"Come in," she calls, sounding a bit harried.

He enters. "Ma'am."

"Status update?" she asks, offhandedly.

"At 0100 hours a disturbance of a magical nature was detected in D wing. A squad was sent to investigate. By 0110, they confirmed the boy was gone."

"Well, shit. Do we know what's happening with the Enchantress? Or any luck on tracking him?"

"There has been no change to the Enchantress's plans, as far as we have detected. As for the boy, nothing. We can only assume he's going to his mother."

"On this sort of scale... Our best bet might be that squad." Her eyes are narrowed, clearly annoyed. "Those idiots of course have been dragging their feet... I'll get the green light, one way or another, you start getting things in motion." Worse comes to worse, she won't need to bother asking for forgiveness, on account of being dead. Slightly more optimistic than that, and she'll have a proven team and a feather in her cap when faced with censure for forming the squad without permission. 

With any luck, the council will pull their damned heads out of their asses.

Sean does not voice his disapproval at her flaunting the rules. It doesn’t matter what he thinks, she is his superior. 

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll start assembling them.”

"Good. Dismissed."

He salutes, and turns on his heel, heading for the elevator to the prison proper. 

His first stop, the teleporting girl. 

Carina, as she's chosen to call herself among humans, is sitting calmly in the center of her room, either zoning out or meditating.

Sean nods to the guards on duty, and heads as close to the power-dampening cage as he dares. 

“You’re being recruited.”

"Oh?" she drawls, not looking at him. "Whatever for?"

“Does your compliance require knowledge?”

"Well, obviously."

“You do not see your predicament in truth.”

"I rather think you don't see yours."

“It seems we are equals in ignorance.”

"Well, then it seems I'll be staying where I am, won't I?"

“You won’t have any choice in the matter.”

"You really think threats are the best way to secure my help? How cute."

“Not threat. Did you not wonder what was put in your neck when you were brought here?”

"That little thing?" Primitive. She knows small children who could disable it. No sense telling them that, of course.

“You don’t obey orders, it detonates.”

She's mildly curious about the expression on his face when it doesn't, but more interested in playing along, for now. She still needs to find out more about this world if she is to establish herself properly.

"Oh my. Such a dilemma."

“Your attitude does you no credit. But I suppose that’s a given, with criminals.”

"You, on the other hand, seem to be an entirely central example of humanity." Disappointing, really.

“Proves how little you know of me.”

"Oh? And how do you imagine yourself to differ?"

“What makes you think I would tell you anything?”

"General companionability? Giving me a reason to like you, and consequently at least one human?"

“I don’t think liking humans is high on your agenda.”

"You have succeeded at existing on a very pretty planet, and I do like appreciating all parts of something."

“So you prefer beauty over function.”

"Is not beauty the ultimate pinnacle of life?"

"Not for me." 

He had known beauty, and only seen terror.

"Disappointing. What do you want of me?"

“You are called to the Suicide Squad. You will help us, and on return, we may just help you.”

"Oh? You have a mission for me?"

"A lost child we must recover."

"Oh? Some little brat wandered away from mommy?" More likely some prisoner got loose.

"Wandering towards. We have to find him before that happens."

"You still haven't explained why I should care. You realize there's an expected performance difference, between what I will produce given threats and what I will produce given actual motivation?"

"I do not have the authority to promise you anything beyond living after the mission.

"Not much you could directly offer me that I want. Why is the boy important?"

"That's classified."

"Then I suppose you'll have to settle for the bare minimum out of me."

"Bare minimum means something different to the both of us."

"I'm sure you think it does."

Sean stares at the girl for a long moment, before seemingly making up his mind. 

"He has something that we need to recover, lest the owner gets it first."

"And this thing is a threat to your organization?"

"To the world."

"Why didn't you say so from the start? Even ignoring my fondness for your planet, you do realize I am currently on this world?"

“You’re a criminal. I don’t have to do anything to convince you.”

"I can't imagine that attitude gets you far in life."

“You seem to be mistaking me for the one in a cage.”

"Hm. Perhaps."

"Guards will come and collect you soon. I suggest you co-operate, less your head is removed from your body."

"Oh, I won't be any trouble at all."

Sean gives her a long look. He knows she has some sort of underlying subtext in that sentence, but he's wasted enough time trading barbs with her. 

He goes to leave.

She makes no move to stop him.

Sean proceeds down the hall, and into the next cell.

The girl inside is rocking back and forth, tucked into a corner. 

She starts when Sean enters.

"You're being recruited."

"Don't- don't touch me. I'll-"

"I'm aware of your powers, 'Persephone'."

Bambi shudders at the name, holding herself tighter.

"I also know you were good at following orders. You will follow mine now."

Bambi looks up, her eyes tear-filled, and nods. "Y-yes, sir."

To Bambi's guards: "Get her on the trolley. Don't touch her without a barrier between you."

She whimpers.

Sean leaves the room, proceeding to the next one.

'Taka', as he calls himself, is sitting cross-legged in the center of his cell. Waiting, apparently. He glances up when Sean enters, then goes back to ignoring him.

(He's calmer than he was last time, his mood swinging back from 'enraged ranting' to his usual level of coldness.)

"You're being recruited, Taka."

He's heard that tone before. He didn't take that sort of shit from Hebi, he's not planning on being a good little dog.

Still, he's learned something resembling caution. Never made a good snake, but even hawks can wait.

He stands, fluidly, and says, "I'm not killing anyone for you."

That was a rule he kept to with Hebi. He's made exceptions before. He somehow doubts these bastards will be pointing him at anyone deserving.

"If you have to kill at all I imagine it would be self-defence."

"Acceptable. Target?"

"You'll be informed at the launchpad. Your guards will direct you."

"Whatever."

"Obey them, or you will deal with the consequences."

"Uh huh."

Sean nods to Taka.

He then motions to his guards, and exits the room. Two more.

Emma Arrington, known originally as Chara, dubbed Revenant by the media after the scandal that preceded her fall, is pacing around her cell when he arrives. She sends him a glare, but doesn't otherwise react.

Sean doesn’t react to that glare. 

“You’re being recruited. Your guards will come in soon to transport you to the launchpad.”

"Not interested."

“You don’t have a choice.”

"Oh? How so?"

"You are a criminal."

"So that's what this cage is for."

"Why are you playing dumb? You knew all of this."

"I take a unique and special joy in pissing you off."

“Implying that I care too much about my ego.”

"You said it, not me."

"I take it your latest guards haven't fallen for your barbs, yet."

"There has been a dreadfully low attrition rate recently. Found guards with thicker skin, did you?"

Sean ignores that remark.

"I will have to advise the guards if you're going to be trouble. They will have to tie you down."

"Oh, I'll be no trouble at all."

"How reassuring." Sean looks behind at the guards. "Make sure she's immobile as you move her."

"I somehow suspect you've never had any training in getting people's cooperation, have you?"

"People will or they won't. Training is not necessary."

"There's a reason I went undetected as long as I did, and it wasn't being a socially incompetent asshat like you."

"And yet, you are the one in a cage. Odd."

"We all have our ups and downs."

"Indeed."

She smiles, slightly, and seems at the edge of slouching, but doesn't say anything else.

Sean leaves her then, and heads into the staging grounds, waiting for each one to be brought out amidst the whining of helicopters. 

Carina is the most present of them, walking like she's the one in charge and this whole operation was her idea.

Sasuke is doing a fairly good impression of a moody teenager being dragged along on an adventure.

Emma is smirking slightly, her head held high.

Bambi is shaking, and flinching every time someone comes near her.

Sean calls the nearest soldier over. "Inform her that they have assembled."

He does so, and Raine arrives in due time - not so quickly as to imply she's rushing, but not so slowly as to imply she's intentionally leaving them to wait.

"All assembled, ma'am. The tracker has been armed."

"Good." Then, to the prisoners, "Do you understand your positions here?"

Bambi quivers, and says nothing.

"We're prisoners, doing some task, I assume you have a kill switch, disobey and either die or get thrown back in."

"Kill switch?" Bambi's voice is small and terrified.

"No reason to trust us. No reason to treat us as anything other than disposable. No real oversight. No humanitarian committees successfully breathing down their necks. Also Raine's an ass."

"Crass. You are as analytical as ever. The collars around your necks do contain a kill switch. Disobey, and die. Mess with it, and die. Remove it, and die."

Carina considers and then decides not to point out the obvious problems with this plan. Doesn't really matter.

Humans. So sure of their technology.

Sean leans close to Raine's ear. "The last one is arriving now."

"Roger that."

A car pulls up, and then men in full body armour step out. The back door opens, and a small girl is hauled out. 

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL, SEE THAT I DON'T!" A blue haired teenager screams, hands and feet bound in ropes, her teeth gnashing at her captors.

"Am I supposed to be the babysitter, here?" she says, realizing she's the oldest of the team (by appearance, at least).

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay. You're safe," Bambi says, immediately trying to soothe the newcomer.

"MY MOTHER IS GOING TO KILL YOU ONCE SHE GETS A HOLD OF YOU!"

"We were told she was irritable."

"I can see that." To the girl, "Mommy dearest isn't here, and you aren't in school anymore, little girl. This is the real world, now."

"REAL WORLD MY A-" 

The guards holding her wrap a piece of fabric over her mouth, rendering her muffled. 

Her eyes show the fury she feels well enough.

"Please! Don't hurt her, she's just a child!"

Bambi immediately bites her lip, regretting the words she's spoken.

"Just a child, boo hoo. That 'child' is a criminal, and an adult in the eyes of the law." To the girl, "I would have thought you'd have been told already, what happens to mommy if her little girl throws a temper tantrum."

"I...I don't believe you!"

She doesn't fight her captors as hard this time, however, worry clear in her eyes.

"Aw. Too bad. But even if you don't, that bomb around your neck is biological. No technology for you to fidget with - and all your teammates have a similar backup, if you decide to be altruistic."

"For believing us - do you want me to send you a lock of hair, or perhaps a finger?"

"Leave her alone! Leave...leave her alone." Thekla drops her arms, and is sheparded into position by the soldiers.

"We will if you play nice."

Once everyone's in position: "Now, a recap. All of you have bombs around your necks. Remove them, and die. Tamper with them, and die. Even if you somehow managed them, there's a backup method we can use to terminate you."

"You have been brought here because I have a mission for you, one too dangerous to spend more valuable troops on. You succeed, and we'll knock time off each of your sentences. Your objective is to track down a specific boy, and retrieve him, alive and unharmed, to be brought back to a designated location. Your team leader is Sean Beresaad. He has the details on the boy's appearance, abilities, and likely location, as well as the primary and fallback retrieval sites."

"The boy is not as powerful as his mother, but still possesses enough to be a problem. Each of you have skills that will enable us to overcome him. Your gear, should you have any surrendered to us upon incarceration, will be returned to you. If not, wait. We will be leaving promptly."

At Sean's gesture, trunks are placed beside the prisoners who need them.

Bambi nervously makes her way to her own, gently opening it.

Once she sees what's inside, she breathes a sigh of relief.

He retrieves his sword... And a massive pile of assorted blades weapons, that vanish when pressed into his skin. The sword gets strapped to the back of his waist for easy removal, and several knives go in assorted hidden places for a similar reason.

Emma grabs the armor she'd worn previously, and some of the small boosters she'd used to fake a different power.

Carina crosses her arms, leans back, doesn't smirk, but does contemplate the value of telling the others that the 'backup' is an easily neutralized pill under their skin. Probably meant to release either tranquilizers or assorted toxins.

Bambi pulls on a toe-to-fingertip-to-neck suit and ties her hair back. 

She feels more like herself, now that the people surrounding her are safe.

Thekla is given nothing, but is cut loose from her bonds.

She gingerly rubs her wrists, and then sends a stray bit of power to the collar about her neck, and gets no response. They weren't lying about the biobomb. They probably weren't lying about her mother either.

She fixes them with a glare, but does nothing else.

A soldier makes his way to Sean's side, and murmurs to him, "The chopper is ready for them, sir." Sean nods.

"If you're all ready, we have a mission to do."

"Don't pause on my account."

He nods.

She finishes buckling on her gauntlet. "Ready whenever."

"Then everyone aboard." Sean leads the way.

Bambi jumps, and then follows.

Thekla snarls, but then is nudged forward by the butt of a gun.

She goes unwillingly, but follows.

Whatever, she'll follow.

He glides onto the transport, silently.

She'll get on, then sit there smiling faintly at Sean.

Once they're all aboard, soldiers fasten them to their seats, Sean watching on impassively. 

He does notice Carina's stare, but keeps his own gaze level.

Thekla taps her electronic harness, humming thoughtfully. She could send a shock through it, freeing herself and everyone-

The biobomb. 

She settles instead for giving the soldier nearest her a withering look.

"Any other information you feel like sharing?" she asks, tapping her fingers on her forearm. "Otherwise we should make some attempt at a plan. So we don't die as soon as we land."

For any mind-readers in the group, there's a faint hint of something like regret, like grief. It's gone very quickly.

"The boy is eighteen years old. Dark skin. Dreadlocks. He has a variety of powers, notably control over fire and something akin to mind control. He is carrying something very precious to the Enchantress, the being that has taken control of the city. You are to apprehend the boy at all cost. Try not to kill him."

"How powerful is his fire control? Can he generate flames, or only control existing ones? How does his mind control work?"

"He can summon them, but his true talent is controlling existing flames. His mother may make it a point to send her followers to set fires to ease his way."

"And who would his mother be?"

She has a sneaking suspicion she might know.

"The Enchantress. Formerly Nimueh Surana, a foremost magical scientist. We're not sure what started her turn, but nevertheless she is now the most powerful and dangerous enemy the world has." 

"Why was she parted from her son?"

Bambi seems to shrink in her seat after her words, like she already regrets them.

"That is not pertinent to your task."

"They were probably trying to control her." Hypocrites. They let her do her thing - likely knowingly - until politics and looking squeaky clean got involved.

"She has destroyed much of the city, why should we not attempt to control her?"

"Sad day when the sociopathic asshole has a better sense of not pissing people off than the government."

It has been many years since Sean had risen to someone's bait, but there was something about Revenant that got under his skin, after all these months.

Perhaps it was the memories of happier times with Nimueh. 

"You speak without knowledge of what it was actually like."

"I used to work for the same government shitheads you do, genius."

"Clearly that ended well for you."

"God, we get it. You hate us, we hate you. Jesus."

"I feel more overwhelming pity that he's so pathetic, personally."

"Stop it," Bambi says, so quiet it's almost missable.

"Whatever," she says, leaning back a bit.

Bambi wrings her hands, looking worriedly at Emma. She didn't mean to insult her, it was just-

"We'll land in an hour. Try to behave in the meantime."

Sean paces up the length of the plane, disappearing into the cockpit.

She drops the Creepy Smile act as soon as he leaves. Ugh. She hates making her face do that.

"We should in fact plan," she says, levelly. "I do line of sight teleportation and portals, and I can see through walls. Assuming they let me actually use my power."

She has no intention of actually relying on the locals - humans are far too unreliable - but knowing their abilities, both in terms of powers and in terms of mental capacity for planning, helps her work around them.

She really needs to figure out how to take powers for herself.

"Not sure what they'd use us for if not our powers. I'm a technopath; I can control any kind of technology."

"I can fly, and channel lightning and fire through my weapons. I won't use the fire against a pyrokinetic."

"I steal life-force. Usually makes them weak for a bit, and gives me a temporary, lesser version of their power." And gives her a boost - in vitality and in youth.

Bambi stays quiet, wringing her hands together.

"Maybe you could fly your way away from here. I could try and limit the bomb's range...I guess."

He grunts, but shakes his head after a moment of realizing that if he doesn't answer she might keep bothering him.

"Not much of a talker? Oh dear. You're going to find me very annoying."

He looks rather like he's contemplating if the collar will stop him from shocking her.

Technopath. She could nullify any electric shock.

Well. At least she hopes.

"Fighting among ourselves isn't productive, or liable to get us out of here," she says.

"We're not getting out of this at all."

"I'd prefer surviving to find out."

And she knows how to watch and wait. Regimes don't last forever.

Thekla thinks of her mother. 

"Yeah...yeah. Same here."

"An odd assortment of powers to make work. Can you control other's flames?" she asks Sasuke.

He shakes his head, then, slowly, "But so far I'm immune."

"Useful, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised if he could, for instance, boil your blood. Or just make the air so consistently hot your lungs fail."

Bambi flinches at the idea of those powers.

"I suppose we'll find out how he can interpret his power once we find him."

"Does your power allow you to identify other people's powers?" she asks Chara, using Revenant-slash-Emma's old name prior to her fall.

(She understands diplomacy, and getting people to like her. Makes them less inclined to get in her way.)

She's quiet for a moment, then: "Reliably, if I'm touching them. I won't get something more fine-grained than 'related to heat' at a distance, though."

"Unlikely to be useful for this, then, and if we can trick him into letting you touch him I suspect he'll have more problems than you knowing what he does."

"I don't think they'd allow subterfuge," she says, jerking her head towards the cockpit. "But that would be the plan with the fewest casualties, I suspect."

"I wonder if we could trick him...do you think he knows we're coming for him?"

"Unless he has spies, clairvoyance, or precognition, I'd assume not us specifically, but he would only need logic to assume someone is coming."

"...do you think his mother knows?"

"I suspect she'll assume."

"What do you think she'll do to us?" Thekla's voice is shaking.

"Might stop at killing us, if she's busy."

"Oh." Thekla seems to shrink in size at that.

"You're frightening her!" Bambi seems more comfortable defending others than speaking for herself.

She considers and discards 'why did they pick a coward for this.' She might have to rely on these people to escape.

"I'm sorry," she says, apparently fully sincerely. "I'm a bit nervous, myself."

"We all are. But you have to make sure you don't worry the younger members of this group."

"I'll be more careful."

"Good. That's good." 

She offers Emma a small smile, and Thekla a more encouraging one.

Thekla seems lost for words, but not in a grateful way.

Sasuke, feeling a moment of teenaged 'ugh, adults' sympathy, meets her eyes, then rolls his.

Thekla catches the look and grins, despite herself. 

"Anyone have ideas on power synergy?"

"Like, putting powers together? To make a different or stronger power?"

"How our powers interact. Can you manipulate technology on the other side of one of my portals, would be one example."

"Sounds like something worth experimenting with. I'm Thekla, by the way. Or Technopath, if you believe the papers."

"Carina. If they gave me a nickname I didn't notice."

"They're always bad, don't feel too left out."

"It's a rather strange habit."

"Naming people that already have perfectly good, working names? Agreed."

"Thekla is more aesthetic than Technopath, too."

"Much more. You can really feel how powerful I am in Technopath."

"It's uninspired, at a minimum."

"Never accuse modern journalism of being inspired. The whole system would crash."

"I'd make suggestions to improve it, except for how I utterly don't care."

“Yeah, why bother with all that when they’re just gonna blow us up anyway.”

"I'd certainly run things quite differently."

“I bet you would. I’d like to see that.”

Carina likes this human. "Unfortunately, my plans for world domination seem to have hit a mild snag."

"Yeah, the whole bomb-in-neck, taking-on-magical-assholes has thrown a spanner in the works somewhat."

And somewhere, Raines is holding her mother hostage.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out."

If she's taking any of the humans with her, it'll be this one.

"Between you and Revenant, I can believe it."

She nods, and settles in to wait.

Thekla looks down the line at the others, before shrinking back into her own seat.

If Bambi wasn't restrained by a harness, she would definitely get up and give the teenager a hug.

Well. If she wasn't restrained and was reasonably certain she wouldn't kill her.

Not much other conversation seems pertinent at the moment.

Unless someone else has something to say, Carina won't speak until the helicopter lands.

No one said anything about landing the plane.

There's suddenly a woman, middle-aged with fiery red hair, blowing in a non-existent wind, standing in the plane.

...Does she float.

If not, there's now a portal under her feet.

He's behind her.

His sword is driving for her back, sheathed with lightning.

He's faster than he should be, but only by a thin margin.

She'll try to make a connection - eye contact's relatively weak but better than not, touch would be better, but touch would also be painfully stupid right now - and yank on the Enchantress's power.

All their efforts, while mighty, are in vain, proven as the form of the Enchantress shifts slightly, as if she's not really there.

A projection. 

"Seeeeaaaaannnn!" She sing-songs.

Without any technology to tamper, Thekla is useless.

Doesn't stop her from leaping to her feet and staring down the woman.

Bambi removes a glove to try and touch the Enchantress, and her hand goes right through. 

She's not sure whether it's appropriate to feel relieved.

"Try the cockpit. He's not here."

"Sean! You know how much I dislike being kept waiting!"

Sean gets the alert that the criminals were up and using powers, and readies himself to purge them all. He gets up, exits the cockpit and-

Ah.

"Nimueh. I take it you've come to surrender."

The Enchantress laughs. "Such a sense of humour, Sean. She misses that about you."

"I have come to stop you. Did you really think you could find him before he reaches me? That my son would be unprotected while he bravely returns what you stole?"

Sasuke, wisely, decides to stay out of this, backing up.

(Emma and Carina stay clear, too.)

"You won't win this."

"Oh, Sean. Sean, Sean, Sean."

"I already have."

There's a terrible screeching noise all around them, like the plane is being pulled apart.

The floor of the room is now a portal to the closest safe, stable land she can see.

(She isn't make any particular effort to include Sean in the escape.)

Thekla sees it, and grabs Bambi's arm, tugging her through it. 

The Enchantress laughs as the screeching grows louder, and a tear starts to crack through the roof.

And everyone in that room is now no longer in the plane.

Including Sean.

The plane breaks apart in the sky, clouds of red energy dissipating as it does.

The parts rain down on the city.

"So. You know her."

Sean's face is blank when he turns to look at Carina. "Yes."

"Care to share with the class?"

"It's not relevant."

"She nearly killed us all because we were near you!"

"You know more about her. Knowledge could be the success or failure of this mission. It is prudent to share."

"Your mission is to find the boy, not probe the past for your own curiosity."

Carina tilts her head.

She's currently contemplating the trade offs of just killing him, and disabling everyone else's bombs, versus putting up with him.

Still...

"She seems inclined to interfere with that."

"We are wasting time. Move."

Bambi jumps, and starts looking for the direction he means.

She looks around, peering through walls to try and find the best heading.

Thekla kneels, and tries to sense any currents being disrupted.

Carina can see strange, humanoid shapes staggering around, as if someone pulled together random material in a human shape. They seem to be docile, for now. 

Thekla can feel the pull of the city's electricity grid being directed to one building, in the centre of the city.

She reports what she sees to the others, says, "It might be best to avoid engaging those."

"There's something drawing a lot of power- I don't really understand, if she's magic, why does she need electricity?"

She thinks, trying to put together what she knows about magic, but also looks to Sean with a raised eyebrow.

"It may be that she is using it to power something non magical. I cannot say."

"What a lot of good you are."

"If we can get close I'll have more luck identifying what it is."

Sean presses a small button on his belt.

Thekla gasps, and falls to her knees, scrabbling at her neck, the fear more painful than the actual pain-

And then it stops.

"You are all replaceable," he says, blankly, staring down at Thekla. 

He turns to look at Carina. "We will follow that plan for now."

"Of course."

He's not going to survive this, but of course.

She starts calculating the angles necessary for micro-portals to disable the others' collars and sub-dermal implants. Taking care of them in one fell swoop, then killing this waste of oxygen, seems ideal to her.

Sean does not know about Carina's plans, and as such moves off with confidence.

Bambi kneels down to help Thekla to her feet, careful not to touch any exposed skin of theirs together.

Her expression is the closest to angry any of them would've seen on her.

Thekla murmurs a thanks, and follows after Sean, one hand on her neck.

She starts with 'least likely to provoke him' - Bambi - while also keeping an eye on the humanoid creatures, which does slow her down but reduces chances of problems. 

Bambi looks back at Carina, and tilts her head slightly.

She smiles and inclines her head slightly. 

Something like surety settles over Bambi. Carina could swear there was a slight smile on her lips.

"Hold."

Sean stops the group.

"Something up?" Emma asks, also glancing around, fingers twitching.

"Carina. How far off are the creatures?"

She takes a closer look.

The ones from earlier are lumbering around where they were, but on the other side of the street-

A number of them. Running towards them.

"Incoming. Fast."

"Then you have my permission for full engagement."

He unholsters a gun.

Bambi takes off her gloves, tucks them into a pocket, and rolls up her sleeves.

Thekla kneels, pressing one hand to the ground. 

Electricity surges to meet her hand.

A portal opens next to Sasuke, putting him in weapon's range of a creature - 

And another, smaller, hovering over the skin of a different one and next to Emma - 

She touches and tries to drain the creature suddenly in reach.

He stabs his, with a lightning-sheathed blade.

Whenever the creatures get close enough, Thekla channels the electricity into them. It’s not enough to kill them, but it does hold them still until someone else can kill them. 

Bambi closes her eyes, whispers something, and then walks out to meet them.

One raises a fist, and Bambi simply touches its chest. It takes seconds for it to fall, dead. 

They're humans. Or were. They've been - stitched together with something, on a fundamental level.

Emma doesn't share this right away, just keeps reaching through Carina's portals until the wave stops.

(The power she's getting is interesting. Sets her teeth on edge. But it's so much more than she's had, locked in that cell - )

Sean doesn't generally feel fear. He has seen too much to be afraid.

But looking at the destruction the metahumans unleash, the ease at which they fight, makes him want to reach for the buttons on his belt.

She's keeping an eye on him, in case he does, but mostly she's focusing on portals.

Bambi is knocked back a few times, but every time she is, the creatures made skin contact with her, and die.

Thekla keeps trying to hold them still, but the electricity can only be channelled so far.

Luckily the others are very, very good at killing things. 

And yet still the things keep coming. 

Thekla channels her powers elsewhere, looking for something- There. A power junction, enough to crack the street, buy them some time. 

"Get back if you can!" She calls, pressing her hands in hard.

Everyone can have portals to farther away from the oncoming explosion.

And so Thekla unleashes the fullness of her power-

The street cracks, like the Earth was falling apart, leaving the creatures stranded on one side, gibbering furiously.

To think, he thought she was the least powerful of them.

"We should go before they find a way around," Thekla says, standing and shaking off her hands.

"Smart. We should also test at some point if you can channel electricity through my portals."

"No time like the present?" Thekla gestures at the stranded-for-now creatures.

She'll form an experimental portal, then, stretching halfway to the edge of her range. (Which is roughly where she's been pretending the edge of her range is).

Instead of reaching through the ground, Thekla closes her eyes and reaches through the portal-

And she can feel the tremblings of something familiar. "It's...almost! Almost like I can reach it!"

She'll experiment some with the portal - adjusting the portal itself is hard, but technically possible...

Once Thekla focuses her power, every one of the humanoid creatures seizures and falls.

"We're compatible!" Thekla exclaims excitedly to Carina.

"Good. This will be quite interesting, then."

"We keep moving," Sean orders. 

He stalks off in the direction of the light.

"I can help with mobility, you know," she calls, but does walk after him.

He says nothing.

Bambi hurries to walk beside Revenant.

"I- I could feel their minds. When they died."

"They feel alive to me, too. In a way animals don't."

"I- I couldn't feel anything but pain. They're in horrible pain."

"I'm not too surprised by that. The energy felt - off."

"Do...do you think there is anything worth saving?"

She super doesn't care but that seems like the wrong thing to say.

"Death might be a mercy at this point," is what she does say.

Bambi has never thought of her powers being merciful before. 

She drops her head, smiling slightly.

She hums, looks around. "Honestly I think even the heroes wouldn't argue against killing these." Probably because the heroes wouldn't stop to ask if they were people.