Satisfied that everyone had arrived, Vespi nodded to herself and strode back into the bar, Geirhald at her heels. Most of the Atmosfaerie who had been ushered out had either left on their bikes to cause trouble or relocated to the The Hideout Bar and Grill, which was, as the name suggests, a former bar and grill that had fallen on hard times and been abandoned. Also, there had been an outbreak of projectile diarrhea that lead to a quarantine and condemnation, but when the Land of Blades took over, the previous Health Administration had been thrown out and never replaces, making it the perfect hideout for the Storm Riders. Now it resembled an abandoned warehouse.<br/><br/>Am I the only one finding this joke funny anymore? Oh, it wasn’t funny in the first place?<br/><br/>Well whatever.<br/><br/>“Alright, listen up!” Vespi arced a bolt of lightning over the bar, cutting off any more of my ramblings and shattering a lot of the liquor bottles. “Here’s the deal. We’re going to out the Crosswind and his Imperials from our city once and for all! Although you clearly aren’t Stormlanders, you seem to be a collection of poison-tipped thorns we can jam into Opheia’s tibia. Geirhald made a noise and she looked at him. “What, isn’t that where humans jam things? Geirhald shook his head slowly. “Well, whatever. You’re all useful, which is why we let you into our secondary secret base.”<br/><br/>“Secondary?” Haley snorted and twirled her revolver around a finger.<br/><br/>“What?” Vespie demanded indignantly. “You think we’d take you to our real secret bade?”<br/><br/>“Pff. Yeah, kinda.”<br/><br/>The Lightning Atmosfaerie glared at her, sparks crackling in her “hair” but didn’t take it any further. “Not so long ago, Opheia put together a team of Blade Riders to counter our superior mobility. However, he doesn’t ever ride with them.”<br/><br/>“Splitting up?” Haley asked suddenly.<br/><br/>“Don’t interrupt my plans!” Vepis screamed and bolts of lightning reached out from her form to touch the ceiling and the walls, dancing with bright purple energy. Geirhald had to take her by the shoulder and shake her before she calmed down. “Thanks,” she muttered, not noticing Geirhald pick bits of vitrified matter from his hands.<br/><br/>“Yes,” she replied coolly. “I want to split this group up. I want one group, preferably the largest group, to run interference. You’re going to get on your bikes and ride through the city, breaking everything and drawing the Blade Riders to you. You can fight them, races them, seduce them – I don’t care, as long as they’re distracted while the other team infiltrates the castle and takes out the Crosswind himself.”<br/><br/>“I’m going after Crosswind,” Haley announced. “He’s got some Project: Midnight answers that I need.”<br/><br/>Still keeping calm, Vespi continued. “I’ll give you some time to figure your groups out, but be quick.” Her eyes found Pullio and the Dayman. “You two might be better in the interference team. And you,” she said to Spirit, “probably for the infiltration team. But whatever. I’ll be running the infiltration team and Geirhald,” she indicated the Sandstorm Atmosfaerie, “the distraction team. See us outside when you’ve got it figured out.”<br/><br/>“I’m doing infiltration,” Haley said again, more indignantly.