[hr][i][h1][color=gray]Quentin Taylor[/color].[/h1][sub]Written in collaboration with [@Zombiedude101][/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]Havenfield Market, Roseview.[/u][/i]


Quentin cut a path through the market, dead-set on catching up with the Black Hound. By this point, most of the gunmen that had swarmed the festival were either dead, scattered or otherwise preoccupied, due in no small part to the efforts of BPD and the rest of RAVEN. Part of him wanted to hold back and offer some backup to them, but he knew from experience that someone as dangerous as the Hound needed to be put down.

As he rounded yet another corner, following the trail of bodies, shell casings and destruction, he bore witness to the sight of some kid going up against the Hound, getting knocked down for his troubles. Quentin hunkered down low, taking cover behind low lying debris in an effort to get up close, ready to put the man into a fight with someone his own size.

For all the pondering and attempts to edge at philosophy, he couldn't help but wonder why these kinds of people would never shut up. Before the kid could answer the Black Hound's next question, Quentin leaned forth, took aim and opened fire on the bastard without another word.

The bullet was enough to interrupt the Black Hound. It punched into his back, but it wasn't strong enough to pierce. The Hound was durable enough to shrug off the blow. He looked over his shoulder, seemingly distracted by Quentin, and his eyes flashed red. The scanners in his helmet scanned his face.

[pre]QUENTIN TAYLOR

RAVEN. Charger. Survivor of Verthaven disaster. Battled the Hands of Science, and Changeling Unit.

Threat: Moderate[/pre]

He narrowed his eyes, and faced the RAVEN... From what the Hound was told, he was one of the people who helped bring down Luis - he would hesitate to kill him on that alone, but the Blessed Three would love to hear that he brought down someone on [i]the list.[/i]

He leveled his assault rifle at him silently, and let loose a wild spray of bullets.

Quentin promptly dove back down into cover, scrabbling across the ground as the Hound's returning fire crackled overhead. Lying flat on his stomach, he quickly shuffled to the side until he'd found another spot, pushed himself back to his knees, then leaned out once again to put down another burst of fire.

The Black Hound was pushing in towards Quentin's position. He was practically bulletproof, so this was an uphill battle for Quentin. However, the Black Hound was already tired of fooling around... He looked over his shoulder again, and the man he injured was being pulled out of the fray... The Black Hound couldn't care at this point.

He reached down to his vest, and pulled another canister of the Meta-suppressant gas. He was going to end this quickly. He chucked the canister in Quentin's direction, and, in mid-air, he demonstrated god-like levels of marksmanship and shot it. The high-pressured gas exploded and clouded the area with red gas that would disable any and all Metahumans who breathed in enough of a dosage

[i]Shit[/i], Quentin monologued, recoiling at the sight of the canister and making a sudden beeline for another point of cover behind an abandoned car as the canister exploded, releasing the red cloud. He for a fact just [i]what[/i] that gas was and had no intention of going down that way. More gunshots were following him from within the cloud and he could only figure that the bastard was equipped with some kind of IR.

Sucking down one last clean breath of air, he reached inside his jacket, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt and tearing away a piece, before tying it around his face as some sort of makeshift bandana. It wouldn't do much good, but a little was better than nothing.

The Black Hound didn't expect the gas to remove Quentin from the equation... merely to control his movements. The moment he founds him, the RAVEN is dead, as the red fog wouldn't impede the Hound even in the slightest. He had a mask, and his mask would allow him to see right through it.

With most of his options exhausted, Quentin got down flat behind the car, taking a prone position from behind one of the wheels, then leaned out slightly to the right and opened fire on the Hound's direction from beneath the undercarriage, hoping to take advantage of that while he could.
 
The barrage of bullets caught the Black Hound off guard. He was expecting the man to make a break for it, but he'd had to do. The first bullet grazed his armor in the shoulder, but the rest of the shots hit him directly. What was unfortunate was a stray shot hit the Black Hound in the last of his gas canisters. It exploded into a cloud of red gas right in front of his face... which was annoying. Since he wanted to use those.

The Black Hound quickly returned fire on Quentin with his assault rifle, taking steps forward... until, he used a burst of speed to get over to the car he was taking cover behind. The Black Hound grabbed the underside of the vehicle, and effortlessly flipped it over to force him out of cover.

Fuel spilled from where the Hound had managed to rupture the tank. In the confusion, Quentin had little time to react to that, only barely avoiding being crushed by its frame by practically rolling to the side, but before he could do anything else, the Black Hound's boot found itself firmly planted on the barrel of his rifle, warping it beyond use, before grabbing him by the leg while still disoriented, demonstrating some impressive reflexes.

"Just another one knocked off the list." The Hound's robotic monotone said.

He squeezed Quentin's leg, in an effort to snap the bone with a further demonstration of pure, brute strength. The RAVEN left off a sudden, agonised grunt as he felt the Hound's fingers tightening like a vice, primed to warp muscle and bone alike, but there were still a few things that he'd picked up a long time ago that had left him with some degree of resiliance that hadn't exactly been anticipated.

The Black Hound had drawn his own assault rifle to deliver the death blow...

Before he could pull the trigger, and emerald green glass shield had formed over the barrel of his weapon. He had widened his eyes at the display... and it wasn't long before a spear of glass had penetrated through the Black Hound's armor in the back. A massive lance that spun fast as lightning.

The Black Hound was forced to release his grasp of Quentin, who hit the dirt with a heavy thud.

"... Quentin!" Cindy shouted as she readied her weapon. "Get up and run!" Other RAVENS had taken Cindy's side as they all leveled their weapons at the Black Hound

"Gasoline!" Quentin rasped from behind the makeshift bandanna as he started dragging himself towards cover, gesturing to the puddle at the Hound's feet. "Fucker's got IR! Hit it!"

The Black Hound centered himself, and quickly raised his assault rifle against his opponents... He couldn't hear what Quentin said because he pulled the trigger and let loose a barrage of bullets before his gun went dry. He quickly reached for the next clip....

While he was shooting, Cindy quickly dipped down, and slammed her hand against the ground. Thankfully, her ability to create glass has certainly gotten much better over the years. Which allowed her to quickly erect a multilayered barrier of glass on the ground.

Quentin had shouted for the gasoline, which Cindy heard over all the gunfire. She looked at it... God, she was no RAVEN, but she'd experienced enough shit like this to have a clue as to what to do. Anyone else would have crapped themselves by now. Focusing on the puddle of gasoline, Cindy quickly dove from behind cover, and fired a shot at the gasoline on the ground.

The spark created from the bullet was enough to ignite the Black Hound in flames. The armored man looked down as his armor was being burned away. He groaned in irritation he focused on the RAVENS.

"Now! Open fire!"

Cindy shouted, and the line of RAVENs returned fire with the Black Hound. Utterly barraging him in a hail fire of bullets. He threw his arm up to cover as much of his body as possible. The Black Hound couldn't win this one. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet.

"Zenith."

He shouted, and a swirling blue portal opened behind him. The Black Hound dove backwards into the portal, tossing a net of grenades at the RAVENS as he made his escape. Quentin, still limping, barely managed to throw himself behind solid cover before shrapnel was thrown towards him at high speed, hitting the dirt with yet another thud and a grunt.

Cindy let out a sharp gasp as the grenades were thrown in her directions. Thinking quickly, she threw a pane of glass to push them away. The grenades exploded a distance away, and blew the shields of glass to nothing... But, Cindy was actually glad the bombs weren't in her face.

Then... the rest of the Hound's Intimidation Unit made their escape as well through the same type of portals, which opened for them as they had for him.

"Damn it." Cindy hissed underneath her breath. "He got away..."

"Cindy, the armed men have made their retreat!" She heard in the comms.

Letting out a sigh, Cindy couldn't help but feel relieved they're gone. "Affirmative, Green Bird out." There was something wrong here... and she couldn't put her finger on it.

Either way, she walked over to Quentin, and extended her hand.

"Quentin, are you okay?"

For a moment, he stared at her, then grasped her hand whilst driving his other palm into his knee to stand up, with a grunt. When he moved to put some weight on the other leg, he clenched his teeth and hissed. Though the Hound hadn't exactly broken anything, the vice-like grip on his leg had undoubtedly done some muscle damage that would take a little while to heal, so he leaned on a nearby fence for support. "Thanks." Quentin said, tugging the rag from around his mouth.

"Don't mention it." Cindy said. It was just common courtesy, after all. Though, she was hoping they could take out the Black Hound. "Deborah's heading back to HQ... she was his target... but, something doesn't seem right." She mulled about the details. "Eh... We'll discuss it back at Headquarters. We need to get you some medical attention, too."

"I'll manage for now." Quentin said, aware that there were greater things at stake. "Keep an eye on Deborah and the others, I get the feeling that we'll be seeing these assholes again."

Nodding her head, Cindy quickly turned around, and left Quentin to his own devices. She had to pick up the pieces of this disaster.


[hr][i][h1][color=aqua]Jennifer Caspin[/color], [color=forestgreen]Veronica Davis[/color], & [color=FFD700]Asuma Obokata[/color].[/h1][sub](Written in collaboration with [@Fat Boy Kyle])[/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]Greencrest Heights, White Coast.[/u][/i]


Asuma's breathing was deep and rapid as he tried to regain some much needed oxygen. He was sat on a damp patch of dirt with his back up against the flat surface of a wooden stool. From where he was, it would be hard for him to be spotted without someone wandering right past him. However his loud breathing was likely to give away his position if people got too close. [i]"What the hell happened to the others?[/i] he thought to himself as he tried to picture the scene before the explosion. 

Could they have been blown to pieces by whatever that blast was? Maybe they were fine and had kept running? Maybe they were around him during the fight, but he just didn't see them? The possibilities swirled around in his head and made him feel sick. Asuma spent most of his life daydreaming about being a hero and stopping catastrophes like this - but here he was, hiding in a dark corner being completely useless. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and he felt tears forming around the edges of his light green eyes. He wasn't sad though, he was angry. His mouth twisted into a snarl as he pulled himself to his feet, grunting through the sharp pain that his broken ribs were causing. Now that he had managed to get a few moments to recover, he wasn't going to just sit around being a pussy. 

[hr]

The wound that was caused by the bullethole regenerating was a pain. She didn't know why her nerves were so sensitive, but it was probably all the terrible injuries she's been through over the years. The wound was closing itself shut, but it was agonizing. Jennifer didn't know why, but she had to dip into an alleyway. She pressed her back up against the wall, and panted - pressing a hand up against her gut. There was shooting in the distance... but, it didn't surprise the battle hardened Jennifer. What she was fixated on was getting out of here in one piece.

Though, she heard some breathing not too far away from her... she turned her head and saw Asuma. An employee of hers.

"... A-A[i]ku[/i]ma?" She butchered the pronunciation of his name due to the stress, and the fact that she was shot a mere couple seconds ago. "A-are you okay?" She hoped that she could make a good first impression... without all the blood on her hoodie.

Asuma turned and stood wide-eyed in shock as he was approached by the familiar sight. He had hoped to see Jennifer here, but certainly didn't expect to - espcially under the circumstances. "Jennifer? I'm fine, just a couple of broken ribs." his voice was little more than a whisper as he quickly creeped over to her. His eyes quickly fixated on the crimson pools staining her hoodie "Shit, are you ok?" 

She grasped her wound, and only laughed at his concern - not out of any condescension, but because if she hasn't already died by now, then she's most likely not going to.

"I'm fine... just got a little injured," Jennifer said. "I'll be fine in a moment... what about you? Can you walk?" She asked him.

"Yeah I can walk. Hurts a little bit to... well... breathe. But I can push through the pain." he replied, his eyebrows raised at her nonchalantic attitude towards what looked like a serious injury. [i]'Clearly I can't push through the pain as well as you though...'[/i] he thought to himself. He suspected it had something to do with her being a meta. 

[hr]

Veronica and Makoto were chasing after Jennifer fast as they could.

[i]No way in hell you're making me fail my assignment.[/i] Veronica thought to herself as she closed the distance the best she could. Trying her best to avoid contact with the Intimidation Unit... lest something obvious happens that gives away that Veronica's with them. Veronica could see her in the distance... and she's talking to someone. She was [i]praying[/i] that it wasn't the guy that she met earlier at the cafe.

"Makoto," Veronica said, "Tell the Underakers to converge on us when I say "small world," and feign an attack."

"On it." Makoto said as she pressed her earpiece. "Nearby [i]Undertakers,[/i] this is agent Onryō, on my cue, attack my position, feign an attack on us - open fire once Veronica opens her shield and [i]only[/i] on the shield."

The nearby Undertakers nodded at Makoto, and quickly took position around the alleyway. While Veronica and Makoto ran up to them.

"There you are!" Veronica said. "Small world, we just-"

"Now." Makoto whispered, going unnoticed in all the chaos.

On cue, the nearby Undertakers appeared, rushing at them. Veronica quickly whipped around and put her hand out. A green shield appeared - shaped like a square, and thin. It was wide enough to protect them. The Undertakers raised their guns at the shield, and promptly opened fire.

And Veronica prepared for utter hell. The bullets bounced off the shield, but it was incredibly painful. She received a servere headache for every shot that hit the shield. To the point where blood was leaking from her nose at such a rate it pooled on the ground. She hissed in pain. She gave Makoto a look like she was about to tear the woman's throat out with her teeth if she didn't do anything.

That was Makoto's cue to kick some ass. Makoto quickly ran up, and threw her hands up in the air, her metal manipulating flowing through every movement, and threw the guns up into the air. Stripped of their weapons, the Undertakers quickly got their distance before Makoto could do anything else.

Dropping the shield, Veronica got down on her knee.

"Damn it..." She hissed in irritation. The pain was certainly something. "Are... are you two okay?" 

"I..." Jennifer raised an eyebrow as she looked at the mysterious two tall women.

Asuma recognised the two from the café earlier and looked to Jennifer, "I'm glad your friends from San Diego turned up." 

Veronica smiled.

"Yes, Jennifer, I'm Hailey Guinn" Veronica got up close to Makoto. "Don't you recognize us?"

"Actually, n-" Jennifer was about to say, until her head started feeling really bad. Like someone jammed a nail right into her fucking skull. Her vision distorted for a second as if she was a computer experiencing a graphics error. She grabbed her head and took a step back, before it ended.

She looked up, without remembering a thing about what just happened. Her eyes opened wide.

"Hailey!?" Jennifer said, excited. "We... we gotta go, now!"

"Agreed," Veronica looked at Asuma. "Shall we?"

Asuma couldn't help but get a gut feeling that something was off - [i]you know, excluding the fact that they were in the midst of a terrorist attack and he was just forced to melt someones face with his light beams[/i] - but he just gave a nod. "Anywhere's better than here" he said, accutely aware of the choas that was still ongoing around them. 

"You lead, I'll follow." Asuma added. Not only was he not in a great state to lead a charge of any sort, but if they got into trouble he'd rather be behind the others, out of their direct eyesight, so that he was less likely to blind them. 

The three were hauling ass out of there.

[hr]

Fortunately, by the time the three of them got together, the whole disaster at the market was coming to a close. The Black Hound had retreated, and so did the Intimidation Unit. Which was good enough for Veronica, because they entered an alleyway right outside the fairgrounds. 

The group came to a stop, and Jennifer hugged Veronica from behind.

"Hailey!" Jennifer meekly said. "It was so great to meet you again, I thought we would never meet."

Veronica was shaking almost like Jennifer's affection was contagious... though, she was kind of cute.

Makoto laughed a little.

"Yeah, yeah... I thought we parted ways at San Diego... until we found you, of course." Veronica said. "How have you been doing?" 

"Excellent, I got a job at...." Jennifer turned towards Asuma. "Oh, Asuma, these are two friend of mine that got me out of a pinch one time in San Diego."

"And we're glad to be of assistance." Veronica said. "And, thank you Asuma for your time."

She chuckled a little.

"Looks like we found her anyway, but still, thank you."

Keeping up this nice-girl bullshit was nauseating. What Veronica wanted this tall tool to do was go leave, so she can do what the Black Hound told her to do. Actually, she could still do it... she just has to be discreet.

"... I think we're going to leave now." Veronica grasped her head. "Keeping that shield up was one hell of a headache."

She took a few steps close to Jennifer, and reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, writing her number, motel room, and more on it. She handed it to Jennifer, and said,

"When you are ready, we can talk."

"Alright-"

Before Jennifer could get out the last word, Veronica moved in really quick, and whispered something into her ear. Which made Jennifer freeze up for a few moments. Until Veronica pulled away.

"I'll see you later."

Jennifer didn't say a word.

She just stared at her.


[hr][h1][i][color=Springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], [color=Blueviolet]Malik Jakane[/color], [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color], [color=gray]Quentin Taylor[/color], [color=fff200]Alice Barrett[/color], Deborah Javuant, & Shannon Balore.[/i][/h1][i][sub]Written in collaboration with [@Zombiedude101], [@Tsukune], & [@Nosuchthing][/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters[/u][/i]


Okay, it was finally over.

The whole festival - to the surprise of no one - went to absolute shit. 

The fucking Black Hound showed up trying to kill Deborah, and tore the whole place apart. People are injured. Now Cindy could honestly see why Shannon was so worried about the whole thing going to hell. Because it totally went tits up in there. Well, there was nothing to do but pick up the pieces.... As always. Cindy was marching through the DOVE/RAVEN headquarters, and wanted to meet someone in the medical wing. She scanned each room that she had walked past, searching for the right one. Eventually, she came across the one that was reserved for the "hero" who threw himself in front of the Black Hound to buy time... Which Cindy personally thought was pretty dumb.

Since he got shot (with a bullet!) and Cindy had to drag his ass off. If it wasn't for Quentin, the Black Hound would have killed him.

... The Black Hound. She couldn't get what he did out of her head. This was the first up close encounter with him, and they barely even came close to hurting him. All they did was drive him off... He obviously was a Metahuman from the get-go. This just told Cindy that they'll have to think outside the box to defeat him. 

Ah, she found the man's room, standing in front of the door was a woman. She immediately saw a fellow agent of hers... Agent Jade West. A Haitian woman that was openly the granddaughter of a Changeling... the Witch Mother. She didn't hold that against the woman, but she found the fact that she had the same exact ability as her rather chilling. She could become the same exact woman as her grandmother with one bad day, after all. She just hoped for a different outcome.

"Jade, hey," Cindy said as she walked up to her with a friendly smile. 

"Cindy, it is great to see you," Jade answered with a similar friendly attitude. "I've been healing everyone with Scarlet... but Deborah asked me to heal the man in here first."

"Yeah, that'd be nice, I wanted to get a word in with him, too." Cindy replied, personally just wanting to ask him what the hell was he trying to accomplish. 

Jade opened the door, before she walked in, holding the door for Cindy. The first sight Cindy saw in the room was Malik lying on his back, with the bed covers over him. Cindy knew that he was in stable condition. "Ladies, hey," Malik said with a wide smile on his face... almost like he wasn't shot. "I was wondering when I'd get a nurse."

"Well, I'm more of a doctor...." Jade said warmly as she walked up to Malik. She put her hands on his chest. "Hold still, this will only take a second."

Placing her hands on Malik, Jade had mentally melded with his immune system. She had a perfect outline of the man's body, and could do anything she pleased to it. Fortunately, all she wanted to do was fix that bullet wound, and those cracked bones that he received after falling. He was good as new in no time. No internal damage, or any busted bones.

"Okay, you should be fine now." Jade said.

And Malik could feel it. The pain was all gone. He was tired of sitting on that ass of his. He hopped up onto his feet, and stretched his legs.

"My legs were getting cramp, thank you."

Malik said.

"Your welcome." Jade said.

Now that's out of the way, it was Cindy's turn to question him. From what they gathered, this man was a visitor from another country. And obviously a Metahuman. Visitors were a grey area, but DOVE didn't bother them long as they didn't have do anything in their home country (If they do anything in America, it's a one way ticket out of here!). Cindy wondered why he would fight the god damn [i]Black Hound[/i] when he was just a tourist. Was he suffering from some kind of hero complex?

"Now, there was a few things I wanted to ask you..." Cindy trailed off, waiting for him to share his name (She already knew, but it was a formal technique of hers). 

"Malik Jakane... and ask away." Malik said. "I'm just wondering where all my clothes are... I hate these hospital gowns, by the way."

"Well, Malik, I'm Cindy Keagan, Captain of DOVE," Cindy answered  "I was personally wondering why you threw yourself in between Deborah and the Black Hound..."

"Oh, that?" Malik said, throwing his arms behind his head, and looking at Cindy. "Well... I have a very good reason for that... you see, I'm from France - only visited America a few times for fun - but I'm here looking for a friend that went missing and... uh, I wanted to talk to a DOVE or a RAVEN about it, but so far I've been having trouble getting there attention. So I thought saving the boss lady from that lunatic was the best way to get it." Now that he worded it like that... it sounds like he just did it to get their attention - with no altruism at all.

"... Okay?" Cindy adjusted her glasses. "Well, I guess you got it then...." She blankly said.

Malik picked up on his terrible wording, and put his hands up. "Hey, now, I didn't just help for that reason alone - people like the Black Hound, they gotta be stopped, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I ," Cindy said. "So, well, I might as well ask while I'm here... who are you looking for? Maybe I can help you."

"She's a member of the French DGMHS... you know, their metacop group?" Malik said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I know plenty about them," Cindy answered.

"A friend of mine that was on your foreign exchange program, Marelle Marrou and she went missing without a clue," Malik said as he stretched his arms. "I came all the way from my world-tour to go find 'er... so, do you have any leads?"

Marelle Marrou... Cindy knows of that name. The two of them were on a mission before the woman disappeared. She was pretty pleasant, but she wondered where she went. "Honestly, your guess is as good as mine at this point, because I tried my damn near hardest to find her." Cindy said, defeated, shaking her head after the last word left her lips.

"Well, yeah, I figured as much," Malik said, shrugging his shoulders. Almost like he didn't let his hopes get let down. "But, I came here is because she sent me a message a few days ago..." He wondered if he should tell her anything about that message - he decided in favor of doing so, because right now, he's not making any leads. "Don't remember it off the top of my head, but she said something about getting "found out" by these "Founding Father" or somethi-"

"Wait, what?" Cindy was honestly surprised to hear what Malik had to say. She  had just crossed him off as a funny foreigner, but he knew [i]something[/i] about the Founding Family. Her mouth went slack, and she froze up for a second. She looked at Jade for a moment "Ssssssh," Cindy said. "Don't mention them."

He got the reaction he was hoping for. Malik had to resist the urge to grin. He leaned in on Cindy, and whispered into her ear, "Ah... I guess that's a hush, hush, secret, right?"

"Yeah, can you play that message for me?" Cindy asked, hoping to get another lead on the Founding Family.

Malik pulled his phone out of his pocket, and quickly went through his messages until went to the last message he received from Marelle.

"[i]Malik, c’est le dernier message que vous allez recevoir de moi pour un certain temps. Mais, permettez-moi de vous donner une explication. Je dois vous que beaucoup. J’ai été envoyé vers l’Amérique pour aller d’infiltration pour la Direction généralede la sécurité humaine méta, mais les gens qu'ils veulent savoir sur... la famille fondatrice... Ce sont des gens fous. J’ai soufflé ma couverture... et ils viennent après moi.C’est le meilleur que je pouvais aller à vous avant qu’ils me trouvent. Ne venez pasme chercher.[/i]"

"... Okay, I don't know what any of that means." Cindy said.

"Hey now, you told me to play you the message." Malik said, and earned a scornful look from Cindy.

"That's not help-"

The door opened, and Cindy spun around, surprised.

"... To translate it word for word, it's; [i]Malik, this is the last message you'll be getting from me for awhile. But, let me give you an explanation. I owe you that much. I was sent to America to go undercover for the DGMHS but the people they want to know about the Founding Family. They are insane people. I blew my cover and they are coming after me. This is the best I could get to you before they find me.... Don't come looking for me.[/i]"

Shannon said as she entered the room at Deborah's side. She crossed her arms.

"I took a French class you know."

"Wait... how did you hear all of it?" Cindy said.

"Well," Deborah shrugged with a mocking smile on her face. "You didn't notice the door as ajar the whole time?" She asked.

"Oh." Cindy didn't realize it, since she was so focused on Malik. "Obviously not...."

"Well, I wanted to personally thank Malik for helping me back there."  Deborah said.

"Thank you!"

"... But, unfortunately, we don't have too many leads on Marcelle." 

"Oh." Malik shrugged. "Well, I'll be moving on then."

"Unfortunately, I'm going have to ask that you stay in Headquarters for a little bit," Deborah said. "Jade, would you mind escorting Malik over to waiting room?"

"Okay," Jade said, she waved for Malik to come along as she walked right on out the room. "Come along."

"Uuuuuuugh," Malik loudly said as he marched behind her. Not only did he get nothing out of this, he's going to be babysat by the Meta-police.

Deborah turned to Cindy and said...

"Now that he's gone... what do you know about the Founding Family?" Deborah asked, she grinned a little. "And you [i]know[/i] you can't lie to me."

God damn it, the jig is up. Cindy might as well have told everyone in DOVE about it now. "... Honestly, I don't know much about them. All I know is that they're obsessed with "genetic perfection" and have an assload of contacts... and their main leg breaker is the Black Hound." Cindy said.

"Well...." Deborah said as she leaned up against the wall. "I've been suspicious because [i]something[/i] has been going around the office lately. I honestly thought that you've gone traitor for a second... part of the reason why I wanted to keep my eye on you."

"Oh?" Cindy expressed concern.

"And... clearly, you're not apart of any of it," Deborah said as she moved over towards the door. "... But, I know somebody who is. Go get your friends, we have a mole to catch."

Cindy had no idea what Deborah was talking about, but Cindy was going to go along with it. She pressed her earpiece, and said,

"... Hey, guys, I have a job for ya'll."

[hr]

Cindy had gathered her circle of friends in the office, and they had assembled outside another DOVE's office. They were prepared to breach in, with Cindy up against the door of... London Mendez? She was a good friend of Cindy, they talked a lot on the job, but if Deborah says to bring her in because she's a "mole," then she was going to trust the instincts of her boss. Everyone else should be ready by now, armed with cutting edge weaponry. She had her pistol ready, armed with taser rounds.

"Is everyone ready?" Cindy's soft voice spoke into the comms.

"Yeah." Quentin's voice was firm, a certain level of danger in his tone. Despite the opportunity to gear up, he'd chosen to rely on just a kevlar vest and his Remington 870 - anything high profile might've spooked their "mole" and he had no intention of letting this one escape.

"Mhmm." Following behind Quentin was Shizuka; however, he didn't have much time to gear up like the rest, only managing to grab his trusty Beretta 92FS with him, rushing here still in office wear right after he received Cindy's comm order. He hoped that he wouldn't need to use it at all - for one, it was loaded with real bullets instead of some pussy stun darts. Holly did give him a brief [i]brief[/i] of some "Founding Family" things that she was helping him to keep tabs on while he was away - except for the incident at Havenfield hours ago. At the DOVE event that Holly had mentioned. Even his senior was surprised when she received a call to cancel her work leave and get to the mission control ASAP.

Well, he could ask Cindy to spit out the full story later after this little raid was over.

Alice nodded, "ready..."

She was still in her gear, not having had the time to change after the attack at the fair, it was probably fortunate, it had taken her three attempts to tighten the straps when she'd put the damn thing on this morning. She was helmet-less now though, nearly throwing up into her faceplate early had taught her a swift lesson, she didn't want to actually experience that for the first time. Somehow she was managing to hold her gun steady, holding it in the ready position, they were in a classic breaching formation, this many agents was probably overkill for one mole, but who knew how desperate they might be to escape when they found out that they had been discovered. She blinked, feeling the sweat beginning to bead on her brow. Being this close to Jauvant and her famed abilities was stressing her out, and she badly needed a drink. The flask was buried deep inside her suit, but she knew better than to pull it out and swing now, despite the temptation to.

"Alright, three, two, one..." Cindy said as she prepared the group. When she said one, she threw the door open with her pistol aimed right for the traitorous DOVE. She was just sitting at her desk, doing cases. Like [i]nothing[/i] had happened. She had raised both hands in the air, surprised. "Hands in the air!" Cindy shouted. "London Mendez, you are under arrest for conspiracy."

Quentin stepped forth and firmly grasped her wrist, before twisting it behind her back with one hand and reaching for his cuffs with the other. Once they were on, the others let their guard down whilst he led her down towards a cell.

[hr]

The scene was brief, fortunately, after London was arrested, she was immediately stripped of her titles, and hauled to the interrogation room. Cindy was standing through the two way glass mirror with the other RAVENS around here. Deborah was interrogating the woman herself. Casually, and calmly as possible, and drinking a swig of coffee. What Cindy wanted to know was her angle. She heard every word spoken in the conversation.

"So..." Deborah said as she sipped her coffee. "London... I wonder what lead to this. Just a few months ago, we were having lunch together - well, I wanted to see you at the office party we're throwing on Halloween." Deborah's wording almost sounded disappointed, but she was casual as always. Yet, she didn't take her eyes off London for a second. Her eyes were constantly scanning for information that she could use.

"You know, I always regarded you as a friend..." London trailed off.

"... And is that why you set the Black Hound up to kill me?" Deborah was quick to retort, that forced her into a corner. "Look, London, I don't hate you for what you did," And it was true. Deborah's ability gave her insight on people like no other. She could see motives... but, she found it hard to get the energy to get upset over things because she can now understand them. "I'm just disappointed that you would do such a thing... but, there is a way you can fix this. Fix it for everyone."

London raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me about the Founding Family... and I'll talk about getting your sentence reduced. I'm the big player in the government after all," Deborah said. "Because, otherwise, you're going to be in jail for a long, long, time... especially if they find out that you're working with a known multinational terrorist. Of course, this is off the books, not one record was changed."

Those words resonated within London, as she thought about it. "I mean... I was reluctant to join in the first place, I... loved being a DOVE. But, I needed some extra money."

"Because of your son that's in a coma?" Deborah already pieced together that motivation. It was common knowledge that London's son was gravely injured during the Verthaven Disaster seven years ago, and that's why she's a DOVE. 

"Yes... even with my paycheck, I couldn't get enough money to pay medical bills. Then one of their representatives just comes in and tells me that he's here to help," London trailed off. "I just had to leak some files to them, and bam, I was drowning in money." She said.

"What kind of files?" Deborah asked.

"You know, they wanted information on the Metahumans of Baybridge. Like kids from the Academy..." London broke down as she put her hands over her face, and tears came streaming down her cheeks. "God damn it, I didn't mean for any of this to happen... I'm the reason for the damn Overload Crisis. I didn't know they feed the files to the sniper!"  

"Come on now, it's not too late to make up for it... Just tell me everything you know...." Deborah trailed off.

Back behind the two way mirror, Cindy was reluctant to let London off the hook that easily... so, she's the mole that was (indirectly) feeding the Overload sniper information? God damn it. She was responsible for the whole damn thing. Cindy crossed her arms as she looked between the group, and asked,

"Okay, which one of you believes the water works?"

"I don't see the point of London lying to Deborah's face," Shizuka began in a quiet tone, still staring at London through the two-way mirror. "Tears aside, throwing all the small fries straight into prison isn't going to be enough to stop the Founding Bastards. They can always gather new moles to replace those who're captured." All they needed to do was to hit that person's greatest weakness, or amplify their inner greed...

Besides, whatever damages that had done had already been done. Taking out their anger at these insignificant traitors wouldn't change their current situation one bit.

He turned his head to look at Cindy before continuing, "...Or we can make good use of these small fishes to lure in the bigger ones instead."

"Okay, you have a point there..." And Cindy meant it. Shizuka's right, London's a small fry that probably doesn't have any real influence in the organization. Deborah probably realized that throwing her in prison wouldn't make any difference. "But, she definitely can't be the only mole; since we're dealing with someone like the Founding Family, they probably got a whole lot of people in RAVEN and DOVE... We need to keep our eyes open."

"Speaking of the Founding Bitches, you still owe me---" Before Shizuka could finish his sentence, Jade's voice appeared in their earpieces.

"Cindy, we have a problem."

"Son of a..." Cindy said off the comms. "What is it?" 

"Malik, he got away."

[hr]

They're going to the waiting room? Waiting for what? That was the question Malik was asking. He was honestly hoping they wouldn't pull a "Hail Hydra" on him and shoot because he knows too much. Honestly, this whole endeavor was a waste of his time, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Malik needed a lead... and he wasn't going to find it here. He was following this woman all the way to the waiting room, which lead them through the main lobby. Okay, he didn't know what the DOVES had in store for him, but he definitely couldn't stay here. Fortunately, the acrobatic Malik saw an opening. He saw the front door right there. Only one security guard and some metal detectors. Well, this isn't the first time he ran away from the law.

Except for that funny misunderstanding in Tokyo... but... that's a story for another day.

Jade was leading him along, which was enough for Malik to slowly walk off towards the door. He made it halfway across the room before Jade looked over her shoulder and saw Malik. Crap.

"Hey, wait!" Jade shouted.

Well, time for Malik to stop being subtle. He broke out into a full on sprint, and hopped over the metal detector like it was nothing. Shifting into his storm form, a raging boom that was comparable to a lightning strike boomed through the room as Malik turned into clouds. He threw the doors open before the security guard could lock them... and then he took to the skies. Flying away like an eagle. 

Malik hoped they wouldn't be too mad that he left. Well, he wasn't under arrest, but he had work to do! There wasn't time to waste playing with the law.

Once he finds Marcelle, he'll be out of their hair 

[hr]

"Damn it." Cindy hissed underneath her breath. "Deborah wanted to keep an eye on him for his own protection...." Or before he screws up something.

With the state DOVE and RAVEN is in, they probably won't be finding him tonight.

"Order DOVES and RAVENS to keep an eye out for him... that's the best we can do right now," Cindy answered. "After all, we didn't arrest him...."

"Very well." Jade said.

[hr]

After a long and grueling interrogation, Deborah merely retreated to her office with a cup of green tea to ease her mind. She sat down on the chair, and stirred the tea to blend in the sugar and honey that she added. It was still steaming hot. She merely sighed as she closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair.

When the phone began to ring, Deborah had a feeling of who it was. Opening her eyes, she saw:

[i]MAXIMILIAN CORNELL[/i]

Oh boy...

She grabbed the phone, and put it up to her ear, pressing answer.

"Deborah Ja-"

"I can't believe you went through with it!" Maximilian's voice was booming. "Do you understand what you did!? I can't believe you!"

Deborah sighed.

"... Look, Max, I said this before," Deborah started off, "And I'll say it again - we can't get afford to sit on our behinds, and hope to find a lead against these people. We have to act."

"I'm against the Founding Family as much as you are...." Maximilian growled. "But, what you just did was lure a [i]terrorist[/i] to an event full of people! Do you know how many people got hurt!?"

Deborah couldn't believe that she was having this conversation with Maximilian. Most people would think the roles would be reversed.

"I was so close to making the connection... putting this puzzle together," Deborah said. "I know what I did was wrong, but I [i]had[/i] to... because now I... [i]you[/i] know a lot more than what we did before."

"But-"

"[i]And,[/i] we both know that the Founding Family are a threat...."

She got up off the chair, and walked to the massive window behind her.

"... Do you really want something like the Verthaven Disaster to ever happen again?"

There was silence.



[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color].[/h1][/i][hr]
[i][u]Singapore.[/u][/i]


Wearing a stealth suit of her own creation (that she hastily put together, and plans of disposing of later), Meifeng staked out the shipping company's personal docks... Her plan was to simply sneak in, and out. Though, she knew things were never that simple, but at least she's staking out a dock rather than - say - a terrorist group's hideout. Singapore's gun laws are so strict that the only thing she really has to worry about is someone shouting mean things at her! 

It won't come to that, because Meifeng knows what she's doing. The first problem would be cameras... those are going to be a huge pain in the ass. Fortunately, Meifeng has a good eye for the cameras. They probably aren't guarding every inch of the place, but the same time, they're probably guarding what's important.

Kneeling down on the rooftop of someone who'd be very pissed to find out that she was on their roof, Meifeng thought about all the ways she could get in. Sure, she could just go through the gates, get spotted, piss off a large multitude of people, and probably kicked out of this lovely country. 

Or she could go the cool route and swim in!

Well, not actually swim, but close enough to it. Taking a simple leap down the building, Meifeng quickly moved towards the ocean-line, and fearlessly leaped in. She didn't splash into the ocean - but instead the water moved and quickly went back to where it needed to be. She formed a bubble underwater, and manipulated the waves to propel her quickly towards the boats as possible.

She knew which boat was bound for the US... Once she approached it, she stuck her head out, and looked around a bit. Upwards towards the deck, there's probably going to be quite a few people on deck to load, off-load, etc. However, they shouldn't be expecting anyone to sneak in. Not even the celebrated Meifeng Zhao.

She saw a guy walk on past, and she wait a few moments for him to leave before she used the water to fling her upwards, and she was quick enough to grab onto the railing. Though, she almost slipped. "Whoooa," Meifeng said as she pulled a little bit of water out of her pocket dimension, and used it as a makeshift ledge as she pulled herself onto the boat. She looked back down, and made it dissolve into water.

Just as she entered the deck, Meifeng slid her hand across towards the water. What happened was that she pushed the water right back on into the water. It'd be a dead giveaway if someone walks on past and sees all the water. Thankfully, Meifeng had also thrown all the water on herself off the edge of the boat. She moved closer towards the maze of shipping crates. She had her eyes on one that was really suspicious that she spotted on the shipping record.... But, the problem was that she would have to go find it.

On a giant ass boat.

With hundreds of crates that look just like it.

[i]Shit.[/i]

[hr]

Two men walked by talking to each other.

Unaware that Meifeng was waiting for them to pass. She went up and down this fucking boat for an hour now looking for the shipping container with the designation she was looking for. When the coast was clear, Meifeng was quick to run on out because it was finally time to find something. If there was nothing in here, Meifeng was going to be incredibly pissed off. Like she was going to punch somebody in the face. She walked up to the crate, and reached down towards her belt when she realized that - surprise! - it was locked. She could find some way to pick the lock, but she was going to be in and out, so it won't matter. She grabbed onto the [i]massive[/i] padlock, and summoned water out of her pocket dimension, and channeled it into the lock. Once the water was well embedded inside, she snap-froze it, and BAM. She's inside. The lock was broken open, and Meifeng was quick to grab the chains before they fell and caused a mess, and then she gently put them on the ground. Grabbing both sides of the door, she pulled the doors open, and was immediately assaulted with a bright green light.

"Is this...?"

Meifeng saw something contained inside boxes, but it was glowing a bright green color. She grabbed onto the crowbar she brought along, and shoved it into the box... and what she saw was a large glass container with a flowing green energy inside. It was like a liquid. Meifeng opened up another crate with the same crowbar, and found the same exact thing. A large glass container with a glowing liquid. From Meifeng's experiences, it looked like the Metahuman energy. Oh, boy. She couldn't wait to show this to Cindy and the others. Just for reference... because there's no way in hell that she's going to be taking any of these back, she pulled out a camera she brought just in case and snapped a few pictures of all of this. That was the only thing she could do.

But what caught her attention was that one of these shipping crates [i]weren't[/i] mysteriously glowing. Meifeng pondered for a second whether or not she should even open it or not. Eh. At this point, it couldn't hurt. What Meifeng wanted to do was find something that could be linked to these Founding motherfuckers - and that's what she was going to do. She pried open the dim crate with all of her might, and there was another box inside of it, with a metal padlock on it. Another simple job. Seriously, these bastards couldn't afford to get a heavy duty padlock? Well, heavier than normal.

Using the same trick as before, Meifeng injected water into the mechanics of the metal padlock, and froze it. Breaking it easily. She opened the metal box, and the only thing inside were those weird little things they put in shipping containers to keep them from moving around... curiosity caused Meifeng to dig inside of it, and pull out a giant metal briefcase... she was wondering if she could open this one as-

"Hey!" One of the dock workers said as Meifeng was spotted. "Who are you?!"

[i]Aw, FUCK.[/i] Meifeng shouted to herself as she realized her cover was blown. She threw the briefcase in her armpit, and hauled ass! She ran out of the shipping container, and when one of the guys tried to grab her, she did a shoulder to shoulder roll and landed on her feet effortlessly, and continued her mad sprint.

"Hey! Stop her!" The man shouted as he chased after Meifeng.

She made it to the edge of the ship, and then hopped off the side like a complete god damn mad man as she descended towards the ocean. Before she hit, the ocean opened up, and closed, swallowing her.

The men ran to the edge, and watched her disappear... and they looked between each other.

"... Call the Foundation Woman, inform her of this." He grimly said.

[hr]

Okay, Meifeng found herself in the downtown area of Singapore... Boat Quay? The place looked pretty nice, actually. Meifeng didn't think it was that much different than back home. But, she was not enjoying the scenery of the city. Because she was in an alleyway. She had stashed her clothes in some bushes not too far away, and quickly got dressed in the . She had already gotten dressed, and was leaving the alleyway. Okay, maybe an alleyway wasn't the best location... but, it was either here or the park. And [i]that[/i] place was just as risky as the other... and there was no way in hell she was running back to the military base dressed like a god damn ninja.

She had the book bag with her stealth suit slung over her shoulder... she didn't want to leave it behind, she actually wanted to set it on fire somewhere in hopes that they won't find it and trace the dead skin cells to her or something. What she [i]also[/i] had in the bag was that little case that she found. It wasn't so massive that she had to stuff it in there. What she wanted to do was keep it close to her until she gets back to America... Which should be really soon, since she made sure to get a flight back in the morning because she heard about what the Black Hound was doing, and she's needed there. Not here in Singapore, where there's only a handful of Metahumans.

It began to rain... Huh? She knows this place is in the tropics. It didn't bother her one bit, because Meifeng was always a rain person. The rain started coming down pretty hard, but Meifeng wasn't bothered, not even in the slightest. It almost made her feel child-like as she skipped through the puddles that were forming as people retreated for cover. As if it was training high-concentrated acid-

She heard a motorcycle getting louder and [i]louder.[/i] That's awfully close... especially since she was on the sidewalk. The angry yells of civilians that turned into screams alerted Meifeng that something was wrong. She turned around...

...And only had one second to dodge before she came face to face with certain death.

[hr][hider=Dope Stars Inc. - Defcon 5][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ5sKCMc5gw[/youtube][/hider][hr]

Meifeng had to lean back far and fast as she could - because a blade came pretty close to her face. And it was a big one. She didn't even have time to get a good look at it. The man was riding a motorcycle that came to a stop, and it let Meifeng get a good look at him... and good lord he was a monstrosity. He was at least eight feet tall, and had a sickly looking skin. His right arm was covered in boils and lesions of the sort... but, his right? It was all machine. It almost looked like part of a motorcycle made half his body, but... it was molded into his flesh as if it was absorbed. His right arm was gigantic, easily the size of his torso. His right arm had a blade protruding from his wrist that retracted back into the mess of machinery. His face was hidden behind a metal mask that had a broad grin, of spiked metal tears, and black holes that hid his eyes. The rest of his body had machinery infused into his body, thick metal wires going in and out of his skin. He was definitely a Metahuman... and he certainly got the short end of the ugly stick. She hated to see what was behind his mask. His clothes were pretty simple... heavy ass work boots, some jeans, and a white tank top. But he was definitely threatening. That motorcycle of his was just as intimidating. It was custom built, and a giant monstrosity of metal and parts that were messily put together... with spikes, hooks, and chains that was obviously made to maim 

He got off the motorcycle... at this point, everyone was running away to call the cops from safety. That's the best thing that Meifeng could could ask for because things were about to get messy. Meifeng quickly reached behind her, and stopped herself when she realized it wasn't there... Singapore has one of the roughest gun laws in the world. They took her other guns from her and locked it away unless she was on duty. She wasn't able to hide this one.

"Okay, I don't know what the hell you are, but you better stay back!" She warned him.

That made him stop for a second, and Meifeng was almost relieved... but, in a surprising burst of speed, the brute rushed her, and retracted his blade again. He raised it high up into the air, and brought it down, and all Meifeng could do was dodge leaping upwards. The blade split concrete... and while it was in the ground, Meifeng got a good look at it. It was sloppy, and brutal. If it hit her, she would surely bleed to death. This guy was no joke... she had no idea of who he was, but she had to bring him down.

It ripped the blade out of the ground, and swung his wild, metal weapon around and forced Meifeng to duck. It hit the wall of the building, and utterly knocked it down effortlessly. People screamed as they tried to get out of the way, while Meifeng was desperately crawling away. Damn it. He's powerful as hell... But, the situation is in his favor. He's strong enough to kill her with one blow, but she didn't have any of the tools that would even the odds for her. No containment foam, no gas, no taser darts... damn it.

She'll have to think outside the box now.

Meifeng raised her hand in the air and pulled all the water she could, and punched forward. Sending a devastating wave in the direction of the brute, and felt a wave of dryness fill her mouth. It... did jackshit to him, but it was enough to knock the monster over. He hit the ground, falling right on his back, and breaking the concrete of the sidewalk. He let out a yell as he hit the ground, and Meifeng took this opportunity to run like hell. She summoned two small pillars of water underneath her feet, and creating "water skates" that shifted back and forward as she hauled ass out of there. Her goal was to get him far away from other people. Before he could hurt them.

In response, her opponent merely got back on his motorcycle, and chased after her.

Meifeng made it to a intersection. A busy one. Okay, this was going against the "lure him away from civilians plan," Meifeng looked over her shoulder, and this bastard was flying right towards her like a god damn rocket. He was going to ram her... so Meifeng leaped high up into the air using her water to fling her upwards into the sky. The beast flew past her, and hopped off his motorcycle. The "Death-bike" (which Meifeng was going to call it from here on in) went careening right into a bus and knocked it over. The motorcycle exploded, and the bus fell on it's side. All Meifeng could hear was screaming... and all she could feel was guilt.

When she hit the ground, she was face to face with this killing machine, and she dropped into her karate stance - facing him sideways with her fist up near her face, and her other near her stomach.

Fuck it.

She was going to fight the bastard here and now. Giving it her all. Meifeng raised her hand into the air, and created a giant orb of ice. Her best bet was to hold out until authorities arrived. She was [i]praying[/i] that those dudes she was training would show up... just so she could see her training in action. But, Meifeng was going to fight this bastard to the death. He had to be heavy as hell, so she had one advantage over him. The beast dropped the blade that he had in his arm, and replaced it with something worse.

Much, much, worse.

Just appearing out of god damn nowhere was two chainsaw blades, that spun violently, then [i]caught on fire.[/i] Meifeng had to admit that was kind of cool. But, it was totally not-cool because the bastard was going to murder her with it. He let out a loud, and blood-crazed yell like he was feed three foot tall pile of cocaine before sending him on a rampage. He grabbed his chainsaw arm and ran like Meifeng at speeds that were amazing given his size. She jumped up into the air - leaping over him - as the beast ran past her and swung his chainsaw, disappointed that he missed.

Meifeng, in mid-air, shot a whip of water that hit him in the back and knocked him forward - but that wasn't all, when Meifeng hit the ground, and she shot a high powered whip of water that hit the brute in the leg with a swipe of her hand that knocked him forward. He let out a pained yell, and Meifeng wondered what she hit. She couldn't let up on the assault, however, Meifeng whipped out her pistol and unloaded the rest of the clip into his back. That barely stopped him, because he started getting back up. Meifeng was quick to fired a high-pressurized jet of water out of her pocket dimension and quickly froze it around the bastard's leg. She immediately hopped on his back, and raised her fist up into the air, and froze water in the shape of a lance. She slammed the spear right into his spine, and the man let out one of he most awful cries of pain that she has ever heard.

...But, through the pain, the beast had summoned hidden strength as he bucked his back so hard that Meifeng was sent flying off him. She hit the ground with a skid, and came to a rolling stop. The beast had gotten up... When Meifeng knocked him over, she made him fall on his own chainsaw. The blades were embedded in his flesh, and were torn. Fresh, and messy wounds were on his chest. The blades were fortunately broken, so he broke them off, and replaced them with a another sloppy blade.

Infusing himself with even more strength, the beast charged Meifeng head on with his blade. Meifeng ducked out of the way, and retaliated with a series of three punches that were infused with her hydrokinetic ability, and followed it up with two kicks that were also infused with water. The beast grunted as he used his other hand to grab Meifeng by the foot.

"[i]Fuc-[b]UCK![/b][/i]" Meifeng shouted as the beast raised her over his head, and slammed her into the ground. It hurt like all hell, as the rush of pain shot up her upper body. But, the bastard wasn't done with her yet, he raised his blade up into the air, and was planning on bringing it down right on her face. With him holding onto her god damn leg, her movement options were limited. All Meifeng could do was desperately roll her body over to the side... But, all she did was move the target slightly off to the side. The brutal blade hit her in the shoulder. Meifeng let out a scream of agony as the sloppy blade did it's job: it left a sloppy wound.

He pulled the blade back, brought it to his face, and a tongue came out of the mask and he [i]licked it[/i]. He licked the blood right off the blade. Meifeng didn't know whether or not she should be disgusted or not. Well, she was more concerned with the giant ass wound put in her shoulder. She summoned all the water she could, and fired a sloppy spurt of water that was enough to get him off her. She hopped up to her feet... and tightly grasped her wound. It was just oozing blood right now, and she was going to bleed out pretty quickly. Damn it, she was shivering right now. She needed to get the hell away from this bastard.

Meifeng created a orb of water and jumped on it, and sped off away from the freak. He rushed after her, but Meifeng used it to propel herself up to the rooftops. In response, the brute "shed" the machinery he was wearing. The metal fell off his body with a loud thud... until it showed his bare body. It was horrific. Covered in lesions, and twisted flesh, he was the epitome of body horror. Along with huge pulsing veins that barely looked natural. The brute went back to his motorcycle, and pulled another jagged blade from the wreckage, and hopped up to the rooftops like it didn't matter.

Meifeng was running for her life... but, there wasn't much she could do...  She was losing strength, and she had a blood trail leading right to her. That was probably the point of the blade, just leave a nice sloppy wound that he can use to track her. And sure enough, she heard the freak jump up to the rooftops and start chasing after her. He ran [i]much[/i] faster now. He was quick as hell with the weird metal on, he's probably three times as fast now.

Maybe she could use that against him.

Meifeng pulled off to the side, and let the brute rush past her. He was barely able to stop before Meifeng kicked him off the roof. She got off the water orb and started running with her feet... She could hear sirens in the distance. With no other places to go, Meifeng hopped off the roof, and landed on a water bubble. She kept running, but she eventually fell to her knees.

"Damn it, get up." Meifeng said to herself. "...There's so many people counting on me... Too many."

The beast hit the ground, landing behind her. He was going to savor this moment, while all Meifeng could do was desperately crawl away. Meifeng looked up, and saw many vehicles roll up... Men came out of the vehicle, and immediately aimed their weapons at the monster. She recognized the uniforms, and their symbol... The Singaporean army.

"Halt!" The captain in charge shouted. "Take one more step, and we will shoot."

The beast wasn't bothered by the threat, because he was given an order. And he was met with a endless barrage of automatic fire. Each shot pushed into the brute, and made him bleed. He let out pained yells as he stumbled backwards. When the beast had enough, he spoke the words of his escape... but they were warbled and distorted.

"[i]Z-za-neeth![/i]"

A portal opened behind the brute, and he fell backwards into it.

Thank God... it's all over. Meifeng was almost relieved... but, she had lost too much blood, and everything went black...


[hr][i][h1]...[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Massive Attack - Angel][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiK2JlBpzvI[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]???[/u][/i]


On their hands and knees, the Black Hound and the Foundation Woman were groveling before the people they pissed off the most.

The Blessed Three.

With their failed assassination attempt only getting Undertakers killed, and the moles they implanted into DOVE and RAVEN were being exposed, they had a lot of explaining to do. They were standing right before the Blessed Three, who were sitting on tall chairs that were like thrones. Mighty, and majestic, only the elite can sit on chairs such as this. Each of them were obscured in shadows. However, parts of their appearance were partially shown due to the dim lighting of the room.

"I hope you realize what you've done," One of them said, annoyed and with a stern voice. He was the man sitting on the left. He was tall, blonde-haired, and had the physique of a Roman statue (Kind of looked like one, too). He had green eyes that pierced through them. "We now have her on high alert, only because you tried to kill her at the wrong time.... what were you thinking?"

"My lord Ezekiel," The Foundation Woman said in a sad tone. "We were attempting to make up for the failure of the last mission in Baybridge, and please you with knowing that another on the the list was taken off."

Ezekiel leaned forward, and couldn't believe what he was hearing. "[i]"Please you?'[/i] You had already pleased us with a successful string of missions! You killed every target we have painted with surprising efficiency!" He said, his anger increasing. He had grasped the arms of the chair so tightly that they exploded. Electricity had arced off his hands... and that electricity spread to the rest of his body. "And suddenly! You start to get cocky! And through that arrogance you decide that you don't need clearance from the Blessed Three!" Ezekiel growled at them. "You must remember that you obey us above all else! You do not act without our permission!" He was leaned forward, and electricity had surrounded him from head to toe - reaching upwards towards the ceiling.

"Calm down, Ezekiel," The sole woman of the Blessed Three said. "It's obvious that they screwed up, only thing to do now is damage control." She was red-haired with blue eyes, and tall as well. Her body wasn't as muscular as the other two, but she was certainly fit. Her head of hair was long, and wavy, going past her shoulders.

Ezekiel leaned back in his chair, and the crackling electricity disappeared, but he had more to say, "We must punish them for their insolence, Julia. Don't tell me you're going to be spouting the same nonsense as Blake."

"I just don't want to be rid of two valuable resources," Julia was quick to snap back. "Just because of one error."

"She's right, Ezekiel," Blake... the last member of the Blessed Three, and the tallest of the group and having a similar build to Ezekiel, with broad shoulders, and incredibly muscular due to working out extensively. Blake had a goatee, and a well-slicked back hair of black hair. "The Black Hound and the Foundation Woman are valuable members of our Family... I don't know where we'd be without them."

He then stood up, and raised a fist up into the air.

"The Black Hound..." Blake said. "The symbol of the snarling dog is one to symbolize fear, and oppression amongst the genetically ungifted... and kill threats to the Family in the process. While his mission didn't go as planned, it was only because he wasn't under the guidance of the Blessed Three! He still spread fear. They now know that nowhere is safe from the Black Hound... and to hide their families out of fear..."

He leaned back in his chair.

"...However, any security risks don't matter at this point since we are nearing our great goal... so it's so close." Blake said with a wide smile on his face. "Once the "Promised Land" is complete, and successfully fueled, we will change the world with it's power..."

Both Julia and Ezekiel looked at Blake.

"...But, we require more people for it." Blake said. "As your direct order, I demand that you bring some willing volunteers... anyone that's over the age of eighteen, after all." Blake said.

The Black Hound was silent for a moment.

"...Yes, master."

He got up to his feet, and turned around and disappeared into the black hallways.

"You, too, Foundation Woman, you must mobilize our forces," Blake said. "Coordination is everything, after all."

"Thank you, Lord Blake."

The Foundation Woman skipped off into the darkness after the Hound. 

She walked at his side.

"...Did it work?" The Hound asked.

"Yes..." The Foundation Woman said with a grin. "Oh, too, well."


[hr][i][h1]Three Days Later... Tuesday, October 20th, 5:23 PM.[/h1][/i][hr]


It's been three days since the Black Hound's attack on the Harvest Festival, and the city is still reeling from it. Security and RAVEN presence has been increased in hopes of preventing another incident like this from occurring, but there has been little luck. The city is on edge, as people live in fear of the symbol of terror that the Black Hound has been becoming. They lived in fear of who was the next target, and when. 

It was a cloudy day... the clouds were pretty dark, and a sure sign that it was going to rain soon. And rain very hard.


[hr][i][h1][color=forestgreen]Veronica Emily Davis[/color], Makoto Koda, and The Black Hound.[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Massive Attack - Come Near Me][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ump0uNMIkEs[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]Somewhere in Prince-Edfield.[/u][/i]


In the hallways of one of the FF's lovely labs, Veronica was playing with some knives. Floating them around with her telekinesis, and just fiddling with them out of boredom. Only because she was soooooo bored waiting for the Black Hound's assignment. She let out a sigh as she looked down at her chest... she realized some of the buttons on her shirt had become undone, and she quickly changed them back just to be modest. She was wearing blue jeans, and a leather jacket over it all, because she had to forgo fashion for a bit of practicality. The black combat boots that she was wearing ensured that she wouldn't hurt her feet or anything while on the assignment.

Someone walked up to her, and it was the woman that constantly annoyed Veronica; Makoto.

"Somebody's bored." Makoto said, looking at Veronica's floating knives, then looked at her with her hands on her buttons, "What are you about to do? Flash me?"

She followed it up with some mocking laughter that made Veronica roll her eyes up into her head.

"C'mon, Ronica," Makoto said. "Maybe I'll enjoy it."

She winked.

"Shut up, Makoto," Veronica said. "Where is the Black Hound? I am tired of standing around in this hallway waiting for him."

"I heard he screwed up big time back at the attack on the Harvest Festival," Makoto chuckled. "The Blessed Three probably killed him for his failures... you know, "you have failed me" cliche." She laughed some more, which made Veronica wonder how such a woman was such a cold assassin... Maybe that's how she copes with the killing (Well, knowing Makoto, she probably thinks annoying her is a good mechanism).

"Well, that would be swell-"

The Black Hound walked up, and they both went silent.

"... Veronica, Makoto, you have another assignment." The Black Hound said, his voice was robotic and monotone as ever. It was to the point where Veronica wondered just [i]who[/i] is behind the mask. Honestly, it was coming down to a matter of [i]what[/i] is behind it. She could only give him a look of contempt as she looked at him from aside. "The Foundation Woman has detected a potential recruit to the Intimidation Unit."

He handed her a file, and she opened it up. There was no picture... only a description of someone called Upgrade that deals with technology that may have a technology focused ability. Operated out of Old Raygate.

Veronica narrowed her eyes. Just another fetch quest for the Blessed Three? She had it to here with kissing ass to find people.

"I'm sorry, Black Hound," Veronica said. "Can't you get one of those other mooks from the Intimidation Unit to do it? This is beneath me-"

In a display of the Black Hound's reflexes, he grabbed onto Veronica's neck before she had a chance to react, and raised her in the air. Makoto took a few steps back, slack-jawed. Veronica was gasping for air, grabbing onto the Black Hound in a desperate attempt to pull him off. 

"You were given an order," The Black Hound sternly said as he stared her in the eyes. "You are expected to follow it, Veronica."

He dropped her to the ground, and let her gasp for air.

"You are a subordinate, and nothing more, remember that, Veronica. Now get it down."

The Black Hound turned off, and started walking away.

She choked as Makoto came over to her and knelt down next to her.

"B-Bastard!" Veronica hissed as she grabbed onto her neck. The bastard almost caved her throat in  

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah," Veronica said, answering much kindly than she normally would. "I'm fine."

"Let's get the job done before he gets angrier," Makoto said as she helped Veronica to her feet, and they began walking out of here.

[i]Just you wait, Hound... It's only a matter of time before your fall, and I want to be there to watch. No, I'm going to be the one that kills you. After I'm done with the Blessed Three.[/i]