REVENANT (Reece)

Reece decided he was pretty happy with the role of pawn in today's challenge.

Division and Shade both seemed way too intense about winning, probably because Division had put steaks on today's success, as in actual steaks. Either Division would be buying dinner for the team, or the team would be buying for all of him.

Since he didn't need to eat and couldn't taste anything when he did, Reece was pretty ambivalent as far as winning today's bet was concerned, unfortunately he was also flat broke, which meant he really couldn't afford to lose. Besides, given how much time Division had invested in their training, it seemed churlish to let him win.

He was currently standing outside the abandoned apartment building with Shade, waiting for their two scouts to report back on what they were facing. He was a little surprised then to see North Wind come crashing through an upper floor window, limbs flailing. She usually managed to get airborne with a lot more grace.

Managing to get control of her fall, she swooped down, landing gently next to Reece, turning to glare up at the building.

"The bastard's cheating again." She muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Shade sighed next to them, "Joder! Fine, hard way it is. Ice Queen, Rev, you're with me, Oscen you're overwatch." He said the last up into the air, and Reece glanced up to find Oscen looking down on them from an adjacent building, in a window about ten floors up, he could just make out her crossbow resting on the ledge in front of her.

She gave Shade a mocking salute before returning to keeping a watch on Division's tower of pain, the last thing they needed was for him to sneak out of the box in which he was at least theoretically contained.

"Shift, pull back, meet us at the main entrance," Shade continued over his comm, putting a hand to his ear and frowning as the young hero failed to answer. "Shift?" he tried again.

They shared a glance before all moving off towards the building.

OSCEN (Chloe)

Chloe was a little bit frustrated at being left on watch, she knew she should have said something, made an argument for being included, but she'd always been shy, reticent about putting herself forward. It was why she'd just walked away when the League decided to boot her, and why she'd spent a week moping around the game feeling sorry for herself rather than striking out on her own or finding more cast-offs to team up with.

She wished she was a little more like Naiad, the nymph at least knew what she wanted and didn't let people push her around. Red, had tried to make Naiad into something she wasn't, and when that failed, to sideline her, and rather than letting him get away with it, she'd happily thumbed her nose at him and the League, and joined up with his competition.

She broke away from her daydreaming as she realised things in the other building had been quiet for way too long.

"Shade? Revenant?" She whispered into the comm. " Anyone?" Not good, she thought as her team failed to answer, wondering what she was supposed to do now. Step up, that's what.

She pulled a mono-filament grapple from her waist, attached it to the window and leapt out, running down the outside of the building as the line spooled out behind her. It was one of the many pieces of League equipment she'd 'accidentally' forgotten to return when they'd kicked her out. Artisan had asked to borrow them after the OOC meeting, but had been absent for the last few days, probably building a doomsday laser.

Successful Skill Use +8 xp to Acrobatics - Novice Level 1 [24%].

Landing lightly on the ground, she triggered the release and ran quietly forward.

She'd found what looked like the site of a battle, the dilapidated room bearing even more rents and tears than the rest of the building. There were also a few splashes of blood and melting icicles punched through the walls.

In the middle of the room there was a chalk circle, Revenant stood calmly in the centre, and an unconscious clone lay just outside. She doubted Division had been studying magic, which meant he must have gotten Naiad to help him.

Where's the loyalty? She thought at her absent friend.

Deciding it was better to move on rather than mess with magic strong enough to lock up the undead knight, she turned to carry on her exploration of the building. Something alerted her to danger just in time, a slight peak of adrenalin in the air, a change in breathing, a small skip in heartbeat.

Successful Skill Use +12 xp to Awareness - Novice Level 1 [15%].

+6 xp to skill group Perception - Beginner Level 9 [54%]

She dropped to the floor as a shotgun fired behind her, the wall where she'd been stood cracking from the impact of a pacification round. Her ears screaming at her, she rolled to the side, another round impacting the floor as she lined up her crossbow on the clone now leaning up inside the room.

She wasn't sure how he'd hidden a shotgun from her, or how he'd feigned unconsciousness well enough to fool even her senses, but none of that mattered as her vision focused in on a thin section of his costume. She pulled the trigger, already rolling clear of the doorway as he turned his gun on her for another shot.

She tried to listen through the aching of her ears, and heard his heartbeat stutter as the paralytic on the bolt took effect, followed by the thump and clatter of him falling to the floor a few moments later. She was still cautious though, Wind had warned her not to trust anything the man did, at least not while fighting him anyway.

Stealing a glance through the doorway, she checked that the clone was really down before hurrying in and kicking away the shotgun. Only the clone's eyes moved, tracking her as she glanced around and reloaded her crossbow.

She focused her gaze on him. "You should come and get me," she said nonchalantly. "Get the whole thing wrapped up."

After 30 seconds, she heard something moving quietly down the corridor, and shifted to put the frozen Revenant between herself and the doorway. As she did, she noticed the skeleton shift slightly inside his circle. So not actually frozen then, did that mean he might be able to hear her?

She turned to the doorway as she heard a quiet step outside, before turning quickly away again as a flashbang flew into the room. Shit, shit; shit, shit, shit.

Her eyes burned from the blast of light, her ears throbbed from the concussive blast. She desperately fired a bolt at where she thought the doorway was, hoping to surprise him as he entered the room, but remembered the watchful clone too late. A second later, something impacted into her, knocking her to the ground and plucking away her crossbow.

As her senses came back, still muffled and painful, she looked up to find Division standing over her. "And that makes five," he said, grinning down at her.

From the smell, this was Division prime. It was nothing obvious that set him apart from his clones, but little things he did only as himself, such as visiting a coffee shop, left minute traces that he carried with him, and the fact that he was here himself meant her suggestion had probably reached him through his clone. Unless the others had managed to take out his reinforcements before going down.

"You should get some rest." She said without much hope of it working. Her voice was closer to hypnotism than mind control, the suggestion had to be reasonable for it to work, and the closer it was to something the person already wanted to do, the more powerful it was.

"Can't hear you." Division said, louder than necessary. "Earplugs," he explained, waving vaguely at his ears with one of her bolts, obviously snatched when he took her down.

She glanced over at his clone, but its eyes were now vacant. Apparently he could shut down the connection, which is probably how he'd faked being unconscious. No back avenue there then.

As she turned back towards Division, wonderig why he was just standing there rather than finishing her off, her neck muscles protested as her body began to lock up. She blinked as she finally felt the small scratch on the back of her hand and realised what it meant.

No choice than, she thought, putting everything she had left into making her jaw work for a moment longer. "Help me," She said, forcing the appeal out with every ounce of resonance she could muster.

"Can't hear you." Division said again, this time in a sing-song voice.

She felt the last of her muscles turn rigid, her face freezing. Which was a shame because she really wanted to grin as she saw something move behind him.

"She was talking to me." Revenant said, placing a hand on Division's shoulder.