[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/200427/12e716eb3fcde6923781cf99dc1a0a73.png[/img]

[color=YellowGreen]”God DAMN it, my ogres! I had those imported from Italy...oh, Seraph's gonna kill me..."[/color]

[color=DarkOrchid]"Correction, [i]I'm[/i] gonna kill you,"[/color] Grace said snidely, which earned her a painful shock and a [color=YellowGreen]"shut up"[/color] from Nero, who quickly manned the large computer in the office. [color=YellowGreen]"Oh, great, now they're manning the elevator. I shouldn't have been so generous, leaving the key out, I thought it would be fun to have something like that open for sport...[/color] Nero's armored fingers flew across the keyboard, punching in some code. [color=YellowGreen]"Well, Seraph's not going to have that enjoyable tape, but I can still take them out before they ruin everything! I just have to activate the blue bomb and wipe them out..."[/color] As Nero's fingers flew across the keyboard at an ever-increasing rate, pulling up and promptly disabling all sorts of safety mechanisms, Grace began to sweat, teeth clenched. To most people, a blue bomb just sounded like some colorful explosive variant, but Grace was not most people. Grace's 20th birthday present was a high-tech state-of-the-art calculator, her 21st birthday present was a collection of science textbooks, and her 22nd birthday present was a fancy microscope. Grace knew science, and what Nero had just said worried her.

A "blue bomb" was a relatively recent innovation that was invented only a skip over the bay at UCNA. Blue bombs were a very small-scale biological weapon with a core of actinium and a rapid dispersal method that, in essence, evaporates biological life within its blast radius while leaving most inorganic matter relatively intact. A lightweight plastic shell surrounding the weapon meant that the bomb disposed of itself, leaving it practically undetectable. Of course, a blue bomb was a very futuristic, difficult piece of weaponry to assemble. It was not something that Nero could assemble in his backyard. It needed a lab and smart people, or alternatively, a rich person to pay the lab and smart people. [i][color=DarkOrchid]Seraph,[/color][/i] Grace thought again angrily. Just another check written off to some science lab, all to create a contingency for his rivals. Grace couldn't help but still feel shocked at these revelations. It was just months ago when she had thought Seraph was a charming hero. Now, he was paying villains to kidnap, torture, and now irradiate and evaporate them. It was incredible at how well he could hide his true personality in front of the cameras and reporters. It was almost like a second superpower. 

Grace closed her eyes as she thought of a plan. Nero was busy preparing his death bomb, and for once he wasn't paying attention to his captives- a crucial mistake on his part. Grace couldn't really get herself off the fence with a portal- doing so would either leave her stranded somewhere [i]else[/i] tied to a lightning fence (in which case Nero would likely execute her and Eliza- unideal) or potentially cutting off one or more of her limbs (just about as unideal). Grace's only move was to take Nero out of the picture quickly, before he could activate the bomb and turn all the occupants of the Coliseum into ash and dust. Grace took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and opened a portal.

The portal emerged right beneath Nero's feet. Like Wil E. Coyote standing above a ravine, he blinked a few times in shock before plunging directly into the fluid purple portal, giving a loud [color=YellowGreen]"AIEEEEE!"[/color] before plunging into the depths of the portal. A paired portal opened on the ceiling, which roughly deposited Nero from the ceiling back into the original portal. After a few rotations, which were quite humorous, Grace closed the floor portal right before Nero flew into it, causing a resonating [i]crack[/i] as Nero slammed, helmet-first, into the ground. If it wasn't for the armor, Nero would've likely been turned to a pancake then and there, but even still, he was likely not going to be in good shape. Strangely enough, Grace didn't feel bad for him at all. 

The elevator door dinged a moment later, as the large metal doors swung open to reveal the office. Grace and Eliza were still tied to the rack (Grace had somehow managed to get a stick of gum into her mouth and was currently blowing an exceptionally large bubble), and Nero was laying a few feet in front of his captives, moaning and rolling around from the collision, a large and very noticeable dent in the center of his helmet where he had slammed roughly into the carpet. 

[color=DarkOrchid]"Nice timing,"[/color] Grace said after popping the bubble. [color=DarkOrchid]"Really helpful right here."[/color] Her sarcastic comment made, Grace's eyes quickly sought out and found Rumi. [color=DarkOrchid]"Apparently, Nero got his hands on a blue bomb. Or more likely, [i]Seraph[/i] gave him one."[/color] She spat the name out with pure malice, before tilting her head in the direction of the computer. [color=DarkOrchid]"It's linked to the computer. You should probably disable it. If it wasn't for me, you guys would all be blue dust right now, so I think I deserve a little props for saving you."[/color] She pulled against her restraints. [color=DarkOrchid]"If you could help me with these zip-ties, that would be nice too. Check on Eliza as well. She doesn't look too hot right now."[/color]

[hr][hr][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/200414/d73049a05f8b206f6d41111d8d92386e.png[/img]

The movie set in Brookside, a massive space on the west side of the borough with massive, towering stone walls on all four sides, looked almost like some sort of prison, though the advertisements for [i]Marcus Aurelius[/i] on all four sides clearly indicated otherwise. (As Grace would be quick to point out if she hadn't been kidnapped, the movie was exceedingly good, one of the best biopics delivered in the 2030s for sure so far). Surrounding the massive stone-walled movie set were a few construction vehicles and some girders and other building supplies, but outside of that, it didn't seem too out-of-place in the run-down areas of Brookside. Of course, the IDD told a different tale. Anybody that was really anywhere in Brookside or even Watervale's western sides could pick up massive heat readings, electromagnetic fields, seismic waves, gravitational flux, really just about everything that the IDD read was present at the site. Anybody with half a brain could figure out that the something was happening there- even some local residents had called ambulances for heat strokes around the massive set.

The IDD wasn't the only device that could pick up anomalies- HERO2 was equipped with much stronger tracking devices, and it wasn't before long that Hugo Powers had a good idea of where the captured heroes were. Even better, they were definitely fighting back, and all indications pointed to them having a great deal of success in that regard. Powers was confident that the heroes would be safe, especially with the two new individuals en route to assist. What annoyed him, however, was a phone call that he had received from Starbright's secretary, of all people. 

[color=lightslategray]"Listen, ma'am, I understand Starbright's willingness to help his fellow heroes..."[/color] (this was a lie), [color=lightslategray]"...but I'm not sure if he's up to the job. These are some high-tier heroes that have been abducted, surely there's some type of higher-level threat currently engaged in combat with them, it's simply unsafe for him to be in close proximity to such a powerful threat..."[/color] Powers said as politely as possible to Francine, before pausing to think. There [i]were[/i] several heroes of great power helping out another group of already powerful heroes, likely fighting off a limited number of villains. On top of that, Starbright [i]was[/i] a walking magnet for good publicity. A successful rescue attempt would restore some credibility to HERO's damaged image, and while Powers was normally the type not to give a hoot about either HERO's image OR Starbright, both of them would have to be in good shape for the public to trust the organization to hunt down Caustic and other villains. And so, against his better judgement, Powers coughed before speaking into the phone again. 

[color=lightslategray]"Scratch that, tell Starbright that he's in charge. I'm sending the coordinates of the heroes' likely locations to his phone now, I've also pinged a few other heroes that are in the vicinity..."[/color] Powers did so with the tap of a button on his laptop. [color=lightslategray]"Tell him I give him the best of luck. Bring them home,"[/color] Powers said, drumming up some much-needed charisma before hanging up. Hopefully, he had not made a monumental mistake there. 

[@Zoey Boey] [@Duoya] [@Jumbus] [@DClassified]
 
[/center]