Alias: A New Era



≋ Sarah Pendleton ≋


New Angeles
Some alleyway smelling faintly of Kebab.
1:36ish AM
Interaction: Maxine Saunders, Kemi Marks, Anya Romanova & Lucian Albrechtsen.

Grease coursed over Sarah’s tongue. Grease and salt. Grease and salt and mystery meat. With a polystyrene container filled to the brim with donner meat and chips balanced in one hand and a disposable fork in the other, Sarah sauntered through the streets and alleyways of New Angles in the vague direction of her apartment. She wasn’t in a rush. Having chugged a bottle of water in the take-away the red-head could feel the extremely early morning air doing her good. Also, she didn’t want her filthy monstrosity of a midnight snack stinking up her flat. The smell invariably seemed to linger for days. That alone made the option of doing a little late night exploration of the city a far better choice. And anyway, her phone was blowing up with reports that Neon had been spotted in the slums.

Sarah heard the strange standoff before she saw it. Shouting and the sound of shoes pounding against the ground carried at this time of night and was more than enough to grab her attention. Switching off her phone, she blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the dark before creeping up to the intersection between the road she was on and an alleyway. Peeking around the corner, Sarah was just able to make out a lithe figure come to a limping halt with another two silhouettes close behind.

”I’m not making you do anything! You don’t have to follow me, just leave me alone. I’m OK!”

The shout from the figure closest to her made Sarah’s heart skip a beat. Whatever was happening wasn’t good. At best it was a hissy argument between some friends. At best. Shoveling one last overloaded forkful of kebab meat and chips into her mouth, Sarah chewed furiously as she gently put the box down on the pavement before reaching into one of the back pockets of her jeans. She didn’t like relying on a bandana stashed there to conceal her identity, but it was easier to carry around than a full ski mask and that was why she had it. It wasn’t as if she had a choice either. Leaving wasn’t an option. How could she continue to call herself a vigilante if she did?

Once her impromptu mask was securely covering all of her face below her eyes, Sarah crept into the alleyway. Sticking to the shadows, she moved as close as dared to the group, her eyes straining for more detail as she observed one of the shadowy figures approach the girl with a limp and hold something out to them.

”I said I’M FINE.”

This was obviously not what the limping girl’s pursuers wanted to hear and gout of flame appeared in the hand that had been outstretched. Sarah reacted instinctively. At this distance the effort of starving the flames made her wince with pain similar to a brain freeze but it worked. As quickly as the flames had risen they died away.

“She said to leave her alone!” Steadying herself against the wall, Sarah let the vacuum drop away before stepping out of the shadows and towards the trio of women that had briefly been illuminated. Around her, Sarah could feel the air pressure rising, and she made an effort to keep the bubble tucked in close around her body. She didn’t want to show her cards to soon. “So how about you two do just that.”

 
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New Angeles
Some street
1:37ish AM
Interactions: Maxine Saunders ( @Pupperr ), Anya Romanova ( @Kat ), and Sarah Pendleton ( @Applo )


Kemi Marks

“Not making me do anything, my ass. Your behavior is just as worrying as your injuries… Damn, I’m just worried. Why can’t people just care about people now-a-days? For some reason, it’s a goddamn crime to be nice.”
Kemi sighed, leaning over a little so she could get her weight off her aching hip. She put a hand to it again, holding it as she leaned onto her other leg. But at this point, with her yelling and being so adamant that she was fine, Kemi was pretty much fit to just let her do whatever she wanted. Even if it felt like she was too young to be left out here alone in the middle of the night, and injured at that. It was becoming too much of a hassle to have to deal with it. But if she wanted to be left alone, whatever. To each their own. Kemi wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

Before she could make her move to leave, she was handed a little cloth with warm water on it. As she was told to, she pressed it gently to her face with a quiet 'thanks', gingerly dabbing at it for a second before pulling it away to see the blood stain there. She hadn't realized that she'd been bleeding. It made sense now why her face hurt so much. There was no way she could give this back to that woman now that it had her blood on it. Kemi gave the girl a frustrated wave, taking a few awkward steps back as she planned to turn to leave. But her attention was caught by a bright spark of flames that lit the cloth in the hand of the other adult woman. She quirked a brow sharply, turning her gaze back to the young girl as she dealt what sounded like her last warning for the other two women. This kid was serious, huh? Seriously unstable, more likely.

With a huff, Kemi threw her hands up and turned, giving another aggravated wave back at the pair. She was shocked to hear another female voice shouting at them, and turned back to see some chick with a bandanna on her face. The hell? She gave the 'masked' woman something of a half-annoyed, half-grossed out look, waving her off as well.

"Eh, shut up. I'm tired of you people." Kemi turned her back on the growing group once again, slowly starting to hobble away. However, her muttering continued. "Getting my ass hurt out here, still trying to be nice... Getting treated like a criminal by a kid and someone who looks like a criminal. Whatever, it's fine. Nope, just out here trying to be a good citizen. Don't worry about it, it's cool." She pressed the warm, wet cloth to her face, pouting. "Didn't sign up for this; it's easier just to shoot things." Kemi twisted a little to look at the second woman who had appeared after her, Anya. "Just leave her alone. If she bites you, I'm not gonna help. And I'm not cleaning up the mess either."

Despite the appearance of her giving up, there was something else bothering her more than some kid who didn't want help. What were four people doing out in the middle of the night at the same time, in the same area? And how would they all just happen to run into each other? And the way that girl acted like a wild animal being backed into a corner... that was concerning, too. Things like that were signs of abuse. A distrust of people that strong was really worrisome. She was worried about her after all. There was no way she was going to get too far out of range. For now. For a moment Kemi wondered if she should have flashed her brand, in hopes that a scared kid might trust someone with a badge, but that could also make it worse. For now, it would probably be better just to stay close and keep an eye on her from a distance until she felt the kid was safe. Especially with some criminal-looking chick showing up. She wondered if the other two women would leave her alone as well. There was something about that Anya that just put her on edge.
 
New Angeles Old Town
Some Street
1:38 AM
Interactions: Kemi Marks (@SoleStride )

Lucian Albrechtsen

Lucian strengthed the superpowers shield that was constantly present within him. If these idiots were dumb enough to attack Maxine the least he could do was at least save himself when the entire block gets a full-body cremation service. He bit down on his lip as Maxine backed away from the two women who pursued her, her voice was shaking, which was always a bad bad sign. The worse came later, as one of the women, the one dressed more casually, went up to the teen and offered her a cloth. Back down lady, do you have a death wise? Lucian fixated his gaze on the now trembling Maxine and tried to lower her extranormal output. I better not have saved an Arcadia agent here.

When the cloth lit on fire Lucian flinched a bit at the girl's abilities, a small stream of blood trickled down his lip as he accidentally sank his teeth into them. She was strong alright, more powerful than any extranormal he's encountered in fifteen years. He couldn't help but ponder about the girl's future, even if she can escape tonight, how long would she have to be running like this? The small embers Maxine generated danced in the dark street, one brushed over Lucian's shoulder as it instantly dissipated into a trail of sparkling light. It would be much better if he could get closer to her, at the distance that one of those women was he could at least prevent another large scale disaster. But eventually the young man decided against it, one more person just walking onto the scene would likely stress Maxine even more, the earlier experience led him to question his own ability to stop her without sufficient preparations.

This was before another woman, this time sporting a mask, walked in right behind the girl and began shouting as well. For a moment Lucan felt the superpower shield around him being the strongest that it ever has been, probably due to the sheer amount of adrenaline that the newcomer has caused him to produce. After taking a second to make sure that the block around him hasn't been burnt to the ground he let out a deep breath and rubbed his temples, trying his best to figure out a way to deal with the situation. There was almost no way he could just walk up to Maxine casually now, she was way too unstable, and the bunch that surrounded her probably weren't the easiest to be dealt with either. Yet there was no time to sit down and think or bolt and prepare, with how this 1:00 A.M. drama is playing out he didn't rule out the possibility of another person showing up, and if Maxine decides to lose control then the city is about to get another annual memorial day.

Just as he was stumped by the conundrum present, one of the women that formerly surrounded Maxine decided to turn around and leave. Lucian watched the dark-haired lady as she made a grand speech while waking away.
"Didn't sign up for this; it's easier just to shoot things." His eyes narrowed at that comment, judging by how easily this woman gave up one Maxine, Lucian believed that she was most likely not from Arcadia or any government agency. Since abandoning a mission like that wasn't something people from there would do. "Just leave her alone. If she bites you, I'm not gonna help. And I'm not cleaning up the mess either." Her word choices were definitely interesting, while Maxine's unstableness can be seen clearly, she didn't express the fact that she knew about her superpower. This woman's alliance seemed unclear, but if she has the sense to walk away when the situation went South, then she would be easier to talk to than those hellbent on their firechild missions.

Taking a deep breath, Lucian watched as the woman walked away. When she moved to the crossing between the streets, he quickly stepped out and grabbed her arm. I think this was a terrible mistake. He thought to himself, regardless of her persistence towards Maxine, she was still most likely highly trained to be sent on a mission like this. "I apologize for this Miss..." It was too late to go back now, as Lucian tried to pull the young woman out of the sight of the others on the street. "...but I really, really need to ask you about somethings." He kept his voice to a quick whisper so it could be drowned out by the wind and cars, "It's about that girl."
 
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A bad situation steadily getting worse by the minute, Random Alleyway, New Angeles
1:37ish AM
Drake
Interacting with Anya (@Kat )

It had taken him longer than he liked to hike it back to HQ and then back out into the field. Most of that time had been spent reading up on Maxine's file before deciding his loadout, but it had still been too long.

In the end, he had gone with double electric guns on his 'wings', grenade launchers with a mix of foam and flashbangs on his forelegs, extra grenades for said launchers on his hind legs, and lastly extra power packs on his back. The power packs necessitated by him going into this with double electric guns which, in the worst-case scenario, he would have to run at lethal, and power-hungry, settings.

Hopefully, everything wouldn't be on fire and/or ashes by the time he got there.

The van he was in stopped a couple of blocks away from the ongoing situation. When his box full of stealth drones got on the scene and tuned in their long-range mics... the driver would be correct in his guess that the powered-armored lizard-thing was currently growling.

"Of course, of course," he grumbled, "the target's already on high alert. I'd have to say chances are looking low, especially if people keep-" A message flashing on his screen interrupted him, letting him know that the facial recognition program had identified everyone on the scene.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-" he nearly shouted.

A Peacekeeper Officer, some no-name vigilante, and LUCIAN FUCKING ALBRECHSTEN HIDING IN THE CORNER. If anyone was likely to spot the black non-reflective stealth drones against the blackness of the night sky... it might be him. The situation was now going from merely 'things didn't go as planned' to 'major pain in the ass'. Hopefully, it would stop before reaching 'oh god everything's on fire'.

As quick as he could, he opened up a line to the earpiece he hoped to God Anya was wearing. If she's not wearing it... well, then Miss Runaway over there seeing someone suddenly pick up their phone would probably make things worse somehow.

Good god, that girl was Exhibit A in why you don't send spec-ops teams decked out in tacti-cool gear to retrieve a VIP who doesn't actually know they're a VIP. Sure they had tried softer methods after those failures, but the well was already poisoned so to speak.

@Kat

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Drake started emitting his voice across the comms line, "Drake here, sorry I'm late. Alright, lemme tell you who you happen to be dealing with aside from Miss Runaway over there. The woman who's complaining and walking away but probably actually 'just backing up to get a better sense of the situation' is a Peacekeeper Solider named Kemi Marks. Assumed she's armed and that she may or may not also have a power-up her sleeves we, as in Arcadia, don't know about. Either that or she's just really good at what she does."

"Moving on, the no-name vigilante who just wandered in is an aerokinetic of some sort, notably with control over air-pressure which she uses to inflict the bends on people. Or at least, that's what we've been able to gather based on the criminal's she's helped bring in. Apparently we've been calling her 'Stormy' for lack of a better name to use, but call her whatever you like."

"Last, and certainly not fucking least... One. Certain. Lucian. Albrechtsen. Aka Null. Is also present. He is a power-nullifier and former Arcadia Agent, reportedly one of the best around when he was active. Long story short, he left for personal reasons that led him to him being rumored to be buddying up with Furor though we don't have anything to confirm that other than some surveillance photos which suggests that he may have merely been approached by them. Or he could be working with what's left of the terrorist organization. Don't look behind you too quickly now, but he's currently chatting up the Peacekeeper."

"Now then, I'm going to go ahead and strongly suggest, since I can't command you to do so because we're technically the same rank, that whatever-the-hell happens tonight that we make sure he doesn't end up walking off with Maxine or following her tail or anything. While he likely has the best chances of securing Max, letting him have her may very well result in a worst-case scenario."


After a moment, he spoke through the line again.

"If I seem on edge, it's because I am. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be getting some drones and myself into position in case things go south- I mean continue to go south."

Growling to himself, he hopped out of the van and spoke to the driver as he did so, "I'm deploying the rest of the drones we brought along, Null's shown up on the scene and I'm not taking any chances." After a moment, he realized that his driver may not know who that is, "Look it up, former Arcadia agent potentially turned terrorist."

While he ran through the startup routines for the four riot drones (two of them loaded with fire-suppressant foam grenades instead of the usual flashbangs), he started mentally tracing out a route that would end up with him on one of the rooftops overlooking the alley. Or hopefully at least hidden (as much as you can hide when you're painted a semi-easily-visible grey-and-white tactical-looking color scheme) in one of the connecting alleys.
 
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Anya Romanova
Laneway
1:45 AM

Anya had been under the impression the stubborn girl wouldn’t at least allow her the chance to clean her wounds. She hadn’t dared flinched when the girl lit her cloth on fire. She dropped it to the ground and the flames dispersed rather quickly. Anya’s face was empathetic as the girl took a few steps back and heeded a warning. She opened her mouth to reply, however, a new star entered the show. Another star that would very likely make Maxine burst in record minutes, if not seconds, now.

Kemi had begun to hobble away and Anya took note of the new figure that had disrupted her peace with Maxine.

“Perhaps,” Anya began to speak to the stranger with the mask... the woman she knew to be 'Stormy', as Arcadia had called her, “You should back away before you get burned. The girl is clearly scared and you’ve probably made it worse.”

She pulled out a hospital card for Maxine and poured water onto the last cloth she had.

“Sweetheart,” she spoke to the frightened girl. “I’m here to give you help. I understand you’re frightened and rightfully so. I’m going to leave this warm cloth here and the phone number and address to the hospital further downtown. They will be able to take care of your wounds so you can heal and go back home, okay?”

The absorber cuffs would not do anyone any good now and why on Earth she’d had them in the first place was beyond her. She’d told Gray they needed a more efficient method- the cuffs were not one of them. Anya placed the wet cloth and hospital info card to a dry spot on the ground.

“Get help, please. You're injured and in pain.”

Sometimes, you could not save those who didn’t want to be saved. No matter how much kindness you exerted. At this point, Anya knew that Gray would’ve sent Drake on the way. Her only hope was that Drake had something worthwhile on the weapons side to shoot down Maxine. That was neither here nor there though. She couldn’t mix business with her life and thus, left the scene and stopped at a few blocks down to shift into Black Grace.

There was no easy way in. Force was necessary now, regardless of how scared their victim was.

"Gray, you need a lot more than the drones Drake has. You need a lot more."

With that said, she climbed towards the top of the building and surveyed the area. Anyone who approached and/or tried to run off with Maxine would have to go through her first.
 
New Angeles
Arcadia HQ, Top Floor
Supervisor Gray

Interaction
: @Kat @ChrisClark13
"Gray, you need a lot more than the drones Drake has. You need a lot more."
On the other end of the line, Gray leaned on the table with both hands. He looked up at the monitor, giving him a live feed of the drones in the area. "If you had done your damn job Anya, we wouldn't need Drakes drones." He snapped. Taking a deep breath before continuing, he sounded more level headed. "Drake, do your thing. Try to not hurt Max or the Peacekeeper. The vigilante can be collateral if necessary. Might be better if we keep her alive so we can pin it on someone else if Maxine does go boom." The faint sound of his pen clicking returned. "Black Grace make sure Null doesn't interfere. Bring him in if you can, but the priority is Max. I'll have the team had to your location to provide backup if needed."

New Angeles
The Slums

Aster Neon Honor
After seeing the patrolling Arcadia soldiers, she decided it was too hot tonight. The Hounds would no doubt be looking for her, along with the Hashimotos. Now with Arcadia having such a heavy presence in the Slums district, it'd be safer for her to call it a night. She grabbed her backpack from where she normally stashed it and put away her vigilante 'costume' in it. Really it was just a painters ventilation mask, a black hat with Neon painted on it in various, flashy neon colors and a black hoodie. She bought the hat from a street artist who was a fan of her vigilante persona, and the other two pieces of the outfit were just her graffiti gear.
Grabbing her denim jacket from the bag, she headed home.

Aster shuffled down the sidewalk, hands in her jacket pockets as she reflected on all that had happened tonight. She huffed lightly, wishing she could've helped that Maxine girl but Arcadia had gotten to the information first. It was on her, if she had opened the file in a more secure location then maybe she could've helped the poor kid out. She pulled a small device from her pocket. It was roughly the size of an old Ipod Nano, but instead of having a screen and playing music, it only had one button. It was an invitation from Marx, a more experienced and grizzled vigilante, for him to include her in his network of heroes. In the Vigilante community, he was the most well respected and feared of them in New Angeles. He gave it to her after she helped out in the Furor attack, and if she ever activated it he would come to her.

She neglected to use it however. As much as she'd like help, he and many other vigilantes in the city killed. He tried to persuade her to do it before, but that is a line she would never cross. She stashed the device back in her pocket and focused on getting home. The sound of sirens and the sound of multiple vehicles caused her to glance over her shoulder.
Speeding past her, a car with sirens lead two armored vehicles labeled Arcadia: Meta-Protection Unit went down the road and rounded the corner.
"Looks like you're not done yet Neon." She said, a slight hint of excitement in her voice as she slipped off her backpack and disappeared into the alleyway.
 
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≋ Sarah Pendleton ≋


New Angeles
Interaction: Maxine Saunders

“YEAH, SLING YOUR HOOK YOU UGLY MARE!” The shouted abuse wasn’t strictly necessary Sarah knew; the brown haired woman had already disappeared into the night’s gloom. Sarah had followed her a little way, skirting around the blonde they had been hassling. She had been half expecting the brunette to come charging back towards her at any moment, possibly with their hobbling partner in tow, but they hadn’t. With each passing second the idea that they might seem more remote and that left Sarah with a lot of unresolved tension; she had psyched herself up for a fight. Gratuitous insults helped deal with with that.

Feeling better, Sarah turned to face the blonde who had been the center of this whole nasty affair. “You alright there mi…” The brits voice trailed off as she took her first real look at the blonde woman she had rescued. Perhaps girl was a better descriptor. Sarah couldn’t guess an exact age but she felt confident in an assessment of too fucking young to be out at this time of night.

“Jesus fuck, what the hell are you doing out here kid?” As Sarah stepped towards the blonde girl a distant siren began to wail it’s regular part in the musical that was a New Angles night. “You know the kinda people that are out at this time of night?”

 
New Angeles
Some Street
1:45AM
Maxine Saunders
Interacting with Sarah Pendleton @Applo

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. None of it was supposed to happen this way.. A clear, clean, getaway was all that I wanted, and damn, I tried. But it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter how fast I ran, or how long I ran, there will always be someone there, someone lurking, someone waiting… or more than just a someone. A group of someones. Why are there so many of them? Why is this happening to me? Why do I have these stupid powers..

Maxine snaked her arms around herself as her head dropped, making herself small and closing her eyes tight. She didn’t want to watch as the ebony woman walked away, or turn to look at the arrival of yet another person, or show Anya her disgust at the woman calling her ‘sweetheart’. She didn’t want any of it. All she wanted was to reverse everything. She wanted to go back to when she was happy. She wanted her home. Not this dark, dank, lane-way. Not hopping from one hole in the wall to the next. Not knowing who to trust. I don’t want any of this… I want it all to go away…

The girl’s shoulders began to shudder. Her face twisted with pain. Tears began to roll down her eyes.

Maxine’s internal temperature began to climb and the air around her was growing thicker. The space closest to her began to warm and those within her near vicinity would begin to sweat. Her tears continued to roll down her face, her eyes still locked shut, but she didn’t make a sound. No one would know she was crying. For a brief moment the lane-way was silent. Maxine drew a breath. One. Two. Three. And exhale. One. Two. Three. Her internal temperature regulated and so did her surroundings. Green eyes opened to vision blurred by tears. Maxine wiped her eyes, completely oblivious to what the new woman now standing in front of her was saying. All she could see was the bandana she was wearing over her face. This woman had chased off the other two women, but she was wearing a weird mask. Was she a vigilante? Could she be trusted?

And then there were sirens.

Maxine’s attention immediately snapped in the direction of the sirens. Her heartbeat quickened as she listened to the noise getting louder, rather than softer; they were getting closer. And again, the girl’s body temperature began to rise, but this time it was rapid, and the air around her grew thicker at a much quicker rate. What once was a cool night air was heating at an alarming rate. Those closest to the girl would feel it first, temperatures almost unbearable to stand in, and those further away wouldn’t have long before it became too hot to breath. Maxine ripped her attention to Sarah, tears evaporating before ever having the chance to roll down her cheek. It was already too dangerous to be so close to her…

Maxine took a few hurried steps toward Sarah with panic on her face. ”Help me! Please.. Please help me! Don’t let them take.. Don’t let the-- I can’t.. I ca--” Her voice trembled with fear and utter desperation before being cut off by her sobbing.

As Maxine’s panic grew, the reach and extent of the burning air grew. The air within a few blocks radius of her was so dense that it felt heavy against the skin and it was almost as if you could cut through it. Any paper, garbage, clothing, even a person’s hair, suddenly ignited.. The vicinity around the girl had reached its flash point and it was spreading. Things were either catching fire, melting, or both. Anyone who couldn’t somehow protect themselves against the extreme temperature would soon be grasping for breath that burned their throats and lungs. Electronics would overheat and break down. Combustible gasses or explosives would set off. And in the epicenter of it all, was a scared teenage girl, begging for help, but not realizing that nothing could get close to her now.
 
SITUATION: "Oh God Everything's On Fire"
"There's no time to worry about the time" AM
Drake
Interacting with Sarah @Applo Ayna @Kat

And just like that, the situation got worse. Maxine was suffering a breakdown and everything was rapidly catching on fire. If he didn't find some way to put a stop to this soon, this entire section of town would be gone.

The reason why everything went to shit? Because, of course, the Arcadia backup would be blasting their sirens as they came onto the scene.

Every detail not related to the current situation faded from his mind.


The answer lay in neutralizing Maxine, finding a way to knock her unconscious and hopefully stopping her outburst that way.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment and thought.


First, he considered dropping all the anti-fire foam grenades he had all at once. The problem with that was that the foam wouldn't actually stop her from making more fire and she may get hot enough to make that combust as well. (Even if it would be a slow burn.) The foam simply wasn't the kind that hardened.

Secondly, he considered Null. Then he discarded that thought, Null probably wasn't strong enough to stop this though maybe he could still help. Or rather, he would likely die if he tried to touch Maxine right now.

Third, there was the vigilante. His first thought about them was that he could get them to make a shield against the flames, creating a zone of super-high... no super-low pressure that the fire and heat wouldn't easily be able to transmit through. Maybe that could get Null close enough to do something?

No, in fact, Null could only play a secondary role here. As could himself, or Anya (though her only use would be stopping even more people from interfering), or the Peacekeeper.

The primary role. That, that would be on the no-name vigilante.

The only other alternatives... were even riskier strategies and then retreat.

Drake started moving again, breaking out into a sprint assisted by his power-armor.

Ahead of him, he sent out a Riot drone to fly down and approach the vigilante from above and within their line of sight- even if it did cause some damage to the drone. Through it, he projected his voice.

@Applo

"You there, vigilante, I don't know what you call yourself- but what I do know is that you're the best hope for salvaging this situation and getting everyone involving, including the fire girl over there, out alive." He spoke calmly, authoritatively, the riot drone automatically boosting and modulating his voice to cut through the noise the firestorm-in-progress was making.

"You are going to create the emptiest vacuum you possibly can around her. It's going to save you and the surroundings from burning because heat doesn't transmit well through vacuum. At the very least it will buy everyone more time to figure out a solution. Hopefully, it will be the solution. If the girl passes out, hopefully the flames go out." His voice steady grew more serious, grave even.

He was practically on the scene now, though he had stopped a few yards short of the corner. No need to scare the person he was trying to convince into helping with his military and inhuman appearance. He didn't want to take the chance that they didn't know who he was despite him now having appeared on the news. Hell, that might even make things worse- Arcadia's reputation simply wasn't "stellar" among vigilantes. "Do that and I will use the anti-fire measures I prepared to protect you the best I can from the flames. I'll even try to put as many out as possible just to prevent collateral damage. If you can't manage it, run away. Run as fast as you can or you're likely to burn to death. Though keep in mind doing so will condemn the nearby buildings, and anyone who gets trapped in them, to a fiery grave."

As he was speaking that last part and was waiting on the vigilante's response, he started moving the riot drones loaded with anti-fire foam grenades into their positions.

His voice lightened up, backing off on its tone some and going back to it's 'regular' serious tone, "To sweeten the deal, I'll even give you answers as to what's going on if you help. Though that's if you want them, honestly you're better off, safer even, not quite knowing what's going on. Though a freebie, my goal here is to simply to save as many lives as possible." The last part, well... after he said Drake realized that it was closer to the truth than he thought it would be. He knew, deep down, that Acardia simply holding on to Max - let along finally turning her into the 'super-solider' they wanted was a pipe dream.

Still, he needed to make one more call now that Anya, having 'changed' into her Black Grace persona had finally turned her damn comms on.

@Kat
"Black Grace, either get Null to help dampen Maxine's powers or drive him off. I don't care what you have to do, pick one of the options and make it happen." His voice through the comms turned partially into a growl at the end, hopefully making the fact that he would not accept any dilly-dallying (and his frustrations) clear.
 
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New Angeles
Some street
1:40ish AM - Pre-Combustion
Interactions: Lucian Albrechtsen (@Cresion Breezes)


Kemi Marks

Kemi’s plans to duck down somewhere nearby to hide and watch how things played out, didn’t really work as planned. Before she could make it to her destination, a hand reached out to grasp her arm, pulling her into a narrow lane between buildings. After everything that had happened tonight, she clearly had not been watching out for herself like normal, her guard was down in all the wrong places, and the only thing she could do was force herself not to make a surprised squeaking sound as she was pulled along. A quiet, astonished, “The fuck, buddy?!” did leave her mouth though, to express her distaste for being grabbed. She let herself be dragged out of sight, listening to this stranger mention that he needed to ask about the girl Kemi had just run into. Her interest was piqued. And if he was saying something like that, he was likely not a mugger. Plus, she could just whip out her gun and cap him in the knee if she really needed to.

“Ask about some things… Look, if you want to grab up on chicks, you might want to be less threatening about it.”

She looked the man over for a moment, her free hand resting behind her back so she could nudge up the hem of her shirt. If she needed to pull out a weapon, she would have to do so through exposed skin. Getting her shirt out of the way now would make it easier. She rested her fingers against the small of her back, waiting for the moment she would need to make a move. The arm that he was grabbing jerked back, testing to see how easy it would be to free it from his grasp. If he let go, then good. If not, what else could she do but wait?

While she considered her options, waiting to hear what this new face would say, it was clear that the air was growing warmer by the moment. It was only for a moment before it cooled once again, making her wonder if it had something to do with they new guy that had just shown up out of nowhere. Her eyes locked on him, watching him closely. Not even the sound of sirens starting up in the distance swayed her gaze. But she did take notice that they seemed to be getting closer. And closer. There was no way they were coming here, right? Did that masked chick call the cops on them because she thought the two were attacking that kid or something? This was going to be a whole big thing if that was the case; what a load. Not that she was too worried; Kemi could simply show her insignia and tell them what had really happened. It wasn’t like she had done anything wrong. But the louder those sirens got, the warmer she felt. This wasn’t panic, right? She had no reason to be worried, no reason to be panicked. Why was it so hot?
 


≋ Sarah Pendleton ≋


New Angeles
Some Alleyway
1:45am
Interactions: Maxine & Drake

A bead of sweat formed on Sarah’s eyebrow and she flicked it away, wondering why it was so warm out tonight as she watched the practically catatonic blonde teenager in front of her. The girl hadn’t said a word. In fact, she seemed to be staring off into nothing at all.

“Hey kid,” Sarah took a tentative step towards the teenager while simultaneously clicking her fingers in an attempt to get the girl''s attention. “Kid... can you hear me? Are you alr-”

The wave of heat that exploded over the masked redhead forced her to stagger backwards. It was suddenly as if she was standing too close to a raging bonfire and it was only getting hotter every second. The overwhelming, unrelenting, savage heat caused Sarah to fall to one knee as she choked on the searingly hot air filling her lungs. Instinctively she wrapped one arm around her head to protect her face while at the same time shoving her other hand out in front of her and focusing all her might on the air around it . The protective bubble of pressure grew too slowly, like ice spreading from a single point while all around Sarah the air got hotter and hotter. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. And a tiny part of Sarah wanted to laugh; this kid was in no way as helpless as she had thought and that mistake was going to be the one that killed her. That was grimly hilarious.

”Help me! Please.. Please help me! Don’t let them take.. Don’t let the-- I can’t.. I ca--”

Peeking out from behind her arm, Sarah took one look at the face of the blonde teenager standing just a few feet away from her and realized her grim joke was wrong. The kid wasn’t helpless, but they clearly needed help. Her help.

Grunting, Sarah redoubled her focus on growing the protective bubble of low pressure using both hands to guide her work until it sealed around her. Even before it was finished she felt the deadly heat began to relent; it was still hot, Sarah could feel a river of sweat running down her back already, but now it was just unbearable. It wasn’t a long-term solution. She had at most a couple of minutes of air, but it was a start. Carefully getting back up on to her feet, Sarah began closing the distance towards the kid one step at a time, deforming her protective barrier of air until she was as close as she dared to get. All around her flames were beginning to spring up from anything remotely flammable.

“Hey hey hey” Sarah voice was soft and, considering the circumstances, had a strange cheerfulness to it. She remembered what it felt like to lose control, gentleness was what was needed now. “I’m here kid, no one is going to hurt you or take you anywh-”

"You there, vigilante....”

Sarah stared daggers at the drone that had appeared over the teenager’s shoulder and was now bellowing orders at her. Piece by piece things were beginning to make more and more sense. Someone was definitely after this poor kid, drones like that didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The two women she had chased off had probably been an attempt at subtlety by whoever wanted this kid that she had ruined. The irritating thing though was that whoever was flying the drone was also right. The alleyway around her protective bubble was quickly becoming a hellscape, and Sarah couldn't let this kid kill someone by accident. This had to stop before it got any worse. Still Sarah was also damned if she was just going to follow some disembodied voices order.

Instead, Sarah raised a middle finger salute towards the drone and focused on it as much as she dared without losing her grip on the protective bubble around her. For a moment the only effect was a slowly growing dark red patch on the bandana tied around her face, but then suddenly the buzzing contraption started to plummet to the ground, its blades whirring pointlessly through empty space until it smashed into the ground. Sarah smiled as she observed the smashed remains for a moment before returning her gaze to the teenager in front of her.

“Listen kid; I don’t know what’s going on here but whatever it is they’ll have to go through me first ok.” Slowly Sarah began to pull the vacuum she had used to crash the drone towards the blonde, expanding it until the girl was enveloped in a bubble just like she was. “Also, you might start to feel a little light headed. It’s just me. I’m going to try and keep as much of this heat in as I can, but I need you to dial it back ok.”

Scarlett red blood began to drip off Sarah’s chin and her chest started to heave as she struggled for breath.

“I got ya kid, just work with me here. I can’t do this forever.”

 
Last edited:
Black Grace
1:50 AM

Everything happened too quickly, the last thing Black Grace needed was two men– one of them not her authority– criticizing her and telling her what to do next in their new situation. She growled lowly in response to Gray, eager to bite more than she could chew, but decided against it for now. They were in dire straights– arguing was not practical. He apparently had a death sentence for her though. The moment her comms went off, the air exploded with heat and humidity feeling near one hundred degrees and smoky skies. Black Grace coughed into her shoulder and pulled on her hood for somewhat extra protection.

Maxine was near the boiling point and just as Black Grace decided to head down the ladder she'd used to climb up the five story building, Drake appeared on her comm with another task in mind different from what Gray had previously tasked her with. She went back to the ladder and climbed down. When her boots hit the ground, she used her jacket to shield her face as she talked, "I'm going to ensure Null doesn't interfere, as requested by Gray. It's not your place to give me orders. That's final."

So saying, Black Grace left her post and chose to go after Null, as requested— and Kemi, if she was worth the time. Black Grace moved with speed and purpose near the crossing between two streets and laid eyes on a nearby alleyway. She could hardly see any shadows on the wall from where she stood, but as she neared closer and slipped around the corner, like a feather, she heard voices- Kemi and... most likely Null's. The heat had grown considerably higher, which made Black Grace second guess why she was sacrificing her life for some two-timing runt and a peacekeeper when Maxine was the real deal.

Black Grace was silently praying that Drake had something to stop Maxine because at this point, her skin was starting to burn and if she didn't move quickly, she'd likely suffer heat to extreme degree. Black Grace took a deep breath into her kevlar jacket and dove head on to where she heard Kemi from before. Her hands reached out the moment she made contact with both figures. Survival instinct was high, so hopefully they'd follow through and meet her outside of this mess where it was cooler.

"This way!" she coughed, her throat filling immediately with smoke. She coughed again and tried to push them along towards where it was cooler, but it seemed like Null wouldn't budge. Out of irritation and necessity to ensure he wouldn't get ahold of Maxine, she brought out the cuffs and immediately placed them on his wrist.

Black Grace immediately removed her jacket and placed it on Kemi to protect her body from any rubble or smoke that may come her way. Null, however, as pretty as the man was now, would be getting one heck of a beating from Arcadia. With that last thought, Black Grace pushed Kemi towards the outer edges, away from the heat.

"Send a truck on over to Mockingbird between the laneways, Gray. Got a little surprise for you."

She glanced over at Kemi, "Go home. It's not safe for you out here."


@SoleStride @Cresion Breezes
@ChrisClark13
 
Last edited:
New Angeles Old Town
Some Street
1:40-55 AM
Interactions: Kemi Marks @SoleStride , Anya Romanova/Black Grace @Kat

Lucian Albrechtsen

The woman that passed by struggled a bit when contacted, but she doesn't seem overwhelmingly hostile. “The fuck, buddy?!” Language lady. Lucian briefly thought, though this wasn't the time for that. He ignored the woman's comments as she let herself be led away from Maxine's line of sight, as it was pretty clear she had no idea what dangers the teen posed to her. Still holding the woman's arm, the now slightly more relaxed young man started to think about how to explain the situation to her. "You see, that girl is-"

When Lucian took a breath between words, he heard the sound of sirens in the distance, then felt a chill down his spine. Or more accurately, the air temperature around him has risen, but it immediately fell again only after a split contract with his body. It was Maxine, there was no other explanation. Goddamn it Arcadia, it's been a decade. The air temperature was rapidly rising, even with his immunity the split seconds of heat that Lucian can feel was blistering. Various items littered on the street began to combust in flames, the crackling sound of fire echoed throughout the night, with an occasional electric spark. A whole squad with sirens and drones, for Maxine. It would be a miracle if she didn't set everything on fire considering what happened a year ago.

For a moment the most efficient plan seems to be to imminently head to where Maxine was, it would be the fastest way to minimize damage, but as Lucian wanted to move a reminder came in the form of the woman dressed in strike gear. The passerby that he grabbed and held up, if he didn't talk to her, she would've been well away from Maxine's heat generation. Now she is in danger, because of what he did. There is the smell of burning plastic in the air, the suffocating heat rapidly cooling as it entered his lungs, it was a strange sensation for sure, but one that he was all too familiar with. It was the same sensation he experienced a year ago, the type of air that filled his head as people ran, screamed, then burned. All while he stood there, unharmed, simply watching.

Almost without thinking Lucian pulled the woman closer, throwing his arms around her into a strange hug like position. Ok, this is a terrible idea. Attempting to shield her from as much of the hot air as possible. "Don't let go, you'll burn." Of course, he wanted to explain, but there was no time for explanation or apologies when the world is slowly setting on fire. "Be careful of your eyes." Eyes, hands, and face, the areas more dangerously suspectable to burn damage. Surely this woman knows that, her outfit and actions did express the fact that she is somewhat trained. The heat was still blistering, though it began to wane after a few moments as if the girl at the center was calming down...or something was stopping her.

"This way!" There was a voice from further down the street, was it the police? Or the fire department? Regardless of what the identity of the voice was, it would be best for the passing woman to get out of here. Lucian pushed her towards the voice, "leave while you can...don't tell anyone about me." He whispered to the woman, hoping she would hear. If Maxine was involved, Arcadia would come to clean up sooner or later, he couldn't let some random person he decided to help on a whim expose him to Arcadia.

A tug came from the newcomer, the woman he was with headed away cooperatively, but Lucian decided to not move. He needed to stop Maxine, Arcadia wasn't going to cut it. "I'm-" Huh. The feeling of metal pressed onto his wrist came out of nowhere, as the smoke cleared it was apparent what it was. An absorber cuff, Arcadia standard. More smoke cleared away as the identity of the voice was revealed, the pure black outfit and hood identified its wearer. "...How rude, Miss figurehead." The heat began to creep up as his immunity began to dissipate, usually removing his ability won't affect his combat efficiency against non-powered individuals, but with Maxine on sight, it was the perfect way to drive him out. Smart choice, Miss figurehead. The temperature was quickly climbing to unbearable levels, it appears there was no choice now. Lucian looked down the alleyway that Black Grace and the other woman went down, before looking back at the center of the heat storm one last time. "Run Maxine, don't let Arcadia catch you." A single voice is easily drowned by the crackling flames and occasional explosions, but this was all he could do for her now.

A few moments later Lucian caught up with the Arcadia figurehead, the air temperature was slowly returning to normal. "It's been a while huh, Arcadia?" Nine years, looks like I'm finally back home.
 
New Angeles
Some street
1:40-1:55ish AM
Interactions: Lucian Albrechtsen ( @Cresion Breezes ) & Black Grace (@Kat )

Kemi Marks

The temperature may have settled for a moment, but it didn’t take it very long to climb back up to its prior height and break right through. The guy that had pulled her aside looked like he was about to tell her something, and he started, but was cut off by the same sirens that had her wondering previously if someone had called the fuzz on her. The sirens might have been bothering her, but the few simple words that this pale guy got out told her all she really needed to know about the situation they were in. Tie “that girl is...” in with the little burst of flames earlier when they tried to help her and the current heat… it was all she needed to know. Dangerous. She may not know exactly who the girl is, but it was obvious she was dangerous and that the situation they were in was quite unstable.

Only a brief moment passed before the heat had spiked again, so harsh that she was winded almost instantly. The woman drew in a sharp breath, struggling to get the thick heat into her lungs despite how it burned on the way down. Her skin felt like it was burning. Startled and weakened, Kemi leaned back against the nearest wall, her free hand grasping at the front of her shirt as if pulling at it would help her breathe. Shit. There was nothing she could do for something like this. It wasn’t like a gas mask would help; from the corners of her vision she could see objects starting to melt or simply catch fire. Only small objects so far, but it could easily get worse. A mask would just adhere to her face and cause more damage.

Anything, was there anything? Have to breathe, can’t breathe. Kemi lifted the hem of her shirt just enough to press her hand to her abdomen. But nothing happened. Was it the heat? Was she too out of focus to open the pocket? She tried again, clawing at her stomach, but still nothing. Sweat pooled on her skin, causing her fingers to slide right off. At a loss, she merely grabbed onto the man in front of her, her eyes wide and panicked. It had all happened too fast and there was no protocol for ‘suddenly the world is catching on fire and you’re suffocating to death’. The only good news was that not being able to breathe and feeling her skin burning meant that she felt little of the pain in her hip and face from the collision earlier on. This was just worse.

However, she was meant with momentary relief, slight though it was, when the strange man she had encountered pulled her in… for a hug? Ah, maybe he was terrified of dying, too? Or maybe… “Don’t let go, you’ll burn.” The relief to her skin was instant. Just the contact made it feel like she wasn’t burning in the river Styx. She immediately tucked her face down, pressing it to his chest. Sweet air. Fresh, light air. Kemi sucked in one breath after the next, letting her aching lungs fill with something she could actually inhale. She focused on breathing, feeling her back still hot from the blistering temperature.

Despite this voice calling for them to follow in the near distance, Kemi considered herself safer right here next to the dude who could literally defy heat. But he had other plans and quickly shoved her away, essentially making the choice for her to go. Even though the heat had died down since before, the difference it made to no longer be in contact with him was stifling and Kemi’s breathing became slightly ragged once again. Not that she had much time to think about it; some woman was pulling at her. Seconds later, she was also slapping a pair of absorber cuffs on the mystery man. It seemed that his wishes to not have anyone know about him were moot before they even parted.

For the moment, Kemi just let herself be pushed out of the ring of fire until they were all on safer grounds. And even though she looked to be spending all of her brain power on surviving, Kemi didn’t let herself miss any words exchanged while they made their escape. Most of all, the mystery man’s final words to the new mystery woman were enough to make Kemi feel cold, even in all this heat. She leaned over, catching her breath, but at the same time giving another shot at accessing her pocket. Just like nothing had happened, her hand slipped right in. For a split second, her eyes landed on the man’s absorber cuffs. Cautiously, she removed her Peacekeeper issued taser gun, having it on hand in case she needed it. If Arcadia was involved in any way, she didn’t trust it. Experimentally, she gripped the jacket that was thrown on her, noting how abnormal it felt for just a trench coat.

“Isn’t it not safe for anyone here right now?”

Kemi scratched at her scraped up face with the butt of her taser gun, before something came to her. Now that she could think properly, she thought it might be a good idea to help stop the combusting kid so the woman slipped her taser behind her back. Hidden by the jacket she now wore, no one would be able to see where the small weapon disappeared to when her hand came back empty.

“You know… Couldn’t we just tranq that kid? We’re kind of far out, but I could hit her from here if I could get a clear line of sight.”

She glanced around, looking to see if there were any fire escapes or roof accesses. She didn’t want to hurt that kid, and she definitely didn’t want any Arcadia bastards getting their hands on her either. Kemi had always considered herself lucky not to have a cool enough power to be desirable to people like that. But that kid had some real power and this strange, incredibly pale, and clearly pretty guy had something pretty helpful as well. Other than catching him, the thought of cuffing him was kind of stupid if he could help to keep that child bomb from exploding and killing everyone nearby. But she had a feeling this unknown woman already knew that and didn’t care as much.

And even though she never thought her own ability to be useful to people like that, she wasn’t incredibly willing to show it off. What would an Arcadia agent do if confronted with someone who could literally store an arsenal and more within her own body? Pictures of Kemi walking around at the back of a troop as a human pack mule popped up in her head. Not today, losers…

“Anywho, let’s shoot her. I mean… tranq her. Obviously. Give me that guy back; he can help me get close enough to see her so I can hit her.”
 
Black Grace
2:00 AM

@SoleStride @Cresion Breezes @TheQueensGuard @ChrisClark13

It was no surprise the damn peacekeeper had decided to stay. Black Grace kept her hands near her pair of Sai for extra measure, especially after Null ran out with a few scuffs and some red patches on his skin. Thankfully, his pretty face hadn’t been too damaged. Black Grace raised a brow at Kemi as she scratched at her face with the taser gun in her hand that she’d pulled out from seemingly nowhere– she could only guess how– and offered her own input on the situation. The taser was hardly a good sign the woman intended to leave the situation to Arcadia. On top of that, Kemi was injured and likely, after having her hip and leg fucked up, it would take longer for those joints to heal.

“I’m not in the mood to put either of you back in that fire,” Black Grace coughed and took in a deep, ragged breath. “The girl is under extreme stress at this point and you–” She glanced pointedly at Kemi. “You are injured. Null needs to stay alive as well. Apparently, there’s a vigilante near fire girl as well. She’ll help us…”

If Stormy wanted to live, that was.

“My team is in with anti-fire measures right now. The best we can do is hold back until we’re given other directives.”

She kept an eye on Null and Kemi as she spoke through her comms next, her voice a bit throaty.

“Gray… We have someone here who wants us to tranquilize fire girl. I think it will make her more distressed, possibly blowing up the area and killing everyone in the vicinity, if not severely injure those within a few blocks. What do you think?”
 
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Reactions: TheQueensGuard
New Angeles
Some Street
Wee Hours of the Morning
Maxine Saunders
Interacting with Sarah Pendleton @Applo and a small collab

Maxine’s tears continued to fall, only to evaporate as soon as they left her eyes. The sirens were becoming louder with every passing second. This was the closest she had ever been to Arcadia capturing her and she was terrified. She had no idea why Arcadia wanted her or what they would do with her if they were successful in their attempt. The thoughts of what could happen to her brought on even more fear and panic. Maxine placed desperate hope in the woman in front of her and prayed that was one of the safe ones.

The woman had dropped to her knee, Maxine hadn’t noticed what was happening around her. The child glanced around at the various fires beginning to take form and wondered why the air looked so strange. It was her. She was doing it again. If only those stupid women had left her alone when she told them to.. No. This was her fault. Maxine’s face tightened with grief as she looked toward the pavement in shame. “Hey hey hey.. I’m here kid..” It was Sarah’s words… but in her head it was her father’s voice, his arms around her in a reassuring embrace. Maxine wiped her tears and looked back at the woman who had staggered toward her.

“You there, vigilante --” Vigilante!? This woman is a vigilante? As quickly as the drone appeared, it came crashing to the ground with a salute from the vigilante in front of her. In the chaos that had happened, Maxine felt a sudden wash of relief. More often than not, it was vigilantes who helped Maxine stay hidden from Arcadia. This was someone she could likely trust; a safe one after all. “Listen kid, I don’t know what’s going on here but whatever it is they’ll have to go through me first, OK.” Maxine nodded in acknowledgement and watched curiously as the woman started gesturing her hands in odd ways in Maxine’s direction while telling Maxine that she was going to ‘try and keep as much of the heat in’

Extranormal? She’s like me.. As Sarah worked her magic, what she was going to happen, happened. Maxine grew light headed and took a couple of staggering steps in place while she rubbed her head. She refocused on the woman, who was now beginning to bleed and breath heavily; she had to do something. ”OK. I’ll do my best.”

Maxine closed her eyes and thought about what her parents had taught her when she had anxiety attacks as a younger child. Deep breaths in, deep breaths out. Focus on your breath. Listen to your heart beat. Count along to three on the inhale. Count along to three on the exhale. Forget about the world around you. Repeat. Maxine mouthed the words ‘one, two, three’ as her chest filled with air. And again, ‘one, two, three’ as her chest depressed and she exhaled. Maxine tuned out the sirens, listened to her heart beat, and continued to breath until she could no longer feel the panicked rhythm in her chest. As Maxine began to calm down, the world around her began to cool. The child rejoined reality and looked at Sarah with a still expression, rather than the scared one she displayed earlier. ”Now what? We can’t stay here, we have to get out of here. Where do we go?”

Sarah smiled at Maxine but the smile was replaced with the extreme task of thinking. But then realization washed over the woman’s face. "Somewhere with people, lot of people. Out here we're sitting ducks."Sarah paused while clicking her fingers "Three blocks that way and we hit the clubs."

Maxine nodded in agreement. ”OK. There’s a few spots to duck out of here in that direction. But…” The girl’s voice trailed off as she looked down at her badly cut up leg before looking back at Sarah. ”I can’t run.. I’ll slow us down.”

"Fuck!" For a moment the brit's hands ran through her hair as she looked Max up and down. "Oh Fuck, um let just... ah shit, I guess... um, a piggyback?"

A piggyback? Maxine blinked in rapid succession at the request. Was she serious? The child waited a moment and Sarah’s lack of change in her expression meant that she was actually serious, but she was right.. It was really the only option they had to make any sort of getaway. ”Alright then...” Maxine hobbled toward Sarah, and on the count of three, popped off the ground allowing Sarah to snake her arms around Maxine’s legs and secure the child to her back. ”My name is Maxine by the way.. But you can call me Max.”

”uuh, call me Rapture I guess.”

Rapture?... what a weird name..
 
≋ Sarah Pendleton ≋


New Angeles
A normal street
Interactions: Maxine Saunders

With Max securely on her back, Sarah took a handful of steps in the direction Max had pointed out until out of the corner of her eye she saw the crashed drone she had downed. It had appeared from the direction she had entered the alley from but it could have come from anywhere. Anywhere at all. Spinning on the spot, Sarah scanned the alleyway and the sky above for any hint of where the little quad copter had come from but nothing was forthcoming. Perhaps it had been the only one? The thought wasn’t that comforting. Even if the drone she had crashed had been the only one watching, the voice that had been projected through it hadn’t belonged to either of the women she had scared off. That meant at least one other person was involved in whatever it was she had jumped head first into the middle of. And if there was one, why not ten or twenty more people.

“Max… if this all goes sideways just run as fast as you can ok. Also, watch out for anymore of those drones for me yeah.”

The exit that Maxine navigated Sarah towards was a gap in the tall chain link fence that marked the back edge of a boxy building’s property. The gap had been hidden between two dumpsters, and Sarah never would have seen it if the teenager hadn’t pointed it out. Putting Max down, Sarah let the teenager squeeze through first while she took one last look along the somewhat smokey laneway. She had no idea what she expected to see but there was a surge of relief when it was her turn to squeeze through the fence and no one else had appeared.

Once through and with Max back on her back, Sarah began to run as quietly and quickly as she could; her feet barely leaving the floor and her knees bending far more than was needed with each step. The path past the side of the building was dark and littered with obstacles that more than once nearly made Sarah lose her balance. And then suddenly she and her passenger passed through a metal archway that had clearly once held a gate and out into a small, well lit parking lot that fronted onto a street. Slowing down slightly, Sarah crept up to the short little wall that divided the lot from the pavement while at the same time drawing as much as the oxygen in the air around her as she could into a small pocket that covered her nose and mouth. Looking both ways along the road, the Brit felt a slight spark of joy when she saw a total absence of people running and pointing guns at her and Max.

“Here we go, hold on tight.” Quickly stepping over the dividing wall, Sarah exploded into as much as a sprint as she could manage towards the distant sound of pounding music.​

 
Some fairly burnt back alley
2:02 AM
Drake

Drake did uphold his end of the 'bargin' (a mildly-to-moderately burnt and impact damaged drone non-withstanding), commanding the other riot drones high in the air to drop grenades that exploded into fire-suppressant foam upon hitting the ground. Mostly they were concentrated on the flames making their way towards the various buildings.

The damaged drone could've still spoken, but Drake just couldn't find the right words to say through it. Warn 'Rapture' about the other groups who want to recruit Max? Warn him about how Arcadia will probably want to make him disappear? No... it would've been recorded. And he couldn't have shone himself because that would not have gone well for anyone.

Though... that was a concern for a few moments ago.

What was now holding his attention was the way Max had reacted to Rapture's small act of rebellion and... 'vigilante-ness'. The expression on Max's face at that moment. Relief, hope. It bothered him, worried him. For her to latch on to a potentially friendly figure that quickly, it didn't strike him as someone who had their head on straight. He thought about what kind of state her mind had to be in at this point. Someone used to constantly drifting from one crisis to another, anything to do the government, 'authority' in general, to her was the enemy. Anyone who rebelled against that was the hero. The words 'if you're not with me you're against me', came to mind. Hopefully, Max wouldn't flip her perspective of her hero too quickly or at all.

Thankfully, she hadn't been picked up by one of the more... murderous vigilantes this night (or so he hoped.)

The moments during Rapture managing to calm down Max, Drake had just... pulled back the riot drones and let them go. Too much of a risk he told himself, he would tell his boss. Any sign of armed cops and then the situation would be back to what it was a few moments ago. Any show of force would be met with disaster.

He looked at the footage from the singular stealth drone he had sent after the pair. Just a few words and he could restart, reignite, the nightmare that tonight had nearly been. Then what? Max would be gone in the wind even harder than she might be now by the end of it all. Either that or on her way to becoming an unthinking brainwashed WMD.

Still, leaving them all on their own could also be asking for trouble. At least two illegal groups knew Maxine was here in the city. He switched the stealth drone's channel to one he reserved for his own testing purposes (and for secret recoding purposes should he need to ever jump ship to another group again) and had it go into a fairly low power mode. The quality and the data it would be feeding back would be greatly degraded but it should still be able to follow them for a couple of hours, hopefully finding out where they were settling down and opening up some more options later on when it came to the 'Max' problem. As for the private channel... he really didn't need someone deciding that it would be a good idea to drag Maxine back into a stressful situation.


@Kat @SoleStride @Cresion Breezes
That done, he let out a deep sigh and walked out of the alley he was hiding in fully, walking through the burnt asphalt and ash as he made his way to the remaining problem of this night, well problems technically: Null and the Peacekeeper.

His armored claws stomped loudly against the ground, though as he approached he kept the twin electro-guns held aloft by 'wing' armatures folded up against his body and pointed down in what was hopefully a less threatening position.

"Black Grace," he spoke up through his external speakers as he approached, "We're not getting any farther with the firegirl situation tonight. Though on the other hand, what are we going to do with these two."

He pointed his head towards the Peacekeeper, "Though I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Drake, Arcadia Figurehead. And that's Black Grace over there, also a Figurehead. Though I hope she has already bothered to introduce herself. And you are, miss?" He already knew of course, but he at least wanted to try being polite.
 
New Angeles
The Slums
Aster Neon Honor

@Pupperr @Applo
She had followed the convoy from the safety of the roof tops, though luckily for her they didn't have to go far. As the two armored trucks went down a separate road, Aster opted to follow the car that went down a block further. It'd be easier to deal with two Arcadia troops rather than two trucks of soldiers. Plus, if her hunch was correct than maybe Max had gotten away and they were still on the look out for her.

It looked like her hunch was correct, after losing the Arcadia car and coincidentally stumbling upon. A masked-person running down the sidewalk with a blonde girl on her back, away from where the Arcadia trucks was heading. Suddenly a drone shined a spotlight down to the pair. "Freeze!"
The voice called from the drone as it circled above them.
Firing a blast at the drone, Neon's laser connected and sent it spiraling out of the sky. "Up here!" She called down to the pair, waving to them. Down the road, a car turned down the street blaring its sirens. Arcadia is such a pain in the ass. Hoping on another platform she conjured, she lowered herself to the ground. If they kept up on foot, they'd probably send more drones after them. She spotted a sewer grate in the middle of the street, which she quickly lifted with a conjured neon bar.
"This way, we can lose them in the sewer."
Dropping down first, she was ready to create a wall to block the whole after Max and her masked associate made it down with her.
New Angeles
Arcadia HQ
Supervisor Gray

@Kat @ChrisClark13
“Gray… We have someone here who wants us to tranquilize fire girl. I think it will make her more distressed, possibly blowing up the area and killing everyone in the vicinity, if not severely injure those within a few blocks. What do you think?”
Gray sat in his chair watching the monitor as the pair of Arcadia trucks pulled up and unloaded six troops each. "I'm calling it for the night. We will try and get a lead on her tonight rather than risking her blowing up the Slums tonight." He sat his pen on the desk and leaned back in his chair. "Bring Null back to Arcadia Confinement in the North District. Tomorrow me and you will talk to him Grace, see if we can see what he was doing with Max. Drake, come up with a lie to tell the Peacekeeper. I'd rather not have them getting any information on who that girl was."
He paused for a moment and checked his watch. "I want both of you to attend a meeting at my place. Tomorrow at four PM. It'll be off the books. Understood?"
 
New Angeles
Some street
Interaction: @Kat @ChrisClark13 @SoleStride @Cresion Breezes

New Angeles was nothing at all like the previous places he was sent to. Everything was quiet, yet peaceful. Glint had gotten used to sound of hostile gunfire and explosion he had almost forgot such places exist. After the discovery of an information cache underneath a HOW stronghold in Detroit, a small detachment Advent forces were discretely transferred to the city under the pretense of their annual recruitment event. Glint rarely took part in these events since he very much preferred to be in the front lines rather handling "figurehead" business however given the circumstances, this was an exception. Were there any doubts about the validity of the information? Perhaps. But he was adamant about the matter, perhaps even slightly vindictive.​
There one particular thing that bothered him though. Apart from a big HOW operation suspected to be in New Angeles, there was a list of powered individuals that were regarded as important to their plans. It included a young girl who was only 16. While the file included details of her impressive power, it did not change the fact that she was just a kid. He ran these individual's information through the Peacekeeper's database with mix results since most them weren't even in the there, including the young girl.​
A few days after reporting in at Peacekeeper HQ, he used his relatively high rank to assign himself a patrolling route. Seemed the higher ups were busy at the moment so he might as well keep himself preoccupied. He cruised through the streets with his customized bike accompanied by two Advent drones who also had their own bikes. It was in the dead of night so the streets were nice and empty, allowing him to accelerate to his heart's content.​
His cruise was cut short by a security alert at Some street. Multiple fire alarms had been set off in the area at the same time which may indicated a huge fire. He used his Peacekeeper cyber network to view the latest camera footage of the area. From the footage, he could see a group of people around one familiar looking girl. The recording ends shortly after the girl appears to scream in frustration causing her surroundings to catch fire before finally disabling the camera.​
Glint pondered over the possibility of the girl's identity as he made his way to her last known location. She seemed to match a lot of details specified on the HOW's list. Arriving at the scene, the he was surprised to the area crawling with Arcadia troops and a few individuals who could identify from the video as well as other he could not (was that a dragon?). His motorcycle stopped right in front of the group as the hatch opened, revealing the metal humanoid inside. He exited his bike and took a good look at each individual in the group before he spoke. "A disturbance has been reported in the area, you folks wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"
 
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