As expected, the soldier kneels down, grabbing for the papers the lawyer was carrying.
Soon, she's back at the Clocktower - her team's base, seeing her husband approach her as she arrives, limping on his crutches. "Are you sure about this, honey? The people in that place are perverts, and you're so beautiful... I worry about you. But I suppose Infinity didn't choose you for nothing. If he's got faith in you, I should too." He frowns, as she browses the available attire - an arrangement of various hero costumes and civilian disguises, each team member getting a wardrobe to themselves.
Interesting.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.D100: 97 (Crit)
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.
Jenny gave her husband a placating smile and rested a hand gently on his chest. "I'm sure, and thank you for trusting me." she said and levitated up to give him a quick kiss before she turned to her wardrobe.
Unfortunately, there's no insignia or sign of identity on the soldiers that could help her narrow it down - at least not in this room. Still, from the hurried footsteps she hears, the heiress judges that they're not so far ahead of her that she couldn't catch up.
Luckily, Malady finds that her assumption isn't incorrect. As she feels her plants begin to sprout up from the ground, rising and unfolding inexplicably despite the lack of sunlight, water and time, she sees the lights of a diner beyond the chainlink fence seperating the abandoned depot from the rest of the area - only a block or so away.Interesting.
She had her lead. Pursuing him wasn't important and she didn't want to do anything that would especially make him panic or feel the need to relocate. She knew what she wanted. He likely had sensors around the area in case people got too close. But....
Bringing the van to stop, she took a moment to get out. Finding some soil on the ground, she focused her efforts to bring life to the soil. The message wasn't for the Finch and she wasn't sure if he'd even notice it, after all. But Ryota would know exactly what he's looking for in trying to trace her. The saplings began to sprout and glisten, impossibly vibrant and way too lifelike to be achievable in this kind of run down environment naturally.
She had to assume this tech based hero most likely had surveillance equipment looking for electronics or things that would send out signals. Flowers would only be noticeable by eyesight and it seemed like he was too fond of secret entrances to pay much attention to the little patch. Ryota would know what it means. And be led to believe that Malady made it as a taunt. While he'd be right about that, she was heavily relying on him jumping to the wrong conclusions. He always did love running off without thinking about the whole picture, after all.
With her babies planted into the ground, she stepped back into the van. She had left her mark. Now the next step of the process would be getting Ryota to think to search here. It would also likely alert this C-list hero to things happening in his area, but he had never dealt with Malady before, so he wouldn't likely draw much for conclusions. If they both happened to respond to the same scene, she'd still work with it.
For now, what she ruled on her next step was to make a big enough commotion. There had to be some kind of restaurant or diner still open in the area. She reasoned the next step was finding a location dense enough and close enough to both their search areas to put them on alert near each other.
"W-Wow..." The injured man's jaw drops as he sees her in the skimpy dress. "Y-Yeah... I think so."
That was the place she needed. It was pretty close to the hideout, but that might work to her advantage. Now, the bait just needed to be set.
Strangely, as the alien imagines Arch shoving her against the wall, the billionaire begins to smile. "No, no, I'm not threatening you - just telling you that things in my city are easier when you have my help." He looks her up and down as she turns to pour drinks.
Jenny had the cab paid for electronically, but made sure to tip the driver generously. She had it to spare and the more money people could earn legitimately in this part of town the better. As she got out of the cab, Jennifer could sense the eyes of everyone ogling her, even with so many other accommodating women around. It was flattering, and she put a little extra sway in her hips as she walked, partly to sell the image, and partly to reward the people who looked. But now that she was actually here, Jenny paused, uncertain of what to do.
Greenery isn't all that common in a run down industrial area, but Malady finds enough soil to raise some plants like the ones before.
Picking a run down looking place with the name Loretta's above it in neon letters, Jenny is surprised to see that inside, the place is actually pretty impressive.
Didn’t seem like there was too many on staff which was good. Being spotted was to be expected anyway. But it still could hurt things if her presence was too notable.
Despite her self confidence, Jenny felt a lump in her throat and her heart race, but ignored her nervousness. She was a superhero, she could handle Hammer.
A bit of a risk needing to resort to this, but the woman went down pretty easily. Things would likely work out for her. But she wasn’t here to run things. She needed to get the job done before anyone else noticed something wrong, so she made her move to hurry, and begin the process of spreading Medusa venom on just about every available stock of ingredient and customer plates waiting. She didn’t need to be super careful here.