Post-Mall Mission

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Tuesday at 4:31 PM

#city-centre-mall-3
Shortly after Lilah had come out, the rest of the team had followed suit in various states. There wasn’t really time for Vindaya to tend to them, though. Once Andy came out they were gone, not willing to risk the encounter with the police when Vindaya could just as well heal them when they got back to headquarters.
 And finally ask what the hell was going on.
Vindaya was quiet during the car ride, unmindful of the nasty bruise she was now sporting along her ribs (and still very thankful for Lilah’s durability making Vindaya’s life easier). Though her teammates were changing back into their civvies, she had no need to; her specially designed jumpsuit was still comfortably hidden under her own unmarked everyday clothes.
Once they had all summarily filed into headquarters, Vindaya cast her gaze over the lot. They were more dirty than injured, but it still gave her something to do. Knowing Andy would have her tend to the others first and figuring Leo might feel similarly, she turned to one of the only two people left injured.
“Cole,” she said, angling her head towards the living room. (She could see the small burns on Val, characteristic of a taser, but she would address those after.) “Sit. I’m going to clean your scrapes before I heal them.” Without giving him a say in the matter, she walked off to retrieve the supplies she’d need.
(Thinking ahead, she retrieved a few things with Andy’s wound in mind, too.)

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeLast Tuesday at 7:27 PM

Shedding his make-shit suit had been a delicate process that concluded with glass glitter sprinkling on the floor of Leo’s car. Unlike Andy, who had stood at the wrong place at the wrong time and earned a shard of glass buried into his arm, Cole had walked away from the scene nearly unscathed despite being showered in glass. When he finally arrived at Headquarters and got a chance to survey the damage under artificial light, he realized there would be a lot of explaining to do when he got home.
Cole was already in the midst of cooking a tall tale for his parents when Vindaya called his name. “Oh” he had forgotten all about the doctor, his saving grace “okay, yeah!” He replied, sounded too excited for someone who was about to get medically treated. All he was thinking about was the lecture this would save him from.
He followed the woman into the living room and took a seat in one of the couches. The most visible cuts were a wide scrape across his shoulder and another vertically slicing up his cheek. Aside from those, the other cuts were so small they looked like dashes printed on his skin. “Hey, Vin... Daya. Vindaya” he stumbled, not quite sure how far his right to be casual with the doctor carried him “what happens if you don’t clean it before you heal it?”

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Tuesday at 8:00 PM

Andy was relatively quiet on the car ride back, but Leo was absolutely *not.* The elastic man was busy giving a thrilling and boisterous account of his experience fighting the speedster, whilst conveniently leaving out the fact that Tempest had nearly blown their heads off by accident.
The pyromancer, however, clad in the bottom half of his uniform and a white, fitted tank top (the gray tshirt he had planned on wearing was wrapped around his bleeding arm), was silently nursing his injury. He looked out of the window nearly the whole time, perfectly alert and mind turning.
Andy was grateful to be home, but he was obviously entirely troubled. He paced in front of the fireplace, cradling his injured arm. The small fire, which always seemed to be on, flickered in his direction as he walked back and forth, back and forth. His arms were covered in a few similar scratches as Cole, from the minor shrapnel of the grenades.
In his other hand was his phone as he spoke into it, for both his notes and to discuss with his team.
"Magpie. That's his name. The man in the mask's name is Magpie. He's independent. The goons were hired. It looks like he called us there to deliver a message - a warning. He said, "Trust only the voice in the night and the white mask. No one else. What... What does that mean...?"

June 19, 2019

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Wednesday at 3:11 AM

Vindaya wondered, but didn’t ask, at Cole’s enthusiasm, especially considering how he’d shied from her during the first aid training. Nonetheless, she sat next to him and went straight for the worst of the scrapes, which weren’t even that bad to begin with. “It might sting a little,” she warned him as she started wiping at the cut on his face with a dampened piece of gauze. As she did so, she was thinking on how she’d explain why she was healing all of his scrapes except for the one.
In the meantime, his question was easy enough to answer. “My power will only heal what is chemically or physically wrong with your body,” she said, wiping away dust. “Which means that foreign objects—like dust and glass—are left behind, and could still cause problems later.” It had been the reason why she’d removed the bullet from Lilah’s leg a week before but hadn’t stitched the wound afterwards, but Cole hadn’t been there, and she didn’t much care to revisit it.
The facial cut didn’t take long. She went to work on his shoulder, which was a little more extensive, but still very minor. On her body, it would be gone by the next morning. Which brought her back to how she was going to explain herself. Not even whatever makeup she was wearing would completely hide that, not to mention it wasn’t a good idea to have makeup over an open wound altogether, no matter how minor.
“I’ll heal all of this,” Vindaya said, dabbing at the shoulder wound, “except that cut on your face. You might have to say you cut yourself shaving—“ She stopped short, pausing only briefly. “*Do* you even shave?” she asked, as though she were asking the question partially to him and partially to herself.

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Wednesday at 8:34 AM

"Eh, he's just trying to scare us. You know how it is - small time bad guys trying to seem more important than they actually are." Leo crooned, reclining on the far side of the couch, away from Cole and Vindaya.
He hadn't quite squeezed out of his uniform. As tempting as it was, getting *out* of the skintight costume wasn't something even Leo could look good doing in a car. Instead, he had only shed the outer jacket and shirt underneath, and slipped some black gym pants and a loose orange tank over everything else.
 He sat there rubbing a slightly sore spot on his side mindlessly. There were a bunch of bruises forming on his arms from getting stomped on so much, but it was nothing more than a minor discomfort.
"Even the guy I was fighting didn't seem to care. Definitely a hired goon. Did I tell you he was superpowered? He said he'd join if you offer healthcare."(edited)

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Wednesday at 9:48 AM

Andy was staring into space when Leo's voice snapped him out of his thoughts again. He was seriously getting tired of hearing his voice *so* much. It was almost like the guy couldn't take things seriously enough to *think* before speaking. He was talking just to talk. This was *always* the case, Andy noticed, during his times speaking with Leo.
"Matador... Please... I'm trying to think." Andy said, waving his phone-holding hand, which prompted an exaggerated shrug from the elastic man. "No... No, we don't offer healthcare. But... Agh, that's not important right now." He stopped pacing suddenly to face the others, taking his place in front of the fireplace as it seemed he usually did.
"We can't afford to take these threats with a grain of salt. Magpie was just gauging our strength, seeing what our numbers are, and our capabilities. He was testing us so that he can learn how to fight us. I don't believe that he was intending to harm *any* hostages today."(edited)

## sephetLast Wednesday at 3:19 PM

“Is it weird that it seems they were going easy on us?” Lilah asked quietly, pulling her oversized sweater around her a bit more, she wasn’t about to start changing in front of anyone but the plus side to a costume that tight was that she could pull just about anything over it. “I mean I think I was the only one who got shot. And they all were extremely armed. And I got shot through smoke, it could have been an accident. I could be wrong but there was a lot of spray firing and not a lot of aim.”
She fidgeted her fingers together and sighed softly, trying to think of what was feeling off about the whole situation. “I feel like… I don’t know. Like they could have easily been a bigger threat, but they weren’t. Like… a mall full of gunmen should be a *disaster*. In Chinatown they shot to hit and we *got* hit. People were trying to kill us.” She pressed her lips together and sighed shrugging her shoulders defeatedly. “I don’t know. I just feel weird. I’m sorry. Nevermind.”

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Wednesday at 5:00 PM

Andy's face was stuck with a lopsided frown, rife with thought and frustration. His brows crinkled just a little more at Lilah's admission that she had indeed gotten shot, but by the looks of it, her suit had done its job.

"They weren't professionals. Not in the least. It was sloppy, but... Yeah, I agree with you, Lilah." Something bumped his feet and Andy looked down to see Lionel rubbing his body affectionately on the man's legs. "They weren't there to kill us. They were to there to see what we could do. Magpie wasn't like any of those guys. He was more... Professional. He knew how to fight. There's no doubt in my mind that he could've done way more if he wanted to."

June 20, 2019

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeLast Thursday at 1:56 AM

Cole made a face but didn't complain when the gauze stung his skin, trying to look dignified in a room full of people that had taken far worse hits than he had. Vindaya spoke in her characteristic dry tone a she cleaned his cuts, explained how she could heal but not extract foreign objects and particles from people. Andy, Leo, and Lilah were talking behind her and Cole caught glimpses of the exchange, but his focus was on the doctor. Something about a magpie, something about a white mask. Today's mission had been oddly... theatrical.
Vindaya's power was interested and Cole, with his curiosity still very much piqued by the other's superpowers, was full of questions. However, it was all shoved into the backseat of his brain and superimposed with indignation. Cole leaned back and gave the woman a look. He couldn't tell if she was joking but he didn't take her for the type to use jabs like that so he was forced to accept the question at face value despite even if he was offended. "I shave" he replied simply, his amicable disposition dropping.
His eyes flickered to Leo on the opposite end of the couch to detail his face, then to Andy, then back at the woman. At his age he was still very much in a gray area of post-pubescence where everything was settling in and still behind some of his classmates who looked like they could be twice divorced. He was legally allowed to vote, join the army, and purchase pornography, but still not old enough to drink in some countries. It was tough to gauge whether he met the benchmark.
Cole thoughtlessly raised his hand to feel the cut but pulled back at the last second, realizing he shouldn't be touching open wounds with dirty fingers. "Will you run out?" He asked, still confused about why that one specific wound had to remain "of healing power... if you heal me first will you not be able to get to them?" He elaborated, nodding towards the other two men.(edited)

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Thursday at 2:42 AM

As she worked, she listened to Andy, Leo, and Lilah chat in the background. Unlike Andy, she was perfectly content to listen to Leo chatter on all day, but she *was* listening specifically for some answers. All they were saying was confirming what she already knew or suspected; she still didn’t know how it was they’d knowingly walked into a trap. Otherwise, she mostly refrained from reacting to any part of their conversation, except the bit about healthcare. Had it just been Leo, she might’ve made a dry quip about how she didn’t get paid enough or, a little more seriously, how it *definitely* wasn’t Andy’s choice whether or not his affiliates received medical attention. But it wasn’t just Leo, so she didn’t.
Still, she frowned a little, perhaps only visible to Cole if he noticed at all.
Suddenly she cut she’d been tending to was no longer under her hand as Cole pulled away, and she knew well enough to realize she’d offended him. Except that she didn’t much care. If he was insecure about his masculinity or whatever it was that made shaving an oddly touchy topic, she was not the person to be assuaging him, and she thought it a silly thing to be indignant about anyway. “Okay,” she told him—not in disbelief, not condescendingly, just an acceptance of fact—and then readjusted to finish cleaning.
One didn’t have powers like her and keep secrets like hers to not have reasons prepared for everything she did or didn’t do, so she smoothly said, “I am conserving my energy, yes.” Not entirely a lie, but of course the full truth of it didn’t quite exactly came to mind. Not that its verity mattered; Vindaya lied easily and well when she wanted to. “They’ve both got it worse than you, from what I can tell.”(edited)

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeLast Thursday at 2:53 AM

Cole's brow creased with thought at the doctor's answer– she did have limited resourced and he *was* the least injured of the three so this wasn't making much sense to him. He leaned further back into the couch, "they do. So you should treat them first." It was the most logical way to go about things. Cole was just now realizing he had no business being the first patient when Andy had a stab wound haphazardly wrapped and Leo wasn't moving with the same amount of flair and carelessness as he usually did. "Conserve your energy, I'm fine."

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Thursday at 3:09 AM

She was *almost* done. A little irritated, she forcefully pulled Cole forward so she could finish what she’d started. “You were the easiest to treat,” she said, which was true. Besides, he had a home to get back to, with a family. She wasn’t sure how long he was planning on sticking around today, but she should at least make sure he was as ready to go as was possible.
It was rather mature of him to try to deflect, though. As much as Vindaya wished he wouldn’t pick *now* to be mature.
“Believe me, I know my abilities and my limits better than you do.” In other words, *don’t tell me who to treat, how, or when* in the mildest delivery of this message that she could manage.
She set the dirty gauze aside and held out her hand. “Give me your hand so I can heal you, please.”

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeLast Thursday at 5:27 AM

*Bruh.* Cole never fared well with unjustified commands and this was still far from making any sense. The doctor pulled him back like a nagging mother and offered a lukewarm explanation, then insisted he sit down and accepted the treatment. As grateful as he was for her adamant attitude towards curing his superficial scrapes, Cole was less than satisfied with her lack of reasoning and demanding tone he took with her. For a doctor, her bedside manner was lacking.
"I told you, I'm fine" he insisted one last time, rising from the couch "thank you for offering to help, but should head home now."(edited)

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Thursday at 7:17 AM

Leo was watching Andy, particularly that t-shirt covered in blood around his arm. He was particularly interested in the way their leader looked without a gross sweater two sizes too big swallowing him up.
"Big deal." He said. "So it was a really bad trap. They still took hostages, man. We were gonna' go regardless. Did that Magpie guy have powers?"
He hadn't been paying attention to the tense, quiet struggle between Cole and his healer, but Vindaya said something that made Leo instinctively look right at her.

*I'm conserving my energy.*

...weird.
Leo could very clearly recall having nearly the same concerns about Vindaya using her energy on him before the others the night she almost passed out outside of her apartment.

*"My powers don't work like that,"* She told him, once upon a time.
He silently wondered which was true.

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Thursday at 8:10 AM

Vindaya’s irritation grew, but this time, she bothered hiding it. It was polite, after all, not to let people know they were annoying you. Not to mention she was supposed to be *doctoring* them right now and after today, and all that Cole had seen, she supposed she should at least *try* to be patient.
And she knew her excuse had been flimsy, and really didn’t want him or anyone else pushing her any further.
Still, he was denying her from doing the *one* thing she could do to help, the one thing she had complete agency over, and she did not like to be denied this. It was her power and she’d use it how she pleased, stubbornness be damned.
Honestly, she didn’t even care if he was grateful.
She stood right along with him, pressed her hand to the area where she’d been cleaning his shoulder, and healed the scrapes—all but his facial one—in mere seconds, using her other hand to lightly hold him in place and delay him from pulling away while she did so.
“Yes, you should,” she told him, moving away. “Good night, Cole.”
It was a little brusque, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Still, it was helpful to have slipped into polite-socialite-doctor because she still had quite a few stubborn people to tend to.
She glanced at Andy. Cole hadn’t been wrong; she really ought to have gone in order of severity. But she knew Andy would resist and she didn’t want to get in a squabble over something so minor, not when she had better things to be doing. So she turned her attention.
Just from looking at Leo, she felt sore.
A little softer, and quietly as she didn’t want to completely interrupt the conversation, she said, “You’re up,” and sat down next to him, perched on the edge of the couch as though she wasn’t expecting to be sitting for long. She held out her hand. “Let me heal you, please.”(edited)

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Thursday at 8:36 AM

Andy *was* watching Cole and Vindaya. He did notice how cold Vindaya was. That was normal, but she even seemed somehow worse than she usually was because she was trying to work with one of the gentlest members of the team. Sitting next to Cole and Lilah, Vindaya seemed so *harsh.* Andy was very fond of Cole, and the way she spoke to him...
It made him upset.
"Cole, wait." Andy said the moment Vindaya bid him good night. "I want you to stay. You have to tell me everything you saw and everything that happened to you. There's a lot we need to talk about, actually. Both of you." He added lightly, looking to Lilah sitting there in her big sweater.(edited)

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeLast Thursday at 6:18 PM

It was unexpected and it left a bad taste in his mouth. Just as Cole was readying himself to head out the door and took the first step, the doctor's hand landed on his shoulder. "Hey! What the-" He protested, trying to get out from under he hold, but by the time he yanked his shoulder back the scrape that had been there only seconds prior was gone. Cole looked at the woman with disbelief and stepped back– that didn't feel quite right but he was in no position to say as much because she had healed him. So he chose not to say anything.
Cole turned away with an expression of discontent, ready to head home and let the negative emotions pass, but Andy called him back. he turned to look at him still glaring but his eyes softened when the leader explained he needed to deliver anything he might've gathered from the fight. Cole dragged his feet back towards the living room.
"I didn't see much" he confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. He had seen a lot and nothing he thought important all at once. "Um... so Val and I walked in, shots began to fire... Val went after this person with his sword. I saw some other guy aiming two guns so I threw the smoke bombs" he tried to think back, to remember whether he had seen any faces. He looked at Lilah, then at Andy, who had been shot at repeatedly. "I have the feeling... they didn't try to kill us." Val had been tasered when he could've been stabbed, the bullets firing at Andy and Lilah were aimed and plentiful.(edited)

June 21, 2019

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Friday at 9:19 AM

Leo was still looking at Vindaya when she inevitably turned her attention toward him. A smile colored with a drop of mischief crept to his face when she moved to him. All of the other members of the Mall crew seemed agitated, but Leo felt pretty good about how they did, and he wasn't going to let them bring him down.
The only thing that mildly annoyed him was the fact that Andy didn't really seem to give a shit about what he had to say. Not nearly at the same level at which he cared about what his 'friends' had to say. Favoritism much?

*Whatever.*

At least someone in this house was cool. Leo, as usual, could not resist teasing the reticent doctor. She must've expected it at this point.
"Kung Pao chicken over there is bleeding out, and you want to heal *me* first? I'm flattered, *querida,* you're making me feel so important! But wait..." He cheekily added on. "Don't you have to 'conserve energy'?"

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Friday at 9:59 AM

Leo’s almost certainly expected teasing was like a salve. At least she could predict this, at least it could make her smile, if she’d been so inclined. As it was, she was still pretty neutral, but perhaps something in her eyes had lightened, just a little.
She’d still have to heal Andy after this, who she was *sure* wasn’t happy with her. But she was fairly confident she’d made the right decision in going to Leo first; considering how she’d had to work to convince Andy to heal something as minor as a rash, she had the sense that it would’ve been more trouble than it was worth to see to him first.
Under her breath, so that hopefully only Leo could hear, she said, “‘Kung Pao chicken’ is too stubborn for his own good.” She kept her hand held out, waiting for Leo to volunteer contact. Hopefully, he’d be a little bit more cooperative than Cole, although she’d chafed a little at his comment about her “conserving energy.” Her excuses were starting to crack and she knew it.
On the other hand, she’d written off the fact that he’d been looking at her when she’d turned to him. But now she knew he’d *really* been paying attention.
The thought almost broke her neutral disposition.
And oh, was she tempted to tease him for it.
But they were amongst company, and besides, she didn’t want to bring more attention to the issue than it had already received.
“Please just let me do this, Leo,” she said softly. It wasn’t exasperation, but more of a desire to feel useful. After that scene with Cole (when she was *trying* to do the *one thing* she could, and somehow *she* was the one being silently admonished because she didn’t do things *their* way), she really preferred to avoid another one.
Plus, she still didn’t know what, exactly, had happened that day. She spared a glance at Andy, who was still more focused on Cole and Lilah. Maybe Leo was a better person to ask—he seemed to want to talk, anyway.

## sephetLast Friday at 1:04 PM

“It just feels a little off. That they drew us out there and only really that Magpie guy was taking it seriously?” She tilted her head back and forth as she considered it. “I mean. Being forced to hold grenades as guns go off in the mall, that’s likely to be traumatizing for a lot of the people who were there. It seems like such a big setup with a lot of fallout and damage without… accomplishing anything.”

She rubbed her face with her hands and sighed, trying to think of what was sticking out to her. “Honestly… honestly it just really bothers me that they’d do all that to those people, make them really fear for their lives like that, but then they had barely any intention of engaging us seriously. You know? Just...it seems like there was a bigger plan at play, but it really bothers me that so many people were traumatized just to be used as set dressing…”

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Friday at 1:16 PM

Andy stood still, attention shifting between Cole and Lilah as they voiced their stories and thoughts. Cole was being *highly* modest. The same Cole that threw up a medieval flail when a gun was pointed at him, ended up being an immense help to all of them during the mission. He threw smoke grenades and pointed a paint gun at a dangerous villain. He and Valentine ran into the fray bravely. Their leader couldn't have been more proud of all of them. Cole and Valentine especially came a long way in such a short time. Lilah had surprised Andy long ago with her courageousness. Combined with the sheer amount of heart they all had, they really were heroes to him.
Coupled with what Cole said, Lilah imparted her own opinions and Andy couldn't have agreed more. Still, something *was* strange. There was a big piece missing. He stared at her face for what seemed to be a long time as the idea crept up on him.
"Do you... *No.*" His shoulders and his expression sunk. "Do you think that they lured us there... So that they could track us?"

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Friday at 1:48 PM

"As you wish," Sighed Leo, extending his hand to her, palm up, similarly to all of the times he had offered her his hand in the past.
He paid no mind to the conversation and epiphany happening outside of the couch.
"Look at what that *puto* did to me! He stomped all over me like some kinda' snake in the--in the--- err... *como se dice, el arenero?* That thing on the playground with the dirt? You know what I mean..." Leo rambled, showing off the darkening bruises all alone his forearms and elbow.
There was even still some blood on his hands despite haphazardly wiping them on his uniform, although it was all dried now. When he looked down at the one he had extended, he grimaced and groaned. "Ugh. I got it all over me. Such a goddamn mess. Thanks *Tsunami.*"
Wherever she was.

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Friday at 2:02 PM

Vindaya took his hand, doing her best to listen to the conversation happening around them. It was hard when she would’ve rather just listened to Leo, or perhaps not been there at all, but she managed to catch the gist, and it made her tense.
Tracked. Were they being *tracked*?
She thought, first, of her father. This would not be how either of them had expected things to go, but she supposed the proper precautions *had* been taken. Then she thought of her job. What would happen were she to be outed as super.
Nothing good could possibly come out of being tracked.
The soreness from Leo’s wounds wasn’t really helping her relax, either. The “puto” had done a number on Leo.
It really hurt her, she realized, to see it. To know it. To imagine it.

*Stop that.*

She took a deep breath. Finally, she pulled away, Leo fully healed though she couldn’t clean the other man’s blood from his hands (thankfully literally).
“What happened?” she asked. She directed the question at Leo, since he was the only one paying attention to her at the moment, but she looked over to Andy and tried to catch his eye: *Can I heal you now?*

He’d better not put up a fuss.

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Friday at 3:05 PM

Leo didn't even look down at his arms as the bruises swiftly faded. There was something incredibly *squicky* about Vindaya's powers that Leo wasn't sure he would get used to. Bruises weren't nearly as gross as cuts or bulletholes, but he still didn't want to see all of that mess. Leo only looked down when Vindaya's hand left his just moments later. An appreciative smile returned to his face and as she looked at Andy, so did he, but he continued on to answer her question.
"Me and Tidal Wave dropped down through the roof and started getting shot at like, almost immediately by two guys. One had some kinda' machine gun and the other one had a big-ass rifle. They must've called in some backup because that speedster guy caught us by surprise. A whole bunch of shit happened at once - Temp distracted Machine Gun. Rifle dropped his rifle."
Leo paused and thumbed at the scruff on his chin. There was still some part of him that didn't want to sell out Tempest, but *dammit,* that shit shouldn't have happened. He ended up opting for the short version of the story. "Rifle went off while I was fighting with Speedy. Nearly took us both out! Thankfully, it only clipped Speedy's cheek, and that's what I got blood all over me. Fucking gross. Little bastard."(edited)

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Friday at 4:31 PM

Vindaya, feeling a little stiffer than she had a minute ago—and certainly, the bruise across her ribs from Lilah wasn’t helping that—looked back at Leo as though she weren’t quite sure what to make of any of it.
Lilah getting shot, which she supposed had happened twice now, was its own matter. She was resilient, durable. Aside from some one in a million fatal shot, Lilah would most certainly be fine, especially with Vindaya around.
The same could not be said for Leo. (Or Tempest.)
She felt the soreness in her arms acutely then and very, very gladly. It had hurt to know that Leo had sustained all that, but it was too big a relief that that gun had gone off the way it had.
She glanced over him, not in her searching, medical way, but almost appraisingly, and then asked, “Did you have a—a bulletproof suit, or something, with you? Something durable like Lilah’s?” Her voice was quiet, this conversation intended for the two of them. Thinking, again, of him being so close to that wayward gunshot, getting his arms stomped black and blue, she said, firmly, “You really should.”(edited)

June 22, 2019

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeLast Saturday at 2:02 PM

Lilah was far more compassionate than he was. Cole understood that the moment she brought up the victims being held at the mall and lamented their experience. He hadn’t really spared them a thought past the moment he was sure they were alive, he didn’t stop to think about their fear or their trauma.

Andy took their accounts, neither of which were very informative, and mulled them over. Cole waited, wondering what was spool was being unraveled in his head. Then Andy said just about the most horrifying thing imaginable. “No” Cole denied off the bat “no, it’s-“ a very sensible conclusion, in fact. The attack had seemed theatrical because it had been staged. The hostages didn’t matter, the bad guys didn’t matter, their successful escape didn’t matter either. They let themselves be distracted and, if what Andy was saying was true, they had played right into Magpie’s hand. “Shit.”

## sephetLast Saturday at 4:16 PM

“What kind of defenses do we have in place here?” Lilah gripped her hands together tightly as the depth of Andy’s suggestion sunk in. “Can we even go home? Are we being watched?”

She looked over to Andy with her brow crinkled in concern. “Do you think that we’re under surveillance? That that was the point of the mall situation? I have work and a dog and responsibilities, I can’t go into hiding or anything like that. I knew there was always a possibility of being found out but…” She sighed and shook her head. “Do we have a plan for this?”

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Saturday at 4:29 PM

Andy of course was angry about the trauma that the innocent citizens in the mall had likely suffered, but he was comforted by the fact that nobody was dead. But little comforts only made way for greater worries.
The idea that they could've been tracked felt like an utter failure on Andy's part. That was something he had feared for so long and yet, in the middle of the chaos it never came to mind. What was he going to do now? There was distress that he couldn't hide in his eyes, even though he did manage to keep a straight face.
He looked down and pinched his nose and put his thoughts in a row. He had forgotten about his arm, which by now was bleeding all the way through the shirt tied around it and dripping down his elbow. Andy had even forgotten to look at Vindaya in order to see her look at him.
"... If they're tracking us, then they already know where we are now. So the worst thing that could happen is if they found out where you guys live. *Assuming* we're being tracked in the first place.
Everyone who was involved - take off your uniforms and leave them here. I'll have to inspect all of them. Leave the car here too."

## Mob Boss PeggyLast Saturday at 4:59 PM

Leo's brow was crinkled a little as he looked back at Vindaya after telling that little, white lie. Nah, it wasn't a *lie,* he just didn't explicitly mention *how* the gun went off. She looked at him like things didn't quite add up, but maybe he was feeling a little guilty, too.
Which was stupid. Why should he care?
It wasn't like he was going to have to lie to her again, or anything. It was all innocent. Both he and Tempest were safe. There wasn't anything more to be said about that.
He had certainly underestimated Vindaya.
The line of questioning didn't end. It went in a truly dreadful direction, though.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," He went on to say, waving his hand dismissively. Leo had indeed *not* been wearing his provided vest during the mission. He wasn't interested in wearing it, there was no way he was going to, and she didn't need to know all of that.
That was none of *anyone's* business.
"We all got one. Safety first, eh? Look at you, Vindaya, you sweet thing. Worried about lil 'ol me." Leo grinned, and nudged Vindaya's shoulder lightly with his fingers. It really was flattering as hell, but having someone worry about him was a burden he wasn't so thrilled about.

*He* could worry about others. Leo just didn't want anybody worrying about *him.*

"What you should be worried about are these kids that don't know how to---"
As he looked out at the others to draw the attention away from himself for once, he caught the tail-end of Andy's orders.

*"---leave the car too."*

Leo tsked and snapped his fingers.

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisLast Saturday at 5:20 PM

Vindaya’s eyes narrowed, just a tad, at how dismissive he was being. She might’ve pushed the issue, but then he pushed her—albeit lightly—and it took a few moments’ focus not to let any sort of response to that show on her face.
Andy was definitely too stubborn for his own good, but he wasn’t the only one.
“As I believe I’ve told you before,” she said, not unkindly, “it’s my job to worry about you.”
As she kept telling herself.
Back when she’d said that the first time, she hadn’t had to be quite so mentally insistent on it, though. It hadn’t been said with quite so much deliberation.
Not that Leo knew any of that, of course.
She followed his gaze, trying to put all the new possibilities out of her mind for the moment, and while Leo might not’ve been looking anywhere in particular, Andy lit up in her sights like a neon sign. She didn’t even need to see blood dripping to the floor before she was moving to stand up.
“I think,” she said, again, only for Leo’s ears, “I should be worried about ‘Kung Pao chicken.’” More loudly, and leaving no room for argument, she interrupted the conversation to say, “Andy, let me heal you.”
The suit she was still wearing, the one Andy knew about and that she would most certainly not be taking off, was designed exactly with this kind of thing in mind. She wouldn’t have to worry much about additional blood loss until she could strip back the suit and stitch the wound herself. But Andy, certainly, ought to be a little more concerned for himself.

June 23, 2019

## Mob Boss PeggyYesterday at 9:53 AM

"Yep."
He knew what Vindaya was going to say before she said it.
That's what they did. Leo would remark about how she cared. She'd reply that it was her job. Every time.
But he knew better, as usual.
While she directed her attention to their leader, Leo decided to reluctantly follow Andy's orders and sprung up from the couch. "Guess I'll take the bus like a *commoner!*" He exclaimed with high drama before retreating to one of the back rooms to change out of his uniform. On the way past, Leo pat Lilah's knee and Cole's back to remind them to do the same.
Aaaand maybe, possibly join him.
He disappeared into Sgt. Pepper's bathroom.

## sephetYesterday at 10:14 PM

Lilah sighed and scrubbed her face with her hands before pushing herself up to her feet. “I’m gonna go get changed in the other bathroom, if anyone needs a ride home I’ve got my car.”

She really needed to get her car organised if she was going to keep giving people rides. It was more than a little ridiculous how covered in dog stuff her back seat was. She headed off to the empty bathroom and carefully stripped out of her super suit, checking once it was off to see if there was anything from where the bullet hit her. It was amazingly sturdy and she was so grateful not to have another puncture wound to worry about. She folded the suit carefully and pulled back on her jeans and sweater.

June 24, 2019

## Andy LeeBOTToday at 3:22 AM

Andy watched Leonardo and Lilah as they left and it was obvious that nearly everyone involved was rather shaken by the ordeal. The experience was still fresh and nobody knew what would become of them now. If they had been tracked to the house, well... Andy had a lot to think about and to prepare for. What was done was done.
Learn from mistakes, then move on.
That's what Confucius said.
Eventually, Andy was finally accosted by Vindaya, and was personally very surprised that he hadn't even noticed the pain of his injury. Throughout the years, he had developed quite the tolerance for pain. It wasn't *so* bad. He'd had worse. Andy was sure that there was more blood than there was any real damage anyway.
Aside from the fact that he always wanted the others taken care of before himself, Andy had purposely been the last to receive care. It would've been cruel to let Vindaya heal him first. There was no sense in her sticking around with a bleeding wound for any longer than she needed to. She could leave immediately afterward, which he was sure she wanted to do anyway.
Andy unwrapped the blood-soaked t-shirt from his forearm to reveal a long, clean cut gash that was steadily bleeding. He held the t-shirt underneath to catch the blood as he offered his arm to Vindaya.
"It figures... Out of everything that could've gotten me today, it ended up being glass falling from the ceiling." He said, lowly, uneasy about the negative tension between himself and their healer.

## Chew I Venus I Cole I Dee DeeToday at 6:45 AM

Cole looked over to Leo with a smile when he felt the pat on his back and watched him as he walked away. Leave it to him to keep his casual demeanor intact after today's events. Lilah was much less composed, but nonetheless she offered rides accordingly with her caring and selfless nature. "I could use a ride, if that's alright" he called right before she disappeared into the bathroom.

The young man sighed and looked towards the hallway where he'd hung his backpack earlier today. He walked over and dug out a bright yellow hoodie he'd brought for a change of clothes. It was a quick fix given that he was only wearing civilian clothes. Cole pulled on the hoodie over his head and packed away the pieces of his makeshit suit, then tied his curls into a bun on the back of his head to keep his hair out of his face.

## Elysium | Vindaya | al-FasisToday at 6:52 AM

She couldn’t help it; Vindaya’s gaze flickered towards Leo as he walked off before returning to Andy, who was finally relenting. Not that it had been an ongoing struggle, but then again, it didn’t have to be.
She didn’t need to examine the gash once Andy revealed it. She took his hand gently between her own and with a few moments of concentration, the gash was gone, hidden under her own suit. And, funnily enough, she had this in common with Andy: she didn’t think much at all of the pain. Her face remained impassive, the image of perfectly practiced stoicism.
“You were unlucky,” Vindaya commented, pulling away. She was most certainly stiff, but some over the counter medication at home would help until it all went away, perhaps sometime the next day. Even the gash from Andy or the bruise from Lilah couldn’t take *that* long.
For a few moments, she was quiet while Cole, Lilah, and Leo were all preparing to go home. It occurred to her that she really ought to demand answers for all the things nobody had bothered explaining to her about what had happened today.
Instead, she said, “The only damage done today was property damage. Consider that a success.”
Then she moved to fetch her own coat, which she’d hung up on her way in.