Gods Among Us: Reforged, A Sandbox Meta-Human RP (IC|Dead)

[Tamrida]

Gods Among Us: Reforged
A Sandbox Meta-Human RP

---

OOC (For lore information or character applications, please go to the OOC)

---

Introduction
The world is changing.

Meta-humans and their actions have recently been outlawed by the UN across the world due to fears of their destructive capabilities and their possiblity for use in warfare. Under immense preassure and scrutinty by the governments of the world, many meta-humans have fled to the man made archipelago of Westernport, one of the designated "Safe Zones", to continue their lifestyles without fear of arrest or death. In this new place, will meta-humans regain favor with the world government again or will they prove their critics correct?

That choice is up to you.

[Zhaas123]

Yesayi Artinian/Joel Richards, Richards auto-care, Cherrybush Isle

Joel Richards woke up with a jolt as his alarm went off the retired super-villain got up with a groan tossing his blanket onto the ground. Looking at the clock and seeing the 7:41 AM on its screen he caused in his head, another late day. Rushing threw his shower and putting on his usual ill-fitting clothes he checked his notes from yesterday. Finish work on Johnson's Van, meeting with bank to secure the loan, and get milk from the store. Deciding to start with the simplest task first Joel put on his coat, wallet, phone and his special gloves. Walking out of his house and down the street he quickly flipped through his phone seeing various news ticks, the weather, local politics, meta-human relations, the ongoing manhunt for Yesayi Artinian, normal stuff.

[Haedros 92712]

Bruno McQueen
Getting food with friends

“Hey Queenie! What’ll you have?” Bruno looked up from his phone. The smiling face of Darius looked back at him. “I’m fine, Applesauce.” These nicknames between two friends wouldn’t be understood by most, as the in jokes here were overwhelming in number. The friends sat in a booth at an old 60s themed diner, known as Reggie’s. The walls were a gaudy blue, with neon signs everywhere, as well as the usual themed diner fare. Advertisements for coke, picture of people like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and other icons of the sort. And you couldn’t forget the jukebox, which at the moment was looping Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.” Up at the counter stood Lisbeth, the third member of the eternal friend triangle. “Come on, you gotta eat something Bruno!” Darius grabbed Bruno by the shoulders and shook him back and forth. “Alright, alright! I’ll get a strawberry milkshake!” The throttling ceased. Darius grinned his signature grin. “Good to hear, I’ll go tell Liz.” He stood up and left, and Bruno was alone. He looked over at the TV. There was a bank robbery in progress. Bruno grinned. Looks like I have something to do now.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Blur

Country House was an unusual choice for a Westernport pop radio station, and once the tune was over, the voice greeting the morning's listener's was also new: female, with an un-placeable, though definitely American accent. "Good morning Westport!" she chirped jovially, "I love a bit of nineties music, don't you?"

"You might be wondering where your usual morning DJs are. They weren't happy about me coming on air, so they are locked in the supply closet, bound to shelving units with some beautifully crafted leather cuffs... they should be grateful; real leather is expensive. Anyway, where was I... text all your friends, or whatever it is that teenagers do these days, and get them to tune in to this station because something fun is about to happen on air! Blur is taking over! Which is both a pun and literally true. So while you are doing that, here is a track for all you good little Girls and Boys out there..."

It was probably one of the strangest radio takeovers in history. Blur, who was having a lot of fun reminding everyone of the 90s Brit-pop band that had shared her name, had entered the station, and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of the producer, steal his cellphone, then lock everyone in a storage cupboard. The place was a fairly minor station, there wasn't even a security guard to try to stop her. Then she started broadcasting.

She also fully expected the police and heroes to show up and had placed a large sign in the lobby:

Caution: There are five lb of Semtex hidden in this room.
The first one who finds it gets to stop this building turning into a huge fireball! Good luck!

Given her predilection for that particular explosive, there was a very real chance she had planted a bomb. Enough of a chance that she assumed the police would slow down any assault to make sure there wasn't a booby trap.

"Well wasn't that fun? Now some of you might be wondering why I decided to get on the radio. Is it that I have a message for people or is it just that I like the sound of my own voice? It is mostly the latter, but I do have two things I would like to share. The first is that I am getting bored of stealing stuff. It's no fun anymore. So I've decided to make it a bit more interesting. I'm offering a half million reward for anyone who is able to catch me! Alive... if you want the cheque."

"Of course" she continued, straying into an anarchic rant for a few moments, "the wiser ones among you might have realised I am not the real thief in the city. There are plenty worse than me... like the ones who pay you minimum wage while they swan about town on the profits of your labour, or the ones who exploit arcane legal loopholes to take stuff that rightfully belongs to you, the Government who takes your money and uses it to keep you in line while lining the pockets of their friends or the ones who put pressure on their interns to do things that aren't in the job description of anyone outside of the adult film industry."

"If you feel like I do, don't bother with chasing after me, I am pretty awesome and hard to catch, just go shopping instead. If you don't have the money, I can highly recommend a product... It gives you a better credit than any of the cards on the market and it's available from your local gun store for only a few hundred. So what are you waiting for, get out there and get robbing! I'm guessing the police are closing in on my position now... I'm not actually here, this is a recording and there is no Semtex in the building. That was just a joke! Anyway, expect to be suddenly and brutally cut away from my dulcet tones at any moment, but until then, I have eight prerecorded hours of me reading Shakespeare. Just what you always wanted to hear! So until next time, bella ciao!"

The voice on the radio cleared her throat, "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate..."

Whoever Blur was, in taking over a radio station and encouraging the population to commit aggravated robbery, she had laid down a challenge to the police and heroes of the city. She had probably left a few hints as to how to find her lying around, though if her personality on air was anything to go by, she wouldn't be hard to lure out anyway.

[Menschenfleisch]

Kathlyn Marigold | Main Arrival Port

"Yeah, sure. I'll be fine."

Kate looked out upon Westernport, the gleaming city of chaos and superhuman illogicality. A few plumes of smoke rose into the air some distance away. That was to be expected. The roiling deck of the ship did little to calm her nerves; and neither did the sound of sliding wood and groaning metal that came from belowdecks. She wasn't the only anomaly on this ship and as she'd learned there were people of much more malignant natures than her own. The acidic blob downstairs was friendly, if a little too prone to hugging. She was fine though, considering her own mutation.

"It's just for a few months, I'll be fine. Besides, I'm immortal, right? If I can get some solid work in here, I'll have a great reputation with the community when I get back. Anyways, see you, dad. I'll call you back later."

She slid her phone and its blackened screen into her pocket, fidgeting with the handle on her briefcase. The majority of her stuff was waiting on the shore, as per very complicated and properly paranoid arrangements; but it never hurt to bring a little extra with her. Even with the lack of regulations on this island, it was amazing to Kathlyn that she could smuggle in a 9mm pistol in little more than cotton wraps and aluminium foil. The steel floor came to a shuddering halt, nearly flinging her over the side of the railing as the ship came to a halt. Most people were still downstairs. Only the antisocial or carefree were upstairs. The plank came down with a heavy slam, and she took her first steps on the concrete quay. A young man came barrelling toward her, dressed in some cheap mariner's uniform and holding a series of cases.

"Hey! Kate! Man, I didn't think you'd actually come. I went to a lot of trouble, getting your shit on shore."
"Thanks, Dave. Means a lot to me. Is Polly on the island too?"
"Nah, she's coming in a few weeks. Can't rush pregnancy, you know?"
"Hah. Not that I'd know. I'll see you around, dude. If all goes according to plan we'll be seeing each other a lot more often."

Kate took her belongings from Dave. Under normal circumstances, most people wouldn't have been able to carry so much; but she was far from normal. This whole place was far from normal. Most people still couldn't believe how suddenly, millions of people had developed weird X-men like abilities, mutations and really begun to fit into the hero and villain archetypes that followed. She didn't want to pander to stereotypes but she wanted to be a hero; someone who worked for the betterment of others and acclimatised the world to metahumanity. Otherwise, Westernport might perish in nuclear fire (or otherwise) one day.

Kathlyn Marigold took her first steps on the isle of Westernport.

[Tamrida]

Aurélie Proulx/Blue Musketeer
Aurélie Proulx: fashionista, model, international beauty, hero, and more. She could now add exile to the list of her many titles and accomplishments. Forced away from her lovely home of France by the UN resolution roughly two months ago, to save both her skin and her reputation as a brave hero, she decided to leave to one of the safe zones, eventually settling on Westernport due to its cultured environment and resort-like conditions. She definitely wasn't going to one of the places in Africa or India, that was for sure. The plane ride from France to the archipelago was a long and boring trip for her, the only person on her father's private jet aside from the crew. When the plane touched down she also was thrust into a scene she would have preferred to not be in.

After getting off the plane at Westernport International Airport, Aurélie headed towards the private limousine that her father had rented to taker her to new living arrangements. On her way, she was swamped with reporters and fans asking her a flurry of questions:
"What is your opinion on the UN resolution?"
"What do you plan on doing in Westernport?"
"Aurélie, will you marry me?"
She heard it all before.

Ignoring all of the questions and pushing her way through the crowd of people, casting a few steely side glances at some grabby fans on her way, she eventually made it to her transportation, her driver closing the door behind her after she got in. Getting into the driver's seat himself the driver silently began the car ride to her location, an upscale apartment complex on Westport Island, just off of Center Park, where her father owned the penthouse suite as a vacation home, but never bothered to use it. Getting out of the vehicle and getting her bags, she made her way into the apartment lobby where she was surrounded, again by more fans and reporters. The building's security quickly stepped in and dispersed the swarm, allowing her to get to her room in peace. After the long flight, combined with the hectic few hours she had after landing, Aurélie headed straight for the bedroom, where she laid back-down onto it. Facing the ceiling and feeling exasperated she said loudly "Can't a girl get some peace time?", while the fact that she was now completely alone in Westernport began to sink in.

[Granis]

Michael sighed as he looked down from his balcony into the little alleyway below. All he'd wanted to do was eat some breakfast, water the tiny excuse for a vegetable garden he could put together in such a small apartment, and relax. But no, he'd had to be assigned to an apartment in Cherrybush Isle, where the term 'crime around every corner' had to be taken literally, so of course he would be interrupted within actual honest to god seconds of stepping outside.

And so, Michael Evans placed his watering can and sandwich on the little plastic patio table he'd bought a few days before, summoned a sword wide enough for him to comfortably stand on, and jumped off his balcony.

As he slowly floated down on the sword, he pulled his goggles from his pocket and put them on, before calling out to the mugger and his target.

"Hey man, knock it off, will ya?" He called to the mugger, a man whose power, at least at first glance, seemed to be limited to the scorpion tail he was threatening his teenage victim with. "Some of us are trying to relax around here, and you're really getting in the way of that, ya know?"

"Don't get in the way here, pal." The scorpion man replied, slowly spinning his tail to point the stinger at him. "This kid has been poking around in my business for too damn long, an' it's about time I poke back."

Michael looked at the kid, and sighed once more. He couldn't have been older than fourteen, and yet he somehow got it in his head that it would be a good idea to stick his head into the day-to-day activities of a man with a goddamned scorpion tail. It was like he was asking to be killed! Still, Michael wasn't the kind of guy who would just stand around and let it happen like, you know, an emotionless jackass.

"Well, ya see, I'd love to watch you brutally murder a child, but I'm hoping to sell at some point, and that that kind of thing tends to send property values down. I mean, if it weren't for that, I'd say go ahead, ya know? But now I've actually gotta step in and pretend I put in the effort…"

As he spoke, he desummoned the sword he rode down on, summoning a sword and a small baton. Casually, almost lazily, he threw the sword to the scorpion, who caught it with a questioning expression.

"There, ya see?" Michael said. "I'm even giving you the advantage here. You've got a longer weapon, a tail, and no doubt a well of experience that would put me to shame. I'm sure you'll have no trouble taking me down for a moment so you can finish you're business."

The scorpion looked from Michael down to the weapon in his hands and back to Michael again, before smirking and letting out a bitter chuckle.

"I don't know what's wrong with you bud, but you're clearly looking down on me if you think I need one of your dumb toys to take care of this." He said, chucking the sword over his shoulder, and dashing forwards. "I'll kill you right here!"

Michael didn't even flinch as the criminal ran towards him, tail pointed menacingly towards him.

"Actually, I'd say I showed exactly the right amount of fear for now." He said, before ducking to the side and parrying the tail upwards. Before the scorpion could bring it down for a second thrust however, a flash of silver flew through the air. For a moment, the man was confused, before an intense pain flooded through his tail. The sound of something hard and chitinous hitting concrete confirmed his growing fears, and he looked down to see his stinger lying on the ground a few metres away. He barely had time to face Michael again before he felt a strong pain in the side of his head, and everything faded to black.

Meanwhile, Michael stood over the scorpion, desummoning both sword and baton now that his work was over. Sighing once more, he turned to the boy, who was looking towards him nervously.

"Alright kid, it's over." He said tiredly. "Try to keep your head outta crap like this, ok? Now go home, I'm gonna call the police, and if anyone asks, you never saw me, got it?"

The boy, although visibly apprehensive, nodded shakily, before running out of the alley, leaving Michael to summon another weapon and ride back up to his balcony so he could call the police.

"Welp…" He mumbled to himself. "I guess I'd better report this one to Adam too…"

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

What a load of horsesh*t, he thought as he watched the media supposedly 'fairly' dissect his recent actions. This particular news station of course was one of the ones that was infamous for its unfair interviewing processes and bias towards being conservative. It was not a fair media source.

"This just in, videofootage of terrorists and their ultimatums and demands" the news anchor said in his stereotypical annoying news anchor voice.

"I will kill all police officers" was the main focal point of their discussion, along with graphic footage of all his victims bleeding on the pavement in death.

It went on to have one of the commenters start commenting on how radical Islamic terrorism was running rampant in the nation and other such redneck hillbilly nonsense. They began talking about how it hasn't been confirmed yet whether this mystery criminal with a disguised voice and face had any ties to Hamas or any other radical Islamic terrorist groups, typical republican nonsense.

Danny sat on his couch boredly watching the program and fuming over the fact that they cut and edit out many of the important parts of his speech so that it showed him as being nothing more than a disgruntled lone wolf copikiller who was mentally disturbed. They hadn't showed everything and were focusing on the wrong things. They weren't fairly dissecting ANYTHING. This was little more than a media witchhunt and character assasination. Typical biased media trick. Cut and edit footage so that only the very worst things were said and viewers heard only the most shocking of all his words, twisting everything he had said.

The part they conveniently DIDNT put in was the part where he offered the police a chance to surrender themselves into the hands of the people so that they would NOT be killed on the streets. They made sure of course to flash the pictures of the executed up on screen as a memorial to the fallen boys in blue. They then broke into interviewing the police on why they hadn't been able to capture this mystery criminal. He of course made some very vague and uninspiring claims of doing everything they can about this domestic terrorist and how they were considering calling in the state guard to enact a state of emergency until they could find this evil man.

The man was clearly not the police cheif of course, clearly inexperienced with dealing with the media this man was just a regular officer called in in an emergency situation. This was probably because the cheif of police was among the FIRST to die in this new hellish crusade. Unsurprisingly the highest ranking officers tended to die the quickest. So far no one had surrendered themselves into the hands of the people and given into the demands. But even as the broadcast happened some officers were feeling the pressure and loath to leave their homes for fear of being struck by a phantom bullet whilst out for a stroll. They were scared. When a swat team went in to get the guy, it had turned out to be a siege of deadly proportions. Each and every last officer laying siege to the place was killed in a rain of fire and blood.

For once the media could show that police COULDNT just bust down doors and kill innocent bystanders, he thought as he remembered the way they had turned their supposedly invincible swat team vehicles into piles of fire and metal. For once the swat team could say that when they went in, they weren't met with their usual victory and were instead met with one huge resounding failure.

[Demencia]

Pudding Isle
Void

Casinos were natural attractions for the foolish. People came from far and wide to donate their money to the owners of a large building filled with fancy tables and flashing machines. Usually most people left after they lost and came back after they got paid again. This time, however, one particularly wealthy patron didn't take too kindly to their string of bad luck. Usually Void's jobs had different, more political motivations, but the money from a sore loser was just as good as the money from an aspiring Senator.

This is how she found herself laying prone on the top of a hotel, staring across at a casino. She never questioned the motivations behind the killings, she just squeezed the trigger with two pounds of force. Whenever the offending pit boss arrived to clock in for work, it was her job to make sure he didn't make it. She glanced through Thornweld's scope periodically, checking every car that came in to the employee lot. Through her left eye, she could see her HUD that kept her informed on the current conditions, as well as monitor local police chatter to know if any suspicions have been raised.

She saw another car pull into the lot, this one a midsize luxury sedan. She peered through the scope again, comparing the picture in her left eye with the person she saw in her right. The windows were too tinted to tell, but when the man stepped out, she instantly knew it was him. She moved her finger from the rest built into the trigger guard to the actual trigger as her suit's systems worked. It locked onto the man, then quickly calculated the distance, wind speed, humidity and target movement against the travel time of the bullet, giving her a new point of aim. She moved the crosshair to this position, then squeezed the trigger.

The bullet left the rifle, its report mitigated by the large sound suppressor at the end of the muzzle, and precisely hitting between the third and fourth rib, directly into the man's heart. She watched him fall down, as nearby cars and pedestrians either stopped to help or sped away in fear. Void lowered her rifle and picked the shell casing up from the ground next to her. She quickly tucked Thornweld back into its case, and walked briskly towards the edge of the roof she came up on. She grabbed onto the rope she had tied off, and hooked her descender onto it before rappelling down towards a balcony.

Once there, she entered the room that she had rented and changed out of her suit into an inconspicuous outfit of dark grey jeans and a light colored shirt. She put on baseball hat on her head, and grabbed her two cases and exited the room. She used the kiosk to check herself out, and slipped away before the ambulance and police could even arrive.

She received a notification that the money had been wired to her successfully, and smiled a little.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Danny was tired of this crock of horsesh!t they called news and decided to turn channels to a less conservative news station and see what the liberals made of this stuff going on in the world. Danny personally didn't like liberals all that much either. One would expect since he hates conservatives as much as he does that he would love the democrats seeing as they are supposed to be their opposite.... But no. He had a host of problems and bones to pick with the other faction. He found himself disapproving of both factions for various different reasons.

This particular station was covering a story on a recent fake terrorist bomb threat made by a meta named Blur. This woman had apparently been threatening a radio station building with explosives and going on about the supposed 'real' enemy. She was apparently encouraging people to go out and rob people at gun point for no truly discernable reason. Danny got the feeling that perhaps she did this out of pure fun. Somehow he got the impression that this was all simply for the chase, seeing as how her voice had a very distinctive sound to it when she spoke about the police giving chase.

As he watched the news commentators attempt to dissect her actions and classify her as either prankster, terrorist or what have you, he tried not to think about what ELSE might cause her to do this. Danny personally agreed with most of everything she said, her motivations were pure in his mind, at least from what little he knew of her. But he thought her methods were wrong. He felt as if she did not do the people much justice by encouraging them to go out there and start shooting up liquor stores and whatnot. Too much chaos and violence and not directed the right way. He felt the way she did things did not inspire thoughts of being a freedom fighter, but rather a very dangerous jokester. Who can take her seriously when she seems to make this all like a big game?, he thought as he listened to them give their token politically safe responses on how terrorism is never the right way.

Danny made sure to catalog this information to the back of his mind as he continued to gather information from the media by engaging in the very inconspicuous action of watching tv in his own private home. He planned to go investigate this woman and her crime scenes soon. He was plenty sure whatever clues as to how to track this woman down were probably already taken in as evidence by the police who were currently NOT ceding to his demands for surrender so he'd probably need to make an appearance at the police headquarters real soon to pilfer whatever evidence they might have gathered. Perhaps if Relentless could just get a message across to her, maybe he could facilitate some sort of dialogue with her so they could see eachother's points of view. Maybe there was more to this woman than meets the eye and maybe he could convince her that perhaps this way of doing things was just the wrong way of doing things.

[Dyelli Beybi]

A Night of Fun and Games

---

Harriett Newton: A flat on Westport Island

Harriett sat curled in front of the television, flicking idly from one news station to the other. Her little stunt... or more accurately Blur's little stunt, had caused the ruckus she had hoped for, though she didn't see any of the local heroes taking to the stage to call her out. Even that old fool 'Captain Silver' hadn't put on his lycra and made a declaration of intent. It was a little bit annoying on two fronts. First, she had been quite looking forward to getting a nemesis or two (it might be fun), but more importantly she needed their involvement for her next big job and she highly doubted any of them were willingly going to help her out, even if she asked nicely. 'Heroes' were so depressingly dull; they inevitably lacked a creative flair or sense of fun.

Clearly she needed to do more. She uncurled from where she had been lying, flicking the television off. The good news was that the phone she had stolen had, not only yielded a crucial piece of information for her next caper but had, rather unexpectedly, also given her some juicy leverage on one of the newspaper editors (affair with an junior writer). It meant she had a pretty good chance of getting at least one inflammatory letter printed before the police ordered him not to publish her stuff. If she was going to get the attention of the other meta-humans in town, she needed to get writing...

---

The next morning...

For the public, Blur's next piece of handiwork appeared, prominently, on the front page of a local newspaper. Much like her radio broadcast it jumped around bizarrely; clearly she was trying to make a point, though exactly what it was was a little harder to piece together. The letter was relatively short, starting off with lyrics from a Pete Seeger song, followed by a threat, then a clue:

I've seen my brothers working
Throughout this mighty land
I prayed we'd get together
And together make a stand

Then we'd own those banks of marble
With a guard at every door
And we'd share those vaults of silver
That we have sweated for.

Hello Westernport! I am saddened that so few of you took me up on my last suggestion for a career change. In order to help get this party started, at midnight tonight, when all the good little girls and boys are tucked away in bed, I am going to blow up one of Westernport's banks. So make any withdrawals you need to make before then as otherwise you may end up in small pieces, scattered over a wide area.

However, because it would be really unfair to blow up a bank without giving at least one hint as to which one I'm going for. If you read all of Michael Moorcock's Elric series you should be able to figure it out. Good luck!

Bella ciao!

Lots of love,
Blur (your friendly neighbourhood Supervillain)

Blur, it seemed, was escalating from a thief to an anarchist.

---

That evening...

The clue turned out to be something of a red herring, though it did waste a lot of people's time. Then, to make matters worse, at 11:45 in the evening three loud explosions were heard in different parts of the city. The source of the first one turned out to be a homemade firework that had been concealed in a back alley and lit by a remote timer. The others were likely to be similar. On top of that, there were a spate of Blur sightings all over the city, though after the first couple had been captured and unmasked by the police it turned out that they were just ordinary young women who had been slipped a few hundred dollars to pull on a domino mask and some black clothes.

In the middle of all of that, a live news team managed to get to one of the 'impersonators'...

She stopped as the anchor approached, grinning maniacally, "Excuse me!, excuse me!" the anchor huffed, racing to catch after the woman as she skipped along the street.

The woman stopped. Unlike most of the others, this one had a full balaclava on, "Hello!" she exclaimed cheerfully, "You're here to ask why I'm dressed up like a wanted costumed criminal? It's a political thing dude... smash the robots taking our jobs!"

Anyone who had listened carefully to the radio broadcast might recognise the voice. This was not am impersonator. The anchor though, had missed that, "Aren't you worried you might get arrested or worse if someone thinks you are the real Blur?"

The woman chuckled, "Dude... I don't even look like her. Blur is much taller. You know I've figured out the book code though: The books are all about the world being out of balance as the forces of chaos have become too strong. If I was to guess I'd say this stunt isn't about banks at all. It's about chaos."

"Why do you think she wants to cause chaos?" the anchor asked.

The question got a shrug, "If I knew that I'd be Blur. You have a good night now! I'm going to Center Park... I hear there's going to be a wild party there tonight! Bella ciao!"

While it wasn't guaranteed that any of the city's heroes would see that particular clip on television or figure out it was her, it was the best she could manage without coming straight out and saying who she was. Hopefully, the other things she had put into place would keep the police chasing their tails around the city for a bit. In truth she was more worried about them than the city's heroes; cops tended to appear in large numbers with surveillance helicopters and coordinated patterns of attack. They were much harder to run away from than a big angry bloke in in a Spandex luchador outfit.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Danny watched the news a bit more that day and saw a story about someone named Void. Commentary about this killer suggest a growing trend among vigilantes for using snipers as a means to assassinate someone. Questions begin to be raised on weapon laws, noting the similar MO between Void and Relentless in using sniper rifles in order to kill people from a safe and anonymous distance. Later he sets out for the police station in search of evidence of this Blur character.

Danny makes sure to let his freedom fighters know what was going on so they had his back. Danny boards a bus of all things and heads over to a special place where he can turn the battle for information more to his favor. Jogging his memories on how these wires worked, he searched around the place for a screwdriver and things of the like. From this place near the police station, he could access the city's power network to cut off power to one or more areas of the city. Using the toolkit, Relentless opened up the panel that gave him access to the crucial wiring for the city's electrical grid. Through his hood, face scarf and eyewear he carefully used some rubber gloves to disconnect the power from the police station and it's backup generators. Before he could finish the job though, he had to stop to hide and ambush a roving security person. Stepping out from the shadows he had made sure to strike him with a barrage of baton strikes and put him to sleep.

After closing the hatch, he made his goons keep the electrician who had been called over to get the power back on preoccupied. He snuck over to the police station and snuck in stealthily. With the lights and cameras off, it was all too easy. Their security systems were useless now and he had no trouble snatching keys from cops in the dark and knocking some unconscious along the way. It was still very difficult though. Knocking security out was a challenge when one wanted to make no sound. He made sure to keep his ears open for the voices of cops so that he could know their voices and imitate them if need be. He had to make sure he watched them closely so he could watch security codes they put in to different systems. His walkie was on silent right now. He knew they were succeeding anyways. That bird whistle he had heard earlier was no regular bird whistle after all.

Sneakily, he made sure to scour the place for all bits of evidence he could find in regards to how he could find this Blur character. Putting every thing in his bag, he made sure to mess around with the other evidence held in this room so that the next phases of his plan went over very smoothly. Next he stole all the keys to the room holding all the evidence and hid others. Then he made his way out as stealthily as he could overhear some of the cops talking about how they were impatient for the electrician to turn the power back on. Making his way out, Relentless got a good distance away from the scene of the crime and sent a quick text over to one of his operatives on one of his many burner phones. Their job distracting the electrician was no longer needed. This mission had been a sucess.

[Demencia]

Westport Isle
Miranda Frost

Word of another seemingly random sniper killing made for more talk on the news channels. People debated whether it was a new serial killer, though all of the targets seemingly lacked any connection at all. The apparently random target choice made a lot of the talking heads liken it back to random spree killings near Washington years before. No one made the leap to suggest it was a contract killer though. Miranda watched it with a slight, disturbing grin. "Idiots." she said to herself.

The house she lived in wasn't low-end, but it would be considered very modest if anyone knew just how much money she had to her name in various places like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda or the dummy accounts in Switzerland. Of course, no one besides Miranda knew about the money, because she was too smart to let herself be taken down by one idiot's big mouth.

The debate on the television gradually shifted to gun laws, noting that both Void and Relentless used sniper rifles in their attacks. Miranda chuckled to herself at the people who thought legislation would stand in her way. "You think the government can save you?" she mused to herself. "The government created me. They gave me the guns that you want them to outlaw."

She leaned back in her chair, until the antics of Blur pulled the focus again. This woman was desperate for attention, it would seem. She was driven by a desire to be noticed. She couldn't commit a crime unless people knew. This spoke of either crippling insecurity, or massive amounts of arrogance; though sometimes there wasn't much of line between the two. She even paid other women to dress up like her and get themselves arrested. Miranda shook her head at the screen.

Suddenly one woman was stopped by the media, and she was dressed differently than the others. Where they used a simple mask to hide the eyes, this one covered her whole face. She spoke with the same tone of voice that was played on the radio station earlier. And yet, the people around her were oblivious. "Oh I bet that hurts inside." the assassin said, sipping a drink. "To work this hard for attention and not be recognized?" Blur even outright told the press where she was going before heading off, and it still didn't sink in. "I wonder how many idiots will give her the attention she so clearly craves?" Miranda sighed and set her drink down on the table next to her chair.

At the rate Blur was going, it wouldn't be long until she pissed off someone wealthy enough to put her in the crosshairs of Void, and then her games would be done. It would be the last bit of attention she'd ever receive.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Relentless turned back into Danny for the time needed to get boarding on the bus to take him where he needed to go. He removed his hood and the face scarf and took off his sunglasses. He unlocked his bike from the bike rack and rode it to the bus station. When the bus came he hoisted it up into the holder the bus had for it.

It was a long ride out of the city to a remote bus stop no one really used. It was some unincorporated territory or something, rural. Eventually he biked his way through the dirt rocky paths of the country side and biked his way across the ugly bridge that separated the mainland from this abandoned industrial island site. Before he got close to his secret headquarters, Danny reapplied his glasses, scarf and hood, Relentless taking over again. He made his way through a maze of industrial corridors and down stairs til he made it past all obstacles. Eventually he reached the secret entrance and made his way through.

It wasn't very high tech at face value and didn't look much like a secret headquarters. It was rather unassuming and looked more akin to a homeless person's secret underground living space. Relentless began searching through the evidence now that he was at Relentless headquarters, Relentless made sure to wear gloves and special equipment so that his DNA didn't get mixed up with the evidence in front of him as he looked through all the files that contained information on Blur. He was glad he had also managed to snatch everything they had on Void as well because he felt she might need investigation as well.

He combed through the evidence for quite a while but could not find much. They didn't seem to leave much of a trace behind. It would seem that he would simply need to look out for their next big striking points or try some other avenue of finding them.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Relentless, having no solid clues for how to find either of them got to thinking. Now how can one find such people? What was Void's motives for doing such things? Was she just another serial killer? Or was she otherwise motivated? Were her targets political in nature or were they just random? Perhaps she was just an assasin or a mercenary? Other than those clues he had nothing else to go off of.

As for Blur, he remembered that she was possibly a fan of Shakespeare and 90's music, given the nature of her last radio takeover. He considered checking out theaters and music groups in order to find her. His operatives meanwhile were currently sharing drinks with police actually. His most charismatic operatives were busy trying to get the police drunk off their asses so that their credibility would be in question. Things had gone missing and been misplaced at the police station earlier that day and the top ranking officers will want to know why. If their subordinates can be painted in the light of drunk hooligans, suspicion of the missing items will be thrown off.

Relentless put everything away into their neat little areas and removed his inspection equipment. Relentless left his secret headquarters and biked his way away from the old industrial island. When he was a safe enough distance away he stopped biking and hid to remove his identity maskings. Danny picked up where relentless left off and came out from hiding. Biking accross the rocky paths, he made it back to the bus stop where he once again hitched a ride back over to the main cityscape. Today he would go to the local music scenes and theaters to scope out any interesting characters who might be Blur. Fist stop, the music store. This place was one of those music shops that still sold CDs, cassets and vinyl records. It was here that perhaps Danny could find Blur where Relentless could not.

(In case anybody is confused, Dyelli Beybi is rping the next day, whilst I am still rping the previous day)

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Danny sat a local coffee shop and pondered what he could do to find them. Browsing the local music and theater venues had proven unfruitful. He wondered if perhaps scouring the criminal underworld might put him in contact with one such very special sniper user. Of course, doing so would require a different day to work on it. Perhaps tomorrow. For now, he must finish the regular day to day business of no superheroish activities. Like finishing up that article the publishing company was wanting. So he went home for the day, putting all vigilante stuff to the side and finishing his daily routine.

The next day he had planned to go out in search of Void but was his interest was piqued by his usual morning news. Danny read the news paper and watched the news channels, showing him something that couldn't be ignored. There was a party going on later that night. And Blur was going to be there. The empty minded people around her couldn't see that she was the real thing and not an imitation. Blur had pulled yet another very drastic stunt today and Danny sighed in disappointment. Danny had been under the impression that he and Blur could have a decent, civilized conversation if he could just reach here so he was disappointed to find that one day after her last attack, she couldn't even wait before pulling another.

He thought she was reckless and impatient. Maybe if she just waited at least an extra day perhaps she might just get the results she wanted. The problem was that she was so impatient for immediate results that she didn't even wait for news of her message to spread around to a decent enough amount of people. Perhaps if she had waited an extra day people might have taken her up on her offer. So now Danny was placed in a very difficult position. Reckless and impulsive. Combine that with being a jokester anarchist with meta powers and it spells a recipe for disaster. He realized he COULDNT just let her roam free. If he wanted any chance of saving the city he was the patron of, he simply couldn't just let her roam around rallying people to go blowing things up and robbing people in broad daylight.

Void would have to wait. Sure she was murdering people in cold blood but in reality she did as much damage to the city as any regular non meta human sniper assassin. Blur in a sense was a much more serious threat. What Void did with a single bullet, Blur multiplied by the dozen with just a speech and some fireworks. Danny saw through her disguise. That was the REAL Blur. Danny began to make the trip over to the island where his hq was. Danny and by extension Relentless was preparing for battle.

(It is now rping the next morning in case you guys didn't get it)

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Danny made a call to his goons and made sure they had the vehicles ready. Making his way back to his headquarters, he began placing a few things in the trunk of one of the vehicles. In the back of the armored vehicle he placed a hunting rifle, a rocket launcher, a sub machine gun, grenades, ammunition and all sorts of other things. They ALL had to do their part in order to serve the people, goons helping him load the stuff into the back of the SUV.

Danny (Relentless actually) and them rode over to the police station. Relentless repeated the process of before and this time made sure to arrange another distraction for the roving perimeter security, cutting off the power to the police station while he was distracted. Relentless snuck back into the station under the cover of darkness. He repeated the process, this time RETURNING the stolen evidence on Blur and Void. Now the missing files will be seen as nothing more than incompetence on the part of misbehaving officers. He made sure to return all the stolen keys to their rightful places. Once his job was done, Relentless made his way back to the power panel and rebooked all the wires and cables back to their rightful places. Relentless shut the panel, erasing all traces of anybody tampering with it and the police were glad to have the lights turn back on. Relentless returned to the SUV. He called off his goons and their operation was complete. The missing files would be written off as nothing more than a simple accounting error and everyone would forget about this incident. There were no files missing from the police station. Faulty wiring was responsible for the power outages. People slipped and fell and hooligans distracted the officers who were incompetent drunks. It was a good thing he also stole and then replaced more than just Void's and Blur's files. He stole a bunch of other random police files as well so there was no suspicion that someone may have purposefully misplaced files about two metahumans.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Relentless made his way over to the area where the party was taking place and made sure to scout around for any witnesses. It wouldn't do well to have people seeing him and his goons transporting weapons. It seems nobody was about. He and his goons got around to taking the weapons they had transported and stashing them away in various areas of the place. They made sure to put them in locked boxes when they hid them away for later use. He and the goons made sure to place them in the most tactically sound positions, if they needed to fight it would be prudent to have things like good cover on their side.

After setting up the weapons cache Relentless and his followers made their way out of there. Relentless made his way over to the streets where all the crime happens. Relentless spent the day mingling amongst those who peddled in the black market business, gangsters, thieves and prostitutes. He needed connections to some sort of bureau of assassins equivalent. He needed to find this Void character. So he went along the dark alleys, sketchy passageways and met with shady characters in the sewers to ask if anybody knew of any mercenaries with a penchant for 'sniper' rifles. He never showed his face and made sure to disguise his voice, which was fine by them. This wasn't unusual given their line of work. This is how he would spend his time until it was nearing time for the party. Through the use of whispers and code names, he made sure to send his message across the criminal underworld. It wasn't big news stuff. Just that some random guy from the criminal underworld was looking to set up a meeting with a few snipers and see if they had what it took to do a job for him.

Relentless's mission was to get the code names and aliases of all different sniper mercs in the city and set up meetings with them. Relentless made sure to give them a time and a place so that he could meet the first of his many interviews set up. He very much doubted that he would get anywhere asking where 'Void' was so he would have to be discreet and do a lot of guesswork since the sniper probably didn't even use the name of Void in this criminal underworld. He set up the first of his meetings in three days time at a very discreet location in the dark of night. An abandoned warehouse a bit out of the way. Far enough away from the noisy and dangerous parts of town. 10 PM to be exact. This was really as good as one could do considering that he had such little information to go off of in regards to Void.

And so he would be busy doing this til it was nearing time for the party. Spreading a whisper among the scum of the city that he was looking for snipers, looking for Void.

(Y'all can act however y'all want now, unless someone wants to make an interaction based on that. Whenever you guys are ready for that party, have at it, Danny/Relentless will be there for it)

[Dyelli Beybi]

There was no party in Centre Park... not a real one at any rate. What there was was a slightly crackly old battery powered radio that someone had set up in a fairly well wooded part of the park. It would have been fairly easy to dismiss as the work of a homeless person, were it not for what it was playing - innumerable different versions of the Italian anti-fascist resistance song, 'Bella Ciao'... which was Blur's favourite farewell. There was no way that was a coincidence.

She had picked her spot well, a crossroads in a heavily wooded part of the park. It gave her plenty of directions to take off in (including through the undergrowth), while also shielding her from snipers, just in case any of the city's vigilantes had decided her presence on the world was more trouble that it was worth. She was definitely there as well, pacing back and forth like a caged cat with a cartoonishly oversized white flag held over her shoulder. She had also ditched the balaclava in favour of a domino mask, her preferred form of disguise when she wasn't appearing in front of a camera; the domino mask probably wouldn't beat facial recognition software though it was good enough to throw off most people... especially when it was dark.

There was also no sign of any homeless person which was a little unusual. Either Blur had driven them off or they had taken a look at her and decided that hanging around her was detrimental to their health...

[Granis]

There was no party in Centre Park... not a real one at any rate. What there was was a slightly crackly old battery powered radio that someone had set up in a fairly well wooded part of the park. It would have been fairly easy to dismiss as the work of a homeless person, were it not for what it was playing - innumerable different versions of the Italian anti-fascist resistance song, 'Bella Ciao'... which was Blur's favourite farewell. There was no way that was a coincidence.

She had picked her spot well, a crossroads in a heavily wooded part of the park. It gave her plenty of directions to take off in (including through the undergrowth), while also shielding her from snipers, just in case any of the city's vigilantes had decided her presence on the world was more trouble that it was worth. She was definitely there as well, pacing back and forth like a caged cat with a cartoonishly oversized white flag held over her shoulder. She had also ditched the balaclava in favour of a domino mask, her preferred form of disguise when she wasn't appearing in front of a camera; the domino mask probably wouldn't beat facial recognition software though it was good enough to throw off most people... especially when it was dark.

There was also no sign of any homeless person which was a little unusual. Either Blur had driven them off or they had taken a look at her and decided that hanging around her was detrimental to their health...

Michael took one look at the scene around him and sighed. He'd really picked his clothes carefully and everything too...

"You know," he said, "it might just be my natural innocence, but I was kind of excited for the party..."

Letting out another sigh, he took a seat on the ground, looking up to the woman. In the meantime though, he kept his hands behind his back, and slowly summoned rope daggers out of her sight. The rope daggers quickly scattered around the area, ready to spring the trap if this didn't work out.

"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're probably Blur?" He asked. "I'll be honest, the way you've been so blatant about everything has been kinda confusing to me so far. In fact, it's gotten to the point where I can only assume you're doing this specifically to make people come after you. I mean, I'm probably wrong, but this whole setup only really makes it seem more likely..."

He shrugged his shoulders tiredly, before his expression changed, his eyes in particular seeming just a little more serious.

"So, in keeping with the theme, let me just ask this. Is this gonna be the kind of party where we talk for a while and keep everything toned down, or are we gonna put on some loud music and dance?"

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

"Foreign music" the discreet text had said.

"Not a smart man so I don't know the language" was one among a few updates that he got as he searched the city for signs of Void.

"Range of sight diminished, language is definately from Europe"

"Italian I think, I can't make out the words of the music" was the message a goon had sent to him as they prepared to scout the area more.

"Taking a stroll to get a better look at the scenery" the goon texted as he removed his face scarf and sunglasses.

A couple others followed suit after miming who would go out to scout silently.

Now a trio of regularly dressed people were strolling through the parklands, pretending not to be looking for any particular thing besides the source of that strange music. Unhooded people taking a stroll through the park, a couple and a guy who was apparently acting as the third wheel in the relationship. His goons were quite good at looking like ordinary people simply for the fact that they WERE just ordinary people. Sure, they were the equivalent of armed militants and gang members but they were also people. Hopefully they wouldn't actually have to FIGHT anybody today but as fanatics that was a risk they just had to take.

[Dyelli Beybi]

*snip*

"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're probably Blur?" He asked. "I'll be honest, the way you've been so blatant about everything has been kinda confusing to me so far. In fact, it's gotten to the point where I can only assume you're doing this specifically to make people come after you. I mean, I'm probably wrong, but this whole setup only really makes it seem more likely..."

He shrugged his shoulders tiredly, before his expression changed, his eyes in particular seeming just a little more serious.

The woman in black planted the white flag in a patch of dirt, then made an elaborate bow, "That is I, Blur, the one and only, and you are quite right, I am trying to get people to come after me... specifically super-powered people. And who might you be?"

She hooked her thumbs across her belt, where her hands were nice and close to the two tonfas that she wore at her hip. There was also a sword across her back, though she didn't look like she was planning to go for that, "Though before you go all planet of the apes on me, let me at least give you a few things to think about. Imagine for a moment you were someone like me; a puckish rogue who despite my many charms and charitable nature have inexplicably ended up on the wrong side of the law. Say you were harmlessly flirting with some drunk old guy whose wealth you were planning to 'redistribute' and then imagine that drunk old guy, while trying to impress you, let slip about a project he was working on that had the potential to cause serious harm to the meta-human community... if you were someone like me, who would you turn to? You can't go to the police, you'll get arrested; you can't turn up for tea with a hero, you'll get beaten up then arrested; and you can't try to set up a covert meeting with one of them either. They'll tell the cops who will be waiting in the bushes to arrest you."

"So I've sewn an little bit of chaos to keep the police busy, then given you enough hints to find me here so that I can give you this..." apart from the tonfas she had quite a collection of stuff on her utility belt, mostly held in small pockets. She unclipped one pocket and tossed it in the direction of Michael, although it fell short, meaning he'd have to move forward to pick it up. It was a cheap burner phone, "I figure you'll tell your other super-friends about this meeting and next time you'll either come to help me out... or more likely you'll come to beat me into a bloody mess and throw me in prison. Either attitude is fine. I guarantee you'll end up helping out with my caper, one way or another."

"So, in keeping with the theme, let me just ask this. Is this gonna be the kind of party where we talk for a while and keep everything toned down, or are we gonna put on some loud music and dance?"

"Yeah sure." she said, for a moment sounding disarmingly innocent, "I've got a whole lot of great remixes on here..."

There was a slight pause. She grinned, "But you don't mean that do you? When you say dance you mean 'try to kill each other'... you heroic types are so predictable." her hands went to the tonfas, which came off her belt in the blink of an eye, "I'm not going to hurt you kid, but I can't let you arrest or kill me just yet. I might be a bit more amenable to the idea once the caper is over, but until then I need to stay foot loose, fancy free and very much alive."

Now a trio of regularly dressed people were strolling through the parklands, pretending not to be looking for any particular thing besides the source of that strange music. Unhooded people taking a stroll through the park, a couple and a guy who was apparently acting as the third wheel in the relationship. His goons were quite good at looking like ordinary people simply for the fact that they WERE just ordinary people. Sure, they were the equivalent of armed militants and gang members but they were also people. Hopefully they wouldn't actually have to FIGHT anybody today but as fanatics that was a risk they just had to take.

"You lot." she pointed a tonfa at the approaching couple, whom she had spotted out of the corner of her eye, "Get lost!"

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

They balked at the rudeness and the fact that she was armed, visibly alarmed at the idea that she might be one of those masked vigilantes they had all heard about. At least, that was the face they put up as they made their way around the scene. Their objective had been met. They now had eyes on the suspect and every one of them had the sneaking suspicion that that WAS indeed Blur whom they were here for.

They led themselves over to another nearby building in the park where they met their fellow militants and reported in what had transpired. "A lady was there at THIS area. Early for the party? Other guy there, vigilante by the looks of him." Was the text. They made sure to send him the coordinates.

"Both armed, posturing by lady but things were cordial convo"

"Had to vacate premises, she threatened us with her weapon, she had some kind of sword and a nightstick of some sort" was the report.

"Other guy was setting some kind of trap for her, some kind of ropedart device, it hopefully won't be there when you arrive. We didn't try challenging g her, had a feeling she might be too dangerous with just the three of us"

"Shall we wait til it gets darker? She DID say the party was at night and it's still quite early" the communicating minion had texted.

The minions didn't catch the whole conversation but had caught the tail end of her exchange with Michael and had seen the trap he was ready to spring, glad to have been let go to live a bit more. It was lucky their cover held up.

[Granis]

*snip*

"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're probably Blur?" He asked. "I'll be honest, the way you've been so blatant about everything has been kinda confusing to me so far. In fact, it's gotten to the point where I can only assume you're doing this specifically to make people come after you. I mean, I'm probably wrong, but this whole setup only really makes it seem more likely..."

He shrugged his shoulders tiredly, before his expression changed, his eyes in particular seeming just a little more serious.

The woman in black planted the white flag in a patch of dirt, then made an elaborate bow, "That is I, Blur, the one and only, and you are quite right, I am trying to get people to come after me... specifically super-powered people. And who might you be?"

She hooked her thumbs across her belt, where her hands were nice and close to the two tonfas that she wore at her hip. There was also a sword across her back, though she didn't look like she was planning to go for that, "Though before you go all planet of the apes on me, let me at least give you a few things to think about. Imagine for a moment you were someone like me; a puckish rogue who despite my many charms and charitable nature have inexplicably ended up on the wrong side of the law. Say you were harmlessly flirting with some drunk old guy whose wealth you were planning to 'redistribute' and then imagine that drunk old guy, while trying to impress you, let slip about a project he was working on that had the potential to cause serious harm to the meta-human community... if you were someone like me, who would you turn to? You can't go to the police, you'll get arrested; you can't turn up for tea with a hero, you'll get beaten up then arrested; and you can't try to set up a covert meeting with one of them either. They'll tell the cops who will be waiting in the bushes to arrest you."

"So I've sewn an little bit of chaos to keep the police busy, then given you enough hints to find me here so that I can give you this..." apart from the tonfas she had quite a collection of stuff on her utility belt, mostly held in small pockets. She unclipped one pocket and tossed it in the direction of Michael, although it fell short, meaning he'd have to move forward to pick it up. It was a cheap burner phone, "I figure you'll tell your other super-friends about this meeting and next time you'll either come to help me out... or more likely you'll come to beat me into a bloody mess and throw me in prison. Either attitude is fine. I guarantee you'll end up helping out with my caper, one way or another."

"So, in keeping with the theme, let me just ask this. Is this gonna be the kind of party where we talk for a while and keep everything toned down, or are we gonna put on some loud music and dance?"

"Yeah sure." she said, for a moment sounding disarmingly innocent, "I've got a whole lot of great remixes on here..."

There was a slight pause. She grinned, "But you don't mean that do you? When you say dance you mean 'try to kill each other'... you heroic types are so predictable." her hands went to the tonfas, which came off her belt in the blink of an eye, "I'm not going to hurt you kid, but I can't let you arrest or kill me just yet. I might be a bit more amenable to the idea once the caper is over, but until then I need to stay foot loose, fancy free and very much alive."

Now a trio of regularly dressed people were strolling through the parklands, pretending not to be looking for any particular thing besides the source of that strange music. Unhooded people taking a stroll through the park, a couple and a guy who was apparently acting as the third wheel in the relationship. His goons were quite good at looking like ordinary people simply for the fact that they WERE just ordinary people. Sure, they were the equivalent of armed militants and gang members but they were also people. Hopefully they wouldn't actually have to FIGHT anybody today but as fanatics that was a risk they just had to take.

"You lot." she pointed a tonfa at the approaching couple, whom she had spotted out of the corner of her eye, "Get lost!"

"Heh, hate to break it to you, but at this point the closest I have to a friend at all in this city is you." He said with a small chuckle. "I've really got… Actually, I guess I have a couple of people I could tell, but they probably won't make it all the way here in time for this next meeting you're talking about. So yeah, I'm kind of a dead end here. And speaking of 'dead', don't you think killing each other is kind of a big leap there? I was just hoping to have a little chat, you know? Act civilised…"

And then, despite himself, he let a little smirk grow on his face.

"But, you are right about one thing." He said, before summoning a spear beneath him and rising into the air, sitting on it like a witch on a broom. Sidesaddle though, because any other way of riding it would be extremely uncomfortable. "Even if we do end up in a fight, you definitely aren't gonna hurt me."

Once he was in the air, he turned to look at the newcomers as well.

"Huh, awfully naive for a 'master criminal'…" He said, now high enough that they shouldn't have been able to see his face, although he guessed they might've just seen it while he was on the ground anyway. "I know you're trying to help people find you, but shouldn't someone in your line of work have a little paranoia? They might be here specifically for you, you know? They might even be working for some shadowy chess master! Hell, maybe they're even agents of your genocidal elderly boyfriend!"

Seriously, if he were in her shoes, he'd have been far more secretive about this whole thing… Then again, he wouldn't have been purposely trying to make people hunt him down either, so maybe his opinion didn't really matter here.

"Anyway, rather than going through the whole burner phone secret meetings thing, why not just have our meeting now. Because again, no friends. I've got no one to bring along but myself, so lets just get on with it. Maybe I'll leave the phone for our new friends, see if they bring someone funner, and make this a real party!"

[The Miaphysite Church of Coptic Archism]

ÜberKaffee, South Westport Island
Melanie Garrett sat alone at a table, by the window of a small independent coffee shop she had fell in love with recently. It was founded by a friendly elderly German gentleman who said he had moved to the city to be with his family, and happened to have some kind of gift with coffee-making. Melanie was not one for the flavour of caffeine itself, but with appropriate overloading of sugar, cream, caramel and other additions, the result was a wonderful morning pick-me-up. She sipped at her drink as she stared out of the window, admiring the surprisingly nice day, and occasionally looked down to the newspaper in front of her. She made an effort to read some of the articles, but was mostly interested in today's Moomins comic, a franchise she had loved since childhood.

She wore headphones connected to the cellphone in her pocket, which was tuned to a local radio station. The day before, a metahuman with the alias "Blur" had hijacked the station and broadcast a fascinating, if concerning, message. She listened in the hope that another message would come through, but when it became clear that nothing new would be interrupting broadcasting, she turned off the radio. As she finished a strange article about a trend of recent long-range rifle assassinations, she started to fold up the paper and noticed an irregular column. Upon closer investigation, she was amazed to find it to be a message from the very same Blur. She read through curiously, but when she got to the end, she frowned at the threat of violence against a bank. Her instinct was to try and help, but she reasoned that police and more powerful metahumans would already be evacuating banks and she'd likely only get in the way.

She considered going anyway, maybe she would get to meet Captain Silver face to face, she had heard he was in the city. In the end though, she decided against it. After all, she was volunteering today. Sighing, Melanie put away the newspaper and stepped outside. She stretched her arms and unfurled her wings, lifting off into the sky. She was worried, but nothing put a smile on her face like the air up high.

Evening, Center Park
Today had been productive, and to Melanie's relief no banks had been destroyed. However, she was troubled. This Blur figure had been kicking up a lot of trouble lately to get eyes on her, but at the same time seemed to be avoiding causing harm to innocents. Back in Boston, she remembered, several of the metahumans she worked on rehabilitation with had been committing crimes due to unresolved mental illness or trauma. To Melanie, Blur's actions weren't those of a crazed maniac or psychopath. She needed help. That was why, when Melanie was flicking through channels in her apartment that night and saw a discussion about Blur planning a party in Center Park, she opened a window and took to the sky.

She flew over Center Park quietly, noting the lack of a crowd, music or any other usual parts of a party. After a while, her eye was caught by a few people talking in a clearing. She flew down slowly, and cleared her throat to non-threateningly announce her presence as she passed through the treeline. "Hey, I'm Mel." You should be using the alias, she told herself. "I, um, heard about the party." She turned to look at the costumed woman. "You're Blur, right?" This is dangerous. What are you doing? Melanie shook off her worried thoughts, before continuing. "I don't want to intrude, but... is everything alright?"