[hr][@Leophael] [@myinneroblivion] [@ShadowsofNight]
[hr]

As the duo left to do what he asked them, he stood at the center of his dingy apartment for a good ten minutes as he let the situation settle in. "OhmyGod." He curled up to the ground as he held his head in his hands. He felt like a complete hypocrite. He told them that he had a plan to help solve Talia's problem...but this was the first time he'd ever experienced something like this. Even his parents weren't so constricting and manipulative to the point of demanding he stop being a hero. "ManuelDonaireyoumassivelyingfuck-up." He berated himself as he began panicking. He needed to make a plan and fast; he only had about three hours before it would be the afternoon.

He tried standing tall and proud like Talia and Bob did to feign a feeling of confidence and reassurance but all that resulted from it was him just as quickly hyperventilating and begin both laugh and sob hysterically at the same time. He was a disappointment as a hero, no, as a decent human being. How could he lie to them when they needed him the most? "Dear God...Bob is gonna hate my guts and Talia is going to be taken away forever. I'm an embarrassment as a leader and a hero." 

The poor man having an emotional breakdown crawls to a poster he had framed with great care. It was a signed poster of Hero City's paragon of Justice and Hope: Gold Guard. The words 'Never Give Up!' in black marker written across the triumphantly posing man in his power armor. "Forgive me...I've failed you." Thus ended the tale of Manuel Donaire, formerly the Grey Gadgeteer and leader of the defunct Council of Heroes Against Malicious Persons. 

Time for him to pack up his things and skip town while he still had a semblance of self respect.

He pulled out a dirty duffle bag from underneath his bed and had already started filling out his duffle bag. Maybe he should have started with clothes instead of his collection of action figures and comic books. A comic falls from the unreasonable stack he was trying to Tetris into his bag and falls open to a random page. It was then he was struck with inspiration for the plan. "Wait...this...this is PERFECT!" He began spazzing out in reaction to what seemed to be divine intervention. "I gotta get people. Where where where where?" He stopped spazzing out and began pacing. "Laffy's Joke House? Nah, I don't need comedians. Mute Mike Memorial Mime School? No. Not intimidating enough. Curtain Call..? Curtain Call! Yes, there!"

With that in mind, he runs out of his room and apartment to make preparations for the plan.

-------------Hours Later----------------

"Yes. I know it's a tall order but I still paid you guys two hundred dollars each, so you gotta pull through with this. Yes tomorrow at the old wood mill at the outskirts of Downtown. No, please no over the top costumes. Yes I'm sure. Just enough to look scary ok? Good." With the phone call done Manny heads back up to his room and awaits his fellow heroes to discuss the plan for tomorrow. If this plan goes well, Talia's parents might even be convinced enough to even [b][i]SUPPORT[/i][/b] her hero work.