The man grins wildly. "Me? Shoot at civilians? No, never. We'll be shooting near the civilians, not at them." He gives a low chuckle.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Psychana asked. "I'm not taking the artifact! It's going back where it belongs." With the Invisible Lady having let go of the idol, Psychana used her psychokinesis to pull the item to her gloved hand when she heard the van start to race away. "Fuck!" Psychana cursed as she looked first to the redheaded woman then to the van. She should have psychically probed the minds of the security guards and chastised herself for such a rookie mistake. She saw two options in front of her: fight the thief and the villain, or recover whatever was stolen. With one more glance back at the redheaded woman Psychana made her choice. "This isn't over!" she declared and then flew off the roof to pursue the van just as the idol entered her grasp.
Looking around, Azura spots several back rooms where she could hide or take cover, and Daiyu shows her some of the entrances to the underground tunnels she mentioned. Up above, Azura watches as Chen leaves one of the cars, followed by nine of his men - alone enough to make the building feel rather crowded, and heads inside.
Erik has the new heroes stay and 'secure the area' long enough for the arriving news vans to get some good shots of them, before they 'humbly' leave to go stop other crimes - by which he means report in. The trio returns to Heart, the young men beaming, while the former villainess smirks. "We did it!" One of the boys smirks at her. "We're like, real heroes!"
"Madame, one kind act isn't proof that someone's trustworthy." Lawrence sighs. "You've known this young man what, a few weeks? And now you're giving him the keys to the castle freely? He seemed to be under the impression that he was going to be sleeping in the master bedroom - with you. I hardly think that's appropriate."
"It isn't proof, but it's a start. That's why I'm leaving him under your care. There's no one I trust more in this world than you, Lawrence. That's why I want you to teach him." Vanessa replied, not denying the accusation that Jacob will be sleeping in her room. "Besides, you said it yourself. We need additional help. Do you want to hire someone with money... or with kindness?"
"Oh, come now... Don't act like you don't want to keep it. It certainly would prefer being in your care, than some dusty display case..." The redhead smirks, as the idol flies into Psychana's hand. The blonde is glad her gloves are insulated, since she can feel a distinct psychic energy coming from the object - though her intuition tells her it's not a danger. Flying into the sky, Psychana catches up with the van, finding it as it's moved onto a highway at high speed.
Psychana tried to ignore the disconcerting psychic energy as she flew through the air with the idol in her hand. As she came up on the van, she hurled a psychokinetic blast towards the hood of the vehicle hoping to smash the engine and bring the van to a halt. It might interrupt traffic, but this late at night with enough warning the hindrance should be easily avoidable. Plus a response crew should be able to clear it up before the morning commute began.
"If you say so, madame, it's just..." He sighs. "I've never seen you act like this with another boy. I just worry for you - I failed your parents by not seeing through Oscar. I don't want someone to take advantage of you." Straightening, the old man sighs again. "In any case, that was all I was harrying you for, ma'am."
"Thanks for worrying about me, Lawrence. But I'm different from my parents, mostly thanks to a little trinket Oscar left. But also we both experienced that day." Vanessa said in a solemn tone, "Anyway, I'll leave his education to you... just try not to kill him on the first day." She smiles patting the old man's shoulder, before heading to her room to unpack, and hide the videos, along with the engram. After that she checks on her phone to see of there was any news. Before recalling how Vince had given her a lead, Might as well check on that tonight.
Spoiler: Psychic roll D100: 34+20 (minor success) The heroine feels her blast impact against the hood, crumpling the sheet of metal, and the van begins to spin out, forcing the driver to stop, though the vehicle is very much operable. The doors open, and the two men in security guard disguises advance. Spoiler: Awareness Roll D100: 66 As she catches a better look at the thugs, Psychana recalls why she remembers them - they're the survivors of the boat heist, that the redhead bent to her will with ease, one of them being the very man who had seen her on the dance floor with Chastity, recognised her as Hammer's 'bitch', and planned to risk the villain's wrath by picking her up. Not recognising her in return, the thug pulls a pistol from his waistband and cocks it, but his partner gives him a scathing look. "Mistress said we couldn't hurt this one - no guns. Let's use the rings she gave us." Nodding, the two of them raise their hands, revealing signet rings that shine with light.
Flying out to the industrial zone, Vanessa finds the supposedly abandoned factory looking not so abandoned - lights on, cars out front - way too much activity for it to just be squatters.
So his information was right. Vanessa thinks to herself, as she tries to use her superhuman hearing to listen in on the guards, trying to determine what they were talking about, and how many of them were inside.
Pleased that she'd stopped the van, Psychana swooped down and landed in front of the brainwashed thieves. "I'm giving you this one chance, surrender!" While she doubted the goons would take the offer, she knew she had to give them the chance. She did however prepare another psychokinetic blast if they refused.
Spoiler: Awareness Roll D100: 23 Sadly, as she eavedrops on the guards by the front door, Vanessa only picks up inane smalltalk - nothing that concerns the business about why they're there.
"Tsk." Clicking her tongue, Vanessa tries to look for a vantage point, or an area in the warehouse she could sneak to so that she could peek inside.
Psychana gets the impression that the thugs probably couldn't surrender if they wanted to - so strong is their programmed love for their 'mistress'. Spoiler: Combat Roll D100: Psychana: 47+20 Thug 1: 90 Thug 2: 44 Thugs Remaining: 1 Willpower Damage: 23+10 (Crit) Psychana's Willpower: 67 Psychana's attack sends a thug flying, but before she can move to gather up energy for another blast, the remaining thug holds up his ring, light flashing. Suddenly, Psychana feels her muscles starting to go rigid, and her body hot.
"What the fuck!?" Jenny thought to herself as she felt the effects of the ring. "What the fuck is that thing?" Psychana tried to summon her willpower to break the effects of the thief's attack and hurl another psychokinetic bolt at the thug.
Looking around, Vanessa thinks she can spot a skylight atop the building that she could use to look inwards, though there's the risk she too could be spotted.
Seeing no other place she could use to peek inside, Vanessa takes the chance, landing very lightly onto the roof to avoid being heard. She crouches down to look into the skylight, hoping no one inside was looking upward.
