Gods Among Us (IC|Superhero|Open)

[Mandicoria]

-snip-

Patriot just stared at Shadowshock like they were some sort of idiot. Talking at regular volume when Tesla was making as much noise as a full blown construction site over at the other side of the road. He shook his head and took a deep breath "Uh, hey buddy! YOU'RE GONNA NEED TO SPEAK UP!-" He was immediately cut off by the sound and sight of an explosion far off, with the wall of flame and smoke being visible all the way where the crew was. "What the fuck..." He said to himself, utterly shocked by this happening seemingly from nowhere. Looking over to Tesla, he gestured for the robotic doctor to cease everything he was doing.

Tesla of course didn't need such a signal considering he was already looking over to Patriot, and the sound of an explosion pretty easily cut through the noise to him.He began setting the downed power line pole to the side, safely away from the road and nearby civilians. His hulking frame then moving quickly over to Patriot and Shadowshock. Making sure to move any other debris from the car crash away from the road on his way over.

A look of puzzled awe was in Patriot's eyes while he looked at the explosion. Like it was something he wasn't expecting to see since he left his service in the Middle East or something. Shaking his head as he heard Shadowshock's near rambling on the situation that's developing, and looking between them and the cloud of smoke rising. A bit of a groan coming from Patriot as he began fiddling with his radio. "Yeah no shit, dumbass." He responded harshly over to their new teammate, finally tuning to police radio frequencies. It was ablaze with chatter on what just happened and where it could've been. "Oh fuck this shit's really getting serious, they're saying it could be a possible terrorist attack... Shit. Wasn't expecting this shit for another year or two..." he looked between Tesla and Shadowshock "Both of you, back in the fucking truck. We're going in." He walked back to the truck, banging on the side for the Driver to open the back once more. While tuning his radio into TIAMA channels. "This is Team Charlie, we just got a back row seat viewing of a fuckhuge explosion in the Bronx. We're on our way to give relief, but we're about ten minutes out. Over."

Tesla was quick to get into the back of the truck as soon as those back doors opened up. With patriot following soon after, still fiddling with his radio. The two sitting down in the back and signalling for Shadowshock to get in. "Hurry the fuck up!" Patriot yelled out, clearly ready to get the Driver to floor it as soon as those doors shut.

[Segral]

Emma Davis
Staten Island

"What in the f-" Emma started as a blonde woman strolled right past the growing crowd, composed of a mixture of concerned heroes and a few poor souls that just needed a leak. The blonde didn't seem to belong to either category, her scarred face not even making a twitch as she casually plowed her way right through the locker room door, letting it swing shut before Emma could even get a glimpse of what was inside. For a second, all she could do was stare at the door in awe, which quickly transformed into slight horror as the sound of creaking, buckling metal began to erupt from the other side. Hans was already on the door by the time she rushed over, and his inability to get the door to budge even an inch was enough confirmation of what she already suspected; that Courage the Crazy Blonde had locked herself in with an equally crazy blonde. It was possible that two negatives would make a positive, but there was an equal possibility of that just being wishful thinking.

She pressed her ear to the crack of the door, hoping to catch a bit of what was brewing on the inside. The first thing she heard? An all-too-familiar voice with a thick German accent, yelling something about being suicidal, and about machines, and something about a computer brain somewhere in there too. Was Courage an A.I? Sure, there was a solid chance that Maria was drowning too far in the metaphorical deep end to pull back up, but it would explain the stiffness, and would probably explain the utter lack of ability to read the room. Emma would've loved to hear more, especially as Maria seemingly began the threaten to murder Courage right then and there, but alas, it seemed as if she wouldn't have a chance to do so, thanks to the wild Three Stooges performance going on behind her.

All she had to do was turn around and force her poor eyes to bear witness to the absolute clusterfuck going on behind her. The French asshole had returned out of absolutely nowhere, clutching a vanilla ice cream cone and referring to Chris by such wondrous demonyms as "Nancy-Gun-Lover-BITCH", mostly thanks to an infuriated-looking Chris and perplexed-looking Hans' vague attempts to drag him into the ladies' room. She didn't know who the former thought he was fooling with his fake tough guy act, although it was entirely possible that seeing him piss on a brick wall at 2:30 in the morning four days ago had made her immune. Clearly, the Frenchie wasn't having any of it, beginning to wrap Chris around by the back with some ominous looking red lights beginning flare up. Prince Charles over here was providing a simply heroic attempt to break up the conflict, while her new teammate sort of awkwardly stood in the corner, trying to take in the whole debacle. She couldn't blame her, the whole thing was one part amusing, and many more parts confusing, absurd, and just plain stupid. And dangerous. If she didn't break this up, someone's head would get ripped off.

The drink just wouldn't come fast enough, would it?

With a sigh, she snapped her fingers three times in a row, usually something that wasn't too loud, but thanks to some slight illusionary tweaking, everyone in the hall would hear it ringing loud and clear, drawing attention towards her position just left of the bathroom door. "Oi, Stooges! Maybe instead of swapping testosterone, you can shut up and let me listen to what's going on in there, hm?!" Emma yelled at the group of men, jerking her thumb back to the door as she spoke. "I can't exactly tell what's going on in there, but it's clearly going south, and you guys throwing each other inside through the door won't exactly help matters. We should prepare to break the buffer and make a quick entrance in, just in case things get a little too heady. Chris, drop the macho and please keep the French guy out here. French guy, you do the same. TIAMA has enough property damage payouts to deal with as is."

Why did she have to do everything herself?

---

Dwayne Okafor
Status: Landlocked

Man, this was already boring. The drizzle wouldn't stop raining on his parade, and he hadn't gotten one autograph request since coming out. Sure, he had signed more autographs for TIAMA heroes than he could remember, not to mention countless photographs and shared joints over the years, but still, he kind of missed being the big thing around Staten Island. Two girls in their twenties stumbling over to him for a photograph the day before was better action than he'd had in the past six months. When you were a hustler like him, always in the studio or in the office or at some random no-name disease charity event held in a banquet hall somewhere, you had no time to fall in love or even date around. He needed to get his love and affection from somewhere. Otherwise, where was he going to get it? Tinder? Could you imagine the tabloids? "RAPPER D-WAYNE IS FOUND ON TINDR: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE HIP-HOP MOGUL'S RELATIONSHIP STATUS?". Ugh, the thought of it alone was enough to kill his buzz, turning the once-savory blunt on his palette into a chalky, dry affair. Distasteful, absolutely distasteful.

There was no point in staying out here now. The stupid rain wouldn't stop, paparazzi might show up to catch another tabloid headline, and his vibe was officially in the morgue. Groaning, he dropped the blunt to the pavement, stomping the heel of his boot over it to mash it down into a flat pile of smoldering ash. He might as well go back to the gym, actually take a look at his team assignment instead of just waltzing out. He had taken exactly three seconds to skim through the list, failed to see his name, and decided to put it on pause so he that he could have a chance to light up before he started trembling harder than a Parkinson's patient. Shit, couldn't say that, he was supposed to be a "celebrity associate" of the New York Parkinson's Society. Could he think it? Yeah, he could think it. After all, they couldn't oppress free thought, he had rights and all of that. Until the paparazzi discovered mind-reading technology, or worse, sent a telepathic mole to follow him around, he was a free man within the confines of his own mind. Sometimes, it was difficult just to cling onto that. Everywhere he looked, people didn't see Dwayne, the fly, handsome motherfucker who generously provided his services to TIAMA, he was D-Wayne, the problem child of the Bay Area and the TIAMA hero on probation. The public was able to see any move he made, any trip he made to walk his dog, any trip he made to buy a damn T-shirt, and of course they were judging him. They wanted autographs and pictures, and if he didn't smile through the pain for them, he would get judged for it. Of course, they would still judge him anyways, because he was once involved in a gang like millions of other young black folks, and he lived a gang lifestyle. Did people think "Wow, I just met D-Wayne, I'm shitting my pants right now!", or did they think "Wow, I just met D-Wayne, shame how he turned out."? Maybe he was better off without autographs after all.

Before he knew it, he was already heading into the gym, having followed the signs and slightly peeling arrows without even consciously being aware of it. Crazy how the mind did that sometimes. He was interested in minds, and had started ordering some reading material from a few online stores. It helped flesh out the bookshelf, was a great look for his Lives, and some of them weren't half bad. One of the most recent ones he had read was "Increasing Social Awareness" by Tyler Green, a thick-ass paperback he had dug out of the local bookstore while taking Laila to buy some of those "manga" comics she was obsessed with. It was all about opening your mind to a bunch of "social opportunities", and viewing conversation as a game of ISpy where people try to catch onto and exhaust the topic that the other person has started, and use another "social opportunity" to restart the game. The ISpy kind of sounded like bullshit, but "social opportunities" did exist, he was sure of it. Case and point, Opportunity A and Opportunity B.

Exhibit A was the list of teams still hovering high on the wall, all UFO-message like and beamed up for everybody in their chairs to see. From a quick glance, he was assigned to a team with one Immortal, and one Hydra Imperator. He had no idea what in the sweet fuck a "Hydra Imperator" was, but Immortal sounded spooky enough. And threatening. Must be someone powerful. Exhibit B was a man (or woman, it was kind of hard to tell) standing around in the corner, looking like a gutted fish out of water. Seeds of conversation, and the perfect soil to sow them in. What a crazy coincedence.

He smoothly strolled over to the man/woman with a friendly nod and gold-tooth filled smile, pulling the sunglasses up to his forehead to show off his eyes as he spoke. "Hey there, I'm lookin' for one Hydra Imperator, and one Immortal. We're now teammates or something, apparently. Would you happen to know where I coul' find 'em?" he drawled out in his classic D-Wayne voice, being extremely careful to avoid using any pronouns until he was absolutely sure of her gender. The last thing he needed was a misgendering accusation, Twitter would cancel him in a day!

[Anowa]

Things didn't slow down.

For normal people it might have, for Synapse it most definitely did. But to Gauss everything was still perceived at real time, she could just process it faster. She processed that a chunk of concrete lined with rebar was heading towards her at a rather concerning speed. It would hit her, maybe even kill her, but if she dodged it, the chances of survival for anyone behind her (Possibly Blink, since he had teleported), were astronomically low. It was likely that anyone in it's path wasn't wearing state of the art armor, and most certainly wasn't the child of a vampire.

She didn't move, at least not until the debris struck in sequence with the significantly broken shockwave. Gauss went flying backwards, 10, maybe fifteen feet. landing straight on her back with the two stick of rebar digging into the ground and ramping up the already blinding pain.

Gauss simply sat up. No noise, simply acknowledge your injuries and keep moving. It was a mantra that her father had rammed into her skull since she could talk. One piece was pinning her forearm, and continuing into her neck, coming out the other side. The other had rammed into her gut, near her liver. She didn't taste blood, meaning it wasn't perforating her stomach of her lungs. Good.

She dumped a monumental electrical current through both, making them glow almost red. Before yanking them out with nary a whimper. The smell of burning flesh reaching her nose. Dust and sulfur filling the air alongside it. Her neck wasn't giving out an arterial spray. Chances were it would close in a few hours, maybe a day, fully heal in a week or two. Despite the rather impromptu cauterisation, blood was still flowing from the holes she's found herself with. Less than expected, but anough to leave a trail on the ground, and down her armor.

Her rifle was... somewhere. The shockwave had ripped it out of her hand.

"Oh Jesus fuck someone help! I- oh God I think it's broken, my leg, I can't move it, it hurts so bad! O-Ophi, Gauss, someone, just..."

Her head snapped to the location of the noise, moving before really registering that it was Blink calling out. The dust, as thick as it was, made it difficult to see anything. The massive fireball casting a strange shadow on everything. It was disorienting.

Gauss walked up on Blink, his knee trapped under a small pule of cracked concrete, worn and eroded concrete, almost a stone, but thankfully lighter, and less prone to obliterating joints. Grabbing the rock, she tossed it aside, as she looked at the lad's knee, there was a pop as it righted itself, "Well. Luckily that's just a pretty clean dislocation. You'll be fine."

Something bounced off her helmet, landing on the ground nearby, looking over, Gauss saw a gloved hand. Her heart nearly sunk into her gut, but very quickly recognized it wasn't Ophi's, it wasn't nearly as muscular. A few more plops echoed from nearby, shapes similar, but not identical to a number of body parts clearly identifying them. gauss moved to cover Blink with her won form, "Christ. Blink close your eyes." A single beep from Gauss' helmet and the outcropping on the forehead of her helmet started blinking blue. "Ophichiua! Regroup!"

Her radio popped on, and a variety of radio traffic nearly jamming it, "Team Alpha to TOC. Gauss. We've had a 213 in Eastchester. Over"

The dispatcher replied, "All callsigns, clear traffic."

The chaff of conversation stopped dead, "Priority 5. Myself and Blink are up, wounded. Status on Ophichiua is unknown at this time. Status on Armadillo is unknown at this time..." a pause.

"METHANE?"

Gauss looked around for a moment, "Can't tell which street, too much dust. I Someone detonated something, and I'm assuming a gas line was caught. Only a breathing hazard that is likely to settle within the hour. Status on Access and Egress are unknown." a pause, "Casualties close to or in excess of two hundred. We're going to need EMTs, and body bags."

"Copy Team Alpha. Team Charlie, you're to find and evaluate access and egress to the location of the explosion. If Team Alpha needs medical assistance, you're to provide it. Teams Bravo, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel and India, you are to make your way at the fastest speed to the location to assist in triage and casualty assessment. How copy? Over."

Gauss looked down at Blink, "Hey, you breathing okay, Buddy? Taste any blood?"

---

Pavel was not a man who liked meetings, less so if said meetings involved further complications to his career. It was always a shame, cut down on what little free time he had, and what little interests he had. However, he knew their importance, no matter how much he disliked them. Meeting his team mate was important, she was quite literally an alien, meaning all those Soyuz missions weren't for nothing, and that mankind perhaps one day would find itself in a bar populated by the exotic and distinct species of a hundred worlds. perhaps not peacefully, or liked, but it was the human dream. Space.

"It is good to meet you," she said in lightly accented English, giving the behemoth a small wave before she extended her hand to shake his. "I am called Miss Majestic. I have not seen our other team mate, but I look forward to working with you."

For a moment, Pavel considered refraining from the hand shake. He always seemed to suffer bad luck whenever he shook hands with a new person. But he relented, and took a comparatively light grasp of her hand, "Mother Russia. Most people simply call me Russia, or Russkie." The building had a gentle shake for but a moment as a hefty shockwave passed, Pavel sighed, "Sometimes people simply call me bad luck." Before long, his radio was filled with questions, answers soon followed, and he had his orders.

He looked at Miss Majestic, "Well, nothing like being shown where Crawfish hibernate for team building."

[Lessoni]

Something bounced off her helmet, landing on the ground nearby, looking over, Gauss saw a gloved hand. Her heart nearly sunk into her gut, but very quickly recognized it wasn't Ophi's, it wasn't nearly as muscular. A few more plops echoed from nearby, shapes similar, but not identical to a number of body parts clearly identifying them. gauss moved to cover Blink with her won form, "Christ. Blink close your eyes." A single beep from Gauss' helmet and the outcropping on the forehead of her helmet started blinking blue. "Ophichiua! Regroup!"
...
Gauss looked down at Blink, "Hey, you breathing okay, Buddy? Taste any blood?"

Jack Dredd

Blink laid there for a minute, resting. He didn’t want to get up. What he really wanted was to go to his special place. But he couldn’t. His eyes were filled with dust and debris. He was stuck there, for the time being. After a few moments, he stood up.

“I-I’m fine, I.. I...”

He trailed off as he looked up. He wished he would’ve listened to Gauss. The scattered body parts drew his eyes like a moth to a candle, so close to something so dangerous. He let out a yelp of surprise, falling back to a sitting position. His wounded knee cried out; he ignored it. He was in a new state of shock, one brought on by something far worse than pain.

“Gauss, are those... are those...”

He bent over double, emptying the contents of his stomach on and around his shoes.

“What the fuck... did we... are they...? We c-can fix that right? P-please tell me we can...”

A fresh wave of tears rolled down his face. He crawled forward, lacing his own fingers with the gloved hand. It was still warm, just warm enough for Blink to trick himself into thinking it was still attached to something. He closed his eyes, focusing on it. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle seeing any of the others.

“We just gotta... put... I thought heroes were supposed to stop s-stuff like this...”

[Europa Undivided]

Shadowshock | Tactical Redeployment: Advancing Backwards

Shadowshock shook his head as Patriot was shouting at him to follow them into the truck; again. When are you going to stop yelling at me, America's ass., he muttered to himself as he was not pleased with the notion of being constantly yelled at. He may be the type to be laid back and in some ways lazy when it comes to his responsibilities, but there was no denying that he was a competent agent of TIAMA. He did, after all, accomplish some of his best missions while on leave; if one looks at it at another angle, it could be said that he was using his vacations as an excuse to do good elsewhere, especially the Middle East, wherein he had spent his last few days of leave. Either way, he went towards the truck, just as instructed, and phased in to sit on one of the seats.

---

Hydra Imperator | Vous êtes sous moi, paysans.

Jacques scoffed as Emma berated all of them that were involved in the short scuffle that had just happened now. He simply did not budge, even as Chris tried to push him unto the door. It was at this time that the radio crackled, and their orders came in. The four appendages set themselves on the ground and lifted Jacques away from the floor; now he was towering over everyone else. "Alright, chuckle nuggets. There was an explosion and I need to go, now. I suggest you get your overly sensitive blonde friend out as the people out there need some healing."

He smoothly strolled over to the man/woman with a friendly nod and gold-tooth filled smile, pulling the sunglasses up to his forehead to show off his eyes as he spoke. "Hey there, I'm lookin' for one Hydra Imperator, and one Immortal. We're now teammates or something, apparently. Would you happen to know where I coul' find 'em?"

"That would be me.", Hydra said to Euphoria whilst striding above the laced precarious obscura addict on his robotic appendages. "Hydra Imperator, it is. You must be Euphoria, oui?"

[Anowa]

“Gauss, are those... are those...”

He bent over double, emptying the contents of his stomach on and around his shoes.

“What the fuck... did we... are they...? We c-can fix that right? P-please tell me we can...”

A fresh wave of tears rolled down his face. He crawled forward, lacing his own fingers with the gloved hand. It was still warm, just warm enough for Blink to trick himself into thinking it was still attached to something. He closed his eyes, focusing on it. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle seeing any of the others.

“We just gotta... put... I thought heroes were supposed to stop s-stuff like this...”

Gauss slowly stood as the lad had a mental breakdown of sorts, there was a pang of sorrow deep within her soul for him. Innocence lost in an instant, it reminded the woman of herself, less than a week in Syria, a convoy ripped in half by a Jihadist superman, her voice took on somewhat of a mournful tone, "There's no need to keep looking. It's gonna be etched into your mind for the rest of your life. Every death, friend, foe, bystander. They're going to torture you, you're going to think you didn't make the right call."

She approached the now grounded man, kneeling beside him, the faceplate of her helmet swiveled upwards, opening and revealing her face to the young man, her voice a little less tinny, and her eyes with a furious glow of barely contained rage, mixing with that of sadness, the fact they literally did glow an emerald green adding a level of depth to her soul that few could match. Her face was a level headed and calm visage, an eerie avatar of human emotion was presenting itself to Blink in all it's glory, "There was no call to make here. There is no pre-emptive measure for a psychopathic monster placing bombs along his escape route. Not You, not me, not Ophi did anything that resulted in that." she pointed at the arm Blink was holding.

"People died, yes, people will continue to die, that's our line of work. We can't always save everyone." a pause, "Right now, we can't do anything for the people who are already dead, for whoever's arm that was. We can't save them now, but there are people, hurt, trapped, or otherwise who do need our help. In times like this, you cannot dwell on any mistakes you think that you or anyone else made, Jihadi John, Shoplifter Steve, of Psychopath Sam won't give a single fuck if you're dsad or not, they're going to keep doing what they do. Right now, you have to let go of what could have been, get up, and help me get people out of these collapsed buildings and that godawful fireball."

[Mandicoria]

-snip-

The back doors of the armored truck slammed, with Patriot banging the metal separator between himself and the driver. "Alright man I told them 10 minutes TOPS. Make me proud and get us there before that." he nodded to the driver as he pressed on his radio with an audible click. "This is Team Charlie, copy that. Over." Clicking off his radio and turning to the men. "Fasten up gentlemen, this is going to be a helluva ride." His warning was immediately followed by the blaring of sirens, and the screeching of tires. Tossing the crew around harshly as some hard turns and extreme speeds achieved in a ridiculously short time span.

"What are we expecting?" Tesla asked, sighing knowing damn well this wasn't gonna be pretty. "Judging from your radio it isn't gonna be good."

"It isn't gonna be, Victor. Believe me if this is anything close to what I've seen." Patriot responded, tuning his radio with even more chatter coming through. reports of casualties and ludicrous levels of property damage coming through. Something in Patriot's eyes seemed... Off. Like he was disturbed. Shaking his head he knocked open a container above their seats. Pulling out a gas mask and handing it over to Shadowshock in a forceful manner. "Look buddy, I can already see the amount of attitude you got towards this team. With your body language, and your tone when I talk to you having some sorta fuckin' venom to it. With your little ramblings of fuck knows what. I want you to know that that stops right fucking now before we head in here. Because you're gonna see some shit you'll absolutely fucking wish you did not see."

"Kurt, easy on him." Tesla pat on Patriot's shoulder. Getting pulled back by another sharp turn of the truck with another audible screeching of the tires. "God what were they doing out there?"

"Boys, I'm gonna tell you it's not gonna be pretty." The Driver grunted as he pulled some frantic turns through shifting traffic. The sirens really could only do so much with New York traffic. "I can see the flames from here and that smoke cloud looks really nasty."

Patriot shook his head as he tightened any bit of his suit he could. Making sure he was physically prepped for the trials to come. His hands reaching up and clicking on his radio, taking a deep breath. "This is Team Charlie. Team Alpha how are you guys holding up? We're about two minutes from your location. Over." A deep sigh escaped from him as he once more clicked his radio. Adjusting himself in his seat and whacking the back of his head as some sort of 'psyching up'. Everything in Patriot's body language gave off the truth that he was dreading this. "Tesla, when we go out there I want you helping me with finding Team Alpha. Shadowshock, you're going to do whatever you can to get pedestrians away. I don't want people coming in to peak or see some sick excuse to start looting. When the police and firemen show up, help them."

"One minute boys! Fuck man this looks bad. Real fuckin' bad!" The Driver shouted back to the crew, a bit of panic in his voice.

This bullshit was gonna top off Patriot's rough week...

Elsewhere, moments ago...
Immortal...

-snip-

Immortal was panicking internally, as they saw someone approaching them. Like they weren't prepared for any social interaction, or they expected their entire team to have just been home! Oh god he's coming over, sure his costume would be enough to alleviate some tension since... Oh, looks like one of her teammates that she read up on. Definitely by the looks of it it was Euphoria, but then the thought raced into their head. He's sorta famous. This part got them to almost freeze up, almost like they were about to fuck up their first impressions the moment they talked. Then it happened, he walked up and asked the question.

"Hey there, I'm lookin' for one Hydra Imperator, and one Immortal. We're now teammates or something, apparently. Would you happen to know where I coul' find 'em?"

The look of Immortal was a little timid, yet kept completely firm because of the armored suit they were wearing. Was absolutely perfect at hiding just how utterly terrified they were of social interaction. Especially to future coworkers like the charming man greeting them. An awkward cough came from Immortal before they reached out with their hand towards the individual. "W-well look no further! H-heh. I assume you're Euphoria? A, erm, pleasure to meet you, I'm Immortal, a-and might I say... Huge fan of your music. I uh, read your file a bit, and noticed your music career being mentioned. H-heh." Their hand was a little shaky, and their posture looked a little tense, but they definitely looked a lot more relaxed to finally be greeting their new teammate. "A-as for, erm." Another awkward cough came from them. "Excuse me, er, this Hydra guy... Haven't really, uh, seen him." Their attention turning to the peculiar individual intervening and introducing themselves, a bit of a jump causing Immortals hand to rescind from the sheer panic of another person joining in. Before noticing it was their teammate Hydra, and having a minor sigh of relief. “Ah, uh, yes I guess the whole teams here. H-heh.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

New York City
Staten Island Training Facility
Hans

Hans did not like how this friend was touching him. It was for one not particularly comfortable, his hands being stuck in gauntlets of some strange metal armour. And the feeling of metal on skin was never the most pleasant. And then there was of course the fact that as far as Hans was aware, one usually wasn't allowed to touch other people in the face. But maybe the rules were different for the French? He had heard they were very romantically inclined and some of the people at Creedmoor had joked about just how physical the french liked to be. He wasn't exactly sure what they had meant by all that but what he did get from that was that Frenchman apparently were very touchy touchy.

His poor opinion of his friend Hydra Imperator was further reinforced when the man was apparently incapable of making a decision on his own, having to take advice from that robot snake thing that sprouted from his back. Hydra Imperator looked like an adult and Hans had learned that adults were supposed to be able to make decisions on their own!

And to top it off, this Hydra Imperator seemed to actually follow this mean little robot's advice. Like, as if he couldn't see that the robot arm was mean and just went along with it. Getting both complimented and insulted by the suit didn't improve his rapidly degrading opinion of it.

He was about to call that stupid tentacle out on its mean words and Hydra Imperator for being such a gullible and feeble minded weakling when it appeared that someone else decided to solve this situation a bit more hands-on than Hans had imagined. Good ol' Chris backing up his team like he should and deciding that enough was enough, making good efforts to try and get that slavish frenchman to where he had to be. Inside that shower where he'd get to apologize. He had half a mind to join Chris in his efforts to move the man in there but someone spoke up from whom he had not expected to hear anything but the most gallant of support for Maria.

James. He grabbed Chris' arm and whispered something to Chris before telling Hydra Imperator that he understood his grievances...and then something more in a language Hans did not recognise but assumed to be French solely because he was speaking to a...well...a frenchman. Hans of course did not understand the grievance here. It had only been some blood, right? That was normal, they were filled with plenty of it afterall, right? Was it perhaps her slightly overenthusiastic nature, especcially towards violence of any kind? Hmm, yes, perhaps the latter could have led to some grievances though Hans did not see a problem in people being enthusiastic, regardless towards what. It was great when people were happy and enthusiastic! Still, having to think about what James had said had stopped Hans from helping Chris for a moment, something that appeared to be enough time for Hydra Imperator to rant about something till an overly loud snap that left his ears ringing brought Hans out of his thoughts and back onto the ground where he was confronted with the sight of a rather frustrated Emma trying to listen in on what happened on the other side of the door.

He felt bad about this. Of course instead of trying to get through to Maria, they were all more focused on shifting blame around and trying to find a scapegoat to go in there and apologize to her. That was not what friends were supposed to be about...they were supposed to be always there for you! Not try and find others to be there for you! Hans' face reddened while he kept his gaze on the ground, kneading his hands before him in a clear and childish show of embarrassment. This wasn't how one was supposed to act.

A sudden but atleast just gentle shaking of the building made Hans look up again in wonder. An earthquake? He didn't know that there could be earthquakes in New York. His face immediately brightened up for he had always wanted to experience an earthquake! It'd be totally cool when the earth shook and everything! ...but it was over as quickly as it had come, like a wave passing them by which was far from how Hans had imagined an earthquake to be so he said with hint of disappointment:

"Aw, are earthquakes always just this short?"

To Hans' great luck Hydra Imperator informed them all that this had apparently not been an earthquake but rather that an explosion had happened...and from there Hans could guess that it must've been the shockwave that hit the building. Good, that meant that earthquakes might actually be much, much more interesting than this. But then it hit him! Explosions usually didn't just happen all willy nilly. Most often they were in some way, shape or form human-made. And who or what could possibly be causing such explosions? There was really only three answers! The likely answer was that something had exploded where Team A was at. Less likely but still very possible options were that evil people had tried to strike somewhere or a robber had grossly miscalculated the amount of explosives necessary to open the door he needed to open. Worry about the well-being of others, especcially of Jack who had been such a cool guy at the Lucky Strike, set in immediately and he realized that he had to go there and help! Help save people! Help save Jack! Help save the kittens!

But how could he truly save anyone from an explosion after it had happened?

Hans head slowly turned towards the door through which Emma still tried to listen in on what Maria and the other blonde were talking about. He knew exactly what had to be done. They had to get Maria there, whatever the cost may be.

He rotated both of his arms a in their shoulderjoints as well as his head on his neck, cracking slightly in the process as he readied himself. He also asked Emma calmly:

"Fräulein Emma, would you please step away from that door. Regardless of how rude that man was, he was right in one thing. We do need Maria. Now."

His eyes betrayed that he was not joking around and was fully intent on bringing down that door by whatever means necessary and once Emma was out of the way, he instantly rushed at it and slammed shoulder-first right into it, budging the door ever so slightly inwards while sending searing pain through Hans' shoulder and along his bones. This was painful. But necessary. They had to get Maria out of their isolated bubble and to where the people in need were! Besides, his pain tolerance was higher than this. He could still feel all of it...but it'd take more for him to do more than grit his teeth.

He moved back, wiping his dark hair away from his eyes before rushing at the door again, hitting it with another sickening crunch and making it budge even further. Pain travelled all along his body as he retreated again, leaving the sight of a sizeable dent within the door for the others to see. Meanwhile Hans barely still felt like he could use his arm but that didn't matter. People's lives were at stake somewhere and he had to get Maria out of the shower and to them!

He sprinted at the door again and hit it yet again with the same shoulder, a sickening crack sounding through the corridor but immediately drowned out by the sound of the creaking door being forced out of its frame and swinging open to bash against a wall inside the shower room, allowing Hans to stumble right into the showers. His shoulder felt like he had decided to put it between hammer and anvil for a while and his arm just seemed like it had better things to do than to follow the whims of its owner, hanging limp at his side as he tried to regain his balance and see where he had found himself in, where Maria and the other blonde were. He must've looked like quite a mess, his hair all messed up, panting from exertion and pain with a fine film of tears covering his eyes due to the pain he felt from his shattered shoulder.

"M-Maria...haaahaaaa...there's been an...haaaaaa explosion...people....haaaaaa...need help..."

Having gotten the message he wanted to get across, well, across, Hans' single mindedness suddenly receded, giving way to the realization that he had just entered a room marked as for girls only. He slowly turned around to look back into the corridor where the others were, his eyes remaining on Emma for a bit as Hans contemplated his life choices and why he hadn't just broken the door and then let Emma enter. Now he had done something bad. He sighed, trying to lift his two arms and start hitting his own head, shouting:

"Dumb Hans! Dumb, dumb, dumb Hans! Only girls are allowed in here! Are you a girl, Hans? No, you are not Hans! What are you doing here then Hans? Being dumb Hans, that's what you are doing here!"

He noticed fairly quickly though that he had managed to raise only one arm, the other refusing to listen, regardless how hard he tried.

[Lessoni]

"People died, yes, people will continue to die, that's our line of work. We can't always save everyone." a pause, "Right now, we can't do anything for the people who are already dead, for whoever's arm that was. We can't save them now, but there are people, hurt, trapped, or otherwise who do need our help. In times like this, you cannot dwell on any mistakes you think that you or anyone else made, Jihadi John, Shoplifter Steve, of Psychopath Sam won't give a single fuck if you're dsad or not, they're going to keep doing what they do. Right now, you have to let go of what could have been, get up, and help me get people out of these collapsed buildings and that godawful fireball."

Jack Dredd

Jack listened to her, not exactly calming down. It was more like manning up. He didn’t like the comfort she gave, but he doubted there was any comfort to this situation. He had to move, or more people would die. He set down the arm, gently, and wiped his eyes. It seemed they were clear; he teleported a short distance, just a foot or so, and found it working. He was back at full power, as meager as that might be.

“A-Alright. Let’s... let’s find Ophi, and then maybe the fucker that did this. I think I want to kill him.”

He aired his thought in a voice filled with cold steel, lacking any of his usual stutter or cheerfulness. He gave one last look at the scattered body parts, hardening his resolve, and began walking out of the room on shaky legs. His eyes glowed an intense shade of yellow, and even in the broken body he inhabited they were the eyes of a man who’d lost the ability to back down.

[Europa Undivided]

Shadowshock | Just Like TIAMA ME

It didn't take them long to arrive in the blast zone of the explosion earlier, as Patriot had very much pressured the driver to hit the accelerator very hard. By some kind of miracle, they were able to reach the affected area within the given timetable of ten minutes. New York traffic and pedestrians didn't seem to be much of a problem it seemed, not with every eye and ear in the city turned towards the possible terrorist attack that had just commenced in American soil... again.

When Patriot told him that he was showing contempt to the team, Shadowshock was not fazed one bit, though he did wink once he got out of the truck.

"Stop looters, keep everyone out. Should be easy enough."

Much to his chagrin, however, that was exactly what he found once he came across ruined hardware store. There appeared to be a gang of young men, probably not even out of their teens, looting the broken establishment of the laptops inside it. Glorious. Ten minutes in and there are already people seeking to take advantage of the chaos.

"I recommend that you return those items to the store manager. All of you.", Shadowshock said to them in his usual casual tone, complete with hands set behind his back.

"Oh yeah?", one of them answered with an air of arrogance and overconfidence. "How 'bout we best your ass right now, curly?"

Shadowshock frowned. The man had just insulted his hair. Worse still, he and his rowdy friends were already lining up for an attack. Oh well...

The masked Shadowshock simply clocked his head sidewards. "Just go back to your mommies, boys."

With one fluid motion, he unleashed a quick concussive strike against the looters, knocking them over each other. The message was clear, and it needed no more clarification as they quickly got up and ran towards the undamaged sections that was surrounding the place.

"Shadowshock here.", he reported over the radio. "Just stopped a bunch of idiots from looting a hardware store. I will be setting the perimeter to keep our any pedestrians and looters from coming in. Over."

In the back of his mind though, he worried about Jack... err, Blink. He was in this location, and according to Gauss, injured. Hopefully, that sadistic German woman that bathed in blood would come to deal with that soon.

Shadowshock was still uneasy, though. Why did Patriot order him to protect... insured property? Surely, if looters grabbed everything in these ruins, the insurance companies could still cover these losses. Frowning at how he was told to keep guard rather than helping with saving lives, he set himself to phase, passing through a wall to find himself in what would have been a convenience store Sure enough, he found people in the devastated establishment ; though all but two of six were already dead. There was a young woman, a blond brunette wearing a denim outfit along with someone who was either her brother or significant other. Thing was, he was alive, but his leg was pinned under a fallen refrigerator, and she was trying to move it to no avail.

"Hey.", Shadowshock said to the two of them as he held out his hand. "Don't worry, I'll get you two out."

He motioned for the woman to move over. She quickly complied, as she could tell that this man with a face mask was no ordinary man. With a great heave, Shadowshock lifted the rather gargantuan refrigerator from the man's pinned leg long enough for him to move away.

"Can you walk?", Shadowshock asked.

The man panted and sighed first, but he eventually nodded. "Y-yes..."

"Then get to it... stay behind me."

Carefully and methodically, he led the pair out of the building. Out in the street, collapsed buildings and burning cars stood in testament to the destruction that has been unleashed unto the innocents of this place. The hospitals will be quite busy today... what kind of twisted mind would dare do such a terrible, cruel thing? The blood of the innocent have been spilled by the depraved, their charred bodies set in an eternal silent scream as the explosion ripped through this place.

There was only one thought in Robert's head as he gazed upon the people he had aided. The Armadillo and his lackeys will pay for this massacre in blood.

---

Hydra Imperator | Two Hulking Masculine Warriors and a French Boi in the Middle

Jacques let all of the appendages withdraw back into the armor on his back, setting his armored feet back on the ground with a slight thud. "We have been ordered to run to the area that just had an explosion as soon as possible..."

He eyed his new teammates from behind his visors carefully. Apparently, he was paired up with Euphoria and Immortal, both of whom are a great deal taller than his good self. Euphoria in particular was a rapper with a huge following. Hmm...

"So, you shy, Immortal?", Hydra asked, looking up to the armored man that seemed to speak with a speech defect. "Don't worry... that'll be just for a while. I hope."

[Aserais]

Skye Cross, AKA Synapse

Before Skye could get a response out of either one of their teammates, they flinched as the sound of a massive explosion reached their ears and a pulse of force jarred their chest, causing them to duck instinctively before they turned to see the great column of smoke rising up from the other end of the city. They knew the layout of New York almost like the back of their hand--having to run all over the city and find their way without the benefit of maps led to at least a passing familiarity with the layout--and they knew where that smoke was coming from. That was the Bronx, exactly where Team A had been sent to deal with the Armadillo guy.

"Hannah..." they whispered, their brown eyes wide behind their visor, before they turned back to Storyteller and Zookeeper. "Get everyone. Tell anyone who's not already heading there to get to the Bronx as fast as they can. We're gonna need them all," they ordered before they heard the crackle of the radio and Patriot's voice sounding into their ear.

"This is Team C, we just got a back row seat viewing of a fuckhuge explosion in the Bronx. We're on our way to give relief, but we're about ten minutes out. Over."

"This is Synapse, good copy. I'm about fourty-five seconds out, everyone else is on their way. Over and out," they responded before the chevrons on their suit began to glow a bright yellow as they channeled every ounce of energy that they could into their wiry frame.

Their friend was in danger, they could feel it in their bones, and there was no time to waste waiting on everyone else.

They exploded into a run, breaking the sound barrier within half a second as their feet pounded the pavement with enough force to leave small cracks in the asphalt. Their speed continued to accelerate over the next five seconds, until they were going faster than they had ever run before. So fast that the world around them began to become a blur, as their physical speed began to catch up to the limit of their cognitive processing speed--something that had never even come close to happening before.

The road quickly became inundated with traffic that Synapse simply bypassed, the cars going so slowly to them that they might as well have been standing still. The motorists that they passed were only vaguely aware of the grey and yellow blur that zipped by, though they became more aware of the roaring of wind that followed in their wake as the sonic boom followed their body several dozen seconds behind.

Synapse took a sharp right onto the freeway and raced over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, into Brooklyn and followed the main freeway to avoid running into any pedestrian traffic--much harder to weave around people than cars. It took them less than fifteen seconds to hit the edge of the Bronx, and from there it was just a matter of following the massive plume of smoke and racing past the first responders that were still on their way to the site of the destruction. The level of destruction that they were about to see--and they knew that it had to be big, they had never seen a cloud of smoke and debris that large--wasn't going to deter them from doing their duty as a hero. They had signed up for TIAMA for the opportunity to help people, to use the powers that they had been blessed with for good, and if they couldn't even help their friend when she needed them...

No point in dwelling on that.

They came to a stop at the edge of what could only be considered a disaster zone. Pillars of smoke rose up from smoldering or outright flaming debris, and a thick cloud of dust hung over the area, as the occasional scream or cry for help pierced the air. Sirens were still a ways away, meaning that first responders probably wouldn't arrive for another minute or two, at least. Synapse looked almost helplessly at the scene, momentarily paralyzed by the overwhelming senselessness of the destruction, before the voice of their friend cut through the fog in their brain.

"Team Alpha to TOC. Gauss. We've had a 213 in Eastchester. Over"

Synapse's hand shot up to their ear at the sound, a relieved breath issuing forth as if they'd been punched in the gut. They'd never been so happy to hear their friend's voice. They waited until the dispatch had finished giving orders before they opened up the channel.

"Dispatch, good copy. This is Synapse. I'm already in the AO, my team's on the way. You want me on search and rescue, or do you want me to find Armadillo?"

Taela M'reen AKA Miss Majestic

Taela flinched for a moment as she felt the building shake and turned slightly, looking backwards towards the source of the building-shaking shockwave. In the next moment, the radio was flooded with traffic, and her hand went up to her right ear as she and the rest of TIAMA got orders to head to Team A's position and assist with search and rescue efforts. She turned back to Mother Russia as he said something about finding out where crawfish hibernate--a phrase that she had no context for--and gave him a raised brow in response to the strange turn of phrase.

"Ah--indeed. Would you like me to fly you, or would you prefer to find your own way?" she asked, tilting her head towards the direction that the explosion had come from.

[Cybernetic Socialist Republics]

As Ophiuchia flew away, Aethelind went to work selectively allowing dust and debris through her shield to mess up her hair and dirty her uniform. Coming out of this squaky clean wouldn't be a particularly good look for her, neither in front of cameras or her teammates.

To say Ophiuchia was unmoved by the tragedy would be wrong. Mass casualty events, particularly on a scale such as this were enough for Ophiuchia to feel a significant degree of legitimate sadness that was more than a ruse. Surveying the extent of the damage, hundreds would clearly left dead or severely injured.

As for her teamates, she carefully watched their plight from above. Blink would be fine, physically, but judging by the rain of body parts, psychologically, not so much.

Gauss, was an interesting sight, though. Aethelind had informed Ophiuchia that gauss had quite the rework surviving catastrophic injuries, so when Ophiuchias saw the reinforcing bars sticking out of her body, she wasn't particularly surprised to see Gauss pull them out, with sensors suggesting a temperature change presumably caused by Gauss driving electricity through them. Anyone attempting to skewer Gauss would be best served by using something non-conductive.

While Ophiuchia had flown away from the explosion, Aethelind had get a close eye on the circumstances of Ophiuchia’s teammates and as such managed to detect Gauss’s rifle flying out of her hands. Ophiuchia flew down to retrieve the rifle of of the rubble. She’d immediately return it to Gauss, though along the way she’d have her sensors closely scan the weapon. Didn’t hurt knowing all she could about her teammates, particularly the one she knew took secrecy the most seriously.

After taking in the radio chatter, particularly the questions as to the status of Team Alpha, Opihuchia decided to radio in that she had survived the explosion, and by extension, Team Alpha was still all alive, despite their injuries and Ophiuchia flew off to land nearby the rest of her team.

“A-Alright. Let’s... let’s find Ophi, and then maybe the fucker that did this. I think I want to kill him.”

"Here I am." Said Ophiuchia, landing next to her teammates.

"Gauss, found your rifle." Ophiuchia handed Gauss her rifle, before turning back to Blink.

"I wouldn't mind killing the fucker responsible, which is precisely why capturing the Aramdillo alive would be preferable. Setting up a bombing like this takes some preparation, it's not unlikely he had accomplices, even a boss, particularly to do this on the day we had so many Heroes on Staten Island. Whoever planned this, wanted to send us a message and while it could all be the doing of that Aramdillo, some how I doubt it, so being able to interrogate them would be ideal" Ophiuchia Continued.

Ophiuchia turned to Gauss.

"Wish I could have done more to deflect the blast and debris from you, but at least you're hardier than I had expected." Said Ophiuchia, not entirely truthfully.

Ophiuchia looked down and around at the limbs and other body parts strewn around.

"Looking around, I worry that the area immediately around us might not have all too many lives left to save." Said Ophiuchia, grimly.

[Jerno]

Brandon Lopez/Backdraft

A few minutes earlier.....
Brandon got ready to leave. He knew he was extremely late for this TIAMA meeting that had been called forth, not t mention Staten Island was way across the city. He got into his suit and called his dogs. The whole group running around barking and running around. Brandon laughed and whistled at the dogs. All the dogs ran to Brandon’s truck eagerly waiting for the amazing car ride. The suddenly the ground shook and cars started to sound their alarms. Now the dogs barked like crazy and he saw a huge amount of smoke rising high not far from where he was.
He immediately started the car and sped of as fast as he dared to go. He quickly picked up the radio only to hear chatter from emergency services, dispatch, and other officials and people. Finally he spoke into the radio. “This is Backdraft I’m at least five to ten minutes out from the location of the explosion. I’m currently en route to provide assistance. Over and out.” He hung the radio back into its place and drove on until he reached his destination. He was met with debris all over the place, dust and a hero he didn’t quite recognize. He quickly got out of his vehicle and let his dogs out as well. He approached the hero “hi I’m Backdraft did you just get here? Also you don’t mind giving me a hand as well, we need to quickly find any other survivors that may need help.” He then quickly turned to his dogs and whistled once more “alright boys let’s get to work.” With his feet placed on the ground he sent a pulse which helped him hear through the ground.

John Farrow
Before John could even give an answer in response, the ground shook a bit and a huge column of smoke could be seen from the other side of the city. Just as fast synapse took of leaving them behind in the dust. “So Matthew did you need a ride...or can you handle getting there?” When Matthew didn’t respond John took off as well. He started to run and as he ran he morphed once more into a peregrine falcon. He quickly flew high enough to go above the buildings and taking the air current he was able to go fast. Not quite as fast like synapse but decently fast. He reached his destination as well and below he could see two heroes one of them being synapse and he didn’t quite recognize the other guy until he landed and morphed back into a human once more. “Ah it’s the hero Backdraft” he muttered under his breath. He’d only heard of him a little bit he wasn’t here to watch. John was here to help out. “Alright I have made it here. How can I help?”

Emma Greenwood/Venom
Emma was quite annoyed but also thankful that she had at least was able to locate one of her teammates. She felt the wave of the explosion and the ground shake a bit as well. Quite annoyed at the gathered group of people she decided to take action as well “Hey!!” “There’s people out there that need help, and you are all arguing like children!” In a more calmer voice she approached the other Emma, “come on let’s find our other team member and get to the explosion site.” Emma then turned around and walked away, she knew that they had to get there as fast as possible.

[Mandicoria]

-snip-

The truck screeched to a halt, opening the reinforced steel doors and unleashing the crew onto the disaster scene. It was hellish to say the least, with the entire area laid to waste, and the sunny skies being choked out by the smoke. The flames glimmering off the armor of Patriot and Tesla as the two hulking figures exited after Shadowshock. Patriot's head immediately snapping when he noticed this cocky wink coming from the new guy's face. "What the-"

"Stop looters, keep everyone out. Should be easy enough."

Patriot rushed at Shadowshock who was seemingly running off to some hardware store hidden in the flames. His hand reached out trying to grab "Now just wait a fucking second! That ain't what I fucking- Of course. He fuckin' ran off." Patriot kicked the ground, pissed and reaching for his radio before Tesla's hand touched his shoulder.

"Kurt, now's not the time we gotta help out Team Alpha." Tesla sternly said, pulling his hand off of Patriot.

A sigh came from Patriot as he clenched his fists, audible cracks coming from his knuckles. He turned over to Tesla and nodded. "You're right, you're right.... You saw that fucking wink right?" Being given a nod of acknowledgement from Tesla, he looked back to the streets. There was an unusual strain in his voice, like he was genuinely being pushed to being genuinely strained mentally. As in, it wasn't characteristic of him. Like his own anger was being subsided. Another click came from his radio. "Team Alpha, we're on the scene. If you're getting us please hold on, and if you can could you tell us where you think you are? over."

Turning over they noticed Synapse over on their radio. Patriot began waving over before jogging over, making sure to keep an eye out for movement in the rubble. "Hey! Synapse, that you? Fuck am I glad to see a friendly face." He had a noticeable amount of relief in his voice while approaching. "Tesla and I are trying to find Alpha."

Tesla stayed closer to the truck, looking around for any building that could be the site of detonation. Well he found it, the rubble encrusted mess it was. Still mostly standing, but he'd need help lest he cause it to cave in further. "Hey Kurt!" He shouted over, waving to Synapse and Patriot "I think I found where they might be!"Tesla's hulking frame walked over to the outside of the building, checking it for possible collapse. Yep it was definitely gonna collapse, but he and Patriot could slow that process down and hurry everyone out. His helmet's search light blinked on, its blinding aura looking through the smoke filled rubble. "Is anyone here?! Team Alpha?!" His voice echoed into the building, being met with a few falling bricks.

Patriot returned a wave over to Tesla, shouting back over "I'll be over there, man!" Before turning back to Synapse. "I think he might have found them, I dunno what they want you to do but we absolutely appreciate the support.-" His voice was cut off by his radio.

"Shadowshock here. Just stopped a bunch of idiots from looting a hardware store. I will be setting the perimeter to keep our any pedestrians and looters from coming in. Over."

Patriot's hand's began trembling, his fists clenching in utterly pure rage. This fucking idiot went after looters, after being told to clear out pedestrians. A deep, frustrated breath was taken as he reached up to his radio, ready to absolutely lay it into their new teammate. Before being stopped by shouting in the distance.

"PATRIOT! I NEED ASSISTANCE!" Tesla yelled from across the street, his body holding up parts of the building.

A deep sigh came from Patriot as he shook his head. Removing his hand from his radio, and running all the way over to Tesla. Patriot arriving and looking into the rubble mess inside the building, turning on his helmet's lights. "You sure they're prolly in here?"

"The building's the closest to the blast, potentially the source." Tesla grunted, his lift load being even heavier.

"Tesla, if this was the source of the fucking explosion this building wouldn't be here. Ah, fuck it. ALPHA! You guys in here?!" He shouted, digging through rubble and eventually reaching a seemingly intact door. A powerful kick being delivered to it, shooting it across the room as little chunks of wood. He shouted as he looked around the dark, cramped, and smoke filled space. "ALPHA?!"

[Europa Undivided]

Shadowshock | Pedestrians

Shadowshock looked at the collection of people that he had pulled out of the streets and the ruined buildings in the area that he was in. Sixteen... seventeen... eighteen... looks like that is all in this sector of the blast zone. There was that one lady whom he had to make a splint for due to a fracture on her leg, while a man in his forties was just sitting on a piece of debris, his left eye covered by a bandage that Shadowshock managed to procure from the ruins. This was getting depressing rather quickly.

"This is Shadowshock reporting... this sector has been cleared of... pedestrians. Those that are still alive, anyway."

First aid responders have been there for a while, helping people out of debris and rubble. Among the living, none escaped unscathed, whether it be mind or body. As for the dead, well, they are dead. He has been helping them by going into places where mortal men could no reach, utilizing his phasing ability to enter into the more destroyed sections. This has yielded very few survivors, as most of those he found were already dead.

This was probably the worst terrorist attack the United States has seen since 9/11. And whoever did this must pay in blood, one way or another.

"Shadowshock reporting, again. Twenty-one people have been evacuated in this area. Twice that number are... dead."

[Lessoni]

"Tesla, if this was the source of the fucking explosion this building wouldn't be here. Ah, fuck it. ALPHA! You guys in here?!" He shouted, digging through rubble and eventually reaching a seemingly intact door. A powerful kick being delivered to it, shooting it across the room as little chunks of wood. He shouted as he looked around the dark, cramped, and smoke filled space. "ALPHA?!"

Jack Dredd

Jack heard the door breaking off its hinges, moments after an exceptionally loud and profanity fond man called out. He called them Alpha, meaning he could only be a hero. The hero was close; another few minutes and he probably would've found them on his own. Probably. He stepped out in view of him, hands raised. No need to take a bullet after surviving something like that. He almost laughed; he had to be quite a sight, clothes torn, covered in dust, and limping like a bastard, but eyes glowing a neon yellow.

“Y-yeah, we’re Alpha, don’t shoot! I-I’m Blink. There was a whole bomb or something in some tunnels and- I-I think I’ll just let Gauss explain it. We’re all alive, though. I’m pretty sure Armadillo got away.”

[Anowa]

“A-Alright. Let’s... let’s find Ophi, and then maybe the fucker that did this. I think I want to kill him.”

"Here I am." Said Ophiuchia, landing next to her teammates.

"Gauss, found your rifle." Ophiuchia handed Gauss her rifle, before turning back to Blink.

Gauss perked up, head swivleing as she took the rifle, folding it back up and adhering it to the small of her back, "Thanks."

"I wouldn't mind killing the fucker responsible, which is precisely why capturing the Aramdillo alive would be preferable. Setting up a bombing like this takes some preparation, it's not unlikely he had accomplices, even a boss, particularly to do this on the day we had so many Heroes on Staten Island. Whoever planned this, wanted to send us a message and while it could all be the doing of that Aramdillo, some how I doubt it, so being able to interrogate them would be ideal" Ophiuchia Continued.

Ophiuchia turned to Gauss.

"Wish I could have done more to deflect the blast and debris from you, but at least you're hardier than I had expected." Said Ophiuchia, not entirely truthfully.

"Looking around, I worry that the area immediately around us might not have all too many lives left to save." Said Ophiuchia, grimly.

Gauss began to walk and talk, moving towards where he could hear the hydraulic and machine like gait of what she could only assume was Tesla, "Once had half my face and both hands ripped off by an IED, impalement and cauterization is child's play at this point."

She frowned as both Blink and Ophi expressed some rather poignant intent. Sure, the guy who did this deserved at the least a lifetime ion a cramped 8 by 8 cell. However... "Sentencing and issuing on the spot death penalties isn't our job. Neither is theorycrafting on what their motive or method was. Why and How is the job for the court circuit, federal, or state, this act applies to. This isn't 2000 A.D and neither of you have the title of Judge. I should also remind you both that we have standing order to not kill or cripple those with extreme morphological differences."

"ALPHA?!"

Blink gave a yell of confirmation, not from inside the building Patriot was looking in, but at the older man nonetheless.

Blink mentioned that she could explain what happened, and she frowned, "A bomb fucking exploded and people are dead, smells like sulfure so it involved a gas line. Explanation for an expired subject done." Gauss wasn't in the mind for reunion hugs or expressions of relief, anything outside of getting to the nitty gritty of needing to be done was chaff to be tossed aside for later, "Patriot, Tesla, stop digging, find an open street for Emergency vehicles. Triage won't mean a fucking thing if they all die because we don't have any Bush of Air ambulances. Make a trail of chem lights or road flares, if you don't have any, carry the fucking EMTs in." a familiar shape was some distance away, and for once, Hannah recognized the smell, "Synapse! Find the three banded motherfucker and restrain him! If you need back up actually ask for once."

her radio squawked on, "TOC to Gauss, NYPD is forming a proper cordon near the rail bridge over Boston Road. Over."

"Gauss, Copy. Alpha to all Callsigns, check in at the Boston Road Cordon for tasking."

"For those of you who don't have a radio, Cordon is a few hundred yard up Boston Road, under the rail bridge, direct the lightly wounded that way."

The radio very quickly took a front stage again:

"This is Shadowshock reporting... this sector has been cleared of... pedestrians. Those that are still alive, anyway."

"Shadowshock reporting, again. Twenty-one people have been evacuated in this area. Twice that number are... dead."

Shadowshock was supposed to be the Third wheel on Patriot's team, her technical replacement, notably absent. A small trigger for the red headed woman, "Hey, Shadowshoick, dumbfuck, we don't have sectors established yet and we sure as fuck aren't supposed to be going alone into potentially structurally unsound buildings. Firstly, get back with your team and surgically fucking attach yourself or I swear on my grandmother's grave, I will beat you until you shit out your spine. I don't need to send people to rescue your braindead ass in addition to someone who actually fucking matters. Secondly, declare fucking numbers." she put on a mocking nasally tone, "Twice that." she shifted back to her natural voice "Sure as fuck isn't exact. EMTs need to know who's dead and who's going to need help. That's what Triage is."

She turned to Blink, for a moment, she thought about making him the runner, but remember his knee was recently dislocated, and his act of putting weight on it was risky enough, let along doing anything more strenuous than a brisk walk, her gaze switched to Ophi, "Ophichiua, get to the cordon, let them know the situation and to hand out masks, bring Blink with you get him one, these buildings were made in the 50s, we're probably sucking in asbestos, black mold, and all kinds of ethyl-methyl-bad-shit." a pause, "Blink don't overwork the knee, it's at risk of dislocating as is, but you know your own limits, I won't argue."

The faceplate for her helmet clicked back into place, "If you need to find me, follow the blinking light." she pointed to the blinking signal light on her forehead antennae, "I'll likely be sticking around and checking these buildings for anyone who needs help." a pause, "And for all of you, watch out for secondaries, gas lines are probably ruptured all over the fucking place, last thing we need is another house going up."

---

"Ah--indeed. Would you like me to fly you, or would you prefer to find your own way?" she asked, tilting her head towards the direction that the explosion had come from.

Pavel sighed, a mild mechanical twinge to it, "Under normal circumstances I would not wish to encumber you so. However given this specific situation, if might be for the best. I would recommend bridal if you're aiming for a maximum of irony. Otherwise under the arms or a piggy back should do."

[Mandicoria]

“Y-yeah, we’re Alpha, don’t shoot! I-I’m Blink. There was a whole bomb or something in some tunnels and- I-I think I’ll just let Gauss explain it. We’re all alive, though. I’m pretty sure Armadillo got away.”

"Patriot, Tesla, stop digging, find an open street for Emergency vehicles. Triage won't mean a fucking thing if they all die because we don't have any Bush of Air ambulances. Make a trail of chem lights or road flares, if you don't have any, carry the fucking EMTs in."

Patriot's head jerked over when he heard Blink's response and Gauss adding in adter. Tesla wasn't just wrong, he was dead fucking wrong. This was fucking infuriating, even more so when he heard Gauss remind them of their actual objective. Patriot felt like an utter fucking idiot, from the very get go he was taught to not give a shit for anything else but the objective. Yet here he was doing some ill conceived search in some collapsing building. The feeling of it was utterly terrible, but he wouldn't let that distract them. "Tesla! You heard the lady! I'm on my way out-" Patriot's voice was cut out by the sounds of a major cave in of the room ahead. A huge puff of smoke and dust kicking out towards Tesla.

"Kurt! Oh my god." Tesla cried out, panicked at what he saw unfold inside. "Are you alright?"

No response came for a solid minute. Until the various bits of broken glass, bricks, burning wood, and tubing exploded around the room. The hulking figure of Patriot emerging from the smoke, audible coughing coming from him. His figure was clearly stumbling, and it wasn't a good sign. Patriot was in hell, although Tesla couldn't see it, he was impaled in the shoulder with what was effectively a shattered wooden stake. The side of his abdomen also pierced by a short metal rod. That armor was meant to stop stuff like this, but when you have all of that tumbling down on you at such a fast rate something's bound to pierce it. His coughing subsided with him stopping to see his visor cracked, and the all too familiar wet sensation of blood trickling down his face. "Fucking great." He grunted to himself, emerging from the smokey mass.

"Kurt? Are you... Oh no..." Tesla reached for Patriot, pulling him out gently and letting go of the building. The rest of the entrance room collapsing in. "Kurt are you-"

"Fucking go and clear the goddamn roads. I'm seeing multiple downed power lines that need someone like you to fucking move them." Patriot grunted, looking around totally unfazed by the injuries he sustained. Reaching first at the metal rod and immediately ripping it out. Not much blood coming out, that's good. Not a vital spot, and it wasn't that deep. The wooden stake on the other hand was the real bitch to pull out. Of course it was offering resistance with every bit he pulled out, and of course he saw the tiny pricks and splinters going into his gloves. Oh he definitely needed to get that looked at in the infirmary. Then of course he felt around his helmet for any punctures, they're shouldn't be, but with how a fucking wooden stake could go past that armor anything's possible. No, just the blunt trauma. He shook his head, and stood back up.

The hulking suit of Tesla could be seen in the back, immediately getting to work at picking up power lines and moving them away from the roads. Along with the impressively quick work to move the shattered poles out of the way for EMT's and Firemen to make their way in. It wasn't fast enough though, there were tons of totaled cars and unsafe wreckage falling into the streets. The real worry for him was that he caused their orders to get interrupted, and that caused Patriot to get injured. He could've killed his teammate through his stupid action. This wasn't sitting for him in the slightest, his own behavior becoming more erratic and panicked. Uncharacteristic for the good doctor, but he couldn't help it. All this time he was just a glorified repairman, not a disaster response crew! He felt like he was going to just collapse from the mental strain, sure he wasn't exhausted since he's basically pure energy, but still it was... Draining.

"TESLA!" Patriot screamed over, signaling to the good Doctor. "I'm gonna be clearing these cars out of the fucking way. When we get this street cleared, we move onto the next, got it?!"

Tesla could only wave back as a form of acknowledgement. He hadn't felt anywhere close to this ever since before his body was ripped apart atom by atom.

The sounds of screeching metal echoed throughout the area, with Patriot moving aside a totaled hulk of what was once a car. The smell of burning gasoline and oil somehow getting into his helmet, and then he smelt it. Looking inside the vehicle as he kept moving he saw the horrible sights within. Three bodies, their figures all broken and charred. Freshly burnt plastics over one of the corpses, the colors looking like it was an action figure of some degree. Good god a fucking child was in here. As he finally pushed the charred hulk to the sidewalk he stepped back, shaking his head and staring for a few seconds. He looked over to Tesla, his vision of the world warping slightly. "T-Tesla! I need your help, we got a truck in the way!" He yelled, trying to snap out of it as he rushed over to a totaled pickup truck.

A few good minutes passed as the pair moved a few more vehicles out of the way. With the two leaving multiple road flares along the way to signal for emrgency crews to make their way in. The entrance was marked and ready, but they two damn well knew this wasn't the end of it.

"Tesla, go out there and make sure all the other power lines are cleared up. I want every available entrance marked, got it?"

"Alright Kurt, I... I'm sorry-" Tesla would try to apologize, but get immediately cut off.

"Fucking move it Sparky, we got goddamn lives on the line!" Patriot wound wave Tesla off while turning away and reaching for his raido. Taking a deep breath and clicking it on. "Shadowshock, I want you to listen loud and fucking clear. Get your ass over here and help direct the EMT's in. We got road flares set up but that ain't gonna do jack fucking shit if nobody's helping the EMTs find where the path is." He sighed, before taking in another deep breath. "If you cannot fucking follow these instructions like the ones I told you prior. I will do it my goddamn self and make sure they run you the fuck over. If you need help with this simple goddamn task, Tesla and I are going to be clearing debris from the other entrances of the street. How copy? Over." He looked around for any sign of Shadowshock nearby, nothing. Probably deep in some fucking building picking fights with survivors, he thought to himself. Clenching his fists in frustration over everything their new member has pulled.

The hulking frame of Tesla could bee seen crossing over to the opposite end of the street. Closer to where Alpha was, and this side looked much worse than what he and Patriot just cleared. Power lines crashed into more scorched vehicles, and downed stoplights to boot. One sight in particular was truly haunting. A single man in a car, his body fried to a crisp not from the explosion or fires, but scorched by live wares connecting to his body. Tesla of course prioritizing moving this vehicle out of the way, and immediately removing the wires. It was moments like this that made Tesla actually glad he couldn't really smell anymore.


Elsewhere...

"So, you shy, Immortal?", Hydra asked, looking up to the armored man that seemed to speak with a speech defect. "Don't worry... that'll be just for a while. I hope."

Yet another awkward cough came from Immortal, with them shaking their head. "O-oh, not at all. Just, erm, tired is all." This was looking to be utter hell for poor Immortal. Two people trying to converse with them, god it was a nightmare. Sure they could go do things pretty normally, but it was just events like this. Having to meet others. Well this awkward conversation was going to be hellish up until their radio flared up. Along with other radios belonging to other TIAMA members throughout the area. It was quite sudden, sudden enough to get them to jump a little before listening in. "Oh fuck, this doesn't sound good... A goddamn explosion?!"

[Europa Undivided]

Shadowshock | What

Shadowshock flinched a little as Gauss quite literally screamed unto the radio. Oh right, Gauss. That lady that powered a suit of armor all by herself as she was the battery itself. Her penchant for expletives was more than enough for Shadowshock to simply keep the radio far from himself. You just demonstrated how little you know about me, electric lady., he thought as he ended his search at her Majesty's behest. Going into structurally unsound buildings is my speciality.

Sighing, he watched as EMTs tended to the living still present in the place. "Oh, I'm so sorry. It's 42. 21 times 2."

It's basic math... how could she not know that?

"Shadowshock, I want you to listen loud and fucking clear. Get your ass over here and help direct the EMT's in. We got road flares set up but that ain't gonna do jack fucking shit if nobody's helping the EMTs find where the path is."

It wasn't long before Shadowshock phased through a wall just in time to direct the nearest EMTs that had arrived. For one to appear and disappear so quickly, he was doing rather swell job. It could be said following orders to the letter was not his strong suit, but he sure was good at things when he put his mind unto it. "Forgive the misunderstanding of orders. English is my fifth language. But you are welcome to learn Neo-Aramaic any time." This team thing is not my cup of tea.

There were still obstacles, though. Some (empty) cars were blocking the paths of the ambulances, and he was quick to work with them. Using slow and deliberate shockwaves that he continuously generated on his hands, Shadowshock shoved the destroyed vehicles off the road in order to clear the path to the area. When a piece of debris fell on him, it simply phased through his body, falling upon the ground as if he wasn't standing there at all. This incident, however, can be said to be the beginning of another war against terror.

For all his faults in his inability to comprehend orders spoken in the fifth tongue, Shadowshock was still a capable agent for TIAMA. For the most part, at least. Rescuing people off a blast zone was a first, as most of his assignments involved assassination as per his experience and training in such things.

---

Hydra Imperator

"And we have been ordered to go there immediately.", Jacques noted to the drugged up rapper and the social awkward armored... person. "I can get us there faster than the congested New York Traffic would normally allow, but this will be... a rough ride."

Provided that they agreed, he would take them both, extend his robotic appendages and bolted towards the Bronx. It would have been a strange sight, indeed; a robed tentacle wielding warrior carrying a famous rapper and someone in a suit of armor. Still, it would be far faster than a car. Not as fast as a plane or Synapse though.

[Union Princes]

Elisa didn't blink, didn't breath, her mind ran over the question. She had not underestimated anything, the simple fact of the matter was that even with a dremel or grinding wheel, Elisa would not be at risk of 'death', nor had she offered such. It was a narcissistic assumption from the woman that any of the efforts available to her would lastingly damage or even terminate Elisa.

"You are vastly underestimating my design, or are vastly overestimating yourself. I will reiterate. You are not capable of striking with an impact force exceeding thirty thousand joules, heating the ambient temperature of this room to an excess of four and a half thousand degrees celsius, or capable of emitting an electromagnetic discharge of at least 14 amps. The photovoltaic cells on my neck and limbs are wear resistant, and my 'skin' is a self mending polymer. You will, at best, scuff my paint."

Holiday

Maria swallowed the lump in her throat when she considered Elisa's words more carefully. As much as she wants to deny it. the machine speaks the truth. Maria hasn't fought machines before, if ever. Most of her slaughter was on other humans, not computers. The blondie frowned when the robot may have well mocked her fighting capabilities with a knife and bone saw. But the robot did nothing but speak the truth, even if Maria could barely understand the technical terms. The gentle shaking on the ground diverted her attention away from Elisa and towards the ground. It was only for a fleeting moment but Maria was suspicious. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if the robot has set a trap for her.

But just then, the door smashed open with Hans tumbling through much to the German's newfound worry. Wasting no time standing around and stare, Maria ran past Elisa in a blur to examine Han's injured shoulder completely forgetting to at least put on a towel. He was clearly in pain and the limping swaying motion on his army can only signal broken bones. His speech was rattled from the physical impact he exerted himself to break down the barrier the robot has set up.

"What do you mean by explosions and people needing help?" Maria cried, switching between German and English in rapid succession as she hugged Hans. "What is happening?"

She looked over to see Emma as if she expected an answer from her only for Maria to realize that her body was on full display to everyone outside of the showers. Blushing with crimson cheeks, The blondie retreated to put on a clean set of clothes with renewed vigor before immediantly grabbing a syringe from her bag. Stabbing the 3-inch needle like a knife into the artery located in her wrist like a knife, Maria began to draw out her own healing blood to give to Hans. The bright crimson color filled the vial before she grabbed Hans by the broken arm to inject it into his system.

Not caring for the additional pain she could be causing to the poor boy, Maria pressed hard on the syringe to make sure not a drop was leaking from the insertion. Immediantely, th healing blood has already begun its work on repair the shattered bones in his shoulder and subuding the pain. "Feeling better?" Maria asked Hans rhetorically.

[Kylantha]

Nori had considered striking out on his own, not even notifying Hibana as to his intentions. Unfortunately, Ryoga quickly caught wind of his plans to engage in operations outside of his handlers' interests which ultimately got him in a lot of trouble. At some point during his planning, Hibana did get involved, but only for a while as it dawned upon her that the consequences of causing trouble that might draw attention to Ryoga might be extremely severe. Before Nori could put his plans into action, she dropped the notion of enabling his shenanigans and reported his actions to Magime.

After being apprehended and his stolen toys confiscated, Nori was annoyed at Hibana who'd always been a killjoy. He would be pouty and incooperative with her for weeks after that, but she didn't care much, knowing that he'd come back around eventually which he did.. And Ryoga kept a tighter, shorter leash on him than usual, even distancing them both from the recent events within the city. A few months later, the two would be transferred to a different unit on the other side of the United States with Magime who would continue supervising their operations, and both would be made to quickly forget whatever interested them and even spurred one to act independently of the Conglomerate on the East Coast...

[Endem]

CHris Digel

He begrudgingly let Hydra go, only to feel and hear a explosion in the far distance, and see Hans slamming head first into the girls bathroom, literally, he wanted to ask Hans if he was alright, but, Maria reacted first... Hugging Hans, while unclothed, he expected many things, but this was not one of those things.

Maria then proceeded to, draw out her blood and inject it into Hans... This escalated quickly, he finally had the opportunity to say something "I think we should get Hans to the infirmary, and then check what caused that explosion" Chris sweared in his mind, another pay cut was in the making it seems.

[Central Crew]

Matthew Octave

...

...

Black.

Everything was black.

Matthew was sure for a second that he could hear some voices. He had just received the number from Synapse, and was about to reply when...

"I'm sorry that it had to come to this, but I must talk to you."

A feminine voice spoke all around him. It sounded worried, maternal even. But Matthew knew better.

"I was in the middle of something there. Could't you have just waited for-"

He felt a loud sound, but it was soon completely suppressed. All sounds were in fact. For the briefest of moments, he could hear the voice of John calling out to him, but it was soon replaced by the woman's voice.

"So it has begun... I was right in bringing you here. Here you'll be safe."

Matthew knew what was happening rather well. The Book had pulled his consciousness into what he could only guess to be a realm inside The Book itself. This was not the first time that they've done this, but it was the first time that he had been pulled when in front of someone. According to The Book, he would just stand still in his last position (which had been checking The Book) and he would just not respond. Nothing would look wrong, but if one were to look into the eyes, they would find them lost, dead even.

Matthew wished to ask questions, but knew it was better to just let The Book tell him everything, as it always did.

"I lament the fact that I cannot obtain direct control over your body, I would had taken you to a more remote place. Regrettable. But this will do..."

A glint of light appeared in front of Matthew. The Book had yet to assume a direct form, so for now she presented itself like this.

"I came to warn you... and to beg you... A huge threat is coming. A huge wave in fact. If the story is to go like so, it could be bigger than any events that you went through before. I have felt it..."

"And I must suspect you will ask for me to stop?"

"... I expected no less from the one I choose."

The Book was always conflicting when it came to it's urges. It was happily pleased when they embarked on adventures and met various characters, but for some reason, sometimes The Book wished to not only tell him of the events to come, but to also make him avoid them. Especially when they were dangerous. Of course he always refused, and The Book knew that he would.

"You already made me enter this realm last night for your promise that you wouldn't do anything strange, but not only do you take control of my mouth and feelings earlier, but now you take me here?"

The quite patronising talk he had with Synapse had been an effect of The Book taking control of his mind and letting his feelings run rampant. He realized when he was apologizing, but being taken here was a different beast.

"Fine. Either way, my objective was completed."

"Huh?"

"I wished to reassure myself that... the magic of this world... No. Just ignore me.

But if you're truly to continue this path, then you and your 'hero' partners will have to confront more hardships. Many more. You are already prepared to face them, the change of time has molded you so. But the others... They well have a more treacherous path...

Unless you help of course... I'm quite exited to see all of the exploits that come from this!"

The Book was just telling him that he wanted excitement. A total change from the voice that she had before.

"But make no mistake. I don't wish for the destruction of any of this bodies. You have become someone quite... special? Yes. You're my only capable vessel. So take care of yourself. Oh, and those 'friends' of yours too. I have taken a liking to them. Good luck. I wish to see you choose the correct path once more..."

---

Matthew came back to his senses in his body. He noticed two things upon returning. One: His team was gone. And two: The city was in trouble.

"You sure are becoming better at having inappropriate timing... Did they all really leave without checking on me? I must have looked really immersed..."

He opened The Book, he stopped for a moment and just let out a sigh. No matter how much it changed, only he knew the true feelings of The Book, and why it had done this.

"Still, not much time to waste. Should I go directly or wait for someone-" He looked inside the building, reading that some heroes were still there. He really wished to just launch himself there, but decided against it. He ran to the building were he found some familiar faces. He just ran over to Chris, who he'd heard finish speaking and said.

"Hello guys! How are you doing?" He looked at Hans and Maria, noticing their quite comedic situation. "I see. Not great? Well it's to be expected... Chris is right. I don't catch yet what just happened but... something big is going on and... Dear Doctor, I'm afraid that your assistance will most definitely be required."

He looked at everyone again, also taking note of an unfamiliar face, but since he hadn't checked The Book he still didn't know what was the situation. But if both members of his team had gone over to it then it had to be serious.

"In fact everyone assistance would be appreciated. We indeed should hurry but first," he looked at Hans and Maria with a worried look."do you think you can help?"

[Lancearc]

Spencer Inwood / Afterlife

---

Despite how much he complained, there really wasn't anywhere else Spencer had ever seen himself ending up.

The nonstop noise and absurdly crowded streets were a far cry from his native Richmond, and another world entirely from quaint little Hanover. There was never a moments' rest, always some fresh cries for help or dastardly plans in motion, always some goal or another professionals and vigilantes alike were called on to achieve. In his half decade since falling in with TIAMA's ranks as a full-time Meta crime fighter, the lone Inwood child had worked harder than his entire first 22 years on Earth. His life after death had rarely been restful.

But always worthy, Spencer reminded himself as his cool brown eyes scanned the faces of New Yorkers making their way through the southern portion of The Bronx, most headed towards Manhattan. Spencer was moving against the grain lithely, an exercise he always considered a fun little dance, honing the footwork and movement abilities he needed to hold his own in a proper fight. It drew him some stares naturally, especially since he rarely made his rounds in-costume, preferring to work with street clothes laid over the simple, yet sturdy purple-dyed leatherwork "armor" that served as a simple protection against blades, electrically-based powers, fire, and at least the smallest caliber weapons.

And it was something he'd found fulfillment in, even if it was an uphill battle to get other heroes in TIAMA to work towards reducing the collateral damage they were responsible for, especially in such a population center. New York was the City of Heroes after all, in all their aspects. Bravery and duty yes, but also recklessness, failure, and bloodshed.

An immense explosion rocked the borough as Spencer was crossing Jennings Street. A looming plume of dust and debris, car alarms, and screams in the distance mingled with nearby shrieks of terror at the shockwave that was still strong enough to rattle windows several blocks to the south.

Spencer wasted little time breaking into a full sprint, roughly forcing his way through a sea of civilians rushing away from the explosion or otherwise standing in awe of the dust cloud rising above The Bronx. He nearly bowled through a mother and her son as he crossed the intersection at 172nd Street, parsing through the chaos in the distance to follow the wail of NYPD sirens and the patrol cars already racing towards the scene.

---

After Spencer found his way to 174th Street, he followed the flashing lights of parked patrol cars to the section of cordon being solidified at Boston. He'd shed his street clothes during his rush to the scene -- they were intended to be expendable of course, and it made it a bit more difficult to do his job effectively if New Yorkers couldn't easily identify him as a hero during a crisis of this scale.

Even as he flashed his TIAMA credentials and quickly ducked under the barricades, Spencer could smell death on the wind. Beneath the ash, the soot, the pyrotechnics, even the overwhelming scent of gas, there was the unmistakable scent that Spencer remembered just as vividly twelve years later as he did when he looked upon his own passing. Flesh burned in smoldering ruins.

As he entered the disaster zone he had passed by a media frenzy surrounding some hero or another, the hordes of microphone and camera touting reporters making it difficult to see who exactly had been caught in that trap this time. Spencer knew full well the difficulty of being put in that position: Why wasn't this stopped? How many dead? Do you have an official TIAMA response?

As important as it was for TIAMA to maintain a good public image, the NYPD had their public information officers. Spencer wished TIAMA's own PR crew was quicker to take heat off the heroes in the field, especially in a situation like this, when there was little time or manpower that could be spared for soundbites.

Running a hand through his curly black hair, already soaked with sweat and wet dust, he figured the best way to find out where he needed to be quickly was to sound off over the airwaves given a moment's freedom from chaotic communications.

"Afterlife here from the Boston Road checkpoint, peeled off my patrol to the south, I'm solo for now. Who's where and where do we need more hands, I've got plenty to spare. If we don't need anything too specialized I'll look at pulling out survivors and clearing the way for first responders."

[Mandicoria]

Outside Pelham Bay Park. 30 minutes ago.
The Nightmare
A personal terror...

Hours after his attempt at applying to TIAMA, Benjamin was walking down the street. A feeling of anxiety hitting him in a constant wave of hellish bombardment, made worse by the peering eyes of everyone else. Knowing how much of a hell it would be for him to leave, and just the fact that he more or less came unprepared for a long foray into the big City. The paperwork he had earlier was just a bunch of copies he was able to dispose of, which at least made the trip back less of a hassle. Yet, even if his trip back wasn't as much of a hassle, he was still in NYC. Hours if not most of a day away from his home in good ol' Saratoga Springs. He was an idiot, and knew it. He broke his quiet routine in some vain pursuit of notoriety without remembering his own little situation.

He could feel it, his book. It was screaming to him to feed it, and it was mocking him for being so foolish. He continued his way through the large crowds, his expression turning ever paler as he darted his eyes around. Something then became quite... off to him. The path ahead seemed to warp and contort, the faces of everyone around him melting. Swear poured down his temple, his eyes widening as he darted around at the ever alienating surroundings of the New York streets. Then he looked to his right, a faceless man putting their hand on Benjamin's shoulder. The ever morphing mass making noise Benjamin could understand, yet not feel. Benjamin's mouth trembled as he stared wide eyed at the individual, a deep gulp going down when he heard it truly speak to him.

"You've seen how strange things can get in the big city. Well things are about to get a whole lot stranger." The faceless man said to Benjamin, his voice clear as day.

"What do you mean-" Benjamin's voice trembled before being interrupted by a great sound of thunder in the difference. With a large smoke cloud in the distance. Many of the pedestrians around him fleeing as his world still warped and contorted. The smoke cloud began glowing a violent array of blood red and charcoal black. It soothed him somewhat, almost as if it was pulling him out of his mental hell even if just for a few seconds. In his vision a dark blanket of mist began enveloping his area, he could breathe. He couldn't, yet the faceless running demons around him were just fine. He needed to breathe, he needed pure air, not the air of which demonic beings breathe. Reaching into his side bag he produced his every trusty gas mask. Something he would have on him even when not in his full "costume". As he pulled the tight, constricting mask over his head, he could finally take a deep breath.

The faceless man kept their hand on Benjamin's should. Tapping forcefully for Benjamin's attention, and turning his head forcibly. The gaze of the faceless man locked with the mask covered look of the true Nightmare. The faceless man's head split open, revealing peering eyes in a blood covered stare. Hatred in its eyes. Words came from the bloodied face of the man. "God is watching."

Violent sounds of metal screeching started to become deafening for Benjamin as he stared into the bloody gaze of the faceless man. Slowly raising his chitin covered right hand, and gently grasped the side of the bloody, expressionless face. His other hand raising up, and without a second of warning, jabbing its sharp form into the faceless man's head. Sickening crunches coming as he jabbed again and again into the demonic being's "face". Then suddenly his mind cut back to reality, and he saw there was no man there. He was jabbing into the air, and those who weren't running from the explosion far off were staring at him. Puzzled expressions across all of their faces. Benjamin slowly removed his mask, revealing his profusely sweating face. His anxiety was through the roof and he had to run. Yet he couldn't. He could only feel his body force him to continue walking as if nothing happened.

He continued on as people stared him down, and even making his way towards the explosion. The blaring of sirens filling his hearing the closer and closer he got to the smoke enveloped areas...