[hr][h1][i][color=Dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color], & Task Force RAVEN, vs Peter Brooke.[/i][/h1][hr] ...Adam narrowed his eyes. He had a sinking feeling that Peter is warning them of REAPER breaking him out - just as Maximilian theorized would happen. Well, that isn't going to happen. "If your research is so important to you, then why did you launch an attack - alone - on several squads of powerful and heavily skilled Agents...?" He asked, skeptically. Peter leaned his head forward, quiet for a couple moments. "Because you can't hold me down." [hr][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7PdheiAT-Y[/youtube][hr] On cue, there was a sudden amalgation of several electrical streams beneath the surface of the containment foam. The overhead lights were flickering from the sudden interference. He concentrated the field between his body and available arm. The foam bulged and cracked, before the overwhelming force of the magnetic repulsion forced the foam to burst. The sudden release of the magnetic field spread across the whole room, and repelled the table they were seated at away from him, and knocked Adam backwards. The entire room lit up in his eyes, and he could even see the electrical wires within the walls. "Ah, damn it." Leon's expansive eyes went wide as he pressed his finger to his earpiece. "We got a problem! PR-1's out!" He shouted into his earpiece. "And he's about to fry the old man! Get your sprayers and push in!" "[i]God damn it![/i]" Lihua hissed in Chinese. This isn't how she expected this to go - but looks like there's no choice but to fight. Sure, she's suspended - but Metahuman or not she's not going to stand by and let Peter [i]rampage[/i] through Headquarters. "Shit! We need to get Adam out of there!" Helena shouted, she was shaking as her blue eyes fixated on PR-1. She quickly turned to Lihua, and pointed at, "This is... this is all-" "Yeah, yeah, save that shit for later, [i]rookie[/i]." Lihua hissed. "We have to get Adam out of there right now. And I have an idea." Then she remembered what PR-1 could do, and it's uncanny ability to hear. "I need you, Helena. No time to think about it, you do it or he dies!" Helena had no idea what crazy scheme Lihua was up to, but it better fucking work. This was all [i]her[/i] fault. "Okay." Lihua quietly sighed to herself. She stepped into a sideways position, and raised her fist up into the air. She brought her fist back, and violently pulled the concrete around the two-way mirror enough so that it shattered. In the split second, Helena knew exactly what to do. This was going to hurt like hell, though. Right as the glass was falling, Helena flash stepped into the room, and grabbed onto Adam, who was already pulling himself up. She then flashstepped back into the observation room. Only problem was that it could get at [i]them[/i] now. "Agents!" Dana shouted - through the building's speakers, opposed to the comms. "We have an emergency! A dangerous Metahuman has escaped from containment! All noncombatants evacuate the detention center immediately, and all other Agents, head to there to engage lockdown procedures! This is not a drill!" Helena entered Peter's field of awareness, and reflexively shot a bolt of electricity at her location almost instantly. However, during the battle in Ghost Town, she had a very small impact on its outcome. He did not think to recall her and her ability. Her instant travel outpaced him, and there was just a scorch mark where the pair was before. [i]'Interesting'[/i]. The field expanded to fill the new space, allowing him to see Lihua again, and all the others in the observation room. This brought on a smile in Peter - she was the one that threatened his work, was she not? Now she was indoors. Whether she realized it or not, she was in [i]his[/i] domain. Without having to look up, he already sensed the metal beams in the ceiling. With the aid of magnetism, he launched himself toward the ceiling stuck to it, attracting himself to the beams in the frame of the room. He moved closer to the lights. Punching a hole through the wall, he grabbed the electrical output for the room's lights and began draining away at the power, charging himself more and more until everything went black. The lights flickered away, and all that was left was darkness. Agents charged into the room, armed with containment foam sprayers. They immediately began spraying wildly into the room at all directions, [i]hoping[/i] to contain Peter. They only had flashlights to give them guidance. Peter wasn't interested in the mooks. Perhaps last time he was in order to demoralize their leaders and to drag out the conflict, but now he had a clear goal and didn't intend to waste time. He launched another punch at the ceiling, making another gaping hole, before pulling himself through between the levels. He continued to hammer above him until he finally digs his way to the floor above this one. [hr] Of course, once PR-1 started moving, the Agents instinctively hauled ass out of the room - suspecting he was going to go straight for them. They heard crackling in the room behind them, then darkness. They stopped outside the room. "God damn it!" Helena shouted. "I told Max we should have destroyed it while we had the chance!" Leon just shrugged. "Y'know, I kinda had a feeling this would happen." He stood there. "Max is out. Sonya is out. Henry is out... Most of RAVEN ain't even here." He shook his head. "Shit ain't lookin' good for us last RAVENs." "Shit!" Helena hissed, before pointing at them, moving her finger across. "I told all of you this would happen!" "Oh pipe down." Lihua said to Helena. "We'll just have to stop him ourselves." "How will we do that?! It nearly killed you [i]and[/i] Max last fight." Lihua grit her teeth as that scene flashed before her eyes. Her heart starting racing - but her will stopped her from breaking down immediately. "Same way he was apprehended last time." Adam said, putting his hands behind his back. "We have no choice but to attempt to spray him." "Hmmm...." Lihua put her hand on her chin. "Miranda.... he's going for Miranda - but it doesn't know where she is." She noted. "Which means it's unlikely to leave this area until it has completed it's objective.... Afterwards, it'll be free to tear apart headquarters." "Which means we'll just have to box it in to the Detention Center." Adam slammed his fist onto an open palm. "In close quarters like this, it'll have a harder time dodging the containment foam." "... And I think it just broke [i]through the floor.[/i]" Leon raised his sunglasses a bit, his power couldn't accurately work in the darkness. Which was a pain in the ass, but he could [i]hear[/i]. There was a moment of silence. "... [i]God damn it.[/i]" Lihua said. [hr] Peter's hand erupted from the tile floor, an array of ceramic shrapnel flying every which direction. Peter could sense the panic in the building, but this spot must have been the one of the sections with the greatest condensed non-combatants in NEST headquarters. There was no one around. Naturally, this would mean Miranda [i]wasn't[/i] here, but that doesn't mean this place can't be useful. He pulled himself out from the floor and scanned the area around him. Like he suspected, this was investigation and file keeping. No armories or detention centers or anything of the sort. But there were [i]computers.[/i] They were on NEST's network. He marched down the hall toward the nearest office, and closed the door behind him. None of the Agents could see in the dark except for specialized meta-humans, but Peter could see everything as far as his range would allow him and more. He faced a monitor on a desk and raised his hand to touch the computer, discharging electricity from his body. In the midst of the power outage, he brought the isolated computer to life and the network routers beside it. The outage was devastating in more ways than one. They lost all of their intel. All outside communication. Any compounding numbers were halted. Theoretically, they'd have to re-synchronize [i]everything[/i], assuming their HQ was left in one piece. It won't be. Finally booting up the machine, he put the proper input in to navigate its programs. The screen blinked around madly before it met with a particular window, asking for a passcode. Peter smiled. It would only be a matter of time. Thousands of variations and possibilities ran through his head, and he entered them into field, receiving "invalid" after "invalid", blinking on and off like a strobe light. It could take a dozen minutes. Much less if he was lucky. But between the darkness, no way to know what he was doing, where he could be - he figured time was on his side. They wouldn't find him soon enough with the entire headquarters to look through. [hr] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xJSPwvhjL4[/youtube] "Good grief." Lihua muttered to herself as she shined a flashlight ahead alongside Adam. Helena and Adam were behind her, watching their six. Though, she had the total feeling that he could pop out of nowhere, and - while she would never admit it - it terrified her. She had to stay strong, and [i]hope[/i] that Leon could find it. Adam quickly deployed his [i]own[/i] Echo. A golden tinted copy of himself that shined a light throughout the hallway - appearing like a hologram - that could only be seen by a fellow Metahuman. It might be giving themselves away, but, far as it can tell, [i]he'll know exactly where they are[/i]. "Leon, have you found it yet?" Helena asked, shaking her flashlight. "Not yet." Leon was worried. He couldn't hear anything through the comms. He pressed onto it, "Grue, are you okay? Grue? Grue?!" Getting no response. "I hope Dana's okay. Hate to lose the little girl." "She can handle herself, just find it so we can lock it back up, already." Helena quickly yipped. "Good grief, woman, get a hold of yourself." Lihua hissed at Helena. "You're damn near ready to piss yourself." "Wouldn't you?" "Of course not, because level heads prevail." "Can you two stop your sitcom bickering for one second?" Leon raised his finger up into the air. Okay, he needed to focus. In the darkness, he couldn't see Peter - but he can always hear him. Which meant that, when using that All-seeing eye of his, he has to listen extra carefully. He projected his vision onto the enviroment again, and slowly scanned the hallways where PR-1 could have went... Until he saw some light. He immediately focused on that area, and caught sight of PR-1 mashing away at a computer. "Uh, oh." "Wait, what is it?" Helena said, coming to a stop. "Caught eyes of our little metal friend. He's trashing computers in I&I." "Good grief!" Lihua slapped her hand onto her forehead. "All my work... No, we have to focus." "A plan of attack is in order." Adam noted. "Helena could catch...." Leon tried to suggest, before getting cut off by Lihua. "Don't bother." Lihua said. "I have a plan in mind... it's going to be a huge risk." "What is it this time? Want to nuke Headquarters?!" Helena said. "The four of us can't take him on our own. I could last a few minutes in a fight against him. Adam could, too. Only problem is that we'd only be able to delay it." Lihua shook her head. "It's after Caryl, so we have to lay a trap for it." "What kind of trap can we lay for that damn thing?" Helena raised an eyebrow. "Aren't the cell resistant to every type of damn power out there?" Lihua asked no one in particular. "Yeah, how's that going to help us? Think we can get him into a cell?" "No, no, I have a different idea." Lihua noted. "His abilities [i]have[/i] to be electro-magnetic. He has some sort of extra-sense related to it. Our only hope is to hide outside of it's senses for the perfect time to strike." "So you want us [i]four[/i] to dip inside the cells?" Leon put his hand up, and then shrugged. "Then what? It kicks our ass as always?" "Not just [i]us[/i], we'll grab as many Agents as we can." "With the comms down and shit?" Leon scratched the side of his head. Adam took a step forward, and faced them. "I have a telepathic ability currently replicated. And NEST has several other telepaths in it's employ." "Good. Me and Adam can gather some Agents." Lihua said. "Dana did tell our combatants to gather in the detention center." "Good plan and all..." Leon crossed his arms, looking off to the side. "... How the hell do we get him in the trap?" "He'll walk himself into the trap. He's after Miranda." Lihua grinned wryly. "As I recall, leading up to Miranda's cell is a long hallway straight to it. Even if he bursts through the ground, he'll have to get into our line of fire." "Good plan, but... it's basically [i]hoping[/i] that we can catch him off guard, and [i]hoping[/i] we can foam him." Leon raised a finger into the air. "Look. Vahan." Lihua looked Leon right in the eye. "We don't have too many plans that don't involve throwing ourselves at it senselessly until it kills each and every one of us. There's a large margin for failure - but, this might be our only feasible plan." "Agent Vuhong is right, it utterly blindsided us." Adam nodded his head. That was the problem with NEST, they were only good when they had time to prepare. No one could prepare for an attack of this scale. "However, I feel as if we could make a few... changes to the plan. Make it less obvious that he's walking into a trap." Leon shook his head. "Got no other ideas." "Alright, Adam." Lihua turned to the older gentlemen. Adam's version of Echo faded away, as he switched to Telepathy. He tilted his head downwards, before he closed his eyes, and sent out the telepathic message to as many NEST Agents as possible. [i]All Agents, this is Adam Blackmore. I am sending you telepathic directions for a meetup point... We have a plan.[/i] Adam nodded at Lihua, before Leon says, "Alright, I'll keep an eye on it from a distance." The four Agents went to action. [hr] After some time to meet up and explain the plan, all Agents were positioned. In the hallway leading up into Miranda's cell, several Agents (Including Lihua and Adam) had formed a little defensive line. Lihua had used her ability to create concrete spikes that point down the hallway. There were multiple concrete barricades, each with some Agents - armed with containment foam - standing behind. Lihua was standing in front of the cell door, with a cold face. Adam had deployed his own shining Echo. Agents were positioned in the empty cells as planned. This was a gambit, but they had to do something to stop Peter. Now they wait. Lihua was good at waiting... but Peter could show up at any moment, in the most unexpected way. And they all were prepared. Peter's password scans finally came to an end when the the result, "passcode verified" finally popped up on the screen. He was redirected to cells in the detention block, where he dug deeper and deeper and search through isolated chambers. High-profile meta criminals, but the most isolated of all was the ex-director's cell. If they had any idea what Peter was up to, they'd mount a defense there. The map showed him which area in which level - at the end of a long hallway. Apex containment, a very costly cage. He may not be able to easily force his way through by breaking through walls. Worst comes to worst, he'll want to disguise his approach. He discharged excess electricity into the computer, overloading it until it was finally fried. It sizzled, and a small flame flickered from the vents. The smoke began rising. Peter tossed a folder of documents - he had no care whether they were important or not - to fuel it, and walked out as the fire slowly began to envelop this section of NEST's headquarters. As they caught, a larger flame emerged. Within moments, a smoke detector went off. One isolated beeping sensor went off, and a few seconds following, alarm bells across the facility began going off loudly. He may have cut the power, but emergency systems always operated on an independent grid. Seconds after the alarms went off, sprinklers from the ceiling began dousing headquarters with water - along with other levels. It was a fail safe to prevent fire from spreading to other floors. With the sound of bells and rain smacking against tile floors, their senses should be further disrupted. There was just one more thing Peter wanted to take care of before he hunted down Miranda Caryl... He walked towards the hole he had carved from the floor and jumped down it, landing solidly on the ground with his five hundred pounds of weight. The room lit up behind his eyes. Looks like they retreated. Perhaps it was as he suspected, and they mounted a defense. A bulwark, all for a woman. It was fruitless... he never intended to [i]rescue [/i] her. He marched out of the destroyed observation room, the water pooling on the floors splashing with each of his steps. He marched deeper through the high-risk cells of the detention block - with the water everywhere, he could expand his field of vision [i]effortlessly[/i]. He could see around corners and down halls. He came across a guard, who was unable to see Peter coming and had a hard time even hearing him coming amongst the chaos. Peter wrapped his hand around the agent's neck, choking him and rendering unable to call for help. He charged a magnetic field within his hand before releasing it - in an instant, his fingers were pulled towards his hand. In an instant, the agent's throat and neck were crushed. Blood seeped between Peter's fingers, and tossed the agent to the side like dirty laundry. He bent over and lifted a key from the dead man's pocket. On the other side of the cell was a man, hunkered over a corner. Peter touched the locked cell door, created a field, and unlocked the mechanism inside. The door slid open, prompting a curious look from the prisoner inside. "You the one they been talkin' about, ain't ya?" Peter didn't answer his question, instead, he threw the key to his collar at his feet. "All you have to do to pay me back is to release all prisoners above priority code seven. I suspect that many... [i]important[/i] agents have barricaded themselves at the entrance of the maximum security cell block. Do what you will with this information." "Anything to get out of this shit-hole." The Prisoner said as he unlocked his collar. It dropped off his neck, and he stood up. He balled his fists, before they were engulfed in orbs of light. "Looks like we got ourselves a prison break." "For the record..." Peter added. "You may do as you like, but consider the idea that the more agents you take out of commission, the less likely you are to be captured again." "Yeah, yeah, whatever, [i]boss[/i]." The Prisoner said as he quickly darted past Peter out of the cell. He immediately went to work releasing every dangerous Metahuman that NEST had captured. Eventually, they had themselves a little crowd. Comprised of thieves, murderers, rapists, psychopaths, and any of the sort. The Prisoner raised his fist up into the air, and shouted to his crowd, "Alright boys and gals, I'm [i]Dante![/i] And I think it's time that we bust out of this dump!" He started laughing. "Fuck up NEST in any way you can." The crowd loudly cheered before they went to work "The exit is down the longest hallway." Peter lied. "There might be a blockade waiting for you." They quickly rushed down the hallway, searching for blood.