"Sure, but here's the deal. That's two people. Of how many? How many people do we have to worry about wanting to gun us down because they knew we were almost assuredly tied to it? I mean, it could be a freak accident or something. But even barring that... what was it that you wanted to do with the pair? I think that's still the most important question to deal with."
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Goo nods his head in agreement to Pulse's remarks as he thinks, there isn't much more to add to that.
"It's not 'Meta' or 'Not Meta' for me, Aegis. It's... about relative danger. We need to find out about various connections that someone has before we get in too deep. There was no mention of a coalition of supervillains... though I feel like they do kind of run together, given my introduction to 'Other people do have powers, icicles hurt.' But this is a little difference. This isn't one man who can sling bullets out of his hand. This is likely hundreds of men we can't possibly see the connections of. I'm not saying we can set them straight, and I'm also not saying we outright tolerate them... but we have to recognize our limitations. All it takes is one guy with a silenced gun getting the drop on one of us... and we're out of luck. In Goo's case, a supersoaker. I'm just advocating we at least try to protect ourselves while we do all of this, and take on only smaller risks until we get our legs under us, and have a safe place to stay."
"Shimmer's probably a better choice, either way." Hotaru says, but frowns and shakes her head. It was so odd that Ace had stood up for Whippoorwill, saving her life, but the one who wanted her dead (and wasn't afraid to share that rather openly) was a better choice. She really didn't want to know what had happened to their resident Hawk-girl.
"We should look at it from someone whose perspective is pretty easily shown. What would you have done with yourself, given the situation? What is a fair punishment? What level of commitment is safe?" she asks, trying to guide the others a bit, rather than pushing her own opinions for now; she preferred filling in the last bit of silence to share what she thought.
Briana sat silently for a long while, brooding on Pulse's questions. She had pulled one of her wings around her shoulder and was stroking the soft feathers absently while she thought.
"Had I been in that car, I would have fought," she confesses. "Had it happened a year ago, I would have fought and killed them all except the last one, then learned who sent them. And then pay him a visit.
"Now, though, I want to do things differently. Here's the reality: we're not set up to take captives. People like those men in the warehouse, we could conceivably do the Spider-Man thing. Beat them up, then leave them and whatever evidence we uncover for the authorities. Let the cops do what they do."
She takes a deep breath and continues. "The Metas, though, I don't know what to do, but we'd probably need to figure it out fast. I'm not going to give over anyone to Ace and let him increase his little army, or pass judgment and kill them. They can't go to the cops, since they'll either escape or get turned over to the government. So, if we can't find a way to come to a truce or turn them to our side, we capture and keep them ourselves.
"Which means we need to build a prison."
Goo cautions, "Whip, we need to work with Ace and his group and any talk to the contrary is dangerous. We were asked to do a job so let's stick to the man
"I'm not buying a prison, way too suspicious and my bank account needs a little rest. We don't even know what kind of prison we'd need we have no idea how to contain metas something we'd have to learn from Shadowcat."
"Ace and is group condones killing, and they view the lives of ordinary people as less than those of metas. I'm through with all the bloodshed; I want to try something else. We might have to wing it -- ugh, I did not intend that -- when we encounter our first unaffiliated meta. Maybe we can talk to them. Bring them to our side. Help them."
She looks at Aegis. "And spare your bank account further stress."
"It's... more complicated than that." Hotaru says, then looks distracted for a moment, staring out the window. Whip's phone blips, and then Hotaru pulls her knees up to her chest.
Regardless of all of that, look at where you are right now. Think of where you would be if you hadn't met Ace and his group. Your personal experience was bad, but imagine having sprouted your wings in a bus station when an old friend pulled a gun on you. Imagine Aegis gaining a few tons on a cruise liner. Imagine my powers first sparking up in a hospital.
You were arguably affected more than most of us, save perhaps Goo. But, there are many who have been put into a much worse place, I'm almost certain. There's a good chance a meta has killed themselves with their own powers. That's why Ace trained us. He didn't force anyone to fight... he gave us the option to go home, though I do understand that your home was somewhere you didn't want to return.
I don't believe that it's fair to blame Ace for something that would have happened anyway, for something that could have been much, much worse had he not been around. Think about what Ace specifically did to you... I don't know everything that happened, but assuming I'm right, that he's not a terrible guy... there's a good shot you're blaming him for something that he had nothing to do with. Or maybe it had everything to do with him... but just think it through.
At the moment, we need them. They're the seniors. But we can reach out to any one of them, if we know how. Shimmer should be easy. Shadowpriest should be easy. Ace should be easy. They have resources we need, most specifically, the information and experience in dealing with all of this. It's up to you who we contact to ask about ice metas... but I intend to do so. Shimmer does seem like the best choice as she doesn't forget.
Anyway... sorry.
"Whip for now I am against anything of the sort. Ace and his group have not giGoo concludes.
Briana rubs her face, and when she pulls her hand away it's a mask of tortured emotions. She glances at her phone, then her eyes meet Pulse's.
She puts the phone away without reading the whole thing, and turns to Goo. "Against what, exactly? I understand that you appreciate what they've done for you, but I'm-- I've got a completely different experience. I will not work with them again if I have a choice."
Looking to put some distance between herself and the group, she excuses herself and moves to the back of the bus. She pulls out her phone again and begins scrolling through a message.
After watching these exchanges, Violet pulls a chocolate bar out of her purse and offers it to Rocket. She stays quiet, other than to mutter about the cold.
Maybe if he gets enough sugar in his system, she thinks. He can warm the bus up by vibrating. Sugar jitters.
As Goo silently considers Whip's remarks he concludes, Unfortunately, I don't think you have a choice.
After a few moments of hugging her knees, Hotaru speaks up. "It's not really a good idea to leave this behind. The trail will turn cold, if two decades of television has taught me anything. If you don't find a missing person in the first few days, the risk of never finding them goes up, quickly. But.." she looks over to Violet, who had the biggest reason to go after her own lead.
Violet gives a mild smile to Pulse. It's that "thanks for thinking of me" smile Violet has cultivated among her team.
"No pun intended, right? The trail of the frostbite meta? Cold? No? Nobody?"
She shakes her head. "We should keep looking for the girl, and the chiller."
"So back to the bar?"
Because that worked so well last time.
Hotaru grimaces as Violet asks if the pun was intended, and shakes her head. "No, not really. But remember, the two might be one and the same."
"Yes back to t Goo agrees.
Then Aegis takes everyone back to the bar to investigate further.
"So... How are we going to go about all of this? Do you have any pictures of Richie, Rocket?"
Frustrated at being stuck in the bus Goo sullenly agrees, " A picture wo He adds, "I don't know if this will work but can Violet get a picture from Rocket's mind and sh
Violet considers.
"Maybe," she says. "But I'm not the best at that... one at a time, at best."
Glad that he had a good idea Goo smiles contently, "Sounds g
Briana finished reading her text a few times, looked up, and saw that most of the crew had left the bus to continue the search for the ice meta. She pulled her arm back and very seriously considered throwing the phone across the bus, but stayed her action. Instead she jammed it into her pocket and pounded on the cushioned seat in front of her for a while in frustration.
She eyed Goo, her bus-companion who was also stuck waiting as the others went out into public, but she didn't feel much like talking. Instead, she grabbed the file on the lion-killer and studied the information, trying to keep her mind off her own black thoughts.
Before leaving, Violet will provide a mental image of the girl, backed up by Rocket's artistic rendering of the images she'd given him earlier.
Some of you have very peculiar brains, she mentions to Rocket as she reinforces the image in his head. I suppose I should have expected that.
She steps off the bus, ready to recreate the "Check Us Out We Are A Couple" ruse with Rocket, and then pauses before heading in to the drinking establishment.
"Are you going to be able to go in there?" she asks him. "Or should I go in without you? Or give you the perfect fake ID? Or what?"
She gives a similar look to Pulse.
Hotaru shakes her head. "Nah, it'll be too difficult to reconcile that I wasn't old enough earlier. And it'd be odd. Besides, I told the mob boss I didn't have a fake idea, and if he's got people watching... Best not to. I'll stay out here and watch folks pass by." she briefly looks back towards the bus, then frowns.
Once everyone had gotten ready to leave or not Aegis would head out first."Whoever isn't coming can play lookout then."
Aegis would focus her questioning on people leaving the bar specifically those that looked like they've been drinking all night.
Goo nods his head and moves into a position where he can keep an eye on things.
Reluctantly disentangling himself from Vi, Rocket says, "I probably better stay out of the bar too. I can keep Hotaru company out here and keep an eye out."
Violet sighs, but nods in agreement with Rocket. "Okay, but you see anything, you yell, okay?"
Violet will tag along with Aegis, who she will 100% let do all the talking, while keeping her senses open for any shifts in people's moods when the questions start coming out.
The group spends a few hours talking to random people on the street in the cold, describing the missing girl and Richie, mostly to no effect.
Finally though, Aegis manages to find a group of college students who remember the couple leaving the bar.
Blond guy (Doug) : "Oh, yeah, those two. They were going at it pretty heavily. I remember because the girl kinda looked like my ex-girlfriend April, but it wasn't."
Redhead girl : "She didn't look anything like April, you idiot. She was way shorter and didn't have as big a boobs. I think hers were real though, not like that skank you used to date."
Black guy : "Yeah, but I think she was cuter than April. Anyway, they were headed over in that direction." He points over toward the Archway.
Black girl (Jasmin) : "Something happen to them? I bet it was that guy following them."
Blond Guy (Doug) : "What guy following them, what are you talking about Jasmin?"
Jasmin : "That white haired guy, the one with the muscles and the jacket. You remember Doug, the one that was creepy lookin' and almost knocked Trina over."
Redhead girl : "Oh, that guy! Yeah, Trina said it was like being hit by a truck when he pushed her out of the way."
Black guy : "Oh, him. Yeah. A+$&&+~..."
Violet calls Rocket over and asks... Jasmin, was it?
"My friend here's a pretty good artist. Do you think you could describe this white-haired jackwagon for us?"
Rocket cringes and blushes a bit at Violet's praise. Oh gawd, has she even seen my art? I mean I *like* murals, but I'm not any good at it!
He scrambles in his pocket to find a pencil and the blank backside of a piece of paper. "Oh, hi. Yeah, how tall was he? What did his jacket look like?"
Aegis would try to get some more information out of those that weren't describing the guy to Rocket and Violet.
"Did you notice anything else about them? A name or where they were headed?"
After they were done answering and Rocket had his rough draft Aegis would head back into the bus to report to the others.
"Arc looks like our best bet."
Rocket soon has four people arguing over what the white haired man looked like. He has the following :
He was between 5'7 and 6'2.
He was between 200 and 280 lbs.
He had short white hair, about an inch long, and oiled to his head (about the only thing they agreed on), and he had blue or red eyes.
He was between 25 and 50 years old.
He was wearing either a bomber jacket or a biker jacket.
The jacket was either dark blue or black.
The quartet weren't sure where they were headed beyond toward the arch.
As the quartet describes the man, Pulse has flashbacks to a certain night, blue eyes, white hair, dark jacket, a scar on his cheek...
"Did he have a scar? On his cheek?" Pulse interrupts as they begin to bicker amongst themselves.
The black girl stops and nods. "OH! Yeah, he did! I forgot about that! It was like right here..." She traces her finger from her cheek bone to the midpoint of her jaw. "It wasn't fugly or anything, just a line..."
Rocket starts trying to sketch at first...and then just as quickly stops as he realizes that there's not much here to draw. When Hotaru asks about a scar, Rocket gives her a quizzical glance.
"Huh, OK, thanks. Have a good night!"
As they walk back toward the bus, he whispers to Hotaru, "This is someone you've met before?"