HEROES Chapter 1

“Looks like we’ll need something to keep the nurse occupied. Think you can handle that?”


For a moment, the woman called Killswitch said nothing. Moving images around on the screen in front of her, she concentrated a little harder until the endless lines of code seemed to reflect back into her very retinas. Finally, the cool feminine voice sounded in Cassius’ and Yelena’s ears.
“Alright,” she said, “first, that nurse’s elevator is going to stall. I don’t want to hold that one for more than five or ten minutes to keep from looking too suspicious. When she gets to her floor, every computer on the floor is going to blue screen. Don’t worry if that means nothing to you, it’s upsetting to the average person.”

At this, Cassius chuckled to himself which he quickly turned into a convincingly pained moan. “Dude…” he said, looking helplessly to Yelena and speaking loudly enough for his voice to barely carry out into the hall, “you got any pain meds?”

“You’ll have probably no more than 30 minutes from what I’ve seen of that nurse,” came Zoe’s voice again, “so work quickly. Too many things go wrong an those agents are going to get nervous.” Back in her hidden basement, O lit a cigarette and leaned back in the chair, her hard eyes boring into the screen. The urge to travel and seek out more hidden information pulled hard at her, but she was the group’s only background support and she couldn’t afford to disappear even momentarily and risk seeing the big picture.

Glancing over to the laptop, she scanned the tiled videos transmitting from the cameras on each of their collars, pausing on Cassius’ which was showing just a white wall.

“Dominic,” she said after another moment, “if something happens, don’t hesitate.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From outside, standing with Fay, Shawn squinted from behind the gauze over his eyes, tracking with silent focus as the two figures that were Yelena and Cassius mingled among the many other colors. He was fairly certain he’d managed to keep an eye on them as they moved through the hospital but the movement and many walls was beginning to wear on his head. Rubbing his temples against the dull ache and waited, watching.

A flat black coloured armoured transport rumbled into the docking bay of Our Lady of Mercy and backed into the third loading bay so that it's back door was level with and butted up against the cement platform. The heavy back doors swung open and four RAID enforcers stepped out and secured the bay door while the driver called his superior on his secure walkie talkie to alert him of their arrival.

"We're in position, sir."

The Supervising R.A.I.D. agents 'palmtop' sounded. It had a specialized secure phone built into it, but under the circumstances Birkshire's responses were still short and cryptic.



Henkel had been waiting for a call from the armoured transport and when Birkshire confirmed it's arrival with a subtle nod, he immediately contacted his partner.



Jameson was literally begging one of his fellow agents to swap scrubs with him when he got the call from Henkel.

"Jameson" He answered, while looking in disgust at his reflection in the mirror over the wash basins. He couldn't figure out why his costume was lavender while everyone else had the usual hospital teal.

"It's arrived." Henkel told him.

Jameson turned to the other agents and made a sign with his free hand to get the ball rolling when he got the news. Immediately all of the F.B.I. that were dressed as hospital personal checked their weapons and prepared for DiVine's arrival.

"How does he look?" Asked Henkel, and Jameson walked over to and took one more look at the cadaver that they borrowed to replace DiVine. He couldn't believe how lucky they were in finding a body that resembled the old guy so much. Not that it mattered, since he would be covered up, but one would be hard pressed to spot the differences at a distance.

"Perfect." Said Jameson, grimacing as he caught sight of himself in another mirror.

"By the way," Mentioned Henkel "Is lavender your colour?"

Jameson just shook his head angrily when he learned that Henkel was behind the colour mix up and he knew then that the bastard had been probably watching him the entire time. He turned around and sneered in the direction of one the micro cameras.

Henkel laughed as he watched his partner on the screen in front of him. "You watch your ass.", he told him.

"Isn't that your job?" Quipped Jameson before the call ended.

Kidding aside, Jameson pulled out his glock and made sure it was ready for action, then he made one last sweep of the spare operating room they had borrowed to make sure that everything was in place so that they could make the switch and then proceed with their pretend surgery.

The limo ride to the hospital proved to be one of the most interesting car rides Jeb had ever experienced. The man who had introduced himself as "Surge" spent the majority of the ride talking, explaining to Jeb that his "interview" had been completely staged and setup by BEACON, an organization dedicated to the protection of meta-humans. And apparently Surge or someone at BEACON had found out about Jeb's unique abilities and had arranged for his move to the U.S. via the interview that Jeb now realized was not going to happen.

Surge spent almost the entire limo ride introducing Jeb to the events that culminated in the scenario he was now being recruited for; the Riggs Act, R.A.I.D., BEACON, Surge's role and interest, the band of meta-human heroes even now arriving in the city to effect the rescue of "Di Vine", Toril's description and mission, and why the subterfuge regarding Jeb's interview and the need to bring him to New York City. By the time the limo arrived at the hospital, Jeb felt he had a fairly good overview of the situation at hand.

"And what if I simply say no, and get out of the limo right now?" the young Canadian inquired of Surge.

"That certainly is your choice," Surge replied, "but keep this in mind: right now, the Riggs Act and R.A.I.D. are burdens to those of us in the U.S. But their ambition won't keep them there. Before long, they'll sway governments around the world to pass similar legislation. If you choose not to act now, you may have no choice down the road."

"Damn!" thought Jeb. "He really knows where to hit me where it counts."

Surge directed the limo driver to park in the back of the hospital, next to a door clearly marked "Roof Access". Surge handed Jeb a makeshift architectural drawing of the hospital, and an identification badge. The badge had Jeb's picture positioned just above the words "Jeb Corvus, Kinesiology Intern". Jeb chuckled. "No fake name or persona?"

"You're Canadian, R.A.I.D. won't know about you." Surge responded. "Yet." A sly grin crept across the older mans face. "Plus, the less lies you have to keep track of, the better for you should you become discovered. Toril should be in Room 304 of the Burn Unit, you should be able to make your way their across the roof. As usual, both R.A.I.D. and the FBI are overly confident that their internal security is enough to retain possession of "Di Vine"."

Jeb departed the limo and accessed the stairs to the roof. Following the map, he quickly traversed the top of the hospital to a spot that should be directly above room 304. He phased himself through the roof, dropping down into the room unnoticed by its two occupants. Solidifying only the bottoms of his shoes to keep himself from continuing to drop through floors, Jeb realized that beside himself, the only occupants of the room were the patient in the bed, and what was quite possibly the tallest man he'd ever met apparently taking a sample from the man in the bed.

Jeb made the rest of his body corporeal, which drew the attention of the of the tall man. Slowly approaching the bed, Jeb introduced himself. "You must be Toril. Your friend Surge said that I might be of some use to you."

As Yelena looked like she was working diligently on Cassius, she spoke softly to Zoe again.

“Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

A prickling of warning ran through her. Knowing they were doing the right thing by trying to rescue Robert from the hands of the authorities, she couldn’t help but think of the Spartans and how they held off a huge army only to fall after wearing themselves down so much they had no fight left in them.

“Something tells me we’re getting ready to run straight into a hornets nest. Get ready for just about anything now.”

Cassius actually winked at Yelena. Either he really was an adrenaline junkie or he had no idea what they were going to be up against. These guys didn’t play well with others. When the flustered, agitated nurse came back, she was fit to be tied.

“That stupid elevator got stuck – again. I’ve told maintenance about that thing I don’t know how many times. One of these times it’s gonna get stuck with a patient in it and we’re gonna have our asses handed to us.”

As she walked over to check out Yelena’s work, she raised her brows when she saw that Yelana had the wound wrapped up neatly and the patient was apparently resting comfortably.

“Well…..that was pretty quick work doc. And you wrapped it loose enough so it would get some air but tight enough to keep dirt out.”

The nurse looked around and nodded.

“And I see you used the silver sulfadine from the fridge. That stuff’s the greatest. Let’s get sleeping beauty to his room. We’ll have to take him to room 303, right across the hall. I’ll clean this place up when we get him settled.”

Yelena held her breath the whole time and didn’t let it out until the nurse said it was time to move Cassius. Giving a nervous laugh, she nodded and stood up, pulling the curtain open and seeing the two other suits in room 305 she blinked.

“Goodness….two more men in that room to watch over an incapacitated patient? Is he really that dangerous?”

The nurse furrowed her brows and looked over her reading glasses towards Roberts room and snorted.

“No. He can’t move. I think their just trying to put on a good show for a pretty blond. But that’s just my opinion. Don’t take it for gold.”

Yelena looked at the nurse with a blank expression then realized what she was referring to. Again she laughed nervously and waved off her words.

“Nah….I think they are just trying to give you a hard time.”

The nurse laughed this time.

“Honey….they’ve done that since they arrived same time that poor soul did. I can’t wait for them to leave this hospital and let us return to normal. If there even is such a thing anymore.”

The nurse opened the door of the room and called for a couple of nurses and orderly’s to help wheel the bed Cassius was on into the room the nurse said he was to go into. Little did Yelena or Cassius know the ‘nurses’ and ‘orderly’s’ were really RAID and FBI agents in disguise.

As they helped wheel Cassius into the room, Yelena noticed the way all the people on the floor seemed to glance at her and Cassius. Not just a normal glance and a nod hello, but more of a suspicious glance and taking note of where she was going and how she was moving. Like she was being sized up. Needless to say, the prick of warning became more noticeable.

Ignoring the looks she was getting, Yelena helped get Cassius into the room and when the extra personnel left the room, she looked over at the nurse and pulled the yellow treatment gown off her.

“Could you go get some water for our guest? I’m sure he’ll be thirsty when he wakes up. At least, all the other patients always tell me they are when they wake up. I think the sedative makes get a dry mouth.”

The nurse nodded and smiled.

“Sure…and your right on your thinking. The sedative does give them dry mouth. An unfortunate side affect. I’ll get some ice too.”

Yelena smiled back.

“Thanks.”

When the nurse left the room, she closed the door behind her. Yelena made sure the door was fully closed before she spoke to Cassius and Zoe.

“Cassius…I have a feeling their getting ready to move Robert. We need to be ready to move. And if things start going bad, remember the beds have steel bottoms. Are we all in place and ready to go, O?”

"JEEEESUS!" Expressed Toril as the man materialized beside him, nearly driving his q-tip right down his patients throat. Fortunately Mr. Green was well sedated or the hospital could have a law suit on their hands.

Toril spun around his arms slightly raised in defense and saw that the man's form was reconstituting before his eyes and that he seemed peaceful. When he spoke his name and mentioned the name Surge, he relaxed, but he was still a little perturbed by the announced drop in.

"Knock next time, Skywalker or I'm liable to crack you one." Toril mentioned while holding up one of his big fists, though it was not half as intimidating with a latex glove on it. Toril noticed the comedy in the situation and laughed creating a break in the tension. "Sorry, kid. Old habits, eh?" He wondered then if he got his little Star Wars humour when Luke dropped by to save Lea... probably not he thought. He was also laughing at the fact that someone spooked Wraith. In his younger days, he was the one appearing unannounced and alarming his fellow super heroes. How the tides had turned.

Toril removed his gloves disposing them in the trash then adding his last sample to his tray on the counter at the side of the room. Without turning around he commented, "Nice tie. You always this formal when you go up against R.A.I.D. and the F.B.I.?", then he turned around, his angled features stern and serious, "Because that's what you're getting yourself into."

Toril could tell the guy was green and wanted to make damn sure that he was prepared to do what it took to get the job done. "Sorry for the fifth degree, but I need to know you've got my back. I know you've got your own, you're a molecular, eh? Me too. Only I bet, you phase both ways. Am I right?"

The two heroes exchanged formal introductions and a few words. Toril quickly explained the nature of his mutation that allowed his body to replicate the molecular configuration of air and move as the wind, even manipulate the air and pressure around him, among other things. He let Jeb know that he could move the air around in this building to generate a wind tunnel if necessary, but it wouldn't last that long.

Then it came down to figuring out what their next move was. Toril told Jeb that he wasn't sure, but that he thought there was an intern in room across the hall that might be a member of the team here to rescue DiVine. It was just hunch though, and for all he knew they were alone.

"Hey can you extend your ability to phase things other than yourself?" Toril inquired while trying to figure out a plan, and it seemed that Jeb was way ahead of him on that one and mentioned that he could wheel DiVine right through a wall if necessary. Toril was pretty pleased when he learned that little tid bit of Jeb's abilities. Then Jeb pulled out a map and told him that Surge had given in to him. He had the full schematics of the hospital and looking at the map, it was plain to see that there was an elevator (designated with an 'F') just on the other side of room 305's western wall.

Toril looked around the room then until his eyes settled on what he was looking for. There was a vent up in the corner of the room that connected 304 to 305, that would be Toril's entrance.

"I say we go in there and bust some heads." Toril said with a confident smile, while he rolled his massive shoulders to limber himself up. "Once we get him to the elevator, we have to pray that they don't realize where we are for a while. We need to get the main floor and find ourselves an ambulance to transport him out of here, then I am hoping the others will find us." Toril rolled his neck back forth. "It's not much of plan, but if you're in, I'll see ya on the other side, I say we have about five minutes to make up our minds."

While Toril awaited Jeb's decision and input, he asked him about his super hero identity. "You gotta name? I mean like an alias. You know I've always wanted a side-kick, especially one with abilities somewhat like my own. How about, 'Phantom-boy'", he joked, "You don't like that one? No worries. I got more."

Jeb shook his head. "Americans!", he thought. "And I got the biggest glory hound of them all apparently."

However, he knew that antagonizing the big man would do no good. "No, I don't have any fancy moniker; I've never considered myself anything but a normal person with unique abilities. I'm sure that before we're done that you'll come up with several more that you'll get a chuckle out of though." Jeb's eyes twinkled. "Oh, and I have never and plan to never wear tights nor capes."

Jeb pondered the big man's plans for a moment. "Ok, so here's my take on things. The goons are obviously near the elevator for a reason, that being to secure their own hasty exit when the time is right. So going into the elevator seems like the LAST thing we'd want to do. Seems to me like we have a nice little decoy right here." Jeb nodded towards the man in the bed near them.

"How good are you at creating a distraction that will empty "Di Vine's" room of all the goons? Once it's empty, I can quickly and easily swap the beds between this room and that one. With this room being in such close proximity to "Di Vine", it may give us an advantage time-wise since they won't expect us to hide him so close."

Jeb paused, gauging the big man's posture and expressions.

"Then we can go one of two ways. I can go back and get the decoy, and make a big show of phasing him through the wall and into the elevator, while you safely abscond with "Di Vine" in the opposite direction or out the window and to the roof."

"The second way would be for you to continue your distractions while I phase "Di Vine" to the other end of the hospital and down to the ground floor. I'll leave it up to you how you wish to proceed, since I'm just the side-kick and all . . . "

Toril folded his arms and leaned against the wall, contemplating Jeb's plan. He rubbed his chin and looked around the room. "For starters we're in an interior room, but if there was window I wouldn't be hauling up a man in DiVine's condition and carrying him around, the stress could kill him. But I like your idea of hiding him. Check the schematics again, Jeb and see what's under us." Toril suggested. "Maybe, if I can get below us, you could lower him down to me, bed and all.", even as he said the words, Toril was already having his doubts. "Maybe.", he repeated shaking his head slightly.

Toril shifted his weight and put his back to the wall thrusting his hands in his pockets. "Any distraction now, is just going to stir up a hornet's nest and they'll lock this place tight. We have to move quickly or not at all."

"I just wonder what the others are up to." Toril mentioned. "No doubt they have some sort of plan, but our time is getting pretty short here. I figure in about ten more minutes, people are going to get rather suspicious of Doctor Paul Carson loitering about in room 304. We can give the other group about five minutes, then we have go with our plan."

Toril hoped the others did something fast, Jeb was tactile, but he wasn't sure he was up for a fight. Not that his plan held water but it seemed a pretty direct solution. Perhaps he was just too old school for these new super heroes, back in the day he and Surge would of just blasted their way through the agents, of course they had tended to make a big mess of things.

Ah, the good ol' days.

Tim and Takashi pulled the assault vehicle, which wore its military camoflauge paint sceme into a parking garage across the street from the hospital. Parking it on the third level facing the hospital, of the six level garage, they had an excellant view of the emergency entrance and the medi - vac helicopter that sat on the helicopter pad. As they sat, Tim and Takashi, "Smokey" as Tim had started to call him, could hear the secured chatter of Zoe and the other Super Heroes.

Tim sat calmly explaining some of the many fuctions of the onboard computers, weapons systems and stealth capabilities of the vehicle to an obviously nervous Takashi.
"Don' ya fret now Smokey, yur gonna do jus' fine. Ya jus' keep yur mind on the mission an get ready ta use yur talents if ya needs ta." Tim said with a smile "Hell boy I rememb'r my first time goin' undercover. Fur a week I just 'bout shit my jeans every time some asshole coughed."

Henkel anxiously chewed on the edge of his styrofoam coffee cup while he watched the images of the facial recognition software sift through the FBI and R.A.I.D. databases of know meta-humans. He had entered the enhanced photos taken from the video file of Carson and Martin and was hoping he'd get a hit in the next five minutes, but he had seen the searches take as long as a day so he knew not to get his hopes up.



Birkshire who was monitoring the video feed from the cameras in the burn unit was doing his best to ignore the FBI agents incessant crunching, but eventually he just turned and stared at the man hard, until he became aware of his annoying habit.

Henkel actually missed Jameson. He could drum the chorus to 'Born to be wild' repeatedly and his partner wouldn't bat an eye. He tossed his cup in the trash and Birkshire continued his surveillance while Henkel trying not to fidget watched the faces rush by as the software searched for a match.

"Y'know, if either them are from the old costumed days, chances are the search will come up negative." Mentioned Birkshire his eyes remaining trained on his screen.

Henkel looked over at Birkshire, but bit back what ever he was going to say. He hated pissing contests, but still wasn't sure if the guy was purposely trying to get under his skin or not.

"Well let's hope." Said Henkel.

Siege was conscious of the buff, dark-suited men on the hospital grounds who seemed to be watching her and Shawn like deceptively lazy crocodiles eyeing water birds. Siege did her best to make it look like she was ignoring them, and when communicating with O, pretended she was talking to her ‘patient,’ Shawn.

When there was a lull in communication, she asked O, “Did they find him? Are they on their way out again?”

“They found him,” O’s monotone voice whispered in her hidden earpiece. “Now it’s just a matter figuring out when and where the feds are going to—” O’s voice cut off as if distracted.

“What?” Siege demanded, staring hard at Shawn, whose bandaged head was lifted towards the hospital.

“Shit,” O cursed flatly. “Code blue. He’s having a heart attack or something.”

“What?” Siege repeated, eyes scanning the scenery sightlessly. No one would be able to move him if he was having a heat attack. What if he didn’t make it? “Do Yelena and Cassius need backup?” she whispered, feeling her heart climbing into her throat.

Birkshire looked over to Henkel with a sideways glance, but did not share his thought, although Henkel had a good idea what the man would have said.


"Being a little hasty aren't we?" The imaginary voice of Birkshire jabbed in Henkel's mind and he called down to Jameson. "He's on his way.", he informed his partner.



Jameson, tucked his gun in his holster and ordered everyone to take their places. Their moves would have to be precise incase anyone was watching, but in preparation for the operation they had blanked out all the existing hospital cameras and their own cameras could not see where the switch would occur. Under the guidance of Birkshire, the staged operating room was a virtual dead zone for a cyber-spies and he had provided Jameson with another strange device. He didn't explain specifically what is was, to Jameson it appeared to be shiny ball sitting ontop of a black box, maybe a funky looking DVD player he had first considered. Apparently, though, according to Birkshire the device created a field that disrupted clairvoyance.

As Jameson made sure the 'psychic disrupter' was on line, he was a little disturbed with the knowledge that aside from having people who could use their own technology against them there were mutants who just use their minds to see whatever they wanted.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Toril when a code blue was announced in room 305.

There was no more time for elaborate planning, they had to move. "Look kid," he said to Jeb, "I'm going to see what's going on, and if it's bad I'll tag along with DiVinne. I'm afraid you're on your own for now."

Toril vanished before Jeb's eyes and assumed his wind form. Moving slowly, he was virtually undetectable and drifted through the vent and hovered on the ceiling just above DiVine. He stayed above the doctors and nurses who worked fervently as they transferred the old man, from his hyperbaric chamber to a regular gurney.

All the under cover agents had been instructed to play their roles at all times and they all delivered oscar winning performances as doctors and nurses as they prepped DiVine. Toril didn't suspect a thing and from his perspective it looked like the real deal. It appeared that the old man was going into heart failure from what he could gather one of the doctors suspected a clot.

"We need to get him into surgery, immediately!" Stated a doctor as she observed something in one of DiVines eyes. "Tell them to prep a table.", she ordered a nurse who quickly ran out of the room and back to the station to alert the O.R.

When they started to move DiVine, Toril slipped under the gurney and hitched a ride with them to the operating room. In his wind from, he telekinetically clung to the metal supports and didn't worry about his form stirring anything since they were already moving quickly down the hallway. When they would reach the elevator he knew he would just have to concentrate and stay perfectly still and the hospital staff would be none the wiser that he was even there, not that a slight stirring of wind would even register to most.

While they traveled down the Burn Unit corridor, Toril looked to see if he could spot the intern anywhere. Room BU300 was coming up and the invisible ghost struggled to see past the many legs that obscured his vision.

Tim heard Zoe over the secure com link "Well, shit." he said as he turned to Takashi "Ya best be buckelin' up Smokey, we might be havin' ta git movin' right quick."

Tim then spoke to the vehicle "Active stealth mode." the vehicles computer responed "Stealth mode activated, sensors activated.....all weapoons systems activated and on standby."

Void took the wheel of the ambulance while Challenge took the red Italian sportscar with Lyrix as her passenger once they were all ready to go right back to the Big A.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Lyrix said to Challenge after staying silent for the first two hours of their drive.
“Good.” Challenge smirked and decided to accelerate the car.
“Hey!” Lyrix said but there was little point with Challenge behind the wheel.
“Don’t worry L, this is just a warmup. Need to get the blood going.” Challenge said as she sped by the ambulance and waved to the ever silent Void driving it.

Not far up ahead there was Tim’s vehicle, but even it was quickly caught by the speeding Brera.
“Shall we go save the old grump with just the two of us?” She asked Harold excitedly.
“Only if you want your call sign to be changed to Adrenalin Retard. Dead Adrenalin Retard if you don’t stop speeding like a maniac.” Lyrix objected.
“I’m too young and pretty to die. Also, too damn good. Oh yeah!” She yelled and then suddenly slammed her foot on the break.

The car’s wheels locked and it was sent skidding to a halt while Challenge put all possible effort in keeping the car from spinning out of control. Luckily the road ahead was clear and Challenge regained control of the Alpha Romeo seemingly gracefully.

“Don’t ever do that again. I thought I was going to die!” Lyrix complained while concerns where uttered over their car’s wireless from the others.
“Yeah, me too.” She said with another one of her broad grins. Then she answered the radio; “We’re fine, got my foot stuck on the gas. It’s what I get for driving a European import I suppose.”
“I can’t remember who recommended you for the job to me anymore, or I’d have to hunt him down and kill him.” Lyrix grumbled.
“Probably Humphrey Wooldrich, he liked what I did for him in Chicago.” Challenge helped Lyrix as she went back to driving like a normal human being.
“Good chance… What did you do for him?”
“Nothing special, certainly nothing even remotely dangerous enough for my tastes, but the pay was good.”
“Like stealing a nuclear warhead from a military installation or something, huh?” Lyrix joked.
“Something like that.” She simply replied.

Lyrix wasn’t sure what to make of that last statement but it goes without saying the Italian sports car remained silent for the rest of the trip towards the hospital. When they reached their final destination Void, Challenge and Lyrix remained behind in their respective cars while the others began their mission and started scouting the hospital.

“Sooooo….” Challenge began as they had simply been listening to radio chatter, “When do I get to go in there?”
“Only when we have to, hopefully we won’t set a foot in that hospital at all.” Lyrix said annoyed as he was trying to follow the other’s actions when Challenge interrupted.
“Who made that plan anyway, I-“ Challenge was complaining when there was the sudden outburst about Roberts heart attack.
“Oh God!” Lyrix uttered as his face turned pale. Before he knew it Challenge had stepped out of the vehicle and was over at the ambulance to drag Void out of it and the two of them sped off towards the hospital leaving Harold behind. He tried to get his safety belt off as he saw them turn the corner but when he finally managed to get it off he realized there was nothing he could do at this point.

Robert was in a hospital after all. Harold might be able to save him from the people who kept him, but not from his failing heart. If anything this was the worst time to act, he told himself and he slowly let go of the handle of the door and settled back in. There was nothing he could do, besides getting himself caught and blowing their entire operation if he let his feelings for his dear old friend get the better of him. The old wrinkly grump was counting on him to keep his wits about him… As always…

Typing on one computer while telepathically controlling another, O's eyes flicked quickly over the monitors before her.

"Hold on," she said, the calm in her voice a poor reflection of her rapid-fire movements, "I'm trying to see what's going on. I can't get into the monitors on one of the operating rooms. They must have it blocked." There was a pause again as she tried in vain to break into the monitoring system. "Fay," she said finally, "can you get that boy inside to see what's going on? I don't trust this. The fact that they've managed to block me means they are expecting some kind of rescue attempt. Anything could be anything."

As she spoke, Cassius lifted one eye, an undetectable smirk barely tugging at the edges of his mouth. With a believable groan and an awkward, drowsy gait worthy of an Oscar, Cassius slid off of the bed.

"Duuuude!" he groaned, stumbling across the room and into the wall where he leaned precariously out of the doorway. "How'zaguy suppos'da seep wiff allzis noise?" At this, one of the real nurses rushed over to him and held her hands in front of him.

"Sir, it's alright. There's nothing to worry about, please return to your bed." Staring through her, his eyelids heavy and his expression glazed and empty, Cassius pushed past her, limping heavily and mumbling just loud enough for those immediately around him to hear.

"Shit... I gotta take a whiz..." Hobbling past the frantic nurse and only barely missing the crowd of white coats and scrubs that rushed past with Di Vine, he stood in the dead center of the hallway, facing the elevator as the doors shut and the numbers across the top began to light up. Just as the numbers ceased, the nurse took his arm in a gentle but firm grip and pleaded with him.

"Sir, please! The bathroom is right in here! Here we go!" As the nurse ushered Cassius back into his room, Zoe's voice echoed into everyone's ears who had connected to her.

"Burn unit. North elevator-- the one closest to you, Yelena. Three floors up."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Only vaguely aware of the conversations going on by Fay's unmoving watch on him, Shawn noticed the two enormous forms of the vehicles as they pulled around the back of the building. One looked identical to the one that had driven him here but one looked . . . different. It was bigger, slightly different shaped, and seemed to be carrying a little bit more heat in different little pockets.

Glancing back up towards the room Yelena and Cassius had been in, he saw the flurry of movement and furrowed his brow. Yelena's silhouette as long lost in the movement and colors, but Cassius' for the time being was still parked in the room. Turning back to the vehicles as they parked not far from each other, he kept a visual lock on them and tapped Fay.

"Ambulance?" he asked, pointing surreptitiously towards the vehicles. When she gave no response for a few seconds, it dawned on him he was looking straight through several walls and motioned for her to follow him. Moving at a casual pace, he led her around a corner of the building and pointed again. "You see?" he asked, unsure if he was getting his point across. There was only so far they could walk, only so many times he could point, only so many risky phrases he could utter at a volume he couldn't hear let alone control especially well, before they would begin to look extremely suspicious.

In the elevator with no natural air movement it was easy for Toril to remain perfectly still in his wind form, but once they were on the move again he required his telekinises to remain fixed to the bottom of DiVine's gurney. He had been expecting to head down to emergency, but as Toril was able to see the floor numbers they had traveled to the upper floors. Our Lady of Mercy must have a cardiac ward he considered and suddenly everything was getting all the more complicated. At the top floor of the hospital, there wasn't much chance to get DiVine out, not that he was in any condition for a rescue anyway. 'What was he doing?', Toril wondered. He had hoped that somehow he would have already made contact with the other group and aside from that his plan had been pretty sketchy. Toril was used to stealing information not people and even if did go all 'world war three' on the security there were the patients to consider.

As DiVine was wheeled into the cardiac emergency unit, their ghostly stow away jumped ship and materialized within an empty bathroom and quickly shut the door. He checked the ceiling and took note of a vent, he always had the habit of making sure he had quick exit since one could never be sure who would come a knocking and he could ghost in the blink of an eye if he had to.

Toril ran the taps and splashed some cold water on his face and reviewed his options, all of which had gone out the window with DiVine having a heart attack. He stared at himself in the mirror, and realized more than ever at that point that he was not the man he was twenty years ago, as resilient as his physique was he just didn't have the same edge that youth allowed. Age and experience finally superseded his adrenaline and it became very apparent to him that the FBI and RAID had far too much of an advantage here and essentially he was alone now. Still he owed it to Jeb to make sure that he made it out alright, and decided to find the guy and convince him to disregard Surge's bullshit and lead as normal of a life as he possibly could.

Toril unlocked the bathroom door and faded into nothingness. He went up through the vent and followed the ducts back to the burn unit, keeping completely away from any more cameras. His specialized vision allowed him to see everything quite clearly in the hospitals ventilation system but knew that he would eventually have to emerge into a hallway to get his bearings. Hopefully he would be able to find Jeb, but he feared that the new recruit may have already pursued his own course of action.

Yelena’s head popped up when the alarm sounded through the loud speakers and she heard the dreaded words “Code Blue room 305. Code Blue room 305”. Even Cassius snapped his gaze over to her. For a second, she didn’t do anything, but in the next second, she was headed out of Cassius’ room and towards Roberts. She was terrified. Not because of the fact she was allowing herself to come in direct contact with federal agents but because there was something dreadfully wrong with Robert. If they had come all this way and risked everything just to have her dear friend die on them now, she would never forgive herself.

Several ‘nurses’ and ‘medical professionals’ rushed towards Roberts room with Yelena. They even brought a crash cart with them and Yelena was all set to do what ever she had to do to save Robert, but something caught her attention as she entered the room. One of the ‘nurses’ didn’t do too good of a job hiding their weapon in the small of their back and Yelena caught a peek of the flat, black grip as the ‘nurse’ moved into Robert’s room.

Daring not to stop knowing the agents would know for certain she wasn’t a real doctor, Yelena proceeded into the room as though she were none the wiser. It was far better to keep doing what she was doing than confirm suspicions she was sure they had about her. Thankfully the spit fire nurse that more or less ran the burn unit made her way into the room as well. Ordering the men wearing the business suits out of the room as she entered, she cleared a path to the hyperbaric chamber.

“Alright now, everybody give us some room to work here. We can’t get all of this equipment in the room with all these bodies in here at the same time. All you suits, outta here! Now! We have to work on this poor guy. I don’t need my intern getting any more nervous than she already is. Come on….move it!”

The next instant Yelena knew they were loading Robert onto a gurney and taking him to another area. And from what Zoe had told them, it was up another story. But....if Robert was really in distress enough to have a heart atack, how could they possibly rescue him and take him back to some secret place where there was no medical help to be found for him? As she stood there watching all of this play out, as though she were having an out of body experience, she had a painful moment of clarity. What if Robert died after they rescued him? All of their good intentions would have been for nothing. And it was clear, by all things she had seen, that Robert had suffered a great deal of trauma from the explosion.
Glancing around at the other ‘medical professionals’ in the room, she suddenly felt like a raw piece of meat hung on a very large hook in a pool of hungry sharks. Now what was she going to do? If she made a sudden move they would be on her like flies on stink. No…she had to hold it together and hope that by some miracle she was able to get herself and Cassius out of there alive without bringing suspicion on them any more than ther possibly already was.

Letting the the activity swarming around Robert be her decoy, she eased her way back into Cassius' room and, as the nurse was leaving, closed the door behind her.

"We need to abort the mission. I repeat, we need to abort the mission. Get everyone the hell out of here as fast as you can. There's agents crawling all over this hospital. If we make a move now, we'll lose more than one of us and that's not something I'm willing to take the chance on."

Tim spoke into the secure com-link "Roger that, everybody out now. Smokie and I got yur backs." Tim then backed the assault vehicle up and screamed down to street level, backed into a stall on the opposite wall across from the street and waited for the others. He looked at Takashi with a grin. "Now we gi ta have us sum fun. Ya buckle up good an'tight boy. This here could be like ridin' a Brama Bull, fur it's done."

Siege was distracted enough by Zoe’s request to bring Shawn inside that she didn’t understand what the boy was trying to show her—until they rounded the corner. A bland gray armored vehicle had just pulled up outside the small north egress. Several other cars—all forgettable shades of tope and navy—rested in the parking lot, attended by the dim silhouettes of their drivers. “What’s this…?” Siege whispered, eyes narrowing. An ambulance pulled slowly from the parking lot towards the far end of the hospital, but that wasn’t the vehicle that caught her attention.

“Forget bringing Shawn inside,” Siege murmured to Zoe through the zinging wavelengths of their hidden communicators, “we just found something outside. Are you sure he’s having a heart attack? It looks like they’re planning a move!” She flashed her wristwatch camera at the scene with a discrete look around to make sure they hadn’t been noticed.

There was little time for more, because Yelena’s voice then broke into her earpiece: "We need to abort the mission. I repeat, we need to abort the mission." Siege barely comprehended the rest of what Yelena said because she noticed two suits walking towards her and Shawn from back the way they’d come. The two men bulged from what was no doubt weaponry and body armor hidden beneath their plainclothes. Surely she and Shawn hadn’t done anything too suspicious had they?

She put a hand on his arm and began to steer him as calmly as she could, still trying to look the part of his nurse. A glance over her shoulder showed that a few other personnel, including white-coated hospital staff mixed with RAID enforces were beginning to collect at the north egress. Something was definitely dodgy here, and she and Shawn were the only ones who could do anything about it!

A glance at Shawn’s youthful profile, half-obscured by his sloppy bandages, caused Siege to reign herself in. Something had apparently gone wrong in the hospital and there was no use risking Shawn if it wasn’t necessary. But Di Vine…

“Are you lost, Miss…Wagai?” The suit who’d just stepped onto their path let his cold eyes linger on her fake ID badge.

“Lost?” She inwardly cursed the trepidation in her voice, not to mention her rather obvious London accent. A.W. had always done the talking. “Of course not,” she hurried on, “I work here, don’t I?”

“Hm,” the sound was almost a laugh, made more sinister by the unformed smile at the corner of the man’s mouth.

At the same moment that Siege resumed her grip on Shawn with the picture of escorting him smoothly away, the suit’s partner decided to give the boy a suspicious prod, saying, “And what’s his diagnosis, huh?” The result was that Shawn deftly shrunk from the man’s touch only to be unbalanced by Siege’s tug. Shawn stumbled, quickly caught himself—but the vigorous motion disturbed the bandages over his eyes, and for a moment, a bright green light pierced through a crack in the wrappings.

Shawn, no doubt sensing what had happened, turned off his vision so that the light vanished almost as soon as it had appeared. However, Siege could tell that it was already too late, the way both of their interrogator’s eyes narrowed. A silent tension. The twitch of a hand towards a coat flap. It all happened in an instant.

Acting on shear reflex, Siege shoved Shawn to the side, imagining bullets, plasma rays, wanting to spare him.

The suits stepped back, drawing arms. Static crackled. Siege paused long enough to throw a force field up between the two men and Shawn and herself, then she whirled around to run with him. But behind, the supposed doctors and the RAID enforcers in full armor had already noticed them.

She heard one of the men behind her force field snarl, “We’ve got a rogue meta! Maybe two!”

Shawn, with his eyes glowing bright green again, penetrating the shamble of his bandages, was the most obvious target. A blue plasma ray sizzled over the manicured lawn of the hospital from a RAID enforcer straight towards him. “No!” Siege screamed and flung a thick force field between him and the decimating beam. She felt the burning impact strain her resources as the electro-plasma tore into her force field. Her head pounded and she knew the shield would dissolve soon. Worse, the effort had cost her concentration on the field behind them, and now the two suits were after them again.

At least Shawn seemed to know what he was doing, bounding deftly towards a defensible position where his back would be clear. Her protective urge to keep watching him, rebuilding the field of energy between him and the RAID assailants, cost her. She didn’t have time to protect herself when a stunning bolt of blue slammed into her back, knocking her off her feet.

“Uh…!” was all she managed to say. Her body convulsed uncontrollably for what seemed far too long. Then all of a sudden, her arms were being cranked behind to be zip-tied and a tranquilizer burst into her bloodstream. The last thing she heard was, “Well, well, what have we here?”

When the FBI agents in the hospital guises wheeled DiVine into a small area of the corridor that separated recovery from the operating rooms they switched him for the cadaver. The doctors then carried on with the fake DiVine while the original was covered, toe tagged and escorted back the way they had come by two R.A.I.D. agents disguised as hospital staff.



Jameson was just starting to really get into his role when he received a call from Henkel informing that they were to abort the charade and contain the meta-humans that were still in the hospital. "They're on to us!" Henkel informed his partner, "DiVine is being loaded into the ambulance as we speak and under cover R.A.I.D. agents have detained a meta-human in the parking lot and are currently in pursuit of another suspect. I want you to assist in capturing three known meta's that are currently still in the hospital. We are currently locking down the intensive care ward to contain suspected meta-human, Angela Martin. Still at large are Doctor Paul Carson and a Jeb Corvus, both seem to be, " Henkel couldn't remember the term and had to ask Birkshire what he had called them, "oh yeah, 'moleculars'. Do you know what that means?"



"It means we need to break out the plasma guns." Answered Jameson.

Henkel looked over to Birkshire again for confirmation and he wasn't surprised that Jameson was on the ball. What is partner lacked in the investigative department he made up for with his tactical knowledge. "That'll work, Jameson. Happy hunting."

Jameson happily tore off his lavender scrubs which he had been wearing over his dress shirt and pants, then informed his team of the situation. One of the agents uncovered a table in the corner of the room and what had appeared to be medical instruments were in fact an array of plasma pistols and rifles and googles that would allow the agents to see in a wide range, from thermal to electromagnetic.

Henkel shot back the last of his cold coffee and grimaced while Birkshire leaned back his seat, tenting his fingers with a 'I told you so', expression on his face. He had suspected from the beginning the plan did not have a very high percent chance of success, but it had got DiVine out of the hospital and en-route to one of their detention centres, but they weren't out of the woods yet.

Birkshire received a call from his agents in the ambulance informing him that DiVine had been prepped and was ready for travel. He stood up, fixed his suit and proceeded out the door turning at the last minute to offer his colleague at a quick, "Good luck."

Outside the hospital by the loading docks, two agents carried the unconscious Siege into the armoured transport and placed her on a table that locked her body in place with several curved metal bands, like an open sarcophagus. They had not yet discovered her comm-link, but once she was secure one of the agents began to check her over for wires using a hand held scanner.

While Yelena and Cassius considered their next move, Henkel's agents were already ensuring that the only two exits out of the intensive care ward were locked tight. The west and south doorways were guarded and several agents armed with conventional weapons, were advancing through the only door to the burn unit and flooding into the hallway just outside the corridor that lead to the burn unit rooms.



While Agent Jameson and his group were still combing the upper floors, Wraith materialized behind a half drawn curtain just behind Cassius, so that he would not appear on any cameras. He called over to the intern who he was pretty sure now was the meta that the agents were after, "Don't turn around, it's better that they don't suspect I'm here. I can't confirm this but I suspect that there may be cameras watching this room. Right now, there are about a dozen F.B.I. agents readying themselves to burst down the corridor just outside of this room, that gives you about five minutes to come up with a plan. I didn't see any plasma weapons on them, but that's probably the least of your worries right now. The only way that you're going to get out of here is through them, so either one of you wouldn't happen to have any abilities that could kill the lights by chance?"

"Oh, the name's Wraith by the way."

As the agents began to slowly close in, the heroes had little choice to fight there way through them. There were no other exits, and the only windows were on the east side of the ward. Strong as Toril was, he didn't think he'd have much luck trying to bash through a wall so he would help his fellow meta-humans escape or die trying. He wondered where Jeb was, now that was a guy who could come in real handy given their present situation.

"Shit," Zoe swore, immediately destroying the connections in Siege's communication devices. She had no idea where the deaf-blind kid had gone and could only hope he was as capable as everyone seemed to think he was. "They've got Siege," her voice hissed through all of the communication devices. As she spoke, a presence appeared just behind Cassius , very nearly startling him though he managed to remain still.

"Don't turn around, it's better that they don't suspect I'm here. I can't confirm this but I suspect that there may be cameras watching this room. Right now, there are about a dozen F.B.I. agents readying themselves to burst down the corridor just outside of this room, that gives you about five minutes to come up with a plan. I didn't see any plasma weapons on them, but that's probably the least of your worries right now. The only way that you're going to get out of here is through them, so either one of you wouldn't happen to have any abilities that could kill the lights by chance?" A grin spread across Cassius' face as the meta finished speaking.

"Baby?" he said softly, "do I have a light-killing ability?" Immediately, Killswitch's silent touch plunged the hospital into pitch blackness with only the hum of the emergency power supplies that kept people alive providing evidence of electricity in the place. Keeping his back to Wraith, Cassius quickly undid the bandages around his leg and, as he straightened, slipped a small handgun out from under his shirt and held in front of himself. "Sounds like you can handle yourself, dude," he said before turning to Yelena and flashing her an excited flick of his eyebrows. He then abruptly jumped up onto the bed, punched a tile from the lowered ceiling out, and quickly leaped up to grab hold of the ledge and nimbly swing himself up into the hole. He then peeked his head out and looked to Yelena with a wide grin. "Time to fly, dudette!" he said, "you wanna take the high road or the low road?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ducking in some bushes, Shawn cursed himself for screwing up royally. Peeking surreptitiously out, he saw the figure that he now recognized as Fay drop to the ground and immediately become swarmed by the onslaught that had suddenly come their way. Gritting his teeth, determined not to let his stupidity cost anyone their life or their freedom, Shawn waited until they had busied themselves securing her to something when he shot out of the bushes. Though he saw only the figures straightening stiffly and stumbling in shock, he was fairly certain of their expressions of horror as the apparently demon rushed straight for them out of absolutely nowhere.

Moving directly for the first one he saw, Shawn thrust a hard punch into the man's gut, letting him double over before he slapped his hand over the agent's face and released his poison. Shawn couldn't hear his screams, but he could feel the tense writhing of his pain as the man's skin bubbled and melted away beneath Shawn's toxic grip before he let him drop to the ground, unconscious, his face burned to the bone in some places. The agents reacted quickly however and Shawn took a hard punch to the side of the head before he managed to dodge around towards Fay's head. Grossly outnumbered, two agents blocked his path while two others hurried to usher Siege away.

Moving with shocking speed, Shawn shot his hands out like two vipers, clasping the agents' throats and eating away until their struggling ceased. He then moved to step over their lifeless bodies, sickening, cauterized holes gaping in their throats and exposed to their comrades. More agents closed in on him, however, and another managed to blind-side him straight in the jaw and just barely missed him with a plasma ray when he rolled instinctively onto his stomach. Leaping forward, he shot back to his feet and whirled around, scanning the four . . . five . . . six silhouettes that stood with weapons raised, heat already building within them. Immediately, Shawn darted off in the direction he thought they had taken Fay, but was cut off by another shot from a plasma gun that nearly took off his nose. In this split second, two agents wrapped their powerful arms around Shawn's entire torso and throat while a third rushed up and slugged him straight across the face.

Shawn's world shook, his strange vision quivering and shuddering as he struggled to keep his wits about him. The taste of blood began to fill his mouth, a hot stickiness already pouring freely from his nose. His eyes fluttering, the deaf-blind young man thrust his arms backwards and began eating away at one of his capture's lower abdomen, barely finding his intestines when the man finally let go. He then immediately kicked forward as hard as he could, finding the third agent's crotch just as Shawn thrust his freed arm towards the other presence and found the second agent's face. Without thinking, he dug his fingers into the man's eye sockets and in a manner of split seconds blinded him and released himself.

Dropping to the ground, weary and in pain, Shawn's blurred and shaking vision found the third agent in a fetal position not far from him. Dropping his heal hard into the man's face, he felt a satisfying little crunch about where the agent's nose should have been before he took off once more back around the building along the path he and Siege had taken. By now, he was stumbling, pain further blurring his already shaken vision such that he felt it was useless. Shutting off his powers , Shawn tore the hospital clothes off of himself and ran along in his normal clothes, blood already staining his shirt, his hands waving the air around him "watching" for obstacles. His head pounded from the hard punches and his gait swayed as he pushed himself to go further.

Finally, his consciousness beginning to quickly falter and chip away, Shawn ran straight into the ambulance they had driven to the hospital with a very loud clang, the reverberations of which even reached his own skin. The impact was all his injured body could take and he immediately bounced off and collapsed onto the small patch of pavement between the vehicle and the hospital grounds. Spitting blood from his swelling lip, he barely managed to pull himself to his feet, the throbbing in his head now engulfing his body. Running his hands along the smooth surface, Shawn slipped around to the back, finding the handle and leaning heavily against one to open the other. He then crawled inside and only barely managed to pull it shut when his body gave out and he collapsed unconscious on the floor of the ambulance.

Special Agent Henkel watched his monitor intently while he relayed the movements of Yelena and Cassius and had become curious of a strange air current that seemed to move a curtain near by the young man. He was replaying a recording of the scene on a separate screen when everything in the surveillance room was diverted to their back-up batteries.

"Son of a bitch!" Screamed Agent Henkel when the power went out. All their micro-camera's sacrificed night vision for their size and so they were literally in the dark. He quickly contacted the anti-meta FBI team that was closing in on the burn unit room, "Proceed with caution, I repeat, proceed with caution. There may be a third meta in the room." Henkel then switched channels and contacted Jameson. "Where are you?"



Agent Jameson and his team had switched to night vision and were making their way along a hallway as quick as possible while still randomly checking rooms along the way in the hopes of stumbling across one of the meta-humans. "Fifth floor, performing a random sweep." Informed Jameson.

"We have a situation down here. Get those plasma weapons to the burn unit as quick as possible." Ordered Henkel.

"We'll be there in five minutes." Jameson estimated.

"Five minutes! This will be over in three minutes! Move your ass!"

Jameson double timed it to the stairwell, but he doubted they would be able to make it in time. He figured they wouldn't arrive in the vicinity of the intensive care ward until after the shit hit the fan but they would at least be able to reinforce the perimeter of the ward.



Toril emerged from behind the curtain, his eyes glowing with a soft blue aura that accompanied the use of his specialized vision that allowed him to see without any need for light. He stood aside the bed and under the opening that Cassius made in the ceiling and motioned with his arms that he would assist Yelena up.

"I'll close up behind you." He told her, then just to make sure she wasn't going to try anything heroic he added, "Somebody has to slow them down. Now if you can turn invisible and slip through cracks I'll gladly trade places with you, but if not I suggest you follow your friend."

Toril scanned the room quickly, searching for exits as he talked then he smiled confidently like the star quarterback about to throw for the win, "So what's it going to be?"

Things were falling apart faster than a snowball melted as it made a dash for the gates of hell. Yelena was listening to everything in her communicator that Zoe was saying. Seige….had been captured. And then….the mysterious voice behind her. The small hairs on the back of her neck raised in warning, but there was something about the voice that made her stay exactly where she was as instructed.

What the hell were they going to do? She and Cassius were trapped like rats in a very large cage. Thankfully, the lights went out and instantly her eyes glowed a soft gold color allowing her to see more than she could with normal vision. As Cassius quickly made his way into the ceiling, she looked back at the body the voice came to. When she first spun around she was fully expecting to see a face, but all she saw was a broad chest. It took a few seconds for her eyes to travel upwards to reach the face the body and voice belonged to. Blinking at the golden haired God that stood before her, Yelena quickly snapped out of her stupor and looked up to where Cassius waited.

Again she seemed to weigh her options and all of them pointed to the exit Cassius had ready to go. If there was one thing Yelena hated it was turning tail and running away, but there was no other choice this time. Finally muttering something under her breath in her native Russian, Yelena nodded as she reached up to take Cassius’ extended hand.

“We can’t go up. Unless you can scale outside of building. We must go down and meet up with others.”

With Toril’s help, which Yelena felt as though she wasn’t much trouble for the large man to lift, she slipped into the ceiling with Cassius. Just before Toril closed up the ceiling tile, she peered down upon him.

“Not safe for you here now. Not safe for any of us here now. Meet us downstairs. We leave quickly.”

Toril merely nodded his head as he quickly closed up the ceiling tile. In the meantime, Yelena was quickly relaying all she could to Zoe and the others as she followed Cassius trying to escape the madness that had quickly erupted in the hospital.

“On our way out. We’ll meet up as soon as we can with you. We’re headed down now. Others working with us. You won’t be able to miss who they are when you see them.”

Thankfully Cassius was quite the wizard at leading Yelena through the hospital inner sanctum. And thanks to Zoe killing the lights, it made it easier for her and Cassius to quickly find the elevator shaft they jumped onto the roof of it after it passed by and. Quickly slithering their way into the contraption through the emergency escape hatch in the roof, Cassius relayed what they were doing to Zoe. As Cassius dropped into the elevator and extended his arms to help Yelena, the shape shifter changed forms and when she dropped down next to him, she was nothing like the doctor she had portrayed in the hospital before. She had long, stringy hair, dark circled eyes and was wearing a couple of different tank tops, hip rider jeans, hiking boots, several different chains and bracelets as well as some strange tattoos on her arms.



“When doors open, play along and keep head down.”

It was all she had time to say as the elevator dropped to the first floor. Seconds before the doors opened up, Yelena turned and covered Cassius’ body with hers and began kissing him and moving her body provocatively over his. Cassius was a bit surprised at first but he realized quickly what was happening and began playing along. Kissing Yelena back, he let his hands slide up the back of her back, under her shirts. The doors opened and several agents were waiting with guns drawn.

“FREEZE!”

Yelena quickly broke the kiss then turned to glare at the agents.

“What the hell? Haven’t you guys ever seen people making out before? I didn’t realize it was a crime to get our groove on in an elevator. Cm’on baby… let the stiffs get their jollies.”

Turning around once more, she began kissing Cassius as though the agents weren’t even there.

“Miss…out of the elevator now.”

When the agent reached out and touched Yelena’s shoulder, she quickly snapped her arm around and swung at the agent.

“Hey! Don’t touch me! Pervert! Pedophile! I’m calling the freakin’ cops! HELP! I’ve been assaulted! HELP! Somebody!”

Another agent looked at the one who had touched the woman.

“Great. You’ve found a teenager with a serious attitude. Way to go. We’re going to have to sit on her and listen to her lip until they let her go.”

Glancing at his fellow agents, the one hesitated a moment then finally stepped aside and indicated for the teens to leave.

“Shut up! Just…go…get the hell out of here and go have sex in some other public place. We’re trying to work here.”

Yelena stopped yelling then and glared at the agent again.

“Asshole…..”

Before the agent could say anything, Yelena grabbed a hold of Cassius’ hand and jerked him out of the elevator, pulling him along behind her. She walked a few feet then turned and flipped the agents off before she turned and started laughing as she and Cassius ran away from the agents and to the closest exit they could find. Not knowing exactly where they were in conjunction to the ambulance, Yelena quickly got on the comm. with Zoe.

“We’re out of the cage but not home free yet..”

As they walked along, Yelena and Cassius glanced around to try and figure out where the ambulance was but they saw several armed agents rushing towards the hospital so they just kept moving the way they were headed. As they came up to the street sign, Cassius relayed their position.

“Yo, dudette, we’re on Arcade Avenue. How ironic is that?”

Yelena looked around again and tried to figure out how to get back to the ambulance.

“Which way should we go?”

After Toril closed up the ceiling tile he quickly ran over to the corner of the room where there was small sealed door. He drove his fists into the drywall around its edges so that he could get a better hold of it and with all his strength bent it open revealing a passage way large enough for a man to crawl into. He has seen them before, a service tunnel so that electricians could get behind the scenes quickly and efficiently, it would make a good decoy.

When the agents burst into the room, Toril made sure they saw him bending down and looking into the tunnel as if watching the others escape. Then just as the armed men aimed their flash light mounted assault rifles at him and told him to "Freeze!", he vanished before their eyes.

"He's invisible!" Screamed one of the agents as he opened fire and literally hit nothing but air, as Wraith had assumed his elemental form. Bullets punctured the wall where his form had been crouched before the hole in the wall.

"Watch your fire!" Hollered another agent, then all hell seem to break loose as a cyclone of wind began to swirl around the room with such force that the agents had to put their weight against it to move.

Every once in a while the agents could see a dim blue halo of a large muscular figure moving about the room. Appearing in the corner, on the floor, on the ceiling and then it appeared right in front of an agent and as it moved toward and through him he was struck by strong gust of wind that knocked him off his feet and into the wall.

The agents were confused and panic was beginning to set in as they realized they had no way to fight this meta-human. A big man appeared in the air for a split second and drove his fist across an agents jaw and before he hit the ground Toril had vanished once more.

"Everyone one clear out!" Shouted a veteran R.A.I.D. agent who had thrown in with the FBI, and just then the big man appeared and then vanished once again after throwing a kick that knocked another man out of the room.

The agents didn't care if the man giving the orders was R.A.I.D., he seemed to know what he was doing and they needed to get out of the room. When they cleared out, the R.A.I.D. veteran called to the surveillance room and ordered that they turn on the sprinklers in BU300. Agent Henkel, was curious what was going on but as he was out of ideas he acknowledged the other R.A.I.D. agents to follow the order.

As the water cascaded down and mixed into the vortex of high winds, Toril became all too aware of what was about to happen. Being partnered with Surge on many occasions he had learned a lot about electricity and the effect it had on his kind. Water made him especially vulnerable in closed spaces and so he flew as quickly as possible for the rooms air vent knowing he had to shake every molecule of water before the R.A.I.D. agent completed his plan. The veteran set his plasma rifle for a wide spread, reached around the corner of the doorway and fired. The entire room came alive with a bright flash and the plasma electricity spread through the room like hundreds of glowing spiders.

Toril just made it out before the burst, a close call but it was needed to ensure that the others got away safely. While Yelena and Cassius made there way into the elevator shaft the other agents were inspecting the service tunnel and Henkel was ordering them to the opposite end of the hospital to head off the decoy that Wraith had set up.

Wraith found his way out of the hospital and flying quickly above it he was not concerned with anyone being able to spot his faint blue aura. After one pass of the surrounding area, he spotted Cassius. It wasn't difficult as he was quite distinct to the strange world revealed by his vision and the kid had a rare purple tinted aura.

Toril landed behind a clump of trees nearby Cassius and some bimbo that it seemed like he had just picked up. He wondered where the intern was? He hoped she didn't get left behind because he sure as hell didn't want to go back into that hospital.

He called to Cassius with a 'PSSSSST', sound. Toril considered asking if the kid wanted to "buy a golden 'AN'", but he was probably too young to get the joke. When he got Cassius' attention, Toril stepped out of the shadows and asked about the blonde haired woman to ensure that she was okay. He then asked the typical questions, like "Why were they strolling down the street while the F.B.I and R.A.I.D. were looking for them?"