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[b][code]RAVEN/DOVE Joint Headquarters, White Coast_[/code][/b][hr][hr]


Meifeng leaned back in her chair, she put her hands behind her head as she noticed a blonde-haired woman with a DOVE badge scutter in...? No, nametag. She didn't have a clue who this woman was! Then again, without Cindy to inform her of things going on in DOVE, it was a reeeeal pain in the ass keeping up with them. She ignored the urge to ask her to get her some coffee (because that'd [i]honestly[/i] be annoying) as she merely glanced at her for a second, before she turned her attention back to Maximilian. She sighed for a moment. She didn't want to deal with him right now, but it was her job to do so. Especially since it was because of him that she got this far. So, she swallowed her pride, and raised her hand.

"With all due respect, [i]sir,[/i]" Meifeng said sir rather venomously. "[i]Everyone[/i] here should be aware of ZODIAC, and Sovereign? How couldn't we be given all the times he kicked our ass?"

Maximilian groaned, he held his tongue as he merely looked at the papers Andrea placed near him. He opened it for a moment, and realized that it was something for the rally later on today. He pushed it over towards Deborah to give her a chance to read it.

Shizuka shared the same sentiment as Maximilian at Meifeng's passive-aggressiveness. Even if that girl had been through hell in her life, it didn't mean she could throw a tantrum into the face of their in-charge, right here in front of all the other higher-ups in the room. He rolled his eyes at her but continued to keep his mouth shut, merely staring at the stack of papers between Maximilian and Deborah that blond DOVE agent had brought in and wondering what it was about.

Quentin, on the other hand, who had been seated quietly at the other side of the room, found himself sharing his old friend and colleague's sentiments - even if she was a little headstrong about it, Meifeng was right. There was no room for missing out facts in this, the veteran RAVEN knew - he'd been on the receiving end of the assassin's wrath and barely escaped with his life, not without scars, either. "There is a point - the Hound, or Sovereign - or whatever that animal calls himself now, he did a lot of damage with the paramilitary outfit he ran for the Founders. That they're still out there is not something we can tiptoe around."

"My point exactly," Maximilian said.

"Though," Shizuka had to point out. "The [i]Fags[/i]--" his choice of words made a few agents arched their eyebrows at him, "--were more deeply inculcated into the world than we could've expected. Three years ain't enough to fully weed out every remnant supporters still hiding somewhere out there... or even among us. We've got to stay vigilant, yeah."

With that, Andrea uncomfortably slipped out of the door without a word. As soon as she was outside, she exhaled a huge sigh of relief. She was just so glad that nobody really said anything aloud about it - not that they had to. Every little surface thought that sprung through their head were practically screaming at her. Most amusingly, one of them even wanted coffee from her! Still, there was something bugging her about that meeting. One would think it'd be about the event later today, but there was something else behind the scenes. What was ZODIAC? Who was Sovereign? Andrea felt strong feelings coming from her when she mentioned how ZODIAC shouldn't be covered up, which meant that RAVEN and DOVE were hiding something big. If such a name like Meifeng took issue with it, Andrea couldn't help but feel curious about whatever was happening. Her eyes darted down both ends of the hallway before she scurried into the dark, empty office just across. She closed the door behind her and sat on the desk, looking to the side at seemingly nothing.

"Show me," she muttered.

Her eyes trailed off towards the door and waited patiently. Within moments, her mind was filled with visions and sounds...

"What you are unaware of is that there have been sightings of ZODIAC activity in the US," Maximilian replied, as Dana switched a slider on the projector to still images of members of the ZODIAC terrorist group in different places. From a member making a deal with some drug dealers, to a lone member in a gunfight with RAVEN, to another merely creeping in the shadows, nearly out of sight. The last image rested on known ZODIAC assassin (and former Intimidation Unit agent) the Phantasm. In the headquarters of the Savior Foundation, with a smoking pistol in hand as he fired it at a security guard. "The biggest of which was the infiltration of Savior Headquarters in Boston. It was unknown what ZODIAC was after there, the Saviors are being unhelpful..."

"... As usual." Deborah briefly chimed in, irritated.

"So, they are telling us that the Phantasm damaged some equipment, and then left." Maximilian finished, he crossed his arms.

"What about ZODIAC activity in other countries?" Meifeng Zhao asked, as she wondered if they're focusing their efforts in the states again... her worst nightmare.

"According to some sources, they haven't stopped for a moment." Maximilian merely groaned as he leaned back with his arms crossed. "They've slowed down their activities, yeah... but the problem is that the organization is so damn sporadic that we have no idea what in the hell they're going to do next."

The way ZODIAC operated, Meifeng and Quentin were both at a loss as to how to fight them either. Their use of portals made it impossible to track them to one location, and it was obvious they picked their battles [i]very[/i] carefully.

"It might be a tough move... but it's becoming clear, to effectively battle ZODIAC, nations of the world may have to work together much closer." Maximilian added on, before he let out yet another sigh. "Or else... we're going to have a lot more Moscow's."

And that word was accompanied by Dana changing the image in the projector to Moscow... well, the part of it that had a smoldering hole in the middle of it that took up a large chunk of the scenic area.

In the next room over, Andrea released a faint gasp. [i]'Ah...! A terrorist group?'[/i] To think that there was an organization that has gotten so big and out of control that it could cause such widespread damage and required the joint effort of individual [i]nations[/i]... the very thought was unprecedented. To an extent, Andrea agreed with Meifeng. Why should it be kept secret? Wouldn't that work to the enemy's benefit anyway? If they really cared about invoking [i]terror[/i], they'd be much more flashy and conspicuous about their targets. At the same time... Maximilian, in a way, was protecting the public from this information. Four or five meta-human terrorist groups was enough to throw relations out the window. Who really trusted metas at this point? He probably thought that the last thing they need is another tank of gasoline to throw onto the fire. Part of her felt regretful about eavesdropping; these weren't the kinds of decisions she felt equipped to make, it made her drug case feel insignificant. [i]'But it's better than remaining in the dark.'[/i]

The mention of working together with other countries around the world made Shizuka cringe inside. While Europe and North America were focused on cleaning up the mess left by the oh-so-great Family and the leftovers of their insanity, the Eastern side of the globe had their plates full with their own issue: the rise of Polaris.Only that the Asian cult was smarter; instead of revealing themselves to the whole world like the foolish egomaniacs of the Blessed Three, they merely continued to pull the strings from the shadows... instilling fear into the people when they least expected it. A complete opposite of ZODIAC, and most other terrorist groups. Rather than directing all the hate to one source - to the organizations claiming responsibility for the attacks - Polaris made the people fight among themselves. It was made harder to form coalitions when you couldn't know who to trust, and who were the backstabbers.

With how secretive they had been, it was difficult to pinpoint anything concrete about them... or even how deep they had inserted themselves into the Asian politics. For all he knew, at least half of the government officials across the Asian countries were probably Polaris' dogs. Gathering allies whom he could trust felt like an uphill battle to the Japanese agent. Shizuka had to be extremely careful with the people he conversed with; even if he might be spared from an immediate death due to the cult taking a strange interest in the twins, he couldn't say the same for his comrades.

He managed to bag Japan, South Korea and numerous Southeast Asian countries, but the bigger nations - China, India, and even Indonesia - hadn't been cooperative. He couldn't push them too hard either, or else he'd be giving them the perfect excuse to wage an all-out war on US, and that was the last thing anyone would want at this time of uncertainty and terror.

"Thankfully, ZODIAC doesn't seem to have too much interest in the East," Shizuka spoke up again, his eyes traveled from Meifeng to Dana, then to Maximilian. "Besides, they have their own problem to deal with to care about the Hound - or Sovereign, or whatever dumb names he's calling himself now. I can enlist some help from some of the Asian meta groups I'm dandy with, but don't expect any large-scale assistance from them. I don't need to explain why - [i]politics[/i]."

"Actually, there has been some ZODIAC sightings in India and China... Otherwise, they haven't done much in that region." Dana noted to Shizuka. The younger agent didn't seem surprised, but his eyes narrowed upon hearing those country names.

"[i]Yet,[/i]" Maximilian raised a finger in the air. "I'm not saying we should stick our noses in their business, but we definitely could benefit from some cooperation."

"Well, I doubt it needs to be said that we won't be expecting anything like that from our Russian counterparts?" Quentin remarked. For the most part, he'd kept his head out of the social minefield of of politics, but anyone in the room would've figured that the odds of co-operation with the WLC were about as slim as they could've been. Even if relations hadn't been at the same low they'd remained at for the last ten years, the reclusive organisation was loath to co-operate with the other services operating in its homeland, let alone one from a nation on near-Cold War terms with theirs. 

So far, it had been Britain, Germany, France and the Czechs who had been the key contributors to their international efforts and even so, the foreign exchange and training program that they'd had going was perhaps the biggest result they'd yielded from it so far.

"Speaking of which, do we know when our new arrival from the exchange program will show up?" The veteran RAVEN asked, aware of the MISW agent expected at their doorstep, "I'm sure we'll want to keep them involved on the ZODIAC threat."

"In fact," Deborah spoke, she raised a finger in the air. "He's on his way now, he should be here by tomorrow."

"And..." Maximilian trailed off, as he looked for the right words to describe this. "I doubt that Britain will be of much use given the whole political storm that they are going through." He leaned back letting out a sigh as he placed his hands on his chest. He was worried about BASILISK... and, he had an idea of just [i]whom[/i] was at the head of it.

"Probably not, no..." Quentin nodded, "But we'll find out soon enough if this guy was worth the plane ticket."

Meifeng herself didn't have an idea of who this guy was - again, she relied on Cindy waaaaay too much for this information - but since they had [i]another[/i] transfer that was incredibly useful, she was going to come at this with an open mind.

Andrea felt a lump in her throat as the severity began to sink in. Even after all these years, suffering through the Founding Family and so on, Baybridge was still dangerous to live in. Then another intense realization sunk in: this was far above her pay grade, and wasn't nearly valuable enough to have this information. If anyone found out, she'd... and Ms. Bayard! She's still waiting! She immediately canceled out her scrying, and dashed to the door as best she could in her heeled shoes, opening it up and narrowly running head first into a dark-skinned fellow a few inches shorter than her, causing him to stumble slightly and drop his papers - "I'm sorry, sorry - sorry!" She blurted, and mid stride, turned around and pointed at the papers as they ducked and weaved to the ground. After a brief delay, they all gracefully fluttered back into the air, and gently landed in the man's hands. She waved him goodbye and continued to hurry down the hall into the elevator, leaving the stranger with a confused look on his face. As the elevator brought her to her floor, she anxiously straightened out the wrinkles in her clothes, dreading the impending conversation with her boss.

The man was honestly confused, but kept it moving.

In the middle of their conversation, the door opened.

"... Really, [i]really,[/i] sorry, sir," A short man with obvious African roots from his skin, to his dreadlocks, stepped into the room. He wore a formal suit with the RAVEN insignia over his breast as he stepped in. Many knew him as Francis Jean-Pierre... a transfer from Brazil. He faced Maximilian. "I have a really good reason for being late, and I'm not talking about the traffic." He rolled his eyes into his head as he spoke in a thick Haitian accent. It became clear that he had files in his hands as he walked in.

He raised it in the air, "... But, I have that report you wanted."

Maximilian smiled in a very pleased manner. "It's okay, Francis," Maximilian said as he stood straight up, he took the files from Francis, and quickly ran through them. Before he handed them to Dana, he looked before the conglomeration of RAVENs and DOVEs before him, speaking,  "Now, time to get to the [i]real[/i] pressing matter."

"So, Sovereign and his group of super-terrorists were just small-talk?" Meifeng snarked.

"No, there is a more concerning matter I have to discuss," Maximilian said, before he pressed both hands on the table. "Everyone here should be well acquainted with the Verthaven Disaster... and more importantly, the person behind it? So, there's no need to go over it?"

Those words sent shivers down Meifeng's spine. It reminded her of the hell she went through ten years ago that she was desperate to put behind her, but the damn thing kept catching up to her. Especially since, every time she turned around; some [i]other[/i] problem the disaster caused was becoming a pain in the ass for Meifeng.

Francis coughed as he heard the words. He took a seat. He knew that [i]many[/i] people in this room were survivors of that incident. And how couldn't he have heard of it? The second it went down, it changed [i]everything[/i]. Even going as far as Brazil, where it lead to the CESRM being formed, and a [i]lot[/i] of Metahuman criminals popping up.

"No? Good." Maximilian said as he looked over his shoulder to Dana going through the documents. "Alright, so three years ago, after the fall of the Founding Family, much of their horrific research either fell into the black market, or into our hands."

Maximilian started off, he took a few steps around the table. He kept his eyes on the group before him.

"As it turned out, the body of the Devil fell into the hands of the Founding Family, and they were performing experiments on her," Maximilian continued, "However, after we destroyed the Family, the remains of the Devil, of course, disappeared into the depths of the black market."

If it weren't for the fact that people died in scores because of fuck-ups like this, Quentin would've rolled his eyes. Instead, he found himself exhaling through his nose with a deep push, mentally running a palm along his face.

"Oooooooh..." Meifeng quietly said to herself in a mild shock. She didn't like the sound of [i]that.[/i]

Diagonally across her, Shizuka raised an eyebrow, looking from Maximilian to the newcomer, then back at the RAVEN director again. As much as he didn't have a great opinion of the Devil (she tried to kill everyone in Verthaven - including his precious family!), to think that the once-powerful freak Metahuman being reduced to a pathetic piece of corpse passed around from one mad scientist group to another...

[i]What goes around, comes around.[/i]

"And... as it turned out... everyone wants a piece of the apocalypse-inducing Metahuman..." He groaned for a moment. "... Literally." He pointed at Francis as a silent cue to pick up the pieces.

"Me and my team have been assigned to look for the pieces of the Devil, whom had been separated into five whole parts," Francis started off, as he stood straight up... and awkwardly fiddled his thumbs as he tried to figure out a good way to phrase this. "We haven't [i]obtained[/i] any of her parts yet... but my team can report that at least two pieces have left the [i]country[/i]."

"So, wait," Meifeng trailed off. "What do you guys think they're even doing with her? Turn her into some kind of Frankenstein and sic her on the world?"

"I've been wondering this myself too," Shizuka chimed in after a moment of silence. "Didn't the Fags base the Beasts off the Devil? She was in their possession after the Verthaven disaster - they'd have all the time in the world to dissect her atom by atom until their eventual fall."

"According to the research notes, the Beast was partially based off the Devil," Maximilian said. "However, we weren't able to recover all of it... so I cannot give you a solid answer. But, we all know that there are [i]many[/i] members of the Hands, and the Family, still out there... someone out there is going to be able to make use out of her."

Maximilian leaned in.

"... And, regardless of [i]what[/i] they do; it's going to be bad for us."

"What's worse is..." Francis said, before he gave the room a good glance from left to right. The news he was about to drop was probably going to be [i]worse[/i] for the agents than knowing that the Devil is being used by someone. "... My team has tracked a piece of the Devil back to [i]Baybridge[/i]."

"Shiiiiit..." Meifeng leaned back in her chair, as she held her hands on her face. "Should I get Lijuan out of dodge...?" She muttered to herself.

"And that's why I'm making it top RAVEN priority to recover the piece of the Devil before this gets out of hand," Maximilian said. "That is why I am assigning the very best of RAVEN and DOVE to this case. The very best being you all... but..."

He trailed off as he sat down.

"... This remains top secret. If word of this gets out..."

"I can just see the riots starting already," Deborah chimed in, before she shook her head. "Especially how things are going."

Maximilian and Deborah nodded their heads at each other.

"I think, for now, we best prepare for the rally." Deborah said. "We need someone to inspire some [i]hope.[/i]" She nodded.

"Any questions?" Maximilian said, to a silent audience. "No? Then meeting dismissed, let's get a move on."


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[b][code]Greenflower Garden, Silver Hills_[/code][/b][hr][hr]


The "new" Liu estate looked fabulous!

The old one got burned to the ground, or blown up, or something (Hey, another common thread!), but it was good that the Liu family got their shit together. Then again, Jiao-Long gets that paper! Though, Johnny found it weird that somebody with such a heavy part in the Anti-Metahuman scene has a family of nothing but Metahumans! It was probably one of those "I can't be racist, my best friend's black!" type deals. Eh, wasn't important.

The Valos family was lead to the living room of the estate! They each sat down on one couch, while Lin sat down on a couch away from them. He took one glance around, and noticed all the bookshelves, expensive paintings, and other bullshit - but no TV. The fuck? The Lius had the best damn house in all of Baybridge, but not a television that took up an entire damn wall.

Either way, they had to get to business! There was no way they could sit around here.

"So, how are you this this fine morning, Ms. Liu?" Johnny asked the woman. "Is there any alcohol in here? I could really go for some whiskey..."

"Sorry," Lin smiled, "But, we don't drink."

Johnny turned his lip up as he said. Really disa-fucking-pointed.

"Cool, cool," Johnny shrugged, "So, should we get down to business, or what?"

Lin nodded her head as she said, "Jake had informed me of what happened..." She somberly said, as she looked off to the side. She diverted eye-contact from Jake, to a vase. "I thought that all of you... I just wished I could have helped."

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Jake said. "I should be apologizing for not being there." He smiled at her.

Johnny rolled his eyes as he leaned back, he looked to his side, "Yeah, yeah... circumstance." He shrugged. "Can we get on with it?" He impatiently said, and earned a glare from his siblings.

"But, now, I can help," Lin said, "The Founding Family... they've done so much to my family... so I know exactly what to do to help." She nodded her head. "My power... nobody can hide the truth from me."

"I don't know, Lin..." Gabe chimed in, as she leaned in, worried. "You're a Liu. That means you're going to attract attention. The wrong attention." She looked up at Lin with her sole eye. "I like ya' Lin, and I'd hate to see you get hurt by some pro-Metahuman jackass trying to help us."

"Oh, that's no problem," Lin smiled, as she revealed a side of her power that she didn't normally show. She focused for a moment on their thoughts... then transformed into a completely different person. A woman that was Indian, with rounded facial features, and, odd to the demographic she was mimicking, bright green eyes. 

The Valos responded with shock, and confusion, as Lin shapeshifted.

"... The fuck?" Gabe asked, her eyebrow raised. "Isn't your power fuckin' telepathy or something?"

Lin turned back to her "default" form, and said, "Yes... and no." Before she looked off to the side. "I can also shapeshift based off the thoughts I read." Lin explained.

"She... just doesn't like talking about it." Jake explained, before he leaned back in the chair.

"This is all good! So good!" Johnny said, as he leaned forward. "We're gonna go to this rally, and meet this jackass who worked for the Family, or something... and you could be perfect for filtering out the bullshit." Johnny said.

As much as Gabe and Jake didn't like the idea of meeting a member of the Family... they had to admit it was a good idea to bring.

"My father's going to be there," Lin said. "So, I at least have a reason to go."

"Good! We'll come with you!" Johnny said. "Errr, but... could we maybeeeeeee..." He trailed off. 

"... Stay here awhile?"

Lin smiled.

[i]"... No." 
[/i]

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[color=limegreen][h2]3:28 PM[/h2][/color][hr][hider=Delphic - Colours of the Day][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnhr9xAX-M[/youtube][/hider][hr][hr][/center]
[b][code]Regal Square, Prince-Edfield_[/code][/b][hr][hr]


Just as expected, Regal Square was set alight with crowds of people this fine saturday evening.

An entire neighborhood (Mostly a market district, with many restaurants) in Prince-Edfield had been set aside for the rally. Many vendors offering food, goods, and entertainment were set up. As arranged by the DOVE leadership, the majority of them were free, as means to entice people to come. However, they were kept behind gates, and whatnot. Teasing the many people, as they had to sit through a speech. In the center of the rally there was a large stage, in which the heavyweights in DOVE and RAVEN gleefully stood at attention. Before the enormous crowd before them. 

The atmosphere was kept lax as possible, with few RAVENs as possible... in the open, that is. Through a series of agents disguised as average people, and agents hidden, the entire venue was kept safe. Just as an extra precaution, people were required to show ID at the entrances.

There was a nearly awkward silence, before Deborah Javuant walked up, and took the stage. She grabbed onto the microphone, and put it up to her lips. She felt like a singer for a moment, but resisted the urge, as she said,

"Hello, and welcome everybody! I am Deborah Javuant, chairwoman of DOVE." Deborah said with a smile on her face. "We got a bigger crowd than expected, and I know everyone is ready to have some fun, but we have to get something out of the way."

She nodded her head, as she looked to Reed.

"First; look around you," She paused for a moment, as some members of the crowd did as she said... others just kept they eyes ahead. "A few years ago, this place was ruined. Nothing but a mess of dust, and broken dreams. The same could be said about a majority of Baybridge, as our kind people were terrorized. Terrorized by monsters who deemed themselves superior for arbitrary reasons."

It was obvious just [i]who[/i] she spoke of; the Founding Family.

"However, as you can see... everything has been repaired. No matter what happens to this city, no matter what happens to the people, we can rebuild it... we can get it back. I'm not saying we should forget about the past - Oh, no, that's impossible. With the tragedy we sustained, there's no [i]to[/i] forget it. But, we have to move on from the past... and build a brighter future."

Everyone clapped as Deborah took one step away, before she turned back, and said.

"But, that's not all; Director of the Baybridge region, Reed Taylor, has more words for you."

She stepped away from the microphone, and quickly gestured for the young Director to walk up. After what seemed like a moment of stiffness, the ex-cop stepped up to the microphone and began to speak, projecting himself to the crowd with confidence.

"Many of us, a lot of us - people who I wager are standing in this crowd today, have known some form of loss in these last ten years, and I know what it feels like . It's unthinkable - one moment someone you knew, cared about's with you, the next they're not - taken away by something that feels as though it's outside of your control. It's frustrating, it makes you want lash out at the world - but you can't, because it won't change the fact that you've lost. It takes time to grieve, to get past it and, well... I'm not here to talk about that - because that isn't what we're here for."

"There have been some hard truths - I won't sugarcoat, times are rough. You can see people shouting at each other from whatever side of the fence they're on, and who knows - maybe some of you are among those people, right? Face it, we've all been there - I've seen both sides of myself, as a kid growing up in the projects, then back when I was a cop and after I first came to this city with a harsher outlook on life." He paused for a moment, clearing his throat outside of the reach of the microphone, before continuing. "Getting to the point, I can see some of you are napping already," A brief chuckle emerged from the depths of the crowd at the comment, "I suppose what I'm trying to say is, well... we're all [i]human[/i], at the end of the day, warts and all. Sure, there are some people out there with a 'meta' prefix attached to that, but at the end of the day we're all of the same species, descended from the same ancestors at one point or another. We think, we feel, we bleed, we destroy.... and we hope, then we build - and what's what this is about."

"Together, we can do what we can to do the right thing - we can honour the people that haven't made it this far by striving to improve and rebuild, show some decency and compassion towards one another even if we might not deserve it at the time, prove we're better than those who would've had us living to their will, afraid to step out of their shadow. And..." Reed seemed to trail off for a moment as he patted at his pockets, though one who was observational could tell that the Director was intentionally leading the crowd along. "Well, unfortunately, my cat ate the rest of my rehearsal paper, so that's it from me." A few more giggles erupted from the crowd, before he finally cracked a smile and leaned back into the microphone.

"Thank you, everyone, I'm proud to be an agent of this city, let alone Director. Now, as a great man once said, [i]I'll be back.[/i]" On his last few words, he raised a thumbs-up to the crowd, backing off with yet another wry look on his face. Everyone clapped, though Meifeng was tempted to shout "You suck!" from the crowds.

"You heard it folks!" Deborah said, as she stepped up where Reed stepped off. "That was a great speech... now, that the main event is out of the way..."

The DOVEs that were blocking off the vendors and entertainment walked off.

"You can now have a nice, safe, evening, on us," Deborah said. "Enjoy yourselves!" She loudly said as she stepped off (Going into the building reserved for DOVEs and RAVENs), and the enormous crowd went into the festival as music started playing. As promised by DOVE, the atmosphere was quiet and relaxed as everyone just decided to have a good time. People were enjoying themselves.

It would be a night to remember.

"God-damn, and I thought the old man could drag on," Quentin planted a palm on Meifeng's shoulder from behind, having quickly emerged from the arrangement of food vendors with a box of fried chicken balanced in his free hand, "Still, free food makes it worthwhile, I guess. Drumstick?"