Log:Prisoners of War

Eclipsed 2014/06/15 Lia Paragon Porter Seraph Tigress 3

Downtown

The downtown district, and above all famed York Boulevard, is an area of skyscrapers old and new and the jewel of the city where most of the real money is made. From the lower, older buildings like that of the Colonial Bay Chronicle to the height of the Corporate Tower, the district is alive with bustle through the day; while at night it is well lit by the light of ads and news reporting across the sides of the buildings, and the action is focused on a few clubs and other hotspots.

Sometimes escalation is the only way to get not just attention, but the right attention in the right places. Or perhaps.. away from the places one does not want such attention. Intelligence, will, courage, and fortitude. Those are four elements that can spell success or disaster depending on the conditions or situations.

It seems that today, of all days... the situation has evolved. Broadcast media has just begun transmitting a video feed from a local studio. A man in a black bodysuit and not much else. A strikingly handsome man in his middle years, physically fit, and projecting charisma as he speaks.

"Greetings Colonial Bay. Some of you may know me. Others may not. Recently, one of my people was taken from me by your ... heroes. His name is Aftermath. I know, an overly dramatic and tasteless name. But you should hear what -he- wanted to be called. At any rate, he is being held by your ... authorities.." he says that word with contempt, a lip curling in distaste. ".. are holding one of my people. You will release him or I will be forced to execute the prisoners that I have ... acquired recently."

The camera pans to show twenty three people zip-tied and huddled into the corner of a room. Some look frightened. Others look like they are giving that 'stiff upper lip' and yet a few look just plain angry.

The voice continues speaking, "The situation is as simple as I can make it. No authorities will converge on my location. You will send my man here on his own. None of your... metahumans will enter my location. Should I see any such evidence of gathering or infiltration, I will begin executing my prisoners of war. You have 1 hour to comply. After that time, every fifteen minutes, you will have killed another of these.... so called innocents. The timer begins.... now."

And up in the top right corner of the broadcast screen, a timer begins counting down. 59:59... 59:58.....

Paragon sees the broadcast on a flatscreen billboard as she's patrolling, stopping to watch and listen as she recognized Event Horizon. Her glowing circular eyes narrow down to thin lines of light recessed within her helm. Seeing her hands as tied as the hostages, she leaps away at the end of the broadcast, heading to where Aftermath was held after her last encounter with him.

Alisha knows a bit about media and at the moment after seeing the broadcast she starts towards the Channel 5 building. It won't take her too long to get there. She has her camera like always, after all she is a photographer.

Lia was patrolling as well, when she runs into Paragon hurrying. And Lia ends up following Paragon, wanting to help out with the situation-especially since she can turn invisible and phase through walls.

At Starguard, people are hustling and bustling about. Various officers are present. The commander is on the phone with local government types. When Paragon and Lia arrive, a handful of high tech weapons are raised out of reflex. After all, everyone is on edge a bit here. But... upon recognizing them, they lower them and some grin sheepishly. "Welcome Heroes." says one of the officers, gesturing for them to come inside and leading her to the on site commander's office. Where he is yep... discussing it with authorities higher than his own, "So, are we complying, or do we try something clever?" he asks into the phone even as Paragon and Lia arrive. It is obvious by their body language that the commander is ... concerned and frustrated.

At Channel 5, things seem to be less chaotic. People are going about their business as if nothing has happened. That is... they were. As Tigress arrives on scene, there is just starting to be a mass exodus from nearby buildings. The Channel 5 building however... is apparently immune. In fact, nobody is coming or going from the building. The first floor appears entirely deserted from what can be seen in via windows and such.

Paragon fills Lia in on the way, her voice tinted with frustration. "Those citizens are in danger, and Event Horizon has no compunctions about killing people to achieve his goals. The only way I can help them is to see how Starguard wants to go about this." She lands out front of the main doors of Starguard with Lia in tow. She takes a deep breath and remembers herself, looking to Lia and saying encouragingly, "I'm glad to have you by my side for this." As she opens the door and steps in, she suddenly freezes and holds her hands up, chuckling slightly to help diffuse the situation. As they get led to the commander, she salutes. "Hello, sir. I don't know if we have the manpower to safely try something clever. I was wondering if any other heroes responded yet."

Lia nods to Paragon, looking to be a tad more on edge now, as well. "I'll do what I can. I might not know how to be the most sneaky, but I do know how to turn invisible." Lia offers, as they arrive at Starguard. With guns pointed at her, Lia simply /vanishes/, first becoming purely green, then fading from sight entirely.

After the guns are lowered, she reappears, scratching the back of her head. "I'm glad I ran into you, I don't know what I would've done on my own." As they're lead to the commander, she simply floats there, hands in front of her, looking nervous.

Alisha is a bit surprised that the place looks empty. She is trying to think of something. Though at the moment she looks human which is the only reason she is under control, keeping the tiger within restrained. She doesn't know about the person wanted being at Starguard, so she is outside the channel 5 building taking a look from the ground floor, just looking and examining what she can see.

"Just you two. It seems that... other small attacks and events have been coordinated to occupy others of the heroic community. It seems that this is a well organized thing going on." Commander Evans looks frustrated and angry. He puts hte phone on speaker. "I have Paragon and another hero here. Putting you on speaker sir." And the voice that comes back from the speaker is the mayor of Colonial Bay. "Very good. Thank you for responding heroes. The question I have is... does anyone have any creative ideas? Or do we hand this man over and hope that this man is feeling like keeping his word?"

At the news building, one human appears to be peering inside while everyone else is leaving. The Parking Garage seems to have turned into a traffic jam, cars trying to all leave at once. There are a couple of fender benders, but... well, not every car inside is trying to leave. Employee cars from the Channel 5 building are still parked there. Eventually... other people start moving in on the scene. Plainclothes officers who parked a ways off, not wanting to appear to be cordoning off the area, but... well... doing so at a large radius.

Paragon looks over at Lia, seeming thoughtful after her invisibility trick, then looks back at the commander and at the speaker phone with the Mayor. "Event Horizon demanded no law or metahuman forces accompany Aftermath. But there's no guarantee he'll release the hostages after he gets his man. Perhaps there's a chance to at least negotiate the release of hostages before the final exchange. If we had more heroes, we might be able to mount a rescue effort, but we're undermanned. With just Lia and myself, I'm not sure that we could do much without risking the lives of those citizens," Paragon says grimly. She looks at Lia for a moment. "Perhaps Lia could use her skills to enter the building undetected and help free the hostages, but she'd be going in alone against Event Horizon, and most likely Corona and Cerebellum. Three on one odds aren't good, especially with lives at stake." She speaks to Lia directly, "Do you think you could go undetected from a telepath? I'm not sure of what your abilities are."

Alisha does use her camera, and get a few shots of the building, a few of the fender benders that are going on as well, she is waiting for others to show up, figuring metas are going to show up eventually.

Ah, a camera. That explains the fearlessness. However, a plainclothes officer approaches Alisha and says, "Please.. don't make things worse. You are obviously aware of the situation. If you could join me in the restaurant we are going to use as a command post, maybe something you got on camera, or some of your first hand impressions might be useful and helpful?" Yeah, Alisha is being invited to go with the officer...

The mayor thinks for a few moments and adds, "If we at least had eyes inside... we could likely have more options open to us at least."

Lia hmms at the voice's query, before looking towards Paragon as she seaks. Pausing to consider Paragon's words, she notes, "I can only hide my visual appearance, and none of my powers let me defeat the detection attempts of those with some sort of special sense. And I am not very durable-what I have in power I lack in defense. I do have relatively powerful attacks, though."

Alisha nods her head and though the tiger inside just wants to run inside, she nods to the plain clothes and heads with him, knowing that its probably a good idea to try to work out something first. "Of course." she says softly.

Paragon's eyes dim a little. "Options seem limited. I don't know if keeping Aftermath incarcerated is worth the risk of lives. If we were to try and infiltrate, Lia could possibly go in stealth, and I could go in plain clothes and pretend to get captured and taken to the rest of the hostages. Help them escape from the inside. But if we're detected, and that's a strong possibility, it will cost lives." She looks to Lia to see if she has any suggestions or insights on her abilities.

All he wanted was a nice quiet evening with some TV... and he turns on ...this. So much for that evening. Without anything else to go on, he guesses that they don't have the equipment to just jack the signal, so he heads for the TV building. Since they already have all the cameras and satellite dishes there, it seems a safe bet.

Fortune favors the bold, and at times, the incredibly stupid. Well, Porter isn't stupid. But he is lucky. And he appears out front of the restaurant just as Alisha is being guided inside by plainclothes officers. "Okay, so. Do you have any images or impressions that we can use here ma'am?" the officer asks.

Meanwhile, at Starguard, the Commander shrugs and the Mayor remarks, "Well, we seem to have our hands tied. I do not want to give in to this terror attack. But I also cannot in good conscience let them just kill their prisoners. I am happy to hear any suggestions you may have. I do like the idea of transporting the prisoner closer and trying to negotiate some sort of release of hostages before we commit to letting the prisoner go. Thoughts?"

Lia hmms, frowning, considering. "I can also appear to look like a child about the same size as I currently am, but it probably wouldn't be able to fool a telepathic scan or some such, especially if they can sense magic." Lia sighs, "Let me see if I can get more people to help us."

Alisha cocks her head to the side, "my guess is that they tv station was taken some time ago, as the first floor is deserted." She brings up images on her camera of the first floor, exterior building shots, and such, things she could have gotten away with looking more like a reporter than anything else. As she sees Porter she waves to him, "Hello." she calls out, one of the few that she knows.

Paragon rubs her helm's chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps we can negotiate with Event Horizon to allow just me to escort Aftermath in so I can secure the hostages. Insurance that he'll keep his end of the deal. With Lia's ability to go invisible, maybe she can hang onto my back and avoid detection. Once the hostages are all free, we could attempt a surprise assault. *If* he lets them all go. Event Horizon has a belt that allows him to teleport, so we won't be able to catch him or his men escaping the building. We could have plain clothes officers on standby possibly."

That's one nice thing about teleportation gizmos. You tend to appear places. Porter recognizes Alisha and heads her way. "So, they did jack the TV offices, not the signal. What's the plan? This guy's had no problems hurting people in the past, so he probably isn't bluffing."

Alisha cocks her head to the side, "No sure, right now I was just providing some intel." she offers.

The TV signal is still broadcasting, but it is just a black screen with the timer counting down. It is on every TV screen now, other channels rebroadcasting and such. "So, you want to escort the killer. With an insurance policy on your back, literally." offers the Commander. The mayor is just quiet for a moment. "I like it. Bolt but not exactly something normal. I say we do it."

In the restaurant, Porter is allowed in, and the cops study the pictures. "Okay, so, they took the building and secured it before they ever went on the air. Understood. But... we have no idea how many men ... or women, they have in there. They could have hundreds of prisoners, not just the few we saw on camera, and we would never know it until we got inside." The cops pauses and adds, "We really do need to get -some- measure of eyes inside." And then... the cop listens to his earbud and says, "It seems.. that a plan has been announced. Paragon will be escorting the prisoner the terrorist desires."

Lia sighs, scratching her head. "Well, that didn't work." She thinks about Paragon's idea, nodding. "It is the best we have." She shakes her head, still thinking. Alisha nods her head, "If there is anything I can do to help." she offers. "Also its probably not hundreds of prisoners, it doesn't take that many people to run broadcasts and too many are just underfoot."

Paragon looks to Lia, asking with concern. "You sure you okay with that? I'm open to other ideas. I don't really know your capabilities. I wouldn't want us to spring into action if innocents were still in danger, though."

"If I can find a window to look in, I can get there. Or maybe the roof?" Porter ponders. "If they're busy watching Aftermath coming in, maybe they won't see other people coming in? Or the hostages going out?"

"I am not subtle." Lia notes. "My specialty tends to be with destruction. I can turn invisible, yes, but I fear it will fail under the scrutiny of senses other than sight. But I have no other ideas, we just don't have the manpower to do much else."

"Well, we are on a time crunch." remarks the Commander. "We will make the arrangements sir." he says to the Mayor. Hanging up the phone, the Commander calls in arrangements. Aftermath is being escorted out, wrapped in high tensile alloy cables and many layers of armored straightjackets. Of course... all caution is being taken. His booming voice is laughing. "I guess the boss made a demand and you... like the sheep you are... you are caving in. That is fantastic!" he declares as he is loaded into the back of an armored transport.

The commander gestures to Paragon and Lia, who have been kept out of sight until Aftermath is loaded and the doors closed.

In the restaurant, the officers remark, "You have an eye for strategy. Won't you man your camera some more and lend us the images you get? Porter..." Yeah, Porter has become somewhat known to local authorities. Is that good or bad? Anyhow, the cop grins and says to Porter, "Maybe we'll get lucky with you around. You're lucky I haven't tried to cut off your foot and keep it as a token."

Alisha nods her head, "I can do that." she says softly, "Good at pictures and if it comes to it, good in a fight too, in one form or another." she shakes her head and looks out back towards the channel 5 building.

Paragon looks to Lia once Aftermath is locked up. "So, we don't make any offensive moves until the hostages are cleared. There's a mentalist called Cerebellum who may try and control me mentally. If that happens, take her down, then move to Event Horizon and try to destroy his teleportation belt before they get away. That way, at least then they'll have to leave the building to get away, and maybe the plain clothes officers can make an attempt to stop them if we can't. Oh...and while Cerebellum may look and act like a little kid, she's actually older than she appears. So...don't let her kid act fool you. You ready?"

"Yeah," Porter smirks, good-naturedly, "it'd make it really hard for me to walk if you did." He's sure they'll be lucky with him around. That much he can be pretty certain of. "You know, it didn't look like there's any bomb vests or firing squads or anything like that. The guy seemed pretty stuck up from what I've seen. Probably doesn't think he needs that kind of stuff. All we got to do is get the people out of there." That's his worry more than anything else. He looks out at the news building. "Hey, that camera of yours got a good zoom? Worst case, I can get in there. Maybe both of us... but I haven't tried that before."

Lia nods, "I understand, though, I hope she does not. I could not take on all of you at once." Lia sighs, "I'm ready." She sounds a lot less ready than she states as she turns invisible.

The transport is loaded, and Paragon is loaded into a second vehicle which will escort the first. The officers stay in the restaurant and observe and coordinate. A few of the other officers are trying to sneak into position to give cover. "Okay, they are on the way. ETA five minutes." The countdown is at 24:37... 24:36....

And the vehicles are moving in.

On the way to the Channel 5 building, Paragon looks over to Lia, and says encouragingly, "If you think this is too much to handle and things get too tough, just make sure to get the hostages out and run, okay? I wouldn't want you getting hurt if you think this is too much to take on." Having not seen Lia in action, Paragon worries that the small pixie may be in over her head. Heck, -Paragon- is in over her head, after all. But she tries to hide it with confidence and her protective nature.

Lia feels like she might be getting in over her head, certainly. Being able to hit things really hard isn't too useful in this sort of situation, and she can't soak damage for anything-she /is/ a pixie-like creature, they aren't normally known for being tough.

None the less, Lia nods towards Paragon, "If there isn't an escape path, I'll make one. But we'll need to /get out/ then and there if I need to blast through the walls-My attacks are not subtle." She isn't turning away.

Porter knows that Paragon is heading there, with Aftermath. Aside from that, he's just watching from the restaurant for now. Though his eyes are peeled for those two, or Event Horizon, or anyone else he recognizes.

Cue the good doctor. Alan DeLucca is an odd sort to be seen at this sort of event but it would seem he was doing his rotation at the hospital when the call came through. Civilians in danger? They will surely need a doctor. "So did they say how many hostages? Any wounded?" He has a bag with a red cross slung over his shoulder, an emt bag grabbed on the way here.

Paragon looks to the Doctor as he rides with them. "About 23 hostages. So far, it doesn't seem that any are wounded, but it's great to have you here as backup should that change, Doctor."

The transports pulls up before the Channel 5 tower. The one in the front has armed guards that get out and head around back. Inside the tower, all seems silent. Deathly silent... ominous? Paragon, Lia, and Alan are in the rear transport... and everything seems to be waiting... like the world is holding its breath. When suddenly... the lead transport... with just the driver inside... begins to lift into the air. It's.. a wheeled transport, and not equipped with VTOL capability. But it is just... levitating upward. There is something you don't see every day.

Alisha shakes her head, "WEll there goes the plan." not that she knows exactly the plan. She takes her camera and starts to search the windows of the station building. She is guessing someone needs to be able to see the truck to lift it.

"Please, call me Alan." Alan returns with a lift of a staying hand. "There will be time enough for formality later. Right now, my thoughts are on those poor souls within." He takes a deep breath and seats himself in a crash seat. Seems he's used to riding ambulances.. a transport isn't so different.. right? He leans forward to look out a window. "Ahh. I don't gather that is supposed to happen." Hmm.

Lia looks towards the Van, sighing. After which she giggles, shaking her head. "Looks like today's our lucky day." She muses. She considers, "Well, do you think we should just try busting into the place?"

Alisha looks around at the officers. "The man in the black bodysuit is standing on the 15th floor, that is where he is lifting the truck from." she points towards the window she sees him at.

Paragon leans forward and stares as the front transport floats up. "Why am I not surprised he'd pull something like this without releasing some of the hostages? Either that's Event Horizon's handywork, or Cerebellum's." She looks to Lia and nods, "I guess it's time to go invisible, Lia. Maybe you should try to go in and get the hostages while they're focused on me and the transport. See if you can untie them and get them out, of it's safe. I'll try to keep their attention." Paragon steps out of the transport and looks up at Aftermath's transport vehicle, tensing as she tries to make no threatening movements. "This wasn't the arrangement, Event Horizon! You were supposed to release some of the hostages as a sign of good faith before Aftermath was released into your custody. Why am I not surprised you didn't keep your end of the deal?" she calls out a challenge.

"I don't suppose anyone attempted an analysis of the video? Tracked the signal?" Alan glances about the interior. "Do we know the hostages are actually inside?" He gets out of the transport, carrying the emt bag, and moves to close in on the building at a jog. Hey, people are in trouble in there right?

"What the... Oh, right." Porter stops being confused once Alisha points out the man up on the building. "Well, somebody's got to do something." He starts playing with the large belt buckle. Ok, it's not really a belt buckle. It has a keypad on it. It's only a ten-digit trio of coordinates. How many combinations could there be? What was that about fortune favoring the bold? Or stupid?

Lia sighs, nodding, turning invisible, and phasing out of the car. Flying over to the wall of the building, she lands, and phases through it, before trying to get through and figure out where they are, landing and phasing through walls where needed, but never uncloaking.

Paragon crouches down and leaps in a high arc over, landing on top of Aftermath's transport as it floats up with surprising grace for her bulky armored form. She holds her hands in the air and demands in a loud voice, "Honor your part of the bargain, Event Horizon. It's the hostages for Aftermath, remember?"

As Lia slips inside, she isn't as sneaky as she might have been. But at least there are the advantages of diversions and such. Alan is near the doors leading inside and Paragon lands atop the transport. Inside, there are some sounds, laughter being foremost among those sounds. Of course, the guy inside can't hear anyone yelling outside for the most part. Those windows are thick. Almost like armored plexiglass. It's what folks use in towns of Metahumans... that also might get inclement weather now and then. The transport is rising several meters every second, and then...

As usual. Porter happens... he appears in the room behind Event Horizon and can see that also in the room is the childlike woman, Cerebellum, sitting at a desk playing Minecraft on the computer. Then Corona is sitting -on- the desk in... well, no point in ruining entire outfits when she goes active. She's in a bathing suit. A cheap one. This just as the transport reaches the 15th floor level and EH sees Paragon there, raises a brow... gestures, and the truck rotates so the back end is pointing at his window. He looks at Paragon, and makes a... shoo.. gesture, with his other hand....

Paragon stares Event Horizon down as she reaches his floor. She doesn't see it until the last moment; a slight rippling that she tries to brace against. But even with secure footing, Paragon is slammed in the chest by an incredible amount of force and sent flying off of the car. She rubs her chestplate lightly, not really hurt as much by the blast, but now she's plummeting. Paragon tries to twist her body around, now dropping feet first. "Huh...never fell from quite this high before..." she says to herself rather conversationally, her glowing eyes growing in diameter.

Lia hmms, but not aloud, she's trying to be sneaky! But this building is a big building, she isn't fast enough to search /everything/. She makes a mental note to create a search spell. And thus, she flies around, and walks through the various walls and rooms, searching first on the first floor, and working her way up.

Alisha blinks as things seem to get a bit more out of control, "Damn." she puts her camera on the table in the restaurant and then moves over and steps out the front doors. There is a growl and sounds of joints popping and bones breaking maybe as she starts to change. Her form swells and her hair starts to grow from all over which is a good thing, cause it isn't a moment before her clothing splits and tears. A moment later she is standing there. A ten foot tall white furred with black stripes weretiger.

Porter blinks. It worked! He appeared in the room! Behind the evil mastermind! And his minions. Away from everyone else. Ok, in hindsight, Porter's plan seems a little less sound. Yes, he had a plan. "Let the hostages go and no one-" And then he sees the flicking motion, and a flying Paragon in the distance. Not flying in a good way. "Screw it. Let 'em go!" What does one do when faced with a bad buy right there? Easy, Porter balls up his fist and takes a swing. WHo knows? EH could have a glass jaw or something.

Porter blinks. It worked! He appeared in the room! Behind the evil mastermind! And his minions. Away from everyone else. Ok, in hindsight, Porter's plan seems a little less sound. Yes, he had a plan. "Let the hostages go and no one-" And then he sees the flicking motion, and a flying Paragon in the distance. Not flying in a good way. "Screw it. Let 'em go!"

In the office, when Porter pops in, Corona whips her head up and grins. "Oh... now this is a treat. Boss, can I go kill the hostages -now-?" she asks. In a tone of voice that sounds like she's asked it... at least three times so far.

Sighing, Event Horizon shakes his head, "No. We will fight this war cleanly, with honor." he says. "Right now all that matters is getting our soldier back. You should know that. You were in the Marines. No man left behind, right?" He looks back your way and shrugs, "I never said anything about letting my prisoners go. I instructed you all to deliver my man. And so you have. You -may- walk out of here if you like. My people and I will simply depart. The prisoners are on the thirteenth floor. And... I fear that they may have limited time left. You see, the timer..." he gestures to the clock counting down at 14 minutes and change now... "is the timer on the first small bomb. Each of them have their own micro-explosives. Go, see to them... leave us be." he says with another shoo gesture.

Corona pouts, yeah, it's a petulant pout and she says, "I can't even kill -him-? This is no fun."

And Event Horizon replies, "No my dear. This is not fun. This is war. War is hell."

If anyone were atop the transport now, they might hear a new sound. But.. after a moment of winding up and prepping, Aftermath gets a couple steps of a running start and the back door of the transport literally explodes. It seems the big guy has already worked himself out of his bonds and for a moment, the slow-mo effect has pieces of the armored door flying in every direction before he slams into the plexiglass window and bashes through that as well. Finally, pieces of plexiglass, doors.... and all that are falling towards the street below. Event Horizon puts his left hand down then... and the transport also begins falling.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh? Alan looks up and sees the speck that is Paragon arcing through the air. Thankfully, there's a concrete planter nearby. He ducks for cover.

Suddenly, shooting into the air on glowing wings is Seraph! With a hand outstretched as though to cradle the falling, he stops the fall of Paragon with a clutched fist. "Cowardice will not stand, Event Horizon." He turns in place to face the fifteenth floor. "And honorable soldiers do not use hostages."

Paragon spots Seraph as she falls, her eyes blinking off and on a few times at the angelic figure. It did seem very odd how Event Horizon's blast hardly hurt. She thinks in sudden shock after seeing Seraph. o O (Wait...did that blast...? Did I die? AGAIN!?) And then she's cradled in the soft telekinetic embrace. She certainly doesn't *feel* dead. Her thoughts snap to the present as she sees the transport falling. Yep, still in the world of the living, but she's caught in a telekinetic fist.

Paragon shouts out to Seraph, "The transport! Quick! Toss me beneath it if you can! I can catch it!" She doesn't seem concerned about getting hurt by the fall, or getting crushed by the transport. Her only concern is the driver and any other people inside.

Tigress leaves the restaurant and crosses the street to the base of the station building. SHe is eyeing the building itself but that took most of her movement to get across the street.

Porter frowns. The guy has a point about the hostages. Then again, they're the reason he has a point. Obviously, he doesn't see any Paragon catching or mashing below, or he might not be so nice. "So you can hurt more people?! No." Porter tries to look as authoritative, firm, and even intimidating as he can. "Turn off the time and bombs, and /maybe/ I'll let you leave."

Porter even points a menacing, pointy finger at Event Horizon, in case it helps.

After just getting rescued from falling, Paragon's already asking to get dropped again. Seraph's aim is true and launches Paragon straight at an intersecting flight path with the transport. She latches on to the rear bumper with on hand and pulls the transport over to her as the two forms plummet. "This...is...not smart!" Paragon punctuates to herself as she hauls the transporter to her, now shifting her grip to hold on to the two wheel axis. Hopefully this transport has some good suspension beyond just Paragon's body! She stares down at the ground rushing up to meet her, gritting her teeth as she tries to gauge how much to brace to protect the driver. With a thunderous CRACK and a shattering of concrete, Paragon forms a sizable crater in the ground as she's driven down, still trying to ease the transport as she flexes her knees and arms, crumpling beneath the transport and ending up flat on her back. A dust cloud kicks up, and as the dust clears, the transport looks to be in pretty good shape. Paragon, not so much. Her eyes flicker off. Not a sound escapes her as she lies still. And then, after everything's settled...the transport rocks a little with a sharp popping sound from the deploying airbags, just in time to be not helpful at all. Paragon moans quietly from the jostling of the car, and in delayed reaction from the impact. "Uhhhnnnn....ow..."

With a single brow raising... Event Horizon gestures... Aftermath has -just- smashes his way in through the window. "I like you Mister Porter. It would be a shame if you forced me to do you harm. I have no incentive to cooperate. You are here... you and your... associates, seem to have gone with a haphazard charge, not communicating with each other at all. I could have killed the hostages if I wished at any point, but I am not a sadist. These are prisoners of war. I simply needed to provide... motivation for others to cooperate. So, you wish conflict?" He sighs and looks to the two ladies.

"Very well. You may choose any one of us as an opponent. Keep in mind, I could easily decide that all four of us should attack... but I think I will allow you a little freedom of choice here."

Of course, the two ladies, as well as Aftermath, look to be chomping at the bit, each wanting to attack. Well, maybe not Cerebellum, she's glancing at the computer screen. . . a little whine escaping her. "My game won't pause..." she mutters.

Porter isn't entirely dumb, his arrival here notwithstanding. He eyes Event Horizon. Then his eyes drop a little lower. Hey, that belt looks rather familiar. What are the odds that the one Porter received by mistake with the smudged label was... Well, it would explain how they keep appearing everywhere. And Porter knows those things are glitchy. Especially in his presence. "I'm not letting you just take off again." So he chooses option D!

And when the gestures from Porter makes the belt... start sparking as if it shorted out, Event Horizon raises a brow once more. "you choose me then. Most unwise." He remarks as he gestures.... the very air about Porter taking on a most... rippling quality.

And Porter feels himself gripped by what feels like... many times Earth's gravity, lifting upwards and slamming him into the ceiling and holding him there...

Porter was expecting something bad. Maybe not the ceiling. The wall or the floor seemed more likely. Maybe they would've been softer, as he's slammed into it and knocked senseless with a grunt.

Tigress is sent flying, flung in through the window that Aftermath just broke. She lands on her feet like... well.. most cats. And is well, right beside Aftermath and Corona. Not the -best- location but... eh, it is what it is. She's inside!

As the tiger comes sailing through the window, Aftermath raises a brow. "Boss?" he asks as he lashes out, "It's raining kitties!"

"Legion are the warriors of hope. The righteous shall fight true against villainy." Seraph takes a moment to regard his surrounds and observes the running Tigress. Hmm. This will not do. "Join the fray, my friend." With a gesture, he scoops up the felinoid and flings her through the open window.

Turning her eyes towards the Tigress, Cerebellum grins, "Kitty!" she announces in a childlike voice. But then her voice goes serious. "You -are- a man eating tiger. Aren't you? I think that man there would taste -great-. Why don't you go find out?" And she's pointing at Porter, who is stunned and all.

Tigress shrugs off the mind control, eating people is bad, she is trying to cut back. She shakes her head a bit, "Where are hostages?" so far she hasn't been hurt so she can think things through.

Even as Corona points a hand at Tigress and says, "I love the smell of burning fur!..." and plasma jets out towards the tiger girl... it's a gout of fiery ionized plasma... it's like the sun's plasma! A narrow jet of the stuff... Event Horizon mutters, "Stop it." He's a bit too late. Corona is impulsive and has been restrained too long.....

And after the blast, Event Horizon mutters. "Damnit. I was going to tell her where to find her... prisoners..."

Tigress does get a bit of singed fur, "Wasn't going to fight." she growls and then launches at Corona, can't help it, she singed fur.

The tiger girl takes the flame, the smell of burning fur filling the room and her fur coat smoking badly before charging in on Corona. "Oh, this will be cute." she mutters just before she is struck. Both hands of the lycanthrope are -badly- burned, but Corona is sent flying across the room, slamming into a wall...

And Corona burns the wall where she hits and breaks through the wall to land outside... and nope, no more plasma.

Porter manages to such in a partially good breath after getting the wind knocked out of him. "Thirteenth... floor... hostages.. timer won't stop.... bombs on them.." And then he's back to wheezing and gasping.

Porter, from his position stuck to the ceiling still, that is.

"Hey!" yells Cerebellum. She narrows her eyes towards Tigress. "That was just mean! Bad kitty!" she yells, "BAD! BAD! BAD! BAD! BAAAAADDDD!" and that last word is yelled in more of a screech that resounds inside Tigress's head...

Meanwhile, Event Horizon sighs. He just shakes his head. "Porter Porter Porter..." He just sighs and adds, "If I want someone to know, I will tell them." And with an almost casual gesture, he hurls Porter out that broken window... on a truly prodigious ballistic arc as his gravitic powers stop exerting force, and Earth takes over.

Meanwhile, Aftermath just sighs, "Boss?" And Event Horizon says, "No, don't kill her." Aftermath is like... about to reach for Tigress. "Young woman, if you make your way to the thirteenth floor, you can save your prisoners. Leave us and go be a hero. Or stay and let them die. The choice is yours."

With wings of pure ephemera outstretched, Seraph beats at the air to gain elevation. He had just about settled into a good pace when.. zing! There goes another one out the window. He stretches forth his hand and once more the grace of God saves a hero from a near certain demise at the hands of gravity. "It is not yet your time, my friend. There are villains yet to defeat!"

There's a slight groan and a grumble from underneath the transport car, inaudible to the heroes battling above.

Tigress nods her head and almost goes after one of the others but shakes her head. She turns and goes out the window and climb down 2 floors, claws digging into the side of the building as she goes, and then goes to break a window to get into the 13th floor.

Porter believed he could fly, now he's in the arms of the angel. He blinks. "I know! We got to get up there! The hostages are on the thirteenth floor. With bombs on the timer. And he's not going to stop it!"

Tigress throws herself out the window, well not quite throws, but she goes over to the window, plants a hand and then swings out and then digs her claws into the side of the building as she goes down 2 floors and into the 13th floor looking for the hostages.

And.. now that nobody is in the room, others do things creatively... out of sight. Event Horizon does look back down briefly, then nods to himself. Tigress is able to see through the 13th floor window. The room she looks into is empty, but the door leading out of that room is partially open...

Through the mildly cracked open door, someone in a business suit can be seen. Not much of them, just a pinstriped sleeve, but... it's a good indication of someone who likely works here in there.

Lia shakes her head, and mutters to herself. Dropping her invisibility, she becomes hazy and partially transparent, before flying /through/ the window, passing through it effortlessly, and flying up the building-she wants to find out what floor the bad guys are on (and perhaps blast them into releasing the hostages).

Porter just points back up at the broken window he fell out of. "C'mon! We've got to stop them and get the people out!"

Inside... events unfold. Nobody sees them now so... Event Horizon is no longer visible in the window....

"Hey." Lia calls, looking to Seraph, "Do you know where the hostages are?" She sounds pretty desperate.

As Porter flops into the room, it's empty. The door to the hallway stands open. . . The place seems deserted...

"The thirteenth floor." Seraph declares as he flaps his virtual wings once more. Again, he soars upwards and.. with a gesture of 'divine' will... Porter goes flying through the window he just sailed out of.

Porter is aerodynamic today. Though his landings could use some work. He lands, but not very well. "Damnit. They're on the move!" He yells that so hopefully others can hear. Then he gets up, and heads for the hallway.

Tigress will try to claw her way through the window and go for the hostages, which she is pretty sure she sees through a doorway.

Paragon groans weakly, her eyes slowly illuminating with a quiet buzzing sound as she opens them. She rolls onto her stomach groggily. A hand reaches out from under the transport and grips the ground, fingers digging grooves into the cement. With the scraping sound of metal on concrete, Paragon drags herself out from under the transport and picks herself up off the ground. Pulverized concrete dust falls from her form as she rise and slowly cranes her head to look upwards, eyes gleaming and glowing more brightly. "The hostages..." she murmurs, trying to seek a way to get back up to the top of the building. She waves up to the others as they seem to gather at the window below Event Horizon's Floor. "Hey! Did you guys find the hostages?!" Paragon calls up.

Lia looks relieved: The other heroes know where the hostages are. Since rescuing people isn't her specialty, she becomes a green blob of magic as she /stretches/ up to the floor with the broken glass, reforming back into a normal, not blurry or hazy Lia at this floor. She looks to see if anyone's still there.

Porter is running for the door out of the room. Hopefully, he can catch a glimpse of something once he hits the hallway. If not, he's going to have to guess which way to turn.

"Porter!" Lia calls, flying towards him at full speed, looking happy to see him. "What's going on?"

Paragon fires off a salute to Seraph as he hefts her with his telekinesis. "Many thanks, Friend!"

Seraph continues to gain altitude but at a pace that must be maddening for the six winged Seraph. He once again takes hold of a hero and brings him back to the fray, lifting him to his place heavenward.

Porter dashes into the stairwell and looks up and down. "Damnit!" Then he looks at Lia. "They could be in the elevator! It was moving, too!" He ran for the stairs, because, well... they were closer. And he can't walk down an elevator.

Upon entering the window, there is an office which is pretty much empty. Desk, chair, computer.. sure. Door is cracked a bit and there are some sounds on the other side. Muffled sounds, mild movement...

With no other heroes to rescue, save, lift, or otherwise transport, Seraph focuses upon flying and the mighty wings bring him to the 13th floor and inside in haste. Once through the hole in the window, he explains to Paragon. "The hostages are on this level. The villains on the 15th floor." He releases Paragon here and regards the door circumspectly. "I doubt he booby trapped the door." So saying, he pushes the door open with his body and continues inside...

Lia nods to Porter, and wave washes over her body, making her green and transparent and blurry once more as she rushes through the wall, trying to catch up with the elevator. [Game] Activate Desolid, Move to the elevator

The elevator is just arriving at the top floor up above. That much is easily apparent...

There is however, evidence of the shaft having been used without the car...

Lia eyes the elevator. Hastily, and possibly without much foresight, Lia holds her hands up above her, and her magical energy collects around them. And in a single motion, she sends a large beam of energy straight up towards the elevator cabin!

The blast goes up and strikes the elevator, all about it, and ... well... damages the cables. At first, when the blast is done, all is quiet... and then rapid fire snapping sounds indicate that...well.. INCOMING

The elevator falls, falls, and passes RIGHT through Lia. Perhaps she was distracted by... ELEVATOR and missed any other details.....

The elevator continues going down, and then the brakes engage. It stops well before it reaches the bottom.....

Porter may have guessed the wrong means, but they still had to go up or down. So he makes a WAG with 50/50 odds. Which is better than he usually gets. He starts heading down the stairs as fast as he can. Well, short of severe gravitic assistance.

Paragon follows quickly behind Seraph, going through the door with the muffled sounds and mild movement to see what's there.

Behind the door, is a room with twenty three people zip tied at the wrist. Each has a choker that isn't very stylish, but which have little lumps on the back of the neck. Each one has high tech attachments, obvious radio receivers.

Paragon's eyes scan the crowd. "Please, everyone remain calm, we're here to help. Starguard officers will be here to help shortly," Paragon says soothingly. She asks the most calm and collected looking person in the group, "Tell me what happened. Is there any traps or bombs I should know about?" She looks around the room looking for other devices.

The people look panicked as Paragon starts speaking. "Shhh.." one says. Then the same person whispers. "Decibal meter... if it spikes, they blow. They explained it when they strapped them on. Also... motion activated. If we move too quickly, they blow. And then... I'm told that if we leave range of the building's wifi... they blow."

Paragon nods slowly and whispers, "Event Horizon was broadcasting a countdown. Do you know anything about that?"

"I think... well, I think it's.. the wifi will stop broadcasting the right signal to keep it from blowing." replies the young man who seems to have kept his head and know a little something about tech.

Paragon gently nods and says quietly, "I'd better get the bomb experts here quick. I...I'm so sorry, but if I stay to unbind all of you, it'll waste previous time that they will need to deal with those collars. It'll be alright, I promise." Paragon quietly and slowly steps backwards, looking around the offices for a phone so she can call Starguard HQ and get patched to the ground forces waiting outside the building.

Down below the EOD guy picks up his phone, "Lieutentant Stuart. Is it clear to enter?" he asks bluntly. When told the situation, he says, "Roger, I'm heading for the elevator. I'll be up there shortly."

As folks begin to head down to chase the villains, and the EOD expert reaches the elevator doors on the first floor. Lt Stuart calls up to Paragon and asks, "Why is the elevator showing halfway between 8 and 9?" He waits to hear a reply, and then precisely ten seconds after they sent the elevator up... (that's phase 6 for game terms...) the bomb left in the elevator car, that Lia didn't see when she phased through the elevator... detonates.

The whole building shakes, and it's a good thing Lia was desolid, because pieces of the elevator car fly through her like a giant frag grenade.

Downstairs, the EOD guy flinches, thinking they all detonated. The noise got a bit loud on floor 13, but didn't spike and set off the bombs. "What happened?!" he asks.

But when it's realized that was just the shaft, Seraph remarks, "I'll get the guy." and as he is told to go out front, Lt. Stuart does, and is elevated by Seraph to the hole in the window.

In time, with one minute and four seconds left on the countdown, Stuart manages to figure out how to remove the collars without setting them off. At twelve seconds left, the last one is taken off. "They are going to blow!" he declares, handing them to Paragon... kinda... sheepishly and helpfully. The timer is on... ten.... nine...

Of course Porter got halfway there before he had to now run back up the stairs. THat's how it works. And then he's watching the tech work, nervous. Which gets worse when they're all handed to Paragon. "Be careful!" He still hasn't had time to hear about the transport she took to the face.

Paragon's eyes flicker as he piles the bomb collars into her arms, grasping them all carefully and remembering they're motion and sound based. She carefully moves towards the window, carrying the bombs away from the hostages, now counting down in her head.. o O (8...7...6...5...4...3...JUMP!). Paragon leaps up and away from the building, curling up into a ball with the bombs held close. If she's lucky, her momentum should land her on the parking complex instead of all the way down to the street after the bombs go off while she's still in mid air. She holds her breath and braces for it.

Porter frowns as Paragon jumps out the window. That's being careful? He winces, and hopes for the best. Really hard. Sometimes it works. He doesn't notice the ones that she drops... right at his feet. Which is why he doesn't think it works.. Since explosion is so powerful, even from way out there, he's blown off his feet... and into a recycling bin full of crumpled paper.

With a muffled boom, the explosive collars go off, enveloping Paragon in a cloud of dark smoke. Her arc continues as she lands roughly in a crouch on the parking garage across the street. Tendrils of smoke rise off of her as she stands and brushes off the ash that was once the collars, along with any explosive powder and residue. She seems mostly unharmed by her stance, despite her armor being sooty and dusty from the night's events. She looks back at the 13th floor, taking a deep, exhausted breath. It looks like Event Horizon got away again. But at least, it seems, nobody died this day.