Baphomini

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

It was funny how fast a situation could go from intense and exciting to absolutely horrifying, and yet...even in that moment of heart-pounding fear as he was suddenly pulled up like a weeks-old kitten, Li found himself staring in amazement at the form dragging him away from the scene. It happened so fast that Lilian forgot to adjust his camera to capture the villain as he maneuvered through the trees, and it wasn't until Gamma-Burn was out of sight that he remembered he was recording all of this.

He blinked, looking after the specter that was Gamma-Burn until suddenly the sound of the authoritative voice of the police officer yelling out to him, unnecessarily, over the megaphone-- really, why did people always feel like they needed to yell into those things? Literally, the whole point of a megaphone was so you didn't have to yell! --The harsh crackle of the sharp voice breaking the speaker caused Lilian to flinch and curl in on himself. Big ears meant sensitive hearing, unfortunately. With his attention now on what was behind him, Li looked to see the two officers coming at him and cursed under his breath.

_"Fuck."

He looked back to the forest, then to the officers again. He could easily just run right back into the forest, but Gamma-Burn's harsh tone replayed across his mind. He was reckless, sure, and eager for a story, of course, but...even he had to admit when something was going too far, and he wasn't too keen to find out what a literal murderer would do if he went trudging through the forest again.

Instead, Li turned and took off running along the edge of the forest, looking to find a break in the blockade so he could get back through and find a place to hide in the nearby neighborhood. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying much attention to what was around him, in a wider sense, too focused on not tripping on another wild root. A third officer exited the forest just a short ways down from where the other officers, as he had gone in to search for anyone who might have gotten caught in the rapid growth. As it were, Li ended up colliding with the officer, who immediately grabbed him and brought him into a firm hold, causing Lilian to drop his still-recording camera.

"Hey!" Li snapped, wriggling in the officer's hold, "Careful with that! My work doesn't pay for that shit!"

The officer put no effort into knocking Li's legs out from under him and lowering him down to the ground, "Easy there, son," he directly sternly, "There's no reason to get out of hand here. Let's be rational."

Li continued to struggle against the officer, practically seething, "I didn't do shit! Let me go! You can't arrest me for doing nothing!"

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Just go with the flow I guess?

While the two supers exchanged words, Lilian was glad he had pulled out his video camera for this encounter rather than his standard camera. It wasn't often one got the chance to capture a hero and villain face-off like this, and Li was more than excited to be one of those lucky few, especially considering that with Gamma-Burn's radiation, scenes between him and anyone were nigh impossible to get. Strangely, the only thing Li worried about in regards to that was whether or not said radiation would fuck up his camera. It...hadn't yet? And there was far more radiation around the last time he had followed the supervillain, so, Lilian assumed he was safe. Seemed his gadgets were just as impervious to damage as he was. Too bad the same couldn't be said about his bike...man he needed to get that fixed.

Focus, Li, he thought, simultaneously focusing his camera on the two supers. He zoomed in on King Stag, only to catch the hero looking his way and his scarlet gaze flicked up from the screen to look directly at the hulking bug man. Suddenly, somehow, knowing what he did from the interview-- that King Stag was a proxy and not a metahuman or transmute as so many assumed --Li had questions. Many of those questions revolved around what King Stag might look like without a carapace, but...as he thought about the fact that there were literally thousands of arthropods under that natural armor, he drew his thoughts back and instead focused back on the little screen of his video camera and widened the shot back out to capture both supers as they drew closer together.

Whereas King Stag had certainly noticed him right away, it seemed Gamma-Burn hadn't. That, or the supervillain was simply ignoring him. Then again, that threat to kill someone seemed a little pointed...

Oh shit... the thought trailed across Li's mind as he stared at the showdown through the screen of his camera, Am I in danger?

𖤐 Hell's Renegades 𖤐

And so it goes...

With Lauden's departure from the scene, the second guard returned to the common area, giving the corpse-like man a good, almost cautious, look over as they crossed paths, studying him in a way, really, before turning his attention back ahead of him. With a shake of his head, he made his way over to the small gathering of people composed of the other guard, Bezaliel, Dr. Gate, and Sabriel. He and the other guard exchanged something that was halfway between a high-five and a handshake, holding each other's hand for a moment before letting go as the returning guard gave a heavy sigh.

Sabriel's attention tore from whatever response he had prepared for Dr. Gate and locked right onto the two guards. He smirked and gave a light laugh, crossing his arms over his chest as he jutted his chin toward the pair in a directive gesture, "What's truly cute here is how these two continue to go on pretending like they aren't shacking it up in the galley while we're all sleeping," he mused and focused on the returned guard, "Remind me again about that girlfriend you said you have? Is she aware you play around with your buddies from work? Or is this just some fucked up 'just between us' sort of thing? My, my, I do wonder how she'd feel about this."

"Go suck a dick, Sabriel," the guard spat.

Sabriel only grinned at that and leaned toward the man, "Are you volunteering?"

It was the other guard who stepped in at that point, stepping between the two men and pushing them apart, "That's enough," he said, "I'm going to go get the snacks I promised. Can you two at least try not to kill each other?"

"Oh, but darling!" Sabriel started, his tone overly dramatic as he brought the back of his hand to his forehead and set his other hand over his chest, "Don't you realize? I'm a serial killer, killing people is in my nature!" the act was barely held as the white-haired man grinned widely, showing off his upper set of overly sharp canines as he slumped and stumbled a few steps back, keeping up the dramatics as he plopped to the floor, "How ever could I go on in life without killing someone? You may as well take away my ability to eat! To drink water! To sleep! How ever am I to cope in life without murder?" By that point, Sabriel has completely fallen back on the laminate, theatrically sprawled out like a corpse from a bad crime show.

The guards watched him, unamused, and the smaller of the two turned and headed for the galley, "Again. Just try," he said as he went.

Sabriel frowned, watching the man leave from where he was on the ground before looking up at the other guard, "You really find something enticing enough in that man to cheat on your girlfriend?" he questioned dully.

The guard simply ignored him and walked away, making his way toward the other side of the common area where the rest of the lot was congregating on the couches by the door to the courtyard. Sabriel watched him go, then turned his head and looked at Dr. Gate with a coy smile, "Looks like it's just you and me now, love~"



Meanwhile, in the entertainment space of the common area, Casey finally shifted to sit up as ne watched Donovan, finding him only somewhat more entertaining than listening to Pine mention plants being better than humans for the umpteenth time. Don't get it wrong, Casey cared about Pine as much as ne did any of the Hounds, which was actually quite a bit. Ne made a lot of effort a lot of the time trying to get everyone hanging out and talking together, after all, they were supposed to be a team, right? But even Casey had to admit that, despite how much ne and Pine had in common when it came to their individual relationships with the human race...Pine could get really old really fast. It wasn't him per se...just...his repetitiveness?

Ne listened to Donovan explain to Bezaliel that the Uncrustables were not meat and nodded in affirmation to his mention of there being one with honey, "Yeah," ne said, "There's a PB n' honey one, n' then there's those fucked up reduced-sugar ones on wheat. What they should give us are Lunchables! Then Bez could have some meat n' cheese! Though let's all be honest, the pizza ones are the best, seconded only by the nacho ones. The cracker ones are mostly jus' good as a nostalgic snack."



And so the time went, everyone conversing and debating on the topic of best snacks and other foods from various brands and just in general. It wasn't long before the smaller guard returned with the snack cart stacked with chips, cookies, pretzels, and of course, Uncrustables in both strawberry and hazelnut. Drinks on the cart included milk of various flavors as well as different kinds of juice and bottles of water. The time passed by until the golden rays of the sun began peeking in through the lattice roofing of the courtyard, streaming in through the patio door and filling the mock living room of the common space in a crossed pattern across the rug and furniture. Eventually, the larger guard turned on the projector, which was connected to a television and cable box in the galley, and switched on the morning news. Everything was more or less normal on the report, with simple stories about pet adoptions, crafts and recipes, coffee shops dedicated to workers with Down Syndrome, and, of course, the weather.

By the time the first run of the news was coming to a close, it was just about eight in the morning, and finally, finally the main doors to the unit opened as in came the morning crew. Two new guards for the day, a couple of nurses carrying binders containing medications, and a nutrition worker wheeling in the meal cart, stacked with styrofoam boxes, each marked with a name. However, there was one addition to the small fleet of personnel.

Agent Roy Vega. Project Supervisor.

The shorter man walked with a certain level of importance, head held high and hands clasped behind his back. He nodded toward one of the day guards as they were heading into the galley, and a few moments after they disappeared, the projector faded off, leaving the screen blank and white and the room silent aside from scattered chatter. He made his way around the room, nodding to those he approached and wishing everyone a good morning, before asking each Hound to join him by the couches.



Sabriel had long since pulled himself off the floor again and taken to sitting at the dining table while he played a game of solitaire where he was obviously cheating by digging through the cards to find ones he needed to continue. With Roy's request, he reluctantly got up with a roll of his eyes and swept his cards onto the floor as he started over to the seating area. He was stopped though as Rubber walked up to him.

"I am finally having to be solving the puzzle of your own, witchy one," the alien announced, "Depending on the sizing of the cup in question, the number of quarters that which the container is to be of holding is to be ranging anywhere from ten to an exponent of fifteen to the twelfth degree!"

Sabriel stared at the creature, dumbfounded by its stupidity, then just shook his head and brushed by it, "The answer is four, you idiot," he muttered, "There are four quarters of a cup in a full cup. It's the unit of measure, dumbass. Fock, I don't even use the imperial system and that much is obvious to me!"

Rubber stared after the man, holding up its hands again and counting on its webbed fingers in confusion, "It is being of a unit of measure...?" it mumbled, head tilting to the side.



Still sitting on the couch, Casey closed up nir journal and shoved it between the cushions as ne turned nir attention to Roy, curling up in the corner of the couch with nir cloven-hooved feet pulled up, knees hugged to nir chest, "Sup Royboy!" ne called, "What brings ya t'Casa de Hounds so early?"

Roy gave nem a wave and smiled, "I have an important announcement to make," he replied, "Hence why I'd like to bring everyone together."

"We goin' t'Disneyland 'r somethin'?" Casey asked jokingly.

"Something like that," Roy returned, a playful light flashing in his eyes.

"I call first seat on the Matterhorn!" Casey laughed.

Roy laughed along and gave the hybrid a questioning look, "You'll get soaked," he pointed out.

Casey's ears perked and nir crest lifted into a fanning slope on top of nir head, "I love getting soaked!" ne responded, "Tha's the whole point'a the Matterhorn n'ways! Y'don't go on a water ride 'specting t'stay dry!"

"I supposed that's a good point," Roy chuckled, then looked around to see how much of the crew had joined so far.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Meanwhile...

Lilian watched as King Stag took off out of the meeting room and back through the office, his phone still spouting off the breaking news as he just sat there, awkwardly. He looked over at Falcone, raising his brows, then looked down at the device in his hand, listening for a minute. As soon as he had where the chaos was taking place, he jumped up from his chair, switched off the recording device, and scooped it and all his other materials up as he turned to rush out of the meeting room himself. He stopped at the door and looked back at Falcone again, flashing a smile and giving a laugh before quickly saying, "Sorry, lady, duty calls!"

With that, he was off, running back through the office to his cubicle as his boss's boss continued to yell for him. He quickly dumped everything on his desk and grabbed his camera case before dashing back to the other side of the office, whistling sharply as he passed Mr. Malcolm and Hal, "I'm on it!" he called out as he passed, "I'll send you the receipt for my ride!"

Barreling into the elevator as the doors closed for an already crowded group going down, Lilian was already opening the Ryde app and putting in the address. By the time he got out the doors, a red Tesla was already pulling up to the curb and he took no hesitation in diving into the back seat.

"Lili─" the driver started to ask but Lilian cut him off.

"Yeah-yeah, just drive! There's a good tip in it for you if you get me there fast enough!"

The driver nodded and immediately pulled away from the curb, causing a series of honks from behind as cars were forced to stop. The traffic violations didn't stop there as the driver sped through lights in the process of turning red and blasted through stop signs just barely missing pedestrians. Lilian didn't even have time to put on his seatbelt and was tossed around the backseat a fair bit, but he didn't care. All he did was make sure he didn't land on his camera.

In practically no time, the Tesla pulled up to a police barricade and jolted to a stop. Lilian started to yell at the driver to keep going before he saw the barricade and immediately jumped out of the vehicle, "Thanks! I'll walk it from here!" he called and took off on foot, dashing out of view and around the line of police cars and blockades to rush straight into the scene. Straight into the...the jungle?

Li slowed to a stop as he realized the overgrowth around him and stared in awe as he looked around. In a moment, he snapped out of it and quickly pulled out his camera to get some shots of the overall scene, taking close-ups of some of the plants around him before focusing on the horizon to try and figure out where the supers in question could be.

The sound of a police officer calling out to him caused him to jump and he whipped around to see the officer maneuvering around the barrier and waving, "Hey you! Kid! Get out of there! It's dangerous!"

Lilian hopped from one foot to the other, then yelled out, "I'm not a kid, numbnuts!" before he turned and took off running across the field of ever-growing vegetation. He dashed and dodged as the police officer continued to yell after him, leaping over plants and ducking behind those that were larger in size. This was nothing like maneuvering through the city where he could climb on top of things to get a better view, with the openness of the field and the thick gathering of the plants, he had to put in some actual effort to get around. Eventually, however, he did find what he was looking for, all attributed to King Stag's booming hero voice. The moment he heard the hero in the distance he took off running at full speed and came crashing through the overgrowth as his foot got caught on an extensive root poking out of the ground.

He tumbled and fell, though skillfully turned it into a roll and managed to pop up and land in a simple crouch, kneeling on one knee with his camera positioned perfectly. Not...the most graceful of entrances, and...he hadn't even planned to make himself known to begin with, but, well...there was a first time for everything?

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

This is a mess, Li thought with a suppressed groan. He felt like he was pulling out his hair strand by strand. The interview was going downhill fast and he needed to save it before it crashed, but he had no idea how to do that. He wanted to just take a note from King Stag and shove a doughnut in his mouth and not have to talk anymore, but he was the interviewer, he couldn't just not talk. He flipped through his notebook pages again, looking over the questions he had written down, This is a mess! he thought again, These questions are crap! Fucking seriously? How much do you lift? What was I on when I wrote these? What was your most significant battle and or rescue...that one...isn't too bad...right? But what if he just says the one with Lady Radiance? I'll look like an idiot! Of course, his debut would be his most significant. Come on, Li, pick something. Anything!

"So, every worker has to have some downtime, King," he started, "Even heroes, right? You guys can't be saving the day twenty-four-seven or anything even close to that. Without getting too into detail or risking the reveal of a secret identity or anything like that... What, uh, what do you like doing in your free time?"

That's the question I chose?! he screamed at himself and this time he couldn't help but slap his hand over his face as he turned his head down, That Falcone lady is going to eat me! What am I supposed to do now? Retract it? Maybe I should retract it. I should retract it...

"Wait─ I realize that might be a bit too personal. Let me just...ask something else..." he flipped through his questions again, reading each and every one over and over as though one would magically change into the right one to ask.

Who is your celebrity crush? Ha! Falcone would shoot me. Are you single?! Falcone would stab me with her pen! How would someone get your attention? Li, you're just asking that woman to strangle you at that point. Why did I write these? What was I thinking? I gotta have something else that isn't personal. I gotta─

His thoughts were cut short though as a sudden commotion started up through the office, people running and shouting. He heard his boss, not Hal, but Hal's boss yelling for someone to 'get on the scene, stat!' and asking for him specifically. Sirens rushed by on the street far below outside the window and a news helicopter wasn't far behind all the noise.

Lilian pulled out his phone and opened up to a live news broadcast, and the first words spoken were all that was needed.

"[...] by none other than the growingly infamous, Gamma-Burn!"

"Fuck..." Li muttered and looked toward King Stag, knowing nothing he could say could keep the hero from jumping into action.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

"Y'know technically you can't have just super speed?" Lilian returned the question faster than he could even process what he was saying. A small part of his brain screamed that he was about to devolve into senseless info-dumping, but he was too focused on what he was saying to actually process the warning as he continued, "Due to the high friction of moving so fast, you would actually need a significant healing factor to go along with it, and that's not even getting into the strength and endurance requirements necessary to move the body fast enough to be considered moving at a notable speed comparable to that of the average speedster. Throw in the need for dexterity and general mental processing to be able to keep up with the world around you as everything moves by at a speed unnatural to your form, and well, you've actually got a pretty hefty powerset right there! But─ uh-uhm..." and there it was. His brain caught up and he realized what he had just done.

Shit... he thought, Okay. Just don't...don't be dumb, Li. So you went psycho for a minute and blabbered on about shit no one cares about. No big deal. No big deal unless you make it a big deal. And you're not going to do that. Right? You're not going to make this a big deal.

He cleared his throat and coughed awkwardly, "Uh, but um, that's all, technicality and shit. Y'know. Science crap. Nothing ya really need to think about in a hypothetical. Speed's a good choice. I think it would really add to your powerset. Maybe toss on some that dexterity with it too, though, huh?" he laughed, "Could probably save the DNCC a few hundred in window repairs."

Screaming. Li's internal monologue was nothing but screaming by that point and he wanted to slam his head into the table. What the hell was wrong with him? Who just, goes off like that? And it was all on tape!

Dear gods, going back through this recording is going to be absolute hell, he thought, fighting the urge to bury his face in his hands as he kept his gaze steady on King Stag, though his hands were under the table, fingers clawing as his stupid slacks. The fabric felt awful and was in no way comforting. He wished he had just dressed normally. He wished he had prepared himself better. He wished he had better control over whatever the hell that explosion of useless information was. He just hoped that he wasn't making a bad impression. He just prayed that this big-time hero wasn't put off, but more than that, that no one would bring attention to his weirdness.

MAFIA: Madame Broussard's Witchy Wares

We lost some players so it can't start until we get those slots filled

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Li nodded to Cricket's answer, taking a moment to jot down a few notes in his notebook as he thought on exactly how King Stag was answering his questions. He's being careful, he thought, cautious even. He's holding back. I wonder if it's because hus PR is here or if he's trying to hide things himself... With a hum, Lilian decided to start seguing into the more personal questions he had planned for the hero, and just hoped that the public representative wouldn't catch on.

As he thought about his next approach, a light knock at the door signaled the arrival of someone else, and without waiting for an invitation, the intern Falcone had sent off for doughnuts finally returned, arms full of iconic pink boxes.

"Hey uh...is uh, is anyone concerned that Jason is unconsciousness in the hallway surrounded by a bunch of coffee and shit?" the intern asked, but Lilian didn't even look at them as he just waved for them to set the doughnuts down.

"Just set the boxes down and uh, can you get us another tray of coffee after seeing to Jason?" Lilian spoke absently to the intern. Frankly, he didn't care, but...it probably wasn't the best impressionto make on a hero, not caring about a fellow person and all that. Then again, King Stag hadn't exactly reacted when Jason fainted. Maybe he didn't care either? Li doubted it.

As the intern set down the boxes of doughnuts between the three of them and headed out, Lilian focused on his next question.

"Alright," he started, "Let's take a little break from all the technical bullcrap of what, when, and why, and have a little fun, yeah? If you could have any other power than what you have now, either in replacement of, or in addition to your existing abilities, what would it be and why?"

It was...only technically personal, right? Falcone couldn't actually fault him for posing a fun hypothetical...could she?

Man, he thought, If I lose this interview over this I might just kill myself...

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Cricket may have felt he dodged something with that mentioned of the police, but Li was on it like a shark on chum, "So you rose up because the police fell short," he paraphrased, "You stepped in where you felt those meant to be protecting us just weren't making the cut. You decided to do what the police have actively been refusing to do for years. Protect the people, for the people, rather than prancing around and chasing after the nearest dollar offered their way. Correct?"

Li paused, shifting in his seat, and flipped through his notebook. He hadn't written questions for this, but he needed to act like this was planned. He needed to pretend this was a natural angle in the interview, "If that's so, King Stag, then what would you say you hope to make happen for our community?" he swallowed, glancing at Falcone, almost sure the woman was ready to attack him, "What uh...what would you say you, or really any hero for that matter can offer this city that law enforcement and other officials can't?"

There, that was less pointed...right? Less...loud... Gods, Lilian prayed his dumbassery didn't lose him this interviewall together. He would never hear the end of it. Especially not from Joshua or Hal. Especially not from Josh.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

"I see..." Lilian said absently, "So...what you're saying is. The DNCC has both opened up your horizons as a hero, as well as closed them to some degree? While you have more informationon the entities you face and work with, your pool has been restricted..." he glanced at Falcone, then shook his head as he redirected his thoughts. He...figured it was better not to sit there and judge the DNCC when a representativefrom their ranks was sitting right there? Yeah...probably not the best idea.

"Sorry," he started, "Let me get back on track here... With uh...with the work you do as a hero, what's something that keeps you going? What drives you to continue through with the hero gig? What'syour core ambition?"