General Harth walked into the Fang Lab where a myriad of small, low-intelligent helper robots milled about taking care of mundane tasks. "Dr. Fang!" he called out as if barking an order, but the corrugated Styrofoam cones that coated the walls soaked up his voice in an uncanny way. Some said a sound-dampened environment like this could drive a person mad from prolonged exposure. Yet one person practically spent their every waking moment in here. "Yes, general?" Dr. Fang called back, her mutant-empowered voice somehow able to travel the length of the considerably large lab without diminishing. She soon rounded the corner, coming in view of the general. She snorted. General Harth closed his eyes in mild disdain. Dr. Fang was at times charismatic, but in the comfort of her own lab, she could be quite a disgusting and slovenly individual even though she managed to keep her workspace meticulously clean. He had heard her say, "home is where you can scratch where it itches," one too many times. "I came to ask on the progress of your...plant..." Harth continued. "Ah yes, Israfil is carrying out the operation as we speak, and, if everything goes off without a hitch, should become one of 'Omega City's finest' shortly," Eileen replied cheerily, popping random joints in an altogether disrespectful way. "That's all I wanted to ask," Harth said curtly fully intending to get out of this lab as quickly as possible. He wouldn't even need to be here if Dr. Fang remembered to fill out her progress updates in a timely fashion. He knew she wasn't disorganized, the woman did great science after all; she simply under-prioritized the things he needed to keep this team running smoothly. "Alright, but do let us know if you have any 'important missions' you need us to go on," Eileen said 'important missions' doing air-quotes in a way that stressed their unimportance, "the boys are getting restless, methinks." Harth sighs and leaves Dr. Fang to her research. [hr] The United States East Coast was not exactly an earthquake-prone area, but that wasn't going to stop Dr. Fang, thanks to her patent-pending seismic disruptor, placed in several key harmonic locations that when activated together... [hr] Omega City was struck by a once-every-hundred-years earthquake 70 years early. While many of the newer buildings were earthquake-proof, many of the older buildings were not; so while the damage was not catastrophic, it was, to a certain degree, significant. Horizon flew around, first using his hard-light shields to push against high-rises to prevent them from toppling, secondly to rescue people who could not escape structurally compromised buildings, and thirdly, to use his tremendous robotic strength to lift rubble and save those who were trapped underneath. Of course, such a large undertaking could not be carried out by one robot alone, and Horizon fully expected other super-powered individuals to start showing up, though there was also the likelihood that thugs would take this opportunity to initiate looting, or perhaps, supervillains would also try to take advantage of the chaos. [hr] "The lights are flickering again," Kyouma noticed aloud. "Doesn't that mean the...ghost is back?" This voice, which only Kyouma could hear in his mind, belonged to Emtardas, the Last Culture-Keeper of the Bresleen, a title granted to the democratically elected leader of what remained of the entire Bresleen civilization. Emtardas was almost always in his office at the Archtower, a microscopic governing structure buried in the base of Kyouma's neck. Implants in Kyouma's brain let him communicate directly with the Archtower, which was itself connected to the entirety of the Bresleen communications network. Sometimes, when Kyouma was bored, he would tap into the Archtower and watch the Bresleen equivalent of television shows and sporting events in his mind. But right now, he was, for lack of a better word, sulking. Well, not really sulking, but there was little here that he was willing to do or participate in. He had...ethical disagreements with the other members of the Squad, but he relied on them for protection and information. "I hear the ghost can possess people," Kyouma thought. "Well, if he ever tries to possess you, we are your failsafe. We can sever your control of your body so he can't make you do things you don't want to, and I doubt he can possess us, probably doesn't even know we exist," Emtardas reassured him. Kyouma smiled. He could trust his body to the Bresleen. "It's just you and me against the world." "No," Emtardas said, "All of us. We're all rooting for you, kid." Kyouma smield again and breathed a heavy sigh. Getting up, he left his room and entered the common area to see who was around and what information, if any, he could gather concerning the Earth's government's secret dealings with aliens.