[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/U5iaTPQ.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/4L1Q9Qu.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/1G9aah6.png[/img] [sub][sub][@FernStone][/sub][/sub][/center] [b][code]Courtbridge, Prince Edfield_[/code][/b][hr][hr] Jesus, Daniel was cold. Wendy wondered how in the hell this happened, but she was the least bit familiar with the boy's ability. After all, all she saw was a glimpse of his power back at Penny's house. From what Wendy gathered, maybe overuse of his ability leads to a state of hypothermia. She looked back at Penny for a moment, as her full attention was keeping guard. That was just another thing to note in case it... came down to that. But, for now, Wendy focused. She reached down into her satchel, and touched a piece of paper. Her hand turned into paper as it traveled up her arm for a moment, before she put all of her strength to holding Daniel up. In worst case, she can turn all three of them into paper, and whisk them away from the danger. That'd only leave Rori and Penny to fend for themselves - but, she was more than certain the two could easily take care of themselves. And, out of nowhere, a monster came running through a storefront. Wendy clenched her teeth as she stared at the nine foot tall mountain of muscle - opposed to the tumor ridden beasts that the rest were populating the mall. Penny was quick to (begrudgingly) meet the challenge by quickly pulling a wooden plank off a bench. She had it primed over her shoulder to hit him... then realized her true strength lies in throwing objects (and she didn't want to get blood on her). She quickly whipped with the bench in hands, and threw it. The spinning plank shattered into pieces against the creature's skull and caused it to fall backwards. Penny fist-pumped as she said, "Go, go, go!" Penny kept her eyes on the monster, as it got up, and she pulled off another plank. "This thing's on a fucking warpath!" She figured that if she keeps throwing planks at it, it'll give them a chance to get the fuck out of here. Wendy carried Daniel out of the way. Right when was back up, it was immediately hit with another plank, and Penny was quick to rip off another. Again, she threw another plank, but the mutant wised up and swiped the piece away, and Penny said, "Fucking..." Under her breath as she to come up with another plan. These fucking things wisen up [i]real[/i] fucking quickly. Perhaps too quickly, because she needed another idea to keep it off Daniel. But, it suddenly froze up - desperately tried to break free, but all that happened was that it was locked in place by [i]something[/i]. Penny raised an eyebrow, confused as to what the fuck just happened. Well, weirder shit went down; a miracle is more than appreciated at this point. Penny just casually walked by the brute with a wooden plank on her shoulder, as she caught up with the rest of the group. They were finally breaching outwards to the RAVEN garrison, but Wendy hesitated back for a moment. She remembered something... that RAVEN would be less than pleased to see her once her figure out that she's a runaway. Right when she breached the door, and closed her eyes and thought really hard about this. Even though she didn't trust (or like) Penny and Daniel that much, it seemed selfish to just abandon them for personal reasons... then remembered that they would do the same thing. She got from under Daniel's arm, and said, "I'm sorry, but this is as far as I can take him," Wendy said as she took a few steps back. "Just meet up at that address I sent you all..." "Ugh, you're leaving us now of all fuckin' times?" Penny said with a hand on her hip. "Fuckin' typical." She bitterly said as she got underneath Daniel's arm and pulled him out. "Don't worry, I'll just take it from here." "I'll see you soon, Rori." Wendy said. Even though Penny was displeased, this helped everyone in the long run. Penny was looking at the "small picture" here, but that was a different discussion altogether. She turned away, and became a cloud of paper. Quickly flying away into the halls of the mall, leaving a very disgruntled Penny behind with Daniel. Well, no fuckin' choice but to continue, now? Penny pulled Daniel outside to the RAVEN garrison, before she was greeted to the sight of RAVEN. [hr][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/HYucdHb.png[/img] [img]http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjgwLjgwYTlkMS5RVzVrY21WaElGQmhjM1JsY201aFkycywuMAAA/ruthie.regular.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/92QeUcz.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/8IL2wE7.png[/img] [sub][sub]by [@Spoopy Scary], [@Zombiedude101] & [@Surtr][/sub][/sub] [/center][hr][b][code]RAVEN/DOVE Joint West Coast Headquarters, White Coast_[/code][/b][hr] The meeting room was eerily silent. Even with the top members of RAVEN and DOVE attending (with members of MAVERICK), they were silent, as the massacre at the mall was fresh in their minds. Even Maximilian was shaken, doing nothing but holding his hands folded as he stared into his team as if they were not even there. He took in a deep breath, as he stood straight up. Hands on the table. "Okay, I think some things just go without saying," Maximilian started off. "So, I'm going to say them. What I [i]am[/i] going to say is that we're currently torn between an actual problem..." He trailed off for a moment as his eyes landed on Francis, "... And a crisis waiting to happen." Francis knew that Andrea was right, because all the mutants they captured had the same chemical formula as the Happiness drug. There was just [i]no way[/i] that this could be a mere coincidence that some of the other RAVENs thought it was. He was on the fence with Andrea (admittedly, there was good reason to believe that this was a job for the DEA), but now, he felt bad for having even small doubts. Now... now people were getting killed in the boatloads, and RAVEN had no choice but to intervene. At the same time, they [i]had[/i] to find the Devil's arm. Or else that could potentially wipe out entire cities... as Prague demonstrated. But, Francis had a solution. One that helped everyone. "Sir - well, uh, all of you," Francis started off, rather awkwardly (which was shocking for the normally sociable Francis). "I know it'd be stupid to focus all of our efforts on one particular threat... so I have an idea." All attention was on Francis, and he coughed, "I propose that, like our task force for the Devil's arm, we create a task force to get to the bottom of the whole Happiness situation, and to do that... I suggest deputizing Ms. Pasternack." This fell on Deborah, whom raised an eyebrow. "Well..." She trailed off, but was quickly cut off by Francis. "She's the only person who looked into Happiness," Francis said, "she's pretty much an expert on it. I've seen her notes, she's the best we got." "I'm a bit hesitant," Deborah said, "She is an intern, an untrained one at that. I would only feel comfortable deputizing her if she just provided advice and stayed out of the way." "Of course," Francis nodded his head. "Wouldn't want to put her in the way - but I also wouldn't want to undersell her either." Reed, who had been listening observantly, leaned forward from his seat and affirmed the Creole agent with a firm nod. "Javaunt, if you don't mind, I'd like to place my support behind this. For both of Agent Jean-Pierre's suggestions, since it looks to me as though Miss Pasternack has proven herself competent enough to be involved in this investigation." Whilst he wouldn't say it just yet, the Director of Baybridge's DOVE branch found himself impressed as the intern's intuition. It almost reminded him of himself during his cop days, just a bit. "Correct me if I'm wrong, she's currently an intern?" "Yeah," Francis quickly answered. "Right, I think this might be an opportunity to pull a good resource onboard. But, first - let's see where this goes." "Shannon," Deborah said to her red-haired assistant, "could you call Andrea in here for me?" Shannon nodded her head, as she whispered a message into comms to be relayed to other DOVEs. The meeting room waited a couple more minutes before the door finally opened with a DOVE agent and Andrea trailing closely behind. She didn't feel comfortable being here, considering the events that had just passed, and she was partially expecting some form of punishment for even being present at the mall when probably shouldn't have been, hence why she stayed at headquarters instead of sauntering back home. She was an [i]intern[/i], after all. But when she scanned the room and all the faces in it, focusing on each person's face, she learned the true reason why she was summoned. Francis' idea? She shot him an incredulous look that asked him "why", or "what were you thinking?" Still, she was here now and resigned herself to whatever decision these men and women came to. She could tell that many of them still had reservations, and Andrea couldn't blame them. "Hello, Ms. Pasternack," Deborah started off as she turned towards Andrea. Just a few hours ago, she would had considered Andrea as nothing more than, well, an intern. One that got a little too ahead of herself, but still a valuable part of DOVE. "We have much to discuss with you tonight, mostly concerning the incident at the mall." "And how we can put an end to it," Maximilian quickly chimed in "So, I'm going to cut to the point; presently you have the most information on the whole crisis, correct?" Deborah asked. "Well... that depends if you've officially determined the Happiness drug to be the root cause of these mutations, ma'am. Uh, with respect, of course." Andrea replied timidly. She tilted her head a bit as she looked at her curiously. [i]'She has.'[/i] Still, as haughty as it might be, she wanted to hear it from Deborah for herself. "We have in fact," Deborah answered clearly. "An incident of this scale could [i]not[/i] have been an accident." Everyone in the room nodded. "And so far, we... just have no one with any real way information on this," Deborah nonchalantly shrugged "Which is why... I'll just cut to the chase and say we're assembling a team to figure out just what is going on... and we want you to advise it." Andrea's jaw dropped a little, but quickly recovered and met Deborah with a smile. "That would be such an honor," she said, but after some hesitation, had something to add, "but... are you sure I'm qualified? I went to school for law, not for... uh, meta... chemistry, if such a thing exists? I mean, I investigated all the records I could find, but..." "Andrea, it's okay," Deborah softly said to reassure her. "You'll just be advising us on some things, and that's all we want from you." "Yeah, we wouldn't want to put ya' in the fire too soon." Francis added on. Andrea chuckled a little bit and stuck her hands behind her back, where she was playing with her fingers. Her face was flushed and she pursed her lips in both humility and careful thought. She looked up and met Deborah's eyes with a meek smile. "In that case," Andrea began, stealing a quick glance at Francis, "I would like to advise placing agent Jean-Pierre on the team. He... he has proven himself resourceful, open-minded, and insightful. I think he would be an excellent addition." "Oh me?" Francis asked by pointing to himself. "I have to work on the other case-" "Agent Taylor can handle it from here, Jean-Pierre," Maximilian said with a smile. "You have been reassigned." Francis nodded, "Yes sir." Before he looked at Andrea. "Thank you for your recommendation, Ms. Pasternack." Deborah folded her hands on the table, "We have much work to get done... so I think it's best that we conclude the meeting while we can." She nodded. "You are all dismissed." [hr] Francis was relieved that this was the first step to putting an end to this. Part of him wished that they took Andrea seriously while they had the chance, but... now they had the chance to make up for lost time. Francis had already taken off his armor and left it in the armory. He figured now that he should head back to his office to give his notes to Mr. Taylor so they could get started already. As he turned around to get on the way, he saw Andrea entering the room with a perturbed look on her face. She smiled stiffly and walked up the agent, clearly having something stuck in her mind. "Francis," she said curtly in greeting, "I've been looking for you. There was... something I wanted to run by you - if you don't mind." Francis smiled, "Of course." "When MAVERICK responded to the situation at the mall and helped us regain control... well, I think our case now has a suspect." Andrea explained. "There was an older and middle-aged looking women there. The older one was responsible for these... I don't know, these red portals, I guess. She knows something about the mutants." "Yeah, about that..." Francis trailed off for a moment, before he figured that this is something he should just show Andrea. "Come with me, Ma'am." He said as he lead Andrea to his office. He had a few disks from security that he requested on his desk. They've all been viewed by other RAVENs earlier, but one of them stood out among the rest. He slid it into his computer and quickly hit play. "There were a few deceased mutants," Francis trailed off. "Not killed by RAVEN or anyone fighting back, but..." It displayed the video of Ada effortlessly stopping a monster's swing towards a woman, then killing it by extending her finger. A body manipulation ability, Francis noticed. She continued through the mall, cutting through the monsters without one so much as laying a hand on her. Until she came across a mutant about to kill a man and... his daughter? She pointed a hand to the side, and the beast was tossed aside, and she executed it like the others. She uttered some words to the people, before moving on. "... Does this woman fit the description?" Francis asked. "That's her." Andrea confirmed. "When I tried reading her mind, it was like there were a hundred people talking at once. I don't get it, but I managed to sort it out a little. When she, um, touched some of the blood on the floor, she thought of an African-American girl named Britney and somehow determined that it was a gas that had caused the event. Does this mean anything to you?" "No one I can think of," Francis trailed off. "There's a lot of people who probably fit that description in Baybridge... and that's taking into account if she's even in any systems." He grabbed his chin for a moment. "But, that woman... she fits the description of someone your boss ran into a few years ago." He reached down to his earpiece and said, "Agent Jean-Pierre here, could I get Director Taylor to my office for a moment, it's important?" "I'll be on my way." Without wasting any time, Reed made his way down to the agent's office and stepped inside, finding that Andrea had already been invited in. "Agent Jean-Pierre, Miss Pasternack." He exchanged a nod with the both of them, closing the door behind him, then got straight to the point. "What is it you wanted me over here for?" "I need you to identify this woman for me, sir," Francis said as he played back the disk again for the director. The Director's gaze narrowed as he got a closer look at the woman in the video, and her powers. "Jesus..." He pointed an index finger towards Ada's position on the screen, following her along. A chill ran down his spine as he recalled the raid on the Founding Family's facility, their base of operations. [i]The children.[/i] "This footage was taken from the mall?" "Yes, sir." Francis answered. Andrea nodded. "During the raid on the Founding Family's central facility, my team found this woman with a group of kids being kept there," He began, recalling the events of that raid. "Uh.. 'Cultivators', they called them, some kind of... I don't know, [i]brainwashing[/i] is probably the better term for it. Like the Hitler Youth - training these kids to be the next generation of their ideology." The 'quarters' for the children had been furnished as though they lived in a mansion, with ornate wooden entrance doors, a chandelier and so on - opulence at its worst. "Cultivators..." Francis repeated... he heard one of these "cultivators" defected to the side of RAVEN. Daniel or something? Francis didn't know. "Anyway," Reed continued, "This woman - Versh... Verschlin-something one of the others called her, I didn't hear it well enough, she took the children with them through a portal. We tried to stop her but she pinned us to the wall with her powers, she's definitely [i]powerful[/i] and without a doubt dangerous in that respect, but she didn't do anything to harm us directly. I tried to talk her down, y'know, but she..." [i]"I am denying them nothing. I asked them what they wanted in their lives... freedom, servitude to the Family, or joining me."[/i] "She told me it was their choice." Reed said, almost bitter at the thought."It didn't look like she was forcing them to go with her, but like I said, [i]brainwashing[/i] is probably the better term for it, if there is anything 'better' about it." "That's definitely..." Francis looked at Reed, before looking at Andrea. "... Concernin'." "That's putting it lightly." Andrea remarked. It was more than that, it sounded like she had her own cult going on. She took the Cultivators to... God knew where, and it was uncertain if they were even alive. But, that wasn't the present issue; she was their only lead, and Francis knew she wasn't going down without a fight. And that would be one hell of a fight - Francis wondered what kind of power she had. "So, even if she doesn't know anything useful about Happiness," Francis said to them as he crossed his arms. "We still have more than enough reason to bring her in, and lock her up for good." "I'd like to find out where she took the children," Reed nodded, "As I said before, they're [i]children.[/i] They have a right to a childhood, to actually [i]be[/i] kids, not caught up in this cult environment." The Director then turned his gaze towards Andrea, raising an eyebrow, "Miss Pasternack, I hate to put you on the spot, but did you learn anything else about her? Anything that might give us a lead on the kids?" "Sir." She addressed him nervously. "I'm afraid all I managed to get from her is that she believes a gas caused the mutations, so maybe it's some kind of chemical weapon that reacted with the Happiness drug in their bloodstream... and that an African-American woman named Britney is somehow related to it." A brief moment of disappointment washed over the Director's mind at the dead-end, but she'd given him another lead. "Britney?" Reed asked, then shifted his gaze over towards Francis. "I'd like a copy of the footage sent to my office, please. I'll have that name run through our system, see if there's anyone matching that description registered with us." Then, he paused for a moment and turned back towards Andrea to address her, "In fact, I'd appreciate if you could work with that team on this. Your thoughts?" "Right away, sir," Francis said, as he saluted Reed, before grabbing the disks, and carrying them off. "I'd be honored, sir." Andrea replied. "Good to hear, we'll get started right away." [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1G9aah6.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/KNwZBsF.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/ZaQGoxd.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/owYAY37.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/4L1Q9Qu.png[/img] [sub][@Surtr], [@Zombiedude101], [@FernStone], and [@Dioxide][/sub] [/center][b][code]Oakdell Harbor, White Coast_[/code][/b][hr][hr] Alright, after the whole escapade at the Orchestra Mall, Wendy had managed to assemble most of her group into the Philosopher Mansion. Except, she left out the part about the Philosophers, and just said that her mother worked here. But, she managed to find them some alone time in the library room, which was stacked to here with books. Books that Wendy would [i]looooove[/i] to get her hands on, but she can't get carried away. Not now. Everyone was seated except for her, but Wendy paced back and fourth - wondering if she should even tell them that they could be in danger. Part of her wanted to; they had a right to know, after all... but, she didn't want to drive them off. "Nice fuckin' place," Penny said as she reached into her purse and pulled out... a cherry lollipop. She put the sugared treat in between her lips and sucked on it. "Now what'd you want to talk to us about? I'm just [i]tingling[/i] with excitement." But, Wendy ultimately decided to keep this to herself, at least until she got more information. She just... didn't want to lose her friends. "... I want to discuss my findings in the book," Wendy simply said, worried that she'd have to bullshit something boring. "Oh! Is it the thing I found out?" Penny excitedly hopped up. "Which is?" "Course you didn't figure it out first - didn't expect you to!" Penny quickly took the scene as she stood up next to Wendy as she quickly went into that satchel. "Give up the notes, sister!" "Hey! Just ask!" Wendy said, before Penny just yanked the first book out, and quickly went through it until she stopped and loudly shouted, "Aha! Just as I thought!" Penny enthusiastically said, then pulled out the other book from her own purse. She quickly wrote something down, and showed it to the group. It was a set of coordinates... that appeared as random numbers to the groups "Coordinates!" "... To where?" "No fuckin' idea, but guess what?" Penny reached into pocket and pulled out her phone. "There's an app for that!" She quickly went through her phone, before she stopped and gave them a look. "Somewhere in, uh, Roseview?" Penny started off, "Look, I don't fuckin' know, if it's in the book, we should give it a look!" "Well, it's a clue," Wendy shrugged. "So, uh, what do you guys think is the best course of action?" Before any of them could pitch in, another set of footsteps cut in as a hooded figure entered the room, their left hand clenched around their waist, almost trembling. "It's me, relax." Rowan said with a weary tone, then yanked the hood down with his other hand, revealing himself to them. He was wearing a different hoodie to the last time they'd seen him - in fact, this one looked [i]new[/i], straight from the store. "Rowan!" Wendy said, "What... what took you so long?" She asked. "Somethin' came up," He answered with a half-wince, doing as best as he could to draw his thoughts away from the agonising wreath of fire that was his arm right now, "Have you guys got some water and a first aid kit around here, or somethin'?" "I'm not sure, I'll have to ask Kumiko, but..." Wendy walked over to Rowan, with a raised eyebrow, "... What's wrong?" "Guess I'll wait on her," He shrugged, then "My arm's a little messed up but it can wait, what're we talkin' about?" "Well, our friend [i]Penelope-[/i]" Wendy had to resist saying it like an insult. "Found coordinates related to Sean Rosier, and I'm wondering if we should check it out." "Nice hoodie," Penny said, then refrained from asking who's dick did his mom have to suck to buy it. At least she hadn't asked how he'd got it, but Rowan had to fight off the temptation to snap at her or fire off a sarcastic retort. "Yeah, sure. Look, uh... where's Daniel? Shouldn't he be here?" "Uh, yeah, about Danny-boy," Penny put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Shit went down at the mall, and he gave himself mild hypothermia." She tried to say it with a straight face, because she was trying to hide her irritation... and sorrow that Daniel wouldn't be joining them. "So, the docs told him he needs to be on rest for a bit, even though he's probably perfectly fine now." "Oh shit, least he's good now, yeah?" Rowan asked, raising an eyebrow. [i]Hypothermia?[/i] It was a funny thought, almost ironic when he thought on what state his arm was in, but any laughs he might've had out of it were promptly silenced as a fresh wave of burning pain ran up his arm as it caught against his sleeve again, prompting to suck in his breath between his teeth and tighten his clenched fingers. "Yeah, I guess," Penny sighed with her arms crossed. Maybe if he stopped rushing into everything head first then... Penny just shook her head. No need to whine about it. "What's wrong with you? Hurt your arm jerkin' it?" She laughed for a moment, before the door suddenly opened. Which was fuckin' weird, since nobody was supposed to interrupt them (According her best fuckin' friend Wendy). "... Heeeeeeey kids!" Kumiko said as she walked in... holding a plate covered in cookies, and a first aid kit and bottle of water hanging from her chains. "I heard Dannyboy wouldn't be joining ya'll, and I made cookies!" She placed the plate on the table between all the kids, and Penny didn't waste a second in helping herself to one... then two. "Hey, wait a second," Penny said as she took a bite and raised a finger in the air. "You got this shit from a food truck down the street!" She said... while still eating the cookie. "Yeahhehe...." Kumiko quickly turned away as she handed the first aid to Rowan. "Here sweetie, need help applying it?" It earned her an odd look for a moment, but he promptly shrugged and took the kit from her. "Think I'll be good." Then, after a moment of pause, Rowan pulled up a chair beside the table in the room and set the first aid kit down and water upon it beside him, before holding out his burned arm with his palm flat on the desk. With a stifled hiss of pain, he began to roll his sleeve up, revealing a hastily applied layer of gauze around his forearm. "Jerkin' it, right?" Rowan hissed, echoing Penny's earlier remark, before peeling back the dressing, revealing a blotchy, raw mess of skin that had suffered first degree burns at the very least. Exposing it to the air only made him stifle a whimper, but it felt like a mass of fire ants had set to work on him. Penny winced for a moment, disgusted by the sight. It almost felt like [i]her[/i] arm was on fire for a second! Shit, that looked nasty as fuck. But, Penny quickly shrugged off the display of emotion, and tried to play it off. "Fuck," She said. "Did you jerk it so fast it caught fire?" "Eat a dick." Rowan retorted. "I'd love to," Penny said with a smug smile. "But, I can't beat the master." Especially with how hard he beat his dick. Which actually earned a chuckle from Kumiko who shook her head and said, "Given that I'm a licensed nurse..." Then she stopped before looking at the group, "...for the most part, I'm your best bet... but suit yourself!" She sat down next to Wendy who looked worried. Daniel's hypothermia, Rowan's burns... something clicked in Wendy's head. "Rowan, were you at the mall?" Wendy asked. "Yeah, same crazy shit like what you guys saw, right?" He asked, reaching over for the kit and popping it open to fish through it. "Yeah..." Penny shrugged, "I don't know what in the fuck happened. One second I was trying to gaslight this broad, and another second here are all these fucking monsters!" Penny spontaneously threw her hands up into the air. "That's how Daniel got hurt, he played Superman trying to save [i]another[/i] broad." "I just wanted to take pictures at the mall," Wendy said, looking around. "I wonder what in the hell happened... Was it the work of a Metahuman?" She asked. Soon enough Rowan had retrieved a cotton wipe, some fresh gauze and a tube of antibiotic ointment, all of which he set beside him and then moved onto the bottle of water that Kumiko had been decent enough to grab for him. Then, unscrewing the cap from the top, he pressed the cotton wipe against the neck of the bottle and tilted it sidewards until he felt it dampen all the way through, then set it down again and laid his arm back along the table. "Fuckin' beats me," Penny replied. "Either way, it ain't our problem." "... But are you sure about that?" Wendy asked no one in particular beneath her breath. Penny heard something, but chose to keep her mouth shut for the sake of ending this stupid back and fourth. He winced, then clenched his teeth and began to dab at the burned area, cleaning it. Once this was done, Rowan then squeezed a small amount of anti-biotic gel onto his fingers and began to apply a coat across his burned skin, this time letting slip a pained murmur as the flames seemed to set upon him once again. In an effort to take his mind off the pain and because it needed to be addressed, he spoke up through clenched teeth. "Wen', you got my text?" "Y-yeah," Wendy awkwardly said, and hoped that Rowan wouldn't.... "I was being followed. Some asshole was waiting outside my Mom's house,"Rowan seethed, almost spitting out the words as he began to redress the burn, "My fucking [i]Mom's[/i] house. I caught the guy tailin' me when I led him on, made the asshole take a dive into traffic, but that still means we're being watched." ... And he did. Wendy almost mentally facepalmed, when she realized that this could spell the end of the group. "Wait, fuckin' hold up there, Eminem," Penny said, with a raised hand. She was less disturbed that . "Maybe before you got your murder on, maybe you should'a, maybe, I don't know - figured out who the fuck was after you." She spat at him. "Beeeeeeeeeecause..." Penny looked around for a moment... and decided to keep her involvement with the Family a secret. "Well, to put it simply for ya', there are other people after the book." "Wait, what?!" Wendy said. "Why didn't you tell us?" "Because I didn't want to break up the superfriends," Penny answered with a roll of her eyes. "Smart fucking move right there, nice fucking work." Rowan fired back, having finished dressing his injury and begun closing the first aid kit. Clearly unimpressed, he fired out another question at her, "[i]What[/i] other people?" "That's the thing," Penny shrugged. "I don't fuckin' know myself. Some people... just follow me and Daniel around-" [i]It could be because they want to keep an eye on their special boy....[/i] "-and that's it. Could be after the books, could be after some pocket change." She leaned back in the chair. "But, either way... let's just find out, alright?" She asked, almost passive aggressively. "... Without murdering anyone else, please?" After a moment's consideration, Rowan shrugged, then reclined in his seat. "Sure. Wen', what do you think?" "I think..." Wendy trailed off, giving it thought. "We shouldn't let this stop us here... right when we just got started. But, I'm wondering if anyone else has a problem?" Rori gave a slight shrug, having listened silently to most of the conversation. "I don't want to stop..." They paused thoughtfully. "Though I do live alone, and I'm pretty recognisable. But I am hard to follow, bird form and all! I don't want to stop when we're just beginning to figure things out." "I don't want to stop, either - fuck these people," Rowan opined, folding his arms."Me? I think we should figure out who's followin' us and give 'em a reason [i]not[/i] to, throw them off our tails." He was still infuriated at the notion that the people they cared about were potentially being tailed by whoever these people were, his Mom just one example. Kannix had slipped from Audrey again ("I've got to be somewhere. Emergency!") when she read the text message about the meeting. The entire time up until this point she had only been sitting at the edge of the sofa, reclining back as much as she could, listening to the conversation at hand. She was silent because primarily she was tired as fuck, recuperating as much as she could after her exchange at the mall. Though her powers made her unbreakable, they also left her fatigued, given the debt of 'not getting hurt' being exhausting. She could not get hurt in the conventional way, but seeing the effects on Daniel and Rowan, and to think less selflessly, if it could happen to anyone else? The imposing threat of her mom being in danger plus the damage that could happen to them as well was more than enough reason for her to want to stay. It would be a moral crime to not put herself to good use for this cause. Kannix stifled a yawn so as not to seem rude: "I'm in. I've got my own mom to protect." "Good," Wendy said with a faint smile as she looked at the rest of her group. Even though she didn't like Penny, maybe she had something useful in her. Maybe. "So, that means we'll be giving this place a look later on?" "Might as well," Penny didn't like going to a place without Daniel... especially since it was more than likely a Founding Family base of some kind. She didn't want to tell them that because too many goddamn people piss themselves when they hear those two words together. But, she regretted having Daniel on the team not because he's a powerhouse, but also because no one knew the Founding Family more than him. Penny grabbed a cookie, and took one bite out of it before finishing it off. She shook her head. "We'll head there later on," Penny said. "We still need to get ready... I ain't a fan of charging in dick first without a plan or preparing." Even though Penny didn't particularly like Wendy... or her band of mongs, she had to admit that when they just [i]fell[/i] into her life, she made more progress than ever before! Is that luck or something? Penny didn't know. What she did know was that getting those notes back was top priority... then taking out the people after them so Penny can [i]finally[/i] start going to sleep at night. [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7kWFOr0.png[/img][/center] [b][code]???[/code][/b] [hr][hr] "Well then," Father started off, his arms crossed as he stood behind a glass. Looking into another room incredulously with his arms crossed. "On with it, then." "Okay, sir." One of the men in labcoats said, as they turned to the enormous machine - which looked more like a high-tech cannon. With seemingly hundreds of cables attached to it, at the end was a ray of some sorts. Shiny, and expertly crafted, the entire machine was big as a delivery truck, and the room was rectangular, leading to a sole wall. Many of the wires lead to a control panel operated by a woman. She nodded her head and pressed a button, and the machine powered up. Lights glew brightly, and the ray dish at the end of the device formed a orb of a dark-blue energy with pink swirls. Father widely smiled... before the machine just... fizzed out. "Excuse, what just happened?" Father asked, "I was told the prototype was one-hundred percent finished! What's this?!" He pointed a finger in the direction of the machine. "How is this?!" Father said, "You made the machine [i]exactly[/i] according to blueprints, [i]correct?[/i]" "That is correct, sir!" "And here I was thinking that we had competent men and women on the job!" Father said as he walked over to the scientist, and she shivered in fear of her own life. "We started the next phase! Do you know the risks we took!? We could have RAVEN breathing down our necks the very next minute!" In fear of Father, the head scientist on the project fell to her knees, and shielded herself with a clipboard. Desperately hoping that Father wouldn't kill her. "I'm sorry! There may have been a design flaw!" "Oh, Father," One of Father's "assistants" said, interrupting him as she looked at the blueprints. "I think... I think the possible design flaw has been designed... intentionally." "Hm?" Father raised an eyebrow. "Remember, we're dealing with someone who vehemently hated the Family," The assistant said as she walked over to Father. "Maybe he put a failsafe in... in the event someone takes his plans, and tries to replicate his work." "... And what are the odds of us being able to figure out that kink? That little flaw he planted?" Father asked with his hands behind his back. "Difficult, if not impossible," The scientist answered, "We have no idea [i]what[/i] he did. He could have intentionally made fake blueprints, and..." "Might I suggest we find his notes?" The Secretary asked. Father put a hand on his chin as he walked around, giving the prospect some serious thought. "We should." He said as he put a finger in the air. "But, I suggest we let Ms. Lucker's group recover all of them before we take personal action." He put his arms behind his back as he kept walking. "With what happened... I think it's best we keep our heads down...." He looked towards the machine, and smiled widely. "... But, our ears open." [b][code]Delhi, India.[/code][/b][hr] [i]'It's been awhile, hasn't it?'[/i] The thoughts went through the woman's head as she slowly walked through the bloated downtown of Delhi. It was all kinds of active as she took steps with no destination in mind. Clearly dressed like no native of the place. Weird, even though a big part of her descended from this city, she didn't belong here. It was simply not her city, not her country. Eh, she was used to the big large cities, but this place was too crowded, wasn't it? [i]'It's been three years, and... I haven't really spent that much time off, have I? Only about one day, before getting thrusted into another adventure altogether. Funny.'[/i] A woman bumped into her, and quietly apologized before moving on, and her face was forgotten in an instant. So was the encounter. Maybe the woman thought she should stop thinking so much. Maybe she should hurry up already, and decide if she wants to stay here. [i]'I'm not even sure if they'll believe me, the sheer coincidence of it all... it was stupid for me not to tell them and get help, but at the same time... it was easier. No one else to watch, and no other stupid decisions. But... there's something that they have to know. Something that Meifeng needs to know. She might rush off on a quest.'[/i] The woman took another turn, before entering a sleazy motel. She didn't waste any time in packing up, she had to be out of here by the morning. She packed up her things, before thinking again. [i]'I hope Deborah gives me back my job... I'll literally get on my knees and beg for it. But, that's for another time. I need to sort one more thing out before I head back, and then....'[/i] She grabbed the suitcase, and quickly walked away, but at the corner of her eye, she saw something move. It wasn't another person, but something falling out of the suitcase. She quickly knelt down and picked it up. Thank God... because she would just [i]hate it[/i] if she left it here. A photograph that was taken over ten years ago of Meifeng, Cindy, Trevor, and Jennifer, after Meifeng won that karate tournament. The look of joy on her face was priceless, but these were the good old days. Nologia ran it's course before Cindy walked out the door. [hr][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ASceokh.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/WQd6d6q.png[/img][/center] [hr][hr] [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qJpiKJq.png[/img][/center] [b][code]Strongriver Plaza, Hedgemount[/code][/b] [hr][hr] "... There's no need for this, my child." "Oh, in fact there is," Noelle held a Kimber Super Carry Pro to the back of Ada's head with cold fury in her eyes as she continued to bark. "So, I'll cut to the chase; why have you sought me out, and [i]how?[/i]" "It's simple," Ada said as she faced the wall of the dark and damp alleyway they both found themselves in. She didn't even move an inch from behind the robe. "I am looking for someone... someone you may know, assassin?" "I don't know shit," Noelle hissed through her teeth. "Oh?" Ada said. "Then... why is it that you have so many former members of the Family blackmailed? Living in fear of your very face...?" "Because..." Noelle said, but Ada cut her off. "Because you have a powerful network of people in your pocket, and no one to moderate you," Ada said, with a blank stare as she finally turned her head around halfway. If her eyes weren't obscured by the band, she would be staring Noelle straight in the eye. "You're like a child in a candy shop, but that is none of my concern, assassin." "Then what is it that you want?" Noelle asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Just some information, since you seem to have all of it," Ada smiled. "What do you know about Britney Williams?" "Nothing," Noelle said. "After the Family fell, she fell off the map." She pressed the gun to the back of Ada's head, and said, "And even if I did know, she'd be the first person I'd kill, got it?" "If you're lying," Ada sharply said. "I have ways of finding out." "Tough talk," Noelle said, "When you have a gun at the back of your head." "If you thought you were the one in control here... you were wrong," Ada said with no response, before she just sighed, and shook her head, and just said; "... Megan." "Surprise!" Megan shouted as her head suddenly popped out of a nearby trashcan behind Noelle and made her heart race for a moment. Noelle fired a few shots from her pistol into Ada's body... but it didn't seem to do anything to the woman. Ada quickly lunged forward and grabbed Noelle's wrist, the pistol was seemingly absorbed into her body. Before she quickly struck Noelle across the face with her other hand. Noelle fell over, dazed and confused, with Ada standing over her. Megan quickly transformed back from a... trash can. Ada took a few steps over, and as she walked, the bullets traveled through her skin... before exiting through her fingers. She focused on Noelle. Unconsciously, Noelle floated in the air as Ada's telekinesis hoisted her up to her level, head first. Ada put both hands on the side of her head. Before a red aura surrounded her head, and Ada entered her mind, before releasing the telekinesis and just letting her fall. "She doesn't have the information," Ada said as she turned away. "Adora." She pointed at Adora, who was also hiding. She quickly slashed into the air and created a large red portal that appeared as a tear. "Maybe we should kill her!" Megan added on. "We don't want them to know who we are!" "No..." Ada said, as she turned away. "Great doubt rests in her mind, it would be... ill fitting to kill her before she figures herself out." Ada slowly stepped into the portal, before saying, "Besides... life is precious." Noelle was still dazed as all hell. Confused as to how this started. It started with a mere date going horribly wrong when Ada showed up, and started rattling on. Ugh, it didn't matter. Noelle grabbed the side of her head, and all she could hear was ringing... and the sound of siren. Shit. Ada left her gun on the ground... and the last thing Noelle needed was the police finding an illegal gun on her. She quickly grabbed the gun (just in case), and tried to find her way out of here. This was bad... Ada was able to find her real easily, and yet she didn't have a clue just who she was.