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Iguanosaurs were not pleasant creatures to deal with. Tall, scaly, and a pain in the ass with the acid blasts. Blake stepped back as the creature reared its ugly head, feeling the heat build up around his palms as he prepared to blast the creature into oblivion. Jamie, however, also had a similar plan, lobbing a concussive blast at the creature with intent to blow it to smithereens. Had the blast made contact, the job would’ve been as good as over, but Jamie’s blast ended up turning a nearby fence into smithereens instead, forcing Blake to think of a new plan.

Unfortunately, Blake was not an incredible strategist, but he did know that if the Iguanosaur stopped moving, Jamie could literally turn it inside out.  Blake also knew that Iguanosaurs used [i]legs[/i] to move, and that if it had no more legs, it would stop moving. So Blake set about that immediately, lobbing a few fireballs directly at the beast’s legs. The creature staggered as the fire singed its legs, causing it to stagger. Blake then shot two beams of fire from each hand into the ground, causing him to propel upwards.

Blake unfortunately lacked the ability to fly like Tom did, but the fire launched him up high enough for him to see quite far. After losing focus for a moment, watching some pigeons fly above and looking out at the neat rows of suburban housing, he snapped back to reality as he began to plummet back towards the Earth. After flapping his wings like an idiot for a moment, he slowed his fall by firing another twin beam of fire into the ground, causing him to land directly in front of the Iguanosaur. 

[color=CC5500]”Freeze!”[/color] Blake shouted, firing two blasts of fire directly at the Iguanosaur and ignoring all the irony in his statement. He managed to land the point-blank assault, causing the creature to wheel back in pain. Blake grinned. [color=CC5500]”Thought you could escape, but you didn’t anticipate [i]that,[/i] you fat lizard![/color] He lifted his arms to prepare another blast, with the expectation the Iguanosaur would either cower or run in the other direction back towards Jamie and Felix. What he did not expect, stupidly, was for the creature to actually fight.

Which is [i]precisely[/i] what it did, swinging a heavy clawed hand down into Blake’s shoulder and sending him face first into some dirt and weeds, before continuing to scamper along.

[color=CC5500]”Ouch,”[/color] Blake moaned, slowly removing his face from the dirt. The hit had drawn some blood, but he wasn’t too badly hurt, though he was very dizzy from being roughly thrown into the dirty by the large lizard thing. He slowly got his bearings. Hopefully, his reckless assault had slowed the creature down enough for Jamie and Felix to do some magic of their own. 

[@Ryteb Pymeroce][@canaryrose][hr][hr]
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Grace’s reception at the club seemed a bit frosty. She hadn’t expected it to be a hug-filled reunion with intense sobbing or anything, but she didn’t have to be a quantum physics major to know something was up (and as it happened, she was a quantum physics major anyway). She waved at Brie as she spoke. [i][color=DarkOrchid]Note to self, avoid Brookside at all costs.[/color][/i] The next statement she made, the one describing their plan, and the one Grace was most definitely listening in on, was much more interesting, or for Grace, concerning. She had read up on some of Castleburg’s more reputable characters, and Vinnie Gugliano and his crime family was near the top of the list. HERO was most definitely not authorized recently to deal with him, especially with the Director being away. 

Either way, she decided that she would wait to act, so she watched as the group entered the shady establishment and, with still no direction of where to go and what to do, followed them in. 

The bar was loud as all hell, and very shady. Grace looked around to see a whole bunch of characters. This certainly was not a reputable establishment in any sort of good ways. Before she could really get a good look at the place, she was pulled aside roughly into an alcove in the corner of the room.

Grace was about to break Patricia’s advice and start fighting when she realized the person getting handsy with her [i]was[/i] Patricia. She blinked as Patricia began to talk. 

[color=MediumOrchid]"Listen, Grace,"[/color] Patricia had whispered to her, still holding onto her arm as tight as a vice grip, unsmiling. [color=MediumOrchid]"We're on a... an operation, right now. Something really, really important. Classified, too. You need to stay out of the way. Go find something else to do, get a drink or... something, and when we're done we'll help you get back to your hotel. Got it?"[/color]

[color=DarkOrchid]”Patti-”[/color] Grace began, but Patricia was gone as soon as she came. Grace sighed. She would play dumb for now, but she had no plan of sitting stupidly on the sidelines as these people went about on their mission. Regardless of whether or not she knew them well or not, she was a her too, and she damn well was going to help, whether she was wanted or not. 

She sat down on a barstool and watched closely as Patricia walked over and promptly bumped into another mobster-looking man. He had greying silver hair, slicked back and curled at the end. His skin was olive and discolored, with patches of brown scattered across his face, maybe some sort of scarring or disease or something. He had fat lips and a fatter chin that looked square and thick.His body was not fat but certainly not in-shape, his face and figure quite chubby.  In summation, he looked very ugly and very unappealing. The only thing about him that was remotely attractive was the fact that he oozed money and power, which for some people overlaid the person beneath.

To Grace, the man was just a standard criminal pig, and she had no doubt from her limited interactions thus far that Patricia thought so too, but she was certainly acting otherwise.

What Grace did not know was that this man was Martino Bernadino, Vinnie’s wife’s older brother and the head of Gugliano operations in Brookside. Bernadino was a skilled brawler but his skill in business was limited, or at the very least, his skill in [i]saving[/i] money was very limited. Martino was known to blow out money at poker games frequently, and this seemed to be no exception.

Martino leaned in to Patricia, admiring what he saw, and took the wallet from her. [color=wheat]“No problem, dearie,”[/color] he said, the dust floating off from the wallet like magic. He pocketed it. [color=wheat]“Well, there is one thing you can do to make it up to me,” he said. “After I’m done with a few hands of poker, here, the big bossman is calling a meeting down in Watervale and a date would be lovely. Whaddya say, sugar plum?”[/color] He grinned at her, revealing two missing teeth and a mouth that made a dentist ask for a raise. 

Grace wanted nothing more than to drop this man directly to Death Valley to wilt, but she suspected this was part of Patricia’s plan, so she held her tongue (and powers) for now. This was a really terrible plan, though...

[@canaryrose][@Danvers][@Amethyst][@KaijuBaragon]
[hr][hr][h2]Vinnie Gugliano[/h2]

Will’s plan for escape was likely ruined as three suited men walked over to the front of the compound. Two of them were holding assault rifles, and the third, a wizened old man with grey hair and some sort of strange prosthetic tongue. The man chuckled. [color=gray]“Nice job, Midas. The boss has already wired the money to your account,”[/color] he said, while turning to inspect Will thoroughly. [color=gray]“Sick him, boys.”[/color]

One of the men had removed a silver syringe and jabbed it right into Will’s neck. The syringe was full of, of course, liquid isolene, enough that would knock out his powers for a while and also make him feel really dizzy. The goons, though, were not very catering towards Will’s condition, and forced him along, prodding him with their weapons whenever he slowed down. The older man, whom the observant would recognize as consigliere Emilio Ranucci, chuckled as they walked. [color=gray]“You’re a tall one for sure,”[/color] he said, walking alongside Will- Ranucci was a solid 4 inches (10 cm) shorter than Will. [color=gray]“And you look like a nice guy. I hate for this to happen to you, truly, but hey, that’s business for you, huh?”[/color] He playfully punched will in the shoulder. [color=gray]"No hard feelings, I hope."[/color]

The men had escorted poor Will across the garden pathway over to the manor itself, and with a word with the doorman in quick Italian, the front door was open, revealing a beautiful villa. Will was not allowed to explore the villa much, though as he was quickly guided down a hall into a small barren holding room, with only a single desk drawer and a rug present, no windows or anything like that. It overall seemed to be a very bland, very boring room indeed- perfect for holding prisoners or other unwanteds. 

The goons roughly sat Will down on the floor, and Emilio quickly squatted down, removing Will’s phone from his pocket. [color=gray]“Here’s the rule,”[/color] Emilio said with a grin. [color=gray]“You’re going to sit here like a good boy and not make a fuss. If you do that until we come back for you, we might take off those nasty ropes for a little while. If you misbehave, make noises, try to get out- which you can’t- you’ll be punished badly. If you do what we say though, and be a good little hero, you might even live! Doesn’t that sound nice?”[/color]

Emilio didn’t wait for an answer. [color=gray]“Well, have fun. The floor is comfy if you want a nap,”[/color] he advised, before exiting the room. The reinforced oak door slammed shut behind him, a sound of the deadbolt being locked resonating through the room a second later. 

[@Infinite Cosmos]
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