Peyton stands to Sierra's left, dressed in a tight pink party dress. She's managed to produce a matching pink mask from somewhere to cover the lower part of her face.
"Yeah, beat it b*@!!!" she shouts, taking stock of the situation.
The armored figure hesitates as Sierra steps forward. "THERE IS NO NEED FOR FURTHER VIOLENCE. GIVE ME FIRINN, AND I WILL LEAVE. REFUSE, AND I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES."
Payload realizes Firinn is in the greatest danger. This armored figure appears to be just an unpiloted robotic drone, though--destroying or disabling it will end the threat quickly. The best way to infuriate whoever's controlling the drone is to mock and belittle their abilities.
”I don’t think so,” Solaria says boldly, taking up a fighting stance, bouncing lightly on her toes.
”Gypsy! Get the civilians clear! Payload, try and take their systems out!”
"No civie casualties. On it!" Gypsy responds and draws energy in around herself.
She spreads her hands wide. The words to her spell echoing about the dance area and on the final syllable, the sound system shorts out completely and the music dies. The heavy techno beat has been replaced with a shrill klaxon and all the doors that exit the area are ripped from their hinges to allow unhindered egress.
"EVERYONE OUT!" she shouts in an amplified voice.
Firinn, meanwhile, goes on the offensive. A twisting motion of his hands is mirrored by the drone's leg, which bends to an unnatural angle.
Payload closes her eyes and reaches out with her powers, working to scramble and override the drone's remote orders.
Gypsy effectively clears the club with her abilities, all of the bystanders rushing to safety as the battle gets underway. Firinn crushes one of the drone's legs, and it retaliates by firing a barrage of micro-missiles that slam into Solaria, who stands protectively in front of Firinn.
Payload starts to overload some of the drone's systems, causing its movements to become jerkier. "MOTHER WILL NOT BE PLEASED!" the voice shouts in anger.
The drone holds its hands up, firing angry red laser beams at Payload!
Solaria braces against the barrage, crossing her arms to act like a shield as the missiles impact! She clenched her teeth and grunts out ”Payload! Come on!”
Payload cries out in pain as the lasers burn her and wreck her dress! When Sierra shouts at her, she shouts right back! "What does it look like I'm doing?!? Handle your own shit!"
Ignoring any further "advice" from her teammates, Payload pushes her intrusive script even further into the drone's systems.
The young man can be heard to breathe a sigh of relief as the club empties before he attempts to disable the other leg.
As the last of the revelers exit the area, Gypsy gathers more energy into herself to deal with the foe.
The drone begins to fly around the club, making it difficult for Firinn to get a good grasp on it. Solaria continues to protect him from the missile barrage as Gypsy charges up.
Payload's hacking further destabilizes the drone, and it keeps up its furious assault on her, lasers blasting at her and igniting small fires all around the club!
With a quick flick of her hand, a disk of violet energy appears between Peyton and the drone.
Solaria launches into the air, tired of being a shooting target for this thing. She flies into the volley and attempts to rip away the things missile launchers!
The lasers deflect off the disk, sparing Payload, but several ricochet back towards Gypsy!
As Solaria flies in to engage, Payload causes the drone to jerk around, throwing off its aim. Solaria avoids its attacks as she rips the missile launchers off its chassis! Sparks fly, and the drone falls, smoking, at the Legacy's feet!
Sierra steps casually through the rubble, the metal crunching beneath her bare feet as if she were stomping it with boots. She makes her way over to the man that seemed to be the thing’s target and offers him a hand to help him to his feet. ”You alright?” she asks, her tone not entirely soft given the spat Payload had given her mid-fight.
Gypsy manages to dodge the errant lasers and moves to stand next to Sierra as she checks the young man.
"Oh, you're Firinn," she says in surprise. "I recognize you from school."
Payload pants with exertion as the drone finally falls. She looks down at her scorched dress with disgust, then moves over on the other side of Sierra. She looks at the young man with narrowed eyes as the others talk to him.
"Hey Gypsy." Firinn says, managing a grin although he looks somewhat the worse for wear. "How did that civics final go?"
Solaria's glower makes it clear that this is not the time for friendly conversation and Firinn turns his attention to her, nodding respectfully.
"Solaria. I'm glad you're here. I need to warn you. Omega's plans are nearing completion - she'll be coming for you soon."
Solaria gets a stunned look on her face. ”O…Omega? How do you…” she stops. She then looks to the other two girls and says ”Back to base. We need to figure out what he’s talking about in private!”
Solaria remained in her super suit as she paced in the board room. ”Okay, who are you and what are you talking about?”
"I'm Firinn." Firinn says. "And... I'm Omega's son."
Sierra folds her arms across her chest. ”And? What was this about her plan you were saying?”
"Guarantee's first." Firinn counters. "I'm not here to hurt anyone. Quite the opposite in fact but I need your help and I'm not going to say any more until I have a promise to that effect."
Sierra walks slowly towards the man. As she does, her body glows brightly a moment, and her super suit is replaced with the two piece dress she had went to the club in, and her bare feet are now in heels. She sits in a chair beside him and places a hand reassuringly on his arm. ”I believe you. And we will do whatever we can to protect you.”
Gypsy looks at Sierra with concern.
"Does ... does Om... your mother know you were coming to us?" Gypsy questions, turning back to Firinn.
Peyton returns from her room as the others question Firinn. She has discarded her ruined dress and changed into a half-shirt and shorts. She continues to watch Firinn closely as Sierra asks him what he wants, and between the two of them, they are able to see that he's being truthful with his answers.
"Yep, stick with the Solar Squad. We haven't gotten anybody killed so far!" she says encouragingly.
"Well I wasn't, specifically." Firinn points out. "I was mostly trying to get away. Warning you was on my list of things to do but I dived into that club hoping I could lose the drone in a crowd. Meeting you all there was - argh!"
He doubles over and red light flickers in the room for a moment. Then he straightens up again and smiles, slightly forced.
"Sorry. Meeting you all there was very fortunate for me."
Then he glances over at Payload.
"You might want a more reassuring slogan than that." He says, and something about his grin reminds Payload of something. Or someone.
”Are you alright?” Solaria asks, concerned but also somewhat nervous, scooting back a bit as he winces in pain.
"Yeah. The drone got me before I made it into the club." Firinn says, "Cracked a rib I think and I just moved funny. I
ll be fine."
He looks around. "Where's the tall black guy with the sun powers? I thought there were four of you?"
Sierra replies ”We don’t know. He left and didn’t say where he was going.”
She leans forward again and says ”Do we need to take you to the doctor before you explain her plan? We are here to help…”
When the red light appears, Gypsy steps in front of Sierra and makes a magical gesture. Runes appear around the newcomer for a moment and Gypsy watches them intently, looking for signs of harmful magic.
"What was that?" she questions.
To Gypsy's magical sight Firinn appears to be a tightly wound ball of magic. There's at least four different kinds, all coiled inside him. The sheer power that suggests is dangerous!
No, it's not important." Firinn says, "Omega's plan is. How much are you happy having them know?" Gesturing to Payload and Gypsy. "It's nothing against you." He adds to Gypsy. "It's just a lot of seriously personal stuff about Solaria, I mean Sierra. I shouldn't just spill it."
Sierra’s eyes widen a bit at the revelation. She then looks to Gypsy and Peyton. ”Do you mind? I’ll fill you in on anything important to the team…”
Gypsy frowns and then nods. Before leaving the room, though, she traces a symbol on Sierra's forehead and whispers magical words. "There's a lot of magic tied up in him," she says. "That will just tell me if any of it touches you."
With that done, she leaves.