"A bit of a problem here!"
"Ah, Taskmaster. I once considered hiring you to examine your proprioceptive memory. I ended up going with a different style of enhancement. No hard feelings?" Sadly, he may have hard feelings about the bolt of telekinetic force coming in at his general direction.
Her chest wound rapidly knits itself back together before Taskmaster's eyes, as she proceeds to bear down on him. She raises up her right arm, and bats it down across his face in an effort to rattle him!
The Taskmaster just steps away from the bolt of telekinetic force. I know you had the money to buy me. He said. Tell ya what, I won't kill you all, I'll just knock ya silly, after that, we can talk about me orchestrating yer escape, just so long as I'm well compensated. He was breathing heavy, however, he was beginning to realize that he couldn't win.
The knife then, spun itself into the leg of Taskmaster, then finally, he is struck across the skull mask on his head, knocking it off and throwing him on the ground, knocking him unconscious.
'We did it!' She cheered mentally, as the man is knocked to the ground. She moves to grab him, being gentle about it despite his intent to kill. Her fingers elongate and wrap around him several times, keeping him bound for the time being.
Felix readies a couple knives and moves to the side of the door that leads to the target. He indicates to his allies that the target should be inside.
Inside the door, a man in a red suit and terribly ineffective red domino mask is standing, both arms raised, but one holding a remote, his thumb pressing down on a red button.
Alright, capes. He said, grinning at them. You got me.
In his thoughts, the doctor is smiling. A deadman's switch may be a good idea, but not against a telekinetic. He focuses his power on holding down the button, no matter what happens to the thumb above it.
Mei becomes aprehensive about whatever's to come next. There's only a few things that could come about from the Red Cardinal holding down on a remote like that. One, that he's already triggered whatever it was, or two, that it'll trigger the momment he let's go.
Incapable of knowing the Doctor's efforts, she waits for the speakjng members of her team to confront this dilemma, focusing for now on keeping the taskmaster bound.
Atsuko, on the other hand, was carefully warping downwards in an effort to figure out where the others were. Clear communication was... important. On many levels.
As none of his other companions were speaking, Felix decides to press his luck. He also activates his comms, so everyone plugged in would know the situaiton.
"Cardinal, Buddy, I admit this wasn't what I had in mind to protect the innocents and your assets, but can we agree to not drastic? Like, heroes and whatever we are kinda signed up for this whole life on the line stuff, and sometimes not even that far, but no need to drag anyone unrelated in, right?"
It doesn't matter who is drawn into this. The Cardinal started, clearly unaware of the telekinetic pressure on the trigger. All that matters is the end result, and in the end, they will all thank me. For I will have finally rid the world of- He stops in the middle of his sentence and widens his eyes.
N-no. He says, his voice notably more pained. No! Not now, I haven't failed! He shouts to no one in specific. I can still- His body quickly goes stiff, the veins under his skin flash bright red before dissipating, then his body falls, dropping the trigger.
...and yet it doesn't fall. "I have the dead man's switch." he says, calmly. "But we need to evacuate and figure out what it's connected to."
"Well s**#. Did not expect that." Felix says, slipping into some not so hero-ish words.
He gets on the comms.
"Hey Media? The Cardinal went *poof* on us, almost certain he's dead but that'll be me assuming. We should probably evacuate the building as the Doc got a deadman's switch that is half-way to activating. Also, you wanna go on a date sometime? I know this cool sushi place not too far from here."
Felix begins a methodical search of the room, looking for clues, evidence, anything shiny.
She tenses up when the man releases the remote upon death, but it appeared the Doctor had things well in hand. While Felix moves to earch the rokm, Masumi adjusts her grip in order to free her left arm, in order to examine the fallen Cardinal. Perhaps there was a medical explenation for what happened to him?
Atsuko had many talents... but always being on time was not among them. She didn't manage to join the rest of the group until after Felix's communication, and she glanced at the corpse(?) for a moment, wincing slightly. She didn't speak up, though - she hated situations like this one in the first place, and wanted to be careful about how she reacted.
Well... Good work? Media says over the comms. Cute, Felix, but I'm afriad I've got plans with someone else this week. I'll let you know how it goes.
All the nerves in his body were fried by a controlled energy burst centered on his solar plexus.
Lindsay spoke up. We're going to want to have the lab take a look at him. Can someone bring him in and we'll get the bomb squad over there ASAP. She said. Something tells me that this ain't the end of it.
Darkstorm arrives late, having made a wrong turn flying through the building. Upon seeing the dead man switch he looks at a window.Is everyone out of the buildinghe asks.
He then turns of his comlink and whispers to Felix I wonder who she has plans with? One of her clones maybe?
Well, that's completely and utterly terrifing, she thought as she determined his cause of death. The amount of pain his must've felt while it happened, it's far beyond what she could ever picture. Masumi made a mental note to inform Lindsay about what she's deduced when she could, perhaps give the professionals a head start in their... whatever they were going to do.
I may have a solution. It could take a while but I could search the building for what that switch is connected to and toss it into space Dark storm says casually.
Or if you prefer we can wait for people who probably wouldn't survive to come and try and fix it putting their blood on our hands
Darkstorm pauses Guys I think this has gotten to me. That was dark.
"I can stay." Atsuko said quietly. "Actually, I might be able to divine its location..." Frowning slightly, she focused and pulled out her book. She'd used it to locate their target before - and with the much smaller range she needed to search now, maybe she could figure out what they were looking for?
Felix fakes a wince. Or its actually just him wincing.
"Remind me Darkstorm, why don't you. Having someone who can create clones of herself say she's busy. Ah well, there are other potential dates in the pond."
Felix responds to Darkstorm's later comment.
"Better one bad guy than the entire building though, right?"
He ponders to himself.
This situation as a whole has been dark, she realizes upon Darkstorm's short tirade. Though even when she still lived in Japan and was facing off against the Yakuza, her time as a hero has not been the lighthearted journey that her manga had totted heroism to be. These last few weeks have really driven it home, but Felix was right too. It could've been way worse then it turned out, and they were even more lucky that it wasn't an innocent who was caught in the crossfire.
Ravager adjusts herself, keeping the unconscious Taskmaster bound and sedated with her poison with her right arm. With her free hand, she moves to pick up the Cardinal's body without damaging it. Otherwise, she merely waited for orders for when to move on.
"I agree that we should search and deal with this ourselves. We don't know what scale this is." As he speaks, he is binding up the device to ensure that it doesn't go off if he's hit unexpectedly.
You divine that you are all standing on the bomb(s), and that it only extends to this floor, if not only this room.
Fine, if you think you can disarm it. Lindsay said. What am I talking about? We've got the world's luckiest man and an evil genius over there. Of course you can handle a bomb.
Then Media's voice comes in. Also, you guys do realize I can still hear you through everyone else's Headphones, right? You are all in a close vicinity of each other. She asked.
After a few moments of consulting her book, Atsuko looked down. "Um." she said. "Well, the good news is that we won't have to go very far. It's, uh, right under us." That was unnervingly close even for her (she wasn't worried about the damage, but pain was pain, and she didn't like it). With that, she put the book away - before it could start acting up.
"That was intentional." Felix answers, completely unconvincingly.
He pulls out the Fake Philosopher's stone and holds it to the dead body.
"Lets see if this works... I'll need someone to hold him if it does."
He waits until someone is in place to restrain, and then activates the artifact.
'H-hey wait, hold on! Shouldn't we be somehwere secure before you-' She starts in her mind, unable to translate her distress verbally. As Ravager, she appears to be letting loose a low growl as she hoists the body further away from him. She didn't quite understand what he was intending on doing, but what he was holding looked a lot like the red stones from FMA. Did those actually exist?! Wait, she's currently a large monster, of course they existed.
The Cardinal gasps to life in the Ravager's grip, then screams. Whuh-What happened?! He asked. Where am? I'm... The Failsafe... .[b] He whispered.
He looked ahead to the group, shifting uncomfortably in the Ravager's grasp. [b]You... I'm alive... You did this? He asked, his voice dry and growly.
Lindsay's voice comes in on the team's ears.
Pump him for information. Quick. She said.
"Listen, you obviously have a lot of questions about the situation, but I'm going to lay this out for you real simple. You. Are. Dead. This is only a temporary process that will fade in an hour. You know why I'm telling you this? Because no matter who they are, everyone has loose ends to clean up, revenge to invoke, even loved ones to say goodbye to."
Felix pauses for just a moment for the Cardinal to soak up his new situation.
"Here's the deal. You tell us what we want to know, we help you settle your debts. We have a deal?"
Atsuko looked at the others as they interrogated him, then back at the floor where the bomb was right below them. She wasn't worried about herself, but... yeah, the sooner all of this was handled, the better.
The Cardinal begins to stammer. Y-you're lying. He said. But... If you aren't... He let out a nervous smile. You should have. I am a man of the material. I-if... If I'm really dead, I don't care about what happens to this world, and my debts... It appears I had just payed them. He said. The war on capes has only just started, my friend, and it is one I have seen the end of. You will lose. He let go of his smile. B-but... But like I said, I am a man of the material. If you were to make this... My life, permanent, I would be very grateful.
Media's voice came in through the feed. Just sayin', but if the Phantom got this kind of attitude from someone during an interrogation, they'd have a broken schnoz by now. She said. Again, just sayin'
Felix sighs, and holds up his philosopher's stone.
"So you want the whole kit, right?" he waves it enticingly in the air.
"You got a shard embedded in your chest that'll last an hour or so. If I stick this hunk in, I estimate a good ten years. Now I can make more, but we'll have to continue this relationship of favors, understood?."
While all this is going on, the Doctor is cheerfully dismantling the bomb.
That said, Atsuko looked... rather relieved as Dr. Apocalypse worked on the bomb, actually. He seemed like someone who was familiar with such things, and it was a pretty big problem. She looked back over to the shaken criminal a moment later. "You might not really think about them... but they think about you." she said thoughtfully. "Would you like to see a little of them?"
The Cardinal smiles at Felix. You know, I like you. He said. I think we can work out a deal, there. I nice partnership, like the one you once got with, you know. He smiled. Archwood. He smiled. You know where she is? We do.
Meanwhile, the Doc easily dismantles the bomb, completely harmless. Dead.
... Kinda like The Cardinal just was.
See... See who? He asked Atsuko.
Felix raises an eyebrow at the remark, and points at his watch.
"You got an hour to make this worth my while. Clock's ticking."
Felix asks the others.
"Anyone have a question for the Cardinal?"
Alright, well, what if I told you that I am only the first of many in this war on capes? The Cardinal said. What if I told you that my group chose Eden first, to try and kill a century-old name and send a message. He smiled. Something tells me that, since I'm not talking to him, and I'm talking to his new team, I've succeeded.
And so what if we are? Do you think your 'group' will win?
"...There's a lot of 'capes'." Atsuko noted quietly. "And not to put too fine of a point on it, but you criminals... don't have a great track record in real confrontations." But then, most super-criminals weren't entirely sane to begin with - logic and reason probably weren't going to sway them. More importantly, this definitely felt like the sort of thing to quietly spread the word about...
"Remember when I said to make this worth my while?
Felix taps his clock.
"I'm assuming you're going to be an asset Cardinal, but I don't really need to waste resources on a low-level grunt if you don't really know anything...I mean, even the janitorial staff of cults know the cults main message."
Statistically speaking, we have an edge on both the Avengers and the Justice League. Cardinal said. And we've got people really good with statistics on our side.
The Cardinal raises a finger at Atsuko. You're right. You are absolutely right. But you know why that is? You're proof of it. Teamwork. Capes got it, I mean, hell, even the Batman's got a freaking Bat-family. Us... Us Criminals however, we couldn't stay together for longer than a week. Those that do, like the Rogues Gallery, they're too strung up by self-inflicted rules, think they're the good guys of the bad guys. He smiled wider. But now we're together, my group, we're staying together, and we're finding more and more potential and already-established masterminds. Your buddy here was on that list, 'till he decided he was something he's not. He said to the Doctor.
The Cardinal rolls his eyes. I don't know the leadership, besides that they've got the means and the power. I know a few other cells. But I want to make this a game for you. What city do you know that is most likely to have a crimelord like me get a sudden influx of men, money, and arms? I'll give you two guesses.
Did New York City get to count as both of them? Because pretty much every-bloody-thing happened in New York City sooner or later. Various theories tried to explain this, and went everywhere from unusual concentrations of ley line energy to shadowy behind-the-scenes manipulation by Professor Xavier so the heroes would usually be nearby to the social impact of villains looking for heroes to beat... to sheer dumb coincidence. She wasn't entirely sure which of them she believed.
She didn't respond to his comments, though, instead choosing to keep her thoughts close to her heart. Better that than giving them a tip-off of what she really believed.
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She was mroe then a little upset about having to hold a partially dead man, but she maintained her grip as steadily as she could. 'Uh... Kobe?' She was fairly sure the man meant an American city, but she had only been in the states for around a year at this point. Maybe Gotham? She's heard some really shady things about that place, with people such as the Clown, or the Puffin. No, wait- Those names weren't right...
Regardless, it wasn't as if she could voice her own guess right now.
Felix sighs.
"You mention the Bat family, so I'll go with Gotham."
Very good. Cardinal said. You get the feeling that he'd clap if he could. And since you didn't pick up on my other clue... Does the name Harvey Dent mean anything to you? He asked. Soon it will mean something to everyone. Even outside of Gotham. He's going to get a shipment of arms big enough to sweep the Joker under the rug.
Felix turns around, and whispers into his com.
"You guys get all that?"
His mind was racing. The Cardinal was just one small fish in a much larger aquarium. And if they weren't careful, that isolated world of villains could spill over to the civilians at any moment.