<div class="floatleft">(http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5499ff2ce4b0b85c868a2158/t/556fb05ae4b01eeb36c217a6/1433383003661/)</div><hr/><strong>Name:</strong>Arthur Curry/Orin (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=239229.msg11802466#msg11802466)<br/><strong>Affiliation:</strong>The Atlantean Empire.<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Saturday the 17th of October 2015, 20:13<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Gotham Central Bank, Central Gotham<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Hood, Flash, Ivy, Thorn.<br/><strong>Music:</strong>Starvation - Thomas Bergersen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnGaCAHhGfo)<br/><hr/><br/>And just like that...Ivy was gone, having disappeared into the ground in a flurry of flower petals and vines, leaving nothing but an explosion - that barely caused Orin to flinch, protected as he was behind his barrier - and debris behind. He frowned a little; should he attempt to follow her? He was uncertain. On the one hand, this was almost certainly not the end of her plan, and even if it was, she needed to be apprehended both for the robbery and in order to ensure that she at least had a couple of weeks off from trying to kill everybody in the city. He had no illusion that very, very few prisons could even hope to hold her captive for particularly long - it was the same for all Metahumans; they always found a way out eventually - but if it could keep her off of the streets even for two days, then that was two days worth of innocent civilians that she wasn't killing or turning into her mindless puppets. But the problem was, he had no idea where she was going, what she was doing or what her plan was, and considering that rushing into the Square had gotten everybody outside killing each other...perhaps rushing in without intel was the wrong decision. Before, it had been necessary; Ivy had started lashing out at everybody around the square, and to sit by and do nothing was to participate - in their own way - in the mass slaughter of innocents. They had had to get involved. They had had no choice. But now? Now, they did. And only fools rushed in without the appropriate intel against an obviously more prepared opponent. One thing was certain; this was no spur-of-the-moment bank heist. Something told Orin that she had been planning this for a while; after all, there was no way she planted all of those Spore Buds and placed that flower-transportation-thing in the ground only five minutes before the robbery. Something like that - on that scale - took time to execute perfectly. And honestly? Orin was sick of playing reactionary. They had to find out as much about what Ivy was planning as soon as possible...fortunately, they had her partner in crime largely isolated and contained in the room with them.<br/><br/>Unless, of course, she had a similar escape route planned....that could not be allowed. Not until they had extracted all the information that they could from her, after all. See, Thorn raised some interesting questions, and ones that he had only briefly considered on the way over to the Central Bank; he had been too concerned with rescuing civilians to really think about the answers or their implications, but now that he had a moment to breath? She was right. They were obvious questions, and ones that needed answering now that things had gone relatively quiet. He glanced at the other two heroes, and made a snap decision; whilst they hadn't burst in here and attacked without reason - as he had seen it, she had been the one to open combat first, after an offer of surrender - they had been too quick to attempt excessive force. Not unreasonably...but any good commander needed intel, and now that she apparently thought herself outnumbered and cut off from escape - she had been running to the rear exit when she was cut off, after all - she appeared to be willing to talk. Whether she had anything of value to say? That was a different matter. "You are quite correct," he said after a moment, lifting his Trident out of its aggressive posture. Despite the water coating his mouth, he was able to manipulate the water to allow the soundwaves to carry through as if through air. They travelled across the now-deathly-still bank vault, while the sounds of fighting echoed in from outside. It appeared that his shield over the door was still doing its job, at least. "Regardless of their lack of impact on the immorality of her actions, they<em>are</em>excellent questions."<br/><br/>He was about to speak further when something stopped him short; the telepathic link he had with M'gann was still open, just in case, and it was over that that he detected something....wrong. There was fear, then revulsion, then the telltale sickening queasiness that he himself had been gripped by when he first succumbed to the effects of the Spores that Ivy had released into the plaza. M'gann was obviously not ok, both in the mental and the physical senses of the word, and it only took a few more moments for things to get even worse; he felt a flash of intense pain, followed by a panicked, contrite message...then nothing. He blinked, hard.<em>M'gann? Are you ok?!</em>His queries were met with silence. His head snapped around towards the entrance to the bank, and out onto the street beyond those doors...something had happened to her. Fear welled up in the pit of his stomach, but he forced it down ruthlessly...he couldn't allow panicked terror to rule him at that point in time, but nonetheless, he almost took a step towards the door; M'gann was hurt, but not dead - if she were dead, his Connection would have snapped shut and a massive feedback wave would have knocked him off of his feet...as it was, he only felt momentarily dizzy followed by an emptiness where her distant consciousness had been. She was unconscious, but alive...and he couldn't do anything. He felt utterly helpless, but he couldn't get out of that door without hurting the civilians attempting to get into the bank, and he couldn't get out without risking Thorn's escape.<br/><br/>And if he let Thorn - and by extension, Ivy - get away, he risked yet more innocent lives...he forcibly segregated his almost paternal concern for M'gann from the practicalities of the situation. It was something he hated doing, but he was a Commander and a King; he had to make the best decision for everybody, not the best decision for one person. And if he forsook the people of Gotham for M'gann, she would never forgive him for it. Besides...there were other heroes out there, and he could feel her presence getting fainter and further away. She was being taken somewhere, so even if he did get out, it was likely he wouldn't know where she was. Hopefully it was another "good guy" who had found her. If not...well, if not, they would soon learn the meaning of fear.<em>Hold strong, M'gann...I'll find you when this is all over.</em>The connection was still open, so a message was the best he could do. He would track her down after all of it had finished...and if she was hurt, woe betide anybody who had contributed to it. He grimaced a little...despite every urge in his body being to follow and make certain that she was safe, he had to stop Ivy from doing the same thing to anybody else...and he had to somehow control his anger at M'gann being hurt by this anarchy. He knew himself; if he allowed himself to slip, there was no going back. He had to keep a lid on his anger...at least for the time being.<br/><br/>Of course, given the interruption, he had largely ignored Boosters inane comments up to that point; this was the time for business, not jokes, and though he knew that Booster meant well...considering the amount of people getting hurt outside (including M'gann) levity was in precious short supply. Perhaps afterwards, when everybody was safe and normality was restored, they could have a joke over what the humans called "Whiskey," but right at that moment was not the time. Unfortunately, Booster decided to - at that exact moment when Orin had tuned him out to focus on M'gann - open fire. He knew Booster, of course, and knew better than to think that he was attempting to kill her - his blasts were likely set on stun - but she had appeared to be willing to talk! After all, she had not made a move to attack any of them again, so opening fire was just unnecessary. When an enemy combatant stops fighting and speaks instead - without a weapon, no less, after she was forced to discard it - that is when you secure her and parlay without the use of violence. He knew Booster was likely thinking what he was thinking - interrogation - but he should know by now that there were other more effective ways of doing it. His stun blast could easily knock her unconscious, and then how would they get the intelligence they needed? Or worse, it would just piss her off into not wanting to speak. Honestly, he knew that Booster was an intelligent man underneath it all, but oftentimes his long-term vision was at times wildly off. It was why, despite his general trustworthiness, Orin had never let him command any troops in battle. He was just too unpredictable as a commander. Unfortunately, Orin wasn't fast enough to block the shots from the Blaster, but he resolved to not allow Booster any more chances to attack...and nor would he allow Hood the chance either. Though he had holstered his firearm, he had still moved into intercept position...and Orin himself had seen just how quickly Hood could draw that weapon. Regardless of whether Thorn was able to dodge the blasts or not, his reaction was the same.<br/><br/>He slammed his Trident down on the ground, and a golden umbrella wove itself into existence around Thorn. Whilst the appearance of the forcefield wasn't instantaneous, he made it wide enough that even were she to dash, she likely wouldn't be able to escape from underneath it before it sealed its way on the ground. Unlike Orin's shield, which allowed things to move out of its area but not inside, this shield was simply impassable; nothing could get in or out without having to physically destroy the shield itself...he wanted Thorn contained, but he also wanted her safe. No doubt Hood would try to shoot her as soon as he was able, the psychopath, and if Boosters own shots had missed, he would likely want to try and stun her again. Honestly, he regretted being on the same side as Hood; it meant that whatever happened in the past, he had to stop Hood getting hurt...though it would have been satisfying to see him take a lash from the whip, just once. He paused for a moment; that thought was unlike him. Well...it was unlike him<em>now.</em>He forced it down, hard, and turned back to the matter at hand; what none of them could see, of course, though Orin could sense it was that the shield wasn't a dome; it was a sphere that cut through the ground beneath Thorns feet, making a perfect spherical temporary prison to hold her in. No escaping through the ground like Ivy and - though he had never tested it - hopefully no teleportation either. As long as he maintained the shield, she was contained...he thought, at any rate. A wave of nausea hit him suddenly, and for a moment both shields - his and hers - wavered slightly. Not much, but enough that a rock or something could pass through if it was quick enough. The moment passed, though, and Orin grimaced, straightening up from where he was leaning on his staff a little. He grimaced. Ordinarily, he would be able to maintain both of those shields, but...apparently not now.<br/><br/>He silently directed his Will into the Trident, and both shields began to shrink drastically, to about the size of an average persons "personal space." It didn't leave Thorn much room for movement, but the Sphere still contained her within a prison roughly five or six feet in circumference. He allowed himself the same space, though he did maintain a small, separate shield over the door. Not big, not even three dimensional...but enough to keep the bloodthirsty civilians out. He directed a glare at Booster. "She can't talk if she's unconscious, Booster." he said, though he made an effort to take the sting out of his words. He wasn't angry at Booster...he was angry at Ivy.<em>Ivy.</em>He had to remember that. He then glared at Hood. "And only a thug no better than the ones you hunt would resort to torture so quickly. Such tactics won't work on somebody like the Young Miss, here." He shook his head and sighed. Hood. Always so<em>flooding</em>violent. It didn't take a moron to see that pain wouldn't accomplish anything with Thorn...not when she knew that she held all the cards. As much as he wanted to hurt somebody for their part in hurting M'gann, he had to control himself. "Let us start from where we would inevitably end up; discussion. She is obviously willing to at least talk, so we should hold off on the torture." Torture rarely yielded the desired results, anyway. You know what torture got you? More often than not, it only got you the quickest lie that they could tell that they thought would make the pain stop. The truth required more nuance to extract. He shook his head again, and gave Booster a quick thumbs up to try and make it look like he wasn't trying to scold him. "...good reactions, though." It wasn't quite an apology for the harsh words, but it would have to do for now. You should never show too much division in front of your enemy. Hood, however, he ignored. He took a step forwards, his Trident clanging as it tapped against the ground, and the shield followed with him, keeping him covered. He didn't have the same space inside the shield that he had done, but truthfully, he didn't need it any more...and three small shields were far easier to maintain than two huge ones. He stopped a few feet away from the edge of Thorns new shield, hoping against hope that she didn't have a way of getting through...surely,<em>surely,</em>if she had been able to break through his shield, she would have done it already. Surely. He also hoped that she was still conscious; if Boosters blast had caught her even briefly, it could mean that they would have to wait for her to regain consciousness to get the intel they needed, and that was time that they didn't have. "Now that you've raised those questions, it would be rude not to answer them. What is Ivy planning, why does she need the money and why are you, of all people, helping her?" Because she had a point; Thorn was not known for having goals that aligned with Ivy...so what were they missing here? Of course, there was a bigger, more pressing concern.<br/><br/>"And<em>most</em>importantly, how do you undo what was done to those people outside?" His tone - which had previously been surprised and unimpressed with Booster - had shifted gear into one that was calm and quiet without a hint of fiery emotion - despite the rage he felt burning in the pit of his stomach on behalf of the people who were being hurt and killed outside, he had to remind himself that that was Ivy, not Thorn - but it was also deathly still and almost antarctically icy...until that last question. At that point, his already hard face had hardened even more, if that was even possible. His ordinarily kind eyes held no hint of warmth. There were no fluctuations in his voice, no raising or lowering of the volume. Just...constance. His gaze was directed at Thorn, an unblinking, intense look of a General on the field of battle, ordering his men to their deaths for lack of a better option, as if commanding a response from her, even if she was dazed or stunned. This was a battlefield, and it was time for business. The time for games passed when Ivy started forcing people to kill each other outside; he had seen that kind of weapon before, though not deployed in that exact way, and it had been something he never wanted to see again....especially not when M'gann was one of the victims. He was, truthfully, afraid of the ability to turn allies against each other, and afraid of the horror it inevitably led to. He was afraid of what Ivy could do with that sort of power, what anybody could do with that sort of power...and he was afraid that it wasn't even the tip of the iceberg in regards to what Ivy was capable of. But most of all? Most of all, he was<em>angry.</em>Good, innocent people were dying outside at the hands of other good, innocent people, and M'gann of all people had been injured by the crossfire. He would not allow it to continue. Not again.