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[sub]Banner credit to Nitemare Shape. Thanks Boss![/sub]
[@Athinar]
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[h3]Lost Haven
12:02 pm[/h3][/center]

Lieutenant Jones was not having a good day. This was largely in part to his being behind a stone pillar near the square that was being chewed up by bullets from government stooges protecting a couple of monsters. Like he had always known, the government was obviously behind this wave of freaks taking over the world, and here, in this time and this place, it was his job to stop it.

One of his men stumbled into cover near him and looked at him expectantly, helemt askew until he awkwardly adjusted it. "There's a lot more of 'em than we thought, Lieutenant! What are your orders?"

Jones grinned at the boy (he must have only been nineteen) and growled, "Let's show them what we've got."

[hr]

Faulkner was swiftly getting order on comms, it seemed to Darya, as she listened for orders relating to her. Water and ice covered the whole fountain, and she was busy getting a wall up across the square to provide more cover to civilians and her team at the same time. Unfortunately, the pipes for the fountain were limiting her gains, only able to push out so much without rupturing, so it was slow going, and she was pushing her senses out to find more somewhere. They were too far away from the ocean for her to reach, but perhaps the river was close enough.

She was distracted from this task by two things at once. First, as more of her human teammates pushed forward, she was building cover for them with blocks of ice, draining her reserves, but the advance was stalling out before they got to the line she was attempting to draw with her powers. Being so defensive, she was relying on the others to take up the attack, and whatever tech Dragon was using was starting to have lower effect as their enemies moved out of his line of fire. She saw him load another round of [i]whatever it was[/i] into one of the two tube launchers he was using, but he was forced to duck down before he could get a shot off as a flurry of bullets chipped away the stone of the roof edge he was using for cover.

Second, a new person had cut into the fray. He seemed brutally effective, and, perhaps more importantly, on their side, even though she didn't recognize him at all. Several Hounds went down with bullets in their brain, but the man had become pinned behind the pitiful cover of a simple newsstand. She knew she needed to act, and the rest of her own side seemed oblivious to his plight. Quickly, she called over the radio.

[color=aquamarine]”Broadway! Suppressing fire! I need them blind for a minute!”[/color]

A strained but cheerful voice answered her. “Got a little busy on this side, but I can spare a couple shots!”

Darya glanced over to the entrance of the side alley where Broadway and three agents had been and saw that, indeed, things had gotten hot in there. Apparently the Hounds had thought to encircle her, but didn't expect as complete a trap as they had laid. Muzzle flashes and the brighter flashes of light that signaled Broadway's presence were lighting up the alley entrance. As she looked, Broadway's ginger hair, now [i]glowing[/i] from her power usage, poked around the corner. A glittering glove appeared, and three quick lasers fired out and up into the street where the main force of Hounds was gathered. Darya knew better than to watch, even before Broadway called over comms, “Watch your eyes, boys and girls!”

The lasers [i]detonated[/i] over the street, like gigantic flashbombs, and weaker lasers sprayed out in every direction. These weren't even enough to burn, but anyone caught in the face with them might well be permanently blinded. As soon as they went of, Darya sent a rushing cascade, most of her reserves, across the square. It formed a wall of water and ice nearly hip height from the edge of the steel fountain all the way to the beleaguered man behind the news stand. She began waving to get his attention and get him to make the run over to her far more solid cover while the Hounds struggled to recover their eyesight. Curses over her radio told her not everyone had taken Broadway's warning seriously enough, and it seemed they had only bought a slight lull in the fight rather than a victory.

[hr]

Jones cursed vehemently while he tried to blink the after effects of the flashes out of his vision, seeing only shadows of his surroundings through purple and green splotches. He leaned around the pillar and fired a short burst blindly into the square, hoping for some luck, but was not rewarded with any screams.

“Teams Two and Three, report,” he urged. The responses were not as he had hoped.

“Team Two, we've got that laser bitch blocking up the alley with a couple of stooges. We need grenades or something, they're bunkered too well here! Too many dumpsters for cover!”

“Sergeant Yates for Team Three! I don't know what the [i]fuck[/i] is happening! We're in the woods or some shit! Some sort of illusion, but nothing we've got is breaking it!”

Jones spat some more curses, rubbing at his eyes. “HQ,” he said dejectedly. “Status update. We need back up. At least four metas, including illusions and fire. Could use something heavy.”

“Roger that, Lieutenant. Any sign of the primary target?”

“Negative, HQ. He hasn't shown up yet. Thought the bar was supposed to knock him loose?”

“They fucked up, Jones. Get the gun ready, just in case.”