-Finn-
“Oh excuse me…I didn’t see you down there.”
"Listen, asshole-" Finn cut his own words short when the voice registered along with the bottom half of the man's face. It was hard to compare the scantily clad person in front of him with the assassin-by-hire he had met the previous night. Somewhere in the pit of his stomach, he felt like he could have made the wrong choice in an accomplice.
"Black Jack?" He asked, tipping his head to the side.
'Quite the outfit.' He wanted to point out, but chose otherwise. Assuming that Black Jack had a very different idea of being subtle in situations of espionage, the shorter of the two supers decided to power through his quickening doubts. They had no other leads other than what the Architect had sent him in cryptic messages.
"So I guess you got my message?" He made pointless conversation, scanning the crowd. "I've never seen The Architect, so it's not like I could pick him out of all these faces- even if they weren't wearing a bunch of fucking masks."
Almost as if fate had picked that exact moment, Finn saw the distinct ninja outfit that his brother had been particularly fond of amid the swarming bodies. Nodding his head forward for Black Jack to follow, Pulse quickly darted through the crowd in pursuit of his younger sibling. Keeping his eyes trained at all times and straining not to blink, he chased Michael up the wide staircase and onto the landing lined with elevator doors on either side. The ninja darted into an open elevator Finn approached as well, cut off by the sliding doors as they closed abruptly in his face.
"Mikey!" Finn hissed, holding his palm forcefully toward the mirrored elevator door.
Beneath the lively chatter and the resonating orchestra, the sound of grinding gears and straining framework echoed from the elevator shaft. It wasn't loud enough for anyone but Black Jack and Pulse to hear, but not if anyone happened to pass by. He sensed that the metal box was only fifteen feet away, Finn was able to pull it up by the steel cable he could feel on the other side. Too preoccupied to even think about exposing himself in the crowd, it only took a moment until the soft 'ding' of the elevator's arrival rang out, welcoming the two to enter.
Only the Level Two button was illuminated on the panel of over twenty floors, making the magnetic super's decision that much easier. He pressed it quickly, before Black Jack had anything to say and looked over his shoulder briefly after doing so. He suddenly realized that he had dragged the man across the room without a word to chase after someone that was indeed not the Architect, but his own brother.
"My -uh- partner went this way." Finn said, pushing the button again as the pair descended into the ground.
-Augustus Yelner-
Checking the screen, it was astounding to see such data that wasn't just notes on a chalkboard he had been imagining for years. The amazing levels of output by the stone felt like a dream- in a matter of two hours, they had produced enough energy to match a week worth of work at any average plant. Miss Carver had given him everything; funded his research in cosmic radiation years before the meteorite had even surfaced. In the past week, they had never gone further than trials and tests with various laboratory animals- the meteorite had never reacted to them as much as humans. The only thing to distract the brilliant scientist from his work was the deep, horrendous scream that rang out through laboratory.
"It- it is time for you to go to the observation deck." He said to the half dozen attendants that stood in varying amounts of haz-mat suits. "We must maintain the output cables to ensure the system does not overload. If the capacitors are reaching critical volume you must begin diluting into the city's network."
Another horrific scream from inside the glass testing chamber. Blood curdling and chilling, causing him to nearly drop the clipboard he had been writing on. Inches from the physicist's nose, he saw a security camera's footage of Wisp finish moving bodies onto the elevator. The scientist watched as the girl stepped past the pile of clutter, pulled out a small crow-bar and smashed the security camera's feed. Yelner casually leaned to the side and clicked a green button attached to a long, thin microphone.
"Jinx, you are needed at the Level One freight elevator." His accent thick, straining to remain steady.
On another screen, Yelner saw a motion sensor alert go off in the ventilation tunnels that stemmed into the city's sewer system. It was a hard section of tunnel find and something as small as a raccoon wouldn't have set the device off- meaning that there was someone skulking around in the dark alternate entrance to the complex. Looking at the trajectory of the tunnel's exit, it would lead the uninvited guest to Level Two. At the same time, an alert popped up on screen announcing that one of the employee elevators from the main hall had been pulled to ground floor without power being applied. As soon as two masked men came into view on the security camera, he typed several commands into the computer in order to send the young men toward the new intruder- hopefully killing two birds with one stone.
If anything, Jinx would clean them up.
-The Architect-
"Good luck, sweetie." Ruby rolled her tongue in a soft purr, the girl's lips nearly touching the fabric covering his ear; the last bit of an interaction before she spanked his rear end on the way into the shrouded VIP area.
Behind the veil of sheer white fabric beneath the silent art auction, small 'rooms' had been set up for particularly generous donors. There was a crescent moon white leather lounge chair with enough seating for four. A crystal chandelier hung temporarily from the catwalk above the small, circular glass table that sat in front of the couch. Two people stood in the VIP room; a young, female waitress and an old man seated on the far side of the couch.
The Architect was hardly an intimidating individual. A man at least seventy years old, his silver hair was trimmed as neatly as the rest of his appearance. He wore a tuxedo with matching black tie and was one of the only other individuals at the party who hadn't opted for any type of mask or costume. He held a black cane in his right hand, resting lazily against his knee, the silver handle glistening in the soft lighting. It was a simple handle, made of pure silver and designed to look like a level, ruler and parchment shaped like a small pyramid.
"Ah, Mister Regel, your drink of choice?" He asked warmly, gesturing a hand toward the waitress. "Everything is top of the line, I must assure you."
-Jinx-
Level One
Administrative Offices and Clerical Files
The freight elevator doors buzzed loudly and rolled open as soon as the descent ended, announcing the arrival as a safety signal in the normally busy loading area. Unfortunately, Wisp's elevator was only able to make it to the very first level beneath the ground floor. It was a long corridor, about fifteen feet tall and equally as wide with a diagonally closing automatic steel door at the other end. There were several doors on either side that led to individual offices that had wide windows facing the hallway. In the middle of the hallway, only a few feet from the freight elevator itself, stood a girl.
"Impressive tussle. Listen, you're trespassing, assaulting multiple men and destroyed quite a bit of private property." The raven haired girl said plainly, her arms crossed and unmoving. "But it's time to turn around and go home."
Jinx wasn't tall, broad or particularly stocky in any way- there wasn't a great deal of mass connected to her frame. Obviously physically fit, her uniform was a tight fitting black two piece cat-suit that was seamless against her figure. The top flared out at her wrists and at her collar, looking more like a business suit than an exercise uniform. She wore a pair of high heels that clicked loudly against the steel floor when she made three slow steps to one side of the corridor.
"If you make me, you'll be heading out in a body bag. Except we don't use those here." She said, cracking her knuckles. "So I guess it'll be the dumpster."