The woman on the screen was a master of her craft, someone well trained in the art of public relations. Her voice was soothing and reassuring while her tone held just the right amount of professionalism and confidence to add weight to her message. Her appearance was the same, mixing the straight backed posture and uniform of someone with authority with the comforting smile of someone who was on your side and had your best interests at heart. It was a tough balancing act to show both warmth and strength at the same time, to show people you were strong enough to protect them without that same strength being intimidating, but Lorne’s marketing and PR departments were good enough to make it work.

Show the public chaos and destruction, and then show them the calm and resilient face of Lorne who would stand against the chaos. Make sure to acknowledge the unfortunate accident but neglect to mention just whose tower it was that blew up. Paint Parahumans as deadly and dangerous, people who use their powers for evil, so that of course the Lorne Corporation they so unfairly blame for everything must be the good guys. And if you’re [i]not[/i] one of those evil, dangerous Parahumans then you must be on Lorne’s side, right? Which means you’ll visit one of their rehabilitation centres, right? 

And if that didn’t work then tell them they were all going to fucking die if they didn’t.
 
[color=gray]“Well that’s the biggest load of bullshit I’ve heard in years.”[/color] Robert was well acquainted with Lorne’s particular brand of bullshit, having been force-fed it by the shovel load when his factory was taken over by Lorne suits. They’d refined it somewhat over the decades but it still smelt the same, which made it all the more frustrating when people bought into it. At least now he knew what he and his followers would be doing this Saturday; that drop-in clinic was the perfect opportunity to disrupt Lorne’s attempt to round up the cities Parahumans.

And every Parahuman they could keep out of Lorne’s grasp was a victory in Robert’s book; which, as it happened, was why he was here in the first place. The screen he was watching Lorne’s announcement on was not the small monitor in the lounge of his headquarters, but a large public display meant to show advertisements or breaking news depending on which was more important at the time. A couple blocks down the street was a diner, mangled and deformed by some unknown phenomenon and since these days ‘unknown phenomenon’ meant ‘Parahuman’, Robert was interested.

The police were interested too, which was why he was standing two blocks away instead of somewhere he could get a closer look. Whatever had happened in that diner was bad enough that it left a bodycount, so the police and Lorne had an excuse to go all out in trying to apprehend them; a half dozen patrol cars and a couple of SWAT vans could be seen blocking the street from where he was, armed and armoured officers along with a number of those faceless mechs keeping a watchful eye on the crowds. Whoever this Parahuman was he was powerful and possibly unstable, which meant it was imperative that the PPS find them before the police did, or Lorne would make sure they disappeared forever.

Robert began walking towards the diner, risking being seen by the police or their drones so he could attempt to find some sort of clue as to where the Parahuman had gone to.

[@Heat]