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Jamie could only watch, horrified, as the life faded from Ranucci's eyes. Her blue eyes widened in shock. Why was he... what? Had her hit done this? The thought must've disturbed her significantly because she went mute, just staring down at the body. She had never killed somebody before- not even a villain like this guy had been. It was a terrible feeling- like a big rock in her gut, weighing her down and rooting her in place. Of course, if Jamie had taken even a moment to think about it (which she rarely did), she would've found that she couldn't possibly have been the direct cause of his death. After all, she had deliberately hit the parts of him that wouldn't kill him if smashed. A broken wrist and hip, while painful, wouldn't've caused a death like that. But Jamie was too busy thinking about how she had just committed her first murder to think about that.

Jamie half-heartedly stood, putting her hands by her side again, and cast her gaze to the sky when Blake pointed up at something. An airplane? Airplanes were fun, she guessed! Even if she was permanently banned from three major commercial airlines. But... why was the plane [i]falling[/i]? This realization quickly replaced her concern about murder. [color=Goldenrod]"Holy crap, you guys, the plane's CRASHING-"[/color] 

She was interrupted by a silver-black, vaguely person-looking thing crashing headfirst into the house. Debris and smog went everywhere. Jamie popped her goggles on and put her face in her elbow like she was about to cough. She did, in fact, cough, but tried her best not to breathe in the smog. Once it cleared, she would move towards the house to check on the person who crashed. [color=Goldenrod][i]I hope they're okay! That was a weird-looking plane, though...[/i][/color] But her concern abated as she found that this crashed guy was not a guy at all- he was some kind of robot? She stepped back, cocking her head. She had to wipe the dust from her goggles to see fully, but... he looked odd. An unsettled feeling joined the guilty one at the bottom of her stomach. 

Jamie's eyes narrowed at the man (Paradox's?) demand for surrender. Who the hell did this guy think he was?! [color=Goldenrod]"Surrender my ASS!"[/color] she screamed, just before Blake shot a huge pillar of fire directly at him. She had had her hands raised and a blast prepared but instead shot Blake a big thumbs up. She grinned. That had been easier than she had thought-

Or maybe not. Things happened almost too quickly for her to comprehend. Paradox literally rose from the ashes with a weird green forcefield around him. She simply blinked at this. Maybe he'd take a bit more firepower to take down than she had originally thought? But then both Blake and Rumi were shot down. She turned to Blake, panicked, before realizing that he had simply been netted. Not properly shot, thank God. She turned her gaze to Paradox, eyes now deadly-looking.

Nobody fucked with her friends. 

Ignoring his choice of words, Jamie started to use her power at full-throttle. The ground began to tremble violently, sending white-picket fences around them falling. [color=Goldenrod]"GO TO HELL!"[/color] She raised up her hands and simultaneously aimed two intense blasts of vibrational force at Paradox. Her face was twisted up into a snarl. Playtime was over, it seemed.

[@Hitman][@Scarifar]

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[color=Crimson]"We can be, like, cross-organization friends? I dunno. [i]Or,[/i] even better, you can [b]join[/b] us! I'd love to have you. You can be, like, my top lieutenant. Some of the older villains have, like, mini-squads that work for them! I mean, I don't [i]have[/i] to be your boss, y'know. We can be partners! Your power is really cool, by the way. I haven't heard firsthand, but I've heard you have a really pretty voice."[/color]

Patricia's face twisted up into a scowl at this. She had always despised being called a villain- especially by actual villains. But, of course, she immediately smoothed her face back into something that only slightly resembled angry. She had to keep this girl happy. For the mission. [color=MediumOrchid]"I-I'm not a villain. I'm a [i]hero[/i]. I like my job. B-but thanks. For the compliment, I guess."[/color] 

When Katharina started her ramble about what Patricia [i]actually[/i] cared about- the information- she listened, nodding along. [color=Crimson]"Ooh! I can tell you, but no telling your other hero friends, OK? So, basically, after Vinnie does his terrible stuff, the heroes get sent to ZERO HQ. I'm not a fan of the torture, personally. It's really cruel. I mean, they are [i]heroes,[/i] so they do absolutely deserve it, but I try to keep a moral high ground. You're not bad though, Patricia! You're basically one of us. You [i]should[/i] be, anyway,"[/color] Katharine rambled on, oblivious to the disgust building on Patricia's face. She almost interrupted Katharine to say that she was, in fact, [i]not[/i] one of them, and would never be, but closed her mouth when Katharine started talking again. This girl was either really lonely or a blabbermouth. Probably the former. 

[color=Crimson]"Afterwards, we bring the heroes to the Ultra Death Machine. Well, it's not [i]called[/i] that, of course, but that's what it looks like. Using the machine, we give the heroes a 'quick, merciful death.' At least, that's what Daddy told me."[/color]Katharine paused for a moment at this. Meanwhile, Patricia looked absolutely horrified. Her hands flew to her mouth and her hazel eyes went wide as saucers yet again. [i]Ultra Death Machine?[/i] She had to be messing with her. But this girl didn't seem like the type to be messing with her. She sounded so nice, but she talked of killing casually as if it was artful. A mercy. Patricia was immediately reminded of her father. But she swept away the thought. This girl's father was the monster.

[color=Crimson]"Though I always found it strange that they scream when going into the machine, if it's so painless and merciful. But anyway, it's a really cool machine. It's, like, really big, and it looks like one of those CAT scan machines! So anyway, what the machine does is-"[/color] Katharine's disturbing speech was interrupted by a Whitney Houston song blasting from her phone [color=MediumOrchid](good taste)[/color]. Patricia felt vaguely frustrated at this interruption. The girl-villain had just been about to get to the important part. The part that she needed to bring back to Director Powers, to get Division X on them and stop this entire insane thing. 

Patricia mostly zoned out during the whole phone conversation, staring at the wall in horror. It didn't sound like 'Zero', whoever they were, was going to use this 'Ultra Death Machine'' on her- Katharine had reiterated several times that she wasn't going to kill her. But Brie, and Will, and Angie... Patricia couldn't just let them die. She had to get out of here somehow. Maybe the door-

Her inner planning was interrupted by Katharine's sobbing. [color=Crimson]"I hate him...I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him..."[/color] she repeated over and over again, sinking into a little ball, head between her knees, beginning to sob. [color=Crimson]"Why does h-he always choose me?"[/color] she asked. [color=Crimson]"J-just because of who my father is he does this. Nobody else! He only ridicules m-me! We're s-supposed to be on the same side b-but he just...h-hates me! I don't know wh-why!"[/color] She continued to sob heavily.

A thread of empathy pulled at Patricia's heart. She found that she could relate, in whatever insane capacity. Maybe this 'Paradox' guy was like her Seraph? She could definitely understand being targeted because of lineage and for no other reason. Patricia found herself drifting to the bed. She hesitantly sat and put a hand on Katharine's shoulder. The door was locked anyway, and the goons would definitely shoot her if she made a break for it. Maybe she could convince Katharine to let her go. [color=MediumOrchid]"There, there..."[/color] Patricia was not the best at comforting. She patted Katharine's shoulder awkwardly. [color=MediumOrchid]"I-I get it. Some of my older coworkers do that to me all the time. Insult me, that is. You wouldn't believe some of the things they've said,"[/color] Patricia chuckled humorlessly. [color=MediumOrchid]"You just... you have to remember... you're your own person. N-not defined by someone else. He just hates you because he's bitter. Or, well, I don't know. Th-that's just how it is for me."[/color] 


[@Hitman]