Dragon turned, hands in his pockets. Spectrum had to stop from following his arms down, and met his eyes when he spoke. His gloriously clear blue eyes. "I was wondering where you went. I wanted to ask you something."

Be cool, be cool. "Oh?" Spectrum wondered for a moment what Alex would have done to show her interest. Would she have held his arm? Leaned closer to him? Rested her head on his shoulder? Spectrum took a deep breath, a half-confident smile that would have rendered him speechless doing little good behind the mask.

"Would you-"

A loud voice with unnatural reverberation sounded through the party. The few telepaths in the room doubled over, slapping their hands against their ears. [I]<Evacuate Lower Central. Swarm rats spotted at the corner of Seventh and Ninth. Beware the Rat King.>[/I]

There was a single, infinite moment of silence.

Then it broke, and everyone began moving at once. "Boots on the ground at Clairvoyant-locale," the Chief shouted into a handset. Dragon tore off the tie he was wearing, leaned down and whispered into Spectrum's ear, "Find me later." Along with a few other Epics, he smashed through the windows, the shards melting into the ground and the shattered pane reforming under the High Island's influence. Spectrum ran to the window after him, watching him hit the ground, then come up running at a blurring pace. 

"He's so [I]cool[/I]," squeaked from under the helmet, before the gravity of the situation hit. Armour flaring blue, Spectrum sped to the foyer, then launched into the air. It was no easy task to keep up, but the problem was easily found; this wasn't a simple raid one or two Epics could quash.

The Swarm "rats" were nothing like the little mousy things in Spectrum's mother's encyclopedia. The grey fur and naked, pinkish tails were the same, but they more resembled gargoyles or goblins, their hunched heads split almost to the neck so their jaws could accommodate more needle-like teeth. Their short bodies were packed tightly with wiry muscle, their bent bodies equally capable of moving on two or four of their grasping, interchangeable limbs. Three of the horde boiling up from the sewers focused their pitiless shark-like eyes on Spectrum immediately.

Blasting the first three down with Pular Red shots, Spectrum flared a Protector White forcefield to stop their advance and clear room for other Epics. The Swarm rats thrust shards of stone at the barrier, as if using crude knives to try and slice it, but Spectrum's focus was stronger than their muscles, and the chips that flew from their attempts inflicted more bleeding injuries than any blast or punch Spectrum could throw.