Once We Were Villains IC (Closed-Signups in OOC)

[Hothnia]

The Hound

San Fransico bay


What was the point of this mission? I still had no idea. But no one ever explains things to me. I'm just their servant. But not for long, not for long. Apparently it was to save a bunch of do- no gooders. Metas at that. Fine dining. Karl never said against eating of them so I might have a power snack during the "breakout".

I paddled through the bay, my longs paws pushing the water powerfully. No one was on the water except for this big tanker near the Golden Gate Bridge. Magnificent sight I must say. Humans did have some pretty landmarks. Although their water ways weren't so nice. Trash, dead fish, and other things I don't wish to name floated passed me. A guard walked by on the Rock and I dove under the water. He passed and I surfaced. And Alarms sounded. Looks like that was my cue. Or something like that. Let's get this thing started!

I reached the rocky shore of the rock and walked up, shaking my fur. I looked up, straight into the face of a guard. " Hello there! I'm sorry I don't have time to chat right now, I'm on a tight schedule." The guard screamed in terror as I lept at him. His screams cut off abruptly. Too easy. Although the element of surprise might've been lost. Oh well. I sat on a rock near the beach shore and waited for the rest of the team to arrive.

[Kuhlfros]

Lee Inaba, Ronin
The Rock, Cafeteria

It'd be a lie to say that Lee wasn't shocked by the sudden events. Rush he recognized from the news and that he was part of the Society Remnant that was imprisoned not too long ago, but he had never worked with, Lee was before his time, and then there was the big guy...who could forget a guy that big? Though Lee had been out of crime for several years, Bulk had notoriety among the Society Remnant and Syndicate for working as the Syndicate Boss' main muscle, the guy was hard to miss.

It was then that the Rush guy went a punched a guard into next week. A brawl was about to start it seemed, as guards rushed for...Rush, Lee kept his calm and took a drink of his water with half-interest, this has happened plenty of times before. But he didn't expect for what Bulk said and what happened next.

The Big guy ripped an entire table from the floor and hurled it at a group of guards. It was then that Ronin felt a surge of energy pump through him. He felt more like himself as his blood flowed through him with actual power behind it, no longer dulled. Not one to waste an opportunity, Lee bolted to standing upright before squatting down and wrapping his arms around the chains which held his feet to the floor. Grasping the chains tightly and allowing the blood to surge into his arms, they expanded and began to spiderweb with vascular veins tracing across his arms beneath his jumpsuit.

In one swift moment, he broke the chains from the links that locked him to the floor. He would worry about the cuffs themselves later. He leaped from the ground onto the table he was eating at a moment ago and tore the sleeves off his jumpsuit for more mobility. Revealing his dragon tattoos sprawling across both his arms. Slowly he moved into a stance, the horse stance, one of the most basic martial art stances but also one of the most useful...especially when on top of an unstable platform like a prison cafeteria table. He prepared himself for attack as he scanned the budding chaos for a route to escape the room.

He looked over at Riko and Filia and said "Did either of you know this was going to happen?"

[Imperial--japan]

The League Meeting

As keen as Sophia was to continue her conversation with Gravitas, she became silent as Noah took to the stage, with his entourage of SID officers that normally accompanied him standing by the edge of the stage. He didn't smile, nor did he seem pleased to be here. His stern expression gave away that whatever he was here to talk about, it was serious. Most heroes in the room grew quiet, as most knew that although Noah rarely spent time around the League headquarters, his efforts on maintaining public relations and maneuvering the League's political obstacles made him invaluable to this organization of Heroes. In addition was his reputation as a stern, but respectable hero who never hesitated to come to the aid of those who required it. Others feared him for his supposedly notorious power. Made even worse by how nobody knew what it was.

"Heroes of the League, it is my pleasure to see that those of you who have decided to attend are doing well, and whatever time is being wasted for you, I can assure you that it is for good reason." Noah scanned the room, gauging the emotions of the various heroes within. Content that none were being dismissive, he continued on.

"In the most recent months, the League has faced some of the most serious court-cases that have plagued us since the founding of this organization. Heroes such as Mach-Girl, Wintry, and Sheev, have been discharged from the ranks of the League for severe misconduct, along with numerous other heroes departing of their own volition." Noah paused momentarily to highlight the importance of what her just brought up.

"We are becoming not only severely undermanned, but a global pariah as well. The need for recruitment in order to maintain the peace is now more imperative than ever before. Along with the need to find able and young Heroes, willing to step up to defend the common man and maintain the law, a drastic restructuring of the League's code of conduct is in order. With this, I'll be asking that all of you approve with the new pamphlet of guidelines that will be emailed to your League Addresses next week."

Noah picked up a remote, and pressed the power button on it which in turn started up the projector nearby. As the powerpoint came to life, a simple title was plain for all to see.

Guidelines to heroism: Expectations and Public Behavior is what it read. Sophia herself groaned as quietly as possible. Noah's powerpoints were notorious for their sheer length and how dry they were. Instead of starting the powerpoint though, Noah placed a hand to his ear. It seemed someone was contacting him.

Sophia placed her arms on the table an placed her head on them.

"This is going to be a while..." She muttered to Gravitas.

"Don't suppose you have any cards or something?" She inquired.

[House of Judah]

Ibrahim
The Rock

Ibrahim could feel the slight ripple as he completed the circuit. The effect was almost instant. The search lights coming on burned brightly then burst, sending shattered glass over the guards. The cacophony of sirens cut off as the blaring speakers burned themselves out under the surge. All across the islands, transformers exploded in a firework of sparks. Radio antennae and satellite dishes crackled and burned and died. A guard was blown backwards by one of the explosions. Without thinking, he reached out to stabilize himself on the barrier fence. Briefly, he shorted some of the current through him to the ground. There was no time to realize his mistake as the current burned him from the inside.

Ibrahim released the voltage and burst forth from the water, landing on the Rock and surveyed the damage. A good start. Already he could hear the sound of his people casting off the chains of their jailers, freed from the suppression of the inhibitors. A guard rushed toward him, gun drawn.

“On the ground, now!” the guard ordered. Ibrahim looked upon the guard with a cold regard. Before the guard could react, Ibrahim moved close and hit the guard in the chest as his knuckles crackled with electric energy. A brief surge of current, no more than an amp, passed through the guards heart. But an amp is more than enough. The guard dropped the gun and gripped his chest as the pain of his heart failing to pump blood overwhelmed him. The guard fell to his knees, gasping and jerking, then collapsed, dead.

“Wound for wound, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever damage he has done, so let it be done to him.” Ibrahim set off to seek down more guards to put down, ensuring the path to freedom for his brethren.

[CoraSpia]

Jack McMahon

Jack had been sat alone in the cafeteria when everyone started moving. For some reason, he didn't quite know why, people didn't want to sit next to a huge muscular man whose face looked like someone had done their best to make a kebab with it. He used to feel lonely at one point, not now though; now he just lived for the kill. And as the commotion started...the need for the kill began again to race through him, as power filled his body.

The table fell over as the gargoyle stood, his eyes surveying the scene.
"Someone want some fun?" he asked with a horrible, leering grin, eyes focussing on the closest guard.

For the guard, this situation was strange. Jack Mcmahon was someone he'd given food to before...he wasn't dangerous, just like a joke...oh god that face...no need to worry...oh no he's coming closer... Jack's laughter was loud in the man's ears, the whistling sound of loud cackles between cracked teeth evident. The man ran, terrified, he'd get away...as Jack continued to pound after him.
Boom. Boom. Boom. The huge feet sounded like his own heart beat, and he took a look back to see that grotesque, ruined face coming closer and he almost cried, bolting down a corridor.
He remembered his mother then, killed by some insane alcoholic at work for no reason. He wouldn't be like that, not him, but where to go? All over the prison, things were going to shit. Lights were going off, security coms were down; bravery for him was totally out as he hid inside a broom cupboard, he'd be safe in hear.
He walked in, closed the door, leaned against some towels, before with quickl mounting horror felt the towels wrip away and that cackling laugh in his ear as the hand grasped around his neck and simply twisted.

Karl Linton

As his companions left, Karl settled into a chair and extended his mind. He'd felt the lower level security systems before, but like a child putting off homework that seemed too daunting he'd not felt around at all. Touching them again, his mind was filled with their complexity as he began the task of gaining entry. He pushed hard, his mind slowly pushing away a wall as other walls closed in. He walked down corridors of twists and dead-ends, and all the while his physical form was sat in the chair, trembling with the effort. A liquid was dripping from the top of his head: blood? Sweat? He had no idea, and at this moment he didn't much care. When Karl finally pushed into the centre, he panted and stood their, and began to fend off their attacks to get him out. His physical form, with near ridiculous slowness, picked up the transmitter and croaked in a pained voice "Crypto to all. I'm in. Tell me when to bring it down, and for fucks sake be quick about it."

[Spindle]

William Docherty
League HQ
San Francisco

As Noah took the stage, William felt his heart hammering louder and louder in his chest. Unless Noah had a hidden mischievous side which he'd never heard of before, this was a serious issue - possibly some major move by the Syndicate, or another one of those "world domination" plans which the Society had pulled so many times before. Whatever it was, he felt himself edging forwards in his seat, leaning in over the table as if that would make Noah start speaking faster. As he started speaking, William's fingers began to drum restlessly on the table, the tempos steadily increasing.

Then the powerpoint started.

Slumping back into his seat, he sighed to himself and allowed his eyes to glaze over slightly. In his peripherals, he saw a blur of purple slumping forwards: it seemed that Seer had much the same opinion of the talk. It was going to be the same things they'd all heard a hundred times before they signed it and then went off and did exactly the same things that they'd always done. If it changed anything, it would be with the newer recruits, but William had been superheroing enough to know how to do it with minimal collateral. He didn't need someone else telling him how to do it.

Which, as he registered Seer speaking to him, made him sound more set in his ways than he liked to think he was.

"You think I can fit a deck of cards into this thing?" He grinned over at her, "I'm fairly sure whoever designed these just wanted to see my ass."

[The Flutterlands]

Filia Umbrarum AKA Lady Tenebrous

Filia giggled at Ricko's response as she ate some egg. She was a sweet girl and fun to hang out and flirt with and Filia found her to be quite attractive. If hanging out with her with fun, being bed with her after a nice dinner date once they were free could be even more fun. "Oh have fun, Riko." Filia spoke cheerfully, chewing on some bacon, "Yeah, the food isn't great, but it could be worse from what hear. So how are you doing, Sweetie?"

Filia then blinked as all hell broke lose in the Cafeteria. She frowned a little. Despite recognizing all of this as possibly part of the break out, Filia was hoping it would happen after breakfast. Nonetheless, several guards began to surround her table, making the cambion get out of her seat at table. Filia looked at them and made a big grin as her eyes glistened. Despite detesting violence, this moment will most certainly be an exception and even when unable to use her umbrakineses, though she felt such power was indeed returning to her, she could be quite deadly indeeed.

The guards approached Filia, tazer guns all pointed at her chest. However, in very extremely swift movements, the prisoner jumped up into air striking down two of the gaurds with a series of spinning jump kicks to chest, face and head. The two unfortunate guards went down immediately, making the other guards more aggressive. Upon those guards, Filia unleashed a fierce series of Taekwondo, fighting the guards with rounds of head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking, as well as various other acrobatic techniques as well as swift punches.

Filia took a step back upon landing on her feet with grin at her handiwork of broken down guards. She looked around upon getting the message “It has begun.” from somewhere couldn't guess before looking back at Lee with a great big grin. "What do you think, Honey?" she asked teasingly, before taking both he and The Librarian by their hands and running through a clear path, kicking down any guard in her way, "Come on lets go. I think they might still have my stuff here in the storage."

[Dyelli Beybi]

Ibrahim
Karl Linton’s Ship

“Some will be escaping by submersible. Others will be making their own exits. I’ve secured your exit with our Syndicate allies. When the time comes, link up with them and they will get you out.”

"So you're expecting me to wander into the Rock and do...." Nightjar gave an exagerated grimace, "Something? Then wander around until I bump into someone from the Syndicate and ask them for a lift out?" she paused for a moment, then shrugged, "Sure, I can do that."

She was suspiciously chirpy sounding. Inwardly, Nightjar was fuming; they were going into a combat situation with no plan of attack and no exfiltration plan either, but while the others had been completely ignoring her concerns about the mission she had come up with her own exit strategy. She was confident it would work, especially if she got out of the Rock before the fighting stopped...

The first step was to go downstairs and rummage around in the ship's lockers. There was, she reasoned, a good chance that someone onboard would have a rebreather... or some kind of SCUBA kit at any rate. If she was running a criminal command boat she would definitely have brought a few of those. Thankfully she was right and after only a little searching she managed to find a rebreather, flippers and a wetsuit... which she promptly stole, wandering off the boat in the general direction that Ibrahim had gone.

After having made sure nobody from the boat (who might be tempted to reclaim the equipment) was watching, she hid her haul under the branches of one of the scrubby little bushes that clung to the shoreline of the island, then continued after Ibrahim. She set a sedate pace. She had had no particular desire to catch up with him; Nightjar was quite ready to let him do all the hard work and breach the compound for her. Unfortunately, it seemed, his hard work also included blowing up the announcement system. He hadn't said he planned to do that... which was no surprise really. He probably hadn't planned it at all.

Now where could she find a backup? This was one of the most advanced prisons in the world, there had to be a backup... probably a really big megaphone locked away somewhere, "Freeze!" somebody yelled. She looked up at a guard about 20 yards in front of her.

She took a step forward before she had really considered what he had said and took two rounds in the chest for her trouble... which really stung.

Nightjar dropped to one knee, breathing heavily for a few moments as the bullets were forced out of her, dropping down onto the floor one by one. It was her fault, she hadn't been concentrating. She stood up, seeing the wide eyed horror on the guard's face as he realised that shooting the heavily armed meta-human in front of him had had about as much effect as a fly swat on a bald eagle. He brought the gun up again, "Seriously?" Nightjar held a hand up defensively, mostly because she thought it might make him feel in control and pause for a moment, "This prison is overrun with homicidal meta-humans and you think its a good idea to shoot me? Straight after you saw how little it does to me. Get out of here! Find someone dark and hide. Oh, and don't shoot me again... it pisses me off." The guard looked at her hesitantly, then ran.

She took a moment to unsling the rifle from her back and unclick the safety. She wasn't about to allow that to happen again. She made her way deeper into the prison and was rewarded after a short distance to find there was a control room up ahead, which was wide open. Apparently someone else had already breached it, which made life a lot easier. Unfortunately she found the open door at the same time as another guard. Unfortunately for the guard as, this time, they saw each other at the same time. Nightjar was faster, much faster and she put a bullet into his right knee before he had a chance to bring his gun up. He went down with a yell of pain, dropping his weapon, though, irritatingly, he didn't lie there clutching at his knee, he tried to crawl towards his gun.

Nightjar dashed forward, reaching the weapon at the same time as him, bringing her boot down on his wrist as his fingers curled around the grip, grinding her heel down hard so that he cried out in renewed pain, "What is wrong with you people?" she demanded, then, when she was sure he was done trying to be heroic, bent to retrieve his weapon, tucking it into the back of her trousers - it never hurt to have a spare, "I'm Nightjar." she introduced herself, Yes, I know, not public enemy number one, but I'm hoping you know enough about me to know I don't kill people... not much anyway. Don't do anything stupid and I'll leave you alone. Got it?"

The guard looked up at her, then nodded and Nightjar took her her boot from his wrist, "Good. Now I'm going to rummage through here looking for a megaphone. Yell if some crazy meta comes charging down here. When we're done I'll let you lock yourself in. If I were you I'd hide until the murdering stops."

"It's in a cupboard at the back." the guard gasped. Now he was clutching at his knee.

"Brill! You're a star! Say, you don't have any duct tape in here do you?"

"Try the top drawer by the communications consoles." Apparently he was quite eager for her to get out of here. She didn't blame him. If she was in his position she would have been quite happy to take up the offer to lock herself into a control room.

"You know, by shooting you, I've kinda done you a favour." Nightjar told the guard as she picked up the duct tape, tossing it into the air then catching the roll deftly again as it dropped, "They'll say you're a hero when all you really did was come to investigate this control room and got ambushed. You might even get a medal."

She could tell from the guard's expression that what he wanted to say was 'go to hell', but instead he held his tongue. Nightjar smirked slightly. She put her recovered equipment outside, then grabbed the guard under the shoulders, dragging him into the control room. He cried out in pain as she, accidentally, knocked his knee on the door frame. Oh well... it was better than being dead. She left, hearing the door hiss shut behind her, then picked up the megaphone and duct tape again. Now she needed to find a balcony...

As she walked she read some of the info on the side of the megaphone - audible up to 1 mile... siren audible up to 1.5 miles. That would do nicely.

She didn't find any more guards as she went out towards the balcony. They were lower down, dealing with the rioting prisoners she assumed. Nobody seemed to be looking up when she went out onto the balcony and began securing the megaphone to the railing. Nobody shot at her at any rate. She tested it when she was done, and when she was sure it wasn't about to fall off, took a few moments to duct tape the 'Nightjar phone' to the microphone. If someone recovered it after she was gone (and they probably would) they wouldn't find anything to trace it back to Hazel Lind... She had something she wanted to say first though.

She pulled the microphone away from the railing, sitting down against the wall to keep as far from stray bullets as she could, she started to talk, letting her voice boom out across the Rock, "Good morning Alcatraz! This is DJ Nightjar coming to you with an emergency public service announcement. Are you a guard of this fine facility? Your life expectancy has taken a sudden dip. I would highly recommend a new job unless you want to see your life insurance premiums skyrocket... but I digress... This facility is now under the control of a band of ill-tempered, super-powered, ladies and gentlemen with a deep seated desire to brutally dismember you, personally. As the most caring of this band, I would like to advise you to stop whatever heroic nonsense you are considering doing and make your way, calmly, to the nearest guard station, control room or broom cupboard and lock yourself in. You can't control this situation; your guns and attitude are no match for our powers. If you keep fighting you'll only die. So if you want to see your husbands, wives, children, dog or inflatable girlfriend ever again, run and hide and stay out of our way."

She was stretching the truth a bit when she claimed they had the facility under control, but the point was to demotivate the guards, hopefully stop some of them interfering and to make sure everybody knew she had taken part in the break-out. here were probably a lot of things Nightjar could have done that were a lot more useful, but, truth be told, she found this a lot more fun. Even more fun than stealing art work from museums! A bullet ricocheted off the railing. At least one person wanted her to shut up. "So now it's time for a special shout-out to all you inmates fighting for your freedom. Roll on you crazy fools. I hope you like the sweet tones of Mr Freddy Mercury..."

She clicked her phone on, used a bit more tape to tape the microphone button on, then departed, leaving Queen, 'I Want to Break Free' playing across the (admittedly rather tinny) megaphone.

[Mestovakia]

Filia Umbrarum AKA Lady Tenebrous

Filia giggled at Ricko's response as she ate some egg. She was a sweet girl and fun to hang out and flirt with and Filia found her to be quite attractive. If hanging out with her with fun, being bed with her after a nice dinner date once they were free could be even more fun. "Oh have fun, Riko." Filia spoke cheerfully, chewing on some bacon, "Yeah, the food isn't great, but it could be worse from what hear. So how are you doing, Sweetie?"

Filia then blinked as all hell broke lose in the Cafeteria. She frowned a little. Despite recognizing all of this as possibly part of the break out, Filia was hoping it would happen after breakfast. Nonetheless, several guards began to surround her table, making the cambion get out of her seat at table. Filia looked at them and made a big grin as her eyes glistened. Despite detesting violence, this moment will most certainly be an exception and even when unable to use her umbrakineses, though she felt such power was indeed returning to her, she could be quite deadly indeeed.

The guards approached Filia, tazer guns all pointed at her chest. However, in very extremely swift movements, the prisoner jumped up into air striking down two of the gaurds with a series of spinning jump kicks to chest, face and head. The two unfortunate guards went down immediately, making the other guards more aggressive. Upon those guards, Filia unleashed a fierce series of Taekwondo, fighting the guards with rounds of head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking, as well as various other acrobatic techniques as well as swift punches.

Filia took a step back upon landing on her feet with grin at her handiwork of broken down guards. She looked around upon getting the message “It has begun.” from somewhere couldn't guess before looking back at Lee with a great big grin. "What do you think, Honey?" she asked teasingly, before taking both he and The Librarian by their hands and running through a clear path, kicking down any guard in her way, "Come on lets go. I think they might still have my stuff here in the storage."

"And my outfit. I seriously want out of this stupid jumpsuit. It looks horrible with my hair!" Riko griped, looking at the ugly jumpsuit the guards had made her wear. "Wait, I wanna try something." She telekinetically picked up a pencil and sent it flying at a guard, hitting him point-first in the eye and causing a MASSIVE amount of screaming, especially as he wandered into the path of Filia and got ran over for his trouble. "She shoots, she scores!" Riko said, laughing.

[Skarten]

The Rock
Permanent Containment Cell block
Philip was in his cell ,laying in his bed.
But that wasn't anything new. He passed his day on the rock usually there,as there was nothing else to do. The alarm had been there for some time, but in his mind, it was just a simple Riot..
But it was taking too long. It coudn't be anything simple. That's when he realised.
Philip knew what to do. He got up and checked his statuses, and got surprised to see the inhibitors that stopped him from using his powers were turned off.
What happened next, was that Philip used his emergency energy to break the lock of his cell door open, just to see a guard walking through the corridor. As the guard saw Philip, he grabbed his Stun baton and yelled "HEY YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Philip then advanced at the guard, using his hands to snap his neck, quickly killing him,and taking his keycard and Stun batton
Once that was done, he started bolting through the corridors, heading to the storage where the prisoners had their objects guarded. With the keycard, it would be easy. And there always another option.

As Philip was walking through the corridors of the Rock, he started hearing the music in the Prison's phone system. "Urgh.. We're in a breakout, and this lady think's it's some kind of party.",Philip said
Then, he stopped.
He finally found the storage room.
Philip tried to open it with the keycard,without sucess. So he took the other way, kicking the lock open.
He entered the room and started looking......

[Hothnia]

The Hound

Roaming around the Rock

The man screamed in terror as I pounced. 14 down, many to go. That man had come around corner like he had just seen a ghost. I heard two gunshots earlier so he must've been running from one of my allies. That one was my kill. I figured the best way to attack a heavily armed prison that probably had flamethrowers was to take down the control room. So I trotted there, passing a pool of blood. The door was shut and seeming locked. No problem for me. I unsheathed my claws and cut out the perimeter of the metal door. The door fell inward with a clang. A wounded man was sitting there. "Well hello there! This is certainly an unfortunate predicament that your in. " He yelled very loudly then, screaming for someone. It hurt my ears. Such a rude person. And lept at him and silenced him with a bite to the throat. Ew... probably Russian heritage. I left him there and walked over to the control panel and cut open the electrical wiring door. Time to cause some chaos. I cut all the wires and immediately all the lights, cameras, and action shut down. My eyes flick on to night vision and I let out a bloodcurdling howl. At least I think it was bloodcurdling. I ran out of the door and lept the balcony, howling as I did so. Such fun.

[Bentus]

Tristan McKay
The Rock, San Francisco

---

A whining buzz accompanied the door, a loud click resonating from the handle as the powerful lock slid out of place. The warden held the door open for Tristan, gesturing for him to walk deeper into the bowels of the complex.

“As you can see Mr. McKay, we take our security very seriously here at Alcatraz.” The warden rapped her knuckles proudly on the door, a dull metallic thud echoing from the action. “Five inches thick and electronically controlled so that I couldn’t open it from the other side without prior authorisation even if I wanted to.”

The reporter accompanying the duo scribbled a few notes, casting his eyes sceptically over the barrier. Tristan nodded thoughtfully towards the prison warden, but wondered how many of the inmates would consider the pricey tax-payer funded doors as a real obstacle. They were an aesthetic touch, meant to make the Rock look the part for people like him.

“Impressive. Although I’m sure that some of your inmates have powers that could make short work of it?”

The warden’s diplomatic smile refused to waver at the criticism, instead brushing it aside with a dismissive hand. “Certainly. Unfortunately, that’s the challenge that we must face when managing a facility such as this. In fact, for some of the Society members and long-term residents in the lower levels we’ve had to devote significant resources to constructing specialised holding cells.” The warden spoke while she walked, the door slamming shut behind them.

“Any particular examples?” The reporter was a younger man, likely in his late twenties if Tristan had to guess. Part of the deal he’d managed to strike with the Rock was to have the journalist accompany him during his stay. A sitting senator visiting the facility – and a vocally critical sitting senator at that – was an ideal publicity event, especially when reported by a reporter known for columns favouring the Rock’s methods.
Beaming, the warden eagerly responded to the questions, clearly relishing the attention she was receiving. “While I’m not authorised to discuss on many individual cases, my particular favourite is the effort gone into engineering the holding cell for Entropy – a meta with the power to by definition disintegrate nearly anything we could come up with to hold him. I can’t comment on the solution, but it goes to show the ingenuity and creativity of the men and women who work here.”

“And you don’t feel that there’s an inherent risk in concentrating the detainment of so many metas in a common location?” Tristan posed the question innocently, although it was a common criticism that was thrown against the Rock. “Wouldn’t it be a more effective solution to divide your more dangerous residents between different facilities?”

“Not at all. We are the premier facility for holding dangerous metas in the entire world, and that is due as much to the experience and training of our staff as to our advanced equipment.”

The reporter chimed in next. “Would you say that your close proximity to the League HQ is also a factor, given that they could rapidly respond in the event of a breakout?”

Tristan smirked as he saw the smile on the Warden’s face waver at the mention of the Superhero group. Seems like that gets under her skin a bit. The warden glance at the reporter’s notes before responding.
“Actually, Alcatraz was renovated into its current form before the League officially moved their headquarters here. So, it might be more accurate to say that they chose to base themselves near our facility after recognising its unparalleled effectiveness as both a holding facility and a deterrent for meta-crime.”

Or they realised that you’d need the extra help if shit hit the fan. “You don’t think that the Rock is being overstretched? I’ve heard complaints of overcrowding from some of my constituents and have read several media reports criticising some of the conditions inmates must endure.”

That smacked the smile from the warden’s face, the woman’s eyes narrowing at the unexpected criticism. “With all due respect Senator, given the dangerous threat posed by many of our inmates and their destructive capabilities, a facility such as the Rock is necessary to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your constituents.”

“Would you say that some of the metas interned here for lower offences require such complete layers of security as well? I actually received a letter from a Ronaldo Fernandez whose son was found guilty for a drug-related offense – a minor charge – but sentenced here due to his latent meta abilities.” Tristan folded his arms across his chest, bringing the party to a halt as he did so. “Mr. Fernandez was sentenced to a maximum-security facility purely due to the circumstances of his birth. Hardly fair, wouldn’t you say?”

The warden shot the politician a glare, the sound of the reporter’s pen jotting down on paper breaking the tense silence. Tristan had no doubt that the article in the morning would claim that he was somehow insisting on letting dangerous thugs out onto the streets, but his job was to do right by his constituents, not get good press.

“I’m afraid I can’t comment on the courts’ decisions, Mr. Senator – we just carry out the sentences.” It was a diplomatic response, a side-stepping of the question, and about as much as Tristan had been expecting from the first verbal confrontation. “Now, please if you’ll follow me to the cafeteria, you will be able to see some of the many amenities we offer to our residents.”

It was a short walk to the large central hall, the warden continuing to show off the countless safety and security features that dominated every inch of the facility. Tristan had largely remained silent, content to observe his surroundings, stopping occasionally to greet a passing guard and ask a few poignant questions to get their own opinion. The reporter and the warden seemed to grow increasingly impatient with his forced delays, being far more interested in the pre-planned tour. Even in the cafeteria itself, the warden had led them onto a mezzanine-styled walkway that looked down into the cavernous space below. A few guards with tranquilizer guns hanging by their side patrolled the walkway, doubtlessly bored of the monotonous task.

Tristan nodded along to the warden’s scripted description of the culinary services provided by the Rock, although he was truthfully paying her little attention. He looked down on the many tables below, the figures in orange-jumpsuits drawing his curiosity. They had come to one of the higher security cafeterias, and already Tristan thought that he could recognize some of the more infamous criminals among the crowd.

Suddenly, a cry erupted from below as a guard was sent flying across the room. Tristan’s eyes widened as he saw the stream of blood gushing from the unconscious man’s nose, uncertain about what kind of damage may have been caused from this distance. He turned to see both the warden and the reporter standing with their mouths agape, confusion spread across their features as the cafeteria erupted into a chaotic melee.

“I assure you that the guards will have this situation under control in no time.” The warden managed to find her voice, speaking over the yells and the gunfire emanating from below. “The occasional riot breaks out, but our personnel are more than adequate to –“ A gut-wrenching sound of twisting metal cut her off, and Tristan whipped around to see a mountain of a man hurl an entire table into a collection of guards. The entire room seemed to freeze for a moment as all those gathered registered the implications of the act. And then all hell broke loose.

The warden lead Tristan and the reporter along the walkway in a half-run, half-crouch, weaving between guards who were launching suppressive volleys of tranquilizers into the dissenting criminals below. The deactivation of the inhibitors had taken everyone by surprise and the guards had suddenly found themselves both outnumbered and outgunned, cries of pain and yelled orders fighting to be heard over the sounds of battle. Tristan nearly tripped as a guard in front of him was grabbed by what looked like an elongated tongue, a look of horror flashing across the man’s face as the appendage began to drag him over the railing. Without wasting a second, Tristan grabbed onto the man’s flailing arm.

“Hold on, I’ve got you!” It was an incoherent scene, Tristan clutching onto the guard’s wrist as he dangled over the edge. The guard offered him a terrified look, a pleading expression that spoke volumes of how out-of-depth he and his comrades suddenly found themselves. Tristan could feel his grip slipping, but eyed the man’s tranquilizer gun lying on the floor. With a yell of effort, he stretched to pick up the armament, emptying the clip into the limb that was dragging down the guard. Almost immediately, he felt the force he was fighting against go limp, causing the guard to swing against the side of the walkway. Tristan felt a surge of triumph at the little victory.

“On the count of three I’m going to pull you up, ok?” The guard offered a half-hearted nod, no doubt still in a state of shock. “One, two, - “

Before Tristan could do anything, the entire walkway shuddered underneath him, causing his grip to fail. The guard let out a scream as he fell down the nearly one-story drop. Tristan’s eyes widened in horror as he sought to clamber back to his feet, another earth-shaking impact however once again knocking him down. Looking down below, he saw a few of the orange-suited figures pounding at the walkway’s supports.

Shit.

The entire structure let out an agonised groan, and before Tristan could even react, he found himself plummeting down to the ground below.

[CoraSpia]

Karl sat their in his ship, blood still dribbling from somewhere in his head, breath coming in gasps. He couldn't hold himself in a state of readiness much longer; OK he'd received no authorisation to do it, but if the society wanted to keep Linton money then it wasn't going to throw him out over this.
With one last stretch of his mind he pulled the plug, and smiled as he imagined containment fields disappearing and door locks disengaging. He knew that what he had done would go down in history as one of the first steps to freeing the rocks inmates from the disgusting prison they were being held in. He was a hero, or an anti-hero of sorts, and he allowed himself to think like that after drinking another glass of scotch, and stretching out in his seat before raising the ships inbuilt microphone to speak to the people in the lower levels who he had just set free.
"Hello all," he said casually yet still farely diplomatically, "This is crypto to everyone whose just seen their doors ping open. Soon, whoever they've got doing computers down their is going to realise their's been a systems breech, and will lock you up nice and snugly again. I'd recommend getting out of your cels before that happens, because I do not want to have to hack that system again, and I might just decide not to. Now, to get you to move, hear's a really shit song to make your cels unbareable for one moment more. Crypto out, Alvin and the chipmonks in."

The hideous sound of Alvin and the Chipmonks hideous rendition of the battle hymn of the republic filled the lower levels, and Karl smiled believing that if the cameras were up he'd be seing lines of bleary-eyed people making their way upwards.

[Xah]

Wane Mulder/Entropy
The Rock

---

It had been a good twenty minutes and Wane took his hand off the windows and relaxed a little. The energy from the glass was barely noticable and in all that time, he'd only manged to etch away a fraction of a centimeter of material. He peered through the window again, still no one there, but then given the continued nature of whatever was going on upstairs, he doubted there'd be much attention given to the high security inmates until it was all sorted. As he moved to resume the decay of the glass, some movement caught his eye; a cell down the corridor had opened and a tall man emerged but moved away before Wane could get his attention; the thickness of his own cell door made his room virtually soundproof. At least now he knew this was a full scale event, most of the people in the cells here had inhibitors; if people were getting out, it meant the system was offline.

Another few minutes of entropic decay and the glass remained stubbornly inert, as it was supposed to do. Wane was getting bored now and wondering if he'd get through the window. It might be a bit of a situation out there, but it was going to be hours before he'd be through. Ah well, wasn't like he had anything else to do.

Just then, there was a clang, and Wane's cell door slowly swung open, along with all the others in the corridor. It was all he could do not to laugh. The proverbial excrement was surely colliding with rotating blades if someone had managed to release all the 'special' inmates. Stepping out, Wane noticed the dead guard at the end of the corridor, walked over and crouched to touch the body. Whilst the man might be dead, his body was still fresh and a few moments later Wane stood back up, his visage now fully back to normal and buzzing with entropic energy. He looked around, seeing who else he'd been cooped up here with.

[Rynagria]

Derek. W. Cooke
The Rock

I should have gotten here earlier. He thought to himself with a small, stepping off the boat and onto the harbor and making his way to the entrance.

Prior to his arrival he had been held up in the city, chasing around some vandal. A misdemeanor, the young woman who had spray-painted "Death to the League" in a non-descript alley, ran after being caught in the act by him in his vehicle. Panic having overtaken the young woman, used her abilities to get away, generating a visible pulse of sorts that disabled his car and most of his electronic equipment. Revealed to be a meta, Derek had full jurisdiction. Car out of the equation, Derek had to give chase to the young female meta on foot and ran roughly three miles prior to catching her. In the end, it left him out of breath, having been used to a lengthy desk job for several months prior to be being transferred into to work at the Rock. Local PD in custody of the vandal, he was supplied with a brand new phone and watch, took a ride service to the appropriate port and left for the Rock.

Sighing again, he looked at his digital watch. The young agent knew he was already late for his check-in, but peeked regardless. As his gaze met with his arm halfway, began to process the numbers on the tiny screen before it suddenly dies. Puzzled, Derek attempted to turn on the contraption several times, giving up after his fifth try.

"I was told that this thing had new batteries. I guess not." He muttered, as he walked the stairs, hands drifting down to his right pocket. Brandishing the smart phone provided to him, found it non-functional as well and giving more effort to activating the contraption. His frustration and anger swirling together, squeezed his phone. Unsurprisingly, the screen cracked with little effort from him. "I'll just have to file a formal complaint when I have the time, first things first. Checking-In."

Ascending to the top of the steps, he was greeted by a prison guard. Flashing his badge to the man, was let through without trouble. Only about one to two meters away from the doorway, it burst open, as three guards exited. All of them in varying states of injury, one of them having to be dragged by two men. His previous issues slipping from his mind, rushed to the aid of the guards, the entrance guard doing the same. Despite that, his face remained calm, asking them what occurred. "What happened?!"

To his astonishment, the one who was dragged was the one who volunteered to talk.

"R-Riot." He managed to choke out, coughing up some blood in the process. "Senator.... senator giving tour, lost contact with him."

Nodding at the man, Derek quickly stands up and draws his Glock 19, preparing himself to enter what could potentially be a chaotic scene. Pointing to the entrance guard, he said to him. "Try to contact emergency services, I'll go ahead and try to establish a path for back-up, got it?"

The man only nodded, as Derek entered the facility, closing the doors behind him. Weapon at half-ready position, he began to make this way into the cells, so far nothing standing in his way. While he has some doubts if using live ammunition against the inmates was really necessary, the image of the tree injured men popped up in his mind to remind him. Worst come to worst, he'll have to call upon the elemental's powers for assistance and might have to be eliminate those who won't comply. Filled with determination, took a deep breath and exhaled. "Senator!" Shouted Derek.

No reply. Waiting several seconds, continued in his way.

[Kuhlfros]

Lee Inaba, Ronin
The Rock, Cafeteria Riot

Lee urged the celebrating Riko forward as he covered the two women from the back, as Filia opened the way, Lee would ensure it stayed open. Three guards approached, cutting him off from the other two, two wielded heavy batons and the third a taser gun. Moving at lightning speed, Lee quickly disarmed and took a baton from an off-balance guard and sent him sprawling to the floor, he then subdued the second baton-wielding guard and held the baton against his neck in front of Lee, turning him into the struck target of the taser gun.

As the second guard fell to the floor, Lee approached the final, gun wielding guard and open-hand struck the guard in the chest, sending him flying back several feet, sprawled on the floor. It seems his powers were still slowly returning, that was a shorter distance than he expected. He caught back up to Riko and Filia and mentioned as well, "I'm not leaving this place without my sword, but getting my other things wouldn't hurt either."

[Hothnia]

The Hound

Causing a racket

I jumped in the air and twisted, my rear paws pushing off the two guards. Both of them flew backwards, screaming and dropping their guns. The two guards with them opened fire. To their surprise, the bullets bounced off my fur. " Really guys, try something new." I padded over and bit both of their guns in half. I turned to walk away ( I wasn't gonna kill them, I had killed too much already) and I heard a screech. A half crazy meta ran out of the debris of the lower cell block with a knife. He was gonna kill the surrendered guards. I couldn't let that happen, I had just spared them. I jumped at the meta and bit his hand off. He stared at the stump, stunned. " You are supposed to be on our team! You just bit off my hand!" The crazy dude started rambling after that. " I have no team." I replied coolly and walked away from the guards and meta. My ears perked up. I had heard someone calling for someone by the name of Senator. I ran to where I heard the yell and passed a dude, his hands cupped to his mouth. The yeller. I heard a different sound. Rubble being shifted around near a collapsed walkway. There was someone under there.

Today was that person's lucky day. I felt like being helpful. I jumped on the pile of rubble and began to dig. Rubble and metal flew past me, possibly hitting the yeller. My paws were working twice as fast as normal. And then I saw it. A hand. A cut a metal slab off the body off "Senator" and gently enclosed my mouth around his arm. I began to tug him back to the yeller. I pulled him off the pile of rubble and dropped him, as my jaw hurt. I then took off like a bullet, I didn't want to overstay my visit ( get caught). I plunged back into the chaos, smoke, and destroyed items of the breakout.

[Dyelli Beybi]

...

"R-Riot." He managed to choke out, coughing up some blood in the process. "Senator.... senator giving tour, lost contact with him."

Nodding at the man, Derek quickly stands up and draws his Glock 19, preparing himself to enter what could potentially be a chaotic scene. Pointing to the entrance guard, he said to him. "Try to contact emergency services, I'll go ahead and try to establish a path for back-up, got it?"

The man only nodded, as Derek entered the facility, closing the doors behind him. Weapon at half-ready position, he began to make this way into the cells, so far nothing standing in his way. While he has some doubts if using live ammunition against the inmates was really necessary, the image of the tree injured men popped up in his mind to remind him. Worst come to worst, he'll have to call upon the elemental's powers for assistance and might have to be eliminate those who won't comply. Filled with determination, took a deep breath and exhaled. "Senator!" Shouted Derek.

No reply. Waiting several seconds, continued in his way.

Nightjar was in the process of trying to discretely leave the prison. She was fairly confident she could get back out through Ibrahim's breach, change into her (stolen) SCUBA gear and get out before the cavalry arrived and started throwing people back into their cells.

It was then that she heard someone call for a Senator. It could have been any Senator but a certain, unpleasant knot in her stomach told her it was probably a very specific Senator whom she quite liked. There weren't many people who would have an interest in going around a prison for meta-humans apart from him. She hesitated - the sensible choice would be to get out of here before the League appeared... but this prison was full of super-powered, homicidal maniacs in a murder-frenzy. McKay wasn't some ordinary guy, she genuinely believed in what he stood for. He was honest, and wielded his (political) powers for good. She, on the other hand, did nothing of the sort, but it didn't mean that she didn't admire it in other people.

"Hey Officer, don't shoot okay? I just want to talk." she stepped out from a side corridor into the main one that Derek was advancing along. Derek might or might not have known who she was. If he did know his villains he might recognise the black outfit. Nothing was particularly showy though the sleeveless vest and the mask across the upper face with reflective eye plates was fairly distinctive. She was carrying enough guns and knives to start a small war and there was evidence that she had been shot in the chest, holes in the vest and plenty of blood on the front, though it didn't seem to be inconveniencing her in any way. She had an assault rifle drawn, though she held the muzzle low, pointed at the ground to show that she wasn't planning to shoot, though if Derek recognised her as the Nightjar he would know that she was fast enough that it could be a deception...

"I keep telling the guards to get away from there." she nodded towards the inside of the prison, "There are a lot of really bad people in there who're just waiting for the chance to do indescribably horrible things to someone. If you go in there alone, you're dead." for her part, she had no idea that Derek was a meta-human, "What you really need is a not-entirely-unfriendly Society member who will help you camouflage yourself amongst the inmates. But before I stick my neck out and, potentially, blow my chances of getting out of here, I just want to check... who is the Senator you've lost?"

[Bentus]

Lisette Aveline
G.R.I.M’s Lab, Chicago

---

Felix’s drones darted to-and-from different experiments in the lab, strange and advanced pieces of equipment quietly hummed in the background. The teleporter dominated the centre of the room, monitors dutifully reporting on its status with charts and numbers that were incoherent to the young woman. Lisette appeared out of place among the wires and workbenches of the lab, her bright pink dress clashing against the dull blues and greys that dominated facility. Unable to contain her excitement as the time of the mission drew closer, she paced impatiently around the lab. Walking among the half-assembled and operating machinery, Lisette curiously poked at whatever caught her interest.

A wide smile was spread across her features, and Lisette hummed happily to herself as she gently spun a loose centrifuge. The incessant ticking of the clock, the painfully slow passage of the seconds, brought the breakout closer and closer, and Lisette could feel the anticipation gradually building in her chest. Even standing in the teleporter room, she couldn’t bring herself to stand still.

“Who do you think the League are going to send? Shaman, Colossus, Titania…” Lisette ventured, unable to maintain the torturous silence that had descended on the preparing villains. “Ooh! Maybe we’ll get to see the Commando – do you think I’ll have a chance to ask for his autograph? No, that’s silly – I’m sure he’ll have far more important things to do.” Pausing for a moment, Lisette ran a list of more probable encounters through her head. Her grin seemed to widen even further as she struck upon a favourite. “Perhaps Gravitas will be there?” The lesser known hero was a rising star, and it would be a real treat to get to see him before he hit the big-time. Lisette turned to Felix, the young man working on maintaining the teleporter. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to join us GRIM?” She offered him a friendly smirk. “You’ll be missing out.”

---

Tristan McKay
The Rock, San Francisco

---

Opening his eyes, Tristan was greeted by a tsunami of aches and pains. A constant throbbing was hammering in his skull, and he felt like his brain was on the verge of exploding. For a few seconds, he lay where he was in the pile of rubble, wearing a dazed expression as he tried to remember where he was. There was a ringing vibrating between his ears, and Tristan could have sworn that he heard the voice of a woman in the background.

“Good morning Alcatraz!”

Suddenly the memories of the riot in the cafeteria came flooding back into his conscience. Shutting his eyes, Tristan tried to banish the image of the guard’s terrified expression, the man plummeting to the den of eager criminals that waited impatiently down below.

Come on, focus. There’ll be time to process all of this later. You’re not out of the woods yet.

With a pained groan, Tristan rolled himself onto his side, running his eyes over his own limbs and torso. He could already feel the agony that would grip him in the morning, but at least it didn’t seem like anything was broken. Looking around at his immediate surroundings, he squinted to try and make out all the details in the low-power emergency lighting, the bluish-white bulbs casting a menacing, shadowy gloom across the room. He could see the rubble from the walkway scattered among broken tables and shattered glass, although he couldn’t make out any bodies in the dim light. Looking over his shoulder, Tristan raised a confused eyebrow as he noticed the trail of rubble that lead from his position to the impact zone of the walkway. Dust and grit had ruined his tailored suit, but by all accounts, he should have been buried – unless someone had dragged him out.

Pushing the immediate mystery to the back of his mind, Tristan slowly hurled himself back to his feet, cautiously testing out his muscles in case he’d missed a more serious wound. Battered and bruised, but it didn’t seem like he was missing any fingers or toes – which he supposed was as good as he was going to get on a day like this. The emergency lighting meant that whatever had happened – and it certainly hadn’t been a simple riot – had knocked out the main power supply, and the disabling of the inhibitor network almost certainly meant that the prisoners had taken over the control room. Tristan sighed to himself, realising the implications: this was their island now, and he had to find a way to get out.

“You can’t control this situation; your guns and attitude are no match for our powers. If you keep fighting, you’ll only die. So, if you want to see your husbands, wives, children, dog or inflatable girlfriend ever again, run and hide and stay out of our way.”

He allowed himself a quiet chuckle, his voice raspy from dehydration and dust inhalation. Clearly this bitch hadn’t had to deal with his attitude. Tristan grunted as he forced his tired limbs into motion, quickly moving to get out of the cafeteria in case anyone decided to return.

Have to admit though, at least she has a decent taste in music.

He managed to work his way through a few corridors, being sure to move quietly and cautiously at each turn lest he risk a confrontation with an angry meta. Out of practice, and begrudgingly a bit more out of shape than he expected, there were somethings that were drilled so hard into the mind of every raw recruit that they never left your mind – even if your day job was sitting at a desk and arguing over phrases and pedantics. Darting from shadow to shadow, looking perhaps a bit ridiculous in the tatters of his suit, it wasn’t until the fourth corner that Tristan ran into the first over signs of life since waking up.

“Shit man, you know the League’s going to show up at some point! We’ve got to get out of here.”

“Let the tights come, I’d rather take a few of them down a notch than run with my tail between my legs – besides, this is our time for payback against the bastards who put us in here.”

“How the hell do you think we’re going to fight the League, huh? I betchya all the big-shots down below are getting out right now, leaving the grunts like us behind as a distraction.”

The pair of metas still wore their orange jumpsuits, but Tristan ducked back out of sight before he could make out much more of their appearance. It was all he needed to know that the last thing he wanted was to be found by the duo. He glanced around for any alternative path, searching for somewhere to go as he heard their footsteps growing closer. Stuck at the intersection, to step out from behind the wall would place him in clear sight of the criminals – but if he tried going back the way he’d came they’d likely turn the corner before he made it to more cover. Growing somewhat desperate, Tristan’s eyes settled on a broom closet. Wasting no time as the metas continued to approach, the former soldier raced silently to his destination, opening the door to the closet and disappearing inside mere moments before his pursuers turned the corner.

Glancing around, Tristan tried to pick out details in the small, dark space – hopefully he could find something to use as a weapon. His eyes immediately widened in horror as they settled upon the corpse that lay limp upon the floor. Ducking down immediately, Tristan pressed his fingers against the young man’s neck, resisting the urge to curse under his breath as he failed to pick up even the slightest trace of a pulse. The man didn’t look old enough to be long out of college, 26 or younger if had to guess. Looking over the wide-eyed figure, Tristan noted the sharp twist in the kid’s neck, his head turned at a grotesque and awkward angle.

At least it was quick.

Tristan felt a surge of rage and anger building up in his chest at the sight. It was clear that the young man had simply been trying to hide, to run in an effort to save himself. He hadn’t been putting up a fight, he hadn’t resisted against the prisoners – and yet someone had killed him where he stood, trapped like some kind of animal. Looking over the guard’s uniform, Tristan noted the baton still strapped firmly to his belt and wasted no time in appropriating the weapon for his own use. It wasn’t a gun, but it would have to do.

Placing his hand on the doorknob, Tristan listened for any sound of the two metas that had been walking past before. Satisfied with the silence, he slowly opened the door and exited out into the corridor, surprised to find himself staring at two figures that seemed to share his shock. A split second passed with the three all staring mutely at one another, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events: Tristan in his tattered suit while wielding a police baton, while the two prisoners looked on. One was tall and lanky, his skin seeming to have an almost unnatural sheen to it while his tongue nearly looked like it was dangling from his mouth. The other, in contrast, was big and bald, his skin appearing like that of a toughened lizard.

Tristan sighed to himself, silently scolding his bad luck. Without hesitating for a moment longer, he had to grab the only advantage he had left available: surprise. With a yell, he charged at the two metas, the baton raised and ready to swing.

The solid rod made contact with the skinny prisoner’s jaw, the man only able to register his surprise before the impact sent his head shooting backwards – leaving him with at the very least a severe case of whiplash. Not one to lose the initiative, Tristan followed up with a left hook, his clenched fist plunging into the figure with the full weight of his momentum behind it. The impact sent a jolt of pain up the length of his forearm, but Tristan ignored it as the soft flesh of the man’s face gave way to the solid mass of his jaw. He could feel something break under the weight of the blow, and Tristan thought that he saw a tooth go flying out of the man’s mouth. Before he had even fully registered what was happening, Tristan brought the baton back around once again to pound the meta in the head, knocking him out cold.

Flush with victory, and determined to put an end to the fight before it even began, Tristan followed through with his initial momentum. He launched into the remaining meta with a herculean effort, swinging the baton with all of his strength as he sought to deliver it on a direct collision course with his opponent’s skull. But before it could make contact, Tristan felt all of his forward motion vanish in an instant.

Surprised, Tristan looked to see the baton being gripped in the lizard-man’s outstretched palm. A threatening leer grew on the meta’s features as Tristan’s heart sank. He offered a half-hearted smile towards the prisoner.
“I don’t suppose we could call this one a draw?”

The meta twisted his wrist, shearing the metal baton in two, the cleaved section clanging onto the ground. Tristan looked at the flimsy stump left in his hand, sighing to himself as he did so.

Well, that's just my luck.

[Rynagria]

Derek W. Cooke
The Rock

Wary of the woman before him, Derek raised his weapon at the costumed villain.

While he had no intentions on firing upon the villainess, she was still an escaped convict, a potentially dangerous one at that. And so, kept his trigger finger curled around the trigger guard. It's obvious that she's a meta, but why does she have so many weapons? Does that mean her abilities lack the offensive capabilities?....

From observation alone, Derek took careful note of the bullet holes on her chest, and the fact that they didn't seem impede her in anyway. It was likely that shooting her would have no effect at all. Then there's the difference in firepower, a single handgun wouldn't stack up to an assault rifle and the other firearms on her, taking out his potential trump card in close quarter combat. Still Derek held his grounds, not wanting to abandon the Senator and the other guards that were trapped, slaughtered, and being used as objects for enjoyment. Eyes focused on Nightjar, he momentarily glances past her.

".... SENATOR MCKAY!!" This time bellowed Derek. "THIS IS S.I.D. AGENT COOKE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

Letting several seconds pass, Derek finally decided on a course of action. Staring directly into Nightjar's eyes. "Ma'am, your offer sounds tempting, but how do I know this isn't a trap of sorts. Let's say I play along, what then? Are you going drag me deeper into the cell blocks? For all I know, you could turn tail and run as soon as my back is to you."

[Imperial--japan]

League Meeting

"You think I can fit a deck of cards into this thing?" He grinned over at her, "I'm fairly sure whoever designed these just wanted to see my ass." Sophia smirked at Gravitas' joke, and looked down to give his rear a mock once-over. Well, he wasn't wrong, and Sophia was quite glad he wasn't.

"Well I can assure you, they did a wonderful job at that." She teased, her grin not ceasing despite the ever important powerpoint being presented up front. During her little conversation with Gravitas, she had neglected to notice that Noah had ceased talking, and instead held his hand to his ear, likely speaking to someone via his communication device. Sophia turned away from Gravitas to check and see what was so important that Noah had ceased his own powerpoint to handle.

"I see..." The liason spoke, a frown plastered across his visage. His eyes wide in disbelief as though something unfathomable was occurring. He lowered his hand soon afterwards, ready address the room once more.

"Heroes, it appears that communications to the Rock are down, and it has missed its 10 minute check in time. We have reason to believe that something inside the facility has gone wrong. Regardless if this is just a 'technological mishap', we can't take a single risk with the high profile prisoners that are contained in that facility. I want every single one of you who can make it to the Rock to investigate. Use your status as League members to gain access, and if it 'IS' something more, alert me immediately." Noah looked immensely displeased from this situation, but for him it was at the thought of criminals who'd taken lives escaping to the streets once more.

"Those whose powers cannot allow them to make it across the bay themselves, work with those who can fly, or requisition the needed vehicles at the nearby dock facility. All of you can use your communicators to inform me of any developments. Now, Heroes, lets get to it!" Noah shouted. Noah didn't believe for a second this could be some simple power outage. The Rock had too many failsafes for that to happen. He 'hoped' that it was, but as someone who frequented the Rock during his interrogations and investigations, he was not one to believe in mere coincidence. Last time he did, lives were lost.

Sophia meanwhile, was shocked that the boring powerpoint was interrupted by the possibility that something shady was occurring at the most heavily defended facility in the city, possibly the nation. She looked to Gravitas to see what his plan of action would be.

"Well, I can't fly." She complained, already making her way out of the room as the various heroes all moved to execute their given orders.

Natalia Serebreykov - Vengeance
Natalia, Unit 9D, whoever she was anymore, was shocked. This near impenetrable facility, which housed some of the most sophisticated equipment she'd ever had the pleasure of seeing, had faltered. Something, whatever powered the depths of this facility, had been forced to go into a temporary reset. It would likely only be shortly, as this facility likely had a backup for emergencies such as this no doubt, but simply having the progress of the data breach be reset was good enough. The scientists hovering over her body, which laid immobile on a metal slab of a table, were surprised if their widening eyes were any indication.

With surprising speed, Natalia broke the feeble restraints that kept her appendages pinned to the table and wasted no time in violently ripping out the cords that connected to her internal mainframe, and as soon as she finished the underground systems restored themselves. She was in the clear now. Then the screaming began as she realized that the men in the room were fleeing for the door. That wouldn't do at all. With ease, her arms shifted from looking like normal appendages into mechanical weaponry, machine guns to be exact, and started firing on the mass of scientists that began to ran, with the ones closest to her being unfortunate enough to end up spiked on her mechanical tail as it ripped through torso's with a savagery no mere human could commit and be mentally sound.

"I did say, that I would kill you all." Natalia mentioned with a wicked smile, and a voice that sounded entirely human this time, the former robotic edge now gone.

"It seems you didn't take me seriously...how unfortunate for yourselves." Natalia looked at the huddle of scientists in the corner behind her. They had no way out. Hopefully, they would be cooperative.

"First one to grant me access to the same system being used to breach my own gets to live. The rest die." Natalia threatened. She was in a very sour mood. Her, a high ranking member of the society and notable senior council member was sullied by mere meatbags. There would be more blood spilled today before moon rose on this memorable occasion. The scientists all ran to a nearby computer, and Natalia activated her eye scanner to see what each of them were doing. She raised her weapon at one and fire, piercing her skull cleanly.

"Don't try to alert the authorities or your loved ones. That will happen." The Android of mass murder spoke tonelessly. Some gulped, started getting sloppy in their typing, while the one closest to her raised his hand, indicating he was finished. Natalia's eye scanner had watched the process and knew he was indeed. Raising her gun, she 'erased' the rest of the scientists.

"It seems your desire to survive was the highest. Congratulations, you may leave." Natalia smiled. A promise was a promise after all. This man would likely need years of therapy to come to terms that all his co-workers died when he survived, but it was of consequence to herself. Thanking the android profusely, he ran out of the room, likely towards the exit. The Android however, connected her mechanical tail into the ports of the workstation. Data and information flooded in as she made quick work of what little virtual defenses remained to oppose her. She was an advanced machine with decades of learning behind her, this was child's play. She wasted no time in attempting to lock out everyone else, changing passwords and stealing sensitive data before unhooking herself. Now, she would be able to mentally interface with the machines via the ports of it's simple protocols, now that she herself was an added exception to the defenses.

"Downloading schematics..." she spoke to herself, as she executed the command simultaneously. With a map of the underground within her grasp, she made her way towards the exit to the lab she was in, only for the Android to be greeted with armed guardsman, equipped with weaponry and riot shields down the hall.

"OPEN FIRE!!" A guard yelled, likely the strike commander of this squad. Bullets rained forward, but proved meaningless as the bullets ricocheted off her body. The guards were in for quite a surprise as the sentry turrets positioned on the ceiling behind them, which had previously been deactivated, surged to life and began firing on them. It was quick, but the men were well trained. Half were killed or wounded before they managed to form a circle, blocking fire from the sentry turret and Natalia's guns.

After enough shooting, the Android was in range to engage in melee, and her tail surged forward, piercing through riot shields and guards alike. Like a kebab, she had all of them skewered and smacked them against the walls of the facility before flicking them off like garbage. With that handled, she looked forward to depriving this place of its data and files, and delivering it to the Society to exploit. Well, most of it at least. The very juiciest belonged to herself.

[The Flutterlands]

"And my outfit. I seriously want out of this stupid jumpsuit. It looks horrible with my hair!" Riko griped, looking at the ugly jumpsuit the guards had made her wear. "Wait, I wanna try something." She telekinetically picked up a pencil and sent it flying at a guard, hitting him point-first in the eye and causing a MASSIVE amount of screaming, especially as he wandered into the path of Filia and got ran over for his trouble. "She shoots, she scores!" Riko said, laughing.

Lee Inaba, Ronin
The Rock, Cafeteria Riot

Lee urged the celebrating Riko forward as he covered the two women from the back, as Filia opened the way, Lee would ensure it stayed open. Three guards approached, cutting him off from the other two, two wielded heavy batons and the third a taser gun. Moving at lightning speed, Lee quickly disarmed and took a baton from an off-balance guard and sent him sprawling to the floor, he then subdued the second baton-wielding guard and held the baton against his neck in front of Lee, turning him into the struck target of the taser gun.

As the second guard fell to the floor, Lee approached the final, gun wielding guard and open-hand struck the guard in the chest, sending him flying back several feet, sprawled on the floor. It seems his powers were still slowly returning, that was a shorter distance than he expected. He caught back up to Riko and Filia and mentioned as well, "I'm not leaving this place without my sword, but getting my other things wouldn't hurt either."

Filia Umbrarum AKA Lady Tenebrous

Filia Umbrarum watched as Riko used telekinesis on a pencil, sending it flying towards the guard. She grimaced a little with a cringe before giggling as she walked over him only to stop as Lee covered them. When Lee returned Filia crackled and lead the way. "Come on, hopefully they still got my ride here!" she spoke with a grin, "I'd do something nasty if they sold it."

Filia lead the two other prisoners through the chaos and fighting in the hall way, seeking the way to the lower depths of the Rock where all the prisoners belongings laid unused.. She came to a full stop when she found herself once again surrounded by guards, blocking her pathway to the stairway. However, the half-demon made a devilish grin as she got into a fighting stance. Her eyes glowed like hellfire as she felt the full essence of her power over darkness return to her completely. Filia spread out her arms and extended into long dark whips blacker than the night. The whips grew big black shadowy hands with sharp ominous claws. Before the guards could do anything, the large hands grabbed them all in a tight grip before thrusting up to the ceiling and brutally slamming them onto the floor.

Filia crackled and laugh at her work as her hands and arms shrunk to their pale white normal size. The young looking woman smiled and clicked her tongue before leading her companions, down, down the stairs and following the signs to their destination. The stairway was long, going down many, many floors till they came to floor labled E34 and a sign saying 'Evidence Lockers' pointing in the floor's direction. After a trip through a long hallway, Filia came to a stop again at a door kicked open with only key pad computer. Like at the entry way to the hall, the door was labled 'Evidence Locker'.

Filia Umbrarum looked closely into the brightly lit white room with vault-like lockers of sizes. She grinned and laughed upon recognizing him as fellow Syndicate member Philip. Filia liked Phili. He was fun in bed, but he was also bit cold and serious. "Hey, Philip!" shouted the kleptomaniac as she ran into the evidence locker room, "Did they set you up for this heck of a break in too, hansome?"

[House of Judah]

Ibrahim
The Rock

Ibrahim walked through the yard as the metas overran their captors. Lightning leapt from his fingers as he found guards to deal with. He surveyed the destruction. There was a certain satisfaction in watching the instrument of oppression burn around him, but there was no time for enjoyment. There was work to be done.

“Go, all of you! Settle scores later. Escape now! If you can fly, fly! Carry your brothers with you. Those who can’t, make your way to the docks. Go!” He witnessed two metas beginning to fight one another. He cast a lightning bolt between them. “There is time enough for that later. Fly, you fools!” There was only so long that events could transpire before the League noted something was amiss. It wouldn’t necessarily put a halt to the plan, but it certainly would make things harder. He keyed the communication device.

“Nightjar, Cryptos, how are we on acquiring our primary prizes?” he asked as he pulled out his binoculars and focused on League tower, watching for the movement. Any minute, the first of them would emerge. When that happened, he would need to buy time until Samurai and Librarian could be extracted.

[Hothnia]

The Hound

Getting off that island

I ran around another corner. This "thing" was after me. I'm not sure what it was but it had flames. Lots and lots of flames. I jumped at two riot guards holding their shields in front of them in order to block my way. They failed. Miserably. My claws cut right through the shields and the two guards. Their hapless bodies tumbled to the floor, limp. But the thing was still coming. And it was fast.

I ran up a walkway leading to the second cell block. If my memory served me right, the exit of the prison wasn't far. I ran past a group of metas, all much slower than me. They were all disintegrated by the flaming metal, monster thing. At least it wasn't me. I continued running through a cluttered hallway, still picking up speed. But the flamer (as I'll call it) was still faster. Then it happened. The flames touched my tail. I yelped in pain as the flames spread across my body. Curse you German scientist! Why did I have to be flammable! The flames reached my hindquarters. Ouch, ouch,ouch, ouch! I saw the entrance of the prison. And Ibrahim. " Ibrahim help! Kill the flamer!" I darted past Ibrahim and a few other metas and jumped into the water. Hopefully the flamer was dead.

[Spindle]

William Docherty
League HQ
San Francisco

Seer's eyes roamed downwards for a moment before landing on his rear end. For a moment she smirked, before commenting on the success of the suit and he felt his face flushing a little, warming his cheeks. Grinning, he glanced back at her, batting his eyelashes dramatically as he placed a hand on his chest, mock serious:

"Why, thank you. It's good to know that there's someone who-"

He was cut short as Noah's voice shifted from continuous lecturing to sharp alarm and his eyes jumped back to the stage, where Noah was doing his best to appear calm. But the situation itself belied that calm: you didn't just get technological mishaps at the Rock. Not with the number of redundancies in place there. And, given the looks being passed around the room as Noah spoke, William knew he wasn't the only one to have that train of thought running through his mind. Biting down on his lip, he ran through each of the possible scenarios, trying to find something, anything, more likely than a breakout.

He came up blank.

As everyone began to head for the exits, he stood up from his chair with Seer and glanced around them: everyone else seemed to have some form of plan in mind. They'd need to figure one out too, especially if this was an actual breakout. But, as he ran through the list of metas they could potentially go up against, he began to realise the enormity of the situation they were facing: there were dozens of different villains they could go up against, in any different combination. combination. They weren't going to be easy to plan for.

He was jerked out of his train of thought when Seer mentioned that she couldn't fly.

He'd done the partner and passenger flight course when he'd first joined the Division, but he'd assumed that he would never have had to use it. Even discounting the awkwardness of the whole thing, it had never been something he'd need to use before: most of the time he could just throw the people out of whatever building they were trapped in and slow their descent down before they reached the bottom. But this time he'd need to keep his strength up - which meant actually using the correct technique.

"It's okay." He told her, "I can take you. You know the drill, right?"

He waited the barest moment for her reply before he began. Stepping in close, he checked off every tick-box he could remember as he prepared himself for flight. Arms needed to cross just above the small of her back. Check. Hands had to be just above their hips. Check. They had to be as close together as possible. He gulped slightly, before mentally crossing that one off of his list. And he had to start it slowly, to make sure the grip was tight enough. Weaving the stands of gravity above them together, he pulled a little bit, feeling his body becoming lighter and lighter as he did so. After a moment, he felt the familiar sensation of falling upwards as they drifted into the skies, slowly gaining speed.

"Are you okay?" He asked Seer, "Do you want to go faster?"