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Blake listened as he heard Tom through the other end of the phone, nodding along absent-mindedly as he spoke, silently relieved. Tom was alright, which was good. They hadn't managed to get him yet. [color=CC5500]"I...I don't think so. No way,"[/color] Blake responded as Tom asked about Powers. [color=CC5500]"Powers is crazy strong. Like, we're talking Jamie-level here. Dude is crazy strong. No way Seraph and co could take him out,"[/color] Blake said with an assured tone of voice, though he wished that he was as confident as he sounded. Powers was strong, but he wasn't immortal, and the fact that this entire shitshow was going down meant that he was out of commission, one way or another. Blake prayed that it wasn't the type of "retirement" that involved black suits, a casket, and a lot of crying. He leaned against the alley wall as he listened to Tom talk. [color=CC5500]"They'll be fine, man, they all have powers that make them very slippery. Well, not Jamie, but Jamie can handle herself...we need to get to the bottom of this."[/color] Blake took a few deep breaths, much more panicked than he would care to admit. Being wanted and having one of your close friends accused of murder tended to raise the stress levels a bit. 

[color=CC5500]"Listen, let's just meet up, then we can figure something out...should we meet at the club? Club 27? There might be some clues there or some shit...if we're lucky, Seraph will be there, too, and we can end this shit quickly. Is that cool?"[/color] Blake said, before frowning. He couldn't hardly hear Tom's voice anymore, his best friend's speech instead overpowered suddenly by a loud static noise. [color=CC5500]"Dude, you're breaking up, I'm not sure what's going on, did you fly through a tunnel or something...I'll meet you at the Club, if you can still hear me...don't do anything stupid, OK?"[/color] Blake said before hanging up, sliding his phone back into his jeans pocket. He wasn't exactly dressed to impress at the moment, wearing a light orange t-shirt and a pair of jeans that probably needed to be washed again, but that did help him be a little more incognito. Then again, considering his face had been plastered on every TV screen in the entire city, and considering that he had rather distinctive hair (not to mention absolutely irresistible good looks) and a decent bit of fame, his attire wouldn't do him enough favors to get him off the hook. He needed to be careful.

"Being careful" didn't last very long, though. Less than a minute after Blake started to get a move on again, he nearly ran into a figure that he almost didn't recognize. Rubber Man. Rubber Man was a very distinctive member of the Wings of Law, considering his pink, oddly geometric, bald, rubbery face, which was droopy and melted on one side because of Firebird's very timely intervention to help his friends. However, Rubber Man looked rather different from usual. Normally, he wore a golden pinstripe suit that made him like awfully like a pencil, and sometimes a matching hat to boot. However, today, he was wearing a heavy, padded black suit that seemed to be covered in all sorts of knobs and other doodads that would probably fascinate Rumi but meant next to nothing to Blake. More intriguingly, though, Rubber Man's right arm was covered in a thick gauntlet that Blake would note looked awfully like the "Infinity Gauntlet" from an old superhero movie he had seen, though this gauntlet was metallic gray instead of gold and had pulsing red orbs instead of gemstones. The idea was similar, though. Rubber Man's fists were both clenched menacingly as Blake nearly crashed into him, before hopping back like he had just seen a particularly large bug (in this case, that analogy is even more apt). 

[color=pink]"Blake von Brandt, you are wanted in connection to the Club 27 murders. If you come quietly, we can avoid the violence."[/color]

[color=CC5500]"Come quietly, my ass. Don't you have a brain in that thick slab of crap you call a head? Wake up!"[/color] Blake said, his teeth clenched, anger rushing over him. His friends were in danger, and he had to deal with this crap first. [color=CC5500]"Fuck off before I make you fuck off."[/color]

Rubber Man lifted his gauntlet. [color=pink]"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."[/color]

[color=CC5500]"Waiting for what, me to even out the other half of your face?"[/color] Blake taunted, and his taunting clearly struck a nerve with Rubber Man, who pointed the gauntlet directly at him, palm aimed at his torso. Blake responded by flaring up his powers, a wave of heat surging through the alleyway as flames wrapped around his body. [color=CC5500]"Nice toy. What're you gonna do with it, turn yourself into a tire or something?"[/color]

[color=pink]"No, no, something much better,"[/color] Rubber Man said, tapping the gauntlet. The orbs went from red to cyan, before a sudden blast of similarly-colored energy launched across the alleyway. Blake tried to manipulate the fire to block it, but it phased right through and hit Blake in the chest. The energy hardly hurt, only having enough force to knock Blake down to one knee, but it was the after-effect that annoyed him- Blake's powers were betraying him. He could hardly light a cigarette without the amount of energy he had left, let alone melt this rubbery bastard. He growled. [color=CC5500]"Isolene?"[/color]

[color=pink]"Good guess. The blast actually is lowering your body's ability to produce heat to a certain limit."[/color] Rubber Man sneered as he lifted his gauntlet, which Blake noted was smoking- it seemed that it had to be recharged between blasts. [color=pink]"I thought the big corporations were the top of the game, but there's actually so much bigger. Our [i]new[/i] sponsors have given us a lot of new technology. This here glove is called an Ability Impersonation Gauntlet. Basically, using splices of superhuman DNA, it allows me to create a synthetic attack using somebody else's power. Of course, the amount of energy required means that I only get a few uses out of it before it needs to be recharged for a long time, but it's still- hey, what are you- ARGH!"[/color]

Blake, who had gotten bored of this science talk, had shoulder-rammed Rubber Man roughly and sent him directly into the ground, having caught him off guard. Blake then made sure to stomp him directly on the nose (he heard a very satisfying [i]crunch[/i] sound to indicate success) before bolting down the alleyway. He felt his teeth chattering as he ran, which was very peculiar considering that it was a very warm day. All Blake knew was that the bastard had hit him with some sort of freeze blast, and that was messing with his powers. Blake had gotten fairly far, but not far enough, and suddenly he felt his momentum stop as a painfully cold sensation enveloped his foot. Blake groaned as he looked back, pulling on his right leg, but found it frozen to the ground. 

[color=CC5500]"Well, fuck me,"[/color] Blake grumbled before he felt something very cold and hard hit him roughly across the side of the head, and he was out like a light.

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Meanwhile, in Kingsdale, Tom would discover that his phone started to break up with static as soon as Blake said the word [color=CC5500]"tunnel,"[/color] his voice replaced by overbearing static. Moments later, a figure began to approach the building that Tom was on, midair. The figure was soaring through the air, a pair of golden wings spread from her back. The figure landed, before standing and walking over to Tom. She was undeniably gorgeous, with flawless tanned skin, locks of gorgeous platinum blonde hair, and a body of a supermodel, wearing white halter top and matching white pants, with sleek black boots and a shimmering golden necklace finishing off her appearance. From her back, her two golden wings were glimmering in the sunlight. Priestess.

[color=#fff44f]"Tommy~!"[/color] she cooed, walking over with a saunter to Tom, her emerald green eyes locking with his. She had a smile that could drive a man (and some girls too) absolutely mad, two sets of stark white teeth to match. [color=#fff44f]"It's been ages since we've last...well, you know,"[/color] she said, batting her eyelashes at him. Priestess was practically the female version of Starbright- she was a model, first and foremost, but also had a singing and acting career, all of which she juggled on top of hero work. [color=#fff44f]"You've gotten yourself in a lot of trouble, you know, helping people like Aria...well, you see how that turned out. But I don't want to see you get hurt..."[/color] She was shimmering with golden light as she made her way over to Tom.

[color=#fff44f]"You don't have to do all this, you know. Seraph still has hope that you'll join the Wings...or EAGLES now. Such a lovely acronym..."[/color] She walked around Tom slowly, wings outstretched. [color=#fff44f]"You can be rich, have anything you want, anybody you want...we had such a grand night together, Tommy! Seraph is nice, but he can be so crass and, to be frank, he's too old for me..."[/color] She sighed. [color=#fff44f]"You and me, we would be a [i]real[/i] power couple...we would be perfect together!"[/color]

Priestess' speech was interrupted by a chirping noise, and she held one finger up to Tom as she took out her phone, looking down at it. [color=#fff44f]"Looks like your little friend just got taken to the cleaners...the one with the red hair? Phoenix, or something?"[/color] Priestess shrugged. [color=#fff44f]"Listen, Tommy, this is your chance to get out of this mess...just say the word, and I'll call it off."[/color] She held out a delicate hand, each of her fingers flawless manicured with glimmering golden nails. [color=#fff44f]"What do you say?"[/color]

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