Police Station

-Toph sense familiar heartbeats behind her. Of course they would book the perps to the closest station. Fighting hard to resist the impulse to crow at them, she waits for the desk sergeant to answer her.-

Akali looked very unimpressed by the display, though let some of the tension leave her as the gun was finally pointed away from her. "You should definitely leave them at the range then, if that's how you treat them."

The ninja let Ren explain first, or at least attempt to, since she was the one that had dragged them into the current situation in the first place. Yet as she went to talk as well, she paused and cocked her head as something faint reached her ears. Lifting a hand she quietly stated, "Quiet." Before she turned and pointed back behind her and Ren, hoping the others would get the message. And then, turning fully about, she began to carefully scan the darkness, and the pipe that something had disappeared into just before.

Ganondorf, Japanese Historical and Cultural Society

Now, now Tawna don't sell yourself short or anything. While Ganondorf's big, meaty fist was putting up more than a good fight she could more than likely feel the tug of war growing unequal between the two parties, with the femalecoot being the one in favor. Could her foe not be a metahuman in this factor? Though it's not like she had time to ponder on it since her jaw clencher of a blow made contact with the Demon King's arm which served as the disconnecting point of this duel.

Ganondorf flexed back his arm and took a hop backwards, making the tactical choice to take advantage of a power that the nitro fueled hero couldn't match: magic. "Then soon enough you're going to be the one needing rescued girl," he growled out as his palms started to glow redder and redder, becoming deadly twin suns in the middle of the void, before jetting forward the collected heat as a pair of fiendish flames! And now he started to advance back on Tawna with chilling slowness....

Tawna (JHCS - Vs. Ganondorf)

As Ganondorf hopped back, so too did Tawna, a look of surprise on her face. She honestly hadn't expected that to work like it did...maybe this big lug wasn't as tough as he thought. That idle thought was quickly dashed, once she saw what he was cooking up next.

"Crikey..." Tawna muttered. She'd always entertained the thought that magic existed, but to see it used against her like this was another thing entirely. She didn't fancy the idea of smelling what roast bandicoot smelled like any time soon, so she kept her distance from the warlock warlord. Her foot colliding with a discarded spear, she picked it up, and kept it at the ready, whether for an attack or for a quick getaway. "Really could use a hand here, girls..."

Edited by Bored_Man on Apr 22nd 2020 at 10:54:18 AM

Sewer Safari - Below Capitol Hill

"Uuuuuu, wuuuuuu," Dr. Frankenstein growled and hissed at Macbeth. "Millions.... But need punishment now."

Her face contorted with rage and anger, her brow furrowing in the dim light of the sewer.

"You don't need to put... ALL of him on trial!"

She growled menacingly, showing off that she had her right hand firmly wrapped around Đorđević's left thigh. And then she started to squeeze.

Espeon, Vs. Ganondorf, JHCS

Espeon turned when she saw the light coming out of Ganondorf's hands from the corner of her eye, and fired off her Psybeam, a psychic beam of energy, at the currently glowing target.

You know pyrokinesis? Espeon telepathically spoke to the number of people around her. She seemed to not believe that Ganondorf was using magic, Why don't you fire at someone who can fire back?

Espeon then tried to continue firing her Psybeam at Ganondorf, trying to make herself his target rather than Tawna.

Edited by GameGuruGG on Apr 27th 2020 at 7:42:28 AM

Gangreen Gang - Police Center

Well, whaddaya know? He really is as toity-hoity naive a superhero as they say. Oh, this is gonna be good.

"Yeah, sure, well-met, Twelfth. The name's Ace, leader of this bunch. Got myself some ice powers in the power lottery" the trying-to-look-too-cool Ace introduced as he put his his powers to use by cooling a nearby latte(now it has an icicle on top of it, sweet!), letting the rest of the gang(including the freed ones) introduce themselves.

   "Sssssnake. Can sssstretccch good."    As if to demonstrate, he showed his right arm elongated and contorted in impossible angles, as if he was as smooth as a snake.

"Ninth! Oh wait, uhh... Big Billy. Ya, that! Strong as a rock, and dumb too, ngahaha!" their big dumb brute said, showcasing this by trying to give Tweltfh a big, wide hug.... juuust before Ace told him to cut it out and remove him, lest he's gonna give the hero permanent back problem. "D'aaaaw..."

Now it was Grubber's turn. "Bpfft-" *-BURP-* And with that simple burp, it is as if a miniature shockwave blast had happened right in front of him, blasting off paperwork, someone's phone and a caught D-list villain's poor fake afro off their head as he was escorted to the holding cell.

"Lil' Arturo, but ya've met us already, eh? CanTalkReallyReallyFastAndMoveFastToo. Ta-daah!" at the span of him having said that, he moved around Tweltfh in a circle a few times in quick succession before eventually stopping right in front of him.

"And that's all of us! Just a tightly-knit gang, tryin' to get by in this unforgiving city." said Ace, now taking center stage and putting on a show to make them look sympathetic to this hero's eye. "But all that's going to change, and want to know why? It's cause we have you to show us the ropes now!"

"It's as you said, friend. We want to change, we want to know what it feels like on the other side, if everyone would just give us a chance and not treat us like some sort of street ruffians! And then, you showed up and not only just stopped us like what most o' those 'heroes' would do, you even went an extra mile and give us a ticket out!"

".... We might give ya trouble. Heck, ya might even kick us off the street if we're too much trouble... but if you're willing to be stuck with us, we'll try not to let ya down, chap. That's the least we could do, for givin' us a chance." it was then Ace gave an award-winning 'genuine' smile, lying through his straight teeth after all that mushy-mushy speech. All in an effort to try and win him over.

Edited by JustSomeGuy732 on Apr 29th 2020 at 6:22:54 PM

JHCS

Evidently Shadow Security, Inc. had gotten everything their contract required, because the scaled lady whistled and the tacticool mooks began zipping their duffel bags and booking it back in the direction they had come from. They left some artifacts behind, though. Maybe they just decided taking the rest during the middle of a super brawl wasn't worth it.

Meanwhile, said scaled woman stepped over to the feline-eared superheroine as she asked for help with her opponent of choice. "Need a hand?" she rasped with a smirk, chuckling lightly as the long hair pooled at her feet suddenly moved of its own accord and began wrapping tightly around Experiment 626's limbs and neck. He would find it more like steel wire or cable than hair, and worryingly sharp, in that it would begin to cut into his skin the more he struggled, though it would let up on the latter aspect if he went limp instead.

"You'd make a good samurai, girlie," she complimented casually as she worked, "What do they call you?"

Rooftop Near JHCS

The grumpy bald man stood no chance against Medusa's ruthless assault and battery, going cross-eyed and then slumping forward with a groan, unconscious, his device clattering to the rooftop. About thirty seconds later, a shadow-covered man with massive, equally shadowy wings swooped in and landed on the roof. "Excuse me!" he called over to the heroine in a polite but firm tone, "Please stop harassing my employees."

JHCS - Black Cat

The feline heroine glanced up from her struggle with Stitch as someone approached out of the darkness and noise. She would have tensed at the sight of the mercenary intruders' scaly commander, if she wasn't already pouring all of her strength into keeping her fuzzy opponent contained. Her black mask hid her brief struggle between suspicion and necessity, before she turned her attention back to Stitch and her sasumata.

"... Black Cat." She said tersely, voice slightly strained. Even as the woman started to hair-cuff Stitch, Black Cat could see her mercs falling back with half the contents of the museum in tow out of the corner of her eye. She let out a low growl under her breath.

"Some people might buy your 'artifact evacuation' story, but I don't. You won't get away with this forever."

—

Lappland - Multistory car park, Cascadia

Far enough away from the chaos at the Cultural Society that the noise of shattering glass and swooping helicopter was just a dull, distant clatter, a black motorcycle sat parked halfway up a multistory car park. Its driver leaned nonchalantly against the concrete balustrade nearby, face illuminated by the glow from the phone she lazily thumbed through, silver hair pale in the darkness.

Normally, Lappland would have to show a bit more discretion than just hanging out in a car park that served at least three tech firms, but one of the perks of working for her new boss was the platoon of 'cybersecurity specialists' tampering with the surveillance cameras. A particularly loud crash made one of her ears flick up, and she turned her head to glance back at the dark cityscape behind her.

"Sounds like they're really going at it..." The mercenary said wistfully, a wry grin spreading across her face. "I suppose it's to be expected, though. Daddy's little girl gets to have all the fun..."

She chuckled, turning back to her phone and flicking to a news feed of the dramatic assault on the Japanese Historical and Cultural Society, silently hoping something would go wrong, just to give her en excuse to come off standby...

Cascadia, JHCS: I Don't Wanna Be Tied

This cat lady just did not know when to quit. Stitch almost wanted to give her marks for persistence—she'd now used more restraining methods than those weak-kneed UFG stooges had—but this was getting annoying. There were a lot of bad people in this room, weren't there? Go after them! They probably can't see you, anyway—easy win! Just stay in your lane and stop ruining his fun!

The alien's bubbling frustration translated into squeezing the sasumata's shaft almost to the point of snapping, but he could see what might happen if he tried. This cat-person was pushing as much weight as she could down on Stitch's body; if he snapped the weapon in two, she might stake him by accident. So with a great deal of reluctant restraint, the alien had to slowly push the sasumata towards Black Cat, and then he'd break the annoying weapon once he was free.

...unfortunately, the human decided to stoop to an inexcusable new low: she called for help. With his two (non-retracted) hands busy lifting the restraint around his neck, the most Stitch could do against the steel-wire hair wrapping around him was shout profanities no one present could understand—though it would at least give Espeon an idea of where her new "dog" had wandered off.

Naturally, the first thing Stitch tried was to rip away the strands tying his hands together; naturally, they cut into the alien's wrists and he stopped trying to brute force his escape. Too bad Jumba didn't give him acidic blood; a drop of the hot pink liquid started to fall up his arm, since the scaled woman's hairs had also bound his hands to the sasumata's shaft.

If she could see the little vandal in this pitch black darkness, the scaled woman might note that he was making every effort to look at her. If the hairs around his neck wouldn't allow a good look, the alien's ears shifted in the woman's direction to let the sound of her voice sink in.

Stitch really didn't like that lady, and he was making every effort to commit her appearance, voice, and to a lesser extent scent to memory. Payback was coming.

With his situation near-inescapable now (extracting his second pair of arms would only invite the cat lady and scaled woman to restrain him further), Stitch had little to do beside listen to the chaos ensuing around him. Chaos he now couldn't contribute to anymore. How boring.

Least the cat lady wasn't happy. Wonder why? The humans that stormed the place were just trying to keep those easy-to-break props away from him, weren't they? Or was there more to this situation?

Assuming that Black Cat didn't leave Stitch where he lay to join another brawl, she'd hear a raspy question coming from the ground:

"B-bad?"

It probably wasn't a question about himself; if Stitch cared about right or wrong, it was in regards to others—he was just doing what he was programmed to do. But the fact he asked after the Faunus expressed her disdain for the scaled lady suggested a connection between the two: was the scaled lady—and by extension, all the goons snatching every valuable they could find—bad?

Below Capitol Hill - Macbeth

The masked man looked up at Frankie. He let out an audible sigh.

"Fine," he said. "Go on, beastie. Do what you want to the man. I was only here for him."

The man lowered his hands to his sides. "One of these days, you'll inconvenience the wrong person, and a price is going to be put on your head. Make sure you're wanted dead or alive; You'll be wasting everyone's time otherwise. Goodbye."

The masked man suddenly threw a metallic pearl-sized sphere down into the rushing sewage. The dark and dimly lit sewers were suddenly overcome with huge plumes of thick white smoke. The smoke didn't last for too long, but as soon as it cleared, the masked man was no longer anywhere near Frankie.

"...it is recommended for the public to stay clear from the JHCS for the time being, until the ongoing situation is resolved. In other news, Klarissa Becker, prime suspect for the recent murder of local businessman Maximillian Ritter, has just been found dead in a..."

Why was it that wherever she went, Kallen could simply not get away from horrible news like that? There was always a mass murderer, or a radioactive crocodile, or a crime syndicate, or hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage from some bizarre superhuman fight, or a gang war, or an alien invasion, or a doomsday weapon, or a secret army trying to raze whatever to the ground. Why couldn't she hear about something else? Like a lost wallet being found, or an orphanage receiving extra funds, or...

"Schicksal in Emerald City."

Or that, sure. Schicksal in Emerald Ci... eh?

"According to a recent official statement by the European hero association, an elite operative has been chosen to assist Emerald City's local police and superhero forces, as part of a new initiative to strengthen relations with various federal governments in the continent, in order to increase cooperation between heroes on a global scale."

"What?!"

No one had told her that someone else from Schicksal was coming! That was exactly the kind of thing she'd have wanted to know before choosing where to go! What if the new operative got asked to hunt her down and bring her back? Or just to hunt her down, period? Perhaps she should've gone to Japan instead; she'd heard it was a pretty beautiful place at that time of the year. Who even was coming to the US, anyway?

"The hero in question, Kallen Kaslana, was reported to have landed in the US in an international flight earlier today, but her arrival to Emerald City has yet to be confirmed."

"...ugh, what a mess."

Of course. Of course they'd lie like that. After all, Schicksal had an image to preserve, and sending a member overseas as part of a revolutionary cooperation program sounded far better than said operative just fleeing from them to another continent. Still, it was acts like that that had made her doubt Schicksal in the first place. Sometimes she had to wonder if humanity was ever so slightly misguided as a whole...

"Here you go, miss." The waitress arrived rather suddenly with an abnormally large plate full of various foods. "Please enjoy."

Kallen's eyes were immediately drawn by the plate, and her heart jumped when she saw just how many fries had been included in her meal.

"Oh wow! Thank you!"

Her faith in humanity was immediately restored.

Ganondorf, Japanese Historical and Cultural Society

Yes, yes, yes. How sweet was the inevitable breakdown of a foe that knew that their abilites couldn't possibly compare to the strength of the demon. Ganondorf allowed himself a prime evil chuckle, the all too familar, "Hehehe," of dark intent as he inched just that closer to his target......before being so rudely interrupted by a beam of pure psychic will coming from another one of these heroines.^* This town sure prefer it's saviors to be of a feminine nature huh? The move slugged him directly against his midsection which caused him to flinch on reflex, breaking his concernation on his fire so that the inferno shrunk and became unfocused. "Pyrokinesis? Unlike your attack my flames are no mere trick of the mind," answered Ganondrof as he stood his ground against the incoming pressure before placing his molten colored hands to block the psy energy in a overlapping manner. "Since you asked so nicely, I'll reward you with defeat!" he uttered as the inferno started to regain focus. And gain focus. And gain focus. Espeon could now feel a opposite force resisting her power and with it gaining traction, alongside the light it bleed into the gallery, she would be able to see that Ganondorf had formed a laser using a extremely narrowed and controlled line of firey heat, locking the two into a battle of powers.

Edited by LightToAll on May 17th 2020 at 11:20:58 AM

2B, through methods no one really cares about, managed to fight off the floating handgun. By this point, she'd backed up a little, and she looked around, taking mental note of everything going on.

One target in the back of the room, appears to be throwing spears, identity and motives unknown.

The rodent from the Cheesecake Factory appears to have arrived at some point during my fight. Probably heard the fighting and wants to break something, going off of what happened last time. Being engaged by Black Cat and an unknown party, he appears to be restrained.

A squad of some sort is taking items away from the area. Appears to be a security company of some sort. Oddly quick arrival on the scene, and I haden't been told about a third party assisting.

That giant is still fighting off two other heroes. Still no idea who he is or why he's here.

This took her more time then she'd expected. Maybe her CPU had taken some minor damage? She'd have to get checked after this was over.

Unit 2B

She looked up at Pod, and then turned to look over in the direction he was looking, the standoff with Stitch and the other woman.

Observation: The restraints are not natural in form. And the thorns on it appear to grow as it moves.

She narrows her eyes behind the blindfold. Now that she's looking closer, she can see that Black Cat doesen't look very happy with the other woman. In fact, she looks pissed. 2B considers this, looks back over at the security squad she arrived with.

"Pod? Run a search on "Shadow Security.""

Searching......Search complete. A website has been detected, but comparisons to competitor websites signal that the site in question is unusually small. Enough effort has been put in to prove they exist, but not enough to be successful.

".........Send a communication to the police. Tell them what's going on, and to watch for a chopper on the roof."

And what will you do, Unit 2B?

She just shakes her head, waves him off, then starts walking forward. Fortunately, the angle has left her approaching the woman's back, and so while Black Cat and Stitch will see her coming, the other woman will not. She continues casually walking, the only odd thing that could be sensed being the unusually heavy footsteps. Then 2B, assuming she's not stopped, will suddenly manifest her sword into her hand and bring the blade directly against the woman's throat.

"Tell your men to drop everything, and let the rodent go. If they don't, or if they try to do anything to save you, I'll cut your head off."

She presses the blade of the sword against the woman's throat hard enough to draw a tiny amount of blood, just to make the point that she's not playing around clear.

Well, that whole thing had been a bust.

Ardyn thought to himself, in a foul mood as he pulled into the parking complex that his company shared with a couple of other firms. It was unusual for him to be here so late, but sometimes, he liked to swing by, unannounced, to ensure his second shift wasn't slacking off on the job. Yes, that's what he had cameras for, but sometimes, a personal visit served to keep people on their toes. He had his own spot in front of the building, but they'd see him coming if he used that, so he was parking in the standard employee area. And so he pulled in, parking his bright red sports car next to some black motorcycle. He stepped out of his car, not paying the bike much mind as he strode around it. Lappland would no doubt see him, although whenever she'd done enough research on the area to be able to identify him as owner of one of the firms that used this lot was up in the air. Regardless, he paused at the bike, giving it a once over.

"Hmmmmm......"

He looked closer at the model, although to someone looking at him from afar, who knows what it looked like he might or might not be doing. Idealy, in his head, he wondered.

Maybe I should get a motorcycle for my next vehicle, change it up a bit, see what the fuss is about

But who knows what a paranoid merc might think about some asshole dressed like Ardyn getting all up in her ride's grill?

Edited by Meanken on May 18th 2020 at 7:22:25 AM

The sun had set so long ago and now the umber canvas of the night had set upon the land to mask the sprawling city within velvet shadows and beacons of light that interspersed the darkness. Such would be when the majority of the human species would choose to hunker down inside of buildings or homes to enjoy their lit bastion brought about by the power of electricity, with technology affording them vision and warmth that had a different feel from true day. It was comforting to know what you could see after all, to be free of the mysteries and threats that the absence of light would allow for.

And yet, there were such that were more at home with less of such. Their actions and appearances disguised under such cover, performances unseen by those that were not used to looking for such. In a small rundown apartment complex that was populated mostly by those that were craving for stimulus that were on the more illegal side of the law, one particular housing area was especially of note.◊

Confined in the single roomed abode of utterly messy proportions that would drive mothers everywhere insane, a young man sat on a ratty leather sofa that had seen better days. Dressed as he was in something that looked like it came out of a period historical samurai drama in a manner that completely went at odds with the more urban aesthetics of just about the entire district he lived in, the would-be ronin had a blank stare even as his calloused hands meticulously whet the steel of his blade with layered stone.

Sparks flew as the edge once more became keenly razor, his sense of touch and instinct stopping at the very threshold of peak performance without carelessly shaving away at the precious lifetime of the weapon itself. Once the climax of maintenance was accomplished, a deft flick of the wrist flipped katana on over to slide effortlessly into the scabbard held between his legs in one smooth motion, a solid clink echoing in the otherwise quiet area to show that the equipment set was once more complete, with blade and sheathe as one.

Gaze reorienting itself back into focusing on his ever familiar pigsty that was so much dirtier than the meticulously maintained tool of the trade he had, the youth with unsettling soulless eyes mechanically grabbed for a ration bar to unwrap and then munch on, the dry and gritty texture unpleasant as always but ever so familiar. It was with conditioned reflex that he swallowed, downing the mouthful with a cup of lukewarm temperature water in a cracked porcelain cup to actually be able to prevent gagging. Spitting out a low sigh as the daily ritual of sustenance consumption was done that would afford precious energy and calories to burn for what was to come, the robed man slowly stood up.

As the sound of light breathing not his own could be heard in the corner where enough time and care had been put into keeping that allocated oasis of portioned territory totally clean of filth, Zero looked on over with tenderness setting in over normally lifeless features. Before he had worn a medal to have physically tangible proof that he was capable of actually doing something good despite the ugly and dirty deeds committed. Not once had he ever taken it off after receiving such... up until the point where the material token of paltry congratulations was thrown off into the dirty gutters of the alleyways where no doubt someone would pawn it off for booze or drugs.

It always amazed him just how much different that one corner of the area was, since he could actually put in enough effort and care to keep it like such. The occupant that held his attention was that of a sleeping girl, not even ten years of age and yet the single spot of warmth and light in his otherwise drab and cold life. Though their first meeting hadn't gone great due to his general brusqueness, the child had eventually grew on him with her optimism and enthusiasm and so too did his care for her.

In this unforgiving world that was the Ironhouse District, the two castaways had found one another to afford a sense of stable co-dependency that kept each other afloat in otherwise turbid waters. She who had no parents and he who held no future previously were now something resembling a family... and if he was being honest then the swordsman rather enjoyed such a sensation.

Slowly but steadily, he was cleaning up his act if only to make it so that the girl would be both happy and safe. First on his list of resolution was actually cleaning up his manpad to be actually habitable. Though that was obviously still a work in progress, at least here he was making solid headway. Given a few more days, the rest of the place would become as sparkling clean as the area around the girl's sleeping bag.

After a few more missions and some risks, they would then be able to afford something better than here and move out of the area for a better atmosphere away from everything. Such a vivid dream was just out of grasp and ever so close. To allow for her an actual future was something that all true parents would wish for. He too was the same, for even a dirtiest of bastards wished their child to have the best in life.

Hand reaching out to gently ruffle the hair of that wonderful bundle of joy with tenderness that no one else could ever get from Gamma NULL Zero, the killer finally straightened after a few more seconds of such and quietly slipped out of the house while making sure to securely lock the door. Reorienting himself as the mask of something much more grim and foreboding slipped into place, making it so that the earlier contentment just seemingly evaporated away.

Even if he wasn't The Dragon that the media was looking for, the man was still a predator through and through. His life was established through the deaths of others, his livelihood won through the slaying of scum. Those that wished to create more such people like him and deprive happy children of their happiness all deserved to die by karma, with he as its blade.

Thus did the modern day ronin traveled through the streets not for his own salvation but for that of the girl's. Listlessness and muddleheaded obfuscation of any true actual goal in life was replaced by sheer desire to protect and care, a paradoxical attitude that would have had people laughing at this hypocrite had they ever heard of such logic. But what was there to say to those that were fated to die? Wasted words were not needed when the sound of steel and severed flesh would suffice. And so once more, a hunt began... after earphones were inserted so as to allow for the proper atmosphere to be maintained via the auditory ambrosia that was synthwave.

Seemingly deserted warehouses were sniffed out prior and watched days before now finally saw swift action descend from the rafters into their midst during a deal. As the sounds of hoarse screams, banging metals, banging guns, and katana rasps intermingled into an unholy cacophony of discordant violence continued, those who were nearby either rushed in, kept away, or called for attention from either their higher ups or the police.

Actually opening the doors a few seconds after all the noises stopped however would simply reveal bodies and limbs lying everywhere, splatters of blood hitting the walls to display a macabre sense of artistry. A dozen men from two different gangs were now naught but corpses with the offender simply darting away through the small labyrinth of metal crates stacked nearby, a suitcase full of stacked hundred dollar bills in hand with white powder dashed across the ground in callous disregard.

Yes, this was a fine bounty to be had and there had been no witnesses that further needed to be silenced as well. For now, the job had proceeded on smoothly and so Zero ran in a low stanced but distance eating lope while weaving past obstacles and patrols, a particularly grim amusement couldn't help but be burbled out.

Lappland - Cascadia multistory

As Lappland watched her colleagues strut their stuff on live news, a just-in alert scrolling across her phone screen gave her pause.

Schicksal in Emerald City

"Oh?"

She tapped to see more, but it was mostly a puff piece, leaving her to tap the corner of her phone against her chin in thought for a moment. She'd had a few run-ins with the euro-hero team before - she'd had some fun with them every now and then, but it was rarely worth the risk. She couldn't even remember if this Kaslana was one of the ones she'd fought. Maybe they were here on her tail... or maybe they really were just sticking their noses into America's business.

Smiling to herself, she shrugged and chuckled under her breath. At the end of the day, it didn't really matter to her, did it? This town was brimming with heroes as it was!

Her train of thought was interrupted by the purr of a high-performance motor. Lappland pocketed her phone and watched with lazy interest as the red sports car pulled up and produced a man in the sort of eccentric fashion that only the rich really bothered with. He seemed very interested in her bike, didn't he?

"It's a real beauty, huh?" The mercenary's smooth voice called out from the shadows by the concrete balustrade. There was just enough reflected illumination from the car park's dim florescent lighting to pick out her silver hair, the bright gleam of yellow eye-shine, and the silver glint of the blades on her hip.

She emerged out into the light with slow, casual steps. "I'm not a cars and bikes sort of gal, but it goes fast when you tell it to, and that's all I really need." She finally paused and shot the strangely-dressed man a smile. "But it is company property, so hands off~"

Ardyn looked over, and raised his hands up in the "I'm not going to do anything to it" fashion.

"Oh, my deepest apologies! I was just admiring it, I assure you. It is quite a nice bike."

His eyes ran over her, from the ears, to the pale as shit skin, to the black coat and short shorts, to the swords on her hip, and down to the fox tail.

"And, forgive me for asking, but which firm are you with, exactly?"

Lappland - Cascadia multistory

Lappland inclined her head in a gracious nod, just a hint of a smirk tinting her smile as he man backed off. Part of her had wished he'd give her an excuse, even though her new boss would probably frown on her killing random rich folk.

Besides, she doubted it'd be much fun.

"Ah, of course!" Her smirk grew a bit wider at his question, and she reached into her coat to fish out a black keycard. "Shadow Security, at your service."

JHCS

"Yes, you've been very bad, and we're going to make sure you're punished, you little scoundrel!" the scaled woman assured Stitch in what would almost be a cutesy voice if not for the rasp.

Then 2B put a blade against her throat and drew blood, and her mood instantly soured.

"Hmph!" the woman with the very sharp hair harrumphed, "Is this how you do things, Black Cat? I help you with restraining a dangerous monster and you let your friend cut me and threaten to chop my head off? You see, this is why nobody in their right mind trusts you so-called heroes! And what guarantee do I have that you won't just kill me if I do as you say, anyway? Though I suppose you wouldn't last five minutes in court if you killed me either way, since I haven't assaulted anything except a rampaging animal and you clearly wouldn't have any case for self-defense!"

Tawna (JHCS - Vs. Ganondorf)

To Tawna's surprise, the giant warlock wasn't the only magic user around them, as one of her teammates opted to give the big lug a taste of his own medicine...though to her displeasure, it didn't stall him for very long, as he quickly regrouped and brought the heat on her teammate.

Not one to let an opportunity slip her by, Tawna tensed, and then charged at Ganondorf, aiming to drive the spear into his back. While normally going for this kind of lethal force was not something she'd be willing to employ, she had the grim sense that anything less would be hazardous to her well being.

Ryo - Seattle Underground

Ryo let out a sigh of relief when Eileen brought her gun down. "That's better. Trust me, you don't want to use guns willy-nilly like that."

He then looked back at the two young girls. "Sorry about that, we're here because those guys found traces of giant..." The sweeper shut up when Akali gave her order and looked towards where she was staring.

Well, that ended up being a complete bore. The two people there didn't even have the decency to kill each other. So she decided to part with the interesting businessman for the moment and go check out what was going on at the Japanese Exposition with Mukuro. She had to pay homage to her roots, after all.

So now she and Mukuro were on a nearby rooftop, looking at the current fighting with the help of trusty binoculars. In fact, Junko was also enjoying some popcorn while keeping notes on the upcoming heroes and villains involved in the conflict. That ripped faceless man especially seemed to be the 'big bad' kind of guy. It was maybe worth it to keep checks on him.

Edited by Alecoene on May 19th 2020 at 10:47:42 AM

"You want a guarantee?"

The sword tightens against her throat.

"I will kill you, without hesitation, if you don't comply. There's your guarantee."

She pauses just a second to let that sink in, her tone leaving no question as to whenever or not she was bluffing.

"Last chance."

Was that a smile he caught on her face for a split second as he raised his hands up? Hmmmmmm.....he filed that away. For now, something else was on his mind.

Shadow Security? Is that really the name of the security company we contract out to? How.....melodramatic. I should pay more attention to these things.

He preformed a quick flourish and bowed in a manner that could have been mocking but was just on point enough to perhaps be legitimate. Who knows with these wacky rich people.

"Arden Izunia, at your service."

He looks up from his bow, eyes springing to her legs

"And I must say, you are quite unique, indeed. I don't recall any of the security here ever being dressed quite like you are. I dare say your shorts alone would put a complete halt to production if you stepped into our offices."

His smile grew for a moment as he said this and he returned to a standing position, as if to say "Just joking", but looking at his eyes would suggest that this was not some horny nerd or some rich asshole making a pass at her. No, there was something....else behind those eyes.

"And swords, I dare say those aren't standard issue. Why, if I were an unkind man, I might even dare say you don't appear to be a member of security at all."

There's that disarming smile again, as if to try to brush away any insult. He, with a wide, sweeping motion, then motioned his hand at her keycard.

"Ah, but of course, you have a keycard. How silly of me. No way to obtain one of those other then by being what you claim to be, am I right? It would be unthinkable to imagine you'd go so far as to do something-"

He makes an exaggerated gasping sound at this point and puts a hand to his heart.

"-''illegal to obtain it!"

Espeon, Vs. Ganondorf, JHCS

Amazingly enough, Espeon was able to match Ganondorf's power. Once Ganondorf had started focusing his 'magic' on her, she began putting her all into her Psybeam. Espeon put her index and middle fingers on her temples to try to concentrate more, but the fact that her body was quivering meant that she probably couldn't match Ganondorf for long. His 'magic' was just too... powerful. If only she could switch over to her Barrier, she might be able to stop Ganondorf's beam, but that would require precious seconds that she didn't have.

Ironhouse District — Macbeth

The Dragon might have had the edge to end an entire gang meeting by himself. The ECPD patrolling the streets and answering to a police response were too slow and too blind to see him retreat from the scene of the crime. No ordinary man could possibly force him to stop. You had to think outside of the box for marks like Zero.

The Dragon seemed to eschew the use of guns. All of the pictures in his file showed victims who died from sword cuts—He probably carried a machete or a katana and little else. Someone that old-fashioned might appreciate what looks like an invitation to a sword duel. A fancy sword would do the trick.

A masked man clad in a black overcoat waved to Zero nearby. With one hand, he carried a proud and ancient claymore. To the masked man's side was a beaten up sedan. Its engine was still running, and its floodlights were on. There didn't seem to be anyone inside it.

"There's a very high price on your head, Dragon," the masked man said, only slightly raising his voice so his bounty could hear it. "$155480 dollars, to be precise."

The masked man pointed his sword towards Zero. "I am... Sympathetic to your causes. You follow a code of honor I agree with. A proposition: Defeat me in a sword duel, a fair and proper one, and you have my word that the bounty on your head will be called off."

The masked man lowered his sword. "What do you say?"

"[Ah...well, alright, then...]" she said, deflecting or tanking the scattered bullets from Pod as she watched that man leave just as soon as he came. Finally, alone in the street beyond a few onlookers, feverishly recording the battle from "safe" vantage points...the spirit, the self-proclaimed Hero of Heroes, felt a bit unwanted.

She stopped the constant cascade of polearms so she could trot up a couple steps to the front of the society and get a good look at why she wasn't being counter-attacked like it should be happening...

Calamity! The hero's erstwhile efforts haven't killed the others; they're just battling that other man instead of her! This was absolutely unacceptable; she was here first!

"[OI! I claimed this scene of battle,]" she shouted at them in angry Japanese, not really managing to come across as mad because she was still smiling, "[I'm the stalwart soul that's going to slay them! Go leave!]"

Lappland's wish did come true, in a way. If she looked back at just the right moment from her spot in the parking garage, she'd see a huge, black mass shoot out of the sky and towards the unfortunate spear-throwing villain.

A huge, ebony serpent coursed through the air, trailing behind it a long tail and yet being almost silent as it swam through the air effortlessly. It ran face first into the currently distracted enemy spirit, and lifted her off the ground to drag her down the street! This battle just got even more confusing!

"...Sorry for not...you know, checking to see if you were...actually MK-ULTRA brainwashed psycho-soldiers...ahaha..."

Eileen's very forced laughter echoed down the hall of the musty, long-abandoned place. It wasn't answered for a while, just letting her stew in the awkwardness of having thought about committing murder in the middle of an underground tunnel...

...and then, it was answered.

"eheheheheh"

A few voices laughed along with her, small and nasally. They came from that pipe that the trio were staring at...

And then, looking into it, several red dots peered at them through the opening. At least a dozen pairs.

"Oh, yes," the clerk said, unaware of the granny's annoyed staring at the randomly green hoodlums behind her. "Just a minute..."

In like, 30 seconds because Officer Hong is always punctual and friendly, said redheaded officer stepped through the door and up towards the desk. "Hey, Officer Beifong! Whaddya need?"

And then she presumably told her what she needed. This began a search through the records, a true who's-who of the local crime life. Narrowing things down to just telepathic villains gave...just north of 1,000 results.

Putting it down to ones who aren't incarcerated or on parole cut out about half of that result, males slightly more than half, ones who can speak or otherwise mentally project in English barely any, and known to be recently active or still at large brought it down to a total of...

"One hundred and eighteen possible suspects. Well, you certainly have a knack for getting yourself into the tough investigations, Officer Beifong," Officer Hong said, scrolling down the list of suspects. "Mindgrinder, Neuronite, T.K. Tonka, I-C-All, Pajama-Stealin' Pat the Psychic Psycho...if you got all these guys into a room, it'd be pretty hard to hear yourself think, eh?"