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Blake honestly couldn't say he paid any attention during Hugo's speech. There was a [i]reason[/i] he dropped out of high school- Blake was notoriously poor at maintaining attention for long periods of time, with "long periods" being defined for him as anything longer than about 5 minutes on a good day. This 5 minutes was shortened when the speaker was talking about something that didn't interest Blake in the slightest. Furthermore, the effect of him being poisoned by a plant monster didn't really help his mental state (he had only been discharged from HERO One's hospital bay a few days ago). With that said, Blake only managed to catch Hugo's first sentence before his brain decided to abort Operation Awake, and before long Blake's head was hung in front of him, his eyes closed, asleep.

The rest of the presentation zoomed by Blake's inattentive brain as he snoozed through the entirety of the presentation. He only awoke upon hearing what sounded like a chorus of [i]"oohs"[/i], and he opened to his eyes to see that all the eyes on the room were on Brie for some reason. Putting the pieces together quickly, he figured that Powers had said [i]something[/i] involving Brianna, probably criticizing her for some sort of destruction or something. Hmmph, maybe he [i]should've[/i] stayed awake after all. 

Blake hated to leave his friend in the Wrath of Powers, but he feared that he had nothing to help her with, and that getting involved would only invoke the Wrath of Powers on him as well, so when the Director howled at the assembled heroes to scatter, Blake did so. As he waited in line for the elevators (one of the downsides of forcing 200+ people into one place), he took out his phone and shot out a text message to Angelica, his date.

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[quote][color=CC5500]hey Angie :) :) :)
meet me in the common room?
thinking of going somewhere l8er, maybe with other guys? lmk what u want
missed u xoxo [/color][/quote][center]

He tapped the 'Send' message as he stepped into the elevator, riding it down to the second floor, where he stepped out into the common room, waiting. He scratched gingerly at the bandages that were still wrapped around his neck. He had no hero duties for the day, and hoped that Angie was just as free as he was. If not her, at least [i]somebody[/i] was free as he was. Having spent the past few days alone and doing nothing of substance in the hospital, Blake had no intentions of spending today doing the same, especially after being forced to waste the brunt of his morning coming down to HERO One for this stupid presentation anyway.

[@datadogie][/center]
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Hugo shook his head as Brie began to spout excuses at him like a machine. [color=lightslategray]"Shut the hell up and come with me,"[/color] he said with a hiss as he guided her away from the men in black into a back room. The back room was not very spacious and seemed to be some sort of electrical room, with several large boxes that were glowing slightly and hooked up with wires sitting propped up against the wall. Hugo closed the door once Brie entered, looking down at her. 

[color=lightslategray]"Before you ask, no, you're not getting fired,"[/color] he said with his trademark scowl as he grabbed a manila file from the top of one of the electrical boxes. [color=lightslategray]"As you can see, ICOSA is all up my ass after the Ambleweeds thing. Those dopey agents are [i]watching[/i] me to make sure I don't inspire violent rebellion against them or some shit. It's all ridiculous. They don't even want me sending heroes out on 'dangerous' missions in case there's more damage. Unbelievable,"[/color] he said with clear irritation in his tone.

Hugo waved the manila file in front of Brie. [color=lightslategray]"Unfortunately, I can't send one of my more high-profile heroes out to deal with this, so I've opted to send one of the heroes with the [i]least[/i] amount of unwanted attention on this. This isn't kiddie shit anymore, but I think you can handle it."[/color] He extended the file towards B. [color=lightslategray]"Vinnie 'The Veteran' Gugliano. He's always been a pain in my ass, sometimes literally, and after the Ambleweeds incident he's gotten ballsy as fuck. Two heroes that were moving on patrol near Lower Brookside have vanished in the last week and I know this motherfucker is behind it. If ICOSA won't let me sanction an official operation, we'll do it behind-the-books then."[/color] 

His irked features stared down at Brie. [color=lightslategray]"Against my better judgement, I'm putting you in charge of this secret operation. Find out where those heroes are and what the fuck Gugliano is up to. All the materials you need should, or at least, all the materials we have, are in that file, so don't lose it."[/color] He looked down at her, his stern gaze softening a bit.

[color=lightslategray]"I know that you know criminals, you know Brookside, and you have street smarts for days. Even though I have to bail you and your little crew's asses out of prison every god damn week, you guys have good hearts."[/color] He paused for a moment, his stone-cold face looking tender for a moment, before the old Hugo came back. [color=lightslategray]"You can assemble whatever sort of 'infiltration team' you want here, I don't give a shit, just don't tell anybody you don't trust or plan on dragging into this mess about it. Especially..."[/color] He then mouthed the words 'the Wings of Law.' [color=lightslategray]"Right now, only you, me, and Christina know about this. I don't want this greedy bastards in on this shit, because you know fuckers like them will go crying to ICOSA once they hear about it."[/color] Powers gave her a nod, before turning towards the door.

[color=lightslategray]"Last thing, don't get your ass killed,"[/color] he said in the least emotional way possible, before walking out of the electrical room and away, probably to book a flight to France or something.

[@Danvers] 
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