[centre][H2] Wonderland Safe House - Raven Street [/h2] [h1]Downtown Boston[/h1] [sub]21st January, 2011[/sub][/centre] Askaryan gave the woman a smirk as he watched her dash out the door. Tonight promised to be interesting, with her there. For the first time in a while, he actually felt lucky enough to consider putting on a bet. Stripping off his costume after being the only one left, he snuck out the back door and headed for Victory Road. [@Lasrever] [hr] [centre][h2]CDC[/h2] [h1]Boston[/h1] [sub]21st January, 2011[/sub][/centre] Several large men surrounded her before he even knew what was happening. They ‘informed’ her to stop. The threat in their words was clear. For the first time since arriving, she was [i]worried[/i]. She didn't trust the mental state of the person Whetstone had lent her powers too. She only prayed she wouldn’t be here long. [@ProPro][@Old Amsterdam] [hr] [centre][h2]Gladius Border Territory[/h2] [h1]Dorchester[/h1] [sub]21st January, 2011[/sub][/centre] Knight matched his threat with bravado, but was smart enough to back down. Her armour shimmered once before vanishing completely. Breathing a small sigh of relief to no-one but himself, Sickle began taking small steps backwards, into the building with the hole in the wall. “Good choice,” he replied. “Normally, I’d have killed them anyway - but i’ll allow you this small victory to report. Maybe they’ll let you off for losing me.” A hand grabbed his ankle. A quick look confirmed it was one of Anomaly’s ghostly appendages. It didn’t have the same violent effect as the previous ones had - but he suddenly lost the will to fight anymore. Despite his best efforts to click his fingers, to kill the goons for the heroes defying his threat, he physically couldn’t. From above, a parahuman crossed the sky, golden coins tinkling down. To protect the Wards from a newly-perceived threat, she turned and prepared a shield. That was all the opening he needed. Instead of clicking his fingers, he raised a flat palm. The weapons hurtled towards himself at wicked speed, each one moving at a different pace to ensure they all arrived at once. As they impacted his open hand, they splattered back to being liquid again causing a huge, several-foot wide blood wall to form across the entire opening of the wall. The barrier was several feet thick, and made of crystallized blood - slightly shiny and reflecting light. Behind it, Sickle wasted no time making a break for freedom. Away from the Protectorate, and away from Vector. He had intervened in the conflict. Brought an end to the violence - mostly. Protected the Wards. Overall, the mission had been a complete success. Even if they’d barely made it out before Vector arrived. Today made something perfectly clear. Praetor really wanted him dead. [@PlatinumSkink][@Banana] [hr] [centre][h2]Across Boston[/h2] [h1]Boston[/h1] [sub]21st January, 2011[/sub][/centre] All across Boston, a number of capes received an email. Each read the same, and came from the same source, although how someone had collected this much data on the civilian identities of parahumans was anyones guess. Perhaps even more worrying, the message came through official Protectorate channels for capes who had work-related emails. It left very little to the imagination. [hr] //PSA: ALL CAULDRON CAPES OPERATING IN BOSTON A particularly capable Cauldron operative - codenamed Conflux - has gone rogue and absconded from one of our facilities with a resource of immense value - codenamed Oracle. Our agents had tracked Conflux to Brockton Bay and surrounded her, but she has slipped the net. Intel suggests she is headed to Boston. We are calling in the favours you owe us. You are to hereby make the recovery of the resource your top priority. Failure to do so will result in termination. The resource must be apprehended and returned to Cauldron control before it is allowed to leave Boston. Failure to do so will result in termination. Under no circumstances must our rogue agent - or any other third-party - be aided in an attempt to flee Boston with the resource. Doing so will result in termination. The Boston Protectorate are aware and have sanctioned our attempt to reacquire our resource. No hero will be allowed to interfere in the reacquisition of our resource. This is a matter of utmost importance to not only our entire organisation, but the human race as a whole. Conflux may be dealt with in whatever way you see fit - but be advised, she is highly dangerous and is has a PRT Rating of Master 8. All direct interactions with her should be subject to suitable Master protocols. You owe us. We expect results. Failure to deliver will result in termination. [@PlatinumSkink] [@Migyudon]