Devil's Advocate shoulders the drone eviscerated by Bad Penny's blaster, incidentally covering the wounded arm from casual observation, and walks past the transport.
To Dr. D: "Well, we all have our hobbies."
The masque-copy shows no interest whatsoever in the other prisoners. She climbs into the transport and sits. The true Masque, Anne-Marie, comes inside, only dismissing her invisibility when she sits on the copy's lap. She's done what she was blackmailed into doing, but she sees no reason to free any other prisoners.
After all, they're criminals.
Looking about among the prisoners for any still wearing nullifiers & unlikely to be able to have them removed before time to depart, 'You have choices to make. Ms. Ramirez has offered to lead you to the relative safety of the sewers. Some of you may also take your chances with us, I will speak personally for the first two of you so inclined.'
Professor Mayhem shrugs as he walks by Doctor Destruction and heads into ship without a word. The job was complete and there was no reason to respond to Destruction's sneers and taunts since he wanted no part in freeing the other prisoners.
Playing heroes? Breaking people out of prison, boss. Seems like another Tuesday on the villainy clock if you ask me. Bad Penny hops up into the transport. Job description doesn't change just cause some fin-heads are in charge now.
A pause and then Bad Penny gives a gravelly laugh.
Does make it more satisfying, though.
Doctor Destruction raises his arm, the blaster held in it starting to power up, the tip glowing softly as he points it past Belledonna to the two following her. "Return to the others, you will be collected shortly."
The two gauntleted supers stop instantly, eyes going wide, a liquid sound drawing Belle's attention to the puddle forming beneath the short, scrawny one. The other manages a bit more dignity as he gives Belle both a reluctant and apologetic glance, before he turns and heads back to the others, giving nervous glances over his shoulder. The other manages to stumble a few steps away before his legs give out. Oz meanwhile, seems to be torn between hiding behind Belledonna, and stepping in front of her, finally doing the latter as Destruction's attention shifts elsewhere.
-=-=-=-=-=-
A loud howl draws attention to Valerie and her group as they hoof it towards the fenceline, not bothering with the gate, just heading to the nearest section. As all attention turns in the direction you are able to watch as the first man Bad Penny rescued, who was subsequently freed from his cuffs by Devil's Advocate, seems to be sprouting fur all over his body, his clothes tearing to ribbons as he does so. The transformation--straight out of a werewolf movie--swiftly completes, and he bounds quickly ahead of Valerie, leaping at the fence and tearing it to ribbons before Devil's Advocate has gotten more than a few metres from the transport.
It's a smaller group than Belledonna might have hoped, but a lot of the prisoners who remained to see what your promised transport would be are seriously reconsidering their options now they know who is providing it. After a moment 3 or 4 people do break from the group and start running after Valerie and co. Moments later there is a low rumble from just past the group waiting on Doctor Destruction's mercy, as suddenly the other un-nullified super blasts into the air in a shower of dirt, a few moments later a loud sonic boom announcing his disappearance into the night sky
A sigh comes from Doctor Destruction's helmet speakers as the sounds of both the howl and sonic boom echoes through the surrounding area. "Get on, or be left behind. It doesn't matter to me, either way you will serve my purposes." he turns away from the remaining villains as his minions help Mindjack into the transport, walking into the back of the transport, grabbing a handhold as the repulsors grows louder and the ship starts to raise into the air giving Belle, Oz, Devil's Advocate mere moments to jump inside. Oz looks nervously at Belledonna, but holds his position at her side.
Mus'ad shrugs before discarding his unmoving drone cargo and lumbering aboard the transport. Offhand as he pushes past Dr D "Even ants deserve to die outside of cage." the Camel of Kashmir finds a seat to take his bulk and begins drumming with his hands on his knees while humming a ditty.
Returning to the transport and dropping the damaged drone with Mus'ad's the Advocate pauses to scan the pile for any outgoing radio ect. signals. (At least to the extent that Awareness can find them.) Hauling the former drones into the transport poses some difficulty for the wounded villain but the lure of understanding their particle beams and power-supplies lends strength where it was otherwise lacking.
Hanging on to a stanchion as the transport rises The Advocate watches calmly as Rebecca compiles finely detailed full spectrum 3-d models of Destruction, the green suited minions, and the other members of the newly formed Omega cell.
All present see the pale pink-violet bloom of psychic energy about Belledonna's eyes as a similar bloom manifests about Dr. Destruction's helmet. 'Shove too hard you murderous thug & eventually someone will push BACK!'
As the light flares around Belledonna' and Destruction's heads, the weapons of the three minions in the transport are already being raised, the green suited men taking aim at Belledonna. The transport continues to rise into the air as Devil's Advocate leaps into the craft, and the motion causes one of the men's shots to pass over Belledonna's head. The other two men shift their stance, adjusting for the motion and hit her with blasts of energy from the unfamiliar guns. The energy does not seem to have any noticeable effect however, simply washing over her, leaving her unharmed, not even causing her to stumble.
Belledonna manages to jump up and grab a firm hold of the rear of the craft, scrambling quickly on board. She is met by the three guns of Destruction's minions and the--as ever--emotionless stare of the Doctor's impassive mask.
"Izzy..." comes the strained call of Oz, who is still dangling from the back of the craft by his fingertips.
With her help her current thrall is able to clamber aboard, and collapse on the decking.
Foolish woman.
Professor Mayhem does not take an actions to help or hinder the annoying woman as she barely manages to make it aboard. He just leans back against the hull as he closes his eyes to rest. He had pushed himself several times and the dark fates had granted him the power with little cost beyond the normal tiredness that washes over him after extended magic use.
Mus'ad makes no move to assist.
Masque and masque each reach out a hand to assist the Devil's Advocate as he scrambles on board.
To the Masques "Thank you both." Thinking 'Hmmm, fully solid duplicate, rare. Or perhaps I have it backwards...No rumors about Masque being twins but if they kept it quiet enough. But there was only one of them on the transport...at least only one that I saw..'
When the fireworks start Devil tries to blend into the crowd of Nullified prisoners.
As Belladona makes her powerplay Bad Penny tenses, ready from long experience to duck out of the way of the counterstroke's blast radius or blood spray. Neither apparently forthcoming, he shrugs and relaxes slightly. He does not however go anywhere near Belladonna in the near future.
Belledonna becomes Anathema to the rest of the team as she pulls Ozzy in and settles onto the bench. The trip is exceedingly uncomfortable, Destruction's attention eventually slipping from Belledonna to the still dazed Mind-jack, while the minions remain tense and alert, their weapons ready.
It is blessedly short jump however, as those familiar with Star City are able to recognize the dingy structures of Southpoint passing beneath the craft, rising up towards it. It's forward movement halts and the craft lowers onto the street in front of an abandoned looking warehouse, much like dozens of others in this section of Star City's slum-like district.
"I thank you for your service tonight. You performed better than I thought you would. I suggest you come up with a team name for yourselves. You're an Omega cell now, whether you want to be or not."
"I'll be in touch."
The minions gesture insistently for you all to exit the vehicle, and as soon as the last steps out the rear hatch closes, and the transport tacks off into the night.
Watching as the craft powers away, Belledonna murmurs to herself. "Well, he certainly showed me..." There is a faint smile, almost a smirk really, on her face as she says it though.
Upon hearing her voice, the rest of you realize the mental link she had been maintaining dropped about the time Destruction's minions hit her with that strange energy beam. "Well Ozymandias, you said you had 'the package' stashed somewhere. I hope that somewhere is nearby."
"DA, you know how to reach me...
you have such a desire."
", Lady, I would say it's been a pleasure but we all know I would be lying." With that, she allows Oz to lead her off in the direction of the crash space he had been using until his own untimely incarceration.
Mus'ad exits the shuttle and does not allow Dr D's words to cause any concern... he was free now, and despite having a new master - the Camel of Kashmir was on the way up. Muscling his way to the bag of possessions, Mus'ad begins to drape himself in his gaudy golded finery as he looks around.
"This place is sh1thole... someone needs to clean it up." clearly not self-nominating. "Not sure why we need name, easier to just name after me. You weaklings likely die quick anyway... but if must then I would say Harem of Mus'ad." voice not showing any degree of mirth.
As the craft leaves, Masque allows her copy to dissipate, and looks around the warehouse. It would have to do. Her apartment was compromised, and who knows what other intel the Council and the V'sori had gathered on her safehouses. No, it was better to abandon the past for now, and concentrate on her current situation.
Too dangerous to stay here while all these would-be leaders work out who's running the show. Need somewhere close, though. Underground? She strolled around the floor of the place, looking for any sign of an entrance to the city's subsurface areas.
Bad Penny eyes the structure dubiously. Old habit has him ticking through what needs to be fixed up and modified for a proper lair. No way it'll stand up to Fin guns, even reinforced, better keep a low profile. Exit tunnels could help with that. Shielding. Need to pull juice from somewhere besides the grid. Early warning system needed. Self destruct? Of course. Can't abandon the basics. And a few cats to keep the rats down.
...the hell if I'm gonna do all that work. Let the greenhorns sweat and scrub for once.
Mus'ad's rumblings agree with Bad Penny's assessment of the building. Agreement quickly goes downhill from there.
Oh, this promises to be a productive conversation... I need a cigar.
Professor Mayhem resisted the urge to proclaim several things about the other members of his newly found group of rebels.
"Not on your life." was the only response that Mus'ad received as Professor Mayhem walked into the building. He found a place at the nexus of the building as he took a knee to prepare some arcane markings on the ground. He moved about putting them at the corners of the building, the doorways, and several other places in silence.
Finished with the grunt work then he returned to the nexus and began a chant.
The Devil's Advocate Walks through the cavern like structure.
"Perfect. Plenty of space and nearly invisible. I wonder whose turf we are on? None of the tags looked recent but that just means we're in a non contested area. Now if you will excuse me I need to see what this unique fixer upper can offer by way of a clean room."
The Advocate commandeers the warehouse office as a makeshift infirmary/design stuido.
Though the V'Sori left Bad Penny in his normal clothes, they took anything on his person, and his cigars inevitably ended up in some fat-cat's pocke whether it be a V'sori or possibly one of their human cronies. He had plenty back home, but who knows what has happened to them.
Oz jumps, startled as he looks at Izzy. "Oh, yes it's..." he looks around at the fairly featureless industrial storage district you find yourselves in. "...just as soon as I figure out where we are." he admits with a nervous laugh, glancing at the other villains, before picking a direction and heading that way.
Eventually you arrive at an apartment building in an area in not much better condition that Southpoint. Oz manages to find a spare key--though if he hadn't breaking in likely wouldn't have posed much difficulty--and lets you into a tiny, filthy apartment. You're starting to think it may not have been his time in prison that made Oz smell so bad.
Mus'ad is indeed still free, but his scalp is itchy; his soul hungers for the return of his turban...
Masque finds no trapdoors within the warehouse, the only 'access' to the sewers within the building is the tiny toilet in the office. Out in the street however it is not difficult to locate a manhole if she truly wishes to go tromping through the sewers.
It's been since I had decent deep kelp...
Now that I think about it, the last time was when we were planning for that...' You hear what can only be the psionic equivalent of a snicker. ' wasn't really you, was it?'
'No wonder he was so spiked & jittery on caffeine...
'Yes, lunch tomorrow will be quite acceptable. We can reminisce & you can tell me more about what has happened since the 'fins' blasted me into a coma. Shall we say, 1:35?'
While Oz has been showering, Isabelle has occupied herself with starting to clean the place up. 'Ozymandias! I appreciate your commitment to our work, but of our work of improving the is improving . You will not be taken seriously as a leader of men if you present yourself as some filthy, disease-ridden gutter dweller. For that matter, as events stand, our continued survival is going to require working with others, most likely the others I was with when we removed you from incarceration.'
' standing among others is affected by your personal presentation. I will not have our odds of success imperiled by irrational attachment to your 'masculine essence'!'
Once they are working on cleaning the place as best they are able, , Isabelle will get Oz to start talking about what has happened since her incarceration. While he is doing this, as a reminder of what she is capable of, Isabelle will Mind Read him. Given that it is at the same time the least directly harmful & second most invasive of her powers, it will hopefully get the point across that he needs to straighten up his act because 'we' are sitting at the 'big kids' table now.
Masque's idea of reconnoitering an area may be a bit unusual. Walls are no hindrance to movement, and she has little fear of being spotted casually, and in a potentially dodgy situation, she has a spare she can use. She doesn't limit herself to knowing the streets, but explores the buildings. Intangible and invisible, she walks through apartments and offices, businesses and supply closets. She's cautious, knowing invisibility is not fool-proof, but comfortable enough with the advantage it gives her.
If there is nothing to tip her to V'sori or Black Council activity in the vicinity of their headquarters, she will resume her vendetta. Though her apartment and her files had been compromised, she was not entirely without resources. Just before she had been taken, she had eliminated a pretzel vendor named Jonathan Fleischer, who was in fact a member of the Black Council. She would find a suitable black dress and attend his funeral, with the masque, invisible, to listen to the conversations. The Council was sure to send a representative, and she had observed him long enough to pass herself off as an acquaintance.
"Poor Jonathan, always trying to pass off Letterman's jokes as his own."
Smiling Mus'ad claps his hands, creating an echoing boom that floods through the poorly maintained lurk "No-one have any other suggestion... so is now official name... though bald one and tiny one may need be eunuch..." pondering it as though a heavy thought.
"But first, Mus'ad hungers... first biriyani, then vengeance." making to move outside their lair and attempt to find an Indian or Pakistani restaurant somewhere.
Belledonna senses a slight discomfort from Oz's end of the conversation, as she continues to lecture him while he is in the shower, though it could be the subject as well.
As she starts to rummage through the piles of filth she discovers what she suspects, that his cleaning supplies are about as non-existent as his personal grooming. About the only thing in good condition she does find is his pristine surf-board, stored carefully in a cupboard with it's supply of waxes and other care supplies.
Once his shower is finished Oz will reluctantly help clean up, and then sit on the floor, while Izzy takes the one, ricketty chair. Oz does a surprisingly competent job of bringing Izzy up to speed; his knowledge does seem to focus more on surfing and sports than more useful things, but he covers all the main highlights. His knowledge on V'Sori military units is fairly sparse, but it's not exactly a frequently discussed topic if you don't want said military to bust down your door and drag you off. He starts to fidget and squirm in discomfort when she starts poking around in his head, but doesn't resist, just appearing discomforted.
Since it is the middle of the night there are unlikely to be any funerals taking place, but Masque hijacking someone else's computer momentarily, she is able to find a funeral announcement for Fleischer tomorrow afternoon.
Approximately 08:40 AM the next morning there is a knock/wrap/hammer at the various doors of where our villains find themselves, including the warehouse, Oz's ramshackle two-room apartment, and the abandoned apartment Masque fell asleep in a few short hours ago.
Mus'ad wakens to the knock with his belly still full of cheap food. Rising with an ill temper, he stamps to the door and tears it open to bellow "Who disturbs the slumber of Mus'ad?"
Mus'ad's bellow startles a simply dressed man, which even the self-centred and not too bright Mus'ad should recognise as a courier. Hwithers beneath Mus'ad's gaze, sneaking a peak at a small mechanical device. He swallows noticeably before speaking.
"I-I have p-packages for... Bad P-penny, M-mus'ad, Devil's A-advocate, and P-professor M-mayhem." he stutters out, holding four identical looking packages in brown paper up for Mus'ad's inspection, much in the same way one would hold out food to a tiger, clearly just hoping to be able to leave with his hands still attached.
Oz sets the package down, rubs the sleep from his eyes and mumbles the description of a person in similar dress though much more relaxed demeanor to the poor man currently trying to figure out whether it is worth his life to ask Mus'ad for his signature for the packages. Seing as you have so recently vacated his 'bed' he will take the opportunity to try and go back to bed, breathing in deep from the pillow as he does so, and sighing.
If we aren't in combat rounds, Masque will duplicate herself, turn intangible and invisible, step through the wall into the corridor to see who's knocking, while the masque will remain visible and tangible and approach the door.
If we are in rounds, I await initiative.
Mus'ad reaches out and grabs the proferred package, though only the one for him. Then walking away from the door he calls out "Puny men and bald devil - you have package." as he tears it open to gauge the contents.
The courier's shoulders slump in relief as Mus'ad leaves; the others might look odd when they come to collect but at least they didn't look like their muscles should pop. "Can... can I get a signature?" he asks them, still a little hesitant.
"Did the council send you?" the masque in the door with the porcelain skin asks.
"Now do you want your package or not, 'Masque'?" she asks, clearly still impatient, and not terribly phased by the gun pointing at her head. Masque can see--if she cares to look at it--her name on the package partially obscured by this woman's arm.
"I do want the package, thank you" the masque says, and squeezes the trigger twice.