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[right][sub][b]Seven Days Ago — Carthage Plant, Carthage, Missouri[/b][/sub][/right]

[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Midwest America was always a hot and sometimes unbearable place to be, especially in the middle of summer, but especially in the outskirts of Carthage. Despite most of the city being surrounded by trees, which often help with the humidity frequently felt at the Carthage Plant because of the high, daily temperatures created by the steam, the dry summer heat did nothing to quell those working at the plant nor did it bring them comfort for their hazardous working conditions.

Among manufacturing electrical equipment and providing the entire town of Carthage with electricity, the plant, which sits upon a massive land with mines and oil rigs spread throughout, was also the largest dynamite manufacturer in the entire country. It was where boxes that carried over a thousand sticks of dynamite per around the country. And today was when they were going to be shipped off to the first round of destinations.

“Truck #2, do you copy? This is dispatch. Over!” 

“Truck #2 to Dispatch, we read you loud and clear. Coming into the loading bay in three minutes. Over!”

As trucks lined up trailer-first, plant workers loaded up the crates full of dynamite into the trailers via the use of a forklift. One by one, they were loaded up and  one by one, the trucks left the loading docks and hit the road. It was like watching professional chefs display their knives skills as their students watched in awe. The way the pecking order from dispatch to the workers that loaded the crates to the forklift drivers, and to those behind the wheel, it almost was too perfect to disrupt.

Almost.

When Truck #2 was about sixty miles out from the loading bay and was on the highway, alone and isolated due to the time of night it was, a thud was heard from the top of the trailer. “What the--” The driver, who was male and sounded olde due to the nature of his raspy voice, looked up quickly before shrugging it off.

No more than three seconds later, as the man behind the wheel pushed on the gas pedal as he had been, it only took him a few moments after the fact to realize that, even though he was pushing on it, he wasn’t going anywhere. As he quickly glanced around, peering his head out of the window, he saw that his trailer was missing, his wheels were punctured, and he was stranded, unable to do anything but watch as a hooded figure flew away with some form of weird magic or whatever it was behind them and the trailer floating above them with one hand under it.

“Uh, Dispatch,” the man said, eyes glued to the sky, “we have a problem…”[hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

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[right][sub]12 Hours Ago — Washington DC, Maryland,  Undocumented Warehouse[/sub][/right]

[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Inside an abandoned warehouse in Washington DC’s self-named “poor” district, which was really to say that it was a defunded section of DC that was abandoned due to the rise in gang warfare, crime rates going through the roof, and housing being unstable at best and a hazard to simple living at its worst. To those wanting to have a roof over their head, it was the worst place to be, but for groups such as Enlightenment, an Anti-Government, Anti-Corruption, far-left Eco-Terrorist group, it was the perfect place for them to meet in secret. Nobody but criminals and thrill-seekers came to this run-down area of DC.

Enlightenment had been active in recent years and especially after the current administration decided to take shots at the environment, rolling back a certain Democratic president’s regulations and laws only to stick it to him, they wouldn’t stand for it. So since then, their plan was simple: to undermine any and all efforts the current administration and those enforcing the laws put out in any way that they could. In the beginning, it was mostly causing some riots here and there, stealing documents from trucks leaving the pentagon, but then everything changed when they refused to hold far-right groups accountable for their heinous actions across the states and especially when it came to silencing minorities. Enlightenment knew they had to spread their message in a more radicalized way.

“Are we almost ready?” A [url=https://i.imgur.com/nr4lAFR.jpg]man[/url] asked, hovering over a group of five people in hazmat suits as they applied triggers to seven bombs.  His voice sounded eerily like that of a Scottish man, though hints of southern influence was present.

“Almost sir. Another hour and they should be ready,” one of the people at the table, a woman who sounded like she was in her mid-40s, replied, though she remained focused on the task in front of her.

“Make it quick and efficient!” 

As he walked out of the quarantine tent, around him was like a system that was tightly ran and ruled with authority — [i]his[/i] authority. To his left were crates of dynamite stolen from Missouri and several members of Enlightenment brandishing the same leather jacket he wore, unloaded every crate, carefully placing them on tables spread across nearly twenty feet. And to his right, he couldn’t help but smile at the woman sitting in a lawn chair, legs crossed and planted on a table as she watched global news, snacking on a bag of trail mix, avoiding the pretzels at all costs.

“Shouldn’t you be helping them unload?” He asked her, taking a seat on the stubborn table next to where she had her legs.

She offered him a shrug and took her eyes that were nearly covered in black eyeliner off of the television and looked at him.. [color=mediumpurple]“Jerry, if it wasn't for me, that shipment of dynamite would be somewhere in a storage facility on the west coast,”[/color] Phoebe told him sternly, returning to the TV, [color=mediumpurple]“I’ve helped enough.”[/color]

Well, that comment didn’t sit well with him. “That’s the only thing you’ve done for our cause--”

Before he could finish that thought, the table started to vibrate and Jerry was jerked three feet away from the table. [color=mediumpurple]“And that’s all I needed to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some--”[/color] 

Before [i]she[/i] could finish her own thought, the program she was watching, the new program was talking about how a neighborhood in Satsumasendai was lit on fire, pillars of black smoke intensifying after towering flames repeated over and over, causing unmeasurable damage to one small residential block.

The anchors were calling it arson while their co-anchors suspected it might be the work of faulty wiring. They had a fire expert on their program giving his own expertise, but Phoebe knew exactly what this was. She knew what this meant and exactly what was going to happen in three, two, one…

[b][i]Ring! Ring! Ring![/i][/b]

Her ringtone went off and her phone vibrated face-down on the table. She lifted her hand up, using her vibration magic to pull the phone to her and she quickly answered it.

[color=mediumpurple]“Yep, I’m watching it now,”[/color] she replied to the person who was saying a lot of words she visibly had to roll her eyes at. [color=mediumpurple]“So what do you want me to do?”[/color] She asked, getting her answer in less than three seconds. [color=mediumpurple]“Fine. I’ll be there tomorrow.”[/color]

Annoyed, Phoebe stood up, which caused a raised brow from Jerry . “Who was that?”

Phoebe didn’t acknowledge his question as she walked by him and went to the back of the warehouse where she kept her belongings. She heard Jerry call her name in a tone that made everyone around him stop -except Phoebe. 

A few minutes later, she came back out with her backpack on and her jacket with hood up as though she was about to leave. “Where are you going!?” Jerry demanded to know.

Again, she ignored him as she started to walk for the only door that led in or out of the warehouse by foot. This time, however, Jerry wasn’t having it and ran in front of her and positioned himself between her and the door. “Damn it, Phoebe! We’re [i]this[/i] close before our biggest statement yet. You can’t just leave now!”

She offered him a smile. [color=mediumpurple]“Take a breath, Jeremiah,”[/color] she urged him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, [color=mediumpurple]“I have to be somewhere right now, but it shouldn’t take long. I’ll be back in a week tops.”[/color] As she smiled at him, he felt vibrations emit from her hand, which in turn paralyzed him with fear. He knew she had abilities and had always appreciated that about her, but he also feared her for it. [color=mediumpurple]“The operation doesn’t happen for ten days, right?”[/color]

Jerry nodded. “Y-yea,” he said, stuttering due to his body partially vibrating.

[color=mediumpurple]“Then there’s nothing to be so pissy about. I’ll handle this thing and I’ll be back with plenty of time to help out. Sound good?”[/color] She asked, smiling but Jerry knew that was the expression she gave when she had already decided on what she was going to do, regardless of what anyone else said.

And it worked. Jerry stepped aside and Phoebe Chang disappeared into the summer Maryland night.[hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
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[sub][url=https://i.imgur.com/lNPih1p.jpg]Outfit[/url][/sub][/center]

[right][sub]Present Day — Satsumasendai, Japan[/sub][/right]

[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Phoebe has spent most of her time since joining — [color=mediumpurple][s]I mean being forced to join or else face the wrath of the higher council[/s][/color] —the guild in New York. Due to her own personal ideologies and choice in assignments, she was given some leeway to operate on solo missions. She’s been with the Guild for about a year now and proved herself to be a capable mage with enough strength on her own. She’s always used that time to venture out on side projects. Her work in Missouri and DC were just a couple of passion projects close to her heart, but she’s realized that, while the identity of those involved remain a secret, the waves she’s creating might be on the cusp of too much.

After she received the call, an hour after the fact to be exact, Phoebe hailed a cab to the DC airport, and took a plane to NYC. Another cab later and she was at the New York safehouse. Word spread quickly about what happened in Satsumasendai and immediately after Phoebe had made her arrival known, two mages: one at the New York safe house and one at Izumi, Japan safehouse began the minute-long preparations for the Teleportation Spell. 

As the floor beneath her began to shake, particles of magic appeared around her and they floated slowly like leaves in the wind. The individual particles started to take shape; with their new form came images of the other side. Another mage chanting a similar incantation as the one next to her was but it was in reverse. Phoebe had to assume the teleportation spell worked when two spoke the same incantation but one had to recite it inverted to act as some sort of stabilizing agent.

Or maybe my psychoanalysis was completely wrong. 

Either way, when they both nodded to her, she gripped her bag and jumped through the portal. To her, it felt like hours and inside her body, specifically her stomach, it was twisting like she went through one hell of a whiplash. When she landed on the other side of the portal, Phoebe’s body was lunged forward and she was one one knee. Panting. 

[color=mediumpurple]“What the hell?”[/color] She huffed out, gasping for breaths. 

“It must be your first time, Phoebe-Chan,” [url=https://i.imgur.com/majFcPR.jpg]Ryo[/url] said with a sly grin.

[color=mediumpurple]“Yes very funny,”[/color] she rolled her eyes, taking Ryo’s hand as he offered it. She was still disoriented but with Ryo’s help, she was able to quickly regain her composure.

Phoebe had gone through the teleportation portal in the past and she never lost her wits like she had just now. Being someone who was usually observant over such things, she had to assume the amount of distance she covered had some setbacks that not even the magi who performed the spell anticipated, let alone Phoebe being so arrogant as to think there wouldn’t be side effects. Still, now that she had time to really take it in and readjust her equilibrium, that was one hell of a roller coaster she wouldn’t mind applying to her own magic.

[color=mediumpurple]“Maybe someday,”[/color] she muttered, looking at Ryo who was glaring at her. He heard her and she knew he did. [color=mediumpurple]“I’m kidding. Of course, I am!”[/color] She smiled at his unphased expression. [color=mediumpurple]“Mind if I rest here for a few hours? I’m beat.”[/color]

“Feel free--”

Phoebe heard him going to speak and already she was taking that as a yes. So for the next ten hours, she slept, showered, and helped herself to the local cuisine. Truth be told, passing through the portal had sapped her of more than just her physical stamina. She was completely sapped of her magical energy, as well and she needed to recover.

And when she was completely rested, she hailed a cab and within an hour, Phoebe was outside the safehouse that was detailed in the email she received. Compared to the others she had stayed at in the past, it didn’t look like much. Honestly, it was a shithole. She expected something a little sleeker and less like it was a prison. Given recent events, though, Phoebe couldn’t be a chooser. She knew it would serve its purpose.

With her bag over her shoulder, Phoebe walked through the door, brushing past those still outside. Being the only other person inside other than the Baja Blast Bitch and some other lady, she scanned the inside. It wasn't much but she would make due. [color=mediumpurple]“Hey blue, do me a favor and put something on that’s a little less depressing, yeah?”[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [/indent]
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