Return to action....There is going to be action, right? (Zell, invite)

Well here's the thing. Truth be told, school had gotten way too busy this year and it was taking up nearly all his time. Oh my, senior year is an absolute pain with no end in sight. Why didn't anyone warn him of this? Why? How he wished someone had so that he could have even attempted to prepare himself. Every single freaking day was kind of exhausting both physically and mentally for these first few months. The only consistency was the high level of difficulty. One day this stupidly named class would be extremely hard, the next the even more stupidly named class would be hard. Seriously, these classes have terrible names. If that weren't bad enough, the weekends provided little reprieve from the pressure and work. John Capore was not enjoying this year at all.

He was sitting at his relatively small bedroom desk complete with an uncomfortable chair as he did his homework. Stacks of books and papers adorned it and the floor around it. Some even lay on his bed. A bag of tacos lay on the corner. He had found it easier to do the work if he had something to snack on. The math quiz had been pretty easy. Then again, it was perhaps his best subject. He was sure he'd get a good grade on it. Having to write this 500 word essay on current events was just taking up time. He both understood the subject, and didn't at the same time. If that makes any sense. In order to manage his newfound workload, he had spent far less time taking part in his secondary secret life of being a superhero. He had barely kept track of any of the ongoings in recent months, let alone done all that much himself. Really outside of what's been reported on the local news that he actually caught, John knew little of what was going on.

Of course stuff was still going on. Not like it would ever really stop. People were always active and about in general. It's just in their nature. What he did know was that his team had apparently kind of disbanded. That was really unfortunate. Knightwatch seemed to be no more even if he did still have access to all their resources and was able to contact them. John probably should have done that at some point in recent months. He had basically gone off the grid in some sense. At least the world hadn't ended or been conquered or had something else really bad happen while he was away. Maybe he should start going out and saving people and other hero stuff some more. Even if that mean't less time to sleep. Yeah, you know what. He would do just that this weekend. Maybe it would allow him to find out what's been going on lately. In the meantime, let's go ahead and finish this here homework lying on his desk.

The preparations for his weekend excursion back into being a superhero started late on Friday. That night he examined all of his equipment. First the costume. It had undergone some changes since he first started a few years back. Back then it was just cloth that he had strung together to make something passable as an outfit. Nowadays he wore something formatted with kelvar and padding with some pockets to hold things in and a belt of sorts. It was pretty effective and it worked for him. He liked the black, silver and blue color pattern to it as well even if there was nothing to it. It looked a combination of both cool and ridiculous. The perfect combination.

There was also all the tools and gadgets he brought with him on these little ventures. The gauntlets that he often attached to the costume, gasmask, pepper spray dispenser, a swiss army knife, a second, more combat based knife, the clawshots for getting off the ground quickly and other things, and those tonfas he'd gotten really good at using. Those were his favorites. That slight extension to his strikes that they provided had proved useful very often. Those were his weapons. He also had a watch and a two separate communicators. One of which was just a phone though. Yep, everything was here. John looked over at his alarm clock and it said 2:17am. It was already Saturday. This could wait. It was late enough as is and he was tired anyways. He'll go out Saturday night instead.

Just after dark that Saturday night, someone was out and about in the city of Chicago, Illinois. That's right, Forcewave was patrolling the streets of this here city for the first time in awhile. Just not the same way others might do so. He had found that whole travel by rooftops thing to be more of an inconvience than anything else. It was very easy to get yourself in trouble atop those things. Instead he had gone to the more troublesome parts ot the city since those were the areas where crimes occured more often. Sure enough, one was occuring. The sounds or yelling and screaming led him to find out that a mugging was going on nearby. This was a big one too. There were nearly a dozen of these guys present attacking just one guy, and they were heavily armed. Way too heavily to be just a typical gang. They must have connections of sorts. Was it to somebody old or somebody new? Whomever it was probably asked for a lot when they provided these guys with high grade weapons like those. They're definitely going to be upset when they lose them.

Forcewave acted with something he had done numerous times before. Some kind of electricity generated through him and was projected outwards creating a barrier between the criminals and their targets and striking all of their weapons in one fluid motion. They were surprised instantly and shouts of things like "What the hell?" and "Dammit, what's going on?" rang out through the night. They didn't look around very long before spotting him.
"Oh damn, it's a cape, and our weapons are gone now." the one who stood a few feet from the rest said.
"What now boss?" Another one asked of that guy.
"We're getting out of here. I'll remember you cape. You'll pay for this." and with that they started to flee.

Forcewave ran over to the man they'd been mugging to check up on him. "Are you okay, sir?"
He responded with a voice that was very shaky. "Y-yeah. Those guys.....they're........they're dangerous. I'm getting out of here." he said before taking off in the other direction.

It had been a long time since he'd been here. "The Windy City" it was called, and quite rightfully so. Chicago, Illinois, was where he found himself. He was celebrating a "belated birthday" of his own when meeting up with an old friend he had long since lost. A friend that wasn't even using his own name any longer. But it was worth getting in touch, it isn't every year you turn eighteen years of age. Zell could finally buy cigarettes and other things that he wouldn't waste his breath on, both literally and figuratively. It would take him a little while to break the habitual response of "seventeen" when people asked him his age, it would take a while for him to sink in that he wasn't exactly a "child" anymore. But it's not like he was ever a child, he grew up early, and he was damn happy for it too. Took life in his own hands when he was young and made something of it. Now if only he could look into the camera and say "Stay in school kids" and he'd have not wasted an entire walk across three city blocks reflecting  and meditating on his age.

   Thankfully he didn't need to focus solely on his age, as he was here in Chicago for another reason entirely. One might have been able to call it a "business" trip of sorts. In all reality he was asked to scope out a particular issue by a very specific woman in white. Of course there was no denying her request, even if he desired to say no, he could not. Even if he feet wished to remain rooted, they would not. So here he was, "scoping out" the city in a sense. Of course you had to expect there would be crime crawling around here, it was a city after all, and law enforcement was not he most secure and reliable thing. Though that perhaps was scary in its own right. It might not have been secure or reliable, but it was the best system they had at the moment.  A jet black pea-coat covered him while matching his black dress slacks and his black shoes, He was particularly sure that if there were anything to worry about he wouldn't have any problem catching it's attention. Zell had found that one of the best ways to be a good hunter is to pretend you are the prey. Dressed up guys tended to get eyes, young men who didn't look overly impressive caught eyes and crooks just a little bit quicker though. Especially with the sudden and abrupt disappearance of the hero group that used to watch over the place. Unfortunately Zell never had the privilege (or inconvenience) of crossing paths with them in any form.

   Fate would prove that regardless of how easy the prey looked, no "fish" were biting this evening, which means that Zell can return to the new place he (temporarily) was forced to call home and report his lack of findings. Zell reached into his pocket and withdrew a set of keys, all hooked to this strange keychain with a small black device upon it. Removing a glove he would push his thumb to this device and a little green light would give a dim little flash. Upon withdrawing his thumb, his fingerprint could be clearly seen before fading away, and that easily Zell stuffed the keys back into his pocket and returned the glove to its resting place upon his hand. Looking to his watch he could see quite clearly that it was 11:20 P.M. It would take a little bit while he waited, and so he began to look about, taking in his surroundings and memorizing them to a perfect detail. It could well have been the last thing he heard of Chicago. It was quiet enough for him at the moment, he would greedily take any chance for Silence and a peacful-

  "What the Hell!?" - "Wha?" - "Goddamn piece of crap!"

 "Family reunion so soon?" Zell offhandedly commented as he shook his head and walked towards the source of the commotion. Turning the corner he started down the sidewalk as he heard some men cursing out a "cape" not far away, already up the street from him and slipping into an alleyway. He was just getting into vision, about fifty foot away. No not quite fifty, more like fifteen meters. Zell picked up the pace to see if he could help in some way, though the hero type and the poor civilian made his way to wherever he deemed to be safety. Zell didn't make it very far before the man ran off leaving Zell to look at this Hero. He was truly grateful the hero manage to save the civilian, though he found himself humbled by the fact he was so certain nothing was afoot. Now seeing that weaponry however he wasn't so sure of his immediate estimation. That little arsenal they had there was in fact of a more impressive nature for the common man to be in possession of. Zell contemplated walking up and saying something, though he wasn't quite sure if that would accomplish anything. He turned around and was going to leave the hero work to the hero. Of course that was before he was immediately ripped from that thought as he heard the loudest noise bellowing through the streets and echoing into the night. Zell took no time to even process it, though it was mostly because he didn't need time to process it. He took off in that direction with the human level haste he had as he cleared the corner to find a rather messy scene in it's own right.

   It was a large military vehicle, or apparently it looked like one. Zell wasn't a man of cars but he identified it immediately. It was a pitch black BAE Caiman, military grade. It was blown to Hell, from the inside out. Flames poured from vehicle, an arm hanging out, a dismembered corpse outside burning right next to a door. The only question Zell had was how the hell did they get one of those, and where the hell did they park this thing? Zell blinked, almost unable to believe it. He wished he would have tried tracking them. It would have made things easier. "This is bad..." Zell affirmed to himself verbally before what appeared to be techno/tron-like lines began to form and weave in and out around his ear and then out to the air in front of his eye as well. In an instant there was a burning like hiss as a brilliant and beautiful complex steal of blue and indigo seemed to dissipate into the air, revealing that where there was once nothing there was now a visor that began processing data and taking thermal imagery over the vehicle. One little detail Zell couldn't help but notice though was the time.

  "11:31 P.M" He said to himself before looking around the scene one more time.

A young man stood alone in the middle of a street in Chicago at night, feeling a bit estranged. On his first night back to being a superhero after a couple month hiatus, Forcewave had ran into a group of well equipped gangsters attempting to mug some guy. He was standing alone out here because he had defeated them, and thus saved the person they had been attacking. As soon as the guy was safe, he had ran for it. Presumably home, or he may have gone to the police station of some other form of shelter. He didn't even say thank you. Hmm, oh well. Not like he was hoping to be thanked anyways. Or expecting it really. Forcewave decided to get back to doing something. Perhaps that something should be attempting to pursue those gangsters he had just fended off. He looked in the direction they had ran off in, but couldn't see them at all. Yeah, he was not liking his chances of catching up to them. Now what?

As it turns out, the question his mind had asked of him had kind of received an answer. Something very loud pierced the quiet of the night. What sounded like an explosion of sorts rang out from somewhere nearby. Was it connected to those guys he had just chased off? Was it them still up to misdeeds on this night? Well, only one way to find out, and that way was going towards the source of that tremendous noise. Forcewave looked around in all directions until he saw smoke billowing upwards a couple blocks away. That was where that explosion occured, and where he began running towards.

It took him a couple minutes to get there. The smoke made it difficult to get close too quickly. When he finally arrived he saw what was there. A heavily damaged military vehicle with flames still erupting from it, and somebody just standing there gazing upon the wreckage. Somebody that didn't look remotely harmed. Something that suggested they weren't in or anywhere near the vehicle when it exploded. Forcewave stood around the corner as he examined what he was seeing, and after a few seconds, recognized the person standing there. It was somebody he had met on two previous occasions. The thing was, this person wasn't just one person. This was either Zell, a would be hero, or Ouro, a murderous psychopath with a god complex. Just like all the other murderous psychopaths that happened to have some form of power. So, which one was standing there? Past experiences told him to expect the worst, so he made his weapons easily accessible as he was expecting that to be Ouro, and a fight to occur. He stepped out from around the corner and spoke loudly enough for him to hear. "I have a few questions. My first two being who are you, and do you remember me?" Now to see what would the response.

"I have a few questions. My first two being who are you, and do you remember me?"

  The question in it's own right was a fair one. They didn't exactly have the best record in the past. Actually it was quite possibly confusing for this "Hero" whom had seen Zell in one of his darker hours. Zell sighed as he recalled the name of the man. Sean had said it once, though he respected the privacy of the heroic type's far too much to give them the discomfort of knowing their identity was out with one such as Zell. Someone so... well, unreliable was a decent word. Yes. Evidence would state he was unreliable, though none could say he never tried.

 "Remember you? It's hard to forget the man who gave you the opportunity to take your life back." Zell chuckled a little as he smiled and nodded. "So, lest it slip my mind again...Thank you." He said before looking back to the wreckage. He was not a fool, he recalled that he neglected to say who he was. Mostly because if the man had any semblance of intelligence, which he did, he would likely be able to ascertain that it was Zell and not the "Ouroboros" he knew.

  "Shattering that blade gave me a window of opportunity to...well, receive enlightenment." Zell said as he used his scanner to check the local listings. It was time to do a little investigative work. There were three primary questions he needed answers to. Why were these men so well armed? Who armed them? Are there any more cases regarding hoodlums like this? "Besides, I sucked at being a villain. You know what I did? I saved Washington DC from a woman with fake tits that pulled all her tactics straight from a manga." He said as he sighed and crossed his arms as he looked over everything.

There was a lot of information to sift through at the moment, it wouldn't likely be something that would be processed too quickly. Even with a mind like his, he was still limited to the processes of this body and this reality. Though he found himself doing the oh so immoral activity of hacking the CPD, hopefully their nearest district department would have access to some information. "Well it looks like these guys are just getting upgrades after upgrades. But dying more and more frequently. Could be them keeping balance. You noticed anything like this happening recently?" Zell asked, half expecting to not be answered. Whatever this was though was definitely something far beyond the typical scale. But it was just another villain that needed taken down a peg and put behind bars as far as Zell was concerned.

There had been an explosion nearby. One that had occurred mere moments after he had fought off some criminals that had been too heavily armed to be just random gangsters. These events seemed connected. It was a possibility. Forcewave had ran off to the site of the explosion to investigate because that's what heroes do, of course. Upon arriving he had found not only the wreckage of a military style vehicle, but somebody whom he recognized standing nearby it. It was somebody he had to confront if you will, for there were things he needed to know. Forcewave abandoned any chance of staying hidden to do so and made his presence known with a couple of questions without even a trace of fear present.

The response he heard sounded geniunely pleasant as he talked about his life was returned to him by the actions of the person to whom he was speaking to. Forcewave listened to every word as he made note of how honest he sounded. Perhaps this really was Zell, and if what he was saying was true, Ouroborus wasn't around anymore. He was confused as to how that could be the case since he knew so little about how the possession process worked in general, let alone for this one specific individual. Despite this lack of knowledge however, he had reason to believe he knew exactly whom he was talking to. "Oh, you're welcome. Glad I could help, I guess." he said quaintly. "Shame we can't help these guys." he said indicating those that had died in that explosion.

Forcewave walked forward and stood next to Zell as he gave the wreckage a closer examination. Nobody was alive as a result of whatever destroyed the vehicle. That was probably the intent of whomever was responsible. They moved past the reintroduction and explanation and moved on to discussing the sight before them. "Well, truth be told, I've kind of been out of action lately. I haven't been keeping tabs on anything and really only know what everybody does. I mean I did just run into some guys that were armed to the teeth attempting to mug just one guy, but other than that, I don't know anything about what could be behind this. Do you know anything?" he concluded with that question.

It was in fact a shame they couldn't help these people, however it wasn't anything Zell was too heart-broken over. There were more pressing issues in life than thugs getting bombed out of their cars. For example, the person orchestrating it. There were so many things he wanted to do. Check the air for residual chemicals or components, scan the car to see if a casing or a pin point of location could be found. However he couldn't do it all. He simply lacked the time to do so at this particular moment, especially when he knew authorities would be arriving rather soon. He quickly recorded a visual of the crash, taking note of any debris he could make notice of and making note of any form of fire in the immediate area. Then he ran his scan involving the air and the components and chemicals. The sound of sirens ran out in the distance and Zell's eyes shifted.

"I ran a couple scans and did a little research just now. I've looked into recent cases and noticed a theme involving the times of the crimes. Many of them involving "Heavily armed" persons are crimes that occurred before hour marks. Example being before four o' clock. But common reports of heavily armed men being found dead in various manners are all logged and reported as being called in on EXACTLY one minute past a fifteen minute mark. Example would be one minute after, sixteen minutes, thirty one minutes after, or forty six minutes after. " Zell explained as a red warning flashed on his visor. Zell looked and around the corner there was a loud revving of an engine as a sleek black, yet heavily armed motorcycle turned the corner and seemed to drive itself directly at Zell and Forcewave a moment. As it closed in distance it squealed as it seemed to break and turn itself. It's wheels began to rotate and allow the motorcycle to keep form falling over while on such an extreme slide sideways. Thankfully the cycle stopped at the curb and the engine settled into a healthy pur.

"Police incoming. E.T.A: 3 minutes." A voice came from the cycle as the sirens grew louder and louder. Zell looked to Forcewave and sighed before deciding it was probably time to come clean about his suspicions.

"I don't have definitive proof at this moment in time, but I'm almost certain this is the work of Whinston Rabai. His alias is, and please hold all laughs until the end of the briefing, "The White Rabbit". Whinston has an obsession with being on time and never having anything done late. His power is...like nothing I've seen before. Providing this is him. Last I knew he was in Canada. Might have migrated this way though." Zell offered up with a sigh before shaking his head and trying to contemplate how Whinston would have escaped the prison as he had.

"Hey uh- for the smartest man in the world you're kinda thick. Cops are coming. El Policia aki en dos minutos. Su madre le cayo en la cabeza!?" The voice came form the motorcycle again. Zell rolled his eyes and with the assistance of the visor he was able to silence his A.I.

"Two minutes for cops. I can teleport you about 200 meters from here to give you a head start if you'd like. I'm gonna rely on my cycle here. Or you can jump on, or if you have some form of enhanced speed you may be okay on your own. Either way, you're as much a part of this as I am now. I'll be right behind you either way." Zell offered. If he'd take him up on any offer it was a s simple as a snap of the fingers to teleport the hero. Though in order to ensure he stayed "right behind" him he initiated the tracking protocol on Forcewave. Of course there was nothing nefarious about tracking him, he simply didn't want to waste any more time than needed. Time was of great value when facing enemies like this.

Oh my, what a night. On his first night back into superheroing after a hiatus of a couple of months, Forcewave went from not even being in the frying pan to straight into the fire. That expression fits here, right? He did not know whom was responsible for either the things he had witnessed so far tonight, but whomever was responsible, they were sure welcoming him back into the fold in a pretty big way. His first night back was looking like it could be an all-nighter. He wasn't so sure he was ready for such a thing so soon. Luckily he had rested up some in preparation for this. Hopefully it would be enough to get him through whatever tonight had in store for him.

Forcewave briefly heard sirens blaring in the distance before Zell started speaking to him. He told him of a recent string of crimes with a pattern involving things happening at specific times. They were described in a manner pretty much identical to what he had witnessed tonight. Some people committing crimes with powerful weaponry well out of the league what they should have then getting killed shortly afterwards. Whomever was behind all of this seemed to be reasonably efficient to pull off such a thing. Forcewave couldn't think of anyone he knew that could likely manage all of this. Hell, most of the villains he knew were somewhat incompetent. Including the one that had previously possessed the body of the person he was discussing this crime spree with. It seemed that somebody new was active in the major crime scene. Forcewave wondered if he would even know who this person might be if he had still been active the last couple of months. He contemplated this possibility as another sound pierced through the night. It was the sound of an engine nearby as Forcewave turned around to see a motorcycle driving towards them with nobody on it. It eventually stopped as it drew near them and a voice came from it despite its lack of a driver informing them that the police were approaching. What is going on? He had a feeling that the sirens were for here due to the explosion and all, and a motorcycle just confirmed that suspicion. Forcewave turned back to Zell to ask if this here talking motorcycle might belong to him. Before he had even opened his mouth to ask this however, Zell started telling him about the person he believed to be responsible for this crime spree.

He spoke of a man by the name of Whinston Rabai, AKA the White Rabbit. Somebody had actually not only named themselves after, but based their methods of operating off of a character from Alice in Wonderland. Were villains just getting more and more unoriginal these days? Seriously, it's a children's story. Being based off of the white rabbit however, did fit the motif of these crimes. He probably carried a wristwatch on him at all times too. As he continued to think of what this Whinston person was like, Zell once again began to speak. This time about the approaching police since the sirens were growing a bit louder. He informed Forcewave of the escape options he had available to him, but Forcewave waved him off. "Don't worry about me. I get the feeling us travelling too closely to each other is a bad idea, and I'm not exactly a fan of teleportation. Just tell me which way we need to go and I'll be there." he told him and once he knew which way they were going, he used his clawshots to quickly climb up to the roof of a building and began travelling via rooftop despite his dislike of this method.

"Susan's Sports bar. Back door, thirty minutes." Zell said as he got onto the motorcycle and looked. "For the love of God. Don't be late." Zell said as the engine died to a soft pur, and the cycle took off at 92 mph. Of course he'd need to be ever so careful as he swerved and weaved through traffic and made sure not to end up with a collision. The last thing he needed to do was be late at this point. The bar was a good twenty minute walk away without running or vehicular assistance, so he had thought putting a thirty minute time constraint would be easy enough for Forcewave. Of course that was going under the assumption that he didn't run into any situations. Assuming wasn't something he liked to do, but at this time he needed to have a little faith in the Hero.

  Zell was sure to embellish his route, make it more complex than it needed to be. Keep people who might be watching him guessing until he was almost certain he had lost anyone and anything that had been following him. Then he would remove himself from the cycle and allow it to drive itself away, keeping people on it's trail if need be. It may have seemed like a paranoid precaution, but he wouldn't want Susan or her staff to be endangered. She was already more than willing to let "Heroic" Metahumans hide in the back rooms, the last thing he wanted to do was bring armed thugs to her doorstep.

  "Well if it isn't the leader of they who shall not be named." She said, same gruff voice on the auburn haired older woman as her brown eyes fixated on him. Zell just scoffed as he shook his head and took the scarf from around his neck.

  "I didn't know they let the riff-raff know about that." He said, playing off the concept of an ever illusive and exclusive group being able to keep a secret. Then again, Susan specialized in secrets. She may not have been a metahuman, but she knew her fair share. Her knowing about his group wasn't a surprise. The woman likely already had a plan to destroy them if they ever overstepped their boundary.

   "If they let riff-raff lead it I don't see why not."
   "Ouch. Coming from a struggling business owner that almost hurts."
   "The only thing I struggle with is understanding how anyone could still be alive with skills like yours. You're a walking time bomb."
   "So you presume you get to judge and tell me about my skills when we both know the only skills you have are ones best kept under the table?"
   "Wow you finally had a decent Insult. About time. What were you waiting for Hell to freeze over?" She asked before grabbing her rag and drying out a glass. Zell sighed as he looked to her with eyebrows raised. "Well? Whatcha waitin' for ya idiot? Get in the back, your ugly mug is bad for business." She said throwing a set of keys at him.

  With the keys in hand he went to the back room and unlocked the door for Forcewave. Zell then sighed as his visor began to look over records, giving him a moment of peace to comprehend and digest everything at godly rates. The only real information he could pluck about Whinston at this moment was that he escaped from an asylum, and his friend still in said asylum may have had a clue.

  "Sadrith. Switch to Visor. Dial Excalibur Stone Asylum, tell them I need to talk to Joseph Maddox. It's an emergency." He said as he awaited the arrival of the other Hero... or the arrival of more opposition.

"Alright. See you then." Forcewave said as he climbed up the side of a building to the roof of it. Once he reached the top he could get moving towards the agreed upon meetup place. Susan's sports bar. Wherever that was. Seriously, he had never even heard of this place. It must be somewhere nearby if they had 30 minutes to get there with one of them travelling on foot. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to find it in time unless he just followed the motorcycle. Duh. Sometimes he forgot what he could do with his powers. Forcewave made a mental note to write some of this down or something as he chased after the motorcycle that Zell was riding and let him lead him to this place at a pace that would leave olympic track runners to shame. Good thing metahumans weren't allowed to compete in the Olympics or they would be ruined forever by the lopsided competitions.

Despite his disdain on travelling via rooftops due to how easily one could be trapped up there, he was still able to keep moving and thanks to his enhanced speed that he figured related directly to his energy powers, possibly, he was able to keep up with the fast moving motorcycle. Based on the route that Zell was taking, Forcewave wasn't the only one who believed that they may be being kept track of after witnessing the aftermath of that explosion. It's one of the reasons he wanted to travel separately. That and he didn't trust him enough at the moment.

Even with all the weaving around that was done, Forcewave was still able to keep sight of him and eventually found the sports bar where they would be meeting. That didn't take too long at all. There was stil plenty of time between now and when the half hour would be up. Forcewave was atop of an adjacent building and decided to rest for a moment since he was here so early. He noticed that Zell had used the front door even though he said they'd meet at the back door. He must know the owner or somebody. He got off the roof and went to the backdoor to wait for something. He could hear movement inside and the sound of the door being unlocked. Forcewave waited a moment for it to be opened before doing so himself and walking in. He saw Zell there looking over some files and talking to somebody or something. Forcewave just walked around the back room and decided to take a quick look around.

Zell heard Forcewave let himself in but he couldn't be distracted form the conversation any more than to raise a hand as if waving. He absolutely hated having a conversation with this nut-job. It was like one of the conversations he used to have in his mind with Ouroboros. Okay maybe he shouldn't be so quick to lable Jackson like this, but that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is that if Whinston was really running rampant then the only people who would know anything about this were either Joseph or Chess. Zell opted to call Joseph because a conversation with a man who calls himself "The Mad Hatter" is more preferable to dealing with the overly laid back sociopathic Cheshire cat that would do nothing but edge them towards a path to put this reality to total destruction.

"Joeseph, Whinston was admitted to the Asylum after Alice died. We both know that there is absolutely no way possible for him to get out without the help of someone from the outside."

"Now that's not true Zelly-boy." The voice on the other end was rather light-hearted and whimsical but anything but normal. He was a rather soft but seemed to fluctuate at the most random of times, as if he were alternating between speaking to the tune of a song and then simply talking like a regular person. "Someone's not thinking with Pooooooortaaaaals!" He sang before slipping into manic laughter afterwards. Zell sighed before rubbing the bridge of his nose. Having never played any of the Portal games this reference was entirely lost to him in the comedic game sense. However, knowing the Mad Hatter as he did, he knew that his "power" was the ability to take any hat and use it to create portals to anywhere he could possibly imagine. Which brought Zell to the conclusion that Joseph somehow got his hands on a hat and used it to portal Whinston out.

"Thank you, as always you've done nothing but make life a lot harder." Zell said, though he said it with a tone of sarcastic appreciation before abruptly hanging up. Rude perhaps, but ultimately it was a show of restraint.

"White Rabbit broke out of the Asylum through another inmate who has the ability to turn a hat into a portal, the Mad Hatter. He's running away from someone he thinks is trying to kill him. I realize insane this sounds and I know these names are campy but they are what they are. In any lighting, I drew up all the case files and the recurring theme was the time, but more importantly I've been looking into all these people that the muggings that have failed." Zell said before detaching the visor and placing it on the table. A light fired forward from it and projected the visor's imagery as a larger form on the wall. From this Forcewave would be able to see the compiled data.


"He's targeting people who are avid cat lovers, Pagans, and criminals. The first two are for his own paranoia and the latter is because it's a sick form of vigilante justice. Him killing his own underlings if they fail to be on time is curious though. That wasn't his style once upon a time." Zell sighed before looking to Forcewave.

"If you have any questions I can use what I know to answer them. But if you don't have anything you particularly want to know..." Zell said before snapping his fingers and the image projected by the visor changing to a picture of an article about a Chicago library unveiling of a special item that would be showcased. Charles Luteidge Dodgeson's pocket watch. "I believe we have a rather important date." Zell said before stopping and letting out a long disapproving sigh at himself for the unintentional poor wording.

Forcewave was walking around the back room of the sports bar somewhat nonchalantly as he checked out pretty much every inch of the room in the meantime. He was in this place because Zell said he wanted to regroup there as they were apparently in danger, but he was still concerned. Why this place exactly? That question was probably what was making him examine the place. He was suspicious, to say the least. Why would a kid his age be hanging out here often enough to be allowed in through the back door? What has he been doing since being freed from that one jackass of an interdimensional entity that had been possessing him? Forcewave's concern about this situation was more about his apparent ally than any possible enemies. That was probably not a good thing.

He could hear the conversation between Zell and this 'Joseph' person whom he was calling to ask about the person that was most likely responsible for that bombing earlier. He was asking about how this Whinston could have possibly escaped what was apparently a very secure asylum, only to get mocked about his lack of knowledge of the situation. The person on the other end referenced a video game he owned. That made him think he knew how Whinston may have gotten out. They simply thought outside the box in the terms of an escape plan. That or he was being literal and they used an actual portal to break him out of the asylum. That could easily be the case. Forcewave had seen portal powers in action before and knew how effective they could be at getting people from point A to point B and so on and so forth. Forcewave leaned up against the wall when he heard the conversation end and waited to hear what had to be said.

Some of the things he would hear nearly made him scoff and roll his eyes at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Alice? Mad Hatter? Those two along with somebody named the White Rabbit? Seriously? There was actually a group of people running around that based themselves off of characters from Alice in Wonderland. What's next, the Wizard of Oz? Star Wars? Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Actually, those would be awesome if it weren't for the possibility that they would be as ridiculous as this Alice in Wonderland based group. Well, it's not like he could choose whom he has to deal with while out trying to be a superhero.

He took what he heard as the reality of the situation and gave the projected images a thorough examination so that he would be aware of everything that Zell was informing him of. "So, this White Rabbit is going to steal this pocketwatch? Has everything he's done just been to setup a theft at a library? Seems too obvious a thing for him to do if you already know he's going to do it. It's probably a trap for anyone that might try to interfere in his plans." he told Zell what came to his mind. It just seemed like an obvious trap to him. That or he was giving this White Rabbit individual way too much credit when it came to how intelligent he was. If his time obsession overwhelmed all of his reasoning and rational thought processing, okay wow those are some big words, then perhaps stopping him would be easier than it should be.

"So." he paused to make sure he was about to say this right. "We going to go with the old one person works inside while the other monitors from outside tactic? It seems like our best bet. Do you have connections to the library too? he asked him bluntly.

"It very well could be. In fact I'm 98.4 percent certain of the fact. He's not mentally stable, but he's by no means mentally inept." Zell smiled as he explained. He would have willingly answered all of Forcewaves other questions, but unfortunately "mind reading" isn't under the powers of the Archon of this universe. Despite all that, he was pleasantly surprised. Forcewave was a little smarter than he gave credit for. Of course he should have expected as much from a renown hero such as him. There was the obvious trap, this is very true.

"We find ourselves in a bad situation though. We have no idea where he is, we have no idea what he's really doing all of this for. I'd sit here and do more research into phone records and satellite feeds, but with Whinston we are quite literally against the clock. The longer he has to set up deadlines and meet them, the stronger he and his soldiers become. He's already had too much time. We need to get in there, spring whatever trap it is, find out what's going on and put an end to this before more people get hurt." He concluded his long-winded explanation. It may have been against his regular paranoid precept in trusting this Forcewave character, but it was something he found himself willing to do so. It would seem as though his preferred tactic would be a traditional one.

Despite his honest change of heart...again... he still held to the maxim that "Someone worth trusting will never ask for it." and so he'd need rather not place Forcewave in a situation where he needed to trust him. "I'm almost certain it would be best for me to go on the inside. You could monitor. That way a superhuman won't cause suspicion, to civilians or to any goons lying in wait. It also means you get to keep your secrets and if things go wrong you don't have to worry about dying."

     The connections to the Library may have had something there. Especially since it was a- Oh no. The name alone brought a dull headache behind the eyes. Oh, Zell was truly a fan of this gentleman, but the memory of the events between him and Ouroboros were even painful to recall. Despite his hair returning to it's natural black color, and the softer facial features he was relatively the same. He wouldn't put it past such a smart individual to notice him. When that happened, well, it's just easier to say he'd find himself with a case of the caged bird blues.

Zell sighed and nodded to Forcewave.

"Well...actually." He began before running his hand through his hair. Zell was a master of the occult, but even he knew when there were more "local" experts like the Hale family, they tended to have better relations with the locals than he probably did. "I know a fellow. He's bound to have a connection or two around here, given our common interests he's likely got one at the library, or someone whose going to be at the library this evening. Not that Ouroboros made a friend of him either" Zell said with malice on the name he hated oh so much. As he picked up his visor and quickly tapped the side of it he couldn't help but notice that he was optionally surrounding himself by people who either had hurt his body, or made a fool of Ouroboros. Masochism win.

He would need to tell Niall to get a hold of Brandon, to get  hold of this guy. Why all the loops? Because he doesn't even know Zell, he knew Ouroboros. He wouldn't likely know him now to see him now though. Transforming into Ouroboros had some reactions, like turning his hair blonde and turning him into a total twit. That aside though, even not looking the same wouldn't help, since from all Zell had gathered was that helping out strangers didn't seem like his cup of tea. "I'm thinking the gentleman by the name of Ailill can help us. If he can I'm sure he'll be urged to assist us outside the library premises." or at least Zell hoped. Ailill was quite literally his best answer for this situation and to be honest he wouldn't be able to give Ailill one good reason at all to help them. He was at his mercy in that sense.

"Any last minute questions, concerns or thoughts? After we head off towards the library I can almost guarantee that things will get busy quick." He offered it up. Of course there was a small problem as Zell cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I uh... after we do the questions I'll also need to follow you. I have no idea where the Library is." Zell admitted, noting internally to add a GPS to the visor.

As Forcewave listened to the responses that came from him bringing up a suspicion he had, some thoughts went through his mind. "Did he just say he's 98.4 percent certain? Did he actually measure that or is he just throwing in a random number. Just because some people are smart enough to think their minds work like a supercomputer doesn't mean they actually do so. Their minds still work like minds. So he's almost entirely sure, but not quite there? Wait, isn't that a radio station? Don't they play a lot of R&B. I think that's it. It probably is." his thoughts were starting to derail themselves and he had to try and focus again.

So Zell agreed with him on the idea that this attempted robbery of a pocketwatch by a guy obsessed with time could be a trap in the works. It was just too obvious to Forcewave. Maybe he's watched too many movies or something. Watch that be the next strange criminal organization's motif. Crimes based on common movie plots. And there goes his focus again. His mind is going off the rails on this crazy train. Anyways, since they were in agreement about the possibility of this being a trap, it would be easier to plan out how to stop whatever may be attempted whether it be a straight up robbery, or a setup, or both. As it turned out, he was in agreement about the whole dual part stakeout strategy that Forcewave had suggested. They were limited in terms of options anyways, but based on his own experiences, it was their best bet. Granted it would be better if they had more people to help, but they may not have enough time to get anybody in time. It was indeed a race against the clock, and one it would be unwise of them to lose. They were pretty much going with the safest risk possible.

He was thinking of the library where this watch was located and the surrounding area. He knew the layout of the library relatively well so if Zell didn't he could provide some details on what lay within. Particularly where the pocketwatch that this White Rabbit person desired might be located. He was also picturing the neighboring area of the library to think of a good location for the stakeout. Oh, as much as he hated being on rooftops, one would still be good for this job. It can never be entirely inconvenient can it? Having limited options can really suck sometimes.

While he thought about how to carry out his role in the stakeout, Zell also thought of his own. And by thought, he mean't discussed with him. He seemed to have connections to the library after all. That would be helpful. At least that's what Forcewave thought until he heard speak of how this person that was his connection didn't seem to like him, or Ouroborus, whom had previously possessed him. Then again not liking Ouroborus was an easy thing to do. He mentioned that this person whom he was speaking of was named Ailill. "What the hell kind of name is that?" Forcewave thought before remembering something. He had heard that name before. He couldn't remember where he had heard it before though. Nothing was coming to him immediately though. He would have to think about it later.

It seemed like they were almost ready to go. Granted a few more things needed to be wrapped up before then. Forcewave decided to try and get that part done as quickly as he could. "So you just need to talk to this Ailill guy that doesn't exactly like you in order to get into the library?" Seriously, where had he heard that name before? Also did Zell just say he doesn't even know where the library where they were going even was? Well at least Forcewave did know where it was, and how to get there from here. The problem was it was quite far from here. This was going to be a really long night. "Yeah, I'll show you where it is. Just make sure you don't follow me too closely or get spotted along the way." he told him as an idea came to him on how to get there.

"It's that or I rely on my prestige to get me into the event." Zell said with a shrug as he collected up some of this things. That actually wasn't a bad idea, but he didn't want to simply show up and be completely unprepared for anything that lay within. Ailill was probably the better option...despite the fact he'd probably steal the strange time-shift occult item rather than actually be of any help afterwards. But hey, if stealing and collecting occult items was his gig, why not exploit it for a good cause? Of course he'd have to be interested in a strange pocket watch like that, and know of it's occult origins. Maybe Zell would have to spell it out for him. Wait could he trust Ailill with a chrono-screwy pocket watch? Well he didn't hear anything bad happening from him taking that Daemon home....

"Huh? Oh, right." Zell said as he snapped back to the more important matters. He would need to follow Forcewave. Oh thank God, Zell thought he'd have to use his mobile data and use a GPS. No that's not sarcasm, he's dealing with a person with time based powers that revolve around deadlines, he didn't have time to be fiddling with a GPS as Chicago burns. That would be a funny Verizon trailer... Should I track him? Yeeeeah, I'mma track him. Zell thought as his visor locked onto Forcewave and began tracking him. Little footprints would glow on whatever path he took, a little lock-on circle hovered over him, and it honestly felt like a Top Flight video game. Zell couldn't risk losing him though, especially when he was apparently much faster than Zell.

"So follow you, stay far behind and avoid screwing up. I can do that." Zell said. He half expected a remark, but Forcewave seemed like a decent guy so he doubted it. Regardless he was on his way to his motorcycle and he'd follow behind. Sadrith continually pestered Zell about keeping a lock on Forcewave, pestering him about potentially using some of these opportunities to discover Forcewave's identity. Zell replied by thinking about what the Hell he was gonna say to convince the primordial troll to steal a pocket-watch, or at least help him get in. Zell had a little time to think of this, but for now he had to follow a certain hero of renown.

Prestige? This guy has prestige? The movie? Was he talking about the movie? Isn't prestige part of a magic act? Does that word have another meaning? This was something he would have to look up later. Google could answer his questions later. Tomorrow, after he got some sleep. Forcewave was looking forward to this being over with so he could go home and rest.

Anyways, they needed to get to the museum and Zell didn't even know where it was. So he knew what that white rabbit person wanted to steal and where it was, but not how to get to that place. So Forcewave would have to show him the way. However, they needed to go find this 'Ailill Hale' person along the way and Forcewave had no clue where to find this person and Zell had yet to say if he knew where to find him either. This was sounding a lot more complicated than it should be. Was the villain going to get away with his major crime simply because of a lack of organization? It be fitting if it did since this guy was obsessed with organization.

Hale? That name sounded familiar. Wait. Isn't that that family that Tyuki is related to? The family of mages that lives here? Yeah, that's them. He still didn't know who this Ailill guy was though. But he did know where the Hales lived. Perhaps it was time to ask if Zell knew. Would make it easier if he did. "Are you going to get in touch with this 'Ailill' person on the way or do we need to stop by somewhere first?" he asked seeking this little bit of crucial information.

As soon as the question was answered he got moving. Forcewave would leave the bar through the same door that he entered it and walk around the block for a few minutes. He kept looking behind him to see where Zell was. He was following him from a distance just as Forcewave had suggested. Forcewave gestured at an alleyway as he passed by it for Zell to wait in as he got out a wireless communications device. Forcewave preferred not to use his actual phone while out on patrol or whatever else he may be doing as it would jeopardize his secret identity. Most of the time he turned it off or left it at home. This communicator thing made a suitable replacement despite its terrible internet connection. He called up a cab for a ride and then briefly headed into a separate alleyway from the one he had pointed out for Zell until it arrived.

While he had been waiting, he had kind of changed via altering his clothes a bit. His mask was lifted up to resemble a beanie and his outfit already resembled casual clothes to being with. He just made it fully resemble them. Once the cab arrived he got in and told the driver where to go. To the part of the city where the Hale manor was, and hopefully Zell would manage to follow. On the way there he glimpsed a motorcycle following in the distance. The cab driver didn't notice at all. Once the cab arrived he paid the driver the fare and got out. Forcewave would readjust his costume to its proper state and waited outside the gate for Zell to draw closer. Once he arrived they would head towards the manor's entrance.

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It was almost 11:30 at night when Ailill Hale was told by his aunt that two people were here to see him. He had been reading an old book while drinking a cup of homemade tea that had been brewed that morning. Now he was having to get out of bed and head to the door. He opened the door to see two random people that he didn't recognize standing outside.

"Okay, so who are you fellas, and why are you stopping by so late at night?" he asked scathingly. The slightly taller one wearing a costume that metahumans typically wore took a step back and indicated that the one with the visor should say something. Ailill chose to look specifically at him as he waited for one of them to provide their reason for being here.