[b][right]DERELICT BUILDING // CITY SLUMS[/right][/b]

William flinched slightly as 'Taylor' hugged him. Wincing as the contact aggravated his burns, pulling back. "Okaaaay, you're not what I was expecting-" He eyed the creature up and down "-though to be honest I wasn't sure what I was expecting, red cape?" He laughed slightly before coughing, he raised his hand to his mouth to block the cough. On removing his hand he noticed blood on his hand, without showing that side of his hand to anyone in the room he lowered it again, wiping it on his clothes as it went down. 

He looked at the new woman as she entered talking about allies and alliances, the Ratman asking about what information they knew, what was going on. William raised his hands, trying to push himself to his feet before he fell back down. Swearing as he did so. 

"Look. I don't know what's going on here, but I've got a pretty full schedule and I'm not really looking at joining no revolution. I already lost everything, I'd rather not lose my life."


[hr]

[b][right]PENTHOUSE SUITE // LORNE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS // THE TOWER[/right][/b]

"ARTEI. What happened?" The voice of Tiberius Lorne was low, but the anger in his voice was unmistakable. Had ARTEI been a human being it would have most likely flinched. The table below Tiberius lit up as the AI brought up various feeds from throughout the facility. 

"All reports indicate that the subject three-one-four used his abilities to fuel subject zero-zero-four who then used the increase in power to break out of containment. From there zero-zero-four carried three-one-four through a direct path and out of the tower. Officers of the MPD responded to the call with Lorne Security Personnel however the subjects were already gone." A scowl crossed Tiberius' face as he watched the images of the subject carrying the naked man out of the facility, burning like a raging hot fire. At least he had an idea.

"Get these images down to broadcasting. Have them set up some fake burns on staff, splice someone else's face over subject three-one-four. Stage a hospital raid and have it air on the evening news. Almost everyone has this city has a cellphone, have them be our eyes and ears. An offer of fifty-thousand dollars for a tip that leads to the capture of this dangerous Parahuman who has taken a poor worker hostage after severely maiming him, when he was close to coming to a cure for its condition."

"Right away sir." There was a buzz at the door, Tiberius looked up. Then back down at the table. "Doctor H.Williamson for you sir." 

Tiberius nodded. "Let him in, then sign off."

The table light faded, leaving it looking like a normal, albeit expensive and fancy, table. That said everyone in Lorne knew about ARTEI, it had been Tiberius' Lornes claim to fame within the company. A fully functional A.I, a stripped-down version of it was what the police mechs used. The [url=http://orig14.deviantart.net/c2a2/f/2013/199/a/9/dormant_ark__lef_scientist__rickon_hyde_by_claytonbarton-d6e01dm.jpg]Doctor[/url] walked in, a notepad in hand. He tucked it under his arm as he approached. Tiberius stood and offered his hand, after the formalities were done he signalled for him to take a seat. Hyde was one of Tiberius' most trusted scientists, at the forefront of the Parahuman Crisis and coupled with his wife truly some of his most trusted confidants. His trust for them only grew after what they had done together, and accomplished, after the tower exploded.

"Hyde, if you're here about number four then I'm afraid-" Hyde waved his hand, shrugging it off.

"I'm not, I trust the forces we have in play to track it down and return it to its holding cell. Though I'd stress its importance again, its ability to absorb energy could be vital in resolving this crisis and bringing it back under control."

Tiberius leaned back in his chair, hands clasped on his knees. "Then what are you here about?"

Hyde flipped his clipboard and slid it over to Tiberius. "I've done it, I've figured out a way to detect Parahumans. For now, it should require a very simple patch in the Police Mech targetting software, it won't be long-range but we'll be able to detect them within one hundred feet once the updates are installed. The catch is it'll only work when they're manifesting their abilities." He indicated for the clipboard, Tiberius gave it to him while Hyde flipped it to another page before handing it back. "For a while, we've been noticing weird energy readings around Parahumans when they use their abilities. This energy signature is almost identical, albeit smaller, than that of the Source. The good thing is, we've been able to isolate it from all the background radiation, radio-waves and everything else that goes on in a modern city."

Tiberius looked up. "Can we track then yet?"

Hyde rubbed his hand over his head. "Not quite. We know that Parahumans and the Source are somehow connected, though as of yet we've been unable to find out how. Everything we know about the laws of physics says that it isn't possible, and yet it somehow is. Even study of number one hasn't yielded a lot of results. Though Johnsons team is confident that they're close to a breakthrough in dampening powers with number three." Tiberius smiled as he handed back the clipboard.

"Have your wife prepare a news speech for the clinic on Saturday." He stood up and looked out of the window. "It's time to not just change this city, but to change the world."