Pure team spirit (Forcie-Mr.E-The Womb-Arc NPC: Forge)

A grand escape had been made this day. Blown up energy plants, metahumans being rushed one place to another. Everything was so strange recently. Terrorists in London and now something about metahumans health scares. It was all so scary. Well, to some people it was. At the current time period we had an unfortunate run in. There was a masked man running through the streets, moving through crowds with expert precision and amazing dexterity. Not a single person was touched as he raced past, though he caught more than a few glances. He knew the situation was bad for him. Very bad. He quickly took out his cellphone and sent a text message to one of the "secured" phones that the Agency likely hadn't caught wind of.

Agency has new boys. Will talk later. He sent the message to his ally, the ones the agent's called "Subject Cardiac". His panting dies to a quiet and frequent huff as the men in black suits ran past. fortunately for Masquerade they were gone now, but unfortunately for him it was still very early in the hunt.

Not too far away was an alleyway, dark to be sure, yet at this point in time it was strangely illuminated. There in the alleyway lay Kal, one of the two survivors of the power plant explosion. Just above him was the sickly pale-bronze man, his closest friend and the only other survivor. This shining light was a literal beacon for all forms of energy, even going as far as to generate artifact in the Agency glasses as they passed. Thankful that they had assumed it was their ever cunning current target.

"C'mon man, it's been twenty minutes, wake up!" The man grunted as he shook the scientist, trying to keep his glow concealed with a ton of black filled trash bags form the dumpsters of local facilities. The warmth that Kal gave off was lost to the man as he was able to be unphased by the radiating heat, though little did he know trouble was on the way. The Agency was now after them, as they were suspects in an "act of terror" in the worst case, or simply scared and highly volatile at best case. Today was going to prove most interesting for them.
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Mr.E and Womb are in this thread along with Sarah. The objective here is for the Agency to detain Masquerade, though capturing the metahumans who are suspected of "blowing up the power plant" are now a top priority as well.

You do not need a special "sense" to know if Kal is nearby, it is a reasonable energy emission that can be felt by normal humans if close.

Additional Info: There was a power plant explosion less than an hour ago, two people were seen fleeing from the scene.

The Womb had been doing a lot of research of late. He had taken the time to re-accustom himself to his present situation rather than focus on his past; a piece of information veiled as advice that was given to him from a friend, and that he had taken to heart. The Womb's past was murky and full of uncertainty, it held all the answers for him; and yet when he looked it revealed none. He knew that in time perhaps those answers would come to him again, and if that were to be true and they were to find him, they could only be waiting for him in the future. The only way for him to prepare himself for that inevitable future, was to assimilate with the present. And so he poured over the internet, researching the modern history he had missed whilst in self exile. He had missed the dawn of Human rights, progression for man and technology. The birth of the Meta-Humans and their rapid rise in numbers, and their subsequent effects on the world around them.

As The Womb understood it, Meta-Humans were indeed the next step in human evolution, however, instead of aiding their brothers to make that leap, they had instead brush humanity away almost as though it didn't exist. Womb read of countless callous actions committed by "Heroes" and "Villains" that had resulted in millions of deaths world wide; countless communities had been wiped out, and thousands displaced by their abhorrent and selfish behavior. Heroes ran wild battling villains for personal glory, yet failed to clean up after themselves once the damage was done. Not only that, but they consistently propped up a system that had time and again proven itself to be broken beyond repair. Heroes did not deserve the accolades they feel they deserve. Villains were all the more detestable, inflicting their personal issues upon others causing suffering without measure. Neither the "good" nor the "bad" had left any other impression on humanity than that Meta-Humans were children with God's powers. They have the world and their fingertips, and choose to destroy rather than build. The Womb could not forgive it. As he had not been able to forgive man for giving into a system of modern degradation, he could not forgive Meta-Humans for becoming the personification of those faults. It was for these reasons that The Womb, whilst searching the net for information in his local library, happened upon The Agency's rehabilitation and registry program he signed up immediately.

After his initial registry and subsequent interviews with The Agency, The Womb offered his services to them. He told them all about himself, the past that he could remember clearly, and his current view of the world. He felt that together, they could each benefit from the others influence. The Womb had been welcomed with open arms at his proposal and had since been relocated to various strongholds and facilities across the country. He had mainly been trained and updated with information on renegade Meta-Humans, potential recruitment opportunities and the current social responses to The Agency's unveiling and globalization of their project. It had certainly been a monumental task, yet it was one The Womb felt was needed if the world were to be set to rights.

After some time of moving around, he had finally been called in. He had received a briefing on an explosion on the outskirts of Chicago that had apparently been caused my Meta-Humans. There had been some casualties and injuries however the reports were too fresh to give concrete numbers. Two men had been spotted fleeing the scene, these two men being the chief suspects in this case. The Womb had been instructed to locate and apprehend these men for questioning. He had also been briefed on a Meta-Human called "The Masquerade" a masked Meta-Human high on the profile list. Little was known about him so any information that could be gathered about the man would be vital to The Agency's agenda.

The Womb had been dropped not far from the power plant site, and had been given the general direction of the escapees, seemed to be south east and towards the city. He had been instructed to wait for two others that would be accompanying him on the investigation. Being the first on the scene he took some time to look over the area and determine his first thoughts. However, he found it hard to concentrate, a strange sensation tickled him, breaking his focus. It felt like the glowing of a dying fire, the last of its heat dissipating, though, could still be felt. It seemed to be coming from the city. What a curious feeling, could it be connected?

The Agency. An ambiguous governmental group that made the U.N look like a drunk game of Risk. Some how this organization rose to power seemingly over night, and with near global support, has made some major waves. The Meta's are running scared. Normally I wouldn't bother wasting the ink commenting on something so tied to this world. It's the spooky side of things that I need to focus on. But The Agency sees that. They believe. That, and the Canadian government allowed them to absorb Planes Watch. Now, on top of keeping the bogeymen down, I'm hunting supers. Which just well... Super.

- From the Desk of Phillip Edwards, Chief Officer of Planes Watch

Mr. E stepped out onto the Chicago street. Panic was in the air, and he knew there were things that would be loving this. But those weren't his concern. Not tonight. Tonight, he was looking for a Meta without a face. Well. Maybe that's being too poetic. But this chump was going to have a hard time pulling the wool over his eyes. He's been around the block with some of the nastiest illusions you could conjure. A simple disguise wouldn't even cut the butter.

He pulled out his lighter as he surveyed the crowd. A simple diving conjuration maybe? It'd be a lead. He lit a cigarette as he began walking down the side walk, taking a long drag. "Damn, I hate these things." He huffed into the night. Soon though, his eyes caught on someone that stood out quite a bit... "The Womb." He whispered to himself.

This guy was older than Methuselah's ghost, and Mr. E would know. He had a seance and asked about him. When God said, "Let there be light" this was the mother lover who flipped the switch. The moment the dossier hit Mr. E's desk on who he'd be working with, even he found himself corking a skeptical eyebrow. This fella could very well be the very first Meta. And he's just hanging around in the street.

Mr. E approached The Womb and eyed him cautiously. "Hey fella. We've got another Agency patsy meeting us. You keep an eye out while I try to give us a little direction yeah?" God it was hot. Warmer than it ought to have been. Something wasn't right in the air. But Mr. E didn't let that distract him from his task at hand. He drew a piece of chalk from his coat and drew a circle around himself before sitting on the ground. He then cut his finger to infuse the circle with the power of his life's blood. God he hated this part. If he had just a bit of magical juice he could do this with a snap of his finger. But for now he'd have to settle for doing it the old school way. Before he began he looked at The Womb again. "Speak up if you've got a lead, otherwise keep your trap shut while I focus. Thanks." Old things were dangerous. That was the first thing Mr. E learned on the job. The older the creature, the nastier it could be. But he'd mouthed off to worse things than this walking Tim Burton reject.

He dangled his Magic Bullet in front of himself and focused on his mission at hand. If Masquerade was nearby, the bullet would pull gently towards that general direction. Unless he was behind a circle of his own. Or over mile away. Or  under running water, or any of a number of other things that would ruin such a simple divining spell. Not for the first time, and not for the last would Mr. E wish he had some of his own magical talent.

"Oh world, why do I keep wandering around on you? Wait, why I am even asking this? Why am I trying to ask the Earth a question? You can't answer questions. You're just a planet floating about in the universe." someone spoke aloud without meaning to as they traversed the streets of the city of Chicago, Illinois. The person whom was talking aloud to themselves as they walked along was Sarah Milosi. Right now, Sarah Milosi was not enjoying being here. Then again, she didn't enjoy most of the places she wound up in anyways for various reasons. First of all, it was really cold, and this here was a woman who preferred it to be warm. She was born in the southwest and being born down there had the effect of making her prefer warmer temperatures. Maybe not tropical island kind of warm, but warm nonetheless. Thinking of that made her wonder what going to the tropics would be like. She remembered that her family had been planning to take a vacation to the Bahamas a few years back. Of course that was before those metahuman hunters came along and attacked them. Oh, bad memories, why do you always have to come back to me?

She tried to put aside the bad memories that were trying to plague her mind and get back to thinking about why she was here. It was because of a mysterious person she had met not too long ago. A person she knew from within the confines of the deepest parts of her mind not to trust. This person was most likely a man, covered head to toe in a black cloak. They had clearly put a lot of effort into tracking her down judging by how relieved they sounded to have finally caught up with her, but eventually they did. This person asked if she would assist them in undertaking a task of great importance. Them meaning they weren't alone in whatever they were doing. They spoke of an agency that exists to protect the world. What did they protect the world from? Dangerous metahumans, of course. That definitely sounded familiar to her. Sarah had fought the urge to attempt to strike that person down right then and there for even daring to ask her to assist them.

Sarah would stop by a cafe to rest as she was tired from the long trip. After a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, she was feeling significantly refreshed. She had been in Utah not too long ago. Now she was here in Chicago because she had been told this was where she would be needed. She had no plans of joining them though. If anything, she would just leave the first opportunity she got. Sarah was pretty sure she was being watched anyways. Things didn't seem like they would get too out of hand here. This particular city had a pretty large number of superheroes running about, and it seemed pretty well protected. Why would they do anything here? Unless some or all of those superheroes were working for them. She couldn't tell if that was something that could remotely be considered a good thing. What would they wind up doing when stuff started going down?

Suddenly the ground shook from a large explosion. Panic immediately started to set in among everyone around. For the next few minutes people were left wondering what caused that. The news would report the explosion occurred at a power plant, and that two unknown individuals had been seen fleeing from the place. Survivors, or those responsible for the explosion. How many casualties had there been though? Shortly afterwards they started reporting that the explosion had been caused by an attack on the plant. Those two that had been seeing running from the place were the most likely suspects and authorities were attempting to find them.

About an hour later Sarah was on the streets once more. The attack on the power plant had a lot of people worried about what was happening and what was going to happen. There hadn't been any reports of new developments as far as she was aware. She believed that the people whom had wanted her assistance were responsible. Why would they do that though? Sarah was trying to think it over, but her mind was being clouded by something else. A strange feeling overcame her. An inkling of an awakening of something more to her powers. Or just more of the same? A strong instinctual feeling, like someone speaking to her, had risen within the depths of her mind to inform her of something nearby that required her attention. What was this feeling though? And why was she having it? Sarah just wandered about as she let this headache inducing feeling guide her. Hopefully it didn't lead her towards something she wouldn't be able to get away from.

The Womb was greeted by a man he could only assume was Mr.E. He did not wait to exchange pleasantries, instead he instructed Womb to keep an eye out for their third team member while he hunkered down on the floor. The Womb watched as Mr.E withdrew a stick of chalk from his coat. He then proceeded to draw a circle around himself and dangled what looked like a bullet in front of him. It seemed this Mr.E was using some sort of magic to find their target. The Womb was quite amazed, he had not seen an attempt at magic in an age. He had thought such things had become extinct. The Womb became silently excited and resolved to speak with this Mr.E more candidly about his magical prowess. Mr.E then abruptly addressed The Womb, asking to be notified of any leads to the suspects.

"Mr.E is it? A pleasure, I am The Womb. No doubt you have seen my name in the dossier, though a formal greeting never goes amiss eh? I have little for you in the ways of leads, however, I am feeling a strange sensation. It seems to be emanating towards the south east and into the city. If this is connected to the explosion I do not know, but it is all the information I have," The Womb said. He looked about, but could not make out any other person approaching the two, " I do not mean to disturb you, but I must ask, are you sure we are to be joined by a third? I cannot see anybody approaching, and I have been here for a good while now. Do you think they may have gone on ahead?" The Womb questioned.

It seemed "The Womb" was right. Mr. E's bullet circled lazily for awhile, then it jerked and twitched and pointed to the South east. He grunted. "It seems you're right." Mr. E put his thumb at the edge of the chalk circle and smudged it, just a little, but that was enough. With a pop and hiss the magical ring around him vanished from existence. When it did that, it made his ears pop. It always made his ears pop.

He stood up again and began walking down the street. "You're right. Formal greetings never do go amiss. But when we're tracking a Meta Human and what looks like a terrorist attack just happened? Well. I'd say we haven't got time for pleasantries." Though internally he chided himself. He'd be working with this... man after all. "Though, formally, my name is Phillip Edwards. You can call me Detective Edwards. Or, for brevity's sake, "Mr. E". Though I usually save that for the spookier crowd."

He pulled a manila envelope from one of his duster's pocket and handed it over his shoulder to The Womb, who he assumed was walking along with him. "Sarah Milosi. A spiritualist of no small talent. Keep your... Eyes, open. Her photo is in there, if you see her give her a shout. She might be more receptive to you than to me." Why hadn't the Agency briefed The Womb on himself or Sarah? Had Sarah been told there were other Agents in the field?

Somewhere up the chain of command something went to shit. Unless they decided to delegate these tasks to Mr. E himself, and just forgot to tell him. Well. Isn't that just like Bureaucrats?

A devastated power plant and people in distress about the situation could not distract Sarah from this strange feeling she was having. It led her somewhere, but she knew not why and what could be there. Was it leading her towards those responsible for what had happened at the power plant? She could find this very likely to be the case as she already suspected this agency was involved with the incident at the power plant.

Sarah walked through the streets as the feeling inside her mind grew stronger. Her headache felt more like a migraine as she drew ever closer to what she was being led to. Then in almost an instant, it went away. Her headache gone as if it had never been present to begin with. That was a relief, but she did not dwell on being rid of that pain for she could barely see something nearby. Sarah walked towards it to get a better look. What she saw were traces of something left behind. Something had happened here, and she felt it had happened recently. Rapidly vanishing remnants of some kind of energy lay on the ground before her. Somebody had done something here not too long ago. If she could find them then, well that remained a mystery for she couldn't figure out what could happen next. Finding this wasn't proving to be helpful as of now. Not at all.

Sarah decided to walk away from this spot feeling as if wasn't the best place for her to just linger around. You never know whom might be watching. Around the time she reached the other side of the street from where she had been she overheard something of interest to her. Somebody said something about a strange man and a skeleton. That made her stop to here more. A young man and woman, most likely a couple were talking about two individuals that had been here recently. One was a man in a large coat, and the other was apparently a living skeleton. Sarah decided to peruse this conversation to get some information.

"A walking skeleton? Really?" she asked both of them

"Uh yeah. What, do you not believe us? It's not like there aren't a bunch of weird things in this world already for a skeleton to be strange." the man responded sarcastically

"Yeah, and why you interrupting our conversation?" the woman asked looking at her with an indignant expression on her face.

Sarah was a bit taken aback at first, but recovered and proceeded on with trying to find out whatever she could from these two. "Okay so. What were the skeleton and his friend doing?" she asked as politely as she could.

"They were just standing over there." she said as she pointed across the street. Sarah looked where she was pointing and saw it was exactly where she had just been. Right where that energy was. It must have been those two, but what had they been doing?

"And then they walked away." the woman concluded.

Sarah now had an idea whom she was looking for, as well as whom she had to watch out for. "Which way did they go?" she asked wanting to knew where she should go next.

"They went that way." the man said and Sarah followed where he was pointing to know exactly what direction she would be heading.

"Thanks, and sorry for interrupting." Sarah said before walking away. She blended in with the crowd as she went off in pursuit.

The Womb was astonished to see the bullet suddenly move, as though it were the point of a compass. It pointed in the direction The Womb had mentioned previously. The Womb was happy they had made a connection to the strange emission of energy coming from the city and the person they were looking for. If they were indeed coming from the same source, The Womb felt sure they would be traced easily enough.

Mr.E got to his feet and as he did so broke the line of the chalk circle with his thumb causing a chain reaction that erased the circle completely. The Womb was yet again silently astonished at what he had seen and looked on in awe as Mr.E casually got to his feet and began to walk towards their target. Mr.E went on to explain his hastiness and The Womb could not help but to agree with his logic but could not help but to disagree with his sentiments. Oh Mr. Edwards, there is always time. There almost seems to be nothing else.. The Womb thought wistfully.

The Womb hastily followed the detective, keeping up with the the human easily. Mr.E handed him an envelope which contained a brief and photo of the third member of the team. Womb found it strange that he had not been informed of her, perhaps she had been a last minuet addition to the team. He noted the girls facial features and made sure to keep his wits about him in case they came across her.

"I shall do as you ask Mr. Edwards. Or do you prefer detective? Having such a plethora of names and titles must make things a tad difficult eh?" The Womb quipped. As he did so he noticed the sounds of approaching footsteps, someone had followed them. The Womb turned about quickly facing their assailant. However, although The Womb was ready to fight, he subdued himself suddenly realizing that the woman he had turned to confront happened to be the third member of their party. "Oh, it's you, excuse me."

"How ever you want to refer to me is fine. And it's fine, I've got a lot more than that. One day I might even tell you my real name." He said with a smile. It was a joke. His name was Phillip Edwards. Not his full name mind. Things on the other other side of things could do some bad stuff to you if they had your real name.

At the Womb's reaction Mr. E turned as well. "Sarah Milosi, I've heard about you. Friend to the spooky side of things eh?" He reached a hand out to her. "My name is Phillip Edwards, my... companion. Is The Womb. The Agency sent us. The three of us are to work in tandem to investigate these goings on around town. Can The Womb and I count on your co-operation?"

There were just so many people outside because of what happened at the power plant that you could barely take a step without taking the risk of bumping into somebody. The bustling city of Chicago had been kicked into overdrive. It was very unfortunate for anyone trying to get somewhere, and in Sarah's case, even worse when she wasn't entirely sure where she was going. She was kind of shocked that people weren't attempting to get as far away from the power plant as possible out of fear for their lives. The lack of alarms was making people curious rather than terrified. As a result the area was crowded and this made it difficult for Sarah to see exactly where she was going, and as a result of that, she would up running right into the two people she had been trying to find. Of course she would. Her luck was amazing sometimes. Simply amazing.

Yep, she ran right into the strange man and the skeleton. Well, good as time as any to find out who these two were and what they were doing here. Sarah accepted the handshake that the man offered as he introduced both himself and his companion. Fortunately or unfortunately she didn't have to introduce herself. They were apparently already aware of her thanks to the agency. So she rolled with it. "Why yes, of course you.... I guess I'll call you gentlemen. You can count on me." she said in a somewhat friendly, somewhat business like manner. "Speaking of things that are going on around here, perhaps we should start with what happened at the power plant." she suggested and waiting for a response.

The Womb responded abruptly, anxious to get the mission afoot once more, "It seems there has been a terrorist attack on the power plant facility north of here. Judging from the direction you came from I assume you saw the wreckage. Our only lead is a man named 'Masquerade' little to nothing is known of this meta. I can only assume that we have been tasked with finding answers," The Womb, though slightly hesitant about admitting it also added, "there is something else. I am unsure if any of you can feel it, but I feel a sensation. It feels like the heat of a dying flame, yet as we make our way further into the city it grows stronger. Like a beacon of some kind. I have a feeling the two may be linked in some way, Mr. Edwards magic suggested my suspicions to be correct, though it is still to be seen," The Womb suddenly became slightly antsy.

"I feel as though we should keep moving where possible. If we do not make haste we may lose our target."