[center][h2][color=#CCFFFF][i]Presidio[/i][/color][/h2][img]https://drfhlmcehrc34.cloudfront.net/cache/7a/2e/7a2eca87d796d9fd03a702d75817da61.png[/img][/center]With each swing and each thought that fit itself neatly into place, Presidio began to realize just how different their circumstances might be from what they had initially been led to believe. Swallowing, she steeled her nerves, knowing that--truly--they would have to take some immediate and drastic actions to resolve things well on their end.

She began generating ever more shields, arranging another limb for her current array, but she found that it was getting difficult to manage so much all at once, if only because if she made the slightest mistake with her climb that she would fall...perhaps to a very sudden and grisly death if she didn’t react [i]immediately[/i]. Fortunately, she hadn’t reached a crisis point such as that just yet. However, she had reached the edge of the building she’d initially began climbing and it was time to cross.

Gauging the distance precisely, with the use of intuited measurements and her extensive array of forcefields, the heroine set one of her limbs ahead and above her as she moved, and then released the others--pushing off backwards as she did and using the momentum of the swinging limbs to drastically increase her momentum. It was perhaps one of the most intensely dangerous things she had ever used her power for, yet it was also one of the most exhilarating and deeply engaging moments she had ever experienced. She held her breath as the incredible inertia of her movement pressed her back against the forcefields behind her, then at the point of greatest upwards and forwards thrust, she released her hold on the building, rocketing herself and the array of forcefields up and forwards. Immediately the limbs swiveled into their places, outer forcefields hit the building, rebounded, shattered, and were replaced, and then with the sensory knowledge she gained from that she caught onto the building with one, then two of the shield constructs before the other limbs swiftly began to move her further along.

Kari’s heart was in her throat and she found that for a brief moment she hadn’t breathed at all. Slowly she let out the breath she’d been holding, sweat beading and running down her skin here and there from the mental exertion of keeping all of the moving parts in smooth synchrony. Knowing now--on some intuitive level--the mechanics of going between buildings, Presidio knew she could do it again with similar finesse and less risk.

She did so and this time she managed not to lose her train of thought or hold her breath. Drawing on her memory, Presidio recalled the positions and rough distances between everything before it had all been hidden on the wayside of the buildings she was using to traverse their field of battle unobserved. All that in mind she knew that she was now roughly in line with the villainess’ location, if not at the exact same elevation.

That needed to change.

She began to ascend, abandoning forward momentum to focus on scaling the side of the huge skyscraper instead. However, after ascending a floor or two she heard several resounding snaps from somewhere past the buildings and she felt a brief flash of alarm as the noises became far more violent.

[i]‘Her web is collapsing,’[/i] she realized even though she had no idea why that would be the case. What was going on? Huffing out a breath, her jaw clenched as the tension and severity of the situation ratcheted up, Presidio called to her mind the rough elevation of the woman, related it to her own position. She realized that even if she got to the other side of the building within thirty seconds, that there was nothing she could do for anyone at the distance she’d be at. Thus, she kept climbing. Seconds later a terrible noise echoed past her and she swallowed. That could only have been the helicopter.

It was only after the noise quieted down that she realized she’d received orders from HQ. The shift in the nature of the encounter didn’t really change her course of action, but it did make her feel somewhat justified as she reached a point that she’d estimated was at least two stories higher than the villain’s position had been.

From there she clambered around to the side of the building, all the while her auxiliary shields applying pressure to various wires from different directions impeding their ability to get at her with any accuracy if the woman tried to stop her. SHe was poised to act, but as she saw the carnage of the helicopter’s fall to the street, got a bird’s eye view of everything, and considered her new orders she realized what was off.

Most people in situations like this would either lose their cool and do something truly rash or would have some kind of strategy--a plan--to turn the tables in their favor. Yet...this woman, this villain had had the upper hand from the beginning and she had not just squandered it, she had almost actively kept from doing anything further. Truly, like a spider in its web, she had waited for their arrival before saying or doing anything further. None of the woman’s actions had even attempted to harm, entrap, or further elevate her position, in fact...those few things she had done seemed to be ploys to delay. Even her most destructive act--destroying all the glass, vehicles, and other property on the street after their arrival--had been aimed so as not to touch anyone. It was a show of power, but not a show of willingness to truly enter hostilities.

The woman might be insane, but given their orders...no.

[color=#CCFFFF][b]“[i]Fuck,[/i]”[/b][/color] she whispered. It was in that moment that SWAT made his move, crossing the distance between himself and their target. [color=#CCFFFF][b]“Fuck,”[/b][/color] she exclaimed. Swiftly her eyes went to the hostages suspended in the air. Barely registering her own plan of action consciously, Presidio’s construct opened on one side, the shield levering itself out of her way.

She raised both her arms, aiming at two separate locations, then accounting for drag and distance, before the constructs encasing her arms unfurled into mechanisms resembling crossbows. They were loaded in the next half second, and fired in the moment after that, the shields behind her bracing her against the force of their release.

Neither bolt came anywhere near Spindle or SWAT, no they weren’t important. SWAT was acting against the instigator of this conflict and if she was buying for time and her power had been compromised--as it very well might be, considering SWAT’s suite of powers--she might act and in doing so unwittingly injure the people that they had come here to protect.

Presidio could not allow that. The two projectiles sailed each on their own trajectories, with a small lead of interlocked forcefields spooling out behind them, attaching back to the mechanisms on her arms. The open space at the front of her construct closed partially, leaving only enough opening so as not to catch the thread-thin constructions. The first of the arrows missed its target by several meters and then got tangled in a wider web of cord and wire, but she didn’t despair as she cut the connection and readied another. Meanwhile, the second projectile passed its mark by several feet and she triggered it. In a moment it unfolded and got caught in the net, this time intentionally. Immediately, forcefields began to appear from its form until they created a tenuous area under her control. Then, swiftly, more popped into existence, coming between the hostage and the many wires that held them aloft. Individually none of them could hope to hold the individual aloft, and even together they could hardly levitate them down to safety, but they didn’t have to. More formed, locked into others and binding many [i]many[/i] wires in place as they did so.

Presidio moved, her larger array of weightless, mobile armor rounding the side of the building where it would loom ominously over the woman’s position. She fired another of her projectiles, guiding its flight a bit more this time now that she was in a better position, this time it went where she wanted and got caught as it tried to unfurl. Shields sprang up and began to do what she had done before. The limbs of her construct tensed, folding closer towards the building, pulling her with them.

Whatever happened, she hoped her efforts would be enough.