Nightreaver led Ren through the city towards the downtown area, making sure he was following along by stopping, looking back at him, and guiding him along. The pursuit led them to the balcony of a luxurious penthouse in a structure right next to the Star of Pacifica building. A pool in the middle of the balcony was flanked by a small garden on either side, the walls leading into it composed of thick sheets of glass.
Inside, Ren saw a group of people gathered around the living room. Someone stood in the middle of them, waving their hands excitedly and gesturing to the entire group with sweeping motions. Nightreaver opened the door, and suddenly the noise from inside flooded through.
"…we can't allow it to happen. They will take us in one by one if they have to, lock us all up, and then nobody will stand with us anymore. We will be a forgotten footnote. That's why I'm offering you this one chance," the female voice said loudly, then cut off as Ren and Nightreaver walked in. Ren identified the woman making the speech as Aura.
"Ah, you've arrived. Good. I'll speak with the two of you alone and catch you up with what we've been talking about," Aura said, then motioned the rest of the people towards a doorway, to what seemed like a kitchen and dining room. "Please, we'll continue the debate once everyone is caught up. I won't force you to stay, but I hope that you will enjoy the food and drinks in the kitchen and wait around so we can actually talk about this. This affects all of us."
Following Aura, Ren heard the bubbling of many accents coming from the group walking towards the kitchen. It was a strange cacophony of globalized heroics, that's for sure. Ren made a note to listen closely to the speech patterns later, so he might play a guessing game on their origins.
The group dispersed towards the kitchen. Aura broke off to Ren and Nightreaver, pulling the two of them into a small home office. She left the door open as she walked in behind Ren, then leaned against a desk with a laptop on it.
"We've met, haven't we? But we haven't been properly introduced. They call me Aura," she said, offering her hand for a shake, "and I've been hearing more and more things about you, Lucid. You've met Nightreaver."
Aura waved her hand towards Nightreaver, and he nodded his head in greeting. He was solemn, his chin framed with several days' worth of dark stubble at the very least.
"We've been hearing some mixed things about you, but then again…all of our careers seem to still be in a state of flux. You're still on your way to making a great deal of good, and I hope you continue on that path," said Aura. "You've been keeping people safe with a good record. Even those who stand in your way remain alive. That's a great sign."
"Look, here's the situation. I work closely with some people these days, people in the government, and they've tipped me off that something big is about to happen. The Governor is being forced to sign an order for the detainment of all individuals with powers, and we will be in the crosshairs first and foremost. I'm not sure who is behind this push, but…" Aura said in a calm voice, trailing off as a figure appeared at the doorway and cleared its throat. Ren glanced back, seeing Crimson Caracal there.
"It's Reissman. He's pulling the strings," she stated blandly, then took a step in.
"Not again with your conspiracy theories. I told you I'd fly you back to where you came from if you kept meddling in things here." Aura said, standing up. Nightreaver placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Uh-huh. Fly me where I came from, huh? Nightreaver is German. Icarus is British. Lucid is Filipino. Why not fly them out of here too? Would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it, dispersing this merry band of vigilantes before the government has to," Caracal said, shifting out of the doorway. Ren glanced at Aura and Nightreaver, both of whom seemed hesitant. "We may not like each other, but it seems to me that we need each other."
In a chilly mood, the night continued. The politics of the situation were complex and hard to understand by everyone involved, but the pieces slowly started to come together. Everyone gathered back into the living room, the TV showing an all-hours news cable network with the volume turned low. Ren finally managed to take a good look at who had been corralled into this clandestine meeting.
He knew Aura and Nightreaver. Crimson Caracal seemed like she hadn't been invited, but had joined in spite of that. Others in the room were fresh faces.
There was Icarus, a man with a lean build and sleek clothing which hugged his body. On his back was a set of folding wings that looked borderline angelic. Bright white feathers covered the surface of the wings, and it was hard to discern if the wings were actually sprouting from his back or if they were an elaborate part of his costume. He actually seemed very familiar when Ren heard him speak. Ren couldn't place it, but there was certainly something about him he recognized.
Another new face was Leatherback, a woman in her early twenties clad in layer upon layer of leather, and not much more. Her demeanour was that of an annoying teenager, and her American accent was strange and bubbly. It reminded Ren a bit of a stereotypical gangster accent. Ren came to the conclusion quite quickly that it was all for show, as she seemed to hide a tough, experienced interior behind the mask of a not-particularly-smart fashionista.
There was also Barrier, a silent man dressed in utility clothing and wearing large gauntlets on his hands that seemed to have some sort of coil wrapping around them. It was hard to pinpoint where he could have come from due to his not speaking and the outfit covering his most identifiable features.
The gathering quieted down after a couple hours of debate. Occasionally it got fairly heated, then lulled back into mostly silent contemplation. Ren could feel a rift forming between some members, with Aura and Icarus wanting to work within the system as much as possible, and Caracal and Nightreaver wanting to take on the system. Two distinct options began to form for Ren, as both ideas could work to solve the greater issue.
"The system can't be trusted. We can try to be poster heroes all we want, but that's not going to help in a system where all the wheels are greased by money and barter. Even in election years, we would be used as nothing but tools to gain votes, and those giving us warm handshakes one day will forget about any promises made once they're in office." Caracal said, Nightreaver backing her opinion.
"If we fight the system directly, we will lose both political and popular support. They will crack down on us, blood will flow, and that will only gain us more enemies, more dirty looks, more support for bigger guns to be used against us," Aura stated.
Behind Aurora, the TV kept shifting the image between a studio with a single person seated behind a table and some location shoot. The screen switched over to a group of people shouting at the police at a Hungarian border checkpoint. The crowd looked distinctly Middle-Eastern, and all of them looked lean to the point of malnourishment. With heaving sighs, both Aura and Caracal fell silent, and the room got eerily quiet with the exception of the television.
Something was wrong. Ren hears a slight shifting noise, then a metallic creak coming from above him. Crimson Caracal suddenly twisted her head up to stare at the roof. Her claws came out and everyone jumped to stand up, staring at her. Aura balled a hand into a fist and took a step back, unsure as to what the other woman was up to. Then everyone heard the clatter of something falling upon the hard floor.
Chaos erupted with a loud explosion on both sides of the living room. Bright flashes disoriented everyone, and the noise left ears ringing. When Ren came to, the flash dissipating and the ringing starting to diminish, he could see dark figures tackling Aura and Icarus. The others were coming to and fighting back just by sheer instinct, all but Barrier and Nightreaver, who seemed to be in full form.
Blasts of warped air pulsed out of Barrier's gauntlets, tossing enemies against the wall behind them and back through the doorway they'd barged in through. Another group further away erupted with gunfire aimed at Barrier, but with a swift wave of his hand, he formed a bubble of solid air around himself, the bullets ricocheting into the ceiling.
Nightreaver was sticking onto the ceiling with his legs, dangling two opponents at the same time and smashing their heads into the roof before dropping down on some more assailants. He was a blur of knees and elbows launched at his enemies, blood spurting into the air as he fought through the group.
Ren got up on his feet, taking in the immediate area around him. One of the assailants had been tossed onto the ground in front of him, his clothing reminiscent of SWAT tactical gear with the exception of having no markings on his outfit. There were no patches, no flags, no text identifying who they were or where they came from. An assault rifle was next to his body, one of his hands laying on top of it. Behind Ren, another group of black-clad people rushed in, targeting him with their assault rifles.
Ren went for his belt, pulling out a few things as he felt the sting of two small darts piercing his outfit. He heard the darts start crackling with electricity, but they haven't penetrated deep enough to actually have any effect upon him. With a swipe of his hand, he tossed a few of his smoke pellets on the ground, followed up by a few darts. Three of them hit the men in combat gear, and he saw sparks arcing out from the darts. One of them didn't seem to have an effect, but the other two brought the men down.
Smoke shrouded him as they began firing, and he managed to duck down, leap forward, and take down the rest of the group with swift efficiency. He may not have fought fully geared adversaries before, but he didn't allow that to hinder him.
Ren looked around, seeing Aura pushing off the pile of people on top of her and rushing into the fight. A spurt of blood arced through the air, and Ren saw Crimson Caracal merging into the fight as well. Icarus rushed past him, wings open, and flew straight into the glass wall. As the glass shattered and rained onto the balcony, the noise from outside poured in as a deafening flood.
The chopping sound of helicopters hovering over the penthouse overwhelmed the noise of the fighting. Ren saw bright spotlights targeting Icarus, causing his wings to shine a bright blinding white. The helicopters twirled around, the pilots trying to save their eyes from it.
"Everyone get out and disperse!" Aura shouted over everything. "I will try to contact all of you later, but it's not safe. Stay in hiding for a few days!"
Nightreaver ran over to Ren, then guided him out to the balcony and off the side. The noise stayed behind them and did not follow. Ren tagged along with Nightreaver during the escape.