The boy nods and leaves the room, eager to obey her commands in a futile hope to gain her favor. Spoiler: Who does he find? D10: 6 A few hours later, he returns, tentatively stepping back into the pink-haired villain's room. "I-uh... I found someone. The Finch." He raises his phone, showing an image of the hero in question. Spoiler: The Finch "He's a C-tier hero - non-powered, but has some decent gadgets, so I'm guessing he has money, and based on the areas in which he fights crime, I'd say he's based somewhere in this area. According to the news, he's stopping a bank robbery right now." Huffing and puffing, the boy explains. "If you hurry, maybe you can follow him?"
"From what I gather, the kidnappers are regular crims - a biker gang, I think. But they're working for someone else - a female villain Esmerelda defeated once." Sapphira briefs the younger magical girl. "If she falls into the villainess' hands, I don't know what will happen. Some villains are real dumb when it comes to prisoners - they just stand and monologue until a hero shows up to save the day, but some can be very fast, and very cruel."
Spoiler: Pheromone Roll D100: 13+20 (Pheromone Skill)=33 (Fail) Annoyingly, as Squidlock lays out his tentacled trap, he fails to feel the woman's hand making contact with his slime. By accident or design, she manages to get up atop the roof without making contact with the mind-altering substance. Squidlock sees the golden hair poke up above the roof's ledge, and then the rest of her body, as she heaves herself up top. Spoiler: Illusion Roll D100: 62+10=72 (Success) "You!" The heroine thrusts out her finger, pointing at the shadowy illusion rather than at Squidlock. "You're the one who summoned those tentacles. Explain yourself, someone could have gotten hurt!"
"Good work." Giving some rare praise, she had found a useful lead. Rising from her seat, she now had a proper job to do and hoped to get to the scene of the crime and stay mostly out of the radar if it could be avoided, then tail him back to his hideout.
Spoiler: Perception Roll D100: 5+10 (Perception Skill)=15 (Fail) Vanessa tries to listen out and gather some sort of idea of what's going on, but there's just too much shouting and screaming after the gunshots - people are panicking, and she just can't make out what's happening. In the chaos, she hears the door open behind her, and someone step into the room.
“I see... in that case it would be best to rescue her before she is delivered to the gang's client. It would probably be easier, too, since we will be dealing with regular criminals instead of superpowered ones. Still, we need to be careful, in case they were given some special gadgets, or if someone with powers was sent to assist them.” Azura decided. “Do you know where the gang is currently?”
What a mess. Vanessa sighed, though she understands why the people are panicked, as no one really expected there to be a raid in a hospital. But as the door opened behind her, "Who's there?" She asked, turning around to get a good look of who it was.
"I'm glad to have a hero of your caliber watching my back while I'm gone." Infinity smiles, his touch lingering slightly longer than it needs to as he lets her go. "Well, I think I can hear a citizen in trouble, so I should go. Good luck with your assignment - I know someone like you can handle it." Spoiler: Telepathy Roll D100: 83+10 (Telepathy Skill)=93 Before the hero can fly off, a stray brainwave broadcasts itself outwards, Psychana's superpowered mind picking it up. Look at this slut... Big tits, fat ass... And she's a fangirl - totally awestruck. Hell yeah, I'm gonna have some fun with her... As Infinity flies into the air, Jenny's left with one of his thoughts rattling through her brain, filled with a sleazy kind of lust utterly at odds with the hero's squeaky clean persona.
Inwardly grunting, Squidlock fights down the irritation at his initial trap being avoided. However, it might have been random luck than actual perceptiveness on her part, if she falls for such a simple illusion. Seeing his opening, he lashes out with several of his tentacles while her attention is elsewhere. Enough to grab at each of her limbs as well as one to wrap around her waist and two more to, if he manages to take hold, wrap both above and beneath her breasts.
"T-Thanks!" The young man blushes intensely. "D-Do you want to take my van?" Malady arrives on the scene in time to see police rushing into the bank - through the windows, she can see some masked robbers bound together with rope, easy pickings for the cop. She nearly misses the hero's exit, but then she sees it, the red and yellow clad figure using a grappling gun to make his escape to one of the other rooftops.
Sapphira nods. "Yeah, they have two chapter houses - on either side of the city. I don't know which one Esmerelda is in." Striding to Azura's computer, the magical girl bends forward to pull up a city map, showing where the gang hideouts are located.
Jenny shouldn't have been surprised. All too often she'd been able to see the 'real' people that others keep hidden from the world. Near everyone she met at one point or another had such thoughts; if not about her then about someone else. Still, with the image that Infinity projects to the world there was a certain degree of betrayal that she felt. But instead of being angry at him she was angry at herself. Those were his private thoughts, thoughts not meant for her and that she was not entitled to. It was truly an invasion of his privacy that she'd heard them; even if he had broadcast them and there was no way she could shut them out. And beyond the offense she should have taken at his misogynistic and demeaning opinion of her she found herself thinking... "He likes the way I look!" Jenny caught her lower lip between her teeth and smiled before she called to her husband over her earpiece. "Did you hear all that? This is huge for us! What do you think honey? What's the best way to start?" She wouldn't tell him about Infinity's thoughts. If she wasn't entitled to them, her husband certainly wasn't.
Having already taken the van before it was offered, she arrived to the sight, a little annoyed at being behind to properly catch sight of it. The bank itself wasn't important though, and since it seemed most people were caught up on trying to get the scene under control, that would give her time of her own to act without drawing attention. He already had a fair bit of distance, so trying to catch up on the roofs wouldn't work. She reasoned she would have to work smarter, not harder. For now she simply drove along in the general direction she could catch movement from. If he didn't have powers, then he still needed to physically scale buildings and couldn't just appear anywhere. At least his costume would make him decently visible to track.
Turning, Vanessa sees a man in tactical gear rush into the room, emerging from the darkness. "Target acquired!" He shouts loudly, raising his pistol. Vanessa, preparing to defend herself, is taken off guard as the man fires a bullet into the lawyer's skull, the old man falling back against the window to Oscar's room and sliding downwards. "Target down! Acquiring package!" He shouts into his mic again, and approaches the dead man, treating Vanessa as a non-entity.
"Ah?" Vanessa froze, she knew she'd be impervious to bullets, IF she had the collar on. But right now, she didn't, so sadly, despite her near inhuman levels of strength. She'd be in a world of hurt. And as the man fired, "Huh?" Her eyes widen, realizing their target was instead her lawyer. For now, she tries to act like a normal woman. Standing still as she watched, but, on the off chance the soldier was aiming to take Oscar's will. Vanessa would spring into action, hoping to catch him off guard.
Spoiler: Combat Rolls D100: Squidlock: 73+10 (Tentacle Combat)+10 (Surprise)=93 (Crit) Sorceress: 33-20 (Fatigue)=13 Sorceress HP: 100-80=20 Sorceress bound! Seeing movement, the blonde lets forth a wave of white hot fire - in the wrong direction. Squidlock's tentacles snake their way around her, sliding against her curvy body and going taut. "Ugh, damn it! Get off me, you foul thing!"
As if to confirm her thoughts, Jenny sees Infinity linger in the sky, watching her for just one more moment. "You earned it, sweety." Her husband says happily into her ear. "I don't know... Drug dealers tend to use dead drops - street level dealers might not know that much about who's supplying them up the chain. Going that route would probably be slower. But I'm a little nervous to have you go into the red light district alone - with me out of action, and the team off with Infinity, you'd have no backup, in that disgusting place."
Spoiler: Pursuit Roll D100: 97 (Crit) As it turns out, driving is an easier mode of transport than grappling from rooftop to rooftop, and in her inconspicuous vehicle, she barely has to try to maintain stealth. Malady keeps the hero in her sights almost the entire time, as she follows him from the bank, through the industrial center, and into an old abandoned train yard. From the shadows, Malady watches as the hero sneaks past a small homeless camp, into a section of the trainyard filled with collapsed rubble, marked as structurally unsafe. She sees the young hero move into a ruined subway car, pulling up a false floor to uncover a keypad. She sees the young hero type in a code, 9183, before the floor opens up, and The Finch descends to a lower level, the secret hatch closing afterwards.
Despite her better judgement, Jenny found herself smiling towards Infinity and waiving goodbye. Once the iconic superhero had left, Jenny listened to her husband's suggestions. She appreciated his concern for her, and found herself giving a placating grin to no one (as he wasn't physically there). "Thank you for your concern honey, I love that you worry about me. But I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself. If you think I'll have more success starting with the Red Light District then that's where I'll go. I just need to change first." With that said Jenny summoned her powers and propelled herself into the air. She'd have to head back to headquarters to change into more appropriate attire.
Chuckling, Squidlock pulls his tentacles tighter, trying to force the Sorceress' arms behind her as the one above and one beneath her tits squeeze against them, forcing them to stick out more prominently as his slime smears across the top of her visible cleavage. At the same time, the tentacles around her legs try to spread them wider, another tendril reaching out to start teasing her inner thigh. "Now why would I do that?" he taunts as he draws closer, "I'm here to give you quite the special... invitation and it's in your best interests to be as receptive to it as possible."
