<em>"Self, didn't I tell you not to freak out?  Ughh.  Nothing for it now."</em><br/><br/>Arcadia, standing far enough away from the heroes to address them all at once, still seems to direct her comments to Severance.  She still seems angry, but she's under control, now.<br/><br/>"I don't care what kind of precautions or countermeasures you have in place, I can't imagine ever being able to say that deploying people that aren't combat-ready into a live combat scenario in the field is anything but a terrible idea.  Combat is unpredictable, uncontrollable by definition.  If you're in complete control of the situation, there's no reason to fight.  There's no way to really establish an acceptable margin once hostile methaumans come into play.<br/><br/>"Besides, it's not just the danger to the operatives being deployed I care about, here.  I get that there are dangers in any combative situation.  That's my specialty.  I get in there and I beat the shit out of people.  But beating the shit out of somebody is<strong>not</strong>the same as winning a fight.  Winning a fight is not the same as accomplishing mission objectives.  And accomplishing mission objectives is not the same as achieving victory.  You know this.  You<strong>have</strong>to know this.<br/><br/>"So with the situation in the city as delicate as it is, how can you afford to take this big a gambit on a....<strong>dry run</strong>?  A test?  From what you've said so far, I'm willing to concede that this wasn't total idiocy.  And I'm here because I respect your experience and authority and your desire to serve, so I apologize, to all of you, for speaking disrespectfully.  That was a breach of discipline that won't happen again.  But consider me to have submitted a formal complaint against this method of 'testing'.  I can't in good conscience take part in something like this.  I'll stay out of the way, but don't expect me to participate if any more new arrivals need to be tested this way."<br/><br/>Arcadia allows herself to smile, a little, nervously, as she continues.<br/><br/>"And I hate guessing games.  I'm no good at them.  But as a token of good faith and a symbol of more harmonious expressions of dissent, I'll play along.  My guesses are: Presence, Impasse, Phase Shift, Cryptid, or the Nowhere Man.  I'm well aware that these are all terrible guesses and there are excellent reasons that it wouldn't be any of these guys, but like I said: I'm terrible at guessing games."