Emergence: Chapter 1: Khaos Rising (IC, Sign-ups in the OOC)

[Shadowwell]

Emergence

OOC

The Year is 2017 and in California Three powerful factions have started to vie for control. Whoever wins will not just gain control of the Meta's in California, but quite possibly the world. With the Factions of Aegis and Khaos fighting, a group whose agents are known as Numbers works in the background to keep these two powerful Meta groups in check.

---

First Bank of Los Angeles, Downtown Branch
10:30 A.m.




On the giant monitor on the wall in the lobby it was playing a news cast.
“It has been exactly twelve years to the day when Mr. Invincible and Meta’s around the world were first discovered. It has likewise been two years since his disappearance along with the other members of the Triumvirate, Duststorm and Twilight. After this cast, we will be playing a Montage of their most notable feats and victories, Including the rare footage, of When Phobetor nearly killed all three members of the Triumvirate, before being defeated and disappearing without a trace. This has been ---“

The newscast was interrupted as the figure of one of the security guards hit the Monitor Shattering it before coughing out an extremely vast amount of blood and collapsing to the ground. “Ladies and Gentlemen” Said a loud booming, yet cultured voice. As the few patrons of the bank and its staff looked they saw a large and well-muscled Man , strut into the bank past the shattered glass door, he wiped the guards blood off of his hands using the No Shoes No Shirt No service sign as a rag. He was flanked by two people on each side. On his left, was a lanky man with an eye-patch, along with a taller man with electric blue hair that seemed to crackle with electricity. To his right was a man with the lithe and graceful build of a dancer and light blonde hair, followed by the last member of the quintet, who could be described in a word, Punk, he had dark black and purple hair and many piercings.

The large man was about to continue when several of the guards recovered from their shock and pulled out all manner of guns and weaponry, preparing to target the intruders. They didn’t get the chance, the lithe Blond man disappeared in a flash, when he reappeared in his position, his arms were full of all the weapons the Guards just had. “Thanks Tempo, Pierce if you would before we get interrupted again.” At his request the Punk Looking man extended his hands, and suddenly several metal studs flew from his ears and pierced the joints of the Guards limbs. The guards all collapsed by the time the metal studs returned to Pierce’s ears. Pools of blood starting to spread from the limbs of each guard, many of them groaning from their places on the floor.

The Accented voice was heard again as he said “Thank you Pierce, now where was I?, Ah yes, as you have probably guessed this is a Bank robbery, If you folks would be so kind as to put all your plastic Valuables, and Deposit keys on the floor, we will be on our way, and no one should get hurt, any more than some already have.” After a few moment when there was no movement, the man, Bruiser sighed and walked forward till he was in the middle of the Bank floor. He lifted a leg and abruptly slammed it into the floor cracking the granite and creating a small crater as the building groaned slightly. “Must I ask you twice?” This time his cultured voice was slightly less pleasant and harsher.

The patrons of the bank practically scrambled and started tossing their items near the crater. As the Deposit keys appeared Tempo grabbed them and in a flash left anfd added more good to the pile. Bruiser walked away and said to the last two men who hadn’t acted, “Oculus you keep an eye out, make sure they are giving up their entire goods, Sparky, tap into their system, and start hacking it.” The two men nodded, Oculus walked up to the growing pile of loot and removed his eyepatch, that eye of his could see all spectrum's. As a small sweating man, with weasel-like features started walking away, Oculus gestured towards them man. Pierce nodded and sent stud towards him clipping his ear, “ All goods, weasel boy.”. The man yipped in pain, as he was hit, with shaky hands he removed a massive gold and diamond encrusted watch and tossed it on the pile.

Bruiser looked over and told Pierce " I can tell you dont like him, he can be used for the message." Upon hearing these words a Malicious grin appeared on his face as he knocked the man unconscious and dragged him into the vault, Moments later screams could be heard. While this was happening The man with the Crackling Hair, Sparky, walked up to the still sparking monitor and shoved his hand into it. His hand faded and turned into electricity, the tall man’s eyes closed and twitched as he hacked the system. He still made sure to scramble and block signals coming from and to the bank, which would buy them a little more time. During this entire Bruiser, backed up and looked on as his crew worked, He nodded and thought ‘Hope the Boss will be happy with this haul.’ Out loud he said “ Ok gents, lets finish up here, and get scrambling.”

---

Several hours later
Unknown Warehouse lounge
Bruiser sat with his arms spread out on a Couch, facing a figure across from him, whose face was wreathed in Shadows. “ So Boss,” Said Bruiser “ How did you like the haul?” The figure shifted slightly before saying in a cold voice” your Haul, as you put it is irrelevant, did you leave the message as you were told?” Bruiser nodded while saying, “Yeah, sure, I did it just like you said, a little bloody for my taste, but will be effective nonetheless.” “Very well, I shall leave the rest in your care, for now.” With these parting words the figure left the warehouse swiftly. "Remember some of our brethren, New and old, will be joining you here later, you might want to clean up." as bruiser stood up after the Boss left, these words floated into the lounge. 'Shit' Thought Bruiser " Oi, Pierce, Sparky we got company coming make this place presentable, if you would. Tempo and Oculus get presentable and follow me."

Aegis Headquarters
San Francisco, CA

In the lobby of the Aegis HQ, stood a tall powerfully built man in a leather jacket, As he checked his watch he muttered, “The new blood should be here soon.” As he walked back to his office he told the Receptionist, Miss Lin “ When the punks all show up, Bring them back.” She nodded then shook her head, at her bosses attitude, before looking back towards her computer and the game of solitaire on it. She decided to respond saying " You let me do my job, Why dont you go publish some more Poetry T.S. Eliot?" A roar was heard from the back Office" Shut Up!!"

Underground Secret Complex

Number’s Facility

The first and most powerful of the Numbers stood in a barren, white room waiting for the new recruits. Incidentally the five most powerful including him were numbered one through five. though the actual ranking system of the Numbers doesn’t apply to the first five, as they are exceptions. Most of the newbies, would get their own designation if they hadnt received one at the end of the Evaluation.

[Anowa]

Sai Ebina/White Hat
As I walked down the street my anxiety grew, despite my lack of glands I still had the mental capacity (and instincts) to understand what emotions were. The street I walked along was aptly named 'Triumvirate Street', more than likely named after the trio of people who helped me live again... or just simply live... Th entrance to the Aegis HQ grew closer, and my anxiety continued to climb. Speaking of climb, the Aegis HQ had quite a few steps. With a sigh I trodded up them, the synthetic muscles in my body compensating for the movement.

Entering the building I immediately felt the AC, something I very much needed due to a lack of sweat glands. Walking over to the front desk I spoke, "Excuse me, ma'am?"

---

William Adkins/Iron
Across the street from the Aegis HQ, not necessarily the best place to do recon but it was air conditioned, and served great coffee. It was honestly a dying breed, what with Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and even fucking McDicks selling cheaper and just as tasty (if not stomach rotting) coffee.

Regardless of the state of the Café industry in the US, I had recently gotten a tip from a prospective Aegis employee that I had been employed to... 'suppress' that Aegis was recieving new blood today, and here I was scouting it out so I could sell the info.

Needless to say that the glowing blue eyes of the black haired woman that just walked in piqued my interest quite a bit, and the lack of sweat beading on her brow made that even more so.

Quickly taking a few notes, I waited for the next arrival. Mentally glad for the fact I wasn't wearing my armor because of the current heat wave.

[Bycrest]

Jasper was poking around random files when he noticed a disturbance in the digital system. He was able to stop it when the hacking happened but he followed the signal the hacker was giving out until he can up to another firewall. Jasper hacked into a nearby monitor and digitized himself into a physical form so he could get a look at the area he was in. He saw an abandoned warehouse and was confused as he saw that the signal came from inside, and that there was a decent amount of data build-up there. He went back into the internet and started working on taking down the warehouse's security so he could get in.

[Cuprum]

Turlock Asylum, Turlock

Paavo Aaltonen walked through the hallways of Turlock Asylum, alone and bored, while unleashing all of the insane criminals so that they may be free. He looked around slowly at the stucture of the building. It looked terribly old and it smelled odd. There were cracks in the walls and the cement floors. "This place needs a makeover...." He said to himself, as he stared at a bat hanging from the ceiling. He struts down the hallway, using her card to unlock every door that was on the Lady's list that she gave him. He smiles a devious smile, he was nearly complete with the list. "Listen up, ya gotta prepare for when the dudes in costumes come."

Eleonor sits in the secret laboratory, where the owner of the Asylum is unconsious and tied up to a chair with ductape over his mouth. He giggles slightly, watching Paavo on the monitor unleash his insane slaves. "Excellent. Now, all we do is wait for the heroes to come. Our chaotic nature will be finally satisfied."

Paavo skipped back to the secret laboratory, where Eleonor was. "Our job is done madame, a car is waiting for us." He stands there waiting for an answer.

[The Olog-Hai]

The Arsonist
Somewhere, Someplace
Unknown Warehouse
The door swung open, the lock melting.
A scarred man walked in, not really paying attention to the outside world, concentrated on a ball of fire floating before his outstretched hand, open with the palm facing up.
Slowly, he looked up, and the ball of fire guttered out.
"I should be thanking you for the rescue," he said to the goons currently cleaning the warehouse. "You've let me escape from the government, who wanted to keep me away from my precious flames! The mystery, the fascination! Everything has a flame, just waiting to be released! That is my goal! To release all the flames!"
He shakes his head a bit, and seems to grab a hold of himself. "You'll have to forgive my entry through the door; the lock will need to be replaced. But you rescued me, and here I am, to cause havoc for you, as long as you let me burn things!"

[Shadowwell]

Aegis HQ
Front Desk

Ms. Lin the secretary had been waiting for the arrivals when a woman walked in the front door. She was slightly distracted, by the argument she had earlier with her boss, Mr. Elliott and the newcomers strange eyes. she thought for a moment before realization dawned, the newcomer was one most of the Aegis employees knew in name if not in appearance, Sai, one of the more notable and unique people who were helped by the Triumvirate, prior to their disappearance. Ms. Lin stood up and swiftly moved around her desk before extending a hand towards the new arrival and saying. " Miss Ebina, I presume?, will you be one of the new workers here? If you are here for that, I am sorry but you must wait until the others arrive to see Mr. Elliott." after pausing briefly she continued saying " Take a seat if you wish, I would offer you refreshments, But i'm not sure whether you can eat them." After shaking the androids hand, more firmly than one of her build usually would, Ms. Lin moved back to her desk and sent a message alerting her boss to the fact one of the newbies as he called them had arrived. He sent a message back saying " Good, now go get me some coffee, and send the newbies back when they all arrive." The cafe across the street and the Hq have a system set up to order coffee. she sent an online order and the Cafe will send someone across with the order later.

---

Khaos Warehouse

Bruiser and the two members of his crew that were with him, Tempo and Oculus, were talking when part of the front door started melting. A heavily scarred man walked in, and started talking, Bruiser relaxed as he saw who it was. He gestured to Pierce who started to reshape the door. " Don't worry about it my friend, I myself have done much worse on occassion, it is one of the reasons why this building is mostly metal and we have Pierce." He gestured towards the upper lounge before continuing " We have some prospective members arriving if you wish to go up to the lounge we have refreshments. Just try to be careful with your fire, at least in this place, out their you can set the world aflame, but you must restrain yourself in here, you understand?". Bruiser was about to say some more when Sparky came out of the back room, that he called the Center, that contained one of the security rooms in this deceptive looking building.

"Bruce" said the slightly taller man, " We got a problem, I made a cursory check of the system when He came through the door like that, you know, just in case the appearance field was disrupted, and Someone is trying to get into my system, It is not Aegis, in fact, the intruder has a strange digital fingerprint, almost like they are part of the Net itself,." 'Hmm,' mused Bruiser before he responded out loud " Start fighting back, but leave a path so to speak and create a Digital Clean Room, then extend and invitation." Sparky nodded and grinned the grin you usually only see on an irishman about to fight, Sparky would relish the encounter however brief it might be. He left and went back to his computer room, He jumped into the office chair and slid the few feet from the door to his computers. He deactivated the screen saver and got to work, all the while grinning like a madman. He set up walls and blocks in places while leaving slight vulnerabilities in others, to guide the digital intruder to what he called The White Room. It was a small square white room, with a table and two chairs, the thing is it was all digital, as the intruder arrived Sparky digitized himself and appeared in the room as well. "Hello" he said " Let us talke" gesturing to the table as he took a seat.

[Bycrest]

Aegis HQ
Front Desk

Ms. Lin the secretary had been waiting for the arrivals when a woman walked in the front door. She was slightly distracted, by the argument she had earlier with her boss, Mr. Elliott and the newcomers strange eyes. she thought for a moment before realization dawned, the newcomer was one most of the Aegis employees knew in name if not in appearance, Sai, one of the more notable and unique people who were helped by the Triumvirate, prior to their disappearance. Ms. Lin stood up and swiftly moved around her desk before extending a hand towards the new arrival and saying. " Miss Ebina, I presume?, will you be one of the new workers here? If you are here for that, I am sorry but you must wait until the others arrive to see Mr. Elliott." after pausing briefly she continued saying " Take a seat if you wish, I would offer you refreshments, But i'm not sure whether you can eat them." After shaking the androids hand, more firmly than one of her build usually would, Ms. Lin moved back to her desk and sent a message alerting her boss to the fact one of the newbies as he called them had arrived. He sent a message back saying " Good, now go get me some coffee, and send the newbies back when they all arrive." The cafe across the street and the Hq have a system set up to order coffee. she sent an online order and the Cafe will send someone across with the order later.

---

Khaos Warehouse

Bruiser and the two members of his crew that were with him, Tempo and Oculus, were talking when part of the front door started melting. A heavily scarred man walked in, and started talking, Bruiser relaxed as he saw who it was. He gestured to Pierce who started to reshape the door. " Don't worry about it my friend, I myself have done much worse on occassion, it is one of the reasons why this building is mostly metal and we have Pierce." He gestured towards the upper lounge before continuing " We have some prospective members arriving if you wish to go up to the lounge we have refreshments. Just try to be careful with your fire, at least in this place, out their you can set the world aflame, but you must restrain yourself in here, you understand?". Bruiser was about to say some more when Sparky came out of the back room, that he called the Center, that contained one of the security rooms in this deceptive looking building.

"Bruce" said the slightly taller man, " We got a problem, I made a cursory check of the system when He came through the door like that, you know, just in case the appearance field was disrupted, and Someone is trying to get into my system, It is not Aegis, in fact, the intruder has a strange digital fingerprint, almost like they are part of the Net itself,." 'Hmm,' mused Bruiser before he responded out loud " Start fighting back, but leave a path so to speak and create a Digital Clean Room, then extend and invitation." Sparky nodded and grinned the grin you usually only see on an irishman about to fight, Sparky would relish the encounter however brief it might be. He left and went back to his computer room, He jumped into the office chair and slid the few feet from the door to his computers. He deactivated the screen saver and got to work, all the while grinning like a madman. He set up walls and blocks in places while leaving slight vulnerabilities in others, to guide the digital intruder to what he called The White Room. It was a small square white room, with a table and two chairs, the thing is it was all digital, as the intruder arrived Sparky digitized himself and appeared in the room as well. "Hello" he said " Let us talke" gesturing to the table as he took a seat.

As Jasper was trying to hack into the warehouse's systems, he notices that specific areas started weakening. "It's almost like they think I'm stupid." Japer went along with what they were planning, still prepared for anything they might pull. Jasper split himself into two so that he would be able to stay on the outside and his clone went in to check the situation.

Eventually he made his way to the White Room and stepped inside, seeing the setup and the man sitting on the other side of the room.

"I thought I was the only guy living on the web." Jasper said as he took a seat. "If I had to guess I'd say you're the guy that set up all those firewalls around this place. They're pretty good, nothing like the White House's security but it still gave me a challenge. So what did you want to talk about, I'm all ears."

[Anowa]

Aegis HQ
Front Desk

Ms. Lin the secretary had been waiting for the arrivals when a woman walked in the front door. She was slightly distracted, by the argument she had earlier with her boss, Mr. Elliott and the newcomers strange eyes. she thought for a moment before realization dawned, the newcomer was one most of the Aegis employees knew in name if not in appearance, Sai, one of the more notable and unique people who were helped by the Triumvirate, prior to their disappearance. Ms. Lin stood up and swiftly moved around her desk before extending a hand towards the new arrival and saying. " Miss Ebina, I presume?, will you be one of the new workers here? If you are here for that, I am sorry but you must wait until the others arrive to see Mr. Elliott." after pausing briefly she continued saying " Take a seat if you wish, I would offer you refreshments, But I'm not sure whether you can eat them." After shaking the androids hand, more firmly than one of her build usually would, Ms. Lin moved back to her desk and sent a message alerting her boss to the fact one of the newbies as he called them had arrived. He sent a message back saying " Good, now go get me some coffee, and send the newbies back when they all arrive." The cafe across the street and the HQ have a system set up to order coffee. she sent an online order and the Cafe will send someone across with the order later.

Sai Ebina/White Hat
I nodded at the Woman's rapid fire questions, since that was all I could really do without being rude. I left her to her devices and made my way over to the seating area near the door. I sat there for a few minutes until a new arrival made his way into the building, he was well built, that was for certain. He looked between the receptionist and the seats around me, as he turned I cough a glimpse of something in his hand, and my eyes widened.

I secretly hoped he wasn't a sloppy eater.

---

William Adkins/Iron
The next arrival was rather stacked, and for a moment I thought he was carrying a baby, nope, just the biggest fucking burrito I've ever seen in my life. Not gonna lie I'd seen toddlers that were smaller. So distracting was the mondo sized Mexican dish, that I only caught a glimpse at his face, and though only momentary, I still had a sign of familiarity, like I'd seen it before. Maybe on the news? Nah, he couldn't be that famous.

[The Olog-Hai]

Aegis HQ
Front Desk

Ms. Lin the secretary had been waiting for the arrivals when a woman walked in the front door. She was slightly distracted, by the argument she had earlier with her boss, Mr. Elliott and the newcomers strange eyes. she thought for a moment before realization dawned, the newcomer was one most of the Aegis employees knew in name if not in appearance, Sai, one of the more notable and unique people who were helped by the Triumvirate, prior to their disappearance. Ms. Lin stood up and swiftly moved around her desk before extending a hand towards the new arrival and saying. " Miss Ebina, I presume?, will you be one of the new workers here? If you are here for that, I am sorry but you must wait until the others arrive to see Mr. Elliott." after pausing briefly she continued saying " Take a seat if you wish, I would offer you refreshments, But i'm not sure whether you can eat them." After shaking the androids hand, more firmly than one of her build usually would, Ms. Lin moved back to her desk and sent a message alerting her boss to the fact one of the newbies as he called them had arrived. He sent a message back saying " Good, now go get me some coffee, and send the newbies back when they all arrive." The cafe across the street and the Hq have a system set up to order coffee. she sent an online order and the Cafe will send someone across with the order later.

---

Khaos Warehouse

Bruiser and the two members of his crew that were with him, Tempo and Oculus, were talking when part of the front door started melting. A heavily scarred man walked in, and started talking, Bruiser relaxed as he saw who it was. He gestured to Pierce who started to reshape the door. " Don't worry about it my friend, I myself have done much worse on occassion, it is one of the reasons why this building is mostly metal and we have Pierce." He gestured towards the upper lounge before continuing " We have some prospective members arriving if you wish to go up to the lounge we have refreshments. Just try to be careful with your fire, at least in this place, out their you can set the world aflame, but you must restrain yourself in here, you understand?". Bruiser was about to say some more when Sparky came out of the back room, that he called the Center, that contained one of the security rooms in this deceptive looking building.

"Bruce" said the slightly taller man, " We got a problem, I made a cursory check of the system when He came through the door like that, you know, just in case the appearance field was disrupted, and Someone is trying to get into my system, It is not Aegis, in fact, the intruder has a strange digital fingerprint, almost like they are part of the Net itself,." 'Hmm,' mused Bruiser before he responded out loud " Start fighting back, but leave a path so to speak and create a Digital Clean Room, then extend and invitation." Sparky nodded and grinned the grin you usually only see on an irishman about to fight, Sparky would relish the encounter however brief it might be. He left and went back to his computer room, He jumped into the office chair and slid the few feet from the door to his computers. He deactivated the screen saver and got to work, all the while grinning like a madman. He set up walls and blocks in places while leaving slight vulnerabilities in others, to guide the digital intruder to what he called The White Room. It was a small square white room, with a table and two chairs, the thing is it was all digital, as the intruder arrived Sparky digitized himself and appeared in the room as well. "Hello" he said " Let us talke" gesturing to the table as he took a seat.

Kiaren Laaksonen
The Arsonist
"But...but... The fire! The flame in all! It must be released!" he screams.
He tries to gather himself for a moment. "I'll control my self in here, for now. So long as I can release the inner flame in all that stands before me! Every building that dares to present itslef shall fall!"
He moves towards the stairs. "But for now, I will settle for refreshments. Hopefully there's something slicy, something with the inner flame already released, in a solid form!

[Shadowwell]

Aegis HQ

Upon the entrance of the man carrying the extremely massive burrito, Miss Lin looked at the food item first then at the mans face, she quickly recognized the man's face. He was a Meta and former soldier, he went by Osteo, which was fitting considering his power. He could manipulate his physiology and his bones. Ms. Lin said to him " Mr. Carmichael I presume, While my boss would like to meet you for reasons other than your invitation here, you must wait with the others, for the moment, their are refreshments on the table to the left of the seats." She looked back down as an alert sounded from her computer, The cafe sent a message saying the order was taken and would be sent over within the next 15 or so minutes.

Khaos Warehouse
Entrance
Bruce nodded as the volatile Meta left and headed upstairs. " I can see what the Boss meant with his words before we went on the heist." Muttered the muscular man. " we will have to keep an eye on him." In a louder tone he said "Oculus Get out their and get your eye to work, to greet and arrivals, friendly or not, take Tempo with you while you are at it." The two men nodded and made their way out.
The White Room

As the other Digital man took a seat Sparky chuckled at the other mans question before answering "Well, I can come here but I dont exactly live in the Net, I still possess a physical form but i can change it into digital particles, Picture it like i faxed myself to the Net. My firewalls would have been more difficult but my friend wanted me to extend an Initiation to you here in this room. I dont actually know what Incentives would move you, as if we wished those like us could possibly control the entire monetary system of the world. I can only offer you a chance for a Challenge, Aegis and the Organization, their firewalls are regulated by A.I.'s and more proficient Techies, they make the White house firewalls look like rice paper in comparison, you interested?"

Unknown House
Modesto California

In a room that looked like something a Conspiracy theorist would live in sat a man. Even the Organization, which had by far the most extensive information Archive knew very little about this man, except for his Moniker, The Cognizant. Any searches for him ended with a dead end, amny of the police forces used by the Organization to search for him only think of him as a Conspiracy theorist, which is true to an extent, but it is much more complicated than that. The man was currently running a finger along the many papers on the walls, before settling on his target. He tapped it twice before saying " Finally, so drinking coffee from 8 to 9:30 on everyother weekday wont affect the timeline drastically. Thank God for that," He looked up as if addressing the Heavens before continuing " Or rather whatever inter dimensional Reality warper decided to create some entertainment." He took a sip from his cup resting near a chessboard, before sighing and setting the cup back down as he turned away he extended a hand to catch a marker that was about to hit the ground. "Hmm, i needed that anyways, time to get back to work." He went to one of the few blank spots on the wall and proceeded to right Three things all connected by lines: Aegis, Khaos, and Numbers/Colors.

[Bycrest]

Khaos Warehouse

The White Room

As the other Digital man took a seat Sparky chuckled at the other mans question before answering "Well, I can come here but I dont exactly live in the Net, I still possess a physical form but i can change it into digital particles, Picture it like i faxed myself to the Net. My firewalls would have been more difficult but my friend wanted me to extend an Initiation to you here in this room. I dont actually know what Incentives would move you, as if we wished those like us could possibly control the entire monetary system of the world. I can only offer you a chance for a Challenge, Aegis and the Organization, their firewalls are regulated by A.I.'s and more proficient Techies, they make the White house firewalls look like rice paper in comparison, you interested?"

Jasper considered the other man's offer but already knew the answer he was going to give, he wasn't all for getting involved in whatever was happening in the real world and he wasn't about to join now. "That sounds like an interesting offer, but I don't exactly need your permission or help attack those systems. Plus it sounds like you would gain something from me hacking Aegis and the Organization, and I don't play favorites to anyone. You see, living on the Net gets you a lot of information and I just so happen to know about all the different factions that are currently fighting in the power struggle. Since you want offered up Aegis and the Organization, that would mean you're a member of Khaos, a rather high ranking one if you get clearance to do all this. I will not be taking part in this little war game you all having going because you believe that when all of mayhem and confusion ends and one of the factions stand at the top, I'll be unaffected by whatever the outcome is."

Jasper leaned back in the chair, his attitude taking a more jovial nature now. "Besides, even if I wanted to help, you never told me your name."

[House of Judah]

Anarch
2 Years, 7 Days, 18 Hours, 37 Minutes, 16 Seconds Ago

“Listen carefully, punk,” Anarch said to the man he was holding over the side of the building, “I have no patience for drug dealers as it is but I especially don’t like ones that sell to kids. This is your one chance to convince me not to throw you off this building. Where does your boss store his coke?”

“Fuck you, Anarch. Everyone knows you don’t kill nobody.”

“Is that so? Enjoy the trip.” With that, Anarch released the criminal, who screamed briefly before being cut off. “Mm. Like a Jackson Pollock. Guess you’re next.” He picked up the second criminal and held him over the side. “So, you making the same choice.”

“Fuck that, man. He’s got a warehouse in the Flower District, Eight and Wall.”

“Thanks for the help.” Anarch yanked him back onto the roof while simultaneously punching the criminal. The criminal fell unconscious, and Anarch dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground. Several seconds later, the other criminal flipped over the side, equally unconscious as his friend. From behind him, Mr. Invincible vaulted up and stood up on the roof of the building.

“That was certainly dramatic,” the meta said.

“What can I say, I’ve always loved theater.”

“Out of curiosity, what were you planning to do if I hadn’t happened upon you during my patrol?”

“I would have knocked out the first guy, discreetly hooked his foot with my grapple and dropped him over the side and let him hang there. The part with the second guy would go pretty much the same. Your presence just makes the slight of hand easier, don’t have to worry about the second guy seeing the rope.”

“You could have that kind of back up all the time. A partner to help you on patrol, dealing with the criminal element. I could come up with a few dozen names.”

“I’m fine on my own.”

“Fair enough. With exception of the occasional metahuman that the police can’t hold, you really don’t rely on us for anything. It’s more the other way, really. My guys need you.”

“They don’t need me, they’ve got their invincible leader.”

---

Present Day

Anarch stared at the large screen. Every piece of information he had gathered on the disappearances of the Triumvirate in the past two years was displayed there. Aliases, allies, nemeses, movements. Every lead, every scrap he had pieced together. It was more than most people could handle all at once.

It still led nowhere.

Two years and he didn’t feel any closer to an answer than when he had started. Anarch opened his bottle of vicodin popped a couple of the tablets into his mouth. He turned back to the screen, studying every strand that connected pieces of information.

A red message flashed on the screen.

“Bank robbery by metas. Guess it’s time for me to get to work on a less long term projects.”

Anarch began pulling up information from the police net. Traffic cams from around the bank, police chatter. Soon enough he would have coroner reports and crime scene photos, but none of that could compare to getting his own personal inspection in. He pulled on his mask, pulled on his coat and went down to his motorcycle. The hog roared to life before he turned onto the road.

---

Angela
1 Year, 352 Days, 2 Hours, 16 Minutes, 11 Seconds Ago

Angela was angry. No one was playing with her. She had been good, but no one had come to play with her. She began screaming and smashing her fist on walls, but still no one came.

Slowly, the walls of her room began to crack. Then there was crumbling. Finally, the wall fell away. Angela grabbed up her teddy bear, Rupert, and left the room.

---

Present Day

Angela skipped down the street in downtown Los Angeles, tossing and catching Rupert every few steps.

“Somehow, Rupert, I feel like today is going to be a good day.”

[Anowa]

Osteo
I nodded at the receptionist before sitting down. Looking around the room I sighed, everything that had lead up to this point had been arguably worth it. Looking down at the admittedly giant breakfast burrito I held I debated in my head whether it was worth it to have to go out and find a deer or consume so many plants that it got boring. Whether it was worth it for the fast and easy way to stay alive was worth the smell and sight of that blackish sludge that was left over from my impromptu meals... As I took a comparatively small bite of my current food item, I though back to that fateful day.

---

May 7, 2016
I sat in a thorny, bloodstained chair that had more than a few screws poking out of it. One of my arms dangled to the side uselessly, the bones within long ago healed in the wrong position. my other arm was tied so tightly to the chair that the pain had stopped, a sure sign of either circulation blockage, or rampant infection. My left eye continued to dangle from it's socket... or maybe it wasn't it was hard to see out the dried out organ at this point, my other eye was nearly swollen shut, I could just barely make out the shape of a man with an AK setting up a camera.

My throat itched for water, having gone nearly three days without any, I had been forced to strain my clothing for some form of quenching for my thirst over the last four months since they stopped the daily water ration. I'd rather not mention my food situation, I'm pretty sure I saw either a human eye or a fingernail at one point. I refused to eat afterwards. Instead opting to lick the remaining salt off the floor from my dried out sweat. I was almost 100% sure I either had malaria or some kind of flu.

The pain in my chest made the everything else seem peachy, I knew that I had broken ribs during the Ambush nearly five months ago, and I tried to keep them stable, but the beating I received for information gathering had just turned a few of them into glass. Every breath I took was ragged as all hell and felt like I was getting stabbed in the chest... multiple times. My legs also stopped working some time ago, whether it had to do with my lower back pain or not I had no clue.

I felt something grab my rather long hair and wrench back, I felt a chunk of hair pull loose but I couldn't give out an expletive, as I tried the wound that was once the root of my tongue tore open and blood began to spill into my mouth, if I still had the special muscle I would be able to feel almost all of my teeth either smashed out or rotting out of my head.

I vaguely heard some sound that heard like speech, but the IED blast from January had blown my eardrums to fucking mordor and back... and then back again.

I felt the cold sharpness of what must've been a knife against my neck, because a moment later I felt it bite, and then I struggled to breath. It felt like I was drowning, except no matter how hard I coughed or inhaled or anything stopped the flow of liquid into my lungs. I heard screaming and then everything became blissfully clear, I no longer felt any pain. I could see clearly, I could breath... I could kill. So that's what I did.

I rose immediately and through the powers that be, the bullet they fired simply bounced off. The one with the knife behind my swung into my shoulder and the blade broke. An instinctual reaction caused a black tendril to sprout from my body, and latch onto his. A moment later he began to scream an ungodly moan, as I saw something start wriggling beneath his skin, it was trailing back to the tendril. He became very pale, and collapsed, within ten seconds his body began to break down as I started to feel more revitalized. Soon all that was left of the radicalist was a black paste, and some teeth.

The door to the room opened, and there stood another terrorist, fear was evident in his eye. But the reflection of a PTRS was as well. The resounding boom was something I could remember very distinctly. I know it caused them pain for more than a few seconds considering what had happened. Their chance was wasted as well, seeing as he had missed.

I strode over to the man who held his wounded ears, and a barbed an serrated pole sprouted from where my hand was. I impaled him with it, and swung upwards. The spike that had came from me went through the man and into the cave roof. Pinning him there screaming bloody murder.

I detached the impromptu weapon from my arm and grew a new hand, as I strode down the hall that lead to what I believed was the outside, I encountered a trio of men who immediately began to fire. The arm opposite of the one that had just turned into an impalement device formed into w tube like protrusion, I raised it and the boom of a high gauge shotgun rang out. Two of the three fell to the floor, either dead or bleeding out. The last was on the ground nursing what seemed to be minor wounds.

Growing another pair of arms, I picked the three up with my arms not occupied by a biological shotgun, as three separate tendrils consumed them as I strode through the compound. I repeated these event in random order and with some differences until the entire compound had been reduced to bodies and sludge.

---

Present day
I stared down at my burrito, thinking about what I had been forced to eat for extra calories and an edge over the Meta-Human world: Boron, antimony, arsenic, cesium, ammonium nitrate.... all would kill a normal human in a few days, if not hours. But here I was mixing them with beef and lettuce and hossing them down like a fucking boss.

I took another bite of my food, and waited.

[Shadowwell]

Warehouse Lounge

After fixing the metal door, Pierce headed up to the Lounge to keep an eye on the Arsonist and to talk with him. "So, you light people up to release their inner flame? HaHa" He paused for a moment to let his laughter die down. " That wasnt directed towards you exactly, I just did something similar once, before I joined Khaos. I carried around a 16 penny nail, and used that to kill those he got in my way. Funnily enough the amount of Iron in a humans body is the same amount as in a 16 penny nail. I would kill one person with the nail and create another nail to kill more and so on and so forth. That was why they call me pierce, that was before I got all these piercings."

The White Room

Sparky nodded at Jasper and said " This is why i dont usually handle invitations and other things, i lack the social skills for the niceties required to reel people in. I think the guest introduces themselves first, but you aren’t exactly a normal guest, nor am I a normal host, everyone calls me Sparky. You can do the same, So, There is no way I can convince you to help us? You won’t even have to join Khaos, we could work out a Contract, of some sort.” The Blue haired man waited for a response.

Aegis HQ

Ms Lin turned the T.V. on, the screen was located above the refreshment table, It was so there wasn’t a massive awkward silence. It was displaying a rerun of the program that had been running during the time before the Bank robbery earlier. It was at the portion playing the first interview with Mr. Invincible nearly 12 years ago:

“Why did I stop that truck as I did? Well, I want to say that it was because it was what any decent citizen in my position would do, and that is partially the truth, but for the most part I was just surprised, as I have walked that route hundreds of times before. Normally if such a thing happened I would pay for it literally, but it worked out for the better in the end don’t you think?
The camera panned away for a moment before the broadcast was interrupted this time with the full report of the Robbery this morning.

This morning, just before noon, the First Bank of L.A.’s Downtown branch was robbed. The robbery was believed to have been committed by known members of the radical Meta group known as Khaos. It is sad to report that not all the inhabitants of the bank at the time survived. We have not been able to find out what exactly happened, but we have found out from LAPD Detective Brian Williams, at least one of the civilians in the bank was killed and used to display a gruesome message directed towards the Meta group called Aegis.


First Bank of L.A.
LAPD Officer Brian was standing in front of the First Bank of LA, just behind the crime scene tape. He was sipping a cup of coffee, while thinking about what he saw in the Vault room. ‘They must really want to rile up Aegis, to do a thing like that.’ As he thought this he noticed a somewhat familiar face. A man known as Anarch, while not a Meta, he still helped in matters that many Meta’s did. He walked towards the area where Anarch was and raised a hand, hoping the man would notice him.

[Bycrest]

The White Room

Sparky nodded at Jasper and said " This is why i dont usually handle invitations and other things, i lack the social skills for the niceties required to reel people in. I think the guest introduces themselves first, but you aren’t exactly a normal guest, nor am I a normal host, everyone calls me Sparky. You can do the same, So, There is no way I can convince you to help us? You won’t even have to join Khaos, we could work out a Contract, of some sort.” The Blue haired man waited for a response.

"Thanks for the curtesy, my name isn't really important however so you may just call me the Digital Pariah." Jasper wasn't too keen on giving out his real identity to just anyone, part of living on the web makes on very anonymous, so he developed a username of sorts to display whenever he would want to brag about a virus he created or files he stole.

"As for your offer, there is nothing anyone can say for me to actually join them. But since you made those places sound like so much fun I guess I'll swing by and see if I can't implant a Trojan horse somewhere, and if I happen to drop an access key somewhere around here then I'm not responsible for who uses it." As Jasper was speaking, the original him was busy trying to do that exact thing to Khoas' system. He believed that he were to help anyone then he would harm them just as much to keep the scales balanced. He didn't know if he would actually give anyone an access key to anyone of the backdoors he created but it was always funny to dangle them in front of people's faces.

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Lora

Lora rushed through the door. She was late, how could she be late, she did have an excuse. All she could hope was that her father would understand. Well, he wasn't really her father, not biologically. He saved her, she didn't know why though, that's something she'd have to ask him one day. He had saved her from death, and cared for her unlike anyone else. He was One. Someday's, she felt like she was more of a burden to him, and didn't deserve his kindness. Today was one of those days.

"Sorry I'm late." She said with a slight bow, "Oz had to do some repairs on my suppressor. It was acting up. I am sorry."

[Anowa]

South Central LA
A Decrepit house's basement, a few hours ago.
In the deceptively well kept basement of an old townhouse, a massive man donned his costume for a rather important meeting regarding a few business partners.

A groan was heard from behind him, his visit to a local Gay Bar had gotten me my next three days of food. Turning from the mirror I used to apply t=my face paint, I spotted the catch on a pair of large meat hooks, suspending his bare body by the shoulders. The damage I'd done to his head made sure he wouldn't wake up, and if he did he'd be close to brain dead. The hooks poking through his shoulder has helped heal the wounds so he wouldn't expire before I got back from my meeting. His belongings consisted of a very well tailored suit, a gold watch, and an Iphone. All of which I would soon be pawning off. I turned back around and continued to apply my face paint, smiling happily as I did so.

---

Khaos warehouse
I pulled up outside the designated meeting location and exited the rather odd looking Ford Pinto I drove. I shut the door daintily, so as not to destroy the window and strode towards the entrance of the warehouse. The exterior was bare of any guards... a foolish mistake, had I come in malice there would have been consequences.

I opened the metallic doorway, and ducked nearly two and a half feet. as well as shuffling sideways to fit inside, as I entered I rose to my full height. I spotted a duo of short... Pardon, average sized people let me in with what seemed to be a bit of anxiety in their eyes. It was to be expected, not many people were my size, let alone clowns.

I was pointed up to the lounge, and as I made my way up the stairs they groaned in protest to my 400+ pounds of mass. As I entered I once again had to duck a fair bit, and I needed to remain hunched over. I inclined my head in greetings to those already assembled before taking my spot in a rather large chair. One was very... punk, what with his piercings, removing them would be tedious should he cross me, the other was a thinner boy, with burn scars visible. Should he anger me or show any disrespect, I was comfortable knowing he came pre-cooked.

---

Aegis HQ
Alexander Carmichael
As I took the last few bites of my burrito, the TV near us -me and a woman next to me, who was more occupied with the science magazine she was reading- I largely ignored it, seeing as I had seen the rerun already. But then something else came up:

"This morning, just before noon, the First Bank of L.A.’s Downtown branch was robbed. The robbery was believed to have been committed by known members of the radical Meta group known as Khaos. It is sad to report that not all the inhabitants of the bank at the time survived. We have not been able to find out what exactly happened, but we have found out from LAPD Detective Brian Williams, at least one of the civilians in the bank was killed and used to display a gruesome message directed towards the Meta group called Aegis."

The program now had everyone's attention, the glowing eyed woman beside me included.

I spoke aloud to the room, "Well isn't that something."

The woman beside me sounded particularly shocked, "That was my last stop in LA before hopping on the greyhound up here."

I looked over, "Looks like you dodged a bullet then. Hopefully everyone else gets here soon, otherwise stopping things like that will be rather difficult..."

The woman looked thoughtful, "Yeah... Well, since we'll be working together, I'm Sai Ebina." She offered her hand.

I shook it and replied, "Alexander Carmichael. Nice to meet you."

She looked puzzled for a moment, "Alexander Carmichael, like the POW, war hero?"

I nodded, "The one in the same."

She shook her head, before looking back down at the magazine she was reading, "Khaos doesn't stand a chance."

I simply chuckled, and looked back at the News... Khaos were gonna fall like DowJones... Shit I should probably reinvest soon.

[The Landfish Colonies]

James
The King
Safe House

When someone says, "Safe house" I think of some moldy ass bunker in the middle of Siberia, crawling with spiders a rats where the only thing to eat besides you own toenails and the fungus off the walls are the freeze dried "food" packets with less real meat than a fucking Big Mac. It was safe in the sense that it gave you a safe place to die, somewhere where the sheer boredom gets to you before any angry assassin or hired gun can. Apparently though, that wasn't the same idea my father had. He instead pictured a beach house in Monterey California, overlooking the magnificent Pacific Ocean. I by no means was complaining.

We weren't living in a mansion, oh no. The safe house was nothing more than a nice little cottage on the water, not big, but more than enough room for two people to live comfortably while not having to look at each other two much, along with all the modern amenities. Running water, electricity, and armoury and torture room in the basement. Just perfect.

I was in the living room, sipping on a cup of coffee and watching the TV. There was a report on about a bank robbery in LA, and I cussed quietly out loud. We should have been there. Kicked some ass. I watched as the reporter talked about how the bastards had messed up some poor innocent soul to send a message. It was sick and twisted, and maybe.... I was pulled out of my thoughts by a scream from downstairs.

Amelia
The Queen

The man crashed up against the concrete wall of the basement, coughing up phlegm and blood before I pulled him away. I pulled him away, letting him catch his breath for just a moment, before I let him sail back into the rough cement with enough force to crack the surface. He stayed aloft before I let him fall to the floor, doing all this from the plastic chair at the far end of the room without raising a finger. Nonetheless, the task was exhausting, just as though I had actually been tossing the man around like a rag doll. I felt sorry for him, but tried to steel myself. This man was the enemy, but then again he was still a man. I would be gentle.

"So," I crossed my arms, looking at the man expectantly, "Now are you interested in talking?" The man crawled to his knees, glaring at me. His look was almost demonic, the fiery passion of a human believing that this could be their last day on earth, but refusing to accept that as a fact.

He roared and charged at me, and I casually shoved him to the side and he crashed into the wall, head first.

"Everything alright down there?" James' voice sounded in my head, despite the fact that he was upstairs in the living room.

"Yeah, I've got this." I replied, "Dude think's he's tough. He's not."

"Say anything?' My twin brother asked and I looked over to the man grabbing at his head. He couldn't hear us, or at least I assumed so. No one could hear us when we talked like that, don't ask me how or why, but they don't. We can speak right into each other's minds, albeit with some extra effort.

"I'm going to assume that you don't want to talk."

"Fuck you!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought." I sighed, rubbing my face with my hands, "Don't think he's interested in talking."

There was a moment of silence from James, possibly thinking of what to do next. He liked to think that he was in charge, being older and all. Ha, older by 22 minutes. What an accomplishment, James.

"You hear about the LA job?" James asked me and I racked my brain for a minute, thinking I'd heard something that morning, "Group of Meta's took the First Bank of Los Angeles, one civi was killed. It was a group of metas working for Chaos." James paused for a moment, waiting for a response.

"Yeah? So?"

"Think it could be something to do with dad? Khaos, those people. They might know." I felt a lump in my throat at the thought of my father, quickly pushing those feelings away. James was quiet again and I was alone with the sounds of the man coughing and groaning. I thought about relying, before I swore and left the room, leaving our third house guest screaming at me as I locked the door.

[Shadowwell]

Warehouse Lounge
Pierce looked up from his conversation with the Arsonist, and looked at the new arrival. His eyes widened in surprise at the size and appearance of the newest arrive. He was a massive Clown, probably at upwards of 8 feet in height. "So" Said Pierce "What brings a clown such as yourself here, Mr?" Obviously trying to make conversation with the massive and disconcerting clown.

The White Room
Sparky smirked at the Other mans response, while he was hopeful at the other mans offer, he guessed that the other man probably wouldn't do that. " That would be Helpful, thanks for the offer" was his response, he could sense the others attacks on his system still. " Regretfully i must end our meeting, my employer is calling for me." He stood up and extended a hand towards the other, as a sign of respect.

Aegis HQ

Lewis was standing in front of the Door to the Aegis HQ, Calming himself as he wanted to make a noticeable entrance and impression to those already inside. He walked towards the doors and simply passed through the doors. The element he was mimicking at the moment was Gas.It allowed him to flow though the door, Earth would have worked, or sand specifically, as the glass in the door was super-heated sand, for the most part. As he flowed over to the front of the desk he looked around and said " So i am not the first one here, not surprising exactly." his form solidifying as he did so.
Number's Facility

On the Usually serious face of the Head Prime One, was a slight grin at his charges actions. He took in the girl years ago mostly due to sympathy but he has grown to care for her a bit. He said with some amusement evident in his voice, he extended a hand and ruffled her hair in an affectionate gesture. "You are fine Lora, the others havent arrived yet, a few are receiving gifts from the Colors, as a few of those we are expecting are Legacies, I would like for you to be careful around them." One looked up and removed his hand from Lora's head, as down the corridor leading to this room someone was approaching.

He had shaggy disheveled hair and was walking with his eyes closed, while flipping a coin into the air and catching it. He was 13, a New Prime, the designation was fitting as he could manipulate Luck and probability. He was picked to serve one of the Colors and Served Mr. Indigo as a Legacy, or he would eventually. In a lazy drawl he said " Hello One, am I late, not that that matters to me." One responded in a cold voice, that was a vast difference from the tone used with Lora " No you are not late 13, just assume your position while we wait." at Ones harsh tone 13 grinnned lazily and flicked the coin into the air, before closing his eyes once more and walking over to a spot near loar, before extending his hand and catching the coin swiftly, as it fell.

[Anowa]

[/quote]
William White/Shanky the Clown
"You may call me Mr. White, the nickname the police give me would be the unfalettering title of: Shanky the Clown. As for why I am here, I figured it would be rude to ignore an invitation for such a business proposition."

The metallically decorated man was polite at the very least, his first reaction wasn't one of fear which was good. How I hated those who found clowns scary, we did our best to make the bad times better, not worse. And oh how angry we get when our occupation is insulted.

Sai Ebina
The airflow in the room changed, and so did the temperature. Though it was a very minute change I could still tell, either the door wasn't sealed properly, or the walls had a crack somewhere. My confusion was answered in the form of a man who seemed to generate from thin air, I found it a bit showy. But considering I was a walking show room piece I let it slide. I continued reading about string theory in the magazine I pulled from the table, even though said theory had yet to really be delved into.

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Jynlea Aoci / Sin

"This is the place?" Sin said looking at an old warehouse. She closed her eyes and felt it. Sin galore. A high concentration of sins. Though not as much as Las Vegas, man how she wanted to return there one day. But this was still a sinful place, well deserving of the description she'd give it. "A wretched hive of villainy and scum, ah, home sinful home."

With a toss of her hair and a smirk she opened the doors to the warehouse. "Hello Khaos! Sin is in the house!"

Thyra and Sabiya Costa / Gemini

This is the place, are we ready? Thyra thought in Gemini's combined consciousness, she was the black haired side of Gemini.

Aegis HQ. Yes I believe we are ready. Mother sent us to do good. And that is— Sabiya thought back. Sabiya was the blonde half of Gemini.

What we will do. Thyra finished and grabbed her sisters hand. Together they walked through the door into the building and to a desk.

"Excuse us but we have come —"

"Looking to do good for this world."

Saito Kiyoshi / God Slayer

There he stood. In the middle of the park. The parks name didn't matter to him, all that mattered was the job. In front of him stood a Meta, with the power of electricity. While this Meta was breathing heavily and had a few cuts and bruises, Kiyoshi was unharmed. His sword was still sheathed, but blood could be seen on the sheath. The area around them had been burnt by the Meta's electricity, but the God Slayer was untouched.

"What... What are you?" The Meta said, "How are you beating me? This is not possible!" With that the Meta fired one last volley of electricity.

Without a word, God Slayer drew his blade. The electricity hit the blade, and in a big ball of light, coupled with a small shockwave, forcing nearby trees to snap in half, the electricity was sent straight back at the Meta. Once the smoke cleared, Kiyoshi sheathed his blade, and walked over to the fried Meta.

"Rest in peace." Was all he said, his voice void of all emotion. "Your crimes have been paid back."

With that he left the park and into the city. He was unaware that a civilian recorded the entire battle, and was now uploading it to the web.

Reia Costa / Renaissance

Reia sat behind a computer in her safe house. She was playing a little game called Surgeon Simulator.

"This is so boring." She said, quitting the game, "It's nothing like actually working with a persons insides."

She then got off the computer, and sat down behind her television. Nothing was on really, except for the news. She watched the news, and was frankly not impressed.

"Looks like some people really want attention. But a bank robbery, couldn't they be more, I don't know... Creative." Reia said, picking up a rock. There was a flash of light, and then she was holding a stone knife, "When will something fun happen?"

Lora / 6

Lora smiled slightly when she felt One's hand on her head. She had come to really love that feeling, it made her feel loved. Also, the fact that no one else had arrived made her feel a little more at ease. Then she heard what One said about who they where expecting. She nodded, "I will."

Something about 13 made Lora feel uneasy, maybe it was the number. 13 was unlucky, maybe he was unlucky, or maybe luck manipulation was his thing, either way it maybe her feel uneasy.

[Bycrest]

The White Room
Sparky smirked at the Other mans response, while he was hopeful at the other mans offer, he guessed that the other man probably wouldn't do that. " That would be Helpful, thanks for the offer" was his response, he could sense the others attacks on his system still. " Regretfully i must end our meeting, my employer is calling for me." He stood up and extended a hand towards the other, as a sign of respect.

"What offer? Last time I checked I never said I would hand you the access key." Jasper said with a smirk. He was going to try to prolong their conversation so he could finish installing his backdoor but then the other man said he had to leave. Knowing there wasn't much he could do to lengthen this out any further Jasper simply shook the Sparky's hand and the clone deconstructed. Using the closing window of access, the real Jasper hurried and finished his backdoor and quickly hid it in the deepest part of Khaos' system, now it would take a very thorough search to even find a trace of it.

[Anowa]

LA Harbour
Hussar
I stood over the form of a well dressed smuggler, he lay nursing a heavily bleeding arm, his hand an the pistol within lay a few feet away. My chest plate had more than a few dents in it from the gunfight I was in a few moments ago. I snorted, bullets bounced off over 200 years ago, and they still do today.

As I bent over to search him for the keys to a specific set of shipping containers he said something, "เราจะได้พบกับคุณ"

I replied, "เพื่อนขออภัยฉันกลัวฉันไม่พูดภาษาไทย"

The puzzled look on his face lasted until I drove a dagger into his eye socket, and retrieved the keys anyway. As I stood and turned, the crippled, bleeding, and groaning bodies of fifteen other criminals sat on the pavement surrounding twelve shipping crate.

It was a shame really, the dock workers would have some cleaning to do. I would help, but there are other things to do. Like let the people out of their metaphorical cages. I spent the next twelve minutes unlocking and opening the shipping container filled with people from across the globe, and from a mutitude of ages, ranging from pre-pubescent to middle aged.

All were still dressed thank God, although they'd need a shower or two. As the sirens grew louder, I began to walk away.

I heard a child like voice call out, "Dziękuję!"

I didn't turn back, I simply waved over my shoulder, and disappeared into the night.

[Shadowwell]

Khaos Warehouse
When Sin entered the Warehouse Bruce moved to meet the newcomer. He recognized her as one of the others that received and invitation from the Boss for today. He went up to her and Said " if you are here for the meeting everyone is gathering up in the lounge." He paused for a moment as Sparky came out of his room. He walked up to Bruce and whispered some stuff to him. " The intruder doesn't want to join, and he may have bugged our system, but he will probably serve the purpose we need. I also placed a gift on him, it should cause some problems for him." After hearing the taller mans words Bruiser turned to Sin and said " I am sorry but duty calls, there should be refreshments in the lounge. If you would head up there."

Warehouse Lounge

Upon the massive clowns response Pierce's eyes widened as he recognized the name from several news reports as well as rumors of rather unsavory things. " Well you are seemingly nicer than you are portrayed by the Media Mr. White. I do have to ask, how exactly does one of your stature go unnoticed long enough to evade the authorities?"

Aegis HQ

Upon the entrance of the twins Lewis turned towards them from his seat. They were a bit disconcerting to say the least, as they finished each others sentences. Always a little freaky when twins did that, Ms. Lin looked up at them and checked the list of invited people, while they werent on the list, from what she could see. However she didnt sense any hostile intentions from them, so she said " You two are here to join?, if so you can take a seat."

[Anowa]

Warehouse Lounge

Upon the massive clowns response Pierce's eyes widened as he recognized the name from several news reports as well as rumors of rather unsavory things. " Well you are seemingly nicer than you are portrayed by the Media Mr. White. I do have to ask, how exactly does one of your stature go unnoticed long enough to evade the authorities?"

Aegis HQ

Upon the entrance of the twins Lewis turned towards them from his seat. They were a bit disconcerting to say the least, as they finished each others sentences. Always a little freaky when twins did that, Ms. Lin looked up at them and checked the list of invited people, while they werent on the list, from what she could see. However she didn't sense any hostile intentions from them, so she said " You two are here to join?, if so you can take a seat."

Shanky the Clown
I inclined my head a bit, "I do not stay in one place for very long, I usually move when the authorities come around. Granted the encounter usually ends with a few badges, pistols, billy clubs, and tazers being sold to street gangs, and uniforms being sold to a higher set of bidders.... I also usually receive a full salt box as well."

I leaned forward in the chair, "And between you and me, the adage of 'Pigs' is quite accurate."

---

Osteo
Jesus Christ on a pikestaff.... They look nearly identical to King...

---

August 17, 2004
A then Corporal Alexander Carmichael sat next to a friend of his, one Sergeant James King in the rear of an LAV. Mr. King was currently casting his forlorn gaze upon a picture of himself, his wife, and his two children. Upon further Inquiry, Mr. Carmichael would learn that Mr. King's wife -whom Mr. Carmichael had met- had recently died of heart failure, and that he'd be headed home soon to look after his two four year old twins -who would be too young to remember a trip down to a certain ranch in the early 2000s-. Soon after this event the two would lose touch with one another.

---

In a barely discernible voice I mumbled their names to myself, "...James...and Amelia..."