[hr][i][h1][color=Springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], [color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color], [color=fff200]Alice Barrett[/color], [color=gray]Quentin[/color] & [color=darkslateblue]Reed[/color] [color=gray]Tay[/color][color=darkslateblue]lor[/color][/h1][sub]Written in collaboration with [@Mr Allen J], [@tsukune], [@Nosuchthing], & [@Zombiedude101][/sub][/i][hr][hider=Breton - Sticker Factory][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSPOlZK1Tao[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters.[/u][/i]


For a while, Cindy was obsessing a little bit over the details of the Black Hound's attacks. Something didn't add up. She bent over her computer desk, and was watching a video on the internet titled, "Penelope Walker assassinated during speech!" Penelope Walker was a Labour MP who looked set to take party leadership after several years of campaigning for reform and, by extension, the Prime Minister's office... or would've been, if she hadn't been murdered by the Hound, literally his first kill. It had sent waves through the public, because she promised to improve the situation for Metahumans. But, that wasn't what Cindy was after.

She pressed play, and a reporter was recording the speech as the black haired British woman stood on a stage. With her bodyguards taking up flank to protect her.

"I'd like to thank you all for your attendance-"

Cindy skipped the video ahead so she could get to the parts she was looking for.

"...As part of the reforms that I have continuously proposed to my constituency, I intend to oversee a change in policy exhibited towards Metahumans by the MISW. In an age as the twenty-first century, it has become an embarrassment to our nation and the values that we have stood for, that our grandparents and their parents' generations stood for, that citizens of this country face discrimination on the basis of their birth. Unless we can push for this reform for the better, we would be no better than-"

At that point, a gunshot had rung out and Penelope had slumped back against the podium, lifeless - the bloody entrance wound in her chest a clear indicator of what had happened if nothing else had given the impression. The crowd had screamed in terror, fleeing in a panicked state, cursing aloud.

"Pete, look!" A woman could be heard shouting to the camera man, frantically pointing to the rooftops.

As the camera followed her movement, all who were watching saw the Black Hound in his armour, wielding his sniper as though he was posing for them. Before anything else could be said or done, a portal opened behind him and he turned and walked into it, the both of them disappearing shortly after. The video ended a few seconds later, and Cindy narrowed her eyes as she thought about it.

[i]The same as the rest of the videos.[/i]

Cindy thought to herself.

[i]A clean kill... then why did he miss Deborah two times?[/i]

It was a mystery to Cindy. Did he get too excited? Or was something else manipulating the field. Clearly, the Black Hound specializes in terror. Why did he miss?

What interrupted her line of thought was Meifeng barging into the room.

"Shit," Meifeng said, sounding very weak as she leaned up against the door frame. "Heeeeey, I'm finally back."

Cindy spied Meifeng, and saw the bandages on her shoulder, and the cast around her arm.

"Jesus Christ, Meifeng," Cindy said. "What happened to you?"

"Well..." Meifeng shouted. "I pulled the plan, but honestly, you should google it, because words don't [i]begin[/i] to describe the bullshit I've been through in Singapore."

She walked up, and raised her hand up into the air.

"Google; Metahuman goes on rampage in Singapore!"

"Um, what?" Cindy said. "Know what I don't want to know. Did you find anything on the FF?"

"Look Cindy, I just want to hang out with the others right now. Let's go to the shooting alley, anywhere!" Meifeng said. "Go hit them up with a text message while I go ask Jade for another favor."

"You want her to heal you?" Cindy said. "You can just ask."

"...I know," Meifeng said, as she walked closer and closer to the door. "I think she also gets tired of everyone [i]selfishly[/i] asking her to heal them over every boo-boo... and also I ask her to clear up my hangovers when I get shitfaced!"  With the last word, Meifeng was right out the door.

A sigh escaped her lips, but maybe Meifeng was right. It was time to hang out with some friends. Cindy reached over towards her desk, and unlocked the phone with her code. Using her insane typing skills to write:

[quote][code]Hey, guys, sorry to bother you but can we meet up at headquarters real quick? Maybe we'll hit up the shooting range.[/code][/quote]

Sending it out to her old friends that she made back in Verthaven, and some new ones, as she laid back in her chair... maybe she should've tried to include the other people.

[hr]

It was one thing to get caught up in a gunfight and a wholly different matter when it came to writing down the paperwork and statements for it afterwards. Reed had spent a good chunk of the last few days mopping up said paperwork for what had occurred on that day, along with assisting the subsequent investigation that had been raised by DOVE regarding the attack. With that in mind, he wondered whether or not it'd have been easier to take an extra couple of bullets to the chest than to have gone through that, though that itself was something else to irritate him - one of his favourite jackets had been ruined, if not by the blood stains then by the clear holes where the bullets had punched through. 

So in a way, it was good to hear from Cindy regarding some time out. After reading her text, he'd just as quickly shot her back a response.

[quote][code]Sounds good, I'll see you there.[/code][/quote]

He was quite grateful to her for saving his brother's ass. From how it'd been told, Quent had gone after the bastard responsible for the attack with nothing more than a sidearm and body armour concealed under his jacket and, if it hadn't been for Cindy's intervention, would've been dicing with death. To show for it, when he'd seen him after the attack, Quent had been limping around the site of the disaster with a share of bruises and scratches to show for it, but had luckily avoided anything worse.

[i]Mrew.[/i] A mewling sound caught his attention, prompting him to look down at his feet. "Cass," Reed muttered, before leaning down to give the cat a rub around the ears. She must've been coming up to what, three years now? In a line of work as his, there'd not exactly been a great deal of time to head out searching for a relationship or heading out partying, so she'd made good company, especially when he was up late at night trying to get some work done from home. With a soft purr, Cassie rubbed the corner of her mouth against his fingers, then nibbled on them lightly: An indication that she was hungry. "Fine, fine." 

Departing from the comfort of the couch, Reed hit the TV remote and headed over to one of the cupboards in the kitchen, where he kept her tinned food and biscuits. In the corner across was a plastic bowl with two compartments, one for dry food and the other for meat. Seeing that Cass had eaten up the latter, whilst digging a little into the former, he grabbed both a can of tinned as well as the box of biscuits, then topped up her dried food and emptied half of the can into the bowl before sticking it in the fridge for use later on. Seemingly satisfied, the cat quietly padded over to her food and started digging in. Now with that done, Reed could get changed and leave, yet as he was slipping on another t-shirt it occurred to him that this evening would be even better if he brought along a certain family heirloom.

After retrieving that last thing, Reed set off back towards HQ.

[hr]

Alice was relieved to find something else to do other than sit at her desk or drown her sorrows in a bar, she knocked back the last of the glass and slid it along the bar to the bartender, before standing and heading to the door with a remarkably confident gait considering the amount of booze she had thrown back. She typed rapidly into the keypad.

[quote][code]See you in a few.[/code][/quote]

She stepped out onto the street, glanced around quickly to check no one was watching, and was gone a half second later. She'd need to brush her teeth, or at the very least pick up some gum. It was the middle of the day, yeah it was her day off, but she was in no mood to answer questions about why she had a quarter bottle of whiskey on her breath to people who wouldn't understand. 

[hr]

Just as Cindy said, she went over to the shooting range. There were two shooting ranges in the headquarters; an indoors one, and an outdoors shooting range. Personally, Cindy preferred the outdoor shooting range, but it looked like it was about to rain. But, a little rain wouldn't bother the bullets, now would it? Cindy brought a weapon that she didn't really have too much experience with, but she liked to practice shooting it in her spare time. An ACR assault rifle that was nearly standard in the RAVEN ranks. While Cindy normally only used a pistol, she'd seen waaay too much shit that requires a bigger, and heavier, firearm. She just wanted to practice just in case. She politely asked for it, after all.

The shooting range was large, as you'd expect. And had many lanes (some were manned by Agents already!). Enough for Cindy and her friends to have a good time. There were several targets that were of any length, and could be adjusted. For now, Cindy waited for the others to show up.

Meanwhile...

The Barrett .50 was indeed a powerful sniper rifle, but it was still not Shizuka's favorite to work with. He had picked the M107 type instead of the more conventional models (the M82 or M95), but the recoil was almost as nasty as its predecessors - even after switching out the actual bullets for the much lighter practice darts.

Still, this was the signature gun of a late comrade. It was Sonya Mayfield's favorite sniper series.

He didn't have much interactions with her back at Verthaven - everyone was too busy trying to survive the disaster, to hold on to the last thread of their sanity in a world that had gone mad on them - but he had liked the froglady's chirpy voice over the comms. While most of them were on the verge of lunging for each other's neck, her contagious cheekiness had helped to keep them from crossing over that line. She was one of the very few people he actually wished he could have tried to talk to; someone he thought would be interesting to hang out with.

Another person whom he had met at the wrong time, wrong place... Just like with Jennifer Caspin.

Taking in a deep breath, he pushed the rising horrible images of his past back into the depth of his mind, focusing his senses on the gun and the air around him as he continued to fire, until he had completely emptied the load. He checked to make sure the rifle's pin was locked in place before he got up and pulled off his shooting protection gears. As he turned around, heading back to the counter to request for more magazines, he spotted someone he least expected to be here.

"Hey Cindy," he called out to the DOVE agent and friend, catching up to her easily in a few strides. "I did get your text alright, but it's really rare to see you giving the outdoor range a shot." His eyes fell onto the ACR she was carrying. [i]Good choice[/i], he thought - hardy, can be easily customized to fit personal handling or multi-purpose needs were just a couple of the many things why it was one of the more exciting assault rifles compared to the well-known M16s. This was also probably the first time he had seen her with anything longer than a handgun.

It was nice to see Shizuka here, and not off somewhere sulking. Cindy gave him a warm smile, and said, "Yo, Shizuka," She said. "I'm no RAVEN, but I decided to practice with this just in case we ever have another shitstorm and I need to start packing something bigger than my glock." She gestured down towards the assault rifle in her hands. "And why not the outdoor shooting range? I know it's about to open up, but I don't think water can weigh down bullets." She started laughing. She looked at the rifle that he was wielding... the Barrett M107, definitely a dangerous rifle. Cindy would probably never want to be on the receiving end of that.

"This rifle of mine still ain't nothing compared to that," She pointed at the sniper rifle Shizuka was holding. "So, how about we get a few shots in before the others show up? Meifeng's probably on the way as we speak."

"Yeah, before the drizzle turns into a raging shower," Shizuka coolly took up Cindy's offer. "I need to reload my gun first, though. You can go first if you want." He gave her a wave and walked past her towards the counter.

"Okay..." Cindy said, as she picked a lane with the target far away. "Get ready for the worst shooting you've ever seen in your life..." She quickly brought the gun shoulder level, and pressed the stock against her shoulder to stabilize it. She aimed down the sights, and tried her best to keep the gun steady. She held her breath, then pulled the trigger...

...And totally missed. It went so far off that it went into the [i]next lane.[/i] Even better that Shizuka was back in time to see that. His face was kept expressionless, except for the amused glint in his eyes.

"...Hey, Shizuka, you see, I hit the target." Cindy tried to play it off. "I was totally aiming for that fly."

Shizuka frowned at her - or rather, he was trying hard to stop himself from laughing out loud (a snort of snicker did escape from his lips, and he hoped she didn't catch that). The last thing he wanted was Cindy to bitch him about her own failure plus that lame cover-up, and that would be really a pain in the ass to deal with (from past experiences, of course). "Yeeeeeah..." he tried to keep his tone even as he reloaded his rifle and set it down range in the next lane. "...You can loosen up a bit more, like try using a slightly squared instead of a rigid bladed stance. That might help you to deal with the recoil better."

"Uh, thanks for the advice," Cindy said as she adjusted her stand a little bit... this was probably the result of never being formally trained to use this damn thing. She wished that her pistol could solve all the problems, but she knows that this peashooter would only annoy the really tough ones. And in that situation, she either has to use a bigger gun, or throw her pistol at it and hope for the best. Though, she was going to watch Shizuka.

With that, Shizuka put on his protection gears and got down in a prone position. The weather seemed to be getting worse, and he probably could manage just about two more shots before he had to call it a day. Sucking in a deep breath, he peered through the eyescope with narrowed eyes to take aim before he pressed the trigger. The rifle went off with a deafening boom (thankfully he had the gears on) and rocked backwards even with the bipod, the dart cutting through the wind and raindrops before it pierced through the targeting board - through the shoulder-blade area of the silhouette man painted on it.

He checked through the scope before letting out a sigh. "...Seems like I'm a bit off also, huh." He wasn't aiming for any vital parts, but at the very least to shatter the shoulder joint with just one shot. He could check how much he was off his mark later.

"Hey," Cindy said. "That was still impressive." She winked at him.

The wind was getting stronger, tousling his rain-drenched hair wildly; the next shot was going to be quite a challenge... which, unfortunately, he wasn't going to get that chance. Not with such low visibility (he was using a normal scope not meant for this type of weather), and the rain was getting heavier with each passing second. Shizuka had no choice but to remove the magazine and pick up the wet rifle. "C'mon, let's go."

"Yeah, lead the way." Cindy said.

[hr]

Quentin, as it happened, turned out to be the first - he'd already been in the building when he'd got her text and had just been wrapping some personal business up. His leg was still a little rough, judging by the way he put his weight on it, but he'd made a point not to make it obvious to the others. Slung over his shoulder was a Remington 870 Police issue, with the synthetic stock. It'd come in handy over the years and somehow, he couldn't see himself taking just a sidearm.

Squeaking into the indoor shooting range was Shizuka, leaving puddles of water on the concrete ground as he strolled towards Quentin. He still had the huge-ass Barrett with him, but he wasn't that retarded to shoot with this monster in here. Following behind Shizuka was Cindy... who was getting tired of carrying this damn gun around. It was heavier than it looked, and she forgot to bring a strap so she could just sling it over her shoulder instead. They walked towards the indoor shooting range because the rain was becoming a pain in the ass. Cindy's suit was coated in a thick layer of rain... she was going to bug Meifeng to get the rain out when her ass got over here. The indoor shooting range was the one she was more used to, but she wished that she could have at least shot a little bit more out there. Oh well. It is what it is. Cindy marched in, and looked over at Quentin, who was already here.

"Hey, Quentin!" Cindy said.

"Hey, Cindy." His response was a little muted in comparison to her warm greeting, though judging by the thin smile, he was glad to see her again. Shizuka simply greeted Quentin with a casual salute.

Alice appeared between the two of them with a faint pop of displaced air, "sorry, am I late?"

Cindy smiled.

She smirked, as though at a bad joke, and then made one, "I'm Alice anyway."

"Girl, I know who you are." Cindy said while a warming smile found it's way onto her face.

The doors to the shooting range were kicked open, as Meifeng Zhao made her grand entrance! "Heeeeey, you guys!" Meifeng shouted as she slung a Mossberg over her head. "I am back from Singapore, and ready to get back in the saddle."

"Looking good as always, you enjoy your vacation?" Quentin remarked, a hint of that golden sarcasm of his. He took a step toward her, doing as past as he could to hide his limp, throwing out a palm to firmly grasp hers in an affirming handshake. "It's good to have you back."

"It wasn't really a vacation, I had to teach some cops how to beat up Metahumans, but they were pretty nice." Meifeng sarcastically said as she stretched her shoulder a little bit, before shaking Quentin's hand. Despite Jade's healing, she could still feel a little bit of a phantom pain. "But, what happened to you, Quent?" Meifeng smirked.

"It's nothing," Quentin said, dismissively, before evading the question altogether. "Did you find anything useful whilst overseas?"

"Well, yeah," Meifeng said, peeking over Quentin's shoulder towards Alice. Last time she checked, Alice wasn't in on their secret battle with Founding Family. Back to the relevant issue, Meifeng still has the case - she was able to sneak it back from Singapore, and just tossed it in her locker in the meantime. She had no idea what's inside of it, but she knew that big dude was after it. "...I'll talk about that one later."

She stretched her arms a little.

"One thing I did run into while there was this big lunatic," Meifeng said... just [i]itching[/i] to talk about it. "Who totally tried to ice me back there... I would be dead if it wasn't for their soldiers there."

Meifeng did notice that he had the same emblem as the Black Hound... the symbol of a snarling dog. So that definitely meant the bastard's with the Founding Family. What she wanted to know was... How in the hell did they connect the dots so damn fast? Or was it just a guess? Eh. No matter now.

"So, I heard the Black Hound attacked while I was gone... I hope everyone's okay."

"Yeah," Cindy said. "We stopped the Black Hound - at the cost of a few agents - but something doesn't feel right about this..." Cindy voiced her concern.

"How so?" Meifeng asked.

"He had the perfect opportunity to kill Deborah, but then blew it..." Cindy leaned up against the booth, and sighed. "...When he killed all those other people really quick."

"Put us into a false sense of security. Make us think we're in control." Quentin suggested, folding his arms.

"Still... but..." Cindy thought about London for a second. All he did was expose the Founding Family to the likes of RAVEN and DOVE. Along with all of the "Undertakers" that they arrested, all they did was give RAVEN and DOVE more information on the Founding Family at large. "Nevermind."

"...Or," Shizuka suddenly spoke up; he had left the group for a moment to return the sniper rifle, and then came back with a pistol - Ruger Mark III 22/45 - instead of a shotgun like most of the rest (he felt the need to spend more time with handguns, as opposed to Cindy's situation). He had also changed out of his wet suit for something dry. "An internal power struggle among themselves that've gone terribly wrong." He shrugged.

"Yeah, let's stop worrying about our jobs and shoot!!" Meifeng shouted as she pumped her shotgun. "Who's going to go first? I wanna see some impressive shit - everyone here can shoot a gun straight."

"Sure, I'll volunteer!" Reed's voice called out from behind them, lugging a sporting weapon's bag in one hand.

Alice nodded at the bag, "you bring a gun or an arsenal?"

"Just something personal," he answered, taking up a position at the side of the range and setting the bag on the table. Unzipping it, he parted the corners of the bag to reveal a glimpse of an Ithaca 37 DS Police Special, complete with the classic wooden furniture. Popping open a side pouch, Reed also retrieved a box of twelve-gauge shells and a pair of ear protectors, then grabbed the shotgun and headed over to one of the stands and started pushing some of the shells into the magazine tube.

Meifeng looked at it, and wondered if it was Reed's... or a special someone's. She wasn't going to prod at it for now.

The sight of the shotgun heralded an appreciative whistle from the petite blonde, "I haven't seen one of them in ages, not since I left the NYPD, mind if I call shotgun?"

"That what I think it is?" Quentin asked with a furrowed brow, memories of old times bubbling to the surface. Reed gave him a slow nod, "Old man would've hated seeing it gathering dust, I figured it'd be a good chance to put it to use."

[i]Definitely Cass' shotgun.[/i] Meifeng thought to herself.

Realizing she had put her foot in it, Alice raised her hands in surrender, "Ah shit, sorry guys, I didn't realize it was family. Used to use my Dad's in the back yard, 'fore he retired..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Reed waved her concerns off with a relaxed tone, reaching for one of the paper targets to set up on a hook. "Say, I used to be a cop myself, VPD."

"You were there when the whole thing went down?"

"Only like the others here, yeah." He said, albeit with a markedly subdued tone. Reed had been able to put the past behind him, but he knew fully well that the others hadn't all exorcised themselves of their demons. Quent could be counted among them, that much he knew.

Meifeng leaned up against the wall... mention of the Verthaven disaster did make her a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't unbearable. "Yeah... we seen it all," Meifeng said. "From the start, to the very end, I guess... Glad to have made it out of there alive." That was all Meifeng was going to say. She didn't want to stir up anything for the others... or herself if she had to be honest.

Scratching at his jawline, Quentin kept quiet. Talking about what happened in Verthaven to those who weren't there was difficult, sometimes. It was hard to empathize with someone who had no idea what kind of losses there'd been, the rows and rows of body bags lined up in the aftermath of the disaster, the bastards who'd slipped through the cracks in the chaos... [i]fuck it[/i]. This evening, he'd enjoy himself with the others at the range and save the pessimism for another night.

Shizuka also chose to stay silent - he had already paid his tribute with the Barrett just now, and he didn't want those memories to be brought up again here.

"I was there, too... but that's all in the past now," Cindy was quick to note, trying to calm anyone down. "Now, let's get back to our shooting - I need to practice."

Alice looked at her feet, she hadn't seen any of it, hadn't even been a police officer that long ago, let alone a RAVEN, or even a metahuman. Every one of the others who were here had experienced that horror though. She suddenly felt very isolated in the group. She tried to push the feeling away, after all, she'd been invited.

"Last to fifty buys the first round?"

"Sure. Now watch," Reed said, as eager as the others to push back the shitty feelings and make her feel welcome, before thumping the button to send the paper target downrange. Once it was a considerable distance away, he shouldered the Ithaca 37, racked it, then squeezed back on the trigger after a moment of lining up a shot. With a resonant boom that would've caused significant earache to anyone foolish enough [i]not[/i] to wear hearing protection, the birdshot punched through the target without a problem, leaving it peppered holes. Reed cracked a smirk at that, then decided he'd have a little fun - racking it again, he squeezed back on the trigger, only this time he kept racking it without pause, emptying shell after shell with each slamfire. Not always helpful in the field, but boy was it a change from the slow pace of some shotguns. He flashed a grin after that.

"Smartass." Quentin muttered, before deciding he'd show his little brother up on this one. "Say Reed, grab another target and load up. Let's see who can empty these things out first." As he expected, the younger of the two Taylors quickly took up the challenge and started rigging up another target whilst the elder did the same, then the both of them started loading up again. "Someone count down from three?" Quentin asked.

Waving a hand in the air, Alice fished around inside her jacket, "Wait wait, got it," she produced a scrap of tissue, waving it elaborately, like a flag.

"On your marks. Three... Two... One..."

Cindy made [i]sure[/i] that her protective earmuffs were on.

She let the tissue fall, "Race!"

Both of the Taylors fired almost simultaneously, both racking their weapons at the same time. Reed looked set to have the advantage, being able to slamfire the Ithaca, yet it was Quentin who could rack the pump action at a faster rate, almost negating the ability to slamfire it. As ejected shells hit the ground, both paper targets were practically shredded to pieces by the incoming lead pellets, yet in the end it was Quentin who won the race, if only by a narrow margin. Thing was, being able to slamfire was nice and all, except being strong enough to rack the pump action at such a rate as he did was even better. "C'mon, who else saw that?" He asked, to the watching crowd, as Reed looked on with a less than impressed look across his face.

"Awwwwwww, yeah!" Meifeng said excitedly, after the raging booms of each of the weapons had subsided, of course. Hopping up, "That's what I was talking about when I asked for the fancy shit."

Shizuka let out an approving whistle. "That's the ace of aces for you."

Cindy had to adjust her glasses a little bit, and take a double take. "Yeah, that was pretty badass... I hate to be on the receivin' end of that." She started laughing as she walked up to one of the booths. She thought that was badass, but she had to practice a little herself. She wasn't a RAVEN, or a former member of the Police... she was Cindy. And she feared that wasn't good enough.

Wait... Cindy knew she was having fun, letting off steam, but perhaps it was time they got down to business. What Cindy wanted to know was what Meifeng found in Singapore. "Guys, I hate to rain on the parade... but, I really think we should discuss what Meifeng found in Singapore," Cindy said.

Meifeng peered over towards Alice, and leaned in Cindy's ear, and asked, "Can we trust her?" 

"Far as I can tell, yes." Cindy said. "The Founding Family is common knowledge in the agency at this point."

Well, that was good enough for Meifeng, but there was something she had to ask. Looking dead at Alice, Meifeng had to ask...

"...Hey, are you evil?"

Alice froze, looking guilty for a moment before raising a hand, clenched into a fist, to chin height. Then she extended her little finger.

"Just messing..."

She laughed, dropping her hand and waving away the proposition.

"Anyways, I was staking out that shipping company that Dr. Cross told you about for [i]months,[/i] gathering information, and waiting for the right time to strike," Meifeng started her explanation, gently leaning her shotgun up against the stall. She herself leaned up right besides it and crossed her arms. "Just a few days ago, I [i]finally[/i] snuck my way into one of their boats and found something mighty weird..."

She thought about how to explain it.

"Well, it was like a big glass canister of a glowing green liquid which looked [i]awfully[/i] lot like Metahuman energy," Meifeng still wondered what the hell that was. It could have been superpower-infused anal lube for all she knows. She wished that there was some way to bring it, but oh well. "Those things were big as my torso, so there was no way in hell I could bring it back - but, I also found something else super suspect."

She put two hands up like she was holding a box in the air.

"This metal case, inside a metal box," Meifeng said. "I didn't know what it was, but it's the only thing I could bring back. I still have no idea of what's inside of it. [i]Because,[/i] when I was getting the hell out of there, this giant dude just came out of fuckin' no where and tried to fucking murder me. Like it was the most random bullshit ever. He looked like a God damn cyborg because he had all this metal shit, and even pulled out a fuckin' chainsaw... I swore I saw the Black Hound's symbol on him..."

Meifeng reached into her pocket.

"...Actually, some kids caught it on their phones and put it on YouTube."

"Wait, wait, hold up, where is the case now?" Cindy had to stop Meifeng.

"In my locker,"  Meifeng said. "Are we going to watch me get my ass kicked or what."

"Both, actually." Shizuka smirked at Meifeng. "Besides, it's a good opportunity for you guys to fill me in with all the Black Hound dramas I'd missed while I was away."

"Well, what do you know so far?" Cindy asked him. "Because he's been raising hell in Britain lately."

"The assassination of Penelope Walker?" Shizuka frowned. That incident made quite an uproar even as far as Asia - stocks fell drastically, adding even more pressure on the government of the Asian countries trying to stabilize their respective economic market on top of the rising tension against Metahumans. Until it reached the breaking point - the devastating riot during the Asia-Pacific Metahuman Conference held in Taipei a few weeks ago. "...That also caused some hell in Asia."

"Yeah," Cindy said... that's definitely been making waves everywhere. But who [i]hadn't[/i] heard of it. "Alright, here's what we know. The Black Hound definitely works for the Founding Family... we just don't know who the hell he is due to being really good at, you know, hiding it," Cindy was quick to explain. "We [i]know[/i] that he's been taking out politicians that oppose the political party we know that the Founding Family controls, and they haven't been able to stop him."

"But, since that, he tried to kill Deborah in Havenfield, and [i]oddly[/i] failed," Cindy said. "But, his little army... The Intimidation Unit attacked the Festival, and shot up the place. Civilian casualties were minimal because they were apparently under orders [i]not[/i] to hurt people... as for RAVEN, that's a whole another discussion. All while the Black Hound went for Deborah, some tourist got in the middle of it, then took a bullet - but Quentin was able to hold him off and buy me some time to get the guy to safety, and scare the Black Hound off."

Cindy shrugged.

"Everything else, you should know. We arrested and interrogated some of the Intimidation Unit, but we haven't gotten any solid leads yet."

Shizuka let Cindy's words sink into his mind. He was starting to make some sense of the Havenfield attack a few days ago - from the way Deborah had interrogated London, he felt that the DOVE Head probably had some sort of plans of her own with regards to all this Founding bullshit. Even with her powers, he didn't think she was someone who would take such risk without any plans.

Still... "It's really weird for him to screw up so badly this time - completely opposite of the UK scenario," he agreed with Cindy. "Even if he's trying to give us a 'false sense of security', as Quent puts it, something just feels... off to me."

He ran a hand through his hair. The Hound missed his chance and Deborah was safe. Casualties were minimal and his little army was offered willingly to them with more information on the Founding Family.

...It was too [i]perfect[/i].

"Agreed." Quentin was inclined to agree with the both of them. If not to lull them into a false sense of security, then what? Whatever the masked bastard and his employers had in mind, he refused to take it as a good sign. 

Reed, on the other hand, kept quiet about it. There was too much involved to make an immediate conclusion, not enough evidence or pieces of the puzzle pulled together. Best to wait a little while, he decided.

Meifeng just shrugged.

"...Everyone has some ulterior motive these days, or everything's gotta be a giant conspiracy," Meifeng said with total honesty. "Only problem is that we gotta bring an end to this before it spirals out of control... I don't know what the Founding Family is planning, or what they're capable of, but I have a feeling it's something big."

"Agreed." Cindy said.

"Now, I'm going to go grab that suitcase out my locker, just to show it to everyone," Meifeng got off the stall, and walked out the door. But, she poked her head back in to say, "Ya'll sit tight." She poked back in.

Cindy did just that, she crossed her arms and gave Meifeng some time to get her damn case.

About five minutes later, Meifeng returned with a large metal case, and slammed it on the stall that they came from. It was small, and black, and it also had a code lock that Meifeng could easily pop by breaking it. She looked between her group.

"Actually, should we open it here or go have one of the techs open it...?"

Cindy was about to go for the latter, when she thought about a very real possibility.

"Well..." Cindy trailed off. "We might as well because we have no god damn idea who's with the Founding Family, but..."

She peered over towards Shizuka.

"...Just in case, let's let Shizuka open it, shall we?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah, with his freaky phantom powers," Meifeng started laughing.

Shizuka rolled his eyes at Meifeng; he was tempted to walk [i]through[/i] her to reach the case, but in the end he merely moved around the tall Chinese agent. Normally he would have used his ability to get a rough insight just to be safe, but this time it wasn't necessary. Not with how Meifeng had slammed the case onto the stall so carelessly.

He phased the code lock off the case and put it aside; without the lock to keep the lid shut, the case popped open to reveal its content before the anticipating group.

...And the yellow glow shined on the group.

Inside of the case were five glass syringes with black caps on. Each syringe had a glowing yellow liquid inside of them, similar to what Meifeng had found in the shipping container.

"Yooo..." Meifeng trailed off. "I get the feeling that, whatever this is, it's really bad."

"Shit..." Alice was in agreement with the Chinese agent, whatever it was, the liquid looked dangerous, somehow. And every chemical that seemed to be involved with metahuman energy possessed a strange energy, and positively radiated wrongness.

Cindy wanted to touch it, but she figured that it was best that they leave it alone. Because, they don't know what the hell it is. It could be volatile, or dangerous.

"I... don't know what this is... but I'm also not sure if we should just destroy it or not." Cindy mentioned.

"Well, we [i]shouldn't[/i] improperly dispose of this," Meifeng said. "It could explode, or give everyone [i]super[/i] AIDS." She chuckled a little bit.

"Yeah, you're right..." Cindy said. "How about this? A vote. What should we do with this?"

"Might be worth heading over to forensics to figure out what we're dealing with, before we do anything else." Reed cautioned against destroying it straight away. Evidence like this was too important to waste and, despite the potential volatility of this stuff, what damage could destroying it have done?

Quentin shook his head. "Are you sure? I get the feeling that we're standing on quicksand with this stuff. If those bastards got their hands on it again... fuck if I know what they'll do with it."

"...How about we find out what the hell this stuff is first and worry about the rest later?" Shizuka shrugged. He had a bad feeling about the syringes as much as the rest, but he could tell that these were extremely important to the Founding Family - so much so that they had sent someone to kill Meifeng just to get it back. "'Sides, I think we all want to know what exactly we're dealing with against F-F."

"I'm fine with finding out what it is, but..." Cindy trailed off. There was that lingering feeling that there were more moles in the agency than just London. She could just be [i]paranoid[/i], but she couldn't take any risks. "I'm just going to out and say it; I feel like there could be some more moles in the agency... I don't want to risk it."

"Oh!" Meifeng just got the most [i]brilliant[/i] idea! "Stay here, I'll be right back."

Meifeng quickly ran out the room, and left everyone dumbfounded. She was gone for five minutes as she ran through the halls of the agency, and kicked the front doors of the shooting range open. She came back in, holding a tiny square device. No bigger than the tip of her thumb. She held it up in the air.

"Tracking device, bitches," Meifeng said with a playful smile. "It just popped up in my head; if the Founding Fuckers take it back; we can just tag it and get it back later - hell, it could lead us right to their doorstep."

"I have to say, that's a good idea," Cindy said... but, she had the feeling in her gut that something was going to go horribly wrong regardless. Still, she had no choice but to put up with it. "I'm going to take it to forensics now..."

Alice moved forward, "this shit creeps me out, but I'll come with you, the way things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised if the Black Hound just popped out of nowhere to take that case back. Seems just his speed."

"Why thank you." Cindy said, as she stepped over and grabbed the case. "I guess... the rest of you can do business as usual? We're kind of dead on leads right now, so I don't know. Go beat up some regular Meta-crook."

"Aye, aye, captain," Meifeng said as she saluted Cindy sarcastically. She raised her arm in the air, and stretched her midsection. "Actually, I want to check up on my mom and sister, so...."

"Yeah, yeah, I get you," Cindy said as she carried the brief case under her shoulder. There wasn't much left to say, so she bid them farewell. She turned towards Alice, and said, "Alright, let's go." 

They stepped out the door.


[hr][i][h1][color=skyblue]Wendy Emily Lucker[/color] & [color=lightseagreen]Rowan Campbell[/color].[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Breton - Hours Away][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP3-wiYYH6E[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]Faircrest Woods, Roseview.[/u][/i]


Not too far off from the Academy, the RV that belonged to Jessica Rosefey, parked out in an opening. The redhaired woman was leaning up against the massive vehicle, the rest of her group were on top of the RV. Waiting to see what the great big demonstration that Wendy had to show Diana.

Standing in the center of the clearing was Wendy, Rowan, and Diana. Diana was lighting a cigarette, and crossed her arms as she faced Wendy.

"Now that's out of the way," Diana stared down her sibling. "Mind showing me this trick you've been developing?"

"Oh yes!" Wendy chirped. For starters, she was glad that Diana was okay, she and her friends cleared the area when the shooting began. Second, she was dropped off by the weird taxi man back at the Academy with Rowan, so everything worked out fine for the two. Now, Wendy had something to show. After she had trained with Rowan, her ability to control electricity had be honed to a point where she could switch back. That wasn't the end of it. She had her own test subject! Wendy had practiced with Rowan with her paper manipulation because she had a theory of a technique she could do. Something that she thought that was possible for years now. She just couldn't get the partner.

Now, she pulled off the technique just yesterday.

She's so excited to show her sister her paper manipulation.

"Rowan," Wendy put out her hand. "Grab my hand so I can show her."

"Uh, wait- what?" He'd been playing the role of human guinea pig for a few days, yet he hadn't expected to be put on show. After a little hesitation, he figured that if anyone could do it and not turn him into a cardboard statue for the rest of his life, it was Wendy and at that, he reached out to reluctantly grasp her hand.

"Just trust me. Nothing will happen to you." Wendy said in response to his hesitation. Okay, maybe they only known each other for a few months, but Wendy wouldn't have let anything happen to Rowan. When he grabbed her hand, she concentrated. [i]Just as we practiced.[/i] The girl thought to herself as she became paper. Slips of paper quickly started to come off her being, but that wasn't all. She extended her ability over to Rowan, and he too became one with the paper. Before long, the two of them were completely turned into paper. Just a beautiful storm of paper slips that flowed like the wind.

Rowan should've been able to see everything the way Wendy does... through the eyes of paper. She sometimes wonders how this power works. How a girl can turn from flesh to paper. It was a mystery to Wendy, but was it one she wanted solved? Truly, not. She just wanted to experience the freedom of flight, and being paper, and finally being able to extend that to Rowan. 

Never had he felt so... [i]free[/i]. It was hard to describe the sensations that he experienced. He was split into over a dozen pieces and knew what it was to be able to fly, to the point that it was only through Wendy's influence that he didn't completely wander off. To say that it was overwhelming would've been an understatement - it was as if his perspective and being had been flipped. For a moment, he knew something different, blissful.

Though, it wasn't long before Wendy began to run out of breath. She was forced to turn back into flesh. The paper was assembled back into the shape of Rowan and Wendy. It was quick, and eventually, the two were completely human again. They were in the same position as they were when they started, holding hands. Wendy was pleased with the results, but she couldn't feel a little bit of concern....

Rowan stumbled forward as his legs started bearing the full weight of his body again, disoriented at the sudden transition. He'd not gotten quite used to the feeling of gravity resuming its hold and the experience of being split into dozens of pieces, then reformed was overwhelming.

"... Rowan!" Wendy asked as she ran over to him. She put her hand on his head, and then quickly examined his face. She then looked at the rest of him. "Are you okay? Is any part of you missing?" 

"Well, I think I saw a paper dick fly off in the breeze," Diana chuckled, taking steps towards the two.

"Oh no!" Wendy said, as she turned into paper yet again. "I'll go get-"

She was stopped by Diana putting her hand on her shoulder.

"I was just playing, Wen," Diana laughed.

"Oh." Wendy was embarrassed. She scratched the back of her neck. She overreacted. "Okay."

"But, you figured out a way to turn other people into paper?" Diana asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's funny, you copied the power from me, but yet you figure out more and more cool shit by the second," Diana said, honestly amazed. Her sister was certainly something else. She was the one who figured out how to turn weightless, control ink, and more, she was wondering what else she'll find out from Wendy. "Damn. You should show me how to do that."

"Yeah, sure," Wendy said. "I just figured I'd show you."

Rowan blinked a few times, before finally speaking up. "I'm okay." His answer was late, but it was there. It'd left him with a yearning to fly again, strange as it sounded. "Paper dick?!" He asked, this time with a hint of alarm, before a quick check over of himself indicated that he was all in one piece. More or less.

Both Wendy and Diana started laughing.

"Well, what's next?" Diana asked. "You said that you had something else to surprise me." She had to grin.

"Oh yeah," Wendy grabbed onto Rowan's arm. "Rowan, we also gotta show her what you can do - show her your [i]masterpiece[/i] I helped make."

She winked at Rowan.

He got the cue pretty quickly. "You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Wendy said. The rest of Diana's friends started to approach them. That just made Wendy's grin grow even wider. "You guys will be the first to see it, I haven't even taken pictures of it, yet."

"Alright, up this way." Rowan gestured, taking a few steps towards the edge of the opening in the woods where the RV had been parked. It wouldn't have gotten past the perimeter fence at the resort, so walking was their best bet.

And so, before long, when they reached the edge of the "border" for the Eastgriffin Ruins they came across the aforementioned fence. Walking along it, the group soon came across a point where the metal had clearly been warped at an earlier point - a little "easy access" Rowan had opened up for Wendy's sake after numerous complaints of sore, callused hands at scaling the fence.  "Under here." Rowan said, before tightening his fingers and waving upwards, pulling open a space big enough for them to duck under.

"Alright," Wendy stepped through the opening in the fence, and felt [i]relieved[/i] that, for once, she doesn't have to paper her way around it, or climb it. She stood on the other side, looking over her shoulder as she waited for the rest of them to go on through.

"I hope your [i]masterpiece[/i] isn't radiation poisoning," Diana said as she crawled through the opening. "Because it looks like we're about to walk into Chernobyl..." 

"Hey, now," Jessica said with a cheerful smile as she went through the opening. "This place looks amazing, we should give it a full look later!"

The rain clouds above them began to pour down a steady stream of rain.

"... Eh, when it stops raining, of course," Jessica said.

"Let's go."

... They weren't the only people taking the path after all. A tall figure followed a close path behind them, and took a step in some mud. Leaving a visible footprint... He looked down, and groaned. His black armor, and glowing red eyes signaled that he was the terror known as the Black Hound. He stood there for a moment, before he followed behind them.

What was he aiming for?

The group followed along the same path that Rowan had lead Wendy, the first time she'd been here. He found that it was still peaceful as before, yet there was something strange to him about so many people being here it once. Not that it mattered, he sped up a little, hoping to get them out of the rain a little sooner.

Before long, they were outside the hotel that had once been the heart of the Eastgriffin Resort. With the sign bearing its illuminated name having been stripped for scrap electronics long ago, the facade had been left bare by the years, with vines and weeds having slowly begun creeping their way up across any surface that they could find. Windows were dotted across, some with glass, others without, but each a black pit which led into the unlit depths of the building.

That wasn't what caught their eye though, but rather what had been recently stencilled and painted across the lower facade, stretching several metres high. It was a depiction of a great phoenix rising from a pile of ashes at the bottom, only to transform into a hooded figure with light pulsing from their silhouette. At either side, neanderthalic men stood at either side chanting slurs and fighting downtrodden  figures with metahuman abilities and masked gunmen pointed their weapons at the hooded figure. Then one could see the puppet strings that were drawn connected to all but the phoenix, leading up into several of the open windows across the first floor. Days of work had gone into it, but it had been worth it.

A pleased grin had formed on Wendy's face. Because she had a part in this! This had everything. It had style. It had a message. It had [i]soul[/i]. All things that make art, [i]art[/i]. Wendy had already taken her camera out when she was approaching. Now that they were showing it to people... it was social media ready! Wendy had snapped a quick picture of it.

"It looks better than the first time I've seen it!" Wendy said, passionate as always.

A smile had formed on Diana's face as she looked at it.

"It's certainly something," She said. "Did you do all of this? Or was it Rowan there?"

"Oh, I just laid out the stencils, Rowan did everything else," Wendy answered. 

"Wait c'mon, you did as much work as me." He argued, of the consensus that she had given herself too little credit. "You gave me ideas."

"Well, I just watched... mostly..." Wendy said, twirling her fingers around nervously, until Diana put a hand on her shoulder.

"C'mon, Wen," Diana said. "This is badass... Even if you laid the groundwork, that's still great and all..."

[hr][hider=Massive Attack - Superpredators][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59rH3rre0ZA[/youtube][/hider][hr]


The whole examination of the mural was cut painfully, painfully, short by a canister being quickly shot into the center of the group. It sprayed a red gas that Wendy was familiar with from the festival. Her eyes opened wide, as she quickly realized something was going horribly wrong. "Run!"

Rowan recognised the gas also and didn't even waste his breath to shout anything, instead bolting in the same direction as the others. Memories of the festival were echoing already.

Another canister was launched into the group as they all desperately tried to get away.

Kai, who was caught with one of the canisters in her face had no choice; she transformed. The area got really cold, almost like they stepped into a freezer. Her skin turned transparent and clear - almost like a statue made in her image - with her organs visible. She covered her mouth, and grew ice off her body to act as a shield. From the gas, and whatever else may be heading their way.

"Shit, shit, this way!" Rowan shouted to the others, gesturing to a detour around the side of the hotel, down an alley which would've lead to an escape...

... However, they were met with the glowing red eyes, and the intimidating armor donned with the snarling emblem of a dog. He stepped towards them, and they had no other option but to stop. He held a grenade launcher in his hand. He extended his free hand.

"Come with me..." The Black Hound said. "... [i]Or I will commence hostilities.[/i]"

Wendy was terrified, frozen in place with her jaw slacked open. What did the God damn [i]Black Hound[/i] want with them? They were just a bunch of kids. No one knew the motives of such a large and dangerous man.

Rowan was in danger of locking up again, heart pounding, fingers trembling, almost forgetting what he could do and did at the festival a few days ago. But the sight of Wendy freezing up was salt poured into an old wound and he somehow found the courage to shout at the Hound. "L-... Leave us alone!"

The scanner in the Black Hound's helmet focused on Rowan's face, and gave information on him.

[pre]ROWAN CAMPBELL.

Academy 61 Student. Killed father in fit. Elemental: Energy. Specializing in electromagnetism.

Threat Level: High.[/pre]

He was only a threat to the Black Hound in terms of raw power... there was no way this child could stand up against the might of the Founding Family's most dangerous enforcer. However, if he got cocky, he'd be dead in an instant. The Black Hound was eerily silent, as he leveled the grenade launcher towards Rowan's face, and fired a canister of the gas at him.... Merely as a test of his ability.