[center][h1][color=#357302][b]Chatterbox[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]
Headhunter's response was novel and he nodded in acknowledgement of it. However, he just couldn't break his vigil on his duplicate. He knew part of that was the ramping effect of the aggravating imbecil's power, but still he had to keep an eye on him. Then, a thought occured to him. Making sure he was in full sight of the team—which was very easy given everyone's position—he took both hands to part of his costume's quality fabric...and violently tore it in a vertical direction. Then there was a sharp pain in his arm as a wound opened up. He gasped and used the cloth he'd torn off to wrap the wound. Just as he finished and was about to act, he felt Sophia's grip on him vanish. Head snapping to the side he saw her collapse to the ground. He moved to help, concern flashing over his features, followed swiftly by pain against the side of his skull.

[color=#357302][b]"Agh!"[/b][/color] He saw stars and everything went fuzzy except the sharp throbbing pain in his temple and ear and neck. Whatever they did with him, CB did his best to help the Jacks hoist him into a car. God that had really fucking hurt. He hoped that Broker would have a way to deal with this idiot clone and that they had managed to gag the fucker.

By the time they arrived back at headquarters he would have regained his composure, though his head still hurt badly. He would talk not at all until addressed by Broker. Hopefully the tear in his costume didn't translate over to his clone.

Hopefully they remembered which was which....

[hr][center][h1][color=#3068FF][b]Evelyn Chambers – [i]Tulpa[/i][/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]
Feeling empty and listless, she looked up as one of the PRT's employees prompted her for her pass-phrase. For a long moment she just stared at him, anguish in her expression, before finally speaking up.

[color=#3068FF][b]"A shadow passes over a lake of silver light. The solid sky pulls it through  its reflection and a being is born."[/b][/color] She swallowed hard. The passphrase related to her power intimately. She wanted to change it. She wanted to throw up, just from thinking about that horrible thing. The thing that was part of her. The thing that had hurt Lillian. An aborted sob escaped her throat as she passed the man—bringing up the tail end of the team.

So it was that she was last to sit down in the room where surely they'd be admonished. When director Kens spoke she barely heard—let alone believed—the words he was saying. They wouldn't be blamed? But it was their fault. You could blame their actions solely on Decoy's bad information.

The thoughts began to stoke an anger in her, but before it could find enough fuel to last, the director said her name and she visibly twitched, swallowing hard. As her teammates spoke all the fight went out of her. Very unprofessionally, she brought her feet up onto her seat and hugged her knees, burying her face against them. She'd since removed her mask and anyone who'd look would see make-up running and tear streaks down her face.

As Alessa heaped the blame onto her, Evelyn brought her hands up and wiped her face, smearing more make-up. When her teammate finished she looked up and met the imperious gaze of Director Kens. She clenched her jaw, but she still found that her teeth chattered somewhat. She was shaking and nearby, in the room, behind Kens, a faint silver light hovered.

A shock of panic, eyes widening before she banished the projection's shadow once more. It vanished in a flash of movement, phasing through a wall.

It took her precious seconds to compose herself and when she tried to talk, nothing came out. She tried again, and almost sobbed. Taking a cue from Alessa, she took some deep breaths and then tried again.

[color=#3068FF][b]"It...it wasn't all Alessa's fault. In my haste to..p-provide aid, my...the projection..."[/b][/color] she trailed off, shaking as she took a faltering breath, before she could speak again.

[color=#3068FF][b]"My projection cut its way through one of the walls to get in. I...it wasn't a decision I made rationally. It...it just reacted to my desire to help."[/b][/color]

She hid the bottom half of her face in her knees a moment, looking across the room at Director Kens for a moment. There was barely stifled terror and sadness in her eyes.

[color=#3068FF][b]"Near...near the end. One of Dean's..."[/b][/color] she almost choked on the name. Tears started flowing again and she frowned, clearly distressed that she couldn't hold them back. Her voice sounded shaky as she continued, but she pressed on anyways. [color=#3068FF][b]"...the clones...one of them hit my projection with a beam. It felt like...it felt like it was accelerated maybe? I can usually feel it like it's part of me, but it...it felt far away all of a sudden. Like I'd been using it longer than I actually had maybe? It wouldn't respond to commands. It just...it lunged at Lillian."[/b][/color] Where the tears at first fell steadily, now they practically drenched her cheeks, hitting the fabric on her knees and slowly wetting it as well.

[color=#3068FF][b]"I couldn't stop it. If...if Alessa hadn't reacted as she did, it would've really hurt Lillian. It might have done worse. I couldn't con-control. I don't know wh--...."[/b][/color] She cut off into a quiet sob and buried her face again, unable to continue. Now they all knew.

Surely she'd be removed from the Wards. They couldn't use someone who couldn't control their power. Her power...she didn't even want to use it, or think about using it. She didn't know when the projection might turn on them again. She couldn't deal with that eventuality. She couldn't deal with causing harm to people who didn't deserve it...who weren't rotten like criminal were, like all villains were.

She just couldn't.