“No reason to feel guilty, Esme.” Azura reassured the redhead as she followed her to the kitchen. “Someone trying to hurt me has been a possibility ever since I became a magical girl and started using my powers to help people. I'm sure I have made some enemies over time, too. At the end of the day it doesn't matter if I get attacked by one of your old enemies, or one of mine, or by some random person who thought I would be an easy target. When that happens I will have to defend myself and kick their ass!” She shrugged. “Anyway, anything I can help you with? You are my guest, so it would not do to let you do all the cooking.”
"Shit." Vanessa hissed that her theory was more believable than she wanted it to be. But for now, she needed to explain what happened here, there was no super to save her. And finding a "weak, defenseless socialite" like her in such a scene would be weird. Tsk, damn it, damn it! Trying to think of an alibi, Vanessa knocks the thugs out one more time, before heading upstairs, grabbing her costume, and driving to a discreet location. As she drove, Vanessa calls the cops, reporting the disturbance in her home, mostly due to the fact that her butler hasn't once answered her calls. Wait... my butler... didn't Vince imply that Lawrence couldn't protect himself. It dawned on her, but, as she had too much in her mind already, she tries to focus on rescuing her only family left. Vanessa tries to remotely activate the tracking device on Lawrence's phone, hoping he had it on him. (Edit: Changed what Vanessa will do to feel more in character.)
"Thank you." Jenny replied with a slight smile at his vote of confidence. It actually meant something that he wasn't insensitive to what she'd endured even if he wasn't privy to exactly what she'd done to earn it. And all the better for it. "Oh! Sure-" she said to his request. "-just give me a moment to get it." Jenny moved to her dresser to retrieve the dollar bills where she'd placed them. She wondered why he'd asked her for them. It wasn't like she, her husband, or even the team couldn't investigate further. Checking serial numbers seemed a task that was beneath Infinity, though she chided herself for that thought. Just because he spent most of his public time fighting giant monsters, space invaders, super geniuses, and world ending threats didn't mean he couldn't pay attention to the little things or the details. Maybe he was just thorough or wanted to help out in whatever capacity he could. Regardless of the reason, she would never consciously intrude upon his thoughts without his permission and so Jenny retrieved the money and handed it over to the superhero. "Here it is." Jennifer, who hadn't changed out of her revealing dress, started to wonder how Infinity knew where she lived but set that curiosity aside. "Umm... is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked wondering if he had any insights, advice, or recommendations on how to proceed with their mission.
"I suppose there's not much I can do about it, is there. Hah, kick their ass -That's the spirit." Esmerelda chuckles. "Just stand there and look pretty while I cook. I might not be able to match Sapphira's skills, but I-" She's cut off by the sound of an explosion. Looking outside, Azura sees a fireball reaching up into the evening sky on the horizon.
Vanessa feels a wave of relief hit her, as her phone begins to beep, the tracking device doing its work. Looking at a map of the city, she sees the blinking dot appearing at an art gallery downtown.
"Phew." Vanessa lets out a relieved sigh, Wait for me Lawrence. She thinks to herself, as she finds a discreet, but safe location without a lot of cameras. to park in, before changing into her superheroine costume, followed by locking the collar around her neck. Taking a deep breath, knowing she'll have to deal with another super. The heiress takes note of the location, as she steps out of her car, she hides the key nearby. Before leaping to the art gallery, trying to recall if she knows who owns the place.
I can think of a few things... His mental voice sounds in her mind, sleazy and lascivious, as he pockets the money. "Just keep doing the wonderful work you have been, Psychana." Giving her a little salute, the hero zooms into the air, leaving the blonde by herself once more. Not long after, she hears the sound of a key in the lock, followed by the tap, tap, tap of her husband's crutches. He makes his way into the living room, a bouquet of roses in hand, and a smile on his face as he realises she's (physically) okay. "Oh, honey, God it's good to see you. You had me worried... First you went into that club where your signal disappeared, then you were at that apartment building..." He hobbles over to her, handing the roses over. "A long stakeout, was it? Found yourself some nook or cranny to hide in, spying on those criminals until they said something incriminating? You must be dead tired."
@majus The door opens, and Faye finds herself looking at a young man, handsome and muscular, but with a glint of his mother's ruthlessness in his eye that makes her shiver. He probably hasn't discovered it yet, but the boy's clearly a chip off the old block. "Holy shit... It's you." He smiles. "When she told me Amethyst Heart was waiting for me, I thought it must be some woman in a costume, but it's definitely you." He moves toward her. "She also told me you'd do anything I told you to. Was she right about that, too?"
“What the-” Looking outside the window Azura saw the fireball in the distance. “I should probably go take a look at whatever is going on while you make dinner.” She commented as she turned to look at the redhead. “But before that, we should exchange phone numbers, in case I need to call and ask for Sapphira's assistance, or in case either one of you needs to call me.” She mentally smacked herself for not doing that sooner.
As even his closest friends put it Valentine wasn’t really a bad guy. Just kind of….stupid. But he stood there, mostly unphased. He felt the impact. She definitely meant for that to hurt. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he just took it. If it was another guy, he’d have them on the ground already, but he wasn’t willing to break his insistence not to fight against women. “What? Like she gave me super cancer?” Just from another confused clueless response it probably told her enough that if there was a reason for it, he didn’t have a good answer for it. “Wait…” It was only know something started to weigh in his brain. “I can’t fight that bitch either when I find her.” Apparently he only just thought of this now, despite his stubbornness to run off and confront her. Trying to think about he sighed. “How am I going to do this….?” He had already made up his mind, but with zero idea of what he actually wanted to do once he got there. Yet, it didn’t stop him from just starting to casually walk past the blue haired woman as if nothing had happened. “Well, see ya, lady.”
Squidlock gives her a smirk. "I said I'd let him live. I never said anything about HOW he'd live. Now you be a good girl and show our new friend a fun time." He slips off to begin setting up his magical defenses. The warding spells to keep weaker willed ones away. The dampening spells to hide the magical presences that would soon be growing in number from the stronger willed and various magic based booby traps. He could save the more physically intense construction labor for when a number of the children were born. As he works, he occasionally peaks in to see how Ellie is taking to her latest predicament and if she finally understands, in more ways than one, just how fucked she is.
At the mention of her looks and singing, a renewed enthusiasm washes over her expression "You think so? I hope so too! I can't wait until it's released! This is all so exciting!" She is mildly disappointed, though unsurprised, at failing to draw Lee's eye. This version of him must be too loyal and kind to show open interest in me. Should I really be trying to attract him anyway? You can't let anyone find out you're...you! Despite her internal debate, she, perhaps too quickly, replies "I'd love to accompany you! Where are we going?"
Spoiler: Awareness Roll D100: 22 Vanessa remembers that her mother donated to the gallery, but she was a major donor for a great number of art projects across the city, so it doesn't seem to mean muchh. Beyond that, Vanessa can't recall who owns the place. Heading to the roof of the gallery, Vanessa gets a look inside. She sees that a section of the floor is lower down than the rest by several feet for a perspective-based piece of art, and it's there she sees Lawrence. The old man is sans shirt and jacket, blood pouring from a cut on his scalp. In front of him is one of Hammer's thugs, the muscular man sending forth a jab that nearly hits Vanessa's butler in the face, while around, several thugs writhe in pain on the floor. Around the rim of the recessed floor stand thugs, laughing, cheering and passing around cash, and Vanessa realises that they've repurposed the exhibit as a gladiatorial arena - with her butler as the gladiator.
Esmerelda nods and hurriedly scribbles down a note onto some recipe paper, before handing it over. "Be safe, okay?" Heading out, Azura sees that the flames are coming from a chemical factory, several workers covered in ash stumbling away from the building as they cough.
The woman simply stands, mouth agape, in pure confusion. "God, you're actually really...not smart. I kinda feel bad for calling you a moron earlier." She walks alongside him. "Look, let me fight this chick. You can watch my back, okay?"
As Squidlock's new minion undoes his belt, Squidlock moves to place his traps. Spoiler: Black Magic Roll D100: 56+20 Spoiler: Aquarium Looking over his new base, he manages to place effective, though not devastating, magical traps. Looking at Ellie, the monster sees her expression go vacant as the cop hammers into her.
"Hopefully I'll be the first to give it a listen." Lee smiles back, before slipping his arm through hers. "We were going to meet up at her place - mine is a crime scene, unfortunately. Let's go - Lana has some stuff to do, but she'll be along." He leads Calista to the parking lot, inviting her into an expensive car, before they head across town. Lana's apartment is much like her boyfriend's, just slightly larger, the walls covered in albums, guitars and tour memorabilia. "Get comfy. I wanted to ask you abou- ooh..." He groans, clutching his head. "Damn it, why now?" He moans to himself, before looking apologetically at Calista. "Sorry, migraine. I'll just be back in a second." He rushes off through a door, closing it behind him. The door reopens a minute or so later, Lee striding out into the living room to grab two beers from the fridge, and sit on the couch. He pats the seat next to him, and if she sits down, slips an arm around her shoulder to pull her close, as he hands her a drink. "You know, it's kind of a shame I only met you after you got on the path to stardom."
“I'll be careful.” Azura promised as she took the piece of paper. Getting in her car the magical girl made her way to the chemical factory, stopping close but still far enough to not attract any attention. After making sure that everyone was focused on what was going at the factory she read the piece of paper, trying to memorize the number on it, then put it in a hidden pocket and cast her flight spell. Getting out of the car she left the vehicle behind and flew up to take an aerial look at the factory and the fire there. She wanted to check if it seemed like a regular fire, or someone had caused it. That would determine what she did next.
"Lawrence!" Vanessa gasped, seeing how the thugs turned the gallery into a colosseum. She clenches her fist, but as she remembered that Hammer must be there. She looks for him first, figuring that after last night's encounter with another super thug. Vanessa needed to deal with him first, before picking off the normal thugs.
While far from his best spell casting work, it will do for now. He can reinforce things later once things are up and running. Watching Ellie fall into despair as the officer ravishes her, he makes a note that once a few babies have been born (both from her and maybe a few from whoever the cop might bring to join her), he really should go and raid her lair. Even as poor a sorceress as she turned out to be had to have at least some magical items of use. Either for himself or for lower ranking members of his future army to make use of. That was still a few days off, however. For now, he would let his new minion finish having his fun... and maybe take another turn himself.
