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ArcRift

The thug stared up in horror as Ultron and his two drones suddenly flew in. The sharp, distinct metal clank was enough to make him start quivering in fear all on his own. Ultron's subsequent vivid description, however, made him start whimpering like a dog. "N-no... no please!" he cried out... only to then relent as the murderbot made an offer. A very enticing offer - one that he'd be insane to refuse. "Y-you can do that...?"

Red's subsequent threat only made him shake more in his pathetically vulnerable position. The Chosen then proceeded to mention working his magic on him... which made the thug curious. He was about to question it, but then the GIANT FUCKING DRAGON CLAW ripped right through the roof. A ton of debris fell onto the group after that - including the hostages and the thug. However, thanks to Penny's efforts of search and rescue, the former got out just fine.

Probably.

But as for the thug himself? Well, the shock of that as well as a very large, almost shirtless man falling from the roof and onto the ground beside him and almost crushing his head? Yeah, all of that basically made him just outright pass out from shock. That, and the debris that probably at least sorta covered the majority of the group at this point, was probably an issue now.

Oopsie.

Well! At least the Chosen got the information that they needed by siphoning info from his head. Of course, the man was unconscious by this point from the sheer shock of everything else, so no screaming could be heard. But in terms of info, what he would find was that he really didn't know anything about Superman. Not a single thing! But what he did know was that he was working for someone by the name of... Firefly?

Who was Firefly?

@MorgueofCrowz @QizPizza @SomeMekBoy @TheElenaFisher @Lazaro1505 @KageBaka @Crow @FactionGuerilla @ClownTown @Yamperzzz @BoltBeam @XeroUltra

ArcRift

"Got me there..." Negan replied dryly as he sucked in a breath through his teeth. He watched, then, as Voss continued to plunder the various bodies. He narrowed his eyes and hummed all the while. Really, Negan found the whole practice just... weird. Did this guy even have any use for anything he did find?

Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask, he supposed. Not like he had anything better to do... why not indulge this man with some chit chat?

"And what exactly do you plan to do with the shit you uh..." Negan stepped forward and formed air quotes with his hands. " 'Haul' ?"

@Yamperzzz

ArcRift

Grey's response was at least enough to make Joel lower his cup. The man - although he was one of few words - did smile a bit in response to him before giving a single, firm nod.

"Well that's just rude!" the figure exclaimed in more of a pout than anything resembling outright anger. "Really, I think you should drink your tea! It'd certainly fix that sour attitude!" he then pivoted slightly to face Spike. "No weapons at the table, I'm afraid! After all, this isn't some unruly raid!"

And then Sougo consumed the tea, and the figure let out a sharp laugh.

"Oh ho ho hooo! Now's not the time to worry about Superman! After all, you've just fallen for my wonderful plan-"

CRASH!!!

The sound of Lilith destroying one of his precious tea cups was enough to quite literally make everything in the room fall silent. That is, until Ben went and poured out his tea... as well as ate one of his precious cups. It had been the cup Joel was holding, too. And all the man really did for now was sit there confused, arm still held up as if he were holding the cup.

"Well, then!"



Contrary to how it may have seen, the figure was not angry at all. The thugs all turned to you as he excitedly jumped on the table, revealing that he was in fact rather short. Slowly, he began to make his way across the table, carefully stepping over all the intricately placed food and utensils as he did so.

"I tried to do this the easy way, but you've left me no choice!"

He leaned forward and revealed his face to you all. A disheveled man with long strands of unkept, unwashed hair. And one who had bags under his eyes deeper than the ocean itself. And all the while, he smiled a grin so disgustingly crooked that it could have even broke the most sturdiest of mirrors. But perhaps the oddest thing of all was his outfit. He seemed to have taken the appearance of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland... for those of you who'd read the story, at least.

For everyone else, he just seemed like some short gross guy in a stupid hat.



"Soon enough, I'll be the one to rejoice..."

And then everything went dark.

...for about thirty seconds, that is.



You awoke next on what very clearly seemed to be some kind of giant stopwatch. It was spinning out of control and falling down rapidly through the air. Joel seemed just as confused as the rest of you... and he also struggled to keep his balance. "Wh-what the hell...?"

He was interrupted by the sudden interjection of the Hatter's manic laughter.

"You're mine! You're allll mine! Mine mine mine mine MINE!"

As he said this, the men wearing rabbit masks would appear out of thin air in a red cloud of mist. They didn't say anything, though, instead choosing to just attack the members of the group.

And Sougo would feel compelled to do the same, after drinking that delicious tea...

In fact, he'd find it almost impossible to resist.

@KageBaka @Crow @Paper94 @Attesa @Second2Last @davefromdiscord @TheElenaFisher

ArcRift

The bullet struck one of the thugs square in the chest, causing him to drop his gun and fall to the ground with a pained grunt. Yeah, he was dead.

Meanwhile, those blazing guns were indeed grabbed from two of the other thugs thanks to Amazo's nifty new power. However, the men did not surrender despite that. It seemed like whatever they were getting paid was worth it, because they both rushed forward in an attempt to take out Amazo head on!

But ultimately, that rush was short-lived. Because mere moments later, Cole fired off his electric-based chain attack. The electricity seamlessly shot through the heads of the remaining thugs - each one freezing in place with grit teeth as their brains were given respective doses of electroshock therapy. The two charging thugs took the brunt of it, and were the first to immediately fall to the ground, unconscious from their temporarily fried brains.

The third and final guard was where things hit different, though.

This one wasn't knocked out, but he did fall to the ground in a similar fashion. In the time he spent trying to recover from the attack through pained breaths and grunts, Cole had chained him to the ground, effectively leaving him at the group's mercy. "S-Superman!?" The man shouted, sounding more confused (but also terrified) than anything. "Wh-what the hell're you talkin' about!? We don't work for Superman!"

Just in the other half of the room (which was conveniently segmented off by a large slab of rubble), Maisha had been doing his own fair share of crime stopping. Of course, these thugs stood no chance against his mighty flames, and pretty soon the sound of horrified screams and the putrid stench of melting flesh could be detected from the other side of that rubble. Once Maisha came out on the other side, though, the already horrified thug practically shit his pants.

"G-get the fuck away from me, man!" the thug shouted as he wriggled and writhed within his restraints, desperately trying to move away from the Mandalorian. Of course, this was to no avail ultimately as Ciri stepped on him, holding him in place. Even after he heard them out and very clearly saw their weapons, he didn't relent, "I ain't tellin' you shit!"

Even though he had a gas mask on, the fact that he was horrified was pretty obvious from the sounds he was making alone.

@QizPizza @FactionGuerilla @MorgueofCrowz @Lazaro1505 @KageBaka @TheElenaFisher @SomeMekBoy @Crow

ArcRift

"Oh, those silly people can wait!" the figure responded to Grey, waving him off. He let out another left, before motioning to the food out in front of you all. "After all... look at all this food that you've hardly ate!"

As Sougo lifted the tea cup, though, the figure reeled back in his most intense burst of laughter yet. "Oh ho ho ho! See, this guy gets it!" The figure outstretched a hand to point at him. "And he has such a nice mask, I must admit!"

That cheery demeanor disappeared in an instant once Lilith and Shantae spoke up, though. "No! No no no! No one may be excused!!" The man slammed his fist down on the table angrily, causing the entire thing to shake. All the plates of cake and tea cups shook as well - some of it even spilling over and staining the white cloth. "Now all of you, drink your tea! I'd hate for my special recipe to go unused..."

Joel glanced between the group for a short moment and blinked. Unsure of what else to do from here, he slowly lifted his cup.

@KageBaka @Attesa @davefromdiscord @Crow @Second2Last @TheElenaFisher

ArcRift

"Sit, really! I really must insist!" The figure clicked his tongue and visibly shook his head. "And if you wish to know why you're here, then these foul manners simply can not persist!"

Rolling his eyes, Joel took a seat at the end of the table, "Best we do as he says so we can get the hell outta here."

@Attesa @davefromdiscord @KageBaka @Crow @Second2Last @TheElenaFisher

ArcRift

Ultimately, the place where Red would hear the most civilian's cries would probably be the top floor with the hostages and the like. Especially after Ciri cut that one thug's hands off.

@BoltBeam

ArcRift

And while all this commotion was happening, Negan was standing on the ground level, still kinda standing there. The man wasn't dumb enough to run headfirst into a collapsing building, nor was he dumb enough to take some asshole's hand (an asshole he didn't even know, mind you) and fly high up into the sky to reach some room on the top floor. So instead, he just stood by and waited for this shit to be over with...

And it was during this time that he saw Voss looting all those bodies. Negan blinked and turned, giving the man a look.



"What in the hell're you doin'?"

@Yamperzzz

ArcRift

Bardock wouldn't really find much of note on the roof, unfortunately. Superman didn't seem to be anywhere in sight - however, he did see someone flying around. That someone was Lucifer Morningstar, who was looking for Superman just as Bardock was! And similarly to Bardock, Lucifer wouldn't find Superman in sight... just the pissed off looking Saiyan guy.

@XeroUltra @ratking

ArcRift

Penny's efforts were at least enough to let the hostages finally breathe, although it wasn't nearly enough for much else. They were still being held at gunpoint, after all. They weren't stupid enough to make any sudden moves just yet. At least they could finally breathe, though... even if that did alert the hostage takers to the group's presence.

The thugs turned, then, some of them training their guns on Penny. The others were smart enough to grab the hostages (namely a man and a woman), and put their guns to the sides of their heads. "B-back the hell up!" The thug shouted, clearly more nervous than any of the heroes. The woman in his grasp let out a cry while desperately grabbing at the arm that kept her throat locked in place. "I'll fuckin' shoot her! I will!" Of course, as soon as this happened, Ciri would have blinked in and cut off that man's hands. He let out a sharp cry as both of his hands fell to the ground alongside his gun, blood spurting out the now disgusting looking nubs. This happened to the other guy as well. Both of those hostages wasted no time in running out the hole Penny had made.

The rest of the hostages had no such luxury, however. The gunmen - though startled by the sight, did manage to raise their guns before long and open fire on Ciri. Save for the two lacking hands, who were shot and killed in the crossfire. Their bodies hit the floor with loud gurgling sounds, deep pools of crimson spreading beneath them soon after. And, of course, this site horrified the other hostages, who were now loudly sobbing and screaming, begging for this nightmare to be over.

Otto had manage to take out two more of the thugs during all the commotion, before he was ultimately noticed by the rest of them. The two webbed to the wall attempted to struggle - but that didn't really get them very far. The rest of them opened fire on both Otto and Ciri. They didn't really pay any attention to Penny, at least - plus they hadn't even noticed Cole yet.

This luckily meant that ultimately, Cole was given his vantage point to see the rest and easily take them all out with whatever he had planned.

@Crow @KageBaka @FactionGuerilla @TheElenaFisher @SomeMekBoy