[center][h1][color=ec008c]Ira Riese:[/color]
[color=dodgerblue]Streets of Denver => PRT HQ[/color][/h1][/center]
The time didn't speed up. It stopped. Ira felt the time move sluggishly around her as she stared at the brick wall for hours on end, though the tears did stop flowing. She had checked out of this world, and found herself in one of stone and mortar. Made of real things, not the tangential reality her mind normally perceived. She could feel the weight of her armor, and the clothing scratching against her skin. The tears dried, but her eyes remained puffy, and red. She wanted to cry more, wanted to kick and scream but she didn't want to throw a temper tantrum at a time like this. She turned around and sat down, her back against the building, starting upward at the sky; Ira watched the clouds high above her. She glanced over to her right and watched the ambulance arrive, as she distantly thought about how she hadn't heard its sirens at all. With that realization the blaring slowly faded into her awareness, starting at the peripherals at a dull pain, before being fully resolved with her attention.

Ira slowly stood up her gaze shifting to her feet. A throbbing migraine started, and pulsed in time to the new, distant ,yet approaching sirens. She didn't want to think about what this accident meant, for her team or for her. She didn't want to talk to the therapist or Decoy right now, she just wanted to sleep. Her stomach was tied into knots that wouldn't go away. A firefighter approached her, and asked her if she was alright. She nodded in response, waving him away without a second thought. An ambulance drove away, with Sonar being treated in the back.

A PRT transport showed up, and Ira was the last to get in. She didn't look up from her feet once. The young 'hero' followed orders wordlessly upon arrival, and tuned in to the meeting in the conference room just long enough to be reminded about the importance of Sonar's helmet. She nodded, remembering what she had read what seemed like centuries ago. Messiah was promoted with little ceremony and even less cheer. Ira tuned out again, and only came back once Messiah talked about a meeting. She made the smallest of downward movements without eye contact, which could be taken to be a nod. After Messiah and Martyr left, she looked up to the ceiling.

Ira turned on her communicator, and switched it to the direct channel for contacting Decoy, mostly for emergencies. [color=#3068FF]"I hope you don't expect me to fix this. I probably can't. You could give me access to the classified information about his training, testing, and his interactions with Hero. Are you that desperate?"[/color] Her voice was quiet, just loud enough to be heard through the microphone, and very strained. She listened carefully for a response, sad that she was taking advantage of the situation in this way.