Gods Among Us: City of the Gods (IC|Superhero|Closed)

[Whalestron]

Octavian unslung his bow, offering her a nod. "Only subtly referencing your past." He began walking towards the back as she said her plan, "I'll try to stick to the plan, but things will go wrong. This is a decent sized gang, and some of these guys will be completely desperate for any way to get out of arrest. So I'm just hoping you're bullet proof too." He began jogging now, on the back of the roof at the back of the building. "See you soon, officer Dartwood." And with that, he began sliding down a dangerously loose pipe, miraculously avoiding any injuries.

The criminals filed inside, one of them shooting out the security camera. Strangely enough, the alarm didn't go off when one of them smashed the glass containing some jewels. The company kept a vault containing a fair amount of money in the back, and the criminals would likely find it in the sweep they were doing.

Octavian opened the back door slowly after picking the lock, creeping inside. He drew a flash bang arrow, nocking it as he pushed his back against the wall. He was waiting for Alice's entrance, at which he planned to save her from becoming Swiss cheese.

[Anowa]

-snip-

Justin became a bit... flabbergasted at the revelation that lizard people actually existed. Really it was something he should've expected, but hearing it come from the mouth of a government agent... It was both terrifying in an incredulous sense, and hilarious.

"First aliens, and now lizard politicians... Perhaps we should've paid attention to the whackjobs. Certainly would've made our job more pro-active."

As Justin spoke, a Ford Pinto of all things parked on the street outside the gate, heavily listing to one side... At least before a mammoth of an armored being stepped out, and a noticeably smaller figure though noticably... not normal, given her dressing. The way they strode up to the gate however was enough to note that they felt confident enough that they'd not be shot on sight. The taller one knocked on the gate.

Justin switched his grasp on NUMB to one hand, keeping both behind his back, as the unoccupied hand wreathed itself in a blue flame, "I hate to hijack discussion, but I believe we have company to address."

[Primordial Luxa]

-snip-

Justin became a bit... flabbergasted at the revelation that lizard people existed. Really it was something he should've expected, but hearing it come from the mouth of a government agent... It was both terrifying in an incredulous sense, and hilarious.

"First aliens, and now lizard politicians... Perhaps we should've paid attention to the whackjobs. Certainly would've made our job more pro-active."

As Justin spoke, a Ford Pinto of all things parked on the street outside the gate, heavily listing to one side... At least before a mammoth of an armored being stepped out, and a noticeably smaller figure though noticably... not normal, given her dressing. The way they strode up to the gate however was enough to note that they felt confident enough that they'd not be shot on sight. The taller one knocked on the gate.

Justin switched his grasp on NUMB to one hand, keeping both behind his back, as the unoccupied hand wreathed itself in a blue flame, "I hate to hijack discussion, but I believe we have company to address."

Calamity laughed a bit at Justin's comment.

“Yes, Nevermore did sound like Mulder on his off days. He highly encouraged foil hats whenever possible, but I suppose that doesn't really apply to you.”

As the sound of power armor knocking on reinforced doors echoed into the Knight command room, everyone reacted uniquely. Calamity flinched and began to radiate a slightly unearthly glow. A whirring sound could be heard as the gun lined up to track the interlopers. The central computer booted up displaying the camera feed from the guns motion trackers.

“Do not worry comrades,” NUMB said. “We know this human. He is not hostile, merely brash.”

There was a whirring as the outer gates opened allowing Atlas access to the courtyard and as the doors to the fortress allowing the Knights to exit. The four Knights strode out to meet the Agents with much pomp and circumstance. The guns stopped following them.

“Exciting to see you again Atlas,” Calamity said, “We weren’t expecting you, I don’t suppose you’ve taken up an offer to enlist with us?”

[Dyelli Beybi]

Octavian unslung his bow, offering her a nod. "Only subtly referencing your past." He began walking towards the back as she said her plan, "I'll try to stick to the plan, but things will go wrong. This is a decent sized gang, and some of these guys will be completely desperate for any way to get out of arrest. So I'm just hoping you're bullet proof too." He began jogging now, on the back of the roof at the back of the building. "See you soon, officer Dartwood." And with that, he began sliding down a dangerously loose pipe, miraculously avoiding any injuries.

The criminals filed inside, one of them shooting out the security camera. Strangely enough, the alarm didn't go off when one of them smashed the glass containing some jewels. The company kept a vault containing a fair amount of money in the back, and the criminals would likely find it in the sweep they were doing.

Octavian opened the back door slowly after picking the lock, creeping inside. He drew a flash bang arrow, nocking it as he pushed his back against the wall. He was waiting for Alice's entrance, at which he planned to save her from becoming Swiss cheese.

Alice gave a knowing smile, then stepped off the rooftop backwards, dropping with alarming speed. At the last possible moment she decelerated, setting down gently on the pavement close to the front of the shop but not within eye line of the front door.

She took a few moments to radio in for backup, letting her mysterious companion get into position while she did. What the hell was she doing? She had said she wasn't going to use her powers yet here she was doing exactly that. She didn't have that much option really... not if she wanted to figure out if her mystery man was someone she could trust to act responsibly.

She took a couple more moments to straighten her cap, then drew her pistol, jogging to the front door and taking up position behind the door frame. It probably wouldn't be too useful at stopping a bullet, but that was part of her plan... which she really should have explained in more detail. As she drew close to the wall she drew a telekinetic barrier up between her and the robbers, "NYPD!" she called, "Drop your weapons!"

Just to be absolutely sure they knew where she was she popped her head out, then drew it back in again and braced for incoming fire.

Alice's powers had a drawback that most people didn't know about - she couldn't do more than one thing at once which always put her at a bit of a disadvantage when confronted by multiple opponents. There were a few ways she had of dealing with that problem, one of which was pretending her telekinetic attacks were someone else's work. In this case, when the gang thought she was dead, the mystery archer would be the one who would get the blame...

[The Flutterlands]

“Sorry Andrew,” Calamity said “I have nothing against Australia's they’re fine people, but it looks better for everyone if our team appears American. We will put on a fast track for dual citizenship so you can expect to be getting a new passport soon.”

“The Triptych is a name given to three of the founding members of the Knights. Widely and rightly consider our most powerful members. Archon, Ultrawoman, and Nevermore. Each of them were some of the most powerful Meta-humans the world has seen easily able to achieve impossible feats. Now this next fact is a carefully guarded secret and does not leave this room; you are not allowed to reveal it to anyone or even speak about it too loudly.”

Calamity inhaled before explaining. “We have no idea where any of the Triptych are. Each of them vanished mysteriously and hasn’t been heard from since April 30, 2015. Archon mentioned something about an entity in space he needed to deal with; Ultrawoman went on a science trip in the Pacific and Nevermore just plain dropped off the face of the earth. This is a serious issue; it is the equivalent of the US losing all of its nukes with no idea where they went. You can imagine what such information could do if revealed to the wrong people. As it stands we have created an illusion that they are each fighting a secret enemy somewhere else and that at any moment we could contact them and bring them back. In truth, we cannot.”

“But we are praying and desperately searching for them to come back. Which is why I brought up Nevermore specifically, because if he does return Andrew he will probably try and kill you. You see Nevermore had a particular vendetta against a group known as the Annunaki. Am I pronouncing that right?”

“Well enough,” NUMB replied. “You don’t have the forked tongue to do it justice. The Annunaki are a race of shapeshifting reptilian humanoids. One of the reasons we recruited you, Andrew, because of your similarity to them. You bear a remarkable likeness to the one we have seen before but are clearly of a different species altogether which won’t be noticeable unless a though genetic test is done. This is wonderful because we believe that the New York City Mayor has been replaced by or has always been an Annunaki. If so we want you to trick them into thinking you are a mole in our organization so you can instead become a mole in there’s.”

Justin became a bit... flabbergasted at the revelation that lizard people existed. Really it was something he should've expected, but hearing it come from the mouth of a government agent... It was both terrifying in an incredulous sense, and hilarious.

"First aliens, and now lizard politicians... Perhaps we should've paid attention to the whackjobs. Certainly would've made our job more pro-active."

As Justin spoke, a Ford Pinto of all things parked on the street outside the gate, heavily listing to one side... At least before a mammoth of an armored being stepped out, and a noticeably smaller figure though noticably... not normal, given her dressing. The way they strode up to the gate however was enough to note that they felt confident enough that they'd not be shot on sight. The taller one knocked on the gate.

Justin switched his grasp on NUMB to one hand, keeping both behind his back, as the unoccupied hand wreathed itself in a blue flame, "I hate to hijack discussion, but I believe we have company to address."

Calamity laughed a bit at Justin's comment.

“Yes, Nevermore did sound like Mulder on his off days. He highly encouraged foil hats whenever possible, but I suppose that doesn't really apply to you.”

As the sound of power armor knocking on reinforced doors echoed into the Knight command room, everyone reacted uniquely. Calamity flinched and began to radiate a slightly unearthly glow. A whirring sound could be heard as the gun lined up to track the interlopers. The central computer booted up displaying the camera feed from the guns motion trackers.

“Do not worry comrades,” NUMB said. “We know this human. He is not hostile, merely brash.”

There was a whirring as the outer gates opened allowing Atlas access to the courtyard and as the doors to the fortress allowing the Knights to exit. The four Knights strode out to meet the Agents with much pomp and circumstance. The guns stopped following them.

“Exciting to see you again Atlas,” Calamity said, “We weren’t expecting you, I don’t suppose you’ve taken up an offer to enlist with us?”

Andrew Marks AKA Snake Eyes

Andrew frowned a bit in disappointment, stroking his seeing-eye snake. "Well, gee there goes our chance of being ssseen as sssomething other than freakish dirty thieves and beggars at home." he muttered quietly to both himself and his snake Rango, "Unless word actually spreads around otherwise." Truthfully though, that was pretty much it. He didn't really seek glory, but just to be seen something other than a criminal and freak by his fellow aussies.

Snake Eyes then scratched his head, brushing his long, messy and lush black hair as he continued to listened to Calamity while sitting down on his comfty chair in the bedroom. It was a lot to take to take in for the young snake man. A trio of metahumans with power beyond imagine comparable to nukes, a group of snake people similar to himself who may or may not be in the halls of power like considerably crazy people would think and one of the aforementioned metahumans having a bone to pick with them. It was all a lot of crazy stuff. However, never knowing who his parents were, or what happened to them, it might actually give the Andrew an inkling of his own origins before life at the Orphanage, especially since Calamity spoke of him being a member another species all together.

Still, the job they were talking about sounded interesting as well. "Sssoo you want me to go on some sort of essspionage job or something, sometime Boss?" Snake Eyes asked curiosly, his snake Rango looking directly at Calamity, his hissing voice greatly showing hope that he might not be alone in the world, "Okay. Sounds cool. You spoke of another ssspecies that you think I'm a member of. Who are those guys? Are there more blind snake people who can control snakes like me?"

Andrew's snake then turned to Justin when he spoke of a visitor. A giant husk of battle armor much like the aforementioned comrade of the knights. Snake Eyes followed Calamity and the others to meet this newcomer named Atlas. "Uh, hello, Atlas." Andrew greeted the newcomer, his glazed green eyes staring off in the distance while Rango looking directly at him, "Name's Andrew, or rather Sssnake Eyesss. You're gonna be a new recurit too like myself?"

[Whalestron]

Alice gave a knowing smile, then stepped off the rooftop backwards, dropping with alarming speed. At the last possible moment she decelerated, setting down gently on the pavement close to the front of the shop but not within eye line of the front door.

She took a few moments to radio in for backup, letting her mysterious companion get into position while she did. What the hell was she doing? She had said she wasn't going to use her powers yet here she was doing exactly that. She didn't have that much option really... not if she wanted to figure out if her mystery man was someone she could trust to act responsibly.

She took a couple more moments to straighten her cap, then drew her pistol, jogging to the front door and taking up position behind the door frame. It probably wouldn't be too useful at stopping a bullet, but that was part of her plan... which she really should have explained in more detail. As she drew close to the wall she drew a telekinetic barrier up between her and the robbers, "NYPD!" she called, "Drop your weapons!"

Just to be absolutely sure they knew where she was she popped her head out, then drew it back in again and braced for incoming fire.

Alice's powers had a drawback that most people didn't know about - she couldn't do more than one thing at once which always put her at a bit of a disadvantage when confronted by multiple opponents. There were a few ways she had of dealing with that problem, one of which was pretending her telekinetic attacks were someone else's work. In this case, when the gang thought she was dead, the mystery archer would be the one who would get the blame...

It took the gang members a few moments to realize what was happening. They deduced there weren't a bunch of officers with her, though, considering there weren't any flashing lights or radio chatter. One started opening fire in Alice's general direction, shouting to the others to grab what they could and run. She now had about three guys shooting at her now, a dreadful combination for a lone cop. Well, maybe for one without powers.

Octavian immediately knew something was wrong, and the minute the gunfire sounded off, he moved out from cover and fired the flashbang at one of the shooters. With the telltale flash and bang, he staggered, the others blinked rapidly. Octavian grabbed hold of one of the robbers that got a bit too close to his position, slamming a fist into his face.

So far they had three robbers distracted for a short time and one attempting to fight Octavian. It took a couple of hits from Octavian to take the current fighter out, but by that time his fellow gang members noticed what was happening. They all abandoned their current jewels and started firing at either the now revealed archer. Octavian slammed himself back into cover, drawing a regular arrow and nocking it. Alice currently had some attention taken off of her.

[Dyelli Beybi]

It took the gang members a few moments to realize what was happening. They deduced there weren't a bunch of officers with her, though, considering there weren't any flashing lights or radio chatter. One started opening fire in Alice's general direction, shouting to the others to grab what they could and run. She now had about three guys shooting at her now, a dreadful combination for a lone cop. Well, maybe for one without powers.

Octavian immediately knew something was wrong, and the minute the gunfire sounded off, he moved out from cover and fired the flashbang at one of the shooters. With the telltale flash and bang, he staggered, the others blinked rapidly. Octavian grabbed hold of one of the robbers that got a bit too close to his position, slamming a fist into his face.

So far they had three robbers distracted for a short time and one attempting to fight Octavian. It took a couple of hits from Octavian to take the current fighter out, but by that time his fellow gang members noticed what was happening. They all abandoned their current jewels and started firing at either the now revealed archer. Octavian slammed himself back into cover, drawing a regular arrow and nocking it. Alice currently had some attention taken off of her.

Alice waited for a few bullets to hit her barrier before giving a gasping yelp and flopping down through the doorway as if she had taken a lethal hit, letting the pistol tumble from her hand as she did. She lay very still but kept the barrier up for a few moments just in case someone decided to fire on her prostrate form (if they did, hopefully they wouldn't notice the bullets ricochet off a point a foot in front of her).

When it looked like interest in her was gone she let the shield drop and moved to the attack. The first thing to do was disarm the submachine gunner. She reached out with her mind, taking hold of the weapon, yanking it upwards with enough force to snap wrists if the gunman held on too fast (Alice had no issue with hospitalizing her opponents). When that was done she aimed a grapple at a person, grabbing them and tossing them, like a bowling ball, at the others. She ignored the ones Octavian had dealt with, hopefully they wouldn't get up again...

[Anowa]

Justin became a bit... flabbergasted at the revelation that lizard people existed. Really it was something he should've expected, but hearing it come from the mouth of a government agent... It was both terrifying in an incredulous sense, and hilarious.

"First aliens, and now lizard politicians... Perhaps we should've paid attention to the whackjobs. Certainly would've made our job more pro-active."

As Justin spoke, a Ford Pinto of all things parked on the street outside the gate, heavily listing to one side... At least before a mammoth of an armored being stepped out, and a noticeably smaller figure though noticably... not normal, given her dressing. The way they strode up to the gate however was enough to note that they felt confident enough that they'd not be shot on sight. The taller one knocked on the gate.

Justin switched his grasp on NUMB to one hand, keeping both behind his back, as the unoccupied hand wreathed itself in a blue flame, "I hate to hijack discussion, but I believe we have company to address."

Calamity laughed a bit at Justin's comment.

“Yes, Nevermore did sound like Mulder on his off days. He highly encouraged foil hats whenever possible, but I suppose that doesn't really apply to you.”

As the sound of power armor knocking on reinforced doors echoed into the Knight command room, everyone reacted uniquely. Calamity flinched and began to radiate a slightly unearthly glow. A whirring sound could be heard as the gun lined up to track the interlopers. The central computer booted up displaying the camera feed from the guns motion trackers.

“Do not worry comrades,” NUMB said. “We know this human. He is not hostile, merely brash.”

There was a whirring as the outer gates opened allowing Atlas access to the courtyard and as the doors to the fortress allowing the Knights to exit. The four Knights strode out to meet the Agents with much pomp and circumstance. The guns stopped following them.

“Exciting to see you again Atlas,” Calamity said, “We weren’t expecting you, I don’t suppose you’ve taken up an offer to enlist with us?”

Justin lowered his energy output and settled back into a normal stance, he trusted the instincts of his new employers, and even if their instincts were wrong, they did have numbers on their side.

The being named Atlas shrugged, "Agency severance package isn't the most forgiving, so I'm afraid not." He gestured to Chrono, "I was bored, chauffeured her."

On her part, the woman shook her head, "I'm sure that Hyper mentioned who I am after that debacle with Goodwin, but in case he didn't, I'm Shannon Carmichael." Atlas' head snapped to her, with a speed that made Justin's non-existent neck twinge in pain. It was obvious the Giant was not privy to this information, and that it had a great deal of sway in his mind. The Woman who identified herself as Shannon continued, "Rather recently there was a home invasion involving the family of one Anthony Cross, I've been... Commissioned so to speak, to either confirm or deny his belief that you were responsible for his family's deaths and his current state of paralysis. I figured the best course of action would be to simply ask."

[Remnants of Exilvania]

New York City
NYC City Hall
The Scarlet Baroness

Antonia kept silently for a while. She made no move, standing there like a statue. Someone had expected that there would be people interested in the islands. Here she soon lost her tension though, realizing that anyone with half a brain could've figured out that people would be interested in the place after all the stuff that went down there recently. And it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that especcially the people involved in the recent events that had occurred there would be very interested in acquiring that place. She would have some questions for the civil servant when he returned.

When he did so, she was already long expecting him. She was a very patient person, which should come by no surprise considering how long she has lived.

"Say, were you ever in the Mayor's office?"

She would toy a little with this poor civil servant. Who knows what he might know about the place. This all smelled a lot like a trap to her and she would love to get all information she could.

"Could the Mayor by any chance block the purchase?"

She raised her hand with the recorder in front of the civil servant and slowly crushed the recorder, smiling at him with a devilish smile.

"I do hope the mayor is a man of reason. Because men of ideals will be crushed..."

[Primordial Luxa]

New York City
NYC City Hall
The Scarlet Baroness

Antonia kept silently for a while. She made no move, standing there like a statue. Someone had expected that there would be people interested in the islands. Here she soon lost her tension though, realizing that anyone with half a brain could've figured out that people would be interested in the place after all the stuff that went down there recently. And it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that especcially the people involved in the recent events that had occurred there would be very interested in acquiring that place. She would have some questions for the civil servant when he returned.

When he did so, she was already long expecting him. She was a very patient person, which should come by no surprise considering how long she has lived.

"Say, were you ever in the Mayor's office?"

She would toy a little with this poor civil servant. Who knows what he might know about the place. This all smelled a lot like a trap to her and she would love to get all information she could.

"Could the Mayor by any chance block the purchase?"

She raised her hand with the recorder in front of the civil servant and slowly crushed the recorder, smiling at him with a devilish smile.

"I do hope the mayor is a man of reason. Because men of ideals will be crushed..."

The entranced civil servant does confirm that he has been in the mayors office on a few occasions and that he could block the purchase of land quite easily through either direct action or more likely manipulating other departments and groups to make the land purchase very difficult.

[Primordial Luxa]

Calamity laughed a bit at Justin's comment.

“Yes, Nevermore did sound like Mulder on his off days. He highly encouraged foil hats whenever possible, but I suppose that doesn't really apply to you.”

As the sound of power armor knocking on reinforced doors echoed into the Knight command room, everyone reacted uniquely. Calamity flinched and began to radiate a slightly unearthly glow. A whirring sound could be heard as the gun lined up to track the interlopers. The central computer booted up displaying the camera feed from the guns motion trackers.

“Do not worry comrades,” NUMB said. “We know this human. He is not hostile, merely brash.”

There was a whirring as the outer gates opened allowing Atlas access to the courtyard and as the doors to the fortress allowing the Knights to exit. The four Knights strode out to meet the Agents with much pomp and circumstance. The guns stopped following them.

“Exciting to see you again Atlas,” Calamity said, “We weren’t expecting you, I don’t suppose you’ve taken up an offer to enlist with us?”

Justin lowered his energy output and settled back into a normal stance, he trusted the instincts of his new employers, and even if their instincts were wrong, they did have numbers on their side.

The being named Atlas shrugged, "Agency severance package isn't the most forgiving, so I'm afraid not." He gestured to Chrono, "I was bored, chauffeured her."

On her part, the woman shook her head, "I'm sure that Hyper mentioned who I am after that debacle with Goodwin, but in case he didn't, I'm Shannon Carmichael." Atlas' head snapped to her, with a speed that made Justin's non-existent neck twinge in pain. It was obvious the Giant was not privy to this information, and that it had a great deal of sway in his mind. The Woman who identified herself as Shannon continued, "Rather recently there was a home invasion involving the family of one Anthony Cross, I've been... Commissioned so to speak, to either confirm or deny his belief that you were responsible for his family's deaths and his current state of paralysis. I figured the best course of action would be to simply ask."

Calamity smiled at Atlas enjoying his good humor however her mood became less cheerful when she saw Shannon. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she inspected the woman. Her instinct told her something was wrong about her, but he also reasoned it could be the Hue detecting a particularly tasty power source. She folded her arms as the subject of the conversation switched to Cross and his allegations.

"I spoke with Mr. Cross a while ago when he assisted us in defeating a terrorist intent on releasing poison gas across the city. He mentioned something similar then. I appreciate you being blunt though. Although I was under the impression his family died a long time ago, but you said this home invasion was recent. Care to elaborate?"

She had her suspicious about the real events but it was hard to confirm these things without the Tryptrich present to confirm. If she were to guess she would assume that Nevermore was responsible but Cross had been too closed lipped about the exact details of his families death to be sure.

NUMB meanwhile was watching with his normal silent and alien attention. A small foam of pink slime mold was leaking from his container as a reflexive move in anticipation of conflict. Unlike Calamity who tried to act as normal as possible and not resort immediately to violence in order to hold onto those scraps of humanity she still possessed, the only human parts of NUMB were the batteries he used to fuel his more exotic components. He had no qualms being the upsetting cylinder, always watching with sinister purpose.

[Anowa]

"I spoke with Mr. Cross a while ago when he assisted us in defeating a terrorist intent on releasing poison gas across the city. He mentioned something similar then. I appreciate you being blunt though. Although I was under the impression his family died a long time ago, but you said this home invasion was recent. Care to elaborate?"

She had her suspicious about the real events but it was hard to confirm these things without the Tryptrich present to confirm. If she were to guess she would assume that Nevermore was responsible but Cross had been too closed lipped about the exact details of his families death to be sure.

NUMB meanwhile was watching with his normal silent and alien attention. A small foam of pink slime mold was leaking from his container as a reflexive move in anticipation of conflict. Unlike Calamity who tried to act as normal as possible and not resort immediately to violence in order to hold onto those scraps of humanity she still possessed, the only human parts of NUMB were the batteries he used to fuel his more exotic components. He had no qualms being the upsetting cylinder, always watching with sinister purpose.

Shannon continued, as Atlas watched with a mild presence of apprehension, "His father was killed in 2005 after being assassinated, which as he has told me the story behind as well as the conversation you had with him. He was the only resultant death of the incident, and the US lost a congressman. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, someone invaded Anthony Cross' residence, and killed his mother Iona Ivanov, and re-killed a family friend of Jason Cain. Based on Anthony's rather... fuzzy description, they were dressed in black. Given how he was shot in the head with a .44 Magnum round it's better than nothing. He's suspecting that you were involved and, and that it was likely because of his involvement in creating a cure to something you could use to your advantage... I don't share his sentiments exactly. But given how we're... tied in a certain sense I'd like to know an answer."

Justin looked down at the pink slime coming from NUMB, "That better not erode my fingers or I'll put you in a vat of flouroantimonic acid."

Atlas simply remained stock still, gauging what kind of response he'd need if things turned south... In reality he should've just walked away at this point, but he was very much curious as to why the mother of Osteo was so involved with Anthony Cross.

[Whalestron]

Alice waited for a few bullets to hit her barrier before giving a gasping yelp and flopping down through the doorway as if she had taken a lethal hit, letting the pistol tumble from her hand as she did. She lay very still but kept the barrier up for a few moments just in case someone decided to fire on her prostrate form (if they did, hopefully they wouldn't notice the bullets ricochet off a point a foot in front of her).

When it looked like interest in her was gone she let the shield drop and moved to the attack. The first thing to do was disarm the submachine gunner. She reached out with her mind, taking hold of the weapon, yanking it upwards with enough force to snap wrists if the gunman held on too fast (Alice had no issue with hospitalizing her opponents). When that was done she aimed a grapple at a person, grabbing them and tossing them, like a bowling ball, at the others. She ignored the ones Octavian had dealt with, hopefully they wouldn't get up again...

Octavian grappled with another guy, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him aside. He turned, with a smile, in Alice's direction. "So, how long 'till your backup arri-.." His smile faltered when she played dead. He didn't know what she did, although he had a thought that she got shot trying to enter the fight. Octavian grabbed another arrow, this one being a regular one. He took aim at one of the guns as they turned towards him, firing it at the barrel. It lodged itself right in front of it, hopefully causing a misfire.

When Alice got up, attention was slowly averted back to both of them equally. The robbers definitely could have sworn they killed her, she did fall, after all. Octavian was relieved. "Didn't see anything about you being bulletproof, Watcher!" He called over to her. The one robber that got his SMG yanked away from him was smart enough to let go of it. By now, they were mostly confused, and decided to surrender. All of them raised their arms, calling for it all to stop. The ones who were knocked over and unconscious didn't really have anywhere to run yet. Octavian approached the crowd of people. "So, you got a bag of handcuffs on you, by chance?" He asked Alice.

[Primordial Luxa]

"I spoke with Mr. Cross a while ago when he assisted us in defeating a terrorist intent on releasing poison gas across the city. He mentioned something similar then. I appreciate you being blunt though. Although I was under the impression his family died a long time ago, but you said this home invasion was recent. Care to elaborate?"

She had her suspicious about the real events but it was hard to confirm these things without the Tryptrich present to confirm. If she were to guess she would assume that Nevermore was responsible but Cross had been too closed lipped about the exact details of his families death to be sure.

NUMB meanwhile was watching with his normal silent and alien attention. A small foam of pink slime mold was leaking from his container as a reflexive move in anticipation of conflict. Unlike Calamity who tried to act as normal as possible and not resort immediately to violence in order to hold onto those scraps of humanity she still possessed, the only human parts of NUMB were the batteries he used to fuel his more exotic components. He had no qualms being the upsetting cylinder, always watching with sinister purpose.

Shannon continued, as Atlas watched with a mild presence of apprehension, "His father was killed in 2005 after being assassinated, which as he has told me the story behind as well as the conversation you had with him. He was the only resultant death of the incident, and the US lost a congressman. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, someone invaded Anthony Cross' residence, and killed his mother Iona Ivanov, and re-killed a family friend of Jason Cain. Based on Anthony's rather... fuzzy description, they were dressed in black. Given how he was shot in the head with a .44 Magnum round it's better than nothing. He's suspecting that you were involved and, and that it was likely because of his involvement in creating a cure to something you could use to your advantage... I don't share his sentiments exactly. But given how we're... tied in a certain sense I'd like to know an answer."

Justin looked down at the pink slime coming from NUMB, "That better not erode my fingers or I'll put you in a vat of flouroantimonic acid."

Atlas simply remained stock still, gauging what kind of response he'd need if things turned south... In reality he should've just walked away at this point, but he was very much curious as to why the mother of Osteo was so involved with Anthony Cross.

“First, My teammates, our organization, the government and myself find Mr. Cross’s accusations about assassinating congressmen deeply disturbing. No such event has ever been so much as considered, much less enacted,” Calamity said. Her words seemed slightly rehearsed like a company responding to allegations.

“In any case none of the details of his implicate any members of our team. We do not have any full grown adults, who dress in all black and have been known carry a .44. And the idea that we would kill innocent civilians is even more troubling that the idea we might kill politicians.” Calamity watched Shannon’s face looking to see how much of her own story she believed. Her own face looked slightly offended but also quizzical.

In reality Calamity was worried. At first she had though it very likely that Nevermore might be responsible for the death of Cross’s father, but she was growing less sure. This new attack didn’t fit the MO of any of her allies. There were too many things slightly off to be Nevermore, like the Magnum and the presence of survivors. But a Magnum hinted at another of the triptych, but they weren’t none to dress in all black and would have been definable by other more noticeable traits.


NUMB’s cylinder gurgled something to Justin. “It is quite safe for you at this moment. I have not started running enough of a charge for you to worry.” He then turned his attention to Snake Eyes and spoke to both of the new members. “These sorts of allegations are unfortunately more common than you would think. But they are just as baseless as any rumors about a governments culpability in certain terror attacks. Regardless of what people claim don’t take these sorts of things at face value, and if you do suspect something bring it to me or Calamity first.”

Calamity continued as NUMB spoke to the other members “Hyper spoke highly of your abilities but I still think it is important to warn you as I assume Atlas already has, that vigilantism is still very much illegal in this country at this time. Without authorization of course, like we have. Now our job doesn’t entail hunting down vigilantes, were much more concerned with full blooded criminals. But be warned that all it takes is a federal judges attention or a commissioner’s announcement to turn a vigilante into a target.”

[Dyelli Beybi]

Octavian grappled with another guy, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him aside. He turned, with a smile, in Alice's direction. "So, how long 'till your backup arri-.." His smile faltered when she played dead. He didn't know what she did, although he had a thought that she got shot trying to enter the fight. Octavian grabbed another arrow, this one being a regular one. He took aim at one of the guns as they turned towards him, firing it at the barrel. It lodged itself right in front of it, hopefully causing a misfire.

When Alice got up, attention was slowly averted back to both of them equally. The robbers definitely could have sworn they killed her, she did fall, after all. Octavian was relieved. "Didn't see anything about you being bulletproof, Watcher!" He called over to her. The one robber that got his SMG yanked away from him was smart enough to let go of it. By now, they were mostly confused, and decided to surrender. All of them raised their arms, calling for it all to stop. The ones who were knocked over and unconscious didn't really have anywhere to run yet. Octavian approached the crowd of people. "So, you got a bag of handcuffs on you, by chance?" He asked Alice.

Alice was a little unusual when it came to using powers. There was no telegraphing of any form. As long as her eyes were open and fixed on a target (and provided she wasn't under the influence of sedatives or suffering some kind of head trauma) she was able to exert her will on it. If you didn't know what she was capable of it would be very easy not to realise she was responsible...

She didn't move a muscle until the fight was more-or-less over, at which point she got up, retrieved her firearm and dusted herself off, "Looks like I took a tumble there." she said, ignoring the reference to herself as 'Watcher', addressing the robbers, "You are all under arrest for breaking and entering and the attempted murder of me... You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. You're lucky you missed me. The Court looks dimly on murdering police officers."

She sat back on one of the unbroken display cases, positioning herself so she could cover all of the people she had just arrested, "Only one set of handcuffs, strange-vigilante-who-I've-never-seen-before." she replied, with a slight smile, though I do have a gun and I don't imagine backup will be far off. Thank you, I'd have been dead if it wasn't for you. Taking everyone out on your own was quite something... what should I call you?"

If it hadn't been clear from the conversation on the rooftop, it should have been becoming abundantly clear that Alice had no intention of claiming any of the credit. For whatever reason she was quite keen to keep her own identity secret. She waited for the sound of sirens to grow in the distance, grow to the point where it seemed the police would round the corner at any moment before turning back to Octavian, "I suppose this i your queue to exit. Do you have my number? Next time lets do something with more jazz bands and less firearms."

[Anowa]

“First, My teammates, our organization, the government and myself find Mr. Cross’s accusations about assassinating congressmen deeply disturbing. No such event has ever been so much as considered, much less enacted,” Calamity said. Her words seemed slightly rehearsed like a company responding to allegations.

“In any case none of the details of his implicate any members of our team. We do not have any full grown adults, who dress in all black and have been known carry a .44. And the idea that we would kill innocent civilians is even more troubling that the idea we might kill politicians.” Calamity watched Shannon’s face looking to see how much of her own story she believed. Her own face looked slightly offended but also quizzical.

In reality Calamity was worried. At first she had though it very likely that Nevermore might be responsible for the death of Cross’s father, but she was growing less sure. This new attack didn’t fit the MO of any of her allies. There were too many things slightly off to be Nevermore, like the Magnum and the presence of survivors. But a Magnum hinted at another of the triptych, but they weren’t none to dress in all black and would have been definable by other more noticeable traits.


NUMB’s cylinder gurgled something to Justin. “It is quite safe for you at this moment. I have not started running enough of a charge for you to worry.” He then turned his attention to Snake Eyes and spoke to both of the new members. “These sorts of allegations are unfortunately more common than you would think. But they are just as baseless as any rumors about a governments culpability in certain terror attacks. Regardless of what people claim don’t take these sorts of things at face value, and if you do suspect something bring it to me or Calamity first.”

Calamity continued as NUMB spoke to the other members “Hyper spoke highly of your abilities but I still think it is important to warn you as I assume Atlas already has, that vigilantism is still very much illegal in this country at this time. Without authorization of course, like we have. Now our job doesn’t entail hunting down vigilantes, were much more concerned with full blooded criminals. But be warned that all it takes is a federal judges attention or a commissioner’s announcement to turn a vigilante into a target.”

Shannon shook her head a bit at the claim that assassinating a congressman had never been considered. There wasn't much of a gap between death threats and actually delivering, especially since Congressman Cross -her grandfather- was as stubborn as he was portrayed. Hell, with the proximity to the Knights of America act being signed into law there wasn't mach else of a suspect for such a case.

Regardless, she wasn't here to start spawning black-holes on people's heads. "As fun as my attempted arrest would be to see, my actions are restricted to company security for my f-riend, private investigations, and operating a soup kitchen down by the docks. Should it escalate to something that would require me to actually use my powers, trying to arrest me would be counter-intuitive to put it lightly."

Justin however spotted something, "And the concealed weapon under your coat's folds? Is there a permit for that?"

Shannon shrugged, "Don't need one, under US Federal law it's neither a firearm, air gun, or destructive device."

Justin hummed, the woman was smart, he could respect that, no doubt she had something up her sleeve as well. People like that always seemed to be the ones that -ironically- you could trust the most.

Atlas spoke next, having been quiet and contemplative for quite a while, namely on the small hitch in her speech. It was small, but there weren't many alternative words that made sense grammatically, "You're older than Mr. Cross, so how the actual fuck is Anthony Cross your father?"

Shannon's eyes widened for a moment. Before sighing, "That, would be a very complicated explanation. One that would be fitting for another time."

Atlas crossed his arms, "I believe we have time now. Especially with what's implied with your alias."

[Remnants of Exilvania]

New York City
NYC City Hall
The Mayor's Office
The Scarlet Baroness

The more the civil servant told her, the more dissatisfied she got. This mayor was sticking his nose into businesses too complex for him to ever fully grasp. And if he was to make use of the privileges of his office to stick his nose even deeper into the business of the SS, then she would take the first steps to ensure that he'd get a bloody nose when doing so. The SS had a long history of reacting in a very rough way to people standing in it's way and Antonia had no intention of changing that. Most of the mortal scum was quickly replaceable anyways. Looking at the civil servant she wondered if she should kill him as well. Sadly, killing people wasn't as much without consequences as it had been 200 years ago.

So she spun on her heel and left the civil servant alone with the documents, slowly coming back to his senses. Her destination was the mayor's office now. Luckily, the recording had included a description of the way so she didn't have to waste any time with looking for it or asking more civil servants about what route to take but could head there on the direct path.

She stopped in front of the office. How should she approach the mayor? She had little to no idea about his personality or background and also didn't have any intelligence on what else he was capable of doing. Considering that, she thought that a polite and civilized approach would be most suited for this meeting. She shyly knocked onto the door before opening it. Once opened, she made a few shy steps into the room, wearing the scared and innocent facade of a young girl. She quickly performed a curtsey before looking at the ground and muttering:

"M-Mr. Mayor, th-that big old man from th-the B-b the Buraeu of Land Management told me to com-come here. Or, well, n-not directly. The recorder th-tha-that he was tol-old to give someone told me to. I-I hope I did not do anything wr-wrong Mr. M-ayor!"

She almost cried out her last words, now finally looking up at the mayor with tears in her eyes.

New York City
Reich Industries Warehouse
SS Oberführer Dirlewanger

The gate of the fence slowly opened for the black limousine. The driver had left the car in order to operate the gate controls from the small guardhouse, leaving only Dirlewanger in the car. Once the gate was open, he hurried to get back in and drove the limousine through the gate, not even closing it again. He parked it in a shadowy corner of the small complex before knocking onto the glass panels separating the driver's cabin from the passeners cabin to signalize Dirlewanger that they had reached their destination.

Dirlewanger took his time leaving the car and, once he was out, took some time to readjust his optical sensors and take in his surroundings. Putting on several filters, he managed to see several things. First he confirmed that the guards were still very much alife though all lying on the ground, most likely unconscious. Their well being was of no importance to him but maybe the way they were taken out could deliver some first clues on who had been here. He was just about to go to the closest guard when he suddenly stopped. Why examine the guards at the expense of costly time? After a short moment of hesitation he instead turned towards the warehouse.

Already at a distance he could see that the door had been left open. Very careless of the intruders he thought. With a soft humming the generator within him increased his power output and Dirlewangers rather stiff and choppy movements got a lot smoother. He was ready for combat. With a jump he entered the warehouse and rolled into cover behind a few crates. What he hadn't expected was that he rolled into something soft. Something soft and even moaning in pain! Quickly changing to a Night Vision filter in the dark warehouse, he discovered that he had landed on some unfortunate black thug. Atleast his clothes seemed like it and the way he behaved he seemed to have taken some drugs just now.

Shouts alerted Dirlewanger of the presence of several more men in the warehouse. Judging by the situation these seemed to be common criminal lowlives who had grabbed the opportunity of raiding an unprotected Arms depot. Hopefully they won-

But a scream coming from further back in the warehouse destroyed these people's chance of survival. Looking over the crates, Dirlewanger saw another thug coming from the basement entrance, almost as pale from shock as an albino. Without question he had found the bodies in the basement. Well, Dirlewanger closed and opened his claw hands several times before casually ripping out the heart of the drugged guy he had been sitting on. The slaughter was about to begin.

Merely a minute later a considerably bloodstained Dirlewanger made his way to the surveillance room. He didn't waste any time with lockpicking or anything else but simply kicked the door open. Checking the files, he soon found out 2 things. First was that Reichhart hadn't lied. He and his task force had indeed eliminated all records of what they had done here. This was good. The SS wasn't fully back in the spotlight, still hiding itself in the shadows of Reich Industries. Investigation by meta humans was the last thing they needed. And the appearance of obviously paranormal creatures in a RI warehouse killing RI employees surely would've attracted their attention.

The second thing though was much worse. Judging by the armour of the 2 people who had breached security, they were for sure not part of the common rabble. Maybe Elite Mercenaries hired by a rival company? No, taking a closer look at the bulkier one made identification possible. Dirlewangers claws punched right through the monitor in a sudden outburst of rage. Wherever one went, the goddamn heroes apparently always kept track. One of the 2 was definitely someone along the lines of a hero. The other he didn't know about but her helmet seemed to be flashing. What did it remind him of? Ah, right! The flash light from photographs! Damn! She made pictures of this mess. Dirlewanger knew that the bodies had been way too long in the warehouse. He had basically provoked detection with that but there simply hadn't been a good opportunity to dispose of the bodies.

But what would he do now? For sure he would have to report this but what about the bodies? He couldn't risk police coming here and finding them. Maybe destroy the warehouse? It was filled with all sorts of weaponry so he could do some impressive fireworks with it and depending on how he placed the bodies, he could make a good excuse for it. The beheaded bodies would have to be completely incinerated, the Thugs burned so far that one couldn't exactly identify by what weapon they had been killed originally and the guards didn't even all have to die. As long as they all agreed to tell the same story later...

"Wenzel, we have a problem."

[The Flutterlands]

Justin lowered his energy output and settled back into a normal stance, he trusted the instincts of his new employers, and even if their instincts were wrong, they did have numbers on their side.

The being named Atlas shrugged, "Agency severance package isn't the most forgiving, so I'm afraid not." He gestured to Chrono, "I was bored, chauffeured her."

On her part, the woman shook her head, "I'm sure that Hyper mentioned who I am after that debacle with Goodwin, but in case he didn't, I'm Shannon Carmichael." Atlas' head snapped to her, with a speed that made Justin's non-existent neck twinge in pain. It was obvious the Giant was not privy to this information, and that it had a great deal of sway in his mind. The Woman who identified herself as Shannon continued, "Rather recently there was a home invasion involving the family of one Anthony Cross, I've been... Commissioned so to speak, to either confirm or deny his belief that you were responsible for his family's deaths and his current state of paralysis. I figured the best course of action would be to simply ask."

"I spoke with Mr. Cross a while ago when he assisted us in defeating a terrorist intent on releasing poison gas across the city. He mentioned something similar then. I appreciate you being blunt though. Although I was under the impression his family died a long time ago, but you said this home invasion was recent. Care to elaborate?"

She had her suspicious about the real events but it was hard to confirm these things without the Tryptrich present to confirm. If she were to guess she would assume that Nevermore was responsible but Cross had been too closed lipped about the exact details of his families death to be sure.

NUMB meanwhile was watching with his normal silent and alien attention. A small foam of pink slime mold was leaking from his container as a reflexive move in anticipation of conflict. Unlike Calamity who tried to act as normal as possible and not resort immediately to violence in order to hold onto those scraps of humanity she still possessed, the only human parts of NUMB were the batteries he used to fuel his more exotic components. He had no qualms being the upsetting cylinder, always watching with sinister purpose.

Shannon continued, as Atlas watched with a mild presence of apprehension, "His father was killed in 2005 after being assassinated, which as he has told me the story behind as well as the conversation you had with him. He was the only resultant death of the incident, and the US lost a congressman. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, someone invaded Anthony Cross' residence, and killed his mother Iona Ivanov, and re-killed a family friend of Jason Cain. Based on Anthony's rather... fuzzy description, they were dressed in black. Given how he was shot in the head with a .44 Magnum round it's better than nothing. He's suspecting that you were involved and, and that it was likely because of his involvement in creating a cure to something you could use to your advantage... I don't share his sentiments exactly. But given how we're... tied in a certain sense I'd like to know an answer."

Justin looked down at the pink slime coming from NUMB, "That better not erode my fingers or I'll put you in a vat of flouroantimonic acid."

Atlas simply remained stock still, gauging what kind of response he'd need if things turned south... In reality he should've just walked away at this point, but he was very much curious as to why the mother of Osteo was so involved with Anthony Cross.

“First, My teammates, our organization, the government and myself find Mr. Cross’s accusations about assassinating congressmen deeply disturbing. No such event has ever been so much as considered, much less enacted,” Calamity said. Her words seemed slightly rehearsed like a company responding to allegations.

“In any case none of the details of his implicate any members of our team. We do not have any full grown adults, who dress in all black and have been known carry a .44. And the idea that we would kill innocent civilians is even more troubling that the idea we might kill politicians.” Calamity watched Shannon’s face looking to see how much of her own story she believed. Her own face looked slightly offended but also quizzical.

In reality Calamity was worried. At first she had though it very likely that Nevermore might be responsible for the death of Cross’s father, but she was growing less sure. This new attack didn’t fit the MO of any of her allies. There were too many things slightly off to be Nevermore, like the Magnum and the presence of survivors. But a Magnum hinted at another of the triptych, but they weren’t none to dress in all black and would have been definable by other more noticeable traits.


NUMB’s cylinder gurgled something to Justin. “It is quite safe for you at this moment. I have not started running enough of a charge for you to worry.” He then turned his attention to Snake Eyes and spoke to both of the new members. “These sorts of allegations are unfortunately more common than you would think. But they are just as baseless as any rumors about a governments culpability in certain terror attacks. Regardless of what people claim don’t take these sorts of things at face value, and if you do suspect something bring it to me or Calamity first.”

Calamity continued as NUMB spoke to the other members “Hyper spoke highly of your abilities but I still think it is important to warn you as I assume Atlas already has, that vigilantism is still very much illegal in this country at this time. Without authorization of course, like we have. Now our job doesn’t entail hunting down vigilantes, were much more concerned with full blooded criminals. But be warned that all it takes is a federal judges attention or a commissioner’s announcement to turn a vigilante into a target.”

Shannon shook her head a bit at the claim that assassinating a congressman had never been considered. There wasn't much of a gap between death threats and actually delivering, especially since Congressman Cross -her grandfather- was as stubborn as he was portrayed. Hell, with the proximity to the Knights of America act being signed into law there wasn't mach else of a suspect for such a case.

Regardless, she wasn't here to start spawning black-holes on people's heads. "As fun as my attempted arrest would be to see, my actions are restricted to company security for my f-riend, private investigations, and operating a soup kitchen down by the docks. Should it escalate to something that would require me to actually use my powers, trying to arrest me would be counter-intuitive to put it lightly."

Justin however spotted something, "And the concealed weapon under your coat's folds? Is there a permit for that?"

Shannon shrugged, "Don't need one, under US Federal law it's neither a firearm, air gun, or destructive device."

Justin hummed, the woman was smart, he could respect that, no doubt she had something up her sleeve as well. People like that always seemed to be the ones that -ironically- you could trust the most.

Atlas spoke next, having been quiet and contemplative for quite a while, namely on the small hitch in her speech. It was small, but there weren't many alternative words that made sense grammatically, "You're older than Mr. Cross, so how the actual fuck is Anthony Cross your father?"

Shannon's eyes widened for a moment. Before sighing, "That, would be a very complicated explanation. One that would be fitting for another time."

Atlas crossed his arms, "I believe we have time now. Especially with what's implied with your alias."

Andrew Marks AKA Snake Eyes

Andrew Marks, quite annoyed by how his question about his origins went unanswered., occasionally strokee the chin of his snake Rango as he listened deeply to the conversation between Calamity and the newcomers, Shannon and Atlas, the latter denying the request of joining the Knights. Once again, it was all a headscratcher to the young Australian snake man, being about a home invasion and the murders of someone's entire family by an unknown assailant. He himself, like Calamity, found it odd and disturbing that Knights would be accused of such actions. Strange. Andrew thought, Looks like we got ourselves a mystery on our hands, eh Rango?

Chuckling morbidly at the Scooby-Doo reference internally, Snake Eyes had Rango turn his head to NUMB and Justin as they spoke to each other. Rango and Andrew, being telepathically connected through sight and mind, both noticed the strange pink foam and were a little creeped out by it. However, they were relieved to know that the foam poses no threat at the moment. "Well, hopefully you won't get to that moment." Andrew hissed softly, before nodding at NUMB's statement about the allegations, "Yeah, I hope that thessse rumorsss aren't true. I don't wanna get caught up in any asssasssination plotssss or anything like that and I'll be sssure to bring up anything ssstrange ssshould me and Rango find it."

Andrew/Rango returned their attention to Calamity and others, talking about how the Knights deal with criminals and vigilantes. Snake Eyes tilted his head. He didn't see the weapon or whatever it was that the visiting woman had like Justin did, but like Atlas he did catch the strange way Shannon spoke the word 'friend'. It seemed like she was going to say something else but caught herself mid-word and said 'friend' abruptly instead. Like Atlas, it didn't take long for Andrew to figure out exactly the word she was going to say. Wow. he thought, Could this woman be younger than she looks?

"Yeah I think you ssshould tell uss what'sss actually going on." he hissed as he crossed his arms, while his seeing eye snake peered closely at Shannon, hoping to get an answer as much as Atlas.

[Primordial Luxa]

Knights Fortress

“Atlas I think you need to run better background checks on your friends,” Calamity said “Your free to come back any time but Shannon I advise you learn about how threatening federal officials is illegal and how making threats when surrounded by anti-tank rifles is a bad negotiating strategy.”

As the Agent and the Time Traveler left Calamity turned back to Snake Eyes and the entire group began walking back inside the compound.

“I’m sorry about that. Anyway you were saying something before we were interrupted.”

Justin meanwhile set NUMB down on a nearby table and then left to go back to his room.

Mayor’s Office

Bill de Blasio simply looked over his desk at the girl with very skeptical eyes and a slight smile on his face. He was an old man but his exact age was unrecognizable and he had a very ordinary look about him that made him seem almost unassuming. But the way he looked at Antonia was predatory and sinister.

“That was very convincing Antonia. If I didn’t know better, I would have mistaken you for an actual little girl. The curtesy was telling though, girls stopped doing that a while ago. Please take a seat.”

He gestured to one of the plush leather chairs in front of him and it was at this point that Antonia got a good look at the man that had opened the door for her. He was much more recognizable than the mayor. Tall, well-built and young looking he was man dressed in a black suit with a purple tie. His tense and watchful manner made it clear he was body guard. However, none of that was as attention grabbing as his right eye. The man could have been considered quite handsome if his right eye hadn’t been sewn shut by what appeared to be metal wires.

“So Antonia you’re interested in these islands, care to tell me why exactly,” the Mayor asked.

[Whalestron]

Octavian grappled with another guy, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him aside. He turned, with a smile, in Alice's direction. "So, how long 'till your backup arri-.." His smile faltered when she played dead. He didn't know what she did, although he had a thought that she got shot trying to enter the fight. Octavian grabbed another arrow, this one being a regular one. He took aim at one of the guns as they turned towards him, firing it at the barrel. It lodged itself right in front of it, hopefully causing a misfire.

When Alice got up, attention was slowly averted back to both of them equally. The robbers definitely could have sworn they killed her, she did fall, after all. Octavian was relieved. "Didn't see anything about you being bulletproof, Watcher!" He called over to her. The one robber that got his SMG yanked away from him was smart enough to let go of it. By now, they were mostly confused, and decided to surrender. All of them raised their arms, calling for it all to stop. The ones who were knocked over and unconscious didn't really have anywhere to run yet. Octavian approached the crowd of people. "So, you got a bag of handcuffs on you, by chance?" He asked Alice.

Alice was a little unusual when it came to using powers. There was no telegraphing of any form. As long as her eyes were open and fixed on a target (and provided she wasn't under the influence of sedatives or suffering some kind of head trauma) she was able to exert her will on it. If you didn't know what she was capable of it would be very easy not to realise she was responsible...

She didn't move a muscle until the fight was more-or-less over, at which point she got up, retrieved her firearm and dusted herself off, "Looks like I took a tumble there." she said, ignoring the reference to herself as 'Watcher', addressing the robbers, "You are all under arrest for breaking and entering and the attempted murder of me... You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. You're lucky you missed me. The Court looks dimly on murdering police officers."

She sat back on one of the unbroken display cases, positioning herself so she could cover all of the people she had just arrested, "Only one set of handcuffs, strange-vigilante-who-I've-never-seen-before." she replied, with a slight smile, though I do have a gun and I don't imagine backup will be far off. Thank you, I'd have been dead if it wasn't for you. Taking everyone out on your own was quite something... what should I call you?"

If it hadn't been clear from the conversation on the rooftop, it should have been becoming abundantly clear that Alice had no intention of claiming any of the credit. For whatever reason she was quite keen to keep her own identity secret. She waited for the sound of sirens to grow in the distance, grow to the point where it seemed the police would round the corner at any moment before turning back to Octavian, "I suppose this i your queue to exit. Do you have my number? Next time lets do something with more jazz bands and less firearms."

Octavian hadn't been paying much mind to the criminals' awareness of their names. He never really considered that the police in charge of their interrogation would really believe that the officer in the shadows was actually the superhero Watcher. He slung his bow over his back and went around the room collecting the salvageable arrows and sliding them into his quiver. At Alice's question as to what she should call him he responded with the first thing that popped into his head. "Red," he motioned to his hair, "Guess that's the common one, that or 'Crazy-Guy-With-A-Bow." He gave her a smile.

As the sirens grew closer, he started making his way over to the back entrance. He'd be able to get away easily, considering the main focus. "Oh, right.." He stopped a few feet from the door and approached Alice, drawing a small piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it over to her, a phone number. "Call if you ever, y'know, need a helping hand or something." He then turned heel and left.

Octavian climbed up the fire escape of the building next to the store, taking one last glance at the store which was now being surrounded by cop cars. He sniffed, smiling, then began running along the rooftops again. It took him about an hour to get back to his house, and he clambered into his room's window, once inside he gladly undressed from his costume and put on some normal clothes. He put his bow and quiver away where he always hid it, in a secret compartment in his closet. After closing it, he crashed down onto his bed. The room as a whole was messy. There were clothes lying around the dresser, some things poking out of the drawers of it. His bed definitely hadn't been made in a while, as the blankets were wrinkled, and the pillows were everywhere but the head of the bed. The place looked like the average teen's room. There was a TV hanging across from the bed, and he turned on the news channel using the remote he'd found, by luck, next to where he sat. He knew there wouldn't be a story about the robbery until the next day, but he would probably fall asleep anyway.

[Dyelli Beybi]

When the news did manage to cover the events at the jewelry store there was barely a mention of her involvement. As far as the media was concerned, a young NYPD officer had managed to disturb a well-planned robbery in progress and would have ended up dead were it not for the timely intervention of a mysterious vigilante with a bow and telekinetic powers. One channel managed to get a picture of Officer Dartwood looking at the camera from under the brim of her cap and muttering, "Well if it wasn't for him I'd have been dead, but instead we made a good arrest."

Universally, people seemed to be buying the story, though it was a little more exposure than she liked. She left it until she was off shift again the next day before ringing the number she had been given. She still wasn't entirely sure where this was heading and what she was going to do with her life... she needed someone to talk it over with. Someone who knew her secret.

[The Flutterlands]

Knights Fortress

“Atlas I think you need to run better background checks on your friends,” Calamity said “Your free to come back any time but Shannon I advise you learn about how threatening federal officials is illegal and how making threats when surrounded by anti-tank rifles is a bad negotiating strategy.”

As the Agent and the Time Traveler left Calamity turned back to Snake Eyes and the entire group began walking back inside the compound.

“I’m sorry about that. Anyway you were saying something before we were interrupted.”

Justin meanwhile set NUMB down on a nearby table and then left to go back to his room.

Andrew Marks

Andrew/Rango watched Atlas and Shannon leave, having a feeling that he wouldn't be seeing them again. The snake kid then turned to notice that Justin was gone to before looking up at Calamity. He thought about it before suddenly remembering. "Oh, right." he hissed softly, looking at the older woman with big curious eyes despite his blindness, "Uh. earlier you said that I'm a member of another species. D-do you know who they are? Are there other blind snake people who can bond with other snakes? Am I really not the only one of my kind?"

[Primordial Luxa]

Knights Fortress

“Atlas I think you need to run better background checks on your friends,” Calamity said “Your free to come back any time but Shannon I advise you learn about how threatening federal officials is illegal and how making threats when surrounded by anti-tank rifles is a bad negotiating strategy.”

As the Agent and the Time Traveler left Calamity turned back to Snake Eyes and the entire group began walking back inside the compound.

“I’m sorry about that. Anyway you were saying something before we were interrupted.”

Justin meanwhile set NUMB down on a nearby table and then left to go back to his room.

Andrew Marks

Andrew/Rango watched Atlas and Shannon leave, having a feeling that he wouldn't be seeing them again. The snake kid then turned to notice that Justin was gone to before looking up at Calamity. He thought about it before suddenly remembering. "Oh, right." he hissed softly, looking at the older woman with big curious eyes despite his blindness, "Uh. earlier you said that I'm a member of another species. D-do you know who they are? Are there other blind snake people who can bond with other snakes? Am I really not the only one of my kind?"

Calamity placed a friendly hand on Andrew's shoulder. "We're, not sure about that. All we know is that your genetics doesn't match those of the Annunaki we have dealt with. We don't know if there are more of your or if you are a unique individual."

Roses' tone was conciliatory and it was clear that she empathized with his deep desire to know more about himself. So much of the Meta-human community was unknown, not only to Meta-humans themselves but also the scientists and leaders. She found it was more common that most hero's didn't know their origin story or never came to fully understand it. Most people blundered into ancient unknowable power hidden on the verges of our reality and were forever changed by the experience. But how many of them could understand what happened to them in the first place? How much of the Meta-gene was unreadable due to sempiternal genetic coding?

"But this is the exact place for your to answer those questions," NUMB chimed in "We have some of the best facilities in the world for Meta-human research and put our members first. If you stick with us we will help you find out where you came from."

Calamity's tone and face turned less confident as NUMB spoke. Every Knight had a reason they stayed and felt like they needed to do what they did. Few of them did it because they cared about the average citizen or helping mankind. Calamity could guess at the reason NUMB stayed and had hints of the horrible reasons why the Tryptich saved the world. Her own reasons weren't noble either but she tried to think of all the good they did. Their motives may not be pure, but their actions were just. That had to count for something, Calamity hoped.

[Whalestron]

When the news did manage to cover the events at the jewelry store there was barely a mention of her involvement. As far as the media was concerned, a young NYPD officer had managed to disturb a well-planned robbery in progress and would have ended up dead were it not for the timely intervention of a mysterious vigilante with a bow and telekinetic powers. One channel managed to get a picture of Officer Dartwood looking at the camera from under the brim of her cap and muttering, "Well if it wasn't for him I'd have been dead, but instead we made a good arrest."

Universally, people seemed to be buying the story, though it was a little more exposure than she liked. She left it until she was off shift again the next day before ringing the number she had been given. She still wasn't entirely sure where this was heading and what she was going to do with her life... she needed someone to talk it over with. Someone who knew her secret.

Octavian woke with a start as his phone rang. He'd been lying in bed the whole day, drifting in and out of sleep. The previous night had definitely taken a toll on his body.. He groggily reached for his phone, looking at the number. It was an unknown one, didn't show the name only the number. He didn't register that this might have been Alice, of course. This was his personal phone, which could either be dangerous or work out just fine. He answered it, putting the device up to his ear. "Hello?" He croaked, certainly sounding unprofessional. He figured it was someone wanting to sell some useless junk to him.

"Look, if this is Northern Shores or something, tell your boss I don't want any cruise tickets.." He yawned, waiting for a response. He wasn't expecting Alice to be the caller, although he was the one to give her his number.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Octavian woke with a start as his phone rang. He'd been lying in bed the whole day, drifting in and out of sleep. The previous night had definitely taken a toll on his body.. He groggily reached for his phone, looking at the number. It was an unknown one, didn't show the name only the number. He didn't register that this might have been Alice, of course. This was his personal phone, which could either be dangerous or work out just fine. He answered it, putting the device up to his ear. "Hello?" He croaked, certainly sounding unprofessional. He figured it was someone wanting to sell some useless junk to him.

"Look, if this is Northern Shores or something, tell your boss I don't want any cruise tickets.." He yawned, waiting for a response. He wasn't expecting Alice to be the caller, although he was the one to give her his number.

"Nobody tries to sell me cruise tickets" came the voice from the other end of the phone, "I am slightly jealous."

Alice had, at one point, been fairly good at monetising her powers and had a more-than-healthy nest egg to fall back on. More than anyone profiling on current earnings would suspect.

"I need to talk." She said without explaining who she was, "Want to pick somewhere deserted where you can appear wearing a mask?"

She hadn't put any serious effort into figuring out who Octavian was. Alice assumed that, sooner or later, he would decide he trusted her and then she would know. Until then, she could wait.