[hr][i][h1][color=gray]Quentin Taylor[/color], & Alice Sherpard.[/h1][sub](Written by [@Zombiedude101] & [@Nosuchthing])[/sub][/i][hr][hider=Hospital Suite][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtuwaRQj8EE[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters. Hospital Wing.[/u][/i]


...Hospital machines. Screams. [i]Gunfire.[/i] No injury could've kept Quentin unconscious through any of the noise going on around him, particularly when he could barely sleep as was. On instinct he'd lurched forward and slipped out of the bed in seconds, yet again disconnecting the drip that fed into his arm with a firm tug. Given the circumstances he thought nothing of it and besides... the way he saw it, he was long overdue for getting out of this place, no matter that the surgical scars were still there.

Alice ducked into the first door she saw, just in time to avoid the barrage of bullets that hammered holes into the plaster. She glanced over, seeing Quentin climbing out of the bed in the center of the room as the machines beeped in complaint. There were two members of what appeared to be BPD SWAT at the end of the hall, both carrying assault rifles. Alice had been caught out with only a pistol, and with the chaos in the building couldn't risk teleporting straight to the armory in case she ended up inside someone. It would be nice to have a little support though. She held up a cautioning hand.

"Give me one second."

Bobbing her head out of the door, she eyed the ground immediately behind the two hostiles, then backed up. In a clear area of ground she took a breath, focused, and then leapt into the air, spinning her whole body around with one leg extended as though striking with a spinning kick, then vanished. She reappeared with a sigh of displaced air immediately behind one of the two, a fraction of a second before her assault booted foot cracked into the back of his helmet. He went down in a clatter of military equipment. She sprayed his comrade with what remained in the magazine of her glock, he fired a burst into the floor as he tried to bring his gun around, then collapsed back against the wall. She wiped her brow, flicking the hair back from her damp forehead, then retrieved the rifles from each of them. Quentin might have been in a hospital gown, but at least he wouldn't be totally defenseless.

"Thanks." The veteran RAVEN acknowledged her as he picked out a roll of surgical tape that had spilled out onto the floor, then withdrew two magazines from one of the "SWAT" bodies and quickly taped the two together, inserting one into his rifle whilst the other remained close to hand. It was only at that point that he realized he was still wearing the hospital gown and shorts he'd been given, yet a quick glance inside the cabinet beside his bed revealed that his spare clothes were missing.

[I]God-dammit, Reed.[/i] His brother must've took his threats to check himself out of the ward seriously after the power cut and moved his clothes upstairs in an effort to stop him. Whatever, there was no time to screw around looking for them at the moment. One moment he'd been catching some sleep, the next he'd woken up to a cacophony of gunfire and screams. And why the hell were these bastards wearing [i]BPD[/I] uniforms?

Quentin shifted his focus back towards Alice. "Just what the fuck is going on?"

Alice resisted the urge to reach into her uniform for the flask she probably shouldn't be carrying. "It's about as fucked up as it can get. Some big fucker we fought in Regal Square is downstairs somewhere, and I'd bet some serious money that the Hound and Phantasm are around if he is."

She'd appropriated as many of the M4 magazines as she could. Last time she'd gone up against the monstrosity that was the Bonecrusher she had been woefully unprepared, favoring her speed over firepower, but he was so resilient that it hadn't mattered how many bullets she had sunk into him. She shook her head tiredly, "Honestly, at this point I'm just shooting anything that hasn't got RAVEN written on it. Fuck knows they're asking questions later."

There was already a bullet in her chest plate to illustrate her experience of the 'BPD' shooting first. She'd got out before they'd managed to get off any more shots, the agent she had been talking to hadn't been so lucky. The Intimidation Unit had formed into roaming kill squads and were moving efficiently through the building, slaughtering anyone that opposed them. Most of the RAVENs had been unprepared, with only a bare handful in combat gear or with abilities that allowed them to survive the initial onslaught. Whatever this was, it had been in planning for a long time, it was too efficient, too swift, and it was proving far too successful to have simply been thrown together over the last few days. That and two of the most powerful metahumans she had ever encountered were somewhere in the building, and one she now had a personal grudge with.

"That Phantasm prick is in here somewhere, and I want him."

"God-dammit." Quentin grunted, almost wearily. "And those assholes left Shizuka out to dry..." He seethed at the thought of how many lives the political scapegoating could've costed them and would've voiced further opinion about it if not for the fact that the IU was actively sweeping through the building as they spoke. Instead, he resolved to count himself among the others who were looking to fight back and drive the bastards from the HQ. "I'll be dead before I sit back and watch our colleagues get slaughtered by these assholes." Heading back over to the bodies, the veteran RAVEN figured that the Intimidation Unit must've been coordinating the attack somehow and tugged at the radio clipped to one of the dead men's vests and disconnected it from the speaker piece so they could all hear.

"...Remember, Deborah Javuant is [i]secondary[/i]," The Hound spoke over the comms. "Making sure the Headquarters is in ruins is the primary objective."

"Shit."

Alice shook her head, "They're making an example of us, 'this is what happens if you fight the Family' bullshit."

Biting her lip, she looked down the corridor. The Bonecrusher had come in through the front door like a bipedal tank, and he was altogether too blunt an instrument to really be effective in tracking down Deborah. The Hound was quite another matter, over the last few months he had been an assassin, shock and awe might be his style, but he was still little more than a glorified hitman, and the Phantasm was definitely his little pet. No, Bonecrusher couldn't be after Deborah, she doubted his colossal form would fit into the elevators, and he would be too easy to avoid. She spun, "Fuck, they've come in from the roof, those damn helicopters."

She cocked the rifle and turned to grab Quentin's arm, "You got my back?"

"Yeah." The veteran agent affirmed her with a nod.

"Here we go."

Alice focused for a moment, stepping them through space to the roof of the building. They were behind a collection of air conditioning units, shielded from view. With a shrug Alice explained what hadn't been asked in a whisper. "I always find it handy to have a few odd places in my head, this is great when I don't want to talk to anyone."

"I bet..." Quentin muttered, shouldering his rifle as she led the way. The coarse surfacing of the roof felt less than comfortable beneath his feet and for a moment he shuddered as the night's bristled against his skin, before he finally regained his complexion. At least his footsteps would be quiet.

She shouldered her rifle and pressed her back to the warm metal, sliding along until she glance around the corner. She looked back to him, holding up four fingers of one hand, indicating the number of hostiles.

Quentin raised a palm as a signal for her to hold up, then twirled his finger around to indicate that he was going to circle around and catch them out by surprise. Then he put a hand to his mouth, then pointed to her.

Alice nodded, taking up a careful stance, before stepping out from behind the unit and loosing a spray of rounds in the direction of the four guards. One of them went down instantly, crying out and clutching at his thigh where a trio of bullets had shredded the muscle, but the others took cover, diving behind the pads and the remaining helicopters.

Whilst Alice kept them preoccupied, Quentin had begun to circle around as planned, keeping one hand pressed against the warm panelling of the AC duct to keep himself steady whilst he made his way across the rooftop. Soon enough, he could hear footsteps and voices from what could've only been a few meters away.

She emptied another magazine in the direction of the IU, though she was fairly sure that they had grouped up now. A barrage of bullets was the only response, carving splinters of metal from the now whining and smoking unit. She couldn't risk leaning out , but she could keep them occupied.

As Quentin pressed his back to the steps below the landing pad, he caught sight of one of the paramilitaries taking cover behind one of the helicopters, who was putting down a good chunk of the fire down on Alice's position. He paused, for just a moment, then shouldered his rifle again, broke cover and fired off a series of rounds in succession. A few slammed into the helicopter's chassis, but another few punched through the back of the man's assault vest and he crumpled to the floor with a gurgle.

But that had alerted the other surviving two around the corner to his presence.

Moving as fast as he could, Quentin scrabbled back behind the landing pad for cover as one of the men closed in on him, whilst the other IU followed him, though still keeping tabs on Alice's last known position. 

There was a faint thump of air as Alice took advantage of the distraction, easily lost in the howl of the wind at this height. One man can only watch so many directions, but he probably hadn't expected to find Alice as close as a lover, too close for him to bring his gun to bear. She sank a sharp knee into his groin before he could push her away, then brought the butt of her rifle down onto his head as he doubled over in agony.

Meanwhile, gunfire had erupted across the other side of the roof... before falling silent once again.

"Quent?"

Alice had heard the shots and the sudden cessation of combat. It meant one of two things, either Quentin had triumphed, or the remaining member of the Intimidation Unit had got the drop on him.

She followed the empty shell casings dotted around until she found a thin trail of blood leading around the corner.

Rifle barrel first, the petite blonde rounded the corner, scanning for something, anything that might indicate what was happening. Static noise could be heard, rather loud as well - with another voice speaking through to it with what must've been an authoritarian tone. 

"Trojan, what's your status?"

Alice found her colleague squatting over the slumped body of the gunman, grasping the man's radio. "Shit man, couldn't have let me know what was going on?"

Quentin brusquely raised a hand to silence her as he brought the radio up to speaking level, then put on the best impersonation of the guards as he could in an equally gruff tone. "This is Trojan, we're clear rooftop-side. Both contacts are dead." There was a pause after that, but the crackles of gunfire which could be heard over the radio suggested this was just a momentary distraction. Finally, a response came through. "Understood. Keep watch over the birds, we'll need them prepped for the cargo soon."

Looking back up to Alice, he raised an eyebrow, then tilted his head towards the two helicopters on the pad. "Check them both, see if we can trash their escape plan. I'll keep watch in case more of them turn up."

Alice nodded, then disappeared, not straight to the helicopters though, but to her previous victims. The members of the Intimidation Unit had been carrying grenades, two apiece. Alice was tempted to just blow up both transports, but that would give the game away too fast. Whatever cargo the family was after would be far more vulnerable if they had to take it all the way to the roof before they realized that their escape route was cut off. She jumped into the main body of the first machine, wedging a grenade into a crevice above the sliding door and hooking the pin onto the door itself. Opening the door would set off the grenade, killing anyone not fast enough to dive out of the way, and rendering the helicopter useless. It was the work of a moment to repeat in the other chopper, before she popped back into existence before Quentin.

She tossed him a grenade. "First person to open those hatches is going to get a face full of shrapnel."

That earned her an approving smirk from him. "Good call. They don't know we're up here so let's try and keep things that way." With that, he shifted his focus towards the rooftop access doors where the strike teams had made their entrance. "There's probably more of the on the upper floors."


[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Zhao[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], & [color=darkslateblue]Reed Taylor[/color].[/h1][sub](Written in collaboration with [@Zombiedude101].)[/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters - Maintenance Area[/u][/i]


Bonecrusher wasn't letting up for a second.

Meifeng was up against a pillar, as the Bonecrusher's wild spray tore apart the whole damn corridor. Worst of all, the rest of those IU bastards are slipping by them. He was just a distraction at best... Meifeng, of course, needed to cook up an idea to get rid of that damn chaingun. Or at least buy them an opening to break the bastard a new one. Well, from what Meifeng could tell, only Lihua or containment foam would do anything more than annoy him - perhaps slow him down, but at this point, Meifeng was going to try [i]anything[/i] to get this big bastard to stop shooting. Meifeng looked up, and saw the many pipes overhead... she could feel the water flowing in one of them. It was going to piss off anyone hoping to take a shower after this, but it was worth a shot. She stretched her hand out, imposing her will onto the water within the pipes, and tried to pull the water out. The pipes were violently shaking, but eventually they exploded, and fell open.

Spraying water all over the place, and that didn't stop Bonecrusher even in the slightest. Meifeng was partially hoping that she would discover his weakness to water, but it looks like she has no choice but to go through with her plan. "Someone distract him!" Meifeng had to shout into the comms because it was nigh-impossible to speak normally.

"Covering!" More than willing to oblige, Reed broke cover for a moment and fired off a burst from his AR in an effort to draw the cyborg's attention.

Because of the fluid, flexible, nature of water, it was easy to get it places where a rock or stone couldn't. The moment her distraction went into effect, Meifeng spun from behind cover, her hands were ready. One foot was in front, the other in the back, while she had one hand shoulder-level, and the other waist level. Her eyes were on the water directly underneath Bonecrusher's feet. With a sudden movement, she brought her hands upwards and created a vortex of water that forced it's way into the Bonecrusher's weapon. Allowing it to seep into the machinery, and clenching both of her fists, she snap-froze the water. Clogging the machinery in Bonecrusher's chaingun. 

The brute slammed his fist against the chaingun to break the ice... before he merely threw the whole thing to the ground, and stepped on it. He stood in the corridor in an intimidating manner as Meifeng realized what he was doing. His cybernetics changed until a chainsaw had unsheathed from his assimilated machinery. As it began to turn, it lit on fire. 

Meifeng was horrified for a moment.

[i]Still awesome, though.[/i]

Bonecrusher let out a yell as he charged towards them, his chainsaw behind himself. Meifeng was glad that she was no longer pinned by his chainsaw... but, now she realized how small this corridor was, and how big the Bonecrusher was. "Damn it." Meifeng hissed as she snap-froze the water on the ground, and hoped that would be enough to stop Bonecrusher's charge, but the brute merely crushed it underneath his feet. That flaming chainsaw of his swung wildly towards Meifeng, and the girl ducked. The chainsaw got caught in the wall... and [i]fucking cut through stone[/i] as he just pulled it out.

Meifeng knew that getting hit by him even once would be a death sentence, now she realizes how high these stakes are. Though, while that chainsaw is a one-hit kill, it's so telegraphed that Meifeng would have an easy time dodging. Still, that was no reason to get cocky. While Bonecrusher was recoiling, Meifeng rolled to the side, right as Bonecrusher pulled his chainsaw free. Now, they have to find a way to stop him. Thankfully, Meifeng brought her containment foam sprayer!

Keeping the beast at bay, Lihua had tore a large chunk of the nearby pillar, and slammed it into Bonecrusher at high speeds. It hit with the force of a speeding car, and sent the brute flying into a wall. He was sandwiched between the wall and the stone, and caused an explosion of dust... but, all that did was leave a thick dent in his machinery. He brushed it off as he got right back up, revving his chainsaw.

"Okay, what can stop this asshole?" Cindy asked as she surrounded herself with floating pieces of glass that she had broke off herself. 

"Got an idea," Meifeng said. "It should be enough to keep this asshole suppressed."

"Containment foam?"

"Yes, containment foam," Meifeng replied.

"It didn't work on him last time," Cindy noted.

"That's because you didn't use it right." 

"Girls, stop bickering and focus," Lihua said, as she slammed her foot onto the ground, and a earth shaking impact came from the ground, and stone spikes popped out of the ground and violently impaled the Bonecrusher's foot... but, none of them penetrated his armor. He merely kicked his foot, and brute all of it with ease. Lihua grit her teeth in irritation because she couldn't pierce his armor without using the biggest, baddest, moves in her arsenal. Her skin was already splitting, and oozing blood, it was a painful experience indeed.

Reed fired off another burst at the heavy hitting cyborg, hoping to buy them more time. He felt small next to the immense power shown by his colleagues, but he'd be dammed before he sat this one out.

The burst didn't do much other than annoy Bonecrusher. He was focused on killing Meifeng, and then turning his murderous intent onto the rest of them. Bonecrusher rushed towards them again, and swung his chainsaw in a wide arc - only for Lihua to erect a stone block and catch the blow. That set off a light-bulb in Meifeng's head.

"Mom, keep him still! Cindy, go for the eyes!"

Meifeng ordered as Lihua threw up another stone pillar, and sandwiched Bonecrusher between them, while Cindy broke her glass into powder, and sent it flying towards Bonecrusher's eyes. Even though he was wearing a mask, when the glass flew into his eyes, he couldn't help but howl in pain.

That was Meifeng's cue, she grabbed a canister of containment foam, and threw it over the shoulder at Bonecrusher. "Reed!" Meifeng shouted.

Another burst of gunfire erupted from Reed's AR, this time aimed for where she'd thrown the canister in a last ditch effort. By stroke of luck, a round ruptured the canister and within moments its contents had erupted forth and begun to expand outwards, enveloping the monstrous assassin in containment foam.

Meifeng sighed in relief. "Thank [i]God[/i]," She huffed. "Okay, that should hold him for a little bit..."

They could hear Bonecrusher's angered roars as he struggled to get free, but he couldn't even get the opportunity to use his brutal strength in the foam. Meifeng was happy for that, but they have bigger problems. Meifeng looked over her shoulder to see Lihua erecting a wall of spikes in the tunnel to close it. There were some spaces, but they were so thin you'd have to be a cat to fit through.

"That should hold them off." Lihua said, wiping sweat off her head, before realizing there was a oozing wound on her forehead. She knelt forward, breathing in deeply.

"Mom, are you okay?" Meifeng asked.

"I am fine, Meifeng," Lihua said. "They'll need a bomb to get through here... but, it'll stall them long enough." She nodded her head as she finally collected herself.

"Alright," Meifeng knew her next course of action: The Hound. If the Family gets Dr. Cross and the rest of her goons, they are finished. She pressed her earpiece. "Control, status on the Black Hound?"

"He is currently in the mid-level of the building - heading towards the prison sector," A random mission control said.

"Alright... let's catch us a doggie..."

Just then, Lihua's phone vibrated in her pocket. Pulling it out, she raised an eyebrow at the name of the sender, then it became both when she read the text:

[quote][code]Break room, plant by the window. We need to talk.[/code][/quote]

Lihua nodded her head as she realized the true meaning of this message exactly, but she had bigger priorities to worry about. Shizuka would have to wait.

[quote][code]A little busy right now.[/code][/quote]

...And that was an understatement. Then the mobile vibrated again with another incoming message:

[quote][code]It's urgent, but I can't say much over text 'cos all transmissions are being watched.
It's about your brother.[/code][/quote]

Lihua immediately changed her mind once she heard about Jiao-Long, and nodded her head.

[quote][code]Very well, I'm on my way.[/code][/quote]

Lihua said, before she looked over towards Meifeng and said, "Let's detour to the break room, our white-haired ally has some... [i]urgent[/i] news for us."

Meifeng rolled her eyes.

"It better be worth it, because in case Shizuka didn't realize, the base is going up in flames." Meifeng said.


[hr][i][h1]Alice Shepard, & [color=gray]Quentin Taylor[/color].[/h1][sub](Written by [@Zombiedude101] & [@Nosuchthing])[/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters - Upper Floors[/u][/i]

As the two RAVENs made their descent into the upper offices, they came across the aftermath of a slaughter. Shell casings, shattered glass and other debris littered the floors, whilst blood spatters and the lifeless bodies of colleagues could be found around almost every corner. The first few that Alice and Quentin had seen were shot through the head or the heart, execution-style, whilst further in were the signs of struggle from what little resistance had risen up.

Quentin felt a seething fury at the sight. Some of the faces were, perhaps, vaguely familiar from the last few months he'd spent here, but most of them were blanks to him. That didn't matter. They all worked under the same roof, adopted the same creed. And they'd all been murdered by the Hound and his dogs. 

His companion didn't look at the faces of the dead, she couldn't. This hadn't been a fight, it had been a slaughter, even in the few areas where some had attempted to resist it was obvious that they were outclassed. She grimaced as yet another scene of carnage greeted their eyes. The Hound had moved through here fast, efficiently. She scowled at the body of a man in RAVEN armor, it looked like his head had been beaten in with a hammer, clearly by a metahuman with enhanced strength. It could not have been a pleasant death, but... He was roughly the same size as Quentin. She knelt and began to tug at the straps holding the chest piece in place.

"Put this on."

He felt a pang of disgust at the notion of looting a colleague's corpse, even though he'd been beaten beyond recognition, but this was no place to argue. Grimacing, Quentin quickly slipped on the chest rig over his hospital shirt as best he could. At least he wouldn't 

Alice empathized with his reaction, but she wasn't losing another colleague that easily, not if she could help it.

"Sorry..."

Quentin shrugged it off as best he could. "Blame the bastards who murdered him."

She shook her head with a feral grin, "Fuck blame. I'm dropping every single one of 'em off the roof."

It was at this point when Quentin realized that they weren't far from the Chairwoman's office. He'd heard the Hound reference Deborah as a "secondary" target, which suggested she hadn't yet been found.  "Javaunt's office is down the hall. Doubt we'll find her, but... it couldn't hurt to check."

The chance's that she was still in her office were slim to the point of impossibility, but they were on the floor anyway, and couldn't take the risk that she was already confronting someone in there. Alice nodded, then took point down the hall. She was still in full body armour and far more likely to avoid initial injury, thanks to her ability, than he was.

Shortly after he was at her rear, watching for anything that might've caught them off-guard, but they were soon at the door to Deborah's office, marked rather clearly by the nameplate mounted next to the frame. When Quentin reached to test the handle, he found that the door wouldn't budge. For all intents and purposes, it seemed to be locked.

"Locked. Can you get inside?" Quentin asked, rifle at the ready.

Alice grimaced, eyeing the door up and down for a moment.

"Hold on. I meant, do you feel strong enough to boot it?" He asked, recalling the risks of teleporting into an unfamiliar space. "It's all about leveraging." Quentin pointed to the door handle.

Her boot hit the door with considerable force, Alice might not have been big, but she had a whole lot of pent up rage, the door shook, but failed to open.

"Reinforced?"

"Could be..." Quentin mused, before bracing his own weight against the door. "Try again.

Alice shifted her grip on the rifle, then took a step back, before moving forward and slamming the heel of her boot into the door. This time it shifted, the lock breaking, allowing the two to look inside.

"Javaunt, you in there? Anyone?" He asked, but met no answer. No surprise - to whoever could've been hiding inside, it could've been [i]anyone[/i] waiting outside.

"It's Taylor, Quentin Taylor, from RAVEN. Barrett's with me too."

The room was silent, from what Quentin glanced inside, the room was hastily vacated.

"Agents! This is Deborah Javuant, and we need reinforcements!" Deborah frantically shouted over the comms. "We're by the elevator on the top floor, and we're pinned down! We need back up!"

Alice broke into a run, her superior sounded desperate, and a sudden attack from behind might be just what RAVEN needed to turn the tide. Quentin followed after her as fast as he could, rifle at the ready.


[hr][hr][i][h1]The Intimidation Unit.[/h1][/i][hr][hider=Donna Burke - Sins of the Father OST][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZAHk0g-Nfk[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters.[/u][/i]


In a few moments, the RAVEN Headquarters were in ruins.

All because of the man who wears the symbol of the dog on his armor. He marched through the base, with a team right behind him, and his loyal Phantasm at his side. Where ever he went... went up in flames. He walked through the office sector, and he turned towards an office room, and threw a grenade inside. He kept marching as the room went up in flames. Unhindered by the destruction he was causing. As whatever the Blessed Three asked of him, he would do it. If it meant destroying what stood in their way, he would gladly do it. RAVEN knew what they were getting in.

He was advancing towards the prison sector... where he imagined they were hunkering. Well, that just made the Hound's duty easier. Thin out their numbers from the sides, and go after other targets. From what the Hound realized, he was in the DOVE's section of Headquarters. Where they kept information on their various cases. It wasn't anything in here that would bother or benefit the Family, but they must destroy everything the organization has built up.

He walked over to a doorway, grabbing an incendiary grenade, and tossing it inside of the office complex. It exploded into a flurry of flames that incinerated the room before the sprinklers came online, and damaged the computers as the water seeped inside. This was a momentary distraction at best, giving them time to gear up, but they were to leave both RAVEN and DOVE in such a sorry state that it would take them awhile to get back up. The water dripped down from the Hound, and puddled on the floor underneath him. "Destroy everything, leave nothing behind."

On orders, the Intimidation Unit started destroying files, computers, everything. Leaving nothing behind but ruin.

The Hound marched on towards the prison sector, then it occurred to him - the backup generators haven't been shut off yet. Which would make this very difficult. "Bonecrusher?" The Hound spoke into his comms, only to get no response from his brute. It's unlikely they killed Bonecrusher so easily, but sending the Phantasm down there would be foolish with all of those electrical wires.

"Sir?" A member of the I.U spoke into the comms. "We have Javuant and Balore pinned, but we need assistance." He said.

"Phantasm." The Hound said, as his ghostly assassin team mate phased through the ceiling, and floated towards Deborah.

That just left the Hound to go against the prison sector alone.

Just how he liked it.

[hr]

The Hound lead his army of the Intimidation Unit up against the prison sector.

Once he arrived in the long hallways of cells, the first thing he came across was a barricade... and was met with a hail of gunfire from the RAVENS. The bullets made the Hound stagger, and throw his hand up to guard his face. He quickly switched to his grenade launcher, and pressed a button on his helmet, "Intimidation Unit, with me." Before quickly rushed down the hallway with the Intimidation Unit providing covering fire. The Hound pulled the trigger one time, and a large shell came flying out of the grenade launcher's barrel, and hit the barricade. Electing screams of terror as the barricade was blown to pieces - along with one unfortunate RAVEN. A few more pulls of his trigger caused the rest of the barricade to go down in pieces, and what RAVENs weren't killed were left scrambling for help.

He marched through the flaming wreckage of their barricades, stepping over their bodies as the Intimidation Unit followed behind him.

[i]This was too easy. Stalling, at best...[/i] The Hound thought to himself. [i]The real resistance must be near the high-security cells.[/i]

Though, he was in the low-security cells, full of prisoners who were awaiting trial before they were each sent to the more secure prisons around North America. The Hound could find use for them. The Hound briefly pondered if he should give RAVEN more time to set up their defenses, but, instead, realized that adding a horde of angry prisoners running around would magnify the already massive damage done to RAVEN Headquarters. He stopped for a moment, raising his hand.

"Get these cell doors open, and the prisoners out." He ordered his Intimidation Unit.

"Yes, sir!" They all shouted.

With the first door unlocked with a "borrowed" key, a woman came out with a collar around her neck. The Hound walked over to her, and grabbed onto her collar, crushing it. "You have been unjustly imprisoned," The Hound said in his usual monotone as he dropped the collar to the ground.

"Holy shit!" The woman shouted in shock.

It wasn't long before the rest of the prisoners in the hall were released.

"I have taken time out of my own mission to liberate all of you, and you have the right to leave the base immediately..." The Hound said. "... But, all I ask in return is... destroy as much as you can on your way out. Along with liberating as many of your fellow prisoners as you can." 

He threw the keys to the ground, and the woman grinned.

"You heard him!" The woman shouted as she snatched the keys. "Tear this place a new one!" She said, followed by cheering from the rest of her prisoners.

The Hound was already gone, he pressed a button on the side of his helmet, and alerted the rest of the Intimidation Unit, "Push into the prison sector and release everyone you can."

He then marched into the deeps of the prison.


[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Zhao[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], & [color=darkslateblue]Reed Taylor[/color].[/h1][sub](Written in collaboration with [@Zombiedude101])[/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters.[/u][/i]


The group had to take the stairs all the way to the prisoner sector because the elevators were currently out of commission. They all received a grave warning right when they made it there.

"Agents, the Intimidation Unit have breached the prison sector!"

"Fuck me," Meifeng hissed to herself, she looked behind herself and there was Reed, Cindy, and... Lihua at the very bottom, panting.

"Mom, you okay?" Meifeng asked

"Yes, I'm fine... just a little winded." Lihua said in between pants as she tried to put on that strong facade that she always did for Meifeng.

"I hate to put this on you, but we're gonna have to push - if those prisoners get out, we're fucked." Reed said, weary of how disastrous an attack at the heart of DOVE and RAVEN would be.

"I am aware of the stakes, Mr. Taylor," Lihua said as she kept running.

"Agents, we have another problem!" A Mission Controller said. "The Intimidation Unit is releasing [i]all[/i] the prisoners."

Meifeng almost threw her gun to the ground. "...They're trying to slow everyone down." Meifeng said. "Weaken our defenses, that jazz."

She kicked the stairwell door open, and held the door open for everyone.

Reed pushed in first, AR shouldered with his sights pointed down the hall. He knew well enough what kind of prisoners they were going to find here, 

"We need to get to Dr. Cross first," Meifeng said as she took a sharp right, and started running down the hall. "That's our best chance of stopping the Hound."

Lihua nodded her head as she panted heavily, pushing on behind Meifeng with the best of her ability as the group moved through the halls of the prison, but, it wasn't long until the group encountered a few of the Metahumans that the Intimidation Unit had released. A group of three men in orange jumpsuits, the one that stood out to Meifeng was the dude with a singular, cyclopic brown eye.

"It's RAVEN!" The one-eyed man shouted as his eye began to glow red, Lihua reacted as she threw her hand up, and flipped a piece of stone from the ground around them, and ducked down behind it as a red beam of light hit it dead on. They could feel the heat from the other side, but concrete was one material that was difficult to burn through, luckily for them.

Cindy had an idea, she put her palm straight up, and created a orb of molten glass - different from the other glass seeds she created as it was reflective. She threw the orb over Lihua's shield, and it erupted into a tree-like tower of reflective glass. The beam of light was immediately reflected back into the man, and he loudly screamed as his eye was being overloaded with energy. He loudly screamed as he covered his eye, and winced for a moment.

Meifeng smiled at Cindy as she hopped out of cover, her eyes were on the other two men - a man with enlarged, ape-like hands (Both Meifeng and Reed were aware of what horrors had been accomplished with those same hands), and a man who had encased himself in a thick layer of ice. She grinned. Iceman would be easy because all she did was revert the ice back into water, and shot him in the chest with her assault rifle. The bullet went right through him, and he was dead in an instant. Meifeng couldn't afford to be so merciful in these times. Reed, on the other hand, appeared from behind the concrete shield and finished off the cyclops with a short series of rounds which punched through his mid-section. 

That just left the would-be inmate with the oversized hands, who quickly realised he was outnumbered and outgunned. "Awh, shit!" He raised both hands in the air as Reed trained his sights on him.

"If I were you," Meifeng said, aiming her gun at him. "I'd get my ass in a cell, and throw away the keys."

He had enough sense to do as Meifeng said - even if he was going to try to leave later, well, they'll worry about that later. They had to get to the encampment fast as possible. Meifeng broke into a sprint with the others in tow.

With so much on the line, Meifeng and the others got there fairly quickly. The encampment to the High-Security risk consisted of everything they could gather together to make a solid barricade. It mainly consisted of superpowers, but Meifeng knew the Hound could break through it with ease if he'd wanted.

When they approached, the paranoid agents manning the defense levelled their weapons at the group, ready for another fight.

"Stop! Not a fucking muscle!" One of the agents growled, prompting Meifeng to immediately throw her hands up, "Hey, hey, don't shoot, it's us!"

"Meifeng Zhao?" An Agent asked... one that Cindy immediately recognized as April Cooper. "How'd you get here befor- know what? Just get in." Meifeng and the other complied as they got behind the barricades.

"Phew, you guys sure know how to hold down the fort," Meifeng said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, we got everything we can... ammo, and everything," April said.

"Um, excuse me," Cindy said. "What about the field? You know, the Meta-Suppressant field?" She asked. "Shouldn't it be on by now?"

"We're hoping to catch the Hound off guard with it," April said "If he and his goons get by, we're turning it on."

"Hmmmm..." Lihua mused, their fallback plan was as flawed as it came, but at least that meant that their little portal maker couldn't teleport them out immediately. "With us here... we can reinforce this sector." She mused. She was already getting tired from all the work she's been doing, so, she will take a back seat here at least.

Cindy nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll get to work." She put her hands on the ground, and created glass on the floor that traveled along the ground, creating reinforced barriers of glass that could withstand gunfire.

But, what Lihua wondered was if Dr. Cross was honestly worth keeping alive. She had to be the pragmatic one here... killing Dr. Cross and her band of goons would most likely be more beneficial than keeping them all alive. Especially when it was ambiguous that it would even work. "Suggestion, Zhao?" Reed asked her, picking up on the veteran agent's contemplation over what action to take next. 

Lihua looked at him for a moment.

"...It's nothing."

"You sure?" He asked, aware that the Zhao Matriarch's many years in NEST gave weight to her words. Even if they were few, it was worth hearing her out. She'd got them through Verthaven, after all.

"I'm just worried about Lijuan... I know she's out of town by now, but I'm hoping she's safe." Lihua lied.

"...She's a tough kid, you know." Reed remarked, recalling how brave the girl had been when he'd pulled her out of the lake, "Quentin was right. Guess it must run in the family."

Lihua put fingers on her jaw. "I know, I know... but, there's only so much a child can handle."

[hr][hr][i][h1][color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color], Daphne "Holly" Hope, & Ryu Koizumi.[/h1][sub]Written in collaboration with [@tsukune][/sub][/i]
[hr][hider=Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children OST - Sign][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8j8IMg0Yxg[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[b][code]Lower-South Royer Town, Prince Ed-Field_[/code][/b]

Shizuka tossed his mobile phone onto the coffee table as he reclined back on the couch. "What's going on at the HQ?" he turned his head and asked Holly, who was tending to a few potted plants at the balcony. "I don't think a dumb power outage like this can keep the RAVENs that [i]busy[/i]..." Jiao-Long's name certainly got Lihua's attention when he texted her moments ago, but she was taking too long to show up at the 'meeting' place in his message: the break room. Meanwhile, Ryu was setting up Haruka's laptop on the table (which they brought it over from Akemi's house, along with some other... [i]supplies[/i]), sorting out the USB drives they had managed to recover in the past five days.

The three of them were holding the fort at Aislin's suite while the rest of the group was away. Aislin had some business to attend to for CID, Haruka was with Jennifer, and the 'Lightning Tag Team' (i.e. Malik and Rhea) were probably still out somewhere in the city to search for more of Marcelle's logs together.

"The Headquarters is currently under attack..." Holly began, her brows furrowed in concentration as she mentally linked up with the floras in the DOVE/RAVEN building to gather intel. "...The IU has infiltrated the HQ."

Shizuka sat upright at the news. "Huh? [i]Now[/i], of all times?"

"...They are mostly just tearing down the place, but they seem to be heading for... the prison sector," Holly finished, shaking her head. "They still want Dr. Cross and the Mannequin."

[i]So that's probably what kept Lihua so[/i] busy[i]...[/i] Shizuka stared at the back of his mentor in silence, then he blew out an air of resignation. "...With the Fags probably watching all telecommunication channels, we can't get in touch with RAVEN so carelessly, and alert those Blessed Bitches about what we know or going to do."

"I know," Holly turned her head around slightly and gave him a nod. "Just leave it to me to deliver the information we have to them."

When Shizuka's gaze shifted from Holly to Ryu, he was greeted with a questioning look from the Japanese agent. "[i]From your tone, it sounds like something bad is happening to your other allies?[/i]"

"[i]Yeah, something troublesome,[/i]" Shizuka sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "[i]In the meantime, let's hear the logs we have so far...[/i]"

[quote][i]"Marcelle's Log Three: I'm getting settled into the Founding Family's ranks... and I encountered an interesting individual; Samantha Allger. A member of the Intimidation Unit that was apparently a former member of NEST. She was rough, but she wasn't that unpleasant to talk to. She spoke of a sect within NEST known as VULTURE - NEST's personal black ops group. She didn't go into it, but NEST betrayed her, and she was welcomed into the Intimidation Unit. This isn't useful... but, I've managed to have little 'interviews' with some of the other Intimidation Unit. It turns out that many of them come from all over the world. Some are mercenaries, and others were scorned by the nations of this world and were welcomed into the Family's arms. Which gives me an idea of where they're coming from.

"Sorry this Log doesn't have much new ground to cover, but I am trying to get a feel for the organization. It's these small facts that can help us find a way to stop them. Samantha is easily the only friend I have in the organization - if you can call her that. Veronica, my other coworker treats me with contempt, and Makoto is either sexually attracted to me, or is really good at getting under my skin. But, Samantha tells me that Veronica herself has no military background, but was trained to be an assassin by the Family... only to sate her lust for revenge against this world. While Makoto... Samantha doesn't know much about her, but she says that she's the daughter of someone[/i] very [i]powerful in Japan.

"Marcelle out."[/i][/quote]

Shizuka glanced towards Ryu with arched eyebrows. "[i]This 'Makoto' person... The time when she was mentioned in the very first log, you had this weird look on your face. You know her?[/i]"

"[i]...No, not really,[/i]" Ryu answered, his expression was saying otherwise. "[i]I'm not sure... She sounds like someone I think I know, but I can't quite place just who, and from where.[/i]" He shrugged.

Shizuka threw the next drive up into the air and caught it with one hand, before he plugged it in. "[i]...Right. Anyway, let's hear more.[/i]"

[quote][i]"Marcelle's Log Five: I managed to receive an information dump from Samantha. When I asked, she kindly explained the Family's past to me. Okay, it started during the dawn of Metahumans - when they were rare. One of the dozen Metahumans that popped up worldwide had a powerful Cerebral-based power: essentially being made into a genius decades - maybe even centuries - ahead of his time. This man used his knowledge to gain favor with the nation he was working for, and traveled the world using his medical knowledge to make millions. Becoming a wealthy man. However, he decided that his knowledge shouldn't be free to the world. He instead declared that he was the most genetically perfect man on the planet. He gathered a society of scientists of that era, and made various scientific advancements in secret. Gathering a following as he birthed his lineage of children - many of whom were recruited into this secret society. Thus, becoming the 'Founding Family.'

"Even after this man's death, his work is a precedent for the Family to come. His lineage turned his small secret society into an [/i]empire[i]. Roping many of the world's richest people, and their greatest minds, into their organization until they created a self-sustaining beast of sort. They used eugenics to keep their leadership 'pure' and create superior human beings to serve them. He wanted to create a breed of perfect human beings through genetic modification, and apparently the leadership of the Founding Family; the so-called Blessed Three, are perfection on every level a human being can possibly achieve. Physical, mental, emotional... genetic, perfection. I don't believe in that, but I've yet to meet one of the Blessed Three in person.

"Strangely, Samantha told me that she didn't even know who this man's name was. She just shrugged. Which raises another disturbing question of whether or not he could even still be around. He was a genius on every level, correct? What if he found a way to achieve immortality? But, that is just my musing.

"One thing I gathered about Samantha is that she doesn't seem too keen on serving the Family. Unlike some of the more fanatical members of the Family, she treats it all with casual indifference. I'm starting to believe that there is hope for the people who work for this insane organization after all.

"Marcelle out."[/i][/quote]

Shizuka and Ryu exchanged looks with each other. Both of them had the same thought: the Family was truly some fucked-up cult, twisted beyond any humane understanding. It all began with a narcissistic genius with an obsession for human perfection, that escalated to the use of illegal genetic experiments on people, putting them through extreme mental and physical conditioning to cultivate a group of Metahumans as close to his vision of what a 'perfect' human being should be. Even more frightening that his brilliance and charisma easily attracted curiosity - and greed - of the brightest minds and wealthiest snobs, feeding limitless resources to his sick cause and expanding his influence from cult to country, then to region level.

The mention of immortality made Shizuka perked up a little. He still had zero idea why the Family would want Jennifer's hand and even brainwash her, when she had more than enough problems of her own to even pose any threat to them (she was a troublesome liability that any intelligent person wouldn't want to deal with, as far as he was concerned). He couldn't think of any reason other than the possibility that they might be interested in her regeneration ability. Maybe her power was a missing link in their pursue towards perfection - of (near) immortality?

The two men didn't spoke a word to each other as Ryu plugged in another log:

[quote][i]"Marcelle's Log Fifteen: I've gathered some interesting information. Apparently the Family has some enemies out there. There are two organizations that primarily oppose the Founding Family; the Philosophers, and the Coven. Both of which are secret organizations... and are a thousand times more altruistic than the Family ever will. I should start with the information I've gathered on the Philosophers. Like the Family, they are an organization of science. Primarily comprised of Metahumans. They were helping the world from the shadows for ages now. Saving people from the Founding Family through secret raids, and recovering children that were kidnapped by the Changeling Unit. However, they barely have the numbers or the might of the Family, and are barely doing more than annoying them. I honestly wish to seek out the Philosophers.

"Another thing I learned was that the Family are clients of the Changeling Unit. If you don't know who the Changelings were... they were an organization of psychopaths that kidnapped children, along with having a hand in the Verthaven disaster and an alley of the Hands of Science. The MISW had crossed paths with the Changelings - apparently the Changelings broke out a powerful Metahuman from the MISW -  and that's what put the Changelings on the DGMHS' radar. Thank God the Changelings are gone or this would get a lot more complicated.

"But, the Coven... they are the most interesting out of the two organizations. For one reason and one reason alone; the Verschlinger. It means 'Devourer' or 'Eater' in German, but she was apparently one of the first Metahumans ever to become a Metahuman - and has some form of immortality that allowed her to live for three centuries. And was the strongest of them all. The details are vague, but she was the scourge of all Metahumans of her time... until she stopped. She mellowed out with time, and formed the Coven. Who seem to be an organization of lost Metahumans with altruistic goals. The Coven was the main opposition of the Family for decades now - long before the nations of the world got involved, they had this invisible far. I don't know too much about them, but the Family truly fear the Verschlinger - at least, that's what Samantha says. All because she is so powerful that she can defeat even their strongest members.

"But, Samantha told me that the Coven isn't strong as they used to be - that the Coven primarily consists of young and inexperienced Metahumans. Which is why the Verschlinger hasn't been going up against the Family like she wants to be; she doesn't want to put them in the line of fire. Which has lead to a mutual 'ceasefire' between the two organizations. I want to look into the Coven soon... maybe after this is over I'll investigate both the Coven and the Philosophers.

"Marcelle out."[/i][/quote]

"[i]Jennifer - the acquaintance that I've talked about - did mention this 'Coven' when I questioned her about her hand that night,[/i]" Shizuka raised his head and looked up at the ceiling, recalling the things that emo blonde told him and Lihua about her time as Missy in the seven-year gap. "[i]She said about two Metas from the Coven came to take the girl Jen had under her wing away. Her name was Lily-something, and she had a power that could empower people - like turning normies into Metas, and making existing Metas even stronger than before.[/i]"

Ryu let out a low whistle. "[i]That's an ability that certainly anyone who kill to get their hands on. But that aside, the Coven and the other group, the 'Philosophers'... It would be of great help to us if there's a way to join forces with them to overthrow the Family--[/i]"

Shizuka shook his head. "[i]At this point it's kinda too late for us to try and get in contact with them. We don't even know where or who exactly they are, and our resources are quite limited at the mo' to split that up further to investigate more weird cults. Let's just keep this in view for now and focus on our immediate problem: the[/i] Fags[i].[/i]" Earning a grin from the electrokinetic as Ryu moved on to the log marked '20':

[quote][i]"Marcelle's Log Twenty: I've gathered some information... some very disturbing information, at that. I've visited their headquarters in Prince Edfield, and learned about the Cultivators, as they call them. In essence; the Cultivators are children of the Family's most loyal and dedicated employees - loyal and dedicated enough to give their own[/i] children [i]to the Family - who are raised from birth to be the perfect employees for the Founding Family. Taught science, education, or combat, like no other. It's... indoctrination. Utterly inhuman. It's my top priority to get these children far away from the Family as possible.

"I am not allowed anywhere near the Cultivators, no one is. Blake made that loud and clear - but, it seems that the best Cultivators get an exclusive position as one of the Blessed Three's... apprentices. It goes beyond mere servitude... it's almost like they are training these children to take their place. The only Apprentice I've seen was Blake Schmidt's... Daniel, I think his name was.

"But, it would seem that the Cultivators aren't that perfect as the Blessed Three are lead to believe. Because, Daniel turned against Blake, challenging him for the freedom of the other Cultivators. Unfortunately, it was not a fight that Daniel could win, and he was soundly defeated. I do not know of his fate - no one does - but, that leads me to believe that he could still be alive. Somewhere.

"I think I'll buy the kid a drink after all of this is over."

"Marcelle out."[/i][/quote]

A long silence followed after the end of the log; in the end Shizuka spoke up first, "[i]We all know the Fags are a bunch of sickos; regardless of whether they are Metas or normal humans, their background... To them, all of us are just expendables to help them seek greater heights to whatever madness they're aiming for. Well, at least we know that not everyone in that crazy org are under their mind control. Maybe some of them were bought into the IU with their greed for wealth and power, or even desire for revenge and bloodlust... but anyone who has a bit of humanity in them is likely to start resisting the Family, unable to forgive the kind of horrors they've been doing to people around them.[/i]"

Ryu rubbed his chin with a hand, thoughtful. "[i]Even if they may harbor feelings of spite towards the Family, they know that they don't have the power to overthrow the Blessed Three, so the Family can still effectively keep their members in check using their fear for life - the basic human instinct for survival.[/i]"

A faint smile appeared on Shizuka's face as he said, "[i]Haru told this to the Fire Spirit during our stakeout: 'Power and money can buy the world, the people... but never enough to buy loyalty.' The same goes with fear tactics; the Fags know that very well, and that's probably why they have to employ mind control to force them to submission, to make sure that their underlings won't try to betray them, ever. Unfortunately, an acquaintance I know has proven that even such power isn't absolute and there are ways to resist it.[/i]"

"[i]But like you've said so yourself, unless we can find the Metahuman responsible to reverse the effect of his or her power, it's dangerous to break through the control by force.[/i]"

Shizuka gave Ryu a smug look. "[i]No, I'm not really talking about releasing those who are being mind-controlled by the Fags. I'm talking about the possibility to exploit these puppets if we have to fight against them. Emotion is a very powerful tool - not something I like to deal with, but it's as important as logic to a person's overall psychological makeup.[/i]" He plugged in the next log while Ryu was trying to digest what his white-haired partner had said...

[quote][i]"Marcelle's Log Twenty-Two: I have made an interesting discovery... one that doesn't even concern Europe at large, but one that the Americans would find very useful. The Family wants Deborah Javuant, leader of DOVE, and Maximilian Cornell, chairman of RAVEN, dead. That is no secret. But, there's a reason for that; they want to subsume the Meta-Regulation organizations of the world just like they did to the MISW... and I hope not the DGMHS, but that is neither here nor there, as the Americans would say. They want to take over RAVEN and DOVE, so that they may pervert it in their image.

"Just like they did with the MISW over the decades; they basically ruined the image of Metahumans in the UK so that they may have free reign over them. It was the foolishness of Britain that played a part in it, but like I said; that's neither here nor there. They've been using the MISW to kidnap Metahumans of interest, and even normal people for their genetic experiments.

"But, the big thing about the Family is that they had the previous NEST organization under their thumb. It is true, the original NEST council were all loyalists to the Founding Family. Which is how they managed to get the Family's shield technology into cities like Verthaven. When the Verthaven disaster took place, it was the[/i] Family [i]who ordered the shield over the city. Only for the protection of their own assets in the off chance the Devil escaped the city.

"After the disaster, the NEST council were the ones that took the fall for it... and at the same time, the Family basically threw away the control they had over America's Metahuman Regulation... something they seek to rectify. I don't know what exactly the Family did with NEST as their puppets, but I don't want to imagine with such a large amount of Metahumans in America.

"Marcelle out."[/i][/quote]

Shizuka crossed his arms before him once he finished translating for Ryu, a grim look on his face before he glanced at Holly. RAVEN - especially the Verthaven ol' crew - would definitely have to know this. The truth behind the disaster that had haunted each and every single one of them for all these years. He wasn't sure how Lihua and the rest were going to feel after hearing this information, but he was certain that they knew the stakes here; they couldn't let the Family get their way and kill the leaders of the only organization left in America that had any chance to save the world from the Family's insanity.

"[i]Horrible,[/i]" Ryu commented, shaking his head slowly. "[i]I've heard a bit about the Verthaven disaster on the Japanese news, but this is just atrocious. Even more ironic that the Family fear for their own life as much as commoners like us.[/i]"

"[i]Yeah,[/i]" Shizuka agreed, picking up the drive with the number '25' on it and plugged it into the laptop. "[i]No matter how powerful they are, they're still flesh and blood human beings, after all.[/i]"

[quote][i]"Marcelle's Log Twenty-Five: I've been working rather closely with the member of the Blessed Three; Julia O'Sullivan, as one of her bodyguards. I've been personally wondering why she needs a "bodyguard" when few people know of her, and she is surrounded by her Secretaries... God, I pray for them. But, it turns out that I'm less of a bodyguard, and more of a lab rat. Case in point, Julia asked me to take a strange pink pill. It had something written on the side - 157 - but I didn't get too long to look at it as Julia urged me to take it... and once I took it, oh God, I've felt[/i] joy [i]like no other. Like, all my stress, fears, and negativity just... melted away. I felt so good, like I was in a state of ecstasy. I blocked out the world as I... as I moved with a new vigor that made me feel like a child again. That's when Julia locked me in a room, and studied me until the effects had worn off. After it had wore off, I felt oddly... violent. Like I wanted to kill someone with my barehands...

"I was horrified. That bitch... drugged me with something. I had no idea what it was, but I kind of wanted to experience it again. When I questioned Julia... the first thing I received was a slap across the face, for questioning a member of the Blessed Three. Then she politely explained it was an experimental drug of hers. She wanted to test it's effects on someone who was 'loyal' to the Family, then said that the drug wasn't 'addictive enough...' Just what was she working on?

"It might be another way of keeping their men in line... because, to this hour, I [/i]crave[i] the happiness I felt when I was under the effects of the drug. I begged her for another dose, but she declined, saying that she wanted to make a few adjustments... and said I can have as much as I want then.

"I want more. Please. I don't know what it was, but finally feeling some happiness is... is... Oh my God, I got to resist it... but it was so good...

"I... I... Marcelle out."[/i][/quote]

Another time a long silence stretched on between the two men. Now they knew the identity of the last member of the Blessed Three - Julia - but the more appalling part was the drug. If mind control wasn't good enough to keep their minions in line, how about an addictive drug to make them becoming hopelessly dependent on it on top of amplifying their bloodlust, turning them into raging, killing machines? Just how far the Family were going for the sake of creating 'perfect' Metahumans, and to tame that perfection into absolute obedience?

[i]This is beyond insanity - this is just[/i] inhuman[i]. All for the sake to pursue some[/i] childish [i]perfection.[/i]

Ryu's face showed pure disgust. "[i]The more I hear about this 'Founding Family', the more I feel revolted at everything they have done. I can't help wondering if the Blessed Three have some sort of god complex...[/i]"

"[i]More like a bunch of spoiled brats with an ego so swollen that they deserve a[/i] thorough [i]spanking,[/i]" Shizuka said darkly, getting up from the couch and walking towards the balcony - to Holly's side. Giving Ryu some time to mull over the new things they just learned from the six logs they had heard so far.

The chloropath turned to face her junior with a smile. "Anything interesting that you have learned from the fresh batch of logs?"

"Loads," Shizuka drawled, gazing far ahead into the night. A few dim lights could be seen scattered around - those who had a backup generator of sorts - but most of the landscape was still shrouded in darkness. "In fact, I think we also need to find a way to meet up with them, and join them for the finale of this ridiculous shitshow."


[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Zhao[/color], [color=springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], & [color=darkslateblue]Reed Taylor[/color], vs. The Intimidation Unit.[/h1][sub](Written in collaboration with [@Zombiedude101])[/sub][/i][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters.[/u][/i]


With the help of both Lihua and Cindy, their defenses couldn't get any tighter than it was now. With brutal stone spikes in front of chest-high, glass barriers. Along with the powers provided by the other agents, they made sure that this one hallway was going to be hard as hell to break through. But, Meifeng and Cindy knew that the Hound and his cronies have broken through much, much, stronger defenses.

"Agents, be aware," Their little eye in the sky said. "The Hound is approaching."

Meifeng grinned. "Looks like the party's about to get started!"

The lights exploded from far down the hallway, each ending with a pop as the glass fragments fell from the ceiling. It stopped right before their defenses, but RAVEN weren't even the slightest bit off put by the display... that was for later.

The black "sarcophagus" that the Hound's men had rolled in earlier from the garage slid into the hallway on a trolley, thick, heavy lid that was seated atop it now unlocked and ajar. Whatever was inside was now exposed to the open air.

A dull blue glow pulsed from within, then the lights flickered and buzzed again. There was a muffled noise coming from within. A desperate, choking sound, as though someone were trying to speak with fingers clenched around their neck. Arcs of electricity crackled from within, until the lid was thrown off violently, to the horror of the agents watching. Then, a hand emerged from the object, a pale blue in colour, veins pulsing with that same glow, fingers tightening around where the lid had been moments before. 

"What is... oh, shit. Everyone, get back!" Reed shouted to the others as the hand's owner emerged from the sarcophagus, a pale blue figure with a pulsating circulatory system which could be seen glowing from beneath the surface of their skin. It was nude and emaciated, revealing that the figure was male. His eyes seemed glazed over, though the agonised expression on his face and the choked sounds coming from his mouth made it clear that he was fully aware of the experience as he emerged from his chamber, stepping out onto the floor with shaky, unsteady steps, towards the barricade. More arcs of electricity jolted forth from the pale man's skin, the lights overhead bursting under his influence until the hallway was near enough illuminated only by the intensifying light beneath his skin. Finally he opened his mouth yet again in an effort to form words...

"...Help... help... [i]please[/i]." It was a desperate, resonant sound, inhuman in its nature, but a voice nonetheless. The voice continued without end, the glowing light beneath his skin intensifying with each word. "Help... stop... stop... pain... burning....."

Meifeng raised her head, looking in abstract horror as she realized what they had done to this man. They had to have put him under some experimentation of some sort.

Soon enough the light was nearly blinding, the man still stumbling towards them as some of the agents raised their weapons, uncertain of how to act. One fired off a round at the poor bastard only for it to disintegrate as it made contact with his skin.

"Aw, hell," Cindy said as she quickly ducked down behind her barriers. She quickly released mirror-glass from her body to try to reflect the light in hopes that she could at least deflect some of the blinding light away from RAVEN.

"Stop-it-stop-it-stop-it-stop-it-stop-it..." The last few words were a desperate pleading, despite how unnatural the voice was. Only next came wasn't so much a voice as it was a screech as the man lunged for them. What was he doing? Only then did any of them realise that he was [i]ashing[/i], his body disintegrating as a wave of energy swept forth from his body, overwhelming all.

"[i]STOP IT![/i]"

In an instant, all of the lights died, bursting forth as they were overloaded the sheer energy pouring forth from this man. A few of the agents who'd been two close were knocked down, scorched by the lightning crackling against their body armour, whilst the others found themselves pushed back or otherwise knocked down. All electrical systems in the vicinity died, the pulse of energy too much to cope with.

"Holy sh- [i]ARGH![/i]" Meifeng shouted as the lighting crashed against her... her body, due to her power, was far more sensitive to electricity. When the electric shock hit her and she was sent convulsing to the ground. She hit the ground hard as she was knocked unconscious.

"Meifeng!" Lihua shouted as she dropped down to her daughter's side, checking her pulse... Meifeng was still, fortunately, alive, but wouldn't be for long. This man had absolutely destroyed their defense all on his own... they'd have to get out of here. Lihua pressed her earpiece, but realized that it was dead. Everything in here powered by electricity was dead. She hissed as she pulled it out of her ear and threw it to the ground. She'd have to do this the hard way. She grabbed Meifeng by the shoulders, and tried to pull her away.

"Everybody, get back!" Cindy shouted as she erected her glass shields - which were [i]melting[/i]. While glass doesn't conduct electricity, it won't last too long against all this shit. Cindy was back pedaling inwards towards the base.

"Mr. Taylor," Lihua looked up at Reed. "Give me some help."

Nodding, the DOVE Investigator took a knee beside Meifeng and looped his arm under her shoulder, then glanced back towards her, "Steady now."

Lihua quickly began to pull Meifeng away... there wasn't too much time to be steady with the Hound pretty much over top of them (And Meifeng is pretty tough herself). She dragged Meifeng off towards wherever she hoped safety was.

"Hey, Cindy," April said as she backpedaled, shooting wildly into the darkness. "Remember what I said about the field?"

"Yeah." Cindy said as her focus was on keeping this glass barrier up.

"...I don't think that's gonna work now."

"And water is wet," Cindy harshly said, the Hound's glowing red eyes could be seen through the darkness. This isn't good... now, he can just waltz into the room as if it was nothing. "Fuck." She briefly considered whether or not she should just bail, but she's a DOVE. She's in this for the long run. She changed her mind about this glass-shield plan, and merely threw up the shield and fixed it to each end of the hallway. She then just turned around and ran it, ordering the rest of the defenses, "Just fall back!"

She quickly retreated to the final stand, the hallway leading into the cells belonging to the three people RAVEN was so desperate to keep out of the hands of the Founding Family.

Their defenses were blown away by a few well placed grenades from the Black Hound's grenade launcher. Through the smoke and rubble, the Hound stepped over it, and continued undeterred. However, the Hound's mission was not to personally extract the prisoners...

...It was to get someone else in position.

[hr]

Reed felt the halls shaking behind him, the odor of smoke and debris seeping through the halls. When the shooting had started, the DOVE Investigator had practically hauled Meifeng over onto his shoulders, carrying her as he'd carried Faith in the massacre at the debate. Lihua was just ahead of him, keeping pointing with her Mossberg as they made their way down the corridors by the light of an emergency flare. The crimson glow would lead them out through the other entrance to high-security, where they might've had a chance at getting Meifeng to safety.

Only thing was, if it wasn't for either of the Zhaos, Reed would've gone back to fight with the others. He could only hope that Cindy and their colleagues would hold out against the bastards for as long as they could.

[i]Hopefully.[/i]

[hr]

Cindy and the other RAVENS were quickly forced into a long hallway full of cells (that are empty). At the end of the hallway were three cells belonging to Dr. Cross, Ignatius, and the Mannequin. Three people that RAVEN weren't too keen on letting leave here - they were also not seeing the point of going this far to defend [i]criminals[/i]. But, they had hastily thrown up defenses with whatever they could gather, and with their abilities. Several different walls, that each had more RAVENS the further they got down the hall. All they were preparing to do was madly open fire on them. The Hound could probably pierce through it like it was nothing, but they had to at least try to hold out.

But, when the Hound lead the charge, followed by his Intimidation Unit, it felt like they were holding out for a miracle. There was nothing but bullets as Cindy took the rear, and was barraging the IU from afar with her glass powers. Also producing shields for whoever needed it. But, it still wasn't enough.

It was really a desperate situation indeed.

They were pinned down, and the Intimidation Unit was punching through whatever Cindy could put up. They had no back up - and even if they put out a call, it wouldn't be long until the IU overruns them. Cindy was getting very tired. All this glass she was creating, mixed with using her power without any break, was wearing her down. She created three glass spears, each three feet long, and sent them spinning at the Intimidation Unit.

One man was impaled through the chest with it... while the other two were dodged. Which barely put a dent in their numbers.

At this point, Cindy was debating between giving up... and straight up killing the three. At least, that way, if they got overrun, at least the Family wouldn''t get what they want. Cindy would die a hero at very least. Loved by all of Baybridge for her work in the DOVE field. Hell, maybe even get a statue made after her.

The Hound finally made his push, and took a hail of gunfire as he got close as he could. Shooting RAVENS left and right, and utterly tanking their ammunition. Cindy Keagan was in the far back. Exactly where he needed her... he didn't want to play along in this upcoming atrocity, but he has no choice. It's what the Family wanted, after all.

He turned a dial on his helmet, and let out a low sigh, as he said, enhanced by his helmet...

"...[i]Mechanized Memories.[/i]" 

It was almost lost in the chaos, and everyone looked on confused. But, Cindy, she froze up for a moment. Before she continued her assault. Throwing shards of glass at the Intimidation Unit hoping to turn the tide of this incredibly desperate battle.

However, the tide of the battle came alright.

Cindy quickly, for no discernible reason at all, turned her glass shards on [i]RAVEN.[/i] They quickly cut through the ranks of RAVEN, opposed to the Intimidation Unit. Everyone was so caught off guard, that they barely had time to react. There were screams as men and women were literally torn apart within their armor. Blood was pooling on the floor.

"Ms. Keagan!?" April shouted as she turned around, expecting an explanation... only to get an arrowhead shaped shard of glass shoved into her throat. She fell over, grasping her throat as Cindy went to her pistol and opened fire on her own team. First shot fired killed a coworker she'd been friends with for years... and she didn't even flinch. 

"What the fuck?!" The RAVENS quickly turned around to face Cindy - only for the Hound to make his big push and shoot a grenade into the group of them. They were reduced to chunks at the IU pushed in, and ultimately overwhelmed the defenses.

In less than a few moments, RAVEN's defense was reduced to nothing but a hallway full of dead bodies. The Hound stepped over the bodies, as Cindy was... double-tapping.

She would walk up to a body, check to see if they are alive, and would promptly fix that with one bullet.

She came over to April Cooper's body, who was blooding, on her very last limbs. She put her hand up, and asked, one question,

"...Cindy, why...?"

Cindy didn't answer, she merely aimed the gun at her head, before pulling the trigger, and splattering the contents of April's head on the floor.

Ignoring all the bodies was easy - but, the Hound found this tactic... [i]inhuman.[/i]

He briefly stopped and looked at Cindy with narrow eyes as he walked up to the three cells that RAVEN were desperately trying to defend from the Intimidation Unit. He snapped his fingers, and three members of the Intimidation Unit walked up with long thermic lances. They took position at the door, and used their heavy tools to cut through the first door. They quickly moved on to the others, as the Hound used his strength to pull the heavy duty door off, and threw it to the ground.

The person inside was Dr. Cross... wearing a orange prison jumpsuit. She looked up at the Hound, horrified, as she was standing before the Family's favorite assassin... and he was their favorite for a good reason.

"...Oh God," Dr. Cross said. "It took you this long to kill me?" She asked.

"No," The Hound said as he stepped inside. "We are here to recover some... valued employees for our project."

Dr. Cross' intention was to betray the Founding Family, but now they wanted her back? Too good to be true.

"I..."

"Come now," The Hound said... before, in a swift motion, he grabbed Dr. Cross by the neck, and held her up to his face. "We don't have much time to spare before reinforcements come."

Dr. Cross gulped as she was single handedly hauled out of the room. When the Hound stepped out, he saw that both Ignatius and the Mannequin were also free. Ignatius grinned at him, and said,

"Well, are you a sight for sore eyes." He said, monotone, with the intention of mocking the armored man. "I guess you want us to go back to the boss so you can hang us from the gallows, right?" He slowly snorted through his nose, and spit on the Hound's boots. 

The Hound's eyes flashed a bright red. "...Not quite," He started off. "You will be punished for your crimes later. For now, you are required..." He trailed off.

"For what? Still want me apart of your murder squad?" Ignatius snorted. "Killing people's fun... not when it's to stroke the egos of your little demigods." He calmly said, rolling his eyes. He definitely wasn't taking the Hound seriously.

That could be fixed.

The Hound shoved his revolver into Ignatius's face, and said, "Do you remember who is in charge here? And do you know who's the [i]least[/i] useful right now?" 

Ignatius merely rolled his eyes. "...I take it you don't like my criticisms of your masters?" He said. "But, I'll be a nice [i]doggy[/i] from here on in."

Ignatius wasn't the Hound's problem, he merely pressed a button on his helmet, and said, "Zenith."

A portal opened behind him, and the IU quickly made their exit. Dr. Cross and the Mannequin were following into the portal, but Ignatius had a question.

"...What the hell is she doing here?" Ignatius asked, pointing a finger at Cindy. "Last time I checked, she's a DOVE."

"Sorry, but I changed sides," Cindy said with an oddly eager smile. She shrugged as she had a pleased expression on her face. A face that reminded Ignatius of the Joker. She then spoke, "I work for the Blessed Three now. It pays more." She laughed.

Ignatius didn't ask questions because he knows that the Family have their ways. He merely stepped into the portal.

"...Intimidation Unit, pull out." The Black Hound said, and just like that, many portals were called, and the Intimidation Unit had ended their assault on RAVEN Headquarters. There was nothing left for them here. The entire building was left in ruins.

The Hound and Cindy walked into the portal side by side.

But, why would Cindy Keagan, the kindest and most dedicated DOVE, suddenly defect?