[center][h1][b][color=dodgerblue]Wards:[/color] Identity Confirmed[/b][/h1]
[@Old Amsterdam][@yoshua171][@Gardevoiran][@BCTheEntity][@Lugubrious][/center]

The Wards had begun their clever plan to trap Collin and his contact with a few simple and happy words. Gather together for a bonding exercise, isolated in the mountains. Better yet, do so today by playing hooky! It was a delicious piece of bait, dangled ever so tantalizingly right in front of the traitor's nose. If Collin was indeed lying the whole time, if he never had any problems with his power and had been using it to gather covert information this whole time, he'd have to act on this. It was too tempting not to. At least that's what Decoy thought, sitting in her chair, eyes glued to the hidden cameras planted all around Collin's room. She had double checked the power nullifier and saw that it was indeed switched off, more convinced than ever that wiring Ira's technology into her system was the right decision.

As the Wards' conversation began, Collin didn't seem to react much. He simply sat on his bed, playing on a video game console that had been supplied to keep him entertained. It wasn't until Alessa laid out that they would be in the mountains, away from anybody else and without equipment, that the young boy showed any reaction. He perked up, his ears twitching. [i][color=cyan]Yes. Take the bait. I'm monitoring you. Take it...[/color][/i] He paused his game, setting the controller aside, then held still as if concentrating. This was something he had done many times in the field or in the office when he heard something that he wanted to focus on, to isolate. He had to be concentrating on the Wards now, or this was one Hell of a coincidence.

Kendall threw in her approval, but had little else to offer. Collin made no reaction on her screen. Then Evelyn spoke up, adding in that they should play hooky and go today. No sooner had the words parted from the girl's lips did Collin's own raise in a smile. That was the nail in the coffin, as far as Decoy was concerned. There was no way he couldn't act on this kind of tantalizing information. If the PRT thought the Wards were participating in school, told nobody of their whereabouts, and isolated themselves from the public eye with no equipment, there could not possibly be a better opportunity for the Community to attack them. Then Elliott spoke up and Collin frowned a moment. The tinker zoomed in on his face, particularly his lips, as he was saying something out loud.

[color=lightblue]"Why would Elliott be so agreeable to spending time with them if he didn't have to? That's not the Elliott I know."[/color] That's what she interpreted from his lip movements. Dammit, the kids were overselling it and now he was suspicious! Not good not good not good. Her fingers twitched incessantly, and she began to chew on her hair out of nervousness. Was he not going to take the bait?

[color=lightblue]"I have urgent information."[/color] Immediately her nerves calmed and Decoy focused on his lips again. The sensors in the room indicated no sound was being made, which could only mean one thing: He was talking to his contact, implanting the speech directly into their head. [i][color=cyan]Subarashī.[/color][/i]

[color=lightblue]"But use caution, I have my doubts as to the authenticity. The Wards are discussing a group bonding activity, a hike through Red Canyon Park, today during school hours. No costumes, no equipment. The perfect time to bring them to Father to be adopted. Elliott seems to be on board, which is concerning to me."[/color] Yes! He took the bait! His doubts didn't matter one iota, no amount of caution could save them now! Decoy fixated on her second camera feed, zeroing in on her second suspect. The man she had believed to be a Community operative for the entire time she had been placed in Denver. Her suspicions were confirmed as her expert lip reading told her everything the man had to say.

[color=darkgreen]"Understood. I'll approach them, then test the waters by saying that Decoy was listening in and sent me to be the responsible adult, and then I'll offer to take them myself. That sort of irresponsible behavior wouldn't be out of character for me."[/color] Decoy grit her teeth. What a horrid, reprehensible man. She never trusted him, not for one single solitary picosecond from the moment she met him. But of course, keep your enemies closer... Now she had all the proof she needed, but it wasn't time to send the signal yet. They had to end the conversation first, or the second mole would get suspicious if Collin simply stopped talking out of nowhere.

[color=lightblue]"Use best judgment on this one. Are you sure you can take them all by yourself? You know what's happening today. There won't be any backup and I can't leave my post."[/color] Peculiar. Something happening today? No backup? Were the Community planning on some big move? This could be troublesome.

[color=darkgreen]"You've got the most seniority of all the kids here, and I trained you. I know what they can do. It'll be a snap."[/color] Yeah, we'll see how much of a snap it'll be when every PRT trooper in the building converges on your location, asshole.

[color=lightblue]"Acknowledged. Just try not to fuck up."[/color]

[color=Darkgreen]"Language, Collin."[/color]

[color=lightblue]"Whatever. I told you what you need to know. I'm out."[/color]

There it was. The opportunity that Decoy was waiting for. In a flash her right index finger pressed a holographic button to her side, sending out a single message that had been queued up in advance, a message that would be sent to all of the Wards' holographic communicators without any sound or vibration. [i]Do it.[/i]

[hr][hr]

[center][h1][b][color=red]The Jacks:[/color] The Battle Begins[/b][/h1]
[@yoshua171][@BCTheEntity][@Eklispe][@Old Amsterdam][@Crusader Lord][/center]

Chatterbox's plan was going swimmingly. Better than could be anticipated, really. It had seemed that with so many people in an utter panic that their mental fortitude had been somewhat diminished and thus the effect was stronger. Or perhaps the cumulative effects of several thralls acted on a higher curve than simply being stacked? Something to file away for later, but for right now it was merely important to note that the crowd was quickly swayed to his specifications, not just in concourse A where he was, but in all the concourses. If the various text reports he were receiving were to be believed, at least. It was difficult to tell with his thinker-aspect constantly drifting in and out, running haywire. Nonetheless what he could see with his own eyes backed up the data he was being fed: a massive herd of sheep, and they were his flock.

Thunderbolt and Whimsy were ready to go. The combination of Thunderbolt's absolutely jacked body with Whimsy's power meant that they'd be able to charge in a straight line to get to concourse B, saving several minutes of travel. In the process they wound up grabbing Chatterbox as well, the real Chatterbox, for the trip. His weight would naturally slow Thunderbolt's charge down, but only by so much. Without having to worry about any sort of obstacles they would be able to make the transition in about a minute.

Meanwhile, Alloy emerged from the bathroom, costume beneath clothing, to see that the area had changed quite a bit since she had gotten changed. The plane crash was back, corpses and all, oh wait it just vanished again but the corpses remained. What the hell was going on?! At least the crowd was behaving much more orderly. Without the crazed panic it was easier to observe what was going on and that's when her eyes locked onto a most interesting and [url=http://pre07.deviantart.net/0dd9/th/pre/i/2016/041/2/3/_jjba_stand__all_caps_by_quikanims-d9qyg20.png]unfamiliar figure.[/url] Clad in a green coat with a matching hat, but wearing a concealing metal suit beneath, this figure walked among the crowd as a silent observer. They seemed to glitch out before her very eyes, then vanished utterly but only for a few seconds. They reappeared again a moment later, about ten feet ahead of where Alloy initially spotted them.