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As Ethan climbed higher and higher in the fire escape, the areas where the stairwell was compromised became more apparent by the second. Small flakes of silver, almost liquid metal were splattered across the railing and stairs, becoming more prominent and difficult to avoid with each story he climbed. Ethan wasn't a mover in a direct sense, but he knew how to place his body in just the right positions to avoid touching the liquid. Thankfully the individual puddles didn't seem to expand past a few feed in diameter, but considering the size of the fire escape, that didn't exactly leave much room to maneuver.

[i]Too much spread, doesn't make sense with previous reports. Should take at least an hour for it to get this far down if it started at the top floor. Ironside located somewhere other than top floor? Unlikely. Climbing the elevator shaft is impossible. Main stairwell also likely shut down with liquid metal. Elevator shaft too dangerous to climb, can fall to death or be destroyed by a Sundown gravity well. Spread is far too fast paced, indicates some preparation or outside assistance. Possible trump support? Consider-[/i]

Ethan cupped his head in one hand, pausing at a corner as he wrestled with the constant flow of information. He had never been 'on the field' with his power before, and it seemed to kick into overdrive with the stress and conflict of the situation, overfeeding him with information that was unnecessary. Every glance around him told him the errors in architecture, the points that were coated in the liquid metal stood out like neon lights to his vision, making them almost impossible to ignore. The parts where the metal soaked into the stairwell, melding with supports and bolts, was especially concerning.

The short amount of reading Ethan did on the ride over here said that Ironside took quite some time to fully contaminate an area - he had only been here a dozen or two minutes, and had already filled several floors of this massive building with his metal. Ethan was too distracted to think on it deeply, constantly looking up to make sure Champion wasn't running down the stairs to drop kick his head off, or Ironside wasn't about to teleport behind him and push him over the railing. But he had a few guesses about what was happening. The most likely situation was that Blackburn arrived some time ago, subtly infested the area, and then launched the heist... but that wouldn't explain why they haven't done that in all their previous jobs.

Could also be any other number of reasons - a trump they recently hired for this gig is empowering him, maybe they commissioned some kind of power enhancer from Chemtrail. Hell, Ironside might have just second triggered and gotten a faster ramp up period out of it. 

Doesn't matter. Not enough information to guess on the why - just need to focus on the facts right now. Ethan tapped the side of his helmet, talking over the channel as continued walking around each puddle in his ascent.

[color=a36209]"Lot more metal here than I expected - I'm thinking something is boosting Ironside up more than usual. Maybe a trump, tinker tech enhancements or something. Hard to narrow it down with my power being distracted and pointing out every puddle to me. Just be careful if you guys see him, and watch where you step. If Tandem is free, covering the metal in containment foam would be smart."[/color]

Ethan didn't know if Ironside had some kind of Thinker perception towards his puddles, but it would make sense - a teleporter usually has some indication of where they are teleporting too, so having awareness around his 'waypoints' would make sense. Ethan was just kind of hoping it relied on touching the puddles, rather than just being around it. 

Ethan was making surprising progress - already about halfway up the building, and not a parahuman in sight. A crashing sound somewhere below made Ethan pause, but a few questions towards his power helped him narrow it down to either being Richter, Shattercrash, or both. Ethan stayed where he was for a second, catching his breath as he ran through the worst case scenarios.

Kintsugi was most likely with the hostages since he was a liability in a direct fight, and his minions were probably very capable of keeping the hostages in check. At worst, a construct or two might come down the stair well, and considering the usual intelligence of Master minions, they would probably be easy to evade, even with the tight quarters. 

Ironside was likely fighting down below with Shattercrash or Richter, since he was probably the only member of Blackburn that could tank a direct hit from either of them. His power allowed him to teleport anywhere he pleased though, so he could appear behind Ethan the second he let his guard down.

Champion was unaccounted for, but would perform very well in the narrow fire escape. She could definitely beat Ethan in a prolonged fight, but her power set was at least something he could try to fight against. [i]Feint and bait, rely on her overconfidence. She'll crush you if she gets the chance, but taking advantage of the environment could let you evade her or knock her down the stair well. Stay at a distance, don't let her touch you, find-[/i]

Sundown was the worst outcome - if she launched one of her orbs in here, it would probably destroy the entire fire escape. Nothing to do there, juts run or die. [i]Shoot her with your crossbow before she can attack, throw a knife to distract her and then pepper spray her eyes. She won't attack if she can't see, too much risk-[/i]

Ethan kept moving, his movements almost like a dance as he carefully stepped around each puddle, hand only brushing the railing when he needed to make the occasional leap over a larger pool of metal. His hand over over each of his weapons, weighing the options with his power before eventually settling on the pepper spray. It could debilitate anyone except a Kintsugi construct, and he'd be able to drop it and pull out a knife quickly after.