[h2]Alice Marlowe[/h2]

"You mean that inhaling poison is bad for you? I'm so glad that you managed one display of intelligence today," the victorious hero said, taking a drag and shrinking the flaming hair... an odd process that seemed to start from the ends, leaving no flames left. Though the insult reminded her more of a five year old, and made no sense because she wasn't even close enough to smell, Irene's voice was getting rather grating.

So she just fashioned one of the restraints into a gag. Simple, efficient, and it preserved her insanity as the other heroes caught back up.

Not looking away from Irene--at least that way anything unexpected wouldn't mean an escape--she listened to Buster Fist's clanking. It was finished, did he really have to stay in that bulky thing? "Everything's finished this end, too. We just need someone to arrive and pick this idiot up."

[hr]

[h2]The Undying Silence[/h2]

Demonstrating that today was apparently quite an exciting day for the supervillains of the world, a research facility in the heart of the city was under assault. It was a strange choice to come under attack--cell regeneration, mostly--but of some interest to Maria. On top of that, it was just one branch of a much larger group focusing on all aspects of the border between the living and the dead. This one, in particular, was picked simply because it was the closest and relatively least guarded, as it didn't have direct offensive applications.

Though nobody had been [i]killed[/i], yet, there were rather a lot of broken bones to go around, and a request for help had been sent with a basic description. It was probably a good idea, as the blast doors left over from a previous use for the facility had been hacked through.

The Undying Silence herself was standing in front of the lead researcher, blade in one hand, note in another. [i]The passwords. Give them to me.[/i]

From what she'd learned through the underworld, their research was nearing a breakthrough, yet still not appropriate for its intended purpose... which was fine. She didn't care about the intended purpose. The failed version would give heroes more practise at killing things that wouldn't die; they might learn something.