Zombiedude101 — Roleplayer Guild

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In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

Courtbridge, Prince Edfield_

It was only just after he'd dropped off the bus and stepped into the mall that Rowan realised that his message to Wendy had gotten through. When he checked what the buzzing from his own phone was, he realised she'd sent out a message which was probably addressed to their entire 'group', not just him.

Guys, there's something we need to discuss, head over to 4 Goldfield Rd, Silver Hills.

Guess it must be important. He wondered if it had anything to do with the warning he'd sent her. Probably. Regardless, he figured he still had just enough time to drop by a few of the stores here, as planned. The place looked a little shittier than he remembered, but then those Founder assholes had set the Black Hound and their people on the place and trashed it in a shootout with the feds. A few of the stores that had been open a few years ago were now closed, or had been replaced with names that were largely unfamiliar. It all seemed cheap in comparison to what it had been before.

On his way in, he found himself eyeing up a DIY store that undoubtedly had some paint stuffed in the back. That was one thing he'd missed about the academy, being able to rack paint from the art storeroom. On the road, he'd had to resort to racking it wherever he could - which wasn't too hard, but still took some work, even with a little magnetism involved. Now in this case, it was almost tempting to try the same here - but in light of things Rowan figured it best to stock up another time. He was here for another reason.

Simply put, he wanted to grab a little something for Wendy - as a token of appreciation and because, well, she deserved it.

Over the last few years she had watched Rowan's back and always given good advice and direction, being the smartest of their circle. And they had been through their share of things together - from beating on those Founder assholes to getting their first tattoos. Even now, he was crashing on the couch at her mom's place without anything expected in return. Mom aside, she was the only other family he had in town and one of the only people he actually trusted without question. Truth was, he cared about her a great deal. He just wasn't that great at putting it into words, or saying and doing anything about it. 

Besides, someone like him? He was out of that league - despite how she might've lamented about her looks, she was kinda cute in her own way. Deciding on the gift, though, was a somewhat difficult matterHe couldn't buy liquor - most places wanted ID and even if he was of the age, he didn't have any to begin with. He entertained the idea of grabbing her some art supplies, but he had no clue what she'd want, if she wanted anything. A book, maybe? Rowan was clueless when it came to books - and there was always the chance that whatever he got her she'd have already read, or otherwise have no interest in. It was only as he passed the shopfront of a multimedia store that he spied something from the corner of his eye.

Studio Ghibli Collection - Only $19.99!

Intrigued, Rowan stepped inside and quickly grabbed one of the shrink-wrapped copies of the collection off its stand, then examined the back. Wendy liked anime, right? Especially the Ghibli films - Rowan had watched one or two in the past, even though he hadn't exactly 'got' them, they were still pretty good for what they were. And shit, life on the road hadn't exactly given them much of a chance to keep up with this kind of thing.

Deciding on this DVD, Rowan took it over to the counter and after handing over a wad of dollar bills, then waiting another moment to remove the security tag from the case, he quickly shoved the DVD (and the receipt, since he didn't want store security up his ass) in his knapsack and turned towards the door, yet his train of thought was interrupted by a great crashing sound, along with the sound of screaming and the sight of other shoppers rushing past the storefront outside. Stepping out to see what the commotion was, he began follow them after what he saw - a stumbling, almost disoriented woman coated in crystalline growths which seemed to envelop her entire body, lashing away at whatever she could. One lucky guy managed to narrowly duck down as the mutated woman slammed her arms downwards, leaving deep gouges in the tile floor where the crystalline growths had jabbed in.

Rowan kept pacing backwards, still watching, yet something caught him in his tracks as he saw that there were a few people still in the media store, staff and shoppers - and they were trapped, cornered by this crazy diamond-looking woman with murderous intent. Only then, against his better judgement, did he really stop. Clenching his palm into a fist and focusing on the storefront, he gesticulated downards with his arm, pulling the store's shutters down with a loud metallic screech, before calling out to the mutant with as harsh a voice as he could put on.

"Hey, you crusty fuckin' bitch! Leave them the fuck alone!"

For good measure, he drew in the nearest object that he could and hurled it at the woman, but that didn't seem to deter, only infuriate her further.

He was probably going to regret this.

In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Fernstone

Courtbridge, Prince Edfield_

For a place that was supposed to be run-down, it was busier than Frank had expected - but then, he supposed, people took what they could get. In his case he was in a queue at some burger cafe that Yeun had suggested and on top of that, the man had shoved a few bills into his palm and told him to get the both of them something to eat whilst he grabbed something from another store.From what he'd seen, it was a routine gesture between these RAVEN types out on patrol - someone might paid for your meal, then you bought them a few drinks later in the evening or paid for the meal the next day. That was fair, he supposed, and it was a gesture that he'd genuinely appreciated, all things considered. 

Lightly drumming his fingers along his wrist, Frank continued to wait patiently as the queue gradually thinned out. He was one patron between being served himself, when he then heard a great clattering sound that he could've sworn came from the far end of the mall, which was enough by itself to raise an eyebrow. A few of the others at the cafe steered their gaze outside, then came the distant sound of shouting and a few more stepped outside, curious what it was.

Frank quickly followed them out, then started pacing towards the far side of the mall from where disturbances weres coming from, a hand instinctively resting on the collapsible baton hanging off his belt. He was about to hail Yeun over the comms when he heard the agent's voice "Dispatch, this is Yeun, eleven-ninety-nine at the Orchestra Mall in Courtbridge, there is an outbreak of rogues, at least three of-"
Before he heard another word escape from his ear piece, Yeun had been cut off mid-speech and the loud crackle of something smashing could be heard simultaneously over the comms and from the far side of the mall. Frank's pacing increased - now people were moving past him, towards the exit. 

Fear. Rage. Panic. A dull throb, an almost overwhelming tide of emotion seemed to seep out from those around him, washing over him like waves over a rock - Frank tuned it out as best as he could, just as he'd always trained himself to - but the sensation in his temples remained. Rage? He thought, then realised - amidst those fleeing were those who seemed to be in pursuit or otherwise stumbling around blindly. They were disfigured, some with tumourous growths which seemed to envelop their features, others with other deformities or disfigurations.

Then, he saw - one of the raging figures was knelt on top of an older male, laying blow after blow upon the man with gnarled hands, tumours running all the way up its sleeve and across its face. At this point the level of deformities were so great that in the heat of the moment he couldn't discern whether the thing had been a man or a woman. All he could tell was that it seethed a blind fury that almost burned to the touch.

"Get off him, now!" 

Without thinking, Frank withdrew his baton and jabbed it into the creature's side, forcing it off the poor sod it had been bludgeoning moments before. It raved and flailed wildly, but Frank quickly responded by clamping a free hand around the back of its neck, then subjugating it, supplanting the rage with a calmer state. It wasn't lost that he could potentially mitigate the worst of it, so he expanded his influence to those in his immediate proximity, hoping to stem the mass.

Turning to the creature's would-be victim, Frank hastily pulled the man to his feet and reached for his comms piece. "Yeun, what's your status?" He asked, trying to ascertain what state the agent had been left in and this time, he received an answer, "I'm good, what's your twenty?" It was a relief to hear that the man was unharmed, given what was often said about the high 'turnover' for RAVENs. 

"Far side of the mall, near the closed off stalls," Frank said, after a moment's hesitation, "There's a lot of rogues here, can't pick them out enough, I'm going to try and get people clear, can you hail dispatch again?"

"Already done, I'm getting some people back - hold out and wait for backup."

By all rights, he should've held back and waited for assistance - strength in number and all - but he was on the scene, elsewhere the nearest RAVEN could've been five, maybe ten minutes away - plenty of time for things to worsen. Besides, he was here - he'd dealt with his share of trouble back home, the same would apply here.

"I'll do what I can, can-" Something lashed at him from behind, grasping at whatever it could, tearing away the connectors for his radio. Jabbing an elbow backwards, he broke free and twisted, finding another malformed human lashing out, this one coated in a chitinous growth from the waist upwards. Bloody stupid to let him slip through, he thought, taking up a defensive stance with the baton. He was ready for another flurry of blows, only for the malformed creature to almost hesitate, then stagger away, twitching on the spot.

And then, perhaps it was strange, but Frank was almost certain he could sense another calming influence in the area.

In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

Brookacres, White Coast_

Wendy, Rori and the others had their own things to handle, leaving Rowan with a chance to deal with his. One thought had been stuck in his head when it came to that.

Mom.

A visit to her was long overdue, he figured, but every time he gave thought to it, he put it off. Not now, he'd thought, another time, maybe. But there was only so long that he could delay before he had a nagging feeling from the pit of his stomach.

Last time he'd spoken to her had been about four months ago through a payphone and he hadn't actually seen her since he'd left with the others in the RV and part of him was perhaps afraid of finding out what had happened to her in the last three years, since phone calls could only tell him so much. Another part of him perhaps felt just a little guilty for leaving her behind, but he'd had his reasons for leaving Baybridge and Mom had even encouraged him to go, lying to the DOVEs when they'd finally shown up at her doorstep to inform her that her son was supposedly 'missing'. She might have had her problems but she'd still cared about him, still done what she could to look out. That counted for something, didn't it? So what did he have to lose?

Nothing, Rowan decided.

Heading back to Brookacres was something of a ride down the history books. Not much had changed: a few of the older houses or other buildings that had been trashed in the riots had been torn down or left to rot, but otherwise the place was in the same worn down state as before, if not worse. The same kind of bars as those that the old man used to visit were still dotted around, attracting the same kind of people - it didn't make for a great picture. For good measure, he kept his hoodie thrown up, just to make it that little bit harder to catch a look at his face. It wouldn't have gone well if someone by chance recognised him and especially if it was one of those 'people', it was some bullshit he wasn't interested in dealing with.

Eventually, he was the end of his old street. Almost nothing had changed here at all, save maybe the cars parked here were different. 'Home' was the same. Perhaps the only thing he noticed that was different was a different car parked on the drive. At least she was getting out, it seemed.

Rowan hadn't planned on knocking on the front door, though, as going around the back was a safer bet since people were less likely to spot him. An example being the guy in a parked in a Ford at the end of their street, cigarette smoke billowing from an opened window.

Climbing over the fence was easy enough, though when it came to crossing the distance from the edge of the backyard to the door, it felt like a mile. Then, just before he could reach out, Rowan paused in hesitation. He took another deep breath, then rapped his knuckle against the door.

"You drop your ball in my backyard again?" A soft, albeit wearied voice eventually called out from within, a rattling sound coming from the handle, "It's polite to knock at the front, you know-" Patricia Campbell trailed off the moment she'd opened the door, having quickly recognised the stranger in the backyard.

"It's me, Mom." Rowan said, picking up on the awkward silence which had followed the opening of the door. "You uh... grew a beard." She said, with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess." He answered, only to be pulled into a maternal embrace straight after with such a strength that he wondered whether she'd ever let go, maybe fearful of losing him again. Eventually she spoke up, her voice nearly cracking, "You're a man now, beard and all, but it's good to have you back home. I missed you."

Rowan had never been good at this kind of thing, but he found himself answering her with an equally nervous tone, "I... I uh, I missed you too, Mom."

After what felt like an hour (though in truth it had barely been half a minute) the woman released her son from the embrace, turning back towards the house and heading back inside. For a moment, Rowan paused, a little uncertain as to how he should've acted in the moment, only to get a voice calling him in. "What are you waitin' for?" She asked, "Place doesn't bite." 

It was strange, in a way - he'd been able to tell that she spoke differently to before from hearing her on their phone calls, but it was a different thing seeing it in the flesh. Whatever bullshit that the old man had put her through in the past, it seemed to have melted away, revealing a woman with a confidence he'd never seen before. 
Habitually wiping his feet, he stepped inside and could quickly tell that things had changed. 

The place was cleaner, for one and he noticed that any photos of the old man which had been hung up or on display before were gone, leaving just a few of Rowan from his childhood years or of Mom herself. Not to mention there had been a few other, more drastic redecorations since he'd left, including repairs to the damage caused by his last outburst against the old man. Guess Mom used some of the money, he thought, recalling how he'd left her some of his share of the 'compensation' that had been given to them three years ago.

Moving into the kitchen, Rowan took a seat at one of the chairs and reclined whilst his Mom deigned to lean against the counter. "You hungry?"

"I'm good."

"I was gonna do something anyway." His Mom started, "No seriously, what do you want?"

"I said I'm fine," Rowan answered with a sharper tone than he'd intended, if the look on her face was anything to go by, "But... thanks, anyway."

She was persistent, though. "Please, you look like you haven't ate much anyway and this is the first I've seen you in a long time, I'm gonna get you something. No arguments." The look on her face said no more.

Eventually he chose to relent, "Alright, sure. Do whatever, I guess."

Nodding, Patricia Campbell pivoted on her heel and moved over to the fridge, fumbling around for whatever was inside, "I take it you haven't gotten too good for left overs?" She asked with a wry tone, arching an eyebrow. 

"I look like it?" Rowan retorted with a smirk. 

In the end, Rowan had been somewhat glad his Mom had been so insistent on his getting something to eat, especially since these leftovers she'd heated up were better than expected. After all, life on the road had given him even more of an appreciation for decent food, particularly when one might not have had the opportunity to get their hands on it otherwise.

"So, how'd your little 'road trip' go? Is everything alright? No trouble, nothin'?"

"No, it's all good." Rowan said between his last couple mouthfuls of food, deciding it was better not to go into the finer details of his time on the road and certainly not to his and Wendy's investigation of Sean Rosier's research. Before she had a chance to pick up on his dismissive answer, he quickly flipped the question on her. "What about you, Mom?"

"I'm doing good, you know? Cleaned up, even go to the local AA once a week. Had some... hard moments, but I got through 'em. Thought of you."

"That's good." A faint smile formed across his face at the thought, "Nobody bothers you?" But he continued to press, partially because he wanted to make sure they changed the subject and partially because he was genuinely concerned for her.

"No, no - well, some of his 'friends' are still around, but they don't bother me and even if they did, I can take care of myself." He knew who she'd meant by 'his' and for a moment his face somewhat darkened. She must've picked up on it though, because she quickly spoke up again. "But, Rowan - just avoid 'em, please. You don't want any trouble and I don't, either - don't go looking for it where there isn't any."

"Yeah." He shrugged at her remark. "Won't be trouble." Pressing a palm into the table to stand and pushing his chair back with his heel, Rowan picked up his now emptied plate and headed over towards the sink, then twisted the faucet to rinse it off. Only then, he noticed on the kitchen shelf was a new photo, one containing his Mom and a man of about her age. "Who's this?" He asked, shooting her a quizzical glance.

"Oh, that's Wyatt - didn't I tell you?"

"No."

"I uh, I met someone, Rowan. He's a good guy, not a deadbeat, I promise you - I met him at AA." 

"Really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "How long?"

On that, she seemed to hesitate, though she soon gave an answer, "Almost a year."

"You never said anything on the phone about this Wyatt guy."

"Oh, Rowan... it was early days, then. And I thought I did but I guess I just didn't want you to worry, I thought it would be best to tell you properly when we... you know, met? Like now?" 

"I guess." He shrugged.

"But I haven't told him everything about you. All he knows is that you're not living here, that we haven't seen each other in a long time. He doesn't know about before, that you're on a list, or that you're... y'know."

"One of them?" Rowan set the plate done, having probably rinsed it more than a dozen times over at this point. "Just say the fucking word, Mom. Metahuman."

"Hey, calm down, alright? He's not like your d-.. like before, I promise. He isn't a bigot and neither am I so don't start acting like it." She said, almost apologetically, causing a pang of guilt to claw at him from the pit of his gut.

"Look, Mom - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... yeah, I believe you. I know you wouldn't do that to me, or to yourself, okay? I'm just glad to see you doin alright and seeing this place again, it's a lot."

This time he headed over towards her and made up with an embrace of his own. "I know it is." She murmured.

Eventually they broke away from one another and after a few more minutes of idle chatter, they came to the next subject. "Where are you staying now, anyway?" 

"With friends."

"Same as before? Uh, Wendy, right?"

"Yeah, she's good."

That wry look flashed across her face again, but before she was tempted to say anything, she seemed to keep quiet on it. "Well, you know you've always got a place here, right?"

"I know. Thanks, Mom."

On his way out, Rowan checked up side of his street for a good measure, a habit he'd picked up from the last few years, where he noticed something more than a little odd - the guy parked in his Ford at the end of the street was still there, still dragging on a cigarette. That's one long smoke. Perhaps it was just coincidental, but he wanted to certain there wasn't something else going on. Having the reputation that he and Wendy had developed since they'd left Baybridge was enough reason to be suspicious.

For good measure he intentionally headed back up the side of the street towards the approach, then past the green car again in full view, then took a long detour away from the house, down a side alley. Once he was a reasonable distance away he checked over his shoulder and there it was again, slowly crawling up the road. Same car, same asshole. It was subtle, he had to give it that, but anybody who'd been paying attention would've recognised that they were being tailed.

Briefly, he contemplated losing it by weaving in and out of a couple more side roads and alleyways, but then another plan came to mind. Instead, he took a route towards one of the bars he'd passed earlier - this was one that the old man had spent some of his time at - with the intent of leading his would-be tail along. 

Outside were a couple patrons enjoying a smoke or some idle chatter, though they were all strangers. There wasn't much of a parking lot so to speak, so those patrons who had driven there were parked outside, which was where Rowan found his gaze drifting towards one particular ride, a '14 GMC Yukon which he was almost certain had belonged to one of the old man's 'friends'. He glanced over his shoulder yet again and saw the Ford crawling up, the driver actively sweeping their gaze across the street in an effort to find where he was, though this meant it would only work in his favour. 

Eyes on the road, asshole. Rowan clenched his palm into a fist and gesticulated inwards with his elbow. The screech of rubber against asphalt came first as the Ford swerved off-course, then the sound of a crash. To anyone who had been observing, it would've looked as though the driver of the Ford had just veered off and rear-ended the parked Yukon. True to form, one of the patrons who'd been enjoying a smoke moments before was heard shouting to some of the others inside, before a group of about four more patrons (including the vehicle's owner) swarmed out to the scene of the accident.

It took all of Rowan's restraint not to burst into laughter at the sight of it. Enjoy. Heading off again, he was at least glad to have shaken the tail, the bonus being that it had been at the expense of another asshole, too.

It did raise a problem, though - if someone was willing to leave a tail outside his Mom's place, what about Wendy? He had to give her some kind of warning at least. Once he was a few blocks down, Rowan retrieved his phone and hastily fired off a text towards her.

Watch your back, someone tried to follow me.

She probably was watching her back already, but at least he could've breathed a little more easily knowing that he'd done what he could to let her know.

There were still a few hours for him to kill, though - but Rowan already had an idea in mind; there was a mall in Prince Ed-Field where he'd heard some of the store prices were lower than most, a consequence of being hit by those Founder assholes a few years back. Normally he'd have put that kind of thinking to the back of his head, but before he'd left the house, he'd checked on the stash of cash he'd left behind three years ago and took a small sum of it for himself. 

This way, Rowan hoped he'd get a chance to grab something for Wendy without having some asshole mall cop pull him up, accusing him of shoplifting or some other crap like that.

Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_

A few days into this job and things had already taken a somewhat tumultous turn of events. Frank himself had seen a small measure of the threat that was ZODIAC and was one to realise why they were regarded as such a grave threat, if the infamous massacre that had occured three years ago wasn't an indicator of this fact. With this in mind, he could've have blamed these people for their anger at having taken such losses over the years. The same could have been said, however, for the sentiment that he felt had been directed towards him.

Granted, they had known him for barely more than a few days, but he'd picked up on the disdain and other disparaging remarks that would occasionally be overheard when one mentioned the 'MISW'. There was no animosity to speak of, but he had doubts when it came to the confidence that some agents had in his own abilities as an agent - he was after all an outsider. And one from a disgraced organisation, at that. It was grating, though he'd done as best as he could to avoid showing it.

In the case of Agent Taylor, who was one of the only senior field agents that he had been given a chance to work under, it seemed as though the man had acknowledged his capability, yet they had only known each other from a professional perspective, at arm's length. For what it was worth, Frank himself had figured out how the man had probably come to reside in a senior field position as he did. Taylor oozed determination after all, especially when in the range of an empath. Not that he would've said anything about that last note - picking up on other people's feelings was a bad habit.

Director Taylor on the other hand was another story, the way he'd heard - apparently the Director had been a cop at one point before the Verthaven disaster, but had then been recruited straight to DOVE and had enjoyed a successful career from then and onwards. That a man of his age could've risen so high in just shy of a decade was itself a remarkable achievement, though meeting him in person had given Frank an idea as to why the leadership had slated him for the job. It was a funny thought  that his elder brother held a lesser role in the twin organisation, at least from a hierarchical perspective.

There was also Agent Zhao, whom he'd briefly encountered during their operation at the docks - she was more alike the Director's brother, though she had her own kind of drive. That one, he'd sensed some sort of disdain as he had with the others.

As for most of the others, he'd had little chance to meet or even gain an awareness of who they really were, or how they would really take to him. And it was a rather strange thought as to how the two organisations of DOVE and RAVEN operated without clashing, but it seemed that the two had some form of arrangement. Still, referring to them as 'DOVE-RAVEN' seemed a bit of a mouthful, but who was he to judge? 'Metahuman Intelligence and Social Welfare' was even more long-winded and perhaps the one thing he was certainly hopeful for with the reforms back home was that they'd come up with a more suitable name.

Time would tell, hopefully - Frank more than anyone realised that he would be working with these people and that it depended on him to make good use of this experience.

In today's case, the Briton had been partnered up with a RAVEN by the name of Yeun on patrol duty, making rounds through Prince Ed-field in a cruiser. Hours had passed by without anything remarkable taking place, unless he'd counted the brief situation where they'd been called in to accompany the BPD in defusing a petty argument at some fancy restaurant, involving a few belligerant (but ultimately non-violent) metahumans. 

Nothing had come of that situation, but it was another cultural difference that Frank noticed - here, metahumans could be seen and noticed more often in the public eye, unlike back home. At least up until recently, anyway. 

Otherwise, with the hours having passed by, Frank and his US counterpart had agreed on a break from roaming around the Courtbridge in favour of paying a visit to the local shopping center, the Orchestra Mall. Technically speaking, it fell under their assigned patrol district for the day and gave them the opportunity to grab something to eat, perhaps shop around for a few minutes before other matters called them back to actual work.

After Yeun had pulled up in the parking space outside the mall, Frank found himself dwelling on things yet again, enveloped in his own thoughts. Yet he found the sight of the place to be somewhat underwhelming and it didn't exactly strike him as one of the gargantuan shopping hubs he'd expected to find - in fact, he'd have argued that a trip to town back home would've held something more worthwhile.

"No offence, but it looks like it's seen better days." Frank remarked to his temporary partner.

"Doesn't surprise me," Yeun shook his head, "Those Family douchebags hit this place a couple of years ago, took some people hostage. I know a few guys who were there, it was screwed up."

"This was one of the places?" Frank asked, raising an eyebrow. "Right, explains a lot, I suppose."

"Yeah." Yeun grunted, dismissively.

Realising that he'd probably touched upon a raw nerve for the man, Frank quickly spoke up again. "Alright then, let's grab something to eat."

Besides, they were already at their stop. Who knew, maybe there was something worthwhile here.

In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

So yeah, a few of y'all know that I'm having a really rough rl - family related, long story - and I've been doing my best to get back on track.

Time for me to climb out of my emo hell and read all the RPs I'm missing lately. Sorry for the long disappearance - some complications to sort out still, but I'm much better now. Yeah.@tsukune

I hope everything works out for you and as for anything related to the RP, if you uh get stuck on where to start I don't mind throwing up a collab to work with you on this.

In Mass Effect: Borealis → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

A week of planning and preparation had gone by slow, with Iosif still having spent the majority of his time working, resting and thinking matters out at his station in the bridge. Often, he found himself comforted more by the embrace of his pilot's seat than that of the cramped, shared bunk space set aside elsewhere in the ship and so he'd been able to use it as an excuse whilst events drew closer. Dex, or Pomponia as she had chosen as a cover for this job, had already been over things with a rather meticulous level of detail, putting the rest of them to shame - Iosif included. In his case, he'd committed the station schematics both to memory (albeit in a rough form) and to his Omni-Tool, though his own approach to cloak-and-dagger would probably have left something to be desired.

Not as if there was any other form of recourse at this point, though - they had committed, so had he. Seated in the pilot's chair, Iosif had been the one to send the docking hail as the station came up on their sensors and, shortly after, into view.

True to form, Lafayette station bore all the hallmarks of being another bastard offshoot of the System's Alliance, one of many outposts which had been hastily dropped into orbit in the early days before being sold and partitioned off to anyone who was foolhardy enough to try and make such an investment. There, the original structure had been rendered barely recognisable to his eyes and that in itself was only because he'd seen his share of them during his service. In a strange way, it was somewhat inspiring to know that people had still managed to carve out a living here - though such a notion was quickly forgotten when one recalled that an outfit like Eclipse was this place's biggest investor.

And on that last thought, it had not eluded his notice that there was a small but nontheless intimidating contingent of Eclipse vessels positioned in various defensive positions around the station, clearly intended as a deterrent more than anything but still more than capable of reducing a ship such as the Borealis to tissue paper if their full wrath was incurred. It was enough for a knot to briefly form in the pilot's stomach from that knowledge alone.

Breaking that train of thought, however, was the response to his earlier hail, the nasal voice of a human male. "Docking hail received, align with traffic and proceed to station D-7."

He exhaled, then began to manoeuvre the Borealis into place, following the direction of the station's traffic control as an illustration of the dock became highlighted in the cockpit's display. It didn't take too long to pass through and soon enough the ship came to a halt. All it took was the familiar thrum of the station's magnetic clamps fixing into place to signal that it was time to unload.

Though, in Iosif's case it didn't take long. He'd already packed a small case with a few essentials, which included a handheld welding tool and a cut down M-3 Predator which was always good for keeping concealed on his person in those troublesome moments. No armour or anything otherwise too bulky, in this case - at least then he could pass his baggage off as tools.

Dressing practically, he'd thrown a black jacket over a dark gray vest and kept his cargo pants, whilst for for the purpose of keeping his barcode covered up, he'd hung a grease-stained bandana around his neck and tucked the front end into his neckline. Long sleeves and a pair of gloves rendered his arm mundane to the naked eye - though it wasn't so much the arm itself as the fact it had the potential to make him stand out in a crowd that he had an issue. The less distinguishing features, the better. All in all, he looked like your average pilot, cargo hauler, mechanic, whatever one might've associated with that 'class' of work and that suited him just fine. 

Iosif waited for a short while, giving some of the others to trickle past the entry checkpoints first, before deciding that there was a window open for him based on their clandestine comms chatter. Approaching one of the terminals, he was stopped by a fellow human in Eclipse apparel, fumbling with an Omni-Tool and after a moment of running through the usual routine, he was prompted for his details,.

"Name?" The guard asked, unenthusiastic.

"Artyom Poroshenko." Iosif  had mentally rehearsed the cover ID that Dex had set up for him enough to recallthe name without trouble.

"Purpose of visit?" Boredom and perhaps fatigue at the monotonous nature of such a task gave away the fact that this man probably loahed this side of the job. Still better than getting shot at, though.

"Business and leisure," Iosif answered, before leading on with a questionof his own, "Know where I can get a decent drink around here?"

"Hrm," The guard grunted, then idly jabbed a thumb in the direction behind him, "Depends on your taste, there's a cantina of a sorts just after this terminal. Drinks are good, but avoid the varren kebabs unless you want a nasty case of scale itch."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, whoever came up with the name must've had a sense of irony. The Doctor's Order." A brief ,almost forced chuckle escaped the guard's mouth and Iosif found himself snorting along, just for the sake of blending in, before the man pivoted and gestured towards the rest of the station with a free hand. "Go on ahead, anyway, you're clear."

Wordlessly, Iosif tilted his head upwards to the guard and proceeded inside, baggage and all. Judging from Serena's last hail, he figured it would be best to get a hand on her crate and link up with her at this cafe which sold the shady kebabs, perhaps. "On it, Serena. You'll get your things."

Hopefully things wouldn't go to shit, this time.

In Mass Effect: Borealis → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Zombiedude101

Does the Turian maid service wear cute uniforms?@Monochromatic Rainbow

Probably not, no - too liable to spark a fire.

In Mass Effect: Borealis → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

A note for everyone during the mission, Dex is available to call to fudge past some basic security like doors, cameras and even some guards. Don't be afraid to just add that into the post, we do not need to collab a small exchange like that to gain access to certain parts of the station if your character needs to move around.@DearTrickster

So for instance, Iosif can be like "Dex, diet coke please" and she'll drop one out of a vending machine?

In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 7 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Mr Allen J, @Tsukune, & @Zombiedude101

Oakdell Harbour, White Coast_

Quentin's body had decided before he'd even had a chance to speak a word to his team, the mere mention of ZODIAC was enough to drive him into motion. He felt a tinge in his gut from where the scarring had remained after the last encounter with the organisation's so-called 'Sovereign' - or whatever other name that asshole chose to go by. Three years, it had been three years since he'd last seen the masked bastard, but there was a part of him which remembered things with a surprising level of clarity. 

Gesturing with a single, free hand, he rallied his team into motion.

First, however, their captured, now semi-conscious berserker was a potential problem to address, so Quentin opted to take no chances here, "Brannagh, Marshall - secure our original target and make sure there's no interference run on this side. Crown, Parker - you're both with me." Crown was a pyrokinetic - it was only logical that he was brought along as heavy artillery, whilst Parker and Brannagh were both experienced agents of similar measure, but one had to hang back here - partially because it was better to have two pairs of eyes than one and partially because he wasn't entirely sure how their MISW counterpart would handle himself in a situation such as this. Sure, they'd dealt with terrorists in their own country, but Quentin wasn't one to measure the man's worth by how he'd heard of the agency's reputation for indiscriminately holding a tight leash around any metahumans that came under their jurisdiction, particularly when they hadn't faced the likes of the Changelings or the IU. This was the safest, best bet as he'd seen it.

Frank wasn't one to argue, either - he'd even said beforehand that he'd fall in line with whatever Taylor pitched, though he couldn't help but pick up a slight tinge of... something as the veteran RAVEN briefly pulled back to their armoured truck to rearm. No matter - at least it wasn't his arse being shovelled into the fire.

"Counterpoint here, we're pushing towards the B Dock."

Why in the hell did everything go wrong for Meifeng?

Why couldn't there be one day where a mission goes as planned? Just one. Now, all of Maximilian's and her fears had been realized; ZODIAC was on their ass. For what reason? Maybe they want the Devil's arm for their bullshit. Didn't matter. Meifeng was pinned down with Francis, and the rest of her team. She needed a quick plan to get out of here, and kill as many of these bastards as she could before ZODIAC could pull out of the engagement. Her team quickly took cover behind walls, vehicles, and other shipping crates, and returned fire. But every shot they took was easy enough to dodge as ZODIAC had the high ground.

Now she wished they had the ability to use explosives in this operation, but she had a better idea;

"Move! Get out of their line of fire!" Meifeng said as she lead her team out of there. Francis took point by activating his psychic shell and tanking the bullets that were headed towards them.

"Don't bother following them," Sovereign said, as he walked to the edge of the rooftop. "We have more important matters to attend to."

The soldiers nodded as Sovereign hopped off the rooftop without a fear in the world. When he landed, the ground underneath his feet cracked, but Sovereign was not even the slightest bit annoyed. He pressed his earpiece, and asked,

"Phantasm, where is the arm?" 

"It's on the shipping boat in docks C."

"Hah... we aren't that far off then?" Sovereign said.

As Quentin had led the way towards his colleagues, reports of contacts and contact movement came in frequently enough over the radio to give him a rough guess of where some of the ZODIAC paramilitaries had positioned themselves, giving him some leeway to manoeuvre his divided team down a route which would ideally allow them to catch the bastards out without getting cut down, yet even such such information would only prove to be limited in utility - as the veteran RAVEN quickly realised when, just out of the corner of his eye, a dark figure scrambled across the rooftop of one of the adjacent buildings.

"Contact!" 

He saw Crown shift her weight behind the corner of a building, whilst Parker hastily dove behind a low concrete barrier. Quentin himself was forced to squeeze into the rather spacious doorway of a building, narrowly avoiding getting caught up in the middle of a narrow shooting gallery - though now he was blind to what they were dealing with. Even with the helmet and body armour, he wasn't particularly interested in exposing himself to get a view. Then, it occurred to the veteran RAVEN that perhaps, just as before, these paramilitaries were equipped with and were using IR goggles - the kind which were susceptible to being temporarily blinded by powerful heat signatures. Not to mention, the angle the contact was probably at would work in his favour.

It was a gamble, but...

"Crown, put a fireball high on that wall, ten-meters ahead of my position!" 

"Copy." The pyrokinetic affirmed, before wordlessly following through on that last order,  projecting a missile of flame towards the aforementioned wall, causing it to burst in contact in a haze of smoke and ash, obscuring any line of sight one would have had.

Once he'd heard that 'pop', Quentin hunkered as low as he could and peered out from behind the doorway, where in the few spare seconds he'd had identify where the would-be shooter was situated, he managed to briefly acquire vision of at least one figure positioned in a prone state on top of one of the larger industrial buildings at the docks, before instinct compelled him to place his weight back behind cover, just about a second before a nearby weapon crackled with gunfire and three succesive rounds punched through the brick-corner and scattered tiny pieces of shattered brick and cement at his feet.

There was definitely no space for movement now. In sighting their opponent Quentin had still exposed his own position, to the extent that any further movement would betray him. There was only one thing for it, be decided, hailing Crown again over the radio.

"Shooter's at my eleven, rooftop, about fifty metres- can you get a fireball that far?"

"Copy, it'll reach," She hastily answered. 

"Alright, on my mark - fire!"

Once again, the pyrokinetic formed a flaming missile in a free palm until her entire forearm was wreathed in flame, then, after angling the trajectory of the missile to reach the position which Quentin had called, she propelled it outwards once more. It soared across the small dock like a phoenix for just a few seconds, before bursting into a consuming cloud of ash, smoke and flames as it slammed into the rooftop.

It was close enough to the shooter that the initial wave knocked them off their feet, then the flames quickly took a hold and the figure was seen staggering backwards and tumbling off what could only have been other side of the rooftop.

Almost immediately after, however, came another voice. "Counterpoint!" Meifeng almost shouted into the comms. "Sovereign is heading straight for the arm, and we barely have enough manpower to hold them off!"

"What direction?"

"Docks C, by the waterfront."

Shit, Quentin thought, before speaking up again, "Copy, we're pulling back that way."

Sovereign had personally led a war squad straight to Docks C. He quickly came across the great shipping vessel that held the arm within it, and he smiled underneath that helmet. Members of the Russian mafia took point at the edges of the vessel and opened fire, yet their poor discipline and desperation showed. Whilst the ZODIAC paramilitaries simply took up cover and began taking measured potshots at their assailants, Sovereign merely tanked the rounds off his ballistic armour, levelled his M60E4, then opened fire. Even with the high ground,the Russians were easily suppressed, rendering it difficult for them to even stick their heads out, let alone return fire. That was when Sovereign personally charged up the ramp, and turned his head. He opened fire on the Russian goons as the rest of ZODIAC followed up behind him (or found another way on top of the ship). A hail of fire eviscerated most of the remaining Russians on the boat.

He pointed towards one end of the boat, then turned around and pointed down the other. "Find me that arm. Go!" 

Quentin's team had quickly regrouped just behind the waterfront, from where the veteran RAVEN quickly moved to intercept ZODIAC before they could acquire their intended prize. Taking up a position with a broad view of the cargo vessel, he withdrew from cover and took aim at one of the few paramilitary soldiers keeping watch on deck and opened fire, hoping to provide enough of a distraction for Crown - and just as he'd hoped, they quickly took cover and returned fire, playing into RAVEN's hands.

"Fireball on those positions!" He barked, as rounds buzzed past him.

And at that, a faint glow grew forth from another corner of the dock, before arcing beside and over the waterfront and into one of the shooters, bursting in yet another glowing cloud of ash and cinders and sending the poor bastard's body tumbling off the side of the deck - and that was just the first - Crown quickly brought up a barrage of smouldering missiles which had much the same effect on the other two visible on deck, giving Quentin and the other two, Parker and Marshall, a clear path aboard, whilst keeping a look out for any other contacts which might've emerged into her view.

Having reverted to his 870, Quentin took point and led the four man team up the gangplank and onto the surface deck of the vessel, passing half a dozen bodies which could've only belonged to the Russians (or, to be more specific, the unlucky bastards dumb enough to have ended up under their payroll) along with the smouldering corpse of one of the ZODIAC shooters that had been up on deck. 

As they approached one the entrance hatches, the sharp crackles of gunfire in an enclosed compartment resonated outwards, all but indicating to the RAVENs where Sovereign had led his own unit - and where they still were. Pushing in, they could only hope that the bastard was still searching for the arm and that they'd be able to hold him down until further reinforcements arrived. Quentin had no illusions about that, at least.

Frank, on the other hand, kept his head focused - if anything he'd read about the assassin was half-accurate, they were without a doubt facing dangerous odds. Just a few years back this 'Sovereign' had murdered an MP back in his home country. On the orders of the same bastards who had been pulling the government and MISW's strings. By extension, he had rendered them all an accomplice to their crimes, unwitting or no. No. Frank cleared his head of such thoughts and focused as best he could on the task at hand. They would need everything they had for this one.

Slowly, the team inserted further into the bowels of the vessel, descending down a flight of steps into its dimly lit confines. 

Despite their best efforts, Sovereign and ZODIAC were far ahead of RAVEN. They had the boat completely covered, and he was slowly descending on the arm....

However, the Russian mobsters weren't going down without a fight. In a dimly lit room, the "leaders" of the Mafia assembled. With the arm placed inside a specialized cryogenic cooler. One man, was bald-headed, and was covered in tattoos. Extremely muscular.

"Who would have thought we'd have such a showing for us," The man said in Russian, grinning at the destruction that took place overhead. Before he was smacked by his older partner.

"Don't be stupid," His partner said, "Wurdulac wants this arm. We're going to give it to them."

"I don't see that being an option," He answered, as he peered out the window. "Perhaps we should leave the arm here, and let those bastards fight it out..."

"We still have plenty of options, Anatoly," The man said, as he turned his head towards a woman with a shaved head, and lots of tattoos. He threw a thumb at her. "This is Alina..."

"And she can do what to help our predicta-" Anatoly tried to say, but Alina hopped up, and got in his face.

"Well, dumbass, how do you think we got the arm in the first place?" Alina said, as she clutched her hands together. She seemingly created a ball of electrostatic that grew larger and larger. She raised the orb over her head as the other men in the room stepped back. "After I do my thing, you either run, or get left behind. Your choice."

That was when the orb exploded, and effectively sent out an electromagnetic pulse that shut off all electronics on the boat. From the boat's electronics, all the way to ZODIAC's hardware. It was total darkness, as the Russians got what they wanted.

"... Let's move." Anatoly said.

The ZODIAC army were pushing through the bowels of the ship... when the pulse hit them. Sovereign came to a stop, surprised that all the tech in his helmet was dead. He reached down to his wrist, and pressed some buttons... only for nothing to pop up. The ZODIAC soldiers were bathed in complete darkness, with not even access to night vision (or flashlights). Underneath that helmet, Sovereign was laughing. He was having a riot. 

"Ahhhhh... they are clever, aren't they?" Sovereign said, before he slung his machine gun over his shoulder. "No matter, stay close to me, and point out any targets."

The high pitched squeal which erupted across the comms was enough to make Quentin wince, causing the veteran RAVEN to tune off for a moment as the lighting across the ship died. EMP? He thought, recognising the hallmarks from a similar situation that occurred several years before. All other voices on the comms had fallen silent, but he wanted to be sure.

"This is Counterpoint, do you read, Crown?"

No answer came.

Most of RAVEN's electronic equipment had been retroactively hardened to military specs to avoid a repeat of the massacre three years back, where their equipment had been fried by an overloaded metahuman's EMP blast, but that didn't mean their equipment was entirely infallible, especially judging by the fact that their mounted torches were dead.

At the least, it would possibly have taken more than a few moments for the comms equipment to tune back in, time which they didn't have. Instead, the veteran RAVEN pressed onwards, into the bowels of the vessel, well aware of the viper's nest that they were entering.

Soon enough, they heard footsteps - albeit very faint. In the darkness below deck, it was hard to make anything out - though that uncertainty quickly changed.

A near-deafening crackle resonated through the narrow corridors below deck, briefly opened with a series of dim flashes from the other side of the corridor. Rounds buzzed past, narrowly missing the RAVENs.

Quentin answered by firing off a slug at the source of the flash.

"It was only a matter of time..." Sovereign groaned to himself, as he came in contact with RAVEN. He pulled out his machine gun, and pushed aside the other members of ZODIAC, before he opened fire on the hallway. Holding it with one hand, he raised his other hand, and gestured for ZODIAC to go down the other halls while Sovereign took full attention of RAVEN. I wonder if he's here. He thought to himself, as he reached down to his belt, and pulled out a grenade, and tossed it at them. Either way, they are none of my concern. He thought again, as he turned around.

"Grenade!"

It was nigh impossible to hear over the continuous clatter of gunfire, but it was one of Quentin's team who sounded the alarm, near enough diving out from cover in order to yank him back to safety with them. A brief flash and a shockwave which rippled through the narrow hall with a deafening resonance quickly followed, shrapnel scattering across and skirting one of the RAVENs across the leg, throwing them off balance and into the line of fire. Two rounds slammed into Parker's body armour whilst a third punched through his arm, eliciting an agonised yelp from the agent, though thanks to Marshall's intervention he was pulled out of the line of fire before any further damage could be done, leaving Quentin and Brannagh to return fire. As the firefight raged on, Sovereign continued alone. After all, the assassin had an idea of where the Russians with the arm would scurry off to. He eventually went above deck... towards the life boats.

Still wreathed in darkness, Quentin thought to pop a flare and tossed it down the corridor, illuminating the ZODIACs huddling at each side and near enough blinding them for a precious few moments as their sight was overwhelmed by the red hue. Quickly, one of them went down under pressure from the remaining RAVEN's combined focus, then another, just as a familiar voice crackled into their comms pieces, over the sound of gunfire,"..tacts, top deck!" Crown's signal had just about reached through to the confines of the ship below deck, before her voice came in again again, this time with a greater sense of urgency, "Sovereign in sight!" Him, Quentin had been affirmed, his line of thought interrupted by a  final rippling of gunfire hailed the neutralisation of the last ZODIAC, who's narrow silhouette rippled against the bulkhead.

"Fireball on contact, keep him suppressed!" The veteran RAVEN near enough barked back, as soon as he knew his voice was being transmitted back to her, already pushing more slugs into the magazine tube of his Remington. Whilst Marshall had taken up watch, Branagh was already in the process of applying a tourniquet to Parker's wounded arm. "I'm heading topside to cover Crown," he began, "Keep Parker and yourselves covered, watch for any others."

With one man injured, another preoccupied and the third still remaining as an unknown in the face of pressure, Quentin had decided that he may as well have been forced to head topside without them. He knew what kind of danger Crown was heaped in and he sure as hell wasn't about to leave one his team to face it alone, not against the assassin.

Sovereign kept marching forward, his heavy footsteps being an announcement when he stormed around the corner, and saw the Russians trying to hoist down the lifeboats. They stopped out of shock, but Sovereign charged forward. They didn't waste time in hosing him down with bullets, but they bounced off him. He grabbed onto the nearest mobster by the neck, and hoisted him above his head, earning a series of profanities spluttered at him in his native tongue... which then turned into actual screams as the assassin threw him overboard, then charged forward. 

"Give me the arm." Sovereign ordered, as he continued.

Only then did a smoking missile slam into the former assassin from the rear, engulfing him in a blinding shroud of smoke and embers, yet the only reaction that Abel demonstrated was irritation... he whipped around halfway, and quickly pulled out his revolver, then fired off a shot at the RAVEN. If it wasn't for that body armour of hers, she would have been almost undoubtedly killed, yet the sheer force of the impact was enough to knock her to the ground and leave behind some internal injuries.

Instead of finishing her off, Sovereign merely brushed the flames off before they caused any damage to his weaponry - or caused his grenades to explode. After the flames were gone, he turned his attention back to the few  Russians, who were intent on capitalizing on Crown's distraction. Sovereign quickly turned his revolver on their liferaft, and shot it, tearing the inflatable to pieces. He marched forward. 

"The. Arm." Sovereign ordered in their native tongue. "I am not[/i] asking again.[/i]"

"Fuck this, you're on your own!" One of them near enough bolted as he grew closer, leaving the others behind.

Then, unexpectedly, came a clatter from behind as a canister rolled across the deck, towards Sovereign's feet. Containment foam.

The canister exploded before Sovereign could even react, and bonded his feet with a tough chemical that not even he could break easily. He narrowed his eyes, as he turned around... And was met with the sight of a RAVEN hastily raising a Remington 870 towards him, then firing off a slug at his upper mid-section. The bullet barely dented his armor, but he narrowed his eyes at him.

"Quentin Taylor..." Sovereign said... subtly reaching for his revolver. "Why did I get the feeling I'd end up running into you?" He asked.

"Hands behind your head!" The veteran RAVEN barked, racking the pump action, "Next shot won't be a warning."

"If you plan on killing me with that..." Sovereign blankly said. "... You're going to need more bullets."

Undaunted, he quickly pulled out his oversized revolver, and aimed directly for Quentin, before firing. Even holding him at gunpoint had proven pointless, as past encounters had shown, yet it couldn't have been said that he hadn't tried - the moment he'd realised the former assassin was reaching for a weapon, Quent had near enough bolted for the nearest form of cover, an alcove just ahead of the ship's bridge, yet those superhuman reflexes still worked in Sovereign's favour. Like a kick to the ribs, Quentin felt the .500 bullet smashing into his armour, causing him to briefly crumple against the wall as the shock of the impact rippled across his torso. Bruises, at least. Quentin clenched his teeth and fought the pain along with any temptation to stop and rest.

Instead, he reached for his comms piece and sent out a hail across the channels. "Counterpoint here... Sovereign's on the top deck, foamed him but he's still armed, going to engage."

Sovereign focused instead on trying to break free from the containment foam. He knelt down, and punched the foam hard as he could, but even with his strength, that wasn't enough to crack it.

Yet again, Quentin emerged from cover, this time a little more sluggish but still in motion - but this time the veteran RAVEN didn't even offer a warning and instead opened fire, then hastily racked the pump action and fired again, aiming upwards this time with the intent of landing an impact on the bastard's visor. The slugs slammed right into his helmet, and Sovereign groaned. It seemed there was no way to avoid this confrontation.

Aware of the M60E4 still slung over his shoulder, Sovereign quickly hoisted it, ready to fire and opened fire on Quentin's position, forcing the veteran RAVEN back behind cover, still firing in short, sharp bursts with what remained of the belt... which ran through about as quickly as one would've expected, just as one had hoped in Quentin's case - and so he launched yet again from cover, ready to unleash another barrage of slugs upon the former assassin, only to be met with the weight of the emptied, still-smoking GPMG smashing into him. Sovereign went back to hammering away at the containment foam. Eventually, he made cracks. The man grinned from underneath the armor, and then slammed it one more time as the foam shattered. 

Twisting, he clenched his fists after a glance. The Russians were long-gone. Smart, but at the same time so irritating. He turned back towards Quentin, and spoke.

"... I am not your enemy, Mr. Taylor," Sovereign stated. "I am merely an agent stopping something worse that is coming over the horizon." He continued, retrieving a smoke grenade. "... You'll see some day."

He primed the grenade, then dropped it at his feet and in moments the deck had been blanketed in a blinding sheet of smoke. Quentin scrabbled for his 870 yet again, but by the time he'd managed to get a rough picture again, Sovereign was gone. Along with the arm.

"Shit..." Quentin spat, with a half-hearted grunt. Delivering the news to Maximilian was going to be a shitshow, but they had to know, "Counterpoint here, the package is gone, Sovereign escaped without it."

In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 8 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

f

@Mr Allen J, @Zombiedude101, @tsukune, @FernStone, and @Dioxide
Stonecliff, Silverhills_

Well, there was one thing Kumiko was wrong about.

Her minivan couldn't fit everyone.

But, they made it work in the most awkward way possible: by stacking everyone on top of each other! Part of Wendy realized that they should have just taken the bus. Well, they were already here in Stonecliff. Silver Hills was probably the last place a group of Meta-kids wanted to be... and ones with the intention of breaking into someone's house. But, hey. They were going to be swift and silent, and then they'd be gone in no time! They parked around the corner, and Kumiko unlocked the doors. The first thing Wendy did was open the door, and almost ran out. It was beyond awkward for her... sitting on Rowan's lap. She turned herself weightless for most of the ride just to alleviate the awkwardness. She smiled, as she felt relieved!

"Uh, yeah," Kumiko said, "I was about to say get out the car, kids, but Wendy was waaaaay ahead of the rest of ya'll."

She chuckled, before she shrugged.

Kannix was one of the faster ones to get out of the minivan. What a stupid fucking minivan, Kannix thought - the whole ride was so goddamn uncomfortable. Like Wendy and dude whose name she either did not pay attention to or already forgot, she also had to sit on a person's lap. That was fucking weird. Weird, but in a weird way Kannix also really liked it. She won't admit it to herself, but getting to sit on Rein's lap made her almost feel naughty, already crossing out an item on a long list of things she'd like to do with him. It was lower down the list of course, so to be able to skip to that part so early on... She was screaming internally.

But she had to act nonchalant about it! She wasn't sure at first, but with every bump on the road Kannix would energize herself as a reactionary reflex, she knew that Rein would feel it; her physics-defying mass was hitting down on Rein's lap like a full-weight microwave-oven, if not a little heavier, and with every groan of pain, Kannix would smile just a little bit. "Sorry," was a very common word. When they finally stopped, Kannix could not have gotten out of there faster. She turned to Rein and flicked her head, donning a smile of forced comfort and reassurance after the travel. Crossed arms, legs ready to pounce, and eyes ready to roll at every stupid statement, the familiar reverb of power passed through all of her body.

Rein was the last to pile out of the mini-van, wincing a little at the soreness from the combined effect of Kannix's weight with her force-repelling ability. He sucked in the cold air of the night, grateful that the uncomfortable, awkward ride was over... For now. Glancing around, they had arrived in a rather dim, deserted area save for the odd group he was with.

"Alright," Wendy said, as she raised her arm above her head, and grabbed it. "Where's her house?"

Kumiko pointed at a nice, three story, house around the corner. They were angled well enough to get a clear view of it. It was surrounded by a tall, brick fence, and there were cameras with coverage all over the place. They couldn't get a good view of the house from this angle. Wendy turned towards Rori, and said, "Want to get a closer look for us, Rori?" She asked.

All they needed to do was get Rowan in close, and all those cameras and fancy security systems would be rendered useless.

"Sure can do," Rori smiled, narrowing their eyes at the house first. Their vision was better than most and they figured they might as well check to see if there were any decent spots to land, or look into. They could get over the fence easily enough at least. "I'll be back in a few moments." They swiftly turned into a bird, sticking to their typical form as an american robin, and flapped off towards the house.

"I got your back," Wendy said, as she quickly looked around. Before she slowly moved towards the house, with Rowan in tow. She couldn't do anything until those cameras were out.

Tugging at his hood, Rowan was quick to pick out the cameras with direct coverage of where they were moving. Concentrating, he subtly raised a hand, then clenched it into a fist as though to cover his mouth when he coughed, only instead of coughing... whatever display those cameras fed into, they'd have found nothing but a distorted image at the other side. Then, as they crossed the street, he picked out other cameras and did the same with varying, subtle gestures, until he was certain that they were under the cover of (electronic) darkness.

"C'mon, Wen'." He said, gesturing towards the house. Wendy nodded her head and stopped just at the wall. Part of her wanted to turn into paper, but that would've been far too obvious. Then, she got another idea. She turned her whole body weightless, hopped, and pulled herself over the wall, then heard Rowan pull his weight over the wall just afterwards. She knelt down, as she looked up at Rori. Waiting for that signal.

While several of the rooms had lights on, there was actually nobody home. The house was desolated.

"Can't make anyone out," Rowan whispered, in a low tone, "You see anyone?"

"I don't know, we'd have to wait for Rori to get back," Wendy answered.

Rori had made sure to go round the house a few times, checking each of three floors carefully to make sure the coast was actually clear. They got back to Wendy and Rowan when finished, changing back and taking a moment to catch their breath before speaking (changing twice in a short space of time wasn't particularly pleasant). "All clear, couldn't see anything while up there," Rori spoke quietly, panting slightly. "Want me like this, or back to a bird? Cause if I change again I'm going to have to stay like that." Otherwise they'd probably end up fainting.

...And here was where Rein could shine to this group of misfits in such an impulsive raid. Both him and Kannix had followed the group to the perimeter of the house. He chose to stay behind rather than jumping over the wall (or flying) like Wendy and co.; even so, he could hear their conversation from the other side, their whispers sounded louder than intended in the dead silence around them.

He decided to speak up, "Um, I don't think you should overexert yourself. Let's go back to the minivan - I can help to keep watch with my power while you take a rest."

"Thanks, that would probably be better idea," Rori responded to Rein. "I can't really talk when I'm a bird anyway, so it's not as useful!" They were really tired and hungry, so it would be more sensible for him to keep watch.

"Yeah, just stay behind while we look around," Wendy nodded her head. "If anything goes wrong... uh..." She probably didn't think this far ahead, and come to think of it, it was stupid and risky.

Then again, the same argument could be made for half her actions for the last three years.

"Turn the hi-beams on!" Wendy said, suggesting something that totally wasn't inconspicuous at all. "We'll work something out... just go back in the van before someone gets suspicious." She ordered. Kannix rolled her eyes so far back she swore she could see her brain. Her crossed arms were still crossed. She turned to Rein and again looked to seek comfort in him. If he was really in this, then she was too.

Kannix's sour reaction didn't go unnoticed in Rein's eyes, but he chose not to comment on it, and merely replied to Wendy in a quiet tone, "Yeah, Kannix and I can help Rori back to the van. I'll keep you posted." With that, he gestured at the two girls, and turned to head back towards where Kumiko was waiting for them.

She turned to face the house, the alarm, and cameras should've been off so long as Rowan focuses. She wondered which way would be the best for entering. Perhaps the windows? She pointed at the window, and said to Rowan, "Can you pop the lock on that window?"

It probably wouldn't have mattered which window they entered, since they didn't know the layout of the house. Worst case, they could have just popped a window in the back, and Wendy just paper the two of them out of there.

"Think so, just uh... lemme get up close." Rowan nodded, still speaking with a low hush - he made his way across the garden, accidentally treading on a few of the flower patches dotted across in the process, though his footsteps were light enough that it would've taken a microphone to make anything of it out here. Eventually, he was hunched low against the wall, besides an unlit, frosted-glass window which was probably just above his chest height. After taking a moment just to concentrate, he placed a palm against where the lock would've been and slightly tilted it sideways, before using his ability to prop the window open, wide enough for him to crawl through - he wasn't exactly the scrawny teen he was jut a few years back, but he was still of small frame.

Once he'd slipped in, he reached back out through the opened window and gestured for the others to enter, and Wendy seamlessly passed through the window with the ease of her paper manipulation (even though she'd wanted to say something about stepping on those flowers). Okay, they weren't here to steal anything - except for the books. She pulled out her cellphone, and turned on the flashlight - as she knew turning on lights that weren't already on would be suspicious from an outside perspective - and revealed... the bathroom. Not that it had been much of a surprise - why else had the glass been frosted?

"Let's give the study a look, and let's go." Wendy said. "Let's not overstay our welcome..."

"...Okay, so!" The girl with the artificially red hair said as she stormed down the street arms swinging. "We have a lead on those stupid cultists..."

She waved the cellphone that belonged to the very same woman the Valos was after in another part of Baybridge as they spoke. "What kind of fuckin' moron has a phone full of incriminating evidence?"

"Trust me, she's apart of the Family," Daniel walked alongside Penny. "It's arrogance and stupidity combined."

"Either way, we just have to track down what's left of those dipshits," Penny said, "And see who the hell is their leader, and what the hell does he or she know... and if they know about him."

That was what made Daniel stop, as he reached over and grabbed onto Penny's shoulder to stop her.

"Heey, what the fu-"

"Penny, don't get ahead of yourself," Daniel said, "Even if they're not as strong as they used to be... they're still dangerous."

"Yeah, yeah, I thought that far ahead," Penny answered, "What do you think I am? Some dumbfuck that charges dick first into danger?" She scoffed.

Daniel crossed his arms, and asked.

"Then what's your plan then?"

Penny's brows furrowed, as she put her arms out. "Um, Earth to Daniel," Penny said, "Did ya' fall on your head, or forget what city we live in?"

Daniel remained quiet, as she continued.

"There's a goddamn army of knuckleheads willing to do stupid shit for like five dollars," Penny first said, then continued. "Or, if that doesn't work. Aren't you cool with Maximilian? Maybe we can sic his RAVEN shitheads on them, and see where we can go from there... I'm sure they'd have a giant hard on for the Family."

Daniel shook his head, as what Penny said was pure idealism.

"...And even if we do all that, and it goes well for us..." He trailed off as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette, and lit it with his fire powers. "...Who's to say that they even know anything?"

Penny narrowed her eyes at Daniel, as she put her hands on her hips.

"The Blessed Three are dead," Daniel said, blankly. "It's unlikely anyone knows anything about what happened to Sean except for them... and they took a lot of secrets to the grave."

Penny shook her head and sighed.

"...Look, Daniel," Penny said in a low tone. "I know all of this shit is wishful thinking. I understand that I should just go home, and stop giving a shit. But, I'm going to try. I want an answer, I'm going to get an answer. And hell if any faggot from that cult is going to get in my way."

Daniel smiled, as he shrugged.

"I guess nobody can stop you then?" Daniel turned sideways, with his hands in his pockets, and glanced at her. "...But, I guess I'll stick around to make sure you don't do anything stupid." He joked, before he chuckled.

"Haha... knew you'd come around," Penny said as she started walking. "Let's go, we got much to talk about!"

Meanwhile, back in the van...

Without Wendy and Rowan around, Rein finally had a seat to himself. He needed the personal space to use his power; while he wasn't as opinionated about Kannix as the rest, she would be more of a nuisance than assistance if she sat on his lap again.

Reclining back into his seat, he closed his eyes; his consciousness withdrew from the reality around him, sinking deeper into the fluid, surreal world of dreams. The sorry state of the minivan disappeared from his vision, replaced by the silhouettes of the people around him in a sea of darkness.

Rori. Kannix. Kumiko. They were the nearest - and the brightest in his mind's eye.

Then he expanded his sensory reception beyond the vehicle, picking up the location of Wendy and Rowan moving around in the house.

...So far so good.

He continued to expand his power outwards, picking up more people from the other properties nearby, even some scattered strangers strolling down the streets... Until a certain someone piqued his interest.

It was that guy he was asked to find back at the DOVE rally. 'Daniel Forsythe' was the name.

It's a wonder how fate works.

Rein couldn't help focusing on this teen, following him and his companion (seemed like a redhead girl through Daniel's perception) and wondering where he was going. Then a bad feeling began to gnaw at his paranoia.

...They appeared to be heading towards the house that Wendy and Rowan had broken into.

Pulling himself out of his trance state, he woke up with a start, shaking his head to clear the dizzy feeling from suddenly sitting upright after a period of stillness. "This is bad," his voice sounded a little raspy from the anxiousness as he leaned forward, his attention on Kumiko in the driver's seat. "They're coming back. Two people; one of them looks like my age."

"Aw, shit!" Kumiko said, and didn't waste a second in climbing forward to look. The two teens were clearly walking towards the house. Oh boy. This wasn't apart of the plan. She had to think quickly to warn Wendy... wait, she had to buy some time, first. Thankfully, Kumiko had the perfect plan! She reached into the glove compartment, and pulled out a heavy holy bible. She threw it at the kids, and ordered, "Okay, stall them. You all are a group of Bible thumpers that want to inform people of our lord and savior, got it? Go."

Rori caught the bible, just about, and shrugged. "Sure thing, I can do this." Their family had been just about part of a religious cult, so they knew a bit about religion. Said cult had done the whole stalking the streets to get people to join, so Rori was sure they could copy that. "I sort of know what I'm doing with this, I've been part of a Christian group before... anyway, let's go do this."

"...Maybe you should stop talking about, AND JUST DO IT!" Kumiko shouted, not in an annoyed manner, but more of a cheesy, pumping up, style. As she gestured towards the two heading straight for the house.

Rori realised they were rambling (as always) and went to open one of the van doors and hopped out.

"I'll go with you," Rein volunteered. Not out of impulse, but he felt that it might be less suspicious if they tried to preach about religion as a group than letting Rori to do that alone. Though, he hoped that Kannix would stay quietly in the car instead - he had enough drama to last for tonight.

Kannix had been on her phone. It was getting late and she was expecting her mom's message - just the one, for she wasn't the type to barrage Kannix with many senseless questions; just the one statement, along the lines of: "...You're still not home." She was now distracted, but that would actually be implying that Kannix wanted to be here in this escapade. She did not. But here she was, for Rein.

"I'm coming too." She wasn't exactly the biggest threat; she was small and was wearing a white dress with a pimp's hat hung by the string on her neck. But two people, she knew she could take them on without a doubt. Kannix gave a 'pre-game motivation slap' on Rein's shoulder, a little too hard at that, before getting out of the van.

Rori approached the two teenagers, adopting a calm and (hopefully) confident walk. They stopped the two by standing in their path, holding the bible so it was visible. "Hello! Would you like to hear about the word of our Lord and saviour?" Not that they were going to give them a choice about hearing about it. Behind her, Rein nodded, trying his best to look eager to go along with the act better. Right next to, and very close to, Rein, Kannix had her arms on her hips like Superman, and held her grimace - if not, a look of defeat and laxness. Her phone vibrated right then and there. Just the one moment. Shit.

"Sorry, sugar tits," Penny rudely said as she gave Rori a glance, and put her hands on her hips. "But, we don't have time for this."

Daniel jerked his head back, and looked at them, then back to Penny. Before he raised a finger. "What my crass friend here means is that we're in a rush, sorry about her tone."

Rori spread out their wings to further block both of them from moving forward, giving them something of a sickly sweet grin. "Oh it's fine, I understand that you may be annoyed at being stopped. But time is nothing in the eyes of the lord, and you should really spare a few minutes to hear his word." For once Rori's ability to talk about anything was coming in handy. Kannix inhaled deeply, looking down at the ground, kicking her combat boots at the hard concrete slab of the pavement. Her look of disgust and disapproval at the cheesiness of this all betrayed her supposed collaboration with the other two. Thankfully, her hair just about covered her demeanour, and just kept silent.

"What the fuck?" Penny asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Did Jesus give you wings or some weird shit?"

"Yes," Rori responded, trying to not let their internal discomfort at what they were saying show. "I am made in the image of the angels in heaven. If you considering joining the church we are part of them then maybe you will get a similarly god-given power." Yeah, like their own power was God-given.

Rein cringed at the insults the redhead had thrown at Rori, refraining himself from shaking his head at the mindless rudeness Penny had sprouted from her boorish mouth. What's with people nowadays, who think that being vulgar would make them look remotely 'cool'? Not like Kannix was any better, or maybe he just couldn't comprehend this terrible culture in America.

Penny just gave her a flat look, tilted her head back, and had her eyes wide open.

"Okay, okay, sweetheart," Penny said as she reached into her bag, and pulled out a large canister of pepper spray. "If you don't get the hell away from me right now, you're going to get a faceful of mace, got it? And don't test me, this shit will have you on the floo-"

Penny was cut off by Daniel just putting his hands on her shoulders, and just carefully leading her around them. "...Sorry, we're not interested. Thank you for your time."

Rori froze, eyes moving to the canister of pepper spray. Well, that was not nice at all. The last thing they wanted was to be knocked out. They could only hope they'd bought enough time for Wendy and Rowan. "Uh, I'm so sorry for wasting your time. I can only hope that one day you see the light, but I understand that is not today." They turned so they could still look at the two, wings completely unfurled so that it still made it awkward for both to get past Rori. "I wish you the best for the rest of your day."

"Jesus... what a freak," Penny said to Daniel, not caring about her own volume, as they powered past the three.

"At least they're happy, I guess," Daniel shrugged. "Let's just forget about them, and move on."

"You tellin' me, right?"

"...You need to work on your diplomacy," Daniel said, and Penny said nothing in return.

Rori tried not to let the very loud comment get to them - after all they were being called a freak for pushing Jesus onto people; not their appearance, right? Sighing softly, and with nothing more to do to stop the two, they made their way back to the van. Rein gave Rori a tap on their shoulder - a gesture of encouragement that they had tried their best, and shouldn't take the coarse language from the redhead just now to heart.

"It's okay, Rori," Kumiko said, "You did your best!"

She gave the bird-girl the thumbs up. "I'm certain Wendy will love you for trying!"

Rori brightened up considerably at that, grinning slightly. "Hopefully! It would've worked better if I hadn't been threatened. So, uh, what's plan B?"

"Don't worry, I am the most cunning woman in the world... I always have a plan." Kumiko said, as she had the perfect plan. She focused on the girl pulling out the keys to unlock the gate, and since good old Kumiko had her metal manipulation ready, she extended a hand and... made her drop her keys.

"What happens when she picks up the keys? Are you going to make her drop them again?" Rori looked slightly amused - though they guessed it was a sound enough plan to keep them distracted for a while. Just a little suspicious.

"Butterfingers." Kumiko said with a grin as she made the keys slip out of Penny's hand while she was scrambling to pick them back. But, Kumiko couldn't do this for long. "One of you go warn Wendy."

The two moved through the house very carefully... while Wendy knew it was a little wrong, there was a certain layer of excitement to it. Maybe she was just sheltered for far too damn long, but Wendy thought it was exciting to be doing this. Especially the danger. Okay, maybe she should just keep this to herself. They slowly stepped down a hallway, and they ended up in a large living room, with two lengthy couches, a large TV practically embedded in the wall, and... a bookshelf! Wendy's inner bibliophile made her gravitate towards it. She quickly shifted through it, and searched it thoroughly. She briefly looked over her shoulder at her loyal friend, and said,

"Keep an eye out for me," Wendy ordered as she continued to go through the books, as this was literally the only place she had in mind.

Nodding wordlessly, Rowan took a few silent steps back and turned his focus towards the direction of the hallway, just in case anyone else came upon them - it was strange, after all, how the lights had been left on in parts of the house and the last thing they wanted was for someone to be getting the drop on them.

Wendy kept going through the books, until her fingers rested on one. She used her paper manipulation to pull the book out of it's place, and levitated it in midair. She shifted through the contents, the pages seemingly turning by themselves as Wendy's hand was raised above it. Wendy reached into her satchel for the other book. The first edition of Sean Rosier's notes. She quickly compared them, and looked at Rowan, with a dumb smile on her face.

"... This is it, Rowan!" Wendy tried to contain her excitement. "This is the second edition! We have it!" Her panties were soooooaked.

"Yeah?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder with a raised brow.

But, while she was excited to have the next step at long last, she didn't want to leave any obvious evidence they were here. She opened up her satchel yet again, and pulled out a large block of paper. It was stuck together like a block. She sliced it into pieces with just a thought, thin paper sheets. Before she carefully pulled the paper out of Sean Rosier's notes, while replacing them with blank sheets of paper. Wendy was a genius! Everything was looking up for her. Though, she just thought about taking the book, and leaving, she didn't want to leave one obvious trace that they were here behind. She wanted to make it look like the cameras were just malfunctioning for a moment.

However, down the hall, the sound of the door unlocking pierced the air, and Wendy panicked. Everything was going so well! She just grabbed both books, and pointed at the window. "Rowan!" She whispered even though she wanted to shout, and hoped he got the message.

Wasting no time, Rowan hastily gesticulated with his arm towards the window, prying it open for them to make a hasty escape. Wendy fluttered down first, near enough weightlessly and once he was certain that she was out, Rowan quickly followed, clambering through the open window space and scrabbling down the wall behind them, making sure to pull the window back shut on his way down. Wendy hauled ass out of there the very moment she got out... but in her panic, and rush, she didn't notice the stone that bordered the edge of the garden.

She didn't even realize that she had tripped. Her vision just went from being parallel to the ground, to being facedown in it. She yelped - but caught herself. Her glasses were on the ground, and the books had fallen out.

Rowan had near enough made it to the wall when he'd realised she'd taken a tumble, and near enough bolted back towards her, hoping to hastily pull her up. "Shit, shit, c'mon!"

"...Hey, what the fuck?" They heard as the window was opened, and they saw a curious looking girl with pigtails dyed a bright red color. Wendy was frozen, a mixture of being stunned and shock tended to do that. But, the girl's eyes narrowed, her lips tightened, and she shouted, "...Daniel! Get your ass outside!"

Her eyes were on the books, and she pointed at them.

"They're stealing the books!"

In Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox] → 8 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Mr Allen J, @Tsukune, & @Zombiedude101

RAVEN/DOVE Joint Headquarters, White Coast_

Before the majority of the RAVENs could file out of the room, however, Director Reed Taylor stepped into the room from a side entrance, whilst a broad man of stocky build stepped into the room, donning an unmarked variation of the RAVEN field uniform, a telescopic baton resting on his hip. "Agents Taylor, Zhao, Takashiro and Jean-Pierre - can I keep you for a short moment?"

It wasn't exactly unusual for Baybridge's local DOVE authority to personally involve himself in the affairs of RAVEN, but it was still an act which probably raised a few eyebrows - save for Maximilian Cornell, who was fully aware of what his intentions were. "Sorry for keeping you, but given you're among our senior field agents, both Max and I decided it was worth making you aware of this and, well, involving you. As you're aware, both DOVE and RAVEN ares currently participating in an exchange program with our counterparts in Britain, Germany, France - etcetera. We've already sent a few of our agents from various branches overseas for this purpose, but we're also playing host to several foreign agents as well."

Reed briefly turned towards the stocky man behind him, then gestured towards the rest of the room. "Everyone, this is Frank Marshall, one of our counterparts in the MISW who will be working among us for the foreseeable future. Agent Marshall, this is Quentin Taylor and Meifeng Zhao, both part of RAVEN's field command structure and, as you might've guessed, Quent here also happens to be my brother," Director Taylor briefly flashed his elder a smile, before gesturing to the other two agents in the room, "We also have Shizuka Takashiro, one of RAVEN's senior field agents and Francis Jean-Pierre who, I recall, was actually recruited from another one of our counterpart agencies in Brazil not too long ago. I expect you'll be working together rather soon."

"That is correct, sir," Francis nodded his head as he looked at the man. Well, this was certainly a surprise. Francis wasn't informed of this ahead of time, but it was maybe because he was too busy with this case. Making sure the Devil of Verthaven didn't return tends to do that. He made sure to react to Frank Marshall the same way he did with everyone: with a smile! "It is great to meet you, Agent Marshall. Shall I get you up to date on our case? There's a lot to it."

"Please, I'd appreciate it." Frank nodded to his counterpart, who happened to share the same name. Then, Francis quickly ran through an explanation of the case to Frank, though in truth he probably ended up missing a a few things because of the need to keep within a short timeframe.

The MISW... Meifeng raised an eyebrow as she looked at Frank. It was common knowledge what the MISW did for a living, so there was no point in going over it. It wasn't something that Meifeng approved of, and she wasn't in the mood to just go 'Oh, okay, it's the past,' and forget about it. While she sure as hell didn't approve of the actions of terrorists, she felt like the MISW had got what was coming to them. Then again, it came from far above her pay grade, and Maximilian's big fat pockets, so there wasn't much she could do. She merely looked over at Frank, and remained silent.

Shizuka rolled his eyes at how Reed had introduced him to their new comrade. "Well, if being the head of the more back-end intelligence department counts as a demotion from front-line duties, yeah." Though, there wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his tone. He wasn't really complaining about taking the 'backseat' in most RAVEN operations now - it seemed that way in the eyes of most (not helped by his lazy, laid-back reputation), because none of them truly knew the huge responsibility he had to shoulder in his current job position.

Not like anyone would care, anyway. It was all either about getting the job done, or be the scapegoat for the failure.

He wasn't as easygoing as Francis, nor bitter like Meifeng was; he'd be lying if he didn't feel mixed about MISW due to their past relation with the Founding Faggots, but at the same time it wasn't entirely the organization's fault that things had to turn out that way. He merely greeted back with a quick wave, leaving it to the rest to deal with the awkward silence.

Quentin was the first to step forth to exchange a firm, albeit formal handshake with his MISW counterpart, before getting straight to the point as always. "Forgive me for asking, Agent Marshall, but... you're aware of the kind of threat we're dealing with at the moment, right? The last few years have seen us facing dangerous individuals with backgrounds in paramilitary and terrorist organisations, resourceful and well-equipped at that." The veteran RAVEN wondered just how this Brit would deal with the likes of the Hound, or even the Changeling Unit, after all, particularly given it was an open secret that the man's superiors had at one point been tied to their kind.

For a moment, Frank was tempted to feel slightly offended at the notion, before realising that neither of these men (or the woman) had spent a great deal of time with the likes of him or his lot. "Absolutely. I suspected you might have had your concerns - we Britons aren't exactly known for our militaristic approach towards things, but I can assure you I've had my share of training and experience in similar matters." In fact, Frank was willing to bet that he'd dirtied his hands in business that none of the men in this room would have - after all, the DOVE/RAVEN twin agencies weren't exactly known for dabbling in the undoubtedly unethical areas of espionage, subterfuge and manipulation as the MISW had come to be thought of. "That said, I'm as much here to observe and learn as I am to contribute. I'll defer to your lead - this is your operation, after all."

Meifeng had the same sentiments as Quentin. She was somewhat tempted to ask Frank if his experience beating Metahumans would transfer, but that was more than a little snide. But, she couldn't help herself but ask one question. "How long have you worked for the MISW?" His answer would lead into her next question, or if Meifeng would relent.

"About ten years, more or less - but I was picked up for training two years before then, so I've had twelve years under their wing." Frank said, after a moment's thought, picking up on her skepticism (and perhaps noticing the apprehensiveness in the room). "I take it you're well-versed yourselves?"

Ten years...  Yeah, Meifeng couldn't just say that he did nothing wrong while working for the MISW. Even if he was just another tool of the Founding Family, he was probably complacent in some degree. She would keep her eye on him, at least for now. For now, she managed to force a smile as she said. "That's great." She shrugged, as she said. "I'm as well-versed as any other RAVEN, so let's do some good in this operation."

"Alright, are we done with introductions?" Maximilian Cornell said as he crossed his arms. "We need everyone to suit up and roll out."

Oakdell Harbor, White Coast_

The drive there was brief for some of the RAVENs, but for the likes of Meifeng, it felt like an hour. Even though it was ten years ago, the greatest tragedy in the world; the Verthaven disaster, was still fresh on her mind. The idea that somebody out there wanted to use what was left of her to create more abominations was frightening. Meifeng lost many close friends of hers to her. She merely sighed as she sat in the back of this armored truck with the RAVEN symbol as everyone who wanted to prevent anymore bullshit closed in on Oakdell Harbor. She merely kept her rifle in close as she gave everyone else in the vehicle a glance. She smiled for a moment there, as she remembered all the other bullshit they made it through. The Founding Family would had destroyed the world if it wasn't for them.

They had this.

The truck came to a stop, as the back doors opened, and Meifeng quickly grabbed her rifle. She heard Maximilian's voice in the comms,

"Remember, we're going to be supporting the BPD," Maximilian started off. "You are only to engage any Metahumans that the Mafia  may have, and you'll be bringing the arm back to headquarters."

"Understood, sir," Francis answered, and tightly grabbed his shotgun. Well, that made their job easier. Just wait for the BPD to handle the goons. The only problem is that Francis had little idea what Metahumans they had at their disposals, or if they had any Metahumans to begin with. They didn't have a whole lot of time to find out. Either way, Francis was going to make sure that everyone gets out of here without a single casualty. He slid down his helmet's visor, as he looked at his team, "We should get a move on," He smiled, "It'd be a shame if we kept them waitin'."

On that note, the group got out of the armored truck, and went into a single file as they stuck to the walls, the BPD's finest SWAT moved far ahead of them. As RAVEN was merely there for standby, after all. They missed all the action too, but they saw several of the Russians being taken down, and arrested. Not a single shot fired, or a single sound. Meifeng was impressed. But, the group pressed on.

"We have a Metahuman!" One of the police said over the radios. "He's by Docks B... you really, really, can't miss him! He's a monster!"

"That was fast," Meifeng said to herself. "Let's get a move on before anyone gets killed."

Quickly moving over to Docks B... it became pretty obvious what the police were so worried about. A truck was overturned and punted into a nearby warehouse. That made them pick up the pace. They stopped at a corner where they heard the most stomping, and Francis looked around it... he saw a massive Metahuman that looked like a man made entirely of muscle fibers. He was getting shot at, and shrugged it off like it was nothing. He continued his rampage like it was nothing. He tore the doors of yet another 

"Strong, impervious to bullets, big..." Francis explained as he slid back towards his group. "We're gonna have to containment foam him... but we have to get close. Any of ya'll got a gameplan?"

"Counterpoint here, I suggest we draw him away from the SWAT teams first, then into range of our containment foam," Quentin's voice hailed in over the comms, after what felt like hours of radio silence on his part. As they spoke, the veteran RAVEN was seated in the passenger compartment of an armoured truck with the organisation's logo printed across the body, a team of his own stacked inside as they moved to intercept their target.  "Wave, can you get a team ready to lure him our way? We're just coming up to Docks C."

"Yeah," Meifeng answered. "But, how are we going to subdue him...?"

It was a valid point, though there wasn't a great deal of time 

"Copy," Quentin affirmed him, lurching forward in his seat for just a moment as their truck rounded yet another corner, "Wave, we're moving into position now."

Meifeng nodded, going through the motions in her head : take out this Meta, then find the Devil's arm at any cost. She peaked around the corner... she had the feeling that this guy was just a big distraction, and they were just going to use this moment to get the hell out of dodge.

"Francis," Meifeng got her coworker's attention, "With me. You're going to lead a team that'll flank the bastard from the back while I go in from the front. Got it?"

"Loud and clear," Francis answered, "Captain."

Hmph. He had a lot to learn, but in the meantime, Meifeng would make good use out of him. She nodded her head at the RAVENs behind her, and gestured for them to follow her. She was, once again, going to lead the charge. They got in position behind (and on top of some) some shipping crates, while Francis took the other side. She peaked around the corner and saw the bastard go on a rampage. They needed to stop him now. She pressed her earpiece.

"Fire!" Meifeng shouted as the RAVENs opened fire on the beast from all sides. The bullets don't pierce him, but it was becoming apparent that it was hurting him. He covered his face with his muscular arms as he swung around to find an opening to escape, shifting his great mass towards the far side of the docks as it proved that at least one of the alleyways between the warehouses hadn't been fully locked down by the fireteams.

Quentin's team quickly deployed from their response truck, taking up positions in preparation for the behemoth-sized target that was heading their way. Two men were immediately positioned at either side of the open space that was the emptied dock, each equipped with an M4 rifle and M203 launcher, followed by three men (including Marshall, who had been attached to Quentin's team for the course of this op) positioned in the center - Quentin himself among them. Whilst Marshall and the other man beside him were equipped with the typical AR pattern rifles, the veteran RAVEN firmly held an M23 MGL in hand, along with a slung Remington M870 that had been loaded with slugs, just in case.

"Once the target crosses into sight, fire on my mark - but hold the containment foam until I call it, upon which I want you to hold back on lethal force unless the situation calls for otherwise," he said, keeping a finger pressed against his transmit button, "Remember to check your fire for friendlies as well, they're pushing the target our way." Then, he relinquished his grip, turning to either man positioned close beside him, "Crown, I want you to put a fireball down if he gets too close." He received a prompt nod from his colleague, before returning the same gesture to the Briton in their ranks to acknowledge him. Hopefully this would pan out well enough, even with an unknown such as Marshall on their team - Reed had vouched for him, as had Max, so that meant something at least.

"Target's heading your way." Meifeng spoke.

"Acknowledged, Wave - hold your team back, but make sure he stays on-course."

Soon, as expected, the behemoth-sized man made an appearance, lurching forward into their line of sight. "Fire!" Quentin squeezed back on the trigger of the launcher, projecting a metal canister towards the target - inside was a fast-acting mixture of metahuman suppressant and tear gas, intended for use against the likes of their rampaging target. This, combined with a volley of fire from both Crown, Marshall, and the other two agents under his command seemed to suffice in at least staggering their target, causing him enough disorientation that he almost seemed to lose his footing, slowing him down enough to enact the next tier of Quentin's plan of attack.

"Contain, contain!" He barked again, then fired off a second canister into their target's mass. It ruptured upon striking him in the arm and from it burst forth a dull grey foam which quickly began to expand, coating the rampaging metahuman's arm in the substance - at the same time, the two men that Quentin had positioned at either side of the dork a mere minute before had fired off their own canisters from their underslung launchers, coating the target's leg and mid-section in the same substance which too began to expand and harden against his mass, only this seemed to spur him on to fight even harder. Quentin let off a low grunt, then fired off more canisters, covering the target with more of the expanding foam yet even then he still fought wildly, trying to cut loose and flee elsewhere. Containment foam was always a godsend to see in action, but even then the big bastard was making it a hard-fought battle - and Quentin knew from experience that the foam needed time to harden, time which was scarce if the target managed to force himself enough leeway. Dropping his M23, he reached for his slung M870 and levelled it towards his target, just as Crown got ready to put a fireball downrange towards their target.

Yet before the veteran RAVEN could resort to firing off a series of decidedly lethal slugs at the target's exposed vital areas, Frank intervened, stepping forward, "Marshall here, I'll try and calm the target down, hold fire!" 

It was at that point that Quentin recalled from the brief glance at Marshall's file that the man possessed some form of empathic abilities, the details of which he was not particularly aware of, though if it worked it would work, "Copy, check fire, check fire!" Nonetheless, he kept 

As Frank closed in, he could feel the sheer rage and blind panic that seemed to seep out from the foamed behemoth, No doubt he'd probably been dosed up with something in order to spurn him on - it was like watching a steroid junkie on a rampage in a gym, only instead of weights and barbells the man had taken to punting cars and chunks of scenery all over the place. And, if he wasn't too careful, he'd have wound up on the list as well - not exactly the best start to his time in the states. Pushing these thoughts aside, however, Frank forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand, delving into the depths of the man's drug-addled, twisted mind, reaching inside and plucking at whatever strings he could, forcing his way in past the rage to bring the man to submission.

From an observer's perspective, it was strange to see Marshall in action. It was like watching a man taming a wild mustang yet at the same time was also reminiscent of watching the same man smother someone with a pillow as they fruitlessly fought against the attempt. In some respects, it was almost unsettling to see - yet it got the results needed. Slowly, but surely, the behemoth's fighting resolve seemed to weaken, the hardening foam further suppressing any spirit that had been within him and preventing him from lashing out as he had before. Quickly, Quentin moved in, weapon at the ready. 

"Keep him down, get a collar on him." Once the metaphoric dust had settled, the team moved quickly enough - one of the agents who had been on foam detail hastily returned with a collar and snapped it on around the man's comparably diminutive neck, eliminating any remaining (albeit minute) chance of further resistance on his part. 

"Counterpoint here," Quentin hailed in, yet again, "Target's been contained but we'll need a transport detail for this one. Might need a medical unit on standby too, looks like another overload dosage." More derivatives of the infamous drug once used by the Founders' agents had spilled into the criminal underworld over the last few years and it was an easy guess for Quentin that this man had been subjected to one of the many examples out there.

"Good work Agent Counterpoint," Maximilian answered. "Other agents will take it from there."

"Heh, knew we could count on you, Counterpoint,"Meifeng answered. "Let's hurry up and get back into position. The BPD will be waiting for us."

Okay, it had sounded like Mr. Marshall there was a Domination-type... specifically when it came to one's emotions. Meifeng wished that she could have known that a little earlier during her little issue with him in the meeting. Eh, either way. She would worry about that much, much, later. 

"Target neutralised," Meifeng reported over the comms with a press of her earpiece. Oi, he wasn't that tough. Probably one of those bastards who thought they had big dicks because they-

A bullet came from out of nowhere, and pierced the head of one of the RAVENs under her command. "What th- Find cover!" She immediately jumped into action as she, with a swift movement, swung her hand upwards, and summoned a wave of water. However, once the wave reached peak height, it froze solid. She slammed her back against it, and prepped her rifle. She was just afraid to stick her head out in case the bastard take it off.

Francis, on the other hand, punched the ground, and summoned his psychic-shell, which gave off a lilac, transparent hue. Bullets rippled off his shell, just as he was confident they would, yet he knew that he couldn't take too much. He'd only chose to do this instead of running for cover because he wanted to see who in the hell was shooting at him. No mobster could have fired with this degree of...

He looked at the rooftop, and saw men and women in helmet clad in armor. He saw the faint red glow of their goggles... and the emblem of the dog.

"ZODIAC!" Francis shouted as he rolled behind the wall of ice.

"Fuck, those animals..." Meifeng knew it was just about time that the ZODIAC fuckers show up. She was ready for them, and she was going to kill the Hound this time. She pressed her earpiece. "This is Agent Rogue Wave! ZODIAC has been sighted by Dock B! I repeat, ZODIAC has been sighted by Dock B!" She shouted into the comms.

"Damn it!" Maximilian said. "All RAVENs, you are to engage ZODIAC and keep their fire away from the BPD at any cost."

"I'm wondering where in the hell their portals are!" Meifeng added. "Or..." Maybe they're mixing up their tactics to throw all their enemies off. Whatever the reason, Meifeng had to make sure that RAVEN were the ones who acquired the Devil's arm, not ZODIAC. That was the important task here.

On top of the same rooftop, the massive and terrifying frame of the ZODIAC group's leader... Sovereign, stood tall and mighty above the growing chaos. He grasped his own M23 Grenade launcher, pointed idly towards the sky as his digital goggles gave off a dull, glowing red shimmer. Sovereign pressed a button on the side of his helmet, and said, 

"Everyone here is a combatant..." He trailed off. "...Which means everyone is fair game. Bring me that arm..."

He stared at the RAVENs below him.

"...And kill anyone in your way."

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