Rise Against (Bliss and Alpha)

I was asked which side the good guys in this thread were, which in all honesty made me chuckle. Even though it's quite obvious the answer is neither, it's a good question to ponder. If neither are the good guys, then which one is the lesser of the two evils? And are they even evils? That i suppose is up for interpretation, though i would have to side with the people looking for improvement rather then self gain. There are a lot of dictators in this world, ones sitting on top of supposedly free people with black jack and hookers. But they are shielded, protected as a country. There are men even worse then Lucius Alba, yet he and his race are the ones painted as wicked. Why is that you may ask? Well, earth never really took a liking to equality, instead opting for double standards and dominance.

Inevitably, people would always look at Lucius and metahumans in general as the bad ones, that was just how it was at the time. Humanity was finally done with racial and sexual persecution so they moved on to meta, they always needed someone didn't they? What Lucius was doing was a test more then anything, even if he failed, it would show the world and metahuman kind that the supposedly heroic would shield horrible people if their opposition were different or threatened to outdo them. No, he won either way today. He would either get incredible world wide support, or he would liberate a country and take it for his people. It would stand as a beacon of hope, an example of what Lucius wanted to offer the world if they only allowed it, a utopia. So, we have a paradox don't we? Who do you side with? The dicks oppressing the people or the freaks trying to takeover? I know who i would side with.

After so much prep, years of it, the day had come. This was the first real step toward evolution. Over time Lucius' definition of that word had changed of course, he no longer meant just metahumans. In his new world there was room for humans, so long as they improved with the world and took care of it. He envisioned a population working toward a mutual purpose, using their gifts and skills to shape the planet they lived on together. No more poverty, no more money, total equality, peace, prosperity, that was the dream. And he could do it too, he only needed support. He needed an example, a small taste to show everyone such a world was possible.  Some saw the man as a villain, a monster. Some a visionary, a savior. But regardless of which was true, one thing was for certain. Lucius Alba was going to change the world.

And so the stage was set, everything in it's proper place, just as planned. His alliances were solid, no one that mattered would betray him, even if Lucius still considered the possibility. With everything so perfect it was difficult to see anyone stopping him now, even if they had the nerve to shield political criminals just to spite him.  So what was the target of this master plan? The country of Belarus, specifically, the city of Minsk. It was such a fragile government, ruled over by a dictator 'super president' hiding behind a mask of democracy. The people were fed up, the house of representatives were fed up, pretty much everyone except the guy on top was fed the hell up. The country was not hard to topple, all Lucius had to do was plant the seeds of rebellion, for the soil was ripe for growth.  The internet was limited in the country, but Lucius managed to change that. Soon nearly everyone was connected, and when that happened it only took a gentle push to get the public fired up. He ran a smear campaign, making the horrible government look even worse. He sponsored small 'terrorist' attacks, he supplied a rebellion he secretly founded. It took a year of putting his pieces in place, but he was ready to move on over and proclaim check mate.

Not only did he now have his own personal following of supporters, but he had a pissed off public with it's own rising rebel army. All of this would be directed at one purpose, and that was the coup d'état of Belarus. But this wasn't going to be a violent seizure of power, no, the numbers were mostly for show. If Lucius had his way not a single soul would die today, it would be a peaceful liberation of a corrupt government in the eyes of the world and the countries people. In other words, exactly the opposite of what that fool of a 'mastermind' did in Springfield.

"Is everything prepared?" Lucius asked through his holo computer, his arms folded behind him. A rather rambo looking man was on the screen, this person was the leader of Lucius' little side rebellion and would play an essential roll.

"Yes sir, everyone is ready and riled up. It was a good move on your part scheduling this six months ago. It gave everyone time to think it over, and i think we got a bigger turn out because of it." The man said, smirking in a confident manner at his partner in 'crime'.

"Yes Nickolas, that was the idea. My forces will join you shortly. Do not harm anyone unless i give the word, but other then that, go wild, get pissed off and trash whatever you can." Lucius said, referencing a particular part of this mission. Nick and his rebel forces would join the majority of Lucius' following and then march on the Republic Palace. They would lay siege to the building, and eventually arrest the president if all went well. This is where most of the action would happen, the forces of the country would meet Lucius' and all hell would break loose, though they were instructed to incapacitate only. Lucius wouldn't be there though, no, he was going to infiltrate the parliament, alone, and give an ultimatum to the currently assembled house of representatives, who all pretty much hated the president so it wouldn't be hard to convince them, but then again if it was Lucius had plenty of leverage to use against them.

Alpha was also tasked with a solo or small group mission, he would be going to the ministry of defense. He was told to be quiet about this, it was too essential to have anyone know. Once he was there, he would penetrate the minister of defense's mind, thus taking control over most of the countries military. Once Lucius and Alpha had fulfilled their respective objectives, they would join the forces at the Palace with national authority to arrest the president for treason. It was the perfect coup, and that wasn't even all of it. In exchange for the blueprints of Hector's spark, one based around that of Guilty Sparks, Lucius had gained the allegiance of Jake Cameron, aka Data. The male was an insurance policy. He would not allow any communications out of the country that would signify a takeover was in progress, masking it with fake but convincing replacements. He would also take control of most of the technology that was connected to the internet in the nation, making communication between command and the military nearly impossible. This would be the swiftest and most stealth hostile takeover of a country in history.  And if all that wasn't enough to insure victory, Lucius had a trick up his sleeve just in case things went sour. Hanging up the holo screen Lucius turned to two of his followers, ones he had faith in. After all, their job was merely to burn shit and take the president captive or run him off. With the support of most of the public and a peoples resistance, it would be a breeze.

"Arienne, Carden. You will lead the combined forces of the resistance and the following to the Republic Palace. Together they number about three thousand, however, the military has similar numbers. Do not lethally engage them, let them be the first to draw blood. Breach the Palaces defenses, and by that time we should have the support of the military and house of representatives, at which point we have the authority to put the head of state away for his crimes against the people of Belarus. Alpha, you know what your doing, gather a handful of your siblings to follow you to the ministry and send the rest with the other forces. I wish the best of luck to all of you." Lucius said before walking off and teleporting away in a flash, off to do his deed. The lab Alpha, Darkshift, and Carden were in had teleporters which would take them where they needed to go, though in Alpha's case it was a bit away from the ministry so he could take a stealth approach.

Once Darkshift and Carden stepped onto their teleporters, they would find themselves at the head of a massive group of metahumans and humans alike, cheering and roaring as more appeared out of nowhere using Lucius' tech. This was a horrible day to have wronged the people of Belarus. They were in a massive warehouse, and once the two leaders got there the doors would open and the army of rebels and misfits would start to march out. They were pretty close to the palace actually. The group thrashed and set ablaze numerous things on the way,, firing off powers and firearms as they did. It was a terrifying sight to behold. Once they got to the palace, they would be met with a massive electric fence, with a very large amount of soldiers behind it, equaling the group in front of them. Though, lucky for the rebels thanks to Data no reinforcements would be coming to the palace.

"Disperse! Disperse immediately! Lethal action will be taken if any attempt is made to breach the palace's fence!" A voice sounded out from an intercom, coming from one of the soldiers it seemed. This only riled up the group more, and they started throwing bombs at the fence and using various powers. A few notable persons could be seen within the crowd, including most of the lieutenants and the Hector exosuit. Things were about to get crazy, the soldiers fired, bullets flying at the small army, and in return lethal action was granted under Lucius' orders, but it would still be limited. Most of the rebel forces were using tranquilizers.

Meanwhile, Lucius appeared outside the parliament, walking in like he owned the place and shooting off a gun filled with tranquilizers as bullets bounced off him. Soon he would reach the meeting of representatives. He was trying to make this as stealthy as possible, but it didn't really matter as all electronic communications and alarms were disabled due to a certain emo data being.

(Feel free to have random combat interactions with the soldiers and such )

Bliss pulled the zipper up the front of her suit. Light blue synthetic material gripped into place as Bliss popped her ponytail out from the tight synthetic turtleneck. Her sleeves ran down her arm, ending in gloves while the hem line of the skirt fell just above her thighs. A pair of black tights ran down towards a light blue pair of boots. Times likes these needed someone who could take a hit and keep on going. That would not be Bliss. She definitely sacrificed protection for style- but style came out looking good. As did the rest of the immediate strike team Bliss put together for Operation: Crownfall. "Danny, show up and blow up."

Squeezing through a hole in an alleyway, the multi-ethnic teenleader moved closer towards the palace of the capitol. "Bliss, problem." Ninety nine problems turned into nine hundred and ninety problems with no signs of stopping. Danny knew she would stick out like a sore thumb if she tried to jump into the middle of a revolt of the citizenry of Minsk, so she decided to stick in like a sore thumb in a cast. "The protest started. It's big. And violent."

"Good." Bliss kept her finger up to her communicator. "It would weird if it wasn't. Now, get going; there shouldn't be anyone at the Defense Ministry."

"What makes you think that-"

"Get to the Defense Ministry and get the launch codes for locations for the silos in the area, or do you want to be in the city when missiles start going off."

Danny took her finger down from her ear and refused to deliver any more to the conversation. Well, almost. "You make that question far less rhetorical than you would think." Danny sneaked through the alley towards the Ministry of Defense in a turquoise rendition of the suit Bliss made for herself. The building still remained guarded, because of course it would Bliss. "Problem."

"Not mine."

A click went off in Danny's ear letting her know Bliss ended communications on her side. Now Danny would just need to sneak in a heavily armed building, disable the security, and find a way to steal heavily guarded information from a government building. Danny used to do more heroic things before she met Bliss. She assumed that thought went through many people's heads.

"You know, I used to do more heroic things before I met you." Sara slid a collapsed quarter staff filled with dirt into her backpack. Brown synthetic material covered up Sara's Blisstech battle suit.

"I bet those were really cool things to. I bet you did all sorts of things like shutting up. Something you have clearly forgotten how to do." Bliss and Sara made up the main team operating near the government palace.

"I didn't forget. You just make it hard to do. And, I'm the one who found the royal heir." Sara pointed over towards a woman with hardened features carved into a soft face. Her pulled back hair showed the flow of sweat down her forehead, running just past the brown orbs on either side of her nose.

"As long as people think she is the princess of a kingdom then it will work."

"She's the last remaining Rurik. It took quite some convincing to get her this far. But, I think we should keep her in reserves with Mitsy and Ashley." Princess Rurik continued to watch as Bliss and Sara ran back at each other in a language completely foreign to her. Sara found her through a long run down of former colleagues and shady dealings. Sara really did do more heroic things before she met Bliss.

"Once we're closer Ashley and Mitsy can take care of making sure Princess Rubic is safe. Until then, she stays with us until-" A small canister rolled into the room. Bliss threw a telekinetic blast as her eyes grew in size, but it came too late. A flash shot out from the grenade, stunning the three women in the room.

Bliss and Sara woke up a few moments later, handcuffed back to back- and with no sign of the princess. Bliss looked down and used her telekinesis to pop the locking mechanism free, releasing her hand. "Where is she?"

Sara hopped to her feet and ran to the hallway. "I don't know? There's no signs of struggle. They must have taken her while she was-" When Sara turned around she noticed the empty room.

Bliss already made her way through the sewer access towards the palace, dislodging every drain in her path to make a quicker access to where she needed to be. Sara's footsteps sounded out behind her, but for now, Bliss kept moving forward. "Ashley, we have a problem. You and Mitsy need to get to the rally and try to find anything more suspicious than usual. Me and Sara are going to the Palace."

Ashley and Mitsuko got the information beamed into their ears and responded in kind. Ashley opened the window to look out over the chaotic streets. Her red suit would stick out as much as the white one Mitsuko wore, but Bliss needed eyes on the scene. "What am I looking for?"

"Something suspicious." Bliss threw a drain behind her, almost impacting directly with Sara.

"Bliss, there's a full on coup going on, be specific."

Alpha could surmise alot of planning went into this, and so he had to be sure that nothing went wrong with it on his end. Sure, he had his own mission while Lucius did his thing but his was not going to be the intial problem that so many people would notice, considering that attracting attention was Lucius' forte after all. This was to be the first step towards supposed world peace, something that appeared to have more room for humanity than it priorly did.  Why his sudden change in ideals, well Alpha wondered but then again he didn't know Lucius well enough to surmise anything deep like that. Fingertips ran over the smooth black mask composed of a rather durable plexiglass that replaced his former mask, one that had proven much harder to break than the last. Forces were rallied and people ready for the discord they would sow and the heroes that would be made within this time.

Alpha had been sure to investigate the country they were dealing with ahead of time, and the one in charge was nothing less than sheer scum. Someone that would not be missed by the people, making their plan oh so easier. Those who were going with him were all of the siblings that had time within their schedules to actually go, counting up to six if his memory served him well enough. Eta was one of them that seemed to almost be excited for something like this, the chancwe to actually do some good within the world really. It may have been that heroic complex of theirs, but at times it was dangerous more than anything else. Standing around him were five shorter individuals with black mask and one beside him around the same build, all of them similarly dressed with slight variations within their outfits.

Zeta stood out being the only one wearing shorts, sporting a pair of black colored cargo shorts, and Theta sporting a manner of skirt. All of you know what to do. So do it, and good luck. The mental message was sent out while Alpha then prepared himself. There were so many ways that this could go wrong, and compensating for every probability was something that he found himself doing, even when he did not need to. No plans were flawless afterall, they just appeared that way to those that weren't as creative, so he would have to be careful regardless of how simple things looked. A teleporter had been fitted into the lab he was in, all it would take is the activation of it and they would be off. There was a flash of light and then he was somewhere else, rapidly taking on the surroundings. The stealthy route was one he preferred in these things, made things much more interesting. His current location was an unimpressive looking warehouse, positioned over a sewer tunnel.

As for his current state of dress, well it didn't matter so long as he could sneak around undetected, and the others would have an easy enough time within their own way. ”Now' let's get this mission started.” Alpha said as the ground under them would crack, a circle forming from the concrete as it lowered them into the sewer level, reeking almost as they stepped onto the dry portion and the ground they were lowered on would rise upwards. It would seal back into place, leaving an almost imperceptible mark of anyone having gone through like this. Delta took the lead, as he used his seismic sense to lead the way, having already mapped out a good distance ahead of them within his head.

Despite being scatterbrained, well he could do something almost perfectly when putting his mind to it. The sound of water dripping could be heard as they walked onward, lenses on their masks providing a night vision that allowed them to navigate through the tunnels without giving away their positions. ”Alots goin on up there.” Delta muttered, and the satisfaction could be heard within his thoughts through the hive mind. That was when he noticed something, a lone source of movement among many others, though he could not quite tell what that was. Instead of mentioning it outloud, he let the worry slip to Omega through the hive mind and they could consider it on their own. If it was a problem they could deal with it when it came about, but not a moment before. Their exit point would be a sewer not too far from the destination, though he had already learned from a few minds that there was some heavy oppositon before the minstry.  If there was any less than that, well he would have been disappointed with humanity.

”Alright, the exit point is right above us.” Zeta said with a surprisingly serious tone, as the metal covered would pop itself off and  they could make their moves upwards. Where they ended up was in the middle of an alleway, bits of litter scattered across the otherwise clean street. ”I sure hope we're liberating these people from littering too.” Zeta muttered, though that didn't quite amuse anyone. A pulse of telekinetic energy would spread outwards, effecting nothing. Likely no one would even feel it as it took a map of the area around them and allowed Alpha to get a better read of things. There were approximatly fifty to sixty men stationed before the building, most of them armed to the teeth and the rest still armed. Bullets, well they would be annoying but it was the extra bits they had that was the problem. From what he could tell, they had some larger artillary should any metahumans come forward, likely powerful enough to put down some tougher people should bullets prove useless. If anything these people knew what they were dealing with, so they had something to defend themselves but even that was useless against what he had in mind. These readings would be sent via hive mind to his siblings, who all scanned them over with great care.

”I don't know who this unknown third party is but I do want two of you to find out.” Alpha stated, looking to both Zeta and Eta, the formmer who sighed with a roll of their eyes before going to do that. The plan was not to fight, but if they had to, well then they had to but they needed to do so in the least destructve way possible. This meant they would have to hold back on the use of their powers, an annoying thing for Zeta but then again he knew why he needed to. So that was where they were going, bobbing and weaving until they came upon what looked like a female in a rather colorful outfit.

”Woah....I have no idea who you are but....who are you?” Zeta started before realizing that he still had no idea who this unknown woman was.

”What he's trying to say is...well what are you doing?” Eta would then add, though Danny would have not likely known who the shorter of the two were. If she did anything offensive, well Eta would likely do the whole wind thing to keep her from running away.

While this went on, Alpha and his crew would initiate his own plan to get through the outer defenses, which was composed of Ellen. ”Lets get this over with.” Ellen muttered with a motion of the hand as she stepped out into the street. Weapons were all trained upon her as their guns would begun to twist, and contort beyond usable states, and the cannons, well they got a similar treatment. Once all of that was done, well Alpha would step from his position, taking note of the fence set before him that seemed to peel open much like a can, allowing the remaining five to continue onwards.

Arienne had made it to the big leagues now and the reality of what that meant hadn't really started to set in until just then. When she had first accepted Lucius and his offer there hadn't been many expectations beyond getting out of her present life that had her as little more than a super-powered teenage runaway. Sure, he had made big claims and they all sounded rather enticing but she would have been a fool to take them completely seriously until she had proof. Without a doubt the idea of being a part of making a better future sounded like a thing of beauty but it also sounded far too good to be true. How could she, a nobody who came from a life of poverty and abuse, possibly be a part of something world changing? It wasn't possibly.

Yet, here she was a part of an elite group set to take over the dictatorial country of Belarus. Almost it seemed like a dream, the sort of dream that Arienne hadn't even thought to imagine in her previous life. Should everything go as planned the catalyst of change would have begun not only for her own life but for the world as a whole. It was a heady and exhilarating thought.

Arienne was acutely aware of the pressures upon her in being a part of this important piece of world history. Should their side meet with success, she would be well on her way to proving herself to the Rise and going onto bigger and better things. Maybe she hadn't really believed what Lucius had told her that fist night, but now that she was confronted with the reality of his words the philosophy of change was thrilling. She would be damned if she was going to squander the opportunity; it was the type of opportunity that would only come once.

As Arienne approached the teleporter, a silhouette of black shadow, she went over the plan in her head for what felt like the millionth time. She nodded her acknowledgement of Lucius' words, mentally steeling herself for the events to come. She had heard it before, of course, but the recap helped to reinforce her dedication. Yes, she was nervous but she was't about to allow her nerves to get the better of her. If anything, she was going to force them to work in her favour. Wasn't fear supposed exist in order to boost one's prowess to pique efficiency? As long as you knew how to harness that fear and you didn't let it control you. Well, she wasn't about to let it control her that was for damn sure.

Stepping onto her teleporter, Arienne was greeted by a mass of cheering humans and metahumans all prepared to make this a memorable day of revolution. If this day meant something to herself personally and it certainly meant something to the force of change, it must mean so much more to the citizens of Belarus personally. Today they would bring freedom to an oppressed people. Today they would bring about hope and change. Today they would make a statement that would be heard by the world.

As the mob began to move forward, it didn't take long for them to meet resistance from the soldiers. Chaos was the only true word to describe what was going on around her. Bullets bounced off her shadow armor as tendrils grew out of her sides and wrapped themselves around her assailants, throwing one soldier into another. As instructed, she was careful not to use lethal force. If blood was to be drawn it would be drawn by the side of the enemy, not by them.

Everything seemed to be going as planned, the protest was hitting a peak, and Lucius and Alpha were doing well with their infiltration's. Data was currently near the ministry of defense, as instructed by Lucius. It was where he would be needed most. Though, his outreach allowed them to pretty much lock down all technology in the country regardless of where he was. The only reason for him being there was the fact a particularly important piece of hardware wasn't connected to the internet, so he needed to be in range to directly control it, and that he was. Even if Danny managed to get to where the launch codes were held, she would be denied access by the data being.

Lucius had made short work of the guards and made it to the meeting room where the representatives were, all aware of the situation, just not the level it was at. Lucius calmly opened the door, and as soon as he did all speech was paused and all eyes shifted to him. He walked along the sleek marble floors, his boots clicking as he speechlessly made his way to the center of the room. He then cleared his throat, getting ready to deliver a speech of sorts.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lucius. I'm here to make sure you understand the gravity of the situation." Lucius said in perfect Belarusian. He then dropped a device on the ground, which projected a hologram with footage from the assault on the palace on it.

"Three thousand very angry humans and metahumans are currently attempting to breach the Republic Palace to arrest your dictator of a president, but you already knew this. What you don't know, is that i have control over all the technology in your little country, meaning, among other things, i can launch your weapons at anytime. I also now have the support of the minister of defense, and as an extension, the military itself. Your people hate this government, and they want change. If all this isn't enough incentive, i assure you i have even more leverage then that. Revolutions can be forged in either blood or ink, so what will it be gentlemen?" Lucius continued, a smirk forming across his face. It surely was enough to take the country right then and there, but he had plenty of more tricks to pull if that didn't work.

At the Republic Palace, things were getting heated. Shots were being fired, people were being killed, but only on one side. From the footage, it looked as if the military was slaughtering a crowd of innocent people, angry people sure, but innocent none the less. The rebels were breaking down the fence at this point, funneling into the large yard of the palace. It was only a matter of time before they made their way inside and did what they needed too. Being seen as a threat from the use of her powers, snipers immediately shot at Darkshift, two of them to be exact.

The first person to see action in this wonderful debacle happened to be the one with the least amount of years on the planet. The same planet she would try to keep in one piece by stealing access codes to a list of missiles she would probably never want anything to do with, and even less hand over to Bliss. Actually, giving Bliss missile launch codes could possibly be a terrible idea. A number of people on the planet would most likely be worst, but Danny could not really think of both them and their goals. Then she saw Ellen. "I don't think Bliss is worst than her. Or her boss."

While the Ministry of Defense found itself disarmed by another cross section of villains, Danny took advantage and moved through the halls. Ellen was an idiot. If Zeta came too, he was more of an idiot. Anyone with a name beginning with something other than an 'A' could probably combine to fail an IQ test, but that unfortunately did not make them any less dangerous. Perhaps more if anything. But, in the meantime they continued to draw away the attention Danny would otherwise pull to herself as she sneaked behind two men as they scrambled to get into the fray against the alphabet soup gang.

Moving towards the primary control center for missile defense, Danny continued to move as quiet as the grave of the warrior she channeled. Before her laid a number of computer consoles, but Bliss in all of her infinite wisdom set about the person with no clue about computers to deal with such a delicate task. "Bliss-"

"Busy!" Bliss worked her way with Sara close behind. While the rest of the palace erupted into gunfire, Bliss found her access point of underground systems working perfectly with the help of Sara's geokinesis. "Okay. What?"

"What do launch codes look like?" Danny held her finger to her head piece while peaking around the corner.

"They don't look like- Danny, stop thinking about things you don't know. Get a computer terminal. Make sure it has a hook up, and get it to me, so I can clog the-"

The call dropped. Layers of concrete, mountains of rubble, and a city on fire broke up her signal through the duration of the call to Danny. "Bliss? What is a terminal?"

"Danny, it's Ashley." A more gentle voice came into Danny's ear. "If Bliss heard you say that, missiles would be in the air before she finished yelling." The voice became less gentle. "It's the hard drive. Get Bliss a hard drive. Then do everyone a favor and realize you're under the age of eighteen in the year 2020 and be up to speed on tech- um, I'll be right back Danny."

The excitement of the mob turned into the beginnings of a massacre. But the crowd did not waver. "Mitsy, we need to solve terrible situations." A sound rummaged around Ashley, drawing her attention to the absence Mitsuko left behind. Bullets broke flesh and blood poured into the street. The whelming waves of carnage dripped into the bandage lining Mitsuko began draping around injured civilians. Pieces of scrap and debris flew from the street level, knocking a few guards on the ramparts to the ground. Ashley used her powers to the best of her ability, but assaulting a major structure filled with guards was not managing an office.

"This looks bad." Mitsuko continued to deal with the injured while Ashley began constructing a makeshift shelter to shield themselves from the bullets.

"Don't worry." Ashley threw a sewer lid towards a guard tower to try and wedge a door shut, using the lid to impact within the wall. "Well, worry a little."

The last grate flew off its hinges as Bliss leaped into the palace. Sara followed soon after, putting her hand on Bliss' shoulder to draw a friendly attention. "Are we looking for the Princess or infiltrating the palace?"

"I don't see why the two things are exclusive." Bliss looked into the regal hallway. "Although, I don't know exactly what we are doing, but if we just move forward, I assume most of this will fall into place."

With the defenses now torn apart by Ellen, well that allowed Alpha to step through them with an insane ease. Looking through the black mask, he took in all of the men with their weapons now reduced to nothing more than metallic pretzels. ”These people make these things far too easy.” Alpha spoke to himself slightly pleased with himself, as he rubbed leather clad hands together while the remaining siblings would follow along behind him in a fashion. ”Things would be going much better if Zeta were not so incompetent however.”He then amended with a roll of his eyes as the mental message would reach him.

Sorry boss, that Danny chick is really slippery. He noted within Alpha’s mind, though all he got in return was a rather annoyed mental response. Within a few moments he would catch up to him, huffing slightly as Eta also caught up to him with less huffing than the other. ”I’ll be sure not to let her get away a second time.” He said with a slightly winded voice, before breaking off from the group and running ahead into the building. Something told him that if anything, she would be somewhere within the building doing secretive Danny things like all Danny’s did. The younger member of their family would decide to stay behind with their group because that just sounded like a smart thing to him. Any of the men that had decided to get between them would find themselves pressed to the ground and otherwise incapacitated.

All in all killing had been something worth avoiding, made them look alot better when the whole coup had been finished. While Alpha would dig out the information that consisted of the layout of the building, Zeta would hunt down his much disliked nemesis in the form of a teenage girl. What she was doing in this building though, he had no idea about beyond...well important war stuff like launch codes, but not like she needed those anyway. In the end it did not make sense for a hero to need something like launch codes. Luckily through Alpha were telekinetic stuff, he did manage to catch up with her or what appeared to be her, he could not quite tell. ”Hey you! Um….stop whatever you’re doing or i’ll do something ambiguously evil to stop you.”

While Zeta did his thing, well Alpha managed to hunt down the minister of defense, blowing open the doors with a thought as the guards would find themselves without weapons just as quickly. ”Now mister minister, I would waste time proposing a compromise but I have a better idea.” Within a second his mind's tendrils like leeches would reach out to take control of the minds of everyone within the room. ”You’ll know what to do now.”With the military now under his control, well that meant things were going as planned.

With Alpha taking control of the Minister's mind, he would immediately give the order to the army to arrest the dictator and essentially switch sides. Since they answered to the Minister above anyone else, the soldiers listened. They turned heel and just as they did so Nickolas gave the order to his rebels not to attack the soldiers. Now as one force, the military and the rebels moved into the palace, speedily making their way across the lawn and to the palace entrance. This whole situation looked like order 66, soldiers turning on those they were just protecting. Of course, not all did, and some of them were loyal to the president from the start. Namely the super soldiers that acted as his personal bodyguard, they didn't possess any unique powers like mind control or energy projection but they were a lot faster, stronger, more durable, and all around better then the normal human physically. The sad part about it was due to faulty research the super soldiers had a drastically decreased life span. An unfortunate price, but one this dictator seemed to not care about.

The crowd of rebels met the palace's final resistance at the entrance, where the super soldiers were skillfully held up. They were using cover and their physical advantages against the crowd, leaping out and firing their weapons in tandem, like a well oiled machine. Despite the superior numbers the rebels had, the super soldiers were managing to hold them at bay. Yeah, they were killing and the rebels weren't, but it was still impressive. They seemed to be waiting for something, likely some manner of cavalry charge. The rebels would need to break through before that happened or they would risk unnecessary losses.

At the parliament the representatives murmured to each other, considering the situation. Half of them hated the presidents guts, and the other half, well, they were beginning to see Lucius just had a bit too much power right now.

"Your president will be placed in custody for treason. Unless you would like to follow suite, you will all sign to make me active head of the Republic of Belarus. After that, we'll see how many of you are decent enough to keep on the council." Lucius said, unrolling a rather large contract onto the rooms center table.

"You can't expect us to just hand over a country!" One of the men yelled, prompting Lucius to chuckle.

"...Have you not been listening? You don't have a choice in the matter. The people are tired of this corrupt government, so you either sign your name, remaining free and potentially retaining your seat, or you don't and get thrown in jail." Lucius said, making this all quite clear to the men before him.

"Despite the power you wield, this isn't how global politics work. There have to be elections, systems have to be followed!" another man said.

"Like the elections with no term limit? The ones that have resulted in the same president being elected for the last thirty years? Frankly, this is a revolution. I don't have to follow any of your underhanded protocols." Lucius said.

"So, you just come into our country and takeover? This is extortion! Black mail!" Another man said.

"Maybe it is, but it's what needs to be done. For to long you people have sat atop your thrones, prying on the weak. Your tyrants, and I'm giving you a chance to come out of this unscathed, despite your crimes. This isn't a takeover gentlemen, it's a liberation." Lucius said. At this point many of the men were ready to sign it all over to Lucius, though some were still holding out. They were thinking it over, discussing it in faint whispers. The situation they were placed in gave them little choice, but it still wasn't a sure thing just yet.

Meanwhile at the Ministry of Defense, Data had tapped into the Ministries network, taking control of all the computers in the building. Danny would find every terminal in the Ministry frozen, with nothing but a troll face on screen.  As for the codes, well, they were just removed entirely. Data manipulated the system and removed the passcode mechanism, so the launch of missiles could not be triggered by the use of codes at all, but only by Data himself. This could be undone of course, if Data was removed from the area he wouldn't be able to directly manipulate the ministries secured network. He would appear in front of the terminals in the blink of an eye, his face pale and expressionless, his jet black hair ungroomed.

"What do you want with launch codes? Your supposed to be the hero, right?" Data asked, a half smirk on his face as green currents went through his semi translucent body.

Every footstep in the hall sunk into the constant rattling of gunfire. A thick barrier of flooring allowed the rapid succession of fire to sink within, running the vibrations over Bliss and Sara's heads as they moved through the insulated stairwell. "At least we know we're going in the right direction." Bliss raced the stairs, shoving the door open preemptively with a blast of energy.

Sara slowed her pace in order to keep from running Bliss and her shorter legs down. "I thought you said you had no idea where we were going."

"If you're just going to use things I said in the past against me, I'll stop saying things at all." The hallway from the basement levels took a drastic change to a much more regal interior. Gunfire permeated every crevice of the hallway, making Bliss unsure if she advanced towards gunfire or away, or if places without gunfire even existed at this point of the revolution. More than just the rattling of guns carried through the wall. Orders to kill anyone opposing the president with extreme prejudice- and these guys seemed like they could throw up some prejudice. "Sara, we'll take these guys. It may-"

"Who's there?" While Bliss and Sara put their backs against the wall in preparation for their ambush. A line of guns fell into order causing Bliss and Sara's eyes to enlargen. Five soldiers pointed down the duo lining as they began to form a semicircle around them. "It's those two women we left behind."

"Left behind?" Bliss raised her hands in the air, pressing them against the wall behind her. The coursing surge of water ran through the wall, giving Bliss several good vibrations. "So you took the princess?"

"They may not have known she was the princess." Sara kept her hands elevated in sync as she leaned closer to Bliss.

The rounds shifted in the gun as the rifle pointed the duo to begin walking. "We knew who she was, Israeli Jew rat."

"I'm not even going to feel bad about this." The water pressure running behind Bliss' fingers erupted as Bliss split the pipes, splintering the walls. As the water threw the three men before Bliss back, a telekinetic blast stripped the two adjacent men of their guns. The two rifles flew across the hall, impacting into the heads of the guardsmen. Sara took the initiative to roll into the man who lambasted her by wrapping his legs up and pinning him to the ground. "Sara, we need to get out."

"Give me five more seconds!" Punch after punch fell on the man. To Sara's dismay an arm rose up and grabbed her by the throat. Before Sara could fully react to the attack, a telekinetic grab threw Sara towards the back of the hall. The next step in Bliss' plan took less subtlety, and far less flooring to the room above them. Beams, pipes, and concrete collapsed down onto the quintet of guards who ambushed Bliss.

"Five seconds is up. Let's go." Bliss ran towards the end of the hallway alone. Nothing to her right and an emptiness to her left. "Sara? Anyone there?"

"I'm here!" Danny interrupted Bliss through the headset Bliss forgot to turn off. Consoles and terminals surrounded Danny and no where could she find anything remotely close to what Danny would figure a launch code would look like, but so far, she only succeeded in disconnecting one of the machines. Then, an annoying voice came from behind her. "Hold on Bliss. I'll be right back." Instead of giving a speech, or returning a quip, Danny just threw the terminal at Zeta in a shot put style. After the toss, Danny would run to try and tackle Zeta to the ground, pin his arm behind his back, and push his head to the ground. "Tell me launch codes are and why Bliss would want them. Also, why are you here?" Before Danny could continue her could be interrogation, a young man appeared before her and asked her a morality question. Usually Danny got those right, but Bliss could apparently flunk people from a distance. "Wait, why wouldn't I want those?" Every console around her flashed the same image, letting even Danny know she could not get through it. "Bliss, I can't get the codes."

"Well, melt the place down." Bliss turned the corner with no more signs of Sara.

"Um?"

"EMP moron. Find a radar dish, run a line through it to feed electricity to create a catalyst, and then make a boom." One more turn brought Bliss face to face with more super soldiers. "Danny. Going quiet for a minute. Don't call me anymore." Bliss raised her hands in the air like she really did care. Then an explosion happened. A telekinetic blast from somewhere other than Bliss rocked the room. Each of the seven soldiers fell to the floor as a pink silhouette formed in the cascading light beaming into the chamber.

"Hey Bliss." Ashley wrapped the soldiers up with pipes while Bliss stood with her hands still raised. "You don't need to surrender anymore. I got this." For a moment she did. Then the soldiers broke the pipes and the fight was back on. Back on with a little help. Throngs of protesters fell in after Ashley and helped incapacitate the super soldiers with the help of Bliss and Ashley.

A line of doors opened as three solders escorted Sara down a hallway. A pair of power suppressing wrist binders kept her hands pinned in front of her while gun pointed at either side of her added another layer of oppression. They closed in on a final pair of well made blast doors leading to the meeting room of the palace. One guard gripped his hand around Sara's bicep and pushed her forward in front of the representatives and Lucius. "We found this operative within the palace. She is an Israeli spy. What should we do with her?"

"I'm a private operative from Israel. Not everyone who does things and is Isreali works for the Zionist movement."

"Should we gag her?"

"I will break your jaw and gouge your eyes out before you even bring your hands above your elbows."

On the other side of the city, working out of the sight of anyone else of importance, Mitsuko made her way to the Ministry of Defense. With the defenses down, and Danny round housing everyone's attention, Mitsuko slipped through the perimeter easy enough. Now she just needed to find something to do. "Um?"

Zeta had been trying to stop Danny but he did not quite expect the computer to be thrown at him. His body went into motion before he could think about it, narrowly avoiding what could have been a painful head injury. That did not give him much time to react to Danny tackling him however, throwing the male to the ground with an ooph as he found himself in a more prone position than before. This was mostly with his arms pinned behind his back and a sharp pain lancing through his joints which were forced into the position. ”Ow ow ow, yesh could you lighten up on the whole hurting my arms thing.” Zeta complained with a slight groan ”I dunno why this Bliss chick would want any codes, i’m just here doin my own thing.”He responded with annoyance still obvious as he tried to wriggle his way out of the hold, which was to no avail.

It appeared that Alpha had done his own part within the huge scheme, meaning that he would just need to keep whatever launch codes she needed from being taken into her hands. Just thinking about what destruction could be brought by them was more than enough to make him want to stop whatever Bliss had planned. The chick was kinda crazy anyway, or so Alpha had stated from a short encounter with her. Letting some fir form along his arms, he would hope to make Danny let go of him in fear of being burned before he would get to his feet once again. ”Look, I can’t let you get those codes for whatever reason you want them. So you’re gonna have to go home without them or whatever.”Flames would coat his hand. While he was busy focusing upon Danny,it was likely Zeta could be slipped past easily.

Even though the super soldiers were quite superior to the normal military, the vast numbers of the rebels along with the support of Lucius' metahumans had pushed them back from the entrance and into the building. Bullets were flying, those immune to bullets were beating the shit out of each other with good old fashioned fists, and it was utter chaos. Eventually it seemed the super soldiers would fail to keep the rebels from making their way to the presidents chamber, but for the time being they were holding out. It was truly a sight to behold though, the variety of powers being thrown around as well as the brave normal humans dealing with the fight in their own way was an interesting thing to watch. Daniel could be seen in the crowd, teleporting around and taking out more enemies then you would expect from someone with just teleportation, but then again he was well trained. Falcon was also there, using his skill and strength to pound the supersoldiers into the ground.

This fight was one sided at the moment, but soon what the supersoldiers were waiting for would become clear. Multiple helicopters flew above the palace, and dozens, if not a hundred or so, Russian soldiers poured out. It would be difficult for them to know which side was which, and even harder with the current government being unclear, but they were there and they had some of the best anti-metahuman weaponry in the world. They systematically made their way to the palace entrance, incapacitating multiple rebels as they did. This was truly a cluster fuck. Even though the Russians had the element of surprise, the large number of rebels and the now Rise loyal Belarus military kept them at bay, though they were now sandwiched in between two parties.

Meanwhile in the meeting room Lucius was still arguing with the representatives. These old bastards were really persistent, but the leverage Lucius had here would eventually convince most of them.

"As soon as the military and those angry civilians get into this room, well i can't protect you any longer, not unless you give up and do what i ask of you." Lucius said, a little irritation creeping into his voice.

"And if we say no? So we go to jail, but i'm willing to accept that if it means not handing over my country to some guy who came in spouting threats." One of the more passionate and president loyal men said.

"This will happen either way. I have the military and control of your countries technology, not to mention support from a lot of angry people. Governments have been toppled with less, I'm merely asking you to make this less messy for yourselves." Lucius said. It was true really, he didn't need the signatures, they just made it easier. With the power he had now it wouldn't matter. The representatives groaned, they were going to have to do this weren't they. A few men had already gotten up and signed the paper, but most hadn't yet despite the fact they were all considering it.

"Those men that complied will be safe from all charges, but as for everyone else remaining stubborn i can't promise the same." Lucius said just as the doors burst open, too presidential soldiers walking in with an unknown prisoner. Why were they bringing her here? For all they knew most of the representatives had already turned, considering the fact the military had turned on them. Why didn't they take her to the president? Lucius didn't care to ask, he just sighed and removed a sonic emitter from his belt, which sent out a piercing sound that caused the entire room to start shrieking in pain. It would only last so long though, Lucius was only using it to distract the soldiers, which it would do well as the sonic waves would slow down their thinking to a degree they wouldn't be able to react. His next move was simple, a wave of his hand and faint energy was sent out that would form red energy cuffs around the soldiers hands and pull them downward toward the floor. After that the sonic shriek stopped, giving everyone in the room relief.

"The adults are talking gentlemen." Lucius said, before considering what to do with the female in the room. Why was she here?

"As for you, who are you and why are you here?" Lucius asked. He didn't recognize her as one of his, so there must have been a third party trying to involve themselves. Of course, he was already tipped off by Data about that. She seemed to be working with that annoyance from Springfield.

Meanwhile at the ministry Jake watched a confrontation between Zeta and Danny, which he just stared at with an amused look on his face. He then simply walked over in the most casual way imaginable and stood over them.

"Those are nice shoes, where did you get them?" Data asked Danny. It was likely odd coming from him considering the fact he was a male data being that could wear anything he wanted, but then again Data himself didn't really make much sense.

"No." Danny held Zeta to the ground. "I will not stop hurting you until, OW-" Danny pulled her hand off of Zeta as he began breaking into flames. "Hey, jerk, I'm just trying to do my job to stop you and your boss from pretending to help people while you actually just make yourself richer or more powerful." Getting close to Zeta would be a mistake, but his stupid face looking unpunched made Danny want to do something about that. The metal chair she grabbed looked long enough to get her point across without getting burned in the process. It could get a little heated, but she did not plan on it staying in contact with him long enough for it to matter, but her shoes mattered to a younger man who made himself known. "They came from the person who may or may not have good intentions here." The good intentions of Danny flew across the room in the form of a metal chair.

The breaking of the chair could be heard clear in the hallway. But, if no one was around to hear Mitsuko hear the crash, did she ever infiltrate a Defense Ministry? Hopefully. Mitsuko put her back against the wall and crept towards the stairwell leading to the roof of the building. The placement of radio dishes looked good enough to account for the plan Bliss talked about through her headset, but some of the details felt a little blurry, and blurry thoughts when it came to radio dishes could possibly kill her. "Bliss. How do I make an explosion in the radio dish?"

"You don't." Bliss and Ashley made their way through the halls of the palace as the scene of chaos erupted behind them. "Get Danny to do it. She's the one who needs to be handling dangerous things since she apparently already knows a lot of ghosts in the afterlife."

Mitsuko picked up a cable and began to tie an adjustable knot. "She's beating up that guy who wrote the movie you made."

"New plan. You make an EMP. Danny beats that guy up."

"So, how do I make the explosion?" Mitsuko tossed the cable over some power lines and drew them closer to the radio dish.

Bliss ducked into a server room and took her rightful place at a terminal. "Ever jump started a car battery?"

"No."

"Well, it's the same principle. Divert electricity from a power supply to the radio dish. Just make sure you find a way to ground yourself first and don't stand near water. Other than that, you should be fine." Bliss discontinued the call from her ear piece as she entered the internal system of the palace's mainframe. All the security clearances fell into place, but the palace mainframe did not connect to anything important within the national infrastructure. Too bad. "Okay, let's head to the- Ashley?"

Sara held her own against the high pitched noise than the guards with her, but still contorted her face. "If you don't mind stopping that I'll tell you. My name is Sara and I was hired by a rather shrewd person to find the former princess of the country. Princess Rurik. I tracked her down and we brought her here." Sara spoke not just to the man before her, but to everyone in the room capable of hearing her words. "It seems like there might be a job opening for a princess."

Back on the other side of the city, Mitsuko raided the supply closet situated within the small supply shack for a pair of jumper cables and some rubber gloves three sizes too big for her. Before she smashed open the case, she took stock of her bandages and put them down the front of her suit, right over her heart. If this went south, possibly her bandages could restart her heart. She never tried before, but the opportunity never presented itself either, so sometimes you just needed a jump start to get things rolling. Possibly a bad metaphor, but here went nothing. Mitsuko clenched the cables onto the conduits of the generators, feeding the live feed through the cables and into the radio dish, causing quite a ruckus. Mitsuko did not stay conscious to take notice of her handy work as the electricity chewed through her gloves and sent the poor girl to the ground, incapacitated and smelling a little overdone.

Within the chambers situated beneath the palace, Ashley woke up with her hands bound to the sides of a chair. All around her stood men in military regalia, peering down at her. "You are awake. Good."

Ashley peeked around, blinding herself with a large floodlight. Slowly a figure stepped to block the light. The Princess Rurik stepped before her. "I am here to take my rightful place. Thank you for bringing me here, but you and your friends are no longer necessary."

”Gotta be careful, trying to grab something this hot might get you burnt.” Zeta noted with a wink and a click of the tongue as his fire trick managed to get him free of the hold being employed on him. As always he had a feeling this would be a fun fight, because if anything Danny was a pretty skilled fighter. Enough so that she tended to make his little superhuman reaction stuff almsot useless when it came to a contest of skill. A metal chair would fly across the room, Zeta ducking around it. ”If you’re with that Bliss chick, I doubt she has any good intentions. I mean i’m sure you’re sore about the whole being kidnapped thing, but this is a little….much isn’t it?” Letting flames crackle around his fingers, he flung a few small balls of fire at the female.

Meanwhile Alpha did whatever it was Alpha’s did, which consisted of keeping an eye on everything happening around the building. Someone was moving through it unimpeded it would seem and   that was no good. ”Ellen, would you deal with that?” He spoke while keeping his mental hooks within  the minister of defense, who was doing nothing more than what he wanted. With a nod, the former Gamma would step out of the room looking around for where this unknown person was. While Alpha could map things out with his mind, that was not something that she could do. They’re heading toeards the roof. Within an instant the lights would flicker out while Ellen would find what had caused all of this.

”Well I found her, though...she’s  looking a little worse for wear. They smell a little burnt too. ”

It appeared things were getting a bit more interesting in both situations, interesting was not what Lucius was going for, so that wasn't a good thing. However, he had it under control. This Sara person mentioned someone Lucius thought wouldn't be a problem, a female heir to the long fallen Rurik dynasty. He had to laugh at that, and so did some of the representatives, though some just raised an eyebrow. A third player seemed to push themselves into this, even though they had no power and no real right to anything.

"I actually thought about tying that loose end up before i started this, but i felt she wouldn't be stupid enough to actually try to make a claim. That dynasty hasn't held power in Belarus for hundreds of years, it would be like me going to France and claiming to be it's king because my family has blood ties to Louis XIV. This land has changed hands and government types far too much to make her claim valid. The bottom line is.....this country finally got it's independence from monarchs, then it had to deal with dictators, it's definitely not going to want to go back to being ruled. They deserve better." Lucius explained, not just to the female but the entire house of representatives. Meanwhile in the halls Lucius' forces had finally broke through the supersoldiers and could be heard passing just outside the meeting rooms door, the only thing left to do was cut their way into the presidents office, where he was making his final stand it would seem. However, those with phasing abilities were already inside, fighting the few soldiers that were left. As instructed Isalia broke off from the crowd once it reached the meeting room and walked inside, long black hair and inhuman blue eyes bringing a feeling of...dread? She was silent, calm, and looked like she would kill you in an instant. She stepped past Sara, and then stood next to Lucius.

"Now, this is your final warning. Sign the documents and see your country thrive, or give it over to some girl." Lucius said. It was at this point several more of the representatives walked down and signed the document, though a few were still sitting there like the babies they were. And those were the people that Isalia was here for.

"Those of you who haven't already, sign the documents, and then turn yourselves in." Isalia said with a cold, light voice. They remained persistent, and just as Lucius said they would pay the price for it, unlike the others. Their eyes instantly turned piercing blue, just as isalia's were, and they got up and signed the document. Lucius then took it and smiled, that took a bit longer then expected, but then again this was the taking over of a country, you couldn't expect it to be so easy.

"Thank you, gentlemen, for your compliance. Now if you'll excuse me, i have a few loose ends to tie up." Lucius said, Isalia would take care of the representatives and Sara, as of now Lucius had bigger fish to fry.

"Go home, sleep twelve hours, and then return in the morning." Isalia said simply to the representatives that hadn't already left to turn themselves in, they then listened and began piling out through a rather discrete exit. Isalia then turned to Sara, wondering what to do with her.

"I can't let you go, so, what's your preference? Mind control, getting knocked out, or teleportation?" Isalia said. She didn't want to be rude and just do any of those, but she couldn't just untie the female so she could cause problems. Lucius had left the chamber and started down the hall after the crowd, not the entire crowd of course as some of them were still at the entrance fighting the Russians, but a few dozen were held up outside the thick titanium wall of the presidential office. They parted like the red sea upon seeing Lucius, who charged up some energy and then unleashed it at the door, which was blown off it's hinges.

In the ministry of defense, something else was going on. An EMP had went off it seemed, and Data immediately dropped to the floor, screaming in pain presumably as his techno body sparked and seemed like it was shorting out, but after the pulse was done he just stood, brushing himself off, seemingly fine. The only problem that EMP caused was the fact Data didn't have a direct connection to the missile launch mechanism anymore, but it was a pretty easy fix. He just rewrote himself to allow him to create his own network, which was sent outward and latched onto the previous connections which allowed him control of the missiles once again. It was more wonky really, but he could still set them off if he wanted to. At this point his consciousness was present in most if not all of the wireless networks in the country, so a simple EMP wasn't going to do much.

"Ouch, that hurt...... Could you guys, like, not do that again? It might be fine to do that around normal people but it kinda hurts me, ok?" Data said, standing as he previously was, blankly watching Zeta and Danny do whatever it was they were doing.

"You guys wanna play cards?" Data asked, looking bored really. He then produced a deck of cards and a wooden table out of seemingly nowhere, then sat down, looking to Danny and Zeta as if he were expecting them to play.

Footsteps. Always footsteps. Echoing, ringing, bellowing, singing. They always meant something ominous made their ways, but all Mitsuko could see was an arrangement of blue lights swirling around white orbs. They slowly turned into a new sensation of a color Mitsuko could only describe to herself as an iridescent shade of guruplue. The shade replaced itself with a face connected to a body. "Hey a girl person. You're pretty and have a nice frame. Would you like to model my line of clothes coming out soon?"

"First of all, don't call women 'chicks', you dick. Second of all, I got over the kidnapping when I heard about Bliss shoving you in a closet. Also, I got over it because holding grudges is petty and you had to threaten to blow up a school for it to happen. Third of all-" With fairly guessable tactics, Danny threw a mug at Zeta's head. "Be sore about that." She turned back to Data as he picked himself up off the ground. "You know what, sure. Let's play cards. First person to lose gets punched in the face by me."

Back on the other side of the city, Bliss walked through a less than empty hallway with a slew of guards laid out in her wake of destruction. The doors to a stairwell opened far in advance of Bliss. Too far actually. Holding these damn doors open for too long started to bug her.

"You're overlooking a few details in the- this guy likes to hear himself talk. I bet he even believes it." Sara watched as the next part of the ordeal played out with an exchange of personalities. "Two of those sound terrible, but for the teleportation, where can you send me? If you could untie me and send me somewhere tropical, I won't complain about-"

The doors flew off the hinges. Sara's ponytail whipped back as the bulk of the door flew past her. "I need some help right quick." Bliss lifted the table in the middle of the room off its legs and flipped it towards the back of the room to assist in their removal from the room. "I lost track of the cult, Don't know where Ashley is, and even if I were listening to Danny, she hasn't said anything in a while. The Hell's going on in here anyways?"

"Regime change." Sara held her hands up to Bliss for appropriate measures.

"Pfft" Bliss let a push of air through her closed lips in a sign of utmost respect to the political process. "Who cares? Corporate entities will just set up plants here to exploit the workforce and pay five percent tax rates anyways."

"She's apparently apart of the transition committee. She can teleport or knock people out."

"So, can I." Bliss grabbed Sara's hands and pulled her while throwing furniture around the room to cover her escape. "We have work to do. That asshole Travis owes me about nine or ten favors, and if Danny can beat the living Hell out of him he'll be even more open to helping me. We need to find Ashley first though."

The chamber beneath the city flickered in the light of torches set in a runic formation. "Can we just talk about-"

"Enough. Time is upon us. We found your princess. She's being prepared as the vassal now." Three armored men with shadowed features stood in a triangle formation around Ashley. Four men tended the braziers flames while shifting among the rest of their duties at the two sites adjacent to them. Braziers flanked each of the altars. One empty. The other with the Princess Rurik bound to a chair more securely than Ashley. Maybe for more security. Maybe they did not fear Ashley's ability to escape. When Ashley felt her left hand grow a little more loose, she knew they made at least one mistake.