. Built up of small matter in which her body was capable of breaking down and taking in for her own personal use, a nice back up plan. Of course she already had all the way up to her belly button in matter already taken in at base to make a special something for this guy, but it was more than enough to start taking in a fist if this guy was stupid enough to charge her. By all means if you want to force your body to break down and be absorbed faster like pushing paper throuugh a shredder faster then by all means! At least that was one theory that should work... The other was still her main plan though...

"Hey you!" She had stopped only a few feet away from the Immortal at this point. "How about we have a little chat? Seems how you're willing to give everyone but me the time of day..." She frown leaning to one side standing there. Secretly she was waiting to use her power to block his attack hoping that it would work, but if not she was hoping that they might be able to just talk...After all he was clearly suicidal...Why not convince him to let her do it for him in a much easier, less painful, and less collateral way?

[Lady Seraphina]

Gloria - Specter

Gloria listened to the fight unfold over Hopper's comm, getting only the audio of the battle limited her knowledge of what was going on but Gloria got the general gist of it. That gist was that they were royally screwed. Now she knew how Revel must have felt when she interrupted his attempt at diplomacy with her brutal attack. The only difference was she hadn't realized he was talking to the Immortal at the time, Evil Eyes on the other hand just didn't care. The sound of bone cracking was so loud that Gloria could hear it echo down into the Reactor Core without the earpiece. The next plan of attack after this seemed to consist of both Hopper and Crosscut, she couldn't be sure, it wasn't like they were describing what they were doing but by the sound of it Hopper was kicking the Immortal around almost simultaneously. No doubt Crosscut was getting him in close then removing him from the Immortal's range.

Gloria's heart almost stopped when she heard the sound of metal being twisted and Hopper gasping in both pain and defeat. His legs must have been damaged somehow. Hopper, fully functional was necessary for the plan. As much as Gloria had come to hate the guy in the ten minutes since she met him Revel was right, Gloria didn't have the strength to push someone as charged as the Immortal through all of containment barriers in the reactor core, they were too dense and the Immortal to strong. She needed more external force which was supposed to come from Hopper. Now however that was not an option.

"Revel, we have a problem, Hopper's down for the count. He tried some sort of risky maneuver on the Immortal and the big guy fried his legs. Who else do we have that has enough strength to force the Immortal through the barriers and into the core."

Gloria quickly went through a mental checklist. She'd not gotten to know barely any of her teammates by name but based on there performance today she had a pretty good idea what they were capable of. McWiz's golems did little more then annoy the Immortal, Michelle was powerless, Freyja was temporarily dead, Crosscut was a teleporter; useful but not for this, Pirate Queen was as useless as Michelle, Hopper and Evil Eyes were down. That left Chimera and Elementalist. Gloria didn't know that much about the Elementalist past seeing him cause concrete to grow around the Immortal. "Do Chimera or the Elementalist fit the profile enough for the kind of force we need to make this work?" she asked. Gloria hated Revel, she truly did but no one could deny that he was decently intelligent and while later Gloria would happily kick his ass, they needed to work together for the moment.

[Guess Who]

After crushing Hopper's leg, The Immortal turned back to the Reactor Room, finding Bright Angel blocking his path. "I've talked enough today," he said, trying to ignore the girl. She still stood defiantly in front of him. "If you refuse to listen to reason, then I will just have to move you myself," he said. The Immortal then lifted his leg and stomped onto the ground, causing the floor they were standing on to collapse. Bright Angel fell to the bottom of the newly formed crater, and The Immortal hovered to the Reactor Room, finally making his way across the threshold.

Crosscut sat next to Hopper, shouting at him. "Hopper! Snap out of! Hopper!" His friend was shellshocked. Crosscut turned away and counted who was still active. "Chimera. Where'd he go?" he asked himself. Crosscut began rapidly teleporting room to room, trying to find his teammate. "There you are," he said as he appeared in front of the boy. Chimera, in his human form, sat unconscious, slumped against a wall. Crosscut pulled out a canteen and splashed Chimera with it. "Come on, kid. I think we're going to need you for what's next." He offered Chimera a hand up, then said, "Meet with Revel and Specter in the Reactor Room. We're making our final stand there."

[Lugubrious]

Revel

Spectre wasn't the only one listening in. To the momentary skirmish between the Immortal and Hopper Revel was an ardent observer, fervent in his needless goal to have his important prediction come true. No matter how many times, Revel knew, he proved his power, there would always be those who doubted it. It was their loss if they didn't—they hadn't the slightest idea, after all, of his intentions, right down to why he was here risking his life in the first place. But proving himself to his 'allies' would be an important step in gaining their trust, and as invaluable resources went, trust in the right places outweighed gold.

It came as a shock, then, when the news of Hopper's defeat penetrated him. Before the realization fully took hold, however, Revel had already determined that he wouldn't allow this to be a setback. Though he wanted nothing more than to bulldoze over Spectre's gibbering with the exact specifics, he took enough time to think that she was done speaking before the positions of the pieces had become clear to him. The agony of Evil Eyes, in the meantime, shook him not. “No. By now the Immortal's probably used to dealing with the Chimera. I don't know about the Elementalist. I think I have a better plan, though. You overlooked one crucial thing!” Revel was forced to shout as he flinched in response to the death-bent meta's dynamic entry into the reactor room. “Not legs. Leg. I know that Hopper only needs one to deliver a kick strong enough to make that push.” As the Immortal drifted closer, briefly trying to dilute his pain with the savory taste of victory, Revel attuned his com to Crosscut. “Crosscut! Bring Hopper in here. I think there's something he needs to see. I'm going to give him a way.” Fiendishly, Revel accentuated his voice in a dramatic twist that sounded every bit like he was about to martyr himself and give his allies a chance. The Immortal landed before the lip of the reactor pit, looking down at the font of raw power perhaps capable of finally ending his torment.

“Primitive ape!” Revel called, lashing his whips against the ground to grab the Immortal's attention. “I see now that the only way into your thick skull is what you asked—everything I've got! Your madness stops here!”

So shouting, the string-puller fired both his whips straight at the Immortal's face, where they could be easily grabbed and pulled. Even though he had affirmed the validity of his precognition, Revel sweated profusely. The line between what he predicted naturally and what his ability provided to him grew remarkably thin at times. Would the Immortal actually fall for it? Or was it merely an idea that Revel thought up on his own and mistook for fate?

[Guess Who]

Crosscut teleported into the Reactor Room just in time to hear Revel's plan for Hopper. "On it," he said before teleporting back out near Hopper's position. "Come on, buddy. Up you go," Crosscut said as he lifted Hopper up on the side with the damaged leg. "Some leader I am," he said, before the two disappeared from their spot and reappeared in the Reactor Room. "Alright Revel, what did you want to..." Crosscut started, before seeing Revel begin his plan to finally defeat The Immortal.

As Revel's whips sliced through the air, targeting The Immortal's face, The Immortal raised his hand in front of him. The whips, instead of cracking against The Immortal's head, wrapped around his arm. "I had wondered where you had run off, too. It's a pleasant thought that neither you nor the rest of your team would die a coward's death," he said before pulling his arm back. The Immortal then swung his arm to send Revel careening towards the reactor's pit. The Immortal believed that Revel had played right into his hands, little did he know that it was quite the opposite.

[Lugubrious]

Revel

Suppressed triumph flashed on Revel's face, soon replaced by suppressed fear, as he flew toward the Immortal and sailed over his head into the pit. "Maniac!" he yelled for emphasis while plummeting downward. Each moment, the air grew hotter and thicker, as if the barely-stabilized, raw power of the nuclear reactor eked its chaos into its surroundings. Once he was sure that the Immortal wasn't looking after him, the string-puller activated the electric surge in his gauntlets, causing the magnetic fibers of his gloves to adhere to the sheer metal face in front of him. He stopped, gasping in pain, at a halt abrupt enough to make his arms feel as if they had been wrenched from their sockets, and after spending a moment to make sure that everything was, indeed, in one piece, he began to ascend.

Not wishing to die in a nuclear meltdown, Revel ardently hoped that the others were doing his job. To be honest, he was stunned that Spectre hadn't tried to kill him then and there. She was the grudge-holding, self-confident type, quite clearly, probably thought she stood a chance at taking him down. Revel read her thoroughly, filling in with probable guess what his ability would not illuminate. For fun, he played out a duel between the both of them in his mind as he slowly climbed. If it was a straight fist-fight, there was no contest, but Revel hardly expected such a woman to fight fair. She had knives, grenades, and a power capable of reducing him to pulp. Fortunately, there was no recombination of events he could think of that he allowed her to get close enough to do so. Grenades could be avoided, and it was hard to run straight in and stab with two electrified ripcords in her face. If she attempted to use her power, Revel thought, he would grab her, either with hand or whip, and pump her full of voltage. The pain that she had exhibited when using her phasing in contact with the Immortal had hinted at an aversion to organic matter--or, at least, one of its properties.

Revel didn't think it would ever come to fighting her, however. The future glinted in his favor, as it would always.

[LokiLeo789]

Alexander Ziker - MicWiz

Alex glanced at Chimera when he had reminded him that they needed to focus. He sighed and raked his hands through his hair, what were they supposed to do. They could not fight the Immortal, maybe if they were grouped together, but as they were, it was over. Ideas floated through his mind, but all seemed as impossible to do as the last. "The radiation is doing its job internally at the moment. With the amount of radioactive cells in his body, a normal human would die within a few hours." He mumbled despondently. "There is really no point to you doing that." He shrugged at he stood up.

Alex looked at Michelle and nodded when she offered to take her body, supposedly she was not dead. He cracked his knuckles before walking towards the reactor. What ensued inside was chaos, Chimera was in a tunnel of wind, and Alex was supposed to get ready to for something. Despite all this, they were quickly shut down by the all powerfully monster that was the Immortal. The Elementist had been dropped a few feet, but it was apparent he was fine.

It was not surprising to find the Hopper speaking to the Immortal. It was as if they were good friends, unfortunately it would most likely end in failure. And it did, Evil Eyes attacked the Immortal, his arm snapped and the Immortal continued. It was slightly amusing, this happened twice in a row, maybe they needed a room. Crosscut and Hopper tried fighting, but was quickly dispatched. Hoppers let destroyed, but Crosscut was doing fine. Even Angel tried to talk but she failed also, just being ignored by the beast.

Revel's attempt seemed successful through. There fight was much more nerve racking, he and the Immortal tumbled down the center of the react, an extremely dangerous place to be. Alex ran after the duo, looking over the edge to see Revel ansending, but no sign of the Immortal. Alex created a platform under the body of Revel, if he wanted to lay or stand on it to get to the top faster. Hopefully this push would kill the Immortal, because. If it did not they would have failed.

[The Irish Tree]

Hopper was just...standing there. How could he just...get brushed aside like that? It was one thing for a normal limb to not be able to stop him, but Hopper's were beyond normal, beyond anything human...and with just a flick of his wrist, the Immortal had destroyed and mangled his left leg. Supported by Crosscut, Hopper hobbled along, watching in horror as The Immortal flung one of his teammates into the pit. That easy...for just one man to have all that power was shocking and horrifying to him. He wasn't even a meta, but he'd always been able to assist in some way, or to come up with a plan, but this? They were fighting a man who was beyond invincible, he was practically a god. His breathing growing shaky beneath his helmet, Hopper realized something. He was SCARED of the Immortal. Scared of the man who couldn't be hurt, scared of the man who could beat anyone he wished, scared that he'd kill him and everyone else in the team.

He was scared of a meta for the first time in his career.

But right now, the fear was being kept deep down, tucked somewhere in his chest as he started to not only fear, but HATE the Immortal. Such a man was using such power, such overwhelming force to push people aside and take lives. All for the sake of his own selfish self-sacrifice. Hopper had tried diplomacy and failed, tried force and failed, but now...now he wasn't being watched. Now another team mate was going to die. Now was the time to act.

A single leg was all Hopper needed to jump, though his balance was shaky, to say the least. But nonetheless, it was a ridiculous jump, one that no human could make alone. One with force that was impossible to match by anything but his legs. With shattering force, Hopper SMASHED his foot into The Immortal's back, willing to take him down before someone else had to die.

[Lady Seraphina]

Gloria - Specter

Gloria had begun to wonder about the validity of bringing her plan to Revel in the first place. He didn't seem interested in anything except inserting himself into the plan in a way that seemed on the whole completely unnecessary. There was absolutely no need for Revel to pretend to die for the sake of getting Hopper angry enough for the kick. All they really need to was contact Hopper over the comms.

It didn't matter, if Revel wanted to get himself killed Gloria didn't really care, after all the plan would work one way or another. Gloria was just glad that Hopper wasn't as disabled as she'd initially assumed, they still had a shot to make this work. And if it didn't, well they'd be the lucky ones, incinerated instantly as opposed to everyone else near the plant who would slowly decline and eventually die of complications of radiation poisoning.

Gloria listened to her team make one last ditch attempt to stop the Immortal's advance. It sounded violent but Gloria knew the moment that Revel made the call for Hopper to be brought into the room that her plan was the only one that ended with everyone (save the Immortal) coming out alive. Seconds later Revel launched himself at the Immortal overacting his part to the extreme. She wouldn't be surprised if Hopper realized he was faking it. That man desperately needed to learn to bluff.

Revel was of course tossed aside immediately and after falling significantly down the shaft latched onto the side. His sudden stop looked painful. Gloria wouldn't have been surprised if he'd dislocated his arms with that maneuver.

Gloria heard the crunch that must have been Hopper's leg splintering as it made contact with the Immortal's back. Moments later Gloria saw the Immortal rocketing towards her at high speed. His flight powers must need time to compensate for sudden shock force and gravity. It didn't look like he had sufficient time to compensate for this.

Gloria breathed in and out evenly, her heart was pounding wildly. Everything she'd done was nothing compared to this. Destroying someone of this power and magnitude, it left a bitter taste in Gloria's mouth but it was necessary.

As the Immortal hurtled towards her Gloria jumped two feet in the air and her hand made contact with the falling man's boot. Without hesitation Gloria willed her molecules to shift there quantum frequency and at the same time to alter that of the Immortal's subatomic structure. Ever so slightly but it was enough that solid matter had no bearing on either of them.

Pain shot up Gloria's arm from where her hand touched the Immortal's boot. She was of course used to the slight pain and extreme discomfort that came from phasing through regular humans but that was nothing compared to this. Normally Gloria could take people into her intangibility field very easily but clearly the Immortal was different. Whatever had given him his powers had amped up the natural electric charge that all living things carried and it was ripping through Gloria like a knife through paper.

Gloria held on as the Immortal fell those last few feet. His body contacted the Reactor Core but instead of crashing into it, cracking the housing or anything else the Immortal began to sink into it's surface. Through his body Gloria could feel the dense materials the Reactor was constructed out of. Going through that much of that density may well have been enough to kill Gloria but as it was only her feet began to sink into the Reactor at a much slower rate than the Immortal she was fine.

Gloria's breathing was becoming ragged and little white spots were bursting against her vision. She tried to blink them away but they stayed obscuring her sight. Everything started to become blurry. Gloria knew, even if everything else was fuzzy that she had to keep pushing the Immortal down. The impact of his fall had forced him most of the way into the Reactor but she just... had... to... push... him... those... last... few... feet... Gloria gave one almighty shove, her hands descending to the Reactor to make sure the Immortal made it all the way into the Core proper.

For a millionth of a second Gloria could feel the raw, uncontrolled, wild, explosive power of the nuclear reaction through the last barrier and a shudder raced through her body. With the last of her strength Gloria yanked herself out of the incredibly dense reactor core and fell onto the outer casing.

For one glorious moment Gloria could see the light streaming into the Core from the upper levels. She reached her hand up to touch it, her scrambled brain thinking it might be solid. Her vision started to blur and Gloria her strength spent and her mind floating away asked to the air. "Can I rest now?" The world started to spin and Gloria surrendered to the black, and the silence and the stillness. If her plan had failed she would never know. She'd wake with her sister and everything would be alright. The last thing that Gloria saw before she fell unconscious was an image of Cassie's face. Gloria collapsed with a smile on her own.

[Guess Who]

The Immortal watched as Revel flew towards the pit of the reactor, distracting him from the threat behind him. The previously dazed and confused Hopper, having seen yet another team member supposedly be killed, had now snapped out of the shock he had been in from his leg being broken. Suddenly, The Immortal felt the impact of Hopper's foot hitting his back, sending him towards the reactor. Before he could change his course, The Immortal felt Specter's hands grab his feet. "Huh? What are you-" he began, but suddenly he impacted with the reactor. No, he was phasing through it. He hadn't yet figured out what was happening to him and tried struggling, but the feeling of phasing was too unfamiliar to him. The Immortal now found himself inside that which he had come to destroy. "You think this will stop me?" he said before pulling back his fist to strike his new prison. With all the force he could muster, his now solid fist struck the inner shell of the core. Pain suddenly traveled up his arm as he only dented his target. Finally, he realized what had just happened. They had sent him inside the reactor, where the radiation was now not only weakening, but killing him. Before he lost consciousness, he said two words that, albeit, would go unheard. "Thank you."

Crosscut teleported first to Revel, getting him out of his predicament. Next, he made his way to the unconscious Specter and lifted her over his shoulders. While carrying her, he also used his own body to act as his crutch for Hopper. As the team exited from the facility, civilians who had been waiting outside the facility began to cheer. Crosscut viewed the crowd angrily. These people should have been trying to evacuate, not trying to record it for their blogs and Facebook posts. Not only that, but the team had a man down. This wasn't a time to celebrate. Crosscut gathered the team around him, radioed Stratos to meet them back at base, and teleported all of the team back to HQ.

"Welcome back, team," The Director said as everyone appeared before him. He motioned for two MPs to take Witch's body be taken to the base's morgue, then turned to Evil Eyes. "Head to the infirmary to get your arm fixed up, then pack your things. You're off the team." The Director looked back at to the rest of the team. "The rest of you can go do whatever you want. Hey some R&R. You're all dismissed."

[Puffhead]

Drake had spent most of the last part of the fight completely and utterly wasted, and he wasn't really surprised. That tends to happen when you're in a fragile human form and thrown against a wall by both the strength of the Immortal and the force of a wind strong enough to throw you that way... To be honest he was surprised all he received was a concussion from the whole ordeal.

As soon as he got back to the base, he vaguely heard the directors instructions, but honestly he focused mostly on getting Izzy to the infirmary. Sure others were there to do it, and sure she would probably heal, but his concussion caused him to be so absolutely confused he found himself only able to focus on this task. And so with much effort, he turned back into his form of the Chimera and slowly moved through the halls, carrying both Izzy and Gloria on his back as he did. Soon he found himself stumbling into the infirmary, looking around with a slight frown as the nurses and doctor looked at him in terror. Well, he supposed given how he looked right now, that was to be expected.

"They both need help..." He mumbled simply.

@Prince of Seraphs@XLegs

[Lady Seraphina]

Dr. Malcolm Blackwood - MetaOps Medical Division

Dr. Malcolm Blackwood was MetaOps' leading physician and somewhat of an expert on metahuman genetics and biology. This was of course because he himself was a metahuman. When he was first approached by MetaOps it had been to join the initial strike teams they were putting together when MetaOps was first commissioned. It was soon found out that Malcolm lacked a number of skills necessary to function in a unit. The ability to take orders or rely on others chief among them. He requested a transfer to the medical division as he had been studying to be a doctor before being enlisted. Several years later he ascended the ranks to Chief Surgeon. His ability was telekinesis and spatial sense which gave him an advantage when diagnosing patients and performing complex surgeries.

Dr. Blackwood watched the at mishmash of a creature enter his infirmary carrying two bodies on his back. Blackwood was not impressed. He knew the creature to be a member of MetaOps newest strike team and perfectly capable of understanding English. "Are you mentally deficient?" He asked looking Chimera up and down. "Even a civilian knows that transporting someone severely injured on..." as this point Malcolm gave a noise of disgust as he looked at Chimera's back, the way it bounced slightly every time he moved. "...such a surface could easily cause even greater harm."

Malcolm gave both girl's a once over. One of them was unmistakably dead but being familiar with the files of MetaOps newest recruits Blackwood was aware that she wouldn't stay that way for long. The doctor snapped his fingers. "Someone find her a comfortable bed, repairing an entire skeletal structure must be undecidedly painful. She needs a safe place to wake." Then Blackmore turned to the other one. She had pale skin and gold hair. From her file Malcolm knew her name to be Gloria. She was the one he had to worry about.

Two nurses helped Malcolm shift Gloria onto a small flat gurney for transport to one of the operating tables where Gloria could be scanned and properly diagnosed without doing more damage. She was placed face down on the operating table because of the very obvious gashes in her shoulder blades.

A scan reveled no skeletal, spinal or brain trauma which was a relief. Most of her wounds appeared to be superficial. Her right arm appeared to have something akin to a burn running from her forearm all the way down the entire length of her arm. The skin was red and angry but completely smooth. Her finger prints on that hand looked to have been destroyed. "Nurse get the burn salve, a lot of it." The next thing to look at was the cuts made to her back. They were nasty, not so much done with a knife as some sort of hook. Her flesh hadn't been cut but torn. She'd lost a significant amount of blood from both wounds, it had dripped down her back, dried and crusted on her uniform. It was amazing that she'd been able to function with damage like this, the girl must have an impressive pain tolerance.

Malcolm cut away Gloria's shirt from her back before he went about dealing with the wound. First he disinfected it and cleaned it of dried blood and dead tissue before starting to stitch it. Each wound required six stitches. Past that there was very little Dr. Blackwood could do. Aside from minor bumps, scraps and bruises Gloria was simply exhausted. He started her on an IV drip to ensure that she stayed hydrated and instructed a nurse to inform him the moment she regained consciousness. His work complete Blackwood returned to Chimera who seemed to have a concussion. He brought with him a set of scrubs for the boy to wear having no other clothing in the infirmary.

"Retake your human form, I need to take a look at your head."

As he did this the doctor began to speak. "You know back when MetaOps was first created I was recruited for the very job you hold now. It wasn't my place in the world as you can probably see but from what I remember you are supposed to have each other's backs. The girl lying unconscious on that table is what we refer to as a Phase-Shifter. She can alter the quantum frequency of her molecules in order to change the impact she has on solid matter. Aside from the gashes in her back most of her injuries can be explained by extreme over extension of her abilities. She literally burned her fingerprints away phasing through something with a charged electric field. Now please enlighten me, how it is that Gloria is over there with the very real possibility that she may never regain consciousness and all you received was a bump on the head?"

[Scarifar]

As Crosscut and the others appeared, Michelle came to the conclusion that their mission was complete, albeit not without losses of their own. One dead and several injured. One might think that it wasn't that big of a loss, but still... someone died. Death was, and still is, never a fun thing to comprehend.

As she followed Crosscut out of the facility, she glared at the civilians as well. Not because she was mad at them like Crosscut was, but because she was mad at herself. She did next to nothing in the fight, and that didn't deserve cheers or applauses. All she could do was watch as her teammates did most of the work and took the hits. It was all Michelle could do to maintain discipline and not shout at them to go away and shut the f*ck up.

Returning back to base, Michelle walked away after being dismissed. She took a moment to think about where to go, then decided to head to the gym. Her first instinct had been to go to the shooting range, but there was no need for that. Her aim was still as good as ever. That she was definitely sure of. Entering the gym, Michelle found a punching bag as well as a pair of gloves. Without a second thought, she put the gloves on and started punching, hammering away at it, venting her stress on it.

[Puffhead]

@Prince of Seraphs

Drake understood little of what the doctor was even saying to him, not entirely sure at all whether it was due to the concussion on his head or simply the shock of everything that had happened. When the doctor asked him such a question however, he felt a small rage beginning to boil inside of him.

"How did I only receive a bump on the head?" The boy growled angrily as he pushed the mans hand away from observing his head. "Maybe because I was a two ton animal who threw himself in harms way so that they wouldn't receive a beating. Maybe it was because I took the blows which would have killed any one of them in a second so that they could actually figure out a way to stop that damn maniac! And just because I happened to be a creature which can take that sort of beating and only receive a bump on the head doesn't mean I didn't do what I could to help them!"

Drake paused his rant as he looked away, closing his eyes. Every time he closed them he saw an image of Witch... Just sitting there, her head twisted at a grotesque angle and staring at the wall with lifeless eyes... Yes he had done his best to take the punches for the team, and yet Gloria still might die. Izzy most certainly did die, and Witch was never coming back. Maybe he hadn't done everything he could of..

"Sorry doc. I think this concussion is getting the better of me. Best if I don't... Best if I don't talk right now." Drake slowly looked at the ground, unwilling to look up after that, trying to make sense of the shame he was now feeling. He had tried to save them... Hadn't he?

[Guess Who]

The entirety of the MetaOps' strike team, minus Pirate Queen who had gone AWOL at some point during the fight with The Immortal, was gathered in the briefing room, ready to hear the details of their next mission. The Director stood at the front, with an image of a woman being projected on the wall behind him. "Good morning team," he said. "This is today's target." The Director then handed out several files, each giving information on the woman. "As you can see from her file, she's a very nasty customer. We've tracked her whereabouts to a large hotel in Chicago, Illinois," he said as the image changed to the building he was referring to, with pictures of the lobby different rooms next to it. "Unfortunately, we lost contact with the recon team following her and don't know anymore than which building she's in. Considering that's one hundred floors to cover on your own, that's a lot of ground to cover. I hope you're all up for it. Crosscut will be transporting one team; led by him and consisting of Hopper, Freyja, Chimera, Bright Angel, and new addition Astral; to the lobby where you will go bottom-to-top searching for the target. Stratos will be air dropping the second team; led by Revel and consisting of Specter, Widowmaker, MicWiz, and Elementalist; on the roof where you will be searching top-to-bottom. Remember, we need her alive. Happy hunting team."

[Lugubrious]

Revel

Though the battle at the nuclear plant that ended only with the Immortal's life now formed but a memory, Revel cherished and utilized it as if it were an ageless treasure still in the palm of his hand. When the ordeal began, his ego had faltered for but a moment when faced with the doubt of others and the remarkably short timeframe of his precognition, but no mockery or skepticism could remain now that his plan had won the day. Much had hinged upon the outcome of that skirmish, though the pressure had been kept from building inside the string-puller by his persistence in not acknowledging it. Never a tactician afraid of taking the field, Revel nevertheless preferred to engage himself only when victory stood assured; against a man capable of razing all semblances of civilization in a radius of miles and tainting the land for generations to come, the diminished feeling of control proved morbidly humanizing. Nothing mattered more to Revel than his own life, for dead men do not create legacies. Through his prediction Revel sought to eternally push the odds of the world into favor, but knowing the future was like looking upward into the rain. Even if a droplet could be discerned, its size and shape and how it was going to act, it was all too easy for it to slip right by.

In this scenario, fortunately, all had fallen right into his fingers. Now, for being able to claim credit for the operation's success, he was perceived by some others as a leadership figure—as he should be. If Crosscut was the team's captain, then Revel served as lieutenant and strategist. The only bit of rain on his parade was that Spectre had been saved too. His original plan, should anyone have asked, had been to have her jump toward him to be caught and carried as he climbed. It wasn't hard to envision a future in which he, nerves shot and already tired by his adherence to the reactor pit's wall, accidentally and tragically let the woman slip through his fingers.

Still, despite the encounter both lucrative and sobering, all was well. Revel found himself in the briefing room once more, stolid with arms crossed and goggles dangling around his neck. When a file came his way, Revel took it without ceremony, and perused the pages. In particular, the woman's appearance, powers, and personality seized his attention. Predatory, insane, and with deadly powers. The classic femme fatale. Wonderful....I do so love the type! Having the goon squad kill her would be such a mistake. Perhaps I could rope her... he thought, mind drifting to a special vial on his belt beneath his coat. Into an unwilling alliance. If not, I shall enjoy shattering her illusions of confidence and power, provided I can get her on my own. Plus, as he'd guessed, he'd been assigned a leadership position, though like all things in life it came with a catch, namely Spectre.

[Lady Seraphina]

Gloria - Specter

[Whoami]

"Ryza. Ryza wake up." the driver said as he shook the sleeping girl with his free hand.

Ryza groaned, shifted and stayed asleep in the passenger seat. The driver clenched his teeth, "Never seen somebody sleep so deeply in a car seat..." he muttered and started shaking her again, "Hey. Ryza. Open your damn eyes."

Ryza took in a deep breath and exhaled, still sleeping. he driver shook his head and then got an idea. He quickly started to swerve on the road, "Oh my god! Shit! Look out!"

Ryza woke up instantly, gripping the door handle tightly. Her eyes were wide open, "Holy fuck what?!" Ryza darted her gaze all around and when she discerned that he did that to just wake her, she grimaced. "You could've just woke me normally, Lucas..."

Lucas rolled his eyes, "Don't even get me started..." the van left the tunnel they were driving in and the moonlight bathed the black vehicle. The moment they got into direct moonlight, Ryza's eyes began to glow a low blue.

There was a road sign, Chicago - 10 miles. Some other vehicles were driving along the interstate to and from the city. Orange street lights periodically passed, filling the vehicle and drowning out the glow of Ryza's eyes. Lucas side glanced over to the girl, not saying a word as he looked at the gems inlaid in Ryza's hands. A minute after he had successfully roused Ryza from her slumber, he finally spoke again, "Your team is headed to Chicago now, figured I'd let you know."

Ryza groaned again and tried to go back to sleep, "You could have told me that after I woke up on my own time..." she closed her eyes.

"There's one more thing. We're not going straight to them. I got a call while you were sleeping, there's some criminal activity that the local authorities are having trouble thwarting. The brass wants to see what you can do first hand." Lucas turned the van onto an off ramp to head onto another freeway.

"We're a military organization aren't we? And we're doing police work... Sorry but I don't think the blues not being able to do their jobs requires me to intervene." Ryza yawned.

"We think the criminals are linked to your teams next target. It's relevant." Lucas said, nudging her to keep her awake, "Get suited up."

Ryza opened her eyes again, looking at the street lines as they passed. She sat there for a short while before climbing into the back of the van, there were crates and lockers with combat gear in the back. Ryza looked at it all and clicked her tongue, mumbling something in Japanese. She started opening some of the boxes and looking at all the different doodads. Lucas looked in his rear view, "You look confused."

"No shit I'm confused, Mr. G-Man. I'm no soldier, all this crap in front of me is just a bunch of straps and clips." Ryza said as she pulled out a bulletproof vest, flipping it around to find its proper orientation. She caught onto what it was and set it aside, needing to get the combats underneath on first.

"They might be an awkward fit. This gear is meant for... Bigger guys. Just try to make do." Lucas kept his eyes on the road as the noises of Ryza changing filled the silence. A couple grunts and gasps could be heard as she clearly had no clue what she was doing with the gear.

__________

Twenty minutes later, Ryza finally spoke, "I'm gonna need a pretty comprehensive lesson on this shit when get to base." she looked down at herself, she was a couple sizes too small and it showed. Her gear was mostly put on improperly but it was on enough that it did its job.

"You're gonna need a weapon too. Police reports say these guys are armed and dangerous." there was a dead silence, "Please tell me you know how to use a gun."

"I -do- know how to use a gun... Sorta..." she opened the locker and pulled out a carbine, pointing it in the direction of Lucas as she looked it over.

"Jesus, girl! Barrel down!" he exclaimed.

"Jesus, man! Screw it! I wont use a bloody gun!" she threw it back in the locker with a loud thud, "All I need is~... This." Ryza grabbed a large blue water jug and hefted it to her feet.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, "Water? You gonna use a super soaker on them?" a small smirk formed at the corners of his lips.

Ryza shook her head, "I didn't tell you everything there was to know about me, G-Man. Fire isn't my only weapon."

The van slowed down and Lucas got out, police sirens could be heard off in the distance. The streets were clear of pedestrians and cars save for a couple of cop cars pulling up to greet them. An officer came out and looked at Lucas, "Sir. We've been told to cooperate with you." the officer said, "Although I don't exactly know who are why we are, but when it comes down to these thugs, we could use the extra help."

Lucas nodded and moved to the back of the van, unlocking it, "Don't worry gentlemen, we'll handle this situation from here on out. Just stand at the ready in case we're not enough." he grinned and opened the back of the van.

Ryza stumbled out, pulling the combats up a bit, "Shit! How does anybody walk in these things?! I mean I feel like a fucking gangster like out of those american movies."

The police officers were perplexed, they expecting something a little more... Professional.

"Ryza, the police have them coming down that road. Just get in position before it's too late." Lucas ordered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He mumbled and sighed, "Already making our organization look bad..."

Ryza walked out into the middle of the street alone, dragging the water jug rather obnoxiously with her. Once she got it into place, she took the lid of the jug off and kicked it over, letting is spill the large quantity of water inside of it into a sizable puddle on the street. She took a few steps back and looked over her shoulder to Lucas, "I definitely haven't told you much about myself yet, G-Man." a cloud obscuring the moon passed and her eyes started glowing blue again, unsettling the observant police officers.

Lucas was expecting a fireball in her hand but when the air around her hands seemed to fog over, he tilted his head, "What the hell?"

Ryza pointed her hands at the puddle of water and it all suddenly just flash froze. The police officers lowered the weapons and stared in awe. She then manipulated the ice and forced sharp jagged edges out of it, making an impromptu spike strip. Ryza then looked over to one of the cops, "What kind of car am I looking for?" she hollered.

The cop took a moment to respond, "A-uh... A Dodge Challenger, 2010 model. Black."

Ryza shook her head, "Americans and their muscle..." she mumbled and looked back in the direction she was pointed at. She could hear the screeching wheels and the powerful engine just around the corner. Over the radios behind her, she could hear the pursuing police breaking off so they didn't fall into whatever trap may be laying in wait. Ryza reached into her pocket and pulled out an iPod, sticking the buds in her ears as she stood there in wait.

The moment she saw the car drift around the corner (sloppily in Ryza's eyes), she grinned and hit the play button on her iPod. Ryza then started forming razor sharp shards of ice out of the mist surrounding her hands. Five shards were formed and they floated by Ryza's shoulders. The glow in her eyes brightened up and she flung her right hand out quickly, one of the shards at her right shot at the car toward the driver. It missed intentionally, but it was enough for the driver to panic and try to make evasive maneuvers. She sent another one at the Challenger.

"Too fast. Turning too sharp." she shook her head, "I feel like I could make a lot of money off of racing these chums... Drag racers, no skill in maneuvering."

The car swerved and was now headed toward them at its side. She sent another ice shard through the drive side window, straight into the neck of the steering wheel. The driver tried to turn it but it was locked in place. Then they hit the ice spike strip, destroying the vehicle's tires. Ryza watched as it skidded closer and closer to her. She clenched her fists tight, more mist started to form in front of her on the street. She clenched her teeth and raised both her hands high into the air, a one foot thick wall of solid ice rising from the mist as she did. It was taller than her and as long as the car that was headed her way.

Ryza turned to face Lucas and the awed police officers. She was still listening to her 'mood' music when the car slammed into the wall of solid ice. Her eyes glowing an intense blue-white. Her arms were still raised as though she were some magician that had just performed some magic trick. Ryza had a flare for drama and showing off. It made Lucas wonder how many times Ryza had served out vigilante justice while she wandered Japan.

"Aaand for my next trick!" Ryza yelled so everybody could hear her. She flung her left arm outward and the wall shattered at her command. The thugs inside the car were disoriented from the sudden ambush. Ryza was already casually opening the door to the driver seat. The thug realized she was there and reached for his gun, he found an ice shard in his hand instead. The man screamed. The other thugs started to come to but found themselves with a shard poking each of their necks, "Don't move, boy-ohs." she wink at them with her impossible glowing eyes.

The police were frozen still for a moment but realized that it was their cue to move in and apprehend them, they did just that. Ryza shattered all of the ice she had used to stop the criminals, it all pooled back into water and ran off into the drains. She stepped back, hands at her hips as she watched them all get arrested, they looked back up at her with fear in their eyes.

Lucas stepped up next to Ryza as she started to ravel up her iPod earbuds. "What happened to the whole fire thing?" he asked, studying the mist around her hands.

Ryza looked at the time on her iPod, "Three hours." she said.

Lucas blinked, "What?"

"Three hours until the fire thingy." she pointed to the slowly brightening horizon, then to the moon.

Lucas nodded slowly, "I see... It changes with day and night."

"Bingo." Ryza said and she started taking the uncomfortable gear off right on the street.

"So I guess that'll determine your codename. What do you think Astral?" Lucas inquired as Ryza started making her way back to the van.

"Sounds cheesy, but I don't give a shit, you can me whatever as long as its not butterfly." Ryza climbed back into her seat, "Now lets get to base. And don't wake me up this time." she closed the door.

Lucas looked back at the cops and the criminals for a moment, "I'll swing by the precinct later to question these individuals, I already have clearance to go behind your locked doors. Oh and one last thing, forget what you saw here." he waved is hand, there was a small ripple in the air and everybody paused.

The senior police officer nodded, "Good thing they got in that car accident then. You wouldn't be questioning them tonight at all, sir."

Lucas grinned, "Good thing indeed." he headed back toward the van and drove off to bring Ryza to her team.

[Puffhead]

Over the past few amount of days when the team had be inactive, Drake had been uncharacteristically quiet, not really attempting to communicate with any of his team at all. He had a few polite conversations, even greeted them with a smile, but he had to admit to even himself that he simply wasn't his usual cheerful self.

Unfortunately he knew the reason for his dark behavior as well... He could't get the image of Witch, and even Izzy's mangled bodies out of his head. Death was part of what they were doing here, and he understood that. How could he not understand that? They were super powered people sent to fight other meta-humans with the powers of gods. Naturally there were going to be some causalities. The problem Drake had was he had made it his mission when he had first gotten there to limit those causalities to, preferably, zero. And if it couldn't be zero the at least he could make it so that the only casualty was himself.

Yet Witch had died, Izzy had died (even if her power had allowed her to come back) and Gloria had come too close to comfort. In the back of his head, the boy knew that somehow it was his fault. If anything, if he had listened to Revel, or even Crosscut he knew he would have been able to prevent the deaths. In the end it was their lack of teamwork which had caused them such a impossible chance at success, and if it hadn't been for Revel and Glorias plan they would have all died. So why did Drake still blame himself? He honestly couldn't even answer that question.

Now that they were in a meeting for their new mission, he simply took the folder to begin reading about this new opponent. At least there was less of a sense of urgency this time... They could have enough time to come up with plan and be able to go in a bit more coordinated. She didn't seem quite as much of a brute as the Immortal did... Hopefully more of the team would be able to help in this scenario.