DIVISION (John)

John was pretty happy with his field test of the new power. He'd kept the transfer around a moderate third, allowing the other three clones to still function, and even still, the augmentation was enough to almost double Echo's physical stats.

Level 5 Clone Echo Health 300 / 370 (220) Recovery Rate 0.32 per minute (0.17) Strength 31 (16) Intelligence 16 Agility 31 (16) Acuity 16 Fortitude 32 (17) Willpower 16 Stamina 65 / 87 (57) Focus 57 / 57 Recovery Rate 0.32 per second (0.17) Recovery Rate 0.16 per second

Inside he had the other clones reclaim their energy, allowing the full squad to engage the gang members.

They were putting up a surprising amount of resistance. John had expected them to be taken by surprise, and thought their first impulse would be to run or regroup. He had one of his clones withdraw from the fight, using it to look around with more interest, trying to determine what about the lab was important enough for them to be putting up this kind of fight.

One answer that he spotted in the far recesses, was that their friendly neighbourhood bomber seemed to be present. The other was in the lab supplies strewn about the large room, they were high quality and expensive looking, not the sort of equipment you'd expect to see in a local meth lab. Had they stumbled onto one of Manticore's research labs? He made a mental note to have Artisan look everything over before they called in the PD.

Assuming there was anything left, he thought in frustration as the small arms fire continued from the gang's end of the room. John had done a quick body count on entering the room, and figured the Jackals had started out with around twenty men onsite, that number had been whittled down to half a dozen, but they were spread out around the room, keeping his squad pinned down until Shift and Revenant picked them off. In another thirty seconds, they should have the entire room pacified.

Then all hell broke loose, the comms chattering as a creature smashed its way out of an adjacent room, putting a large hole in what looked like a load-bearing wall, and launching Revenant through the front of the building and across the street.

John sighed in relief that it had been Revenant and not one of the others, he was fairly sure that hit would have killed anyone less tough. Luckily the horned creature followed his target outside, probably wanting to see the results of its kill.

Well surprise motherfucker, he thought, watching from down the street as the rubble on top of Revenant shifted. The guy's already dead.

Inside he saw the bomber downing a glowing liquid, his body shifting as hard red scales growing out all over his skin. The first beanbag round glanced off his head, doing no damage, so John focused his fire on the remaining gang members, hoping to get them out of the way so they could safely deal with the new threats.

He watched as the lizard-snake-man hissed at his clones and began to advance, its tongue flickering under newly slit nostrils and clawed fingers grasping at the end of thickening arms. John was about to pull out something heavier than beanbags when Shift hit the creature mid-step, pummelling blows into its scaled hide. His blows didn't seem terribly effective, but they were enough to have the creature backing off in confusion, swinging wildly at the blur moving in front of it.

"Drive him into the street," he had Echo call to Shift, while outside he clicked the command override that would halt the confused voices of his team.

REVENANT (Reece)

"...Revenant, get the hell up and show them who they're messing with." Reece heard the tail end of Division's admonition as he shook away the after-effects of the impact.

He was pretty angry when he tore himself out of the pile of rubble, quickly checking around to make sure there were no civilians caught in the destruction. Seeing nothing but the remains of an abandoned building, Reece stepped back out into the street, brushing brick dust from his chest and arms, and yet somehow managing to add more dust to the air while the amount on his clothes stayed the same.

As he saw the creature ahead of him, his mood lightened considerably. A minotaur, he thought, staring at the beady black eyes of the creature, and letting out a deep rolling chuckle. If there was one thing Revenant's vibrant monotone was good for, it was letting out disturbing chuckles. He watched as the creature's hackles rose, disturbed at the harmonics. Reece really wished he'd brought his staff with him, the reach would have been perfect for getting past the horns, but Artisan had wanted to work on it, and Reece hadn't thought he'd need it just to beat down some street-level gang members.

Halting the disturbing chuckle, he advanced on the creature, "That was poorly done Minotaur, attacking from behind says much of your craven nature."

The Minotaur huffed once in response, and then charged straight at him, head down.

Reece couldn't help sighing. One day he'd meet a villain who actually understood the importance of verbal sparring.

He heard Division giving more instructions, his voice tinny and far away. Reece wondered if the comm had been damaged from the impact, he doubted it was his own hearing, unless he'd ended up with a piece of brick in his ear. "Revenant the bull's yours. Wind, focus on the lizard, hopefully his anatomy has shifted along with his skin. Shift, get the cat wrapped up. Shade, you're fielding, make sure no one uninvited wanders in, and that none of the wildlife breaks free."

Ignoring the rest of the instructions and the other people in the street, Revenant focused on the charging creature, timing was going to be key.

Unfortunately for the minotaur, he suffered from the bull's impulse to lower its head into the charge. It was an idea that seemed great in theory, leading the impact with sharp horns and a hard skull. But there was a reason matadors existed. Lowering your head meant limiting your vision.

Reece stepped to the side, punching into the back of the creatures skull as it passed by. He didn't have the angle to get much strength into the blow, but it was enough to overbalance the creature's charge and ram its head into the ground. Reece watched as it dug an eight-foot trench in the street, and winced as one of its horns snapped from the impact.

He stepped in as the minotaur tried to regain its feet, shaking its heavy head to clear the stars. Reece added a few more as he beat the creature back into the ground.

SHADE (Carlos)

Carlos watched in disappointment as his team beat down the mutant creatures. He'd been curious about what would have happened if he leached some of their blood. It was tempting to step close and try it anyway, but he'd been given instructions, and he intended to follow them. They didn't need a late night walker stumbling into the middle of the conflict.

He watched as Shift ran rings around the cat, taking a few slashes that Carlos doubted even got through the under-armour, and certainly didn't slow the young hero down. He'd obviously thrown himself into Division's martial arts training, interspersing kicks and throws into his previously fist based style.

Carlos was hopeful for a minute as the injured and exhausted man-cat turned to run in his direction, obviously hoping to escape, but Shift casually took his legs out from under him, and began zip tying the creature before Carlos even had time to sigh in disappointment.

He glanced back at Wind's fight with the lizard, and sighed again as he saw the sluggish creature wreathed in ice, barely even fighting back any more. And then one of Division's clones walked out of the building and clubbed him over the back of the head, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

Carlos sighed a last time as his hopes of a scuffle against the transformed men died a final death.

Now he was going to be stuck helping with clean up, when he didn't even get any of the fun. He really should have just gone to bed after all.