Scene #4549: CoH Issue #1: Spy Games Pt. 4 (Finale)

Owner	Pose
War Witch	Ainsley, X, Maya, and Horus are in an underground containment facility, with an FBSA (Federal Bureau of Superpowered Affairs) agent. They just got done questioning a villain named Mu'Orbiss, who has implicated some kind of shadowy organization in brainwashing him in order to use his own mystical abilities paired with their technology to control the minds of heroes. And then the lights in the underground facility go out, and the power shuts down, leaving the containment cells to lose their force fields and deny the heroes even that degree of illumination. Horus's hands light up with glowing green energy from his gauntlets, and Orbiss is crackling with red electricity as he levitates his way out of his cell and moves into the main hallway with the others. The sound of suppressed gunfire upstairs and of booted feet can be heard approaching the stair well leading down here. Ainsley closed the mental backdoor into Orbiss's head that these 'others' put there, thankfully. But as the sound of boots go quiet upstairs, and they're left in an underground facility, silent except for their own breathing, and the sizzle of magic lightning, the FBSA agent takes one hand off his drawn handgun and puts it to his ear piece, presumably getting some kind of update on the status of things from his allies. He listens intently, and then says quietly. "Confirmed. Over." Then he puts his handgun to the back of Ainsley's head, right at the base of the skull, and says, "Surrender. It'll be less painful." It seems X's theory about who was being controlled to sabotage the facility wasn't quite on the mark.
Ainsley	Ainsley had finished her spell and only needs so much concentration in order to keep it maintained. She stares forward when she feels the gun press to her head. She doesn't freak out or even tense up. In fact, the agent's behavior doesn't strike her as odd at all... Either he's got some other motivation, or he's one of the controlled ones. She frowns gently in disappointment that he would do that to her. She calmly lowers her hand to drop her book on the floor, then she grasps the clip in her longsword. Always the earnest creature nowadays, she knows there is only one acceptable outcome. As the belt drops from her waist, the pair of daggers hidden behind her back for just such emergencies graze her fingers and she plummets much faster than a normal person would do, twirls a dagger in one of her hands in a way that vastly dwarfs her ability to swing a sword, and then whirls about to slices at his arms with both. Her face has gone into neutral, wide-eyed adrenaline mode by this point because one botched movement could mean her death.
Maya	Maya looked up as things started to go gonzo for her and everyone else. Mu'Orbiss seemed to be giving them some information yet when the whole thing went down with the attackers. maya had other things to focus on thankfully Maya just narrows her eyes at the agent. "..." Then Ainsley acts before even Maya is able to. Maya then readies a spell attemping to cast a war on Ainsley.
X	Wait, what's the agent talking about?! "Don't tell me..." OUT COMES THE GUN! X clenches his teeth and a fist, but doesn't arm himself! Not with a gun held to Ainsley's head... He can see that pretty clearly in the darkness. "Don't you--" Oh. It looks like he doesn't have to worry TOO much, as Ainsley decides to take action herself. The INSTANT that her head's out of the line of fire X leans over and tries to GRAB the pistol and just CRUSH it with his full strength. That might injure a finger or something if the guy doesn't get his finger out of the trigger guard!
War Witch	Ainsley slashes the agent's arms, and the sunglasses-wearing man seems to barely register the pain even as he reels back from the injuries. X crushes his weapon, removing that from his arsenal. And then the government agent seems to be preparing to engage in martial arts even with lascerated arms. Thankfully, Mu'Orbiss takes this opportunity to electrocute the hell out of him with crimson magic lightning, sending the man into spasms that he continues to reflect no feeling of pain in response to in his facial expression. The man who owns this body isn't home right now. Horus looks to the fallen agent, hands still glowing green, and the emerald radiance clashing with the Mu mystic's red until the latter finishes knocking out the man on the floor. "Whoever contacted him over his radio probably used a code phrase to trigger some kind of mental programming," Horus hypothesizes. Then he turns suddenly at the high-pitched sound of something metal and hollow impacting the stairs. The sound repeats several times in quick succession, and is accompanied by hissing, as three or four cylinders of something like a cross between tear gas and smoke grenades go rolling across the floor, starting to fill the corridor. Horus coughs into one hand, already feeling the effects, and says, "There has to be another way out of here. At least for safety reasons, they wouldn't have an underground structure like this and not leave another exit incase of fire." He looks towards the far end of the hallway, opposite from where they emerged from. It seems to turn a corner. Maybe there's only more containment cells there. Or maybe there's something they can use. Horus doesn't like having to run twice from the same bunch of jerks, but fighting down here, right now, isn't the best thing he can do. "I'd just smash my way up through the ceiling, but there could be innocent people up there in the way. In the absence of other options, I--" coughcough. It's getting worse. His lungs and throat are already burning. "--I recommend we hackcough try the other way!"
Ainsley	Ainsley watches the agent go down in a heap thanks to the help of Mu'Orbiss as well as the others. She looks around at the others to make sure everyone is alright, her expression deathly serious. With the stakes this bad -- if they have already reached this stage in their brainwashing plans, these mysterious villains are clearly at a devastating advantage -- she hasn't much room to even think about how she feels here. Horus' suggestion gets her moving quickly to gather up her book while she coughs a couple times on reflex from the smoke filtering into the hall. Once she has gathered her equipment, she bolts down the way Horus indicated without a second thought. She spares a momentary glance, however, with her Sight to check Horus for similar signs of brainwashing. It seems her paranoia is already developing. If an agent in this world has already been compromised, why not Horus, or other heroes? Tension finally filters into her features... her snout wrinkles like she's about to snarl. She's frustrated... because someone is playing with the minds of others like pawns in a game, and she has already resolved herself to making the masterminds' lives as difficult as possible. If there was ever an expression of pure righteous fury, it would be that one.
X	And now the assault team's decided to hurl gas grenades into the chamber! X... is unaffected, for he doesn't breathe, though even his infrared vision mode's now facing a harder time to see... He immediately understands how severe the situation is though... wincing at both Horus' hacking and the man who's gone down, upon realizing... "Trigger... these people have some kind of hypnosis trick?!" This changes matters. Now he can't even be sure who might flip directions on him and become an enemy at any time. SO UNFAIR! X bends down, hoists the agent up... "Agreed! But be ready for anything. A group this prepared will have accounted for that!" It's time to haul butt! ... If he or Ainsley can figure out which way to go...
Maya	Maya takes a moment to focus on her magic as Ainsley has made a bit of a mess of the agent she has to wonder if he's been subverted somehow. If that's the case he's a victem. If not he's a scource of information and maya will start to work her healing magic to keep hi from beleeding out. Maya would also give the group hist incase a heakl as well before shifting to work on putting up more barriers. "Damn it so we have no idea whose been taken over do we?"
War Witch	X picks up the fallen agent as Maya heals him, Ainsley leads the way, and Horus brings up the rear. Not only can he fly, allowing him to catch up quickly if needed, but he's also capable of some pretty devastating ranged attacks. Infact, once the others are out into the next hallway, he unleashes a pair of big green energy blasts from his hands, destroying the stairs. If they want to come after them, they're going to have to jump. There is, as Horus suspected, another exit out of here. Though not stairs, so they can't be sure where it goes from here. All they can be sure of is that it's not full of tear gas. As far as Ainsley's scan of Horus goes... He is... Unusual to be certain. There's something off about him. Something War Witch felt as well. But it's hard to pin down. One thing it's NOT though, is anything even remotely close to the mind control on either Flower Knight or the brainwashing on Orbiss or the FBSA agent. So there's that at least. Mu'Orbiss floats along after everyone else, able to keep up readily with his magic. Rather than waiting to see if the door ahead is locked though, and rather than waiting to find out it's trapped, because X made a very salient point about them being prepared, he unleashes more of his red lightning on the door, blowing it inwards and sending it hurtling... Down. Down another set of stairs, leading even further underground. Trapping themselves further probably isn't the best thing to do here, but they have few options. The stairwell descends to a platform, with another set of stairs leading down to another landing, and from there to another, etc. It's very dark in there, as well, hiding what lies at the bottom. But a sign on the wall with a lightning bolt indicates there may be back-up power down here. Getting the lights and filtration system on could help in many ways, not the least of which is diminishing their chances of being ambushed, and sucking up all that tear gas.
Ainsley	Ainsley lets out a puff of a sigh from her nose once she confirms that Horus isn't one of the brainwashing victims that doubtlessly populate the organizations. "The good news," she tells them as they start heading downward, "They didn't get to Horus, or any of the rest of us. The bad news is that until I can conduct a wider sweep and teach the local mages how to scan for the brainwashing problem, we cannot trust a single person we run into." She sighs again to herself when she glances to the sign. She makes sure to step aside for those with lighting methods to lead the way to the power so they can make some progress. She doesn't have anything on her for a dark stairway right now. "I don't need to say this to you, of course," she mentions over at Mu'Orbiss, who seems to be more aware of the machinations than most. His self-interest is something reliable, natural, now that she knows he isn't about to allow himself to become a helpless tool. "How did it get this bad, this quickly...?" she wonders, trying to imagine what kind of resources are needed to conduct such a terrifying operation.
X	"It means that whoever started it already had friends in high places!" X deduces in a hurry, making his way quickly down the stairs and into the darker chambers. Not that dark bothers him so long as there's heat to navigate by... Down into the emergency chambers they go. X sets the unconscious agent against a wall and quickly gets hunting for the controls for power and ventilation down here... they need a plan. And an escape route.
Maya	Maya has no idea what's going on but she knows to be in a concerned move. She sees Mu'orbis is following along with them. She'll be being ready and she doesn't mind that he's blowing the doors if there were hostiles? They might expect them to open the doors not to blow them down. Lets be honest there are likely hostiles all over the place. She keeps moving and she takes a moment to think. "We need to get the power on line if we can and the Ventlation system." Maya will move to help X and she's thinking. "Someone's a rat likely bigger rats than those who normally sit in poltical power..."
War Witch	X would be able to find the generator in the dark fairly readily. It's just off the space at the bottom of the stairs, down a hallway, and in a locked room (because leaving a generator room unlocked is also unsafe). Thankfully he has robo strength and can probably just kick it down. Getting the power running again would be a simple matter. But shortly after entering the room and turning on the generator, there's a bit of a surprise when the lights come up. It seems the walls down here are carved from rock. Part of that huge network of tunnels and caverns that honeycomb the land beneath Paragon City, that so many villains like to make use of. Odd that an official government/law enforcement facility would have to make do with subterranean cave walls, but maybe it was cheaper. And it provides an opportunity. Because there's an emergency exit ladder set in the wall, which exits somewhere above ground. And this far removed from the actual facility itself, they might be able to slip away without being seen. Mu'Orbiss seems bothered by something as Horus joins everyone, looking this way and that. Horus ignores him for now, seeming surprised more so that Ainsley suspected him. "Huh? You thought I was with THEM?" Then he thinks about it and says, "Wow. I guess this is really a bad situation. Because I'm not even mad. It's actually plausible. ...Make sure to check everyone else too, please." Though who is going to check Ainsley? The fact that Ainsley broke two people out of the control of the enemy indicates she probably isn't on the bad guys' side, but... ...How do they know that she broke them out? What if they're just faking it? And the fact that Ainsley was selected to have a gun pointed at her so that she could prove she was on their side by taking down the assailant, who never actually attacked her... And then Mu'Orbiss took the agent down before he could do anything, relying on Maya to heal the FBSA guy up... Could it all be an elaborate ruse? ...Horus isn't liking this line of thought, or how paranoid this situation is making him and the others. They need to get out of here and resolve things when they're clear. The Union can scan for that kind of thing, right? They'll verify everyone. Though Horus feels... Reluctant to get into any more scanning nonsense. He's had enough of that in recovery after the Rikti. Mu'Orbiss suddenly hisses and starts floating down the stairs quickly. "We are not alone!" Then, just like that, automatic gun fire starts pouting out of the doorway at the top of the stairs, hitting Horus in the back and causing him to cry out in pain as he falls out of the air, the green glow on his hands vanishing. Thankfully, he's wearing a powered exoskeleton type thing with armor, but the armament used seems to be powerful enough to be a threat even to heroes, and he isn't getting back up very quickly after falling down the stairs to land in a heap at the feet of the unconscious agent. Thanks to the newly restored lighting, however, everyone gets a clear view as there is a flash of light, a warping of reality, and a figure that can best be summed up as 'a cowboy in tactical gear' appears out of nowhere. He points one of his handguns downwards and snarls, "No loose ends." Then he fires into the FBSA agent's head. The gun in his other hand is used to shoot a liquid nitrogen round at Maya, to try to take out their primary healer.
Ainsley	Ainsley can't possibly know what's going through Horus' head... actually, no, she does, though she couldn't know she was feeling the same way. Anyone in the group could be compromised and all she had to help them was a method that could not be easily verified on its own. It was quite a pickle to be in, if one were to be absolutely honest. She grimaced when Horus seemed surprised by her scan at first. But he did seem to understand why she did it. "I trust you. That is not in question. We cannot lose that right now. You are not 'with them,' any more than the agent--" The shout from Orbiss practically cuts her off. She is trying her best to try to get to cover, but she realizes the best way to keep this from getting worse is to fight back. She brings her book up and stares into the reflection for just a moment. The reflection in the book is not her own, but the distorted face of Urashima Taro. "PERSONA!" she shouts, and a figure that is much larger than the cramped stairwells manifests, pinned toward the ceiling to stay out of the way of Ainsley's allies. This strange elderly turtle man in modern fishing gear pulls his pipe from his mouth and opens his left eye, his consistent cordial smile fading to a neutral line as the bright yellow eye is revealed. Dark energy shimmers around the eye. "Dark Retrospect!" she barks out, and the eye flashes at the Gunslinger. A wave of Negativity tries to hamper the Gunslinger. The spell tries to latch onto anything he perceives as negative and use it as a weight to chain his movements, sap his strength or otherwise impede him and make it easier for her allies to fight him. A debuff spell, essentially, with an emotional fluff behind it.
X	After X finished turning on the lights and locating an escape route, he turns around to go tell the others and -- RATATATATAT! ... "Oh no...!" Well that gets him dashing back into the cavern fast, fury and worry mixing weirdly on his face. He bursts in and goes skidding across the ground, shielding his face with his arms... but lowering just in time to see... a teleport?! And an assassination... X scowls. "You cold-blooded MONSTER!!" JUSTICE WILL NOT PERMIT THIS ACT! And he's pretty damned incensed over it! Still... this intruder seems human enough. So instead of switching over to X-Buster mode, X swoops in, aiming to engage the man with a series of martial arts strikes! His real aim is to get him into a proper HOLD with arms behind his back, but that could take some work...
Maya	Maya is going to have to trust Ainsley in the end an that's all there is too it. However she looks from one companion to another. Sht tilts her head and knows they ha e to be checked Maya will bring up a barrier as the gunfire starts coming. It does not seem to be enough but then there's a gun being shot at her Maya attempots to move but it's not what she though and soon Maya's enased in a block of ice with a very freaked out look on her face.