The Rise of a Legend: Delta Squad (Illya Vanko, Sim, John Capore, Grayson Cole)

Grey storm clouds hung over the skies of Chicago that day. It was the day that the recruits were supposed to arrive through various means. Some received phone calls from GHOST, others got messages at places they frequented. They had all been watched for a while in advance, to see if they would be good recruits for Young GUN. Each had demonstrated a quality that proved that they were indeed worthy. The one exception to this rule was Illya Vanko, who Scar had recommended to them and apparently told Illya that she should join. So, for her, she didn’t get the pleasure of getting spied on. They all lived in many parts of the world, well, America anyway. Most from New York or Chicago, though. Those were the two cities they paid the most attention to due to the high superhuman activity in the two cities. GHOST had tagged them, allowing Gracie and Andree to see where the potential recruits were. They’d deactivate that feature if they turned them down, maybe.

The waters that surrounded the base, hidden in the Cliffside, were wild today. The weather was not going their way, hopefully the recruits, on the other hand, would. As storm clouds continued to brew overhead, recruits began to arrive at the coordinates that GHOST had given them via phone call or another method of communication. If they hadn’t gotten the exact location, it was unlikely they would have found it. It wasn’t like people went searching for bases hidden in the sides of cliffs.

As soon as a recruit arrived, they were greeted by GHOST with a very simple message that followed the cookie cutter style that spam messages did. He greeted them with a simple hello, said their name and then told them to proceed down the hall and wait for the rest of the group to arrive. At the end of the hall was a basket where they picked up their *communicators so they could maintain contact with GHOST and each other. Once everyone had arrived, they were led down a hallway.

That’s when everything began to go wrong.

Red emergency lights began to pop up and flash while a siren could be heard coming from the speakers. “Please remain calm and proceed to the rooms ahead. Alpha Squad, consisting of Mr. Collin, Mr. DiMartino, Mr. Rayman, Mr. Maroon and Miss Penn, will proceed to the first room on the left. Delta Squad, consisting of Mr. Capore, Miss Sim, Miss Vanko and Mr. Cole, shall proceed to the second room on the left. Inside each room is a transporter, I have already set it to the location where the emergency is occurring. From reports, we gather that it is a terrorist attack on a small town, which has already been abandoned out of fear. They seem to have a school full of children as hostages. Delta Squad’s goal is to hold back the snipers to allow Alpha Squad to save the children. Good luck.” Came GHOST’s voice over the intercom. Once the groups proceeded through the transporter, they arrived in the abandoned town.

The place was bleak, the sky covered in storm clouds that seemed to intensify with every second. Rain might be coming soon, possibly lightning from the looks of them. The town itself was still in okay shape, certainly not as good as before though. Homes and stores were ransacked and robbed. Some fires were started on rooftops, in buildings, on the streets. But, if one was to look past that, it would seem that the town was fine. Though, this was obviously only the beginning of the horrors that the terrorists had in store for the town once they had a bit more time. For now, they had the captured school children, their only defense that held out the National Guard. But, that didn’t stop the two teams of supers now making their way towards the school and the snipers.


(OOC:
*For info on the communicators, see group item application)

The people you have been teleported with are now yours to protect. The other group have been teleported to the flat complex in which the civilians are being kept hostage but when their presence is known the terrorists will be calling for back up. Around the town are several trained snipers and foot soldiers. If they get to that flat complex the other half of your team are as good as dead. You need stealth to be on your side as you hunt and take down these snipers. DO NOT LEAVE A TEAM MATE BEHIND! The team comes first. The people you see around you are going to be watching your back and you’re going to be watching theirs. These snipers are not dumbasses off the street, their trained and they don’t care if you look like a kid. They’ll shoot. Despite their low standards however, you are not to kill these men unless you are in a situation where it is life and death. By knocking them out we allow the authorities to deal with them how they want and get the information they hold out of them ie if there are going to be any other attacks. In basics here is your task.
- Take out the snipers at the four main compass points of the town; The church, the park, the school itself and a museum.
Stats for snipers:
INT: 3
SPD: 3
STR: 3
DUR: 3
EP: 0
FS: 6

It may look easy but we promise you there will be more things to come. Be on your toes, heroes and protect your fellows. The others are depending on you just as much as you’re depending on them.

We will be keeping an eye on your process and keeping the thread moving quickly. One you are finished speak into your communicator you were issued with at the beginning and you will be brought back. Enjoy your posting and good luck heroes.

It had been a long trip across America to get to Chicago. On the bright side, Sim had the chance to see many new places. Of course, she stood out more in most cities than she had in San Francisco. She didn't have the chance to do much exploring though, as she caught a series of buses that eventually lead her to the coordinates she'd received.

Not much with Electronics, since computer technology hadn't existed on Sim's world, she had a bit of trouble finding the place. She eventually found her way into the out of the way base though, and entered through the front door wet from the rain. It slid down her sleek purple coat and leggings, dripped down her odd blue hair, and dotted the sunglasses she wore despite the weather. Despite her difficulties finding the place, she seemed to be the first to arrive. She was eager to get there, she supposed. She was greeted by an odd being, and after others arrived, led down a hallway. Before even reaching the end of it though, an obnoxious electronic alarm rang through the building, and the strange being's voice boomed from every direction, informing them of a dire emergency.

With no time to lose, Sim raced down the hallway and retrieved the waiting communicator. She was directed to a room where she and others went through some sort of magical portal, and arrived in a small town. The weather was still less than clear, and rain drizzled from dark clouds. She actually wasn't terribly far from where she had just been, though Sim had no way of knowing that. Aside from the weather, it was completely different. Gone were the oppressive skyscrapers of the city, replaced by more moderated structures. Somewhere in this town was a group of children being held hostage. Sim was momentarily reminded of her own entrance to this world, kidnapped and mutilated by evil men. A moment of anger flushed within Sim at the terrorists they were about to face. She would have to make sure to maintain enough control not to cave in their skulls to much.

She turned and looked at her quickly assembled team. It was an odd assortment, but Sim probably wasn't one to talk. She hadn't even been given the chance to meet her teammates before being thrown into this situation, so naturally there was no kind of structure yet. Being an immigrant to this world, Sim was hesitant to take charge of the situation. On the other hand, having lived at least five times longer than the rest of her group, she was probably the most disciplined and capable of it. In this case, it seemed, she may have a responsibility to take charge, they didn't really have time to discuss it.

They were here to be stealthy, so she needed to ditch her shiny clothes. Without speaking, she removed her jacket, unbuckled her belt and took off her leggings. She left her glasses on, her luminescent eyes could be a huge liability. So she stood in the rain, wearing dark sunglasses and a black turtleneck body suit and gloves over her hands. Blue hair fell down past her back, the only part of her besides her face that wasn't currently covered. She turned to her squad members and spoke, lest they think she'd gone crazy. "My name is Sim, and I am ally to each of you in this crisis. We've been given the most important task, protecting our team mates. This is a heavy responsibility, we can not afford to mess around at all. I am not stripping for any one's entertainment, stealth is our primary goal here. Do anything you can to make yourself less visible. This will be difficult, since we don't know each other or their abilities yet. I have every confidence that you would not be here if you didn't have it in you to do what must be done however." She glanced around at her squad members again behind her dark glasses, wondering what surprises they had in store for her. She continued to speak, quietly but loud enough that everyone close to her could hear her. "I don't have any ranged options that won't attract attention, so I'll be restricted to silent takedowns at close range. Before we move out, everyone quickly inform us of any relevant abilities. Particularly anything that can quietly subdue a sniper from long range or quickly and quietly move the team to an advantage. No running off on your own, we stick together. A lot of lives are at risk, not to mention our own."

Grayson slowly began waking up from his sleep in the bus. He looked out of the window to see rain pouring down onto the earth and began remembering the last moment with his family. Two days ago, Grayson accidentally left his phone in his bedroom when the message came when he went to school. That day was also the same day when his step-mom began cleaning the house and notice a piece of his costume sticking out of the air vent that he usually hid it in. She became suspicious and decided as a mother to check through his messages on his phone and found the one where it said to go to Chicago. When Grayson finally came home, his parents confronted him about his superhero life. They demanded that he stopped doing these things, but this led to an argument when Grayson said that he need to do this and his parents learn that their daughters knew about Grayson superhero life. The argument ended with Grayson justifying his reasons with the car accident his mom and dad were in and later told them that he's moving out. He went to his room to pack his belongings and left his family. Grayson began going through his messages and found the one that told him to go to Chicago. He think for a moment and look back at his house one last time and decided that it's for him to go to Chicago.

Grayson shaked his head to get rid of that memory from his mind and went to the address that came with the message. After some time have passed, Grayson finally found the base and went through the front door. He was greeted by GHOST and was told to go down the hallway to retrieve his communicator. After that he waited for the rest of the superheroes to show up. When they all finally came, the were led through a hallway until an alarm went off with the voice of GHOST giving them instructions and telling them what is happening. Grayson followed the others to the left room and went through the transporter to begin their mission.

After he was teleported to the location, Grayson looked around his surroundings and no longer saw the city but a town. As he was still stunned about the new scenery until he noticed a girl that looked like she was close to his age began taking off her some of her cloths and began speaking. He listened to Sim and took her advice and put on his costume. "Uh, I can grow up to 120 feet tall and can shrink to a size smaller than a penny and sneak up on the snipers, but I don't find anything helpful since it only works on me.", Grayson said to Sim when she ask for some of their powers.

It was in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois that John currently took residence in.A metropolis of about 3 million people that he arrived at only a couple days before.Even though he had been here before this place felt like a strange new land to him.He had various reasons for being in this city.Recently another one had presented itself.He had been recruited into an organization for superheroes.An organization he had agreed to join.Recent events had given onto him a strong desire to actually become one and this seemed like the best oppurtunity to achieve this.

So he travelled through the city searching for this place.Thanks to the directions to the base provided in the recruitment message he was able to find this place with relative ease even despite his lack of knowledge of the area making it somewhat difficult to properly navigate.When he found it he took a moment to simply gaze upon it with some awe.This place was quite the impressive sight to behold.He then walked forward and entered the building.

Upon entering he could see others gathered there too.A voice of the intercom system spoke to them, informing them of the communicators that awaited them at the end of the hallway.Before John could do anything though an alarm sounded.Once again the communication system spoke.It informed them of the situation that was occuring and gave them instructions on what to do next.John immediately hurried down the hallway and grabbed the communicator that awaited him before entering the assigned room.

In that room they were all teleported to the location of the emergency.It was here that a group of armed assailants held a school hostage.It was their job to deal with these people.He got his costume out and put it on while another of the group spoke.When she asked about what their individual abilities were John replied"Mine is an energy power so I suppose I'll be the one providing the ranged attacks if need be."

Illya sat down in on a small staircase near the area as she waited for the rest of the team to arrive, nervousness evident as she continued to shuffle around to the cold on her rump. Illya was already in the base when she was called to show up for a mission, and so she took one of the quick routes and arrived before the rest of the team. As she sat there, Illya thought back to how she actually got into this situation, and why she was working with these other superhumans in a team. If it wasn't for Scarletta asking Illya to take part in this organization, Illya would have never joined, but despite that, she couldn't help but feel anxious. What if she messed up the mission? What if someone else was hurt because of her? What if they find out who she really is? Scarletta assured her that it wouldn't happen, but even with that, Illya couldn't help but feel nervous. As the portals began to open, Illya took a deep breath and braced herself. Now wasn't the time to worry about that, people needed her help.

As the team assembled, Illya studied each of her fellow teammates individually, each of them was a child, but so was Illya. It was time for them to prove that even the young and naive could be heroes. Each of these members were hopeful to being recognized as the world's heroes, as far as she knew. Illya had no such aspirations, but she wanted to help others, and this seemed to be the best way how. Young GUN had everything they needed in order to be trained in becoming actual heroes: Young and ambitious youths, a lot of funding from different sources, and an incredible facility that had everything anyone could have asked for. Though she only managed to get a small tour of it before she had to leave, but from what she could tell, it made five star hotels look like Gyspy carts.

As Illya listened to the rest of the team give their self assessments, Illya thought out how much of help she would be when the time called for it. It was obvious that she was unsuited for the Alpha team's part in the mission, her Aether would kill regular humans if they were exposed to it. In fact, Illya couldn't see how much help she would be in either mission. Right now, she was to take out all of the snipers, but the fact was that stealth was the key. Illya's powers were as far from the concept of health as a steak buffet was from being vegetarian. When using her powers, Illya would light up like a Christmas tree, and if she didn't hold back, she'd be able to take them all out alone, but she'd kill them all in the process. Sighing to herself, Illya decided that those where bridges she'd have to cross when she met them.

"I'm Illya... I can fight and stuff, but my powers aren't really... suited for this kind of work. My powers would attract too much attention, and it might... kill you if you are too close to me. If you want I can sit around in the back while you guys work, in case you need anything more powerful. But if... I don't know your name. If you can shrink and then grow when near them, we can take them by surprise" Illya said enthusiastically, figuring if she couldn't contribute in the physical sense, she could at least suggest something that would help with the plan. Illya wasn't much in academics, but in practical thinking, living on the streets gave her a bit of perspective.

Sim received a a tiny bit of info on her teammates, not much to work with but they needed to work quickly. She closed her eyes while she thought a moment, then open them and spoke. "All right. We have the advantage here, because that magical portal teleported us in to the middle of town. The snipers have all the entrances guarded, but none are watching this spot in the middle. First, we're going to take out the closest target." She said, pointing to a nearby three-story bank building that had three snipers facing different directions. "The key thing here is we have to take out all targets at once. All it takes is one sniper to set off the alarm for our plan to fail. Penny you're with me." She said pointing to Grayson. She didn't have a name, and didn't really have time for introductions so she picked something to call him. "You're going to shrink down small enough to be carried, and we will go around and scale the wall." She looked to the remaining two.She wasn't sure what to make of Illya. Her magical nature was impossible to ignore for Sim but...it wasn't a kind of magic she was familiar with. She had mentioned using her abilities might kill both friend and foe. "Illya we don't want any killing, so if your power risks that we can't use it. I'm giving you the most important task, you'll be our rearguard. Watch our backs, make sure nothing unexpected gets us by surprise. We'll all be depending on you." She looked to the other young man who she didn't have a name for and gave him a name much the same way as "Penny." "Energy, you take Illya and move up the fire escape on the South side of the building. Once you get up there you'll take out the sniper directly to your right on the East side of the building. I will take out the sniper to the west, and Penny will unshrink and take out the Northern sniper. It is vital that this all happens simultaneously, so no one has a chance to be alerted. If you all understand your tasks, then let us move."

Sim let the shrunken Grayson ride on her shoulder as she quickly and quietly moved to the Western face of the building. "Time to start climbing" She said as she removed her gloves revealing small hands that ended in claws. "Hold on" she muttered to Grayson as she began climbing the face of the building, using her claws to gain hold where she couldn't otherwise. She made her way up the building, trying not to be nervous. If this didn't work, it would be Sim's fault. By taking charge she had made herself responsible for anything that happened to these people. She hoped she was up to the task. As she reached the the top she waited out of site a moment to make sure her comrades had enough time to make it up the fire escape, and the pulled herself up and over in one swift motion. She came up right beside the Western sniper, quickly covering his mouth and applying pressure to nerves that made him quickly and quietly go unconscious. She hoped Grayson and John were taking out their targets as well.

EndZoner was a little surprise with Sim's nickname for him at the moment, 'Damn, I should've introduce myself when I had the chance like Illya.', he thoughted to himself as he went back to listening to Sim's plan. "Got it.", Grayson said as he shrunk himself to doll-size which was about 6 inches high for him. He got on Sim's shoulder and hold on to her as she move quickly to the building. When they reached to the side of the building, "Don't have to tell me twice.", he replied to Sim when she told him to hang on.

When they reached to the top, Grayson got off of Sim's shoulder and began making his way to the north side of the building, "Good luck.", Grayson said to Sim before dissappearing from her sight. 'Alright, since I got in on the west side and I need to go to the north, so the sniper should be on my left.', Grayson thoughted to himself as he fully shrunk himself to make sure noone sees him. As he was about to turn around another corner, he heard the sound of someone sneezing around the corner. He peered into the hallway to see the sniper wiping his nose and return back to looking through his scope to scan for anyone near the entrance. With this, Grayson quietly and quickly ran toward the sniper while in his shrunken body. He positioned himself behind the sniper and quickly grow to the height over 7 feet tall. In this height, Grayson's physical power is at it's peak human level and grabbed the sniper from behind while covering his mouth. The sniper attempted to reach for a device in his pockets but Grayson quickly grabbed both of the snipers hands and turn face-to-face with the sniper and proceeded to headbutt hard in the face which rendered the sniper unconscious. The confrontation went without a hitched since the sniper didn't made a sound. Grayson proceeded to dragged the sniper into a closet and took away all of his equipment just incase the sniper might wake up. With the sniper out, Grayson waited for his communicator to recieve any other instruction from Sim.

A plan to deal with the assailants had been concocted it seems.Forcewave listened closely so as to make sure to get all the details and be able to carry it out without a hitch.He almost screwed up while trying to listen because of almost laughing upon hearing the nickname given unto him by Sim.Thank goodness he avoided that.They would start by taking out the snipers positioned in the nearby building and go from there.It was better than nothing really.At least there would be some coordination to their efforts in this mission.

He had been assigned to go with Illya who had pretty much declared that she wouldn't be of much use in this situation at all.For what she had described as the reason why was very understandable.After all someone whose power attracts attention would not be suitable for a stealth mission such as this.As Sim took the shrunken Grayson one way he went another along with her.Before heading up the fire escape he said to her."I'll go up and you stay here and provide cover.Oh and watch yourself too."Walking up the fire escape was easy.Doing so quietly was the tricky part.He needed to be very careful in how he moved up there so as not to make his presence known.

Finally after some stealthy maneuvering he made his way to the top of the building.It seems they had remained undetected the entire way through.No sgn of anything that would suggest the possibility of their cover having been blown at all.He quickly and quietly made his way over to the sniper located at the east side of the building.He peered through a doorway and could see the guy looking out the window, gun held ready to fire.Forcewave quietly snuck towards him and as he approached gathered energy in his hands before striking him once directly behind him to knock the sniper out and grabbing him as he fell so as to avoid any loud noise being made by him collapsing.

After having managed to knock the guard out he moved the guy out of sight of the doorway and took his weapons away from him.He himself then hid from sight while awaiting further information on how things went with the others.If such information were to take too long to arrive he was planning on attempting to take out the other snipers too if need be.Hopefully they had not failed since that would most likely compromise their mission.

A small breeze nipped at the sniper's neck and face, which was exposed in his uniform. The black armour, similar to what SWAT teams wore, covered his body and then the helmet protected his head. But his helmet now rested on the ledge of the building, alongside the tripod for his rifle. Behind him, lying on the rooftop, was a small baby, not even six months old. The damn thing had been crying and screaming earlier but now it was nice and quiet, hands wrapped around a bottle in it's mouth. The sniper needed the baby, he couldn't let his comrades inside have all the leverage. What if people came after him? He needed a back up plan in case he didn't get the chance to take them out from afar. No, this man was smart, he wasn't going to be left without a back up plan.

He had not spotted the children just yet, not focused on their location and assuming the rest of the snipers positioned on the rooftops would watch that area. Though smart, he was a tad rash and wanted some action. Especially if anyone was coming to save the kids. He left his gun unattended on the rooftop, he had a pistol in his belt and the rifle would be useless up close, as he went down the fire escape with the baby in his hand. The young child would be the perfect bait if anyone was to come near. Once on ground level, he sneaked over to the middle of the street and lay the baby down, taking the bottle from it to ensure that it would cry and scream loudly to attract attention. With the trap now in place, the sniper returned to his position hidden on the rooftop, the scope of his rifle was aimed at the area around the baby, zoomed out to allow him to see more of the area surrounding the child.

Illya nodded silently as she received her instructions, gripping her own hand with uncertainty of the whole situation, she couldn't help but feel that something was going to go wrong with their entire mission. The rest of the team believed that Illya's powers were flashy and harmful to those used upon, but the case was, that if they were to be near her when she used them, Illya didn't have confidence that any of them would survive. Even Illya herself didn't understand the nature of her powers, and why they acted the way they did. Normally, she could keep them under control, but in times of danger, Illya's powers seemed to act on their own. There weren't many people in the world that could explain Illya's abilities, the only ones she knew were dead, specifically John and his mysterious "Master". As she watched the rest of her teammates move forward, Illya knew that she needed to learn how to control her powers, or she could potentially harm those she now called her partners.

In the middle of her thoughts, Illya was brought back to reality by the sound of a crying baby. The sound was unnatural to hear in this sort of setting, and it was obvious that something was amiss. Without hesitation, Illya moved towards the sound, trying to find its origin before anything bad were to happen. For if something happened, not only would Illya be in danger, but so would everyone around her. As she searched through the darkness, Illya found a small child in a small bundle in the middle of the street and instantly rushed to it. Opening up the bundle, Illya soothed the baby in order to calm its crying, not knowing that someone was planning to use it as bait. Once the sniper heard no more crying, he instantly spotted Illya, and pulled the trigger.

"Shh... There there its okay, I'm here t-" Illya said assuring the baby, but as she reached for the baby, a small sound whizzed through the air, and Illya was knocked over onto her hands and knees. Not knowing why she suddenly collapse, Illya tried to assess the situation and realized that she was bleeding, the warm crimson liquid beginning to run down her sleeve, originating from her shoulder. The shock of the situation and her adrenaline left Illya numb to the pain, but the wound was only a graze, but that which protects her didn't know that. "Oh no..."

Illya knew what was coming, and instantly ran away from the baby, leaving it behind may have been dangerous, but her being around it would have proven to be fatal. As she continued to run, Illya ducked bullets and attempted to find cover, avoiding close calls as the sniper had to reload after each shot. Illya could feel herself beginning to glow, and despite her efforts, she couldn't hold it back. Clinging her hands to her elbows, Illya attempted to contain the light that was beginning to pour out of her, soon she would be able to illuminate the night entirely.

"Help!! There's a baby down here!!!" Illya called out at the top of the buildings. Hopefully the others would hear her, it may have jeopardized the mission, but their safety took precedence over the mission, and if they were near, Illya would kill them. In her orb of Aether, melting bullets that came her way, Illya screamed as her wound started to hurt from the strain of her containment. "GUYS!! HELP!! YOU HAVE TO GET THE BABY OUT OF HERE!!!"

Sim was beginning to feel some confidence. Her impromptu team had handled the first hurdle admirably, taking out the three targets before they could make a sound. As they said back home though, the universe's ears heard "plan" and "joke" as the same word.

Before they could celebrate their minor success, the sound of a baby's cry pierced the damp stillness of the night. Sim raised her glasses for a bit so her reflective eyes could see the source of the noise. A small baby by itself in the middle of the street. Obviously a trap, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Sim had to help that baby. Before she could act or even say anything to her teammates Illya rushed out without a word to the baby. Sim couldn't really fault her though, since she was about to do the same thing. Sim felt more confident putting her body in the line of fire than a human's though. She spoke in a quiet yell through the communicator. "Illya! Watch out, it's a trap!"

Unfortunately Sim had to watch as Illya fell down to the sound of a gunshot. As far up as she was, Sim had no way of knowing how bad she'd been hit. She had no time to waste. "Situation has changed." She said through her communicator to her teammates. "Cover me, there's a sniper somewhere watching this street." She simply jumped over the side of the building, bracing her feet against the side and using her claws to slow down her descent. She landed on the street with a thud, and instantly took a running pace towards the baby. As she scooped the baby up she felt a sharp pain in her back as another gunshot fired off. It went easily through her bodysuit, piercing her skin until it hit her dense bone. Sim gritted her teeth and kept running towards a bright light, her teammate Illya. When she got there she found Illya bent over, projecting an aura of magic so strong it was visible. It wasn't familiar to Sim, it was much different than her own powers. It seemed crude, seperate from Illya entirely. Yet it was also pure, in terms of raw magical energy it was staggering. Illya yelled at Sim to run, and she understood. The life of the baby was most important right now, putting it in danger for Illya's sake would only shame them both. Sim nodded dutifully, still not sure how bad Illya's injury was. "Don't worry, I'll come back for you."

Sim wasn't able to freeclimb with the baby in one hand, so she was forced to make her way back up the fire escape. She was a sitting duck, so she had to hope her allies had her back. She held the baby between herself and the building just in case. Even if it killed Sim, her dense bones and thick skin should protect the child. "Stealth has been somewhat compromised." She said through the communicator. "Speed has now become our most important factor. Take out every sniper as quickly as you can. Still, don't try to draw too much attention to yourselves. Only two of use have actually been seen."

Grayson was still waiting for his next instructions when Illya and Sim heard the sound of a crying baby. He was on the North side of the building and could not hear the baby and continue to wait for his next order when he heard a few faint sounds coming from the other side of the window, but decidd to ignore it and went back to wait for his instructions. "Situation has changed.", the voice of Sim came from the communicator, "Cover me, there's a sniper somewhere watching this street.", Sim finished. Grayson pondered for a moment, 'Could it be?', Grayson thoughted to himself as he thinks about the sound he heard earlier and presence of another sniper. After a few moment of think, the voice of Sim came again on the communicator, "Stealth has been somewhat compromised.", She said, "Speed has now become our most important factor. Take out every sniper as quickly as you can. Still, don't try to draw too much attention to yourselves. Only two of us have actually been see.", Sim finished. 'The sniper must have a good viewpoint of where he was aiming.', Grayson thoughted, 'Than that means the sniper must be on higher ground.', Grayson concluded as he activated his communicator, "Guys, I think I know where the sniper is.", Grayson began speaking, "The sniper may be on the roof of the building we're in.", Grayson said through his communicator as he began looking for the stairs that is link to the roof, 'Now where the Hell are the stairs?', Grayson thoughted to himself.

After having tooken out the sniper that he had been assigned to Forcewave was waiting for further word on what to do next.He wouldn't be waiting very long since he heard something distressing in the distance.The bloodcurdling cries of a baby suddenly rang out against the sky.He ran back to the window and looked around for the source of it."Where's it coming from?"He thought over and over again as he looked around the area to see if there was really a baby somewhere around crying out.He then heard a gunshot and a scream of pain nearby.Craning his neck he looked around and saw Illya laying on the ground wounded with a baby nearby.She had definitely been shot by whomever fired that gun off.

John was climbing out the window and getting ready to jump down the building to go and help them when a message came in from Sim informing them of what she was about to do.He then saw her running towards Illya and the baby to go and help out.Even though she had asked for cover he had no idea of how to provide it from his current location.He could barely even see them from where he was.It was at that moment that another gunshot rang off.This time it hit Sim.Now two of them had been wounded after having only been at this for mere moments.Things were not looking that well.

It was clear that another sniper had done all that.Knowing how many there could possibly be he started looking around for any sign of any of them.He could see Sim coming up the fire escape with the baby in tow trying desperately to protect the poor little thing.Knowing how much of a target she was at the moment he sent forth some of his own power to from a barrier around them both while they made their way back up the building.As he did this another message came across the communicator.This time from the other guy who was presenting them all with a theory as to where the shots had come from.But that was only one.There were still more in all likelyhood.Again he looked to over where illya was and saw that she was radiating an immense light.She was about to do something.

Knowing the situation at hand it was difficult to decide exactly what was needed to be done first.Seeing that Sim was close to getting back inside he decided to try and search for more possible snipers in the area.Sending out another wave of energy he had it fly around hoping to find something through it.Hopefully it would be to some avail.They needed to make some more progress quickly.While doing this he continued to look at all the buildings in the area.Off in the distance he thought he saw movement atop one of them.Could that have been another one he thought.

Illya sat in huddled in her cover, attempting to contain that power that was clawing its way through her mental barriers, screaming for Illya to let them out to further protect her from any potential harm. Necrodium's Blessing, as what Illya called her powers, was for some reason hellbent on protecting Illya from any kind of harm, without any regard for humans who would die in its presence. But despite how much she didn't want it to, Illya's powers began to leak more and more, eventually coming to the point that it brightened up the entire street in a blue light. Without volition, Illya's stood up and faced her attacker, her powers taking over as they desired to defend her from everything that could potentially give her harm, and this threat was an immediate one. With her powers now in control, Illya was now the one banging on the borders of her mind, trying to stop herself before she killed someone. However, Illya's feeble attempts were in vain, her arms beginning to move of their own accord, pointing towards the sniper as a torrent of Aether began to form a tornado of light around her. Defeated by her own weakness, Illya mentally fell to her knees and could only watch in dismay as she continued to beg to herself.

Please don't do this, you will destroy everything! Please stop! Please! Illya begged, trying to appeal to the sympathy of her son's final gift and curse. However, her powers weren't compassionate, they didn't care whether or not what they did was wrong. They didn't care if they destroyed lives and tortured the unworthy with its divine presence. All it cared about was its duty, it was the will of the world, and its duty was to protect the Ley Line that it was stationed to guard. At the moment, the sniper was attempted to puncture Illya's barrier, but to no avail, as the bullets merely melted before meeting her. However, the threat was still there, and despite no more harm possible, her powers could not let it go. So without even a moments hesitation, the Aether erupted into a massive flash, and only destruction came as a result. NO!

On top of his perch, the sniper couldn't determine whether or not his attacks were even working. He knew that his initial ambush had worked, but it seemed like the girl that he was firing at was somehow defending herself from the attacks that she was receiving, her body covered in some sort of pale blue light. As his shots continued, he decided that he should attempt only a few more shots before changing his position, otherwise he would be attacked by the rest of the girl's team. But as his prepared his next shot, a feeling of heat and lack of air hit him, it was as if the air had suddenly become thinner. To his surprise, through his scope the girl had suddenly stood up and actually pointed at him. Seeing this as an opportunity to take his final shot, the sniper took aim. The next instant, his eyes were repelled by a blinding light, and next he couldn't help but feel cold. The intense heat of Illya's Aether was hot enough to eat away the man's nerves before he could even begin feeling it. After the final third instant, not even over the course of a second, an explosion took the entire building, causing it to burst from Illya's combined might. As the building crumbled, any sort of debris that would have hit Illya merely melted as it approached her Aether barrier. Inside Illya knew that the man deserved his death, but it didn't stop her from feeling bad about it, and for all she knew, she could have attacked someone else. But in the lightest side, Illya could try and contain herself now that the danger had passed. But as she attempted to regain control, her powers held a firm grip, and to Illya's surprise, she began moving to another location.

No no no no no no no no!