The hospital's security system was surprisingly easy to hack into, and Justin watched in horrified fascination as over a dozen corpses forced their way out of the morgue, and headed into the hospital proper with more coordination than you'd expect from a zombie horde. They batted aside hospital security without breaking stride, ignoring their tazers and desperate baton swings. Someone must have called the guards off and started an evacuation because the corridors on the ground floor quickly cleared out.
Once no one was in obvious danger, there was a surreal humour to watching the recently dead navigate the labyrinthine world of a modern hospital. They paused together at intersections, consulting the overhead signs before choosing a direction, and eventually huddling in a quiet group as they reached a bank of elevators. One of their number bent over slightly, delicately jabbing at the call button over and over with a strange kind of seriousness. Once an elevator arrived, they all piled in, riding it up six floors in silence, like office drones on their way back to work.
On the sixth floor they ran into a little more trouble as powered enforcement officers met them in the hallway. Justin could see a robed officer in the back, desperately chanting over an observation room door, the golden runes of a seal turning black and crumbling from the glass. Inside Black Dragon was dressed in a hospital gown, still battered and bruised, and she looked pissed.
While her newly-risen horde distracted the armed officers, Black Dragon used her magic to quickly overpower the government mystic's wards, the man falling to the floor with blood running from his nose. Once outside the room, she paused to snap what looked like a piece of black chalk, the object turning into smoke and evaporating into the air. Then she waited, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.
Justin watched closely as the air behind her distorted and two men stepped out of a portal. Justin didn't recognise one of them, a young Asian man dressed in a fancy black suit and shades; but the other was Ku, who threw a quick grin at Black Dragon before running down the corridor to beat on the already beleaguered officers. A minute later, all three stepped back through the portal.
"ERA, can you identify the third party?" Justin asked, throwing a still image her way.
"I do not currently have the gentleman on file," she replied, sounding a little put out that her database had been found lacking. "I will expand my search to all available resources."
While she did that, Justin notified the rest of the Outsiders, letting them know that the Necromancer had escaped. Division suggested they all meet up at the Underground to discuss options, and the others agreed. Shade let them know he needed time to check stuff out, but would be there 'lo antes posible', whatever that meant, honestly Justin was having enough trouble figuring out English.
Having notified everyone with a com, Justin considered if there was any way to let North Wind know, hopefully without tipping her off to his knowledge of her identity. He knew she'd be working tonight, so he checked to make sure her chatty cousin Naomi was on shift with her. Justin briefly stopped to consider whether it was possible he'd delved a little too deep into his teammates lives, before mentally shrugging, and then texting Naomi a link to a news report on Dragon's escape, spoofing the number of a random acquaintance in her contact list. Hopefully Naomi would share the information with her cousin, and North Wind would turn up later.
Successful Skill Use +12 xp to Subterfuge - Beginner Level 3 [68%].
Justin was busy convincing himself that Kip's incredible memory was the primary factor in his detailed knowledge of his companion's lives, not in any way the extreme or excessive, and definitely not creepy snooping he'd subjected them to, when ERA mercifully interrupted him.
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"I have discovered the identity of the third party. He is a Japanese-American mercenary codenamed Flicker. His powers are known to allow for the creation of mid-range bi-directional portals. Full power-set unknown. Real identity unknown. Current employer unknown." ERA seemed a lot happier now, and gave a strangely upbeat recitation of everything they didn't know, Justin had to assume it was because Flicker had turned out to be a merc rather than a villain, thus vindicating the completeness of her database.
"Flicker has been observed operating in numerous cities across the United States," she continued, "and is a person of interest in over a dozen smuggling operations. His services as an independent contractor are known to be very expensive, and he has previously been scrupulous in maintaining at least the appearance of legality."
Justin seriously doubted Ku and Black Dragon had enough money between them to get a usually discreet merc to break out of his careful methodology. So either the guy had gotten bored and decided to go full villain, throwing in with two relative unknowns in scenic Detroit; or some unknown person was footing what was sure to be a ridiculously large bill. Justin considered some of his recent experiences, before deciding that something else very weird was likely going on.
With four Kip hours until the team meeting, he had ERA investigate possible hideouts for the two villains while he worked on a fake ID for her. It was too early in the evening to send out the battle drones, and the new Phantom was currently more theoretical than actual, so their information sources were limited to web chatter. But he did think to quickly set up a digital receiver for the police band, thinking that doing so earlier might have let him know Black Dragon was escaping before she actually managed it.
A couple of Kip hours later and Justin had enough of Vera Geist's identity prepared to forward the details to the team's business manager, but held off since it was already so late in the evening that nothing would be getting processed until tomorrow anyway.
With the last of his time before the meeting, he worked with IRA on setting up a couple of crystal growth chambers in the corner of the workshop. If his solar cell prototypes were successful, he'd need a lot more room than he could spare, which meant he probably needed to go looking for another new building, but should he look into a different city for his solar venture? Somewhere that got more sun would probably be a better fit.
He focused his attention on the Underground conference room as the team began to arrive.
"We need to be smart about this." Division was saying to Shift as they both came in and took their seats, throwing a nod at Justin's screen.
Shift frowned back, "I get that, but now we know she can put the wammy on Rev, we really need to make sure she's put in a very small box, far, far away."
"Not like that!" he added as Division raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Revenant ducked into the room, his tall frame struggling with a doorway made for mere humans. "Please do not act rashly on my account." He greeted them, before continuing. "But it behooves me to explain. I believe the rapid spread of her influence was only achievable thanks to a combination of surprise and close proximity. Now I am more prepared, it should be easier to resist her dominion, especially if I am able to maintain a satisfactory distance from her malignant tendrils."
Division nodded, in recognition of his arrival rather than agreement, "Except that while you're fighting her off you won't be able to focus elsewhere, which means we'll have Ku running unchecked, and I'm not sure any of us could stop her from strolling right up to you as she worked her tendrils deeper in, that shield of hers was incredibly powerful."
"Need to separate them." Justin added, and Division nodded in thought.
Shift broke out in a grin. "Hey man, that was actual English, I think you're getting better."
"Speak with others good." Justin replied happily, and Shift broke into an actual laugh.
Chuckling with Shift, Division shook his head in pity. "Maybe not," he said.
Justin had Kip pout a little on screen.